Guiding Principles Revisited

After going through this entire course, some of my guiding principles have stayed the same and some have needed to be adjusted. My old principles can be found in the black text - and reflections or additions can be found in the blue text. You will find my final guiding principles located at the bottom of the page.
Reflection on old guiding principles...

1. Do I know how to fully use and explain how to use the technology?
1. After going through this course I realize that I will never be able to know all of the bells and whistles prior to introducing a tool and my students and I need to be willing to learn from each other about aspects of each webtool
2. Will the use of this technology benefit my students?
1. Also, how will this http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=9074015005516543629benefit my students? 
2. I think benefits should fall into a few categories - enhance course material, increase class participation, learn a topic in a way that couldn't have been done before, webtools that students can use in the future, etc
3. Is this technology something that my students could use outside of my classroom (is it relevant)?
1. I think this falls under the category of benefits - students should be exposed to tools that can benefit them outside of just my classroom
4. What is the purpose of using this technology? (Taken from Utecht’s “Evaluating Technology Use in the Classroom”)
1. Am I dabbling?
2. Does this do old things in old ways?
3. Does this do old things in new ways?
4. Does this do new things in new ways?
5. How will the use of this technology improve my students’ ability to learn the material and develop core life skills?
1. If a webtool can't do either of these things it probably isn't worth implementing
6. Have I gotten feedback from colleagues on how I plan to use this technology?
7. Will my students learn the material better or in new ways by using this tool?

Improved Guiding Principles - Before using a webtool I will..

1. Consider the use for the webtool...(Utecht's purposes)
2. Know how to use the necessary components of the webtool and be able to troubleshoot
3. Be willing to learn from students
4. Evaluate the benefits of using the webtool
5. Process how the webtool will enhance students' skills and learning
6. Gather feedback prior to use from colleagues and reflect after use
7. Ensure that the webtools will be used safely

Even though my "improved" principles are very similar to my old principles I think these are more realistic and concise. I plan to display these principles on my desk and really use them throughout the school year to influence what I do. My reflections throughout this course and what I have learned will make my classroom much more interactive and collaborative. I have always been conscious of how differently students learn, but with all the different tools that I have now, I am hoping to open up many more avenues to help students learn to the very best of their ability, regardless of learning style. I am really looking forward to seeing how all of this plays out in my actual classroom.

Final Project!!

My final project consists of two websites, one for each of the two different classes that I will be teaching this year. My goal in creating the websites was to make a one-stop shop (so to speak) for my students to check in with where they could not only find information about the course, but also participate in discussions. The Physics 1 website is far more developed than the EMP (Experimental Methods in Physics) website because I have never taught EMP before and am meeting to plan the course next week...so it will be more developed after next week. The websites include/will include...wallwishers for basic course questions and each unit, class calendars, technology how-to videos, simulation links, documents passed out during the course and the class blog.

The Physics 1 website can be found here and the EMP website can be found here. If you go to the Physics 1 website, watch the video on how to use the website under the "Technology How-to Videos" page. This will give you a tour of the website. I had some trouble embedding the video and would appreciate feedback on if you think the way it works is user-friendly enough. Otherwise I may add a page on how-to videos to my blog.

Things that I still need to/want to do with the website...
- add a "how-to" video on blogging and diigo for now (glogster and prezi will come later)
- make and add an "In Plain English" video on algebra
- add all documents that I created for each unit so that students can have easy access
- finish the EMP website

My goal with these websites is to allow increased communication between students and each other as well as students and myself; increase student confidence and participation; and to serve as a hub for information for students. I would appreciate any and all feedback that you have (good and bad) about how easy you think it is to use the website and how helpful you would find it as a student. Any suggestions for additions to the site or blog would also be appreciated.

Thanks for checking it out! :-)

Group Discussion Reflection

Discussing what has been learned, what will be applied and what we still wonder as a smaller group made me feel much better about everything. We are approaching the end of this course and I still feel overwhelmed by all of the tools out there and how to decide what to use, but I found that I am not alone. Granted, I feel much less overwhelmed than I did at the beginning of the course and now am able to organize the information better, but everything out there is still overwhelming. I keep thinking about how I could use all of the tools that we have learned about and tried, and then have to pull myself back to starting out more slowly and building as I go along.

A key thought that I got from our discussion was that while we do need to understand how to use the various tools we are introducing, it is okay to not know every single bell and whistle that goes along with the program. Our students may struggle with using technology for education purposes on their own, but one they are introduced to a tool they typically learn faster than I do and that IS okay. It's exciting when a student can teach the teacher something and the way the teacher responds can either enhance the class or add animosity to the class. I think it's safe to say that every teacher in this class (and I would hope most others) would use the moment as a chance to enhance everyone's experience and encourage other kids to teach the teacher (and each other). How exciting would it be if you walked into a classroom and really saw the entire class working together to share what they are learning. To quote David Buck's professor, we are more and more becoming the "guides on the side" to our students which to me is more exciting that being the "sage on the stage."

**I actually posted this on 7/28 around 10:45am, but changed the date so that my final project post would be at the top.

Week 6 "Tools"/Project

This week I spent a lot of time on my final project and was able to explore some more tools along the way. My project is coming along well, but is taking more time than I anticipated. So far I've made a Googlesite for both classes, made "wallwisher"'s for the homepages plus each unit page, made and embedded a blog for each class and embedded a Google calendar into the homepages. The more I play around with "wallwisher," the more I like it! It really is very simple, but I love the idea behind it - I really see this as being such a valuable tool for my students and a great way to get feedback very quickly, plus it is SO easy to use and embed.

My main new tool exploration this week was screencasting. All through the course I have looked through the information about screencasting, but have never actually tried it, until now. I knew that I wanted to make a screencast about how to use the website, blog, etc and was pleasantly surprised to find that on the outside it is very easy to do! I tried both "screenr" and "Jing." I did find that I like Jing better because it allows me to easily save the screencast to my computer. Screenr allows you to embed the screencast or send it straight to twitter, but I didn't see anyway to save it to your personal computer (also twitter was the only initial option given). I say that screencasting is easy on the outside because the programming is very user friendly, however it takes quite a few tries to get everything to look and sound the way that you like. It is nice that you can pause and record as you go along though.

Next steps for me... I still need to make an "In Plain English" video. I honestly am not sure if this will be done by Tuesday, but I will be sure to post it to my blog and website once it is done. I also want to try out students blogs at some point this year - probably 2nd semester after I have a handle on all of the stuff I am starting with!

I have a couple questions that I would like to bounce off everyone...
1. About moderating: I want wallwisher and blog comments to be as fluid as possible but also want to make sure that they are appropriate. I was thinking of making it so that I need to approve the comments, but my husband brought up a good point about the fluidity of the conversation and also am I just making more work for myself. What do you all think? Would it be enough if I set up a disclosure and expectations for comments and discussion beforehand?
2. Technical question - I know I could ask my tech department about this, but I figured I'd ask here first. I know our students cannot post their first and last names on things they publish for class on the internet...how do others go about avoiding this and still figuring out who is posting what? Here are some thoughts I had - last names, first initial and last name, first name and last initial. I just want to make sure that the students can easily tell who they are responding to and that I can figure out who made a comment...and make sure it's legal.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!! :-)

Embedding Trick for GoogleSites

Alright, one problem solved!! I still am not sure about changing around posts on blogger, but I did find a way to embed a wallwisher into a googlesite.

All you have to is click on "Edit Page" and then go to "Insert" - "More gadgets" and then type "iFrame" into the search bar. The "iFrame" gadget will allow you to embed ANYTHING into your googlesite! One quick pointer - don't use the embed code, just put the url into the part that says "src." I was able to embed the "Wallwisher" that I made into the website and it does work so now anyone can add a post to it. (Wallwisher does allow you to approve comments before they actually appear). I plan to use one wall on the homepage for general course questions and one on each unit page for quick review questions that students can ask and answer.

Wallwisher, websites and embeded blog amazingness!

I love it when you have a vision in your mind about how you want something to work and it actually works!! I had that experience this week, almost perfectly (like 95% perfect!).

I went through the list of the top 20 online tools that was on our course page here and found many more tools that look great to try. I decided to take a stab at "wallwisher" I'm still having a little trouble with embedding it, but could see using this in my class. I am trying to embed it into the main page on my class website but am having trouble because it is a googlesite. I would like to use wallwisher as a weekly announcement or quick question board. For example - I could post reminders about when a test is or when a project is due and students could post questions about where to find certain information, how to use a tool, a question that they need to ask the next day, etc. This would save the class blog for discussion related questions. Which leads me to my amazingness of the week!...ok not MY amazingness, the web's amazingness...

Our school district has some really great google apps that we have access to and blogger is associated with google, so I had this wonderfully tentative vision in my head of being able to embed my class blog into my website and my students being able to read the blog and comment all in one place and...drumroll please...it actually worked!!! I made a new webpage for my Physics 1 class for this year as well as a class blog and was able to embed my blog right on into the webpage! It's fantastic!! The students can even comment right on the page without having to link to the webpage and open a new tab or window! I'm so excited!! (as if you couldn't tell...) The main reason behind my excitement is that I find the more pages you expect students to go to, the less likely they are to actually use them, now having everything in one place removes excuses from my students' mouths but even better makes communication as a class so much easier. I am still trying to decide exactly how to format the blog and website. I have 3 classes of Physics 1 and here are some options that I am exploring
1. Use just one class blog and tag the blogs that students should respond to with their class period. If I set this up with students right away I don't think it should be too bad.
2. Set up 3 class blogs (one for each class) downside with this is that I have to maintain 3 blogs which could be tricky
3. Just use one blog and let all students from all classes comment on the same posts. This could be an interesting crossover and learning experience but it could also get out of control...that's between 75 and 90 students commenting!
What do you think? Other suggestions are certainly welcome. Also, if anyone is familiar with googlesites and knows how to embed advice would be appreciated. Last question...for now at least - does anyone know if there is a way to alter which blog post is displayed first other than just displaying by date?

Here is a link to my class website if you want to take a peek. It is not nearly finished but at least it's a start! Please let me know if it doesn't work...I made it public, but have had problems with sharing in the past.

Thank you in advance for any feedback you have!

Week 5 - Blogs and Wikis

Right now I have so many ideas that I want to test out with using blogs in my classroom and trying out more with wikis. This past school year I used a wiki based out of the "Wetpaint" website, but it wasn't working as well as I had hoped. At first it was working really well, I was able to use "docstoc" to embed all documents, embed my hw calendar and some other basics. I used it for a semester, but was discouraged by some of the semi-suggestive ads - they did get a little better after I emailed the admin, but not always - also after a while "docstoc" links stopped working. After a semester I switched to using a "googlesite" which I really like but last year it didn't have the potential for conversation between students. I do like what I am seeing about using wikis as ways for students to share their projects, so I will need to explore some of the other sites - I do like the PBworks for our class website.

I was excited to see that "Blogger" was connected to google as I was reading the other day. Our school district has an account with Google where we have access to google-sites and all sorts of other really cool stuff and I saw that there was a way embed a blogger into a google-site!! If this is the case (I'm playing with this tomorrow) I think this will be my final project - I'll add it to our class list after making sure that it works as I would like it to. Also another classmate mentioned this a blog (I'm really sorry, I can't recall who...the downside of screen-names!!) - but I would love to adjust some homework to be based on blogging - go home and comment on a blog, or on a classmate's comment, just to start some conversation outside of class. The student's comment about being able to process prior to commenting in the article "Creating a Classroom Blog" in Science 2.0 by our Professor Brunsell and Martin Horejsi convinced me that there is some incredible value in blogging. It can give the students that don't participate in class a voice - which to me is invaluable.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how blogging and wikis can enhance my physics classes this year and help my students participate and dive into physics even more.

Glogster and simulations

This afternoon I spent quite a bit of time actually using Glogster. I did not follow my own guiding principles last year and let my students use it without me really taking the time to explore all that it had to offer. I must say I am impressed. I made a glog that I can use as the beginning of the school year to introduce my students to physics and what physics is. I plan to embed this on my class website and have students look at it in their own time. A few things that I didn't know before about glogster...
1. You can collect your own video, soundclip or picture as long as you have a microphone or camera! I wasn't daring enough for the video today, but that is how I got the sound clip on the glog. The only issue that I am having with the sound clip part is that it cuts off the end of your speech - I'd recommend letting the clip go for about 5-10second after you are done talking before you stop recording.
2. You can link your text to websites! Under the part that says "Physics can explain..." I was able to link the words to websites the give some explanation on the terms! HOW COOL!!! It even circles the word/phrase when you hold your mouse over it to show that it is linked.
Before I really only thought of Glogster as a tool for my students to use but now I also see it as something fun that I could use to introduce students to new concepts or units.
Here is my glog...


I also love using simulations in my classroom and my students do too! The phet site is wonderful and I've created a couple activities to go along with the simulations...I'm not quite sure how to link them here but if anyone is interested I have activities for the Energy Skate Park, Wave on a String and Electric Field Hockey (I may have to do some digging for the Electric Field Hockey one...). Simulations are such a great way to allow students to experiment in a more controlled environment. Of course we can't let overtake the actual data taking process, but they are very handy. There are so many great physics simulations in the big list - thank you Prof Brunsell!! Another case where diigo comes in very handy.

Ok, time to stop playing and get to work on my Oceanography midterm!

Data and Arguments - Week 4

Reading through the Generating an Argument Model by Sampson and Grooms really made me reflect on all of the various methods that are out there for teaching. I like the model and how it provides students with authentic data and takes them through the scientific process of peer review and publication. I see this being a very valuable tool for a year long class. I don't think this is an activity that you can do once and leave, but rather something that needs to be done throughout the year at least 3 times (to see progress) and the ideas need to be implemented in the class regularly. The challenge for me with the Generating an Argument Model is that both of the classes that I am teaching this coming school year are only one semester. I know there are ways that I can still use the model, it will just be more of a challenge.

My initial struggle with new methods that I learn about is how to incorporate them into the methods that I already use, enjoy and find effective. Right now I incorporate a good amount of Johnson & Johnson Cooperative Learning as well as Problem Based Learning. What I find with each of the methods that I think are really good for developing 21st century skills within students is that they blend together well and enhance each other. At first when I read the article about Generating and Argument model, I thought "this sounds great, but I only have so much time!!" Now, I can see that this model would be a great lead in to Problem Based Learning and Cooperative Learning would enhance the way that students work together greatly. I'm looking forward to trying this method out this year.

I am also very encouraged by how much data is available for students to use. I found that the US Department of Energy has a bunch of data regarding energy efficiency and renewable energy here. Now I just have to check to make sure that I'm not breaking any copyright laws! So much more to think about now! :-)

Time to try out some tools and work on my Generating an Argument Model. Have a great day everyone!

Convinced about Twitter

I have a confession to make...after tonight #scichat I am no longer opposed to Twitter. :-) I now really see how useful twitter can be. I will admit that the scichat was very overwhelming, but it's great to be able to share ideas and resources. This sort of chat makes time FLY - I hardly realized that an hour had passed by the end. This was a great way to connect with other science teachers and gain a lot of resources. Diigo came in very handy tonight! One resource that I will pass on is Skype for Educators. This looks like a great way to get experts into the classroom without geographic limitations. There are lots of other resources, but I have to take some time to go through all of them. Lots to think about. #scichat was also a great way to grow my PLN. Other than those of you in this class with me, I wasn't sure how to increase my PLN, this helped a lot. All that to say, if you haven't participated in a #scichat yet, you should they are pretty sweet! :-)

Home Sweet Home

My husband and I got home last night from our week in northern Michigan. It was great to see his family, spend time with everyone and get away from the hectic city life. My nephews are still just as adorable as the last time I saw them, just a little bigger (2 and a half and 9 months). It was wonderful to spend time out on the lake on their boat, playing games and going on hikes and bike rides.

Now that we are home, it is good to be home. It's nice to be able to wake up and not plan out when I am going to do my homework because I have to drive to get wi-fi. I feel a little spoiled, but have a much greater appreciation for being able to access internet whenever I want. So in honor of that I will go do some research for my Oceanography research project on the SOFAR channel, then work with some webtools and end my day with a good #scichat. Lots to do! I will leave you with a picture of me and my nephew doing grad school homework. (I was laying in a hammock reading for my Oceanography class (tough life I know.... ;-)...) when he wanted to climb and and have me read to him...out of my oceanography book...haha, we just looked at pictures).

Out of my element

DAH!! So far I have been at videoschmideo for 3 hours working on homework for my two classes. Not too long compared to how much time I would have spent on this stuff at home, but it's far more frustrating. I got here and realized that my power cable for my laptop was still at the trailer...thankfully my husband was nice enough to bring it. And now as I am reading through all of the great tools for this week I am realizing that I don't have my camera with my to download pictures that I could use for a "5 photo story" and that I left my flash drive at the trailer...I'm so spoiled to normally have everything I need at my disposal. I suppose I will have to improvise a bit this week and be very busy in the weeks to come.

I really like the idea of the "5 photo story" and animoto. I looked at the sample video on animoto for education and thought it would be very cool to make one for the start of the school year to summarize to students what they would learn throughout the semester. I also like to have my students do some sort of "about me" project at the start of the year so that they can get to know each other - I'm thinking about having them use one of these photo resources or glogster for this. I think it would give them a fun opportunity to get started using the technology so that we can use it for educational purposes later in the year.

Ok now it's 4 hours later and I made my first animoto. Having only my computer with me limited me a bit on what to make a video of, so I decided to just make a fun video for now and save the school related one for home when I have my camera with to take more pictures. It was very easy to make and now is being made...the process is going pretty fast! Almost done! Here's a little bit of background on the video...I made it based on last summer. My family went to Florida (first 3 pics), then we spent some time in Michigan with my husband's family (next 2 pics), the last pics are from Chicago - visitors, Rascal Flatts at Wrigley and just the beauty of it all. Based on my use of this it seems very straightforward. I could pick 12 frames for my 30 second video (text or pictures) and then you pick music from their collection or yours. Last step - animoto makes the video! I could see students getting caught up in the decision making since you only have 12 frames, but it could also make them really focus on what is the most important information that they want to get across. (total time for them to make the video was about 3 minutes)
Here is my video below, it's short and fun...I hope this works!!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Alright, I'm heading back to the trailer for today to spend some time playing with my little nephews - they should be up from their nap now. Have a GREAT 4th of July weekend everyone!