ETEC 597 Journal # 3 - November 12

I am so excited about all the technology I learned this semester through this course. There were at least two technologies that I will integrate and continue to use. Those two technologies are Blogger.com and WetPaint.com. I have plans to use a blog site for my students so I can get them to journal and really make the site their own. Through blogging I hope to engage my students in learning especially by expressing their thoughts. I am especially excited about utilizing a classroom web page. I have seen a need to create a web page for my students and their parents. I will create a classroom site where my students will be invited to post comments and view the district calendar of upcoming holidays, as well as, testing days. I plan to post extra credit opportunities that my students can complete at home and bring to class. I believe that by doing this my students will be in the practice of being responsible since they will need to remember to bring the assignments to me. I also have plans to continue to update my WetPaint Wiki called "Friendly Connections." I am currently in the process of getting teens to join and get on board with viewing the site on a regular basis. I post upcoming events and class discussions. I plan on posting prayer requests and praises so that the teens can continue to pray for others. I didn't even know that these two technologies existed. Now that I have been exposed to these two technologies I will continue to use them and share them with others.

Some of my "Aha" moments have to include the MAPit activity. I was in awe at the amount of false information posted on the Internet. I was always under the assumption that what I pulled up on the Internet was, for the most part, true. I used numerous amounts of information I pulled off the Internet for research papers I completed in my undergraduate studies. Through the MAPit activity I learned to "weed out" the bad stuff and it opened my eyes that I truly can't believe everything I read. It has made me realize that I need to check for validity on everything I find especially if I am going to pass the information on to my students and others.

I will continue to utilize Blogger.com. I may not update my current one with new assignments unless we are informed to while continuing our graduate studies. I do plan on creating a new one for my family and friends. I will post information about events going on in my life and places I have been. I will pass on the website to my family and friends so that they can view it for updates. I noticed that once I created the blog for this course most of my friends had already created one. I have seen that a blog is not just informational for me, but a way to connect to others. I have been able to see what is going on in the lives of some of my old college friends and I have been able to stay connected with them. I have thoroughly enjoyed this course. There were times when it became overwhelming, but once I stuck with it and took the time to figure it out, I enjoyed all the new technologies.