1.)
My
PLN (personal learning network) is basically my public domain on the web where
I perpetually become more technologically informed. This network allows me to collaborate and
connect with other professionals in the education field. Some of the tools that I have used to develop
my PLN include; Twitter, Diigo, and my blog.
The most key component of a PLN is the fact that these tools provide
teachers with resources that were not available to them before. In other words, a PLN allows teachers to draw
from a greater pool of knowledge based on virtual relationships instead of
being limited to their community.
2.)
On
Tuesday August 2, 2011 I participated in the #Spedchat at 8:30pm EST. This chat was a collaborative discussion that
provided teachers with feedback and weblinks to a topic. For this discussion the topic was about creating
an inclusive classroom for special education students. One example, which makes classrooms more inclusive,
is through adaptive technology. Some of
the adaptive tools being utilized include but are not limited to; media
tablets, ipads, netbooks and smartphones.
One of the important facets about using these types of devices is the
fact that students specifically with physical disabilities are more capable of
holding a media tablet as opposed to holding a pen and paper. Moreover, through
the implementation of these types of multimedia devices special needs students are
becoming more capable of learning in an all inclusive environment. After
participating in this discussion I decided to follow several contributors to
this conversation. I am currently following
autism2awesome, azautzmcoalishn, inclusive_class, asdhelp, autismspeaks, the
autismnews and lynnesoraya (a woman with asperger’s). I decided to follow these tweeters because they
seemed to be providing a lot of information regarding the special education
field and I feel they will be a good resource.
3.) Through the use of Diigo I am able to collaborate with other educators and build on my knowledge base. Some of the people I chose to follow were from professor Heil’s list of fellow followers, and the other people were from my own personal search. For my search I typed in “special education” to see what type of followers that would yield. This showed me several people who had an interest in this field and I chose people based on their bio and amount of follower’s they had. After adding a few Diigo members to my site I decided to bookmark some bloggers who I thought would help in building up my PLN. The first blog post that bookmarked was the, “Personal Learning Networks 101” that Professor Heil provided for us. I choose this one because it gave me a better understanding of why having a PLN is so important. The second blog post that I bookmarked was from Edutopia called “What tech tools should be required knowledge for teachers?”. I chose this discussion because it explained why it is so important to have a basic understanding of technology in order to be the best educator that you can. It even referenced ISTE, which we are using in class as a way to improve our future or current use of technology in the classroom. The third blog post that I bookmarked was, “Summer PD: Web tools collective part 4-tools to help students create.” I thought this post was important as well because it talked about the various tools that you can use and are currently being used instead of PowerPoint.
3.) Through the use of Diigo I am able to collaborate with other educators and build on my knowledge base. Some of the people I chose to follow were from professor Heil’s list of fellow followers, and the other people were from my own personal search. For my search I typed in “special education” to see what type of followers that would yield. This showed me several people who had an interest in this field and I chose people based on their bio and amount of follower’s they had. After adding a few Diigo members to my site I decided to bookmark some bloggers who I thought would help in building up my PLN. The first blog post that bookmarked was the, “Personal Learning Networks 101” that Professor Heil provided for us. I choose this one because it gave me a better understanding of why having a PLN is so important. The second blog post that I bookmarked was from Edutopia called “What tech tools should be required knowledge for teachers?”. I chose this discussion because it explained why it is so important to have a basic understanding of technology in order to be the best educator that you can. It even referenced ISTE, which we are using in class as a way to improve our future or current use of technology in the classroom. The third blog post that I bookmarked was, “Summer PD: Web tools collective part 4-tools to help students create.” I thought this post was important as well because it talked about the various tools that you can use and are currently being used instead of PowerPoint.
4.)
I
decided to join the Educator’s PLN. There
I viewed a video that showed a teacher named Robert Pronovost who used grant
funds to purchase iPads for his students.
Through these iPads these students were able to create stories using
characters provided to them by their storyboard. Also they were able to record their voice,
which helped them to develop their stories before having to write them down. This teacher remarked on how beneficial these
ipads were in building on their basic foundation of prior writing capabilities. Especially, for students who have learning
disabilities or English is not their first language. However, the funding is very limited when it
come to paying for this technology. So
unfortunately, due to this issue, funding only allows this teacher to purchase
four ipads, which leaves the rest of the students out from participating with
the ipads.
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