In looking back at my progress so far, I am feeling quite good about it. The actions that I took towards learning about creating podcasts and voicethreads have been very effective in helping me meet my goals. As my overall goal is to equip myself with the tools that I need to move my students into the digital-age, I feel that my toolbox is steadily growing. One of the things that I have found to be true is that making that single step is the most difficult part of the journey. Once you have started, you find yourself with an amazing amount of choices that you never even knew existed. Creating a podcast using Audacity with my class has led to creating voicethreads with them. If I can create audio podcasts, then video should not be an overwhelming challenge now.
I think that the thing that I have learned in this process is the importance of planning and structure for the students. Helping them to develop storyboards and scripts for their voicethreads has been a growing process for all of us. They understand sequencing better through their development of the voicethread. They are developing their writing in ways that will elicit responses from a listener rather than just delivering information. They are finding ways to leave things open-ended to draw out questions from the listener, creating an active rather than a passive audience. Going through the planning and discussion phases with them has allowed them to bring out all of these things in their writing.
As they say, “a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.” My question has become, “Now what? What else is out there that I can tap into?” I have been told that Audacity is the best free software for recording, but what are my alternatives? I am currently looking at some of those alternatives through a website, appropriately named, http://alternativeto.net. This website provides information on software programs that provide an alternative to what you are currently using. It lists both commercial and free software.
Continuing into a new International Baccalaureate unit on Constructive and Destructive forces, there will be some places that will allow for audio podcasts and voicethreads. The unit, though, seems more suited towards visuals. In keeping with my goal to equip my students with the tools that they need to move into the digital age, incorporating graphic tools into our repertoire seems to be the next obvious step. Viewing it, not as a new direction, but an addition to our voicethreads and podcasts, my plan is now expanding.
Resources
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final k
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress
As is usually the case, finding the information and resources that I need to achieve my goal is not the problem. It is narrowing them down and choosing the ones that are going to best suit my need. My goal is to equip myself with the tools that I need to move my students into the digital-age. In order to do that, I must find tools that are readily accessible to them at school, as many of them do not have computers at home. In my search, and through my colleagues, I have been introduced to freeware, portable versions of software, and Web 2.0 applications. Freeware, of course, is always good. Being on a limited budget, free and open-source software affords me the ability to provide my students with exposure to powerful programs that enhance their communication abilities. Audacity has been a great program for creating audio files for podcasts. Portable applications, such as the portable version of Audacity, allow me to use the programs without installing them on the school’s computer. Through this course, I have been introduced to voice threads, a further extension of what can be done with sound files with the added bonus of graphics. I have also found a free add-on to PowerPoint that turns my presentations into Flash files for posting on the web from iSpring.
My original goal, as stated in the NETS-T Goal of Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership, said thatI need to participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning. Having dabbled with Audacity for just a short while, I don’t feel the need to continue with my action plan of visiting the forums. I am comfortable enough with the program at this stage to be using it with my students already. My plan should instead move deeper into how I can get my students to develop ideas for projects using this technology. The combination of voice threads and podcasts is a new and exciting approach for my students to consider. I am now ready to move toward finding global learning communities that will allow my students to connect and share their learning through technology with others.
I have learned that there are a great number of ways for me to present my material. The thing that I am questioning now is how to best aggregate the myriad of ways into a single cohesive unit. Do I want to create a web page that links to each of these various sites, or do I find a way to keep all of these things together on a single page. A colleague of mine has a blog, with a podcast page, with an application that allows visitors to record a response from the page and send it to him as an MP3 file. The visitors never leave the site and all of the materials they need are there. I am thinking that something along that line would help the students stay focused and not so fragmented. And so, the next questions that come to mind are all based on what do I do once I have my finished product. I need to explore the options that are out there for websites. What can they contain? Is there an extra charge if you have a lot of sound files and video files? My colleague uses a program called WordPress to create his site and I would like to know if Blogger has the same capabilities.
Resources
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final k
My original goal, as stated in the NETS-T Goal of Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership, said thatI need to participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning. Having dabbled with Audacity for just a short while, I don’t feel the need to continue with my action plan of visiting the forums. I am comfortable enough with the program at this stage to be using it with my students already. My plan should instead move deeper into how I can get my students to develop ideas for projects using this technology. The combination of voice threads and podcasts is a new and exciting approach for my students to consider. I am now ready to move toward finding global learning communities that will allow my students to connect and share their learning through technology with others.
I have learned that there are a great number of ways for me to present my material. The thing that I am questioning now is how to best aggregate the myriad of ways into a single cohesive unit. Do I want to create a web page that links to each of these various sites, or do I find a way to keep all of these things together on a single page. A colleague of mine has a blog, with a podcast page, with an application that allows visitors to record a response from the page and send it to him as an MP3 file. The visitors never leave the site and all of the materials they need are there. I am thinking that something along that line would help the students stay focused and not so fragmented. And so, the next questions that come to mind are all based on what do I do once I have my finished product. I need to explore the options that are out there for websites. What can they contain? Is there an extra charge if you have a lot of sound files and video files? My colleague uses a program called WordPress to create his site and I would like to know if Blogger has the same capabilities.
Resources
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final k
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
GAME Plan: NETS-T Goals into Action
As I review my GAME plan, I recognized my challenge as equipping myself with the tools that I need to move my students into the digital-age. In order to do that, I have to identify the resources that I need to gather. I then categorized them into software, information, and human resources. In order for me to explore the production of podcasts, I determined that I needed the software to record and edit the podcast. The recorder software that is part of Windows is entirely inadequate, as it does not allow editing. Through research and discussions with colleagues, I found that Audacity seems to be the software of choice. Having recorded the podcast, I would want to hear it and experience it the way that my listeners will. iTunes seemed to be the logical choice, as podcasts are developed for listening on an iPod. As it turns out, there are a lot of other options out there both from the software side of listening and the hardware side of MP3 players, but since I have an iPod, iTunes was my choice. Having equipped myself with software to record and a microphone to record with, I am ready to move on to the podcast.
Through exploring the Internet and finding other teachers that are making classroom websites, I found a great booklet online called Podcasting For Teachers and Students , a 35 page booklet with step by step instructions on using Audacity. It also provided information on how to set up my podcast to be available on iTunes. This was a part of the information that I realized that I was missing. Once I made the podcast, how DO other people get access to it? This required me to turn to a colleague that maintains his own website and also does podcasts. As it turns out, I was not done with the acquisition of software yet. I still needed a program that would allow me to send my podcast to a server that would allow people to access it. And this led, of course, to needing more information. Where do I upload it to? I am currently looking into options. Do I want to have a website, separate from the school, where I can post a blog or host a podcast? Would it be easier, and certainly more economical, to send it to the tech people at my school and have them post it on the school’s website? I will have to talk with them and find out if that is even feasible.
And so, with microphone in hand and software on the screen, I am ready to begin the production process. I have several ideas of what I would like to use the podcast for. I want to explore a little further and find out what types of podcasts are already out there, so I don’t reinvent the wheel. I need to look into the production of the podcast and plan a storyboard or script.
Resources
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final k
Through exploring the Internet and finding other teachers that are making classroom websites, I found a great booklet online called Podcasting For Teachers and Students , a 35 page booklet with step by step instructions on using Audacity. It also provided information on how to set up my podcast to be available on iTunes. This was a part of the information that I realized that I was missing. Once I made the podcast, how DO other people get access to it? This required me to turn to a colleague that maintains his own website and also does podcasts. As it turns out, I was not done with the acquisition of software yet. I still needed a program that would allow me to send my podcast to a server that would allow people to access it. And this led, of course, to needing more information. Where do I upload it to? I am currently looking into options. Do I want to have a website, separate from the school, where I can post a blog or host a podcast? Would it be easier, and certainly more economical, to send it to the tech people at my school and have them post it on the school’s website? I will have to talk with them and find out if that is even feasible.
And so, with microphone in hand and software on the screen, I am ready to begin the production process. I have several ideas of what I would like to use the podcast for. I want to explore a little further and find out what types of podcasts are already out there, so I don’t reinvent the wheel. I need to look into the production of the podcast and plan a storyboard or script.
Resources
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final k
Monday, November 9, 2009
Developing My Personal GAME Plan: The NETS-T
Reading over the National Education Standards for Teachers that ISTE has developed, it is difficult to narrow down things that I feel less confidant or proficient in as there appears to be so much overlapping. The NETS-T, as they are listed, seem to be a bottom up approach to me. The professional development occurs first, followed by the design and the facilitation of learning that involves technology, creativity, and innovation. During the course of the instruction, the teacher models how the students are to engage in digital-age work and learning. Through discussions as the work and learning are taking place, digital citizenship and responsibility are taught.
That having been said, my challenges, then, are to equip myself with the tools that I need to move my students into the digital-age. As stated in the NETS-T Goal of Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership, I need to participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning. Setting my goal to improve my skills on one new tool for the upcoming unit in Science allows me to focus my planning on how I will utilize the tool best. Whether it is using Audacity to create a podcast, learning how to better mix the different sound channels and add music or to create a WIKI and learn about how students can create and edit the content, focusing on just using one technology will allow me to grow in meaningful increments. In order to do that, I plan to participate in the forums for Audacity to utilize the global community of Audacity users. On a local level, I plan to collaborate with a teaching partner that is already utilizing Audacity to create podcasts to showcase his students’ writings. My progress will be monitored and measured through submitting my podcast at each step of production for review. The final product will be put up for downloading on a website or through iTunes. The podcast could be a review of the topic covered and an evaluation could be in the grades of the tests after having students use the podcast for a study guide. Extending my use of the podcast and my learning leads into my next goal.
Having always taught, for the most part, in the confines of my own classroom, collaborating with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation , as indicated in the NETS-T Goal of Modeling Digital-Age Work and Learning, is an area that I see as a challenge. Certainly not with my own students, as I am always in contact with their growth and learning. I also have a great working relationship with my peers on a local level. The challenge, as I see it, is to expand that collaboration to the parents and community. Using blogging to establish dialogue on a global level would seem to be a good place for me to start. Knowing how to create a podcast, posting it on a blog and inviting comments and additions from other students, parents, and teachers from around the world would help me to grow as a teacher. It would help my students become better digital citizens through practicing etiquette in social networking situations. To achieve this goal, I will have to explore the viable options that are available in my county to create a classroom blog. Participating in global classroom projects will help me to learn how to structure my own units by seeing the strengths or shortcomings of other projects. Monitoring my progress would be done through a series of steps. The first step is the creation and development of the blog. The success of my utilization of the tool, then, would be measured in the number and quality of the responses of my own students to the topics presented in the blog. The extension of my learning would be through presenting the blog and webcast to the global community through websites that aggregate teaching projects from around the world. Collaborating through writing and posts on the blog, learning from listening to podcasts that others develop on the same topic, and creating a global dialogue on our shared experiences, my students and I will both grow as responsible and involved digital learners as we explore real-world issues and solve authentic problems. As always, the success of my learning is measured through the success of my students through their engagement and achievement across the content areas.
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final
That having been said, my challenges, then, are to equip myself with the tools that I need to move my students into the digital-age. As stated in the NETS-T Goal of Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership, I need to participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning. Setting my goal to improve my skills on one new tool for the upcoming unit in Science allows me to focus my planning on how I will utilize the tool best. Whether it is using Audacity to create a podcast, learning how to better mix the different sound channels and add music or to create a WIKI and learn about how students can create and edit the content, focusing on just using one technology will allow me to grow in meaningful increments. In order to do that, I plan to participate in the forums for Audacity to utilize the global community of Audacity users. On a local level, I plan to collaborate with a teaching partner that is already utilizing Audacity to create podcasts to showcase his students’ writings. My progress will be monitored and measured through submitting my podcast at each step of production for review. The final product will be put up for downloading on a website or through iTunes. The podcast could be a review of the topic covered and an evaluation could be in the grades of the tests after having students use the podcast for a study guide. Extending my use of the podcast and my learning leads into my next goal.
Having always taught, for the most part, in the confines of my own classroom, collaborating with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation , as indicated in the NETS-T Goal of Modeling Digital-Age Work and Learning, is an area that I see as a challenge. Certainly not with my own students, as I am always in contact with their growth and learning. I also have a great working relationship with my peers on a local level. The challenge, as I see it, is to expand that collaboration to the parents and community. Using blogging to establish dialogue on a global level would seem to be a good place for me to start. Knowing how to create a podcast, posting it on a blog and inviting comments and additions from other students, parents, and teachers from around the world would help me to grow as a teacher. It would help my students become better digital citizens through practicing etiquette in social networking situations. To achieve this goal, I will have to explore the viable options that are available in my county to create a classroom blog. Participating in global classroom projects will help me to learn how to structure my own units by seeing the strengths or shortcomings of other projects. Monitoring my progress would be done through a series of steps. The first step is the creation and development of the blog. The success of my utilization of the tool, then, would be measured in the number and quality of the responses of my own students to the topics presented in the blog. The extension of my learning would be through presenting the blog and webcast to the global community through websites that aggregate teaching projects from around the world. Collaborating through writing and posts on the blog, learning from listening to podcasts that others develop on the same topic, and creating a global dialogue on our shared experiences, my students and I will both grow as responsible and involved digital learners as we explore real-world issues and solve authentic problems. As always, the success of my learning is measured through the success of my students through their engagement and achievement across the content areas.
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final
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