EDLD 5398 Internship

               Web 2.0 tools are typically free, online-based software applications; they are great for education because they can save money and allow students to use the same tools on their home computers as at school.  In my classroom, I have used Prezi and Wordle.  I have also used free, online math tools such as interactive math illustrations and an interactive math dictionary.  My colleagues have used blogs and created a Facebook page for their classroom or school organization.

                Web conferences allow me to ask questions and interact with colleagues online as I would be able to in a regular on-campus course.  They are a great resource for clarifying information on assignments, information about internship requirements, and information about certification.  After a web conference, I typically have a much better understanding of what is expected of me and how I will accomplish it. 

                Discussion activities allow me to express my feelings and beliefs on certain issues and receive feedback from my colleagues.  They also allow me to understand the feelings and beliefs of my colleagues.  I have gained several ideas for technology integration and technology tools from my colleagues’ discussion posts.  It is interesting to hear from people that teach different grade levels and subjects than I do and people who work in administration and technology.  After reading discussion posts from people with different positions than mine, I am better able to understand the decisions made by administrators and the technology department on my campus.

EDLD 5363 Group PSA Project Debriefing Post

    I am very proud of our final product!  I feel like we got off to a great start by getting to work the very first night of week 3 and we worked almost every day the past 3 weeks.  During the pre-production process, we came up with multiple ideas and had to narrow our focus.  Instead of using one single idea, we combined several of our ideas.  Of course, during the production and editing of our video, we had to revise our pre-production plan.  During the production and editing process, we realized that our original script and shot list was going to go way over the 60 second time limit.  We kept the statistics, video footage, and pictures that we thought would be most influential to teenagers viewing our PSA and cut the rest.  The only improvement that I can see is to have had a greater variety of shot types and a greater variety of shot locations.  However, I think we did a great job for video rookies with limited time and resources!
               I appreciated Holly, Shanda, and Patricia putting the video in several file formats in the dropbox so that we would all be able to view the videos and examples.  I’m glad we chose to upload our video to YouTube because that is the most viewed of the free video hosting sites and it is easy to embed the video into our wikis after posting the video to YouTube.  I appreciate everyone keeping track of the URLS, references, and citations for the copyrighted items in our video, so that we could include those in our credits and our creative commons license.
               I feel that we all learned a lot about teamwork and leadership through this project.  I know I learned the importance of designating roles to each member and trusting each member to fulfill their individual roles.  It is a scary to trust people you barely know and have never met in person, but it was necessary for the project.  I believe we all came through and fulfilled our duties, so that should make it easier for us to trust others the next time we find ourselves working in a group.  I enjoyed working with you ladies.  Thank you for your hard work and your cooperation!

EDLD 5363 Week 5 Web Conference Reflection

                Once again, the web conference this week made the online class feel more like a face-to-face course.  It is a nice format for addressing our questions and concerns.  The web conference this week allowed Dr. Abernathy to clear up the confusion about what is due this week.  It also allowed her to answer questions about how to turn in certain parts of the assignment such as the Google doc and the actual video.  We were able to get our questions answered about copyright information and the credits.

                I feel that attending a web conference is a much better way to get questions answered than through email.  First of all, web conferences allow our questions to be immediately answered.  We can also ask follow-up questions if we are still unclear.  Another great thing about the web conference is that a lot of us have the same questions and Dr. Abernathy is able to say the answer one time rather than several times in separate emails.  I still think one of the greatest things about attending course web conferences is learning from other people’s questions.  A lot of times, questions are asked that I never thought of and I benefit from hearing the answers.

*My other web conference reflection is further down from November 23.

Software Evaluation: Windows Live Movie Maker 2011

                I was impressed with Windows Live Movie Maker 2011.  I have never made or edited a video before, so this was a new experience for me.  I compared Movie Maker on my home computer which uses Windows XP and my school computer which uses Windows 7.  I found the new version of Movie Maker for Windows 7 to be more user-friendly.  I especially like the storyboard that allows you to easily drag frames to the correct sequence.  I also found the trim and split tool under the Edit tab very easy to use in order to trim excess video footage and to split frames so they could be separated on the storyboard.  I found that the options and tools allowed me to easily carry out the four functions of editing which are “to connect shots into a sequence that tells a story or records an event, to correct and delete mistakes, to condense or expand time, and to communicate an aesthetic” (Lonnquist, 1994, 1). 

                I can see many uses for Windows Movie Maker in the world of education.  Personally, I will be able to use it to create videos to be viewed by my students or to be posted to my blog or wiki and viewed by other educators.  I can also incorporate Windows Movie Maker  into my assignments and allow my students to use this software to create projects that correspond with my curriculum.

Lonnquist, J. (1994, November). The art of the edit. Videomaker. Retrieved on April 6, 2009,

from http://www.videomaker.com/article/1691/

EDLD 5363 Week 2 Web Conference Reflection

     I found the web conference to be very valuable.  We discussed how to use Audacity and the purpose of downloading LAME.  Several people were confused about what the topic should be for our mp3 file and people were also confused about whether or not to turn in the video they edited for practice.  Through the web conference, I was able to clarify this week's assignment and also was able to clarify the Public Service Announcement project. Dr. Abernathy said that our PSA should include footage filmed with a camcorder and also voice-over narration.
     Web conferences allow an online class to have a lot of the same advantages of a class that meets face-to-face, such as getting immediate feedback from the instructor and getting to interact with other students in the class.  I also find it very helpful to listen to my fellow classmates' questions.  Sometimes, through hearing their questions, I realize that I did not understand something.  Overall, the experience of the web conference is helpful to clear up confusion and to create a more personal atmosphere in an online class.

Digital Story Reflection

     I used Windows Photo Story 3 to create my digital story.  It was my first time to use this type of software; I really liked using it, especially considering it's free.  I found it to be very user friendly and I think middle school and high school students would be able to easily use it in the classroom to create their own videos.  Creating videos would be a way to motivate students and also incorporate technology into the curriculum.  After using Windows Photo Story 3, I prefer it over PowerPoint and other video softwares I have used. 

Draft Action Research Progress Report

Analysis of SMART Board Use to Increase Student Motivation and Learning

     The need for improved instruction was based on the TAKS results for my campus from the 2009-2010 school year. The TAKS scores were especially low in Science with only 57% of African Americans and 58% of Hispanics passing the test. Also, the females scored 13% lower than the males in Science that year. Through my project, I hope to find methods of SMART Board use that will improve my test scores and then I can pass these methods onto other teachers on my campus. The vision for my plan is that SMART Board use in my classroom will result in increased student motivation and improved student learning. This will be measured by comparing state test results to the same students’ results from the previous year and by comparing the state test results for these students with other districts that have similar demographics. I hope to not only improve my own practices and improve my students’ test scores, but also to be able to share my results with other teachers on campus so they can improve their teaching as well. I read articles from SMART technologies as well as blogs and articles written by teachers to learn the best practices for using the SMART Board. I found games, lessons, and websites that other teachers said worked well in their classrooms. I communicated my vision by word of mouth and my action research blog to staff, parents, students, and community members.
     My strategy for organizing the implementation of the project involved making a timeline to ensure that I would best use my time to end the action research project at the end of the 2011-2012 school year. I allotted myself time to review the literature, find online resources, prepare SMART lessons, implement the lessons in my classroom, evaluate the results, and share the results with others. My school had already purchased all of the materials I would need before the action research project began. The materials that were already available are a SMART Board, lap top, projector, and internet access. To prepare for this project, I attended training about using SMART Boards in the classroom at the Region 12 Educational Service Center in the summer of 2011. At this workshop, I was able to gather ideas from other teachers. I have also found helpful resources and lessons on teachers’ blogs and on Smart Exchange. Student safety is taken into account by teaching my students proper Internet and computer usage and through the filter on the school’s Internet network. Student learning is the main emphasis and priority of my project. I made decisions and set priorities based on the goal of increasing student motivation and improving student learning. I used the TAKS data to see which objectives the students most needed improvement, which was objective 4 (measurement). The only conflict I have had is that the state test will be changing from TAKS to STAAR, which will make it harder to analyze the results from test scores. To resolve this conflict, I will base most of my evaluation on how my students performed compared to other schools the same year (as opposed to how my students did the previous year when they took a different test). I will also use other forms of data collection including observation, student participation grades, student work, classroom tests, benchmark tests, students surveys, and my own reflections.
     My action research project will focus on all students including those with learning disabilities and students who have alternative styles of learning by using several types of learning methods. I will use the SMART Board for guided practice, intervention, games, and review. My project addresses the specific need on my campus of teachers learning how to best use their new SMART Boards, because I will share my findings with other teachers. My project also addresses the need of improved instruction to improve my campus’ results on the state test.