CEDO 535 Week 1

Chapter 1 starts out talking about blogs which we've had good experience with so far in this grad program. Besides creating this blog, I've also had my students create their own blogs to use as their own reflection pieces (for my Web Tools class). I mentioned this as a comment to someone's forum post, but if I get to teach that class again, I will definitely do things differently. When creating the blogging requirement for class, I did go over the rubric I set up and thought that would be enough. Ha...I was wrong. The lack of quality just floored me as I read over their responses. It was like they were thinking, "Okay, what can I write quickly so I can get this assignment done?" rather than really putting any thought into it...which is really sad considering I gave them CLASS TIME to complete their blog posts. If/when I teach the class again, I will most definitely create a blog myself and model the quality that I'm looking for/requiring in the blog posts. I should assume that they will put in the thought/time I was hoping for.

Sometimes it is difficult for me to think of things that I haven't already stated in the forum posts for this class & previous classes. I almost feel like I am being redundant and saying nearly the same thing. Anyone else feel the same?

With that said, I'm glad that I have this blog set up. It will be OH SO helpful come the end of the year when I have to do my lovely PDP reflection. I will pretty much have my reflection done; I'll just have to review my blog posts & do a bit of summarizing and bada bing...I'll be done in no time! :) That's all for now folks...off to my group meeting! :)

Digital Storytelling Week 5

It was nice to see everyone's Prezi last week during class with their top 6 pics. I didn't have a chance to look at the pictures on everyone's Posterous site on a regular basis so it was fun to see what everyone considered to be their best 6 pictures along with an explanation. Just by doing that activity, I feel like I learned so much about my classmates. It would be fun to do this type of activity with my students next time I teach the Web 2.0 class; unfortunately I only had enough students to run 1 section at the beginning of the year but hopefully I'll have many more sign up for the class for next year.

I'm still working on my Pecha Kucha. It is nice having the storytboard as my guide while going through the creation process. It is like my roadmap to my end product; without it, I would probably not have as clear of a picture in mind of what I want my end product to look like. I'm not sure if I'll make another one of these Pecha Kuchas after I'm done with this assignment but I know I got something out of this activity....the storyboard template & really understanding the importance of it when doing any digital storytelling project.

As a side note....I had the amazing opportunity to attend a 2 day workshop in Milwaukee with my 2 principals. The workshop was called the Great Lakes 1:1 Institute. I had 2 days of professional development and listened to some great speakers. The focus of the workshop was for schools with a 1:1 or moving towards that initiative. We are in the process of doing some research to see if that direction is the one we'd like to go towards, and this workshop was a great start in that process. The workshop also had many sessions on 21st Century learning & teaching and technology integration. I went to a few sessions with Naomi Harm on Intel's resources they put out for educators. If you haven't explored this site, I highly recommend taking some time to do so. There are SO many resources (including 100's of rubrics) for project based learning and technology integration assignments. Here's the link to their site.

Digital Storytelling Week 4

While reading this week's pages in "Presentation Zen", I found it very interesting that Garr suggests to "Never go over." He says that if you have 20 minutes, use 18 or 19; if you have an hour, use 55 minutes. Leave them hungry for more. This might work in a professional/business setting but I'm going to just throw this out there....if I use only 18 of my 20 minutes or 55 minutes of my hour, I don't think, no matter how engaging or cool my presentation is, that my students will be begging for more. I think it might work if I'm presenting at a conference or an inservice showing faculty cool tech tools/sites/applications but I'll bet it doesn't work the same way with 14-18 year olds. :)

Another point that Garr makes is "Make a connection with your audience" and he suggests that when presenting that you don't use a podium. During my first year of teaching I found great comfort in my podium but haven't used it since then. I love being able to walk around my classroom when I'm presenting. I think by moving around I stay more enthusiastic while I'm presenting; if my body stays too idle, I feel like my energy & enthusiasm starts to become idle as well. Another point that Garr makes is to not turn the lights off; if the audience can't see you they can't make a connection with you. I never turn off all of the lights in my room but I do turn off the first row of lights so the audience can see the slides easier.

Garr also mentions "Kaizen" meaning continuous improvement. He says that very tiny improvements are important. I think that is the only way I can look at my presentations at the moment. It isn't realistic to think I'll be able to redo all of my presentations to be more Zen-like but if I make tiny improvements to each one and set a goal (like do 1 section in each presentation each time I use it), then I'll be able to get them all done in a fairly short amount of time.

When showing my redone presentation that we did for class a few weeks ago to a co-worker, she made a comment that I found to be very interesting. She said she really liked my presentation but didn't think it would be effective to make all presentations in that fashion because if all presentations were "Zen" then it wouldn't be anything "special". I can see what she means but what do you think? If all are Zen-like, do you think it will keep them more engaged or do you think presentations should be Zen-like here and there so it is like a "treat" to them. ??? Hmmmmmm...???

Digital Storytelling Week 3

I really liked this chapter with all of the before & after slide examples. When reading about signal vs. noise ratio, I was struggling a bit to really understand what the author meant. I haven't heard this concept before. After examining the example slides on the following page, I was able to easily grasp the concept. The slides with the higher SNR definitely look more professional and are easier to understand at a quick glance.

I also liked the Animoto assignment because I love that tool. I use it frequently for school and for personal use. It is so quick and easy, and the end result looks like professional quality work. The music library available within the website is really convenient; it is comforting knowing that the music in their library is available to use without having to worry about copyright/royalty issues.

I've been thinking lots about the Pecha Kucha assignment and trying to figure out what topic is going to be the best to do. I'm hoping that after talking to my group tomorrow I'll feel drawn more to one of my three brainstormed topics. I'd like to do something school related that I can use in the future but at the same time I think it would be eaiser (maybe???) to do something on a personal level like "All About Me" or "My Family". I could use a Pecha Kucha that is more personal like the 2 topics I mentioned to introduce myself to the class at the start of the term; although, I normally don't spend 6+ minutes talking about myself. It is usually more like 1 minute. :)

Digital Storytelling Week 2

"What way can you use digital stories in what you do?" is the question posed this week for our blog reflections... I guess the first thing to do is define what a digital story is. In my mind, digital storytelling includes digital cartoon strips, digital flip books, digital movies w/pictures, music, and animation, a voice recording talking about a particular pictures or diagram, and so much more. I currently use many digital storytelling tools in my classes and help other teachers integrate digital storytelling tools into their lessons. I love to use Animoto as a first day of class activity. I have students find pictures (about 12 for a 30 second video) that represent themselves, pick out music, & create a video that we share for the class to see. The students learn lots about each other and seem to have a great time doing this activity rather than just standing up and saying, "I like pizza. My favorite sport is basketball. My favorite vacation is..." You get the picture. I also have used Animoto to create a department video that we play at our "Back to School" night and at our "Preview Night" for prospective students visiting our school. It is so user friendly and quick, and the videos turn out very professional looking. I also just showed some preschool teachers in my system how to use Animoto and helped them create a video of their "Fire Station Field Trip." The teachers were SO excited about it, and the parents just loved being able to see the pictures in a fun format. I think they are hooked on creating the videos & will continue to do so throughout the school year.

In addition, I've used Windows Movie Maker with my students when they do their country project research. They find information and pictures about their selected country, import the pictures into MovieMaker, add transitions, text, music, and video. They can then narrate the pictures with the information they found out about their country during their research. The students much rather do this than create a PowerPoint with the information. They are much more engaged & excited about the project.

While working with one of the history/psychology teachers, I suggested using VoiceThread when doing the genealogy project. The students could get voice recordings of their relatives, especially their older relatives like grandparents and great grandparents. They could then put pictures up in VoiceThread & have the relatives narrate the project where applicable. I think it would be such a treasured, neat project to be able to have that saved with the relatives' voices and be able to share that for generations to come....and be able to actually listen to real voices of relatives for years and years to come. I think VoiceThread would also be a nice alternative to my country project as described above instead of using MovieMaker. That way the students could work on it collaboratively and web-based.

Kizoa is another really cool tool that I've played with personally but haven't done anything with it in school yet. With Kizoa, you can edit pictures and create slideshows/videos with those pictures. It is meant to be collaborative as well which is nice for having students share work or work together.

A few "flip book" type of digital stories that I've used or played with include MixBook, Tikatok, and Storybird. Storybird is nice because students don't need email addresses so this is a great tool for the younger grades when this often becomes the limiting factor. Dipity & Capzules are great tools for telling a digital story in a timeline format. I had my Web Tools class do a project with Dipity; they had to pick a person or a business and create a timeline of that person/business. The projects turned out GREAT and the students had a blast doing the project.

I've used lots of digital storytelling tools personally & am starting to integrate them more & more into my classes as well as sharing ideas with other teachers. I look forward to hearing how others are using the digital storytelling tools and learning about other tools that I'm not aware of right now. That's all for now....Have a great day!! :)

Digital Storytelling Week 1

This class is a breath of fresh air! I know the next 6 weeks is going to be much easier than some of the other classes because I LOVE this stuff and LOVE working on fun, creative "stuff" like this. I am really looking forward to learning more about presentations & digital storytelling/pictures. I think I have a pretty good handle on digital pictures & storytelling but I know there is always room for growth & improvement.

I'm excited about the Posterous assignment but am a bit worried about posting the picture each day. I've been taking pictures every day but just got them all posted today. Now that I see how easy it is I'm hoping that I'll remember to do it each & every day. Once in a routine I'm sure I'll be just fine. I'm really interested in what we are going to be doing with the pictures at the end of the activity. It will be fun to check out all of my classmates' pictures to see what their hobbies/interests/etc are and learn even more about each of them.

Okay, now off to read some more & meet with my group. Lots of work to do....but I know it isn't going to seem like it is as much "work" as some of the other courses since this really is of interest & fun for me. :) G'night for now...

CEDO 525 Week 5

Because of a school commitment, I wasn't able to attend the class session last week. However, I did watch/listen to the recording, and I am still thinking about one part of the class over and over....and that is Kris's example of the business she toured and how the business incorporated each of the learning strategies that we have covered in this class. After her explanation, I started thinking about how my school incorporates each of the learning strategies or how certain strategies could potentially be improved. I really like the example provided about "Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition" at the business she toured. I would love to make a suggestion to my principals of a way that we, as a school, could do a better job of this. A simple bulletin board in the teacher work room/mail room with room for people to pin up "way to go" messages cheering on someone who is doing a great job or a public thanks/recognition on a particular project would go a long way. I realize that public recognition isn't necessary for everything but once in a while it sure is nice to have someone compliment your efforts or celebrate your success(es) in a way that can be shared with others.

CEDO 525 Week 4 Strategies

Identifying Similarities & Differences
One of the recommendations for this strategy is "Have students use graphic organizers as a visual tool to represent the similarities and differences." Whenever applicable I do have my students use graphic organizers to arrange information in a logical, visual manner. I LOVE the new SmartArt tools in Microsoft Office 07 & newer; the word clouds, mind maps, flow charts, etc are super easy to use and look great! The SmartArt graphics are broken into categories which helps the user easily and quickly select the best option.

Homework & Practice
I rarely give true "homework" in my classes where students have to complete/finish activities outside of class. 99% of the learning activities take place during the class block as long as the given time is used wisely. Right now in one of my classes the students are working on a group project. There was class time given but a few of the groups will need to finish up the project outside of class prior to class on Thursday. One group in particular was listing off a million reasons why they wouldn't be able to finish their project; here are just a few given to me... "Some of us are in extra curriculars after school so we can't all get together to finish it then", "None of us have PowerPoint at home to finish up the project", "Ya de ya de ya da!" I realize that these "excuses" are not totally legit but instead of fighting that fight I just calmly told the group that all of what they told me was okay. I told them, "Just upload what you have done to Google Docs & finish your presentation online whenever you each have time to work on it." We've used Google Docs for many activities in that class so I'm surprised they even tried to give me all of those excuses regarding why they wouldn't be able to get the work done when they knew I'd probably "gently remind" them about Google Docs. Funny students.... :)

Generating & Testing Hypotheses
In my Intro to Business class the students complete an online business simulation called JA Titan. The students are put into groups, and they make various business decisions. After the decisions have been submitted they receive instant feedback. The students then look through the business reports and make the next quarter's decisions based on what happened in the previous quarter. This simulation certainly requires them to generate & test hypotheses each time they submit their decision and then review their reports. The students enjoy this simulation because it is very much "video game-like" and gives them instant feedback based on their decisions in the simulation.

CEDO 525 Week 3 Strategies

Cooperative Learning
"...Cooperative learning focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning. When students work in cooperative groups, they make sense of, or construct meaning for, new knowledge by interacting with others" (Pitler, 139). Whenever possible, I use this instructional strategy in my classes. It seems that most students enjoy learning in this manner. In regards to the section on "multimedia", I enjoyed the rubric - "Rubric for a Cooperative Multimedia Project" and also the "Group Roles in a Cooperative Multimedia Project". They are both good examples to use & modify to fit many of the projects I do in my classes. I also liked reading through the subsection titled "Collaborative Organizing" because I employ many of these applications already. When looking over 'shared calendars' I really liked the idea of having the student groups create a shared calendar & then share it with the teacher to allow the teacher to monitor progress. I use Google calendars (embed on our class wiki with all of the due dates for assignments, tests, projects, etc) with all of my classes but haven't thought of using them like suggested above. Also under the same subsection is 'shared bookmarking.' Currently I only use social bookmarking personally; I collect all of the amazing resources I get from my PLN on Twitter & use Delicious & Diigo to keep them organized online. In my Web Tools class my students created a Diigo account where they will keep track of the resources they use for a group project. The last topic under this subsection is 'course management.' My school has had several conversations about getting Moodle up and running but that conversation hasn't gone anywhere yet (although Moodle is "free" it is really expensive to get up & running with the hardware & Internet costs).

Reinforcing Effort
"...reinforcing effort enhances students' understanding of the relationship between effort and achievement by addressing their attributes and beliefs about learning" (Pitler, 155). I do believe this in an important instructional strategy but am having some trouble accepting the suggestions illustrated in this chapter. Many of the suggestions include public recognition of students who are demonstrating effort; one example in the text talks about having a bulletin board in the main office displaying stories of "students putting forth a strong effort to achieve" (Pitler, 162). Does this type of public recognition need to take place? What about writing positive comments on the student's paper, a sticker saying "keep it up", or have a conversation one-on-one with the student expressing & reinforcing the effort put forth?

Graphic Organizers/Mindmap Applications

The three mindmapping applications I chose include the following:

Bubbl.us

• Free & collaborative
• Create online
• Share, email, or print your mindmap
• Embed on website, blog, or wiki
• Save your mindmap as an image file

Webspiration

• Free & collaborative
• Create online
• A few more "bells & whistles" - can change basic text boxes into different shapes & pictures
• Change between outline view and graphic organizer view depending on learning style & needs

Mindmeister

• Free & collaborative
• Create online
• Even more "bells & whistles" - depending on the word/phrase in the textbox, it will search & find images, videos, and links that match for an easy addition or customization of your mindmap
• Can make your mindmap public or private
• iPhone app & available on Google Apps Marketplace

It was interesting that as I looked at each application, they progressively got more and more advanced (for lack of a better term). Bubbl.us seems very basic with Webspiration building in a few more "bells & whistles" like customizing the look/feel of the textboxes. Mindmeister takes Webspiration one step further by creating an application that tries to "think" for you. What do I mean? The software actually looks for images, videos, or links online that relate to the word/phrase in the textbox. All three applications are easy to use, free, meant to be collaborative, and are available via the Internet. A feature that I really like about Webspiration is the ability to switch between the mindmap view to the outline view iwht a click of a button. However, my overall recommendation goes to Mindmeister. I like the "forward thinking" of the application & think it is really neat it suggests and predicts information or images that relate to the information in the mindmap.

The Use of Advanced Organizers in the Learning & Retention of Meaningful Verbal Material

(article by David P. Ausubel)

I was very reluctant to read the article once I saw the copyright of 1960. I thought to myself, "WHY are we reading an article that is 50 years old?!" in a technology class. After reading the article, it appears that the issue (struggle with student knowledge retention) was the same as it is today. With the help of graphic organizers, it helps students organize the information in a manner that will assist them in remembering/retaining the information in a more meaningful and long lasting way.

My favorite part of this article is the following: "The metallurgical topic was chosen on the basis of being generally unfamiliar to undergraduates in liberal arts and sciences (i.e., not ordinarily included in the chemistry courses), but still sufficiently elementary to be both comprehensible and interesting to novices with no prior background in the field. Really?!?!?!!? Reading/learning about the "metallurgical properties of plain carbon steel"...I thought this guy said the topic was going to be "interesting to novices".

In all seriousness, I did enjoy & relate to the last paragraph of the article. It reads as this...."The suggestion was offered that the greater use of appropriate (substantive rather than historical) advance organizers in the teaching of meaningful verbal material could lead to more effective retention." That's what we all want, right? More effective retention! Furthermore, "this procedure would also render unnecessary much of the rote memorization to which students resort because they are required to learn the details of a discipline before having a sufficient number of key subsuming concepts. I think the use of advanced/graphic organizers more definitely help students to organize information and make those connections to prior knowledge which leads to learning rather than memorizing.

CEDO 525 Week 2 Strategies

Cues, Questions, & Advanced Organizers
After reading this chapter in the text, I realized that I employ many of the strategies suggested. I usually start out a new chapter/concept with a KWL. I found it to be extremely easy to set up in a Google Doc, make it a public document, post it to my wiki, and direct my students to fill in the K & W section prior to starting the unit. At the end of the unit, the students can then go back into the KWL Google Doc and fill in the L (What I Learned) section. It is a nice summary of the knowledge gained over the course of the unit and also a great way to clarify or clear up any misconceptions that might show up in the "Learned" section. In addition, I provide the students with a skeleton outline that they fill in while we are talking about a particular topic. The skeleton outline includes the key terms and the basics of the main points, and students are then able to fill in the missing information or add details where needed. Many of my students have opted to fill in this information right on the computer rather than have a "hard copy" of their notes. This electronic form of notes is nice because they can add links or pictures to their notes for more explanation; they can also upload their notes to Google Docs or email them to themselves to have at home or school. Another tool I use on a regular basis is graphic organizers like Webspiration or Mindmeister. I really like the powerful additions that Mindmeister has - adding links, pictures, videos, etc. The students are able to summarize or brainstorm using this tool. They are also able to answer the essential questions that are pulled from the unit. The students know that if they can answer those essential questions that the concepts have been mastered. As described in the text, I think using multimedia is also a great way "activate prior knowledge and develop a mental model to understand new information (Pitler, 82). In my Web Tools class when I'm introducing a new web application, also head out to YouTube to find a short explanatory video. I really enjoy the "In Plain English" videos by CommonCraft. They do a great job of explaining a concept/application in such simple terms and allow the students to make those connections or predictions.

Nonlinguistic Representation
The first question that pops into my mind after reading the first two pages of this chapter is, "Hmmm, how can I convince my principal to let me buy a Wii for my B&IT department?" I can tell him that it is to improve my nonlinguistic learning activities. Now...if only there were games that relate to my content area?!? Maybe there are...I guess I've never looked! :) The section that sticks with me most in this chapter is the "Multimeda" section. While reflecting on my class, both past and present, most of my students respond the most to multimedia. One tool that I've been playing with and allowing my students to play with is Prezi. It is a powerful tool that allows the use of multimedia - pictures, text, videos, links, etc, and the author organizes all of the information on a canvas rather than individual slides. This allows the author and viewers to zoom in and zoom out on the details of the concept being presented and get a great sense of relationship with all of the information in the presentation.

Summarizing & Notetaking
"Remember that one of the generalizations from McREL's research on note taking is that the more notes taken, the better, and one of the recommendations for classroom practice is that students should be taught a variety of note-taking formats." This point resonates with me; thinking back to my years in primary, secondary, and post-secondary school, I don't remember a teacher ever teaching me how to take effective notes; nor have I, now as the teacher, ever taken time to teach this important skill. I provide tools and different applications for the students to take notes but I haven't ever taught the students how to filter through the information to decide what to write down in order to create "good notes" to study from at a later time. Hmmmm, interesting & something to think about. Another point from Chapter 6 that jumps out at me (regarding "Multimedia") is this: "When students experience multimedia, they sometimes get caught up in the entertainment factor and neglect the critical analysis of the content necessary to create useful notes they can use for further study. When teachers introduce multimedia into their classrooms, they must ensure that students stay focused on distinguishing trivial content from essential content, coalescing minor points into major themes, and personalizing their notes based on their learning styles." Having students use multimedia for summarizing and notetaking, many times, like the text mentions, the students get caught up in the fun-ness of the application/process and need to be reminded or redirected back to the task at hand. I usually let the students take the few minutes to be caught up in the "entertainment factor" so they can get it out of their system; if I allow them a few minutes to enjoy the tool and explore, they are more likely to stay on task once I gather them back and redirect their attention back to the summary/notes/project/etc.

CEDO 525 Feedback That Fits

After reading the article "Feedback That Fits" (http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec07/vol65/num04/Feedback-That-Fits.aspx), I have been thinking about/reflecting on the way I provide feedback to my students. One of the main points of the article says, "Feedback should be specific enough that the student knows what to do next, but not so specific that you do the work. Identifying errors or types of errors is a good idea, but correcting every error doesn't leave the student anything to do." In one of my classes, the students do a written research report on a given topic. The students are told that they can submit their report ahead of the due date, and I will look it over and give them feedback so they know if they are right on track or if modifications need to be made. After reading the section in the article called "A Tale of Two Feedback Choices", I realize (again, with one of those 'DUH' moments) that the feedback I'm providing to the students who submit their work early is mostly about the mechanics of the research paper and not about the content itself. 99% of the feedback I have given students is about the grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. rather than feedback on the content of the assignment. In Figure 2, there are many great examples of suggested feedback that provide a great basis for some constructive feedback points. I like how many of them are worded and will try to use them as a platform for writing more effective feedback on student work in the future.

CEDO 525 What Works In Classroom Instruction

A few things stand out to me from this article...

"...examined the effects of student learning in a small group versus working individually when students were using technology. They found that small group learning had more positive effects than individual learning." I'm glad to hear that the study found this since this is how my classroom is run most of the time. I am very fortunate to have a tiered computer lab as my classroom so whether it be in my business classes or technology classes, the students are always working on the computers during their learning activities. The majority of the time during the learning activities, the students are working with a partner or in small groups. Two + heads are usually better than one! :) I think it is good for students to share their ideas, talk about differences they might have which often times creates questions that they ask me for clarification, and the students have the opportunity to teach, support, and challenge each other during the small group collaboration.

"...students in classrooms where technology was moderately used were found to be on task significantly more of the time than students in the other two groups - in which technology was infrequently used or in which technology was slightly used." Again, this is really nice to hear since my students are using technology during 90+% of the class time on a daily basis. This point isn't surprising to me though. It makes sense that students are more on task when using technology because technology is often times fun and engaging....and also the way that our students have grown up learning.

"...more and better research needs to be funded and conducted by researchers in this area." I realize research is important but I always struggle with how research studies are conducted. I used to be very involved with a national, well-known charity but decided to use my time and talents elsewhere after seeing how frivolous their spending was. For example, the planning committee would meet once a month to talk about the yearly fundraiser and the organization would pay for our lunch (~15 people, ~$12 lunch per person, once a month every month = $2,000 every year that goes towards restaurant bills for the volunteer committee versus that money going towards research for the organizations main focus). So, I know the research needs to be done to know the most effective way to use the technology but there are so many schools out there that don't even have the technology available or the professional development funds to teach the teachers how to use it. How much money is spent (or wasted - depending on your viewpoint) on the research that could be used to get the technology into the schools and as staff development for teachers to learn how to use it? I realize the research done by Marzano might not have been done in this manner like I mentioned with my personal experience but when I hear "research" is being done, my personal example is the first thing I think of. Like most first impressions, they are lasting impressions...

CEDO 525 Principles of Teaching & Learning Article Reflection

During the first class on Wednesday night I was very confused when Robert Marzano & his strategies were first mentioned. I'm glad, after the instructor asked how many people were aware of what she was talking about, that I wasn't the only one out of the loop. However, after reading through the "Principles of Teaching & Learning" article, I realized that all staff at my school was given a book to read & implement the strategies of Robert Marzano a few years back. While reading the article, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, this information seems awfully familiar!" and it was then that I realized I already read one of Marzano's books.

The teaching principle that stands out to me most is "Effective teaching involves aligning the three major components of instruction: learning objectives, assessments, & learning activities." This principle is very straight forward & logical. It makes sense to have clearly laid out objectives, learning activities that align with the objectives, and finally, assessments that check the understanding from the learning activities to see if the objectives have been learned by the students.

The learning principle that stands out to me most is "Students' prior knowledge can help or hinder learning." This principle is so simple and makes me almost want to say "DUH" out loud, but yet, I haven't ever really thought about it in this manner. I've really only thought about prior knowledge helping in their learning but never about the flip side. It a student has prior knowledge about a certain topic but the information is incorrect, it will certainly hinder the new learning. A way to clear up some of the misconceptions that students might have before teaching a particular topic/concept is to use a KWL (what you KNOW, WANT to know, and then reflecting later about what was LEARNED). During the various phases of completing the KWL, the teacher has multiple opportunities to correct any misunderstandings in the prior knowledge or after the fact with what was learned.

CED0520 Final Reflection

Can't believe another class in the MEIT program is done as of today! It is good timing since today was our first day of school....I'm exhausted!!

Today I had one of my classes create a collage of 10 pictures that represent themselves that I will have them print off & hang up around the room. Looking at the picture collages gives me a peek into each of their lives & shows me what they like to do and about their personalities. Keeping in mind copyright issues that we talked about last week in class & did assignments on this past week, I had them use Google Images Advanced Search Options to find their pictures. I had them only use pictures "labeled for reuse" in their collages, and we had a quick conversation about copyright. I plan to continue to teach them about copyright issues as I become more familiar with all of the rules myself.

Tomorrow in my Web Tools class I'm going to use the "Four NETS for Better Searching" webquest that was discussed in 'week 2' of class (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/fournets.htm) as an activity to teach them about more effective searches on the Internet prior to having them do a research assignment on the Internet. That's all for now....I'm wiped out after the first day at the grind. :)

CED0520 Week #2 Reflection

This week in class we looked at a number of resources. The first resource we examined was Noodle Tools. I have to admit...I was skeptical at first glance but after checking out the site for some time, I've decided that it is a pretty cool site. I'll be sure to share it with other teachers in my school system; I think it will be especially helpful to the middle school teachers/students to help narrow down search results so students don't feel so "lost" when searching the Internet. It might just give them the right amount of guidance to be able to find what they need & in an efficient/effective manner.

Another item we explored for this week was Google Alerts. Like I mentioned in class last week, I've used Google Alerts in the past to gather resources for an entrepreneurship website I used to do work for. It was very helpful to be able to set up the alerts for key words or phrases & let Google do the work in finding the information and delivering it to my email inbox. However, I've migrated away from using Google Alerts because I've become much more active on Twitter. I can just as easily find resources on Twitter and also have a person to then ask questions if I need additional information about something he/she posted about a resource. Besides using Twitter to gather resources, I also rely on my Delicious & Diigo accounts to find me new resources. I've joined a few groups in Diigo and have my account set up to email me any new additions to the group's resources on a daily basis which is essentially like creating a Google alert but with a different site/application.

Finally, the "To Wikipedia or Not To Wikipedia" debate is a good one. I look forward to reading the rest of the responses that are yet to be posted on this topic. It seems like most of the classmates in the MEIT cohort are in agreement that Wikipedia is a good place to start but not a source that should be counted on for correct information/included in any quotes/citations/bibliographies. I think checking out Wikipedia as a springboard for gathering key concepts or areas to research is a good way to use Wikipedia. Once an individual has a few ideas about a topic, he/she can then use other sources to actually find the correct information that was originally discovered on Wikipedia.

One more final thought before I sign off for the night....Last week we were able to create a website evaluation worksheet that we'll be able to use with our students. I felt so good about that assignment while I was completing it - knowing that I'll be able to use the activity with my students/use the activity again in the future besides just creating it to get it done & fulfill the assignment for class. I think wherever activities like that can be put into the courses in the MEIT program would be a great addition to what we are already doing/learning. As we approach the start of school very quickly, I think it will be really neat to hear how people are using the things we are learning about in their classrooms. I think sharing how one is using a resource with others often times creates those "ah ha" moments and connections are then made about how each individual might adapt what was given as an example to fit his/her needs/classroom. I look forward to those types of conversations as the school year approaches.

CED0520 Weekly Reflection #1

After completing all of the tasks assigned for 'Week 1' I'm able to take a few minutes to reflect. This past week we looked at Internet Learning Resources; we were to define the term & identify one resource that we currently use. Here was my response to the question, "What does the term Internet Learning Resources mean to you at present?"

The term "Internet Learning Resources" to me is such an open-ended concept. In simple terms I'd say it means anything on the Internet that you can use to learn from. It can include anything from a reference website you use to gather information to an interactive site where web-based simulations take place to Web 2.0 applications to social networking sites. I know it says identify ONE resource that I use but I'm going to list two because they go hand-in-hand for me. I don't know what I'd do without Twitter and my "Personal Learning Network" AND Delicious. I gather so many resources daily from my Twitter connections and then keep them all organized with my Delicious social bookmarking account. These 2 resources have really changed the way I teach and grow as an educator. Just the other day I needed advice about which platform to use for my class (Ning, Edmodo, wiki, etc) and within minutes, I have so many responses from my PLN - amazing!

In addition to looking into Internet Learning Resources, we also were given the task to create an Internet Resource Site Evaluation Form & evaluate 2 sites that we consider to be valuable learning resources. I found Kathy Schrock's Guide For Educators - Critical Evaluation Surveys extremely helpful. On the website there are evaluation surveys broken down by various categories (elementary, middle school, high school, teacher, blogs, etc); here is the website where the eval surveys are located - http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/eval.html. I will certainly use these evaluation surveys in the future!

CED0515 Class #1 Reflection

After viewing the recording from class #1, going through the assignments, and reading the text, I feel like this is going to be a good class. I was excited to see not only some good resources listed in the text, but also examples of how other teachers are applying technology to various projects. I put a huge star on pages 17-18 by the "Technology-Enhanced Learning Activities" and can't wait to share these with teachers in my system. Also, after reading the chapters, it was nice to do the online review questions & get instant feedback. I know I can set this up somehow on my computers at school but I just need to sit down & figure out how it will work on our network. It is definitely on my "to do" list for this coming school year. For students to get that immediate feedback like we were able to is SO valuable!

When doing the presentation program assignment, I went the easy route this time & did a presentation in Google Docs. I should have really played around with the others more but I was already feeling behind the 8 ball since I missed the 1st two classes. I will go back and explore all of the listed programs in greater detail so I can hopefully use some of them in the future or at least tell other teachers about them for their use. Another presentation program that I've been playing around with and showing my students for presentations is Prezi. The students just love it!!! There are some really great tutorials right on their website which walk you right through the creation process. I highly suggest checking it out sometime if you haven't seen or used it yet.

I decided to use ToonDoo for my Graphics Program project; I will continue to use this program and share it with other teachers. I've seen lots of other people talk about other graphics programs that they used so I am anxious to find a quiet moment sometime in the near future to really explore them as well and get to know the "ins" and "outs" and see if there are any practical applications for them as well in the future.

Course Connections

I really struggled to get into this class in the beginning because it is something that doesn’t come natural to me…kind of like golf. I try to like it because my husband loves to play golf but I just can’t seem to get into it. Why? Because I’m horrible at golf!

However, after going through a few more weeks of this class and completing the assignments, I’ve gained some confidence with troubleshooting & working with computers. Like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I have the “go to” people if I run into computer hardware issues so I’ve never really had to try to fix things myself. I still have so much to learn but now that I’ve gone through a few of the assignments for this course I have a few success stories under my belt which has definitely boosted my confidence. While going through the course & learning of the assignments, I always feel this overwhelming rush of “OH MY GOSH! How am I going to do that assignment?!?!” After stepping back and trying to process the information, the mountain doesn’t seem as big. I remember feeling this exact way while taking the 2 undergrad computer end user/network administration courses. I’d call my mom crying, say, “Mom…I don’t know how I’m going to get this assignment done!”, and she’d calmly tell me to break the “mountain” of an assignment into smaller “hills” and get it done. That’s the same approach I’ve taken with this course, and it has seemed to work. It sure helps to have a caring instructor as well…and I’m not just saying that because I think he’s going to read this post but because it is true. It is so much more motivating as a student to have an instructor who truly cares about the success of each student in the class. It has really pushed me to work harder which has resulted in me really being able to understand and learn the material.

The one thing I think can be improved for future classes might be the very first class session. After that session was over, I sat in front of my computer feeling pretty numb & overwhelmed. There were so many computer terms & acronyms that were thrown around; I felt like I was in way over my head which put a bad taste in my mouth right from the start. It might be helpful to take a short pre-test so the instructor can get a good grasp on the level the students have upon entering into the course & then start out the first class at the level where the students demonstrate their beginning knowledge. Even if the instructor isn’t able to go over all of the basics that some of the students might need, it might be helpful to at least have a few articles or good resource websites where the students can go for some of the basic knowledge/information. Also, I felt a bit overwhelmed with the amount of work in the beginning of the course. I realize this is an accelerated course so I’m not sure if anything can be done about that. It was really helpful to have a compassionate instructor who would allow you to turn in assignments at a later date if more time was needed.

Thanks for a good class. I’ve learned lots & hopefully will continue to use this information/knowledge as I continue on my instructional technology journey!

Computer Management

Thoughts...
While reflecting on the 2 questions given to us this week to blog about, I am struggling & realizing I need to know so much more about computers. I've always considered myself a pretty tech-savvy person but now that I'm going through this class I'm beginning to understand how my parents feel when they are trying to use the computer ...and that is the feeling of walking around in the dark trying to find the light switch in a new house. I feel like so far I've been able to walk around this dark room (this class) & haven't run into any walls...but still feel a bit lost & overwhelmed but am very thankful for an understanding & helpful instructor! Okay, so on to the 1st question!

How Can I Improve the Management of My Computer
I know there are a few things I can set up on the computer to run automatically each week to ensure the computer is up-to-date for various updates including software & virus/security updates. My husband has set up a few things to help improve the computer's optimal utilization to include a defrag & disk clean-up scheduled once a month. The McAfee anti-virus protection software is scheduled to check for updates each time the computer is started up to ensure the computer is fully protected. We have also purchased an external harddrive to storage large files like pictures, video & music so it doesn't take away from the computer's harddrive space. Another thing that seems to help with the functionality of a computer is to uninstall/delete all of the trial versions of software that come on new computers. When we recently purchased a laptop for my parents, we had Office Depot clean up all of the trial versions that were on the computer as well as install the antivirus software. If I knew how to do the "clean up" of the trials, I could have saved some money but instead had Office Depot perform the services in order to ensure things were done properly. I've used this analogy before - I felt like I usually do when I'm at the oil change place....like I'm getting the wool pulled over my eyes because I don't know any better. When asked about this service it sounded like a good idea at the time but it is probably something that I'd be able to do on my own with a bit of research.


What I Think I Need to Know in Order to Ensure Proper Computer Functioning & Data Safety
With a bit more knowledge about some of the virus "stuff" I think I'll be more informed to help keep the computer functioning properly and the data that is stored on the computer as safe as possible. After completing the virus assignment I hope to be more aware of what the viruses are referring to and how to keep my computer/data safe. Besides that brief answer I guess all I can say is... "I don't know what I don't know..." so hopefully by the end of this course I'll know exactly what will help ensure proper computer functioning & data safety!

Understanding...

Knowing/understanding the computer hardware components will definitely help me in a few ways. It will help me in my personal & professional life. In my personal life when I need something fixed on the computer that can't be taken care of by restarting the computer I usually turn to my husband to see if he can help me. The same holds true in my professional life while I'm at school. If it can't fixed after checking cord connections or with a simple restart, I usually turn to our network administrator right at school.

I know I could probably figure out some of the issues I sometimes have with the computers if I put more time & effort into it but I have avoided doing that for a few reasons.

#1. I love computers but I love using them...not knowing how they work or why they aren't working! :)

#2. Many times when a computer goes down for whatever reason it is very difficult to put any time into trying to figure out the issue because I have 27 other hands being raised in the classroom from students who need help or I have a 3 year old & a 1 year old at home climbing up on chairs or stuffing the toilet with as much TP as can possibly fit into the bowl! :)

#3. I've always had that "go to" person to help me out so I've not had the need to really figure it out on my own.

It is important to know how & why the hardware components work (or don't work), and I really need to put more effort into trying to troubleshoot more often when something comes up. Another hesitation is fear...because I don't truly understand the in's and out's of the computer I am afraid I am going to break something even more in the process of trying to fix the original issue. With more knowledge & understanding of thy how's, why's, & what's I can reduce/eliminate some of that fear so that I can be more confident in what I am doing.

What I Know & Want to Know About Computer Systems

In my undergraduate degree program I was required to take both Computer End-User Technologies & Network Administration courses which seems very similar to this course so far. You could then probably make the assumption that this course is going to be easy for me...but that couldn't be further from the truth. In the first class meeting I had the same flood of thoughts & emotions as when I was taking the two computer class at UW-W in my undergrad; I felt like I was sitting in an advanced foreign language class the entire time. While I've at least heard of some of the terms that were being used, I don't remember what they are/mean. I guess this type of knowledge (computer "stuff") is kind of similar to a foreign language - if you don't use it, you lose it...and it appears that I've lost most of it. So here's a cheers to hopefully make it still the 3rd time around...

With that said, I don't know much about the hardware of a computer or how it works. I am so blessed to have a wonderful network administrator right in my building who is a good friend of mine. When something goes wrong with a computer or printer that can't be solved by checking the cord connections or restarting the computer, I usually just give him a call & within a few hours my problem has been solved. I LOVE using technology and can get my way through minor issues but can't (and frankly don't want to) do anything more than that. I know, I know...I should be more open to learning how things work so I can fix it on my own but I guess it just isn't my passion so I am reluctant to do so.

Sooo...what do I want to know? That's kind of a funny question... :) My completely truthful answer to that question is "not a whole lot more than what I know now" but I'm really, really trying to change that thought process & be more open-minded about learning this stuff. I will make this promise - I promise to try to be more willing to learn about how the computer works. I know it will help me be able to troubleshoot more on my own which would be a great thing. I promise...I'll try!

Skype

I had such an amazing class on Monday!!! I had fun. The students had fun. So what did we do, you ask? :) We Skyped w/a successful entrepreneur in San Francisco, CA. While looking on Inc Magazine's website, I saw an article called "30 under 30: America's Coolest Young Entrepreneurs." I emailed one of the listed entrepreneurs & she got back to me. I thought it would be neat to connect with a young entrepreneur for my students to ask questions, hear her story, etc. They so often read about entrepreneurs but are usually years, if not decades, older than they are right now. Anyway, I arranged to Skype with Kyle Smitley, who created barley & birch, an organic environmentally friendly, made in the USA company. :) We spent over an hour talking with Kyle via Skype & the students LOVED IT! They actually seemed to like it more & were more engaged than if I actually would have had a "real live" person presenting to them in the classroom...strange. It was a great class. I left excited about my Skype connection and also excited that the students especially enjoyed class. Also, an article is being written for the local newspaper about it....so I'm excited to see/read the article about my Skyping session! I will definitely continue to use Skype in the classroom. I am going to be working with another colleague this summer to put together a list of XHS alumni who are now around the country/world who will be willing to Skype with other teachers about various topics. Hopefully by doing some of the upfront work of finding people, the teachers will then take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that they can provide their students by Skyping (or another videoconferencing too).

Tackled 2 tasks & I'm feeling great

I have 2 items checked off my "to-do" list, and it feels great. I completed the traditional word processor vs. Google Docs assignment earlier today and just got done with the web browser assignment. I've used Google Docs for a few things & collaborated with others but on a very limited basis. Tonight's web browser assignment was the most I've worked with Google Docs regarding collaboration. It really is a neat thing...to be miles & miles apart from the other person and feel like you are sitting right next to each other. To actually be able to see each other using the Tokbox through our class Ning made the experience seem even more lifelike versus a virtual meeting. I look forward to using this more professionally and in my classroom. I currently teach a computer applications course which examines Microsoft 2007 & its features so I'm not sure I'll get a ton of use out of Google Docs in that class. However, I have Intro to Business & Entrepreneurship classes which I will be able to use Google Docs to have the students turn in assignments. This will be a neat, "green" way for my students to turn in assignments. I usually have them email me assignments but by using Google Docs, it will eliminate a few steps (like opening the email attachment, adding comments, saving the document to my computer, attaching it in the email reply, and sending the email). This will certainly save me a few minutes which really adds up when you have larger classes! That's all for now. I have hours of grading to do which I neglected over this weekend that was filled with beautiful weather...I will now pay for it by being up for a few more hours. Oh sleep...I miss you!

And it begins...

Tonight was the first meeting for my Master's program in Instructional Technology. At the moment I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed as I'm trying to imagine how I'm going to accomplish all of this work on top of my already busy workload. I knew going into this program that it wasn't going to be a "walk in the park"; once I get into the groove & figure out a good routine I'll be fine. It is always difficult in the beginning of something new but that's what learning is all about.

The topics tonight included Google docs, browsers, social bookmarking, Nings. Luckily, most of the information tonight was a review. This past summer I took a class on technology integration which opened my eyes to many of these technologies which I've been able to implement into my teachings. I have every student of mine create a Google account/gmail account which allows them to collaborate on documents, communicate with each other & me quickly, and allows them to save their documents directly to their Google "sky drive" so I NEVER AGAIN have to hear the excuses like, "My printer ran out of ink", "I forgot my flash drive at home", or "BLAH BLAH BLAH!" :) My students then also use this gmail account to sign up for the various Web 2.0 tools that I use in my classroom. I also use Google docs professionally with my colleagues. Because I am part time along with another colleague in my department, it is sometimes difficult to find common meeting times to discuss department issues. We use Google docs to communicate and conduct a "virtual" department meeting; we all collaborate & add to one Google doc which can then be reviewed, edited, and finally submitted to our administrators in a quick fashion.

I also use social bookmarking daily; I have an amazing PLN on Twitter where I gather so many valuable resources. I can easily save and categorize these resources using social bookmarking sites. I use Delicious to bookmark interesting/useful websites, and I use Diigo to bookmark interesting articles or blog posts. I used to save everything to "My Favorites" on my computer but that never seemed to work out. I'd find something at home & save it to "My Favorites" to then go to school the next day & realize I forgot to email the link to myself...well....you know that story. Once I started to use Delicious & Diigo, it simplified keeping track of resources. I also recently joined some groups in Diigo which allows me to get daily email updates when people bookmark new resources within those groups. I have found some amazing resources this way...and the neat part is that I didn't have to do any work to find the resources - they all came directly to me! I highly suggest using Delicious &/or Diigo. My #1 recommendation would be to use lots of "tags" so you can easily find the resource/website later.

The one part of tonight that I don't know much about is the different types of web browsers. I usually use IE but just downloaded Firefox on my computer at school. I'm interested in completing the compare/contrast document to see how they are similar/different. And finally...It is fun learning more about Nings. I belong to the Classroom 2.0 Ning but haven't utilized all of the applications within the tool to the fullest. I think it would be neat to create a Ning for my new Web Tools 2.0 class that I'm teaching next year. I think I'm seeing some possibilities here...

Looking forward to this journey in obtaining my Master's degree. It is always something that I've known I've wanted to do. The timing seems perfect right now & I'm so glad that I have a supportive husband who is backing me up 100%. From the course descriptions I can see that I am going to be able to implement so many of these applications into my lessons almost immediately. I'm excited to see how this is going to transform my teaching and the students' learning.

That's all for now. I'm exhausted...Good night!