Reflection on Blogging

This was my first experience with blogging, not only as a poster but also as a follower. In terms of following the blogs of others, I found that those of my groupmates who actually posted regularly did a fantastic job of educating me about their topics. I am disappointed that not everyone in our group actively participated and that I was called out for not specifically posted a certain number of times to fulfill the requirements of the course. I enjoyed reading blogs about the same topics that I was posting about to see how different people pick out different information to share. I also liked that because we are all doing different things with our time; full time grad school, full time working, some teachers, some not, that various perspectives and points of view were shared.

As a blogger, I found it was very important to be invested in the blog topic. I absolutely loved posting about Interactive WhiteBoards and have become a little obsessed with them. I really enjoy making connections between course work and my teaching and the IWB has become a tool that I now use on a weekly basis. Looking back on my postings about IWBs, I used pictures, videos, links, and text to bring life to the blog. I was looking for a different way to disperse the knowledge I had gained to my followers so that they would enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoyed creating it. I learned how to post video clips from YouTube onto the blog which I had never done before. It was fun to incorporate other technologies that were discussed in this class into the blogging experience.

During the second half of the semester, my topic changed to iTunesU. I debated whether or not to stick with the IWB topic and now wish I had. I just couldn't get interested in iTunesU to the same level that I was with IWBs. I struggled each week to find something relevant to post about. I admit that I took the easy way out a couple of times and posted random clips, but I couldn't think of anything else to do. I also started to slack on the responsibilities of the blogging assignment because I didn't want to sign in and deal with it.

If I am going to continue to blog, it would have to be about something that I am really invested in. I don't think that it would be something school based or for a class. I keep a log of what I cook for dinner and have for over 2 years so maybe that would be something that would be more fun to blog about. I also go and see live music at every chance I get so that is another potential topic. I am glad for this experience as part of IDE 611, but as of right now, I don't see it as something I am going to maintain. I like the idea of it being a class assignment and do think there are many benefits from participating in it. Thanks to all who have read my posts and made comments.

Teacher's TV

I have been trying to find a good K-12 topic to share about iTunesU so the topic of this blog entry is going to be Teacher's TV. It is based out of London. Teacher's TV is funded by the Department of Education but is operated by an independent media consortuim Education Digital. It provides videos, resources, and an online community for teachers to learn new things, practice teaching skills, and connect with others in the field. The iTunesU page offers links to Teacher's TV's homepage, contact information, about page, and terms of use. Its site is divided into 4 sections; subjects, whole school, featured programmes, and focus on. Each section then has a primary and secondary subset where tracks are listed according to topic. I was very puzzled when I noticed that there have not been any updates to any of the sections since March of 2010. I visited the homepage and clicked on the help button. There I learned that Teacher's TV was an actual television channel in the UK. It was recently turned off in favor of an online only format where teachers can just search for the content they want. Users are encouraged to register with the site so that videos and resources can be saved for future use. I am guessing that the transition from television to Internet only is what is causing the delay in new content.

So I have a hard time suggesting that Teacher's TV is a good resource for K-12 teachers here in the United States. Major differences in the curricula of the two countries is a cause for the lack of faith in the site. I also am not understanding what the hold up could be with adding new content. Isn't summer vacation supposed to be used for something?

Unless you live in Australia, New Jersey, or one of the other 14 states that have iTunesU pages linked under the K-12 tab, there isn't going to be much value for iTunesU to the K-12 teacher. It appears that the U in its name really makes it more appealing to colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher learning. I would still only use it if I was taking a course that specifically required me to access content from it. At least most of the content is free with an iTunes account.

Maybe some of you have used it in the past of can identify other uses for it for K-12 teachers. If so post in the comments section. Thanks.

Thanksgiving Part 2

Here is a second clip from Boston University that is a less factual and more humorous.

I hope these two clips provide you with a look at the range of media that iTunesU offers. Colleges and universities can present potential course content or spotlight campus life and those who inhabit it. I hope that your Thanksgiving experience and knowledge are improved after watching these clips. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving Part 1

This week I searched Thanksgiving in the general iTunes search window. I scrolled down to the iTunesU section where there were 50 listings. I selected a short video clip from Boston University to represent the potential media that iTunesU offers. There is a chance that you will not be able to view the clip if you do not have iTunes installed on your computer. Please let me know if this is true or not.

This is a historical look at Thanksgiving. I did not know these facts behind the holiday.

An interesting note... I had to upgrade to a newer version of iTunes and I noticed that the older version did not have a menu tab for iTunesU. It took me a while to figure out that I had to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to find a link to iTunesU. Previously, I was accessing iTunesU from its website. The newer version, iTunes 10, does have a menu button for iTunesU. This suggests to me that there has been an increase in its usage and value, which warrants an easier way to get to it.

To be honest, I am having a hard time coming up with topics to blog about for iTunesU. I would appreciate it if the followers would include any questions or things you would like to know about in your comments for this or future postings.

At the bottom of the iTunesU homepage there is a link for the Monthly iTunesU Spotlight.I decided to click on it to gain some inspiration for this week's blog. As I should have guessed, November's Spotlight is on United States History and Politics. The opening description does a nice job of hooking users into to wanting to know more. The content is divided into 5 collections; US Politics, Early American History, Famous American Figures, Insightful Inspirations, and More to Explore. There were clips ranging in duration from less than one minute to over an hour long. Some of the clips were very new and discussed attack campaigning and the Tea Party Movement. Others were very historical and relevant to what is currently going on in our country. I was happy to see that there was a link to American History: Speeches and Essays, created by the Florida Department of Education and the University of South Florida, which presented very famous moments in history geared towards a K-12 audience. Stanford had 5 features links on the Spotlight page and other universities also present content that would be made available for specific academic courses. I wonder if the courses are repeated each year for the content is used for more than just one semester. Some of the topics are very nichey and deal with tapped White House phone calls and specific time periods and individuals. I wonder what qualifies a clip for potential inclusion in the Monthly Spotlight other than matching the topic. I wonder if next month's spotlight will be on the December holidays or something along those lines.

What's on iTunesU?

Last week I briefly described what iTuneU is. This week I will inform you of what can actually be found on it. The iTunesU website states that over 600 universities have active sites. When searching the list of them, I found it interesting the Syracuse University did not have one and SUNY Cortland did. Cortland's site has two sections, Course Podcasts and Welcomes You. The Course Podcasts section contains information about specific courses that are offered as well as podcasts utilized in the courses to deliver content. The Welcome You section provides more general information about campus life and ways to use the technology hosted on the iTunesU site. Most of the content on the SUNY Cortland site was uploaded in 2008 and only two links were updated in 2010. I also looked at Cornell's site and the oldest update on their homepage was from yesterday. Cornell's site provides three sections; Featured, Fields of Study, and Campus and Community. The most frequently downloaded podcasts are listed at the top of the page as well as links to key Cornell University websites.

Beyond Campus allows visitors to access content from art and science museums, businesses, libraries, and news outlets. Clicking around on things that seemed interesting, I found content lasting from a few seconds to over an hour. It wasn't just all lectures either. There were slideshows, entire exhibit tours, video clips, segments of television shows, and audio only files. Every thing I saw was free of charge and there were options to subscribe to specific sections within sites.

 I was excited to see a k-12 section on the iTunesU main page. There are 25 links in this sections. Many of them are state departments of education. Maine's looked much more interesting than Virginia's. New Jersey claims 5 of the links and provide content from larger school districts. There are a few links from outside of the United States. Teacher's TV separates its content into primary and secondary for easy searching for appropriate podcasts by topic.

The final link offered by the homepage is the Power Search. It allows users to search the entire iTunesU library by title, description, or university.

There appears to be a lot of material on iTunesU to explore. I will provide more insight in the weeks to come about what I find.

New topic- iTunesU

During the second half of this semester I will be blogging about iTunesU. I have no idea what it is or how it works so I will be learning right along with the followers who will be reading this to gain information. The tag line on the top of the iTunesU website is "Learn anything, anytime, anywhere". Certainly that is a bold statement that is very intriguing. iTunesU is obviously an Apple product and by looking at the URL it is a part of their education outreach.

My journey begins with the What is iTunesU? tab on the homepage. It is a means to distribute information to learners of any level. It also allows educational setting to host all of their digital content in one place. iTunesU not only is usable on Apple devices but also PCs.

Ok wow this is cool... iTunesU is educational audio and video content that is accessible though iTunes. So if you are able to download and listen to your favorite songs you should be able to use this with ease. It provides access to information for individuals with disabilities as well. I will explore this topic in a future posting in greater detail. An iTunesU site can be kept private within an educational institution or made public for the world to see. An iTunesU site is free of charge from Apple.

I am going to stop there for the initial posting so I can learn more before presenting next week. I will say that this might become a piece of my collaborative project's final product. I will keep you informed if this becomes a reality.