Today was the last day of class for Emerging Instructional Technologies. We were able to finish our video editing and prepare for our presentation.

The afternoon consisted of presentations from each of the three groups. Our groups presentation was on digital citizenship. We had made a podcast about copyright and pirating. Overall, I feel like the presentation went well. You can listen to our podcasts or watch our videos by going to digitalcitizenship.wetpaint.com, the digital citizenship wiki we set up for this project, or the website, http://bluegroupproject.googlepages.com/ we made with the teacher resources for this unit.

The second group presented using digital tools with authentic writing. This was very informative to me because the majority of it would be beneficial in a elementary setting. Some of the tools they presented were blogs, wikis, VoiceThread, Google Docs, podcasts, and videos. Their presentation was geared for a teacher inservice. It reminded me a lot of a inservice I attended at Keystone AEA this spring. These types of inservices are so valuable for teachers. In many cases, teachers don't get other opportunities to learn what is available and the idea sharing that happens is priceless. The wiki for this presentation is authenticwriting.wetpaint.com.

The third did a presentation on using social networking. Ning would be a great start because it can be controlled and private. In my classroom, Ning could eventually take the place of a classroom website because of the privacy. Then I could actually post discussions, show student work, post homework discussions, and upload video, podcasts, and pictures. I think a social networking site would be an excellent idea for buildings. Teachers could use this site to post questions, ideas, or use just as a way to communicate when you don't see each other.

As I think about everything we learned this week, I completely agree with Kevin's blog posting and others who have commented on how important it will be for us to go back to our buildings and try to convince others how beneficial this technology is. Yes, one way it might work is to convince them it is not another project, but instead enhancing what they already have.

What a busy Monday!

Today was the first day meeting at UNI for Emerging Technologies. I really enjoyed meeting everyone taking this class. I feel like a beginner to all of this, so it was even helpful to be sitting next to other classmates who are feeling similar or able to help when needed.
A lot of what we covered in class was new information for me. I had been signed up in Twitter, but hadn't been connected to other classmates. I now have actually used it a couple of times. I had heard of Google Docs and Google Page Creator, but I had never used them. I will have to spend more time with the Google Docs to really feel comfortable. I hope to make a classroom web page for my fifth grade class. I wish our school would pay for iowapages, but since they won't, this will be better than nothing. I am looking forward to Tuesday. I am definitely new to Second Life, so I should learn a lot!