Sunday, January 31, 2010
Jing Still Shot
Some of my students have asked me to set up a Facebook page for my course. I did a little research on how to set up a group without having to be "friends" with my students. This seems like the least complicated method.
Blogs, Jing, Video Chat
This weekend has been full of enlightenment. I took a few risks and ended up having more fun than I thought I would.
Blogs
Reading the textbook, I realize I've always had the wrong idea about blogs. Maybe because many of the blogs I read I my friends' blogs about their kids, but I thought blogs were kind of like online diaries. The more I thought about the blogs I really like reading; however, the more I realized those were about reflecting on information. I love blogs that link to new sites and give me new ideas about cooking, teaching, or activities for my son.
Earlier in the year I surveyed my students about different technologies. Almost all of them said they would dislike using blogs in the classroom. At first I thought this was because they didn't want school infringing on technology they use socially and because blogs require lots of writing. Now I think they don't like blogs because they are not being used properly. Another case of trying to make the square peg fit in the round hole. Most of the time blogs are used for literary response. Students write something on the blog that they could easily have written in Word and turned in. Then the other students respond. From what I can tell, the responses are not as important (grade wise) as the initial posting. The students may or may not get any quality feedback. However, if students were required to post more quality feedback, perhaps link to a grammar website or a literary critique that countered their argument, it might be more useful for them.
Jing
I can't wait to use this with my students. I think I can use the idea for the project in this class. I will also use jing to post some tutorials on Moodle to help my students with some of their other assignments. I told my husband about Jing and he plans on using Jing and Snagit at work. He had never heard of them, but had been needing something to create tutorials for his employees. That was kinda fun since he always knows so much more about technology than me.
Video Chat
I've been wanting to try gchat or Skype, but I thought it would be hard. It wasn't hard at all. The worst part was trying to talk my sister through set up (she's sort of a drama queen), but we made it through with the help of my brother-in-law. We quickly discovered we preferred gchat to talking on the phone. The sound is clearer and my little boy talks more when he can see her. My brother-in-law wanted to try Skype so we played with that as well. We found Skype had better video quality and allowed the other person to see your computer screen. This would be helpful if someone needed help with an assignment. I'm not sure who my class could Skype with yet, but I'll know how to use it when I figure it out.
Blogs
Reading the textbook, I realize I've always had the wrong idea about blogs. Maybe because many of the blogs I read I my friends' blogs about their kids, but I thought blogs were kind of like online diaries. The more I thought about the blogs I really like reading; however, the more I realized those were about reflecting on information. I love blogs that link to new sites and give me new ideas about cooking, teaching, or activities for my son.
Earlier in the year I surveyed my students about different technologies. Almost all of them said they would dislike using blogs in the classroom. At first I thought this was because they didn't want school infringing on technology they use socially and because blogs require lots of writing. Now I think they don't like blogs because they are not being used properly. Another case of trying to make the square peg fit in the round hole. Most of the time blogs are used for literary response. Students write something on the blog that they could easily have written in Word and turned in. Then the other students respond. From what I can tell, the responses are not as important (grade wise) as the initial posting. The students may or may not get any quality feedback. However, if students were required to post more quality feedback, perhaps link to a grammar website or a literary critique that countered their argument, it might be more useful for them.
Jing
I can't wait to use this with my students. I think I can use the idea for the project in this class. I will also use jing to post some tutorials on Moodle to help my students with some of their other assignments. I told my husband about Jing and he plans on using Jing and Snagit at work. He had never heard of them, but had been needing something to create tutorials for his employees. That was kinda fun since he always knows so much more about technology than me.
Video Chat
I've been wanting to try gchat or Skype, but I thought it would be hard. It wasn't hard at all. The worst part was trying to talk my sister through set up (she's sort of a drama queen), but we made it through with the help of my brother-in-law. We quickly discovered we preferred gchat to talking on the phone. The sound is clearer and my little boy talks more when he can see her. My brother-in-law wanted to try Skype so we played with that as well. We found Skype had better video quality and allowed the other person to see your computer screen. This would be helpful if someone needed help with an assignment. I'm not sure who my class could Skype with yet, but I'll know how to use it when I figure it out.
Reflection on Lesson Accelerators
While I can't view the entire Lesson Accelerator, I think I have enough idea of what they are to figure out how they could be implemented in the classroom and in staff development.
Time of War
The first lesson accelerator I looked at was Time of War. The lesson used Excel to make a timeline of major events in World War I. I'm excited for the tutorials to work so that I can follow the tutorials to make my own timeline. I've tried to make timelines before and they never look very good.
I'm not sure if I would use this exact assignment in my classroom. I usually use timelines if I want students to see relationships between what is happening in different parts of the world, when events/timing are confusing, or as a big picture review. I don't want to spend a lot of time on the creation of the timeline itself. Therefore, I would probably give the students a template with the format and let them fill in the events and perhaps the pictures. Some students would need the tutorials for this part and they would need the tutorials for the finishing touches (printing, fitting on one page, etc). I do think many of my students would find knowing how to make timelines in Excel useful as some create their own timelines to study. Once I figure out how to make the timelines I will probably make my own tutorials for the students to use. They would definitely need the tutorials as many of my students do not know how to use basic functions in Word and Excel.
Wonder Wander
Wonder Wander is designed for a 10th grade English class. The lesson teaches students how to conduct a web search. This looks like it would be a useful tool at the beginning of the research unit. This could also be useful in other subjects for the same purpose (if students are not taught in English class). I might skip the first tutorial (how to put an address into the browser), but the rest looks pretty useful. The students simply follow the tutorials and answer questions in a Word document using cut and paste.
Both of these lesson accelerators could be used in staff development. They could be used in pretty much the same way as you would with students or to model how to make your own lesson accelerators. Many of the people in my department would like to have their students create timelines or teach them how to conduct quality web searches. However, they would not know how to create these lessons themselves. They would need the step by step instructions lesson accelerators provide. I know I get frustrated when someone presents a great idea but does not give me instructions on how to create it myself. I also want to be able to access the instructions again when I attempt to create my own product.
Viewing a sample lesson accelerator would also be a good way to instruct teachers on how to create their own. The technology teacher could also provide instructions on using screen capture, Moodle, or whatever tools were necessary for teachers to create their own lesson accelerators. While some students are comfortable experimenting with technology, many want detailed instructions. I've heard many student complaints about teachers assigning "technology" projects that are beyond the skill level of students. Further, the teacher does not know how to work the technology either so they are not able to help. Many problems and frustrations could be avoided if teachers would create detailed instructions for the students to follow as they create their projects.
Time of War
The first lesson accelerator I looked at was Time of War. The lesson used Excel to make a timeline of major events in World War I. I'm excited for the tutorials to work so that I can follow the tutorials to make my own timeline. I've tried to make timelines before and they never look very good.
I'm not sure if I would use this exact assignment in my classroom. I usually use timelines if I want students to see relationships between what is happening in different parts of the world, when events/timing are confusing, or as a big picture review. I don't want to spend a lot of time on the creation of the timeline itself. Therefore, I would probably give the students a template with the format and let them fill in the events and perhaps the pictures. Some students would need the tutorials for this part and they would need the tutorials for the finishing touches (printing, fitting on one page, etc). I do think many of my students would find knowing how to make timelines in Excel useful as some create their own timelines to study. Once I figure out how to make the timelines I will probably make my own tutorials for the students to use. They would definitely need the tutorials as many of my students do not know how to use basic functions in Word and Excel.
Wonder Wander
Wonder Wander is designed for a 10th grade English class. The lesson teaches students how to conduct a web search. This looks like it would be a useful tool at the beginning of the research unit. This could also be useful in other subjects for the same purpose (if students are not taught in English class). I might skip the first tutorial (how to put an address into the browser), but the rest looks pretty useful. The students simply follow the tutorials and answer questions in a Word document using cut and paste.
Both of these lesson accelerators could be used in staff development. They could be used in pretty much the same way as you would with students or to model how to make your own lesson accelerators. Many of the people in my department would like to have their students create timelines or teach them how to conduct quality web searches. However, they would not know how to create these lessons themselves. They would need the step by step instructions lesson accelerators provide. I know I get frustrated when someone presents a great idea but does not give me instructions on how to create it myself. I also want to be able to access the instructions again when I attempt to create my own product.
Viewing a sample lesson accelerator would also be a good way to instruct teachers on how to create their own. The technology teacher could also provide instructions on using screen capture, Moodle, or whatever tools were necessary for teachers to create their own lesson accelerators. While some students are comfortable experimenting with technology, many want detailed instructions. I've heard many student complaints about teachers assigning "technology" projects that are beyond the skill level of students. Further, the teacher does not know how to work the technology either so they are not able to help. Many problems and frustrations could be avoided if teachers would create detailed instructions for the students to follow as they create their projects.
Jing Screencam Video--Lesson Accelerators
When I created this, I didn't know you needed to set up another button with an embed option to automatically embed. I did figure out you can go into your files and find more options, including embed. I did have to adjust the size manually in order to get the video to fit on my page. I need to research an easier way to embed the correct size automatically. Here is a link to tutorial on how to embed and how to use folders in Jing:
http://www.screencast.com/users/Jing.User/folders/Jing/media/a707ebc9-918c-42db-9baf-ec20373fba6a
I'm not really sure if I'm looking in the right place or not for the Lesson Accelerators. I made a jing video to show you what I've found. I didn't tell my husband and son I was recording, so please excuse their madness in the background!
This is really small, so here is a link as well:
When I created this, I didn't know you needed to set up another button with an embed option. I can't figure out how to go back and embed this one (let me know if you can figure it out). Here is a link to a tutorial on how to embed and how to use folders in Jing:
http://www.screencast.com/users/Jing.User/folders/Jing/media/a707ebc9-918c-42db-9baf-ec20373fba6a
http://www.screencast.com/users/Jing.User/folders/Jing/media/a707ebc9-918c-42db-9baf-ec20373fba6a
I'm not really sure if I'm looking in the right place or not for the Lesson Accelerators. I made a jing video to show you what I've found. I didn't tell my husband and son I was recording, so please excuse their madness in the background!
This is really small, so here is a link as well:
When I created this, I didn't know you needed to set up another button with an embed option. I can't figure out how to go back and embed this one (let me know if you can figure it out). Here is a link to a tutorial on how to embed and how to use folders in Jing:
http://www.screencast.com/users/Jing.User/folders/Jing/media/a707ebc9-918c-42db-9baf-ec20373fba6a
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)