Ed 632 Final Project

FINAL PROJECT

SmartBoard/Clicker Help Document

Click on the link above to access the log-in page for Google Docs. If I have shared the document with you, you should be able to view it after logging in. 

PROJECT GOAL:

My final project was to create a document in Google Docs that would provide resources and allow for collaboration in the use of SmartBoards and clickers by the staff at Mears Middle School. Google Docs will allow teachers to collaborate with each other from any computer. They can ask and answer questions, share lessons, find troubleshooting advice, and watch video tutorials. They do not have to be connected to the school server. 

HOW THE PROJECT IDEA WAS DEVELOPED:

I am part of a three person team in the Anchorage School Distict's TTL6 grant (Teacher Technology Leaders) program this year, and we have SmartBoards and clickers in our classrooms for the first time as a result of this grant. I can state from my own experience, there is a very steep learning curve and shift in thinking required for realizing their maximum potential. Our grant required us to teach two classes to staff, which we have completed. However, we soon realized that there was a constant demand for beginning and advanced trainings as more and more teachers were given SmartBoards and clickers.

 

Our grant team was the first to get them, followed by a group who received them in January, followed by a third group who received theirs in May. Now all core subject area teachers have SmartBoard in their classroom and a set of clickers for every team. Our principal, our tech coordinator and myself developed a plan of trainings during the school day from January through May. It quickly became obvious that as more and more beginning users came on board, there was a need to repeat the beginning training several times. 

Many of the staff were feeling very frustrated with their SmartBoards. They know they need more training, yet they feel pressed for time and can't always find someone available to help them when they need it. Consequently, the boards are not being used as they should. There is no real SmartBoard "expert" in our building. Our team has the most experience just because we were the first to receive training because of our grant. We try to help staff as often as we can, but full-time teachers are always facing a time crunch.Teachers kept asking, "Isn't there one place we can go for help?" 

   

I found a lot of help at the official SmartBoard website: www.smarttech.com

WHAT DID I LEARN?

I learned that using a SmartBoard is an evolution. Training must be on-going. I also realize how easily it is to quit something new when you hit a glitch and there is no easy place to go for the answer. 

RESULTS? Last week, we had a mini training for the staff on the use of SmartBoards. It was a time for staff to bring their questions to a technology trainer. Many had the same questions and were frustrated that there was no central place for answers. I hadn't told anyone that I was working on this project. Then I showed them how to access the help document on the school server and in Google Docs. We are just beginning to use Google Docs for the first time this year, and it works really slick. However, I have gotten a "server error" message a few times that can cause your work to be lost. That can be quite frustrating, but usually it works well. Many teachers have told me that they really appreciated the easy-to-use layout of my document. I hope that it is a jumping off point for our staff into the world of web 2.0 sharing and collaborating.

Ed 632 Week 11 Second Life

SECOND LIFE

My first foray into Second Life was a book chat a few months ago for a class that I was taking. We met at the Anchorage School District's Ed Tech Island. It was really fun to meet with other people in this virtual world and discuss. However, I had a really had time keeping up with the conversation. By the time I had typed a reply, someone had changed the topic. That was a little frustrating. There are many virtual worlds to visit. Some are educational and some are for mature adults. There doesn't seem to be a lot of controls for young children. I spent most of my time flying and searching and not finding a lot of useful places to gain information, but I must not know where to go. I tried: Virtual Native Lands, Health Info Island, ISTE Island, CNN iReport Island, and the Learning Experience Island. Since it takes some time to learn how to navigate, I google "Second Life video tutorials" and watched a few to get me started. They were very helpful. 

Second Life:

• provides an opportunity to create an alter ego for yourself
• allows you to socialize in many different imaginary worlds
• allows you to collaborate with other professionals in a virtual setting
• provides you the opportunity to spend real dollars creating a virtual life
• allows you to meet other avatars/people
• can be intimidating as you learn how to navigate
• has many places that would not be appropriate for schools
• has great potential for education if quality and control can be improved

Right now, I don't see myself using Second Life with my students. There are too many inappropriate places right now. However, I do like the idea of meeting with other professionals for discussions.

Ed 632 Week 10 Gaming

GAMING

Why do video games capture kids' attention for hours? Many video games require players to master skills in demand by today's employers; games are based on challenge, reward, learning through doing and guided discovery. This is in contrast to "skill-and-drill" techniques used by many schools. James Paul Gee says that we often give too much verbal information ahead of time. He says that video games give verbal information "just in time" when and where it can be used and on demand as the player realizes he or she needs it. The Summit on Educational Games 2006 by the American Federation of Scientists says that games use strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, and adaptation to rapid change. Why aren't educational games as engaging? Most games are not compatible with the 45 minute class period. Many take hours to learn to play. However, games have a violent, addictive side too. In the middle of David Perry's talk, he plays a video about gaming addiction that is disturbing. I read each entry on the class blog, but I didn't find a lot about the effect of violent video games on behavior. Personally, I can't help but believe that a steady diet of virtual violence can not be healthy.

According to the Media Wise Guide to Online Gaming, 8.5% of gamers are pathalogical players who have trouble paying attention in school, have poor grades, and more health problems. They are more likely to have the games in their bedrooms and spend twice as much time playing games. This guide had some suggestions for parents: allow for one hour a day of gaming, avoid first-person shooter games, do not put games in bedrooms and homework/chores come before games. This guide has an interesting self-test for gamers to see if they are possibly addicted. It is called the "I'd rather" test. There are also resources for parents to seek help if they believe their child is addicted.

According to game designer, David Perry

• 43% of gamers are female
• average age of a gamer is 30
• 83% of games have no violent content
• gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry
• gaming is no longer for the single player---most games are now done online with multiple players

What does this mean to me as an educator?

I agree that most educational games are dull and boring compared to the commercial games. (see the Summit on Educational Games 2006 to see many reasons why). Hopefully, there will be a move toward more engaging educational games in the near future. I can see myself recommending the Media Wise Guide to Online Gaming, to parents if they mention concern over the amount of time their children are playing video games. I feel strongly that the violent video games are detrimental to children; however, I understand that others may disagree with me.

Ed 632 Week 9 Social Networking

Social Networking

The main point that I took away from this week’s materials is the eternal battle over safety versus creativity. Over and over again the message for parents was one of supervision, yet I know many parents do not know how to monitor what their children are doing online. The articles about the risks and rewards of social networking from the National Institute on Media and the Family were an excellent summary of what parents should know. For teachers and school districts, the dilemma is how to allow social networking for education and limit the liabilities for inappropriate content.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

• allows for learning and creativity
  
• is feared by parents and teachers because of losing control over content
• can be dangerous for students and teachers if unsupervised
• is how students spend a large percentage of their time outside of school

As a teacher, I can see the educational benefits of using social networking in the classroom to allow for creativity and collaboration. However, I fall into fear over how to monitor the content. I would feel safer using social networking on the Intranet rather than the Internet, and even then I would need to monitor every post. As an educator, it is imperative that teachers teach students what is appropriate for Internet postings. Teachers need to be careful what they post, even in personal blogs, because it could affect their classroom and their career.

Ed 632 Week 7 Wikis

WIKIS

What did I learn about wikis?

The word wiki comes from the Hawaiian word for quick. The main thing that sets wikis apart from blogs is the ability to have many people contribute to the web page. Wikipedia is the most famous example. Not only can a wiki have several contributors of information, wikis can also have many editors of the information. Wikis can remain in a state of being continually expanded, updated and edited.

Controlling the accuracy of the information is the major drawback. However, wikis tend to police themselves since they are created around specific topics of interest. The experts in the area become the content police in many cases. An earlier saved page can be posted to replace the inaccurate page. Nevertheless, the balance between accessibility and accuracy remains an issue. In some cases, certain destructive contributors could have their IP addresses blocked from future contributions. Some wikis require a registration to cut down on the problems.

Wikis:

• allow for multiple contributors
• allow for multiple editors
• allow for online collaboration
• help eliminate frustrating email chains
• can have issues with accuracy

What is the relevance of wikis to me as an educator?

I see myself using wikis in three ways: for myself, my students, and my teaching colleagues. I can see myself joining a wiki for areas of personal interest to help me increase my own knowledge about a topic. I can also see my students using a wiki for a class project or as a class website. This would allow them to collaborate with each other outside of the school day. However, I will have to research how much parental permission is required by my district for student use. I am also concerned about possible cyber bullying among my middle schoolers and how I could track and control that. I can also see my teaching colleagues using a wiki as a way to share resources, calendar events, and plan lessons and activities.

Ed 632 Week 6 Podcasting

What have I learned about podcasting?

Wow! I have learned that there is a whole new world out there that I really didn't know existed. I thought podcasts were just a way for me to listen to people talking. I didn't realize all the video podcasts that are available--both professional and amateur ones. Now that I know what to look for, there are so many available. I also didn't think about creating my own podcasts or having my students create one. I didn't even know that you could subscribe to a podcast, but now I have subscribed to several through iTunes. I even tried making a podcast through GarageBand.

Podcasts allow you to:

• download FREE audio and video files
• select only the files you wish to download
• subscribe to them, so new content is automatically sent to you when it becomes available
• use iTunes to access them
• download files to your ipod or other media devices

Relevance of podcasts to me as an educator:

There is a whole world of podcasts that can be used in the classroom. There are podcasts designed for teachers and for students. For my world geography classes, I will use Anderson Cooper 360 Daily and CNN Student News podcasts for current events in my classroom. For my animals of the world class, I will use the Animal Planet Video Podcast and the Discovery Channel's Dangerous Encounters Podcasts to show short 3-10 minute videos about a wide variety of animals. I looked briefly at iWeb for posting podcasts, but I'll need to learn more about it. I also played around with creating a podcast on GarageBand, but I also need to learn more about it before I feel comfortable having my students create one. For my own professional development, I have subscribed to The Tech Teachers podcasts.

My postings in the Ed 632 Google discussion group about podcasts:

1. Librivox is a site that has audio podcasts of books, short stories, and poetry. It can be used for individual listening or for a classroom. It loaded quickly and the quality of the readers was quite good for those that I tested. Educationally, I would use this to play the reading of the book, story, or poem for the class and have students follow along with their own copy of the text. The amount of entries is fairly limited at this point, but there is a nice selection of different genres and many classics.

2. MasteryMaze is a site that has video podcasts of PowerPoint presentations that review the major concepts primarily in ancient civilization, modern world history, and US history. It was developed by a teacher to help her students learn the material in her classes. There are a few other topics that are listed, but there is very little content in them. Some of the PowerPoint pages have no photos, so they wouldn't be too interesting to my seventh grade students. However, as a quick review for key concepts, they are quite good because most are just a few minutes long. I would use the ancient civilizations section for my world geography class as a review at the end of a unit.

3. Global Sound is a site from the Smithsonian that has podcasts and vodcasts of music from around the world. There is a wide selection of musical genres and a wide array of countries to choose from. You can search by country, culture group, genre, instrument, and others. I had trouble with the vodcasts being jerky while streaming. I did not have trouble with any other vodcasts that I had tried during the same evening, so I'm not sure if it was my computer or the site. I downloaded a few and there were no problems. I can see using these as a way to introduce a unit or play as background music when students are working on classwork. Also, I can see playing this while I collect homework. There is a nice descriptive paragraph about each song.

ED 632 Week 5 Podcasts

Blog posting was not required this week, but I've decided to post some comments and ideas from the google discussion group.

The questions for the Ed 632 google group discussion for Week 5 are:

1. What sources of podcasts did you find?

CNN News Podcasts--There are many podcasts to choose from. My favorites are Anderson Cooper and CNN Student News.

PBS Podcasts offers several different podcasts. My favorites are: Nature, Nova, and Frontline.

2. Would you recommend them?

Yes! For current events, CNN Student News is great! I love Anderson Cooper for my own news. The podcasts have an easy search feature too. PBS shows like Nature, Nova, and Frontline show the most current news and discoveries.

3. How would you use them in your classroom?

You've watched these shows for years on television. Now subscribe to the podcast and show just the sections that relate to your lessons that day. I like to show current events about the region we are currently studying in world geography class. Usually, there are three or four different topics in the fifteen minute students news report. Sometimes I'll show all three segments, but often I will show just the current news that relates to our current area of study. It would be a neat idea to have kids research a current news topic and create their own news podcasts. The PBS podcasts of Nature, Nova, and Frontline can supplement any science or social studies lesson.

Here are some sites that were mentioned in our discussion group:

This Common Craft video clearly and quickly explains "What is a Podcast?"

How does RSS work?

Mashable website for podcasting tips and free media links.

Mastery Maze is an excellent source of short vodcasts to review many subjects.

Itunes has lots of podcasts. I will check out "Backyard Film School" for my daughter.

The Education Podcast Network

LibriVox includes audio versions of novels, short stories, and poetry.