What I activity I liked best. GOOGLE SITES

My favorite activity this semester was …I can’t narrow it down. I really liked a lot of them. If I had to pick my top two, I’d have to say I really liked Camtasia and interactive Google maps (and Google sites and Podcasting and Picasa 3 and social bookmarking). (and oh, I liked Wikis even though I’m still learning about them.) Okay that covers the favorites. Okay I’ll narrow it down. I like Google sites the best, but only because I can incorporate so many other technologies into it. I have spent the most time on Google sites. I’m using it to do my final project. I am going to test it out on this year's eighth graders. With the site, I am using Camtasia, Google maps, photos, and of course Google gadgets. I am giving the students access to a social bookmarking account and teaching them how to add YouTube. There will also be Camtasia videos for the students to learn how to do the things I am asking them to do. I like the Google sites because it is so easy to use, and it is FREE. I can give editing access to no one, or anyone I choose. My site can be public or private. (I actually used it this year to e-mail my kids Christmas list along with photo and links to stores that carried the items.) I really like the dropdown menus that help me put in whatever Google gadgets I need. It is very simple to put in links, extra pages, and photos. I really like that there are different types of “preprogrammed” pages to choose from. I can add a page that gives access to documents. This is very handy for all of those handouts and study guides the students keep losing. In addition, I can make it all accessible right on the main site page. Even people with little computer experience can navigate their way around a well-designed Google site. I think it will be easy for the kids to use. Also, parents will be able to see what their kids are doing in class. I love it. There are a lot of reasons to love Google site. One of my favorites is the editing setup. If I make a mistake and have saved it, I can go back to a previously save version. I don’t have to clear the whole thing and start from scratch. How could you not like this program? I hope my next class in my Master’s degree are as useful as this one.

"The Near Future" very cool stuff

In Chapter 31 "Emerging Instructional Technologies: The Near Future", we were supposed to write about something that made us go “Wow! That’s so cool!” I found three wows, all for different reasons. After reading a little about them, I would be interested in learning more, or maybe even participating in one of these fields.

My first “wow” was when I read about Cognitive Science and Neuroscience. “Researchers are studying brain regions that appear to give rise to memory and retrieval process, thereby making it possible to monitor the levels of knowledge acquisition and retention…Can a gentle electrical impulse focused on a specific brain region spur acquisition and recall of to-be-learned information? If a learner is temporarily unable to focus on the task at hand or is experiencing a more general sense of low motivation, can focus neural stimulation assist the learner to refocus…?” This could be a new direction for learning disabled or brain injured students. Could this retrain the brain to think and process at a level considered “normal”? Can a devise be used to help students learn at the same rate expected of average or above average students? I know there are ethical rules to work out, but the potential for students whose brains honestly don’t function correctly is astronomical. Maybe it could be used in brain injured patients or people with Alzheimer's. This is a WOW in my book.

The next “wow” was in Advanced Performance Tracking. The book gave an example of teaching a person to learn a better tennis serve—something I could use work on—however, I believe it could be used for so much more. The sleeve with the “microhydrolic capabilities” could be used for so much more than improving sports. My daughter has a hard time holding a pencil correctly and it shows in there writing. A devise like this could help her and other young children with other similar problems. On a larger scale, technology like this could aid in both physical and occupational therapy. One word, WOW!

The last “wow” was when I read about Cybernetics and Nanotechnology. When I read about the professor who walked around with a nanocomputer inside of him, I was a little freaked out. But, as I read further, I thought “wow”. A tiny computer that can be controlled by a person’s nervous system that will open doors or go over e-mail, or even run a bath is incredible. Would this be possible for quadriplegics or paraplegics? Even if it’s not, it could help those who suffer from muscle debilitating diseases. Again, endless possibilities. Giving people back their independence and, in some cases, their dignity. What better way for technology to serve mankind?

I must admit, I did not understand a majority of this chapter. If I had, I might have a bigger list of “wows”. As it stands, I am quite impressed with the future of IDT and am looking forward to learning more.

Chapter 30 reflection

Chapter 30: Using Rich Media Wisely was my favorite chapter so far. As a teacher, I am always looking for ways to motive and improve learning. I have learned several, however, I am always in conflict on how to present these “new ways” to both my low learners and my high achievers in the time frame allotted by the school calendar. This chapter was not about what exactly to present and when, but ways to present material for the maximum understanding.

Reading this chapter has given me a new outlook on how I teach. The first take-away I have is “Adding interesting but irrelevant words and graphics can distract learners.” (Reiser and Dempsey p. 321). I always thought that giving interesting information about the topic was a great way to get students interested in learning the concept I was trying to teach. Now I see that giving too much of this type of “interest driven” information is clogging up the pathways. When I start designing rich media to help my students learn better, I will stay away from interest based irrelevant information. I will also take this principle into the classroom with me.

Another “take-away” will be to use audio to help students with their learning process. The proof is in the chapter. “Mayer (2001) reports Audio narration is more effective. Mayer (2001) reports an average 30% gain with an effect size of 1.17, which is considered high.” (Reiser and Dempsey, p. 317). I have always been self-conscious about the sound of my voice on recordings. Well, it is time to get over it. If I can use audio to help my students learn, it will be worth it. The ideas in this chapter were the most helpful to me. It is probably because I have so much prior knowledge on the subject. I will take not only the two ideas above, but also the information as a whole when I start designing my own rich media based teaching/instructional design work.

Using the concepts from this book is important in the school population in which I work. I teach 7th and 8th grade English language arts. It is not the most popular subject among the tweens. I have a few students who are high achievers, some average students, and many low achievers. I have been looking for a way to help all of my students at the same time. Using Audio and visual will help all of my students work better and learn more. The question is…Am I creative enough to develop rich media lessons to engage and teach my students. I’ve found some on the internet, but they are costly and my school just doesn’t have the budget. If I want to use media to help my students, I’m going to have to develop a lot of it myself. This book is a start.

Review of Google Docs and Sumo paint

For this weeks assignment I explored Ajax and Google docs. Ajax is an online desktop. Unfortunately, I cannot access my account. I keep getting an error message saying the path is invalid. I was able to get another account, but I had to use a different e-mail account. It is too bad. I think it had possibilities. I reviewed all of the image editing freeware. I’m still not sure if I liked them any more than I like Picasa 3. For this reason, I will review one of the image editing freeware sites and recommend anyone reading this to investigate Picasa 3 beta..
Google docs was definitely an online application that I liked. Google docs is basically an online windows office. Any person can create a free account. With an account, a person can create and share a document, presentation, spreadsheet, or form. It also has folders to organize and store files. I concentrated mostly on the documents. I found this application the most useful. I used it upload some of my teaching materials at home, and then I was able to retrieve them at work. It was very convenient. My laptop has been giving me a little trouble lately when I try to burn a disk to get information from it to my school computer. With Google docs, I was able to upload my documents and edit, store in my desktop, and print the materials I needed for work. It was wonderful. I used this feature again when I was online in the school library. I found the information I needed, but the school printer was low on toner. I uploaded the document strait from the web and was able to retrieve it from my classroom computer. It was wonderful. I know any teacher in my building would appreciate this application. It is a time saver to say the least.
Another really great thing about Google docs is the ability to share. An owner of an account can choose to share his or her documents with others. The accounts owner only need the email addresses of those whom s/he would like to share. This is a wonderful for people who are on the same school wide committees or teachers who may be working collaboratively on a project from two or more different locations. One idea I had for this application was hit me when I was sitting in a writing conference in Grand Rapids, MI. The instructor/speaker was from Nebraska. She kept putting up documents on her overhead and saying, “This one is not in your book. I can get it to you, if you want it.” Of course, we wanted it. The speaker could have used Google docs to send all of us the missing documents in seconds. They already had our email addresses from registration.
Google docs also has a really impressive list of templates a person can use. They have one for finding out haw fast a person can pay off a credit card. I uploaded my monthly budget spreadsheet to share with my sister. All of the interactive budget codes I used worked after I uploaded it. I was impressed. Now my sister can show me her numbers and I can work on them with her so that she can pay off her debts faster. It was almost as if we were working on the same computer. The spreadsheet works like regular word spreadsheet, except with all of the advantages of storing them, being able to retrieve them from any computer with internet access, and sharing them with others. I would recommend this product to my school. I have already recommended it to my students. Often they work on a paper at home, copy it to a disk—their printer doesn’t work or is out of ink—and they can’t recover the document on my schools outdated computers. If they used Google docs, they would not have that problem. This product is a winner.
If I had to choose an image editing site I liked the best, it would be Sumopaint. I liked this one the best because it wasn’t the same old cookie cutter image editing freeware. I must admit, I have not even begun to understand all of the things one can do with sumo, but I will equate them with Adobe photoshop. In both programs, the user can create layers to enhance or create an image without altering the original until the layers are compressed. I think there are more options on Sumo than Adobe. I am still trying to understand them all; it may take a few weeks of exploration and practice. I would use this in school to make posters or brochures. Items that need to look professional or need several layer of work to complete. I am also thinking of using this program to put together a children’s book. I will use the artwork as the first layer, add some effects to the artwork like boarders or feathered edges, and finally add a layer of text. If this works, I may try to use this freeware for a project my students do when they must write about a famous painter. It would be spectacular if it worked.

Chapter 27 Reflection

After reading chapter 27 “Competencies for Instructional Design and Technology Professionals”, I have discovered a pathway to conduct my efforts. You see, I am a teacher in a small district. Our school is in the beginning of a district wide school improvement program. I was one of the lucky ones who, somehow, ended up leading the way for out writing improvement plan. In my role as writing chair for our intermediate, junior high, and high school, I am in charge of leading the committee in finding the problems and solving them. No small task. After identifying our weaknesses, it was my responsibility to guide our committee to find ways to fix the problem. After a year of planning, we had to gather baseline data, implement our strategies, do teacher training, gather more data, do more training, monitor teacher’s efforts in the classroom, and on and on. I’m sorry to say, I was given no plan of action I should take in order to accomplish these goals. Reading the competencies has really helped me to understand my role as a chair. At first, I concentrated on the instructor competencies because that is what I am. Yes, there are some that I feel I am very good at, and there are others I need to work on, but the real challenge for me is this district wide writing improvement plan I am supposed to do. That is why the Training Manager really peaked my interest. I know there are more than three competencies that I need to work on, but I will just choose three as the assignment asks. In reality, I will use these competencies as a road map to complete this project.

The first competency I need to work on is the communication in written, oral, and visual forms. Up to this point all of my communications have been face-to-face or over the phone. I have no paper trail to speak of. I will definitely be communicating more in the writing and visual aspects of this competence and follow it up with conversations. I guess I never thought about sending out memos because I didn’t want to seem like I was dictating, but that is my role—to make sure teachers know what to do and are following through with their responsibilities. I know I appreciated it when I am given written information. It gives me something to refer to. I definitely need to work on this competence.

The second competency I am weak in is the evaluate training and performance interventions. As the writing chair, I have given about a dozen professional development workshops on The 6+1 traits of Writing. These training have been for grades K-12 in all subject areas (except math and shop). Even though I give refresher training each year, I have not gone to these teachers to see if they are implementing the changes correctly. This is definitely something I need to do to make sure the plan we put into place is being implemented properly. If it is not, then the plan will not work.

The third competency I nod to improve upon is the use of technology to enhance the training function. Before I took this class, I did not have the tools to do so. Now, I have some stellar ways to help teachers train with or without me. I have started a wiki page (a work still in progress) to use with the staff at my school. This way the teachers and I can collaborate with each other without trying to schedule sit down meetings. This can be a very powerful thing for anyone who has a busy life style (everyone) and can’t always drop everything to attend several meetings. Also, it will be a tool for teachers to help teachers. I will also use Camtasia to teach the teachers how to get extra training online. There are several more ways I can use the information I have learned to help me be a better training manager.

It will take a lot of work and a long time, but I know it will be extremely helpful in the end.I need to learn more and work it out, but that’s expected. This was a very eye-opening chapter. It told me what I was doing wrong, and gave me a map on how to try to fix it.

My Class Web Site

http://sites.google.com/site/mrsrorksclass/

I worked on this most of the weekend. I am really proud of it. I think I will keep it going and share it with my students and their parents. What do you think? There is a link to the right on under My Web Links.

My Camtasia project

This video is a tutorial for my seventh grade students who don't know how to format microsoft word. It shows them step by step how to format word in MLA format. This screencast would fit into my lesson of research papers. My students learn the ins and outs of doing a research paper. We start with planning, then research, and go through the stages of the writing process. It has always taken so much time for me to go around to each student who does not know how to format their papers on microsoft word. I didn't have the time to teach and format over 20 students' computers. Now I can sow them this video and let the students learn it for themselves. They can even stop and replay the parts they don't undrerstand the first time. Is is very exciting.