Session 1----Time for Introductions!!!

Welcome (again) to EDC525 - Website Technology in Education and Training

This is our class blog. It will serve as our discussion forum, connection to each other, and the main webpage you will be accessing. If this is your first visit, then please first read the entry below (titled, 'Welcome to EDC525---"Website Technology in Education and Training"') and follow the instructions there--- then return to this spot and continue reading.  You will find that there is some reiteration and repetition of information in this posting to serve as your 'training wheels' and to make sure that you have a solid understanding of this venue.  Once we get to Session 2 I won't be repeating myself as much.

 The content here should keep you pretty busy for the next few days until Session 2 is posted (Thursday evening)--for now, you only need to know a few things.

This blog can be viewed by anyone, but will only allow the participants of EDC525 to interact with it. When you would like to respond to someone or comment upon a session, just click on the 'comment' link below each of my postings (you should sign up for a Blogger account ASAP and choose a 'User Name' that is easily identifiable. Blogger is owned by Google, so if you already have a user account with Google for something like: gmail, gdocs,picassa..., then use that user name)

I'm sure some of you have already begun to practice a little.  If you run into any trouble and need to contact me, then please email me at DaveFontaine1@gmail.com.  A few of you have been in direct contact with me for specific problems or stumbles, so please feel  comfortable reaching out to me if you need to.  The last thing I want is to have frustration levels rising during the first week.

In the margin you will see links to individual lessons (accessible every Thursday evening).

Rather than teaching (or preaching) from Sakai about online collaboration and 21st century digital resources that can facilitate teaching and learning, I have decided to teach you about Web 2.0 and collaborative tools by 'using' a collaborative tool. This is our class edublog, or blog for short.

This blog, in addition to its use as an interactive communication tool, will also be where you can access and download your weekly sessions. An additional benefit (that I mentioned during our first class) will also be that you will retain access to all of our course content, lessons, comments, and reflections in perpetuity.

The syllabus is also linked in the margin. Google has a free service (gDocs, gDrive) that allows you to just upload any Word document and with one additional click it gets published online with its own URL. The course syllabus is an example of how easy it is to use, and we'll practice with this tool this semester. I'm still tweaking the course content, so don't jump ahead and start Session 2's readings until Thursday night (9/13).

One more aspect that will be unique about this course is that I support a completely collaborative teaching philosophy. Following that mindset, I will keep your assignments, comments, and reflections viewable and accessible to future participants of this course. The 'goal' of that is so future participants may:

1. Gain from the collective knowledge of your experiences;
2. Benefit from what you have created; and
3. Incorporate new ideas into their classroom based upon your inspiration.

The bonus for you, of course, is that this information will also always be accessible to you. This way, in the future (many semesters from now) you may revisit this site and benefit from the ideas of all the participants that took it 'after' you. In this way---YOU will gain from all the 'learning speed bumps' of those that have come after you--even though they are not currently enrolled in this course. To reduce confusion however, I am only showing you a stripped down version of this blog's visual interface.  As the semester progresses I will be slowly introducing other aspects of it, one of those is the archive from past participants.
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Some of the content for our sessions is also covered in my "Blogs and Wikis" course. When that is the case I'll also give you a link to the 'comments' of past participants from that class as well.

Before we go any further I would like each of you to practice using this forum and introduce yourself (1.4 from the Overview checklist mentioned in the first blog entry of the semester). We will be spending the semester together, so it is important to learn as much about each other as possible.

So first make sure that you have an account with Blogger (any Google user name and password will do), then click on the 'comment' link below this posting,  and write a few paragraphs about yourself.

Please include:
-your name (This will count for credit for 1.3 and 1.4.)
-email address (so that you may contact each other directly if needed),
-your educational background,
-teaching history (if any),
-current professional position with location, and lastly...
-what you hope to come away with when this semester is over, along with any additional information about you that you wish to share, like your motivation for choosing this course... (This will count for credit for 1.5, so please read the checklist in the Overview for expectations in the previous posting.)

Sometimes it takes a little while to get the hang of using this forum. I have taken this into consideration by reducing the workload/readings of the first session. (Of course, if you get distracted easily, then you could spend hours exploring.)

Week 1's primary goal is to make sure everyone is on the same page and skill level before we sink our teeth into the meat of this course,  however, if you run into any 'techno-speed bumps' then please feel free to contact me with any questions.

There are a few readings listed and linked from the syllabus.  Most are online, but this one should be read from here:

Introduction to Social Media for Business by Dennis O'Neil

Everything here is licensed by Creative Commons. This means that you have complete authority to download, save, share, and use all of the lessons in your classroom, but are prohibited from any commercial uses.

You will notice that most of the PowerPoint presentations will have the narration transcribed in the 'notes section' of each slide. We've all heard about the con's of using PPT and the desperate need for alternatives, but I've found using this sometimes makes it easiest for the largest number of people to then take and manipulate.

The transcription of my narration is because sometimes I have teachers from around the world taking my courses. I've had teachers from Canada, China, Alaska, California, Phillipines, Sudan, Singapore...taking my courses (And they may need help understanding my "Ro-diland" accent) but more importantly, the transcribed narration allows you to take these slides and use them in your own classroom. (or, if you find my voice putting you to sleep, you can just read the slides instead)

Good luck this semester! I look forward to working and collaborating with you.

Dave Fontaine
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PS-Click on the 'comments' link below to make your comments for this week.