Gabcast

Again, I am not good at getting things into my blogs!
Here is the link to my Gabcast: Instructional Media

What a difference!

The WebQuest has been going great. From the very first day my group has been on the same page. We have worked well together, and everyone has been more than willing to do their part. I was a little bit worried about doing another group project after the whole digital story fiasco. While working on the digital story, my group did not communicate well. We were never working towards the same goal, and never had similar ideas on what direction to take. I think that experience was a wake-up call for us all. This time around has been an altogether good experience. What a difference a grade can make!

I am excited how our WebQuest has turned out as well. I think that the final project is something that I can be proud of. I am even thinking of using it as part of my unit plan for my curriculum class. It fits perfectly with the fitness and nutrition unit that I will be planning. It is exciting to see how it comes together with the rest of the unit. It is also good because it will appeal to a certain type of student. Because we live in such a technology driven world, it will be a great addition to my class.

A WebQuest is a great way to teach a concept because the student is finding their own information safely. Because, they are given the websites to get their information, they are getting the info that I want them to find. It is a way of controlling what the students learn, while giving them the freedom to discover it for themselves.

This weeks video "a nouns a person, place, or thing" is one that I already commented on. However, I think that it is good enough to deserve two comments! Even when I just see the words, or even think of a noun, the song flips through my head. I love school house rock!

Is that my voice?!

For this weeks blog, I have made my own avitar, using voki.com. This in itself is a really cool way to use technology. My avitar for the most part looks like me. I spent a lot of time and had a lot of fun making my voki and recording my own voice over the phone. I had some trouble getting it onto my blog, so I have added the link. My Voki

video chat!

So imagine you are going to China for three weeks towards the end of the school semester. You have discussed it with all of your teachers, and have done as much class work ahead of time as possible. However, you will be missing a group, in-class, practical exam. So what do you do? Cancel your trip? Try to do it before or after the vacation to China?

This is a problem that my friend Brooke has been trying to figure out for the last few weeks. We together came up with a great alternative when we noticed that she and a guy in our group both had webcams on their computers. She discussed her idea with our teacher and set it all up. On Thursday morning (about one am Friday morning in China), Brooke took the Ed Psych test with the rest of our class over gmail video chat.

She was able to do everything that we could do, although she didn't do the dance Dr. Cox taught us! She saw the experiments that we did, participated in class discussions, and took her group exam just as she would if she had been there. I even still got to hear her funny comments throughout the remainder of class using my earphones. Brooke has arranged to "attend" another class this week as well. I have decided that gmail video chat is about the coolest thing since regular gmail chat!

Experiencing how this worked out so well I can definitely see how video conferencing can be used in the classroom. Instead of having kids trying to get the notes ahead of time, or scrambling to get them after, they can get them at the same time as everyone else. It could be used when kids go out of town, or even if they are sick. However, I can also imagine kids taking advantage of this. I would set it up so kids could only use it once or twice, unless previously arranged. This way kids wouldn't use video chat so they could sleep in later or just miss class.

This weeks video, How Not to Use PowerPoint, was pretty entertaining. I think everyone who has ever been to school has seen a PowerPoint that hit some if not all of the no-no's. I am sure everyone has made one using at least one of these mistakes. I thought the guy was funny and that it was good information. I am thinking of forwarding the video to a couple of teachers I know!