Scenario

Some of the technology tools that I am familiar with and plan on integrating into my curriculum are Animoto and VoiceThread. These two tools are incredible tools and I have already practiced implementing them into my curriculum and I will share with you the two items I have made. First off, Animoto is an amazing tool for introducing, or supplementing, a lesson that is being taught. Here is an example I made over the fire triangle and the different classes of fire.


Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.
 This video highlights the main points of what I will be discussing in the lesson that day. It provides audio and visual stimulation that is different from the standard PowerPoint or lecture type lesson. This is a great UDL strategy and by illustrating the lesson it really helps those students who are ELL or Learning Disabled to be able to see visuals of what I am wanting them to learn in the lesson. Incorporating technology like this helps to keep all students engaged and gives the students with different learning styles a chance to catch the information in the way that they learn best.

The other technology tool I will employ as often as possible is VoiceThread. I love the idea of using VoiceThread because it can teach the students a lesson all by itself through pictures and my words. Essentially it allows me to teach a lesson without even having to be in front of the students. I have made an example VoiceThread with my partner Levi, that high lights a few of the different game species that Kansas has to offer. This falls under Wildlife Management in the section of Natural Resource Management.



VoiceThread is another tool that provides good UDL Strategy employment. Not only is VoiceThread is visual with the pictures but it is also audio as the students will be hearing what I record for the information I want them to learn on each picture. It can also be interactive which is good for the students. By allowing editing, each student can leave their own comments on any of the pictures in the lesson so I can get feedback or maybe so they can tell me something they learned from the lesson itself. This is a great tool and resource to take advantage of because they students can do it at school or in the comfort of their own homes and for some that gives them the comfort and courage to participate in a group activity that they might not otherwise be inclined to participate it.

Both of these tools are highly adaptable and are great tools to be utilized in the classroom. I hope that I can gain more knowledge on a few more useful tech tools that I can employ in my curriculum. The students of today are technology driven so it is important that I use that technology and try and reach them in a place that they are going to understand it best.

My Wow Moment

My Wow Moment happened this semester when I made the change from a Google Site to my Weebly Site.  I was enjoying putting together my site on Google and I was liking how things were going but the more I tried adding to my site, the increasingly more difficult it became to organize everything and make my site look nice and professional. When CDK posted the links to the other sites that we could possibly use I tried all of them. When I started making a Weebly Site I knew I had a winner. The site was so easy to manage I began to wonder why CDK had us bother making the Google Sites to begin with. On Weebly, they have a drag and drop feature where you simply place what you are wanting on your page on there and then add it in. For instance, if you want to embed a video on the page, you drop in the edit html box on the page where were want it and then add the embed code and you are done. It was literally that simple. It was from that point forward that I started to really get into making my website professional and fun. I became very proud of the work I was doing and I wanted to put together a site that I would not be afraid to show to anyone, especially a future employer. I spent extra time on the weekends working with it and added in extra stuff to jazz up the home page and some of the alternative pages. Before I knew it, I had a website that I was showing off to everyone because I was that proud of it. I am that proud of it. I never thought I could make a professional looking product until I started using Weebly. So, I guess you could go out on a limb and say Weebly was my Wow moment. Wow this is easy and Wow this looks really good. I am absolutely proud of my website, http://dmknapp21.weebly.com and I hope you all take a second to stop and take a look. Leave some comments, let me know what ya think or what I can do to improve it. Now that I have had my Wow moment, I am ready to tackle any task to make my site a step above the rest to give me that leading edge with my future employer. Bring on the interviews.

Podcast Favorites

My Podcast Favorites? Well, this is a tough question because I struggled with the Podcasts if I am being 100% honest. I do not like listening to people sit and talk for a long time about stuff that I don't find overly interesting and most stuff dealing with education technology I do not find interesting. I am more interested in hearing about which welder works better, or which cattle breed is the best suited for Kansas climate. I enjoy stuff that other people, CDK in general would probably find boring. If I had to pick a podcast that I felt was something I could relate to or was directly applicable to me, it would Kevin Honeycutts podcast on Facebook Talk. The reason I really enjoyed this particular podcast is that it discussed cyber bullying and the digital legacy. First off, cyber bullying is becoming ever prevalent in todays society and is a problem that all of us professionals must be aware of and learn how to deal with. Even if you don't have a lick of technology in the classroom, the kids have it home, or on their phones or in the class before, and they are going to be utilizing it and if someone is getting picked on via a social network, it is going to end up in your classroom either way. We have to have teach our students the correct way to utilize these social networks like Facebook in a correct and responsible manner. The last thing I really liked was his statement on a digital legacy. Everything we put on the net has digital permanence to it and everyone, including our students and fellow professionals has to be aware of that. No one is exempt from this. We need to be cautious of everything we say and every picture we put it because it will always be there for someone to find and we need to make sure it is something worth finding. Out of all of the podcasts, that is the one I enjoyed and learned the most from.

Semester Favorites

The two things we used this semester that would easily be my favorite are Animoto and Google Maps. I loved Animoto because it was fun and so easy to use. The fact that we could take pictures, add them to the site, and pick a song and then have a 30 second video made for us that is both professional and fun is one of the coolest things to me. I used to spend hours trying to make presentations where the pictures come in with the beat of the music and sync with certain parts of songs and now that I have found Animoto I can do it in minutes. My group and I utilized Animoto for our presentation and the students in our classroom responded very well to it. It was a visual stimulation that they would not have otherwise been able to see without the program. I plan on using Animoto in my classroom as a professional for sure.


Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

The other technology I fell in love with was Google Maps. I liked Google Maps so much because of the practicality of it all. To be able to go and plot out a trip and then leave pictures and information at each point you plan on stopping at is just fun and incredibly informational at the same time. I used Google Maps to teach a lesson on Eco- Tourism in Kansas and took my students through a brief trip of the many State Parks Kansas has to offer. It was amazing to see how much I could teach them all on the map by showing them pictures, videos, and leaving mini-lesson sized blurbs of information that were easy to remember and stuff they would want to learn. I liked this project because it is so applicable in all subjects in the school. This, like Animoto is  another piece of technology I plan on utilizing whenever possible.

View A Tour of Kansas State Parks in a larger map

Podcast Reflection #12:0082 TCT – YouTube Plus

For my last podcast I dove in with the Tech Chicks once more. The tech chicks went over a variety of different websites that coincide with YouTube. One that I liked was called EmbedPlus. This website is a great tool that you can use to edit YouTube videos. You can upload the video to the site and then go in and edit piece by piece which parts of the video you want to use. I found this to be genius because most classrooms don't allow or have access to YouTube but you YouTube has a lot of great informational videos on it. So, with this website you edit the movie and then you can literally embed or send the information to a format or place that allows you to show it to the students. This would have been a wonderful tool to have before we did our middle school lesson because there was a video we found on YouTube that went perfectly with our lesson, but, the Middle School had YouTube blocked and the teacher was not comfortable with all of the content on the video. Had we been able to use this tool we could have edited the video to just show the sections we wanted and then been able to embed the video in our PowerPoint and show it to the students. A similar tool they highlighted was called TubeChop. The down side to using this over EmbedPlus is that you can only cut parts out of the beginning or the end. It allows limited editing so I would stick with EmbedPlus. These are both tools I can see myself using in my classroom in the future.

Podcast Reflection #11: 0085 TCT – My document’s corrupted?!

For this podcast I decided to listen in on the Tech Chick Tips. Their topic of choice was one that I found very interesting. They discussed a tool that students will utilize to gain extra time on an assignment. The tool they are referring to is called document corrupter and it is a tool that you simply have to upload your document onto this website and it will corrupt the document so that when they send it to you and you open it, it won't work and they will get extra time to work on it as you will feel sorry for them for it now working. What a thought, a website that virtually buys you time on an assignment by tricking your professors into thinking there is something wrong. It scares me to know there are programs like this out there, but, I have to hand it to whoever made it because they are a genius. The Tech Chicks had a good idea to incorporate this website into the classroom, although I see it as a double edged sword, but that was to use it as a segue to discuss ethical dilemmas. Bring a sight such as this up and have them discuss whether it is right or wrong to employ such a tool. I feel like it gives the students the information for the sight and an excuse to use it and see if it works, but, that could just be me. I would say be careful with what you choose to do because that could come back and bite you in the butt.  This was a very informative podcast and one that I definitely gained insight on something I did not even realize was possible. Now I just have to make the ethical descision of whether to employ my new found knowledge or continue being the honest student I have been. Hmmm.... 

Podcast Relfection #10: Story Chasers and more with Wesley Fryer

On this podcast with Kevin Honeycutt he discusses with Wesley Fryer about Story Chasers. The concept behind Story Chasers is using technology to document stories that are important to the people creating them. It has been used in several different ways and is something that we ourselves did in class and didn't realize it. When we did our VoiceThread assignment we were being Story Chasers without even knowing it. Our assignment was to find something in our history and to tell the story of it. I chose the Salt Mines in Hutchinson and I helped bring that story to life through media outlets on the internet and pictures and my voice. I told the story of the mines for someone who has never had the chance to experience them. Wesley Fryer stressed in the blog that when you are doing a digital story like I did you have the responsibility as a digital citizen to make sure what you are putting on your story is factual and to be a digital witness and to document and share wisely. Be creative, but make sure that what you are doing is factual and real because others are going to see your work and believe what you have to say so you need to steer them straight and be responsible about the information you are giving them. This is definitely something I would utilize in my classroom because after having done it for myself it is a great way to make a presentation that is out of the norm and a great way to put forth new information.

Podcast Reflection #9:Facebook Talk

This was a very interesting podcast and one that I could really understand. Kevin Honeycutt discusses with two guest some of the pro's and con's that Facebook and other social media has on students in this day in age. One of the main things they discussed was how Facebook can be used for cyber bullying which is becoming an every growing problem in todays society. One of the guest speakers made this comparison, "what used to be a note that was written out of haste in the moment and could be thrown away later, is now a public document that is online forever for not just one person to see, but 150 or more people to see." Bullying is not a new thing but social networking sites make it a more public and lasting thing and this can be really detrimental.  Kevin wanted to highlight on this because it is something that affects all students and in turn it will affect all of us as professionals  so we need to keep an eye on it and keep monitoring it. Another thing they wanted to highlight on is to make sure you are paying attention to what kind of digital legacy you are leaving. Everything you put on the internet is potentially permanent so it is imperative that people pay attention to the pictures they upload and the things they say because they will always be on there in some way shape or form and could come back to haunt you. Be very mindful of what you post so it does not come back to hurt you later in life. Kevin and his guest stressed at the end to not cut the social media out of your life, but, instead to just be careful how you use and what you put on it. This was a very good post and one that I found to be incredibly insightful.  

Twitter Reflection

After having used Twitter for awhile now I feel like I am able to give a justifiable assessment of it as a tool for educators. I think if it is used, and used in the correct manner it can be a great resource, it just boils down to actually taking the time to use it.  I will be very honest, I struggled to use it how it needs to be used for it to work effectively. I like technology but is has to be to the extent that I can use it and not feel overwhelmed or get bored with the information. With Twitter and the educators I was following, I felt like I got a mass over load of information, some great, some not so good, and got so much that it was overwhelming trying to keep track of who was a good person to really follow and who was not and it became a chore trying to read through all of the new posts trying to find the good information. When something becomes a chore and it is not something that is required, I don't do it. That is where I found myself with the assignment to follow Twitter this semester. It became a chore attempting to keep up with the information overload I was experiencing, so, I quit doing it. I think if I employed a tweet deck like Cyndi Danner-Kuhn I would have become more overwhelmed or simply annoyed with the stuff popping up all the time. So, my final thoughts on Twitter are that it can be a great educational tool if you have the patience or desire for it. For me, there are much more productive things I would rather be spending my time on so Twitter will not be something I will use regularly in the future.

Reflection Classroom 2.0

Classroom 2.0 is more or less a social website for educators to gather together, share thoughts, ideas, and build relationships with one another.  The thought and power behind a tool like this is brilliant because collaboration is a key thing to the evolving of education and education has to evolve to keep up with the changing needs of the students.  Allowing the teachers to collaborate and share or vent with one another brings reasonable solutions to problems and also allows the educators to communicate with others who can relate to their positions in education. This kind of social networking has been used in the public setting with our students and this is just another way for us to relate to our students on a different level and use a technological tool similar to what they use  in a productive way. I think this a great tool and is one that I will probably make myself a part of in the future.

Edu Techer

Edu Techer is a great resource that allows teachers to view links specific to their own areas of interest and for grade levels they want to look at. It has lists of live podcasts and conferences that teachers can listen in on in learn new ideas that would be great additions to the classroom. The website also provides blogs and testimonials from users that provides resources, new information, and advice that could really help in the classroom. So what does this mean for me as a teacher? It means that sites like this can provide me with whatever tool I will need to be successful in my classroom. If I am struggling with ideas for a lesson, or how to implement technology into a lesson I can go to this website and probably find a link or blog or podcast that is going to relate to what it is I am wanting help with. What an awesome too to have at our disposal.

Kan-ed Reflection

I think the website Kan-ed is a great resource for teachers in Kansas to be able to access and gain and share knowledge and resources.  There are so many great things that this site has to offer both new teachers and those that have been practicing in the field for years. I can not believe the amount of resources this site has to offer. You can scroll through pages of resources and hyper-links and find all sorts of information that could be used in the classroom or used as references and ideas for the lessons you are coming up with. Having a seemingly endless source of resources and tools at hand is a very comforting thing to me because I can learn and gain confidence through what all of these other educators have collaborated with together and placed on the internet for all the rest of us educators to use and learn from. What a great tool to have.  

Reflection #8:Learning in Hand Podcast #23: Collecting & Organizing Voice Memos

This week I checked back in with Tony Vincent and listened to his podcast on collecting and organizing voice memos. This episode was very similar to the last podcast I checked into on recording and posting podcasts via the iPod touch and in fact the steps in the process are very similar. The thing I liked about this was that keeping voice memos is less formal then making a podcast and doesn't require the user to set up an RSS feed or have pictures or video. It is just what it sounds, a voice memo.  These voice memos can be uploaded to iTunes and listened to on the work station by the teacher or other students but it has to be done either from the iPod or the exact workstation it was uploaded too. A simple solution to this problem is uploading the memo to Posterous just as we did in the podcast from the last reflection.  I feel that this could be a good tool for the teacher to use, especially if posterous is involved because the teacher can leave memos for the students to follow or serve as reminders for assignments without having to constantly do the reminding.  Once again, another unique concept and one I would like to look further into on my own.

Reflection 7: Learning in Hand Podcast #21: Podcast from iPod touch

For my latest blog post I decided to go back to Tony Vincents website and listen in to a few more of his Learning in Hands Podcasts. I found the "Podcast from iPod touch" to be particularly interesting because of its relevance to what we recently did in class in creating our own podcasts via GarageBand on the Mac computers. To this point I thought that was the only one of few ways to do such a thing and was pleasantly surprised to find that you could do the same by using an Ipod touch and a website called Posterous. One key note that Tony made was that the Ipods do not come with built in mics so those would need to be purchased, unless you have the newest generation 32 or 64 bit version because the headphones have mics built in. With that said, you create the podcast the same way you would by recording whatever tid bit you want to and then you add the podcast to Posterous. The cool thing about Posterous is that it has privacy setting so that only certain people can see the podcast whether that be a teacher or certain people in a group. Whomever you choose the settings to allow to view it. I really like this feature because it creates a safe environment for the students to voice their opinions or to be able to create something and not worry about the judgment of their peers. This could be a great tool to use in the classroom because it is so easy to have the students make a podcast reflection over what was done in class, upload to Posterous and then the teacher can go through and review all of the uploads without having to sort through them and can listen to all of them through iTunes, not at just the computer they students were docked at. Another option would be the teacher using this as a tool to go over homework assignments or talk about the class and give them all a way to listen to what needs to be said through podcasts. This is the kind of technology I could really see being implemented in my classroom because it makes things easier on both the teacher and the student, and it is good change of pace from the usual type of school work. This is something I definitely want to try using in the future.

Podcast Reflection #6: Kicking it Up a Notch, Games in Education

For this podcast I decided to switch gears and visited the K12 Online Conference and found a podcast by Sylvia Martinez discussing the use of games in the classroom. She started out the podcast by discussing how games have been used to educate living mammals since the start of time and that schools were the relatively new phenomena on the block.  To explain this she highlighted animals such as lions who use games to teach their cubs survival skills. So, that made sense.  So games are a way that we naturally learn skills, but, as she highlighted in her podcast, they are not all skills that go along with classroom education.  So what is important and what is the right way to go about tackling the issue? Mrs. Martinez discusses about the use of COTS, Commercial Off the Shelf games, to add life lessons into the classroom lessons by using games that anyone can by.  One of the games she mentioned was a Sims City because it can highlight many real world situations to the kids.  She went on to say that with the game play, teacher lead discussion also needs to be present to make sure they are understand the educational purpose in the time spent with the game and not seeing it as just a fun alternative.  Lastly, she suggested game design. Allowing the students to design their own computer based games highlights many things they learn in the classroom and also implements teamwork and problem solving skills.  While I agree with much of what Mrs. Martinez discusses throughout her podcast I still remain somewhat skeptical to the idea of the COTS type games being used in the classroom.  When I was a student that would have been more of a distraction from the learning I was supposed to be doing then it would have been an aid to reinforce what I had learned.  Rather then games, I think I will stick to hands on reinforcement of my learning and recommend games to my students for out class time to help further stimulate the growth of an idea.

Animoto in my Classroom

I was very impressed with the web program Animoto and how easy it is to put together a video collage of pictures and end up with a completely professional end product. I have tried doing video editing like that in the past on my own and one of my biggest struggles in doing that has always been getting the pictures to appear in sequence with the flow of the music so it was a huge relief when I found that the website does all of it for you. The beauty of Animoto is that anyone can use and do it because all you have to do is add pictures and it guides you through all of that step by step.  The only draw back I have with the website is their selection of music. I understand why they are so limited, but, it just stinks that there are so few songs to choose from and most of the songs are what I would consider terrible.  By far the best genre they offer is the Christian music because it has the best selection of good songs.  I think as far as using Animoto in my classroom I will stick to just using it as introduction to new topics that I am going to be teaching.  I think you can use the pictures to highlight the main points of what you are planning on using for your lesson. I have provided an illustration via Animoto that shows the different classes of fire and the means to put them out.


Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

As can be seen by my video, it provides a great glimpse of what I will be teaching my students to try and get them hooked or interested. After showing this they will know what to expect as far the the lesson and I will be able to build off of what I have shown. I think this is great tool and I plan on using it as often as I can in the classroom to help keep things fresh.

Podcast Reflection #5: Learning in Hand Podcast #22: Educational Apps

For this weeks reflection on a podcast I chose to hit up Tony Vincents website and see what thoughts he had to offer up on technology.  His website mainly focuses on the Apple line of hand-held products; the Ipod, Ipod Touch, and Ipad.  Prior to watching his podcast I have been a bit naive on the functions of the Ipods thinking that they were only used for music and games.  That knowledge base coming from what I have seen of people using them. Tony's podcast showed me how wrong I am. In his ten minute blurb Tony showed nearly 20 apps that can be downloaded and purchased for the Ipods and Ipad that are all directly related to education and ones that teachers can use directly in the classroom.  I had always scuffed and turned my nose up at the idea of a teacher using an Ipod in the classroom but now I see how it can be directly applicable.  For example, Tony illustrated a downloadable app that allows the student to take a first hand look at a plant or animal cell. Not only can you see the cell, but, you can rotate it, zoom in, click on specific parts, and get detailed information on each parts functions.  It is basically like having a cell in your hand to examine.  What an incredible learning tool. Had I had stuff like that when I was taking biology it would have helped me understand so much better because I am a hands on learner and that would be so much better then looking at a picture in a book.  Another thing I found to be very cool and applicable at the elementary school level were several apps that tested knowledge and worked certain skills.  For example, Tony showed an app that illustrated a map of the United States and the goal was to correctly identify all 50 states in 60 seconds as the name appeared on the game.  Another app was a two player game that used simple math skills and challenged each student to reach the right answer the fastest.  Both of these would be great educational tools to use when students are forced to stay indoors on a day for recess.  I found Tony's information to be incredibly helpful and totally changed my opinion on using Ipods in the classroom.  I know follow Tony on Twitter as well and hope to get even more great ideas in the future.

Podcast Reflection #4: Opening things up to really prepare kids

So, for my first podcast I decided to listen to the musings of Kevin Honeycutt and listened to his podcast Opening things up to really prepare kids.  His podcast was not quite what I had expected in its formalities.  He spent the entire 27 minutes just casually talking with Kay Tibbs, another professional in education about the topic at hand and that was opening up technology to prepare the students for the future.  This particular idea intrigued me because I can see huge benefits in favor of the technology but also rather large draw backs as well.  One of the big things Kevin and Kay discussed is how we have to allow the students to use the internet and all it has to offer the kids and educate them on that and to also not keep them from it.  Many schools completely block kids from using the internet and that can be such a hindrance to there learning because the internet is something they will use extensively the rest of their lives.  Rather then block them from using it when need to guide them in the direction of correctly using it.  Obviously, having a completely open internet interface is not something you can do in a high school or middle school because of the stupid stuff kids would do, but, you can't block all media or all social outlets because of the potential distraction. Take Facebook for instance. A teacher can take that social outlet and use that in the classroom or as a way to have student interaction outside of the classroom.  Make a classroom group page and require students to do some of the stuff we are doing in this class such as a reflection on a question or topic.  That is taking an internet resource that schools deem simply a distraction right now and using it for a school related purpose. The main message they were trying to convey over all is to not cut out technology because there are negatives to it but rather figure out ways to turn those into positives and reach the most kids possible.  They even discussed implementing cell phones in the class rather then taking them away.  So many ideas that are beyond my comprehension at this point but I look forward to learning more in the realm of technology.

Reflection 3: Fun with Text

After using Wordle and Tagxedo I had to think for a little while about how this could  be used in a relevant manner in my classroom and I was able to come up with a few ideas and also decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to steal one of the ideas from our assignment.  One way to effectively use Wordle would be to use it as an avenue to get to know my students better by having them describe themselves via words just as we did in our assignment. That can show me each students interests and also give me a little insight into their personalities because of the different options for displaying their picture of words. Each student will be different and I think it could be a fun way to get to know them better.  Another idea I came up with for using Wordle would be to have my students add all the key words or key ideas to whatever judging competition they might be preparing for. There are usually certain things to look for when preparing for one of those competitions and the students could use this program to highlight those and have a fun way to review them.  This may have been mentioned in class, but, I as the teacher could also use such a program to highlight the keywords that I am going to have on an exam or even use it for myself to make sure I discuss those key words in my lesson. It is a different way to make sure my students know what important things they need to be picking up on in my classroom. I think the basic principle to be taken from using text software such as Wordle is that it is a way to spice up the information you are using and to try and keep things fresh in the classroom.  It might be the difference between keeping your students engaged and losing them to boredom.  Overall I think it will be a great tool to be able to have and use in the classroom.

Reflection 2: CDK's Education Technology Place

After spending some time visiting Cyndi Danner Kuhns website it did not take me long to realize that if I have any sort of question regarding technology that chances are I will be able to find my answer there.  The website offers so many different links to information that can be incredibly useful to a teacher in any field.  Some of the blogs and links I am not yet totally sold on like how tweeting is really going to be relevant or something I am going to want to do, but there is still a lot of class left this semester leaving plenty of opportunities to sway my opinion.  One of the things I enjoyed were the videos on the main page and how they show technology being used first hand and how it can make a difference.  The video about reading we watched in class was used at Bishop elementary in Topeka last year and it significantly increased the number of books the students read and also their scores on reading for the standardized tests.  That is just one good example of how technology can be used to reach this generation of students.  I think the one thing about the site that I enjoyed the most was the fact that we have access to the blogs and links that feed the knowledge of the one leading us through this tutorial in technology.  I like the fact that the whole class and teacher can all work through the process of learning new technology together and have the same links and pages to reference. Ideally that makes the learning process easier for both student and teacher. I have a feeling that this will be a very useful site to frequent all semester long. 

Reflection 1: Technology Bits, Bytes & Nibbles

In the technologybitsbytesnibbles web page I found a vast array of articles that really brought to my attention the importance of technology in education and also all of the possibilities that technology is bringing to the table. One article I really enjoyed in particular was “Tennessee school requires ipad for class”.  I didn’t have a lot of prior knowledge or experience with the ipad but one of the things that really caught my attention in the article was that it can replace books and paper assignments and similar things. I love the outdoors and protecting our environment is a huge thing with me so the thought of schools across the nation being able to go near paper less, and reduce the amount of paper used for text books and such things really got me excited because that would be a huge change.  The other thing I really enjoyed was that the article said it can help to make the classroom more interactive and with my focus being on Ag Education that really opens up a lot of possibilities for how I can approach what I teach in class.  I think the ipad could indeed be a game changer for schools in the future.  Further reviewing other articles on the site, however, left me wanting more on most of them.  Articles on how to get apps for stuff or "How to port your cell phone or home phone with google voice" or other such things just do not appeal to me and some of them I just can’t connect the dots with their importance to teaching.  I am hoping that the further we dig into this class that maybe I will be able to see there significance to education.