Are E-Portfolios really useful?

Over the years I have tried creating a variety of portfolios. I usually take an updated portfolio to education job interviews. I like having my work in front of me when talking with potential employers. Some of the portfolios I have worked with were E-Portfolio and I was able to share my work with others. I tried creating a portfolio with live text but I had a lot of issues. I am now working with portfoliogen to create a portfolio webpage for my EDH Class.

 

According to The University Center for the Advancement of Teaching (2009) it is important that a portfolio is creative, organized, comprehensive, structured, representative, and selective. It should have a good collection of teaching ability evidence. The portfolio I created to take with me has:

Table of Contents page

Introduction which contains an update resume and my certificates

Service project experiences

A variety of lesson plans I created

My educational philosophy

Article reviews

PowerPoint projects

On my new E-Portfolio I will have an update resume, a cover letter, and my educational philosophy. By creating an E-Portfolio I hope to communicate online to new prospective employers my strengths, progress, and personal teaching style.

What do you think about using E-portfolio for job interviews? What type do you use?

 

References

UCAT. (2009). What is a portfolio? The University Center for the Advancement of Teaching - The Ohio State University. Retrieved from http://ucat.osu.edu/teaching_portfolio/teaching_port.html

Can You Hear Me Now?

 I have to admit one of my favorite forms of new technology is digital audio. I love being able to add music or narration to digital stories. I also love listening and watching things on youtube. I have been looking for classes that teach and work with audio technology and I having been unable to find one I like.
 Since I haven't been able to find classes specifically for audio, I check out different tutorials.

I found this site to be very informative in regards to digital Audio.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/tutorial_basics_1.html 
 
This Youtube video really gives good instructions on how to use Audacity.

 

I found the best way to add narration to my digital story was to use PowerPoint. It has an easy way to record your voice with a microphone. I would read what I wanted to say and click to go on to the next slide. When you listen back you are able to stop at the point you want to rerecord. Most of the slides I did fine on, but the one I had the concept map on took me quite a few times before it came out the way I liked.

 

This video explains the way to add narration to a PowerPoint presentation.

 

 

 

 Did anyone else add narration to their digital Stories?

 

What types of audio technology do you prefer?

 

 

 

 

 

Example of digital Stories Gone Green

I created this example digital story to help my high school environmental students get an idea of what is expected from them. As you can see I was still unable to embed my story onto this blog. However, I was able to convert it on YouTube and embed it on my wiki. You may view my story @ http://jodielynn.pbworks.com/w/page/60187442/FrontPage

I had a hard time getting the audio narration to work with slide share so I completed my project using PowerPoint. I actually like working with PowerPoint’s transitions better than slide shares. You will notice I have my signature on multiple slides; this is because I took these pictures myself. I would like my students to take pictures, and videos for their project and incorporate digital images from other sites. I think part of the fun and creative aspect is actually going out and taking your own pictures. Please take a look at my stories and let me know what you think !!!

Digital Storytelling Gone Green

    Digital story telling is a wonderful way for students to embrace their creative
nature while engaging in project based learning. I hope to challenge and engage my high school biology students by having them use digital storytelling as a presentation tool for solving environmental issues.  I minored in environmental studies and participated in IDEAS for us projects and I love the idea of being able to help students engage in projects which can help create a better future.

 

 

 

                       

    I think that digital story telling would be a great way to engage my future high school students in problem solving. For this kind of project based learning I would like to have students work in groups of four or five.

The idea of this project would be to have students pinpoint an environmental hazard and create a presentation through a digital story on how they would fix it.

They would start off by taking pictures of something they would like to fix. It could be a simple as a field loaded with trash, with the solution being have a group of people cleaning up the field, or it could be of a lake loaded with algae needing to be cleaned.                  

 Pictures taken by Jodie Gustafson

 

                           

Materials they could use for this project would include:

Digital cameras, video cameras, public images, microphone, music files, photo shop

They would need to take pictures with a digital camera of what they wanted to fix or find public images.  

Students would also be required to include at least one concept map.      

Concept map created by Jodie Gustafson

Students would have a choice of using:  Microsoft Movie Maker, PowerPoint, Photo story, or iMovie for presentation.  

The presentation would need to include:

Introduction page

Environmental problem with picture

Background information

Analysis of problem

Possible Solutions

Images

Concept map

Slide Transitions

Works cited slide

Narration

       

Digital Storytelling project plans

1. Introduce the concept of Digital Storytelling, Find out which students have past experiences with Digital Storytelling, and Separate students in groups of 4 or 5 hopefully including one student with past experience in each group.

2. Show examples of digital stories including those I have created myself, pointing out the different aspects; Introduction, Narration, transitions, images, work sited slide. Pass out a paper with details of what needs to be included in the project and a rubric showing how the presentation is going to be evaluated.  

3. Allow students to work in groups and come up with an environmental problem they would like to fix. Have each student assigned a specific task for group project; facilitator, data collector, photographer, narrator, graphic organizer creator.

4. Have students create an outline of digital story which includes environmental problem, background information, Images to be used, concept map, script page, and solutions. Help student fix or change any problems with outline or script.  

5. Have a troubleshooting session going over any problems students may have getting digital story to come together.

6. Once digital stories are completed they will be shown to class.

I know I will need a lot more tweaking and developing of this project before I can actually facilitate it, but it is a great start. Being able to incorporate digital technology with learning objectives opens a whole new world of possibilities.  We can help each other out by sharing our experiences with these new technological advances.

Do you think high school students will be able handle a project like this?

Or would this be too complicated?    

                                     

Digital Storytelling

http://www.slideshare.net/jolynn20

 

How can I safely download free media?

I don’t know about you, but I am finding myself constantly looking to download information; educational tools, songs, videos, and games from a variety of available sites. There are numerous sites advertising free media downloads. My biggest concern is, how safe are these sites? How can I be sure that I am not downloading viruses or spyware onto my computer?

According to the “Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the classroom” book, there simply is no way to totally protect your computer from viruses. Some suggestions from Shelly (2008) to help prevent viruses from being downloaded and corrupting your computers are:

Installing dependable antivirus software                                            

Installing dependable firewall protection

Scanning of USB flash drives

Scanning of any files which are downloaded from the internet

Scanning of any attached files before opening them

Do not use or download illegal copies of software

 

            Constantly back up files!!!!!(2008).

 

(Allmyapps,2012)

Along with reading books about safety measures, I also speak with people who work with computers on a regular basis about the best ways of avoiding viruses.  My husband, who was a computer programming engineer, has constantly warned me not to download or open executable files, which are files ending with .exe.

 

        It is also important to check out sites you want to download from. Even though I am very tempted to download from many, I only download from sites I have talked to people about and are well known.

      One of my favorite sites to download music and e-books from is the Volusia county public Library @ http://volusialibrary.org/ . This site allows people with active library cards to download 3 free songs every week. I also download a new hidden picture from Highlight Magazine once a month from Highlights for Children <highlightsemail@bridge.highlights.com.

 

 

Although we have a wonderful opportunity to acquire a variety of media for work and pleasure from multiple sources, we must use caution when downloading. Until downloading can be made totally safe we must not act impulsively. As much as I would like to download every crazy Halloween song I hear, I will download them from only sites which seem safe such as the Volusia County library site.

What are some of the sites you think are safe to download from?

 

 

References

Allmyapps. (2012). [Antivirus security]. Retrieved October 12, 2012, from http://allmyapps.com/pages/best-antivirus-apps

 

Shelly, G. B. (2008). Teachers discovering computers: Integrating technology and digital media in the classroom (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson/Course Technology.

 

Improved Technology, Distraction or Motivational tool?

As a teacher, my toughest challenge was handling and managing the behaviors of my students. In my six and seventh period classes I spent so much time trying to manage my students that I didn’t really get a chance to actually teach. Without proper classroom management, teaching any kind of concept is nearly impossible. Some of the major management issues were: students getting out of their seats and distracting others, students talking too loudly, students swearing, students listening to loud music on their IPods, and student’s texting during class time.

(Britton,2007)

 

I go along with the McGraw-Hill company statement “Improved Technology—Increased Distraction” I believe that smart phones, cell phones, and IPods should not be allowed to be turned on during class time unless they are specifically going to be used for a lesson.   Some of the problems I had with cell phones and IPods in my class were; students in my classrooms were playing games, watching videos, and texting others during class time. According to the “Cell Phones in the Classroom” article (McGraw-Hill Company, n.d.), many other teachers have also complained about students unauthorized use of cell phones during class time. Some of the complaints included students taking pictures during class, harassment in the form of text messaging, and searching for test answers.  

One teacher I volunteered with, “Terry Commean”, a sign language teacher with Seminole High school, allowed her students to bring their IPods to school on Fridays. Every Friday her students worked on signing to music for their end-of-semester project. They could not wait for Fridays and loved signing to music.  For her, IPods worked as a great motivational tool with her students.                                                                                                                        I have come to the conclusion that for some classes, cell phones and IPods are just distractions while in other classes they can be beneficial tools.

Do you think cell phones and IPods are major distractions or are you able to use them for motivational tools in your classes???

(Dellinger, 2012) 

References

Britton, I. (2007, May 07). [PDA Cell Phone]. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://www.freefoto.com/preview/04-12-24/PDA-Cell-Phone

Dellinger, A. (2012, July 30). [IPod]. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-free-ipod-touch-games 

McGraw-Hill Company. (n.d.). Cell Phones in the Classroom. Teaching Today. Retrieved September 19, 2012, from http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/cell-phones-in-the-classroom

 


                         

Are Virtual Schools the Wave of Our future!

ged578.pbworks.com

       I had a chance to intern this past spring with Florida Virtual School, the largest of the virtual schools in Florida. My experiences have led me to believe virtual schools may be the wave of the future. According to the Florida Department of Education (2012), not only is Florida considered the leading state in virtual education, it also boasts about having the “largest state virtual school in the nation”. The 2011 Florida Statue 1002.455 (2011) states, that all Florida students may attend a virtual school if they attended a Florida public school the year before. This allows many, if not most students the opportunity to attend virtual schools.  

One of the requirements for students attending virtual schools is learning how to work with and use a variety of technology. Florida Virtual School or FLVS (2012) requires that all students taking online classes have access to internet capability. They must also have access to computers with Windows XP, Vista or 7, 10 gigabytes free HDD space, Microsoft Office, and Internet Explorer.  A variety of browser plug-ins are also needed: Java, Flash, Shockwave, Acrobat Reader, Apple Quick Time, Microsoft Media Player, and RealPlayer. Other hardware needed are printers, speakers, microphones and headsets.

Virtual schools have many positive attributes and are wonderful options for many students. They are sometimes the only option for students who have serious health issues and cannot attend public schools. Other reasons students attend virtual schools are; they allow students to get ahead in or catch up with coursework at their own convenience, they can help students improve course grades, they can help students graduate on time, and they can help students get ahead in their studies to accelerate their graduation. Some students are very advanced in certain subjects and virtual schools provide them with challenging, upper-level classes that may not be offered at a student’s local high school or middle school. Some students just prefer virtual classes over mainstream classrooms. Virtual schools can also be supplemental to a student’s homeschooling along with helping students balance their academic and extracurricular activities. Due to the variety of reasons mentioned students from public schools, private schools, charter schools, and home-schooled often attend virtual schools.

Some of the negative aspects I observed were some students refused to do any work, certain individuals did not return communications, and a few students were confused over what was expected of them. Sometimes pupils do not have the self-discipline to keep up with their work and need the help of a teacher. Although virtual school encourages interactions through the different forms of technology I believe most people need live socialization.

 Communication between students, parents, and teachers are done through telephone, e-mail, texting and instant messaging. Other forums also used are blackboard and Elluminate sessions, (an Elluminate Live session is used by FLVS to recreate a virtual classroom where questions and discussion can flow freely) Discussion, video sharing, and tutoring websites are external resources frequently used by students taking FLVS courses.

Although there are some drawbacks to attending a virtual school and I do not believe all students should attend them, I think they are a wonderful option for many. 

      

 

References

Florida Department of Education. (2012). Florida's Public Virtual Education Option for the 2012-2013 School Year. Florida Virtual Schools. Retrieved September 13, 2012, from http://www.fldoe.org/Schools/virtual-schools/

The Florida Senate. (2011). 2011 Florida Statues. MyFloridaHouse.Gov. Retrieved September 14, 2012, from http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/1002.455

Florida Virtual School. (2012). Online High School | Online Middle School | Grades K-12 Retrieved September 07, 2012, from http://www.flvs.net/

Virtual Classrooms for Public Use [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2012, from ged578.pbworks.com

Vlbworks2010 (Director). (2010, March 01). YouTube [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2UrmqAQ1pw

 

 

 

 

What is best?

        Dr. Mcleod posted what seemed to be a very simple question "Are we doing what are best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us? At the school where I taught for a short time, Mainland High, students were allowed to take tests over until they passed, homework did not count toward grades and school work did not count toward grades. Only tests, quizzes, projects, and lab experiments were used to determine grades. I do not think that this was best for either students or convenient for teachers. Students would come into the classroom the day of the test and say they were too tired to take the test and would then Christmas tree their answers. Every week there was time set aside for students who did not pass test to retake them. Teachers would forgo their lunches to supervise the retaking of test for some students who would once again Christmas tree their answers hoping they would get a better grade. This does not prepare students for the real world. If anything it is pushing many students through the system without them actually learning or using critical think skills.

According to Dr. Gary Borich (2007) “Positive reinforcement occurs when a desired stimuli or reward you provide after a behavior increases in frequency of occurrence” I believe by allowing students to retake tests until they pass, schools are actually providing positive reinforcement for unwanted behavior.

References

Borich, G. D. (2007). Effective teaching methods: Research-based practice (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ, NJ: Pearson Merrill/Prentice Hall.