Michele Brannon-Hamilton's Blog

The challenge for me has always been writing directly onto the computer screen in a timely manner as opposed to scribbling ideas in a notebook and transferring them all over at a later date. I suppose it’s the fear of ‘going live’ that keeps me pen and paper bound.

Convenience would also be another excuse. I carry the book everywhere so that I can jot things down in my spare time. I don’t have that same luxury with my computer.

However, experience has shown me that writing directly into the blog saves time. Obviously it’s a one-step process. If I write in the notebook and then transfer, I’m doubling my work. Even when I use Word to create, I lose time in the transfer because Word and WordPress speak different languages causing a coding nightmare from time to time.

One great advantage I have found with blogging directly is my connection to you, the reader. When I write on paper, I write for myself but while blogging I’m speaking directly to you. My work with DLG 8 Psychology and Phenomenology has made me realize that this connection is why I blog in the first place. Blogging isn’t just creation using software; it’s my connection to other people who will read my words.

In order to maintain this connection, I need to keep blogging until it becomes second nature. So today I begin anew . . . . with a reflection of all the past units we have covered for it’s only by looking at where I’ve been that I can determine where I’m headed. Let the journey begin.

Along the path of understanding educational technology, we were asked to write our philosophy of educational technology and create a framework demonstrating this philosophy. Please find these documents below.

A Brief Philosophy of Educational Technology

Framework

Framework Simplified

I think the most fun thing I learned to do in the MET program was create a digital story using a free Internet program called Photo Peach. This assignment taught me how to create beyond mere text which was difficult for me since I’m a writer who loves the written word.

Secondly, I had to move out of my comfort zone and use photos with sound. Third, I learned to use software I’d never used before. Check out my digital story below. Although the story plays when you click it, it plays better on the actual photopeach.com site when you double click the slide show. Please enjoy.

Hello everyone! I’m back to blogging again after a short August break from classes. My new class is ETEC 511 which outlines the foundations of Educational Technology.  Already I’ve discovered that the field I’m in is not as clear cut as I once thought because the field seems to change as new technology and new ideas develop.

Although I started off rather confused, I had an ‘aha’ moment while reading the definition primer. Now I think I understand that Educational Technology was once more about information being transmitted from the knowledgeable to the student. However, with the advent of new collaborative Web 2.0 technology, Educational Technology now includes new media. Today, knowledge is created by students and teachers, shared by all and communicated to others. I’m sure it’s more complex than this but this is all my brain can understand at the moment. I’m sure by the time I’m further along the course, my new ebrain will fully understand all!!

Good journey to all.

In wrapping up my portfolio development, I realize the pride I feel in having created a Moodle course and a weblog. Looking back, I might have run if I’d known how much work it would take in such a short time. However, I plodded along with a great team of classmates who were interesting, knowledgeable, helpful and even fun.

You can find my Moodle site here: http://moodle.met.ubc.ca/course/view.php?id=79

As required for the class, my course includes the following:

1. Flight Path

2. Learning Managing System

3. Two or more synchronous or asynchronous tools

4. Exam

5. Digital Story

6. Multimedia Inventory

7. Synthesis Reflection

Please peruse my sight and tell me what you think.

Although my full LMS proposal can be found on my blog in the LMS section, I would like to outline a few main points here.

I chose to use Moodle to develop my instruct the instructor course because it is free, easy to use and intuitive. My course will help literacy instructors develop their own courses to use in the literacy classroom.

As I finished my site, I added a splash page at the top of the course site using an object orientation to guide students. Initially I found the assignment simple since I just needed to add a chart with photos. However, it soon became apparent that my images were not displaying correctly. With some help from a classmate, I managed to have my images resized so I could re add them to site. Once there, I added jump links so students could move directly to corresponding pages. Although this task was overwhelming at times, I found it useful in the end because I am sure I will use this knowledge in future classes in order to make the course look more inviting.

Next, I created four complete content modules called Introduction, Lesson One, Lesson Two and Lesson Three. This is followed by a module programmed for selective release – Since Moodle does not have a selective release feature, I used the eye to hide all the modules after lesson three. Please take a look at Lesson Four for my sample of a selected release module.

I have included several general discussion topics in the first few modules:

1. A discussion called News Forum in the Introduction Module with two topics: What I Hope to Learn in this Course and Course Outline

2. A discussion called Ice Breaker in Lesson One

3. A discussion called Looking at your Moodle Page in Lesson Two

4. A discussion called Communication Tools in Lesson Three

One group discussion forum created for 2 groups which can be found in Lesson Three called communication groups.

Overall, I found it interesting and challenging to finish this assignment with all the right pieces in the right places. However, it was a worthwhile experience and I will use the knowledge I gained in many other courses.

The first task in using multimedia in my learning management system was to define multimedia. According to Siemans (2003), media formats include video, audio, text, visuals, software, collaborative, integrated and liveF2F.

As a writer, my favourite type of media is text. I can engage, create, communicate and collaborate with simple words on a page. However, I know text doesn’t have the same appeal for my learners especially when I was teaching literacy. Also, there are so many more types of media available that using just text seems lazy almost. I decided to investigate the other media available and realized I felt intimidated by audio and video because I didn’t know enough about it.

I turned to the toolkit for more information and experience but I think creating my digital story gave me the true insight I needed. Once I decided to use the free online program http://www.photopeach.com, things became fun. I was able to create a story with personal meaning using music of my choice and then share it will all my friends and family.

I’m now interested in learning as much as I can about the multimedia freely available online so that I can find tools to use with my learners that are easy to use and engaging. Go to my digital story page to view my video of England and then visit photopeach.com to create your own fun show.

Pictures can change a boring text page to an exciting learning environment if the photos are chosen to suit the theme and there are not too many of them. When I first decided to add photos to my Moodle site, I was excited about the interesting photos I found online. Then the rules of copyright crept into the scene and I was left wondering which photos I could actually use. It shouldn’t have been a surprise since I’m a freelance writer and I’m very familiar with the copyright of my own work. In writing, we have all kinds of rights to worry about like first North American rights and second rights etc.

However, I find that I’m not comfortable with the copy rights of images even those that have creative commons licences. Therefore, I decided to use all my own images in my Moodle site. I got out my digital camera and took photos that would represent each module of my site. Then I uploaded the images to the Moodle site and tried to link them to my splash page.

That’s when the real fun began. I couldn’t get my images to display properly. Someone pointed out that my image files may be too large. I thought I had shrunk them in the Moodle window but I really needed to shrink the actual file sizes first. I realize this is an area where my knowledge is lacking. Therefore, I want to learn more about digital images and copyright. I would also like to learn Photoshop and Dreamweaver so that I can change files and code them to display properly. There’s so much more to learn!

Putting together my Moodle course was an interesting experience. I have created a course in Moodle so I felt comfortable moving around the site. Some of the activities were challenging but most were easy to figure out. For example, I struggled with creating my splash page because I couldn’t get the photos to upload properly. When I took web design courses, I learned to keep my website files in the same folder as my photos so they would upload properly. In Moodle, I had to upload the files to their site and then bring them into the splash page. When I was finished, another student pointed out that my photos didn’t display so she shrunk them for me and when I reattached them to the splash page they worked fine. What a wonderful learning community we have with students helping each other.

Other tools were easy to use but time consuming like the quiz. I was able to create a database of questions but it took time to write each one and then upload them to the quiz. I will definitely use Moodle again in the literacy classroom because it is free, easy to use and suits the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic needs of my learners.

I believe social software tools alone have changed the face of the Internet because people naturally like to develop communities. Social software programs like Facebook and Second Life are engaging and fun. I use Facebook to connect with friends and family here and overseas with a frequency that might not normally happen. I can see photos of people and keep up-to-date with what they are doing.

I tried to incorporate Facebook into my current job as a learning skills advisor but I couldn’t really figure out a way to add people in the way I wanted and I really don’t want students in my personal Facebook. I decided it might not be the right tool for my purpose but I will look into it further.

Last month, I took a Second Life workshop and created an avatar. What an interesting experience. I can understand why people like creating and connecting to others in new and interesting ways. It was a little intimidating since the instructor kept reminding us not to change our clothes while out in public. She was really worried that we would appear naked!

Educationally speaking, I think Facebook might be limited in my case but may work for other instructors if many students are already online. The problem I would face again would be allowing students into my private life. I think Second Life has its place in the classroom though. Teachers can use this program to create virtual worlds that students can explore. However, we had trouble at our school because the video cards were old and the computers too slow.

Overall, I look forward to trying new collaborative or social software because people like communicating together. I think it works very well in the classroom because new knowledge can be created by groups of students. Please read my post on weblogs and wikis to read about my experiences there.

I was first introduced to weblogs a few years ago when I was working as a freelance writer. At first they seemed like a novelty or just a different way to write for an audience. It soon became apparent though that there was something a bit different about blogging. The articles were short, current and constantly changing. Soon we began seeing blogging jobs popping up. People who owned online companies and websites were looking for people to write weekly blogs for them. The pay wasn’t great but the jobs were plenty.

When I started ETEC 565, I realized that there was more to blogs than I’d first realized. I hadn’t noticed the interactive nature of blogging. In fact, I’d never really been that interested in anyone commenting on my articles until I saw it happening through the blogs I was reading. Real conversations could begin and you could meet people with the same interests as you. Blogging seemed to have a life of its own with a natural growth of ideas. I believe it’s this potential for the growth of ideas that makes blogging a good tool to use in a classroom.

Educators can use blogs to promote writing, editing and publishing. Students can communicate and create with others through the publishing of their own ideas. In the classroom, I think blogs can be used to connect students in a school to each other but also to students in other schools. Connections lead to new ideas and new ideas lead to knowledge creation.

However, there are problems that need to be considered before using blogs in the classroom such as privacy and safety. I think instructors need to be fully aware of who has access to the blogs and how the information will be used. Instructors need to teach awareness and responsibility to students who may not be fully aware of the potential dangers online.

With safety measures in place, students can use blogs to communicate, create, collaborate, research and publish. Blogs can be tied together and content researched using RSS feeds and tags. After reading Alexander’s A new Wave of Innovation, I realize that blogs have many more uses than I originally fathomed. I will now consider the use of blogs in my own classroom in a new ways.

Alexander, B. (2006). Web 2.0: A new wave of innovation for teaching and learning? EDUCAUSE Review, 41(2), 34-44. Accessed online July 2009. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0621.pdf