OTEN Conference

Well, I had a good time with this one! Here is a Screenr video of my experiences at this year's OTEN Conference. Unfortunately, Yodio was not working with me so I had to figure out another way to share my experiences with you all, but I think it turned out pretty neat :) There is a collage of some photos I took while at the conference with some cool quotes from the keynote speaker and some pictures of my fellow cohort members working away at our session on the use of games in the classroom. I also speak about my second session with Mark Bailey and the use of primary sources in history classrooms. I rave about his website so here is the link for you to check that out if you are so inclined. Enjoy!

New Tech Standards & Requirements

Remember back when PowerPoint was the new and coolest way to do a presentation and the most intimate and exciting way to learn about people and cultures around the world was to have a pen pal? Now, don't get me wrong these methods of communication still have their place. Personally I value a handwritten note more than an email, it has a more intimate and sentimental value to me. Yet, in this era of rapid technology growth and expansion it would be irresponsible for us as educators to be too wary of new technology to explore its potential benefits. It is with this in mind that I have been looking at the Oregon Educational Technology Standards (OETS). It seems to me that these standards have been adopted in order to encourage (and require) educators to change with the times. If this "digital world" it what our students are growing up in, previous methods of teaching will need to be adapted to continue to effectively reach our students. Three standards that I can see myself exploring in the classroom are:

Creativity and Innovation- Within this standard there are so many things that students can do to make their education creative in a way that means something to them. Using excel or google spreadsheets students can create meaningful and colorful graphs to understand math concepts. The opportunities to create different types of presentations are endless; PowerPoint, Google Presentation, Prezi, UStream, Screenr, Xtranormal Movie maker etc. By allowing students to explore these different, if unconventional, methods of presenting a concept or idea we prepare them for much more than just a classroom presentation for a grade.

Communication and Collaboration- The Google Suite provides so many opportunities for online collaboration and communication. Students can collaborate from home on spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, etc. This would allow them to have more time and opportunity to collaborate without having to meet at school or coordinate schedules.

Research and Information Fluency- While the internet and technology provides many opportunities for information access, it also provides many opportunities for students to be mislead. As educators we can help students understand how to effectively search for information and wade through the distractions to find relevant and useful for a research paper for example. This will not only assist them with the amount of information they are able to find and access, compared with just being able to use library books, but will also provide them with lifelong skills for searching the internet and finding information on whatever they need in the future.

Honestly, I think one of the biggest challenges we face as educators is our own inadequacies and fears regarding the use of technology in the classroom. Sometimes we don't know how to use different forms of technology and it is definitely hard to keep up with but this is where we can use our students as resources. They probably spend more time on the computer or exploring the internet than we could ever imagine, so why not let them guide us? In order to get over these obstacles we need to be open to the ideas that our students can bring to us and infuse that with what we can show them. Its okay for technology exploration and meeting standards to be a two-way road where we learn to progress with our students as they learn to progress with us.

Multimedia Project: How to Use TeamViewer brought to you by Screenr

Here we go. Explanation of TeamViewer shown using Screenr. Both of these tools are really neat and pretty simple to use. In an earlier post you can visit my description of TeamViewer if you want to know a little more about what I think of it and its uses but overall I think it could be a great tool for helping someone who is having technological issues or someone who needs more direct step-by-step assistance but is unable to be in physical proximity to you. I split the post into 2 parts because I went through the process of actually downloading the program while on Screenr and had to exit to be able to finish the download process, on the second video I picked up where I left off and showed how extremely easy it was to get this program and access it immediately!

This was also my first experience with Screenr and it is really awesome. It is an easy way to screen share basically and signing up for an account, recording, and saving my videos was SUPER EASY! Sometimes I get worried that programs like this will get too complicated and I will just give up on using them because I dont want to have to take the time to figure it out but I had no worries with this program. I think it literally took me 2 minutes to get started recording my first video with an account and all of my "screencasts" saved. These are both great tools and very user friendly!

To go directly to the Screencasts click on How to use Teamviewer and TeamViewer Part 2.

Analyzing Student Data in a Spreadsheet

So, Google Sheets. A lot like Excel and pretty cool to use. Our task here was to take a bunch of raw test score data, find out the total class average for tests 6-10, take out all of the student data that was above that average and then create a graph that shows these students information. The first step I took was to get rid of the information that I didn't need, the information from tests 1-5, and compute averages for each individuals test scores and a class average. That information can be viewed in Sheet 1. Next, I highlighted all of the names and data and used the Data tab to sort the information by the average test score so I could easily identify the individual averages that were above the class average. This can be seen on Sheet 2. Finally, on Sheet 3 I created a chart that shows the students change in the format of a line graph. What this graph shows us in a visual representation is that, most of the students test scores steadily inclined the more tests they took. There a few exceptions where students scores improved and declined seemingly at random. This could be explained by a multitude of things such as a students increased interest in a particular topic resulting in a higher score on the test or the student has personal things going on that affect their ability to focus on a test and their scores drop lower than normal. Yet, despite these exceptions, by Test 10 each of the students individual scores were higher than they were at Test 6. Also, by Test 10 the majority of the students scores were above the original class average of 192.

 I can see this being a useful tool to use when Student Teaching to chart student progress and to use for our Teacher Research project to analyze and visually represent student change. Its also fun to make the data and graphs pretty colors!! :)

Here is the link to my Google Data Sheet in case you want to take a peek at that too.

My Favorite Web2.0 Tools

Well, as I don't know all of the Web2.0 tools I can't say that the ones I'm going to be talking about are my favorite but they are pretty neat. First of all, what is Web2.0? I guess my understanding of Web2.0 means that anything you need to access can be put online. For example, instead of using Microsoft Office programs you can use the equivalent Google applications and access all your files online. This basically eliminates any need for applications on a harddrive. However, as I don't know a ton about it I am somewhat skeptical of having EVERYTHING online. I like the feeling that I can save my information on some sort of an external harddrive and it isn't just out there in cyberspace floating around. Yet there are some major benefits to Web2.0, like the fact that you no longer need to be attached to one specific computer to have all of your programs and documents at your fingertips.

Two tools of Web2.0 that I explored a little are Teamviewer and UStream. Teamviewer allows someone (that you give permission to) to access your computer remotely. Let's say you are having problems with your computer and you have a friend who is a techie and you know could fix it, but you are both away at college. With Teamviewer you can give your friend remote access to your computer so they can control it and help you to figure out what the problem is. You didn't have to take your computer in anywhere and be without it for days and it was free (the program is free to download and I'm assuming this hypothetical friend didn't charge you)! This could increase productivity because, in the example above, you got your computer fixed quickly and conveniently. You could also use this tool to remotely show students how to do things on their own at home if they were absent or are just having a hard time figuring out the technology you are asking them to use. Many of us are familiar with Skype so to make it relatable, Teamviewer reminds me a little of Screen Share on Skype. However, instead of simply being able to view your screen on the other side of the connection they can also manipulate your computer from their end. Even with all its cool features this tool does make me a little nervous. I get the feeling it would be very easy for someone to convince you, either online or over the phone, that they are some sort of technical support person and ask you to give them access to your computer through Teamviewer and then basically you are hacked. Other than that it seems like a potentially useful tool.

UStream is a tool for broadcasting audio and video. This broadcast can be done live and can also be recorded and saved. I really like this tool and it seems very simple to use! In comparison to Yodio, which we have used in class, UStream records video and audio which I personally think is a major bonus. UStream can be used as an educational tool where you can watch news streams live from all over the world and it can also be used as entertainment. For example, there are some NFL players that do UStreams and their fans can watch them live giving a very personal connection and feel. I can see this being useful in a classroom setting for something like presentations. I like examples so...a student is going to be absent on the day they are supposed to give a presentation. You don't want to have to take time out of class when that student comes back to have them give their presentation so you have them create a UStream to give their presentation that you can show the class. Best case senario you would be able to set up a time for that student to broadcast live to the class so they are participating with the rest of the class and don't have the advantage of re-recording until the presentation is "perfect".

While both of these tools have potential use, I could really see myself using UStream in the classroom as an educational tool. Look for a UStream post reflecting on my first couple days of pre-student teaching soon!!

GoogleDocs Group Project

This week my team was in charge of exploring the uses of Google Presentation, one application of the GoogleDocs Suite. In our exploration we created a short Presentation that includes slides that reflect on the features of the presentation tool itself as well as its potential uses. You can view this presentation here-- A Presentation about Google Presentation :)

What's great about Google Presentation (like many of the other Google processing applications) is the ability to view and edit the presentation from multiple computers at the same time. You can see what others are doing on the presentation in real time! Like Professor Jahn mentioned in class the other day, this completely eliminates the need to share this type of information via email and have to worry about what version of the same presentation people are working on and what one is the most updated etc. It is all the same document/presentation.

As an example, this tool could be great for students working on a group project in which they have to present their information together. They can delegate the different sections of the presentation each student will be responsible for, create a presentation, and each add their information from anywhere they can access Google. Not only will they then be able to see each others work but they can also work to make sure their project presentation is cohesive and flows from one section into the next. I don't know how many times I had a group project in which sections were delegated out and then when we had to put it all together, not only was it a technical pain, it was haphazard and no matter how much time each individual spent on their section the project as a whole seemed disjointed.

While I do like this application, I do think it has some limitations in comparison to an application like PowerPoint. Google Presentations seems to be a very basic version of PowerPoint and there is not as much you can do when it comes to effects and spiffing up the presentation itself . Yet, students would still be able to attach links to their presentations, choose themes, backgrounds, and layouts for the slides, insert pictures and tables etc. Another useful tool that Google Presentation incorporates is what they call Speaker Notes. For each slide the presenter can insert some notes to help to jog their memory as to what they wanted to cover during this slide and not just be reading whatever it is they wrote on the slide itself!

I had never used Google Presentation before but am pretty familiar with the GoogleDocs system in general so it was fairly easy to get the hang of. I think this program would be fairly simple to work with even for someone who has no familiarity with it. If PowerPoint overwhelms and confuses you and all you want is some visuals and keywords, Google Presentation is your tool. Or if you want to be able to easily share and work on a project, again this is for you. My group simply added the needed amount of slides, delegated out which individual was responsible for what slide, did our work, and reviewed each others sections. Simple, Quick, and Useful!

I am excited to learn about other parts of the GoogleDocs Suite because I have never worked with Picassa, Forms, or Sheets and want to learn their potential for my personal use, use as a teacher, and the use for students. I will try to paste links to the use and examples of these applications as soon as possible. Thanks for checking in!

The Applications of Blogging

There is no question that a blog has numerus potential applications. It can be used as an outlet for people to vent, for information to be disseminated, to connect people across the world quickly and easily, for creating community, the list goes on and on. But what will I use a blog for?? Now that is a good question. I can use it right now to document my experiences and things I have come across that might be useful to me in the future, but how do I know what will be useful in the future? At this point I am thinking that I could most likely see myself using a blog to communicate information about my class and other things I find interesting and relevant to students, parents, guardians etc. when they are not at school. However, I think as I continue this journey and process my views of blogs and their use could definitely change.

For example, I might post something like these podcasts on a blog that I would encourage my students to look into...

Schools 2 Prisons: A Series Exploring the Link Between Increased School Discipline and the Opportunity Gap

We could then follow up on this post by having students comment back to me on the blog itself or simply give students access to the information through the blog so that we can then discuss this information in class.

I am most definitely open to exploring more uses for blogs in the classroom and look forward to learning more throughout this year.