Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

The first post I read was the one that discussed being a responsible digital citizen. I thought it made some very good points, such as being responsible and choosing your words carefully on the internet. My parents reminded whenever I left the house to remember my name. It was some time after High School that I finally understood what they were trying to tell me. It is a lesson I have never forgot and I always try and remember that my actions always affect more than just me.

This is my first experience with Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. I do like the worksheets and the logical path it takes the learning experience.  I don't have some of the classroom experience that my colleagues have, but I the pyramid suggested seems logical and effective.

The article on the 21st century teacher certainly indicated that the teacher in this generation needs to apply technology and adapt to a changing student. The video entitles Learning to Change emphasized this fact.

What this site has made me think about is the content of my teaching, including the moodle site. Sometimes I tend to get wrapped up in how the site appears and not as much in how the material will be received. This website will make me think more about the content of the moodle lessons as well as the delivery.  It also tells me that the strategy I use with the groups of kids that I have this year may not work with the group that I have next year.

I will certainly try and be flexible and creative in my approach and incorporate some of the technologies that my students are familiar and and comfortable with, such as texting and mobile devices.

Reaction to How to Steal Like an Artist

I know we did not have an assignment to blog about this article, but since I took the time to read it, I thought I would respond. Alot of common sense advice, not that 'advise' was the goal. I especially like the part about keeping life simple and marrying well. I have realized that my wife is alot smarter than I will ever be and when I am wise enough to ask her before I open my mouth, it usually goes alot better for me! She has a sense that I simple do not possess. I also believe we need to choose our friends carefully. I have alot of people that are in my life, teaching tends to expand your influence a bit, but only 3 or 4 people that I would call 'friends'. I have told them that on more than one occasion. I appreciate their influence in my life. They are kind of guys that you can not hear from for a while and then you get together with them and it's like you saw them yesterday. Friends are comfortable, I can be me without fear of judgment. They can give and receive advice without sounding like they are better than me. I love my friends and am thankful for them.

I also agreed with the author about information overload. Wow, in this era of having information at your fingertips, it is easy to gather a mountain of data and get lost in it. I am the king of this ailment. I need to research every decision to death, get all the information I can and then make an informed decision. What often happens is that I get all the information, get confused, forget the original decision and give up!

The other part of this article that I found interesting was the keeping a journal. I am involved in a writing class at CCSU now and I have to admit that writing for the simple pleasure of writing has NEVER occured to me. I have a rather guarded personality and am a little wary of opening myself up for others to see. But I am going to start keeping a journal, not for the world to see, but to start taking some risks, as Dr. Valerie puts it. I often encourage my students to have no regrets, don't come to the end of a segment of your life and say 'I wish I...(fill in the blank)'. Writing for fun is that part of me that I have always been apprehensive about trying. Until now!

Thank you, Dr. Sponder, for posting this article.

Faculty Perspective on Using Moodle

After the reading the article, I have the same reaction to Moodle. I don't any experience to Blackboard to compare it to, but I think Moodle is very easy to set up and start using. Dr. Ulasewicz's comments from a non-technical perspective, where interesting. I thought the experience that some of her students were concerned about the workload that Moodle forums add was something I had not considered. It is work to formulate a response to a forum topic, but as the article pointed out, it gives students who have a difficult time responding in a group environment a thread to express their input on any given topic. I think it's a great assessment tool for any teacher to find out where their students are and how they are absorbing the content in a lecture or lesson. I thought the group class in using Moodle was a good idea, it tends to take the mystery out of technology and encourages more participation.

Dr. Beatty comes from a technical background and his impressions were understandably different. I agree that the flexibility of Moodle makes it a great alternative. That can save a bunch of money and time. I have found that most software houses are rather slow in making changes. In Moodle, there are thousands of developers all over the world working on new modules. And as is pointed out n the article, the spellcheck plug-in was implemented overnight.

Here are the questions I would ask:

1. How would rate Moodle in it's ability to enhance traditional face to face classes?

2. How many courses are strictly on-line classes? Do online classes at SFSU follow a normal semester schedule? 

3. How has using Moodle changed the way your traditional class flows in content and schedule?

Interesting article, although I thought it was limited in it's scope. Most of the article seemed to be centered around forums and discussion posts. At least Moodle has increased the edit time from 15 to 30 minutes on posts.