A. ALEX (Alabama Learning Exchange)ALEX is a project resource which is designed to catalog and distribute a variety of educational material and information to educators, students, and parents. It includes everything from lesson plans and interactive activities to Web links. It includes a variety of podcasts which cover everything from the arts and sciences to professional development. It also offers a plethora of information about other educational programs in action in Alabama. As a future educator, I feel that this program could be utilized as an assistive tool throughout my professional career. I could use it as a collaborate tool to see how others my teach a certain lesson. It could as serve as a tool to help build my teaching capabilities through its professional development information. It also serves as a hub for educator collaboration.
The idea behind the distant learning program is to allow all students access to all available course opportunities made available to other students which they may not have access to in their own school. For example, a student who is required to take Physics to graduate with honors may not have a Physics teacher at his or her school. The distant learning program allows that student to take Physics with another teacher who works at another school.
II. Additional Assignment #5
Just Teach Them to Solve for X
This post is metaphoric for the students using computers in education. One person is discussing how the process may be confusing for students; therefore, the old fashioned, straight forward way of teaching should be continued. The others states that it is with progress that confusion will arise. But, once they work through the confusion of working the computers, the students will be able to understand the material much better.
Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils
In this post, the "pencil" is metaphorically used to describe the identity of Eighth graders. They are not in a permanent state. They are caught in the middle of constant alterations. They are growing and changing. They are misunderstood and underestimated. They are up for interpretation and perceived differently by those around them. While externally they all may seem all the same and easily put under one title or classification, they vary greatly. Their potential is sadly limited by what those around them will allow them to do.
He Just Likes the Class for the Pencils
This post introduces the idea that if students take courses which use "pencils" the students will be focusing on the "pencils." The idea is not a new one. There are plenty of people out there who believe that teaching with computers takes focus off of the learning material and puts it on the computers. But this not all together true. While the students might be drawn in by the computers, the focus is on learning. The computers are merely used as an educational tool. Like a camera, computers are not a means to its own end. It takes input to get something out of it.
The Medium Shapes the Learning
The concept that technology in a universal aid in education is an over estimation of the capacity of every element of academia to remain effective when converted into technological terms. If certain things are transferred into a technologically based style, their purpose (and in some cases, their relevance) are also altered.
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