Registration Troubles

Ohh the joys of having to jump through hoops. Seeing as I hadn't applied for my degree back in December, like EVERYONE else (according to the woman I spoke with); the awarding of my bachelor's degree was greatly delayed. In all honestly I had no idea that I needed to apply for my degree, my academic advisor did not mention anything to me except to apply for the Graduate program and pay the $50 fee. NO one ever mentioned the $70 one I needed to do.

Having finally been awarded my degree, I attempted to register for ED 559: Foundations, once it was already over. Since it was past the end date on the course I was then told (after emailing what seemed like a million people) that I needed to file an academic appeal. It seems like a bunch of silly paperwork that has to be completed to "jump through their hoops". I faxed off the paperwork and received an email stating they had not received it. Today I finally received an email stating they had received it and it would go before the panel to be reviewed next week....

Hopefully early next week this will all be cleared up and my financial aid will be fully awarded as well. I was able to register for the Ed Tech course as well as the courses for Fall, so I suppose that is the good news of it all.

Usefulness of Blogs

After completing my NCLB Paper today (YAY!) I have spent some time exploring the links on the Wiki. Just now I ran across some information that I thought was interesting.

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From website:

Using the Blog in the Classroom
As an educational tool, blogs may be integrated in a multi-faceted manner to accommodate all learners. Blogs can serve at least four basic functions.

Classroom Management
Class blogs can serve as a portal to foster a community of learners. As they are easy to create and update efficiently, they can be used to inform students of class requirements, post handouts, notices, and homework assignments, or act as a question and answer board.

Collaboration
Blogs provide a space where teachers and students can work to further develop writing or other skills with the advantage of an instant audience. Teachers can offer instructional tips, and students can practice and benefit from peer review. They also make online mentoring possible. For example, a class of older students can help a class of younger students develop more confidence in their writing skills. Students can also participate in cooperative learning activities that require them to relay research findings, ideas, or suggestions.

Discussions
A class blog opens the opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. With a blog, every person has an equal opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions. Students have time to react to ideas and reflect on learning. Teachers can also bring together a group of knowledgeable individuals for a given unit of study for students to network and conference with on a blog.

Student Portfolios
Blogs present, organize, and protect student work as digital portfolios. As older entries are archived, developing skills and progress may be analyzed more conveniently. Additionally, as students realize their efforts will be published, they are typically more motivated to produce better writing. Teachers and peers may conference with a student individually on a developing work, and expert or peer mentoring advice can be easily kept for future reference.

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I could see blogs to be used as many different tools in the classroom. Since I would ideally like to work with younger elementary aged students, I think a blog would be a perfect communication for parents. I could relay important information to parents about upcoming events and provide them information about what we are doing in class, complete with pictures.

I, as a parent have heard so many times "I didn't do anything" in response to the question "What did you do at school today?" This would be an ideal resource for me to see what my child is learning, and what they are really doing at school (since we all no they aren't just sitting there doing "nothing" all day).

Thoughts After First Class

So far Ed Tech sounds like it's going to be a very interesting and helpful course. Already I am pleased that I am able to view my school email in my Gmail account (which I had no idea was possible). This will help me to be able to read my email, since it seems like it has been down a lot lately. With all the trouble I've had trying to get registered for both this course and Ed 559, it's very important to be able to receive this messages quickly anytime I want to.

As soon as I have completed my No Child Left Behind paper, I will be looking around the Wiki for Ed Tech. This is the first time I have ever seen one, so it's a new experience to me. It seems like it will be a great tool that if utilized efficiently could be a perfect communication tool to my student's families.