What is this all about?

Reading other bloggers talking about blogging and teaching is hard to see what is the limitation of this relationship within the learning process. As I figure my main concern is the lack of time. I have tried to keep up with reading AND writing about the use of technology in education. More so as a science teacher I have the conviction that many practical outcomes will be brought out from the acceleration of information exchange as well as the increased speed in which peer review and evaluation can be done today through the Internet space.
There is so much information and so much discussion that keeping pace with it is almost impossible. So one question I have is how one can prioritize all these avenues? and how can we catalogue all the information for future reference?

Out of the Air!

Well after several week of doing the radio (web) show about the environment finally I had to stop! There is much work to be done and other thing take priority. So let me share with you some of the things I learned.
First of all I was surprized to see how people from far away places get so involved with this kind of projects. Some of my listeners were for Peru, Venezuela, Colombia y South america and some from Mexico. After a couple of week we got to know each other quite well and continue now communicating even though the show is not on.
Second I learned how we all share the feeling that the environment is afected by all in the same way. Some are more literate on environmental issues that others but we all share the same feeling that we all are in the same "boat"!
Thrid I learned that we can always find new ways to communicate and to make our subject matter more and more relevant to others if we make it a daily issue in our lives.
So it was a good experience, one that I am so glad to have had!

The perfect child!

It takes some time to see how good our children are! ;-)

Radio Learning

These past weeks have been a bit intense! I have been playing with radio "broadcasting" in the Internet. Not that is really "broadcasting" because in the Internet all depends on how many people listen to that particular station/web site and is not really open as with the other forms of wireless communication. In any case it is an interesting possibility due to the nature of the Internet, the nature of humans and the nature of time! What we have here is that the word-of-mouth is what helps this communication to spread and the use of forums, listserv and direct emails allows me to let other people know what I am doing. Over all everybody is excited about this exercise.

Learning or "The Air"

These are very interesting times! This last Monday I started my own radio show using the internet. This has been as well a learning experience. Besides de technical aspect of the process is the socio-political aspect of it. The idea first came as I was listening to a station based in San Luis potosi Mexico and they were looking for DJ,s things didn't work out with them and I learn things about personal control and then I was invited to use Radio Gents at http://www.motoclubarandas.com and it is there where I am starting my program. It is about the environment it is in spanish and dI will be talking about energy, transportation, and in general about environmental policies.

growing faith: What is this all about?

There are many now who are interested in being part of the "environmental" movement. This is a good example of things we can do: growing faith: What is this all about?

MIT sketching

Here we have a perfect example of how technology has improved the way in wich time can be shortened in class.

Geothermal Education Office - more hot websites

One advantage of using electronic communication in the learning process is the easyness in which information can be shared and kept. One example is the use of this blog for me to keep web sites that have been given to me by students and that I want to have as a public reference. Geothermal Education Office - more hot websites is a website that explores geothrmal energy and I use it in my Environmental Studies class.

When Hard Sciences are taught...

When hard sciences are taught in College a broader view of the world is presented to the young students. Learning about the scientific method is of fundamental importance in the development of the mind. Developing other problem solving skills will generate an interest in learning and a connection to the reality of every day life that will be with students for the rest of their lives. The question is how can we time or schedule ther rigor in the scientific modeling of theories?

Bridging Times

There have been many articles in recent months and years about “time” some, more technical try to explain the physics of time, the origin, and the psychological implications of its understanding. A comprehensive review was published in a special edition of Scientific American (May 06) titled “A Matter of Time”. All agree in one thing: We really don’t know what time is or how we can change our perception of time. Based on this understanding or lack of it many have tried to make a practical use of the organization of activities base on calendars and managerial tips. Some books and articles have proposed ways in which time can be administered, such as Allen C. Bluedorn in his book “The Human Organization of Time: Temporal realities and experience.”

The work done in these two areas the psychological and the physical have been kept more or less separated. As we have little knowledge of how to connect them. Thus one objective for this study is to find a connection between the physical reality of time and the perception that humans have of it. Hoping that a deeper understanding based on these experiences may help to design new ways in which the learning process can be organized.

From the pedagogical point of view this knowledge will also allow us to design course material- content and experiential- that will provide college students with the tools necessary for their integration to society as they move forward. Is in this context that the role of the teacher is reframed as a facilitator more than a conveyor of information. The instructor’s role has to become flexible in the use of time and in his/her approach to time “management”.

Every Day There Is Something New

Every day we face something new in our lives. This constitutes a continuous learning process. Today I am using the new version of "blogger" and as I log into my account I find that the cookie feature of my web browser has to be changed, of course I have some hesitation as I don't want to change the security features in my browser so i try to go around way in which I can log on without having to change the browser's settings. Somehow I did it, but I am not sure how I did it ;-) I have to review the process and then analyze it to learn which of the steps I did are relevant to the purpose intended and which are not.
As I use this new version I find that it has advantages over the previous one giving me the satisfaction of knowing that I have some progress in my use of this software.

Chemistry Experiments

This blog is an example of how people are showing "timely" experiments as they show them to the whole world: thedisgruntled.blogspot.com/2006/04/diet-coke-and=mentos-experimental.html

Technology and Pedagogy

Teaching has always incorporated new technologies. The difference today is that there are so many new technologies being born almost every day that it is very difficult for teachers to keep pace with their main objective of teaching when at the same time, have themselves to keep updated! In this respect faculty professional development takes a new -completely new -meaning.
Not only one must be competent with these techniques but a balanced and profound prioritization has to take place. some teacher have decided to develop skills in one area and then stick to that area. For example some develop websites and do everything within that site. Others use blogs and incorporate it into their syllabus, many use the website provided by texbooks and in college most are using the platform provided by the college using course management systems such as WebCT, Blackboard, Moodle, and others.
These times will be very interesting and without a doubt profund changes will come.