When I first registered my Hotmail account back in 1997, searching the internet didn’t lead to much information. Then the web was most useful within chat rooms or mailing list servers. When I do a Google search now, it’s all about selecting the most useful response from pages of them, and I rarely view responses beyond the first two pages. This morning I searched for “revolution in education’ and received 260 million responses. I jumped to page 10, or numbers 90 to 100, expecting to find less relevant responses but was surprised to find some still worth checking out. I love the ease with which I can have my questions answered on the web but I also get frustrated having to filter through ads and oddly related topics in order to find the appropriate answers. The ability to quickly select useful information from all the rest that is shoved at you over the internet is definitely a new age skill. I’m not sure how to teach this skill because it seems to take a combination of prior knowledge of the subject and experience recognizing the website names of possibly less desirable sources.
Now in OLTD 502 I’m being introduced to more of what the internet offers in the form of really interesting, and often free, online presentation creation tools, collaborative tools, and screencasting software that I want to try out with my classes. I’m looking forward to getting creative with Prezi, PowToon, Scribblar, and Camtasia over the holidays, especially screencasting. My instructor, Randy Labonte makes it looks so easy, and some of my classmates are so good at presenting, like Brad Breikreutz’s splendid discourse with Siri comparing online and blended learning, and Angela Jurgensen’s smooth commentary for her group’s PowToon presentation on the same subject. I’ve got a long way to go before I can produce anything near their calibre since I still have trouble recording my own phone messages.
And now the internet offers me even more. I read the recommended article “Come the Revolution”, written by Tomas Friedman in 2012, about free online courses like those offered through Coursera, some presented by the world’s best lecturers on the subject. I discovered courses on genomics, which I really need to take to upgrade my current research choices, and others on neuroscience, that just fascinate me. I can’t wait until I have time to take courses that I don’t need for grade credit because I’ll surely be taking courses for the rest of my life if this quality continues to be available for free or is affordable.
Now in OLTD 502 I’m being introduced to more of what the internet offers in the form of really interesting, and often free, online presentation creation tools, collaborative tools, and screencasting software that I want to try out with my classes. I’m looking forward to getting creative with Prezi, PowToon, Scribblar, and Camtasia over the holidays, especially screencasting. My instructor, Randy Labonte makes it looks so easy, and some of my classmates are so good at presenting, like Brad Breikreutz’s splendid discourse with Siri comparing online and blended learning, and Angela Jurgensen’s smooth commentary for her group’s PowToon presentation on the same subject. I’ve got a long way to go before I can produce anything near their calibre since I still have trouble recording my own phone messages.
And now the internet offers me even more. I read the recommended article “Come the Revolution”, written by Tomas Friedman in 2012, about free online courses like those offered through Coursera, some presented by the world’s best lecturers on the subject. I discovered courses on genomics, which I really need to take to upgrade my current research choices, and others on neuroscience, that just fascinate me. I can’t wait until I have time to take courses that I don’t need for grade credit because I’ll surely be taking courses for the rest of my life if this quality continues to be available for free or is affordable.