Course Portfolio

Lita N. Brown

MEDT 7462
Internet tools, Resources and Issues

Assignments

Assignment 3.1: Creating a Course Portfolio

Reflection: I have never used Nvu to create a web page, but it is a tight little program (and free!) similar enough to many web editors I have used that the learning curve was minimal. I appreciate the Source and Preview tabs and I am eager to play around and see how far I can push Nvu.
As a librarian, I would love to have this installed on the library computers for the students to have the option to create web pages for their projects, instead of Power Point !

Assignment 3.2: Getting Started with Gmail

Reflection: I love Gmail and have had accounts since it was by invitation only. The storage space was the big lure, being able to send very large files without having to use ICQ or other messenger application. This is still a huge part of what makes Gmail so useful as a student, but the addition of chat and now video chat makes it very easy to connect with classmates and teachers.

Gmail assignment screen shot

Assignment 3.3: Google Calendar

Reflection: Google Calendar is as handy as it is versatile. Not just the standard importing events, contacts' birthdays, showing national holidays, keeping a personal to do/task list, but you also have the ability to create events and invite people to them via Gmail. You can set the permissions so that guests could invite other guests as well, and even edit the event. It is truly an amazing collaboration tool!
Using the calendar in conjunction with Google Chat, you can host a virtual meeting with students or colleagues, have a tutoring session, a homework jam... the possibilities are endless. When you factor in video and voice enabled chat that is available within Google Chat, not to mention the Google Talk application for 3g phones - a virtual meeting can be attended by people across timezones and countries, yet still feel as intimate as 'the real thing.'

Screen shot of my Google Calendar

Assignment 3.4: Blogs

Reflection: Blogging can make a huge difference in whether or not child develops a love of reading and writing. To have a place that you can rant or theorize or daydream is vital to maintaining your sanity in this crazy world. To give students that place, to introduce them to blogging, can be done in any content area. Writing occurs across all content areas, and it just may be you, The Math Teacher, that opens up a whole new world of reading and writing and online collaboration to your students. Give them ownership, let them customize the look and feel and enjoy how engaged your students are with this assignment!

The site I chose to use in this assignment is Free Rice, which comes with the WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job, performance...
The rules are simple: Click on the correct definition of the word. If you get it right, you get a harder question. If you get it wrong, you get an easier question. Students can play individually, for fun or competition, in as teams within a class, teams within grade levels, or across grade levels. The best part about this game is that for each correct answer, 10 grains of rice is donated to the United Nations World Food Program.

Link to my blog
Screen shot of my blog assignment

Assignment 3.5: Wikis

Reflection: Building this site was the most frustrating assignment so far. Compared to how easy it was to set up a blog, calendar and Gmail, creating an appealing Google site was very difficult. The most frustrating was trying to manipulate the appearance of a site, as once a template has been chosen, it cannot be changed. I created a wikispace last semester, and if I had to choose between Google site or wikispaces for a collaboratively taught lesson in the library, I would choose wikispaces merely because of the time it would take to get 30 students ready to stop making it pretty and start working.
However, I do appreciate the ease of use regarding inviting collaborators. Being able to use your Gmail contacts is a huge convenience.

Link to my Google site
Screen shot of my wiki assignment

Assignment 3.6: Aggregators

Reflection: Setting up Google Reader was easy and fast. Browsing blogs and feeds, on the other hand, saw me at my computer for most of a day! I really like that you can put your Reader data onto your Blogger page, making it easy for people to keep up with all of your activity. I also liked that my contacts that also used the Reader were able to locate me so quickly.
In an educational setting, Reader can be used to keep track of scientific developments, technology trends, world news, etc. Students will enjoy being able to share their interest so easily and using Reader in this way, teachers can incorporate it into many existing lesson plans.

Link to my Blog, with Reader gadget on the right
Screen shot of my Aggregator assignment

Assignment 3.7: Google Docs

Reflection: Setting up a Google Doc was very easy. Finding collaborators was a little frustrating as so many classmates have worked ahead. Once collaboration was initiated, the format was very easy to use and the ease of access makes up for any amount of learning curve. I am able to access Google Docs on my Android phone, and have already been using it to save data from other applications on my phone. One of these applications lends itself to using Google Docs, and Google Earth if other collaborators do not have access to the application My Tracks. Students can map different routes to a common location. Collaboration can occur between the students by suggesting alternate routes, discussing area safety and tracking distance traveled and time. This single application can be used in a math or physical education setting.

Link to Google Doc assignment
.pdf of Google Docs assignment, with Jennifer Pitts

Assignment 3.8: Online Presentation Tools

Reflection: I'm struggling with SlideShare. I do love the concept and it's versatility. I originally developed my presentation at Wix.com but I could see no way of uploading that to SlideShare. I then created a PowerPoint, which I imported into GoogleDocs. I then ported that document to SlideShare. I could not see a way to invite collaboration on my SlideShare presentation, so I went back to GoogleDocs and invited classmates to collaborate from there, asking for clarification, assistance and collaboration.
I may fall in love with it over time, but right now, I can do everything I want to do and more with GoogleDocs.

Link to SlideShare with Kaia Alderson & Tonia Conner
pdf of our SlideShare

Assignment 3.9: Social Bookmarking

Reflection: Social bookmarking can be a valuable tool in education. Students can share resources with their peers and educators can share resources with their students. There are a few problems with social bookmarking, however, that could shatter a teacher's lesson plan. Which Social bookmarking application do you choose? If you are an early adopter, you may have already started with Slashdot, Reddit, Digg or Delicious. If you are a loyal Google-ist, you may be using their bookmarking service. You may StumbleUpon. There are many different applications to choose from and setting up accounts on all of the services may not appeal to you. It does not appeal to me. I imported close to 3,000 bookmarks to Delicious about the same time I imported them to Google. For me, the application I will end up using is the one that allows me to edit my bookmarks easiest. I thought I was rather organized in my bookmarking, but there is a huge difference in personal bookmarking and social bookmarking, and I've seen no way to limit what is imported, only the option to clean up afterwards. Someone who has been carrying around bookmarks for 10+ years could very well throw their hands up at the enormity of the organizational task in front of them.

I did have a flash of a 'teachable moment' while I was trying to organize my Delicious page for this assignment. As educators, we are constantly fighting the bubble phenomenon with children. On the net everything is out there, the only privacy you have is what you impose upon yourself by not putting it out there. If I were to walk my students through setting up Delicious on the fly, from my home computer, there are many items that would not be age appropriate, two that come to mind are Lily Allen's Fuck You video and my playlist for the Fucking Champs. In a high school setting, I might be able to pull this fiasco off by pointing out that I could very well get fired if someone walked in and saw what I had on the Promethean board, which is exactly why, students, you should be careful with the information you Tweet or post to Facebook, etc.

Screenshot of my Delicious page

Assignment 3.10: Adobe Connect

Reflection: In retrospect, I probably should have used the Adobe Connect application from my Android, and not used my phone as a wifi hotspot. I would be very interested in trying another meeting!

Virtual meetings are the perfect way to handle busy schedules, high gas prices and travel time among group members. There are many different platforms for virtual meetings. Other platforms similar to Adobe Connect are Wimba Elluminate, WebEx, Wormhole IT, Fuze, Persony, VoxWire, GoMeetNow, Click Meeting and Vyew. Some virtual meeting software, like Adobe Connect and WebEx, are also available for 3g phones, which adds even more flexibility to a virtual meet time.

Before virtual meeting software, there was video chat, and that still remains a viable option for virtual meetings as the cost of virtual meeting software can be prohibitive. However, features such as a virtual whiteboard and desktop sharing are not available in standard video chat applications.

A creative instructor can make due with video chat and hold class when meeting in a brick and mortar school is not feasible. but having the extra features of virtual meeting software, such as break away sessions and private messaging, can pinpoint additional instruction where it is needed.

Assignment 3.11: Google SketchUp

Reflection: Google SketchUp is an amazing tool. Robust and intuitive, it has a tolerable learning curve and provides ample support via Help and online videos. Students begin making models in elementary school with Pilgrim settlements and Native American villages. Instead of paper, cardboard and paste, students can use this free tool that incidentally teachers algebra and geometry! SketchUp is also suited for high school engineering classes, where students design suspension bridges and working and living spaces.

SketchUp, in my opinion, has the greatest direct educational value of all the applications we have covered so far. Many of the tools are useful and can be integrated into classroom use very easily, but SketchUp, while overcoming the prohibitive cost of AutoCAD, has the potential to aid teachers in nurturing our future architects, civil, mechanical, electronic and aerospace engineers.

My SketchUp

Assignment 3.12: Picassa

Reflection: I'm a Photobucket person. I've used it for years, so without the option of porting my Photobucket account en masse to Picassa, it will take some time for me to fully settle in at Picassa. I uploaded my first photos there for my blog, and I noticed a few fun features. I like the geotagging personally, but for my students it violates privacy laws. I also like the face recognition feature and tagging, but again, for my students we would run into privacy issues.

What I like best about Picassa is that it integrates so easily with my other Google applications, like my blog.

My Picassa
Screenshot of a tasty snack

Assignment 3.13: Google Translate

Reflection: Before Google Translate, I used AltaVista's Babel Fish, now owned by Yahoo. Being a HHGG fan, I had the added benefit of smiling every time I loaded up the Babel Fish. But Google Translate gives you the added feature of reading the translation phonetically, something that AltaVista's Babel Fish did not. With Google Translate, not only can ESL and ELL students receive translation assistance, which improves the accessibility of school webpages, but foreign language students can cross check the pronunciation of their assignments.

Screenshot of one of my favorite quotes in Thai, with phonetic pronunciation.

Assignment 3.14: Google Earth

Reflection: I have played with Google Earth many times since it was first released, but it wasn't until Hurricane Katrina that I used it extensively and discovered it's many features. Users were uploading pictures of locations, showing us what was going on in real time. This same aspect of Google Earth can be a distraction, though. If you are trying to zoom in on a landmark, it is often crowded with snapshots that can distract a student.

Using the layers feature and the gallery, a teacher can create a virtual field trip for his or her students. A virtual field trip isn't just useful for a foreign language or world history teacher, a virtual field trip can be used to discover the next zip code over just as easily.

My Google Earth trip home

Assignment 3.15: Google Custom Search

Reflection: Google Custom Search is a free resource that can be used in the place of GALILEO or Follett's Destiny search. Limiting the web results is a time saver, in that students don't have to sift through the entirety of the web for their information. Educators are also able to eliminate the 'computer profiling' element from Google search results and give all students access to the same information. Downsides would be that using the custom search eliminates the majority of information literacy education, unless the search creator includes sub-standard websites purposefully.

My Google Custom Search
Screenshot of search results

Assignment 3.16: Google Forms

Reflection: The wealth of tools available from Google is absolutely astounding. I've used SurveyMonkey for quite some time, but using Google Forms is so much easier, especially being able to email the recipients directly from your contact list! Students can learn the fundamentals of using a spreadsheet during math, exploring functions and graphs, or it can be used cross-curricularly by students creating quizzes for each other and analyzing the results.
The possible uses of Google Forms outside the classroom are very exciting. Librarians can use the forms to sample teachers' or coworkers' opinions on content area purchases for the library, versus online databases or online encyclopedia programs. Forms can also be used to sample students' opinions on series or genre purchases as well as evaluating past purchases.

My Google Forms Survey
Screenshot of survey results

Assignment 3.17: My Inner Tool

Reflection: I chose Glogster EDU as my inner tool because it is an exciting alternative to traditional PowerPoint or posterboard presentations. A Glog poster, or web page, can contain multimedia elements like text, audio, video, images, drawings, and data attachments. Glogs are created using a drag and drop interface that is usable for students of all ages.

Using Glogster we can meet content area and NETS-S standards for communication and collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making, research and information fluency, and digital citizenship by creating and sharing the online multimedia posters.

The Glogster platform offers students a new way to express their creativity which can improve interest levels in subjects that may have previously been seen as ‘boring.’
Adding audiovisual aspects to traditionally text-oriented subjects can also assist in reaching varied learning styles.
Glogster can also foster teamwork and collaboration with classmates during project creation and after completion via comments and ratings.
Students and teachers can share their Glogs via link, embedding HTML code to a website or school wiki and posting directly to social networks like Blogger, iGoogle, LiveJournal, Facebook and Twitter as well as social bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Del.icio.us.

Teachers can select exemplar student projects and demonstrate students’ achievements with parents, administrators, other students and educators. Student portfolios and teacher presentations can be kept private or shared with the world.

Students currently produce assignments using printers or posterboards. Using Glogster’s digital posters would be an economically and environmentally sound option. Less paper will be consumed using Glogster and money that would have been spent on project supplies can be utilized in other areas.

The only downside to Glogster’s graphic rich interface is that it could pose a distraction to some students, causing them to focus more on ‘flash’ than content. If a teacher knows this will be an issue with a particular class, he or she could do the same assignment using the Web Poster Wizard.

Glogster website
My Inner Tool Glog
My Jing vid: Introduction to Glogster
Lesson plan using Glogster