My first day of blogging has been a fun challenge. I have to admit though, I feel a bit behind other students. "Surely I'm supposed to know how to blog and how to use powerpoint magnificantly, by now", I ask my self? I mean, I have already completed a degree and I have been using the computer for quite a few years. However, today was the first day I had ever tried to set up a blog. I felt a sense of achievement even though the task was pretty simple. Sense of achievement, is good!
What I've realised is that I need to keep alert in the classes, so as not to miss a thing the tutor is saying (In this first lesson every now and then I lapsed in to my own thoughts and then found myself back in the class but two steps behind...this was not condusive to good learning).
I understand that I will need to catch up on quite a bit of knowledge in order to be able to utilise the technology to its potential (as much as that is possible) for my subject area -music. I was really impressed by one of the guest lecturers for music, who showed us many ways that technology can be used within the music classroom. One of those tools, was the chance for students to set up blogs and post video presentations about certain musical subjects, rather than having to write an essay or present in class. The lecturer had explained that the student was 'anti-class presentation', and yet he excelled in the blog presentation.Ultimately I would like to be able to offer my students a variety of ways for them to present their work and their understanding of topics. The more I know about the technology and what it can offer, the more opportunity I can give to my students to learn in a way that is best suited to them individually.
First things first -get comfortable with the blog and powerpoint medium. The only way that happens is to just 'get in there' and try things out.
