R/D4

I can think of a few ways I would incorporate photo sharing into an educational activity. The first way would be in my Anatomy& Physiology (A&P) class. Every year my A&P students helped 2nd graders dissect a sheep eye. It was really an awesome experience for both the "big kids" and the "little kids". In the past the A&P students would put together a lab notebook for the 2nd graders to use while dissecting the eye. Instead of putting it on paper my students could put together a pre- lab using real photos of what we would be doing and post it on our blog. The 2nd grade class could then view it and know what to expect when they came up to the High School. During the lab we could take pictures and post them on our blog for students and parents to see. Another lab we do in Biology is the "pond ecosystem" lab. This lab is ongoing as the ecosystem grows so students could take pictures and notes weekly (?) and post to their blogs instead of sketches in lab books.
I am a little leery about having students post on some of these sites. I would probably just allow posting pictures on a blog where it could be controlled at least on my end. However, it is public so anyone could view it if they had the address. Services like FaceBook can be risky because of all the "kooks" out there, after all anyone can view your photos!
I still feel there is some benefits especially for family and friends whom you might not see or live in another country.

I think both processes are very similar between lesson plan development and instructional design. It has been a little while since I have developed lesson plans so if teachers aren't using the ADDIE method they should be! I think most of the time classroom teachers do not do an Analysis or needs assessment especially if the curriculum is already spelled out for them. Also most teachers do not identify a performance problem either although this could be helpful in certain educational settings. I would write measurable objectives or outcomes and decide the best way to deliver the lesson (design&development). After the lesson or lessons I would give a test or some type of evaluation. Depending on how students fared on the evaluation I would tweak the lesson to try and improve it. I really liked the Characteristics of ID and think these should be applied to any instructional setting whether classroom or business.

R/D3

Social bookmarking is totally new for me but one thing I really like about it is the ability to access my bookmarks from any computer. It is also organized by tags (key words) so I can access information under a certain topic so it might be easier to find. I think the value of social bookmarking for teachers is all the additional sites one gets exposed to. For example if I use a key word like teaching anyone who is part of my network and a teacher can link to it and decide whether or not to bookmark it. Social bookmarking can help speed up the time it takes to find information so could be useful for students as well. Usually when I find a useful site and want to share it I have to email the person the site taking an extra step-if the person is part of my network they will already have access to it! Students could benefit also from social bookmarking when doing a project or research paper because they are not limited to just what they find rather a whole community of people using the same keywords. I could have approved sites published on my blog for parents and students to access as well.
For the past year I have been looking for a way to expand my knowledge both in technology and teaching in the classroom as well as the work setting. I wanted to pursue a field that combined my experiences as a classroom teacher and pharmaceutical trainer. Instructional design and technology seemed the perfect fit. In Chapter 1 you could see the definition of this field expanded over time with the growth of new technology. I think the complete definition (p. 7) which includes improving performance in the workplace as well as educational institutions applied to what I was looking for. I agree with the authors that "the use of media for instructional purposes and the use of systematic instructional design procedures" are key in defining the field of instructional design and technology. I think this makes the field more comprehensive. I think following a systematic instructional design procedure will help keep everyone in the field creditable especially if the procedure has strong evidence based data supporting it. I didn't feel anything was really surprising or missing in this definition-it just reinforced what I am interested in doing!

D/B2

I have had some experience using Blogs as far as posting and reading other user's posts. Occasionally I would post a comment if I felt strong enough about what was being discussed. I really thought it would be much harder to set up a Blog than it was. You can do so much more with a Blog as well. I was just goofing around with it but I was able to add video, pictures, and RSS feeds which makes it so much more interesting and interactive! I have subscribed to many RSS feeds without really knowing what they were until I took this class. I have a Twitter account as well and get instant updates on my cell phone to whatever site I am following much like the RSS feed on my PC.
I think Blogs would be located in the verbal symbols area of the Cone. I say that because the medium is mostly written words which are abstractions. I can use this Blog for instance as an example. As a student I am engaged by responding to posed questions in a thoughtful way. The only physical element of this Blog is using the keyboard to formulate my ideas. I am primarily thinking vs. doing anything concrete or physical. Here's a question though -what if I used a Blog to post just a picture or a recording or a demonstration would it still be at the verbal symbols level or lower on the Cone? Perhaps it would depend on the response I was looking for? RSS feeds would probably be in the same area of the Cone too. Most of the RSS feeds I subscribe to are written words although some are video-there is very little physical action involved. The E! RSS feed also wants subscribers to comment on the stories they post so there can be quite the discussions-case in point is the death of Michael Jackson!
I can see awesome applications in my classroom for both Blogs and RSS feeds! Certainly I could use both tools in class discussions where students do exactly what we are doing in this class. Not all students will participate in a verbal class discussion because they're shy or whatever but if they could post their ideas and responses you might get better class participation! I think it would also lend itself to more in-depth or critical thinking responses if students are not constrained in the dynamics of the classroom setting. I taught Science and could see myself using a Blog instead of a Lab Experiment Notebook even a class Wiki for results of an experiment could be really fun! Perhaps I would use a Wiki also for student projects where group members would have to contribute. In the past I had my students do a monthly current science/health article that they found from newspapers or magazines-instead they could subscribe to different RSS feeds to get the latest news and then write on them. A Blog would be an excellent way to keep my parents informed about what is happening in my class. I used to send out letters and emails but it would be so much easier to have my student's parents subscribe to the class Blog! I think Postman would agree Blogs/RSS could be the solution to the lack of class participation in discussions or student engagement and in poor communication between teachers and student's parents. These are just 2 problems which I think could be improved if teachers used these types of tools and I plan to use them in my classroom!