. . . And the people in it merely bloggers.
So I'm reading Will Richardson's Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, and he mentions all these new tools for education, including those that publish, those that manage information, and those that share content in new and collaborative ways. These include blogs, wikis, rss feeds, aggregators, photogalleries, videocasting, social bookmarking, etc. As I'm reading, I think about this new Angel thing that we are supposed to be using here in Spotsy next school year. I heard that it's supposed to have some of these features, but that's about all I've heard. I've asked around and no one seems to be able to give me a definitive description of this mysterious Angel thingy. WOULD SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE @#$% ANGEL IS? Maybe I'm completely ignorant, and not looking in the right places (I can't find the latest issue of TechTalks, was it in there?), but it seems like there's this secret circle of tech folks who know all about it. But if you ask the typical teacher in my school about Angel, they'll say something like "Which Angel? I teach two girls named Angel."
Steve Tate did tell me that three teachers from our school will be trained on it this summer, so they can turn around and train the rest of our staff at the beginning of next school year. But I'm wondering, is this something that will drastically alter the way that we manage info and teach next year? If so, then why isn't everyone taking an inservice in it this summer? Wouldn't that be better than "Grammar Slammer" or another summer of CRISS strategies? Or am I just getting blown out of proportion about this?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I believe that there is information about Angel in the most recent TechTalks. I might have a copy in my office. If you don't find one, email me and I will send it to you. Because I am overwhelmed with end of year, gotta get it done now, IEPs and finals, I haven't taken the time to grab a drink and a snack to read with... Good luck with your search. Sometimes we waste time in order to value it. ;o)
Angel is a portal, a course management system - Think BlackBoard. It is simply a varient of the BlackBoard type thing.
With an Angel account, you will be able to create a page that students will be able to click on when they log in. There, they will find things that you put there - assignments, links to websites, documents that they can download.
It has email within it as well as blogging, wiki-ing, chat, etc.
I don't believe that it is really being kept secret. :) It was only adopted and purchased less than a month ago. A committee looked at a number of different products (BlackBoard was one of them) and decided on Angel. Since then, a group has been frantically trying to get trained so we can train others!
The effect it will have? That's going to be up to teachers and how they choose to use it. One of the components of the training this summer will be appropriate and effective designs for using Angel.
Hope this answers some questions! :)
Joe: I did wonder what Wantok meant. Thanks for posting the meaning. Your picture is great!
Now that Bill's had a chance to explain what Angel is, I know you'll enjoy it.
I think you have a valid point. I suspect that since they just purchased the course management system, they are struggling with learning it and developing a training plan for the rest of SCS staff.
An in-service on this software would allay some fears that staff might have about adopting this technology.
Post a Comment