Technology Inquiry Wiki Reflection

I would say on the effort for this assignment I put in a moderate amount of effort. The majority of the work I got done on this project when the annotated bibliography was due. I had already at that time been formulating some of the best practices in my head. So working on that section was not that difficult. One of the hardest parts I have found has been screencasting. The software itself is very easy to use, but the act of screencasting is the hardest for me. The fact that if you make a large mistake toward the end of the screencast you have to start all over which can be frustrating at times. It would be nice to be able to run it more like a podcast where you could clip together multiple takes into one final document. It would much less time consuming and produce a better final product.

I think the value of completing this task is in assessing technology tools and practices and determining the best strategies of use. This is important in education to not blindly going into using a new technology or practice without making an assessment as to its merits. By performing the inquiry it gave me practice in research which in all likelihood will be having students do in my future classroom. 

Completing this task directly impacts my future teaching by giving me some strategies in using virtual labs. It really expanded my view on what sort of materials were out there for teachers to utilize. It also educated me on some of the pitfalls completely going to the virtual lab format. Another way that this has affected my future teaching is that has given me additional practice with using wikis and screencasting. I think that it was a way to build additional comfort in tools that I will possibly use in my future teaching. Wikis I am pretty much sold on using, screencasting I think I want to try a few different programs beside Jing and see if there is one that I like better that has more editing flexibility.

What new thinking I took from class today.

3 ways that I will use technology in my future class is that I plan to maintain communication outside the classroom by keeping an up to date class website where students and parents can see current assignments and activities that occur in class on  a daily basis. I want utilize collaborative projects using video and other visual editing tools where students can be creative in a medium they choose, personally I plan on developing video lab setups where students can view a procedure and have reference to it in a convenient form that could perhaps be placed on a ipod or other portable media device. I will use computer simulations and online labs to supplement real world labs so students can get a better concept of phenomenon occurring.

I think how my thoughts have changed in the role of technology in the classroom is the breadth it will be uesd and also on how for it to be effective. The whole idea of assessment before using the tool was a big concept that I picked up on this semester. In addition I think that I will use it as a creative outlet for students not just a new way to present material

IRLO Reflection

On the IRLO project I feel that especially in the first draft of this project I put in a lot of effort one of the most challenging aspects was working through Scratch and just figuring out how to do the things I wanted to do. I watched some of the videos and tutorials on how to use it, but I found the best way to learn was just by playing with the program. It took me a little while to develop the idea I wanted to do, once I decided on the whole science kitchen thing I had a hard time in figuring out how to ask questions I wanted to in that theme. I think that my overall vision for this project was a bit too grand and in the future I may put a bit more time into fully developing this project into something I would be happier in using a class. I think that I would clean up some of the images and probably implement some recorded sounds instead of lengthy text. Overall I think I produced a product that I am happy with and would feel comfortable showing others.

Designing and sharing an IRLO impacts my future teaching in the way that I may actually use this program. I had a discussion with a few other classmates recently on Scratch and generally agreed it was a neat program that would be useful in the classroom. I think that it would work well to show students the program and see what they could produce. Scratch could be useful for providing individualized way to present content students, but I feel that the best way to utilize Scratch would be in the hands of students. I definitely could see certain students getting into this sort of tool to produce projects. I also think that working with Scratch continues the process of getting myself and my peers used to trying new technologies and learning how to access how we could use them in the classroom.

PSA Reflection

Planning and producing our PSA took a few sessions of meetings to accomplish. We initially met in a sort of brainstorming exercise as what to do our PSA on and then met more formally to put together a storyboard. We discussed a number of ideas and came up with a general concept for what we were going to do. We then did a bit of research on the topic to get some basic strategies to promote with our PSA. The actually night of shooting we met up and worked through the script and adapted it to the capabilities of our equipment. Shooting did not take too much time because we had a pretty good plan for what we wanted to do. The act of editing the film also was pretty easy to accomplish. I had some experience with iMovie in the past, but it had been since high school since I had worked with. Getting used to the new features took some time, but since we had a good idea of how we wanted the final product to look it was just a matter of putting together the clips and record the voiceovers from our script. Overall this project I thought was fairly easy and did not take that much effort to accomplish.

Creating and sharing a PSA with peers impacts my future teaching by reacquainting me with iMovie again and reminding me how easy it is to edit video, by doing so it makes me more likely to use this tool in my future classroom. I think that because many students today grew up around Youtube and a lot of web based video sharing; they may be more inclined to be interested in a project if they were allowed to use video. I think by doing this assignment it gets into the thinking mode that using video is really creative way for students to present information. In addition, I think that this gives further practice on the idea I want to try some day of putting together a video lab guide, with lab procedures done in full for students to watch to learn a procedure and reference as they are in lab.

Digital Citizenship PSA

What I learned from class today

The teacher in the video implemented technology by using a interactive whiteboard into lessons to encourage participation and active engagement, maintaining and posts on a daily blog for students and parents in a open classroom, students produced own blogs and received feedback from people outside the classroom, and online collaborative projects, she had many students in the classroom with computers.  Going along with these methods we discussed that many of these could be done without technology, but technology can often enhance these things. It is important to evaluate and consider if it is appropriate to use technology it makes doing something better or if it is something you could not do before.  I think that today was a good experience with jigsawing. I think that it is nice to reinforce this strategy and have additional experience with it calling it by name.

Reflectiing on the Interactive Whiteboard Lesson

I think that on the interactive whiteboard lesson I exerted a decent amount of effort. I think if I would have spent a bit more time playing around with some the Smart Notebook tools I could have made a bit better of project.  I think too if I would have chosen not to a simple review I could have made a much better lesson. In retrospect I think if I were to use more interactive tools on it could have been a better lesson. One thing that I thought while doing this project was that some of things that I did could be accomplished without using a interactive whiteboard, but could be done through alternative means such as using a projector and computer, overhead, and whiteboard. One of the things that is nice about it is that as I would do the lesson I wouldn’t having to be switching media all the time and would have the lesson in one place.

I think that designing a interactive whiteboard affects my future teaching by making me familiar with a tool that will likely be around in schools that I work with in the future. I think another way that it impacts my future teaching is that it made you assess if the tool is really necessary to use in a particular situation. If I thought I could get by doing the lesson without the IWB then I am probably not using the device to the fullest of the capabilities and it is probably not appropriate to be using it. Another thing thinking about if the lesson is appropriate for using the IWB is that it provides ideas for alternatives if you have a device that is not working in the classroom the day of the lesson.