As a teacher and a student in distance education, my technology skills are impaired. Therefore, my abilities to integrate technology into my understanding is also inadequate. I poses most of the capabilities of the static domain, but I do not poses the skills to incorporate the technologies on the dynamic side of the continuum. As a classroom teacher, I am more skilled with technology than most of the other teachers at my school, but that is not saying much because my school system is extremely far behind. However, to implement change at my school, I have to learn how to utilize these tools in the classroom by over coming my disabilities and frustration levels.
On my Concept Map, I have the ability to use Wikis, participate in social networking sites, and share files with my peers in order to collaborate on projects. I can also insert information into emails, blogs (as long as it does have to be converted), and asynchronous discussion boards to communicate. In addition, I can access podcasts, read texts (books, downloads, or otherwise), and access web pages to gather content information. All of these are tools that I can access in order to participate in or instruct others in an online environment.
However, I need to learn how to utilize more dynamic tools with in my classroom and as a student. In order to access content information, I know how to access prerecorded Elluminate session, but I don't know how to create a digital story or utilize mind tools. To over come this deficiency, I have researched digital storytelling and tried to use it to create my video project for this course. In order to communicate, I can access synchronous chat rooms and instant messaging tools, but I have never held a conversation on Skype. Recently, I have acquired a Skype account, but no one I am friends with use it. I have tried to use it to communicate with my professors, but to no avail. As for collaboration on the dynamic continuum, I have never participated in Second life, Active world, or Elluminate Live sessions. I would love to access an Elluminate Live session (whiteboard) within my classroom. I think it would be a great way to collaborate or have my students share ideas with others.
To access the Content Map, I had to attach it to my Wiki again. I skill do not know how to change my word document to a jpeg. Therefore, I am sorry for the inconvenience. My wiki site is http://kristacrawford.wikispaces.com and it is attached to the first page. If you cannot get to it, then it is also in my files on my Wiki as well.
I learned a long time ago that when I had something big to learn it is best to take it in little steps. If you learn one new piece of technology each day, you will know 30 new things by the end of the month. Buy a book on the different things that you want to learn and do one chapter a day, or two chapters a week. In a month you can finish a book and will have learned a new skill. It is overwhelming when you look at the big picture, but it all comes together when you build piece by piece.
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