I'm regarded as the investigator and experimenter of
technology in my building. Over the years, I've been the
first one to:
-begin using google
-same thing with mozilla
-same thing with easybib
-latest releases of MSOffice and Word and powerpoints
-Blackboard software
-various gradebook software
-printers, data projectors, speakers, laptops, mimeos
-MyWritingLab
-webcam
-Skype
I started reading and posting on teachers.net in 1998.

I like technology and welcome the chance to try it out.

That does NOT mean I decide to use all of it, especially
with my developmental students.

This week, I attended a daylong workshop in Wimba and came
away with the conclusion that it did pretty cute things,
but nothing that would necessarily improve, speed up, or
assist my curriculums. Yes, it does allow real time
chatting via text, voice, and video, but most of my
students have dial up at home. In addition, the focus of
the course is composition - so chatting does very little to
help the students in the formal compositions.

Yesterday, many of my coworkers attended an hour long
presentation that included information about ning.com.
They kept telling me that "This is so much better than Bb -
it's going to replace Bb! We can do X, Y, Z, and a, b,
c." So, I created an account and started investigating.

Guess what....many of the things it does already exist in
my current software. Many of the things that should be
there - aren't.

I simply can't justify adding another software to my
courses - some of my students already confuse their grammar
software with the Blackboard software (which holds my
lectures, links to websites, online quizzes, gradebook, and
link to TurnItIn and Grademark).

So, respectfully, I'll look at it again in a few weeks,
then make a final decision.

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