Final Project

My final project for EME 5050 can be found here.

Why Don't College Students Get It?

This will be more of a rant then a blog.

My wife is currently taking two college classes that require collaboration via technology.  They are basically emailing files back and forth.  My wife's laptop is falling apart and we are working on moving all her files over to my old one that is in better shape.  (I got a new Macbook Pro about 2 months ago)  She is in charge of taking all the documents and putting them together into one file.  They are not using google docs like I would but I digress.

My wife, for both classes, has made it abundantly clear that she does not  own MS Office 2008 and that all files must be saved as the older version or .rtf.  These "kids" in her class refuse to listen to her.  She has received many .docx and .pptx files.  Her laptop does not have enough memory to even download converters so she can't open them on her laptop.  When asked why they can't save in the correct file format they tell her that they don't know how.  How can you make it to college and not know how to save in a different file format?   File>save as> click file format>scroll down to the correct format.  DONE!

Her solution has been to get on my Macbook Pro and log in and convert on that computer.  Once we get all her info over to the other laptop she won't have to do this.

Recently she encountered a .odp file.  She had no clue what it was and asked me for help.  I googled it and found out it was an Openoffice.org file.  So, being the techie that I am I downloaded Openoffice and low and behold you can save your files in Openoffice as MS docs!

This has led to an interest in Openoffice.  I will probably do some work in it to see how it does.

If you are a college student please learn how to save file formats!

Rubrics

Rubrics are a useful assessment tool for teachers.  They allow for the students to know what is expected of them.  In my classroom I have never used a rubric to grade with but I plan to start soon.

Designing a rubric is quite easy.  Basically you have columns that are the levels of achievement and rows for different categories.  I have found that rubrics can be cumbersome when first starting to make one.  It is important to know what objectives you want to cover when you put in the different categories.  It is also a good idea to use a schools grading scale that already exists.

I used a web tool to create a rubric.  I liked using it because I can share it with other teachers that might be working on the same project.  I also liked how it set everything up for me and I just had to input data.

I will probably be using rubrics in my classroom more due to this assignment.

You can view my rubric here.  It can also be viewed below.

Evaluating Educational Technology

While taking my EME 5050 course we discussed evaluating educational technology.  I wanted to take a moment to discuss ways of doing that.

The textbook gave us an example rubric to use for websites.  It had 9 categories and 4 levels to rate the categories.  I would like to develop a quick version of this rubric for people that might be in a hurry.  I would probably use authority, objectivity, audience, and currency as my four categories.  These four seem to be the most important if someone is in a hurry.  These types of rubrics are valuable to teachers and students so that they can determine if they are using a website that is going to benefit their particular project.


Another type of evaluation discussed was software.  Software is a key component to education everyday.  If the software doesn't function correctly the class could be hindered from learning at the highest level.  Software has always been one of my concerns in my classroom.  I don't like the idea of just putting my students in front of a computer and hoping for the best.  The evaluation given in the book is a good way for me to determine if I should use the program or not.  The evaluation includes an abilities section so that I can determine if the software is appropriate for my student's abilities.  I find this rubric very useful.

Educational Wiki Use

Many people have heard of www.wikipedia.com, and they know that it is a website that has its users modifying it.  The question I am faced with is how can I apply this into my classroom?  Recently I signed up for a wiki to find out.

The first thing I did was go to www.wikispaces.com.  Signing up was easier then I first thought.  They did not ask for as much information as other websites have asked for.  Once signed in it was pretty easy to set up the pages.  Overall set up was easy.

The next step is to figure out how to use this in my classroom.  I am not sure that I would feel comfortable allowing my students to edit pages in the true spirit of a wiki.  I have already set up a blog site for them and I think that anything I can do on the wiki I can do on the blog site.  I also don’t like how the wiki is open to the public to view.  In this world we have a duty to protect our students.  They do have a pay for option that would require someone to sign in like my blog site but that costs money and with today’s budget cutting I probably won’t be getting the money anytime soon for a project like that.

If I were to set up a wiki for my class I would imagine that I’d use it for collaborative work.  I have learned this week through my EME 5050 class that students need to be active learners.  By providing a place for them to be active this feeds the need.  Students can do projects on the wiki like digital stories.  One student could provide the pictures, another could do the voiceover, and a third could put all the pieces together.  By having all the students actively working they will learn more.

I do see that wiki’s have their place and I will make an attempt at using them but I will be very careful about the security of my students in the process.

Digital Storytelling Part 2

I have been asked the question, "How can digital storytelling benefit your students?"  In this blog I will attempt to answer the question and show an example of digital storytelling.

I think that digital storytelling will benefit my students because it provides a different medium for my students to put stories on.  They may not like to write with a piece of paper and pencil but they really like to type.  The other digital media that is used in digital storytelling can be enjoyable for my students as well.  My students are very interested in music.  If they can do a project with music it will help them be more engaged in the project.  Another piece of digital media that they may like is videos.  My class loves to talk about movies all the time.  If they were to create a movie instead of writing a story they will definately be more engaged.  Lastly, if the students have a tangible piece to see and interact with they will feel more successful.

Digital storytelling is also benefitial for students to learn how to communicate.  Sometimes tone could be lost in written word.  If the students could show their feelings through the digital media they would be better understood.  For example, making a story with soft music could show that they feel calm.  This may sound simple but tone does say a lot about how a person is feeling.

It is important that students use digital storytelling properly.  Before I made my project I had to map it out.  This is an important organizational skill that students need to learn.

As you can see digital storytelling has many benefits to K-12 students.

How does Digital Storytelling Benefit My Students?

View more presentations from treese83.

Digital Storytelling Part 1

Recently I had to make a video for my EME 5053 class.  I am going to give an informal overview of the process.

• I used Windows Photo Story 3 to put it into a slide show with music.
• I then used www.zamar.com to switch it over to a Mac friendly file format
• I used iMovie to do the voice over recording

Some positives:

• I was able to have a finished product 
• Photo Story 3 worked like I thought it would
• iMovie was easy to use

Some negatives:

• Due to the file conversion the video is a little pixelly
• Due to file conversion the audio is slightly off
• When trying to email it to my professor the file was too big and our college's email service did not allow it to be sent

The reason I had to switch over to iMovie instead of Moviemaker is because my PC does not have a microphone and my Mac does.  I simply converted the file to a .mov file and then made a project in iMovie to record the voiceover.  For a first attempt I am pleased with the end result.

Here is the final project.  Let me know what you think.

My Life in the Cloud

I have recently heard the Internet and it’s blogs, websites, wikis, and other uses, referred to as the “Cloud.”  Here, I will take a moment to reflect on what my life looks like in the cloud. 

My reputation is very important to me.  The Internet is a massive tool that can be beneficial or harmful to my reputation.  The Internet is permanent and not going anywhere.  This makes the information on the Internet permanent.  It is important to me to have the right information about me on the Internet.  As part of my effort to protect my reputation I have created a Google profile.  It can be viewed by clicking here or by clicking on the link in my blog.  I have included my name and employer so that people are sure that they are viewing the correct profile.  I would not want another Timothy Reese that has a sketchy character to be clicked on instead of me.  Hopefully, this and other small steps can help build a strong and honest name. 

The Internet is a type of village.  The people on the Internet mingle among each other and learn about each other.  This is comparable the villages of 100 years ago.  Those people knew each other well and knew each other’s darkest secrets and never forgot.  The Internet is similar.  When I post comments on a blog they are here for all to see.  I could delete them later but if someone read them they will not forget what I said.  It is important to think about what I have said before I hit the “submit” button.  While the Internet has added to globalization it is also helping to make the world smaller and this village feel.

Reputation is earned.  A person must earn their reputation.  This very blog is going to be a part of my reputation whether it is viewed as a positive or negative aspect of my reputation.  People will read this blog or other websites that I use and make judgments against or for my character.  I must make sure that these judgments are based on true statements.  Using passwords is a way to protect my blog from allowing other people to use it and make statements that I do not say.  This is a very simple way to protect my reputation.

Sometimes there is information on the Internet that is not true about your character.  I do know of one website that quotes me as saying something and I never said it.  This was the result of some people thinking they were funny and pretending to be me and calling a newspaper about a certain event.  As part of protecting my reputation I immediately called the paper and they retracted their story.  Even though they did that I can search the quote and still find it on the Internet.  I have been emailing the website that has the quote for two years and they have not responded to me.  As part of the defense of my reputation I have a copy of the original story and the retraction and can refute any information that is wrong. 

My life is in the cloud but is it my life that people see or another Timothy Reese’s life?  My name is a pretty common name and I got over four million hits when I searched it on google.com.  There is a Timothy Reese that is a member of the United States military.  There is a Timothy Reese that has a lawn company.  Those are just a few.  I would not want people to be confused about which one is the real Timothy Reese that they are looking for.  The Google profile that I created should help with this because I included information that people would recognize as the Timothy Reese that they have met.

I am up there in the cloud.  Can you see me?  I hope you see the real me.

ePals is Up!

I am very excited to announce that I received all the information needed for epals.com and I have finished creating user names for my students. I am very excited to start with this project in my classroom. I now need to set up assignments and forum topics for my class and we are good to go!

Epals.com came with some pleasant surprises. Awhile back I was commenting to a colleague that it would be so nice if the students had email on the district server so that they can send and receive school related emails at school. I also commented that the teacher could send announcements this way to the students and it would be safe because district email is monitored. Well, my wish came true and I didn't even plan it that way. My class now has e-mail through epals.com. The great thing about it, is that it is teacher monitored. I can go and see what the students are sending and receiving and block messages if I have to. This is great because it is only supposed to be used for class.

As a side note this is the beginning of networking for my students and I am very excited to facilitate their networking and hope they can carry this on in their middle and high school careers.

Technology in My Classroom and How it's Failing

Recently I've been trying to integrate more technology into my classroom. It has not gone very well so far. One of the problems I feel I am facing is resistance from my school/district.

In my EME 5050 class we've been talking about blogs and how they would be useful for our students to connect to other students. I was very excited about starting a blog for my class and started looking into it. My idea was that I could get my students to write a summary of a book they are reading and post it then comment on other students entries. This would start a mini book club of sorts. I quickly found that it was going to be impossible due to "red tape." The first indication was when I asked some colleagues about it and they warned me it wouldn't work. I smiled at them and said that I'd like to find out on my own. The second indication it wasn't going to go well was when I tried to go to a blogging website while on campus. All blogging websites are blocked district wide. This is a major problem for me because I want my students that are not able to access the internet from home to be able to blog while on campus. So far this is placed on hold until I can get someone from my district to listen to me about the NETS-S standards.

I have decided that I will replace the blog with something temporary. I decided that my students will type a blog on Microsoft Word and save it to the student computers or email me a copy of it. I will then attach it to my website. The students will then have to find another student's blog on my teacher website and comment to it by typing up a response in Microsoft Word and follow the same steps as before. This is way more work than it should be but at least I am getting my students to use technology.

If anyone else has a better idea please let me know.

Websites Galore

Students and teachers use websites everyday. Every website has different purposes. Teachers could use websites to record grades, communicate with other teachers around the world, find lesson plans, research a subject, or look for pictures. The list is endless. Students can use websites for the same purposes. There are varying uses for websites and they have become an everyday part of life for most teachers and students.

Using websites has become such an integral part of education that the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has created standards for educators and students. The standards for students are known as National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S). ISTE has also provided standards for teachers known as National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). These standards can be found at http://www.iste.org/. I will share some websites that I have come across that I feel will relate to these standards.

One of the most common uses of websites is performing “searches.” A search can pull up a whole myriad of results that can be difficult to understand. It is important for educators to show students how to use proper searching techniques such as using all lowercase letters. Another way to make a search come up with better results is to use concise words. Searches can be a great resource or can become a headache quickly.

Many school districts have websites for their faculty and parents. The website that my school district uses has recently changed. It is now a one stop shop for anything that is going on in the district. Employees can sign in to the website and access documents that used to be only available from computers at the schools. Teachers can look at the districts curriculum suggestions for pacing. Parents can sign in and look at student’s grades. There is a email directory that people can use to find employee’s email addresses. The new website has been a huge success in my opinion.

I have also found myself spending some time on Florida’s Department of Education website. The most popular reason for me to be visiting the website is to look up state standards. Recently, Florida has changed some subject area standards and they have new ones listed. This has helped me see the differences/similarities between old and new standards. I have also been using the site to look up information on state certification and testing. The Florida Department of Education website is www.fldoe.org.

One website that I have enjoyed using lately is www.eduref.org. A good use for this website is for teachers to have one place to go to find resources. One NETS-T standard is that teachers will collaborate with other teachers. The website has a section where teachers can pose questions and have them answered by other teachers that are members of the website. The NETS-T also calls for educators to create “Digital Age Learning Experiences.” On this website one could find many electronic lesson plans. I feel that this website is a gateway to many other opportunities for educators that cannot be ignored.

Another site that I have come across that I enjoy is www.edweek.org. This website is a hot bed for anything going on in the education news. It has stories linked to it ranging from the California budget crisis to Obama’s recent speech to students. It is important for educators to be linked together so that they can help each other. I have found that if I know what other teachers are struggling or succeeding at, it will make me a better educator.

The last website that I feel meets a lot of the ISTE standards is any blog site such as the one that is the medium for this reflection. Blogging allows students and teachers alike to be creative in how they present information. It allows teachers to collaborate with each other. It allows students to learn language skills while doing something that they enjoy. Teachers can model to their student how to behave on a blog so that the students can have “digital citizenship,” one of the NETS-S standards.

There are a lot of websites on the World Wide Web. Accessing them correctly is hard but doable. I have not yet begun to scratch the surface but will continue digging for good websites to use for my growth as an educator.