Final Project

I have reworked my Moodle page. My goal was to make my Moodle page more interactive. I added the following things to my Moodle; a tutorial on Punnett squares using Jing, cell analogies collage using Glogster, a Moodle assignment where students upload their homework directly to the Moodle, two forums for class discussion, and a Twitter feed that provides current happenings in the science world. I created two Jing videos to show off my Moodle. Here is Part 1 and Part 2. I’ve also been working on setting up a Twitter account for classroom use. I’ve created a document about the use of Twitter in my classroom, and I’ve also collaborated with other teachers (through Twitter) about privacy and security when using Twitter for educational purposes. Here’s my previous blog post about using Twitter.

P.S. Sorry about the slurred speech on the Jing videos. I just had my wisdom teeth removed, ouch!

Tool Exploration Week 6- Moodle

Because I decided to go with Moodle over blogs and wikis, I spent a majority of my exploration this week with Moodle. I want to learn more about Moodle so that it becomes more interactive instead of simply a place to store files. I went to Moodle.org and read through their hints as well as a few forum discussions in order to learn more about these tools. The majority of the tools I found pointless and to difficult to use, but there were several that I plan on using.

Moodle Assignments

The teacher can use this to create an assignment. Students can than upload their assignments right to the Moodle. This removes the need to collect papers. There are a couple of ways to set this feature up. One set-up allows the student to turn in a rough draft which then can be reviewed by the teacher. The student then corrects their work and submits a final draft. This feature sounds appealing to me. I think I will test it out sometime this year.

Moodle Forums

Forums are fairly straight forward. I plan on using forums a good bit this year to encourage discussion and the sharing of thoughts outside the classroom. The biggest thing that I need to develop is a policy on how they will be graded and what the expectations are.

Moodle Glossary

A glossary of vocabulary terms can be created on Moodle. This tool has several nice features. Students can create definitions for different vocabulary terms. Students can rate the definitions in order to decide which definition is the best. Using the tips section on Moodle’s help site, I came across some interesting ideas. The glossary can be separated into categories as the year progresses. Also, the class can be split up into different groups. One group will be responsible for defining terms while another group will be responsible for rating the definitions. I feel this is a great way for students to create their own definitions, evaluate the definitions they’ve created, and refine them. I plan on using this tool in my ninth grade general science course.

Moodle Quiz

Quizzes can be created on Moodle. The feature has a lot of flexibility and options. My favorite part of this feature is that it will grade the quizzes for you and provide quick item analysis. This would help give the teacher instant feedback on how the students are doing in class. Additional features include time limits, open and close time for the quizzes, and opportunities to retake quizzes.

Moodle Flashcards

The final feature I like is Moodle Flashcards. Students or teachers can create a set of flashcards that can be used for studying.

Blogs, Wikis, and Moodle

The readings about Blogs and Wikis were very informative. I think both have a lot of uses in the classroom. The nice thing about these resources is that they can be used for a lot of things. The research provided in the slideshow was excellent. Posts and discussions on blogs and wikis lead to increased research by the students, increased discussion, increased collaboration, and increased face to face participation. I’ve noticed this through my own personal experience. I’m a relatively shy person. When I was in high school I dreaded being embarrassed by giving a wrong answer or asking a “dumb” question. Even today, I’m more likely to ask for help from other teachers when I have time to write out my questions and thoughts (which is easily done online). For that reason, I love using my blog and Twitter as a place to discuss teaching ideas.

In terms of preference, I think both have their benefits. Blogs are great for reflection and discussion, while wikis have a little more flexibility and allow for more collaboration. Personally, I prefer blogs. Wikis seem bulky to me for some reason. I think it would take more time to get the students used to a wiki as well. Blogs are very easy to start and use. At my school district, we are required to have a Moodle for each one of our classes. For those of you not familiar with Moodle, this is a site that can pretty much do all these things. The site can be used to host documents, videos, pictures, links, forums, and quizzes. It also has blogging and wiki capabilities. Because it does do all of these things, the resources aren’t top notch. You can’t create a blog as nice as the ones we’ve created for this class. It does have its limitations. I need to explore the blog and wiki capabilities of Moodle a little more before I decide whether to create a blog through Moodle or just put a link to a blog on my Moodle. If anyone has used the blog or wiki functions on Moodle before, let me know what you think.

QR Codes

I read about QR codes a couple of weeks back thanks to a comment on Twitter. I wasn't particularly interested the first time around. I had some extra time this week at our Tech Camp, so I explored it a little more. Here's a link to a livebinder that will give all the explanation you need about QR codes. It also has examples of how to use it in class. I found most of the applications to be not that helpful. I'm going to share two applications that I see using QR codes for. First, I like the idea of having a paperless answer key to go with a worksheet. A QR code can be placed on the worksheet. When a group of students have finished their work, they can check their answers can be scanning the QR code with their phones. Now, they will have access to a paperless answer key. Here's a very simple example of a QR code that I linked to a GoogleDoc. If you scan this image with an app on your smart phone, it will send you to an answer key.  

The second option is adding QR codes to things like posters and science fair boards that the students have created. The QR codes can link to YouTube videos of the students explaining their projects. I don't know if I will incorporate it into my class this year or not, but it definetly interesting learning about.

Twitter Update

I've mentioned earlier on my blog that I want to incorporate Twitter into my classroom this year. I went ahead and created a handout for my students to give them an initial idea of the role Twitter will play in the classroom. Here is a link to the handout I created: Use of Twitter. It is still a work in progress, but I think it's a good start. Any suggestions and improvements are appreciated.

At a district workshop this week, I approached our IT coordinator with my handout and my ideas for using Twitter in the classroom. The IT coordinator seems excited about the idea and is a strong believer in it's use. She is worried a bit about our building principal buying into it. She approached him once before about Twitter and although he didn't completely dismiss it, he has concerns about student safety. I guess the worry is that people besides students and teachers will have access to what students are tweeting about. The IT coordinator is planning on meeting with the District Superintendent to discuss the idea of using Twitter in class. He's a very big proponent of technology, so we will see how things go. I just wanted to let people know about my experience with trying to integrate Twitter into my classroom. If you have any suggestions about selling my point to administrators or minimizing safety concerns, please post it here.

I think Twitter is a great resource, and I want to help students learn how to use it for educational purposes instead of frivolously following celebrities. It's been such a great learning tool for me that I feel obligated to share its benefits with my students.

Week 5 Exploration

Create A Graph

I explored Create A Graph after reading others posts about it. The learning curve seems very small. This could really help with analyzing data. LoggerPro is typically used in our school district, but I found this to have a steep learning curve. I didn’t fully understand and the kids struggled with it as well. I think this is a great alternative, and I plan on using it this year.

GoogleDocs

I’ve heard things about GoogleDocs before, but I’ve never spent any time looking at it. I just completed the second day of our Tech Symposium at my school district. We spent some time working with GoogleDocs, and I see a lot of applications to it. One of the biggest benefits of GoogleDocs is that it allows students to collaborate on documents in real time. For example, students can upload a Word document to GoogleDocs. At home, members of the group can be working at their respective locations on the same document at the same time. This feature can be used for presentations, Word, and spreadsheets. Another great feature of GoogleDocs is the ability to create forms for your class. Using GoogleDocs, you can create surveys and worksheets that can be completed by the students anywhere. The information is placed neatly into a spreadsheet for the teacher. This could be very helpful when trying to reduce the amount of paper being used in the classroom. Instead of completing an opening day survey, the students can finish a GoogleDocs form. Students could complete homework worksheets using GoogleDocs. I’m also contemplating using these forms as exit tickets in class. I think this tool has a lot of applications.

Let me know what you think about my analysis of these tools. Do you use these any differently?

Twitter (Please Help)

I'm seriously considering using Twitter next school year. Here are my thoughts...

Twitter could be used for the following:
1. Keep students up to date on assignments
2. Reminders for tests
3. Quick hints and tips for tests and assignments
4. Reminders for science fair deadlines
5. Students can ask questions to the whole class and others can respond
6. Parents can keep up on class events as well.

I'm sure there are more things. Does anyone have any suggestions for other ways I could use Twitter? How do you like my ideas so far? Will they work? Is Twitter the best thing to use for the objectives above or would something else be better?

I plan on requiring my students sign up for Twitter and follow a class Twitter account that I will run. Any problems with this?

Feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Jing Video

I've created the following tutorial using Jing. Hopefully, I've embedded it properly. Also, I have a new found respect for voice-over actors. It's especially tough when you need to maneuver things on the computer at the same time. This is my first attempt at making a Jing video. I'm hoping to get better.

Reflection: Week 3 Readings

 I’ll start off talking about Chapter 2 from Technology in the Secondary Science Classroom. The chapter was very simple and short, but I thought it brought up some great points. I really like the idea of having students use digital images to capture data. This fits perfect in some labs where qualitative data is extremely important. Plus the kids get instantly motivated by using technology in the lab. I was amused every time a student asked to use their phone as a stop watch and then proceeded to nearly shout with joy about being allowed to do so (talk about easily amused). I think taking digital images would add greatly to some of my labs. The reading provided a lot of research that shows observing images and videos can be very helpful learning. I’m a firm believer in this. Many biological concepts are difficult to picture. By providing an image or video, the students often have a much better understanding of difficult concepts. Not all images and videos will instantly improve learning. In fact, if the images don’t supplement the learning objectives, research has shown that they can actually be distracting and take away from the objectives. Finally, the chapter mentioned the concept of “picture reading.” Many students lack the ability to read pictures. I’ve never really thought of this, but I myself can be bad at picture reading at times. Who hasn’t read through a book, came across a reference to a figure, and then glanced at the image for a few seconds before moving on? I know I have. Students are even more likely to do this. As teachers, we must constantly remind students to invest mental effort into reading and comprehending pictures and figures.

I like the concept of “In Plain English” videos. They are relatively simple and quick. I think the time put into will generate a good reward in terms of learning. I’m trying to think of some ways to incorporate this into my classes. I’ll spend some more time thinking about this during the week.

I found the copyright information to be a lot to wrap my head around. I learned a couple of things. Number one; it’s complicated! Number two; it’s better to be safe than sorry. I’m looking forward to reading more comments on this topic, so that I can get a better understanding about what all that information means to me. I did like the Creative Commons website. It makes searching for images that are acceptable for use very easy.

I’m looking forward to hearing some comments. Let me know what you think.

Reflection- Top 20 Web Tools Countdown

I just went through the top 20 web tools countdown. I came  across many tools that I hadn't even heard of before. I'm going to list some of my reactions here.

1. Glogster
I've used Glogster before and have found value in it. My students created a glog on cell organelles. Not only did the kids enjoy creating the glogs (the learning curve was minimal), they were able to create great visuals to go along with analogies they created for each organelle. I will most likely continue using Glogster in the future.

2. Prezi
Prezi is a tool that I've heard about before but never got the chance to explore. I've seen presentations created through Prezi. To me, Prezi is much like slides on a PowerPoint except that it provides a lot more flexibility. Based off of the examples that I've seen, the presentations flow much better and do a better job showing connections between topics.

3. Blabberize
This is a tool that allows you to take a picture and have the picture move its mouth according to the text you provide. I think of this as more of a gimmick tool. I don't mean that in a negative way. This could be used as a great hook. I don't see this as something you would use a lot, but it could really get the attention of students at the beginning of a lesson or really hammer home a central point at the conclusion of a lesson.

4. ToonDooSpaces
This is a website that allows students to make comic strips. This tool I know very little about. I plan on exploring this during the week. I will give you an update on what I learn/think.

5. Xtranormal
Here's another one that I know very little about. You create a dialogue between characters. Then, you can use this tool to create an animation to fit your dialogue. I read on a blog (my new knowledge on blogs helped out here) about how he used it his foreign language class. The teacher provided a positive review on the use of this tool. I plan on exploring this one a little further this week.

I will spend some more time exploring these. I'll provide some updates as the week goes on. If you have any experiences with these tools before, don't be afraid to comment. I would love to hear if you felt they were worthwhile using or not. Also, don't be afraid to brag about the cool lesson plans you've used them for.

Guiding Principles for Technology Use

Here are my guidelines for using technology. This is still VERY much a work in progress. But here’s what I came up with after doing some brainstorming:

The purpose of technology is to:

1. Allow for student centered learning

            -Technology allows for increased opportunities for student centered learning

2. Allow for increased collaboration with others.

            -What excites me most about technology is the ability to collaborate with others.  Students can discuss content and activities with other classes, students taking the same course with a different teacher, experts in the field, and so much more.

3. Allow students to gain valuable learning experiences not previously available.

            -Technology can allow students to analyze real world data that they wouldn’t be able to   collect on their own. Simulations, animations, and images to difficult concepts are right at their fingertips.

4. Differentiate instruction for students.

5. Increase motivation of students

            -In age where students are constantly using and surrounded by technology, technology can be used to connect with students, to increase motivation and increase participation. I’ve put this at the end of the list. Technology shouldn’t be used as gimmick to get students’ attention, but can be used a great hook into lessons.

Possible uses of technology:

1. Post and evaluate work

            -Students can post their work, and then other students can comment. This allows for increased discussion and sharing of ideas.

2. Classroom blog

            -This can be used to supplement class discussions, provide example of student work, and  serve as an informational center. (I’m sure there are many more that I will be able to add to this list over the next few weeks.)

Caveat: With all of benefits of technology mentioned above, there is one main guideline that should always be considered; is technology enhancing the learning experience? Is the focus on the learning of content and problem solving skills and not on the mechanics of the technology? When incorporating technology into my lessons, I must ask myself this question every time.

That’s what I have for now. Any questions, comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!