Week 4: Putting It Together: Protopage and Proposal for Final Project

This was my most stressful week along this adventure in learning.  Many things have been learned and incorporated into my everyday life that I would never have imaged just four weeks ago. My personal growth and understanding about how technology works when educators use them to their fullest potential has been a painful but fun learning experience. Why painful because I had to stretch myself far out of any comfort zone?  Feeling that I was always forward thinking and discovering that I was far from that has brought me pain.  The pain has quickly been replaced by the knowledge gained and the comfort in using new tools.

Just last week I hated Twitter and could not see how it would benefit me as an educator. Don’t mine saying today that I was grossly mistaken and my foolish thinking showed in my previous account of this learning adventure. Love is not what I’ve gained from the Twitter experience but a collaborative knowledge bank with a wealth of information on so many levels that is freely shared from strangers. It felt good to find a Tweet thread that was exactly what I needed to help with understanding a principle or process or just fun meaningful information. I started reading more articles and discovering that I wanted to share on my Twitter page and collecting information from others that I can use and learn from. I also did some research on Wikispaces, but I have not ventured very far in that area. But I can see how it would have value in the classroom as an excellent creative tool to get children to reading more.

Did not understand the value of YouTube to the extent of my knowledge now. It has been used for years as an easy go to DIY learning tool for me, but discovered it is so much more. What is appreciated most about it is any person can have a voice. After evaluating its many uses you can create your own library of ready to go information from people who have done it, tried it, or created it.  It’s a site for all knowledge level bases. For me that makes it practical, usable and worth the time. For the first time since becoming familiar with YouTube I actually reviewed its many components to see how to create a catalog of, suitable and interesting videos. At this moment I don’t believe that there is any subject that I want to find information on that I wouldn’t find it in a YouTube.

Aggregate pages was also something not familiar and had no idea of what they were designed to do as a tool for anyone. The instructor offered us two options to try out: Netvibes pages and Protopage.  After reviewing both I really feel in love with Protopage for many reasons: a) ease of use b) tools, and c) appearance. Immediately, I began discovering its potential for classroom and personal use. Of all the many apps that I have discovered this has been the most profound to my envisioning it as a tool that I would use for a long time.

Along the way I tried several other apps and immediately downloaded or reviewed them as something I needed to my devices:

               LiveCollage, Hootsuite, Reddit, Tango, Duolingo, TweetCaster, Textizer, Nearpod, CoolFonts, Tumblr, Kahoot, Camastasia, Aurasma, and Viewpure.

I also found an internet catalog of links call Cybraryman. WOW so much information. I learned the use of hashtags and how to use them along with retweets and located a list of usable acronyms that or worth their weight when texting or tweeting. This conversation can go on and on because that’s the levels of information gathering that has been created.  At the beginning of this course our instructor asked us to see what our digital footprint looked like.  I’m curious today as to how it has changed.

Next, is the current challenge of creating a multimedia Web 2.0 rich unit presentation of a lesson or unit I would teach.  At first thought I was sick, not with the project but how to approach doing the project. Not being active in a regular classroom setting presented a problem that I thought I would not be able to get around.  But where there’s a will, there’s a way. I had the will now how about creating that way? My solution to this problem was to create a hypothetical class setting using what I would currently do as the basis for the project.  The solution is to develop a lesson on teaching about meteorites as a one day introductory class using Chromebooks, Nearpod resources, PowerPoint presentation format incorporated with YouTube embedded links and as many cartoon like inserts that move as possible to get the task done. Today, I wrote the proposal and submitted it.  I’m glad I’ll have a 4^th of July holiday break to get the job done.  I am excited and highly motivated to see how I can get this done well. This is another brand new adventure in learning for me.

The wonder of it all is how I value technology and its many uses in the classroom.  There is a new appreciation for all the many apps and tools that are available to help make teaching and learning fun. My philosophy is “Learning is Fun, but Fun Work” and this adventure has proven to be exactly that.

Here are just a few of some of the web 2.0 tools that I checked out maybe you’ll want to do the same.  Enjoy!

https://www.edmodo.com/

https://prezi.com/

https://www.google.com/drive/using-drive/

https://twitter.com/

https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page

https://animoto.com/business/education

http://www.wordle.net/

https://www.polleverywhere.com/

http://www.classroom20.com/

http://www.wikispaces.com/content/private-label/k-12

https://docs.google.com/document

http://smartboardrevolution.ning.com/

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/02/22/the-best-tools-to-make-online-flashcards/

 

Week 3: Exploring Twitter and YouTube

The whole process of getting familiar with Twitter and YouTube was very difficult. I had some experience with YouTube but none with Twitter and had no interest in learning about it or how it could be used for the classroom. Once it was an assignment peace was made! Starting with Twitter a tool I knew nothing about and had the most to learn about.
Twitter:
My Process:

• Create an account.
• Write a profile of and insert a picture.  (Developed an avatar was best)
• Realized Twitter is a fast-moving site (before completion of set up had 8 followers.)  Was advised that some people are habitual followers without who are what they may stand for. That was very strange to me.  But this is part of my discovery. 
• Spent time discovering all the aspects of the site, how to tweet, what was retweet, deciding on who follow according to my interest.
• Discovered that Tweets should be meaningful and of interest to the reading public. Unfortunately, first couple of tweets did not meet that criteria.  (Just didn’t know what tweeting should look like.
• Read that a tweet should be a quick reference for networking information between professionals in a specific field or life interest.  (You can tweet a question and before the day is over several people will give you worthy answers that can be used to get a task done or information on a specific subject.)
• A good tweet will contain a picture a movie or most importantly a web site address and a hashtag reference to another information site.
• Tweets are only 140 characters long.  (But far from that if it takes more than 140 characters you are saying too much! Found a site with common an acronyms or Twitter shorthand to increase speed and reduce word count while tweeting.
  • To help learn the shorthand created a directory for use in OneNote
  • Along with a list of websites that will have important information different kinds of apps that can be used
• Tweets must be concise and to the point. Learned that from a YouTube video.
• Created a catalog of YouTube videos on using Twitter use in the classroom.
• Clicking on the Twitter bird symbol you can embed a photo or picture into a tweet
• If you like a Tweet you can re-tweet it
• How to use hashtags to locate other related and interesting information.

In an article put out by USA Today on “Helping Twitter Newbies with Ten Things You Need to Know” it gave information on how business use Twitter and how it has affect commerce across the world.  

It was a surprise to find the number of organizations and groups who are associated with and use Twitter. Found an article written by a businessman, Ken Krogue, from Forbes Magazine that listed five tools to help you research hashtags:

• Twitter Toolbar – search by terms and keywords even people
• Hashtag.org: a place to is a site for businesses to help them improve their social networking strategies. For teachers, the site:  Teacher’s Guide to Twitter through Edudemic.com
• There are also a couple of tools for businesses to help improve their analysis of their tweets and hashtags: Topsy, TweetReach, and Social Mention.

The more I learned, read, and researched about twitter the better appreciation gained for its use for educators, and for students to help them learn about so many different subject areas to gain knowledge in different things. The pedagogy that is taught through the use of Twitter is a valuable to the classroom teacher and

YouTube

My next adventure was YouTube.  I thought I understood this tool but quickly discovered all I knew was that it existed.  I really had not done very much with it even though I have a couple of feeds that I followed because of my varied interest.  Understanding exactly how YouTube worked was another task that I spent three full days trying to understand and master in some small way.

Edudemic.com also offered a Teacher’s Guide for Using YouTube in the Classroom, which I found helpful, just like their guide for Twitter.

My Discovery Process:

Found out that if you’ve ever gone to YouTube you already have an account if your operating system is Google. Reviewed the guide on creating a playlist (Was not aware of the flexibility this tool offers a teacher. Used videos in the classroom even embedded them in PowerPoints, but still knew very little about how they worked or how to get the best use out of them. Also was curious as to how individuals earned money with a YouTube feed.

I have an extensive library of United Streaming videos for science that I used often when I was in the classroom.  But YouTube has videos on any subject that interest people and you don’t have to be good at it to have a YouTube video.  If you don’t know anything about a subject or you want to DIY and need instructions on how it’s done there is a YouTube video to help you. The list is exhausting of the many subject areas and the number of videos available for viewing.  All of them are not necessarily of high quality, but these are everyday people and professionals who all have something to share and YouTube gives them that venue. Whatever your talent or not you can create a YouTube to display it.

The first endeavor I approached was creating my own personal YouTube site where I could collect information on those things of interest to me.  What I discovered is that YouTube had already began to collect information on me every time I viewed something from the site.  When reviewing my history site log everything I’ve researched on YouTube was there for me to go back and either add to my play list or not.  Also, the two feeds that I faithfully followed where listed there as well. Every one of the videos that I reviewed was lined up for me to see its title.

As more videos are viewed and articles read from my classmates’ sharing’s I learned even more.  I found out how to create a playlist to add to my library and how to categorize list and to create a real video library.

To say my metacognitive knowledge was increased would be putting it mildly. There was so much and so many aspects of these two tools that I knew nothing about and after three to four days of “play” my head hurt. When I started the adventure I was doubtful that there was anything there for me to learn or appreciate.  I had been so closed minded about Twitter I could not see it value to an educator.  All that’s changed; still not a big Tweeter user and my Tweets are not impressive, but I do appreciate what it can do for me and am comfortable using the tools.

Week 2:  Evaluation of Technology

Article I: A Conceptual Framework for Using and Evaluating Web-Based Learning Resources in School Education by Said Hadjerrouit

This case study was highly stimulating and thought provoking.  In the reading of this study several thoughts began to resonate in my mind; first, the idea that cultural values can have such a profound effect on how WBLR’s (Web-based learning resources) can affect how much students learn from interacting with different types of tools. Their ability to use and understand the WBLR’s are based so much on the student’s cognitive knowledge to make connections while using them.

Second, the little amount of attention that is paid by the developers to pedagogical usability. Even in reviewing several WBLR’s I found that some lacked adequate flexibility, not enough interactive spots, motivation for the participant and no collaboration whatsoever.  It has been proven in recent research that the reason many Web 2.0 apps have become a major phenomenon is their ability to offer collaboration in some form to its users. User input is important they want to feel like they have control over their learning and how they learn. This fosters the learner-centered approach which is more constructivist rather than a teacher-centered method.

Third, again and again key criteria keep coming into play when analyzing the pedagogical usability of any WBLR.  Such things as “learner control, learning activity, collaborative learning, goal orientation, applicability, added value, motivation, previous knowledge, flexibility, and feedback. (Hadjerrouit, 2010) Twelve key criteria were listed in the study as influences to this end.

• Understandability
• Added value
• Goal-orientation
• Time
• Interactivity
• Multimedia
• Motivation
• Differentiation
•  Flexibility
• Autonomy
•  Collaboration
•  Variation (Hadjerrouit, 2010)

The tables that were used to explain the conceptual framework of the study was easy to read and understand based on the key points of features, criteria, and context of use/evaluation. The study used three different classes and the findings showed:

1.       Most students agreed that the technical usability of WBLR’s was well-designed and implemented

2.       All teachers indicated that the criteria underlying the technical usability were well-designed

3.       Results suggest that students and teachers had similar perceptions about the technical and pedagogical usability of WBLR’s, except for interactivity, variation, and collaboration. (Hadjerrouit, 2010) (Lindell & Donaldson, 2009)

After personally review approximately eight WBLR’s over the last several days I agree with the findings of this study with one exception.  Things are gradually getting better and more and more WBLR’s are offering the ability to add more interactive components and the key aspect is collaboration.  The designers want to know how the end users feel and what their input might be. All of the WBLR’s that I reviewed where related to science because that is my field of study and the ones I tested covered several areas that I would be teaching in the average middle school science class.

Web-sites reviewed:

http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/

www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/09_19523.pdf

http://web20guru.wikispaces.com/Web+2.0+Resources

https://pals.sri.com/

http://www.periodicvideos.com/

http://www.solarsystemscope.com/

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/online_science/games

http://laboutloud.com/

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/

 

References

Hadjerrouit, S. (2010, November). A conceptual framework for using and evaluating web-based learning resources in school education. Retrieved from Journal of Information Technology Education: http://www.jite.org/documents/Vol9/JITEv9p053-079Hadjerrouit742.pdf

Lindell, L. A., & Donaldson, J. A. (2009). It's magi using web 2.0 tools to create learning communities. Retrieved from 25th Annual conference on teaching and Learning: www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/09_19523.pdf

 

 

 

 

Week 1: Week1: What is Web 2.0? - Vanity Search

The assignment is to search out yourself in Google to evaluate your digital footprint. After putting in my name what came up was not much of a surprise because it covered all the things that I thought would be found about me.

First thing observed was the entry that my job at the university has posted about me on their site.  It tells very little about me except that I work in the School of Geology, Energy & the Environment as a gallery educator and assistant. The second entry list me on the Monnig Museum web site and it contains information about the museum and how to contact me to schedule a tour or outreach. Again it does not say a lot about me, but it does have an accompanying short bio. In the images section there are a couple of actual pictures of me, but just a couple its mostly filled with filler images of other people not me and it has a picture of one of my projects that I had found on Pinterest.  Pinterest is a site I visit often and pick projects that I would like to do or that I have done .

When you get to my Linkedin site that’s where you will find real information about me and what I am doing professionally and academically along with a healthy connection to other professionals that I either work with on a professional level or know on a personal level. Here you can get a link to my other network sites like my blogs and my e-portfolio. The next entry deals with my connection to graduate studies at TAMUC because I am a member of Research Gate.  But I have done very little with this organization, but seeing this I know I need to rectify my lack of activity.  I had a total of forty-four entries relating to me to my amazement.  Some were very inaccurate, but by and large most where spot on. 

There where sites where people who I visited for the museum published write-up articles about their visits or schools that I did special outreaches. Even awards or recognitions that I have received where published.  Every recent class I’ve taken in the last five years was there and names of the courses in except for one school where I took a series of carpentry classes at Northlake College in Irving.  The amusing thing is whenever I checked for myself, in the past, on Google I never looked beyond the first page. This exercise made me look beyond the first set of entries!  I thought my digital footprint was smaller than this, but I was only taking into account the entries that I had made over the years not the many entries made by groups and organizations that I am affiliated as well as all the places I have traveled in order to do this job at the Monnig.

My instructor is saying that my digital footprint is only going to get larger as I explore more technological tools, I shudder to think how much so! I’m not sure how I feel about this much information about me being available through the World Wide Web.  Even my count in the census.  I have trouble with the inaccurate information and wonder how can I get that removed or changed? It just shows how much we are not in a closed bubble.  When I was a girl the book 1984 by George Orwell (Orwell, 1949) had people of the time fearing “Big Brother.” It was a part of my high school reading list and later when it was made into a movie I saw it. What would those same people think of today’s system where everything you do is recorded somewhere for everyone to view.  I am not super private but gee; this was a lot. I think I would not be very concerned if it where all accurate, but it’s not.  There are far too many discrepancies for me to feel all right about it.

Now I have to add even more to this “digital me” that I have to be mindful of. I stayed away from doing a lot of post on the two Facebook accounts that I had because I didn’t want to expose myself to the digital world too much. The only reason I have two Facebooks is because I manage one for my job and the other is my personal page. I stayed away from Twitter, MySpace, and a few other personal sites because I did not want to share a lot of personal information about myself outside of the academic arena. But after seeing this, I might as well have stated my side of how many visits that I made to each school and what I did because it’s there without my input.  I should have discussed how I felt  about this or that to some degree, because here I am in the digital world. The digital world is getting a view of me that has very little input from me and therefore quite one sided.

Thank goodness I’ve never done anything questionable or illegal.  Recently, a young woman won a legal case where a former boyfriend was trying to publish inappropriate pictures of her on the internet.  She won but I know she is still scared from this experience and it will be a part of the World Wide Web forever.  The fact the she won will be of little consequence because through the pictures are blocked from publication the knowledge of the event still lingers. Nothing ever leaves the internet, it’s there forever. Then we have to be concerned about the Dark Web¹ and cyber criminals.  Even though our readings don’t discuss this side of cyberspace it is a real concern.

The video that we viewed on “Did You Know?”  (http://youtu.be/6ILQrUrEWe8) related some mind numbing statistics; last year I saw another similar YouTube video that showed statistics based on education and population explosions in key major countries across the globe.  It was the “Did You Know 3.0 from 2012”(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmwwrGV_aiE ) about how fast new information is gathered in every area of life. All of these types of visual demonstrations are designed to make one think, reflect and ponder where are we going with all of this? Who will be our new world leaders? Where will we fit into this matrix? How can we prepare our children for this type of globalization in the runaway information age?

The realities of life in America can be harsh and confusing to our youth, but as educators we must prepare them. The little song bite “Not on the Test”  (http://youtu.be/8dAujuqCo7s) is a reminder of how learning is being test driven today.  I found it cute but very profound. The question it asked is simply what are we going to do about this and how can we help our youth survive the realities of today? There was nothing vane about this experience it was totally eye-opening and informative.

¹ Dark Web - is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets, overlay networks which use the Internet but require specific software, configurations or authorization to access. (defined by Wikipedia)

References

Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four.