Week 12: In the Spirit of Giving

Here we are the week before Thanksgiving!  It seems like just last week, we were on the eve of a holiday. . .wait we were ;-)  Hopefully, you are feeling a little less stress as we approach the end of the semester.  In the spirit of giving, we will not be having class next Thursday. . .I know, I know, I am a giver.
Tonight we will be working on our public service announcements (PSAs) for our lovely university using iMovie.  If you haven't edited video before, I think you will really enjoy the process. In order for you to edit sound, you will need headphones. . .I told you all about a month ago that you should bring headphones to class.  Try to remind your friends that tonight it is especially important to avoid the cacophony that will occur if too many of your peers forget.
Last week, we began the mindmaps for your TaskStream narratives.  If you were on of the many who was absent, discuss with a peer what you missed.  Also, there are a number of students who didn't leave a comment from last week.  Even if you were absent, you can leave a comment.
There are still quite a few assignments that you are probably working on; however, after tonight, you will only have your TaskStream narratives to complete.  This should give you plenty of time to catch up if you are behind and allow you to concentrate on completing your TaskStream narratives early if you are ahead.  Please don't hesitate to ask me if you need any help. . .I am always in the lab early.

This week's Question: What has been your most challenging assignment in this class and why?

Week 11: Becoming One with Technology

As we are approaching our last few assignments, you should have more time to be creative and less time of frantically trying to complete all of your work (well, at least in this class ;-)  Tonight, I am going to cover the all-new mindmapping assignment (previously known as Inspiration).  I am going to give you a lot of freedom to find and use a mindmapping tool to brainstorm how you have met the NETS-T.  Journal 8 has been polished up a bit. . .so I will clarify what the expectations are for this journal.  I am also releasing the final TaskStream assignment, which will not be due until the last night of class.  After this evening, the only new assignment will be the iMovie assignment!  Of course, you have multiple assignments pending and will have a lot of writing to do for TaskStream.  However, my hope is that when class ends on December 8, you will have everything completed for the course. . .It's a lofty goal, but one that I know you are all up to, right? Oh yeah, you should also have some time to work on your Google Sites tonight as well. 
Remember that for each of the artifacts that you put on your blog will also be connected to a NETS-T as well as contain a brief description of exactly what the artifact represents.  Doing this as you go makes it a lot less painful.  And don't forget to get your Symbaloo certification completed.  Forward me your email and put your badge on your blog. . .We will use Symbaloo towards the end of the semester where you will showcase all of your hard work in an amazing webmix ;-)
I want to thank all of the students who volunteered at the SDCUE Fall Tech Conference.  I saw Karla, Shayla, and Emily working hard to ensure the attendees had a good experience.  It was a record-setting event in terms of the number of people who attended.  I hope we can continue to have it on our campus for years to come!

This Week's Question: What feeds your spirit?? Watch the following video and then respond!

Week 10: Three-Quarters of Awesome!

I figure we are about 75% complete with this course.  I really want to tell you all that I am really impressed, not necessarily with the required work you have completed for this course, but with the work you are doing that you don't have to do.  Many of you are active on Twitter when you don't have to be(although I strongly recommend you do), many of you are putting extra effort into your blogs, and you are all willing to help your peers achieve success.   These are all qualities that I would look for if I were hiring teachers.  So, for that, thank you.
I believe that I have graded and regraded everything up through the presentation assignments.  I still have the PLN and some other projects that aren't technically do yet. . .well, I actually extended the PLN assignment another week so you can all participate in a quality educational chat, which is much more important to me than an artificial due date.
Anyway, tonight, I hope we can accomplish a few things:  I want the TaskStream narratives completed and ready to move to TaskStream (I will walk you through this process), discuss the Symbaloo certification and future use, and I will Introduce the CyberSafety Collaborative website assignment.  It shouldn't be too painful. . .Oh, and remind me to discuss my personal PLN experience with you. . .some cool things happened in the last couple weeks. . .An remind me to discuss Google+ hangouts!

This Week's Question: How would you describe yourself as a learner?  In what ways do you feel like you learn best?