Inquiry 598
Welcome to Inquiry 598
My name is Kim and this is my website for EDT 598, Inquiry into Educational Technology. In this picture, I am playing with two of the kids that I live with (I'm in the back). These are my favorite little ones... we have a lot of fun together!
I teach elementary physical education and health in Wallingford, CT. I am almost done with the educational technology program for my masters degree. In fact, after this summer I should be done (if all goes well)! On this website, you will find my course work and assignments posted. In case you need to reach me, my e-mail is [email protected]. Enjoy!
I teach elementary physical education and health in Wallingford, CT. I am almost done with the educational technology program for my masters degree. In fact, after this summer I should be done (if all goes well)! On this website, you will find my course work and assignments posted. In case you need to reach me, my e-mail is [email protected]. Enjoy!
Reflective Essay #1
Research has always been something rather intimidating for me. Whenever I have thought of research throughout my past, it has been in a dreaded, annoyed, negative manner. It has always seemed so technical, so formal, and never seemed very relative to me/my life. To this very day I still think of research in a negative light as I find it intimidating and daunting. In fact, I have not been very anxious to sign up for this course due to the thoughts, feelings, and dread that arise when I think about it! It is with a deep breath and every ounce of motivation I can muster that I move forward into this course with some apprehension.
Honestly, I do not know a lot about research, especially research regarding technology. When I think of research, I think of studies done in psychology or child development; I think of numbers, statistics, APA formatting, formal writing, and technical wording for no apparent reason other than to sound professional. I know that a lot of times research is skewed to make people think or feel a certain way about a particular topic, so oftentimes when I think of research I think of it as biased facts to lead a person in a particular direction. I know that research is often a very time consuming process that involves very specific instructions and steps. In order to complete research, a very specific topic or problem must be in need of an answer/data. Once a problem has arisen, there needs to be hypotheses, trial and error, controlled settings, testing, data, etc. It has always seemed like such a long and drawn out process! I know that research is useful when you need to provide evidence for something. Other than these things, I really do not know much about research. Like I said, it has always been somewhat of a scary and intimidating thing for me!
Despite the intimidation factor, I would actually really like to learn about research because it would take away some of the fear surrounding it. I guess it would be very helpful to actually know what research truly is, how it is truly done, what is truly involved in it, etc. I am also super interested to figure out how to use research because I know that it could be something very useful in my degree. In my field specifically, there is a lot of research regarding the importance of physical education etc. It would be extremely helpful to know how to use this research to my advantage in conveying the high importance of physical activity and exercise. I am also very curious about the research that has been done in educational technology and just in general regarding the use of technology in education. Technology is so huge these days… it seems that technology is all that people/students use! The use of technology has become so prevalent in education, it would be really interesting to see how actually useful it is or if it is actually a hindrance to education or where that line could/should be drawn.
One last thing I think I would be interested in is really learning how to actually “do” research. I have no idea how to conduct a study or actually do something that would be valid and taken seriously by another human being. I have had my own theories, ideas, etc. that I would be interested in trying to research/prove, but I have no idea even how to go about it. It would interest me to actually figure out how to do research or conduct studies that would provide the necessary facts to back up whatever that specific topic is. I think this would be very useful, especially in the field of education. I know that I am always looking for ways to provide meaningful data and facts to back up things that I believe to be true and important. All said and done, despite having apprehension and being nervous, I am also intrigued and curious about research… especially research in the field of education/educational technology.
Honestly, I do not know a lot about research, especially research regarding technology. When I think of research, I think of studies done in psychology or child development; I think of numbers, statistics, APA formatting, formal writing, and technical wording for no apparent reason other than to sound professional. I know that a lot of times research is skewed to make people think or feel a certain way about a particular topic, so oftentimes when I think of research I think of it as biased facts to lead a person in a particular direction. I know that research is often a very time consuming process that involves very specific instructions and steps. In order to complete research, a very specific topic or problem must be in need of an answer/data. Once a problem has arisen, there needs to be hypotheses, trial and error, controlled settings, testing, data, etc. It has always seemed like such a long and drawn out process! I know that research is useful when you need to provide evidence for something. Other than these things, I really do not know much about research. Like I said, it has always been somewhat of a scary and intimidating thing for me!
Despite the intimidation factor, I would actually really like to learn about research because it would take away some of the fear surrounding it. I guess it would be very helpful to actually know what research truly is, how it is truly done, what is truly involved in it, etc. I am also super interested to figure out how to use research because I know that it could be something very useful in my degree. In my field specifically, there is a lot of research regarding the importance of physical education etc. It would be extremely helpful to know how to use this research to my advantage in conveying the high importance of physical activity and exercise. I am also very curious about the research that has been done in educational technology and just in general regarding the use of technology in education. Technology is so huge these days… it seems that technology is all that people/students use! The use of technology has become so prevalent in education, it would be really interesting to see how actually useful it is or if it is actually a hindrance to education or where that line could/should be drawn.
One last thing I think I would be interested in is really learning how to actually “do” research. I have no idea how to conduct a study or actually do something that would be valid and taken seriously by another human being. I have had my own theories, ideas, etc. that I would be interested in trying to research/prove, but I have no idea even how to go about it. It would interest me to actually figure out how to do research or conduct studies that would provide the necessary facts to back up whatever that specific topic is. I think this would be very useful, especially in the field of education. I know that I am always looking for ways to provide meaningful data and facts to back up things that I believe to be true and important. All said and done, despite having apprehension and being nervous, I am also intrigued and curious about research… especially research in the field of education/educational technology.
Reflective Essay #2
This semester I learned quite a few things, but did not feel that my specific questions really were answered. I guess my questions were more about how to accurately write research or accurately research something. The scary and intimidating thing for me is that I have no idea how to research something because it all seems so advanced and formal and like it has to be completed a very specific way. I still don’t feel like I know how to conduct research or what is even involved in doing so.
Throughout this course, I learned a couple of things. First, I learned about reading research and research summaries and seeing if they are reliable or not. Research can be skewed and biased and sometimes people use research out of context to prove their point. Summaries can especially be biased and skewed so it is important to check the sources if you are really trying to get good, reliable information. When checking sources, go to the actual document that the research was quoted or referenced from, and read the context. If the context is correct and it makes sense where it was and how it was used, that’s a good thing!
There were several different technology things that I learned throughout this course as well. I was familiar with a lot of things, but did not know much about them. Take Twitter, for example. I knew what Twitter was, I used to be part of it and then quit it, I knew it was a social networking type of program, but that’s all I knew. This class was the first introduction I had to Twitter as something educational; as something other than a social networking site. Twitter can be used to send updates and information at/from conferences, it can be used to question and communicate back and forth between classmates and teacher and vice a versa, and there are several educational sites linking Twitter to education. Although I’m not a big fan of Twitter and still find it easier to use as a social networking tool, this class helped me to open my mind a bit and see it for other uses, educational uses, as well.
Another thing that I experienced in this course that I had absolutely no experience with before was Second Life. Second Life is a virtual world where the user creates an Avatar and can explore the worlds within the program. It was very difficult starting out to figure anything out. I did not know what to do, where to go, how the program worked, or what the object of it all was. I was extremely skeptical and frustrated with Second Life when I started out and thought that it had no educational value. Throughout our use, and the introduction of the Universities/classes in Second Life, I realized that it actually could be used for educational purposes and virtual classes. I still worry about using it with students because the Second Life program has sexually explicit things in it that I would not feel comfortable having students have readily available to them. My mind is definitely much more open to this though and also to the use of virtual worlds/virtual classes in general. This class has definitely opened my eyes to some new things and some old things that I was familiar with but did not know educational/alternative uses for.
Throughout this course, I learned a couple of things. First, I learned about reading research and research summaries and seeing if they are reliable or not. Research can be skewed and biased and sometimes people use research out of context to prove their point. Summaries can especially be biased and skewed so it is important to check the sources if you are really trying to get good, reliable information. When checking sources, go to the actual document that the research was quoted or referenced from, and read the context. If the context is correct and it makes sense where it was and how it was used, that’s a good thing!
There were several different technology things that I learned throughout this course as well. I was familiar with a lot of things, but did not know much about them. Take Twitter, for example. I knew what Twitter was, I used to be part of it and then quit it, I knew it was a social networking type of program, but that’s all I knew. This class was the first introduction I had to Twitter as something educational; as something other than a social networking site. Twitter can be used to send updates and information at/from conferences, it can be used to question and communicate back and forth between classmates and teacher and vice a versa, and there are several educational sites linking Twitter to education. Although I’m not a big fan of Twitter and still find it easier to use as a social networking tool, this class helped me to open my mind a bit and see it for other uses, educational uses, as well.
Another thing that I experienced in this course that I had absolutely no experience with before was Second Life. Second Life is a virtual world where the user creates an Avatar and can explore the worlds within the program. It was very difficult starting out to figure anything out. I did not know what to do, where to go, how the program worked, or what the object of it all was. I was extremely skeptical and frustrated with Second Life when I started out and thought that it had no educational value. Throughout our use, and the introduction of the Universities/classes in Second Life, I realized that it actually could be used for educational purposes and virtual classes. I still worry about using it with students because the Second Life program has sexually explicit things in it that I would not feel comfortable having students have readily available to them. My mind is definitely much more open to this though and also to the use of virtual worlds/virtual classes in general. This class has definitely opened my eyes to some new things and some old things that I was familiar with but did not know educational/alternative uses for.
