Final Reflection

Final Group Project

Final PLN Report

My PLN has grown a lot since I first started and I now have 28 tiles on my symbaloo. Since I am a history major I have The History Channel, Conversations on History, and National Geographic History as tiles. I have SmartBoard Tech, University of South Alabama's website, blogger, and twitter as tiles to help me with my EDM 310 work. I also have different news networks, the Learning Network, and Youtube just for my own interest. My Symbaloo

C4T Summary Post 4

I commented on Brian Crosby's blog Learning is Messy. The post I commented on was Leaving Their Mark-Redux,Redux . Mr. Crosby talks about how using technology in the classroom has improved his students education. His classroom is a 1:1 laptop classroom. His class blogs, skype, and wiki's. They have interviewed experts and had special guest Grace Corrigan in his classroom. They blog on other student's blogs around the country and connect with classrooms using skype. I commented on his post, "Hello I am Erwin Coleman, a student at the University of South Alabama. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. We do a lot of technology enhanced learning and I see the benefits of using technology to improve the quality of a student’s education. Every student having a computer to use in the classroom can keep the student’s connected with each other and do more research at an early age so it doesn’t become foreign by the time they reach high school or college. I am glad you inspire your students to become learners and I want to do the same thing when I am educating my students".

The second post I commented on Brian Crosby's blog Learning is Messy is Getting to Know You . He talks about how he makes his students sit with new students everyday for the first week of class. He said this teaches them about rejection and inclusion. I commented saying "I feel students should interact with different students and not just sit with the same peers everyday. When a student gets to meet new people they can grow as a person. I do believe a student should always have close friends they can always depend on but getting to at least know new people can teach students the networking skills they need for the future."

Blog Post 14

Jose Picardo Educational Blog and Tips

Jose Picardo gives very useful information on creating your own blog and maximizing the use of technology. His A-Z Internet Resources for Education had more resources than I thought could exist and there were a few I explored. One I looked at was BigHugeLabs. This is a website where you can create a motivational poster, magazine covers, movie posters,and more from pictures on your computer. Using this can bring creativity to your classroom and students can create their own magazine cover or poster for a project. Another I looked at was Kerpoof Studio . This is a website for younger children to make a movie, make a card, spell a picture, make a drawing, make a picture, and tell a story. I made my own Christmas Card using Kerpoof Studio.

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One of the last things I checked out was My Award Maker . This is a web service for creating your own awards to hand out to your students and awards are printable.

Top Ten Tips for Using Technology in the Classroom
Jose Picardo also made a video on his top ten tips for using technology.

Using these tips properly can enhance the quality of education and creativity in the classroom. Streaming video can be fun, especially when incorporating the students. When a student puts in the time to make a video on a particular topic the information stays with them longer. An interactive whiteboard can accommodate different learning styles and use a variety of resources for presentations. Podcasts are great because the students can listen to a lecture outside the classroom or listen to experts on a particular subject.

C4K Summary November

I commented on Avoia T' Blog from Point England School in Auckland, New Zealand. She did a video on the Monarch Butterfly's life cycle. I commented on the video saying, " Hello Avoia, I am Erwin Coleman, I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. I liked you wanted to show a visual of the Monarch Butterfly life cycle. Many people are visual learners so this will help them understand the Monarch Butterfly. Keep up the good work!"

I had to comment on Mrs. Yollis Class Blog . They were playing to game Mancala and they wanted to know the rules to the game so I looked up the rules for the game and found the rules on http://www.moonglade.com/mancala/rules.shtml. I said, " I have never heard of Mancala but I did some research on the game. The object of the game is to capture more stones than the opponent. A player picks one of the stones with stones in it and distributes these stones counterclockwise. Distribution of stones wraps around the board, placing a stone in the player's mancala along the way, but not placing one in the opponent's mancala. If the last stone placed in a hole lands in your mancala, you get another turn. Otherwise it is your opponent's turn. The game is over when one player is out of stones, or when a player has more than half the stones in the game."