A colleague of mine has restarted his dedication to blogging as part of his personal professional development plan (see previous post about self-directed PD). Mr. Orr is a Science Teacher and Technology Coordinator at Faith Lutheran Jr/Sr High School. In his latest blog entry, he posted a link to a YouTube video that demonstrates how to download YouTube videos (I know, there is some irony here). I agree with his statement that "how do I download YouTube videos?" is the most common question asked of our fellow teachers. I thought I would also spread the tip, so here's the video:
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Students & Twitter: Part II
To follow up on my first blog post about Students & Twitter, students succeeded at implementing twtpolls to collect opinion-based data from their peers on various topics. After this short Twitter assignment, students completed this WebQuest. Changes made to the WebQuest included utilizing Google Docs to create a presentation (much like PowerPoint) demonstrating their perspective on their Computer Ethics, as well as integrating Twitter.A few student groups integrated twtpolls, while others searched for tweets containing opinions to back up their own. One group found an expert that provided excellent information about Bluetooth and WiFi for inclusion in their presentation.
Overall, the WebQuest assignment was pretty successful. I would have liked to have seen greater Twitter integration at completing the assignment, but I have to remember these students are novice tweeters. Keeping this in mind, they did a great job.
FETC & Professional Development
As I wrote in my previous blog post, I am taking on the responsibility of creating my own self-paced Professional Development plan. In keeping within my own goal for PD, I decided to attend the 2009 FETC Virtual Conference. This is my first attendance at an all online conference, and I'm excited to see how it turns out. FETC touts the following benefits, which are the main reasons I decided to attend:There are no travel expenses. No lines. No substitutes to schedule. No funding approval needed.A 100% FREE education technology conference? I don't need a substitute? I don't need to create lesson plans? I don't need to stand in line? FREE? What other reasons do teachers need to attend this conference? How about the fact that teachers can experience
I encourage all those that have not signed up for attendance to do so - Register Here. I'm looking forward to experiencing the virtual environment of this conference in combination with learning some new technology integration tools! See you "there."
- A dynamic exchange of best practices and tips for success.
- Expert speakers sharing their views in an effective, interactive way.
- A virtual networking lounge to reconnect with colleagues and make new contacts.
- Real-time access to other participants through instant messaging.
- Technology product and service demonstrations in our virtual exhibit hall.
- Free content downloads and presentations to go.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Professional Development: self-paced plan
My school has decided to take Professional Development to a different place this year, and have allowed all teachers to create a self-directed plan. The Curriculum & Staff Development chair reviewed the following resources with the staff, and then provided a self-directed proposal form for us to submit for review.Article about PD & TechnologyKeeping this article and Standards in mind, I have decided that my self-directed plan will be directed to the newest Computer Science course that I am teaching - Web 2.0. My self-directed plan will include the following:
Professional Development Standards from NSDC
Goal:
Develop and implement the Web 2.0 course curriculum map by attending conferences and developing a Professional Learning Network through the use of Web 2.0 tools (Twitter, FaceBook, etc.). Course learning objectives and curriculum map will be derived from my own Web 2.0 learning; feedback will be provided by my PLN and reflections on content will be posted on my professional blog at http://mrdooley.blogspot.com.
How will this improve student learning?
Student learning will be improved by the implementation of current and future Web 2.0 tools (rather than out-dated and “unexciting” ones). By attending conferences and utilizing my PLN, I will be sure to expose students the latest, most cutting-edge educational Web 2.0 tools to enrich their future academic careers.
Activities/Strategies:
National Middle School Association 2009 Conference – attend workshops that focus on the teaching and administration of Web 2.0 tools.
Computer-Using Educators 2010 Conference – attend workshops focusing on cutting-edge web-based educational tools to include in curriculum map. Attain specific examples and authentic assessments to be used with the web-based tools.
PLN Utilization – attain new Web 2.0 ideas/content/assessments/tools from my network of other technologically advanced teachers, administrators, and technology coordinators.
Blog – reflect on new Web 2.0 ideas/content/assessments/tools through my professional blog.
Updates, ideas, curricular goals, and reflections regarding this self-directed plan will posted in my blog under the PD2010 tag.
If you're trying to find me on various Web 2.0 apps, here is a list of my Web 2.0 Usernames:
Skype:
Blog:
Website:
Twitter:
FaceBook:
mister.dooley
mrdooley.blogspot.com
mrdooley.org
mrdooley
mrdooley
Your feedback is welcome!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Students & E-Portfolios
It has been quite a while since my last blog entry, and for good reason. I have taken on the challenge of single handedly creating/editing/implementing the curriculum for my school's Web 2.0 course. I have devoted a lot of hours to developing lessons, assessments, and the like. After thinking about how to best assess student learning in a summative manner, I came up with the idea of student e-portfolios.
I started to dig through the topic by performing a simple Google Search; the most valuable search result came in the form of Dr. Helen Barrett's Electronic Portfolio website at ElectronicPortfolios.org. Dr. Barrett is a leading researcher in the e-portfolio domain; her website has a lot of useful information, complete with diagrams, step-by-step instructions, and examples.
Having knowledge about how I could use e-portfolios as a summative assessment in my Web 2.0 course, I turned to my Twitter PLN for direction in how to have students create them. I got a few different ideas:
I liked the idea of the wiki, but thoughts came to mind about having students tip-toe around the public forum. The only answer for this was to utilize our Google Education Site, and keep everything protected and under that domain (as we usually do). I came across a page in Dr. Barrett's site that discussed how to create e-portfolios in a Google Site - I wondered how I had missed it before but was glad to have my answer.
Turns out it was extremely easy to introduce the topic to students, have them each create a Site under our Google Education domain, and begin creating and editing their e-portfolios. We even found a way to have students create a WordPress blog (of course, again on our own servers for privacy) and embed it into their Google Sites (using an iframe gadget). It is a work in progress, and students will contribute artifacts and reflections into their sites on a weekly basis.
If you have questions, feel free to ask. I will not be posting my students' examples as they are "hidden" in our Google Site domain.
Here is a short video about e-portfolios, and a quick how-to for Google Sites:
I started to dig through the topic by performing a simple Google Search; the most valuable search result came in the form of Dr. Helen Barrett's Electronic Portfolio website at ElectronicPortfolios.org. Dr. Barrett is a leading researcher in the e-portfolio domain; her website has a lot of useful information, complete with diagrams, step-by-step instructions, and examples.
Having knowledge about how I could use e-portfolios as a summative assessment in my Web 2.0 course, I turned to my Twitter PLN for direction in how to have students create them. I got a few different ideas:
I liked the idea of the wiki, but thoughts came to mind about having students tip-toe around the public forum. The only answer for this was to utilize our Google Education Site, and keep everything protected and under that domain (as we usually do). I came across a page in Dr. Barrett's site that discussed how to create e-portfolios in a Google Site - I wondered how I had missed it before but was glad to have my answer.Turns out it was extremely easy to introduce the topic to students, have them each create a Site under our Google Education domain, and begin creating and editing their e-portfolios. We even found a way to have students create a WordPress blog (of course, again on our own servers for privacy) and embed it into their Google Sites (using an iframe gadget). It is a work in progress, and students will contribute artifacts and reflections into their sites on a weekly basis.
If you have questions, feel free to ask. I will not be posting my students' examples as they are "hidden" in our Google Site domain.
Here is a short video about e-portfolios, and a quick how-to for Google Sites:
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