EdCampBLC

If you read my last post about Twitter, you know that I'm not too keen on tweeting. I am, however, up from 15 tweets (as previously reported) to a whopping 26 tweets (This may seem meager, but it's a lot for me.) thanks to a random Twitter blogger who tried to help me with my Google site, CAedchat, and today's EdCampBLC held in Boston, MA.

EdCampBLC has been moving a little more at my pace than CAedchat last night (no way to keep up with that!). Boston participants are tweeting some great links and resources though.

One of my favorite ideas from EdCampBLC was WOW - is it Worthy Of the World? What a great acronym to help our students remember to be very mindful when posting online.

Well, it seems like this Twitter thing is catching on - at least I'm liking the events like EdCampBLC. I look forward to doing this again.

Twitter - I'm a terrible Tweeter

Weeks 1-3

Total Tweets: 1

Under the influence of my younger sister and a few college friends, I signed up for a Twitter account in 2009. I was hesitant. I didn't understand the need to tweet. After signing up, I quickly disabled the many and frequent notifications about tweets. From 2009 to 2013, I tweeted 110 times. Many of those were retweets or replies. I liked to read tweets more than I liked to tweet.

The truth is, I still don't understand Twitter. That's not to say that I don't understand how it works or how to use it - I get how it works. I just don't understand the need for Twitter. I have no desire to continuously tweet or follow thousands of tweets.

For me, Twitter looks jumbled. It just looks like a long list of jibberish. Obviously, if I look more closely, I can make sense of the jumble, but all the hashtags and hyperlinks throw me off.

Please bear in mind, this is all coming from someone who gave Twitter a mult-year trial. From time to time, I tweeted and read tweets, but I never developed a connection with Twitter that I deemed worthwhile.

Week 4

Total Tweets: 11

I still find it hard to connect with Twitter. I forget that I should be monitoring it. My 11 tweets are required by my two classes that I'm taking this summer. And those are hard to compose. I think because I really don't want to tweet, it's making it that much harder to do so. I don't feel that I have anything very relevant to say in the field of educational technology.

I do, however, find it interesting that I continue to receive emails informing me that So-and-so is now following me on Twitter. I wonder each time, "Why would they want to follow me?" I'm not even tweeting anything interesting.

Week 5

Total Tweets: 11

I've been dragging my feet on Twitter.

Week 6

Total Tweets: 15

I'm working on exerting a little more effort this week in re-tweeting and replying to tweets. It still feels forced. I still have to remind myself to check Twitter for my class assignment. Tweeting still isn't natural for me, and truthfully, I'm still not interested enough in Twitter to actively read or tweet.

I think part of my problem is that I'm currently required to tweet by my two Master's courses. When I previously utilized a Twitter account, I was more of an observer than anything. As a current educational Twitter user, I want to observe more than I want to participate, that is, in Twitter. I would rather read what other people have to say about educational technology and education in general than uncomfortably and unnaturally put myself out there.

I'm on Twitter. Follow me or not. @SenoraWood

Paper by FiftyThree

I recently began a Master's in Education program that focuses on educational technology, and as a requirement for this program I had to purchase an iPad - what a sacrifice, right? Needless to say, I was pleased to finally have an excuse to purchase an iPad.

Once I had my new tablet in hand, I immediately searched the web for "must-have iPad apps," and I found lists galore of all the apps I absolutely "needed" to have on my iPad. Out of all the apps I investigated based on those suggestions, the coolest app I found was Paper by FiftyThree. It turns out Paper was the Apple App of the Year in 2012, so maybe you've already heard of it, but it's seriously cool.

I have been wanting a better way to design presentations in my classroom, and Paper allows me to do that. It's definitely geared more toward artists, but I'm not an artist - I'm just a Spanish teacher who's particular about how I present information.

I was initially taken by Paper when I saw how awesome it made my handwriting look:

I tried using Paper for what it was intended for, art:

But as I told you before, I'm not an artist. While I was still having fun goofing around on the app, I sent this to my husband:

But realistically, this is the kind of thing I want to use it for:

I envision creating my own pictures and layouts for PowerPoint and Keynote in my classroom.

So that's my first impression of Paper by FiftyThree. The initial download is free, but if you want to use anything besides the drawing tool and preselected colors, you'll have to pay a few bucks.

Research Response: The Economist

I came across an article on Twitter (via @SteveGlass) by The Economist entitled Catching On at Last that really caught my attention. The article outlines the advances in technology over the past few decades and how during that time new technology has promised its ability to increase student learning and success with limited results. The claim now is that emerging technology is finally able to accomplish what it has strived for in education for a score of years. With the development of programs that can track student progress integrated with activities that not only teach but engage and entertain students, many schools and districts across America and throughout the world are experiencing success with the implementation of these programs.

What I found most interesting was the attitude that the teacher unions have taken toward technology. Clearly responding out of fear, teachers are defensive toward technology that can eventually take over their jobs. With more and more technology resources available in schools and to students, many teachers fear they will no longer be needed. I, on the other hand, think this is, well, somewhat ridiculous. I see the growth of technology in education as something that is impossible to achieve without teachers. What schools need is the availability of technology alongside pedagogically well-trained teachers that are also well-versed in educational technology.

That being said, I found this article from The Economist a very interesting and, quite frankly, exciting read. While the article itself isn't overly exciting, the prospect of being a teacher in an era of such rapidly advanced and developing technology is exciting.