#comments

#commentsYour idea of a blog with many editors sets the stage nicely for collaboration. Enjoy using this program with your SIG. You have a great topic for discussion in your statement, “imagine if the Declaration of Independence authors had use of a blog....how would it be different? the same?”.

PC Maintenance and Security Workshop

My computer tech often reminds me that I keep a lot of things on my desk top.  I do that because I like the ease of which I can access things from both home and school, however, this means that I do not often have a safe backup on the districts shared drive.  For this assignment, I explored various "File Back Up" options using our Atomic Learning system.

In general, I learned that backing up files is incredibly easy and that there are both free and pay versions.  I started with a tutorial about Karen's Replicator and was excited that there was a free site that would do exactly what I wanted.  After learning about that and realizing that I had to explore three tutorials, I stumbled across pay dirt.  I discovered that windows XP has a build in back up system.  As soon as I log into my computer at school, I will be able to have all files on my desktop saved directly to my school's backup system.  I plan to immediately share this with other teachers, after getting approval from the tech department of course.  It seems incredibly easy to categorize my files and choose what I want updated in which location.  I amazed by the ease of use.  The third tutorial I watched evaluated various systems.  I am confident that I am using the correct option for work use.  In the future, I may need to investigate additional options for home use, especially when it comes to backing up pictures and videos.

http://www.atomiclearning.com/highed/pc_cleansecure

http://www.atomiclearning.com/highed/pc_cleansecure

http://www.atomiclearning.com/highed/pc_cleansecure

RSS Page Reflection

For the last few weeks, I have been experimenting with the RSS feed, netvibes.  You can see a few screen shots of my new RSS reader at the end of this posting.  I have enjoyed following 2 different International Baccalaureate Blogs.  One of the feeds updates me on official IB postings and the other updates me on users' comments.  I have also been following the Education Week and michigan.gov sites as well.

I took a technological leap forward last week and added my first comments to a blog.  I thanked a principal from a school for an interesting IB video that he posted showing the 5th grade exhibition.  At this point, my response has not generated any additional responses.  I look forward to participating more on the IB blogs in the future.  There are numerous practical postings about how schools are implementing the IB program.

I have checked my RSS reader every few days since creating it.  Some pages, like the Elementary Educator page, are updated every few months.  However, Education Week site is updated several times each day.  For pages that are updated infrequently, the RSS reader seems like a useful tool to make sure that I don't miss any new content.  For pages that are updated very frequently, it seems like an overwhelming amount of content.  For example, Education Week has 18 new posts in the last 23 hours.

I have learned many random things over the last few weeks.  I use the word random, because I have had a hard time following a single topic on certain sites.  From the NPR page, I learned about suspension rates of secondary school students.  In Texas, the rate was as high as 60% of students being suspended at least one time between 6th and 12th grade.  This seems incredible, especially compared to other states in the study.  On the Merlot page, I looked at a lesson titled "Born to Blog."  I thought that was fitting, since this course is my first exposure to blogging.  I learned that I may actually have more interesting things to say than many of the people out there.  From the Tech & Learning site, I found some support for administrators in my district getting Ipads.  The link included about 15 apps that were all designed at making life easier and more efficient.

I have learned a few important things about an RSS reader.  First, it must be managed effectively or it becomes almost as overwhelming as just surfing the whole internet.  I also learned that it is important to subscribe to things that are as specific as possible to your particular interests.  Over time, I can see this being a useful tool for gathering information that I am interested in.

Getting Things Done

For about the last four years, I have been using Microsoft Outlook to manage my workflow.  This process has gotten easier over the years both as I get to know the program better and with the addition of an Iphone to my life.

The process of staying organized has been getting easier as I have a better idea of what I need.  For example, I started with an email folder titled important.  This year, I changed that title to three different folders titled today, this week and someday.  I have also gotten better at using the calander function as well.  For example, I have figured out how to enter reaccuring appointments so that I can remember to meet with certain students on a weekly basis.  I have also learned how to sync my calander with the school and district calanders in addition to giving my secretary read and write access to my calander.  We still meet on Mondays to go through the week, but we are much more on the same page now than ever before.  The last thing I learned to do was how to use the date due function on the Outlook calander.  I can see the whole list each time I log in and it is prioritized in order of due date.  Our school voicemail system is also set up through outlook.  I get text copies of voicemails (they don't always work well,) but I am now able to sort and save voicemails just like emails.

This process has been very helpful.  As we learned in one of the videos, it is stressful to try and manage all of this in one's head.  It is also stressful to try and manage the work flow process in many different ways.  While I still panic every now and then at the amount of work that needs to be done, at least I know that I am not missing anything, usually.

I am happy with the process I have been using.  I hope to find a way to prioritize my to do list better than the due date system I am currently working using.  Because I have been using essentially the same system for several years, I have a hard time imagining switching without finding something considerably better.  I am open though, in case something better comes along.

Social Networks Fit

I logged into my CEP 810 class with the goal of getting all of my weeks work done tonight, but after spending several hours simply exploring, I must come back tomorrow to get the real work done.  For some reason, browsing social network sites, even though they were all about school, just doesn't feel like real work.  I must get over this mental hurdle.

I think social networking sites will play a big role in my professional life.  I am amazed by the resources I found on Ning.  I have submitted to become part of 3-4 groups already.  It was amazingly easy to find several high interest groups in a short period of time.  I also emailed these links to several of my friends, slowly expanding my PLN.  Last year, we ran our school/teacher book club through a wiki space.  We posted comments and thoughts on each chapter as we read the book in addition to meeting fact to face.  I like some of the sites that we learned about even better because of the ability to add widgets and other types of information in an easy manner.  These sites will become a regular part of my professional development and the professional development I run.

I am the last of my friends to not have a facebook page.  I feel that I am missing out, but worry about the amount of time I will lose.  I do see the value in keeping in touch with many people quickly.  I am always the last to know anything.  I plan to start a personal facebook page this summer.  I have used a wiki to communicate with the baseball team I coach and can see tremendous value in being able to share team updates, including pictures in a secure setting, especially when the content involves kids.

I participated in a book chat with a 5th grade class this year on a wiki page.  I was amazed how often the students posted answers to questions from the teacher and each other.  After some experimenting by the teacher, I was impressed how little side chatter there was and how focused the discussion became.  I think there is tremendous educational value to be found.  I have also used Skype to communicate with schools around the world.  Our school is getting several technology updates this summer and will be ready to do this on a more massive scale next year.

I appreciate the way this class has opened my mind at a time when we actually have the technology to support the growth.