Week Two Wikis Project

I work at a community college in retention.  I am constantly working to find ways to assist our students to assist themselves with their success skills.  So when I went to look at wikis, I went to look at ideas that I could emulate.  I found the Marian University Teaching and Learning Tools and Tips Wiki to be an example of what I needed.  I was visually pleasing with photos of their campus, not too many words, well placed and thought out links, and an inviting text from the staff.

It provided students with free links to other online resources; although I was not impressed with that list.  I have a much longer and more in depth list that I am developing determined by the student’s topic of study or area of support need.  The institution provides four links to professional agencies with whom the instructors may connect.   They are Annenberg Learner or Learner.org for all areas of study; On the Cutting Edge for Geoscience faculty; The Teaching Professor an inspirational and informational site for all instructors; and a link to The Toolbox a teaching a learning resource for instructors which was not working.

They provided information and links to assist with underprepared students, a video on instruction from YouTube by Gen. Ruben Cubero, Dean of The Faculty, United States Air Force Academy, and a “fun stuff” page.  I could not tell if the wiki was designed for faculty or students because of the mixture of information not being clearly defined.  Although, the information was very helpful and will be useful to me in many ways.

The second wiki I viewed was Norwalk Community College’s wiki for ENG: 074 College Reading.  The page listed what students needed for class, provided course meeting times, assignment information, notes, and helpful tips for success in the class including a MLA outline and links for more information.    The instructor had placed video that supported the text, vocabulary, and other lists as support areas to the main body of the wiki.  It was not cluttered and information was well labeled and placed.  Since my institution has a course almost exactly like this, I found this wiki very informative and plan on sharing it with the instructors at my college.

 

WEEK TWO

I have begun my second week of classes both in my classes at Missouri Baptist University and at Kaskaskia College, when I work.  This is usually the time where all chaos begins for me and my mind begins to wander as I am commuting back and forth from my home in Nashville to Centralia.  I love to work on crafty projects.  So this week, I have been thinking about how we can step-up our New Student Orientation presentation with what I am learning in my MoBap class. 

In the Pearson's text, we are reading the 2nd chapter, focused on things "Technology Tools to Support Literacy".  I am always trying to shake up the presentation because we have a basic power-point that we have added different tools to, over the last couple of semesters, to make it more engaging.  This last semester, I added a Prezi for the Library portion, as well as a new video from the music department that utilized multi-media for attention. 

Kaskaskia College was started in 1940 and presently has extension campuses and sites in East St. Louis, Greenville, Nashville, Salem, Trenton, Vandalia, and two additional locations within the city of Centralia.  We also offer classes at two prisons and at various businesses in the region.  Because we have a "one College concept", our new student orientation needs to be educationally equal for any site and all participants no matter when or where they attend. 

While our reading assignment was focused on grade school, I found "A Podcast Tour of Washington, D.C." (Anderson, p. 49-50) a create idea for me and my Student Ambassador staff to adapt into our presentation.  We usually find that describing each of our sites to be cumbersome and unfortunately a little boring.   I believe this idea is just the ticket that I have been looking for!  I also think that it will be fun for us to learn more about the towns and areas that we are working within.  After all, these are the places where are students live and are proud to call home.  I am sure they will be happy to see that we are excited that our institution is a part of their history, also.


Reference
Anderson, R.S., Grant, M.M., Speck, B.W. (2001). Technology to teach literacy: A resource for K-8 teachers. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson.

WEEK ONE

This is the first week of my third class in the educational technology program.  I took two classes in the spring and then took the summer off to complete major work projects at my institution.  I work at a community college in the retention department.  Summer is a very busy time for us!  But it did not keep me from becoming excited about my fall class schedule in this program.  That was until I had to get an etext.

It really is ironic.  I am the one who has been encouraging students to try etexts for the last five years.  Especially those students in my age bracket who have vision issues, as I do.  It is so easy to adjust the font size on an etext.  It is so easy to highlight a passage and send it to a search vehicle for more information or to a document to build into notes or a paper.  But actually using one for my own use; I have not had the pleasure - or pain! 

This week has been a struggle for me.  What is that old expression about teaching old dogs?  Well, I guess I am one.  But as my grandma always tells me "This too shall pass!"  I will get used to reading online and I bet I will love it eventually.  I will never replace the feeling of turning a page or the weight of a book in your hand, but the other things I have been telling my students, really are true!

I have been reading my classmates blogs and postings.  I am so glad that I am not the only non traditional age student in the class and yet I am so glad that we have so many young students.  They have so many more hands on experiences than I.  Sure, I had a computer class in high school.  There was one room that had computers; one.  My first computer got me through my undergraduate degree and it was a COMPAQ Presario with a 3 inch floppy drive.  Sill have my first Master's papers on them if anyone wants to read them. 

The largest thing I have gotten out of reading this week is that I will be reading a great deal outside of the book.  I will need to make sure that I complement what we are doing in the texts with what I need to know in my educational field or I will not be using my time wisely.  So I will be reading articles in educational journals and online blog by higher education professionals to see how and what they are doing what we are learning in this class.