Thursday, February 9, 2012
CEDO 540 - Week 1 Stats and beyond
I really love stats. From looking at sports stats and figuring out trends to analyzing the results of surveys I have really enjoyed working with statistics. This first week was kind of an introduction to some basic terminology and we were to analyze a few scenarios as a group and then document the different situations and identify how stats were used. I am very eager to delve deeper into the world of stats and come up with ways that I can use them to improve my teaching, training and even make improvements to my school. There is a small part of me that is a little scared because I remember having a Stats class in high school that got really in-depth and I didn't do so well. Hopefully I can handle it if we get that involved.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Final Post
S Specific - I was trying to choose from two different goals for this final post. Goal #1 is to get students blogging in the true sense where they are not just responding to a prompt but exploring a topic beyond the original prompt and using each other's responses as a resource. Goal #2 is to integrate using an RSS reader into my daily or weekly routine so that it may help my professional development. I know that I will achieve the first goal since I already have things in place for it to happen in the next week or two so I will choose to focus on Goal #2: Using the RSS Reader. My goal will be to setup and check Google reader on a weekly basis. If I can manage the weekly monitoring of the RSS reader I may try checking it more frequently.
M Measurable - Proving that I am checking my Google reader is kind of tricky since it is a personal goal and not one that I can show a resulting product as if I were to do something with students. The only thing that I can think of that will keep me honest is if I tell myself that I will forward at least 1-2 articles from the RSS Reader to colleagues on a weekly basis.
A Attainable - Figuring out how to set it up is not the issue. It is already setup in my Google account. I've also found 15-20 good blogs and other informational sources to follow. I even think that making time for it won't really pose a problem. The main deterrent for me right now is remembering to check it. That is why I am going to configure an iGoogle page logged into my account as my home page in my web browsers. I plan on putting the Google Reader feed as part of the iGoogle page so that as soon as I open up my browser I am smacked in the face with it.
R Realistic - I thought about being realistic when I chose the terms of the goal. I was tempted to make the frequency of the goal checking it every day but I figured I would start smaller scale by making myself responsible for checking it on a weekly basis. I thought that was much more realistic and I can always adjust the frequency if I find I need the information more often.
T Timely - Last Friday was the end of the 2nd quarter at my school so I will set the timeline for this to be accomplished for the end of the 3rd quarter which falls on March 28th. That essentially gives me 8 weeks to achieve this goal. After the 8 weeks are up I will evaluate whether I met the requirements of the goal and take it from there.
M Measurable - Proving that I am checking my Google reader is kind of tricky since it is a personal goal and not one that I can show a resulting product as if I were to do something with students. The only thing that I can think of that will keep me honest is if I tell myself that I will forward at least 1-2 articles from the RSS Reader to colleagues on a weekly basis.
A Attainable - Figuring out how to set it up is not the issue. It is already setup in my Google account. I've also found 15-20 good blogs and other informational sources to follow. I even think that making time for it won't really pose a problem. The main deterrent for me right now is remembering to check it. That is why I am going to configure an iGoogle page logged into my account as my home page in my web browsers. I plan on putting the Google Reader feed as part of the iGoogle page so that as soon as I open up my browser I am smacked in the face with it.
R Realistic - I thought about being realistic when I chose the terms of the goal. I was tempted to make the frequency of the goal checking it every day but I figured I would start smaller scale by making myself responsible for checking it on a weekly basis. I thought that was much more realistic and I can always adjust the frequency if I find I need the information more often.
T Timely - Last Friday was the end of the 2nd quarter at my school so I will set the timeline for this to be accomplished for the end of the 3rd quarter which falls on March 28th. That essentially gives me 8 weeks to achieve this goal. After the 8 weeks are up I will evaluate whether I met the requirements of the goal and take it from there.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Week 5
This week we were supposed to finish creating a Google site or Wiki, create an EyeJot and give some thoughts about Web 2.0 tools and their impact on us and explore a Web 2.0 application that we hadn't explored in class.
The Google Site was the easy part for me since I already use a Google site for my classroom website. I put assignments on there, upload important files, provide screen casts, allow students to submit assignments electronically through a form (JotForm), provide links to web resources, and link Google forms for quizzes and surveys. It is essentially just like a Wiki when you think about how Google Sites are setup. All you really need to do is share the site with others and give them editing rights and now you have multiple users all capable of adding content.
The Eyejot was a babbling mess. I had ideas written down but whenever that camera starts recording I turn into a stuttering fool. I hope at least some of it made sense. Web 2.0 EyeJot
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of this week was finding a Web 2.0 app called Pearltrees. It is basically a hybrid of an idea mapper and a social bookmarking site. The collaboration aspect works great as you are allowed to search other people's "pearl trees" for information and web resources.
The Google Site was the easy part for me since I already use a Google site for my classroom website. I put assignments on there, upload important files, provide screen casts, allow students to submit assignments electronically through a form (JotForm), provide links to web resources, and link Google forms for quizzes and surveys. It is essentially just like a Wiki when you think about how Google Sites are setup. All you really need to do is share the site with others and give them editing rights and now you have multiple users all capable of adding content.
The Eyejot was a babbling mess. I had ideas written down but whenever that camera starts recording I turn into a stuttering fool. I hope at least some of it made sense. Web 2.0 EyeJot
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of this week was finding a Web 2.0 app called Pearltrees. It is basically a hybrid of an idea mapper and a social bookmarking site. The collaboration aspect works great as you are allowed to search other people's "pearl trees" for information and web resources.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Wk 4
This week we take a look at Social Bookmarking, Twitter, Screencasting/podcasting, Google Sites and dabbled a little with Google+.
I've said my piece on Twitter in forums, last week's blog, and a paper that was due this week but here it is again: Twitter is good for getting LOTS of links to ideas from people and companies you normally wouldn't have exposure to but it is too invasive and has too many annoying components for me to use it religiously. I'm choosing to go the route of the RSS Reader instead. I think one thing that I have really embraced by being immersed in the stream of information coming from the RSS Reader and Twitter these last 2 weeks is my transformation from strictly a consumer of the information to a collaborative sharer of the information. In my role as tech coordinator (or whatever title they give me next year) I think I've always been a good source of info for my staff but it has normally been up to them to come to me with questions. As I have been receiving all of these great sources of info about various topics I have made it a point to pass it on. That is key.
That leads me to the Social Bookmarking. I had started my Diigo account when learning about it in an earlier class and I have used it off and on as I ran across good sites. I took it a step further at the end of last year and gave each teacher an account, created a Group, and then shared it with them. I then installed the Diigolet or Toolbar on their classroom computers, gave them a training session and away we went. It was fairly slow going at first and some teachers were complaining that they were getting too many email updates when people would save sites to the Group. Yep, complaining about people sharing resources with them without them having to do any of the work!! Anyways, I showed them how to adjust the settings and we kept going. Eventually summer came and the Diigo use died and has been dead ever since. Chapter 6 opened my eyes to the additional uses of Social Bookmarking and how it can intertwine with an RSS Reader. Time to get out the defibrillator and bring social bookmarking back to life.
I already use a Google Site for my classroom website and it has been awesome. Here is the LINK. All of the teachers at my school use Google Sites. I created a template for them to use and we made the switch at the beginning of this school year. It is really easy to use once you become familiar with the menus.
I haven't done any screencasting related to to my classes thus far but I have used Jing Project before. I do use a student management software in my classroom called SynchronEyes by SMART Technologies (now called SMART Sync). It allows me to broadcast my computer screen onto theirs and that is how I teach a LOT of my lessons. It is essentially a walk-through for them in the same sense as a screencast. The big drawback is that it is only available to them while they are sitting there in class. Another negative is that they only get to see it once. If they miss something the first time they risk the possibility of irking the teacher by asking to see it again. (haha - JK) Posting a video screencast on a teacher website could solve both of those problems. They'd have access to it anywhere they have Internet access and they can play it over and over again at their own leisure. I wouldn't want to make screencasts of everything for fear that they would become too reliant on them but it makes sense to have some screencasts for the tougher concepts.
I've said my piece on Twitter in forums, last week's blog, and a paper that was due this week but here it is again: Twitter is good for getting LOTS of links to ideas from people and companies you normally wouldn't have exposure to but it is too invasive and has too many annoying components for me to use it religiously. I'm choosing to go the route of the RSS Reader instead. I think one thing that I have really embraced by being immersed in the stream of information coming from the RSS Reader and Twitter these last 2 weeks is my transformation from strictly a consumer of the information to a collaborative sharer of the information. In my role as tech coordinator (or whatever title they give me next year) I think I've always been a good source of info for my staff but it has normally been up to them to come to me with questions. As I have been receiving all of these great sources of info about various topics I have made it a point to pass it on. That is key.
That leads me to the Social Bookmarking. I had started my Diigo account when learning about it in an earlier class and I have used it off and on as I ran across good sites. I took it a step further at the end of last year and gave each teacher an account, created a Group, and then shared it with them. I then installed the Diigolet or Toolbar on their classroom computers, gave them a training session and away we went. It was fairly slow going at first and some teachers were complaining that they were getting too many email updates when people would save sites to the Group. Yep, complaining about people sharing resources with them without them having to do any of the work!! Anyways, I showed them how to adjust the settings and we kept going. Eventually summer came and the Diigo use died and has been dead ever since. Chapter 6 opened my eyes to the additional uses of Social Bookmarking and how it can intertwine with an RSS Reader. Time to get out the defibrillator and bring social bookmarking back to life.
I already use a Google Site for my classroom website and it has been awesome. Here is the LINK. All of the teachers at my school use Google Sites. I created a template for them to use and we made the switch at the beginning of this school year. It is really easy to use once you become familiar with the menus.
I haven't done any screencasting related to to my classes thus far but I have used Jing Project before. I do use a student management software in my classroom called SynchronEyes by SMART Technologies (now called SMART Sync). It allows me to broadcast my computer screen onto theirs and that is how I teach a LOT of my lessons. It is essentially a walk-through for them in the same sense as a screencast. The big drawback is that it is only available to them while they are sitting there in class. Another negative is that they only get to see it once. If they miss something the first time they risk the possibility of irking the teacher by asking to see it again. (haha - JK) Posting a video screencast on a teacher website could solve both of those problems. They'd have access to it anywhere they have Internet access and they can play it over and over again at their own leisure. I wouldn't want to make screencasts of everything for fear that they would become too reliant on them but it makes sense to have some screencasts for the tougher concepts.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Wk 3
This week we talked about Blogs, but more specifically RSS Readers. I have several ideas for incorporating blogging in the classroom(s) which I talked about in last week's post but combining some of those ideas with the use of an RSS Reader makes them much more powerful. The obvious way to incorporate RSS Readers would be to use them to help monitor multiple information sources effectively. There have been many cool things that I have given up because of how much time they take up. I can't imagine trying to keep up with more than like 5 blogs at a time by trying to remember to visit them every day or even every week. It just isn't feasible and even if you were able to incorporate it into your routine it wouldn't be an effective use of time. By using an RSS Reader you can read more content from more sources in a fraction of the time. By simply scanning or skimming the headlines or first few sentences of each blog you subscribe to, you can quickly determine what might be useful reading. It is like having an electronic personal assistant that presents you with informational choices that you can pick and choose from. You can also mark things as something you'd like to read at a later time.
One idea that I really liked was the concept of having students use an RSS Reader to do research on certain topics. This strategy would direct students to resources that they may never have been exposed to by doing your good ole Google search. If the topic is a current event or recent hot topic then this strategy becomes even more advantageous. Not only will the research be current but the information flow will be ongoing. You wouldn't find that type of research any other way.
The last idea that really stuck with me was the suggestion that a teacher could use an RSS Reader as an effective way to monitor individual student blogs. Up until now I have been racking my brain on how (and who) would be responsible for such a task when we establish individual student blogs. I was planning on making the classroom teacher (Literature teacher, for example) responsible for administering the blogs but I was dreading telling them about the micro-management part. Having the teacher use an RSS Reader to accomplish this will make the teacher hate me a little bit less. I hope.
One idea that I really liked was the concept of having students use an RSS Reader to do research on certain topics. This strategy would direct students to resources that they may never have been exposed to by doing your good ole Google search. If the topic is a current event or recent hot topic then this strategy becomes even more advantageous. Not only will the research be current but the information flow will be ongoing. You wouldn't find that type of research any other way.
The last idea that really stuck with me was the suggestion that a teacher could use an RSS Reader as an effective way to monitor individual student blogs. Up until now I have been racking my brain on how (and who) would be responsible for such a task when we establish individual student blogs. I was planning on making the classroom teacher (Literature teacher, for example) responsible for administering the blogs but I was dreading telling them about the micro-management part. Having the teacher use an RSS Reader to accomplish this will make the teacher hate me a little bit less. I hope.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Wk 2
We still talked a lot about blogs this week but we also started a more in depth analysis of Wikipedia and Wikis in general. So here is Wikipedia in a nutshell for me: Wikipedia is a good resource for information - no doubt. The information is as accurate as you might find almost anywhere else. I can get past the oddball additions that some people make to entries that don't seem to contribute any value to the post. I can get past people adding things in sometimes inappropriate places in the entry ruining the organizational logic of the entry. What I can't get past (and all of my teachers feel the same way) is exactly what I stated above: it's almost as accurate and credible as other sources. Teachers will never get over the fact that wikipedia entries are formed by anyone and that you could write anything and as long enough people agree with it or it can't be refuted it will stay part of the definition. Here is a video of Stephen Colbert as he explains his word of the day...WIKIALITY. If you're familiar with Colbert you'll understand that he is being sarcastic but you still get that thought in the back of your mind that there is the possibility of an inaccuracy like that happening in Wikipedia because of the way it is setup. I would ideally like to convince my teachers to at least allow students to use Wikipedia to gather info and potential sources by looking at citations from contributors but I can't, in good conscience, recommend Wikipedia as a cite-able source.
Last week I started a blog concerning our potential implementation of iPads in the middle school next year. I opened it up to our current 6th and 7th graders and I posed a specific topic starter question. The idea is to get additional feedback from the students themselves so that we can add that to our justification of this 1:1 initiative. Students are required to respond to my question(s) every 2 weeks. I went over examples of thoughtful responses and tried to model a few more responses that showed a higher level of thinking than just saying "I think iPads would be cool". While I am happy to have the students blogging, I haven't really tapped into the full potential of using blogging. The best thing about blogging in education is the collaboration aspect and I haven't really fostered that in this situation. I could've gotten these same responses by having them fill out a Google form every two weeks. Two days ago, however, a student responded to another student's post. THAT is what I'm looking for!! I will wait and see what happens as the responses keep coming in but I'd like to do something with a topic that is maybe easier for students to start responding to each other.
Twitter...ugh. We had to sign up for a Twitter account. I signed up for one and that is pretty much as far as I got. I hate the whole concept of Twitter and I still have yet to see it's value in education. It is way too overbearing for me. I remember the feeling I had when we did the Posterous pic-a-day thing where it just hung over my head each day. Well, Twitter is even worse which is why I never started using it in the first place. I suppose the idea here is to follow someone who does useful Twitter posts. I honestly have enough Google calendar reminders, apps running, etc in my life where I don't want to see my devices bombarded with Twitter updates or people posting - useful or not. And if you're not willing to have immediate Twitter updates given to you, which I'm not, then it is not going to be of any use to you. I picture the profile of the person who can use Twitter the most effectively as this: single, no kids, frequents coffee shops or bistros, is always looking for something to do, has lots of extra spare time. That is the opposite of where I'm at right now. Gotta suck it up to do this paper though so send me a Tweet!!
Last week I started a blog concerning our potential implementation of iPads in the middle school next year. I opened it up to our current 6th and 7th graders and I posed a specific topic starter question. The idea is to get additional feedback from the students themselves so that we can add that to our justification of this 1:1 initiative. Students are required to respond to my question(s) every 2 weeks. I went over examples of thoughtful responses and tried to model a few more responses that showed a higher level of thinking than just saying "I think iPads would be cool". While I am happy to have the students blogging, I haven't really tapped into the full potential of using blogging. The best thing about blogging in education is the collaboration aspect and I haven't really fostered that in this situation. I could've gotten these same responses by having them fill out a Google form every two weeks. Two days ago, however, a student responded to another student's post. THAT is what I'm looking for!! I will wait and see what happens as the responses keep coming in but I'd like to do something with a topic that is maybe easier for students to start responding to each other.
Twitter...ugh. We had to sign up for a Twitter account. I signed up for one and that is pretty much as far as I got. I hate the whole concept of Twitter and I still have yet to see it's value in education. It is way too overbearing for me. I remember the feeling I had when we did the Posterous pic-a-day thing where it just hung over my head each day. Well, Twitter is even worse which is why I never started using it in the first place. I suppose the idea here is to follow someone who does useful Twitter posts. I honestly have enough Google calendar reminders, apps running, etc in my life where I don't want to see my devices bombarded with Twitter updates or people posting - useful or not. And if you're not willing to have immediate Twitter updates given to you, which I'm not, then it is not going to be of any use to you. I picture the profile of the person who can use Twitter the most effectively as this: single, no kids, frequents coffee shops or bistros, is always looking for something to do, has lots of extra spare time. That is the opposite of where I'm at right now. Gotta suck it up to do this paper though so send me a Tweet!!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Wk 1
First week of a new class...Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools. This class looks to get more in depth about using Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts in an educational setting. This first week we specifically explored Blogging. We were asked to read the first 3 chapters of our book "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms" by Will Richardson. The first chapter was an eye opener for several reasons...mostly from the perspective of how much blogs are used in society already and how powerful their impact has been. It provided lots of evidence of how blogs have infiltrated politics, journalism, and business. I took notes to use when I talk to my staff about incorporating blogging into their classrooms. The second chapter full of examples of the role that blogs can play in education. Again, a good way for me to justify my teachers using them as part of their classroom assignments. The third chapter brought to my attention the strategy of "starting small". I have always perceived setting up blogging with the students as a daunting task because of trying to create individual accounts, giving students email addresses, and then trying to administer and censor the blogs. The book suggested starting by explaining blogging and its advantages and then modeling appropriate responses. When students seem to grasp that the book suggests starting with a classroom blog. I thought that was a great idea because it is an excellent warm-up for students and it doesn't require very much micro-management on the teacher's part.
The other assignment we had was to review several blogging creation sites and provide a write-up of our thoughts. I reviewed Edmodo, WordPress, and Blogger. Edmodo wasn't really a blogging site but I still enjoyed looking at it closer. It is essentially a student management system but I liked that you could open some communication lines with their built in message board a la Facebook. I already use a comment section on my Google Site that I use for my classroom website so I can accomplish that communication without making students log in to a SMS. I liked how Edmodo allowed you to connect to other teachers and there were a few cool features like creating badges for assignments. WordPress and Blogger are both great blogging creation sites that are easy to use for beginners and feature some advanced options to satisfy expert bloggers. I think I'll probably try WordPress when we introduce blogging to our middle school students since I don't have to deal with students having Google accounts. My middle school students have email addresses through Gaggle.net but not Google accounts...yet.
The other assignment we had was to review several blogging creation sites and provide a write-up of our thoughts. I reviewed Edmodo, WordPress, and Blogger. Edmodo wasn't really a blogging site but I still enjoyed looking at it closer. It is essentially a student management system but I liked that you could open some communication lines with their built in message board a la Facebook. I already use a comment section on my Google Site that I use for my classroom website so I can accomplish that communication without making students log in to a SMS. I liked how Edmodo allowed you to connect to other teachers and there were a few cool features like creating badges for assignments. WordPress and Blogger are both great blogging creation sites that are easy to use for beginners and feature some advanced options to satisfy expert bloggers. I think I'll probably try WordPress when we introduce blogging to our middle school students since I don't have to deal with students having Google accounts. My middle school students have email addresses through Gaggle.net but not Google accounts...yet.
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