Take me home......

OK - so I was using flickr to look at a multitude of pictures, I was ahhhing every second...then, like everything, you get sensitized to all those perfect pictures posted. That got me thinking about which one would I like to download for this blog entry...and I could not find one that I liked "just that little bit extra". Then I thought I might try refining my search...........to Newfoundland - not surprizing as my nickname for my blog is "Newfie Girl". I found ALOT of nice photos of my home province.........then I got greedy and refined my search even MORE to the little, ity bity town where I was born...........I was not disappointed!!!!! There were 7 pages of pictures!!!! And if I ever get time, I will upload my own pics to the site and add about 7 more pages!!! The pic featured here is taken from "Joey's Lookout" atop the hill above my town. The hill is named for Joey Smallwood, NL premier who brought NL to confederation, and this was his birth place. This particular picture is not fancy or containing the usual "WOW" factor that most people look for, but it does show the Church on the left (halfway up) that I attended my entire childhood, where I was married, and where each of my three little boys were Christened. That is a powerful photograph for me.

So, what are my thoughts on flickr and teaching?? I have some more digging to do to find potential options - I'll update you on what I find later!

In about 6 weeks I will be making the yearly three day drive (each way), with my family, to see the grandparents in Newfoundland. Priceless.

Blogging uninterrupted!

Having three little ones and trying to get a complete thought typed is quite the challenge. The littlest one is waking up and letting me know it!! So, let’s see what I was thinking: I think I have figured out the RSS feed – the updates from the blogs I follow show up on my site so I don’t have to go looking – that is handy for sure!! The students will be able to keep track of some good “conversations” I am hoping they will have related to course work. Students can use their blogs to ask questions for feedback among themselves and I can monitor it – quite handy as they study for the midterm and finals or just completing lab write-ups. I believe this can be done in Blackboard – but I did not try it with that application. I think the students will enjoy this!! Oh – wait a minute – what about plagiarism?? Ah…something to think about later….Off the get the babe!!

Would students feel open to commenting?

Blogging...eh? Interesting. Be patient....it's my first time ;)

Seriously, though, it certainly is another method to gain comments/feedback from students. Could we pose a weekly question during a course and then let the students give their thoughts on it? Would they be open to it? Have people found blogging effective in teaching? How could we evaluate its effectiveness?

I have so much to learn about this......