Week+4+Journal

Sunday November 15 - Sunday November 21

 
 * Sunday November 15 - I looked at that [|Golden Fleece Wiki]today and was overwhelmed by the amount of information on there. I had previously checked out some of the links that were on there, but I was reminded to check out the Second Life site. I remembered first learning of this site when we were in Columbus and I was very interested. So I set up an account, but I didn't have time then to check it out much. So later, when I did have time I went back. I don't know if I'm missing something at this site, but I was so confused. I couldn't even get my avatar dressed. Plus, I saw some mature content. Then on the main setup you could check mark if you wanted to include regular mature content. So I'm figuring we will rule out this site for use in the classroom.
 * Wednesday November 18 - I had passed information back and forth with one of the girls in the graduate forum. She had posted how she was using a wiki in her reading class. I was instantly interested in this. So I posted that I would like the address for this so I could check it out. So she asked me to join. (I didn't realize that I had to be a member of the wiki just to view it. I thought that was only if you wanted to edit it.) I check it out this afternoon, she had a different page for each of the novels she was doing & I guess kids would describe the pages they were to read. There wasn't anything on there yet, but I plan to go back & check it periodically to see it's progression. Last week I spent a lot of time searching for wikis used in the classroom, no wonder I couldn't find any, you had to be members. This makes perfect sense, especially if your using it with kids.
 * Wednesday November 18 - This evening I finally was able to log on to where we have the questions for our [|Needs Assessment] . I read through the questions that we had come up with and only had one comment. I thought the survey looked good. I know one of the other group members were on their at the same time, so I will have to check back to see the newer additions.


 * Thursday November 19 - I'm not real sure about the question for the graduate credit. I mean it say how are the tools impacting your classroom, they haven't done any impact yet. I think this would have fit better at the end after you really have incorporated some of these tools into the classroom (unless I'm the only one who hasn't yet). The second part makes good sense "what practices are you considering changing". This is the stage I'm in right now, I haven't made any real changes yet, I'm still considering them.
 * Also, I'm a little disappointed in the grading of the assignments (regular and grad). It's week 4 now and we have only received grades for week 1. In the classroom, we're supposed to give immediate feedback, papers to be graded never sit for more than a few days. It has been weeks with no feedback. How do I know if I'm answering the questions like I'm supposed to. If I am to pay for grad credit, I want to be sure I'm paying for an A.
 * And, another thing, I don't like how we can't see they syllabus. Any class I have taken for grad work always shows the syllabus so you can see what's ahead of you (so you can tell if you can handle the work). What if I do weeks worth of work and then all of a sudden I can't do it because its to hard or something.
 * I feel that this entry has turned into a gripe session, but that's what is effecting my learning at this point.