For my MERLOT Resource Evaluation I will be taking a look at Teaching like it's 2999, a blog by Jennie Magiera. As Distance Learning and Online Coordinator at Bay Mills Community College I wanted to find a useful resource for myself as well as something I could share with the online instructors I work with.
Quality of Content:
This is a blog that is exploring ways to redefine education through effective technology use. It provides tutorials on using Google and screencasting in the classroom, reviews of various iPad educational apps, links to other great educational blogs, as well as regular posts on different educational topics.
The author Jennie Magiera is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Teacher and Chicago Public School's Tech Innovator of the Year. In addition to working with schools she writes curriculum, teaches at the graduate level, speaks at conferences and leads workshops for various organizations.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool
The materials can be used in all stages of the learning process/cycle of both newbie and veteran online instructors. It is an all around good reference tool for instructors looking to keep up with the latest and greatest in educating with technology. After reviewing the various tutorials instructors should be able to adapt some of those concepts into their own online classrooms.
The target user would be instructors interested in using technology and online resources to teach any number of subjects. The material learned from browsing this blog should be easily integrated in current curriculum and pedagogy within the online learning community. Teaching and learning the materials within preexisting online courses could potentially become easier as a result of the lessons learned and implemented from this blog.
As a part of the Online Instructor Area that I have created as a resource for the instructors at Bay Mills Community College this blog could easily be used to create good learning assignments. Most likely these assignments would be an optional lesson for instructors who would like to learn new ways to use the different technologies within their own courses.
Ease of Use:
The lables, buttons, menus, text and general layout of the blog are visually appealing, and easy to use and understand. The different tabs make it easy to find what would be most useful to the individual user. The pages remain consistent throughout the blog allowing the user to easily jump from one area to the next. The material is easily accessible provided the user has the necessary equipment such as a computer, iPad, and reliable internet connection.
I'm intrigued by the source you have discovered. To teach like it's 2999 it something we can only dream of. I like the push in technology to think outside the typical notions of teachers. To try to grasp a concept of what will be and strive for that is a goals that we can all take part in.
ReplyDeleteThis resource looks like a keeper. From what you have discribed I am going to take a closer look at the tool. If you were to pick one topic that stuck out to you in Teaching like it's 2999 what would it be?
ReplyDelete