Final Activity!

Here is my VoiceThread Digital Story.  I think there might still be a few kinks, but overall I am proud of it and like the way this resource worked.  I like my voice as part of the story; I can covey so much more emotion with it verses something written.  I can see why this might work with students in a variety of ways.

Activity 16

I was curious about the idea of a Flipped Classroom.  I had no idea what is was and had never heard the term, so I went to the Flipped Learning website to learn more. Basically, through reading part of this website and founder Jon Bergmann's blog, and looking at his YouTube channel (particularly this video), I came to understand that a Flipped Classroom is one in which all verbal information (they call it lectures) is recorded, and students usually watch it at home the night before.  Then, in class they spend time on application, be it homework they may have done in a traditionally modeled classroom (where info is delivered in class and practice is done at home), re-watching the lectures to gain greater mastery, or other higher-order thinking activities. The teacher is working with small groups or individuals, but is almost never standing in front as the "sage on the stage" as that is the purpose of the video lectures students have already watched.  As Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sterns said in their presentation, what was done in class is now done at home and what was done at home is now done in class.  It ends up evolving into something unique for each teachers, changing activities that are done, the set-up of the classroom, how students are assessed, etc.  I think many of us are trying to engage our students through these tactics; let's be honest that hands-on learning, differentiated assessment, and higher-order thinking are not new concepts to most teachers, but the notion of transferring the direct instruction to the home environment with videos could be very powerful in transforming our classrooms even more!  I think that this means that all our students would need to be wired, both at home and in school, and I'm not sure this is the reality.  Another challenge I see for my content is that I usually don't lecture for an entire period; I might give a series of mini-lectures (for lack of a better phrase) so I'm not sure how I would transfer those to a video  without the connecting activities I do in class.  I guess I usually think about students reading the textbook as the preparation and content learning and in class as application of that, but I need to spend time going over what they read for clarity.  Perhaps using video would engage the students more and help them learn more than reading and taking notes.  Lots to think about!

The other topic I found interesting were Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).  I was interested in this because my father-in-law has told me about a couple in which he enrolled for fun, and I wanted to learn more about them.  This brief overview from EDUCAUSE gave me a great understanding.  Basically, many universities are putting their courses online (through partnerships with other organizations or universities) and anyone can enroll and learn!  People can participate in as much or as little as they like, moving in and out of the microlectures, readings, online discussions, and/or face-to-face meet-ups however they want within the time the course runs.  People, like my father-in-law, might do this just out of interest, but others might do this to help perfect a skill, advance a career, or learn about a new area.  Here is a list of MOOCs.  In looking around here, I learned that MOOCS do have substantial work attached to them, and you are expected to complete whatever work you plan to do within a specific time frame, so there is some structure.  I narrowed to only Social Science MOOCs, and I found three on the first page I'd be interested in taking to enhance my own understanding of topics I teach!  This resource has the great potential to take down barriers to education, allowing anyone with internet access to participate in higher education. It greatly taps into my own desire to be a life-long learner, and I think that this could be a trend in high school as well, offering more choices to students to connect with topics they are passionate about.

Activity #14 Reflection

The first session I watched was "Tradigital History: Bringing the Past Alive".  Dr. Beeghley started out speaking about some issues that resonated with me--the idea that many teachers don't delve into Web 2.0 tools because they don't understand it or don't have time (I often feel this way).  He also said that students feel that way too, and that they end up using resources they already know (like Google searches) and end up wasting time because there are much more effective ways to search.  He countered the excuses saying that for students and teachers, technology can make things easier, more streamlined, and often a lot more interesting (especially when you're talking about history and high school students).  He used some great resources from the Library of Congress (mostly primary documents like maps and photographs). I'm not sure how useful these will be in teaching World History, but they still are very engaging).  One resource that I loved was wordle.net, a place where you can input text and it creates "word clouds."  I can see using this as a way to analyze primary documents in different ways in World History!  His last thought was about how to deliver information students learned.  He challenged listeners to allow students to create reports in any format  (Prezi, Glogster newspaper, etc.) adhering to the criteria (writing and content) rather than just a traditional essay.  I like this idea, and it certainly fits in with ideas we've discussed in this class.

The second session I watched was "Digital ID A Project Platform for Learning, Sharing, Remixing, and Teaching Digital Citizenship".  This presentation really reminded me of how at our school, we have talked about integrating information literacy skills for a number of years, but now it is not optional, but necessary and in some situations required by law.  Every subject needs to take ownership of teaching these skills, from how to write a proper email to a teacher to what students and teachers can use from online without violating copy write to considering your digital footprint.  On resource they mentioned was Common Sense Media, and in quickly looking at this website, it looks like it has some great lesson plans and ideas for all of us.  The two speakers also founded the Digital ID Project that looks like a great resource for teaching important concepts such as cyberbullying, digital privacy, and other topics.  It's divided not only by topic but also by grade level--it seems very user-friendly!

Activity #13: Padlet Wall

Created with Padlet

Activity #13

Write a reflective blog post based on Formative Assessment and technology. How do you see yourself rolling out some of these tools in your class? How can you share with course team members? What are some uses for these tools outside of Formative Assessment?

I think that all of these tools have great potential to replace some of the more "old-fashioned" formative assessment I already do.  I routinely give notes quizzes, through which students can assess the quality of their notes, and instead of doing this on a copied sheet of paper, I could do this using Google Forms (grading with Flubaroo).  I'm curious to see how the grading portion of this works, since I'm not sure Flubaroo will mark it correct or incorrect if they put words (like the rivers) in a different order.  However, I think it has potential for some quick, informal "do you know this?" checks, both in class and out of class.

I also really like Padlet--it seems like a great way to build a class understanding of a question or concept, or to do a "bumper-sticker" type sharing (which I created here) that I might have done on butcher-block paper or just on note-book paper and pass around.

Socrative is really neat and could also be used for quick knowledge checks. I like how you can watch the results come in (we could do this in a computer lab as kids complete it on their own computers) or I could leave the activity open and they can respond at home on their own time.  All great tools that I look forward to trying this fall.

I think that I could share these with my course team members by trying it out and then sharing a finished product with them--that would give them the confidence that it can and does work!  Outside of formative assessment, these tools could be used for test and exam review, and perhaps students could create their own quizzes or walls to share with the class, as an activity.  I can see this especially with Padlet.

I shared my Quiz on a Google Form on Google+, but here is the link as well:  Hilary's Sample Quiz
My room number for Socrative is:  357636.  

Activity #12

I think that OERs are the most exciting thing I've learned about in this class!  In my previous post, I talked about how I do feel much of my teaching material is borrowed from others and that I am excited to share what I've created, and now I see that there are online communities out that believe the same and are doing the same!  I looked mostly at Ted-Ed (I have used some Ted Talks before and love them, so this was the natural place for me to start) and I found many lessons I could use in World History (one on Ancient Rome, a couple on China), but the one I am sharing here is on the Electoral College.  I always have to teach the Electoral College during all my classes in election years, and it tends to be something hard to explain.  I will certainly use this video in the future, and it also has some multiple choice questions and additional resources I can send my students to for an informal assessment or digging deeper!  Here is the link:  http://ed.ted.com/lessons/does-your-vote-count-the-electoral-college-explained-christina-greer

On a side note, I have seen students use Khan Academy to enhance and test their understanding of math and science concepts, and it is exciting to me that KA is branching out into the Humanities as well.  I think this could be a great site to send kids to if they need additional help on certain topics or want to dig deeper on their own; the ARC tutors should know about and use this resource to assist students that come in there (if they don't already)!

Activity #11

I have not seen the CC logo, but I will look for it now.  It was interesting to search through CC for an image to use; I wanted to find something that I could use in World History, but all of the image ideas that came to mind ended up being so old (medieval European illuminated manuscripts, paintings of Napoleon) that they are public domain, according to CC, and therefore the CC licencing didn't apply.  I will have to think more about how to use audio and video clips I can find here.  However, I do think that teaching kids about fair use, including CC, is very important as we more forward in this digital age.  Especially as I do more projects where they capture images from online, they need to know what is legal and what isn't and how to do things the moral, and legal, way.  A downside I saw to using CC is that some of the images I use in power points (which is a main way I use images in my teaching) are diagrams, and I didn't see many diagrams that were included in the CC searches.  So, perhaps I should think about constructing my own diagrams and licensing them through CC so that they can be used by others.  I believe all my teaching materials are eligible for use, reuse and modification by others.  So many people have shared with me over the years I can't be certain that anything I do is totally a product of my own creation.  For me, teaching is a community activity, and I want to share my work with others and have it be used by others.  That's part of the reason why CC is so exciting to me.

My quiz score was an 8/10.  I didn't totally understand what a CC license gives the down-loader the ability to do, but after taking the quiz and reading the correct answers for the ones I got wrong, now I do!  This seems like a great resource to revise and spruce up some of the power points I use each year, which now I know certainly need to be re-done because I am outside of Fair Use since they are older than two years.  

Here is the image I captures from CC.  It isn't connected to my teaching at all, it just reminds me of a cat we used to have who would sit like this occasionally.  I think it's funny.  :)

By Photographer: Lynne R. Lawrie (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons