Website Evaluation - Let's get the business out of the way!

I reviewed the site Technology Applications Teacher Network found at http://www.techappsnetwork.org/. I came across the site as I was searching for ways to improve my ranking in the "Information Acquisition" section of Week 1's Inventory. A quick look at this site made me feel as though it were professional and reliable. The website has a clear layout and a menu of topics you can peruse. The purpose of the website is defined on the homepage and, as it claims to be a collaborative effort between all 20 of the Texas Education Service Centers, it led me to believe that it would be a valid resource for my information quest.

A negative aspect to this site is that, while it had many areas of information, I was not able to specifically search for any of the four content areas defined on the STaR Chart and, specifically, Information Acquisition. What I did find however, were links on the site to discussion forums where I found educators in dialog with one another about specific technologies. There was also a helpful link where you could register to the site and be allowed to search for professional development opportunities in your area and across the state.

Although this website was not helpful to me in my specific search for help regarding Information Acquisition, I see it as a very useful resource to educators. There is a terrific link located on the site titled "Technology Applications Best Practices Events" where once you click on it, you can refine your search by grade-level clusters. Once in your cluster you have access to many lessons created by fellow educators that utilize technology to enhance other curricular areas. For example, there are lessons detailing how to use a digital camera to bring to life grammar lessons, lessons using Paint applications to allow students to retell a story read aloud, and utilizing a spreadsheet for the 100th day of school celebrations.


While most of the technology activities listed were step-by-step projects, I do think many of the lessons were created with the 21st Century Learner in mind. As we've been reading in our articles this week, technology should be something that is tried, manipulated, reconfigured, and tried again. Starting from somewhere to bring technology into our classrooms is better than not starting at all.

Intro to my blog

Grad school can be fun! Look, I'm creating a blog!

My newest class is called "Instructional Leadership" and is all about technology and education for the 21st century learner. I am enjoying the class a lot, although was horrified to find out just how far back I've fallen from the days in high school and college when I thought I knew a thing or two about technology. A quick "Technology Applications Inventory" that I took at the beginning of this course would show just how bad it has become!

So, here I go with the blogging. To begin... I need to give a quick shout out to my handy tech-guru-pal Trommer for always having a minute to walk me through things like this website. And downloading music. Thanks for pulling me from the edge of technology oblivion!