Ed Tech Talk October 1, 2009

Discussion points:

• What were the strengths and weaknesses of the show format?
• Would you participate in future shows of this nature?
• How could this type of webcast be incorporated into the classroom?
• What would you use it for with students?

I logged into the Teachers Teaching Teachers session on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009 at 8 pm (CST). Most of the discussion was centered on a book about Digitial writing. The chat room discussion bounced around from blogs and wikis in the classroom, to internet safety, to blocked sites at school and how to deal with getting it unblocked. There were many, many great links tossed out in the conversation. I had windows open all over checking out sites as the conversation went on.

Strengths and weaknesses? You have to be a good multi-tasker to keep up with this format. Listening to the discussion (that involved 3 speakers last night) and following a rather full chat room was a challenge at times. I can see where this format could lose some people either in listening to the speakers or lose them in the chat discussion.

Would I participate in the future? Definitely yes. I enjoyed the speakers and hearing their experiences. I appreciated the ideas that they shared and their openess in listening to the viewers in the chat area. It is nice to connect with teachers who have similar issues to find out how they handle it.

How could this type of webcast be incorporated into the classroom? This would be a nice way to invite a speaker to your class while students are in the chat area posting questions as they go along. The speaker would be able to answer the questions "on air" for the students. We often ask students to "hold that question until the end" and then of course they forget what they wanted to ask. This would give them the chance to ask before they forget.

What would I use it for with students? Probably the same as my answer to the last question. Plus it could be used as a study session, or a lecture series, a summer break enrichment lectures. I would also have students listen to a musical performance and then post their comments and thoughts about the piece they are listening to.

Ed Tech Talk is a great resource for those involved in education on any level. I will certainly share this site with my colleagues. A definite bookmarked site!

Broadcasting September 29, 2009

Broadcasting Assignment
For this assignment I chose to use dimdim.com. My archived recording can be seen here.
I decided to share with my colleagues my experiences with the website Edmodo. I use Edmodo with my 6th and 7th grade music classes and I think that other teachers in my school would find it very user friendly. I feel it would be another way they could easily integrate technology in their lessons.
I made sure to inform of the meeting, gave them the url to attend and we "met" after school. It was an interesting experience that I would like to share not only in my reflection post but here also.
My first experience with dimdim was at home with a few participants. It went very well and I was pleased with the out come. I see great potential with broadcasting for the classroom. Not only could teachers "bring in" guest speakers, they would be able to hold after hours study sessions, department meetings and even conduct parent meetings. This virtual experience is not the same as really being there but it definitely provides teachers, students and parents another way to communicate and connect the classroom with the world.
Now when I tried dimdim at school, that was another totally different experience. I have linked the second session that I broadcast because the first session was a true learning experience. There were many complications and we all learned quite a bit. We all agreed that the concept has great potential but I think that it was a bit much for our school server. You can see from my recording here that it is difficult to hear and understand although the actual session was much better. I recommend that your school's Internet capabilities are considered when an attempt is made at broadcasting. I prefer the broadcasting methods like dimdim that allow for viewers to "talk" to the presenter although text speak over voice might be preferred with slower systems.
As a lone teacher in my school, with no other music teachers, it would be nice to connect with the other music teachers in my diocese occasionally to share ideas. Would I do broadcasting again? Yes, absolutely.

Because I am now like a dog on a fox hunt, I had to try something else. Here is a quick broadcast from ustream.tv. I liked the video quality and it does have a pop up chat. I will need to try this one with my colleagues. The recording is much better. 10/1/09 update: I tried ustream with the teachers at my school. The video is titled Edmodo in the Classroom and can be found at the same link. You can see that the recording is not good at all. I think that our streaming capabilities at my school are  not up to snuff. The actual broadcast was great. My teachers could hear and see me without any issues. But for recording, not good at all. This would be okay to just broadcast but if you wanted to archive your talk, not an option from my school.

PS: I consider broadcasting a great success when my colleagues all asked me this week when we could try it again! Anything that gets them excited about using technology is worth doing over and over!
 

2010/04/28 Week 7 Inquiry Based Learning

Week 7! This course has really flown by. I cannot believe I am down to the end here in many ways. The end of the course and the end of my classes for my Master's degree in Instructional Media. It has been a fantastic experience. I have learned so much from my instructors and from my classmates. Our final week in Inquiry Based Learning had us creating a Unit Plan based on some of the things we used in previous weeks. Our 5E model was a blueprint for our unit lesson. I had chosen to do a 5E plan on a holocaust lesson and my unit plan integrated technology for activities and assessments. One of the issues I had in constructing an inquiry lesson was in adapting a science based model idea with a far less scientific concept. It was challenging and I don't feel that my idea was a true inquiry study. I do think though that in working through the inquiry lesson process I am able to create lessons that encourage my students to ask questions and explore many possible answers. If I am able to accomplish this, then I know my students will have gained knowledge they did not have before. We also discussed the importance of assessment during the inquiry process and my experience in studying assessment shows that it is a continuous process. Teachers should be using formative assessment throughout their lessons. It is not a one stop item during the class but should happen frequently. So how will I implement inquiry in my class? Because I teach many levels of students (K-8), I have the opportunity to try inquiry based lessons in a variety of ways. I would like to find one idea for each grade level to explore. Again, my challenge is in finding investigable questions for my students to explore. My class time with them is limited and this will also present a challenge. However, despite the bumps in the proverbial road, I think that an inquiry based lesson is worth exploring. Expecially if it encourages students to ask more questions and search for more answers.

2010/04/23 Week 6 Inquiry Based Learning 5Es

The 5E instructional model was a focus this week in class. The 5E model is a process that moves between five areas in instruction.

They are Engage, Explore, Exlpain, Elaborate and Evaluate. This was developed by the Biological Science Curriculum Study. Which brings me to part of my dilema this week. Science is by it's nature one of exploration. I had some difficulty transferring the process into my discipline of music. Not that music cannot be exploratory but not in the same sense as science. Even though the 5E process was a bit difficult to adapt in the same way as science, the five areas should be present in any content lesson. Educators should always try to engage their students at the start of a lesson. The "hook" to grab their attention and gain their interest should get them thinking towards the concept of the lesson. The next phase is to let students explore, ask questions, and search for answers. Any well designed lesson would give students the opportunity to discover the concept and then move on to explaining what they have found. Students should then be encouraged to naturally move toward elaborating in their research and discovery. Almost any lesson could be fashioned in this manner. If teachers work towards guiding students to an inquiry process the learning will be more meaningful. If the learning is meaningful and students are able to apply it to their world, they will be more likely to remember the information. My great question this week though is that the 5E process is a moderately longer than average process. I wonder if teachers will be willing or have the time to devote to the 5E model? On the other hand, how can they not? sources: http://moodle1.wilkes.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=55135

2010/04/16 Week 5 Inquiry Based Learning

This week one of our goals in Inquiry Based Learning was to use web 2.0 tools to engage students in the inquiry process. This was by far one the more "fun" weeks to explore. I look at web 2.0 tools as a playground and who can resist a playground? Web 2.0 tools are the perfect vehicle to get your students interested in exploring and researching a topic. There is a multitude of sites to inspire everyone. It doesn't matter if you prefer writing poetry, painting pictures, designing graphs, organizing facts and figures, there is something for all tastes. The students who would otherwise be overwhelmed by traditional library research would be able to find a method of research on the web that fits their learning style. One of the best things a teacher could do for their students would be to introduce them to the many web tools available to use in an inquiry project. One of my very favorite places to get new ideas is from the site Janes Pick of the Day. This site is by Jane Knight, a Social Learning Specialist and founder of the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies. Every day she features an item of e- learning interest. I have found it great place for resources. I encourage every teacher to expand their personal learning network and find sites like Jane's and help their students in the inquiry process.

2010/04/09 Week 4 Inquiry Based Learning

The focus this week was on connecting curricular goals to inquiry. Once a goal is established, teachers must make certain that the students have a solid base of facts necessary to understand the concept. Knowing the facts will help them in understanding the relationships between the facts. This is turn will help them to realize the larger concepts. Making an inquiry requires students to look at the variables within the questions, and knowing the facts, discerning quetions that can be investigated.
The discussions and readings have helped me to see the importance in asking questions that promote inquisitive thought. In one discussion, a classmate asked a question that I could relate to and consequently I began to wonder what the answer might be. It is in a good question that students are encouraged to seek out the possibilities. They will then begin to ask more questions and search for answers.

One of our goals as educators is to help our students become life long learners. A life long learner constantly seeks out new knowledge by asking questions.

I would like to know if teachers can force themselves to step back from the questions and not lead their students to answers. As educators we are often very controlling in our lessons, often because of the pressures of time, but our students will never ask questions on their own or seek out their own answers if we don't give them room to do so.

2010/04/02 Week Three Inquiry Based Learning

The readings and viewings this week on Inquiry Based learning have given me more insight on what constitutes a good lesson. The video, The Physics of Optics, was very inspiring to watch. It seemed that every element necessary for a good inquiry based lesson was present. The teacher seemed very natural with his interaction with the students and the students in turn appeared to respect one another. The Secondary Classroom examples however were puzzling. I found each one to be lacking elements of a good lesson. They all seemed to be just shy of giving students the best learning opportunity possible. Each one was disappointing in some way, yet I realize that each also was somewhat an inquiry lesson. Is it such a bad thing to have students read books, collect information and give oral reports? This was my least favorite of the lessons and I would not think it was an inquiry based lesson. As a teacher directed lesson I suppose that it fills the requirements but I cannot accept this as a memorable lesson. As a student I would have found it dry and boring. On the other hand, do all inquiry based lessons have to be loosely structured and student directed to be a good lesson?