mjraatz.com

MJ Raatz – Digital Pedagogy and Tools for the Modern Teacher

I have finally decided to take the plunge and setup my own domain and education blog. After a little research I came to the realization that WordPress seemed like the best choice for me at this point to start my Education Blog. I will keep investigating ways to include digital pedagogy in the classroom – so be sure to sign up for the RSS feeds.

Why start my education blog here?

Well to start with, there are lots of places you could have started an education blog, but I really wanted to just make sure I could change and edit every feature of my page as I went along. This includes the look and feel along with menu and design features! If I want to test something, I don’t want to ask permission – I just want to DO! After all digital pedagogy starts with us being educated – even if it’s in an education blog!

Another major focus of my education blog at this point in my life as an Educator. I am passionate about education and the implication digital pedagogy has on the classroom. I like the ideas of Open Source programs to teach skills and to keep the cost of 1:1 laptop programs to a minimum.

Funny enough, as part of my daily research, I’ve found the time to update my blog almost daily. Nikki (my beautiful and talented wife) said to me the other day that when she reads blogs, some of the best blogs are short, sharp and to the point with lots of thought invoking material – hence the tag line of the blog “a small space for big thinking”. If I learn about digital pedagogy – I can teach digital technology to my direct students, peers and the world! If I can teach you something about digital pedagogy then it makes the world a better place!

Tools for the classroom

I have been using the iPhone since the first week they were available in Australia some years back. I’m obviously onto the iPhone4 at the moment, and will no doubt look to the iPhone5 when it comes out this year. I have just purchased an iPad2 as I wasn’t too impressed with the original iPad – mainly because the iPad didn’t have any cameras inbuilt and no slot for a micro sd memory card. I see the iPad2 as an awesome tool for education and hope to share some stories over the coming weeks and months about how I am using it in the classroom.

Feel free to Join!

Feel free to join the education blog and comment on the posts and the digital pedagogy discussed. Add extra information in the comment fields. All you need to do is sign up by clicking on Register in the Site Control area of the site (right hand menu). Once you have registered, you will be able to interact on this site. I look forward to you sharing additional information. Please also feel free to Like the page and share any articles you find interesting and useful on your networks via the links above (facebook, twitter, email, etc)!

RSS Feeds

Most of the programs on your computer now including iGoogle, Facebook and your email programs, allow you to add RSS feeds through plugins or addons. These feeds are excellent and inform you of when information is posted or updated on your favourite websites. Please take the time to add mjraatz.com RSS feeds direct to your favourite platform. Education blogs help you learn about digital pedagogy – for yourself and your classroom!

Have fun reading the information, but most of all – make sure you learn!

MJ Raatz
Education Blog – a small space for big thinking!