During our inquiry into the possibilities offered by online presentation and sharing applications, I was surprised to find such a great variety of options. That being said, there are several programs that offer many functions that make other more specific applications redundant. The frontrunner in terms of multiple usages and opportunities for collaboration is GoogleDocs. Because it is sometimes difficult to gain access to online applications on school-based servers, it might be prudent to look for programs such as GoogleDocs that have multiple uses and functions.
Our showcase featured three online applications: SlideRocket, 280Slides, and SlideShare. My focus was on SlideShare, which I found to be easy to use and suspect that students would find engaging. One of the strengths of SlideShare is its user interface. SlideShare is essentially the YouTube of presentations. It looks a great deal like YouTube and allows you to search for and comment on presentations in the same way that YouTube does with videos. Also, SlideShare is designed to allow students to easily embed YouTube videos into their presentations. I think that the similarities with YouTube, a site that is extremely popular with students, will reduce the learning curve and produce interest and engagement in students.
SlideShare’s design makes it a valuable tool for locating resources. Students could complete research requirements or benefit from seeing student examples by searching SlideShare for relevant presentations. As a teacher, SlideShare presents the opportunity to put course content onto the web to be accessed by students at their leisure. The file size limit for SlideShare presentations is 100mb which all but ensures that your presentation will be publishable.
The use of SlideShare can contribute to inquiry because it provides students with the opportunity to contribute to the public body of knowledge. An important part of engaging students in inquiry is demonstrating that their learning is meaningful. By allowing students to publish their presentations, students are able to make connections with the outside world. They are able to take the final step of inquiry – action – and explore their agency in the “real” world.
Finally, I would like to mention another function of SlideShare that will help to make it meaningful and current in the eyes of students. SlideShare makes it very easy to post presentations to blog pages. In just one easy step, students can post their presentations to a number of commonly used blog sites (Blogger, Wordpress, and others). This is just another function that will engage students and increases the potential uses of SlideShare.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
SlideShare Showcase Presentation
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
SlideShare Showcase Presentation
View more presentations from Michael Musto.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Focused Task Self-Assessment
SS 9 Human Rights in Action
In the process of completing the task of creating a website, I was able to familiarize myself with using some programs that I had not used much before. First, to design the logo for our student organization I searched the web to find a suitable image. Next, I used Microsoft Paint to edit the image and give it a personalized touch. Believe it or not, I had never used Paint before. Also, I used www.delicious.com to locate the links on our website. I had been exposed to Delicious by Mr. Stephenson during his presentation and took advantage of this opportunity to explore this useful website. In terms of actually authoring the webpage, I got the opportunity to collaborate on the design of the webpage using Iweb.
The use of technology was meaningful in a very obvious and relevant way with this task. One of the most important aspects of this task was to move the students to take action. Creating a website, and by extension using other media in the process, was a meaningful use of technology because it is the primary way that students access information. The goal of the website was to spread the message amongst the student population, so the use of a webpage was relevant and the skill of web-authoring will continue to be useful for students both in and outside of the classroom.
Web page authoring allows for easy collaboration because there are many different, specific tasks that go into the creation of a page. Students can experience uploading content onto the page while choosing different formats that may require different skills. In this way, it is easy for everyone to share the experience while still allowing students to focus on particular areas of interest or to emphasize unique personal strengths.
The main challenges we encountered as a group were philosophical disagreements concerning assessment practices. Although I think that the rubric developed for this task was good, I personally disagree with giving marks simply for completing requirements (for ex: 1 mark for name, 1 mark for logo). I also feel that some of the criteria described in the rubric were too subjective. That being said, I feel as though all group members were very determined to collaborate and accommodate others. In the end, I think we produced a good task.
In the process of completing the task of creating a website, I was able to familiarize myself with using some programs that I had not used much before. First, to design the logo for our student organization I searched the web to find a suitable image. Next, I used Microsoft Paint to edit the image and give it a personalized touch. Believe it or not, I had never used Paint before. Also, I used www.delicious.com to locate the links on our website. I had been exposed to Delicious by Mr. Stephenson during his presentation and took advantage of this opportunity to explore this useful website. In terms of actually authoring the webpage, I got the opportunity to collaborate on the design of the webpage using Iweb.
The use of technology was meaningful in a very obvious and relevant way with this task. One of the most important aspects of this task was to move the students to take action. Creating a website, and by extension using other media in the process, was a meaningful use of technology because it is the primary way that students access information. The goal of the website was to spread the message amongst the student population, so the use of a webpage was relevant and the skill of web-authoring will continue to be useful for students both in and outside of the classroom.
Web page authoring allows for easy collaboration because there are many different, specific tasks that go into the creation of a page. Students can experience uploading content onto the page while choosing different formats that may require different skills. In this way, it is easy for everyone to share the experience while still allowing students to focus on particular areas of interest or to emphasize unique personal strengths.
The main challenges we encountered as a group were philosophical disagreements concerning assessment practices. Although I think that the rubric developed for this task was good, I personally disagree with giving marks simply for completing requirements (for ex: 1 mark for name, 1 mark for logo). I also feel that some of the criteria described in the rubric were too subjective. That being said, I feel as though all group members were very determined to collaborate and accommodate others. In the end, I think we produced a good task.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Blog Entry #1: Inquiry, ICT, and Me
My relationship with my PC could be categorized as love/hate. In my personal life, I have enjoyed burning DVDs of Muay Thai fights captured on my father’s DV camcorder. All my favorite music is backed up digitally on my computer and is organized to be synced with my IPod depending on my musical mood. Like most people these days, I surf the internet to find videos, information, pictures, and to check in on my favorite discussion forums. When these simple tasks are accomplished without glitches I love my PC. It opens up a world that isn’t accessible any other way. I am able to accomplish things quickly and with little effort. Times like these, I see my PC as a friend ready to lend a helping hand. As a student teacher, my PC helped me to engage students with short video clips, audio files, animations, and images. Embedding these in PowerPoint presentations allowed me to keep my eyes on the students and move freely about the room. At times, I enlisted the help of the school’s laptops or computers and had students surf the net to increase their understanding of a topic, to conduct research, complete virtual tours, and blog. On the Apple computers used by the schools I completed my practicum experiences in, easy-to-use programs such as IMovie, Garageband, and IWeb provided interesting ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge. Sure there were occasional snags, but with practice and familiarity these were reduced if not completely avoided. My PC was truly a valuable partner during my practicum experience.
But there is another, darker side to my PC. It is this darker side that torments me with erratic and unpredictable behavior, blindsiding me with messages of “ERROR! ERROR!” Fuelling my anger with frustrating questions I don’t comprehend, “Would you like to save as Scorm.1 or html?” I mean come on, speak English PC! My lack of basic knowledge makes any attempt at troubleshooting a futile endeavor. My only recourse is to repeat the process until it magically works! Sometimes, this plan of action does not work and it is these times that I hate my PC.
The biggest cause of frustration in my relationship with my PC is a lack of understanding. Generally, when I determine there is a program that might be useful I learn how to use it for my immediate purposes but never really feel as though I confidently understand what I am doing. As a result, when things do not run smoothly I feel as though I don’t know what to do next. I often consult relevant “help” functions with little success because the language of computer technology is foreign to me. Consequently, one of my goals is to learn the basic knowledge concerning different file types and how to convert them into more appropriate types when necessary. In relation to student inquiry, I would like to expand my familiarity with current technological applications that I can use in the classroom. Though I have already used many effective technologies during my student teaching experience, I would benefit greatly from an increased understanding of the technical aspects of these programs and applications.
Many of the questions I have pertaining to the use of technology in the classroom and specifically the ELA classroom will be generated by the experiences I have during our SIPS class. Specifically, I would like to discuss the appropriateness of certain practices with regards to copyright laws and school policies. I would also like to explore the possibilities of new ways to incorporate technologies being resisted by the school system (for example, cell phones and text messaging). Finally, the ultimate question I would like to begin to answer is - what impact is the use of computer technologies having on the development of reading and writing skills of ELA students?
But there is another, darker side to my PC. It is this darker side that torments me with erratic and unpredictable behavior, blindsiding me with messages of “ERROR! ERROR!” Fuelling my anger with frustrating questions I don’t comprehend, “Would you like to save as Scorm.1 or html?” I mean come on, speak English PC! My lack of basic knowledge makes any attempt at troubleshooting a futile endeavor. My only recourse is to repeat the process until it magically works! Sometimes, this plan of action does not work and it is these times that I hate my PC.
The biggest cause of frustration in my relationship with my PC is a lack of understanding. Generally, when I determine there is a program that might be useful I learn how to use it for my immediate purposes but never really feel as though I confidently understand what I am doing. As a result, when things do not run smoothly I feel as though I don’t know what to do next. I often consult relevant “help” functions with little success because the language of computer technology is foreign to me. Consequently, one of my goals is to learn the basic knowledge concerning different file types and how to convert them into more appropriate types when necessary. In relation to student inquiry, I would like to expand my familiarity with current technological applications that I can use in the classroom. Though I have already used many effective technologies during my student teaching experience, I would benefit greatly from an increased understanding of the technical aspects of these programs and applications.
Many of the questions I have pertaining to the use of technology in the classroom and specifically the ELA classroom will be generated by the experiences I have during our SIPS class. Specifically, I would like to discuss the appropriateness of certain practices with regards to copyright laws and school policies. I would also like to explore the possibilities of new ways to incorporate technologies being resisted by the school system (for example, cell phones and text messaging). Finally, the ultimate question I would like to begin to answer is - what impact is the use of computer technologies having on the development of reading and writing skills of ELA students?
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