Internet Teaching
How are you using the Internet as a teaching tool? What is the biggest advantage you see in using it?
Use of cloud systems and dropbox for instant encrypted home work mesages and replies
No loss of informaiton or no one told me
Bill,
Cloud systems seem to be a good way to back up data and keep it safe. This is very important for learning management systems like blackboard for student records
Antoine Lewis
Not just back up but having all the assignments and communicaiton in an instant communicaiton mode is the most valuable
Bill
Bill,
I agree as this helps with providing quality feedback.
Antoine Lewis
I use some materials from open courseware sites. The biggest advantage is students can access it at home,and most students can navigate the Internet with very few problems.
I love Dropbox I can instantly see students work. It also accepts any type of file, which is essential for my computer classes.
Kathryn,
I like that dropbox keeps lesson plans organized.
Antoine Lewis
Kathryn,
Open courseware site are becoming popular in the education field as a resource for instructors.
Antoine Lewis
I'm not familiar with dropbox, however, after reading the comments of others about it, I am interested in trying it out. I find that using a variety of sites from the internet helps to keep students engaged and curious.
titilola,
I agree a dropbox would be a good to have and try as it is often free and convenient. In my opinion the best tool the dropbox offers is that if you have multiple computers you can still work on a document that you started working on at the "other" computer.
Antoine Lewis
I use the internet to help present concepts found in our textbook...I show the class other explanations and examples from the internet. I also encourage my students to use online labs found at other colleges website for tutorial purposes. Many of my students are into video games and being able to use the internet with all of its graphics and sound helps to keep their interest in class and sometimes causes them to feel at ease about a difficult topic.
Depending on the course, the Internet provides a wealth of resources. For example, in a networking course, I'll use the Internet to look-up standards and current technology. Even books that have been published in the past year often require a supplemental resource to bring the content up-to-date. In a programming course, it's often easier to search for code samples on the Internet than to search through a textbook.
The biggest advantage is probably the wealth of information that is available. It's important however to utilize critical thinking skills to evaluate the particular resource.
Dawn,
While the quality of internet provides resources it also complicates the research process in my opinion, but the internet can also function as a rich source material for critical thinking
Antoine Lewis
Zelda,
Distance learning can employ almost any learning style discussed. Much of the power of learning via the internet lies in taking into account the varied learning styles of students and providing learners such as those that do best as a self-directed, and visual online learner.
Antoine Lewis
Never heard of dropbox. Can you tell me what it is? Thanks!
I have used it as a fact check for when our textbook makes a statement that seems suspect. Students love to take their phones out and try to find out if the book is wrong. I have found that bringing in a Utube video is a good addition. It takes a lot of seraching time before I find an appropriate example, so this is a slow process. A am using some free educational sites such as Engrade so students can check how they are doing. I am building a class folder of material on Class Jump so students can access information associted with what we are covering. I feel there are other tools out there I have yet to find and learn about, so this course has been a good source for more of that sort of thing.
This is but one of the cloud systems for virtual information transfering
If you have a msn account you can activate skydrive
for drop box go to dropbox.com
sign up
you can then have your freinds sign up on drop box and you canhave instant communication
for my students each class crates a linage
whe nI give them an assignment there is an instant notifiacaation even to their smaart phone they can do their work post it back and all is in a single sourceaccessable any where any time
Shelia,
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your documents anywhere and share them easily. A good read is http://www.billselak.com/2012/dropbox
Antoine Lewis
Robert,
It is good than you are being proactive and resouceful within your classroom(s)
Antoine Lewis
