Podcasting

Some tips that I found helpful while listening to my podcast (on the beach...haha).

1.) Everyone knows to speak slowly and enunciate, but be careful that you don't speak TOO slowly or enunciate TOO much. It can sound silly. I think I may have done this in mine.

2.) Speak on something you are passionate about. It WILL show in your voice.

3.) Don't script it, but a detailed outline would work well.

4.) Be natural and conversational. Talk like you are talking to a group of students, NOT like you are talking into a microphone.

5.) Use details and descriptive language. Auditory learners will "see " the picture you have made with your words.

Distance Education

This past week, I was on vacation. I got to see some of the true flexibility of online education. One point that was at the forefront of my mind all week was access. How do we make access available to all?
Grants?
Community Internet hubs?

I know that many students have trouble finding access to Internet, and that could be a huge problem in our future world of education. I think that as times change, people unfamiliar with technology may be forced into it. I know that my grandmother never knew what a podcast was until this course. After listening to mine, she thought she might like to subscribe to some podcasts, if she had the tech to do it. She even remarked that she liked that "it was kind of like free radio without commercials". Maybe convincing people about new tech is just a matter of allowing them to try it for themselves.

Classroom with a view

I'm sitting here waiting to debark on the ship. As I have some time to reflect on the class so far, I think I will. This class has been one of the most fast-paced classes with the most assignments that I have ever had. I have been frustrated and overwhelmed, as well as joyful when figuring out new concepts and finding new ways to explore tech in the classroom. I am taking four classes this summer, and I think that I am going to get the most out of this one. Through all of the difficulty, I have gathered some great ideas, new understandings, and some real world applications of my newfound knowledge. My favorite new tools are definitely GoogleSites and blogs. I think RSS could be a new fave too if I use it in the right context. I'm not quite sure yet about wikis and Moodle.

I am looking forward to taking my education on the road this week...

Podcast and Website

Since one of our topics this week was podcasting, I thought I would reflect on my podcast a little. First of all, I hate listening to my own voice. Plus, my allergies were going crazy so my voice was scratchy in some places and really high-pitched and nasally in other places. I liked the topic I chose, but I wish I wouldn't have scripted it so much. I tend to work best when I "fly by the seat of my pants". My podcast may have sounded more natural if I had done this. Oh well. Live and learn. Next time, I will most likely not feel as anxious because it won't be work that I am completing for a grade. I hope it goes better for my students. I would really like to get into some podcasts over children's stories next year. Also, I would like to do some oral presentations with my 4-6 writing classes, and I thought podcasts would be great for that!!

Instructional Website
I found that after my WebQuest, my Instructional Website was much easier to plan and do. I like the topic I chose, and I was glad to see that my design was approved by Dr. Ingram. I thought I really messed up the design part. I just don't really plan out projects like that. I guess every designer has their own process in life. I am finished with the content of my site. Now I need to polish it and make it flow!

Moodle

This may be because i am new, but I am finding Moodle to be a tough format to work with. I think that my concept is strong--an online writing center, but I am finding that Moodle itself is tough to use. I am clicking on the below Moodle docs pages for more info, but many times it doesn't apply to me because I am not an administrator for the site.
I enjoyed the instructional website, and I found some really awesome resources for my Moodle page. I just hope I can make it look as nice as my content. It seems disorganized to me.

I am SO glad the discussion boards have slowed down. I actually liked how this class did a lot of the reading and discussion upfront, and now we are all able to make our projects more cohesive with more depth and breadth of knowledge among all of these concepts.

For those of you that are stressed

Haha...lol cats
This is how I feel today!!

Head Explosion/wiki

I have been reading over the blogs, and it is nice to hear some commiseration about the crazy amount of work on top of discussion topics. I find that I am liking the blogs more and more compared to the discussions.

I'm glad our wiki is finally set to go. I think it looks like a good tool for collaboration. I have read about them quite a bit, but I have never participated in one before. I like the discussion tool at the bottom of each page. It's nice to have a place where just you and the collaborators can discuss the page. I don't know about anyone else, but I love the email feature in the wiki that allows you to be notified via email when things are changed. It not only keeps me on pace, but it let's me know what has been done to the wiki without having to log in all of the time.

Wikis in Education

I'm not very far into the Wiki topic, but I have already seen what is somewhat paramount in Wiki use: leadership. It seems that Wikis are an amazing collaborative tool, but my students will most definitely need a strong leadership component to a Wiki. I'm seeing that just with us College students, the Wiki is getting chaotic. I think that perhaps an outline set up by a leader or teacher would be best for Wiki set-ups. Perhaps I will see a difference when actually doing the Wiki project, but for now I feel unsure and disorganized. This does teach a strong lesson about creating a Wiki for my students.

READ THIS! to motivate

One key to making sure students read your blogs or discussions:

As I am reading the countless discussion headings and blog titles, I realize that I more often read the titles with catchy headlines first. I try to write to motivate my reader when I write, but sometimes I don't think to start with my title. When I am writing to students or teaching them about this, I think this will be an important pointer to make. Students need to include catchy, content-specific titles in their online writings. So simple, but I took a look at discussions again and realize how many of us don't do it!!!

Another great resource

Got this from our classmate L. Best. It's a hash tag resource reference.
Http://edudemic.com/2011/10/twitter-hashtag-dictionary/

Blogging better than class discussions

I am surprisingly liking this blogging stuff. I like it much more than the classroom discussions. If people would comment on each others blogs often, it would be almost the same thing. Feeling seriously overwhelmed with all of these discussions AND blogs.

My Top Twelve Uses for Blogs in a classroom

1.       My favorite use for my younger students: Tattling Tiger. Students tend to tattle so much on each other. I am going to start a blog next year for the students to tell to tattling tiger (clip art of tiger at the top of the screen). Students will write in their complaints. I will monitor these and give attention to those who are valid. Students will need to have anonymous blogging ability for this one to work. Maybe allow students to write their complaints in the comments section below?

2.       Use blogs to talk about perspectives, whether it’s the author’s viewpoint or that of one of the characters in a story.

3.       Use as a journaling tool for students

4.       Freewriting (prewriting for a writing project)—from our readings: E-learn Space Website (Siemens, 2002)

5.       Take an issue from a classroom lecture and ask students to apply it to a real world situation

6.       E-portfolio (Richardson, 2010)

7.       Blog the summary for each chapter in a book (students would not be able to look at each other’s blogs for this one).

8.       Back and forth response between students and someone else (author, motivator, etc). (Richardson, 2010, p. 23)

9.       Between colleagues on a school committee, or between people involved in parent/teacher organizations (Richardson, 2010, p.24).

10.   Use them to share teaching tips between grade levels. Some teachers just have better ways to teach a certain skill. This may even avoid all of the sometimes pointless weekly or monthly grade-level meetings.

11.   New form of classroom newsletter

12.   As an exit ticket at the end of the day. Students can list the top ten most important things they learned today, or a summary of a particular subject.

Blog Ideas

Use as journals
Students can get online in the morning or during center time and write on a blog instead of their daily journals.

Use for publishing writing
Students can type up prewriting, rough drafts, etc. into a blog. I would recommend a hard copy of them as well (print blog page) for revisions and proof reading. Then, when the student is finished, he or she can show all of their work in the writing process. Other students could even get on and critique the writing to aid in revision and proof reading.

Good ideas

I am going to use this blog as a way to track and organize all of the great teaching ideas I am getting from all of our classroom discussions, so some of these posts may not be as great and reflective as the others. Please disregard any that you don't find applicable.

First Blog Ever

Well, this will be my first official blog. It feels a little weird at first. I hope this becomes more natural as the course goes on. Since I was going to blog this afternoon, that was the first folder I checked on Blackboard Learn today. I do think that blogging could be a great instructional tool. I have done exit tickets with my students before-- where they have to tell me what they learned before they can leave the classroom. This blog may be a great way to do that online. Kids could do a daily top ten list--the top ten most important things they learned each day via blog.

Hmmmm....this is feeling more natural already.