IT 645 was one of those courses that I wished all of my courses could mock. I must admit that this course was very easy to get through. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or bad, but in any case, it was great. There were a few things in this course that I already knew about or knew how to do; but, the different sites and tools were new to me. I learned quite a bit in this course, although some of it was repetitive from other IT courses I’ve taken.
Project one had me a bit scared. I’ve done a lesson plan in one of my educational courses and it was quite a bit longer than this project. When I saw that the assignment was to create a lesson plan, I immediately gasped. Luckily, this was a brief version of it, which I loved because it was straight to the point.
Project two was the survey. It took me maybe ten minutes to complete this project. It was very simple and straight to the point. While creating this survey, I figured that I could use Google Forms to create a multitude of items. I could create parent forms, quizzes, and/or feedback forms, just to name a few. I know there are other sites that I can use to create quizzes such as quizziz.com, but I love how I can have all of my documents in one place on the Google Drive.
Project three was a project that I really enjoyed. This project allowed me to use my creativity (Standard I) by first creating a story. I enjoyed creating the story. I actually visualized the scenes as I was typing it. I am a very imaginative person, therefore the movie story allowed me to express my love for the imagination. The presentation was okay. I've done gazillions of presentations, therefore sometimes I get bored with them. Although, I did the presentation with Google slides (new to me), it was still a lot like PowerPoint. Will I use this tool in my classroom? Maybe or maybe not. Technology is so forceful now and there are millions of ways to present content to students besides slides.
Project four was really fun. I was able to talk, talk, talk about a subject that I really enjoy. The website that we used was very easy to navigate and work with. I can see myself using this tool in the event that I'm unable to do a live face-to-face conference. I can record myself ahead of time and post it on the course website. The podcast can also be useful when students want a little more information about a subject; or if they missed something in class.
Project five was the movie story. I didn't like this project much. I had a hard time with it, and still haven't figured out what I did wrong. I think this tool would be better suited for younger kids, and as a secondary teacher I wouldn't utilize it in my classroom. It was interactive and nice to work with, but the features are so limited.
Project six was EdPuzzle. I liked EdPuzzle a lot, especially the question add-in feature. It was really fun to do. I enjoyed this project a lot. Some students are visual learners and I believe using this tool will help those students. I would definitely utilize this tool in my classroom. I believe I would use it as a study guide type homework each week.
Project seven is the course website. I’m sure I spent the most time on this project, but it allowed me to be creative and think outside the box. I had so much fun making this website colorful and interactive for the students. I would definitely utilize this project into my own classroom. I believe that it will be beneficial to both the students and parents. It can be very informative and it can help when students have questions at odd times such as 11pm on a Sunday night.
Project eight is the quiz and forum. The quiz was very easy to create, and I liked it. It took me minimal time to create and embed it. I would definitely use this in my classroom from time to time. The forum was okay, but I don't think I would integrate it into my classroom. Truthfully speaking, forums and discussions are boring and time-consuming. But, if I was to use this in my class, I would not put a word-count or page number limit on it. I believe that when teachers do this, they limit students creativity. Some students may only need three sentences to say everything they need to say to convince the teacher that they understand the content. Other students may need three paragraphs to do the same. Please teachers stop putting required word counts and page counts on students assignments. You will get a lot of fluff in assignments by doing so.
Project nine was the quiz and rubrics. I think I fell in love with the rubrics website. I had no idea that it even existed. I feel like I've been missing out big time. I will definitely be integrating the rubrics website into my classroom every chance I get. It's simply amazing and I had no problems with the site. Quizziz was a nice website too. It can be very helpful for those times when I would rather not do a paper and pencil quiz. I don't think I would utilize it all the time, but definitely at various points in the school year.
Project ten was Thinglink and Scoop.It. Thinglink was quite fun and easy. It's almost like an alternative to the traditional notes, just black and white writing. I also love that it's interactive. Would I integrate it in my class? There's a big chance that I would, but not necessarily for every lesson. Scoop.It on the other hand was okay. It wasn't my favorite tool. I don't think that the information I was able to find would be really useful for my course website. I believe it would be more beneficial to older age groups. Because I'm a secondary teacher then I could use it in my classroom, but would I? Probably not. It was easy to work with and navigate, but I do not I would like it for my class.
The final project which was the blogfolio was our blog, but slightly doctored up. It shows everything we did over the entire semester. Every week we were required to answer a question or questions from the textbook, as well as reflect on our mini projects. Throughout this blogfolio, you will find that I showed thorough knowledge of the subject matter through project submissals and my discussion posts.
I must say that I am taking away a lot of valuable information from this course. I feel as though I am ready to teach an online course right now. All of the tools were quite useful, although a couple of them I didn't care for much. Overall, I believe that I am exiting this course with another level of knowledge in technology.