During Week 3 of EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology, I was given the opportunity to explore the Center for Applied Special Techology (CAST) website to learn how to create a lesson using the UDL principles. I also had the opportunity to create and online book using CAST's Book Builder site.
I thoroughly enjoyed creating my book on the Book Builder site. My only difficulty was in resizing photos for uploading to the individual pages. Once I figured that out, it was smooth sailing. I shared the book with my teammates, coach and professor. I later shared it with some of my family members and friends. The site is so user friendly that I am going to have my G/T students publish books on my site.
On the other hand, when I started working with the Universal Design for Learning Lesson Plans, I was rather frustrated at first. As I became familar with the Model Lessons provided in the website, it became easier to work with. I have differentiated instruction for years, but until now, I have never used lesson plans quite like the template provided by CAST. It is a much simpler lesson plan that allows for special accomodations to be included in it. That saves me from writing multiple lesson plans for multiple accomodation situations. I will continue to use the template for making my lesson plans. I really like the way it lays out the lesson and makes transparent, what you plan to teach, the way you plan to teach it!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Web Conference - November 18, 2009
Today I attended a web conference with members of the EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology students. The experience was a bit disappointing for me. I was not successful in getting my camera to work during the meeting. I also lost the microphone several times. I exited the site several times in an effort to gain total access including both audio and video, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
One of the students continually and continuously "played" with the screen saying that we must "break it before we can fix/learn how to use it." I found that to be rather distracting since I was already having technical difficulties of my own.
On a positive note, it was nice to see some familiar faces checking in with the group. Many of my teammates were there, and we obtained some valuable information about our assignments and our upcoming group project. It was very nice to personally meet with our professor and interact with her in "real" time.
Overall, the experience, on a scale of one to ten, with ten being fantastic and one being unacceptable, I would rate it as an eight. My rationale for the rating is that even though I encountered some disappointing difficulties, I do realize that we are working with programs we are not very familiar with and that all the "bugs" have not been worked out. We are all in this together, and as we collaborate, we will continue to learn from each other.
One of the students continually and continuously "played" with the screen saying that we must "break it before we can fix/learn how to use it." I found that to be rather distracting since I was already having technical difficulties of my own.
On a positive note, it was nice to see some familiar faces checking in with the group. Many of my teammates were there, and we obtained some valuable information about our assignments and our upcoming group project. It was very nice to personally meet with our professor and interact with her in "real" time.
Overall, the experience, on a scale of one to ten, with ten being fantastic and one being unacceptable, I would rate it as an eight. My rationale for the rating is that even though I encountered some disappointing difficulties, I do realize that we are working with programs we are not very familiar with and that all the "bugs" have not been worked out. We are all in this together, and as we collaborate, we will continue to learn from each other.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Week 5 - Multimedia
Reflecting on the experiences I encountered during the pre-production, production and post-production of our three week Public Service Announcement project, brings a lump into my throat. I have never worked with such wonderful groups of professional individuals. I say "groups" because I was lucky enough to be involved in two groups which had totally different dynamics. I cannot say one was better than the other, both were equally wonderful.
I do think, however, that both of the PSA's could have been improved. I was responsible for the oral narration for Aaachoo...Not the Flu! which was uploaded to You Tube.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LHEOzEbVpk). I think I should have put more modulation in my voice so that it had more contrast. It was also a few seconds over the one minute limit. Perhaps we needed to cut the narration and clips so that they were shorter. As it turned out, our credits needed to slow down because they rolled by very quickly. The second project, 21st Century Pirates, also on You Tube, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HzcjSQ3ckc) was also over the one minute limit. We could have left out one or more of the "still" pictures. The narrator could also have spoken a bit faster.
We included the proper citation and credits for pictures both in our post-production documents and at the end of the Public Service Announcement so that we were compliant with all copyright laws. We followed Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Media (1996), Sections Two and Three and the Consortium of College and University Media Centers. (2009). Retrieved July 4, 2009 from http://ccumc.org/system/files/MMFUGuides.pdf . We also used Google Images and Flickr Images. We used the Creative Commons code as a basis for copyright compliance.
Both teams communicted via email , text messaging, phone calls, and wikis. One of the groups, the "Aaachoo's" even started a new wiki just for the project. That group also used Office Live to post audio and video clips. The "21st Century Pirates" group one of the team member's wiki to do all of the work. Both groups worked equally well with one another in an atmosphere of mutual respect as we worked toward a common goal. Both teams produced successful projects, and I enjoyed the teams equally.
I do think, however, that both of the PSA's could have been improved. I was responsible for the oral narration for Aaachoo...Not the Flu! which was uploaded to You Tube.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LHEOzEbVpk). I think I should have put more modulation in my voice so that it had more contrast. It was also a few seconds over the one minute limit. Perhaps we needed to cut the narration and clips so that they were shorter. As it turned out, our credits needed to slow down because they rolled by very quickly. The second project, 21st Century Pirates, also on You Tube, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HzcjSQ3ckc) was also over the one minute limit. We could have left out one or more of the "still" pictures. The narrator could also have spoken a bit faster.
We included the proper citation and credits for pictures both in our post-production documents and at the end of the Public Service Announcement so that we were compliant with all copyright laws. We followed Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Media (1996), Sections Two and Three and the Consortium of College and University Media Centers. (2009). Retrieved July 4, 2009 from http://ccumc.org/system/files/MMFUGuides.pdf . We also used Google Images and Flickr Images. We used the Creative Commons code as a basis for copyright compliance.
Both teams communicted via email , text messaging, phone calls, and wikis. One of the groups, the "Aaachoo's" even started a new wiki just for the project. That group also used Office Live to post audio and video clips. The "21st Century Pirates" group one of the team member's wiki to do all of the work. Both groups worked equally well with one another in an atmosphere of mutual respect as we worked toward a common goal. Both teams produced successful projects, and I enjoyed the teams equally.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Web Conference Pilot
During the last week and a half I have attended four web conferences. The learning experience for all participants was both exciting and productive. As a learning community, we muddled through the various challenges of determining who would speak when, how to make the webcams work, and how to stop the hum and feedback from our headphones and microphones.
I was amazed at the amount of information that was passed along during those conferences. We discussed "plurk", "skype", and "twitter" along with a myriad of webconferencing sites, wikis, blogs, and programs that we can use for our projects. Online learning is great, but it still doesn't take the place of "live" interaction. There are so many students with so much wonderful information to share! I really enjoyed the conferencing and hope that it will continue throughout our coursework.
I was amazed at the amount of information that was passed along during those conferences. We discussed "plurk", "skype", and "twitter" along with a myriad of webconferencing sites, wikis, blogs, and programs that we can use for our projects. Online learning is great, but it still doesn't take the place of "live" interaction. There are so many students with so much wonderful information to share! I really enjoyed the conferencing and hope that it will continue throughout our coursework.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Week 2-Multimedia
This week we were required to choose editing software for use in our video assignment. I chose to use Windows MovieMaker. It was already installed on my laptop so I didn't have to download it.
Using MovieMaker proved to be a challenge. I imported five video clips from United Streaming's Discovery Education site (http://www.discoveryeducation.com/ ) a free site for Houston Independent School District personnel.They have free downloadable video clips that are available to their members. I imported the clips into the program without saving after each import. Bad mistake! I lost four of the video clips when I tried to go to the next step. I found that I had to "save" the project after every change. I also could not remove the original audio from the clip. My final soulution was to "mute" the volume on the clip.
The number of editing tools was also limited. The program tends to "freeze" and cause what I call Blue Screen Mania! Once I started working with it a bit, things got easier to use. I found that by the time I completed my project, I had finally gotten the hang of it. The program will be fine for simple videos, but as I progress in my studies I will try other programs so that I can find one that will suit my needs. I will probably wind up purchasing one of the Adobe video editing programs.
Overall, as I stated before, with a bit of practice, Moviemaker is adequate for simple videos.
The final video project was uploaded to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfO7zOJOdpw
Using MovieMaker proved to be a challenge. I imported five video clips from United Streaming's Discovery Education site (http://www.discoveryeducation.com/ ) a free site for Houston Independent School District personnel.They have free downloadable video clips that are available to their members. I imported the clips into the program without saving after each import. Bad mistake! I lost four of the video clips when I tried to go to the next step. I found that I had to "save" the project after every change. I also could not remove the original audio from the clip. My final soulution was to "mute" the volume on the clip.
The number of editing tools was also limited. The program tends to "freeze" and cause what I call Blue Screen Mania! Once I started working with it a bit, things got easier to use. I found that by the time I completed my project, I had finally gotten the hang of it. The program will be fine for simple videos, but as I progress in my studies I will try other programs so that I can find one that will suit my needs. I will probably wind up purchasing one of the Adobe video editing programs.
Overall, as I stated before, with a bit of practice, Moviemaker is adequate for simple videos.
The final video project was uploaded to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfO7zOJOdpw
Monday, June 8, 2009
Week 1-Multimedia
This week's assignment required the class to create and post a digital story. As I began my undertaking, I thought of all the different life events that I might use to create my story.
I encountered a number of challenges. To begin with, I found it difficult to narrow the topic to just one event. I pondered as to what would be the most interesting, amusing, thought-provoking, or what would produce the greatest emotional response.
Another challenge was in choosing a topic that I had enough material (pictures) to use in completing the assignment. After digging through thousands of photograhs, I found ten that would work. I scanned the photos into the computer hard drive. I opened the storyboard section of Photo Story and began to lay out the pictures. Once I manipulated the photos into a logical story order, I began to write the text.
My final challenge was deciding whether or not to use music. I polled ten people who voted eight to two against using music. Since this was to be my first try at making a photo story, I opted to just use the voice over and leave out the music.
This assignment was quite enjoyable, although emotional, for me. I will use the Photo Story software with my summer school students this week. I think they will enjoy it!
I posted my digital story to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAqRnnNy1-s. You Tube is a free website for the general public to upload videos.
I encountered a number of challenges. To begin with, I found it difficult to narrow the topic to just one event. I pondered as to what would be the most interesting, amusing, thought-provoking, or what would produce the greatest emotional response.
Another challenge was in choosing a topic that I had enough material (pictures) to use in completing the assignment. After digging through thousands of photograhs, I found ten that would work. I scanned the photos into the computer hard drive. I opened the storyboard section of Photo Story and began to lay out the pictures. Once I manipulated the photos into a logical story order, I began to write the text.
My final challenge was deciding whether or not to use music. I polled ten people who voted eight to two against using music. Since this was to be my first try at making a photo story, I opted to just use the voice over and leave out the music.
This assignment was quite enjoyable, although emotional, for me. I will use the Photo Story software with my summer school students this week. I think they will enjoy it!
I posted my digital story to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAqRnnNy1-s. You Tube is a free website for the general public to upload videos.
Monday, March 9, 2009
I have recently reviewed http://www.edutopia.org/ the Edutopia website. It is the George Lucas Educational Foundation site. The website focus is on what works in public education.
The website is easy to navigate and all the links work! I was pleasantly surprised to note that the pages loaded quickly and easily. There is easy page to page movement, and the information is easily located. The pages were visually appealing. The home page contained wonderful graphics and applets.
The content contains proper titles and correct, current , information. There are multiple links with links within links so that deep navigation within the site is possible...a real plus when one is researching information. Each of the core concepts is clearly stated and the information contained within each concept challenges the learner to reflect on it.
The site is appropriate for the audience (mainly educators) and the vocabulary is adequate. I rate it A+ in meeting the educators objectives.
The core concepts include project learning, technology integration, teacher development, integrated studies, social and emotional learning and assessment.
One may post reflections, questions, and opinions on the Spiral Notebook blogs.
The $35.00 membership fee is the only negative aspect I found with this website. In order to have full and complete access to all the resources, you must become a member.
Because the website provides educators with a plethora of information including lessons that work, samples and examples of project learning, and how to integrate technology in the classroom, it is an invaluable tool for educators of the 21st century. Even though there is a membership fee to participate fully with the website, I believe it is worth the cost.
I highly recommend this website to educators. Whether you choose to become a member or just use the free services, it is an exciting and helpful site.
The website is easy to navigate and all the links work! I was pleasantly surprised to note that the pages loaded quickly and easily. There is easy page to page movement, and the information is easily located. The pages were visually appealing. The home page contained wonderful graphics and applets.
The content contains proper titles and correct, current , information. There are multiple links with links within links so that deep navigation within the site is possible...a real plus when one is researching information. Each of the core concepts is clearly stated and the information contained within each concept challenges the learner to reflect on it.
The site is appropriate for the audience (mainly educators) and the vocabulary is adequate. I rate it A+ in meeting the educators objectives.
The core concepts include project learning, technology integration, teacher development, integrated studies, social and emotional learning and assessment.
One may post reflections, questions, and opinions on the Spiral Notebook blogs.
The $35.00 membership fee is the only negative aspect I found with this website. In order to have full and complete access to all the resources, you must become a member.
Because the website provides educators with a plethora of information including lessons that work, samples and examples of project learning, and how to integrate technology in the classroom, it is an invaluable tool for educators of the 21st century. Even though there is a membership fee to participate fully with the website, I believe it is worth the cost.
I highly recommend this website to educators. Whether you choose to become a member or just use the free services, it is an exciting and helpful site.
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