Assignment #4

For the major component of my project, I created a blog using webs.com

When I was looking for teachers to contact for my Foundations of Education observations, I specifically looked at the ones who had blogs available. I determined whether or not I wanted to visit their classes based on what their blogs looked like. I liked the blogs that were personalized, colorful, useful, and neat looking. But even as I did this I knew that blogging was not a strength I had. So my intent was to create a blog using a website that was unfamiliar to me to exercise this avenue a bit.

I think if I were creating a blog for a class, I might use webs. I liked the finished project and there were so many options for posting audio, video, pictures, and all kinds of media. There were a couple small things I didn't like:

1. I couldn't find a "help" button when I couldn't find an application or was having trouble uploading some of my media.
2. When you publish information to the blog, there isn't much of a confirmation page. I like how blogger has this big page that pops up when you've published your work. Not so with webs.

Aside from that, I really do like webs. I liked being able to add multiple pages, something I think very useful for helping users find specific information like specific class assignments, especially if you're in a middle school with block periods.

Also, I started using the Clicky Web Analytics, which tracks the traffic on my page. I only just started added that application, so I'm playing with it and figuring it out. As of today I have four hits...and I'm pretty sure I've checked my website from the outside just about four times. :)

If I was having kids publish their work, I probably would find a different website than webs that students could post their own works on. But I think it works great for family integration and class description. I liked the idea of posting homework assignments so parents could track.

*[Note: the web connection from my blog to the CIA website wasn't working for me when I tried it, but that might be because they've switched to a new kind of security for their website. If that's the case, I figured it's okay because my kids will know how to copy and paste (or they'll learn).]

For the secondary component to my project, I created a video using Windows Movie Maker. You can see it on the bottom of the home page on my blog.

I'm not too crazy about Movie Maker. My biggest issues with it were as follows:

1. The program kept freezing up my computer. I repeatedly lost progress.
   
2. There are only two options for viewing the progress of your video: time line or storyboard. On timeline you could see the music, but not so much the pictures whereas on the storyboard you could see the pictures but not the music. I would have liked to see them together so I could synchronize transitions and pictures to the song easier.
   

I've actually used another program while I was working with GEARUP that had some really neat features and was very user friendly for my 6th graders while also produced some professional looking videos. I don't remember what it was called. :(

The next step to take with my movie would be to use film clips in Movie Maker. I don't think this would be too great of a jump and would actually be easier since you wouldn't be dealing as much with transitions and picture placements.

Overall I think this was a great learning experience for me. I became familiar with both these programs and could apply what I learned to other programs.


A few of the NETS are covered by my project.

For Teachers:

• 3c "communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats"

The blog is a great way to communicate information to students, parents, and peers. In my project I posted assignments for students and parent interaction, web resources for them to access, and I posted a video and pictures for students, parents, and peers to access from my experience in Brazil. So my video also met this requirement as a part of "variety" and a means of communicating relevant information and ideas.

• 4a "advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources"

I model this by adding my own copyright label to my blog. I advocate this in my social studies project where I talk about citing sources. 6th grade was right when we learned about plagiarism and bibliographies, so that is a perfect segue into class integration from online to the classroom.

For Students:

• 3. Research and Information Fluency

By having these assignments on the web, it encourages students to go there, access the sources listed and "locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media." Whether it's from a book or off a website, students need to know how to cite their sources and use the material they have access to ethically. Also, the assignment I have listed (especially for Social Studies) requires students to "process data and report results."

• 5. Digital Citizenship

In my video, I gave credit to the people who took the pictures I included. This models ethical behavior. I plan to instill that kind of ethical responsibility and initiative in my students by modeling that behavior and requiring them to follow suit. I don't want to make this drudgery or something that seems to be a hoop to jump through, but rather I plan to use this aspect of their education to help them "exhibit a positive attitude" and "demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning" as well as "exhibit leadership for digital citizenship." People are lazy and like to take shortcuts, I know I did when I was in 6th grade. But I plan to use technology in way that teaches kids the importance of taking responsibility and how to handle it appropriately.

5 Years From Now

What will my classroom look like in 5 years? Oh my goodness, this is a toughy!

Technology is evolving so fast that it's difficult for one normal person to even have an active working knowledge of everything that's out there, let alone an institution like a school. Schools are catching up at different paces, greatly depending on whether they are in high SES or low SES areas. But education is changing as technology both requires and allows expansion.

In 5 years, overheads and VCRs will be things kids find out about in history class. Gadgets will be available that help kids in the classroom broaden their scopes to different cultures, creatures, places, and items that they would have difficulty perceiving simply by description or with a picture. Maybe field trips to the rainforest--there and back before the last bell? Okay, maybe that's a little too much like the Jetsons, but you never know.

While it's difficult to perceive what changes will occur in technology, we can be assured that there will be changes and that those changes will affect our everyday lives and especially how we teach and what we teach in the classroom.

Oh and one more thing...someone will improve or replace the copy machine!! ;)

Reflection #8

Interesting little thing in class today.

We were doing a project in Multicultural Ed today and Dr. Kobashigawa asked us all to pull out a piece of paper. I realized at that moment that not only did I not have paper, I haven't been carrying a notebook with paper for awhile--I haven't really needed it. But I did have my laptop with me. I think I take my laptop to nearly every class. My laptop replaces note-taking notebooks, reflections, project drafts, etc.

Cathy was so kind to give me a piece of paper. But I thought to myself how I wish I could type it up to get it out faster. ;)

Reflection #7

VHS

DVD

How long before the next transition? What's next?

My sister Natalie is nine years younger than I am. I think we got our first DVD player when Natalie was about two. When I was about 15, I told Natalie that I could remember before DVD player. Her eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped--imagine a world without DVD players!

Someone recently donated hundreds of never-before-used VHS tapes to the children's ministry at my church. At my church we juggle children's services at two campuses. For the second campus we copy the video portion of the lesson onto a VHS tape and send it over to be played there. After each recording a VHS film will lose a measure of its quality, so each week the VHS is thrown into the trash.

Many professors still have many films on VHS because they haven't been able to find or haven't looked for it on DVD. My folks bought a DVR awhile back that they use to record their VHS tapes onto DVD to perserve the quality. Plus DVDs take up so little space compared to VHS tapes.

But DVDs do scratch, can get warped, are fragile. How long before there's something new?

Reflection #6

Over spring break, I got to spend a day in Disneyland--my very first time to visit! It was so much fun to explore the park and experience all sorts of rides and things I had heard about but never had the chance to experience myself.

While I waited in line for a certain ride, I noticed a group being led by a tour guide. The interesting thing about this group is that the tour guide had a wireless microphone attached to her hat and each person in her group wore headphones. I thought it was great, because people were able to look around the park without straining to hear what the tour guide was saying.

This reminded me of when I took Special Needs in Education last semester. We had a boy come in to visit our class who has a cochlear implant. The boy and his parents explained to us how his teacher uses a microphone that connects to a set of headphones the boy can use in class. One of the graduates who visited our class also mentioned something about a microphone and speakers used in her classroom. I think this technology is a great addition to the classroom, especially for students who are hard of hearing.

Microsoft Office

Assignment: Create an entry with a list of the features of Word, Excel & PowerPoint that you use on a regular basis. List 3 projects that you could have your students do to learn or use Word, Excel or PowerPoint.

Word:

• Type papers/assignments
• Create publications using features such as AutoShapes, WordArt, clip art, font, and paragraph
• Do peer reviews electronically using the highlighter
• Use editing symbols with the show/hide button

Excel:

• Create tables
  
• Make to-do lists
• Creating plots and graphs

PowerPoint:

• Creating class presentations
  
• Making e-books
• Putting together picture slide shows with transition features, backgrounds, captions, and inserts

Publisher could be great for creating various publications and producing examples such as the format for a resume or business letter. OneNote is another Microsoft Office Program I've found useful for taking notes and might be especially good for students with learning disabilities who need to listen to a lecture again; they can click to the part and listen.

Online Learning Opportunities for Educators

For this assignment, I listened to a broadcast on EdTechTalk. I thought it was a really great discussion that hit on many of the concerns I hold when it comes to embracing online social networking in the classroom.

This talk was a conversation between a couple of tech guys in education, one on the East coast the other on the West coast. They discussed many of the advances and applications of social networking in education. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr were all applications that came up during the discussion.

My biggest concern with posting items on social networking sites is that it is open information. I don't like the idea of Internet sites owning my images (you probably know this, but every time you post a picture on Facebook you are giving ownership of that photo to Facebook). Call me crazy, but especially since I became aware of the idea of mental property (check out Barbie v. Bratz) I have been extremely careful about what I post. I don't post any of my personal poetry and I don't do personal blogs anymore. Honestly, who would give a rip about my personal posts? Well, have any of you seen "David after dentist"? If you haven't check it out on YouTube, it's pretty funny. But it is also an example of a home video, posted with the intent to share with family and friends, that has gone viral and now has millions of hits.

During the conversation, the teacher from Portland talks about how a boy in one of his classes posted a video he created online for the class that was made in horror-film style where the boy mysteriously is hanged in the middle of an exam. Yeah it's a little edgy, but the boy posted it on YouTube. After awhile the boy looked at who was embedding his video and found that the video was posted to a site by an interest group that was into hanging sequences as well as homosexual promiscuity. The boy went to his teacher, the teacher to the administration, and all was handled very well. However, this exemplifies the great concern with posting information: anyone can access information on these kinds of sites. There are options where you can learn who is and where your information is being accessed, but I would rather be more preventive than that.

All that to say, I would use an extreme amount of caution before using sites like YouTube and Flickr or open access websites and blogs in the learning environment. I like the idea of using Facebook and/or Twitter. I was imagining what it would be like to send out Twitter messages to students and parents regarding assignments, due dates, reminders for events, educational and community resources, events, etc. Twitter and Facebook are examples of social networking sites that are largely private and easier to control.

However, I wouldn't through open access websites out the window altogether. The speakers made a great point in their discussion about how you can use these tools to promote your school/program, whatever it is. If you don't, somebody will. Parents might post information or thoughts on a blog or website, post videos of school events on YouTube, etc. Those are all fine and good, but the most optimal and useful avenue is to harness those tools and become proactive in promoting the image of your school/program. Go to where the people are to reach out, contact, connect, build awareness, establish and project an image. Be intentional and create a presence in these social networking sites. When people come across "unofficial channels" of information, they can reference it to the more holistic and knowledgeable official channels.

If you want to check out the talk I listened to, click here and select the first heading: "21st Century Learning #96: Social Media in Education with Richard Kassissieh"