Jon’s Blog

10 responses so far ↓

• 1    Mr WordPress // Jun 19, 2006 at 11:31 pm

  Hi, this is a sample comment.
  To delete a comment, just log in, and view the posts’ comments, there you will have the option to edit or delete them.

• 2    Jonathan // Jun 19, 2006 at 11:40 pm

  This is the first blog.

• 3    Jennifer // Jun 22, 2006 at 12:41 am

  HEY JONATHON!
  CONGRATULATIONS! Wonderful job.
  Jen

• 4    Jonathan // Jun 28, 2006 at 11:58 pm

  I have been doing some thining about my case study and have come up with a topic. Since a number of classes I have taken at APU have been online, I am curious as to when distance learning began and where it’s going. I have found a number of sites (listed below) that I have looked over to get more familiar with the topic.

  http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/framewk/pro/issues/proiss.htm
  http://www.downes.ca/future/modularity.htm
  http://www.techlearning.com/search/resultsw.jhtml;jsessionid=KRS3VEI2EBEGGQSNDLRCKH0CJUNN2JVN
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distance_learning

• 5    Jonathan // Jul 15, 2006 at 1:34 pm

  Just some thoughts about my faith integration assignement for my EDUC 515 class…I just completed my faith integration assignment yesterday. I found the assignment hard because the topics the assignment asked for are not covered in great depth on the website I was examining. Of course, I could of chosen another website, but as I read at http://www.tbi.org I became curious about a faith, Judaism, that I don’t know a great deal about. So I just made the best of it. I have a person who actually attends services at the synagogue, but she is on vacation and I am unable to ask her the questions I encountered reconciling the assignement I had with the information given on the temple’s website.

• 6    Jonathan // Jul 24, 2006 at 10:31 pm

  So, here I am at the end of 515 and it is time for me to think back on this class. Let me start with the things that I really liked. First, I got me feet wet with blogging and podcasting. I am really starting to learn how podcasting fits for me within my personal and professional life. I have always not even given podcasts on iTunes a glance, but have started to download a few and have caught onto the educational implications of podcasting and podcasts. Also, as to blogging, I like the how things can be posted to blogs, from text to sound to video. I mentioned earlier, the things I liked, as if there are things that I don’t. I think that that is not truly accurate. The problem is, for me, how am I going to use this in my classroom? I do want to use a class blog for students to create a network of learners. How can I do this so that I am comfortable with it, it is an educational tool, keeps me students safe…that for me is what I need to work through. And podcasts, can I get create, find podcasts that my students would be able to use?

  This class, now that I think about it, is a jumping off point for me…

• 7    Jonathan // Jul 28, 2006 at 12:34 pm

  I am trying to figure out how to post in a category other than uncategorized…

• 8    Jonathan // Sep 13, 2006 at 1:08 am

  Tomorrow night I start 526, my Capstone for the program. I am looking forward to starting the final lap of my Masters program. I have been hearning from fellow students about the amount of work, and am anxious to see for myself.

  I am also taking another class, 524 Curriculum & Design, and like the fact that what we are going to learn, what we are going to produce will be a benefit in my classroom. I know of a number of people who have gotten their Masters elsewhere and it seems as though they have not gotten much besides units out of the experience. I am looking forward to the practical applications of what I am going to learn.

• 9    Jonathan // Sep 26, 2006 at 10:10 pm

  As I think about what will be needed in terms people readiness, I think about staff resistance. I say resistance, but not in the traditional way. Teachers at my site complete technology projects with students, but the projects involve either PowerPoint or Excel. Emerging educational technologies aren’t seen in technology projects.

  So if I were to get into staff development in the area of technology, I would want to introduce technolgies that not named PowerPoint or Excel. In order to do this I need to be able to show the educational implications of podcasts, blogs, global learning projects, etc, and hos they can impact student learning.

  With this in mind, any inservice that I conducted with need to be tailored to providing the teachers with a framework for the technology and show how to use it in the classroom. Not just showing how to use it, but how to incorporate it, not have it be something that sounds neat, but is considered an add-on to the curriculum. This is no small feat.

  Luckily, I am not at the point of presenting. Hopefully…soon.

• 10    Jonathan // Oct 19, 2006 at 8:11 pm

  The first thing that I noticed as I read the article Scoring PowerPoints by Jamie McKenzie was that in the first few lines it talks about how students will spend most of their time on the effects of the PowerPoint, to the point where it becomes the goal of the project. Whereas, the effects are to enhance the presentation, not be the presentation. I get this a lot in class, to the point where it is the first rule in the computer lab for my class. Students must have content done before any effects can be added. A couple of weeks ago it was mentioned that content should be finished, to point of storyboarded, before the students even step foot in the lab. I like this idea because lab time is gold and students don’t have the time to spend time worrying about coming up with content.

  As I read further, I got to the chart where you could click on parts of the chart to learn about various PowerPoint topics. Each of the links seemed like common sense, and were things that need to be explicitly taught to your students. Things such as not using lots of different transitions, selecting images that leave a lasting impression on the audience, not filling the slides with words, etc. are the things that need to be taught. Without teaching the students this principle, even the best content is not going to truly reach the audience.

  Reflecting on the whole article, I thought that it is just a common sense approach to creating PowerPoint presentations. Teachers, especially presenters, should be required to read this. There is nothing worse than going to a presentation and having every slide packed with text and the presenter read each and every slide.

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