Tech Play 3: Creativity Tools

Let’s Explore

I decided to explore some creativity tools that are well-known however,  I personally have never tried/played with them in much detail besides the obvious functions they are used for and thought this is the perfect opportunity to see if there is more to them than the known. With that said I chose the following: YouTube, Skype and Reel Director. Initially, I felt that these tools may have some type of relation to what you can produce from each of them. However, after playing around a bit I noticed they have similarities and differences they I wouldn’t have thought of.

YouTube

We all have used YouTube at some point. Maybe to watch a new music video, learn how to fix something on our car or maybe something hilarious was posted that we just had to see. Well I can say those are the reasons that I would use this site for. After really examining it’s features I noticed that there is not much more to this phenomenon than I thought. You have the ability to upload your videos for the world to see however, the app’s editing features are very basic in my eyes. It’s a great starting tool to introduce videography to your students or even give visual tutorials but I don’t see much learning taking place after those features are used. YouTube will still a great tool used in my class because of it’s popularity and the control features that I have as a teacher. Professionally and personally this is a great tool depending on what your goal is for your students or yourself.

Skype

I have used Skype very seldomly during my college days to talk to hometown friends while I was away and I was curious if the application has changed much since I last used it. Skype is a tool used to video call/chat anyone that has the app and a web camera of course. It  gives you the chance to see family members that may be oceans apart or maybe the neighbor next door. Since the last time I use Skype they have developed the feature of being able to call land lines and share screens from other individuals. This is a great aspect for businesses to be able to collaborate and meet without actually being in the same setting. I do like that you have the options of how and who you can choose to talk to on this app and for that reason I wouldn’t choose this as a creativity tool for my students. It’s gives to much free reign and I wouldn’t feel comfortable about my students safety knowing that they could talk to whoever whenever. I would like more control with an app like this (student wise) however, I would use it for myself as a means of talking to family members that may not be in the same city.

Reel Director

Reel Director is an application that I have never used before but have heard great things about. This app brings real video editing features to a mobile platform. It has features such as importing music from your iPod, add text overlay to clips, rearrange the order of clips and so much more. I really believe that this may be something that I allow my students to use in class. Besides the great features that I just mentioned it’s only $1.99 in the app store. What I love most is that the students are able to download this on their own mobile devices and you don’t have to worry about finding iPad's or computers for the students to do an assignment using this application. Personally, I have no use for it outside the classroom which gives me an opportunity to learn the features with my students which is why this is the application I would like to analyze further in this week’s blog.

Lights, Camera, Action...

Film plays an important role in our lives and culture, often portraying meaningful review regarding social issues, personal values, and moral dilemmas. Thus, film can aid as a influential teaching tool to help youth in developing numerous character strengths and making positive decisions. In many cases, film can take on the role of a mirror. It can reflect society and show us life with more focus and clarity. The characters portrayed help us to fully comprehend what truly motivates us and what the outcomes of our actions might be depending on the choices that we make. Films can support us in learning how to understand and critique our culture, inquiring about who we are, where we may come from, and what we ought to do. And films can both rouse discussion and create a social impact, sometimes giving us a specific call to action. With Reel Director you are giving your students the opportunity to reveal these items through their eyes.

Teaching in a rural area of the city, I notice that my students face every day challenges that I did not have to encounter growing up. Sometimes, I do not understand their outlook because we are different in our upbringing so if I give them a opportunity to show me different things/lessons through their eyes as an educator I must take the time out to understand it. With Reel Director I can get the chance to do that with my students still being able to learn and they won’t realize that with the assignment (whatever it may be) that I am also learning more about them. The students I teach don’t just trust individuals freely, you must show yourself worthy first. As educators, we all know that the best way to teach a child is by first gaining their trust.

Reel Director can enhance both social and emotional learning depending on the topic. Being that I teach a subject that speaks to the students on a personal level already I believe that a social and emotional level is the only way I can place this into my curriculum. My goal as the instructor would be to analyze the created piece through the student’s standpoint and gain more personal knowledge. As for the student, their goal would be based on the creativity of the assignment and how much technological aspects they used throughout the video.

Reflection

As technology use and aspects increase we must find new and creative ways to draw our students in. You must always keep the students interested if you want them t really learn your curriculum and make the best of your lesson. Most of the students learn by doing hands on activities so being creative and allowing them to have free/limited reign over their learning is the best concoction of making sure your students are successful in your classroom.

Until we meet again...

Tech Play 2

Eportfolio Tools

Stanford University says Folio Thinking is a reflective practice that situates and guides the effective use of learning portfolios, defined as a purposeful collection of artifacts that characterize the learning experiences of the portfolio owner.

  

Portfolio assessment and standard classroom tests are diverse ways to measure a student's academic progress. In a portfolio assessment, students may present essays, cases, projects and other work developed over a particular time period or the course of their grade school career. On the other hand, classroom tests require students to display what they have learned in a specific component or semester in a class.

Standard classroom tests are a common way for teachers to measure whether students have learned the material being taught in class. Portfolios allow students to have a more original way to showcase their experiences and academic progress than formal assessments. While schools and teachers occasionally trust a portfolio assessment to be better for their students, numerous still use testing to align with state and national standardized testing programs that assess school performance.

What do I choose?

Based on the short time I have been in the workforce I have noticed that what is on your resume’ is what determines if you are interviewed or offered any position. Companies look at different aspects to determine if you are a proper fit for their company/position. They may be looking for certain degrees, GPA, work history and/or knowledge of systems. A resume’ is somewhat a screenshot of a portfolio, you place every significant accomplishment on a sheet for someone else's review. With that said i see it more beneficial for an individual to want to be assessed by “articulating what you know and have learned about educational technology from your academic, professional, and other experiences and providing evidence of that learning with a collection of artifacts you’ve created.”

As a current graduate student I would prefer my knowledge to be assessed the same way (articulating what you know and have learned about educational technology from your academic, professional, and other experiences and providing evidence of that learning with a collection of artifacts you’ve created). Since I am older and have experienced different things I believe that if that my experiences should factor into how I am assessed not by what a test may say about me. What would be the point of my professional accomplishments if they are never looked at and given insight in my career goals?

Identify Technology Affordances

Physical portfolios and eportfolios deliver the same content quality. More time and effort may be spent with the development of an eportfolio rather than that of a physical portfolio.

Although, there are many options on the route you use to make an eportfolio I find that a wiki may work best for me. I’m new to blogging as well as creating an eportfolio and from my research I find that wiki’s are more user and beginner friendly for someone like myself. Like many individuals, I love for many to see my success and for less people to see my failures and wiki’s present the option for who I may allow to view my post/work. I would someday hope to create my own website (just to say I did it).

Shift context/perspective

For my students sake I would still choose for them to be assessed based on a portfolio rather than a test. I do understand that the test would possibly be best for right now however, they may do better in the future if they learn how to present their knowledge hands-on. Lets face it, it is hard to get any type of occupation with out hands on experience. Sometimes the workforce does not care if you’re a great test taker but rather can you do the job. If we teach our students early that they should be more concerned about perfecting their craft rather than using testing strategies they may be more prepared for the work force ahead.

Since, I work with students in a computer lab on the daily basis already, I see that many of them are on different technology levels. This makes the process difficult for choosing what tool would work best in my classroom. Some students already have their own websites created and blog daily. While others may not even know that they have the resources to create a website or anything close to it. As a teacher I don’t want to teach students or use tools that I myself am not familiar with as of yet. If I had the choice I would choose to start with wiki’s and gradually move towards something more advanced.

Personally, I recognized (fortunately at an early age) that you must be more than “book smart” to get a job. Occupations look for a well-rounded person. And despite a job that may ask for a “recent grad” or claim “no experienced needed” they always want you to bring something to the table that their company does not already possess. I teach my students to make sure they take every opportunity they can to learn everything they can whether they feel it will be useful in the future or not.

Until we meet again...

Tech Play: 1

Let’s Set Some Goals

I have never created my own blog before so this will be a complete learning experience for me. I constantly tell me students that they must always set goals for themselves (big or small) and achieve them with that being said, my goal is to continue to get better with blogging and learn everything I possibly can with the time frame given.

Definition of a Blog

Merriam-Webster says “A web site that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.”

Jaquelia says “A website that allows an individual to voice/write their opinions on various subjects for others to view.”

Of course if you want the definition of any word your best resource is the dictionary. However, I always like to translate those definitions into my own words for understanding purposes.

When starting this blog I found that I went straight to Blogger because when I do decide to read blogs Blogger is usually the site of the posting. I find blogs to be set up like a free forum, an individual may post his/her opinions and others may comment on it. With websites that is not always possible/allowed.You also are allowed to see the personality of the writer through the blog whether it comes from the font chosen, background or even the topic they choose to discuss.

Affordances

After looking at some of my classmates completed blogs I find that the blogs that seem to be more personalized and appealing to the eye are from individuals that may be more familiar with blogging. Since I have already set a goal for myself on this matter I believe that I can measure my progress with how much personalization I may have on my site as well as the ease it may take for me to post each blog entry. With other technology aspects i wouldn’t necessarily measure my progress this way. For instance, my progress for learning different excel spreadsheet functions wouldn’t be measured by the personalization i may be able to add but by the ease and accuracy of the functions.

Support Learning

Blogging can develop students writing abilities and build their self-confidence as writers. By blogging, students may take possession of their writing, become better reviewers of other students writing, and understand audience perspective better.

Any Obstacles?

The only obstacle that I may run into is that blogging won’t tie in to my curriculum. I may be able to let students blog about different career choices or goals but, other than that it doesn’t present much of a learning aspect for my students. It does help to get their feet wet just so they know how to do it and won’t be a grad student like myself and just now learning.

Well that’s a blog for the books...