Reflection

I have to say that these courses could not have come at a better time. A couple weeks ago I went from teaching 1st grade for my 5th year, to being offered a full time instructional technologist position working with kindergarten through 5th grade. Of course I accepted and so begins a new journey. One of my duties as an ICT is to prepare the 5th graders for their graduation project, which is generally a technology presentation of a self selected topic. I am so thankful these courses shared multiple web 2.0 presentation tools, many of which I plan to use in my teaching. Another duty I will undertake is teaching the school faculty about web 2.0 tools they can use in their classrooms to encourage technology in everyday practices. Again, I feel like I learned a lot of cool tools to share with them. Figuring out how to use the tools was easy but brainstorming how to use them in an educational setting was sometimes a struggle for me. I enjoyed reading and reviewing others blogs to gain ideas and suggestions of how these tools can be incorporated.

A lot of my studies so far in the Instructional Technology program have focused on digital storytelling, videos, websites, blogs, and audio. This course had a different approach because it really broadened the spectrum of tools I was exposed to. I am surprised at how many web tools there are out there that I never knew about. You could almost Google what you need and a variety of free tools will show. I am excited to use what I have learned and explore more tools to use in my new technology leadership position.

Web 2.0 and Creative Writing

For my final project I wanted to focus on creative writing and free web 2.0 tools that are great to use on an interactive board or independently by students. I hope you enjoy my presentation and get some great ideas that can be used for any grade level.

Assign-a-Day

For Module 6 I chose to review a productivity web 2.0 tool called Assign-a-Day. This tool can be accessed at http://assignaday.4teachers.org/

Assign-a-Day is a website created for teachers to create calendars that can be shared with other teachers and students. It is a free tool that allows teachers to create and manage calendars, add and delete assignments, and give a description of assignments, which can then be shared with colleagues or students. Students can see assignments for their classes to get an overview of what is coming up and help them stay on track with due dates. Assignments can easily be created that span one or multiple dates, and there is a place to type a description of the assignment as well. All calendars are stored in a personal calendar managing section and sharing with others is easy. This tool is for professional use only, and the site warns users that personal calendars will be deleted without notification, as well as calendars with inappropriate entries.

Getting started:
You don't really need any special skills to work on Assign-a-Day. You just need a computer with Internet access, and an e-mail address. Watch the screen cast below to see how to sign up and use Assign-a-Day.


For teachers:



For students and parents:
This tool can be easily used in an educational setting, since that is what it was created for. You must provide a school name and zip code to register to prove that you are a teacher. I think it could best be used a high school setting, because students are more independent so they can log on to view and keep up with assignments. It could also be used by grade level teams, so dates for tests, field trips, projects, etc. can be shared between teachers.

What are the advantages:
There are many advantages to using Assign-a-Day. First off, it is free, and registration is very quick and easy. Also, you can create multiple calendars for different classes or months. You can edit and delete assignments as often as you need. You get to choose whether to keep calendars private, or easily share with people just by typing in their e-mail address. Printing the calendars is easy and there are 2 options, a grid view, or list view.

What are the disadvantages:
There are some disadvantages to using Assign-a-Day as well. It may not meet all your needs for a collaboration tool. The biggest disadvantage I noticed is there is no way to embed the calendar into a website or blog. I thought at first this would be a great way to share assignment dates with parents, but sharing can only be done by emailing. Even then your email recipients have to log on to the website to view your calendar. Once at the website, they can enter in your last name, and choose from a list of calendars that the search provided. It is not very ideal for large groups or parents. Another disadvantage I found is that calendars are view only for the people you shared it with. That means that no one can edit or add to the calendar, except for you. The idea I mentioned above about using it for a grade level team is complicated by this limitation, since teachers cannot freely edit the calendar.


I would recommend using this tool for small groups, such as grade level team leaders, or just for yourself to keep track of what is coming up at your school. I do not think it is ideal for reaching out to a large group of students or parents. You can provide the web address and assume they are using what you have created, but I think embedding a calendar on your website or blog would be better and eliminate this step. For this, you would need to choose another tool.

Answer Garden

For Module 5 I chose to review Answer Garden, which is a feedback web 2.0 tool that can be accessed at www.answergarden.ch
.ch means that it is a Swiss site.

Answer Garden is a very minimilistic feedback tool. It is designed to pose a question and receive feedback from an audience. It can be used to brainstorm, poll, or used as a guestbook.

In order to use Answer Garden, you just need a computer with interent connection. Answer Garden is so easy and simple that you do not need any special skills to use it.

First, log on to the internet and connect to the URL I listed above. There is no registration or log in needed, which I can see would pose some problems and have listed below.  Answer Garden is free for everyone.

To get started, click on "Create an AnswerGarden". Next, just type in a topic or question you want feedback to in the box provided. You can choose to customize your feedback by allowing or disallowing unlimited answers, and adding an administrative password to moderate the feedback you receive. I would highly recommend adding a password. After you have customized your questions, click on create. Your question will generate and now you can share with your audience.

Below your question there are multiple options for you to share. You can share your question on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and many other places that I haven't even heard of. The website also gives you the HTML embed code if you would like to embed your question into a website or blog.

There is a beta version which allows you to customize color options, border options, and answer box size. I tried it out and have included both versions of the regular generated question, and my customized question. This feature is nice if you are embedding it into a website or blog and want to keep the colors consistent. However, it is a beta version and very minimalistic.
Regular Generated Question
What is your favorite color?... at AnswerGarden.ch.
Customized Question
What is your favorite color?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

At first I had some trouble thinking of how I could use this tool in an educational setting. I came up with a few ideas:

• When learning about synonyms, or antonyms, teachers could pose this question, and students could respond. Then the results could be used to help during writing.

What are some other words you could use instead of big?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

• When trying to brainstorm ideas for a project, or dance, or party, the question could be posted on a school wesbite and allow students to respond.
What theme do you want for the 8th grade dance?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

• When learning about adjectives, a teacher could post a question about how to describe a food and students could answer by providing an adjective for that food
What adjectives can you use to describe popcorn?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

These ideas are pretty simple and very generic. I would love to hear if you have any better ideas or how teachers could use this in their classroom.

Answergarden has 3 huge disadvantages. One is that responses are limited to only 20 characters, so answers are truly limited to one or 2 word answers. If you are looking for feedback that is more descriptive or in depth, I would recommend using another tool. If you are just looking for one word answers (like the synonym or adjectives examples I listed above) then this is a great tool for you because of how easy it is to use. The second disadvantage is that all answers are anonymous. Teachers cannot see which students posted which asnwers, or how many times one student posted an answer. There is no way to ensure that students won't post innapropriate answers. I am forseeing kids posting something innapropriate because it is anonymous and the teacher won't know who did it. That is why I would highly recommend adding an administrative password, so if that happens you can go in and monitor the responses.The third disadvantage is that answers do not automatically update and show up on the embedded question. To view the answers posted, you must click on the question, which will redirect you to the answergarden website. So I suppose if the teacher wanted all answers to show, she or he would have to re-embed the question into the blog after people have posted their answers. It would be much better if the answers were interactive and could post immediately on your personal website or blog.

Answergarden is a very simple, easy, and basic tool to use for feedback. Feedback  can be viewed by everyone included in your audience. Nothing is private or detailed. This is not a good tool to use if you are trying to poll for research purposes, because you know nothing about the participants. I would really only recommend using this tool for the purpose of brainstorming. It is so fast and easy to try out, you should try it quickly to see what you think.

You can post your answer on any of my examples I created above. Just remember they won't show up on my blog until I re-embed the answered question.

Theoretical Frameworks of Distance Education

Building the Project:
For Module 4 I chose to work in Group 3 which focused on answering the question of what theoretical frameworks or perspectives influenced distance education. I was happy to work with Christine and Isabel and work with some new programs I had not yet explored.
To collaborate, Christine, Isabel and I e-mailed and planned a time to meet together on SKYPE. We were surprised to find out that you cannot video message 3 people using the basic version of SKYPE. We could only hear each other through the calling feature. You have to pay for the upgraded version to video call more than 1 person. Regardless of our setback, we planned to do some research and share our findings. We broke the work up into 3 equal portions and began building our presentation using Google presentations. I found Google presentations to be user friendly, and loved the chat feature. My group could work on our presentation at the same time, and see what the others were doing. We chatted on Google which I found to be much easier to collaborate than e-mailing back and forth. Once our presentation was complete, we downloaded it into Powerpoint. The formatting did not transfer over correctly, so many changes needed to be made. After editing I uploaded the powerpoint in Voicethread, which I was not familiar with either.

My experience using Voicethread:
It was easy to register for Voicethread and get started creating a presentation. At first I tried to upload a Powerpoint directly, and after many minutes of waiting, realized that none of the titles were formatting correctly. I had to follow the step by step instructions of saving the slides as JPEGs and then uploading. Formatting was correct, but the slides did not upload in the correct order. Once in order I could then share the presentation with the girls to add comments. We decided to all add voice comments to keep it consistent. I found Voicethread to be user friendly, organized into browse existing voicethreads, create a new voicethread, and manage your own voicethreads. Adding voice comments was simple and I liked the fact that you can deleted and rerecord as many times as you need. Another feature I like is that the comments are displayed with a picture. I think it makes the presentation more personal. I did not like though that the text comment and voice comment can not be displayed at the same time. I wanted the text comment to be displayed while I was talking, to follow along. Comments are not simultaneous, but consecutive. Sharing the voicethread was also fairly easy.

I hope you enjoy our finished product and learn about the frameworks of distance education.
Click here to view and add comments or just watch below .






Using Voicethread in the future:
At first the dark colors and atmosphere of Voicethread make it a little intimidating for first time users. As a first grade teacher I am always looking for kid friendly programs that I could use for my classroom. I found a voicethread that a third grade class made on weather and poetry. It was so cool!The teacher must have had to scan in all the illustrations and piece it together, but each slide was narrated by the students. In my first grade class I like to make class books. For example we read, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? and make a similar version about what we see in our school. I can only make one copy of it though. I am definitely going to steal this teacher's idea and scan in the pages to put on Voicethread. That way students can read their page they created, and have a copy of it at home that they can view with their parents. I am really looking forward to creating that!

STUDYBLUE

This week I am reviewing the critical thinking and problem solving Web 2.0 tool called Study Blue, which is found at www.studyblue.com.

Studyblue is a complex website that allows students and teachers to create flashcards and quizzes to study and review materials taught in class. It is a supplemental resource for vocabulary and important terms that students need to know in their courses. This was my first time experimenting with Studyblue, and I think it is awesome. I signed up as a teacher, and had to provide a school name to continue with the registration process. I typed in University of Houston as my school, and unfortunately my school request is still pending and I do not have access to all the features yet. The website says I will be notified when my request is approved, so I am not sure if something was sent to someone at UH that approves this request. I did play around with it and the features I had access to.

I created a class, Summer 2012, and created some flashcards. This process was very easy. You click create flashcards, and on the top you type the word, and the bottom you type the definition. When you scroll down definitions are already there for you to choose from. Then add a new card to continue. You can also upload images. I just created  a few to see what I could do with those cards. I can switch to study mode and there are a few features that can help me study.
I can study the flashcards and click a thumbs up or thumbs down depending on whether I knew the answer, or I can take a quiz to test my knowledge. The quizzes are created for me, and I can choose how many questions, and what style I want (multiple choice, true/false, written answer). I took a quiz to see what results would pop up. The website monitors your mastery of each term and shows you a percentage of what you knew. The third feature of study mode is to print a review sheet, or print the actual flashcards if you want a hard copy. The best thing about this website is that there is an iPhone and Android app that you can download and access all your study materials on your phone on the go.

I created a screencast for you to see how I created my flashcards and how the study features work. Watch to learn more information on how Studyblue works.

This website would best be utilized by high school or college students, because you need to be somewhat skilled to access it. You need to have an email address and know your way around the web. If you are a teacher setting up a class for you students to get access to, you need to create a classroom and email all the students a class code for them to have access to your materials. I was unable to do this though, since my school was still pending approval.

This website has a lots of advantages to using it in an educational setting. Teachers can create review materials for students to practice. They can create quizzes for students to take. There is also a place where students can send messages to their teacher to ask questions. Best of all, teachers and students can track their mastery of concepts. I tried to find a limit on flashcards or how much memory space the websites gives for free, and was unable to find the answer. I did see that up to 500 flashcards can be viewed over the web, but only 200 through the mobile app. That isn't really a disadvantage though, as 500 flashcards is a huge number of terms.

Teachers can create a class and break it down into chapters or subjects. They can then plug all of the key terms or vocabulary in to each chapter for students to access to study. Flashcards can be archived and saved for the next semester or a new class. I would rate Studyblue high and recommend using it outside of the classroom. It requires some extra work from the teacher, but I think it will be highly appreciated by students who can do their studying on the go, and without a paper and pencil.

Screenr review

For Module 2 I chose to review Screenr (www.screenr.com) which is a screencasting website that allows you to record audio and capture what is happening on your computer screen. It is a creativity tool that allows a user to create visual tutorials with step by step audio instructions. This was my first time using Screenr and making a screencast. Here is what I found.

To get started you just need a computer, PC or Mac, the internet, and Java on you computer. Most computers already come with Java installed. You need to be familiar with audio recording devices and comfortable with navigating on a computer, since that is what you will capture. You will also need to have already created a Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, or Twitter account to log in. No special skills are really required, but you might have to practice a few times until you get your screencast right.

Screenr is free and there is nothing to download or install and it works on both a PC and Mac. You will need to create a username, but you can sign in on a Facebook, Google, Yahoo!, or Twitter account also. There is no need to sign up for  Pro account, which is designed for tech support for businesses. You do not need to be logged in to record, but you need to be logged in to publish your screencast.




There is a 1 minute tour of Screenr I previewed before anything, and it gives really easy to understand instructions. I would suggest viewing it before continuing.

When you are logged in and ready to begin, you just click the record button at the top of the webpage and a box frame will appear. You can then resize the box frame to fit the area you want to record. In the lower left corner of the box frame, there is a toolbar. On the toolbar you can choose which audio recording device you want to use, and adjust the capture size. When you have the options ready, just click the red button to record. I like that when you press record it gives you a 3 second delay to get ready, then you are being recorded. If you need to pause there is a pause button in the toolbar. When you are satisfied with your recording click done. Screenr will record up to 5 minutes of capture time.

When you click done, you will have a chance to preview your screencast, type a description, and then publish. Once published, you can share your screencast on Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube. They give you the html code if you want to embed it in a webpage or blog.

The advantages to using Screenr is that its free, easy to use, and you can create a screencast that's ready to publish quickly. Screenr makes it very easy to share your screencasts. A disadvantage is that you may only record up to 5 minutes, so if you are trying to make a tutorial on something elaborate, you may need to include in your audio times where the viewer can pause and catch up before moving along to the next step. I tried to use Screenr to create a screencast on how to use Screenr, and I found that you can't navigate away from the webpage when recording, so if you want to make a screencast for something on the internet, you may need to use a different browser.
I would suggest using Screenr in an educational setting to show parents how to log on to their school websites. Our parents are given log in numbers and passwords to log in to our gradebook where they can view their child's grades. Most parents never take the time to actually do it, but if a screencast was put on the school website showing parents how easy it is, maybe they would check grades more often. Screenr can also be used to show parents how to access our at home reading series website, which has at home leveled readers, phonics tutorials, and great supplemental activities for our students. Again showing parents how to access this with a tutorial posted on the school website might increase student use at home. Easy to follow tutorials is always appreciate for the not so tech savvy parents.