Publisher

I enjoyed using publisher. I think that it is an effective tool to use when making any sort of flyer or information to represent yourself or a product, etc. The assignments this week were appropriate for anyone pursuing the teaching field because publisher is a good way to advertise yourself in a professional, creative manner when seeking employment, etc. I would also use publisher in the classroom with my students to collaboratively create language arts brochures. There are several different ways to utilize this tool.

PPT Presentation

So far the PPT presentation is going well. John and I work well together. I feel like we will have a good presentation to share over the role of technology in the classroom. Sometimes working with a partner causes things to slow down to verify that the progressed work is good with the partner. There is also a possibility for one person to take the lead and the partner just go along, not contributing much. I feel like we both will contribute to the success of this project though. I like collaborative projects on occassion because I can almost always learn something new from the partner that I am working with and John is probably a bit more proficient at utilizing the avaliable tools of the computer than I am. It will be good.

How far should we go...

I do believe there is a limit to how far we should take the use of technology in the midst of the classroom. While there may be proven benefits of using technology such as computerised video games, there has to be a clear objective to the lesson behing the game that will be clearly grasped by each student.

Online chats can certainly be distracting in the classroom. After substitute teaching in several classrooms I have noticed such technology as the cell phone and text messaging has proven a great distraction--chat rooms can be the same type of distraction. In classrooms like this ETEC class though, it is a useful tool of communication between the instructor and for graoup projects, so I suppose it depends on the dynamic of the situation for use.

Yes, there are some benefits to asynchronous, text-based instruction over face to face instruction. In text based instruction the student has to prove to be self motivated to get through the assignments. They have to visually read and comprehend what is asked of them. In face to face instruction students can just go with the flow of the classroom but often there is a greater understanding of the subject matter with human interaction.

I am not sure about podcasts. It may be just a newer version of passively delivering information.

Videogames are nothing that I have ever gotten into. I have read where playing video games could help develope grammar skills and some coordination skills however there is a huge link too to obesity among all ages do to the dreaded videogame. Some videogame time is okay but too much of anything is harmful--just like the old saying.

Delicious

Delicious was a good site. I think that it will be very useful to be able to access my favorites from any computer any time. I have been at a disadvantage several times because I did not know the specific web address to one my my often used sites and I was away from my own computer, so I will use Delicious. It is a good and useful tool to have.