EDT 5410: Week Four Reflections (R/D6)

Related to Chapter 14 (R/D6), what are some ways the ideas/concepts/principles discussed in this chapter could be applied in your professional work? Do you see opportunities where these ideas could help you or your students?

I feel that HPI could be used in my current professional work environment by a simple performance management review concept. Currently, you are neither punished nor rewarded here as far as your review goes so where is the motivation for individuals to excel at their job and do better. If you could put a review system in place similar to the HPT model of the International Society for Performance Improvement on page 141 I think a lot of progress could be done. There needs to be consequences in place for those who are not meeting the job expectations. Those people need to be reviewed and told what they are doing wrong and then if they can not overcome the the aspect of not meeting the job then something needs to be done. On the other hand, those that are going above and beyond at their job need to be recognized and rewarded for their hard work.

Perhaps, there are different steps to complete and once you are through a certain amount of steps then you get a raise. Which is totally uncommon in the university setting currently due to the state budget but if not a raise maybe a different incentive on a smaller scale such as free lunch at the cafeteria or a designated parking spot, I don't know. But if the University could follow the HPT model, I think great things could come about.

These ideas could help both myself and the students here at WMU. If you have happy professors, staff, etc. then it is a better place to work and attend school. So, many of the professors that I have had here at WMU do not care. They are there to do their job and then some don't even want to do that! If there were some incentive programs to follow and the professors knew what steps needed to be taken to achieve that then I think they would care a great deal more about the students. I am not sure I am correct on this but teachers on the K-12 level have different steps...and with a certain amount of college classes they receive a raise??? Not sure on how exactly that works but I think something like that needs to be implemented at the college level also.

EDT 5410: Week Four Reflections - Podcasting

The podcast that I chose to listen to and profile was

Podcast: 123listen2me.com

PodCast Profile: This podcast is given by two young girls, Sara age 10 and Nina age 7. They podcast about twice a month. In the podcast they translate different languages, review books, movies, and music, tell stories and jokes. The podcast is focused on kids ages 4-15. They call it the podcast by kids for kids.

What added value might podcasting have in your professional setting (company, school, etc)?

In my current professional setting podcasting could be useful as far as computer training goes. I could set up podcasts that would help each of the individuals that I give technical support too. That would be very time consuming but I think that it would have its benefits for those individuals that would like to learn more on their own than in group settings.

EDT 5410: Week 4 Reflections (R/D5)

Indicate whether you think the Internet and Web will have a major impact in one or more of the following areas:

a. Educational programs at grades K-12

I feel that the Internet and the web will become more of a major impact on this age group but not right away. I do not feel that schools have the money to stay up to date with technology in both the hardware aspects and the teaching aspects. Teachers need to be willing to teach with the means of technology to accomplish this. I think that as the different generations come up through the education system and become teachers and key administrators, that is when technology as far as the Internet and the Web will have a major impact on K-12.

I realize that the text states that only 20% of teachers indicated that they frequently used technology to have students solve problems or analyze data and only 10% for research but I think that is where the generation gap comes into play. Those teachers did not grow up with technology the next generation of teachers did!

b. Higher Education (community colleges, colleges, and universities)

Yes, it will and does have a major impact of education. I feel that the Web and Internet already plays a major role in education at the higher level. Thinking back to my undergrad degree I had professors that did not allow us to use the web as sources. Now, just ten years later, all my professors push us to use the web for information...WOW its been ten years! I am getting old! Anyhow, back to the question at hand, I can not imagine what the Internet and Webs impact will be in say another 10 years.

c. Adult education (in businesses, government, and/or the military)

Tremendous impact, that is what the web and the Internet will have on businesses, government and the military. It already plays a huge roll in all three of these. For example, all of the online businesses, you can order just about anything but a gun online. I feel that eventually 90% of shopping will be online especially with gas prices, people won't be able to afford to drive to the store. Which brings me to my next point, I think the majority of the workforce will end up working from home. With all the new technology working from home is easy, thanks to the Internet. As far as the government goes, look at all the things you can do over the Internet now, drivers, licenses, unemployment, FAFSA, etc. The government is revolutionizing right along side the Internet and Web bandwagon.

I know the history of instructional media says otherwise about just how much of an impact the Internet and Web will have but, we are already using them both by leaps and bounds. Back in the day, technology did not take off as fast and then came to a screeching halt...the Internet and Web just continue to improve.

EDT 5410: Week Four (R/D6) Option One

Here is the link to the podcast that I found useful.

http://123listen2me.com/



PodCast Profile: This podcast is given by two young girls, Sara age 10 and Nina age 7. They podcast about twice a month. In the podcast they translate different languages, review books, movies, and music, tell stories and jokes. The podcast is focused on kids ages 4-15. They call it the podcast by kids for kids.

PodCast Title: Who said 6th place isn't a win? Holding our heads up in the face of great competition in podcast #37.

PodCast Title: Don't let elephants get into a elephunk? 123-listen 2 me - Elliecast #36

EDT 5410: Week Three Reflections (R/D4)

How might you incorporate photo sharing into a educational activity or unit? What might be some concerns you would have about allowing students to play with these services? What might be a great benefit of such services?

I think you could incorporate photo sharing in a journalism class. Having students take pictures of different events they have been to and then placing them on the Internet. Then the different students in the class could use those photos put add libs, edit photos etc. The photos would be more readily available not to mention convenient. My only concern would be inappropriate photos or photos of people who do not want their photo published. I think though that the benefit of having the photos available to all students is phenomenal. What an easy way to get pictures out to the students and allow them to work more as a group.

In reading Chapter 2, what similarities and what differences did you identify between the process the authors describe and the processes you have used to develop educational lesson plans? If you have not developed educational lesson plans, were there aspects of the process described in this chapter that you found particularly surprising, useful or unnecessary?

I think the aspects in this chapter were interesting. For example, the explanation of the characteristics of Instructional Design (ID) were exceptionally interesting. I really liked how it had a section for each of the six characteristics and it explained what was meant by each one. It started off by explaining what ID was, which was not surprising at all to me but it was nice how the book laid out all the various definitions. I guess I understood already what ID was but it was helpful to get the definition for each term used like interdependent, synergistic and dynamic to name a few. It helped me to understand a more detailed aspect of ID and the various different terms related to ID.

EDT 5410: Week Three Reflections (R/D3)

What value (if any) do you think social bookmarking might hold for teachers and/or students? You may think about students sharing with each other, teachers sharing with their students, teachers sharing with other teachers, administrators sharing with teachers, sharing with parents, or any other scenario(s) you can imagine.

I think social bookmarking could hold a tremendous value to both teachers and students, not to mention parent's and administrators too. For example, a government class could have various social bookmarks for their students to go out to get the best information available for research projects, papers, etc. Or on a different note where administrators could put bookmarks for parents on different behaviors to watch for in young teens and that way parents could be more aware of what their students are perhaps doing. Along with behaviors different trends could be bookmarked also.

Overall, I personally think it is a great tool. As far as the tags being done wrong well that comes with human error and hopefully the percentage is low enough it doesn't make that big of a riff.

Back to the Trends & Issues reading, to what degree do the definitions in this chapter correspond with what you have thought about this area and what it is you hope to do in your line work (or in a future career)? Is there anything surprising or very new you read in this chapter? Does something seem to be missing?

I feel the definitions that were given by the author are pretty accurate. When I think of instructional design and technology it hits on all the key terms needed to describe instructional design and technology. For example, throughout the various years all the definitions based their definition on the five domains; Development, Utilization, Management, Design, and Evaluation. Although the definitions were all different they were all pointing in the same direction.

I eventually hope to be in a position where I can push new technology out to teachers for them to be able to assist in how we should go about using the new technology but not actually teach it myself. I would however, like to be a key figure in the rolling out of new technology to teachers, students, parents, etc.

I was somewhat surprised on how the definition has changed through the years. I guess I never really thought about what instructional design and technology really was. Now, that I see all the progress with the definition I realize just how important it is to make people realize what instructional design and technology is. For instance, back in 1970 the committee handed out two definitions. The first definition:

"In its more familiar sense, it (instructional technology) means the media born of the communications revolution which can be used for instructional purposes alongside the teacher, textbook, and blackboard...The pieces that make up instructional technology [include]: television, films, overhead projectors, computers, and other items of "hardware" and "software"..."

seems to be more general in a sense. It gives the basic understanding of what technology is but not perhaps what instructional technology is. Now the second definition:

"The second and less familiar definition of instructional technology goes beyond any particular medium or device. In this sense, instructional technology is more than the sum of it parts. It is a systematic way of designing, carrying out, and evaluating the whole process of learning and teaching in terms of specific objectives, based on research on human learning and communication, and employing a combination of human and nonhuman resources to bring about more effective instruction."

I feel is by far the better of the two definitions. I can see why they put out two separate definitions though. It needs to be however, one definition and in 2006 I feel that the Association for Educational Communication and Technology (AECT) did just that with the following definition:

"Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources."

EDT 5410: Week Four Task 2 Activity

Static Image - Here is a static image from my computer

Embedded Video - Here is a video from YouTube

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