Tuesday, July 7, 2009

I think I'm having account anxiety

Wow, who knew you had to have so many different accounts in order to be wired in. Day two, and I am now set up on i-Google, Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, and Flickr, not to mention my own school division server and e-mail account. Yikes, talk about information overload.

I have to admit, it is not as difficult to get started with this blogging as I thought it would be. Time consuming, yes, difficult, no. I chose to go with blogger as my blog post as I have a little experience with reading the blogs of one of school division tech guys, who blogs quite frequently. It really is very intuitive and quite easy to do, really the only challenge in the process is figuring out what to write and how to set up your page (I have left that little element for a little later). What I have found a bit more difficult to reconcile is the amount of identifying information that one needs to put out there in order to get wired in. For example, to get a Flickr account, I had to get a Yahoo account (unless I messed up). To get a Yahoo account, I had to give my first and last name, birthdate, postal code, and e-mail address. Thank God I don't have anyone chasing after me right now, or my goose would be cooked.

Now of course, I could have lied and given false information, but then I would have to remember it (I have a hard enough time remembering my real postal code). As a consenting adult, I can make these decisions to share this information and am intelligent enough to be mindful of predators on the internet. However, my concern is for the children who are out there who do not know any better and do share information that could lead them into danger. The possibilities and potential of these web tools is enormous, but I find myself wondering what measures are being put into place to protect the kids out there whose parents don't know enough to be able to to watch over them adequately.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Hi there everyone,

Welcome to my first blog posting. My name is Craig Corsie and I am just beginning a course on utilizing web 2.0 technologies in the classroom. I'm looking forward to learning more about the ever-changing role of technology in education, and the new learning opportunities opening up for students. This blog will be my record of my explorations and thoughts as I learn more about technology, and how I can use it to improve the teaching and learning in my classroom.

A little about me...

I don't know about each of you, but I am thrilled that we are on summer holidays (sort of). My wife Corilie and I have two boys (Cyton - 3 years, and Caysh - 9 months), and I have been looking forward to spending a terrific summer with them. After two summers taking the MES program during the month of July, it will be nice to be home for a full summer. Camping, backyard bbq's, and full on water fights, the stuff summers are made of :)

I am was born and raised in Calgary, but moved to Lethbridge when I was 25 to begin working towards my degree in Education. After convocating in 2002, my girlfriend (now my wife) convinced me to move to Medicine Hat. While uncertain at first, it was a great choice and I have never looked back.

I am currently Principal of Seven Persons School in Seven Persons, Alberta (20 minutes west of Medicine Hat). I am going into my sixth year as a principal, and my third year in my current position. Seven Persons is a K - 9 school, with about 290 students. This summer our school is being set up to go totally wireless for the fall, with that there is going to be all kinds of new opportunities for students to utilize web 2.0 applications within the school. As the Comm Tech teacher for next year I am really looking forward to learning about web 2.0 and how it can help engage my students and move our school into a new age of learning and teaching.

I hope that you all have a fantastic summer. See you in cyberspace.

Take care,
Craig