Month: November 2010

I can attach a few dates to events along the path of learning to create web pages.

• Oct 18/10, the Wimba classroom.  My jaw dropped.  Build the course pages outside of Moodle, and upload them?  What?  Why?  I felt my heels dig in.  How could I possibly do this?
• 29 days ago.  I loaded a free, 30-day trial version of Dreamweaver onto my computer, and started to explore.

What’s the journey been like, so far?  The path has been rough in places, with a steep climb, but some fantastic views along the way.  The landscape is beginning to level out, and this seems like a good time to record a few notes:

• I have unintentionally followed John’s rule of three.  Three times, I’ve re-started from a blank page, as the design I had been working on lead me to a dead-end.  But each false-start taught me something – about simplifying the design, using templates, and planning the site.
• Sometimes, the best way to make progress is to turn the computer off, and make a cup of tea.  This could be because a bit of distance gives some perspective on design problems.  But once, when I was getting a mysterious error message and thought I was headed back to the beginning again, turning the computer off and restarting it cleared up the problem.
• Html seems scary, but it can be your friend.  Sometimes, the design view in Dreamweaver just didn’t give the result I was looking for.  It isn’t that hard to locate the problem in the html, and correct it by mimicking code that works.  Right now, my proficiency with html is limited to reading and mimicking simple code.
• The decision to use Dreamweaver wasn’t arbitrary.  Dreamweaver is on my computer at work – as a matter of fact; it’s on all of the computers in the school – in the “Arts” folder.  This seemed mysterious, until I very quickly realized how much of web page design is about the look of the page.  I was talking with an artist friend this weekend, and when he asked what I was doing with my art work these days, I spoke words I could never have imagined a month ago.  “I’m designing web pages.”

What does the path ahead look like?  That’s the next question to explore, but right now – I’ve got a course to build!

My story, Montreal in March (working title), tells the tale of a road trip.  I would use the story to introduce an activity where students plan and budget for a trip.

The tools I used in authoring my story (Google Maps, Flickr and Picasa), met the basic SECTIONS criteria (not blocked by school-board filters, easy-to-use, reliable, and free), that eliminated some of the other tools.  In addition, I chose Google Maps because the road trip is naturally suited to a story map, and because students could use a tool such a Google Maps to work on, and present their assignment.  Flickr is a large repository of photos, searchable by keyword, and the search results can be filtered by permissions associated with the photos.  I used one of my own photos for the story, and chose Picasa as the hosting site, in order to gain some familiarity with another image repository.  An interesting feature of all of these tools is their interactive nature.  Interested in what the silver dome in the photo is?  “Search nearby”, and connect to the history of the Bonsecours market.  Want to know what the countryside around Montreal ‘really’ looks like?  Go to streetview.  Viewers can also comment on map presentations and photos.

How did the choice of tool affect how I told the story?  The story (based on an actual incident) existed initially as a verbal story – told with much embellishment.  In its initial written form, it was much shorter than the verbal tale.  As I found photos to support the story, the text become even shorter.  However, we know that ‘every picture tells a story’ – so in a sense the story expanded, at the same time that it became shorter.

At this moment, I feel that I should cut about a third of the story – but I don’t have the heart to!  Maybe I will, by Sunday night.

I looked over the units when the work for module 4 was released, and my heart sank.  The digital story assignment hadn’t just gone away, like I was hoping it would!  As a matter of fact, it was looming!  And I don’t have an idea for a story.

I better get an idea – right away – or I’m finished!  But I don’t have an idea, at all.  And John’s clarification didn’t help.  Create a story?  Narrative?  Story-telling?  Oh no!  My brain has frozen.

I went for a coffee after work yesterday with a friend and colleague who works at a different campus.  During our rambling conversation, the topic of the digital story-telling assignment came up.   While I was trying to explain to her what it was all about, my brain started to warm up and I could see how I could use a story in my teaching, and within a very short time, I had my idea!

This illustrates for me the importance of being able to discuss ideas, when you are learning.  It convinces me, more than ever, that my students (who are working on self-paced courses, usually in isolation from students working on the same course) will benefit from using social media to connect with other learners.

My story?  It has practically written itself!  I have my first draft, which I’m looking forward to polishing.  I’ve been exploring the different tools, and have enjoyed looking for illustrations.  I’ll put it all together over the next few days.

I’m trying to understand why I felt so unengaged by the wiki activity.  I think some things made the experience more difficult than it had to be – the html codes, no threaded discussion, large number of contributors.  I don’t have a good sense of when or how wikis can be useful, so for me, wikis are still an open question.

I’ve started using a new (to me) type of activity with my grade 11 Physics class.  One that takes the course outside the LMS, and brings students’ interests into the class.

In Physics, it’s so important for students to apply the concepts to the world around them.  I’ve started using a different type of assignment, to give them practice doing this.  The activity involves finding a general interest picture on the internet (not from a Physics website) that illustrates a concept they’ve been learning about.  The assignment uses a discussion board, and takes this form:

• Post the link to the photograph you’ve chosen
• Write a description of how it illustrates the concept, and submit it to a dropbox
• Choose two photographs that classmates have posted, and post to the discussion board, explaining how those illustrate the concept

In a variation on this, I’ve asked students to create a problem, based on the photograph they have chosen, post the link and problem to the discussion, and submit the solution to the dropbox.

My purpose?  I want students to realise how many different ways Physics concepts are applied – and I want them to see those connections in situations that interest them.  I ask the students not to publish their own interpretation of the photo they chose, because I don’t want there to be a sense that theirs is the “official” version.

The results, so far?  Students generally choose interesting pictures (beautiful, awe-inspiring – or funny) that involve an activity they’re interested in.  The discussions around the pictures reveal much about how they can apply Physics to real-world situations.

An unintended result?  Students respond with interest and enthusiastic comments to the photos their classmates have chosen.  It gives the students a chance to share personal interests with each other – and think it is helping to ‘gel’ the class.

Yesterday, I came across some ideas for online activities from a pair of language teachers at Six favourite teaching online activities – e-moderation station.  Their ideas also bring other media, and the world outside the classroom (or LMS) into the course – and can be used to help ‘gel’ the class, or adapted as icebreakers.