Week Nine

Making a classroom news letter was pretty simple to do. The templates made an easy starting point and still allowed you to change it to make the newsletter your own. This assignment allowed me to be very creative and at the same time gave me a head start on something I can actually use in a future classroom! I really liked this assignment and think that it was one of the most beneficial things for us to learn. Another thing we did this week was make a concept map using the website provided. This website was very simple to use. I don't really like the idea of doing a concept map online because I feeling like this is something the students should actively create in class with a class discussion. This is a good way for students to brainstorm ideas. These assignments were both good ways to facilitate and inspire student learning. Making a news letter requires you to be artistically creative and the concept map requires creative thinking. The news letter also followed the standard: engage in professional development and leadership. You could also make these news letters for coworkers or groups that you may be a part of.

Week Eight

This week we learned how to make a podcast. I found it much easier to make the podcast on our own versus with our groups. Doing it on my own seemed to run much smoother since the majority of the podcast I was able to do with one recording session. This made it easier because not much editing was required. I feel that using a podcast in my area of concentration would be a little hard since both subjects, math and science, are very visual. I could however incorporate podcasts into the classroom if I wanted to make daily announcements or reminders for the students to be able to refer back to. This weeks assignment followed a few standards. I was able to design and develop a digital age learning experience. Using a podcast is a good way to incorporate digital learning however I feel that it is not the most effective way to teach young kids. This assignment could also facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. If the student were to make their own podcast they would be able to learn a new tool and at the same time be creative with choosing a topic for their podcasts.

Week Seven

This week we learned how to make rubrics both online and in Microsoft Word. I found it much easier to make the rubric using the online tool. They make it very simple for you to create the rubric you want to use. Making the rubric in Word allowed you to be a little more specific with your requirements however took much longer to create. We also created a picture using our belief statements and wordle. I had never heard of this program before but I thought it was really cool and interesting! Another thing we did was search the Internet for different teaching tools. These websites would be very helpful in a future classroom if you are looking to make a topic a little more interesting for the students to learn. One of the websites I found let you make your own video game which I thought would catch students attention very easily. These assignments followed the following teaching standards: 2) design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments and 3) model digital age work and learning. The rubrics are easy ways to make digital assessments and the various teaching games found online are simple tools using technology that will get students involved.

Week Six

This week we learned how to create a movie using Windows Movie Maker. Using the movie maker was pretty self explanatory. The steps were easy to follow the only difficult part came at the end when it was time to save the movie. It was tricking figuring out that you needed to save it differently than just a project. Once I was able to figure out how to save it in a way that would allow others to view it, posting the video was a lot easier. This project would be a good way to facilitate and inspire student learning, which is commitment standard number one. This is a good way for students to be creative and make a video on their assigned topic.
Another thing that we learned how to make was a VoiceThread. I really enjoyed this assignment and feel that it will be very helpful to incorporate something such as a VoiceThread in my future classroom. I had a professor at Ohio University do something similar to this in place of a class and I felt it was very helpful and informative. The VoiceThread also allows the student to move at their own pace instead of the pace of the classroom. Another reason the VoiceThread is a good idea is because it gives the student a way to be interactive with the material and at the same time incorporate technology into the lesson. The VoiceThread follows along with commitment number two which is designing and developing digital age learning experiences and assessments. It also incorporates number three which is model digital age work and learning since the voicethread does allow students to be involved using a technological medium.

Week Five

This week we learned how to make a video using Picasa. I really enjoyed this project because I feel like it is an interesting way to present new information to students. It was also fun being creative and being able to choose which pictures you would like to use. Editing the picture using Piknic was also fun. There were many different possibilities which required me to use my creative side. Like I said using a program such as Picasa would be an easy way to introduce a new lesson. It would also be convenient to post the video online so absent students would be able to access the video to see what was missed in class. Another thing we did this week was the website evaluation. This process was very helpful when it comes to finding a useful website for students to use. It is important to first review websites and decide if they are appropriate for the lesson before allowing students access to that website.
This weeks projects involved the following standards: 1) facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. Picasa followed this standard for the fact that making a video in Picasa requires a lot of creativity. Assigning the students a project that requires making a video would be a good way to inspire this creativity. Another standard that this assignment followed was 2) designing and developing digital age learning experiences. Simply showing a video to introduce a new topic would get the students interested in what they are about to learn and is a good was to teach them something new using a digital medium. This assignment also included the third standard. 3) model digital age work and learning. Once again, by either assigning the students their own project to work on or by showing the students a video that you put together would both incorporate this standard.

Week Four

This weeks assignment went pretty smooth after I decided on what activity I wanted the students to complete. I feel that presenting new material in this manner would get the students more interested in what I am trying to teach them. I also think this would be a good way to encourage students to teach themselves. After completing this Web Quest I would hope that students would have confidence to research new topics on their own.
This assignment incorporates the following standards. The first one being modeling digital learning. Having the students use various websites in order to find out new information is a great way to incorporate technology. In the Web Quest you have control over what websites students use so not only are you making sure they are using appropriate websites, but you can also be sure that they will be able to easily find all the information they need to complete the assignment. This Web Quest also inspires students learning and creativity. An activity like this is more likely to stick in the students minds rather than just showing a PowerPoint or presenting the material in a lecture format.

Week Three

Making a survey in google docs was pretty easy for me. The process was pretty self explanatory and I liked that the program places all of your results into their own graphs. This made it easier to be able to read the results of the survey. This weeks assignment met a couple different ISTE standards. The first one being modeling digital age work and learning. Although this program makes it very easy to design a survey, by being able to create your own survey it still shows that you are familiar with the technology. Another standard that this assignment met was designing a digital age assessment. This type of evaluation would require the students to get online and be able to follow the hyperlink to the assigned evaluation. Using something such as this evaluation process through google docs would be an interesting and different way to go about giving an exam to a class. This would allow the students to have more of a take-home type of assessment. The only down fall to the idea of presenting exams in this way is that the teacher would be unable to monitor the students during the exam to prevent cheating. Another way this form could be used in the classroom is for simply taking surveys. If I wanted to find out what the students were most interested in I could put multiple topics up on a survey and see which topics the students would be most interested in learning about.