Week #13

Digital stories have the potential to be really cool. I am really excited to make one. I love how they have the potential to be really powerful or really fun. There are so many great things that you can do and you can do a digital story about anything. In my future classroom I can see myself showing a lot of digital stories about events in history.

The digital story about The Holocaust was incredibly powerful. I think that sometimes when we are shown the number of casualties it doesn't really mean that much, but when you are shown pictures of the people who were in the concentration camps it really hurts your heart. You realize that these were people just like you and me and they had families, friends, and a full life ahead of them.

I watched some others on this website and I can see myself showing some of them to my future class. As I have said a million times before, it is really important to mix things up so that your students do not get bored. Anything that a teacher can use to teach something besides a powerpoint is a great because it breaks up the monotony of the class. I REALLY love the idea of having my students do digital stories. I think it would be a fun project for them and I think it definitely beats reading and grading papers.

For some reason the this week's video did not work on my computer. I found another digital story on youtube that I could possibly use in my future class.

I like this video because it shows pictures of the people who were involved in the massacre and I think that it explains the massacre well. There are some things about this video that I do not like, like how when they show the car they use pictures for some people and words for others. I do like the gun shots, but I am not sure if that is really appropriate for school. I like the pictures that are shown and how the author explains the situation behind the massacre.

Technology Articles

Ning's tagline is "Create Your Own Social Network Site for Anything" which means you can create a social networking site for your classroom. You have the ability to create forums, discussions, and blogs in your social network, upload videos, music and photos. Ning was created by Gina Bianchini and Marc Andreessen. It is different from social networking sites like Myspace because instead of joining a large network of people, Ning members can create their own social network. Ning is free, unless you want to pay for upgrades, but this is not necessary. Ning offers a customer support and has a FAQ page and if you have any other questions you email them.

According to starreviews.com the upside to Ning is that it is free and customizable. The downside to Ning is that there are poor search options, slow response time to your questions and there are ads on the pages.

In an article by Wade Roush titled Build Your Own Social Network, he discusses the features of Ning and says that it is better than networks like Myspace and Livejournal. He said that he created a social network especially for devotees of digital macrophotography. People who join his network have the ability to create their own personal profiles, upload phoots, connect with friends, send instant messages, write their own blogs, contribute to forums and many other things. One thing that I noticed throughout a lot of these reviews was how easy it was to create one of these pages and how it took only minutes and Ning makes setting up a custom social network as easy as starting a personal blog. Roush said that the interface reminded him of sites like Blogger, Livejournal, Typepad and Wordpress.

To start a social network on Ning, you must sign up for a free account. Then it will walk you through the desgin process step by step allowing you to choose a name and descripture for your network, pick the features (such as blogs, photos, chat windows, and forums_ that will appear on the network's main page, and you are allowed to arrange these features however you want to. Networkers can choose from a few dozen theme and color schemes provodied, or they can create their own HTML code and style sheets. If you want to pay $19.95, yoper month you won't have to deal with the ads in the right margin of ever Ning page. You can also add your own ads for that price.

I am not sure if I would ever really use Ning, but I think it has the pote

ntial to be really great for a high school class room. I think it would give those who are a little more hesitant to participate in class a chance to say what they would like to. You could also house sample projects and assignments that your students are going to do in the future. The parents could also be a part of the social network, or you could have another social network for parents. Another reason why I like Ning is that it is not facebook or myspace. The teacher can control what is being posted and can regulate what students can see. There is also an option that only invited people can see the page that way no one can join who isn't actually invited to join.

I actually set up a page and it was really easy. First you name your social network and specify what kind of network it is. Then you type in your zip code. Second, you decide if you want certain features on your Ning page and you drag them into a template. These features include: activities, members, forum, blog, music, photos, videos, events, groups, chat, and badges. I chose to include all of them. Third, you pick a theme. I chose the theme Hipster Purple. I don't know why, I guess because I like purple. That's it! Then you customize your page and add content. I could not believe how easy it was. I found it a lot easier than trying to create a group or an event on facebook.

This is what my Ning page looks like:

I think that this feature is better than a blog because it gives students more freedom to express their opinions and allows them to interact with each other outside of the classroom. In Ning they can upload a picture, and basically have their own page, but be connected to your social network.

Glogster EDU is a web application that allows students to create multimedia online posters, or glogs, which can be shared on the internet. These glogs are made using images, sounds and videos. Glogster encourages creativity and is a resource for innovative and interactive learning. On http://edu.glogster.com/ it lists reasons why educators should use Glogster EDU. They are:

1. A creative, dynamic, and innovative digital outlet that captures learner's excitement for online creatives, keeps learning engaged in course content, and makes teaching and learning more fun.
2. A private and safe platform, monitored directly by teachers. Teachers control all the activities of their learners.
3. A valuable teaching tool that integrates diverse core subjects including math, science, history, art, photography, music and more for individual learner portfolios, unique alternative assessments, and differentiated instructional activities.

The reasons why learners should use Glogster EDU are:

1. A fun imaginative, and powerful learning experience which fosters independent creative self expression, positive learner-teacher relationships, and teamwork on collaborative class projects.
2. A vibrant, multi-sensory learning experience which integrates learner's knowledge and skills into traditionally text-oriented subjects and motivates learner's desire to explore topics in which they may previously been less interested.

I looked at some of the projects that other people created on Glogster and they are seriously awesome. What is great about it is that it is another way to present information so you don't bore your students to death. Another great thing is that the students can use it and do projects on the internet. I remember doing projects on posters and having to bring them into school. It was always so hard to find one time that everyone could meet and usually one person ended up doing the whole presentation. With Glogster, it allows everyone to work on a project, but they don't necessarily have to be in the same place. This feature kind of reminds me of Google Docs a little, but it is a little more advanced.

In Glogster Brings Glitter Graphic Blogging To The Masses

by Josh Lowensohn he explains his experience with Glogster and what is good about it and what is bad about it. He says that Glogster is a service on letting people create posters of various bits of pre-made and user generated content using a Flash editor. The site is geared toward a teen crowd, or anyone else who enjoyed partaking in glitter graphics. Users can create classy looking stuff with distinct visual style. Glogster's editing tool is simple to use. Its categorization, which divides up all the contect you can place intoa Glog, places a limited number of items together that the user must then sort through one piece at a time. You may have to exercise some patience in finding exactly what you are looking for though. Site that are similar and may be easier to use for others are Flecktor and Scrapblog. Glogster also doubles as a social network, and users can add each other as friends and each Glog has a place for comments and ratings. You are also able to embed a Glog somewhere else. Here is an example of a Glog:

I think that these Glogs are pretty cool. And it allows for parents to see the projects that their students and other students are doing. It also makes it easier for the teacher to save projects from past students. I even created a Glog and it didn't take that long. There are many templates to choose from and it has A LOT of graphics.

Week #12

Week #11

This week we learned about picasa. It is a great tool that is free with a gmail account. It is fairly easy to use and has a lot of different ways to enhance your photos. This is great application because you can edit your photos and put them on your classroom website. In one of the photos below, I put text on the photo, which is awesome. I think that it would be fun to put some pictures up from your classes so that the parents can see and so that students can see other students in the class' work. Picasa uploaded all of the photos from my desktop and pictures folder without a lot of difficulty. The only downside was that it was a little bit slow while editing the pictures and while uploading to blogger.. but maybe it's just my computer or internet connection.

This video includes a song about the US presidents. I remember watching this show when I was younger and I would have the songs stuck in my head for days. I know that it might seem a little childish for high school students, but I think that it will be a fun way to present the presidents to the students. It is so much better than just showing them a list of the presidents that have served and when.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Concerning the UNI survey I am basically an apprentice in every category since I have not designed activities because I am not a teacher yet. I feel confident in most of these categories because I grew up using most of this stuff, or have recently learned how to operate the newer technologies. I feel like I learned a lot of these skills in junior high and high school. I believe that my generation as well as the new generations are just born with a knack for technology. From my experience, younger people are much easier to teach about technology than older people. For example, my little sister knows much more about how to use facebook (even though she doesn't have one) than my mom (who actually has a facebook).

Apple provides a variety of different workshops. They offer everything from just getting started to using specific programs on an Apple. For example, today there was a workshop from 3:00-4:30 titled "Getting Started Hands-On Workshop."Best thing about these workshops are that they are free! That's right--free ninety nine. Even though I have worked with an Apple for over 4 years, I am sure that there are still a few tricks that I do not know about. I typed "computer tutorials" into google and it came back with ____ results and a lot of them are free tutorials. One that I looked at is called Basic Computer Tutorial. Basically, it is just an overview of what services a computer can offer you. Again, it is free and there is lots of information there.

I believe that I am very good with technology and a feel that I am very good with a lot of computer programs, the internet, and other technologies. I am aware that there will be new technology that will come out soon, but I am prepared and excited to learn about these new technologies and will try and keep as up to date as possible. Currently, my weaknesses are certain websites such as UEN (yuck) and podcasts, but I am willing to work hard to understand these better.

Lessons Learned

One thing that is so great about all of this technology is that many resources are available online, in books, and there are even workshops that you can attend to learn more. The information is easily accessible if you are truly interested in learning about new technology. And how great is it that University of Minnesota researchers have found educational benefits concerning facebook and myspace! YES! I can use this as an excuse to get on facebook more often. From reading these articles and watching these videos it has really made me wonder about what kind of technology I will be using in my future classroom. I know that some schools are behind, but hopefully I will be able to use the newest technologies to teach my students and not bore them to death.

I have also realized that it is important that students learn about these technologies at an early age because they will most likely be using them for the rest of their life no matter what occupation they go into.

Concerning the disconnect of personal and school writing, I believe that when students write on a computer it is completely different than what they would be writing on a piece of paper. When students use the computer they are usually multi-tasking. They have more than one window open, they are chatting with their friends, looking up scores for the baseball game and probably texting 3 people. I think that multi-tasking is a great skill to have, but it can really affect the quality of someone's writing. I think that texting and instant messaging is affecting young people's social skills--they can't carry on a conversation with someone in real life. It also affects their grammar and sentence structure. If I ever see "LOL" or "JK" on any papers in my classroom, the student will get lecture from me.

My Beliefs

I have mentioned many times before how important I think technology is in the classroom. In one of the articles it mentioned how bored students might get in school now because of the "new WWW." I completely agree--the youth of this generation want things faster, less expensive and they want it now. Why do you think that businesses offer over night shipping? Because people want their stuff NOW. There are so many ways to present a subject if you use modern technology. I mean, possibilities are endless.

I feel confident that I will be able to keep up with the technology that will develop in recent years. I have always been pretty good with technology and I have an interest in it. I am the type of person that will sit down and figure things out if I really want to. In high school, when myspace was really popular, I figured out how to customize my own theme for my myspace. I hope that with my passion for technology and my work ethic that I will be able to keep my future students entertained in the classroom.