Keeping up isn’t easy but the best way to start is by participating. Personal use is a pre-condition for any kind of comprehension or competency with educational technology.

• Try a new digital tool
• Play with it
• Read about it
• Talk about it
• Watch it being done
• ‘Show and Tell” it with peers

You don’t need to go out and implement fresh strategy every time you read a new blog post or editorial, but just integrate yourself into the conversation. You don’t need to read the whole instruction manual (unless you are a type A personality). Well designed and programed technology is user friendly and easy to pick up… the digital generation demands it. You know this generation; they have a strong  tendency to just jump right in as if they were a kid jumping into water. Maybe we should approach this digital stuff like a kid.

Just this past week, I was playing soccer with my 5 yr old nephew. He has great skills on the ball but he has never taken a shot from a pass. So I gave him a pass to kick into the net. He missed the ball and landed on his butt. He bounced right back up and tried again. On only his second try he put it in the net with perfect form.  Watch the little ones learn with eyes and minds wide open. The little ones make mistakes all the time without fear and learn from them. Their first step is to participate.

I personally have resisted cell phones. I find them very disruptive but… the  smartphones has become the Swiss Army knives of the digital age thanks in large part to the iPhone, introduced in 2007, and the App Store, which opened its doors last year. With 90,000 apps available and a lot of them free or a small fee, how can you not participate and stay connected.

It’s hard but try learning like a kid.

We live in an amazing time… participate in it!

Lord Puttnam message about barriers in education systems and new ways of teaching in the XXI century.

I am currently taking 2 master courses in educational technology. In my journey of learning, I  come across some thought provoking issues and practical ideas on the use of etools.  I came across a research paper by Richard Mayer published in the Educational Computing Research journal (2003) and it hit an accord with the way I design, build and work with online elearning tools

Some Design Principles for the Design of Multimedia Explanations

1. use both words and pictures
2. present corresponding words and pictures at the same time,
3. present the words in spoken form,
4. present words in conversational style.
5. avoid extraneous video and audio.
6. do not add on screen text that duplicates what is spoken
7. begin the presentation with concise descriptions of the components,
8. provide signaling for the narration
9. allow the learner to have control over the pace of presentation.

taken from Elements of a Science of e-Learning by Richard Mayer

I am an educational technology fan.

So what is Educational Technology? I really like wikipedia’s definition.

The blog (WeB LOG = BLOG) was first recognized in 1997. It has become an icon of the simple, interactive, engaging technology that we call Web 2.0. It has also become the cornerstone of many classes and workshops.

The Web never sleeps (nor do our students!). Blogs enable the students to have updates delivered to their desktops via RSS. And blogs enable comments to be posted – opening an asynchronous online conversation. Most blogging software and much of the Web hosting – such as http://blogger.com/ from Google – is free.

Blogs provide a means for administrators, teachers, and students to read, reflect, write, and comment on their own, and others’ writings. In its simplest form, blogging is about reading and writing. Blogging is about communication!

1. Use blogs to increase student motivation
2. Use blogs to increase reading and writing skills – journals
3. Use blogs as an interactive collaborative tool
4. Use blogs to help build social networks – blogosheres

Read a paper I wrote on Weaving Blogs into a Constructivist Classroom

A great e-tool to start with is delicious.com. This is a social bookmarking tool that I use to share my bookmarks with my students.

Watch this video and learn more:

How to start:

1. signup for your free account
2. import your bookmarks from your home and work computer/s
3. install the bookmarking buttons into your browser. It is not necessary but it makes bookmarking a lot easier
   (if you are at Fanshawe College you will have to ask the help desk folks to do it for you. You need administrative rights).
4. add tags and comments to your bookmarks

Comments and Tags

Comments help you remember what the site is about.
Tags help you organize your bookmarks.
This video gives a good explanation of tags:

Give it a try. Share your experiences by commenting on this blog post