I thought that the interactive blog format of this class was a great way to collaborate with my fellow tech camp nerds. I liked staying just a bit behind others so I could see an example of what I needed to create. This class was time consuming and the assignments were difficult, so having others working through the process in a way that was useful to me was really important for my success. I learned many tools that I will utilize in my classroom. I could have spent less time, and created projects that fulfilled the assignment, but did not help me in my classroom. Instead, I worked hard to create products that I will be using in September in 4th grade.
The most difficult type of technology I learned to use was the branching Google form. It took a ton of concentration to create this type of form for my assignment the first time. But, in my collaborate group project, I was the one who created the branching Google form and found that the second time through was a breeze. In retrospect, all of the technology I encountered in this class seems easy NOW! I am glad I spent the time figuring it all out over the summer, because during the school year, there is less time for figuring. I am hoping to continue to collaborate with others in the district. Many hands make less work! We need to continue to create good technology that helps teachers in the district and SHARE that work with grade alike teachers.
Awesome to know that the branching form was easy for you the 2nd time around! I think I'd be scared to try it again -- but maybe not, if you felt the same way but Time #2 was easy.
ReplyDeleteI laugh that you lagged a bit behind to see how others did it because I often looked to YOURS for help!!!! ;-)
I agree with Annie! I always looked at yours. You had great ideas! I agree that now things look and feel much easier when at the time I was slogging through. Hopefully I will remember all of this when I go to use it with kids!
ReplyDeleteThat you for your participation in the class and your reflection. It is always good to have a game plan for how you can be most successful in a class. You used a good strategy and I am glad that the blog format gave you an opportunity to read about what other people were doing with these tools to give you additional ideas and insights.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you were willing to put in the time to get the most use out of the class as opposed to short changing yourself just to get to the end faster.
Branching Forms was consistently the most challenging activity for people to complete, yet it was probably the most used tool for the collaborative activity. It is good that you were willing to try it a second time and discover that it was much easier that second time.
I agree that it was helpful to stay an activity or two behind others in the class so I could read their blog posts to get tips and suggestions before I dove in to the task. Glad to know I wasn't the only one who did this! Your blog was one of the ones I knew I could look at to provide useful information, so a big "Thank You" is in order for helping me make it through this class!
ReplyDeleteGood luck in the upcoming school year!
I also agree with the branching forms they were a struggle. I also agree that this was good to learn this stuff and go through it this summer than trying to figure things out during the school year when we are all so busy.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you purposely tried to stay a bit behind...because my "go to" plan was always to look at your blog for ideas! This is going to be a Much better year for our team in the world of technology!
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