EDM 310 - Monday August 31st

Class,

Today, we will use as a work day to get finished with some assignments and start our Google presentation work, we will do the following:

1. Talk about our blogs on Podcasts
2. Complete our IGoogle page
3. Complete our RSS Feeds with Google Reader
4. Work on and turn in our story boards for our Google Presentation
5. Work on our Google Presentations

Assignments for Wednesday September 2nd:

1. Read the article I posted about Google changing the way we think and blog about it
2. Work on your Google Presentations

See you in class.

EDM 310 - Wednesday August 26th

Class,

Today, We will do the following:

1. Talk about the Google Presentations
2. See a couple of examples of Google Presentations
3. Watch a short video on Twitter
4. Watch a short video on RSS Feeds
5. Watch a short video on Google Reader
6. You will setup an IGoogle page
7. You will setup Google Reader

Assignments for Monday August 31st include:

1. A storyboard for your Google Presentation (criteria is in the syllabus)
2. The Blog assignment due on August 30th.

See you in class.

EDM 310 - Monday August 24th

Class,

Today, we will do the following:

1. We will discuss the Blog assignments that are due today
2. We will watch a short video on Google Docs
3. You will take a Plagiarism Survey
4. You will take a Mathematics Diagnostic Test
5. I will take care of anyone who needs some help

Assignments for Wednesday August 26th

1. Read the material - Twitter for Beginners
2. Read the material - Developing a Personal Learning Network
3. Watch the Instructional Video for Google Presentation
4. Start thinking about your storyboard for your Google presentation

I look forward to seeing everyone today.

BLOG Assignment Update for Monday August 24th

Class,

I had a student let me know that they were having some trouble with some of the videos for the blog assignments. I talked to Dr. Strange and he let me know that
#5 http://is.gd/2bYd6 Next Generation Learning video is not working correctly so you can cross that one off the list due on Monday.

Also, #4 Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts is working some of the time. If you cannot get it to work you won't be penalized for not doing that one.

Thanks for being understanding and patient. Sometimes technology can be crazy.

Have a great weekend and I will see you Monday.

EDM 310 - Wednesday August 19th

Class,

Monday August 17th

Other than the heat, the first class went well. A quick recap of what we did on Monday.

1. We discussed the syllabus.
2. We setup Gmail accounts
3. We did the EDM 310 student survey

If you did not complete the two assignments from Monday, please do it as soon as possible. If you have any questions let me know.


Wednesday August 19th

Today, we will do the following activities:

1. You will watch a short video(about 3 minutes)on Blogs
2. You will setup our class blogs
3. You will add individual pictures to our blogs
4. You will send me an email(gtashbin@usouthal.edu)with your blog URL.
5. You will be assigned your first blog assignments
6. You will take a short survey on Plagiarism
7. You will take a Math diagnostic test (it does not count for any grade)

As you can see, we have a lot to do so let's dive right in.

EDM 310 Welcome

Several years ago this course used to cover Word, PowerPoint Excel, and a database like Access. Some of you may think it still does. You are incorrect. Email, Word, Excel and PowerPoint Won't Cut It Anymore.

Information is growing at an exponential rate. Information is not just words, but pictures, videos, sounds and graphics. There are few editors anymore. Everyone can be an international publisher - instantly - with the potential to reach a world wide audience. Books, newspapers, even emails are being replaced by tweets, SMS and MMS messages, video chats, podcasts, Skype calls, and YouTube.

The classrooms in which you will teach, if they continue to exist, will be very different from the classrooms in which you were taught. The things you will have to know and do will be very different from those your teachers experienced.

iTunesU now has more courses online than all the courses taught at the University of South Alabama. And more are being added everyday.

All of this is primarily the result of a profound, rapid and breathtaking change in communication. I can talk with and see people throughout the world instantly and without it costing me a cent. My videos can be on YouTube 4 minutes after I take them, ready to be seen by millions of people.

Printed materials are disappearing. Newspapers are dying or becoming electronic in form. Textbooks are being replaced by e-books (or no books). Reading and writing have become watching and listening.

We don't really know what schools should be like in this new world where information no longer resides in libraries but in clouds instead, where "all information is in all places at all times," where there are no editors or moderators of what gets "published", where videos and audio are as important, or more important than the printed word, where time and space have collapsed and it now takes only a microsecond to transfer information (in any form) from one place to all places in the universe (well ,at least on this planet), where privacy no longer has meaning, or very little if there is a bit left.

Are you ready to be a teacher in this new world? Do you have any idea of what the world of learning will be like tomorrow? Are you excited about learning and eager to share that excitement with others? Can you survive in a classroom where you will certainly not "know it all" and where many of your students will know a lot more about some things than you? Are you ready to practice your profession in a world in which collaboration is more important than individual action, where information is dispensed in 140 character tweets, where YouTube videos multiply at a rate that far exceeds the world of publishing's most successful era, where videos and audio are listened to and watched more than books are read? Sounds like chaos? Well, you may be correct!

You are about to encounter the chaos of the new world in EDM310. Welcome aboard!