Thinking EdTech

It's SNOWY

2009-02-24T12:51:00.005-06:00

I was very pleased overall with the professional development plans that the students completed. For the most part, their goals were very specific and attainable. Many mentioned that they would like to keep track of their progress towards their goals with a dedicated page in their e-portfolios. I thought this was a great idea and decided to make this the assignment for the professional development plan revision. I explained to the students what I thought should go on this page - their original goals, the progress they've made thus far, links to evidence (screenshots, photographs, web links, etc.) of their progress, and plans for the future. The students' reactions to this assignment was positive, expressing that they felt it would be more useful to them than simply revising their original plans.

The students seemed to appreciate the segment during last week's lab on making our W200 pedagogy transparent, that is, sharing tools and tips as one teacher to another. The tool I shared was Poll Everywhere. This week, I shared three other tools that I had found helpful in my professional teaching tasks - Google Calendar, Twitter, and Umbrella Today. I demonstrated how they can use their cell phones to send and receive "tweets" and explained how Twitter is being used to share insights during conferences. I also shared how I have been using Google Calendar to manage my schedule and how I have set up to receive reminders on my cell phone so that I won't miss meetings or appointments. I then showed the students who were interested how to set up the option to receive SMS (cell phone text) reminders. I introduced Umbrella Today as a tool that simply sends SMS reminders when the forecast calls for rain. This can be helpful to a busy teacher who has a lot on the mind when heading out the door to school each morning.

I then modeled how they might make technology integration decisions using the SNOWY decision making process. SNOWY stands for Standard, Needs, Options, What, and Why. After modeling this process, I asked the students to join with one or two classmates and create a Google Doc that outlines the SNOWY process as applied to an 8th grade science case. Having the students in groups was very beneficial in especially the Options step, as they bounced ideas off one another for possible activities (or Options) that they could use in this case. The groups then wrote learning objectives that incorporated the option they chose. At the close of class, each group presented their Google Doc, some of the Options that they found, and their learning objective. I was able to provide specific feedback on their proposals to each group (and the whole class). I hope that this workout will lead to better proposals in the coming weeks.

The Classroom Newsletter

2009-02-16T14:35:00.004-06:00

Classroom newsletters provide a way for teachers to communicate classroom and school happenings with students and their families. This week, we discussed newsletters and other ways teachers can communicate with families and the kinds of information these communications might contain. Here's the list we came up with. With the focus on using technology tools to be more productive in a teacher's professional life, we experimented with Google Docs (and spreadsheets, forms, and presentations) to create sample classroom newsletters. Some of the students used the templates available on Google Docs, others started their newsletters in Word then uploaded them to Google Docs, and others started their newsletters from scratch. We explored the collaborative features of this resource as well as the limitations in formatting and layout.

In an effort to make the W200 pedagogy more transparent, I demonstrated how to create online polls using Poll Everywhere and led the students through the process of creating free accounts. We used the sample poll to find out how many in class knew how to bookmark websites in their Delicious accounts and found that there were just a few in each section that weren't sure how to do this. (I directed these few to tutorials on the Delicious website.)

One student in each section volunteered to show his/her digital story about why they chose the teaching profession. The majority of the students selected this topic for their stories; however, a few did do stories on what makes a teacher great and how to... . Overall, the stories were really interesting to watch, and they helped me to get to know the students better.

Quite a Development

2009-02-04T15:32:00.003-06:00

So, today's focus is professional development. Because last week's class was cancelled due to snow, I sensed some confusion concerning course activities among the students. I had looked into the chatroom on Oncourse a few times and noticed some of my students' comments. I e-mailed these students directly, but I wanted to clear up the questions with the entire class before moving forward into today's lesson.

I was surprised that many had forgotten about their blogs on Blogger that they created the first day of class or otherwise missed the connection between these blogs and the make-up assignment from last week, which was to write a post about integrating technology into a standards-based lesson in the content area of interest. (I did not specify in my announcement to the students that the blog posts would go on the Blogger.com blogs. I assumed they would know this, as it didn't cross my mind that they would go anywhere else!) One student creatively used his Delicious account to tag the lesson plan and then wrote his comments in the description area of the bookmark. I had planned to begin class with a follow-up activity stemming from these posts; but because so many had trouble, I decided to postpone the activity until a future session. Instead, I demonstrated how to post to their blogs and offered them a second chance to complete the assignment, because I felt too important a lesson to skip.

I also demonstrated how to get to the correct lecture worksheet for each week and where to find my and their classmates' e-mail addresses in the Roster area of Oncourse. I encouraged the students to visit the TTL or e-mail me with future questions and avoid getting sucked into the negativity that has seemed to surface in the course chatroom. I compared the chatroom to the teachers' lounge, saying that it can be a great place to vent but can also drag your perspective down as you listen to others' complaints.

I then introduced the professional development plan assignment, describing each section of the plan and how they were to be graded using the rubric. We then moved on to the digital storytelling workout. I explained why learning how to create digital stories is important for them as future teachers (it is a great strategy for involving our digital native students in interacting with the content that they are studying) and offered a few suggestions for how it might be used in the content areas. We reviewed the web resource from University of Houston that outlines the components of a digital story and the kinds of tools that could be used. I then demonstrated from start to finish how to create a digital story in Windows Movie Maker. I explained the difference between their Windows Movie Maker file (.MSWMM) and their published digital story (.wmv). I instructed them to submit their published digital stories by uploading them to the Artifacts page of their e-portfolios. Knowing that this is a multi-step process, I created a tutorial and posted it this week's Resources in Oncourse. I asked the students to attempt to follow the tutorial, and then ask for help if they got stuck on one of the steps. Providing the tutorial at least initially reduced the number of times I had to walk the students through the process.

I provided them the option during the second half of class to choose what they wanted to work on. Some chose to work on their professional development plans and do their digital stories in the quiet of their own rooms, where they wouldn't feel awkward recording in front of others. Some decided to go ahead and do their digital stories in class or in the TTL. Many fixed their blog posts from last week. And I circulated and answered questions as needed.

Digital Natives

2009-01-26T14:40:00.003-06:00

With this week's focus on understanding the concept of digital natives and digital immigrants, we spent some time discussing what these terms mean, where we might place ourselves in (or between) these categories, and the kinds of technologies that can be used to reach our digital native students. This is an interesting place to be talking about this topic, as some of my students are digital natives and some are more toward the immigrant end of the spectrum. The whole idea of digital natives lent to a pretty good discussion, and I was pleased with some of the ideas that the students offered in how to tap into a digital native's world.

After going over a few announcements and demonstrating how to troubleshoot the in-between lecture podcasts, I had the students divide into groups of 3-4 and provided them a scaffold with which they were to come up with several examples of typical classroom tasks and ideas for using technology to approach such tasks in a more digital native way. The groups then created a digital graphic to demonstrate visually one of their examples. Some of the groups used PowerPoint and then converted the slides to JPEG files. Others used Microsoft Paint. Some used Word or Excel and took screenshots of their images and created pictures files by pasting the screenshots in Adobe Photoshop and then exporting. I circulated and helped each group as needed. If I do this activity again, I'd like to provide a job aid for how to save PowerPoint slides as picture files and how to take screenshots, as I went through the steps with many of the groups over and over again. Representatives from each group then presented their graphical representations to the class.

The remainder of class was spent working on the e-portfolios. I guided the students in how to arrange their pages in the navigation area, upload files, and create links on their pages. I am pleased that both sections are making a good deal of progress in putting together their portfolios. Hopefully, this will make the project easier on the students towards the end of the semester.

Shift

2009-01-15T15:08:00.007-06:00

I used M&Ms to facilitate introductions, which involves giving each student a fun size package of M&Ms, asking everyone to choose one of the M&Ms, and then having them share something about themselves that corresponds to the M&M color. With Valentine's Day nearing, I had gotten the Valentine's edition of the M&Ms, so the colors and corresponding statements went something like this -

Pink – If I could go anywhere in the world, I would go to ______ because…
Red – One of my greatest accomplishments is…
Magenta – The person who has most influenced my life is…
White – One of my goals in life is to…

There were many students who wanted to travel to Australia or New Zealand, some who chose parents or teachers as the most influential in their lives, and several who have the goal of being able to use their skills to help others in third world countries. It was a great way to start to get to know each other. With 40-50 students in two sections, it will take me a while to learn all of the students' names.

After introductions, we reviewed the syllabus, some Oncourse basics, and other important course-related info, such as how to download the podcasts and readings. I then helped them create Gmail and Delicious accounts and create a blog in Blogger and a new Google Site. This took most of the rest of the class period for the first section; the second section created the accounts very quickly. Since the second section finished so quickly, I demonstrated how to use Google Sites, and the students created their e-portfolio skeletons. At the end of class for both sections, we toured the Teaching with Technology Lab (TTL).

I guess I'll learn how to manage teaching two sections as the semester progresses. I thought it was interesting that the second section finished so quickly. I will probably keep using the e-portfolio as something that students can work on if they finish the lab activities early.

One thing that I'd like to create for next lab is a list of major assignments and due dates. With teaching two sections this semester, I communicated to the students that I will not be able to track down late assignments. So, I want to make sure that they know what assignments they are responsible for completing and the dates they are due. I still have not decided how I will manage assignments. With the changes in how the Oncourse site is set up this semester, I'm leaning away from using the Assignments area, as the drawbacks seem to outweigh the positives. I am considering using their e-portfolios as a way to receive submissions. I plan to make a decision before lab next week.

The End

2008-12-12T11:54:00.003-06:00

I began class by going over the agenda for this final lab session. The students then completed the final course online evaluations.

I decided to facilitate peer reviews of the e-Portfolios for the main lab activity this week. Many students had asked me what to put on their Portfolio Discussion pages, and so doing a peer review provided them with some content for those pages. I showed them how to add peers as collaborators on their sites. This allowed the peers to post their remarks as comments on the bottom of the Portfolio Discussion pages. Knowing that the collaborator role also allows editing capabilities, I cautioned the class to honor their peers by not making any changes except to add comments. I provided each of the students with two copies of a peer evaluation rubric. I thought that giving them paper copies of the rubric would be easier for the students to write remarks while viewing the e-Portfolios on screen and would allow them to hand their completed rubrics to the e-Portfolio authors. I also wanted the comments posted on the Portfolio Discussion pages to be positive, so the paper rubric was a means for the students to communicate critical feedback.

After about 15 minutes of instruction on how to add collaborators and review the portfolios, the students had 45 minutes to complete their reviews. I advised them to spend about 20 minutes on each portfolio and to make revisions to their own portfolios if they finished early. This seemed to be adequate time, and I enjoyed observing the interactions between students as they explained their feedback to their peers. The activity also seemed to be quite beneficial as it helped the students make final revisions to their portfolios before they were graded.

I expressed my appreciation to the students for their enthusiasm and participation this semester. I really did have a great group of students, which was such a blessing as I had a tough semester learning to handle all my responsibilities with a small child.

I had Mother Bear's Pizza deliver several large pizzas shortly before the end of class, and we spent the final moments of Lab 28816 discussing the students' future careers while enjoying pizza and cookies in a nearby conference room. I really enjoyed this time, as the students opened up a lot about their thoughts concerning their majors and changing majors and future jobs. They asked me about grad school and types of jobs they could do with an education major. I related some of my undergraduate experiences, how I changed majors several times, and how I finally decided on my chosen career. I encouraged them to gain some authentic experiences in education, such as substitute teaching or working at a childcare facility, to get a better idea of what it feels like to be a teacher. I found these final moments so valuable as I got to know my students better and they were able to talk candidly with me about their thoughts on teaching and technology.

It reminded me of a Mastercard commercial...

3 large pizzas from Mother Bear's - $50
1 dozen Reese's chip cookies - $5
A meaningful time of discussion and reflection - Priceless

Excel-ing in Administration Tools

2008-11-21T12:01:00.007-06:00

After distributing this week's lecture worksheets, I handed back the graded Unit 2 exams and asked for questions about the test. Overall, the students did well on this exam and had no questions for me.

So, we moved on to this week's workout - using Microsoft Excel to create an electronic gradebook. I demonstrated how to do a weighted average and create a lookup table to assign letter grades. I ran into a little problem with the lookup table and finally figured out that the scores needed to go in the first column and the associated letter grades in the second column. Also, it was a bit challenging to go through this workout demonstration using the Windows version of Excel 2007, as I had prepared for the lesson using the Mac version of Excel 2008. I found the locations of some of the features to be slightly different in the two versions.

After the workout, I reviewed the e-portfolio rubric with the students and answered questions about the e-portfolio. I had prepared a Google Sites e-portfolio quick tips sheet for two repeated questions that I had received during last week's lab time, and this came in quite handy during the e-portfolio work time today. I noticed many of the students referring to it, which allowed me to circulate and assist in other ways. The students seemed to appreciate having time to work on their artifacts and e-portfolios in class, as they were able to get help when needed.

For next semester, I would like to explain and work with the e-portfolio in the first few weeks and plan for time throughout the semester to revisit and built onto it. I think I will be able to do this now that I am feeling more comfortable with Google Sites and what the final product should look like. For now, I am considering creating a checklist that they can use during next lab to make sure that they have all of the necessary elements on their sites. I think this will help them to identify areas of their e-portfolios that still need work.

Assessment

2008-11-17T09:18:00.002-06:00

I went over my observation with Karen Hallett this past week. She was very encouraging, saying that I was doing a good job overall. We talked about ways to improve participation in the weekly discussions. She suggested using an Oncourse poll at the beginning of class. She also mentioned taking at look at Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers for more ideas.

After the students finished completing the second unit exam, we talked about defining assessment, providing examples of assessment, and describing challenges teachers face with assessment. I then led them through the process of creating a rubric using RubiStar. I showed them how they could create a permanent file that they could access later on the RubiStar website or just a temporary file. I showed them how they could save their files as webpages and Excel spreadsheets.

We worked on the e-portfolios the rest of class. I fielded lots of questions on how to link directly to their work, so I plan to create a job aid for that and will share it with other instructors.

Making a Big Production

2008-11-01T08:00:00.003-06:00

I have to say that the students seem to really get into the labs with a production component. So, with this week being focused on production tools, the lab went really well. I set the stage for the workout by asking questions about some key concepts from the assigned reading. With it being halloween, I gave out candy for right answers. I encouraged the students to open the reading from the lecture website and search through the text to find the answers. We talked about the roles of teachers and students in production activities, a variety of production tools and tasks, stages of production, and ways to assess production projects. I realize that it is about mid-semester when students have lots of their plates, and class readings can fall to the bottom of the priority list. So, my intention for this activity was to remind them about doing the readings and to help them glean the main concepts from this week's reading.

They then got into groups of 2-3 to create their productions from the leaf scenario. With a few students absent, this made for four groups. Because the groups were formed during their lecture sessions, I noticed that some of the students were working with others that they had not worked with in past group activities in lab. This provided the students with the opportunity to get to know other students, which I think is a really good thing.

One group went to the TTL lab to use Inspriation software. Another group began creating a scrapbook in PowerPoint. I noticed the third group had PowerPoint open as well, and so I guided the students in how to make their presentation different from the other group. I showed them how to create an interactive quiz in PowerPoint by hyperlinking text and images to other slides. They had never used PowerPoint in this way and excitedly proceeded with building their show. The fourth group also had decided to do a scrapbook and wondered what tool to use to create it. Since two groups were using PowerPoint, I steered them in the direction of Windows Movie Maker. Having done the digital story a few weeks prior, they needed no additional instruction on how to use the software and got right to work. They imported pictures they had taken of trees, bark, and leaves around campus. They added narration and titles to their slides and then published the resulting two minute movie.

It took the students about 45 minutes to create their productions and 15 minutes to present them in class. During each presentation, the students talked about how they created their products. I then added some ideas for how the production could be extended given more time and resources. I was pleased with how the students were engaged throughout this workout and with the diversity in the products.

Since groups were using different tools and thus finished their projects at different times, I structured the rest of the class period to be independent work on their fourth artifact proposal and their electronic portfolios. I circulated and worked with students individually on how to create a files page in their sites, upload files, and copy the link locations in order to create links to their files on other pages. I also met with some students about past assignments that I wasn't able to access through Oncourse.

I would definitely like to do this workout again in future semesters, though we may want to change the topic to something else for the Spring semester, such as shapes found in the real world, since there may not be any leaves on the trees at that time. It was good to work on the electronic portfolio during this class session. I would like to have provided time before now to work on it in class. So, maybe in the Spring, we can build in time during some of the lab sessions throughout the semester to update the portfolios. I would also like to bring back the blogs in the coming weeks, because that is another thing that hasn't been used since the start of the semester.

Communication Tools

2008-10-27T20:40:00.003-06:00

We started the lab this week with online student evaluations. Then, I opened the floor for any questions that the students may have had about Monday's lecture. There were no questions. As I passed back the lecture worksheets, I asked them to name some tools that they use to communicate. Instant messaging, Facebook, text messaging, cell phones, and e-mail were mentioned. I asked if any used Twitter and was surprised that none of the students had heard of it. So, I demonstrated how I can send a "tweet," which is a micro-blog of sorts, from my cell phone. I explained that the message is then transmitted to others' cell phones who are following me. It also updates my Facebook status and can be seen on my Myspace page. I showed them some of the accounts of people I am following, including educational technologist David Warlick, and explained that Twitter can be for personal uses, such as updating family and friends, as well as professional uses, such as posting ideas and resources relating to teaching or technology integration.

I then led them through two activities in which they experienced two communication tools - Oncourse's forums and Google Groups. For each tool, I allowed time for the students to participate in the discussion then showed them some additional features. I then facilitated a discussion about positives and negatives of each, ways that teachers might use these tools, and challenges for teachers and students in using communication tools.

The session wrapped up with the students working on their third artifact proposal. I encouraged them to use the feedback I had provided on their first proposal in crafting the third. I added a bullet point on the artifact proposal form for where they could state what they plan to create for their portfolio. I'm hoping that this will remind them to be more explicit about what will come out of the proposal.

Though I like the idea of collaboration spanning all of the lab sections through the Google Groups workout, it would have been better if our section was able to have their own group to facilitate more participation. By being one of the last sections for this week, I felt that the students didn't have as much of a part in putting together the top 10 website lists. Though they did provide comments about sites already posted and added some of their own, the pages for the most part already had plenty of sites posted from previous sections.

They seemed to be tuned in to the discussion about teacher challenges with using communication tools. There are many things we could have done in this lab relating to communication tools. I think that it would be helpful when teaching this lesson again for the students to take on the role of teacher in the communication tool workout, such as facilitating discussion, setting up discussions, crafting questions or scenarios that lend to good discussions, etc.

Content Exploration

2008-10-17T12:42:00.004-05:00

Figuring that this would be a pretty typical lab session, I decided to set up the video camcorder to record about the first half hour of class as a mid-semester observation in order to further reflect on my teaching. I may post my reflections next week after watching the footage.

I began class by distributing index cards and asking the students to think like teachers and write down what they consider makes a content exploration resource "good" to use in their classrooms. While they were working on writing down their thoughts, I handed back their lecture worksheets. We then discussed then some of the key concepts from the lecture including - What are concept exploration tools?, What are some examples?, and What are the different types?. They then shared the tools they had chosen for the scenario presented in class and why they selected those tools from the ones available.

I transitioned the discussion to characteristics of good content exploration resources. I asked several students to share their ideas. One mentioned how easy it would be use to the tool. Another talked about the benefits of repetition within a drill and practice or educational game. And another spoke of how good resources they have previously used incorporated guidance into the interface.

I then presented six areas of consideration -

Content (accurate, educationally appropriate, free of errors, meets learning goals and objectives, valid, free of stereotypes and racial bias)
Ease of use (directions are clear and easy to follow, program is fun, easy to start and exit, can resume where left off, free of bugs)
Documentation and support (teacher guides, technical support, help features, tutorials)
Ability levels (can be set, level automatically advances, covers a variety of ability/skill levels)
Assessment (built-in assessment and reporting features, appropriate assessment, documents student progress)
Technical quality (animations and graphics are appropriate and meaningful, audio is used well, feedback and prompts are appropriate, allows branching)

While these areas are essentially what would be considered when evaluating software, I think that such considerations are applicable also to web-based content exploration tools. I then led the students to find and bookmark in their Delicious accounts, web-based content exploration resources pertaining to their content areas of interest. I provided my own Delicious account as a resource and also showed them how to search within Delicious to find related sites bookmarks by other users. I circulated the room while they worked and talked with several of the students individually about the particular site they were exploring. For instance, one student and I talked about how a math game Math Lines, which is similar to Bubble Blasters, was fun at first, but it got old quickly. We also noticed that success did not necessarily rely on a student's ability to solve addition problems, as accuracy of the blaster was also required. We also noted the advertisements located at the top of the site, something that teachers may not want in an educationally appropriate resource. I asked the students to use the tag content_exploration as one of their tags when bookmarking the sites to make it easy for me to filter through their bookmarks to see what they found. I saw many new sites as I was circulating that I want to be sure and save into my own Delicious account for future use.

I then provided some specific feedback about what I had seen needed to be clarified in the artifact proposals. I gave the students the opportunity to revise their first proposal using this feedback and then write their second proposal. The rest of the class period was spent doing this. I circulated and answered questions back-to-back for about an hour. In reflection, I would say that the students are not quite grabbing a hold of the GRADE framework as well as how it might generate artifacts for their portfolios. I think particularly that the Availability step is fuzzy to them, as they are not convinced of the usefulness of listed resources that they know they wouldn't use. It is like their thought process automatically skips to the Decide step when they find a resource that they think will work for the case. They then do not focus much on other resources, as they have already chosen one in their solution. I can understand their perspective, but I encouraged them to continuing exploring other resources to demonstrate that they are aware of the variety of tools available.

GRADE-ing Productivity

2008-10-11T10:33:00.003-05:00

I felt it was important to review the test with the students, so we began class doing that. I wanted to make sure that they understood the items that they had missed as I think that the concepts covered in the first unit are foundational to those presented in the rest of the course. We then segued into a discussion of what productivity tools are, how they can be used in education, and possible challenges teachers may experience in using them. I asked them to identify examples of productivity tool use in their content areas of interest and was pleased that many participated in offering their ideas. I tried to use some wait time instead of jumping in and giving some answers, which was somewhat difficult for me, especially in judging how long to wait without going into an uncomfortable stretch of silence. I'll keep working on it in future discussions, because I do want to give all students the chance to participate in discussions, including those who may need a little bit of thinking time before answering.

I did not think that we would have enough time in class to do a newsletter, so I combined the using a productivity tool segment with the segment on applying the GRADE process to Case #2. Only one student had ever used OpenOffice before, so I had the class create documents in OpenOffice Writer to record their responses. We read the case and then visited Indiana's Academic Standards website to find applicable standards. After determining the subject (High School Social Studies) and broad content area (United States Government), I gave the students a few minutes to look over the standards and benchmarks to find one that might apply. In sharing our findings, we saw that there were many that corresponded to this unit and even discussed that standards from other content areas might go with it as well. We then identified the overall learning goals from the case and wrote one objective. The students have struggled with being able to write specific criteria in their objectives, so I dwelled on this part of the objective we were writing to generate several possibilities for assessment criteria. We then noted the requirements listed in the case.

I then had them divide into groups of two or three and complete the A, D, and E steps of GRADE. We then came back together as a whole class and shared documents. It was neat to see what they had come up with and visit some of the sites that could enhance the unit, make teaching the concepts more effective, or improve the students' or teacher's efficiency in some way. I thought it was interesting that though there were six groups, no groups decided on the same resource.

We then went over the writing of an artifact proposal, which I explained would be similar to the activity we had just done except they would be generating an artifact related to their decided tool or resource. The students will be completing their first proposal for homework, and we will review it next week.

I then spent some time that afternoon grading some of the workouts. I found that I thoroughly enjoyed viewing their digital stories about why they had decided to pursue teaching. Some of them were so touching in that they mentioned and provided photographs or past teachers who had inspired them. This is an activity that would definitely like to do again in future semesters.

Making the GRADE

2008-10-03T21:29:00.002-05:00

Though I very much wanted to allot time to share digital stories the students created during last week’s class, I felt that there was not enough class time available with giving the first unit test this week. After answering a few last minute questions, I distributed the exam and gave the students forty minutes to complete it. While some students finished in about a half hour, most of the students utilized all of the forty minutes.

I then felt it necessary to clarify how to write the criteria portion of instructional objectives, as I had noticed many students did not quite have the hang of it as evidenced in the objectives they wrote on their lecture worksheets. I provided some examples of criteria and suggested ways that their objectives could be improved. I assured them that their struggle with this concept was not unusual, as I have observed many of the students in previous semesters struggling with this also.

We then focused on the first workout for this week, applying the GRADE process to a lesson plan in their area of interest. As I selected a lesson plan from the DiscoverySchool lesson plan library for demonstration, I noticed another opportunity to discuss writing good objectives. I asked the students to look at the objectives on the sample lesson and identify the components that were missing. They found that the objectives did not include criteria or conditions. I also pointed out that the verbs used in the objectives, like “learn,” made it difficult to be able to determine when the students have met the objectives.

I got the students started in Google Docs, showing them out to create a new document, change the document title, add text, and share it. They then deconstructed their chosen lesson plans using the GRADE process and posted their notes on the documents. I think this workout really helped the students better understand the process. Many of the students were confused about the difference between the resources identified in the Requirement section and those that should be in the Availability section. I told them to put the materials identified in their lesson plans in the resources area. I then encouraged them to brainstorm about other tools and materials that could be used to teach the concepts in their lessons. These additional tools and materials, many of which included Internet-based resources, would then go in the Availability section. That seemed to make sense to the students.

I had posted specific feedback on their professional development plan drafts, and the students used the last few minutes of class to review my comments and work on revising their plans.
I think the exam format worked well, and I think it was helpful to the students to go through each step of the GRADE process with a lesson plan in order to better understand how to use it to make decisions about the appropriateness of selected resources. There is one student who was absent due to illness, and so I will have to work to arrange for her to make up the exam next week, if she is better by then. I am thinking that I might try to have her take it when I am working in the lab next Thursday afternoon.

Getting Our Stories Out: Going Digital

2008-09-26T12:29:00.003-05:00

I have to say that I was a little intimidated by this week's lesson. I became a Mac person last year, and as a result, I haven't used a lot of the Windows applications lately. So, when I saw that we were going to create digital stories in Windows Movie Maker, in a half hour no less, I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. However, after going through the process myself, beginning with writing my own narrative about why I chose to become a teacher, I kind of got excited about this lesson. It wasn't that hard after all! The latest version of Windows Movie Maker seemed a lot more intuitive than when I had used it last. With a little guidance from some of the other lab instructors, I had it figured out in no time. I recorded my narration (using headphones - something else I learned this week!), found and imported some pictures, add a few transitions, titles, and effects, and presto - my one and a half minute digital story was complete.

So, during class, I briefly discussed what digital storytelling was and highlighted some educational uses, tools for creating digital stories, and potential topics for digital stories. Then, I showed the students my completed digital story and then recreated it in Windows Movie Maker so that they could see how I had done it. I then had the students read their narratives to a classmate so that they could hear how they sounded when spoken and revise as needed. They then spent the rest of class time constructing their digital stories. I had allotted an hour for this activity, half of which would be spent on creating the stories and the other half in sharing the stories. The creation process, however, took the entire hour. Some students had brought their pictures in Word documents and so had to spend some time copying and pasting them into Adobe Photoshop to create JPG files that would import into Windows Movie Maker. Most of the students were able to wrap up and publish their stories before class ended. A few were still working and planned to finish before next week. I was disappointed that we didn't get to the sharing part, but I plan to share a few at the start of next week's class. I think it would be helpful for next time I teach this lesson to create a handout with most of steps, from finding Windows Movie Maker in the Programs list to submitting the assignment on Oncourse.

The discussion went much better today. I tried out another strategy from Dr. Bonk's creative, critical thinking, and cooperative learning class I attended last spring - free writing. I modified the strategy slightly, as I gave the students the option to type instead of write on paper. I had the students write for two minutes anything they could remember from this week's lecture. They had to write whatever came to mind and if their mind was blank, they had to repeat what they had written until something else came to mind. I then had them share their writings with a partner and had a few students share with the entire class. This led into a pretty good discussion about technology use and current problems in their areas of focus. One student voiced her opinion that she is skeptical about using technology to teach kindergarten. We talked about grappling with this issue throughout the semester and how we will strive to learn the appropriateness of using technology in various settings.

We also created a concept map in Word on technology strategies/tools that correspond to each of the 3 e's. I demonstrated concept mapping using the free web-based tool Gliffy as well, but I chose to have the students use Word because they would have had to create accounts in Gliffy, which would have taken more time.

Developing Young Professionals

2008-09-22T22:02:00.002-05:00

I created a blog roll by adding all of the students' blog addresses to my Google Reader account, sharing their posts, and then publishing my shared items to a web page. I posted the link to this web page on the lab Oncourse home page. I began this week's class by having the students visit the blog roll and read and respond to at least two of their classmates' posts. In the mean time, I was able to pass out the blue and red cups and hand back their lecture worksheets. I have learned all of the students' names, which by having a smaller class was easier than in previous semesters.

After students had enough time for their blog comments, I explained to them why it might be helpful to do such an activity with their own students. I also mentioned that comments are motivating to bloggers, as they show that someone is actually reading their blogs. I then walked the students through the steps of creating their own blog roll through Google Reader to manage blogs that they might be reading. We used blog addresses from classmates as examples in this exercise. After class, I read through some of the comments they had posted, and I think they got the hang of commenting.

In the discussion time, I was surprised to find that most of the students were fuzzy on what the terms professional development and standards meant. I realize that these students are so new to the profession of teaching that they are still learning the jargon that goes with it. We talked about what these terms meant and then went through some of their answers from the lecture worksheets. We also discussed a few key terms from the readings. I then tried out a new technique - think, pair, share - to promote better discussion this week. I posed three questions - one for each row of students. After the students thought about their answers, they talked about their answers with the person sitting next to them. Then, each pair discussed their answer with the whole class. This activity did help in eliciting more discussion, and I think I will try it out again later on in the semester. I plan to try out different such discussion techniques that I learned in a critical thinking/creative thinking/cooperative learning class I took last Spring taught by Dr. Bonk, as this is an area of my teaching that I want to really improve in.

We proceeded to the professional development plan workout. The students had a half hour to work on their drafts. I provided them a variety of web resources to spur their thinking about areas or technologies they might want to learn about and ways that they could learn them. The students worked busily on this, and I am looking forward to reading what they wrote. As students finished, I had them take a look at some of the sample portfolios from MCOATT and Andrew Barrett's W200 example.

We finished out this week's lab session by working on the digital portfolios. We reviewed the information about the portfolios provided in the syllabus, and the students created the basic pages. They uploaded their professional development plans to their artifact pages. I wasn't sure exactly how they should link to their artifacts from this page, but I figured we could move the link later if we need to. I provided the students with the link to Chip Easterling's portfolio FAQ page, and I saw several refer to it in search of answers to their questions. They seemed to appreciate this resource, so thanks, Chip, for the time you invested in putting it together!

I plan to continue working on my discussion time, trying out new techniques to promote conversation and working to come up with questions that require some critical thinking in order to answer. I also am working on learning the features of Google Sites, so that I can be as helpful as I can to the students when we work on the portfolios in class (as well as assist them when they might come to the TTL).

A Flat Discussion and Overview of Tools

2008-09-12T17:45:00.004-05:00

I started class by distributing half sheets of paper and asking the students to write down two things that they learned last week - from lecture, lab, or the reading. I also said that they could think about and write down any questions that they had about this course as well. While they were writing, I distributed the cups and lecture worksheets and worked on learning all of their names. After a few minutes, I had them turn to their neighbor and share what they had written. Then, a few shared with the whole class. Only one question was raised relating to how to do the collage when someone from their group was not following through with contacting the others through Facebook like was promised. I suggested finding this person in the IU e-mail global address book or through Oncourse and sending her an e-mail. Without any other contact info, there wasn't much else I could think of that she could do.

I then took the discussion to what it meant to teach in a now flat world. On a PowerPoint slide, I displayed some phrases that I had copied from their lecture worksheet responses. I then tried to take the discussion a bit deeper. While there was much discussion when the students had paired up in the beginning of class, little was said in the whole group discussion arrangement. Only a few actually volunteered answers; I mostly had to call on students to voice their thoughts. Overall, the discussion did not last very long, so I decided to move on to reviewing some key terms and ideas from the reading. I encouraged the students to do their reading, though it might not explicitly correlate to what they hear and see in lecture. We talked about what cognitive load, educational technology, technology, and instructional design meant and how they might apply in various settings.

I was unsure about what direction to take this week's lab workout and so I queried other AI's to find out what they had planned or had done. One had the students review webquests and three others did an overview of some of the tools we would be using this semester. I decided to go with the overview of tools. We had only created the accounts last week, and I thought it would be good to talk about what they were and how they could be used instructionally and then have some hands-on time to learn how to use them. I provided an overview of Blogger, Delicious, and Google Sites, and the students just watched. Then, they had about an hour to post to their blog, bookmarks sites, and create a new Google site. This was just the right amount of time, and the students really participated well in this workout. I had them type their URLs to these three sites in an Oncourse assignment so that I could review their work. We reserved a few minutes at the end of class to debrief. Many said that they enjoyed having time to work on the tools, as some had experienced frustrations and were able to get problems resolved in class.

Overall, I think the discussion segment could use improvement, while the workout was just right. I plan to investigate and then incorporate some strategies to better facilitate the discussions.

I am appreciative of Chip, Clare, and Pratima for discussing with me their plans for this lab and Andrew for sharing his blog and adding me to his Oncourse site.

Back to School

2008-09-07T22:58:00.007-05:00

I am excited about teaching the introductory educational technology course (W200) for pre-service teachers at IU this year. I am looking forward to seeing similarities and differences between my experience teaching it at IU and the past few years at KWC. So far, I have found that the students are of the same collegiate level - mostly freshmen and sophomores. With 14 students enrolled, my class is smaller than previous semesters, though it could be because I'm teaching this section on a Friday morning. I plan to take advantage of this small class size to really explore the content and skills deeply with the students this semester. Since I'll be teaching two sections in the spring, I want to make sure that I work out most of the kinks this semester.

Besides going over the syllabus and creating new Google, delicious.com, and Blogger accounts, we spent some time this week getting to know one another. We used the ice breaker activity "When I went into my 28816 lab section...." This went really well, as the students seemed to enjoy it and actually started to learn each other's names. I brought packs of mini M&Ms and Reese's sticks to encourage participation and bring about smiles all around. In our class we have a twin, someone who spent the summer in Honduras, two student athletes (track/cross country and football), a member of the Marching Hundred, and someone who worked at a daycare all summer (who I may ask to babysit at some point!)

I decided not to do the wikispaces class profile this week in order to give the students ample time to complete the survey and not feel rushed doing it. I think many of them had difficulty with the questions about educational technology knowledge, but I had briefed them before they began the survey that some of the questions would be very hard and that they were not expected to know the answers at this time. Many finished in about 15 minutes, but some took a bit longer to complete it.

Mindstorms

2007-11-16T13:41:00.000-06:00

In 1993, Seymore Papert revised his seminal book entitled Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. During a time when computers were used in schools primarily for programmed instruction and drill-and-practice activities, Papert proposed several innovative, constructivist-type applications for computer use in educational settings. Papert endorses computer programming as a way that students, as early as preschool-age, can begin to develop important cognitive connections about how they themselves learn and understand. The benefits cited of using computers in this manner are learning to think in a deliberate manner and being able to distinguish between several styles of thinking. He describes the novel concept of a microworld, which is “a computer-based interactive learning environment where the prerequisites are built into the system and where learners can become the active, constructing architects of their own learning" (Papert, 1993b, p. 122). By manipulating “Turtles,” students can experience the effects of commands, visualize physical laws, and better understand the “whys” behind the laws. Papert describes a few of these turtles in Chapter 5 - geometry Turtle, velocity Turtle, acceleration Turtle, Newtonian Turtle, and the mirror Turtle.

Many of the ideas proposed in Mindstorms were written ahead of their time, and some of these ideas remain so. I agree with Papert in his discussion of computer utilization in relationship to historical practices, or “the way things have been done in the past.” I think his allusion to the continued adoption of the QWERTY keyboard is fitting. There has been much discussion and debate on the EDTECH listserv about the advantages of DVORAK over QWERTY; yet in spite of the rationale for DVORAK, QWERTY continues to be taught and used. As budding researchers in the field of instructional technology, it would be wise to heed Papert’s warning and avoid “digging ourselves into an anachronism by preserving practices that have no rational basis beyond their historical roots in an earlier period of technological and theoretical development” (p. 33).

I also think Papert’s argument against improperly mixing new technologies with former instructional (or administrative) methods is still valid. In K-16 education, this means that adopting new technologies implies embracing changes to related systems as well. For example, good online teaching involves more than transferring lectures to the Web and delivering traditional assessments through a point-and-click format. Effective online instructors engage their students through the use of online spaces and tools such as discussion boards, chat, and collaborative projects (Moore and Kearsley, 1996).

Microworlds are still an area of interest and research in instructional technology. Descendents of the microworlds described in Chapter 5 are Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs). These virtual spaces are relevant to many areas of education including advances in distance learning, online professional development, language education, and the math and science curriculum (see Kemp, 2007).

What is EdTech?

2007-09-13T22:20:00.000-05:00

"Educational Technology" is also called "Instructional Technology" and at Indiana University - "Instructional Systems Technology" (IST). Usually when I define it, I do so in the context of technology integration. However, in studying some of the seminal readings on the history of the field by Boling, Bichelmeyer, Gibbons, Gordon, Zemke, Kozma, Clark, and others, I have come to learn that it encompasses much more than this. Some of the other facets are instructional systems design, analysis, development, evaluation, change, human performance technology (HPT), interventions, learning theory integration, program evaluation, systemic change, media, curriculum, and information management.

The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) defines it as "the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning." A Google search using the keywords "instructional technology" yields results with slightly different definitions. The common thread that I see running through the varied definitions is in the stated use of technology (digital or otherwise) to improve learning and instruction.

IST overlaps with several other fields of study including SLIS (School of Library and Information Science), Telecommunications, Informatics (especially Human Computer Interaction-HCI), and Learning Sciences (an interdisciplinary area of concentration connected with Educational Psychology). The following key points that separate IST from related fields surfaced during a recent class discussion under Dr. Tom Brush:

We don't have content.
We are an applied field.
We are not just about media.
We are involved with instruction and performance.
We are about information management for a purpose.
We refer to "users" as "learners".

Moving to Mac

2007-08-02T10:42:00.000-05:00

Watch out world - my youngest brother is now behind the wheel of a Toyota Celica, which just so happens to be my dream car since childhood. I, however, will most likely never drive it...at least not very far.

Why? It is manual transmission.

Oh yes, I have learned to drive a stick shift several times; but because I have never owned such a vehicle or driven one regularly, I just can't seem to get the hang of it. It is not natural nor comfortable to me.

Having used Windows-based machines almost exclusively since my first introduction to computers, I feel confident and secure in operating one. I have used Apple computers on occasion to do some graphics, audio, and video editing projects, but I have never felt entirely comfortable working in the Macintosh environment. Hopefully, that will change, as I have recently purchased a MacBook.

Why did I leave the familiarity of Windows? Was it to be a part of Apple's hip marketing campaign? Was it because of the highly recommended multimedia software that comes standard with every machine? Was it for security in the face of a continual onslaught of spyware and malware, i.e. viruses? Was it because of MacBook's sleek, modern design?

For me, the answer is simply to step out of my comfort zone and become more Apple-friendly; and the only way I think that I will be able to do that is to drive one regularly.

Training through the Web

2007-07-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

Summer is an opportune time for educators, like me, to learn about and experiment with new teaching tools. Since the end of the Spring term, I have done research on classroom response systems (specifically i>clicker) and networked classroom control systems (such as SchoolVue). I found that most vendors of these systems offer the convenience of Webinars to familiarize potential customers with their products. Web conferencing is a real-time medium for company representatives to connect with customers, providing a way for customers to experience and ask questions about the products.

I have also been experimenting with Macromedia Captivate to create training video clips, demonstrating how to do a variety of tasks in the Learning Management System at KWC. These clips are a few minutes in length and can be downloaded at the user's convenience. I plan to develop a library of "QuickTip Clips" to use in the place of or in addition to printed step-by-step instructions.

After briefly sharing what I learned about creating mini-movies with Captivate, one of the faculty members began using it in his online class to show his statistics students how to do Microsoft Excel laboratory exercises. With the course being mostly asynchronous, the students have commented that the video clips proved very helpful in understanding the procedures and being able to complete the assignments. He plans to provide the clips for future face-to-face classes, as a resource for struggling or absent students.

The "Social" in Social Bookmarking

2007-07-02T11:20:00.000-05:00

When I began to use the social bookmarking site del.icio.us a few months ago, I was mainly interested in the storage, management, and "access from anywhere" features. I had hundreds of Web favorites saved in several browsers on several computers; because of this, it became difficult to relocate specific bookmarked sites. Being able to tag and store the bookmarks in one online location was the solution to this problem.

I learned recently, however, that the advantages of using social bookmarks also include connecting people and allowing the sharing of bookmarked sites. While reviewing some of the tags I had been assigning to my saved sites, I noticed in the sidebar the networking area of del.icio.us. A del.icio.us network functions as a "people-aggregator," connecting users with friends, family, coworkers, and even new acquaintances.

Every saved bookmark in del.icio.us provides a link to a list of individuals who have also saved that bookmark to their favorites. Clicking on a user's name from this list displays a complete list of their saved bookmarks and tags. By looking over the user's tag cloud, one can get a pretty good idea about the user's interests; if some or all of these interests match your own, you can become a fan by adding the user to your network.

Though not certain that my profile was found using this method, I noticed last week that I was starting to accumulate fans. Viewing one of these fan's network, I stumbled across the saved bookmarks of David Warlick, a well-known speaker, writer, and thinker in educational technology. What a great find! I have seen him speaks several times at conferences, where he usually shares a treasure trove of Web resources. I added him to my network, and now I can easily access his most recent bookmarks as well as view bookmarks he has tagged in the past on various subjects of interest.

Typing - Are you game?

2007-06-20T10:42:00.000-05:00

Occasionally on the EDTECH Listserv, there will be requests for typing Web site recommendations. I have compiled a list of these sites in my del.icio.us favorites. Most of the sites offer tutorials, games, and tests for free, paid for by advertising. So, if you can look past the ads, these sites offer fun ways for typists of all ages to improve their keyboarding skills.

A new favorite of mine is Typing Shark. The premise of the game is simple - you, the diver, must destroy the sharks and piranhas by typing the characters and words on their sides before they carry you away for lunch. Some sharks sport backward and changing characters, making them more difficult to destroy. The online version of the game has several difficulty settings and a limited number of levels. A full version of the game is available for purchase.

With the availability of speech-to-text software and increasing popularity of voice-over applications, I reconsider the importance of teaching keyboarding skills and cannot project assuredly that typing skills will be essential in the future. However, right now being able to type well is very beneficial for most students and professionals in creating reports, entering information into databases, collaborating online through wikis and chat, communicating with others through e-mail and discussion groups, etc.

Tag, you're it.

2007-06-19T14:00:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I created a del.icio.us account and starting weeding through bookmarks and favorites stored in my Web browsers and transferring those of value to the online social bookmarking site. The advantages of doing this are that through the Internet I can save, access, and share Web site bookmarks from virtually anywhere.

Another advantage is the use of tagging to organize the saved sites. Tags are keywords that describe the Web site. When I bookmark sites, del.icio.us provides a list of tags that I have used in the past and also suggests tags that other social bookmarkers have used. For instance, when I bookmarked BibMe, a Web site that creates bibliographies, I tagged it "Web2.0," "APA," "citations," "reference," "bibliography," "tools," "research," and "writing."

The list of tags can be viewed in a tag cloud. Looking at my tag cloud, I can see which tags I use more often, because the more Web sites associated with a tag, the larger the font and darker the font color. Using the tag cloud, I am working to improve my tagging system. One fault of tagging is that synonyms and variatants of words are recognized as different tags. For instance, "tool" and "tools" are separate tags; if I view Web sites tagged with "tool," those tagged with "tools" will not be included (unless they are tagged with both keywords). I will most likely decide to use one tag or the other, instead of continue to use both.

Online Teaching Reflections

2007-06-18T11:00:00.000-05:00

I just finished teaching a five week summer online educational technology course. As mentioned in the previous post, it was my first experience with teaching online. There were some significant benefits to the online format - flexibility of time and space, accessibility to materials, and increased student responsibility. I also liked being able to archive class interactions through e-mail, chat, and discussion boards; because of this, I felt that I was able to give more specific feedback on course content, assignments, and other class activities.

Some students struggled at the beginning of the course with adjusting to the online format; most of these students worked out these adjustments and were successful in the course. Some students hit the ground running, completing many assignments and tests ahead of the course schedule; a few of these students lost steam towards the end of the course and finished poorly. While I have seen similar trends in the face-to-face environment, I think that overall some students will find the online format more suitable to their style of learning than others.

In reflection of this teaching online experience, I think one of the most important elements that made it a positive one is communication. All communication between myself and students and among the students was text-based. Knowing this, I attempted to make all my communications with the students clear and redundant. I posted weekly pop-up announcements, e-mailed copies of these announcements to the students, and mentioned them in the weekly chat sessions. I used bulleted and numbered lists in announcements and assignments. Even though assignment due dates were posted on the syllabus and in the assignment information areas, I reminded students of these due dates in the announcements as well. In the chat sessions, I wrote informally and used a different text color to distinguish my comments from the others. I tried to define terms in my writing that may have been unfamiliar to the students. I created graphic headers for each week's announcement, so that students could quickly recognize when a new announcement had been posted.

The students who were successful often asked questions during the chat sessions or through e-mail to clarify assignment requirements, lesson content, and test questions. Because I could not sense confusion through non-verbal signals, as I would in the face-to-face environment, it was up to the students to ask questions when they were confused or unclear about course matters. When one student would ask a question during a chat session, oftentimes other students would comment that they were wondering the same thing.

What to do with emerging technologies...

2007-06-13T15:29:00.000-05:00

In reading "Another Life: Virtual Worlds as Tools for Learning," the writers posed the following rhetorical question to the educational community concerning the use of MUVEs like Second Life in education:

"What can this technology do that will enhance the learner's experience that my current learning technology portfolio cannot?"

Some of the answers the authors came up with include a new sense of self, the death of distance, the ability to practice, increased collaboration, and enhanced experience. I think this question can be aptly applied to other emerging instructional technology areas, such as Web 2.0 and online learning, as well. What do these newer technologies offer that enhance teaching and learning?

This summer, I taught an online undergraduate educational technology course for the first time. Throughout the semester, I found myself asking a variation of the above question, "How can I best utilize the online platform to teach this course?" While the objectives of the course stayed the same as in previous semesters of teaching it face-to-face, I modified my teaching methods and learning activities to better accomplish these objectives in the online environment.

One activity that went very well involved the use of teams. The course is run on the IntraLearn course management system which has a Teams feature that places students in cooperative groups and provides them with group chat rooms and discussion boards. I assigned the task of completing a WebQuest about WebQuests. Because the students collaborated online, I was able to view the chat session archives and discussion boards to observe how the teams accomplished the assignment. I think that the online format was more time efficient as students from several states and varying schedules came together synchronously and asynchronously to work together.

Second, but not Last

2007-06-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

Even though I have been a member of the Second Life community for about a year, I have not been active "in-world" much during that time. Over the past year, several well-known educational technologists have set up shop in Second Life, legitimizing the emerging technology in the minds of many. Some of the early adopters include ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology), Kathy Schrock, David Warlick, and Will Richardson.

I logged into Second Life yesterday to explore the space a bit more and possibly visit some of these early adopters. The last place I had been in SL was the Best Practices Conference room, which took place a few weeks ago. Since the conference was over and the venue closed, I was informed that my avatar would be moved to another area close by. I think I was moved to a "mature" area of Second Life - the other people in that area kept pushing my avatar around (I think "bumping" is the SL term for that) and chatting in another language. Transportation is a breeze in a virtual world, though, so I typed in EduIsland II in the search feature and teleported out of there as quickly as I could.

In EduIsland II, I felt more comfortable experimenting with my appearance. I learned how to change the color and style of my hair and adjust my body shape to be a more realistic representation of my physical appearance. I also learned how to shorten my jeans to capri length (more appropriateThe first place that I visited after a little body sculpting was AECT's SL headquarters. Although the place was vacant during my visit, I took a look around at some of the initiatives advertised in the center and figured out how to reach out a touch for a free t-shirt.

The next place that visited was ISTE's SL headquarters. Based in Oregon, I figured that it was probably a bit early on the West coast for anyone else to be around during my visit. I was able to get two free virtual t-shirts at this stop as well as some information about Second Life geared toward educators. There is much more that I could have seen at this location and plan to visit many more times in future in-world journeys. I may not be the first to explore educational applications of Second Life, but I doubt that I will be the last.

In the Studio

2007-06-11T14:50:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, I began writing a series of newsletter articles for the teachers at Theodore Roosevelt School showcasing technology tools used in different career fields as well as the technology skills workers with varying educational backgrounds are expected to know. It was interesting to interview individuals from varied occupations including nursing, engineering, and manufacturing and learn about the many real life applications of technology. Since then, my students have carried on the series by interviewing friends and family members in food service, sales, education, ministry, secretarial, legal, distribution, and medical careers about how they use technology to carry out daily work-related tasks. Knowing the computer skills necessary for jobs in clothing manufacturing, for example, aids teachers in planning technology-infused lessons that adequately prepare students for the work-force.

Thus, when I was invited to come along for a studio recording session this past weekend, I jumped at the chance to learn about what technology tools are employed in the music production business. What I saw was fascinating! The primary software I observed used to capture, edit, and mix the tracks was Logic Pro, an Apple product. The producer's role throughout the session fluctuated among conductor, arranger, musician, lyricist, and programmer. He primarily worked in front of a powerful Mac Pro, developing a grid to which he aligned the vocal and instrumental parts. Strings, drums, bass, and other instruments could be created digitally within the program to become a part of the finished product or to merely serve as placeholders for live performances to be added in later. Though not used during this session, the producer also utilizes Pro Tools, a professional hardware/software solution for non-linear audio production.

Even though it is not fully complete, the rough draft at the session's end is incredible! The sound quality could not have been achieved without the use of technology.

Elementary+Games

2007-06-08T10:48:00.000-05:00

As I continue transferring my saved browser bookmarks to del.icio.us, I have come across some great Web sites that I had forgotten about. A few of them offer some excellent Flash or Shockwave educational games geared toward elementary students. As with many educational Web sites these days, there is a free version that is supported by ads and an ad-free "premium" version that contains additional content. One of the Web sites is iKnowthat.com, where the activities can be accessed by grade level as well as subject area. In the Arts area, I found the Music Maker activity (a somewhat elementary version of GarageBand) that allows students to create two instrument melodies. Under Thinking Games, students become engineers and create their own working "widgets".

Here's a picture of a simple widget that I made -

The widget activities can become quite challenging as additional pieces are introduced into the widget tool box.

Another great site with elementary games is UpToTen. The games on this site focus on lower elementary skills including matching, distinguishing differences, and coordination. This site is in English and French, so foreign language study students could also use this resource.

The games on iKnowthat, UpToTen, and other educational Web sites can be played independently or as a group through the use of an interactive whiteboard, such as a SMART Board, which would involve tactile and kinesthetic modalities in the learning process.

MUVEs are on the move!

2007-06-07T10:53:00.000-05:00

In the field of instructional technology, it seems that many people have their "pet projects," something in which they pour much of their research, creative energies, and enthusiasm. WebQuests; digital storytelling; blogging, wikis, and other Web 2.0 technologies; digital video; online learning; and podcasting are examples. An avenue that holds much promise and numerous opportunities for research and innovation are MUVEs, the Second Life (SL) community being at the forefront.

I watched Kathy Schrock (Kathy Dryburgh in SL) via SLCN (the Second Life Cable Network) present at the Best Practices in Education Conference that was held in Second Life a few weeks ago. (Here's a link to her presentation.) She spoke through chat; but in this archived version of her presentation, a commentator gave the play-by-play voice over narration. She presented some of the best places for teaching and learning she had visited while in Second Life, including NOAA, the Second Life Library, the Solar Eclipse Planetarium, and the Second Life Medical Library. She also discussed some of the educational organizations and meeting places that have been built to promote Second Life in education including SL headquarters for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Terra Incognita, the Elven Institute, the New Media Consortium (NMC), and the Center for Avatar Teaching, Educating, and Researching (CATER). All of the Second Life URLs (or SLURLs) for these and the rest of the places presented in her talk are available on her Web site. (You'll need to have joined Second Life to view these places.)

There is much being done in regards to exploring this three dimensional space for educational applications, and there are many opportunities for more research in the use of MUVEs, Second Life specifically, in education. As I think about what to make my focus of study, I am considering looking more deeply into this area and possibly its assistive properties or the possibilities it holds for individuals with exceptionalities. I also like the idea of holding virtual classes, professional development workshops, and conferences in such an environment.

Hello World!

2007-06-06T13:01:00.000-05:00

In the same vein as "publish or perish," I have heard recently the saying of "blog or perish." Thus, I have begun the practice of blogging to record my thoughts on educational technology and provide links to quality Web sites and articles that I find interesting and worthwhile. In this age of "infoclutter," I am attempting to develop practical instructional applications of developing technologies and provide educators with tools to implementing instructional technologies effectively.

Recently, I have been looking at Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, social networking, social bookmarking, blogging, and RSS. I made the jump to del.icio.us for all of my Web bookmarks, began using an RSS aggregator to keep up with several Web sites and blogs including David Warlick's Two Cents Worth, created a MySpace account...and now I join the blogging world.

I am also interested in MUVEs (Multi User Virtual Environments) and their educational potential, so I joined the SecondLife community. Once I get some new clothes for my avatar (wearing the generic SecondLife clothing is so newbie), I'll feel confident enough to go out and explore the islands.

In the mean time, hello fellow bloggers and readers. I look forward to the blogging journey ahead!