Final Project

So here is my final project so far. It's a screen capture video (in two parts) in which I show students how to set up a specific Google Wave that will aid them in collaborative writing and inquiry on a research paper they will do on a famous invention.

Not only did I get to learn the functions of Google Wave, I also learned how to use Jing for the screen capture. That was tricky because I couldn't save the files in a format that I could play back except online. And the embed codes from the website I stored them on aren't working either (they wouldn't resize, so you could only see about half of them). So you will find the links to access my videos here:

Part 1 Part 2

It was really neat to learn some new tools, even if they were hard on my computer and it went very slow doing them. Knowledge opens doors, so just knowing something new that I CAN do means I have a lot more possibilities in the future. Over the term I've felt like this class has to accommodate a huge variety of skill levels with technology, so while not many people get exactly what they want everyone gets what they need. Within that system there are bound to be a few frustrations, but there is also room to learn and grow. And opportunities like this one let me do that. So kudos.

Week 1c: PLN Requirements

Links:
NCTE
PBS
POWELLS
Re-imagining Education
Tech Review
Scholastic
Classmate's Blog

I chose the NCTE site because it's a respected and useful site within my department, which encourages subscriptions in the associated magazine. The PBS site is also geared toward education, and is public enough to give national news feeds. Powells is a major book store, especially where I'm from, so it keeps me up to date on new releases and info. Slideshare offered links to articles on education from a practical/pedagogical standpoint. Tech Review gave information on the use of technology in classrooms, specifically in English. Scholastic is the education and literature company that's useful for teaching ideas and for classroom equipment. And finally, the classmate's blog was the only one on the class website. But I like latin as it applies to English, so I kinda like it.