EME 6414

  I am sitting here at the airport waiting to fly out to see my brother, sister-in-law and baby niece. While sitting at my gate, I can't help but be amazed at the technology surrounding me. Without technology, I would not have made it through TSA quickly and would have had to do a pat-down instead. I am thankful for technology in that I am drinking a hot chocolate at my gate to help me stay awake, so I do not miss flight. Lastly, I am thankful for technology that the airplane has that will get me from Jacksonville to Dallas safely (hopefully!).  Today, as I sit here, I am just reminded about how I, as well as others, can take technology for granted. If we didn't have technology, would we survive? Some might say no, as technology is all they know. However, I do think that we could survive without technology, but it would take time. Instead of taking technology for granted, I think that we need to be thankful that we have it.  Well, they are getting ready to call my boarding grou

 I never would have thought about social media being used as a learning resource. I mean, what could one possibly learn from Facebook, Twitter (or X), or even TikTok. However, you may be surprised in what you learn. Some say that online social networks (OSNs) "support student formal and informal learning, provide opportunities for students to be exposed to new perspectives for learning through virtual communities, enhance student communication, collaboration, and motivation" (Zachos et al., 2018; as cited in Zgheib & Dabbagh, 2020).  People learn in a variety of ways, whether it be by an adult, fellow peer, lecture, visual arts, etc. So why is it so hard to believe that one could learn from social media? Is it because we are used to social media as a place to check our latest friend requests or to play the next installment of Candy Crush Saga or whatever popular game is out now. However, one can learn from social media and may not even realize it. Have you ever looked at

  As educators, there have been times where we may have emergencies arise where we need immediate sub plans. There may also be times where we need supplemental aids to help engage students in their learning. As a teacher, I have turned to Teachers Pay Teachers on numerous occasions to help me in my time of need. Teachers Pay Teachers has thousands of resources that can help students learn in any subject. For example, when teaching addition and subtraction to students, I would use a resource from this site. On the site, there were resources where students could plan trips to various countries while reinforcing the main math concept of addition and subtraction. I have also used escape rooms to teach the ELA concept of theme. Since I cannot come up with elaborate plans on my own, Teachers Pay Teachers has been a lifesaver to me in trying to engage all of my students on a specific topic.  After a few years of using Teachers Pay Teachers, I thought about becoming a seller, myself on the web

  We are halfway through the semester! Part of me feels like I just started yesterday, while the other part feels like I have been working forever. Up to this point, I have honestly been stressed out. Trying to balance work and school, while figuring out how to effectively complete three classes. On top of this, I was studying for my school counseling test which brings the stress to another level.  However, I learned that I needed social media and technology this week to just take breaks. On those days when I was stressing to the max, I would listen to my YouTube videos or play a game on my phone. That gave me the break I needed so I could continue pressing on.  Now that my test is out of the way and work is done, I can start to relax and destress a little. Will I still stress? Absolutely! I am human, after all. However, I need to realize that my professors do not expect all the work to be done in one day. Maybe I will take time each day to work on assignments. If only I had motivation

 How do you best learn? For me, it is more kinesthetic learning, but I can do visual. However, with visual learning, I need to see how every concept is connected in a way. Growing up, I was a big concept maps person, especially in history class. I would put a historical event down then have it connected to significant events and people. This allowed me to remember the events more effectively. I used to have to write concept maps down on paper. However, this week, Dr. Dennen introduced us to online concept maps. This has made my visual and organized heart happy! With online concept maps, you can still arrange the map however you want, just like you would on paper. One major thing I like about the online version is that there is less mess. With the paper concept maps, you would draw them out then have to figure out which binder to put them in. However, with the online version, you can download the map directly to your computer. The online version also allows you to share your map with ot

 Before this class, I had never heard of networked knowledge activities before. If I had to guess what this term means, I would have said that it is learning and doing activities in your personal network (whether online or in person). Dr. Dennen (n.d.) points out that there are six core networked knowledge activities: collect, curate, share, broker, negotiate, and construct. Dr. Dennen and other authors from FSU (2020) stated that these activities would usually co-exist and not be in isolation. While I may have never heard of these activities or the "networked knowledge activities" term before, I am sure that I have used the core concepts before.  The first core activity is collect. We all collect things in order to learn information. For example, I collect historical documents to learn more about my family history. Students may collect articles for an upcoming research paper. We collect our things using a variety of tools such as Facebook, Pinterest, Google, or various news

We have survived Week 5! This week, we have learned about intellectual property and even more technological tools. It is so cool to learn about these tools that I didn't know existed before this class. With these tools, I can help counsel or help my students when they come to my office.  This week, we also learned the importance of intellectual property rights. We live in a world where we want to use other people's materials (songs, lesson plans, videos, etc.). While this may not be a problem, we must check to make sure it is okay to use and give them credit when using their work. When we don't give credit then we are stealing other people's work. We don't like when people steal our work so we should steal theirs. As a former teacher and now counselor, it is important to teach this to my students.  I haven't started the ultimate challenge yet, but I am looking forward to possibly starting it this next week. Can't wait to see what next week brings. 

 I don't know what I was thinking when I saw Merlot as a tool for this week's module. When I think of Merlot, I honestly think of the wine and not some learning tool. However, Dr. Dennen said on Canvas that this tool is a collection of online learning resources. I thought to myself, "Let's check it out since I love to learn." Boy, was I overwhelmed. Merlot has thousands, and I mean, thousands of resources for teachers and students to use.  Students and teachers can create filters to determine what resources they want to look at. For example, they can pick whether they want just high school resources or professional resources. You can pick math, science, social sciences, etc. However, I just started scrolling when I was exploring on the site. This site has everything from art education lesson plans for teachers to a virtual chemistry lab.  I am a really big history buff, so I did explore the Crisis at Fort Sumter material. While districts may require teachers to te

 When I was an older, elementary student, I remember having to use outside sources for projects. Do I remember if I had to cite these sources? Of course, not but I probably had to. I do remember going to my school library and the librarian teaching us how to research various articles and use them for our assignments. As a graduate student now, I cannot go a discussion board or even a paper without quoting an author in APA format. One article states that "A student can rarely complete a class assignment without conducting a search on Google, using Yahoo! to send an email to a professor, soliciting feedback from friends on Facebook, reading excerpts from texts on Google Scholar, or drafting notes on a WordPress site" (Reyman, 2013). Nowadays, so many things require citations or work acknowledgement. However, when should we be teaching this to our students? Who should be teaching this? While my school librarian taught me how to do research in the school library, is it the librar

 Before this class, I was comfortable with my social media channels like Facebook or Instagram. On these platforms, I was always the lurker. I don't like communicating with other people or groups that I do not know. At first, I didn't know what to expect with this class. However, after four weeks, I am thoroughly enjoying it. The class is teaching me a variety of technology tools that I had no idea of. This week, I learned more about Wikipedia and its sister projects, Flickr, Diigo, etc. Not only am I learning about these tools, but I am learning how these tools can be beneficial.  These tools I can use in the classroom and in my own life when gathering news articles or photos in one place. These articles will keep track of any annotations that I may make. This could make group projects easier for students and even co-planning between teachers.  Also, with this course, I am having to step out of my comfort zone by participating in online communities. While I would usually lurk,

 As the weeks continue, we learn more about various social media and technology tools. This week, we learned about Wikipedia, Flickr, and more. Before this week, I have used Wikipedia just like most Americans. However, there is so much more than just Wikipedia. Users can scroll to the bottom of Wikipedia's home page to see other sister projects there are. One that I explored with Wikiversity which allows participants to learn with thousands of resources in arts, math, social sciences, etc. People can even take active courses in math, humanities, or more if they want or have free time. WikiBooks allows people access to thousands of books. These books are categorized by beginner, immediate, advanced, or even professional levels. One aspect of WikiBooks that I thought was cool is that they have cookbooks. Some people are always looking for new recipes so this would be perfect for them.  While some teachers and school districts are leery of Wikipedia because it uses volunteer editors,

 For this week's class, I read an article from Professor Dennen & Tami Im (2013) that talks about how tags and links in Diigo can support learning. Before this class and even right now, I have never heard of Diigo. However, after reading the article, I want to go explore this new tool. As a student, I always have multiple tabs open to research articles so I can place them in my papers and not forget where I found them. With Diigo, it allows you to bookmark the Website and come back to it at another date or time.  The article's authors explain that this tool can also be used to help in school. Groups can share websites among its members or class using Diigo. Instead of printing articles out for everyone in the class, the teacher could maybe share the article on Diigo for the class so they can read and annotate as they follow along.  Using this bookmarking tool in school, I believe, can help students when it comes to projects. They can pull up their articles or websites anyti

 Tonight, my parents and I went out to eat for dinner which is a rare occasion. Usually, we just bring food home to eat. While my parents were getting their food, I was on my phone playing a new game that has me hooked. When they came back, I put my phone down until my mom asked me "When do the Cubs play?" I then grabbed my phone to look at the game time. Even though, I gave her the answer, I continued scrolling on my phone through social media, back to my game, checking the news, etc. I didn't realize until I got home, how much time I actually spent on my phone while I was at dinner. You might say "Lauren, it's normal for people to be on their phones all the time?" This is true. I think social media and game developers have created apps and games to make it addicting for the user to get off the phone.  While on the phone during dinner, I was thinking that I was going to miss the next big thing. Am I going to miss my baseball scores or the next big top news