End of Semester Reflections

This has been a challenging semester. I had surgery on my eye, was in the hospital two weeks later and my daughter went in a few weeks after that. In addition, I was working two part-time jobs and taking two courses. It is a lot to juggle but I know it's worth it. I'm looking forward to the relative calm of the holidays. 

I used a movie-maker program called xtranormal for my simulated interview. It turned out really well. The only problem I had was that I wanted to use a French accented speaking voice but the ones available were too difficult to understand. The program is free up to a point, then you need to buy time so you can publish your movie.

This is the link: xtranormal

This is the link to the project I created in xtranormal: Jean Piaget Interview

Another neat tool is Animoto. I created a short movie about my mom's eightieth birthday. Animoto allows you to use up to twelve photos for a thirty second video. For longer movies, you need to buy a monthly subscription. I believe it's $5/ month. You can use your own music or theirs. They provide formats for your video. Some need the upgrade to use. I used their original format and it came out great.

The Animoto link is here:  Animoto

My movie link is here.  Mom's Eightieth B'day 

For all the MAIT program students; don't forget to check out the MAIT facebook page. It has lots of information on classes you are taking now plus classes you will be taking in the future. The college is trying to set up a theory class in Egg Harbor City for the Spring. I know a number of people are interested, so if you would like to take that course, talk to Amy, or check the MAIT facebook page

The MAIT facebook page:   facebook.com/stockton-MAIT

 

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Last Week of the Semester

Friday, December 02, 2011

Last Face-to-Face Class

This is the last class for Introduction to Instructional Technology. It has been an engaging semester and everyone has learned a lot. We began the semester with some trepidation but overcame it as our confidence increased. This class also introduced us to some of the key players in instructional technology along with an introduction to some learning theories. The next few courses will focus more on these two topics. My classmates in this course have inspired me to look at new ways to present information. I especially want to work with Movie Maker and other movie creation programs. This is a project I plan to work on over the semester break.

ADDIEOne of the learning theories we recently discussed was the ADDIE model.

The name ADDIE stands for the words:

Analysis- Analysis looks at the goals, objectives, needs and all other information pertinent to solving the problem.

Design-Design is the process used to work with the learning objectives. One can use storyboards and other planning methods to create how the learning presentation will look and feel.

Development-Development is producing a product with the materials and methods generated during the design process.

Implementation-Implementation puts the plan into action and begins the process of training/teaching.

Evaluation-Evaluation is the final phase of the ADDIE process. This phase is broken into two parts where the first part is evaluating each of the participants’ progress and the second learning how effective the instructional materials were.

Here are two links that summarize the ADDIE model.

http://www.learning-theories.com/addie-model.html
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~mmalacho/OnLine/ADDIE.html#E

Last Face to Face Class in Intro to IT

Thursday, December 01, 2011

Last Face-to-Face Class

This is the last face-to-face class for Introduction to Instructional Technology. It has been an engaging semester and everyone has learned a lot. We began the semester with some trepidation but overcame it as our confidence increased. This class also introduced us to some of the key players in instructional technology along with an introduction to some learning theories. The next few courses will focus more on these two topics. My classmates in this course have inspired me to look at new ways to present information. I especially want to work with Movie Maker and other movie creation programs. This is a project I plan to work on over the semester break.

ADDIE
One of the learning theories we recently discussed was the ADDIE model.

The name ADDIE stands for the words:

Analysis- Analysis looks at the goals, objectives, needs and all other information pertinent to solving the problem.

Design-Design is the process used to work with the learning objectives. One can use storyboards and other planning methods to create how the learning presentation will look and feel.

Development-Development is producing a product with the materials and methods generated during the design process.

Implementation-Implementation puts the plan into action and begins the process of training/teaching.

Evaluation-Evaluation is the final phase of the ADDIE process. This phase is broken into two parts where the first part is evaluating each of the participants’ progress and the second learning how effective the instructional materials were.

Here are two links that summarize the ADDIE model.

http://www.learning-theories.com/addie-model.html
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~mmalacho/OnLine/ADDIE.html#E

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

  

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

IVLA

          When reviewing the presentations from the IVLA conference, I was again impressed by the quality and variation. People were able to learn from presentations created by people from Korea, Australia and Brazil among other places. We do not often get to visit other countries so learning what is important to the people in those countries adds a layer to their presentations. The topics at the conference covered everything from photography to pollution, chemistry to web site development. It would be difficult not to find a reason to attend. My best understanding is that the next IVLA conference (2012) will be held in Maine. I plan to attend if there is any possible way.

MAIT Showcase

          Another event that is well worth the time to attend is the MAIT Showcase. The showcase presents the capstone projects of graduating MAIT students. The capstone pulls together information learned in previous classes along with the tools and resources needed to solve a problem you have observed. The problem should be solvable and the resolution presented should incorporate technologies learned taking previous courses. The capstone course, INTC 5810 Capstone: Final Project, is the last course taken in order to complete the work for the MAIT degree. The course is taken in the last semester of education and is a lot of work. This year’s showcase is being held in the new Student Center on Monday, December 5 from 6: 00 to 8: 00 PM. For those of us who are in the process of completing our degree, it will be an eye-opening evening. Although I’m not sure, there is usually food as well.

Facebook

When you have a moment, log on to facebook to look at our MAIT page. It has information about the different courses in the MAIT program, what to expect in individual courses and current events that could be have interest. This is the link.   MAIT on Facebook You are required to log in when you make a comment.  

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

I attended this class through Wimba. The class looked at how to access the research material in the Stockton library. There are links to tutorials that will help you understand the process to obtain the research articles. The tutorials offer some great insights about how to work efficiently and give you information you will appreciate. Having a way to get the APA formatting for a document is my favorite. It is so much easier than trying to do it yourself. Just remember to double check the formatting since it does not always format correctly. The tutorials are set up so that you can watch them on video or read the information.


The library link is: Library

This is a list of the tutorials and what is most important about each.

Video Tutorial 1: Education Research Complete

o   Automatically format the citation into APA

o   Limit search results to no more than 50; 35 is preferable

o   Ability to limit search results to peer reviewed papers

o   Ability to forward research via email with the APA citation

Video Tutorial 2: Preserving your results

o   Seems to be a review of the first video in that it reviews emailing the results with APA formatting

o   Ability to save to a folder during the research session

Video Tutorial 3: ILLiad registration

o   Illiad provides the ability to obtain resources from other libraries

o   Ten day window before arrival

o   Requires registration with Stockton Z#

Video Tutorial 4: Submitting a request

o   Check Stockton’s library for the needed resource before following the ILLiad steps above (Stockton cannot have the required resource available)

Video Tutorial 5: Peer reviewed Articles

o   Articles are more difficult to submit and get approval for journals, therefore the implication is a higher level of validity

o   Check the peer reviewed check box to limit your search to these resources

The class also looked at the first IT Timeline presented by Robynn. She did an excellent job and has set the standard at a very high level. Way to go, Robynn!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Today’s class was cancelled due to the IVLA Conference. This was an opportunity to catch up on some of the work I need to complete. I did catch up a little bit but have a way to go.
More importantly, I attended the IVLA Conference on Friday. The website address for the IVLA conference is: http://www.ivla2011.org/index.cfm.

The Seaview, where the conference was held is aptly named. It has a beautiful view of the sea; hence the name. This is the website address: http://www.dolce-seaview-hotel.com/.


The Seaview Resort and Spa

The conference was excellent and offered a chance to hear people from all over the country and some international people. The presenters spoke about the work they were doing in visual literacy. They used various media to show their work and answered questions both during and after their presentations. The atmosphere was casual and unimposing. Observers were able to comment and ask questions.

The key note speaker on Friday was Wendel White. He presented his work: Hidden in Plain Sight: African American Artifacts and Architecture in the American Landscape.
The presentation looked at photographs of African American artifacts, some taken in South Jersey a short distance away from the conference. The images that impacted me the most were of the segregated schools throughout the country. The images showed the school in its original location. The area around the school was made gray so that the school becomes the highlight of the image. Mr. White uses the images to speak about segregation in northern states. I don’t usually think of segregation occurring in this part of the country as much as the South but you can’t deny that it was a definite part of our cultural history. Segregation continues to exist in some form today. This is a link to Mr. White’s website: http://wendelwhite.com/. I have included one of the photos presented by Mr. White at the conference. The school building is highlighted while the background is faded. The image below is of a school in Whitesboro, NJ.



Another presentation I enjoyed was: Shape and the Placing of Visual Literacy: The Case of Shelby Lee Adams’ Appalachian Photography. This was presented by Jennifer Mooney from Virginia Tech. Shelby Lee Adams photographs subjects from the Appalachian region of the country. He seems to pick subjects that evoke negative reactions especially from people who are native to the region. Ms. Mooney used Face Book to gauge the reactions of people from different parts of the country to different photos of Appalachia. Photographers included: Shelby Lee Adams, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Earl Dotter and Wendy Ewald. Overall Adams’ photographs evoked the most negative reactions from all participants but most especially from Appalachian natives. The interesting thing about attending a conference in person is you get to speak directly to the presenter and interact with them. Ms Mooney encouraged people to contact her. She sent me a copy of her presentation as well.

I hope to be able to use some of the ideas explored in the presentations as I learn about visual literacy.

Wednesday September 21, 2011

I am posting this today because I have been behind working on my blog.

Wednesday September 21, 2011
Today I got to experience high-level technology in the medical field. I had surgery to remove a very early melanoma from my eyelid. That is a really bad spot to get melanoma since the cure is to remove additional tissue around the site location. So something that could have been simple when found anywhere else became complicated. I went to Wills Eye in Philadelphia. They have a very impressive operation, nice, professional and competent. My surgery, which I don't remember much went well. The actual surgery only took about 17 minutes although I was in the Operating room for an hour. I have a black eye and swelling which should go away quickly. The surgeon did a great job. You really have to look hard to find where he made the incision.

Because of the surgery, I missed class. I will be working with Julia and Angela on the IT Timeline project. We are looking at how technology in education has changed over the years.Julia set up an account at Wikispaces for us to work with. We often attend class through Wimba. So here is the link for Wikispaces: Teachingtools2dot0 We have more work to do but Julia has downloaded some peer reviewed articles about the changes in technology as it relates to education.

This is definitely old school!

Looks like new school to me. Is this an Apple commercial?

Early to mid-century schoolroom? Things have changed! But it does kind of have a warm, homey feel to it.

Introduction to Instructional Technology---September 7, 2011

The first day of class at Stockton was really hectic, with alarms going off and difficulty logging onto Blackboard. We ended up changing rooms so that we could pay attention to class. Everyone got an introduction to Wimba by sharing our vision of our future lives. We all will have graduated and moved forward toward an achievable future.  Here are some of the ways I see myself today and when I graduate in 2013.

Kathy in 2011 and 2013

Class May 17, 2011

We looked at three Web 2.0 tools in this class.

Julia Martinez presented a comic creation tool called Toondoo. The tool allows you to create anything from a comic book to a comic strip with different layouts, backgrounds, characters and thought bubbles. This is the Toondoo link.

A sample Toondoo.

Kevin showed us how to use a lot of Google Calendar features. It is a great tool to use for business and school. This is Google Calendar.

Finally, Amy showed us Udutu. This is a really multidimensional program that allows you to run complete training programs with Web 2.0 tools embedded into the program. We looked at three samples and were able to get an idea of how sophisticated the program could be. This is the sample used by the National Parks Conservation Association, Eco Mariner. The link for Udutu. I found the program to be a little bit complicated and it took me a while to produce a product. With practice you should be able to create a self-contained course on a specific subject. 

Class May 10

This was a very helpful class. Danielle presented
Epals which is a website that is a modern version of the old school idea of pen pals. There are National Geographic Projects, school projects and other collaborative projects available. Students get to communicate with students from other countries.
This is the link.

Brandy showed us befunky, which is a photo editing tool that lets you enhance the presentation of the photograph by adding text, stickers and other finishing effects. The finished photographs can be used for lots of presentations including: flashcards, scrapbooks and various presentations. This is befunky.

These two photos are samples from the befunky gallery.

Steve showed us Comic Life 2.0 which is a neat web tool that allows you to create photo groups on a page. You get to add comic book type captions and word bubbles. Kids can use this to make up stories with the related photos. This is comiclife.http://www.comiclife.com/

Class May 3, 2011

This is the class that I shared knol, a wiki type program that was developed by Google that is similar to Wikipedia. This is the knol link. It is a collaborative site where the content can be moderated by the creator. It is also very accessible to anyone who has access to the Internet.

Anne presented Proprofs which is a great site for creating games, quizzes, and puzzles. This is the link: Proprofs. She did a great job. This site has a lot of potential to create different types of testing tools.

Danielle was not originally scheduled but she presented another great webquest tool called Quest Garden. This is the link: Questgarden. This site has different webquests that various people have created, along with the means to create your own webquest. It's a very clear, understandable site to use.

April 26 Class

The class tonight was really helpful. We began in the library where we were able to access research materials that Stockton subscribes to. The librarian worked with us for an hour showing us the most important features of the system including ways to search, saving to folders and sending material via email. All in all, very valuable.

The MAIT Showcase just keeps getting better and better! The projects were exceptional and the audience responded enthusiastically. Half the people had tears in their eyes when the subject of one project, Matthew, (who is blind) stood up and spoke to the room. Very impressive: the project and Matthew.

I was able to do my first Jing which I downloaded into Blackboard. My Picasa 3 Jing.
I like this program a lot. I still need a better comfort level but I am getting there.



I also found a really cool application of Power Point based on Jeopardy. There are different templates out there that work very nicely. You can set it up so that you can cover any subject, pick your teams and play.This is a very easy and simple version to begin with. http://www.elainefitzgerald.com/Jeopardy1Template.ppt

April 19th

Attended class from home on Wimba. Had some technical issues in that I needed to reboot the computer at least four times before I could hear what was happening in the class. That was pretty frustrating. I thought I had done something wrong, but Don had the same problem a couple of times. I will keep my phone and the number handy when I use Wimba again. In this class, we looked at Google Docs, Jing and some other tools which were interesting. I have looked at these on-line but haven't produced a product.

I am going to post two websites for class in the cool sites part of the discussion page. The first is an organization that measures precipitation all over the country. You set up a rain gauge in your backyard and submit each day's precipitation. The site has lots of climate and weather information. It uses a community network to track local precipitation. You can record how much rain, snow, hail and sleet has fallen in a twenty four hour period. You can also look at rainfall in other locations and time periods. The site has some information on each states climate and topographical features. The link is: CoCoRahs



The other link is for believe it or not;  the CIA. It is a great source of information and facts for every country in the world. If you want to know what the chief religion of Cameroon, or the population of Taiwan, you can find it on this website. The site also has a kids page that has games and puzzles ( listed by grade levels ).
CIA World Factbook

April 13

This is a photo of my daughter's dog. He lives with my husband and me for now. I'm not sure I'll let my daughter have him back. He is an awesome guy. I thought he would be yippy and shaky but he has the best personality. He is the mayor of the neighborhood. All the other dogs are happy to see him and every kid on the block has to pet him. His name is Gizmo. He is a Shih Tzu-Maltese-Chihuahua mix.

April 12 Class

Tonight we discussed navigating Wimba and Blackboard. I attended virtually from home, trying to embrace the idea of using the tools we're learning. Wimba works very well. The biggest issue I had was trying to complete the Wimba and Blackboard worksheet.  I found out that I need to hone my skills.  We reviewed several tools, such as Tagxedo, Wordle, Jing, Poll Everywhere and Prezi.  I'm going to spend some time working with each of these.  They have great potential for education, training and even in a corporate setting.  As I work with these tools, I'll blog more about what I've discovered.

Giving Technology a Chance

This is my first blog post. I have to admit that I am somewhat overwhelmed. I find it difficult to work when I have to discover and learn everything about what I am doing when I could just type it up and send it out as an email or letter.  It actually took me a while to figure out where I write the blog! 
I am really looking forward to the class. Understanding and using technology is key to our future, whether as teachers or in any other aspect of our work, play and personal lives. I am going to go to class from home using Wimba. I have some trepidation doing this because whatever can go wrong will go wrong, but since this course is all about technology....