Wrapping Up

You know, I came into this class thinking I wouldn't have too much to learn, but actually a lot of the tools we've been working with have been completely new to me.
I especially enjoyed seeing how multimedia can be integrated into a lesson, like with the IWB and Flipcharts.
I think the most fun thing was definitely creating the movie, although it was the thing I was least satisfied with-- a lot of room for artistic improvement, anyway!
I'm genuinely happy I took this class and I hope I'll stick with it in terms of using these tools with my students, for the sake of their technological literacy as well as my own...

This optimistic crocodile mirrors my own feelings.

movie making

So, lately I've been working on a movie project. I decided to do one about America's national parks since I thought it would be perfect for a visual medium. All in all, I'm having a lot of fun with the project, although to be honest, I feel like my particular movie is turning out a lot more crudely hewn than I imagined. But, since it's something I actually enjoy, hopefully I will get super skilled at it and then churn out Scorsese-level masterpieces.


The only actually stressful thing about it is that, for some reason, the movie making software makes my computer do this:

So I'll see how that goes.

One of the best lessons of this project is something that isn't really specific to technology but kind of a huge deal for me: things are so much easier if you take some time to plan them out first! Going to work on being more prepared in general.

Flipchart

I really enjoyed using the flipchart for the interactive white board once I got the hang of it. I am not sure if it is something I would use for every lesson, but if I could get more in the groove of it and make them faster, it's definitely something that's a lot more engaging than a powerpoint, and a great way to incorporate multimedia into a whiteboard.

Interactive White Boards

The reading about interactive white boards was kind of funny to me, but made sense. Most teachers aren't utilizing the IWBs because they haven't been trained in how to use them. I'm having flashbacks to the ordeals my grade school teachers went through to make a VHS work.
I doubt it will ever make like, a massive difference in student achievement, but I think it can make class more engaging and make incorporating different multimedia elements more seamless for the teacher.
This is the first area of the class where I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing and no frame of reference, so I'm a little nervous, but it's also one of the parts of class I'm most eager to learn! Hoping it goes well.

Baby's first technology class

Going into this class, I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm not completely inept when it comes to technology, but some of the specific tools and techniques we are using are new to me, so there still is a bit of a learning curve. I feel bad whenever I don't get something immediately, but the pace of the course has been comfortable for me to experiment and try new things and still be able to fix it before it's due. I think it has been a really long time since I was in a "skill" vs. discussion/analysis type class so this is a novel experience for me, one that I am trying to make the most of.

Digital Images

Picasa is a great online images tool for many reasons, including its great layout, organization and ease of use, but let's be honest: the main benefit in using it is its integration into the rest of the google apps. You can easily access your photos stored there when working within any other google product, like Blogger, Google Docs or presentations. That alone makes it a winner. Seeing as most image store utilities do their assigned function reasonably well, this is reason enough to choose Picasa. I'll definitely use it in the future.

Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts are amazing and fun activities for the classroom. The main thing I love about them is how they are a continuation of inquiry-driven activities, but more open-ended. They not only give a student a chance to learn how to best use resources, but allow them more freedom of choice in choosing what to discover and explore. I really liked doing the activity with the camera, because I got to physically move and search and it was really exciting, but I also liked the online scavenger hunt, because of the autonomy I had in choosing what I was interested in.

Inquiry-based activities

Inquiry-based activities are a good way to teach kids basic research and comprehension skills as well as giving them some choice. If you were doing longer projects in your classroom, it might be a good idea to use an inquiry-based activity as a start-off or introduction to the topics. Inquiry-based activities aren't a radical idea, exactly, but using online resources instead of textbooks or library books makes it so much more open to different topics, focuses, and age levels. I like how it incorporates technology into the already existing lessons instead of cordoning it off into a separate "computer" lesson.

WebQuest

I really like the look of the Big Wide World Webquest and could see myself using it in a classroom. It is a critical thinking activity which has students act in groups and assess a variety of topics (people, plants, animals, culture, language) and asks open-ended questions for them to discover the answers to. The end goal for each subject is to come up with three rules for something about each topic ("how do people become heroes?", "how do animals adapt?") This is a great task for collaboration and for encouraging higher-order thinking.

Website evaluation

Doing the website evaluation was a valuable activity--it addressed a number of criteria for judging a site's credibility and use as educational tool. Some things I knew to keep in mind, like to look at who is publishing content and when it was last updated, but other things hadn't crossed my mind before--like what quality connection is necessary for this tool to be useful? Also, checking the presence of alt-tags on images never even struck me, but it makes so much sense. I think assessing the credibility of  a website is especially important for educators, whose credibility hinges on what tools they choose to use.

Class Dojo

One pretty cool thing I've been hearing about for schools is Class Dojo.

It's a tool to keep track of students' behavior. They are awarded points and can get real-time feedback, all at the touch of a button. Meanwhile, the software compiles data that an instructor or parent could look at for an individual or the whole class.
There are cute characters...



This is part of a larger trend of gamification, which "strive to leverage people's natural desires for competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism, and closure." This is the same concept behind things like classroom economies, but applied to even more/smaller things. It means, basically, making problem-solving more like a game.

I would love to try this in my classroom.

Course Expectations

When I was a kid, they said that my generation was made up of "digital natives"-- that we grew up using computers, that interacting with technology was natural to us. When compared with the generations before us, this is true. But look at kids today!
I don't want to be like some of the teachers I had, that could never get a projector working, that could never play a movie...it was embarrassing. I want to be comfortable using the kinds of technology you find in the classroom (I have never even touched a smart board).
Also, I want to know how to use technology as a tool in the classroom, not just tacking things on. I want it to work for me, to make communication and teaching easier, not harder.
I'm comfortable using a computer and the technology that's become a part of everyday life, but I want to know more about how to use it in education.