T4T Scribes (Shared Learning Blog)

Week 10 Screencasts! ;)

2010-05-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

In week 10, we focused on the art of Screencasting. This is definitely a tool that each and every teacher should use in his/her classroom; especially for students that are visual and need to see something done more than once (i.e. how to embed a video onto your blog, how to make a powerpoint presentation, etc). We logged into our Twitter accounts to use Screenr to create our own Screencast which included showing somebody how to do something that we have learned in our Tech 4 Teachers class this semester (for my screencast i chose to show how to upload a photo album into your power point presentation, instead of uploading one picture at a time). We also watched the video "Gotta Keep Reading" that Ocoee Middle School performed to the tune of a Black Eyed Peas song...which turned out incredible! Check it out!

Kylee

Week 14

2010-05-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

Week 14
For our scribe blog post, I have that we used skype with a teacher in Philidelphia. She was on a break so there were not any kids in her class. No one wanted to get up and talk to her, one person did but I don't remember what she asked about. Skype is a wonderful tool to use to bring people into your classroom as well as to broadcast your classroom to other places. Of course, before any students are broadcast we would always want to get permission from the students parents. We were briefly introduced to a site to look for your digital footprint. http://www.pipl.com. We discussed what still needed to be turned in and the time frame on which to do that. We had one petcha kutcha presentation over sharks, it was very interesting.

Special will be adding to this but I wanted to get it in.

Week 12 Scribe Post

2010-05-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

During week 12 we used classtime to get caught up on all of our assignments. We also used classtime to have another lesson over the Smart Notebook Software. I think that everyone really appreciated Michael Mount coming and teach us how to use the IWB. I also think that everyone really appreciated the extra time to get last minute assignments done.
Samantha Settlemyre

Petcha kutcha

2010-05-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

Here is my petcha kutcha on insects!!!

week six reflection section 63

2010-05-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

THIS POST HAS BEEN ON MY DASHBOARD (MONICA2OLDHAM)!!! I WANTED TO PUT IT ON THE SHARED T4T IN ODER FOR ANDREA AND I TO GET THE POINTS!

Week 6 Class SummeryAt the beginning of class we went over some of the complaints we all had about the class. One of the things Mr. Fryer said he would do to help us would be to not put videos in our assignments that are no longer than twenty minutes except for this week. We watched two videos this week. The first video called Digital Nation (pruning) channel asked the question “Do you think students brains are different today because of media and technology?” We spent some time answering that question and one of the responses were “yes, it’s a new way of learning and communication.” The second video we watched was called Old School, New School and it talked about how we need to be entertainers to our students. More students are unable to focus because everything is at their fingertips with technology. There was a suggestion that we need to be the bridges between the two ways of teaching. We then went over how to post your voicethread on Blogger. Professor Fryer then gave a presentation on how to use search on Google. We went over some key words and what they mean in internet terms such as URL, and Quiry. We went over the steps on how to find something on a Google search page. At the end of class he set up a digital newspaper coarse learning portal called aggregator located on class blogger site. These were the main topics we covered in class this week.
andrea haynes and monica oldham

Learning Second Life

2010-05-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

Second Life is a video that is 3D game play. In the orientation a problem arose with new users. The problem was from new users getting to overwhelmed and stressed out when learning how to play the game. The users wanted to play right then and not take the time to learn. This is how the world is today, we want results NOW!!! So the company decided to come up with a collaborated way for orientation. Now new users get to choose what they learn. They can also ask questions and get quick answers. Also there is now more than one orientation. THis way peolpe can have that detailed introduction if they choose. This game world is new to me. I'm glad we are getting to view these videos. Maybe one day I will have the time to actually join and play.
The creators want the game to be objected based and give incentives to the users to come back. THey also want it to be stress free and enjoyable. This is why Sam made the entrance one way only. People can only move forword!!!!
This might be something to put in the classroom. As long as if it were monitored regularly for unappropriate things. It would be a blast for students to play in their spare time.

Smart Sam reflection

2010-05-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

Watching this video about a thirteen year of girl named Sam made me realize how much I don't know about technology. However I did learn from this young girl. Everyone has to learn sometime and somehow. Sam learns new networks by trial and error. She said that she just goes until she messes up and then do again til she gets it right. I have never played world of war craft but it looks very fun and interesting. I guess if kids are into it, I need to get into it also. I love how Sam's mother used her daughter as a resource at the university. I am going to try to get more involved in technology. This will benefit my students and myself. She was so creative in alot of different areas. I also think it is important that Sam still went outside to take care of her dogs. With all the new technology out there alot of kids are staying inside on the computers. I will always remember to stress the importance of sunshine.

WIki think reflection

2010-05-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

Paula White video on collaborative and parallel play was a very interesting. Its amazing that it all started by Paula blogging a question about sharing wiki with collaborative work. After not getting any responses, she blogged about not getting any responses. After that she had numerous replies. A fact about wiki think that stood out to me was the fact that students were able to work on the wiki outside of school. The students were so engaged that they volunteered to post certain things that were not required. Using the levels of engagement, these students were on the high level. Unfortunately some students are on the low level which is rebellion. Things like wiki think will help these rebellious students with getting involved with something that they are passionate about. That is one of the main points that Paula makes in her video. Help create a curriculum that students will become passionate and engaged with. I will try to use this in my classroom. The only thing that would hold me back would be my knowledge of creating a wiki, and how it all works. It also seems like alot of work to always check and keep up with. However keeping children engaged and passionate would take alot of work. I am willing to take the extra steps and get out of the box for this to work in my classroom. ANother think that stuck out to me was about teachers vs. other teachers. Teachers need to get over the idea that they can't touch another teachers work. Wiki is about editing and improving things. Everyone had different ideas and areas that they are good in. THis is what makes wiki so incredible.

WHen I visited Wiki think I search around the entire site. It was very impressive. I was happy to see that there was recent activity in the site. I learned how to create a wiki and learned why it is important for students and teacher.

google website link-t4t_monica

2010-05-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

I had alot of fun creating my google website!! Better late than never, right. I did have trouble with the video embedding. I figured it out, but each video is on a seperate page with the titles: educational video 1,2,3!! The name for my web page is t4t_monica!!!! I'm kinda proud of myself, although its not the best by any means. =)

The Wizard of What!!!

2010-05-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

This video was very informative. I really enjoyed how this was delivered. The Wizard of Apps was a bit long, but i did learn alot of new information. Leaving a good ditgal footprint is very important to me. I didn't know how to check what information was out there. I'm glad now I know about 123people, and pple. It said that just simply googling your name is not enough. I had never heard about alot of the cites mentioned in this video. I will use majority of them somewhere in my teaching. I think the mind map is an awesome webcite for students to brainstorm. Also the teachers are able to see their progress. I will also make sure my students know that just googling a subject and staying on the first page is not enough. First they must do a vertical search, then a horizontal search, and last a mind map. A mind map search will allow the students to see much more information pertaining to their topic.
I plan to use the google news time line in my classroom also. This will be extremely helpful when students need information about a certain event or person. A couple things that I want to look more into are: WolframeAlpha, GIGO, RSS feeds.

WHen I went to the tool website I was very pleased with what I saw. I didn't just visit one area. I went to: RSS, How to make an avitar, best for best practices for literacy education. I learned alot on all these sites. I made the main website a favorite on my browser. The ultility was awesome on all the ones I looked at. Each one has a step by step instruction.

Digiteen Education

2010-05-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

In this video, Digiteen, I most liked the little video on texting while driving. I am a believer in not texting while driving. However sometimes I do participate in this activity. I was shocked by the information that was compared to DUIs. More wrecks are caused by texting rather that driving drunk. WHen the students were learning about social networking, it made me become anixous about my photos that are online. I don't think any of mine are inappropriate. However it still made me worry. I will try to remember this for when I am a teacher. There is alot about online acitvty that students need to be warned and taught about. I agree with the students that having internet in the classrooms is a must. This allows the students to stay connect with different groups overseas. For example in the case wikispaces. I am thankful that Wes taught us about picture theft. It is a big deal and even this video mentions it. This is a topic that students probably don't think before they act. This video shows the overall importance of online activity and that students are willing to take the time to learn about it.

Project learning reflection

2010-05-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

While watching the project learning video I was reminded of a non-fiction book that I read not to long age. The book was Chasing Vermeer. The teacher in this book had views about education that relates to the project based learning. I think I is an awesome program. I love how it engages the students to think critically about subjects that they are interested in. ONe student said that it has opened her horizens!! This is a whole new aspect of hand on learing for sure. THe students are collaborating in such a way that is not common in the normal classroom. ONe of the administrators said that this type of learning has been around since Piaget. However Piaget didn't have the technology advances as we have today!!!!

Tell a story in five photos "take 2"

2010-05-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to view my Telling a story in five photos, hopefully this one is going to work properly!!!

My VoiceThread about Babies

2010-05-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

This is my voicethread digital story I created about babies. Babies are such a wonderful thing to have in our lives. I feel that babies make the world a better place. Innocent, cute, and sweet are some ways I like to describe ALL babies!!! Enjoy!

No lecturecast for Week 15

2010-04-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

About 20 minutes into our first T4T class yesterday something went wrong with my microphone setup or configuration for the lecturecast. As a result, a lecturecast is NOT available for week 15. My apologies. The online curriculum for week 15 is very thorough, however, so hopefully that will assist you if you missed class or have questions.

photo credit: Wesley Fryer

As always do not hesitate to message me through WebCT if you have questions.

My Week 14 Class Summary

2010-04-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

This week in Technology for Teachers we talked about new course assessments and assignments that are due. All the submissions to date have been graded. If we did not get full credit for one of the assessments we can go back and view Professor Fryer's comments on how to correct our assignment. Then we can resubmit our assessment after our corrections were made to get full credit. Professor Fryer reminded us to turn on our comment moderation on our blogger accounts. He showed some examples of assignments that were submitted by fellow classmates. They included a voice thread, two Google Maps, a couple of blog reflections over videos, and an outsider's comment on a classmates blog. Next, we discussed our Pecha Kucha project. The presentations will take place this coming week as well as during finals week. We were then introduced to Synchronous Conferencing. Using Skype we were able to have a conversation with an international teacher in Bangkok, Thailand. His name was Jeff. He talked about the benefits of being an international teacher. One of my peers asked Jeff about the weather in Bangkok. We finished class filling out our course evaluations.

Week 6

2010-04-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of class we went over some of the complaints we all had about the class. One of the things Mr. Fryer said he would do to help us would be to not put videos in our assignments that are no longer than twenty minutes except for this week. We watched two videos this week. The first video called Digital Nation (pruning) channel asked the question “Do you think students brains are different today because of media and technology?” We spent some time answering that question and one of the responses were “yes, it’s a new way of learning and communication.” The second video we watched was called Old School, New School and it talked about how we need to be entertainers to our students. More students are unable to focus because everything is at their fingertips with technology. There was a suggestion that we need to be the bridges between the two ways of teaching. We then went over how to post your voicethread on Blogger. Professor Fryer then gave a presentation on how to use search on Google. We went over some key words and what they mean in internet terms such as URL, and Quiry. We went over the steps on how to find something on a Google search page. At the end of class he set up a digital newspaper coarse learning portal called aggregator located on class blogger site. These were the main topics we covered in class this week.

Week 14 Summary

2010-04-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

This week in Technology for Teachers we started with an overview of the grading process. We were brought up to date on all assignments that should be completed. All grades from submitted assignments have been completed and should be available for viewing. There should be a comment on all assignments submitted if your grade does not meet the required point total. You may make corrections and resubmit assignments for full credit.Next, we were shown assignments which had been turned in. The assignments presented were examples of exemplary work. WE viewed a voicethread, a blog over The Wizard of Apps, and a google map. We also were informed of a website http://www.pipl.com This is a pretty scary site which allows you to find all the information you need about anyone. Next, we discussed our presentations over our Pecha Kucha project. The presentations will cover our final exam. Should you opt not to do a presentation, you may do a voicethread in its place.Our main topic for the day involved Synchronous Conferencing. We were introduced to Skype. We had a conversation with a teacher in Bangkok, Thailand named Jeff. He informed us about international teaching opportunities. This was really interesting. We were able to see Jeff, on screen, as he discussed his job in Bangkok.The class ended with a course evaluation.

Week14: Synchronous Conferencing

2010-04-21T20:41:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Today we'll discuss the status of pending course assessments, demonstrate how to embed your Unit Plan Google Doc, view some Pecha Kucha examples, and discuss options for synchronous conferencing.

Week 13 Class Scribe

2010-04-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

In-class overview of blogs and video

The first blog we discussed was created by Wesley it covered Maria Knee’s New Hampshire classroom and their use of technology in her Kindergarten classroom. Two different blogs were covered iPad magic? and Race to the Top?

The class watched a DJ Spooky's "Rebirth of a Nation" and discussed the video:

Q: Would this content be relevant in a classroom? What are the issues raised with historical videos like these?

A: The importance of these videos are to teach students to become critical thinking.

Steps of the Pecha Kutcha model presentation:

What is a Pecha Kutcha?

-The presentation will reflect upon the student, instructor, and the university. These will be posted on our blogs.

*Pick a topic – Will need 20 slides (20 seconds per slide) You will have 6:40 for the presentation pick something that you are interested in or enjoy

-Best presentations use large images, less text

*Select 20 images using your own photos, compfight, or flickrstorm ( for flickrstorm: click on 'advanced settings' – select 'photos for non-commercial use' – add images to the tray in flickrstorm – save all images into a new folder using “save picture as” right mouse click on image)

-Creating powerpoint with your saved images... go to 'insert' on the tabs and select 'photo album', it will allow you to upload the folder of images (saves time!)

-Saving the powerpoint... ‘save as’ under 97-2003 powerpoint presentation – use ppt file, no pptx (this is necessary for it to work properly in google docs)

-Upload in Google Documents when finished... Make sure you 'publish' your document – put on your blogger site (embedding the video and sharing the link for your google presentation) create new post and describe your Petcha Kutcha

**There is the option of presenting your googledoc presentation in class (week 14 or 15) OR you can record 20 second audio for each 20 slides using Slideshare or Voicethread and post on your blog.

Phonecasting

What is Phonecasting?

This allows you to use a phone service and leave a voicemail creating an audio mp3 file. To break it down… you can use your phone to record, the website converts the voice recorded message into an mp3 file, and then this mp3 will appear on the site where you are given a link to download, play and pause the mp3. Awesome.

Friendly Reminder!

Official Homework Deadline - WEEK 15!

Study smart and good luck with finals!

Week13: Pecha Kutcha Presentations and Phonecasting

2010-04-15T16:00:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

This week we will learn how to create a Petcha Kutcha presentation (20 slides shown for 20 seconds) using the FlickrStorm, PowerPoint, Google Docs, Drop.io and SlideShare.

Week 13 Scribe Blog

2010-04-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

Posted by Sarah Ransom and Felisha Seward

Today in class we went over how to create our "Petch Kutcha" presentation. For this we are supposed to come up with a topic that we would like to teach everyone about. Then we pick 20 pictures from flikr that convey the message of our petcha kutcha. After we pick the picture we will upload them to a powerpoint, then upload it to google presentations. Then we will have to record audio for each slide ranging from 15-20 seconds to talk about how the picture goes with our topic. We also decided that you could make a voice thread for this project as well. Before this we went over grades and he should have them ready for us by next week. He also said as long as you do all the work you should get an A or a B. We also got to see an iPad and play with it. Then we watched a video by DJ Spooky and it was supposed to show a darker idea of a period in history.

Week 12: Summary

2010-04-07T07:22:00.001-07:00

This week we had another visit from Michael Mount who gave another introductory presentation over SMART boards. He didn't go into much detail just covered the basics such as: where the pens go, erasers, how to tell if it is on and ready to use, etc. Michael also showed us how to use the different tools in the classroom to create more creativity. We only spent about 30 minutes covering the SMART board and the rest of class time was spent catching up on the rest of our assignments we may be behind in and it was much needed. There are online resources for us to utilize, if we want of know more about SMART boards and how to use them.

Week 12: Summary

2010-04-07T07:18:00.000-07:00

This week, we had another visit from Michael Mount who works in the UCO office of information technology to give another introductory presentation over the SMART boards. He not only showed us the basics of running the smart board, but also different programs that can be used through the SMART board for your classroom. Michael showed us how to customize all different tools for more creativity in the classroom.
Michael gave the same presentation that was given in week 5, which may seem redundant, but is needed for us to continue to understand the SMART board. We all are most likely going to have a SMART board in our classroom and we need to know as much as we can before we get to teaching to make the transition much smoother.
There are online SMART board training resources that are also available for us to use when we do need a little more help or want to know what else our SMART boards can be used for.

This video gives even more help and techniques regarding the smart board.

The rest of the class time this week was spent catching up from the previous weeks on anything we may be behind on. I hope everyone has an amazing week 12!

Week 9- Google Docs

2010-03-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

Week 9 - Taking Advantage of More of the Tools Google has to Offer

This week we learned about Google docs and the different tasks it can help us to accomplish us. As a matter of fact, this very post was accomplished as a result of Google docs. Its really convenient to be able to collaborate with other people from different locations. Also, since it enables you to access work from any computer by just logging in to your Google account its even more convenient than flash drives. When you also take into account how easy Google Docs is to use it's an invaluable tool for the classroom.

In addition to the basic writing that can be done, there was also a feature called Google Forms on Google Docs that allows you to make a short questionnaire. You then have other people answer the questions and Google Forms saves the responses in a convenient spreadsheet. (Questions submitted on the FAQs blog use this form)

by Darlene Levy and Beckie Benge

Week10: Screencasting

2010-03-24T15:28:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

The ability to effectively create and share a screencast is one of the most important skills of teachers in the 21st century. Teacher-leaders will learn what screencasts are, see examples of educational screencasts, and create their own.

Week 2... Really Late

2010-03-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

For week 2 we talked about social bookmarking and watched a film by Brad Paisley called "welcome to the Future." We also watched a video about Nafiza who had joined a technology group and had gained leadership skills by being in the group. We also submitted our google forms... again.. and watched a video about our blogging buddies. We were instructed to get a twitter account and follow mentors teachers.

Week Seven Scribe

2010-03-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

Week 7 Scribe

We took attendance and reviewed our discussions of advanced searches from last week.

Things we learned about searches last week : “Don’t use Google for images”, doing multiple searches, wonder-wheel.

Think of the search as a process and not a one- time event.

When searching for images:

1.Start off using public domain things.

2. Look for things with creative commons licenses.

*Does citing it properly mean you can do anything you want with it?

No. fair use is based off what you’re using it for. If you’re critiquing a book movie, etc, it is acceptable to use portions of that work for your critique.

Google reader review. You can, as an option, use you’re reader to help you with your comments on your fellow students blogs.

Wizard of Apps:

It really should be looked at in chunks using pauses because it is an overwhelming amount of information.

A roll: the talking head

B roll: the action in the background

Today’s video’s

Teacher Video(Marco Torres: makes the point that teachers should be open to new things and continue to improve one’s craft. We do not need lazy teachers. We need to work hard to help our students to learn.

An Open Letter to Educators Dan Brown: Education needs to adapt to technology today. The monetary value of information has moved to basically “$0” but that is not a bad thing. Governments, offices, individuals etc are using technology. Educational institutions need to catch up. “education isn’t about teaching facts.”

We then had a discussion via: todaysmeet.com about the video discussing the questions:

*What are the ways you think technology will change the way you teach?

*Do you agree with Dan Brown? Why or Why not?

Most of the class members agreed with Dan brown.

*What techniques does Dan use to maintain your attention in this video?

He moved around the screen a lot, used a high energy presentation.

Wiki’s in Plain English: email is not good at coordinating and organizing information. There is a better way. A “wiki” can be used to coordinate. Most work the same by changing what appears on a webpage. Clicking edit allows the user to create text and save the information. Ex for camping. Have: list things. Need: lists things. Saves it, now there are lists. Others log on edit and save as they write what they gather supplies. It is possible to create a link to a new page to organize other information. Gives sites at the end that show you where to sign up for a wiki.

Discussion using Etherpad:

*What does lee help you understand better about wiki’s?

how wiki works and the value of using on

he's great at explaining things!!! i like his 'visual aides' that he uses instead of just showing us on the computer.

How easy it was to use, and how much better it is than email when you have a group of people trying to communicate.

Wow, wikis are alot more simple than I expected...

He explains how easy it is to collaborate with wikis compared to email.

I love watching these videos!

*What have your professors told you or said about Wikipedia?

Not credible

It’s not reliable.

don't use not reliable

NOT to use them as a resource

Today’s Lesson

*How are you going to market yourself? The UCO required portfolio is 99% not used after graduation. There are free online resources that can be used to represent yourself.

*“flow”-when one looses time because they are lost in the moment. Becoming so engrossed in something that time is not even a consideration.

*Education is hard to change because people have so much experience at it.

*The goal of Wikipedia is universal access to the sum of human knowledge. Blogs have a bad name, Wikipedia does too. Wes suggests to use it as starting point.

Assignments

*Create Your Own Wiki

Link on Week 7 step 7 under Lessons

* DUE MARCH 10

Googlesites

Choose protected, Everyone can see your pages but only members can edit.

100mb of free storage

Can embed video, images, etc.

Week 7-scribes post!(sry it's late)

2010-03-12T07:08:00.000-08:00

This week we learned about making our own Wiki's! Wes walked us through making and creating our own wiki through google sites. He showed us the wiki's in plain English video,Which i find this video very helpful and insightful, I find videos like these kind of like "Computers for dummies" books only because I'm retarded at computers!

We also watched a video called "An open letter to educators" It was a funny video that kind of told teachers "what was up" and said that "higher education" has become so dull and boring, who would want to sit through it?

We also had a quiz this week, just Quarterly Checkup, so if you have done the work for this class up until this point then you will be fine to take this quiz!

The video watching for this week was a little boring, but for the most part very insightful. we are supposed to watch the video and blog about it as usual!
Hope this was helpful,
Again Sorry it was late!
Kayleigh

Week9: Realtime Collaboration (Google Docs) and Presentation Zen

2010-03-10T14:38:00.001-08:00

Click to Play

Productivity software traditionally includes functionalities like word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation software. Open source / free productivity software is now available, which is competing with commercially available versions. These client-based / software based productivity solutions are also being challenged by

Week 8 Scribe Blog

2010-03-08T13:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to week 8! This week, Mr. Fryer introduced us to a new concept called GeoApps. GeoApps are applications which permit learners to connect concepts to geography. We primarily focused on two different resources-Google Maps and Google Earth.
We began class with a short review from last week-and he reminded us to complete our Quarterly Checkup Quiz 2. We also watched a video called “The State of the Internet” by Jesse Thomas. This video presented some very interesting statistics about the growth and impact of the internet in our society today.
The first and important new area that we covered was the site Google World. We learned about many benefits of this site, which included using the site to measure distance and even diameter. Mr. Fryer showed us how easily we could use it, and played a brief video of a homemade cell phone video in which he used Google earth to measure the diameter of the top of a window that he was looking out of. In essence he was proving that the possibilities of technology are literally endless. We also went over how the site can be used to see buildings in 3-d, as well as other “perks” of the site including satellite imagery and ocean floor and surface data from experts, and the site even allows one to take different virtual tours.
Next, we talked about the benefits of using a site called Google Maps. This site is similar to that of MapQuest, but provides a wider variety of tools. One of the best tools is that you can save your maps to your google profile and revisit them later if you need them again. We tested this site out by creating a classroom map, with each student pinpointing a place of interest. One of our assignments this week is creating a map, highlighting places of our choice.
Mr. Fryer also briefly introduced us to Sketchup by google, which is a program that helps to create 3-D models.

Recap of assignments due:
1. Write a video reflection blog over Sam’s EduTopia Digital Youth Portrait.
2. Create a google map on a topic of your choice. Be sure to include 10 placemarks, text, images, and at least 3 hyperlinks that go to a relevant Wikipedia page.

Happy Week 8! –Adrian and Brooke

Week Eight Summary

2010-03-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

William Harris
Jordan Hunter
Jamie Malone

In this weeks episode, We learned how to utilize chat rooms. Often, these sites are considered dangerous with all the predators online seeking vulnerable individuals. However, used the right way as we have learned, chat rooms can be a great tool in a teachers arsenal. What we did was set up a back channel to a private room.

We watched a video

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

This gave us all kinds of facts about the internet. Did you know that Facebook needs 30,000 servers? Also, 148,000 zombie computers are created every day. A zombie computer deals with the hijacking of a computer in order to steal identities. These are comprised of Malware, Trojans, and Viruses. They can also be used to send out spam mail or cyber attacks.

We learned that whenever we speak into the microphone, we need to have the mouth piece off to the side and not directly in front of our face so that we can avoid those "C," "T," and "P" sounds.

Next, the class spent some time going over the copyright rules and saw "The Giving Tree."

It was a video that may not have used the copyright laws in accordance. We then learned some ways to correct this situation. First, look for Public Domain or homegrown photos. If that doesn't work, try sources such as Flikr and Compflight. Last, if the latter is unsuccessful, there is what is called fair use, which allows anybody to use the copyrighted material as long as it is used for critiquing, or a parody of the work.
Sometimes, it is easier to just ask the publisher for usage of copyrighted material.

Lastly, in this weeks discussion, we went over Google Earth. With this program, one can easily maneuver from taking a trip to the moon to search the depths of the ocean. Google Earth can also be used for flight simulations as well as view the entire world. This could be beneficial in that if a person is looking for a new residence, they can view the area and see where potential threats may live.

Week 8: GeoApps

2010-03-03T22:39:00.001-08:00

Click to Play

GeoApps are applications which permit learners to connect concepts to geography. Google Maps is a browser-based Geo-application environment, and Google Earth is a software-based GeoApp. We'll explore both and learn how to use resources created by others as well as make our own.

Week 6

2010-03-03T09:31:00.000-08:00

During Week 6 in our T4T class, we discussed "An Invitation to Move." Moving referring to how our society moves and changes over time, and looking at how the relationship between technology and students has changed over time. To help illustrate this, we watched two videos:

"Rewiring Young Brains" examines hindrances on development of young brains that technonlogy may have. The man in the video said to whatever kids see and expose themselves will be part of their future.

"Old School, New School" discusses how technolgy will change the ways teachers teach. One teacher said educators have to be entertainers. Wes, however, disagreed with this idea because that can become exhausting. Instead, we as educators need to help students do things; make class more hands-on learning. The video also addresses the opinion that excessive exposure to technology, such as TV, has made young people expect to have instant gratification, and when they don't have that in the classroom, they loose focus. How can teachers keep their focus? An interesting point made by a teacher in the video was that it is OK for students to use things such as SparkNotes to aid them in writing papers. He believes this because in the real world, the value of an employee is not necessarily what they know, but if they know how to find the information they need. Allowing students to practice this in the classroom is a good idea, he says. The teacher redefines cheating in favor of letting students gather information from a variety of sources.

We also practiced embedding voicethread video in our blogs in class. Here are the steps:
1. open voicethread and blogger in seperate tabs or windows.
2. make a new post in blog.
3. in voicethread, go to the last page, click "copy link," and past that into your blog.
4. return to voicethread, go to the last page, click "embed" and copy that to blog in "Edit HTML" tab, paste (right click or Ctrl + V), and post your blog.

Next, we learned how to do various searches in Google. We saw two slideshows that helped illustrate this, which can be found at Google Search Tools and Options.

Some new vocabulary:
oneboxes: want to search weather, for example, there is a light blue box at the top of screen after you have done a search that has that information.
queary box: search box

How to do a basic search:
1. to find key words: Ctrl + F
2. naming the un-namable? Type in a quetsion or keywords. For example, you want to define philtrum, google can do that. We also practiced with the Reverse Dictionary that allows you to look up the definition first and then the word. This is good when you are asking yourself, "What is the word for that...?"
3. Wes discourages Google Images because they may or may not comply with copyright laws if used in a student project.

The main take-away is that we need to work on learning more about what we take for granted in Google.

And, also, to not trust the first few hits as the best hits to use.

In class, we also learned about an aggregator, or a collection of headlines. For this, we created our own GoogleReader to aggregate news headlines and information from classroom communication tools. To do this, go to www.google.com/reader

Week 7: Learning Portals (interactive website creation: Google Sites, Wikis)

2010-02-24T19:58:00.001-08:00

Click to Play

This is a recorded lecturecast of week 7 in Wesley Fryer's spring 2010 class, "Technology 4 Teachers" at the University of Central Oklahoma. To facilitate blended learning experiences for students, it is essential for teacher-leaders to create hyperlinked, media-rich online spaces. These learning portals can serve as digital extensions of the classroom, spaces for student collaboration, lockers for research discoveries and media, as well as online portfolios demonstrating knowledge and skills. (T4T Week 7 links and resources are available.)

Week 6b: Search and Aggregators (T4T Spring 2010)

2010-02-17T20:53:00.001-08:00

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(part 2 of 2) Effectively and critically searching the Internet is a vital skill for 21st century learners. Studies show most students tend to perform simple keyword searches on Google and never go beyond the first or second page of search results. Today we will explore a variety of Internet search options, and learn how to use an aggregator as a digital newspaper.

Week 6a: Search and Aggregators (T4T Spring 2010)

2010-02-17T18:07:00.001-08:00

Click to Play

(part 1 of 2) Effectively and critically searching the Internet is a vital skill for 21st century learners. Studies show most students tend to perform simple keyword searches on Google and never go beyond the first or second page of search results. Today we will explore a variety of Internet search options, and learn how to use an aggregator as a digital newspaper.

Week 5 Summary

2010-02-10T09:45:00.000-08:00

Natalie Locke

T4T Scribes: Week 5
Today Michael Mount from the UCO Office of Information Technology presented an introductory workshop on using the SmartBoard. Michael told the class that Smart notebook software is used to create curriculum and is primarily for k-12 educators. Smart board draws power form the PC, if the computer is on smart board is one. He taught us that sometimes smart boards can get misaligned, so first thing when you use it at the beginning of the day you need to re-orient it. It also has floating tools, which is customizable, and can be moved all across the screen. You also have pen tools on the Smartboard, where you can change the color and thickness of the pens. The eraser tool, you can chose to erase either down at the bottom or on the floating tool. The keyboard button is good for writing neatly on the smart board. Michael’s favorite tool is the clear ink layer, which is one button that erases everything on the page, that you were working on. Something that I found interesting is you can customize the floating tools, which would be a great thing because everyone need and uses different tools. You can save your presentation, and merge notes onto it as well. After showing us some different things on the Smartboard he opened Internet explorer. The magic tool, helps magnify selected images.
Here is a link to SmartBoard training

http://smarttech.com/Trainingcenter/material.asp

The second hour Michael gave a chance for the students of the class to do hands-on practice with the SmartBoard. This was also a chance for all students to get caught up on all their work for chapters 1-4, they could also work on their voice thread project which is due next week. Here is the screencast of how to use VoiceThread.

Week 4 Summary

2010-02-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

Richard A. Weeks
Kirsti Parsons

T4T Scribes: Week 4

The first half hour of class was used as an open forum discussion, about how we the students, were feeling about the class. I believe the overall consensus was that we all felt overwhelmed. One student made the comment that she spends more time on the homework assignments for this class than she does for all her other classes put together; she also mentioned that she was taking 16 credit hours. Several students suggested that we need a catch-up day. The overarching things Dr. Owens-DeLong stated she was taking away are number one use of class time. The second thing is amount and maybe class time would help with the amount.

Dr. Ellis spent approximately half an hour introducing us to PASS-PORT e-portfolio. He showed procedures on how to do several items in PASS-PORT. He informed us that we have 30 days to set up our portfolios. The demonstration looked less complicated than chalk and wire. He let us know he would be available for any questions we might have or any help we might need. He also explained the different portals in the new e-portfolio. He walked us through the procedures from beginning to end. You can contact Dr. Ellis at eportfolio@uco.edu for any questions concerning e-portfolio. He also let us know that we can get a copy of any information, on cd, that we have already put into the chalk and wire e-portfolio that was being previously used.

Dr. Owens-DeLong then showed your screencast for the week.

She then discussed the Unit Plan with us. After showing us the template for the Unit Plan, she had us discuss in small groups ideas for the Unit Plan. Dr. Owens-DeLong had a few of the students provide examples of Essential Question Unit Questions Content Questions. Following the Unit Plan she covered a story in five photos. This included ways to get pictures from places like Compfight or Flickr Storm or using our own pictures. Dr. Owens-DeLong directed us to do an anonymous evaluation and then dismissed class when we were finished with evaluation.

Week 3 Summary

2010-02-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

Jennifer Mendes
Audra Poole

T4T Scribes: Week 3

We did things a little differently for week three. We started our class with a question and answer session. Professor Fryer introduced us to a backchannel chat room. Here we were allowed an allotted amount of time to reflect back on week one and two. We then typed in any questions or concerns we had. We spent the next 50 minutes addressing those questions. This was a great way to allow people to catch up. We also covered the quiz that our class would be taking on webct. We were told that we would be given three questions and fifteen minutes to answer. We were also going to be allowed the chance to take the quiz twice this time. For those who were unfamiliar with webct we had a brief demonstration of how to take the quiz. The next part of class is typically known as lecture. During this time we watched two videos “I need my Teachers to Learn”, and “ A Day to Remember.” These videos introduced us to our next topic Digital Storytelling.

Digital storytelling was defined in many different ways. Part of our assignments for the next two weeks is going to be to develop our own digital story using voicethread. To do this we will have to have at least five pictures or a video if we chose and then record our voice and add it with the pictures. Wes stressed to the class the importance of using copyrights correctly. The first option is to use your own individual pictures. We were given two websites compfight and zoo-m to use to find copy written photos if needed. At the end of class we were informed that Wes would be gone for two weeks. If any students are still behind or needing help Wes is going to be giving two help sessions on Fridays from 9:00 to 10:50.

Week 3: Open Lab Q&A (T4T Spring 2010)

2010-01-29T11:49:00.001-08:00

Click to Play

Since the university was closed due to our ice and snow storm, we conducted our "open lab" Q &A on January 29th over Ustream. This is the recorded archive. I addressed questions submitted on our T4T FAQ as well as posted to our Etherpad backchannel on January 27th. Learn more about Technology 4 Teachers on wiki.powerfulingredients.com.

Week 3: Digital Storytelling (T4T Spring 2010)

2010-01-29T08:58:00.001-08:00

Click to Play

As human beings, we are hardwired for storytelling. The motto of the Center for Digital Storytelling is "Listen deeply. Tell stories." Digital storytelling projects can provide ideal opportunities for students to acquire and demonstrate the literacy skills required to thrive in the 21st Century, as well as SHOW their mastery of traditional curriculum content. We will explore a variety of web-based and client-based digital storytelling tools, as well as frameworks for facilitating student-created digital stories.
(This video was recorded 27 January 2010 at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. This course is taught by Wesley Fryer. Learn more about T4T on wiki.powerfulingredients.com.)

Open Lab Opportunities Jan 22, Jan 29, and Feb 5

2010-01-25T15:18:00.000-08:00

If you have questions not answered on our T4T FAQ blog, and you'd like to get them answered in person, please come to one of our upcoming "open lab" opportunities like we had on Jan 22nd.

I (Wesley Fryer) will be in the UCO Education building, room 310 tomorrow (Jan 26th from 10-11 am) to answer T4T questions. A computer lab was not available at this time, so if you have your own laptop please bring it. Wes will bring a couple laptops to share.

We have reserved the UCO Education computer lab 110 for the following T4T Open lab times on Fridays:

Fri Jan 29th, 9 - 10:50 am
Fri Feb 5th, 9 - 10:50 am

Remember to use all our course communication tools to stay up to date with our T4T course! Hope to see you and an upcoming open lab.

Week 2 Summary

2010-01-24T20:28:00.000-08:00

Adam Schovanec

Pam Taylor

T4T Scribe- Week #2

This week we as a class focused on the topic of social bookmarking. In a nutshell, the idea behind social bookmarking is that it allows people to save the links to interesting websites on a virtual server for future referral. Besides allowing us to save websites in a readily accessible location, social bookmarking also gives people the ability to categorize the links in a flexible and searchable manner by using tags that collaborates with other people.

To broach this new subject, we were instructed to create our own personal accounts on a website called Diigo. Upon doing so, we were introduced to the concept of tagging which allows users to classify their finds based on key words. We also were taught how to join social groups tied Diigo. This allows us as users to interact and share material with other people who have similar interests.

As an added bonus we got to watch the music video “Welcome to the Future” by Brad Paisley. We took a few minutes to briefly discuss our takes on the video and then moved on to the video “Cry of the Dolphins” which brought up the issue of leaving constructive feedback when commenting on the blog posts of other people. This was important because much of our assignments this week were tied to our commenting on several blog posts other than our own. A final point that Wesley Fryer touched on in class was on how to embed videos directly into our blog posts. He used the video, Digital Youth Portrait: Nafiza to demonstrate this new method and then allowed us to work on the week’s assignments on our own.

We have embedded the Nafiza video for easy viewing.

Weekly Information

2010-01-24T17:04:00.000-08:00

During class on Wednesday January 20th, we were given a truck load of information that is of great use to us furture teachers. We can use this information and ideas to enhance our teaching experiences. We began the morning with a tip on saving videos in advance to ensure a completely uploadied video ready to play for our students. Then, professor Fryer indroduced us to our main focus for this week, social bookmarking. Social bookmarking is a way to save wesites and store them in an easy assessable location. This makes finding previously viewed websites wasy and quick. We were given a free service called Diigo, that will help us explore and master social bookmarking. Near the end of our class period we were instructed and taught us how to attach videos and favored websites onto our blogs.

Things I Want To Model As Your Teacher

2010-01-21T21:45:00.000-08:00

Here is the 15 minute / 19 slide presentation I shared on our first day of class this term, titled "Things I Want To Model As Your Teacher." I've shared this as a synchronized Slidecast on Slideshare, which means the slides will auto-advance as the recorded audio of this presentation plays. Slideshare is free to use.

Things I Want To Model As Your Teacher

View more documents from Wesley Fryer.

Scribe Post Assignments (Spring 2010)

2010-01-21T15:33:00.000-08:00

Based on everyone's randomly drawn numbers from this past Wednesday, these are the scribe post assignments for this semester:

Per our course overview::

During the semester, each student will be assigned the responsibility for ONE WEEK to summarize the highlights and learning points from the week on the course Shared Learning Blog

Be sure to post your weekly scribe post NLT (no later than) midnight on the Sunday following class. Remember you do NOT need to detail everything from class, but summarize the highlights and main points.

You will need to contact other students in your section assigned to write the summary post for the week. Since there are two sections of T4T taught by Wesley Fryer in Spring 2010, there will be TWO scribe posts each week.

Only ONE person will be able to actually post to the blog, and edit that post. As partners you will need to collaborate PRIOR to posting your weekly summary / scribe post. You can also edit and add to your post after it is published, but the same person who originally created the post will have to do the editing.

Check out the example scribe blog posts from Darren Kuropatwa's "Blog Post Hall of Fame" to see how scribe posts have been used with great success in other classrooms.

Open Lab tomorrow (Fri 22 Jan 2010) from 9 - 10:50 am

2010-01-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

T4T Students:

I will be in the UCO College of Education computer lab (room 110, our regular classroom on Wednesdays) from 9 am to 10:50 tomorrow (Friday Jan 22nd) to answer questions and provide assistance about anything you'd like to discuss regarding our Technology 4 Teachers course. Please drop in if you'd like to ask questions, listen in on Q&A with other students, or just work! I've reserved the lab just for our class for this time.

I've had several requests to get together for Q&A outside of class time, so I thought we'd try this and see how it goes.

Please remember to continue submitting questions you have to our class FAQ blog, I've answered two new questions there today.

I've also added some graphical icons to our "Course Communication Tools" page which may make this easier to utilize.

Last of all, for week 1 and week 2 I've added some checklist-style questions under "review" at the bottom of each page. This is summarized on the FAQ post, "Checklist for Weekly Assignments."

Hope to see you tomorrow if you can make it to the lab in the morning. Have a marvelous weekend!

Wes
--
Wesley Fryer
http://www.speedofcreativity.org
twitter/skype: wfryer
http://claimid.com/wfryer

Course Communication Tools

2010-01-20T20:47:00.000-08:00

I've added icons to our Course Communication Tools page. Hopefully this will make it easier for all of us to navigate and use these sites.

Week 2 Q & A: Social Bookmarking (T4T Spring 2010)

2010-01-20T15:10:00.001-08:00

Click to Play

This was the question and answer period following our class lecture about social bookmarking on 20 January 2010. (This Technology 4 Teachers is taught by Wesley Fryer at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Learn more about T4T on wiki.powerfulingredients.com.)

Week 2: Social Bookmarking (T4T Spring 2010)

2010-01-20T14:58:00.001-08:00

Click to Play

Have you ever found a great website online, but later because you didn't save it or you didn't have access to the computer where you viewed the website you couldn't locate the website address again? If so, you need social bookmarking. By using social bookmarks to save good websites we find online, we save our "finds" in the cloud of servers which are on 24/7. Social bookmarking not only lets us save our websites in a location where we can find them readily on any computer, it also lets us categorize them in a flexible way using tags and collaborate with others. This week we will explore social bookmarking by using the free service Diigo, and also review our work from last week on blogging. (This video was recorded 20 January 2010 at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. This course is taught by Wesley Fryer. Learn more about T4T on wiki.powerfulingredients.com.)

Week 1: Intro and Bloggging (T4T Spr 2010)

2010-01-13T19:12:00.000-08:00

This is the video archive for our class on 13 January 2010 or week 1 of "Technology for Teachers." Access all our week 1 curriculum and links on the Powerful Ingredients for Blended Learning wiki.

Access weekly lecturecasts like this one using a computer web browser or a smartphone / iPhone or an iPod Touch using the web address: t4t.blip.tv. Since I am teaching two sections of T4T this term on Wednesdays, I will just publish one of the two lecture recordings each week. This week's recording is for section 62, the 9 - 10:50 am class. This is the overview of our class today:

Hyperlinked writing is the most powerful form of writing, and forms a cornerstone of literacy our hyper-connected information and communications landscape. We will explore how educators and students are using blogs for a variety of constructive purposes, how microblogging with Twitter differs from blogging with other tools, and how blogs can be used to share professional reflections for this course. We will discuss the importance of building and maintaining a professional digital footprint, and explore the free K-12 Online Conference. (Resources on www.powerfulingredients.com)