CEP811 Blog Lab

Today I am working on a lab for my new class, CEP811 Adapting Innovative Technologies to Education.  I was tasked with describing the differences between traditional web pages and blogs. 

In my experience, web pages are depositories of information.  There might be facts, examples, links to other resources, and of course advertisements.   It used to be that only geeks like me who knew how to program in HTML code could actually create and maintain a web page.  Today though, anyone can put up a simple web page using tools like Google Sites, or others. 

Blogs on the other hand are much more reminiscent of the paper journals of my youth.  Now most of us rough and tumble boys would never have thought of keeping a journal, but all of our sisters and female cousins did.  It was, and blogs are today, a collection of our thoughts, feelings and even ramblings.  Sometimes they contain our hopes and dreams and even though a fact or two might creep in, they are not primarily for passing on information about things... but our feelings about people and places. 

Even I, in my efforts to chronicle my journey through the Masters of Education program, find myself keeping a Blog... There are not many deep, dark secrets being revealed, but there is some link to the victories and struggles along this new journey.

ISTE 2012 Rocked!

I just got back from San Diego... I really wish I could have stayed all week!  I have been going to conferences and expos for more than 3 decades but I have never been to a conference that was so packed with useful information.  I was only able to go to three sessions but all three were power packed and full of great ideas and resources.  I feel so enriched from the short weekend. 

I went to seminars on Emerging Technologies in the classroom,  Starting an Online Program, and Grant Writing for your classroom and school.  All three were dynamite and kept us rivited for the 3 hours of each session. 

I can't wait for next year and I have already decided that my wife, a teacher, and I are going to spend the entire week in San Antonio!

Inaugural Post

This is the inaugural post in my series on pursuing a Masters in Educational Technology.  As I go through this process I will chronicle the ups and downs.  My name is Craig Conley and I feel like I am going crazy trying to budget time to work on this program.  I have two businesses to run, am married, active in my local church, and am an ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) patient so I have to spend 3.5 hours each night tied to a Dialysis machine.  Fortunately I am able to do it at home so I can work on my computer and try and stay productive.

This is the first week of class and I am already feeling behind... and it is only day 4... I am going to try and take most of my Friday to work on school work. Well... I guess this post is actually the first step.  It is getting late so I will sign off for tonight.