Month: July 2011

I have to say, I started out rather scared approaching this activity, but very quickly got totally excited and loved creating my story!  There are so many different tools available, and in the end, I chose Animoto.

When selecting my Web 2.0 tool, I thought about Bates’ and Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS model.  I loved that the online tools was accessible and didn’t need to be downloaded (one more thing for my students to NOT think about!).   It was incredibly easy to use, and the cost was free for a short production, or very reasonable if you wanted to purchase a one-year license to create longer productions.  Very few prerequisite skills were needed to use Animoto, and issues of copyright were avoided because free access audio options were provided within the program.  It was easy to add text, organize images, and create the flow I wanted.  It’s a program I can see myself using over and over again!

For my story, I wanted to create an introduction piece for my online courses.  I wanted to make something that would show students more about me, and the things I cherish.  My hope is that by giving students a glimpse into my life outside of work, I am able to establish and build deeper relationships with students faster.  By putting a bit of “me” out there, I hope to create more trust, and by doing so, enable students to be more confident sharing with me and with the community of learners we are building.  Using Animoto, I was able to share images of my life in a way that expressed the things I value most…..my family, our traditions, my music, etc.  The music I chose really fit well with the feeling I was attempting to convey.

I can see myself using Animoto at an instructor level, and as a tool for my students to use.  In one of my courses, students create a presentation to reflect the cultural diversity present in our class, and this would be a great tool for them.  I think students would find it very meaningful and motivating.  I really liked that I was able to “show” my students something, with limited words (but carefully chosen ones.  The images, text, and music worked together really effectively, and I’m looking forward to trying something totally different with it next time.   So much fun!

For those who missed my earlier post with my digital story, you can click on the link below to view it.

Heather’s Digital Story

This week we used a class wiki to discuss challenges and strategies in using social media in classrooms. The experience of creating a wiki compared using the threaded discussions in our LMS was rather enlightening.  Some of the things I really liked about the wiki were:

• Felt like one large class discussion, rather than a whole lot of smaller ones
• At first I felt like I needed to put my name behind my contributions, but as time went on, that feeling diminished and I just focused on being a part of the community and the learning process.
• Great collaboration opportunity
• Easy to edit
• Flexible structure allows for organizing group ideas

Some of the challenges in the wiki format were:

• Organization – it required somebody taking the bull by the horns and setting up a structure (which really helped once it was set up!)
• Finding what the new or updated content was since the last time I viewed (figured out the “watch” feature a bit too late!)
• Working in the timeline – I had to get my input complete by Friday as I would not have computer access on the weekend, and as not everyone posted earlier in the week, it created a challenge for me to be a part of the finalizing process
• Editing – only one person can edit at a time, which can be a pain when a lot of people are needing to access it
• Requires more tech skill

I really enjoyed a change from discussions this week, and  I appreciated how we could grow each others’ ideas more fluidly in the wiki context.  For example, under the “challenges”, I simply wrote “Copyright”,  as I didn’t have time right then to expand my thoughts, but I wanted to get the idea down.  The next time I came back, others had expanded the topic wonderfully!  It was easy to come back and edit throughout the week, and I particularly liked the sense of group ownership that was established.  A great activity!

Boris wants to create a stand alone self-directed review tool for his students for learning the Periodic Table, preferably with formative instant feedback.  One option for Boris is to create a “lesson” in Moodle.  The lesson activity allows teachers to set up and scaffold learning, providing instant feedback for students.  Information is presented/reviewed, and then a question is asked.  Depending on how the student answers the question, s/he is moved forward if correct, or if incorrect s/he is sent down another path for more review or is forced to stay at the same question until it is answered correctly.  If developed well, the lesson activity would provide Boris’s students with great review, instant feedback, and as much detailed assessment as he wants to provide.

Here is a 3 part tutorial for using the lesson activity in Moodle: