Texas A&M: Third and Final Meeting

My group and I met on Sunday on the Texas A&M Island for our 3rd and final meeting.  It was a little bitter sweet that it was the last meeting, however it was also a huge relief.  Going into this assignment I thought the part I would find most stressful would be leading the discussion, however after completing this assignment the most stressful (as well as aggravating:)) part was setting up the meetings!  Having to work around 5-6 peoples schedule really became a headache.  When we finally settled on a day making sure they knew what to read or watch was another task in itself.  I felt like I was in my classroom again telling my 4th graders what they needed to bring home and what they need to complete.  I guess I was expecting for them to be more independent and be able to realize what they need to do for the meeting.  Leading the discussion was definitely the easiest part of the whole assignment.

For our third meeting we began with discussing the articles.  We talked about using IPods in the classroom and the advantages and disadvantages with using them.  Alot of my group thought that the IPods could only be used for music and didn't realize there were actual apps you can purchase that focus on math/science/reading/etc.  I thought that was really interesting because I asked how many of my group members had an IPod and all of them said they did.  I guess they never really thought that an Ipod could be used as an educational device.  As I've said in previous posts I'm very amazed with all the "non" knowledge the younger generation has on technology.  As the conversation moved along I felt that the group wasn't into it like the other 2 times.  The "excitement" I suppose was wearing off.  A couple of my group memebers avatars kept saying they were away.  Also answers in my opinion, weren't very thoughtful.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience.  Second Life is a tool that could be very useful in the classroom.  Being able to experience it on my own and learn more about it , hopefully one day I will be able to incorporate it into my own classroom!

Texas A&M: Second Meeting

I meet with my group Sunday night, and overall I believe it went pretty well.  I definitely felt more comfortable leading this discussion rather then my first experience.  I think one of the reasons this was, was because I had no idea what to expect from the first meeting, and also I think I enjoyed the 2nd meetings topic more then the first meetings topic.
We met at the assigned location on the Texas A&M island.  A few people were late, but due to Second Life updating itself.  Once we began the discussion I felt it went pretty well.  We started with discussing the Hawaii video and then moved onto discussing the Walter Peyton video .  We talked about some challenges we may have if we were to incorporate in our classroom.  We also talked about postive aspects both types could bring to the classroom.  Something I did notice as we were having our discussion was that the majority of my group seems to be very hesistant to use technology in their classroom.  They kept taking about only using technology for note taking or using it for special occassions rather then use it for anything else.  I found this very interesting because as a younger generation I would have thought they would embrace technology and everything that had to do with it.  Instead I get the feeling they are "scared" of it and well use it only in the way it was given to them while they went to school (research/powerpoint/etc.).  I hope through our discussions and through their classes they will come to realize technology in the classroom is a good thing and can offer so much!

2nd Texas A&M Meeting