Vodcast and Blog and htmal

The problem I hit initially with embedding the vodcast was that when I go to edit html on blogger it doesn't show any mark up on any of what I've typed. So....I went back to teacherweb and copied the whole html for the post and pasted it in and then it worked. But the good news is I can see what to do with photostory, jodix works if one is persistent and photobucket works just fine. So - I've got my vodcast done and I can see how I might do an on-line lecture using these tools. You learn something new every day, or should

Vodcast again

Let me introduce myself - this is a short video to say hello and give parents an idea what sort of teacher their kids will be getting.

Vodcast from PPT

Now that I'm home safe and sound from Michigan and back to work. I've made a powerpoint of an introduction thing, converted it to a video with photostory, changed it with jonix to an mp4 file and uploaded it to photobucket. So far so good. So far I haven't been able to get the html code to embed properly. It's getting late - so I'm putting the link up above with the title. Right now the edit html isn't showing up like I suspect, so I'll try it this way and work on it more tomorrow.

Posting from Nashville, Michigan

This is a something I never thought to do in this place. I've been up to Michigan to visit family and I set up today to drive through my old home town, Nashville, Michigan. It's in Barry County and the joke is that you know you live in Barry County if you mow your yard and find a car. My son is doing a class at ACC and sent me a paper to proof read, so I needed a place to go where I could set up my computer and check my mail. So here I am in Putnam District Library - my library from 6th to 12th. It's in an old house with books in every corner. I'm in what what was the dining room, looking at a beautiful fireplace surround that is still here. I've just been checked out by the library cat and they just finished story hour for the kiddos. Amazing. 40 years ago I haunted this place for books, now they have books and open wifi. Wow. Sometimes when you come home things are better than they used to be.

Weekly Reflections

Ok, I finally feel overwhelmed. I looked at the material on other tools and hit overload. For this week's project I'm going to look at using photostory to turn powerpoint presentations into vodcasts. I'd like to make a "why you should trust me with your kid" introduction for parents to put on my website. Powerpoint is my tool of choice anyway, and my classroom computers come with photostory – so that seems like a good mesh of tools. Anyway, that's the plan.

As for reflections on the class:

How would you describe this course to a colleague?

Web 2.0 will show you how to use interactive tools such as blogs and wikis. You will also learn about media sharing and about the tools that are available to make and publish media files. Through the interactive aspects of the class you'll have a chance to see how other professionals, outside your particular discipline or grade levels, see the tools and get ideas about how to use them in a classroom setting.

What was the best part of the course and why?

The best part of the class was seeing how everyone else looks at the tools we've talked about. I've gotten some really good ideas from what other people are saying – I'm seeing ways to implement these tools that I would not have figured out on my own.

What will you take away from this course to use in your classroom?

I've already changed my teacherweb page to make a blog the first page. And I intend to ask all my students and parents to subscribe to my teacherweb page. That way I can publish happy hints or pertinent information – and I'm making the kids responsible for getting it. Goodness knows the little weasels already use some of these tools – I might as well put that to use. As a long term goal I'd like to get something like moodle working so the kids can do much of the class on auto-pilot, particularly on days when they are working on projects I'm certainly going to investigate teacherwebs blackboard page – I want to see if this is a way to have the kids do homework on line.

What is one thing you would change about this course for the next group?

Ummm, tell them to figure more than 2 hours a week – not because it takes that long to do the lessons, but because there is just so much to explore.

Would you recommend this course to anyone else? Why or why not?

I'd certainly recommend this class to anyone who wants to learn about web 2.0 tools - or even if they just want to do some exploring. Some of the things we've seen – like referencing podcasts or video – are MUCH easier than I thought – easy enough that I can actually use them. It is better to know what is out there and then decide it isn't for you than to ignore useful tools through ignorance. For teachers it is a matter of put your money where your mouth is – knowledge is always better than ignorance – go learn something.

Photobucket Success

After learning how to pick up a picture from photobucket and put it in to blog using html code, I wondered if that would work on a teacher web blog. And yes it does! Success - click on the title for this post to check it out.

So.... in theory if I wanted to upload graphics, but not use up my storage on teacherweb, I could post pictures on photobucket and then reference them on teacherweb. And this has also made clear to me how we could do that in moodle. Ok, smack head, go "duh", that's the point you've all been trying to make. It takes me awhile, but I do get there eventually.

Technology Availability Question

So after looking at videos on youtube I'm somewhat making the assumption the kids know how to do this even if I don't. That's ok, I know lot's of things they don't and I don't mind learning from them . However, the basic technology piece is a camera and a microphone. So the question - what are are the odds of getting the district to buy cameras and microphones for classrooms? Technology is only as good as it is available.

On the other hand, I wouldn't have even known to ask that question until I took this class.

Quilts

Photobucket Album

I just had to try the button in Photobucket that said to share in a blog - so hey, this does work. These are some of my quilts - the few I have pictures from - some you've seem earlier, but here is the finished version of the mosaic quilt and my latest - the Wheel of the Year quilt. It is another one for St. Andrew's Presbyterian - the lady in charge of the children's programs wanted a wall hanging on the liturgical year. Ok, I can do that.

Week 5: Media Sharing

Well here we are at week 5 and I've definetly seen things I hadn't before. I'd never explored youtube - and that was an education in itself. I searched on McNeil High School and found some of the things our media tech kids had done. And there are an amazing number of videos that deal on the theme of "math sucks" or "why I hate my math class".

Now to the questions:

Definition of shared media:

Shared media refers to audios and videos that are stored on the web and may be viewed, copies, and modified by others. In order to allow the originators of the work control, but still allow wider distribution and use than a standard copyright, Creative Commons, a non-profit corporation allows originators to exercise control over their work through creative common licenses. In this way videos and audios can be used freely viewed and copied – and modified as needed – without violating the fair use provisions for standard copyright, which allows for only minimal copies on a spontaneous basis and does really take into account new video and audio technology.

Create a photo sharing account - I've done that on photobucket (and I've used that one because it supports both stills and video. I'll be adding images to it later and will figure out how to get them to work with a blog. Next week I'm going up to Grand Rapids, Michigan so I may just wait until I get up there and post some images from some place interesting (and yes there are interesting places in Grand Rapids. )

Embedding Videos

This didn't seem difficult at all for the wiki At least from you tube it gives you the embedding html right on the page and it is just a copy and paste into the widget sort of thing.

Blog About a Video

There are so many videos out there – and I am really impressed by what kids have done (although I’d get creative too if it would get me out of a precal midterm). I was looking for things with a little humor and also decided to look for some things dealing with trigonometry and the unit circle. That's one place I think the kids could use a pointer to a good off-line tutorial. To be fair, there are also lots of seriuous videos out there done by teachers, but they get that in class from me - I wanted something different.

This one maybe not the best instructional video, but it really is a good example of what kids can do – amazingly so. Ok, so maybe I need to give them extra credit for making a video on something. I’m not sure about alternative assessments, but this is kind of neat



Alex and Brittany explain the unit circle: This is amazing – actually the best thing I’ve seen on how to memorize the unit circle – which is not one of our most popular activities. Maybe this will help – and it has a good visuals – which is what I need.


Four Man Math Band – so they wouldn’t have to take a midterm in precal, but another good explanation of trig.

Embedding is easier on the wiki since it has the embed widget button, but I'm going to see if this works.

Five Song Playlist

Well actually I did seven songs, but it is now embedded in my wiki http://mrsrice-mcneil.wikispaces.com/

I tried embedding it here by copying in the html code, but that didn't work, so check out my wiki.

What did you learn?
I learned that there is more to filing sharing than just silly videos – ok, that’s part of it, but there is some neat stuff out there. I know so many people who are just to scared to try anything new – obviously the folks who use youtube didn’t get that memo. There were a fair number of grown-up videos for math – and some of the kid ones were not that good, but it is good to see people who aren’t afraid to just do something. Also I learned about the concept of backing up your photos online – I never thought of that use. Most of my photos are paper copies, but I finally snagged a digital camera of my own and will definetly use this technology. I also like the idea that photos would be accessible at home or at school. I learned that there is more music out there than vapid rap and rock. I found some good concert band music on playlist – so maybe I will have to see about an ipod some day.

How will you use what you have learned?
I’d like to use some of the videos I’ve seen in class as a way to engage my students. What I don’t know is whether a youtube video will play on a school computer. I’ve heard that we’ve blocked that site. And there are some good tutorial videos out there I’m wondering if there is a way to keep a good playlist of those that I can embed in my teacherweb page – or I just use a links page. If I can set up a student blog, that would be one thing I’d ask the kids to post – find a good one, post the link for others to use. That way it would be more than just me hunting for interesting things. And after seeing what some of the kids can do, I’d be tempted to allow them to use video for assignments where they would be doing a presentation anyway. Actually I wonder if kids who are shy about standing up in class would do better with video productions?

How did you feel about this tool?
Media sharing does have some uses I can see (aside from the obvious one of amusement value). Yes, I can see how some of this could be used even in a traditional math class

What do you not want to forget about this tool?
How to find videos I want and how to embed them or link to them. Also, just how much material is out there and continues to be created.

How can this be used in the classroom or in your educational role?
I can see using media sharing in the classroom for both an attention getting and for visual lectures. I can see using it as reference material for out of school tutorials and I can maybe seeing letting my kids do a dual project with a media tech class or something to make their own tutorials and lectures.

Would you use a shared media like playlist.com?
Yes, I’d use something like playlist.com. I could see having different playlists by topic – or letting kids set up their own playlists on a topic of my choice.

Should you use this in the classroom or your educational role?
Yes I’d say media sharing is something that should be used. We are to some extent finding the kids where they already are. Media sharing is not news to the kids. I do worry about parental controls and I worry about distribution of media, but there have to be ways around those questions.

What questions do you still have about these tools?
I need to do some exploration with video playlists and I need to find out what will play on the school computers. Those are the two main ones. Mainly I want to look for ways where I can get the kids to do the work with these techniques – they all know youtube and its ilk – let them go find the resources.

Wiki

I actually did set up a wiki, although I haven't really done anything with it. If we end up with moodle for school use I'll probably use it for wikis rather than wikispaces. But I've set this up and added a music page and a playlist for some music I like.

Here's the link http://mrsrice-mcneil.wikispaces.com/ or click on the title.

Moodle, Turning Point, Etc

Today I went to a professional development class on intelligent classroom tools and it was actually fun. I went to the sessions on Turning Point and Moodle.

Ok, Turning Point - an in class response system that works with powerpoint. I like the automatic response stuff and I can see how to restructure my powerpoints to add turning point slides. I don't like the idea of having two versions of all my slides - one to post on line and one to use in class with turning point, but that may or may not be necessary, I do like the anonymity of the answers - and the idea that one can use the responses as a daily grade. What I'm not sure about is the depth of the questions. They are meant for quick response - multiple choice or true/false. I need to figure out how to use this to push higher level thinking. The second part of every question in statistics is "why?" and turning point does not lend itself to that.

Moodle is a system that allows posting resources for classes, creating wikis and blogs, and doing on-line worksheets and assessments. The gentleman who taught the class used it for his physics final last year. I really think I could like this tool - particularly as finding a place to put homework on line will be a big deal for my stat class next year, since we'll be using a classroom set of books. There is a way to import files from examview - and I think that might work for precal. It has ways to shuffle questions and answers so each kid gets their own version of a worksheet or quiz. I could see using that for precal if I was willing to give on making them show their work. Right now it can only be used on RRISD networks, but the plan is to have sign ins available through the internet so it can be used at home. That means I could use it for homework (much like the UT system).

I can see potential for both of these tools, but the ever present worry is finding the time to create the resources that are needed.

Janet

More on Wikis

When I logged into wikispaces I found this link.
http://blog.wikispaces.com/2008/06/wikispaces-connecting-teachers-students-and-parents.html

Looking through the examples for teacher wikis at the school in question it really looks like wikis serve as alternative to teacherweb (or teacherweb pages are sort of like wikis, they just aren't called that). The one teacher site they show has different pages for procedures, supplies, and so on, just like teacherweb.

Just interesting - and puts wikis into a context that I understand.

Week 4 - Wikis - Reflections

Wow, wikis are a lot to take in. I'm going to post my reflections - but I'll keep looking at this and trying my hand at the class wiki.

1. Develop a personal definition of a wiki on your blog.
A wiki is a web page that can be edited online by more than just the owner of the page. Editing privileges can be limited to members of a group, allowing the group to collaborate on the development of the page material.

2. Choose 3 of the wikis listed above to review in your blog -

Teach WIKI
http://teachwiki.wikispaces.com/
The purpose is to centralize information and planning for technology integration – including this class.
The wiki has clear cut instructions and is directly useful to this class. This serves as a good example of how a wiki could be organized that I might be able to follow.
MathTips
http://mathtips.wikispaces.com/ -
I liked this one because it has clear cut examples of problems and integrates audio and video to show children how to solve math problems. I can see the use of the kind of technology in setting up something like a on-line study guide or example of problem solving for precal. I wonder if this is the sort of thing that the photostory program could be used to produce

Welcome to the World
http://welcometotheworld.wikispaces.com/
I really like the idea of developing a class wiki where each page is a specific sub –topic. This wiki links to class wikis. Within each class wikis the kids write the text. For my stat class last year I had pairs of kids develop and deliver lessons on assigned topics. I can see doing this sort of assignment but using the wiki format. That would make it easier for kids who are afraid to talk in front of the class.
Reflection questions


o What did you learn?
I learned what a wiki is – which is something I did not know and I learned at least one of the basic place to host a wiki for free.
o How will you use what you have learned?
I'm not sure about how I'll use this. In theory we need a way for on-level statistics teachers to talk to each other and collaborate (getting math teachers to collaborate is one of those herding cats things). This is easy to do on one campus – we can use the i: drive to share information – and as a last resort we can actually talk to each other. But across campuses it isn't that easy. I know there are curriculum management tools on Gradespeed, but they are not the easiest thing to use and Gradespeed has been known to eat lesson plans and curriculum maps. So maybe a RRISD statistics wiki might be worthwhile – although I don't know if other stat teachers would use it or think it is worthwhile. Umm, making work for other people is a bad thing – but I wonder if this is something that the district curriculum specialists could run? Once upon a time in a previous life as a materials engineer at IBM materials people (who are weird even for engineers) had an internal forum and we did help each other out – engineers could ask questions and get answers. But again –back to herding cats – as an engineering student you are whacked over the head with a 2x4 and forced to learn to be cooperative – I think this is harder for teachers.

I also like the idea of "make a wiki page" as an assignment. The kids are pretty computer savvy and if I could set up a good framework for the subject it might be useful. On other hand, we're looking at higher level thinking skills and I'm not sure how filling in blanks on a page format works at this level. Perhaps rather than doing a micropedia, this might be a way to have them do something like reviews of statistical papers.
o How did you feel about this tool? Wikis
I think wikis can be really useful, but like so many tools the set up time is intimidating. Sorting out what sort of content is needed (or making the framework for the kids to enter the content) is daunting to me. Also, the comments about making sure that one doesn't violate the acceptable use policy is sort of scary. I worry about privacy for the kids – and not doing something wrong unintentionally.
o What do you not want to forget about this tool?
I don't want to forget how to access wikispace – I didn't know sites like that existed – and it's existence makes it practical to have a wiki
o How can this be used in the classroom or in your educational role?
I'm not sure how I'll use this tool. The privacy and acceptable use worries are a concern. On the other hand, making a wiki page on a topic is the sort of thing my little weasels might enjoy – and it would be a good use of the intelligent classroom computers. I need to look at the syllabus – and talk to the other person who will be teaching grade-level statistics at McNeil – and see if between us we can come up with ideas. Also, the AP stat teacher and I have talked about maybe doing something where my kids do the basic work and then her kids pick up and extend the work. Again, I need another person's ideas on how to do this.
o Should you use this in the classroom or your educational role?
Now that's a good question. Do I have a way to use wikis that further educational rather than just use technology for technologies sake. If the answer is yes, then I'd say, yes I should use them.
o What questions do you still have about this tool?
How much work is this going to be? Set up and maintenance – how much time will it take? Who can I con into helping me?

Blogs and Teacher Web

I've been playing with my teacher web page this week - setting it so the blog is the first page. The idea is I could send out information and - if my kids subscribe - they could get information through the blog.

Ok, some problems with this
Yes, teacherweb does have a way to subscribe as an RSS Feed. But, it sends out a note any time any page is updated - not just the blog. I'm not sure I like that - since it doesn't seem to give me a way to separate my stat and precal classes.

Yes, teacher web has an RSS button - except if you use a frame style site and set the first page as the blog, then the RSS button disappears.

On the other hand, the teacherweb support people couldn't have been nicer - they answered my questions and gave me suggestions for work arounds.

Janet