This Blogfolio is a snapshot of everything I experienced, covered, and learned during my short time in IT: 645. We created 10 projects throughout the course of the class, and each of them were things that we had either seen or heard of before, and some of them were things we'd never ever been introduced to. There was the lesson plan assignment, the technology survey, which will allow me to assess my students' technology know-how; then there was the podcast, and movie story, both interactive and hands-on activities; there was the course site, with quizzes and forums, rubric tutorials and creations, and lastly Thinglink, and Scoop.it. All of these things combined for a truly memorable experience and a lot of information for me to take away and apply in the upcoming year!
The first learning tool that I learned about in this class was weebly.com. Now I was familiar with creating blogs on Google, and I’d recently used WordPress –which was terribly difficult, but I’d never had any experience with Weebly. Initially when I started working towards getting the website created I thought it was stupid and not as creative as the other platforms I’ve worked on; however, once I got started and saw the blog coming together I really saw how it could be something that I not only used going into the future, but also something that I could have my students to do as well. The drag and drop interaction between the widgets and the background was extremely user friendly. I could see my students not being able to weasel their way out of creating it for class, because it isn’t terribly difficult but it is engaging.
The first actual project that we were asked to create was the lesson plan. We were asked to create a lesson plan that would provide the instructional materials, class activities, and actual assignments. The lesson plan template was provided and it was most helpful and it guided me throughout the process. Once I’d created the lesson plan, I decided to focus most of my efforts to teaching my students the writing process, because that would prepare them best for actually writing the essay on Dr. King’s speech. The next step was to create a survey that would assesses my students’ technology background. I don’t immediately know of a way that I could implement this for my students, but I do see how I could use it in order to assess how well my students enjoyed my lessons, what type of projects I want my students to do and all types of things that I might not be able to get out of them by simply asking. It also showed me how I could share it with my students as well.
Next we had the story map and the google slide project. The story Map was fun to create, but it was a little difficult for me to navigate the tools initially. So this was the first time that I actually utilized the tutorial videos that were provided by the professor. They were most helpful and I continued to use them throughout the duration of the class, as the projects got increasingly more intricate. I could see myself having my students to create one in order to show that they understand story structure, and to also assess whether or not they comprehended the reading. I’ve had experience with using google slides in this capacity before because I’ve had my students to do it and they really liked doing those and being able to share them directly to me.
The next two were the podcast and the movie story and these were the two that I enjoyed the most personally. I’ve been wanting to get my students’ interested in doing podcasts for the longest, but I don’t think I fully understood the process. Like I said earlier, I went and watched the tutorial on creating a podcast, and I went and found an additional video on using audacity. The rest was history. The only issue I can see myself having when it comes to implementing both of these, is that my students will need to have a web-based software, and I would need to do the same thing for the iMovie portion. Since I didn’t use Vocaroo, I’m going to have to go back in and learn about doing that one, because I really want to have my students do it. I don’t see how I can use the movie portion anywhere, and I’m really saddened by it. I may be able to get my students to record their videos on their phones and find an app that will allow them to edit it somehow.
When it came to the course site creation, again, I was extremely excited about ways that I could get my students to create their own website. The website creation was user friendly just like the blog, and the way they interacted with one another was awesome. I had an issue scaffolding during my first year and the professor’s instructions for creating the website were simple and effective. I’m going to probably be stealing most of the way that she did it in order to instruct my students in creating their own websites. What was revolutionary for me was the fact that the pages already had their own themes that I KNOW my students will be able to create their own pages that are formulaic and streamlined, so after creating that I was really excited for where I’ll be able to take them.
When it comes to creating the quiz and the forum, I don’t think that I would be using those two in my class. It’s not because they were unnecessary, it’s just because my students already have a platform –schoology, that allows them to utilize forums and quizzes in a much more accessible way. Now when I have them create their websites they may be able to utilize the forum for communication with their peers; however, I think my students would prefer to use the comments section for that. Now the rubric creation process was awesome! I had students all year last year, asking me for rubrics for every assignment that they were given. I completely underestimated the way having checkpoints to check their progress could improve my instruction. The rubric process was amazing because it already comes stacked for you if you want to use what they have. It’s also easy for the instructor to change the rubrics that are already there to fit their needs. Which was awesome. I’m definitely going to use that this year.
Thinglink and Scoop.it are things that I will probably have my students utilize in order to show me that they are able to construct knowledge from prior knowledge that I’ve already instructed them on. Thinglink allows the students to modify images and create links that give additional information that synthesizes what we’ve been going over all year. They were both equally interesting, accessible and easy to create. What I’ve truly enjoyed about this class was how accomplished I felt once I reached the finish line. Now I have a lot of information and activities that I can teach my students throughout the year!
The first actual project that we were asked to create was the lesson plan. We were asked to create a lesson plan that would provide the instructional materials, class activities, and actual assignments. The lesson plan template was provided and it was most helpful and it guided me throughout the process. Once I’d created the lesson plan, I decided to focus most of my efforts to teaching my students the writing process, because that would prepare them best for actually writing the essay on Dr. King’s speech. The next step was to create a survey that would assesses my students’ technology background. I don’t immediately know of a way that I could implement this for my students, but I do see how I could use it in order to assess how well my students enjoyed my lessons, what type of projects I want my students to do and all types of things that I might not be able to get out of them by simply asking. It also showed me how I could share it with my students as well.
Next we had the story map and the google slide project. The story Map was fun to create, but it was a little difficult for me to navigate the tools initially. So this was the first time that I actually utilized the tutorial videos that were provided by the professor. They were most helpful and I continued to use them throughout the duration of the class, as the projects got increasingly more intricate. I could see myself having my students to create one in order to show that they understand story structure, and to also assess whether or not they comprehended the reading. I’ve had experience with using google slides in this capacity before because I’ve had my students to do it and they really liked doing those and being able to share them directly to me.
The next two were the podcast and the movie story and these were the two that I enjoyed the most personally. I’ve been wanting to get my students’ interested in doing podcasts for the longest, but I don’t think I fully understood the process. Like I said earlier, I went and watched the tutorial on creating a podcast, and I went and found an additional video on using audacity. The rest was history. The only issue I can see myself having when it comes to implementing both of these, is that my students will need to have a web-based software, and I would need to do the same thing for the iMovie portion. Since I didn’t use Vocaroo, I’m going to have to go back in and learn about doing that one, because I really want to have my students do it. I don’t see how I can use the movie portion anywhere, and I’m really saddened by it. I may be able to get my students to record their videos on their phones and find an app that will allow them to edit it somehow.
When it came to the course site creation, again, I was extremely excited about ways that I could get my students to create their own website. The website creation was user friendly just like the blog, and the way they interacted with one another was awesome. I had an issue scaffolding during my first year and the professor’s instructions for creating the website were simple and effective. I’m going to probably be stealing most of the way that she did it in order to instruct my students in creating their own websites. What was revolutionary for me was the fact that the pages already had their own themes that I KNOW my students will be able to create their own pages that are formulaic and streamlined, so after creating that I was really excited for where I’ll be able to take them.
When it comes to creating the quiz and the forum, I don’t think that I would be using those two in my class. It’s not because they were unnecessary, it’s just because my students already have a platform –schoology, that allows them to utilize forums and quizzes in a much more accessible way. Now when I have them create their websites they may be able to utilize the forum for communication with their peers; however, I think my students would prefer to use the comments section for that. Now the rubric creation process was awesome! I had students all year last year, asking me for rubrics for every assignment that they were given. I completely underestimated the way having checkpoints to check their progress could improve my instruction. The rubric process was amazing because it already comes stacked for you if you want to use what they have. It’s also easy for the instructor to change the rubrics that are already there to fit their needs. Which was awesome. I’m definitely going to use that this year.
Thinglink and Scoop.it are things that I will probably have my students utilize in order to show me that they are able to construct knowledge from prior knowledge that I’ve already instructed them on. Thinglink allows the students to modify images and create links that give additional information that synthesizes what we’ve been going over all year. They were both equally interesting, accessible and easy to create. What I’ve truly enjoyed about this class was how accomplished I felt once I reached the finish line. Now I have a lot of information and activities that I can teach my students throughout the year!