Blog Journal #9

     I can say with certainty that I have been in far worse courses than EME2040, though I can't say I'll be an educator in the future. I like that we used several resources that even I wasn't aware of, and were allowed to be creative with some. On the other hand, I'm not the biggest social media person, so the Twitter assignments weren't all that engaging or enjoyable for me personally. I can't really think of what would improve the classroom experience, other than combining technology with in-person meeting.

    OER stands for Open Educational Resources. Put simply, they are teaching, learning, and research materials that are intentionally created to be free on the user's end to allow accessibility regardless of their income. Rather than just one OER, how about a site that has several of them like OER Commons. This is a public digital library of open educational resources all neatly organized by subject, grade level, etc.https://www.oercommons.org/

    I have used PowerPoint many times before, but I still managed to learn a few new things. Most notably, how to record me during the presentation, although I kinda wish that PowerPoint made clear that each individual slide had a short windup time before it would actually record. The only thing I didn't really like about this assignment, is the fact that no one else gets to see the presentations that we create. Perhaps we could've saved a day in class for that to happen, but it's not a huge deal overall.

Bitmoji

 

Blog Journal #8

     Before my web design assignment, I had zero experience designing my website. However, now I can apply many of the skills I've learned in my own life. I made sure that I followed the CRAP principles (despite the unfortunate name), to make sure it was easy to read, easy to navigate, and aesthetically pleasing. At first, Weebly was a little confusing to learn, but once you get the hang of it, it's as natural as breathing to design your own site.

    At first, I got off on the wrong foot with Diigo, as when we first tried to use it, the site flat-out didn't work at all. I couldn't log in or complete any assignments related to it until several days later. Now that it does work for me, I don't have much to really say about it. It's kind of just a site that exists to me, and I didn't find it particularly helpful.

    I've said this before, but it bears repeating and grinding into dust. Technology has been and will continue to be a major driving force in the education world, and instructors need to be on top of it at all times. Otherwise, they might find themselves getting left in the dust and their students may end up falling behind due to not having the necessary technology to progress. I also found a site called EdTech which prominently shows the latest in educational technology and how instructors can use them to their full potential. https://edtechconferences.london/

Blog Journal #7

    I had a look on https://stjaneschool.com/teacher-pages/ through a few teacher pages, and they mostly show similar information. Usually, some personal info and contacts to that particular teacher when you first select them. Then on their actual pages, some upcoming events on their classes. Otherwise, nothing too overly personal here, particularly with the students in each class, revealing almost nothing about them.

    As I have made abundantly clear in the past, I am not, nor do I plan to become a teacher in the future. If I was to do so, however, there are a few productivity tools I would use. Weebly in particular is a great way to create my own personal website with contact information, limited personal info, and upcoming events. This could prove to be helpful, particularly with a technology class.

    I did not participate in the Twitter days of the week challenge, primarily because it just didn't interest me. I have heard of similar things on the platform before, but not exactly this. I've only heard of this exact challenge from this class where it was optional to partake in it. As for my thoughts on it, I don't have anything particularly positive or negative to say about it, other than it's just not really my thing.