Monday February the 10th is the day my life will start changing. This is the day the minor ‘Technology enhanced lerarning’ will start. From this day forward I can’t keep on hiding or finding excuses. I will have to face it. I am going to have to learn how to use a computer, a digital school board and maybe even a tablet during classes. To be honest, I’ve had some mixed feelings about it. I’m excited to learn how to use them, I’m looking forward to explore this new digital world and all the possibilities it has to offer. Even though the tools might be great, I still have to learn how to use them. And me and a computer, or actually any piece of technology, haven’t always been the best friends.
I will give you one small example. When I couldn’t attend to a meeting in person we decided to use Skype, so I could still contribute to the meeting. Two hours before the meeting I started the installation of the program and checking my camera and microphone. Everything was functioning and I was ready. But when the meeting started and I answered the call, my camera turned up upside down. Making a long story short, I followed the meeting with my laptop turned 90 degrees and me lying on the table, trying to see everything the right way. Three days later somebody showed me how to change the camera settings….
Before the minor started we all got a homework assignment. We all had to make a small comic introducing ourselves and what we wanted to learn during the course, using Bitstrips. Of course I had never even heard of this cool tool, let alone used it. So I kept postponing it until the Sunday evening before I had to hand it in. When I logged in to the site I saw most of my fellow students had already created their avatar (wow, I’m using digital slang already!) and made their comic. Before I could do anything else with the program I had to create my own avatar. The program gave me a few options at a time en piece by piece a little digital me was born. As I was shaping my avatar I got more and more excited about. First of all, I could work with this program and secondly it really started to look like me! Within the hour I had my own little digital me and even a small three windowed comic with me as the main character. On the site I found some suggestions about how to use the Bitstrips in the classroom. Because the program is easy to work with, but my experience is virtual none I really liked the examples. The disadvantage of using this tool, is that every student has to have an internet device of their own in order to make their own comic. They can work in pairs or small groups to make one as a group product. But in general you need a computer per comic.
In conclusion: my first day was a useful and motivating one. I already learned how to use a new tool (although some more practice wouldn’t hurt) and I’ve gotten some new ideas of how to put it to use in the classroom. So with a little bit of more faith I’m looking forward to the rest of the days!
I will give you one small example. When I couldn’t attend to a meeting in person we decided to use Skype, so I could still contribute to the meeting. Two hours before the meeting I started the installation of the program and checking my camera and microphone. Everything was functioning and I was ready. But when the meeting started and I answered the call, my camera turned up upside down. Making a long story short, I followed the meeting with my laptop turned 90 degrees and me lying on the table, trying to see everything the right way. Three days later somebody showed me how to change the camera settings….
Before the minor started we all got a homework assignment. We all had to make a small comic introducing ourselves and what we wanted to learn during the course, using Bitstrips. Of course I had never even heard of this cool tool, let alone used it. So I kept postponing it until the Sunday evening before I had to hand it in. When I logged in to the site I saw most of my fellow students had already created their avatar (wow, I’m using digital slang already!) and made their comic. Before I could do anything else with the program I had to create my own avatar. The program gave me a few options at a time en piece by piece a little digital me was born. As I was shaping my avatar I got more and more excited about. First of all, I could work with this program and secondly it really started to look like me! Within the hour I had my own little digital me and even a small three windowed comic with me as the main character. On the site I found some suggestions about how to use the Bitstrips in the classroom. Because the program is easy to work with, but my experience is virtual none I really liked the examples. The disadvantage of using this tool, is that every student has to have an internet device of their own in order to make their own comic. They can work in pairs or small groups to make one as a group product. But in general you need a computer per comic.
In conclusion: my first day was a useful and motivating one. I already learned how to use a new tool (although some more practice wouldn’t hurt) and I’ve gotten some new ideas of how to put it to use in the classroom. So with a little bit of more faith I’m looking forward to the rest of the days!