Thing # 11.5: Evaluation

Yea! Wow! Awesome! Congratulations to me! I have completed 11.5 More Things and am so proud of myself for sticking to it and learning more about the technological world we live in. Here are some of my thoughts on the way it went at the beach:

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I loved the Animoto program and was so excited to discover that I can have a free account as an educator and thus make longer than 30 sec. videos. It was wonderful to continue this technological adventure and my attempt to remain in the know. I loved finally understanding what the "hype" on Skype was all about and be able to use it. I am also proud to admit that I am a Facebook junkie!

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals.

I am so thankful for the team of lifeguards that put this all together. There is so much out there in the cyber world and to have the chance to learn it in this way makes it so much easier and user-friendly. I am more willing to take risks in the world of technology and continue to grow as an educator. I am looking forward to incorporating my new-found knowledge into the classroom this year! My students will have a ball with Animoto and Wordle. I feel more confident about uploading videos to use in my flipcharts and so on and so on.....

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

This online class has further enriched my technology skills beyond which I ever expected. I have learned so many new techniques that are going to help me collaborate with my fellow teachers and my students this year. Digital Citizenship was a whole new concept that I am going to instill within my curriculum this year. I will definitely be changing up the way we talk with our students about computer usage in the classroom. Focus more on the behavior expectations in a digital world and the positive aspects of technology so we all can "play fair" and understand the boundaries. AUP's and ISTE Standards will now become the norm when I approach my students this year in our techie adventures.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program's format or concept?

Don't change a thing! I loved everything about it: the set up, step-by-step guide, the F2F Sun Burn Clinic, it was all great. I feel like I have walked away with so much! Thank you! Thank you! I am so proud of myself for finishing!

Thing # 11: Digital Citizenship (11.5 Things)

After reading up on digital citizenship I realized how much is taken for granted when working with technology. I feel that most importantly, when working with students, we need to instill in them not to believe everything they see and read on the internet. They need to still be taught to use a variety of resources on a topic. We, as teachers, cannot rely on parents alone to do this. It needs to be coming from several avenues of people in the child's life. As teachers, it is an obligation we need to fulfill and teach to our students daily. Students need to understand the variety of issues related to technology and be sure they are practicing legal and ethical behavior from as early an age as possible. In order for this to be done, it is vital for teachers to promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility continuously. Teachers need to invariably improve their professional practice in order to effectively support student learning and the ever changing realm of technology.
In order to encourage my students to be good digital citizens the five things I would want to instill in them would be:
1. Cyber Security
2. Personal Safety
3. Intellectual Property
4. Cyber Bullying
5. Surf Safe Webpages

Thing # 10 Virtual Worlds (11.5 Things)

OK....the virtual world thing is pretty foreign to me. I went ahead and joined SecondLife and named my person. It took a while to get used to the movement of her, but it was cool to be able to walk up to people and begin a conversation. I asked this girl who was standing reading some billboards where I could go to get some new clothes and she replied instantly that she was new and looking for that too. I can definately see kids getting into this. My daughter likes to play the Sims game - she has not in a while due to lack of time and it just does not interest her as much as when she first began and played. My sons sometimes will play games online where they chat with other players, most they know from school, and it is just amazing to me that this is the kind of games that are out there for kids these days. I would never have believed it back then if you had told me my children would be playing such interactive games communicating with other players halfway around the world at times. It is just amazing!

Although I teach 4th grade and in order to be a player you have to be 18 or older on a lot of these games, I could still go on and have my students watch as I enter many virtual realms that are educational. I learned that there are virtual campuses where students can meet, attend classes, and create content together. I read also that SecondLife has a professional development medium for educators so I went to check it out. Well, I did not get to far with my girl. I am still too new at moving her and getting her to go where I want her to. But, I read that there is shared learning among educators, networking, a place to run inworld seminars, conferences, and symposia on learning and creativity related to virtual worlds. I am very impressed with the possibilities SecondLife has to offer. I would think high school and college students with appropriate guidance would be able to utilize this program to their best advantage. Like I've said before...."Things...they are a changin' ".

Thing # 9: Slideshare (11.5 things)

I think students in today's classroom would find Slideshare a very useful and resourceful way for them to share what they know and also search for what they need to find out. As a teacher, I have gone online and come across other Power Points that have been created on topics that we teach. They can be very useful. We have even downloaded these Power Points, changed them up to fit our students' needs, and used them in our teaching.
I have not heard the term "Slideshare" before nor the lingo that defines it as a Power Point hosting service. Slideshare was developed to share PowerPoints; it is ideal for getting ideas for presentations (great research tool for both students and teachers); and you can include narration with your PowerPoint that you decide to Slideshare. I viewed an example of a Slideshare called "Top 10 Reasons Libraries are Still Important". The slides were funny, but there was no sound which was disappointing.
Digital Inspiration has a great article listing the most popular hosting services for getting your PowerPoint online and I found Splashcast to be the one I would go with. I like how it was described as a "one size fits all" web player. It sounds very convenient and easy to me (I like that!). Splashcast allows you to embed PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, MP3 songs, videos, and photographs right inside one player. It also brags that the effects between slides are very impressive. This would attract students to use it!

Thing # 8: Screencast (11.5 Things)

When I began Thing # 8 I did not have a clue as to what a screencast was, but as soon as I read up on it my brain did a big "AH HA, I have seen those before" reaction. When comparing ScreenCastle and ScreenToaster I think I am going to go with ScreenToaster. They are both free, but you have to register for the later (big deal?) The comments on ScreenCastle all seem to sum up that it gives the user the "bare bones" options. The software I am going to go with is Comtasia Studio. I like the tips that one particular blogger wrote: * use fixed recording region (640X480)

* set screen recording to autopan (this way the region you are recording moves as you move the mouse)

When I viewed her example of screencasting on what to save the movie as I noted that both versions were blurry, but it did say to save it as a .MOV file no matter so I will do that. Well, I am off to make a screencast and hopefully get it posted. What to do, what to do.........

Thing # 7: Video Resources (Thing # 11.5)

The video on fair use and what it entails answered a lot of questions about what a person can and cannot do when utilizing videos and video clips. The main points I got out of it only make sense and that is to not let your work become a substitute for the original and use the material long enough to make your point, but no further. Of course credit should
ALWAYS be given to the originator.
As I explored the various video sources for educationally useful videos I came across quite a few and had to finally stop and get to my blog. I embedded a cute video with the Smothers Brothers discussing the Wright Brothers flight career. It is an American History quiz video and it goes great with our unit on Flight. The link is down below for those interested in viewing it. I looked at US National Archives and this would be useful during our Rocketry unit. It had links to NASAexplorer and NASAtelevision (there were many other links at the bottom that bring you to pages on the nasa.gov website. Google Videos is another great source. I searched for videos that had to do with physics for kids and many videos came up. They were, however, very slow to download!! There was a link under the video to view it through yahoo and when I went there it was still very choppy! The source I really liked is called TOTLOL! This is a great site for parents and teachers of preschoolers/elementary age children. I found some great video clips for my daughter about the letters of the alphabet and counting. They were quick to view and were not choppy. This was a fun "Thing" to exlplore and I could spend a lot more time searching for videos to use in my class, but I must move on to Thing # 8!

Aftermath of Wright Brothers First Flight

http://www.history.com/video.do?name=science&bcpid=1681694258&bclid=1672079625&bctid=1628984849

Thing # 6: iTouch Apps (11.5 Things)

My daughter graciously loaned me her iTouch and I was able to "play around" with it. I found some great educational apps that were in the "top free" games under the education category. It was easy to do and fun to search for. Each app gives a brief description and an age the game would be appropriate for. I found ten great ones which I will describe below:
1. Catch and Count: this is a simple and fun interactive game for young children to learn numbers. They move a truck along the bottom of the screen with their finger and catch falling Easter eggs. As the eggs are caught a voice counts out loud the number. My youngest daughter (4) played this one and liked it. She kept wanting to drag the truck up into the sky to catch the eggs, but soon got the feel for moving it along the bottom.
2. Memory Match: This is a memory game where the player has to match all pairs of animals. It is great entertainment and good at developing fine motor skills. My daughter really liked this one and had no problem catching on.
3. Math Drills Lite: This game helps the player learn basic math skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It allows the player to explore solutions using number lines, wooden blocks, facts, and hints the full version even lets the teacher track student progress for accuracy and speed. The teacher can set the number of problems for reviews, practices, and tests.
4. States & Capitals Free: This app has flashcards for each of the 13 original states containing its capital and flag, voice pronunciation of each state and capital, and a link to Google maps for each state. Students can check their memorization skills by playing the timed game mode with 10, 20, 30, and 50 questions which are recorded in the scoring table to track progress. The full version has all 50 states, but you have to buy it.
5. iWriteWords Lite (Tracing Game) : This app teaches young children handwriting while playing a fun and entertaining game. The child has to help Mr. Crab collect the numbers in sequence by dragging him with their finger - and drawing the letter at the same time. Once all the letters in the word are drawn properly, a cute drawing appears. When the itouch is tilted the letters slide into the rotating hole and the child is advanced to the next level.
6. Animal Fun: This is an animal learning program for children. They learn about animals by seeing and hearing the sounds an animal makes. It combines an easy-to-use interface and fun sound effects to entertain children while they learn. It gives the nam, sound of the animal, and spells it too. They are like interactive flashcards. My daughter loves to hear the animal sounds on this one.
7. Numbers Memory Match: Great for improving memory and cognitive skills by matching numbers and colors. Each time the card is flipped, the number of the flipped card is spoken. Players have to match the same number and color in order to receive points.
8. VocabWiz SAT Lite: A tool used to improve vocabulary and boost test scores. Features 200+ frequently tested SAT vocabulary words. Need to purchase the full version software which contains over 4700 words. Example sentences given that demonstrate proper usage of each word. Correct pronunciation of each word, quiz mode, and easy self-assessment. Great for middle and high school students!
9. Pop Math Lite: A fun way to practice basic math. You have to pop bubbles of the same fact families. Only addition is offered in the lite version. Full version features addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, including the choice to practice a given operator for even better drills.
10. myHomework: Simple and easy app for students to use in order to keep track of their homework, classes, projects, and tests while. It resembles a notebook, the sections are separated by colorful "sticky pads" that mark the page. Students can quickly enter their class schedule and use it to differ between HW assignments. myHomework will also notify them when they have upcoming assignments by numbering them on their app icon. This seems to be a great app for middle school and up ages.

Thing # 5: Microblogging (11.5 Things)

I found the small scale form of blogging known as microblogging absolutely fascinating. I really got into Facebook and setting that up for the past few days...did I say days....yes I did! I have gotten in touch with people I have not seen nor heard from since we graduated high school so many moons ago! What an awesome way to reconnect and stay connected! As a teacher, this would be cool to have a Facebook students could get to. I don't know how that would work though...my daughter had a 5th grade teacher who had a web page a few years back and I thought that was awesome! It was a great way to stay connected with what was going on in her classroom. She posted HW assignments, announcements, and even photos! I know Facebook is very popular with the young crowd and when used correctly and respectfully can be a valuable tool for them! Cyberbullying is a dangerous thing and kids need to be educated as to the effects of it on others. Anyway, I am straying.....
Now about twittering....this I have not explored as in depth, but seems like another great tool to stay connected. I really liked Laura Walkers article "Nine Great Reasons Why Teachers Should Use Twitter". I like the fact that you develop your own list of people to follow and you have to express yourself in 140 characters or less - that takes self-discipline! Overall, Mrs. Walker sums it up very well by saying, "We need to be able to speak the same language as our kids in order to motivate and relate to them".
Now on Back-Channeling....I do not see this working in my classroom setting, but definately in a college/lecture setting or at a large teacher inservice or conference.

Thing # 4: Video Hosting (11.5 Things)

I checked out YouTube, TeacherTube, and SchoolTube. They all are terrific resources for both teachers and students. I like the fact that SchoolTube promotes being SAFE . FUN . FREE. Like I have said before the world of technology today has opened up so many doors of opportunity for our students it is unbelievable! In our classroom we have accessed all three of these resources for our units of study. We have found some fantastic physics clips that we downloaded and imbedded in our powerpoint presentations to our class. There is great stuff out there, it just takes time to hunt for it. As far as students creating videos and uploading them to these sites, we have not gotten that far yet. The directions on how to do it were very simply laid out and seem to be quite user friendly. As I said earlier, I tried to upload my Animoto and you have to purchase the full length video in order for it to be able to do it. Anyway, I am so excited to be learning all about this stuff and to be able to understand it once and for all. I can actually have an intelligent conversation with my 14 year old daughter!!

Thing # 3: Like Skype (11.5 Things)

I can see Skype being useful in the classroom with classes talking to other classes from all over the world about an endless number of topics. Videoconferencing is so popular now. Its on Oprah and almost every television talk and news program. It is inevitable that this ends up in the classroom. I went ahead and set up my account and began to add contacts (only have one so far). Anybody want to send me their username? Anyway, it was very easy to do and I went ahead through the steps to change the privacy settings so I would not forget. Just sounded too scary to leave it open for just anyone to contact you. It would be so cool to talk to kids in other parts of the country and see what they are learning about physics. Or what other teachers are doing. Skype is such a great opportunity to open up your classroom to the entire world and share with others what you know and what you want to know. I also think it is a cool way to conference with parents when they are unable to make it up to school or when Dad is off on a business trip and can't make it in person, we can still include him with Skype. The possibilities are endless!!

Thing # 2 Image Generators 2 (11.5 Things)

I have been playing around with Wordles and Animotos for a while, they are so much fun! Wordles would be great for our students to use as a review for what they have learned during all of our units of study in 4th grade. We study physics the entire year and the students could make a wordle on one of the three laws of motion or one of the many other topics of physics we study that interest them. The one I posted below I created using the main objectives we teach in physics.

Animotos were a lot of fun too! I made one for my daughter who graduated from 8th grade. It was cool to have the music playing in the background. The choices of music were pretty reasonable. The one thing that disappointed me was the fact that you only get a 30 second clip and you cannot email or upload the Animoto Shorts unless you pay for a full length video.

In the classroom animotos could work if students worked in groups and had one student taking pictures of what was going on in the group and then they collaberated to make an animoto for the group. Another option would be for the teacher to take random shots of the class in action and surprising them with an animoto of all the pictures. We have flip cameras now which we can use and it is the same concept without the price tag. Overall though, animotos would be another resource to show students and they possibly could use it from home.

Glogster.com/edu was interesting to learn about. It kind of reminds me of facebook (even though I do not have one yet), but from what I have heard it does. I like the idea of it being an interactive poster that students can access and be part of. I can see how this would really keep them engaged in the learning process and make it fun. Teachers are able to monitor their students' posters and thus maintain the role of facilitator allowing the student free reign of where they want to go and learn.

Bookr is a fabulous tool for students, teachers, and really anybody. I love it! This could easily take the place of a research paper or power point presentation. A terrific product option for students. Teachers could use this to introduce a lesson - what a fun set!

Thing # 1: The Networked Student (11.5 More Things)

With the way technology is heading, I think the Networked Student just "makes sense". I love the idea of connected learning - a student is able to connect with new contacts and learn effectively from those he already knows. The most impressive opportunity I found for students would be podcasts. Students are able to subscribe and listen to lectures by college professors from prestigious colleges without stepping foot on the campus. Now that is cool! "Mom I'm going to Berkley today to listen to a lecture by Professor X on the topic of cross cultural communication". Teachers are still important however (I like that!) in order to help the student build their network and to offer guidance and support. Teachers are vital also in order to show the student how to differentiate between good info. and propeganda.