I just finished the uen homework assignment and I'm about ready to check out 'til Wednesday. It has been a long day. I can't imagine what past students felt considering this specific assignment used to be three times the size! Oh. My. I honestly don't know where to start. I am overwhelmed by uen. I think it's a great source - no! - an incredible source for teachers, parents, and students.
I think uen is a great tool for any sort of analyzing, critiquing, and reviewing of material. There are great videos available too - one of which I posted on my website. I loved clicking through the many videos, audio files, journals, lesson plans/rubrics, and the parent/student centers. Wow. There is so much available! However, the part that tires me is how un-user friendly the site is. I know you mentioned that in class. I had no idea how right on you were. At times I found myself confused and lost. How in the world did I get here??
One of my favorite sources is the interactive page. It's great! I plan on, depending on the schools budget, having a few computers for my beginning choir/theory classes to use. I hope to post quite a few of those interactive activities on my web page with the requirement the students participate in all activities. It makes learning fun and enjoyable. It also gives the students the opportunity to evaluate themselves and measure their growth.
I struggled with the lesson plans page because there was one lesson plan posted for my subject (music). The lesson plan was for elementary level classes and I am a secondary ed teacher in training. However, I found some of the ideas helpful. I just wish there were more lesson plans posted. I'd love to see what lessons have really worked for music teachers out there. I plan to post some of my successful lesson plans in the future. I think it's a great way to support one another, especially since the arts are some of the most under appreciated, ignored, and dropped classes in "the business". The lesson plan module will also help me mix things up when I (or others) get stuck in a rut.
The Core Curriculum was impressive as well. I like having the standards posted where they're easily accessible. It's very convenient. I found it quite thorough too. I also appreciated how they had different levels of the core curriculum posted (choir I, choir II, choir III, guitar, band, etc). Very helpful as I may teach more than just choir.
The Pioneer Library was fabulous. I plan on posting a link on my future class website for research projects. It's so wonderful having safe, updated journals, articles, podcasts, and more right there. It makes the idea of researching feel a little more undaunting. There's a variety of information there and lots of it. It's great. Again, it's quite overwhelming for me as I am quite simple minded.
By far my favorite thing about the uen website was the student center and the parent center. There's so much going on in the world today. So much violence, ugliness, deceit, distrust, and insecurity. Students and parents alike are struggling to stay on top of "life". I love how uen provides advise, tips, games, educational websites, and ideas for those looking for them. I am grateful those who created and currently update the website find it valuable to include those in higher education, rather than sticking to k-12. Many college students, parents of college students, and professors have needs, struggles, homework, and questions needing answers as well. This is a great tool professionally as well as personally.
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