Finally, I'm on Blogspot. I am a neophyte to Ed Tech but can see great benefits for students. I teach Wood Products Manufacturing at the high school level. While most of our time is spent turning perfectly good wood into sawdust, the students really enjoy the time we spend on the computers. I was able to get twenty computers donated to my class (3 years old). I also got cabinet design software donations for each computer as well. I am in the process of putting my class on Blackboard, hopefully by summer's end. I am particularly interested in podcasts from this CMU class because I would like the students to produce video podcasts for each piece of equipment in the shop demonstrating operations, parts, and safety.

I was reading a Tech and Learning.com article about End of Year Fun and Madness. In the article David Andrade talked about the frustrations of the end of the school motivation of students. After exams, students sometimes go into coast mode or neutral. He has his students work on a computer-based project that seems to keep his students engaged in the learning process up until the end of the school year. While I have no problems keeping students busy until the last day, my students would probably enjoy a computer project as the weather heats up the woodshop. A podcast would not only be fun to do but could be used in their electronic portfolio to show future employers just how much they know about the woodworking profession.