And we begin again … On to online/blended learning!

Hello all!  I’m Natalie Schapansky and I spend my days with grade 7 and 8 students.  I love the land of middle years. As unpredictable and quirky as they are, they are also fiercely loyal – which I love.

                                                  Photo credit

In addition, my husband and I have a son, Nate, who is my 10 year old thinker and analyzer with a heart of gold.  My daughter, Bella, who is 8, is our joy and theatrical drama queen. Our kids keep us busy with activities and provide joy and chaos in daily life.  I also have two cats with polar opposite personalities.  My 15 year old cat, Sydney, is the best lap cat around. Louis, my 8 year old cat, patrols the neighbourhood entering houses at a whim making himself at home on any random couch.  Juggling all these components and throwing in grad school keep my brain on a tightrope of sanity.

This is my second edtech class. Despite creating a blog and using it for a whole semester, I still found Katia’s videos on set up very helpful.  I still have so much to learn.  So for all those first timer’s, have no fear; we are all still learning new things.

My goals for this class are to:

1.  Understand all the tech components necessary to create an online and blended course:  This feels very daunting for me.  While I enjoy using technology, I’m not sure I excel at all the understanding and lingo related to the tech creation components.  I can get behind the pedagogy and development of curriculum, but my LMS knowledge is lacking.
2. Like Elizabeth, I would like to use more pingbacks and interactivity in my blog posts. I often wrote my posts early in the week and hadn’t read a lot of other people’s posts before I wrote my own.  So, I will try to incorporate more of that and balance my time as well.
3. Increase my twitter use.  Last semester, I started using twitter.  I scrolled through it a lot, but didn’t always know how to interact with it in a meaningful way.  I’m learning that it relates more to my professional profile than a personal one.
4. Incorporate/increase my use of GAFE as my knowledge of blended/online learning increases.  I started using google classroom last semester, but I know I barely scratched the surface so I hope to find new, efficient, and effective ways to use google classroom.

So … here’s to another edtech journey!