Podcast - Last Class

Here is the link to the podcast of my very last class at Plymouth State University. My teacher was Jeff Utecht and I learned more than I can even write about here! I have made contacts, friends, worked on collaborative projects, learned how to use wiki's, blogs, web 2.0 tools, etc.. You name it, I did it.. all in the short 11 weeks or so we were together. What a great experience. Thank you to Jeff for opening my eyes to a whole new world.

Teaching in a networked world

I can honestly say, I would not want to teach my students any other way than with technology and the Web 2.0 tools I have discovered. (If you can tell by many previous posts) I enjoy using Moodle with my students and would love to venture "outside" of the "walled garden" as some of the online teachers I have met, call it! I want to use wiki's and blogs. I want to use ning and epals to show the kids different cultures that exist beyond their small community. I want to podcast and share the kids voices with others to show them we are really making a lot of progress with 21st century tools. We are collaborating and working well with online learning projects. (PBL - Project Based Learning) All the while we are learning, we are meeting literacy goals, we are working together to accomplish tasks! Wow! Isn't that what we want to teach the youth of today?

What I question at times, is my delivery, my expectations as well as the time I have in my short 12 weeks with my students to create such an atmosphere in the classroom. Where project based learning and teaching is based on such high expectations and organization, which must then be communicated to the students, how is it teachers accomplish these tasks? I guess a lot of this technology is targeted to be used within the core classes. This is what our eportfolio model is based upon here in NH. It is meant to incorporate technology into the core disciplines.

Who is going to teach the teachers and prepare them to bring all of this networked world into the classroom? The teachers (most of them, I have encountered) are not concerned with this 21st century tool kit they are being given. They have a lot of other things on their minds right now.

The networked world as I see it, is vast and filled with endless opportunity for teachers (professional development opportunities) as well as for the students. It all depends on how your administration will allow you to utilize all of those tools within the classroom. Hopefully they are open-minded, but that is not always the case. So, little by little we will introduce the tools and hopefully by showing that the students are meeting educational standards, as well as meeting the technology standards. It is sometimes an uphill battle, and others are fortunate. Why must it be difficult? We are in this for the same reason, putting kids first!

Step by Step - Can I build a web 2.0 classroom?

Step by Step - Building a Web 2.0 Classroom - Drew Murphy

A must watch! This video podcast is wonderful and really goes to show teachers that it is fun to use technology in the classroom... and the kids love it. If you can do 10 things that are outlined in the video, you will be well on your way to creating a web 2.0 class.

There are some simple things that I would have never thought of! The skills are simple and should be taught to the students first in order for them to begin their Web 2.0 journey.

In order to create a simple online research project, there are a few Web 2.0 skills the students must be taught and learn:

- Apply, Explore and Participate
(Web 2.0 tools to know - tab, bookmark, sign up - for youtube, other sharing sites)
- Apply, Deconstruct and Reconstruct
(Web 2.0 tools to know - cut and paste, emphasize text/align, images)
- Apply, Create and Connect
(Web 2.o tools to know - link, slideshow, embed)

Drew uses characters in his day to day online web based classroom. He makes learning fun and unexpected. The kids are collaborating and working together to share their knowledge and opinions on the other students work.

He compares making paper projects in the classroom and displaying them on the walls of the classroom. The students can walk up to them, make some comments out loud to each other and then the comments are lost forever.

If the same project is created and captured in an online environment, the collaboration and commenting can be captured online. In a community online project, the project is on display, it is ready for peer commenting, ready for elaboration and ready for collaboration. What I found most interesting about the online learning project, was the project could always be changed and made better. The creator could take comments from their peers and make changes to fix or improve their work.

Although the format was a little quirky, I really enjoyed this web blog. I think it is an excellent base to begin students with. I would incorporate online responsibility along with the basic skills outlined.

Kids teaching the teachers???

Watch podcast by clicking here.. You can choose iTunes to watch and listen to podcast. This is a podcast from the K12 online Conference from 2007. This conference was totally held online and you can attend from the comfort of your own home! No planes, trains or automobiles required, just an internet connection, and some good speakers! :)

A must see for all teachers who complain that they are not getting enough technology professional development. This is a wonderful podcast explaining that teachers who were surveyed, did receive enough training, but were very uncomfortable to bring it back into the classroom and experiment with what they had learned.

I would love to show part of this video to my the teachers at my school. I think if they were using their students more, they would feel more comfortable when teaching with the technology in the classroom. The video showed the students consulting with teachers and explaining what technology options they knew about and how they could use them within the class during lessons.

The teachers in the video were open to having the students teach them the technology. They were thrilled to listen to the children and were more happy with the kids teaching them collaboratively rather than the adult technology trainers they had previously worked with in professional development lessons.

I know I hear a lot of the time that technology is not a priority right now with teachers because they are trying to save their jobs and help the students pass the "TEST". If they are working in a school in need of improvement, how can technology help to bring up the test scores?? If the teachers had heard of the constructivism theory of working together, giving the students more choice and working in groups to construct an outcome, they might consider changing their minds when it comes to technology and improving test scores.

(11:55 on podcast)
The Attributes of a Constructivist classroom mentioned in the podcast are as follows:
Collaborative, Actively Student Centered, Choice, Democratic, Reflective and Risk Taking.

(14:05 professional development paradigm shift)
From secret to open, from shame to celebrate mistakes, from individual to collaborative, etc..

(15:32 GenYES video)
This is the video that I would like to share with my staff. It shows how students are working with teachers in over 40 states throughout the country.

If we (teachers) can embrace technology in the classroom and then feel comfortable enough to admit we do not know everything, we can begin to learn with the kids. They can start teaching us and the other kids in our classes. This would really shift the power and hopefully give the kids the feeling they can do anything they set their minds to... even pass the TEST!

wiki explaining podcast
Creator of podcast - Sylvia Martinez

Podcasting

Note to self and anyone else who may be reading this, about podcasting.... Check your equipment before you start whatever it is you are doing. Why you ask? No, I am not trying to stream from China! Just a simple video. I am the master of video. This week, I presented a really super (Well I think so, because I made it! :) ) slide show about Moodle and how it can be used in the 1 computer class as well as for many other reasons... for our Tech Week Fair. I decided, hey.. wouldn't this be a wonderful opportunity to create my very first podcast (video podcast none the less!) for this class. So, I took one of our video cameras, the tripod, the plugs..etc. and schlepped them up the stairs to the computer lab I was presenting in. I had the video camera all set up perfectly, just on me and the screen. Well, on goes the video camera.. yeah! I am excited to share this video with you.. well boo hoo.. The video contained 4- 1 inch lines all across the screen and the voice would not come through to the iMovie program when I tried to download it. Arrggggg... who knew the video camera is broken.. this must have been from last year.. I can't even get the sound to come through so I could save it that way...

So lesson learned.. Always check your equipment first.

Any how, I am excited to use my 8th grade class as the test group for the pod casting I am going to start working on. Each student is required to write a reflection for their web pages that they create. If they are working on their math web page, the reflection would be about when the student was in elementary school, think back to a teacher or a favorite project you had in math. What was special about it? Why do they remember this project. Then they do the same reflection for the middle school years. Also, the students have a final overall reflection page to their website. This reflection is to make the students think about their overall education so far in their lives, as well as the person they have become. Where do they see themselves at Pinkerton and beyond? What is important to them educationally and personally. Then they write this. So far, I have been having them create a PDF version and then linking it in to their HTML hand coded web page. So, now, I want them to record it as a pod cast and we are going to embed them into their page. HOW EXCITING! :) I think so anyway. Let's see the kids reactions and then I will confirm for you !

So, a few open questions:
1) How do you eliminate background noise when recording?
2) When you say a microphone panel, is this something where all microphones are connected together to record at the same time?
3) How much space does a podcast really consume on a server for example? Just the small size of the shrunken MP3 file once it is exported out of garage band into iTunes right?? Small? Of course video would be bigger, but if you saved as quicktime and webstreaming size, it is pretty tiny..

Again, people are in the "old fashioned" mind set with personal beliefs running things.. so I am going to go with the advice and go for it,.. ask for forgiveness later! Wish me luck! :)

Some podcasting sites I thought would be helpful:
Podcasting 101
Video Podcasting - CNET
iTunes Podcast Site


Oh, by the way, I love iTunes podcasts, you can find awesome yoga and meditations there to put on your iPod to listen to..Don't drive and listen though! They don't mix! :)

Also, there is everything you can think of under the iTunes podcasting sections.. The education site is wonderful on iTunes..podcasting. Now, my next thing is to look at audacity even though I have garageband.. I wonder if audacity is easier to use?