Semester Reflections

Well the semester has finally come to a close. Reading through my previous posts I can say I enjoy what I am taking from this class. Especially after looking through my initial blog post on my expectations for the class. I went in to this class wanting to be better acquainted with technology and the different tools available to be used in the classroom. Prior to the class I had never created a website or used any of the Web 2.0 tools we worked with in class (excluding a very primitive form of Google Docs). This blog right here is the first time I have done anything with any sort of blog.

At the conclusion of this class I feel very confident in my ability to use a variety of web based tools to further enhance learning in the classroom. IBA's, IWB's, wikis, movies and so on will be great ways to keep learning fun and interesting for students. Without this class I would have zero preparation for the challenges the future classroom faces with the growing role of technology.

Teachers who have little experience with technology will face numerous challenges as the years pass. So many things have become easier or replaced thanks to technology. Now, after a semester in TPTE 486, I feel confident that as technology's role in classrooms continues to grow I will be fully prepared to adapt and work with it. I have a feeling that I will often be remembering the lessons learned in this class during my time as a teacher.

Wait, I made a website?

By far the thing we worked on the most throughout the semester was the website. Each one of us created our classroom websites as if we were preparing to spend a year teaching. It was a pretty cool task that incorporated everything we did throughout the semester. The sites themselves have information about ourselves the authors, resources taken from our awesome subject area wikis, our technology projects and some of the artifacts we created using Web 2.0 tools. The websites are almost complete and will be a cool little remnant of the class to use in the future when showing off technology skills while job hunting. It was definitely something that you couldn't completely slack on because it needed constant updates throughout the semester. You've bothered to keep up with this blog for this long, so why not give this whole website thing a look as well? Check it out!

Making Movies

The digital story project was a lot of fun. We chose a topic relevant to our subject matter and using pictures, either our own or those we got off the internet (free of copyright), we created a digital story with iMovie. The iMovie software was really simple to use, especially if you followed the directions from our packet. Once all the pictures were put into the sequence we waited all that was left was adding captions, a title, credits and a soundtrack. Again all of this was pretty easy if you followed the directions and there were plenty of websites provided to get royalty free music.

The topic I chose was our 32nd President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. I'm a big FDR fan and his presidency covers a time really interesting to me so I was excited to do this project. I think that it all turned out well and that I have a solid short movie (about two and a half minutes long) talking about FDR's 12 years in office from the Great Depression through Pearl Harbor and World War II.

I liked this project a lot. It wasn't too hard to do, it was fun, and has plenty of uses in the classroom. Making several of these videos for class presentations or to have as an introduction to topics would not be difficult to accomplish and I think would be fun for the students. Below is the video I made.

Getting Digital with Diagrams

Most of the hands on activity this week in class revolved around the Inspiration software which is used to create digital diagrams and outlines. This software allows you to create a web diagram linking different subtopics and themes to a major topic. The software comes full of pictures that can be used to enhance your digital diagram, as well as a way to add notes to each "bubble" that provides further information on the topic. In the software you can also hyperlink phrases or themes to take the user to a website with further information on the subject. Of course when this is done it is important to make sure the website is reliable. Here is a screenshot of the digital diagram I created on World War II:

This was probably one of my favorite programs that we have used this year. It was simple and easy to use and with a little tinkering, could be spaced to look really good. Each "bubble" only contains a couple words maximum, but the note feature alleviates this. This tool is super useful in my opinion. In a classroom with an interactive whiteboard the digital diagram can be displayed and notes and links within the web can be accessed as the subject is approached. In instances where students have computers with them they can use the diagram as supplement to instruction following along and using the extra information given while studying. Even without the software the screenshot of the image is a successful basic study tool, linking topics and subtopics together. I see a lot of uses that can come out of the Inspiration software. 

Interactive Flip Charts

The majority of class this week was spent working on our flip charts for the Interactive White Board assignment. I find the project extremely useful because many classrooms today have Smartboards or Promethean boards. There is definitely a learning curve trying to figure out how to work the software and get the flip chart to do exactly what you want. I've found that as I have gone along and gotten better with the different aspects of the program I've had to tweak the outline of my flip chart. One thing I don't like is that while ActivInspire can be used on my home laptop, it doesn't seem to cooperate as well as it does in the classroom. This is more likely a problem with my laptop itself as opposed to the software, but it is nonetheless frustrating. Thankfully there have been plenty of hours where the lab is open and can be used. This is probably one of the more fun assignments that we've done in the class and I'm excited to learn more about Promethean and ActivInspire as time goes on to perfect use in the classroom.

Classroom Teaching, IWBs and More

This was a very busy week in the classroom. On Tuesday my group, TimeToast, presented our Web 2.0 along with Google Forms. We also spent a decent amount of time working with the Interactive White Boards and our flip charts, as well as learn about Animoto.

The presentation was not as great as I would have liked and came across fairly bland. As a group we did not do a great job splitting the information up and presenting to the class in a manner that showed all of our competence with the software. We could have prepared much better, especially because TimeToast will be especially useful with subjects like history.

I am excited about the interactive white board flip charts. The Promethean board looks to be a very useful means of teaching in the classroom. Whether it be for lecture or interactive activity it is definitely something I wish I had had in the classroom as a student. The flip chart I'm working on deals with the Great Depression and the cultural and economic effects it had on the American people. I'm excited to work on it and with the ActivInspire software.

Last but not least we worked with Animoto on Thursday which was actually quite fun. The 30 second videos aren't bad and it doesn't cost too much to upgrade to have more opportunities with it. Here is the video I made in class Thursday:


Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

Campus Hunting

The last couple of weeks we worked on a scavenger hunt themed towards our specific program areas. The scavenger hung I participated in was social studies oriented and involved finding items around campus that had political and historical relevance. We worked in groups and used either cameras or iPhones. My group used an iPhone camera and shared them with each other via a dropbox upload from the phone.

Once the photos were uploaded we individually worked on editing the photos and creating an album in Picasa Web albums. We organized the album and named the photos according to the scavenger hunt list. Once the album was complete we created a slideshow and uploaded it to our websites. We did a similar process with photos we found online to create a google presentation. The photos I used were of U.S. Presidents from the 20th century.



Scavenger Hunt

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U.S. Presidents of the 20th Century