Social Networking
I have had a Facebook page for years. I love it for family, especially those who are in other states. I am very careful about who I let on though. This is not just for the safety issues. I am very busy and plan out my time carefully. I don't want to spend time looking at cat pics and hearing what someone had for breakfast (except grand kids). I am also a part of Linkedin. I am still working on figuring that one out.
I have found that diigo, my bookmark site is sending me better pages and info than any of the other networking sites.
As with Facebook, info overload can be a real time killer. I had a Twitter account, but I got rid of it. I started another when I started this course. I need to figure out how to get rid of some of the updates and notices. They are about people and things I don't care about, like Kim K and Donald T. I added EduSurge and really like the Tweets I see from that. Still learning more about settings and such.
Checked out #21things4 and it's kind of cool to see how many others are doing this. I am still figuring out the following thing. I would like to follow the whole string, but can only do individuals. Not sure I want to spend a huge amount of time following some of the Tweets. Others are pretty interesting.
MACUL
I have been a member and attendee of MACUL for over 20 years. The focus of the yearly conference has really changed over the years. In the early years, there was a lot of focus on the tools themselves. Now, it is assumed that you have some sort of access and the focus is more on what to do with the tools. This last conference was amazing. I learned a lot.
For this part, I joined the SIGEE for elementary education. I also started following them on Twitter. Most of what I see is about the MACUL conference.
I read an article in the journal called Making Learning more Engaging and Interactive. I ended up trying some new sites they recommended. One was blendspace. I am going to have to add it to my summer "TV with your Laptop" schedule. It looks really cool! I want to have every one of my lessons set up on line next year with a pre-lesson intro and a post lesson test/questionnaire/ activity. I am sadly lacking in this. These sites are a goldmine. The article goes on to discuss many of the things we are seeing in the 21t4t class. The link is https://issuu.com/macul/docs/maculjournal_spring2016 SIGSEE is found at http://www.macul.org/sigs/sigee/
Conclusion
While these sites are a good start, I found a lot of other sites that better fit my subjects. Some are more active than others. I found two world wide groups who focus on coding, which I am really interested in. I also found a bunch of Twitter feeds to follow for coding. With limited time, and a world of information, taking the time to pinpoint truly useful sources and contacts is more important than ever. I am also looking at http://edupln.ning.com/
While I enjoy seeing some Tweets and such, in the long run, once I have a contact, I really like email and shared Google docs/ etc..These other sites are great for finding new contacts and keeping up with the world though.
Standards
Professional Learning Networks are an important part of ISTE a,b,c,d. We must be life long learners if we wish to be effective teachers, especially when dealing with technology. Technology is redefining many of the way our students learn, so we must also change the way we teach. I watched the movie The Duff the other night. Funny movie, but it's real value for me were it's insights into the technological world of our students and how it effects their lives.
I have had a Facebook page for years. I love it for family, especially those who are in other states. I am very careful about who I let on though. This is not just for the safety issues. I am very busy and plan out my time carefully. I don't want to spend time looking at cat pics and hearing what someone had for breakfast (except grand kids). I am also a part of Linkedin. I am still working on figuring that one out.
I have found that diigo, my bookmark site is sending me better pages and info than any of the other networking sites.
As with Facebook, info overload can be a real time killer. I had a Twitter account, but I got rid of it. I started another when I started this course. I need to figure out how to get rid of some of the updates and notices. They are about people and things I don't care about, like Kim K and Donald T. I added EduSurge and really like the Tweets I see from that. Still learning more about settings and such.
Checked out #21things4 and it's kind of cool to see how many others are doing this. I am still figuring out the following thing. I would like to follow the whole string, but can only do individuals. Not sure I want to spend a huge amount of time following some of the Tweets. Others are pretty interesting.
MACUL
I have been a member and attendee of MACUL for over 20 years. The focus of the yearly conference has really changed over the years. In the early years, there was a lot of focus on the tools themselves. Now, it is assumed that you have some sort of access and the focus is more on what to do with the tools. This last conference was amazing. I learned a lot.
For this part, I joined the SIGEE for elementary education. I also started following them on Twitter. Most of what I see is about the MACUL conference.
I read an article in the journal called Making Learning more Engaging and Interactive. I ended up trying some new sites they recommended. One was blendspace. I am going to have to add it to my summer "TV with your Laptop" schedule. It looks really cool! I want to have every one of my lessons set up on line next year with a pre-lesson intro and a post lesson test/questionnaire/ activity. I am sadly lacking in this. These sites are a goldmine. The article goes on to discuss many of the things we are seeing in the 21t4t class. The link is https://issuu.com/macul/docs/maculjournal_spring2016 SIGSEE is found at http://www.macul.org/sigs/sigee/
Conclusion
While these sites are a good start, I found a lot of other sites that better fit my subjects. Some are more active than others. I found two world wide groups who focus on coding, which I am really interested in. I also found a bunch of Twitter feeds to follow for coding. With limited time, and a world of information, taking the time to pinpoint truly useful sources and contacts is more important than ever. I am also looking at http://edupln.ning.com/
While I enjoy seeing some Tweets and such, in the long run, once I have a contact, I really like email and shared Google docs/ etc..These other sites are great for finding new contacts and keeping up with the world though.
Standards
Professional Learning Networks are an important part of ISTE a,b,c,d. We must be life long learners if we wish to be effective teachers, especially when dealing with technology. Technology is redefining many of the way our students learn, so we must also change the way we teach. I watched the movie The Duff the other night. Funny movie, but it's real value for me were it's insights into the technological world of our students and how it effects their lives.