CEP810: RSS Feeder Reflections

• Sep. 23, 2010 – With the five given feeds, I can already look through 482 topics that are related to education and technology.  Then I decided to add and follow the blog, Technology and Learning, which made it to a total of 585 topics. I consider these resources as great examples as I start searching for additional feeds into Netvibes.

• Sep. 25, 2010 - After I have completed the task, because of Netvibes’ ease of use and functionality, it was uncomplicated for me to search and add nine more feeds that are related to education and technology.  I particularly watched the Adult Education and Technology blog.

•  Sept. 27, 2010 – I started with five sites with 482 topics and in just few days, I have 15 sites with 1070 topics that I can use towards my professional development.  At the "Adult Education and Technology" blog, I posted a comment on a video about a vision about how screen technology will be working by 2014 for adult education.  I waited for it to be approved for web posting by the blog author.  Unfortunately, the blog hasn’t been updated for days and my comment has not been posted.  The blog contains great resources which made me decide to still keep the site.   

• Sept. 28, 2010 – The “On Blogging and Social Media” site has not been active too and I decided to replace it with the New York Times subscription.  The following day, I left a comment on an article regarding a study where many children want to read using digital devices, while parents worry technology will distract young bookworms. This time, my comment (#30) was approved and has been recommended by two other readers.

• Oct. 3, 2010 – I have a total of 1,114 resources for teaching and learning! Podcasts, blogs, articles, lesson plans, creativity tools – you name it.  Now, all I need is 1,114 extra minutes to catch up. The sites I have are very useful sites. My rss feeds are set in public view and meant for sharing!  When I started searching for web sites, I tried to make sure there was a balance of learning and teaching resources that are related to technology.  It will be just a waste of time and energy gathering all these information if they are not useful towards my professional development. 

• Oct. 5, 2010 -  Read more of my insights that I have written about this lab activity. 

As Alvin Tolfer says, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”    As I reflect on this activity, I think I should always strive on focusing on these three elements:  I should always be prepared to LEARN and explore new ways of learning new technology and teaching strategies;  be willing to UNLEARN and shift my understanding from old models to updated views; and be open to RELEARN and revisit the foundations and the basic instructional design of education.

CEP810: Week 1: Xena vs. Zoho

It was a jam-packed week with lab activities and homework to complete.  I’ve already learned quite a bit in just the first session.  Collaboration features add value to productivity tools like Zoho and Google apps.  I felt like Xena the Warrior Princess wrestling with the Mighty Zoho especially when it didn’t do what I wanted it to do.  I was so dependent on MS Word in the past.  It was a test of will and willingness to learn new things.  I ended up understanding why a lot of schools and people use Google apps and Zoho. 

I’ve also experienced the efficiency of managing data and schedules when I created my own blog with a link to my internet calendar.  Netvibes helps me organize all my RSS feeds – I added 10 more feeds to the given 5 links which I will be watching and will be due in few weeks (10 on 10-10).  I cannot believe that Jing is free – it’s a very handy tool!

I wish I had super powers as I stared hard at the blank document and then started to write my Personal Development Plan.   I don’t think there’s a web tool to think and write for me yet.  Let me know if you find one!  I’m glad I had everything done on time though.

Well, I’m off to week two … so how’s your week?