Finale (Blog Assignment #3)

I guess I should just start by saying that I loved this class!  I'm not trying to kiss butt, but I learned so much more from this class than I thought I would.  Anytime I saw people using Adobe anything I immediately became intimidated and hoped that I would never have to use it.  Then it was assigned in class.  But it really isn't as bad as I thought.  There are still a lot of buttons that I don't know how to use with Adobe Premier Elements, but I get the basic gist of a basic digital story.  I'll link you to my second one because it was an improvement!

We then learned about podcasting.  This was much easier than using a digital story, but before we began the assignment, I didn't even truly know what a podcast was or what it was used for!  Whenever I heard the word podcast, I really just thought that there was a more convenient way to get news out there, but podcasts are more useful than I would have pinned them to be!

Finally, I had NO idea that there were poster templates for PowerPoint.  In fact, I wasn't even aware we would be doing a poster on the computer when I first looked at the syllabus.  Until a few weeks ago, I thought we would have to go out and buy a posterboard and become a fiend of arts and crafts, something I don't like to do too much.  The poster templates were very easy to upload, use, and edit, and it makes being creative a little easier!  Here was my finished product.

Finally, RSS feeds and Google Reader were a nice little addition to my arsenal.  I'm not sure I'll use them too much in my teaching career, but I can now stay up more on current events than I previously could.  I NEVER read the news, but now it's almost like I don't have an excuse NOT to when getting news right to your Reader is so easy.

As a final reflection point, I do still see how teachers not familiar with technology can be affronted by the implementation of it in their schools.  It can be a lot to take in and can be sort of intimidating.  Once given a chance, though, technological resources in education are not that difficult to use.  It just takes a little creativity and an ability to read directions!