by Lee Putnam
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In writing a reflection of my
experiences in this course of study, I find that I am coincidentally introspective
and contemplative. In introspection, I
will assess my effort, the degree to which I have met the expectations of the
course, and ultimately my perception of what I have learned. In contemplation, I will look back on the
experience holistically.
From the syllabus for this class,
Dr. Rivera describes the class as, “This course focuses on how to use the
internet for teaching and learning. It
helps students develop skills and strategies in integrating the Internet as an
essential resource into the curriculum.”
From this description I take away two key elements: first, use of the
Internet for teaching and learning, and second, integration of the Internet
into curriculum.
Research
and Investigation
Research and investigation are essential
skills needed for learning. As a species
we are gifted with the ability to use historical knowledge as a base upon which
we can develop new knowledge. The
ability to learn from and then create new ideas from the knowledge passed on to
us enables innovation and progress.
Our use of the Internet for
research and investigation of educational resources that are available on the
internet were not explicit assignments of this course. However, those two elements were implicitly a
part of each of the assignments that we undertook.
The value of the Internet as a
research tool cannot be overstated. The
Internet’s value as a research tool can only be truly appreciated by those of
us who formerly did not have the resource.
The days of our dependence on the card catalog at the local library are
gone; usher in a new era of sitting in the comfort of your living room, opening
a web browser, and visiting the Google website.
Today the challenge is not in finding a single obscure card amongst
thousands. The challenge is in finding
the best resources amongst the thousands of resources returned by a web
search. Progressive refinement of the
search, using the web search engine, allows for organization of the search
results into a manageable set of key target items.
When guided by the course to
investigate a particular Internet resource I often found myself investigating
other Internet resources that would perform a similar function. The competitive nature of the internet
ensures that there will be more than one choice for any given application. Global access to the Internet market makes it
a simple matter for an application developer to advertise and promote a
product. The diversity of applications
available to us as educators is growing daily.
Communication
When we write about the Internet,
the predominant descriptor should be; a global communication tool. The Internet is a construct which, by the
very nature of its design, is dedicated to the sharing of information. Sharing information is what we strive to do
when we communicate. The global reach of
the Internet, arguably, makes it the premier communication tool of our age.
Internet based communication
tools enable us to scale our connection with others. The people we communicate with can be next
door or literally anywhere in the world.
We can choose to connect with an individual or with a group of people. We can use the written word, our voice, or
video. We can be live or what we
communicate can be placed in the cloud for what will likely be posterity.
In this course we communicated
using email, in blogs and in threaded discussions. The class was entirely online, forcing us to
communicate effectively using Internet based communication tools.
As a group we contributed to a
class blog (http://ed638spring2014.blogspot.com/)
and individually created our own technologies in education blog (http://leesedquest.blogspot.com/). The class blog was used to communicate our holistic
thoughts on what we were learning. Our
personal technology in education blog was used to showcase internet resources
that we appreciated and chose to share.
Writing and publishing a blog was
at first disconcerting. Knowing that
what I was writing could be viewed by the world when it was published carried a
great deal of weight. I am a fairly
private person, so sharing my thoughts in such a public way concerned me. I felt that I was exposing more of myself
than I cared to. After I discovered a few
worthwhile Internet resources and wrote about them in my blog my attitude
toward blogging changed substantially. I
found a sense of gratification in sharing what I had discovered. I was communicating in a way that I had never
communicated before.
In one of our final assignments
for the class I was introduced to and investigated the power of Google Earth (http://www.google.com/earth/) as a
communications tool. At my job, I work
with Geographic Information Systems daily.
Years ago I recognized the power of a GIS as a communications tool. Being able to link information to a
geographic location and then to share that information with others is an
important ability for the management of global resources. With a GIS that is connected by a network, a
geographic picture of resource positions can be shared in a near real-time
manner. This is a level of information
sharing, communications, that only become a reality in this generation.
On a less tactical level, Google
Earth allows us to explore and experience a place that we might not otherwise
experience. You simply find the location
that you are interested in and then zoom in to street level and you are
there. For my investigation I choose to
take a look at the house where I grew up, in the suburbs of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. As Google Earth
transitioned to street-view I found myself looking at the house as if I were
actually there. I was able to virtually
walk around the block where I grew up.
I walked to school along the same route that I had last taken when I was
seven years old. Street view in Google
Earth is in the process of expanding to include live feeds of either still or
video imagery.
Information
Management
With the vastly overwhelming amount
of information that is available through the Internet there is evident need for
management of that information. We
explored sites that provide access to and management of educational resource
material such as; Kahn Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/),
TedTalks (http://www.ted.com/), YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/), and TedEd(http://ed.ted.com/). These sites provide users with access to
lessons, lectures, documentaries, and videos that are valuable resources for
educators. The resources can be used to
empower a flipped-classroom where students study the material prior to
discussion in class. This is a concept
that presents significant advantage.
I have also spent time investigating and
learning to use personal information management tools such as; LiveBinders (http://www.livebinders.com/), GoogleDrive
(https://drive.google.com/), Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/), Apache
OpenOffice (https://www.openoffice.org/),
and Zotero (https://www.zotero.org/). I find that LiveBinders is an invaluable
resource for organization and management of website information. GoogleDrive provides an effective means of
collaboration. Dropbox allows for
synchronization of document storage between personal computing devices as well
as allowing members of a group to share documents across the cloud. Apache Open Office is a free alternative
office suite. Finally, Zotero helps a
researcher catalog, document, and cite references found during research on the
web.
For educators that manage classes
of any size a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Course Management System
(CMS) provides automation of course development, administration, evaluation,
and reporting. Many LMS/CMS also provide
communication elements that enable functionality of the course in the online
environment. While I have taken a
cursory look at six LMS sites; I focused on two, enGrade (https://www.engrade.com/) and CourseSites (https://www.coursesites.com/), for in
depth investigation. In each of these
sites I implemented a skeletal twelve week course on Maritime Search and
Rescue. Of the two I found that I
preferred CourseSites, a BlackBoard product.
Of the sites that I investigated I found that CourseSites provided the
best balance of application diversity and ease of implementation. All of the LMS sites that I looked at had one
valuable trait in common; they all provided guided structured development of
the syllabus, lesson plans, activities, and testing material.
A
Holistic View of My Performance
Having persevered through a
number of false starts and what at the time seemed to be insurmountable
obstacles, I am satisfied with what I have learned during this course. I will be taking away knowledge and skills
that I am confident that I will continue to use long after the class closes out
next week.
Prompted by my exploration of
Internet tools I discovered Apache Open Office, an alternative to the MS Office
suite. Open Office has enabled me to cast aside a product that I have come to
loath. Dropbox has allowed me to solve
document version control problems between the platforms that I use. LiveBinders and Zotero have become invaluable
tools that I use to help organize my research.
The learning curve I experience
in the course nearly defeated me at times, but I am gratified that I worked
through the challenges. The challenge
has been worthwhile.
