Bookmarking and Online Sharing of Links

This has been yet another week of acquiring new as well as enhancing my knowledge of existing web skills. I knew what to “bookmark” meant but didn’t know that whatever page I bookmark I can later access it online from any computer as long as I save it on my online bookmarking account. So this time I learned how to create an online bookmarking account using Delicious. After creating this account, I shared it with my class on the class wiki and I was also able to access my fellow participants’ bookmarked sites. As I did this, I remembered my previous article titled “The Obvious isn’t Obvious”. This is because while I learned that I could create an online bookmarking account, some people already had existing accounts. I was therefore not surprised to see my Instructor Courtney’s over 190 shared links on her delicious https://delicious.com/cbcunningham. It was amazing to practically log in from another computer with a different server and access my bookmarked links online! I concluded that this bookmarking site was indeed delicious just like its name suggests. My site can be accessed at https://delicious.com/domaya .

Reading about teaching aural/oral skills was yet another task that exposed me to multiple online resources. These resources had video, audio and text uploads online.The diversity of online resources to help both learners and teachers to develop aural/oral skills was amazing!

I also got to read different project reports written by former participants, in order to choose one to discuss what each person liked most .  This gave me a glimpse of the direction I am taking as far as this course is concerned. As I explore new things each week, I cannot hesitate to say the journey continues.

Daniel

The Obvious isn’t Obvious

As I started off this week with my classes, I got so excited at the various search engines I got introduced to and some, I had never heard of! I learned that Google is a more general search engine and that there were several academic search engines. It ran through my mind that anyone who knew about the varieties of the search engines would have exclaimed, “That’s obvious, it’s not new!” This triggered me into recalling a discourse between two lecturers from one of the Ugandan universities which went thus:

Peter: I envy you Alex, because at my age, I still don’t know how to drive.

Alex: What? In this 21^st Century you don’t know how to drive!

Peter: Just like I am amazed that in this very dot.com era, you don’t know how to operate a computer.

Alex: I will learn!

It was obvious for Alex that by now, every grown-up and educated individual should know how to drive yet, indeed, the obvious is not obvious!

The discoveries of the various search engines this week, especially for academic disciplines made me add to my knowledge of web-browsing. Moreover, I gained more search techniques and criteria as advanced by Deborah Healey in her article, Technology Tip of the Month; in which she states “You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to search more effectively.” I further got exposed to a comprehensive (and addictive) list of various academic search engines and sites summarized in Phil Bradley’s website. I liked the Academic Search Engine powered by Microsoft. This particular site had options for an individual to make: either a search by Author, Publication, Journal, Conferences or Key words! Just like Phil Bradley’s website, I discovered that NoodleTools was yet another site worth exploring!

My discoveries and learning did not end at the exposure of the various search engines! I learned how to write clear lesson objectives using the ABCD model. An article on Writing Objectives clearly gives an explanation on how to go about the ABCD model. It further explains the acronym as: A = Audience, B= Behavior, C=Condition, D=Degree

It was also interesting to get re-exposed to Bloom’s Taxonomy presented under Classifying Objectives.

Practicing and sharing with my classmates the various objectives we had written in the ABCD model provided grounds for critiquing of each other’s work which helped me improve on my skills in this area. Particularly, my classmate Mouna was keen enough to suggest an alternative to the objective I had stated!

This week also saw us get introduced into a project step – describing our learners and the class setting – in preparation for a project that we’ll have to submit in towards the end of the course.

The journey continues…..

Daniel

Intrigued by Technology

The most apt statement with which to begin my reflections for this week's classes on creating this blog is one of Lao-tzu's popular saying: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Indeed my journey to the world of blogging and using online resources for teaching and learning has started with my enrollment for this course! As one of the tasks for the week, I had to create a blog using blogger. One of the steps required signing in or signing up with a Google account which, to my advantage, I already had. Interestingly, some years ago I had jokingly created a blog and what I learned this time was the fact that an individual can own more than one blog! 

While creating my blog, I learned that I can use different templates to design it. It shouldn't appear as a surprise, therefore, to anyone if my blog background and templates keep changing over time. One of the things I've liked about blogging it that I can re-edit my posts, Moreover, blogging can be a product of both seriousness and play. Experimenting and risk-taking become the heart of learning while getting to know how to use the feature in the blog page. For instance, the link I just shared in the first paragraph above was a result of my experimental learning as to whether I could insert it there since there is an icon on the tool bar labelled Link.

This week I've learned many exciting things: I started off by pinning my location on Google map as an optional task, tagging my name and a description to it. This was as good as playing, yet I learned a lot as I explored further. I got introduced to Nicenet for the very first time and I was amazed at the statistics displayed of people who have recently logged in. I came to learn that Nicenet is an Internet Classroom Assistant and several online classes are conducted through it. Another interesting concept is the wiki in which the course summary and required readings are displayed for the class.

As I plan to use blogs in the classroom, I imagine how exciting it will be for my learners and this alone will motivate them into learning as well as exploring technology further. The excited ignited within me is indescribable and I am so intrigued by technology. 

With week one almost gone, I can gladly say one step out of a thousand has been taken and the count-down now begins!

Daniel