EDLD 5363 Week 2 Web Conference Reflections

I have appreciated the multiple web conference opportunities offered in this class. I have been able to attend a few each week live, but most of the early sessions are not always practical for me as they occur during dinner time at my house. I have taken advantage of many of the recorded sessions. I have found that the web conferences have helped me connect to the class since we do not have a face to face class it is nice to get together and hear straight from the professor. I have also found that the web conferences are helpful in explaining the assignments and bringing my stress level down. However, I do find it a little confusing that the directions can vary from the syllabus, weekly overview, the assignment and the the web conferences. The ability to get answers from both the professor and the other folks through the chat feature is nice. I will continue to attend as many of the conferences in the future

Week 2: Video Editing and Podcasting

The week 2 assignment was focused on reviewing and becoming familiar with different video editing tools as well as creating a podcast.  I will have to admit I thought creating an audio podcast about a video editing tool was an interesting choice of an assignment.   I would much rather have created a video tutorial using software like Jing or Camtasia, but I was up for the challenge.   I looked at several suggestions given by the readings as options for video editing tools and in the end decided on choosing Windows Live Movie Maker.   This is the program my students on campus will be using and one in which I need to become more familiar in order to assist as needed. Also, many of the other online programs seemed to have issues with extra downloads and such that I thought made them sound cumbersome.  MovieMaker itself was easy to use and to edit a video.  I chose to edit a video clip from last year's Christmas.

The podcast part of the assignment was not hard to put together as I have been using audacity for quite a while and have sponsored a podcasting club at my school.  I kept my podcast simple.

Week 1 Reflection: Creating a Personal Story

I did enjoy the assignment this week, even the part about finding a partner.  I was a bit nervous about trying to find a partner on an online class when I really don't know anyone.  It also didn't help that somehow my cohort group got divided into different sections so people I might normally have chosen to work with were off limits.    I posted on the discussion board I needed a partner and someone answered my call for help.  I have worked with them for the duration of the course and have enjoyed the collaboration.    We used Google docs to share ideas and to communicate back and forth:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mQlYlVeaC4y9AenLq_C2RQ1QFJic64jCpAAbs90v5QY/edit

The assignment itself was good as I had to work through storyboard development, script creation, and project execution.  Deciding on the idea was the hardest part for me.  My grandmother was dying at the moment and I thought about a tribute video for her, but that was too close to home at the moment.  My next idea was a video to explain my family of 16 siblings.  I decided to pursue that idea that included my parents finding pictures of the kids at the age they were adopted.   I choose to use Photo Story to create the project as I like the control it gives you to combine images and narration. The story-boarding process helped me focus what type of images were needed and how to keep the script short and sweet.   I am proud of the result of this assignment.

I often work with teachers on creating digital projects for their students.   This assignment helped me reinforce the need for a good idea, a developed storyboard, and a well-written script.  I have used this assignment to talk to teachers about what their students need to create a great digital story.

EDLD 5363 - Personal Narrative

This week was hectic for me. It didn't help that I was offering the most difficult of the technology camps I offer to my students this week before school. I was having to prep for them and try to get a handle on this assignment. Finding a partner was daunting as so far in my courses I have not had a chance to build relationships with those in my classes. I threw out an invitation on the discussion board and was able to find a partner. We exchanged scripts and collaborated through google docs. The process of developing the story was eased with the help of The Digital Storytelling Cookbook. As a former history teacher, telling stories was a key part of how I taught students about the history of our country. I realized early on the impact a good video clip could have on the student's understanding of the era we were studying. I choose to write about my family. My parents have adopted fifteen children in addition to the two biological children. It was an interesting experience growing up and one I am asked about quite often. I enjoyed working through the details and gathering pictures of the kids at the age when they were adopted. It was difficult to get it down to 2 minutes. My first attempt was much closer to three. I often encourage teachers to have their students tell stories, so it was very interesting to participate as a student in creating my own. I choose to work with PhotoStory as I like the ability to add narration per slide. I could continue to edit and refine, but had to call it done at a certain point. I am pleased with the end result and look forward to share the resources I have found with the teachers on my campus as they continue to build multimedia stories. Shank, P. (n.d.) The Value of Multimedia in Learning. Think Tank Retrieved from: http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/thinktank/valuemedia/,Mar 5, 2009.

Life Happens

My action research plan has come to an unexpected halt.  As much as I want to encourage teacher to use technology in new and meaningful ways, they are not as excited about it as I am.  This is really not their fault.  A lot has changed since last year, including class sizes, scheduling and the current storm of grading policies.  I have never been a fan of stressing out teachers with technology, but rather more of an encourager.   If I stress them out they will revolt.  

I am going to keep doing several of the action steps outlined in my original research project because I think they are best practices, I just don't think I will get any type of consistent results to use.   

I have gotten approval form my site supervisor to explore "Bring Your Own Technology," mainly cellphones, into the classroom. I think I am going to use the ISTE Classroom Observation Tool to document before and after results as well as surveying the kids.  It should be interesting and I am looking forward to it.  

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ISTE Classroom Observation Tool. (n.d.). ISTE. Retrieved October 20, 2011, from istelearning.org/wp-content/uploads/group-documents/29/1297454888-ICOTv1blank.pdf

August Update

This summer was a blur with children and an unexpected events so I am a little behind  on documenting my action research program.   I have been working on it and am please with the progress so far.   I kicked off the technology focus of the year with a three hour staff development "Amazing Race" where teachers worked in groups through 12 different technology related stations and got some hands on time using the technology and creating projects.  The responses were good and I have even had some teachers using some of the activities in their classroom.

Here is the wiki I used to organize the event along with my librarian:  http://rmsamazingrace.wikispaces.com/

I have also been working to share new ideas with  my the teachers.  I sent out the first in a series of Twitter Tuesdays emails that outline cool resources i have found through my twitter followings.  I have also posted those on my Tech Tips blog in case they want to find them later on.

Beginning tomorrow I am going to start observing classrooms and start getting a feel for where we are with technology usage on a daily basis.  I have created a google form to help record the data as I visit the classes.

Next week I am starting a monthly technology teacher challenge to encourage teachers to try new things in the classroom.  I am using the district moodle system to host the challenges in order to become more familiar with moodle myself, as well as to demonstrate what moodle can do for teachers in the classroom.

I think teachers are excited about technology this year.   My one main concern is that many changes were made this school year from master schedule to the grading system and I do not want to overwhelm my teachers.  I am also afraid if the frustration level gets too high they will stop wanting to try new things.  This could make for an interesting year.

5301 - Final Reflections

I have learned a lot during this course and discovered that I had been participating in action research on an informal basis for years now under different names or without knowing the name for it at all.    Based on the course material and my personal experiences, I believe action research is a key part of being an effective administrator.   Schools are constantly getting new students, new staff and new standards.  A good administrator recognizes that and evaluates the current situations and poses questions about what is going on and how it can improve.  Dana (2009) says a benefit of principal inquiry is that “principals become role models for the teachers and students in their building.”   I do believe that principals should model the culture of being a life-long learner and action research seems to be a good way to get this accomplished.

The Dana text (2009) was very good at laying out the process of establishing an action research plan from developing a question, determining what type of data is appropriate to collect, how to analyze that data and how to share your results with others.  I do plan on referring back to this text as my how to manual during my research project. 

Several of the assignments helped me focus on what is needed to conduct a successful project.  This week’s activity to summarize the five quality indicators as identified by the Dana (2009) text was very useful for me.   I was able to walk through my plan and see if it lined up in each area and what I might be missing.  In week 4 getting feedback on the plan from my site supervisor and from others in the class was good as it gave me a look at my plan from a different pair of eyes.  Going through the process of summarizing the responses helped me take a deeper look at what comments were the most helpful and helped me think about what type of comments I leave for other people.

I have also enjoyed  blogging about the process.  I have had a how-to type of blog for several years now, but have never had a blog to track my learning and thoughts on a topic.   I have found that by having to compose blog posts about the topic I have had to give more thought to what I am doing and to the process as a whole.  I am looking forward to keeping my blog postings going to hold myself accountable to this process as I take other courses and need to be keeping up with the action research project as well.   I have found a few blogs that have similar projects to mine and have added those blogs to my iGoogle account so that I can keep up with their progress as well.

The web conferences were helpful in the beginning to get some direct feedback about my chosen topic and to hear what others were doing as well.  It is always nice to put faces with names.  I also learn from hearing other people’s questions and insights.   I did find the last few weeks that the conferences got bogged down in trying to explain the technical issues and requirements of TK20 and blogs.  Those conferences were better heard recorded so I could skip over the parts I understood.

I look forward to conducting my action research project.   I have chosen an area that I think I need to grow in and have difficulty doing well.   By focusing on this area I hope to improve as an educational professional and develop a blueprint for other instructional technology specialists to follow as they work with the people on their campus.

Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: the principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press, a Joint Publication with the American Association of School Administrators.