Final Project

Here it is my final project! I decided to get together with a couple coworkers to put together a mini presentation on the Nursing program we offer at Goodwin College by using Animoto. I was able to shown them the one I previously created for the American Liver Foundation as an example and it really got everyone excited to help me out! I had one person do the image search, I let them know it is best to utilize images that come up using the Advanced Google Image search. I also had one person help with the scripting and once everyone got a feel for Animoto everything fell into place , I helped come up with the music selection. One thought I did have after completing the Animoto is that Photo Story 3 probably would have allowed for more text on each slide, but over all I think for the information we were looking to provide it came out very well.

I also put together a Google form to get an idea from my coworkers how helpful they thought the final product was, and what they thought about Animoto as a digital tool in general. You can see the form I used below.

Xtranormal

goodwin college
by: ahuggins

I thought that the Xtranormal site was pretty cool!  It was definitely a lot different to use than Animoto or Photo Story 3.  It allowed you to chose your set, and your actors (you could have up to two) position the cameras, your body language, facial expressions and so on. So it is very detailed and really gives you the feel of creating a mini flick!  You get to preview it before processing it, so you are able to make any adjustments.  I found myself adjusting quite a few times to get my body language to match my narration perfectly.  After submitting it to be processed I received and email from Xtranromal, almost like a invoice, because I guess you are allowed a certain amount of  "Xtranormal points" to purchase your set, and actors etc.  I currently have 75 points left after creating this mini skit, but once you make a purchase that actor and set are always there for your use you do not have to repurchase.  So in a lot of ways this tool was very different than what I have used in class so far, and I think anyone can enjoy using for major projects or otherwise, you can definitely get carried away with the options you have.  My experience was a good one I encourage you all to check it out if you have never tried it before!

Web 2.0...Voki style

 

I thought making a Voki was pretty cool.  The tool is pretty user friendly, you just have to make sure you have a avitar that is not just for educators only if you wish to save and share it.  I didn't realize this at first and couldn't understand why my Voki wouldn't save.  I didn't create the educator account because while it is free for 15 days it still required you to add some type of credit card information on file.  I kept it pretty simple and still work related!  Let me know what you think

Photo Story 3...The Final Cut...

 

 

 

 

 

Well here it is, my final draft of my Digital Story using Photo Story 3.  I didn't have much trouble adding my voice to the project, I actually though it was fairly easy and very user friendly.  I was able to go slide by slide to record my script I pre-wrote right beside the slide which made it super easy.  But what I like the most, is that if I didn't like the way one section sounded I was able to re-work that particular section and not have to start all over again to fix the one error.  The problem I did run into this time around was trying to embed it into my blog.  I spent at least an hour trying to upload it, and and everything I tried lead to Blogger saying there was an error.  So I am not sure if it is something I did incorrectly or if there was just something funky going on with the site today.  I even tried to upload the copy of the rough draft that I had previously posted, and not even that worked!  So what I did for now is uploaded it to my Drop Box for access until I figure out what the glitch is, and when I do I will embed the video.  For now I hope you can access my Digital Story by clicking here, let me know what you think!!

 

 

 jj

In response to Hicks and ....

"There is no question that students are influenced by a variety of texts that they encounter in the world, and learning how to compose in multimedia environments is a critical skill, and not just because the curriculum says it is." (Hicks, 2009, p. 59)

I agree with what Hicks is trying to get across here.  Students have many influences around them that affect the way they choose to compose writing assignments when using technology.  This is why it is becoming more important that they are being taught the proper way to communicate while using these digital tools.  Yes it is ok for them to use some of these tools casually but because things like Cyber Bullying are on a rise they need to REALLY understand what it means to be a good digital citizen as well as applying the skills they learned to write with paper and pen to blogging, emailing etc. for school assignments.  Students will be completing writing assignments for a decent amount of time especially those who intend on seeking higher education.  So the earlier they grasp the critical skills needed to effectively get their message across the better off they will be down the line, especially now that educators are becoming more tech savvy.  It will beneficial for students to have the basics under their belts so they are then able to transfer those skills to digital tools and be just as effective when writing.  What are your thoughts on this??

A picture is worth a thousand words....

I have to say that Hicks has definitely hit on something here.  I think it is a great recommendation for students to take advantage of if their teachers are giving them the opportunity.  It seems that it would allow for another level of creativity for the student that they wouldn't normally experience when given a prompt and lined paper.  I think it even goes one step further when you take into consideration that the student can also be their own photographer for the assignment.  I think a lesson like this makes learning exciting again for students, and they would actually be eager to participate and complete an assignment like this one.  If a teacher is able to fit an assignment like this one into their curriculum I can see their students literacy skills benefiting in the long run, especially if you can have your students do it in a portfolio style where they do it a few times throughout the year where they can see how their literacy skills have progressed etc.

Photo Story3...The Rough Side

Ok here is my rough draft!  I haven't gotten to the point of adding voice to it quite yet but I was able to add some background music.  I decided to use Photo Story3 because I have been reading a lot of blogs in the last few weeks where people seem to really enjoy this tool and find it very user friendly, and I have to agree. 

I have to say I did not run into any problems (so far  any way) where I came to screeching halt.  I liked the easiness there was with moving back and forth between images, and with adding words to the actual pictures, and also having the option to prepare my script for when I do add my voice.

I still plan to add some more images because I would like to have at least two minutes of footage as an introduction to students so they know what to expect as they move through the admissions process at Goodwin College.  I welcome any feedback as this is my first time making something on Photo Story3.

Oh one thing I did fumble with was adding the video to my blog.  I got an error message twice, so I tried saving the file as a Windows Media Player file so I could add it to my blog.  I played around with it and I am not quite sure what I did, but it worked.  I just hope I can figure it out again when I am ready to add my final draft!

Digital Storytelling

The Digital Story examples were very helpful especially because I have never created one of my own before.  It was great to be able to see the many ways that it could be put together, and really each of them had something brought something different to the table.  Many of the examples were done using Photo Story3 and the feedback from each blog I visited helped me to decided that this was also the program I wanted to explore with creating my first digital story.

I really enjoyed how each video transitioned so smoothly.  I have to admit I am a little nervous about creating one because I have never put my voice to anything!  I liked Rubi's  story because it showed her actions while the video was taking place, and in Megan's story she talked about herself and her hobbies but it was more like a slide show with different transitions going along with her voice.  Both versions are very cool, and I really enjoyed them both.  I think Photo Story will be a great place for me to get started with it being my first time creating something like this.  Have any of you used Photo Story3 before?  Do you know of any challenges I may run into trying to get my project going?

Twitter

I have always heard of Twitter, and have even seen hash tags floating around Facebook posts, but just never explored it myself.  Before taking this course I had no desire to check Twitter out, and I was so busy trying to catch up with all the changes being made on Facebook.  Well in class the other night I created a Twitter account and with some guidance saw how this Social Media website can be used in an educational way.

I have to admit I was pretty impressed with the amount of information I could have access to by doing a simple search.  The content embedded within each individual post was pretty cool.  I can definitely see how educators use this tool to their advantage.  They are able to tap into new ideas and tips for their class rooms in the matter of a few minutes.

I definitely plan to familiarize myself with Twitter a little more now that I know of its capabilities! How are you guys using Twitter right now?  More for personal or professional?

Blog on Iowa!

 

I enjoyed reading through the Iowa blog posts, because with most of them you are able to see the student’s personality show right through especially if they happened to be passionate about the topic.  Giving students another outlet in which they are able to express themselves through writing is awesome.  They will more than likely be eager to complete class assignments because it wouldn’t seem so tasking in the form of a blog.  Of course not every assignment can be done by way of a blog, but giving student the option to write in this type of format on a variety of assignments can let them explore different writing styles and techniques. 

Principle Miller's blog post says it the best!  He breaks down all the benefits of introducing blogging to students, and I think it is awesome that he is introducing it to students in his school as early as second grade!  Because blogging is being utilized more in the classroom I think messages like Principle Miller help to put parents at ease if they are ever uncertain if their child should participate in such assignments.  He does a great job of talking about the safety, and benefits students and teachers will gain from such opportunities.  If your child's principle encouraged blogging in your child's school would you support his efforts??

 

 

Literacy ≥ Technology

Is Literacy greater than, or equal to Technology? 

I personally cannot pick one or the other especially having learned so much about how technology can go hand in hand with literacy. I am now a strong believer that one can help to support the other after having taken my last class and having been in this class that last few weeks.  Literacy is a huge part of education and the current tools used to have children learn and comprehend can only be enhanced by the technologies that are constantly being  produced.

Though I am not an educator not I think for the teacher who is not completely comfortable with using technology in the classroom the key may be in really finding the tool that is a good fit for them, and their classrooms needs.  Once they discover that tool and begin taking some time to familiarize themselves with they can being to introduce it to their classroom.  Blogging is a great example because teachers can use it in many ways to get their students to write and still maintain the safety of the students when doing these activities.  The student and the teacher will begin to see the benefits in carrying out blogging exercises in the classroom and you can review some of the benefits of using blogging by clicking here

 

ALF Animoto Style

For those of you wonder what exactly ALF is, it stands for the American Liver Foundation!  Just about two years ago my little sister then 15 years old out of no where started suffering from acute liver failure.  And within two weeks only 20% of her liver was functioning.   We needed a miracle!  And I am happy to say we received one, my sister has been doing well in recovering, and will be off to her first year in college come the Fall.  With all that being said my family and I participate annually in the Liver Life Walk and with the American Liver Foundation.  So every year I speak with co workers in hopes that they will find the cause just as important as I do and either contribute a donation or participate in the Liver Life Walk with a team.  Every little bit helps towards research and educating those who don't already know that Liver Disease is one of the top ten cause of death across the United States.




Because I am not an educator I chose to do my Animoto on ALF because I know it is something I am able to share with my colleagues in trying to rally their support around this cause.  I found creating the Animoto to be pretty easy, however I did accidentally produce my first draft when in fact I thought I was previewing it.  But I quickly realized my error and got back to the drawing board.  I hope you guys enjoy my first Animoto!

For my images I used the Google advanced image search.  When doing this image search I actually found an image of my family and other participants from an event we were part of  which was kind of cool because we had no clue it was searchable! I also used the American Liver Foundation website for a couple of the facts listed in the Animoto.

Blogging = Interactive Learning Tool

In reading Online Collaborative Inquiry:Classroom Blogging Ventures and Multiple Literacies it really opened my eyes further on just how Blogging can enhance a students literacy skills. Blogging and wikis are not used in place of the basic classroom assignments they are used in addition to those scheduled assignments. The goal of using these online tools are to get students accustomed to writing on a regular basis in different types of formats. Students can still write academically, or as informal as the teacher may allow to complete an assignment. It also encourages students to have discussions that are academically based with one another when using blogs. 

I especially LOVE the fact that blogging allows for a sort of global pen pal aspect for teachers and students. I think it just adds a layer of excitement for students in wanting to complete reading and writing assignments knowing that they will have an opportunity to share and collaborate with students that are thousands of miles away.  Take Aviva Dunsiger, who teaches at the Ancaster Meadow School, Ontario, Canada she goes above and beyond to give her students an experience with Skype. I thought it was very interesting because she was able to incorporate literacy into this lesson and I would have never thought of anything like this for a second grade classroom check it out!

Diigo and I

I know I have mentioned Diigo in a previous post but since then I have actually added a few more items to my library and learned that I can share the link directly to my Diigo library!  So I have been on the web and in my RSS trying to find different blogs that spark my interest.  I beginning to think that I am very picky about what I add to my library, given that I have browsed through quite a lot of blogs on various topics in Higher Ed, but not to many have caught my eye.  So I decided to just do a search on "education blogs" in general and have found more blogs that way.  The cool thing is that I actually found a couple of blogs that kind of go along with what we have been talking about in class in regards to why teachers should opt to using technology in classrooms, and even this one called Cool Cat Teacher Blog which is awesome because she shares different types of freebies that teachers may find helpful in the class room.  I am pretty open to different eduacational blogs, anyone have any suggestions for my library?!?

Baby Steps...

Richardson covers RSS and Diigo in these chapters...both things that I am still trying to get the hang of.  Diigo seems to be going a little more smoothly for me than the RSS, although it may be because I have played around with the Diigo site a little more, it seems to be a little more user friendly at least to me, and in reading through the chapters there are things I didn't know you could do with the Diigo site that I will be going back to try.  I already have my diigolet set up on multiple computers so that I can start bookmarking!!  As for the RSS I "think" I have successfully added a couple blogs from a couple of classmates to my feed but I wasn't really sure on how to confirm, but I think the chapters have given me a little more guidance in figuring some of those things out.  However, it may just be that I will need some more hands on with each of these programs to REALLY get the hang of it, as I have only been playing with these new tools for about a week and a half.  I feel a bit challenged at times but I know I have to take baby steps and should have it in no time....anyone else feeling that way?

Blog On!

While scrolling through the list of blogs I decided to check out Stump The Teacher.  The catchy name is what drew me to the blog.  Once I got to the actual site I really liked the way this teacher had his blog set up.  He had different sections you could access; Video Tutorials, Presentations, etc.  I especially liked the video tutorial section because there was something to help with most everything from blogging, to setting up twitter account, and the most recent post was on how to use google docs.  I think he did a great job at tapping into the needs of those who visit his blog and providing the resources for his visitors its like a one stop shop!  His blog also makes me want to push myself more especially when it comes to thinking of catchy titles for my blogs...time to put my thinking cap back on!  How do you guys come up with your titles?  Any advice out there for a first time blogger?!

Fun with Animoto

  


I went browsing through the sample Animotos and came across Lori's.  She created a Animoto on Idioms that I thought was pretty cool.  Not only did she use the text to show for example " cat got your tongue?" she found images to also coincide with each phrase so her class could see a visual.  I also really enjoyed the fact that she actually took the time to make each of the Idioms fit into a continuous story line that involved a teacher and two students.  It was pretty clever and has given me some inspiration for when I start my Animoto project.

Wiki...What?!

It's funny, throughout my academic career I have aways been told to stay away from Wikipedia, as it is not considered to be a reliant resource. And now years later having read a couple chapters Richardson, I am getting know that a Wiki can be used in so many different ways. 

You can use a Wiki as a means of connecting, collaborating, and creating with others near and far.  One of the great things are you can start a Wiki on most any topic!  While I am not an educator I can see how this tool can be useful by professors in many of the courses  offered at the college level. Richardson refers to a ton of examples in these chapters, and one of them belonged to  Jason Welker .  On Jason's Wikki he provides tools for both the student and the teacher on the topic of Economics. 

Imagine if Professors at the collegiate level used this as a way to have their students build on material they have covered in class by having them log on to contribute their research on whatever the topic may have been in class.  Or even if the Professor used it more like Jason Welker where they may provide different tools the class may need as they move through the curriculum.  It would make for a more interesting way to cover the material, wouldn't it?!

I am happy to be taking this course because I am beginning to see the other side of the Wiki, and how it can be useful to educators at any level.



Blog Exploration

In my exploration for blogs that relate to issues in Higher Education, I came across a couple that related to the college admissions process. Each of the these blogs seemed to vary which was cool because I was able to read different perspectives on some topics that surround higher education and the admissions process.  Some of the blogs I viewed were from the view of a first year college student, or from a college counselor, or and Admissions Officer themselves.  Because I had never done a search on "College Admissions Officer" blogs before I was shocked to see that many schools have blogs set for their admissions department.  At Goodwin College we are definitely in touch with the Social Media world we have a Twitter, Facebook, and About Me pages set up, but no blogs that I know of as of yet.  So it may be pretty cool to see if blogging is an avenue the college may take for continued outreach to current and prospective students.   In what ways do you think blogging can be a successful tool for colleges to use to engage current and prospective students?

Here are a couple blog links that I added to my Diigolet, take some time to check them out!

http://www.getintocollegeblog.com/

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/

Animoto Inspiration!

If you haven't had the chance to view Anne Marie's Animoto you can find the link below. She took the book "Very Hungry Caterpillar" and transformed it by using Animoto take a second to check it out!  I found her Animoto to be refreshing she had a wonderful idea of putting this novel to music and making a mini video to give her students another way to view the story and a chance to to compare the illustrations to "real life" objects etc.  While I am not a teacher,  this example helps to show me another way to utilize a tool like Animoto .  I don't know that I would have thought to put a book into motion on my own, but now I know it is possible, I think Animoto will be my favorite new thing! How about you?

The wonders of a Blog

When do you actually see a student that is not logged into to something?!  Hardly ever would be my answer to this question.  Students have access to the internet and social media almost anywhere they are.  So I think that it is becoming increasingly important that teachers are including bits about Digital Citizenship in their lesson plans especially if they have already begun including technology in their classrooms.  Teachers can consider using Blogs as a great tool, and way to introduce their classrooms to technology as it seems to be a multi-purpose tool.  While using the Blog for classroom assignments or lessons they could create a classroom conversation around Digital Citizenship because the Blog allows for an exchange of conversation.  The Digital Citizenship blogs could help students learn the ways of safety on the web.  Teachers could tackle the Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship throughout their lesson plans, and it could also be a good way to loop parents in so they can see the classroom discussions and maybe even carry those conversations into their home life.

You guys should definitely check out Mr. C’s class blog I thought was pretty cool I included the link below.  He has a blend of things for his students to access  anything from classroom assignments to video posts etc.  It is very interactive for students and seems that they will definitely be engaged as the school year goes on.  The great thing about blogs to is that the posts are always available to students, so if a student is out sick and the teacher posts the assignment along with video of the lesson that day, it would be super easy for a student to stay on track even if they couldn't physically be in class that day.  So there are so many benefits to using a Blog, and I think every teacher should give it a try, it may be a good starting point for a teacher just getting into using technology in the classroom, and the students can definitely benefit from it down the line!

Intro:About Me

My name is Andrea Huggins and this is my first blog ever!!!

This will be the fourth grad class that I have taken and I think I and starting to get back into the groove of being in school again

I am currently working at Goodwin College as an Admissions Officer while simultaneously planning my wedding, going to school and house hunting all at the same time.  And yet somehow I think my sanity is still in tact!

I am looking forward to learning more about the different uses of technology that can help to encourage and foster learning for children of all ages.