Blog 7 - Professional Learning Network

I felt that I had a positive experience with all the different professional learning networks that I tried. The DIGG reader was a great experience because I could select the areas of interest to me to show up in my feed and just read those. Normally, I would have to spend some time to get through all the headlines to find the ones that interest me. I could narrow down the information into a much smaller list. I can definitely see how the DIGG reader would be useful in education, and I plan on using it. Twitter is likely the most useful in my classroom. I can have students utilize it to take polls on what activities they would like to participate in, or give feedback about the activity from that day. Students could also see what others are doing and connect through common interests. The students would need to be warned about the negative aspects of social media. An issue that I can see coming up is that not every student will have access to the technology required to use twitter. A lot of students have smart phones, but there are some that cannot afford them. If their parents have them, then that is an option. The use of school computers could also be another option. 

Blog 6 - Self Reflection

I remember at the start of the quarter, I didn’t quite know what to expect with this class. I had minimal experience with web design, but I was a little intimidated with the potential quantity of information I would have to absorb. As the class went on, I felt comfortable with the pace of the class. With the exercises in the book and the time spent in class, I could learn various parts about coding. Using Dreamweaver really helped with learning the content as well. I feel that the most rewarding assignment would have to be the book exercise table. Creating the table and adding the links to each assignment was difficult, but I felt that it really showed how far I have come since the first week of the quarter. I could showcase the work from the first five weeks.

The biggest challenge so far was the prospect of creating a website for the final project. I had been thinking about ideas and what I want it to look like. I decided that I want to make a website that is fully functional and can be used when it is done. I hope that it turns out the way I want it to, but I know it will take time.

Blog 5 - Twitter

I initially made an account on twitter to enter giveaways for gaming gear. To this day, I still have only tweeted a handful of times. To me, twitter is just another social media site just like Facebook. My wall is full of posts or tweets from various sources based on those I follow. A lot of pages I follow tend to tweet over and over, filling up my wall with information I don’t care as much about. Partially, that’s my fault because I could just unfollow them, but then I will miss out on the bits of information that I followed them for in the first place. I decided to start looking into twitter a bit more closely to see what sort of customization options there are. There are widgets that you can add to customize the look of your page, but what I wanted to find was the ability to create groups like Facebook has. There are times that I want to see what my friends or family are up to and not see what is going on in the world of video games, while other times I want to see what is happening with the news and not see the tweets of my friends and family. I still have further to research, but I hopefully I will find this option.

I would create a second account specifically for my classroom. I see true potential with twitter in education, but I would have to keep it separate from my personal account.

How can I use twitter in physical education?

• I see a lot of great uses for twitter, such as creating polls using hashtags for answers, or getting feedback on a sports event. I definitely plan on trying it out in my classroom.

What benefit is there to using twitter in physical education?

• Twitter is a great way to network. Students can network with others to learn more about each other and find common interests that they wouldn’t otherwise learn.

Blog 4: Project Plan

Site Title: Challenge Ropes Course at Cal Poly Pomona

Developer: Sascha Hoemke

Purpose: This site is designed to advertise and provide information for individuals and groups interested in the Challenge Ropes Course at Cal Poly Pomona. A background of our course will be available as well as our staff.

Main Features & Content:

1. Welcome – Who we are
2. Adventure Education – What it is, the Purpose of it, the Skills involved
3. Our Course – The Wall, Low Elements, High Elements, Equipment
4. Staff – The individuals that are trained and certified to operate the course
5. FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions about the course with answers
6. Map & Directions – The location of the course, Directions from surrounding freeways
7. Group Rates & Information – Prices, Group size, General Informatio

Target Audience: Students, teams and outside groups looking to learn and grow as a group that are seeking information about our course.

Design Considerations: A professional looking site that is informational and easy to navigate with photos and easy to read text.

Limiting Factors: Having a public site that looks professional to be used for our Challenge Ropes Course. I know there will be a lot of ideas to make this site look great, but they will only be limited by my ability and time to make them happen. I also want to collaborate with a few other staff members, but I don’t think I will be able to make it look the way others want.

Blog #3 Social Media

The Case for Social Media in Schools

It seems to me that one of the main issues of social media is the safety concerns. There are reasons to be concerned with the cyber world, whether it be fraud or sexual crimes. Part of it is teaching our students and children about them and educating them on the correct ways to use social media and technology. I believe that with the proper education, our students should be able to utilize the technologies of today and tomorrow to further their education. This also includes social media. There are plenty of safe tools to use.

Social media can provide students opportunities to connect with others and grow. Why should we limit the capabilities of our students? Let them venture out and expand. Using social media such as blogging can help students relate to others in ways they never thought they could. This also gives them practice with writing, something that I think a lot of students need help with. Taking pictures and posting them to your social media for others to see what you are doing can connect you with others that share the same interests. Allow students to network and make connections, because otherwise, they may sit in class and never learn anything about one another.

What about cell phones in physical education?

• I believe that cell phones can still be used in physical education, because of numerous apps available for fitness. Using cell phones to record steps or keep track of workouts are both really easy ways to incorporate cell phones.

How can social media help in physical education?

• I think that using social media to connect with students in physical education could be very motivating. Using Instagram or Twitter to take a picture when you are out on a hike or camping and posting it for others to see can be very positive. Others will see it and want to do that too. It could even connect students who have similar interests, but wouldn’t know it because they don’t sit near each other in class.

Article: The Case for Social Media in Schools

Blog #2

• For the affinity group, I joined PECentral. This is a site designed by Physical Education teachers, for Physical Education teachers. The great thing about this group is that anyone can access is and find out more information about physical education. Teachers can upload ideas for lessons as well as search for new ideas on how to teach a certain activity. There is so much information including articles on new trends in physical education. I have been using this site for a few years now and recommend it to anyone interested in teaching a physical education lesson, or learning more about the content area.
• Why did I choose this group?
• I chose this group because looking through the list of affinity groups, I didn’t find one focused on physical education. I decided to use a group that I am familiar with and have been using for some time now.
• My Digg Stream consists of several sites that I frequent regularly. At the top are New York Times and BBC News. When it comes to the news, I have a difficult time following because of the different viewpoints that the media tries to get you to focus on. I like to get a few different point of views, including one from outside the US. The BBC News also gives me better access to what is happening in the world. I have TEDTalks and NPR Education on my reader as well so I can stay up to date on various topics within the education system. I also included a few that align with my hobbies: Pittsburgh Penguins, Hike Bike Travel, and Bon Appetit.
• How can I use this in the classroom?
• I feel that I can get my students to become more interested in the news by just skimming the headlines until they find something that they are interested in. This will also help them realize that the news is important! I can also give them a topic and have them find an article pertaining to that topic to learn more about it.

Journal 1 Blog Post Chapters 1-3

• One thing for sure is that I did not know how involved web development could be. I have a very small amount of experience using front page to create my own webpages years and years ago, but I never did anything more than putting a few images and some text on the page. I am looking forward to learning more about it, but nervous at the same time as it seems like there is a lot of information that I will need to know.
• Is there an end to the amount of knowledge? It seems like there is always something new to learn.
• It really seems like mobile phones are going to be the way of the internet pretty soon. I don’t look things up on my phone that much other than to check on the score of a game or something similar, as I am concerned about my data usage. I do see a lot of people with their noses in their phones all the time. Whether it be checking social media, reading up on the latest headlines, or watching videos on YouTube, everyone is on their phone. It makes sense to learn how to design websites for mobile use as it is more likely to be the method of viewing.
• Will there be more browsers in the future or will chrome or safari be it?