I was convinced that I just NEEDED to get on Del.icio.us after attending MACUL this year, and since that time I don't feel it is an overstatement that my life has changed. In accordance with becoming an edtech blog reader (using RSS of course), posting to Del.icio.us is now a several-times-weekly occurrence. It is the solution to the fact that there are WAY too many important things on the net to 'save' than there is room in your browser's "bookmarks". So anytime I come across anything that I think may have value in the future for me as a teacher, I do not hesitate to add it! It is great when I hear my colleagues talking about "I wish there was something that could..." and I am able to say, "ya know what-there IS something that can..." and I can access any computer and find the link to it within seconds. So teacher-to-teacher sharing for me has been proven to be facilitated using Del.icio.us. As far as students using this tool, I am sure that it has value. In fact, one of my "computer lab" lessons last year for my 4th graders was how to use bookmarks in the browser to save important sites. It is certainly viable to think that the next step would be to teach students how to "socially bookmark". As with many web based tools, there seems to be the common hump to get over in that users need to register for the site using an email, which makes it difficult for elementary level students. Has anyone heard of a Del.icio.us-type site for education? Also, there are issues to think about regarding the fact that students can access it outside of school and content that is posted would be hard to regulate. However, teaching students digital citizenship should go hand-in-hand with the use of any Web 2.0 tool.
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Considering how involved I am in the field of educational technology currently, it is interesting to think that merely a year ago I was certainly nowhere near being 'officially' involved. My technology use was somewhat fluent and frequent, and I used it for my profession of being an educator-- but I had yet to really put the two together. Then, as a 'new hire' 4th grade teacher I quickly found that any skills I considered basic for technology were being viewed as advanced by my colleagues. To keep the story short, this led to my interest in attaining a masters for such things and my realization that there may be a point in my career where I am able to use the degree in a different realm than as classroom teacher.
So I am very new, and many of the terms that we are encountering in Trends and Issues are the first or second time for me. I was interested to read about the naming of the profession, because I have always been calling the masters program itself by different names- Instructional Tech.; Educational Tech.; IDT.... can someone clarify what WESTERN is going to call the masters program? Reiser & Demsey do a nice job of summarizing nearly a century of history into a chapter, and I felt very informed after reading it. I now feel comfortable describing the field to a friend or colleague, and it feels good to be able to back up the stance that it is more than just "media". Having worked with ADDIE in 5420, I was comfortable with just about all of the terms, but getting the background behind them helped deepen that understanding.
To wrap up R/D:3; here is a dream or vision of where my future career may take me in regards to IDT... The year is 2013, and based on the specific expertise that I will have acquired through continuing education as well as personal experience and district needs, a position will be created for me in my school. Our district will have just implemented the final stages of a bond that meant millions of dollars of new technology throughout the district. At the elementary level, classrooms are now equipped with interactive boards, response systems, etc. and there is a focus on digital literacy and digital citizenship to be alongside the traditional curriculum. My job will be to teach a "specials" class to 3rd-5th graders where I instruct on those things as well as many other 21st century skills. The other part of my job will be as technology coordinator where I work with teachers to help them implement technology into their everyday lessons. This includes large and small group trainings as well as one-one-one and online professional development leadership roles.
"If you dream it, you can do it"
"A dream is just a big challenge you place on yourself"
We'll see!
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Interestingly, this is exactly where I saw myself when I returned to the classroom in the coming years. As a prospective art teacher, and given the somewhat dismal prospects in light of funding problems and so on, I had imagined that my experiences gained in my post graduate studies would allow me to 'market' myself in just this manner. More and more schools are developing 'communications' programs which integrate all aspects of what we have been studying, pooling resources so that multiple disciplines share the same software/hardware. I just hope my timing proves to be correct!
Doing this week's assignement was my first time using social bookmarking. I was very impressed with how easy and user friendly it was and I too think it would be a very useful tool to share with my colleagues and students. (My students would not be able to understand and use it, but I could see the uses in other classrooms.)I think it is great that you are seeing into the future as to how you can most benefit your students and their knowledge of the technology world. You seem to love what you do and it's wonderful you want to share this love with your students.
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