EdTech 513: Worked Example

I have to admit that this assignment scared me at first. The Hippo Video extension made it so easy though. In the past, making videos and screencasts have been a headache because the platforms were frustrating and then uploading to YouTube took forever. The Hippo extension fits so seamlessly with Google Slides and YouTube. It is honestly a game-changer for me.

My Worked Example came out better than I thought. After a summer off, I found that I  actually enjoyed myself as I was teaching this lesson. The Segmenting and Pretraining Principles were things that I did not know I was already doing but after reading about them in chapters 10 and 11, I was happy to find out that I was. Working with middle schoolers requires me to break things down into little steps and to constantly reiterate/review those steps. One thing that I know I will work on doing though is focusing more on the Pretraining Principle. I need to build background knowledge a bit more, particularly in my grammar instruction.

AECT Content Standards 3.1 and 3.2 focus on creating and using instructional products. For this artifact, I created a Google Slides presentation that utilized the Segmenting and Pretraining Principles, along with other Multimedia Principles learned in this course. In addition, I created a screencast with audio narration for my Worked Example. This artifact shows that not only can I apply the principles learned in EdTech 513 but that I can create professional, instructional products using multiple technologies.

EdTech 513: Digital Story

https://spark.adobe.com/video/Q0Up9ClmHzq4c/embed

The Personalization Principle makes total sense! However, as I was writing my script and planning this assignment, I realized how hard it is for me to break my formal style. Using an informal, conversational tone defies all of my educational training. That being said, the idea of how we present information – down to the selection of what pronouns to use – affecting our students’ level of engagement shows the importance of the Personalization Principle. The most interesting piece of research that I found in reading this chapter came from the idea that people focus harder to learn and understand by interacting in a conversation. After reflecting on that research though, I realized just how true it was. Especially given the social nature of our current generation of students, the Personalization Principle is incredibly relevant.

I enjoyed working with Adobe Spark Video. It was easy to use, especially become of all the free images that were available. The narration seemed like it was going to come out wrong at first, but when I played it all together, things worked. Given how easy this tool is, I can definitely see my students using it. The example in Moodle of the book report really inspired me. I have been looking for a new, engaging way of upgrading my student reports. They love making movie trailers, so using this tool might be the answer I’ve been searching for.

AECT Content Standards 3.1 and 3.2 asks candidates to create and use instructional materials according to learning principles. This digital story demonstrates not only that I can create an exciting artifact, but that I can do so by utilizing an engaging tool. This artifact utilizes all the principles that I have learned in this course, as I specifically included only images and narration to ensure the best possible learning outcome. In addition, AECT Standard 3.2 emphasizes making professionally sound decisions. In this artifact, I made the decision to use free images along with relevant narration. This decision shows that I can use what I have learned in the EdTech program to create appropriate artifacts.

EdTech 513: Coherence Analysis

The Coherence Principle is something that I can definitely apply in my classroom right now. After reading chapter nine, I realized that I often include extraneous material in my presentations to try to create engagement, encourage attention, or add extra material. The Coherence Principle recommends keeping things simple and avoiding extra elements/information that do not directly aid the key learning goals.

To apply this principle now, I can simplify my instructional presentations, specifically my introductory presentations that I use to teach and/or review fundamentals at the beginning of school. I’m going to focus, in particular, on minimizing on-screen text which overloads a slide with a lot of words.

In the artifact, I explained the principle as well as a successful and unsuccessful utilization of the principle in accordance with AECT 1.3. AECT Content Standard 1.3 instructs candidates to assess and evaluate the effective integration of appropriate technologies and instructional materials. This artifact demonstrates my ability to locate and evaluate a resources effectiveness according to the Coherence Principle.

EdTech 513: Collaborative Google Slides Presentation

This artifact is a narrated Google Slides presentation with basic information and examples of the modality and redundancy principles. I felt like I understood the principles well enough after reading chapters six and seven, but I can say that I truly understand these two principles now. Collaborative assignments have their drawbacks, but I can always say that I come away with a better understanding of the content because of my collaboration with others. This assignment definitely supported that. My group members were easy to work with and very communicative.

In our presentation, we focused very hard on demonstrating the principles that we were explaining. To be specific, most – if not all – of our content is in graphic form with narration to explain. In fact, the only onscreen text that we included was in the bad example.

The Google Suite is one of my favorite tools to use both in the classroom and outside of it. That said, I’m absolutely in love with the Hippo Video extension. In the past, I have used Screencastify and Screencast-o-Matic but have been unimpressed and sometimes even frustrated with their function and capability. Hippo was incredibly easy to use and even easier to upload to YouTube.

In this artifact, my group and I collaborated to create an instructional design product that explains and exemplifies two multimedia strategies. In addition, we had to make professionally sound decisions in selecting our method of delivery, the graphics, and the appropriate narration. As such, this artifact demonstrates AECT Content Standards 3.1-3.2 and 4.1.

EdTech 513: Haiku Deck

https://www.haikudeck.com/e/047f643eb9/?isUrlHashEnabled=false&isPreviewEnabled=false&isHeaderVisible=false
Independent Reading – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Haiku Deck is a resource that I have known about for awhile but had not invested any time into utilizing. I’m so glad that I had the opportunity in this class. My Haiku Deck artifact is an introductory presentation to my independent reading program. I began this program last year and realized that I needed some kind of presentation introducing all its details and need-to-knows to my students and their parents. This is a presentation that I can use during the first week of school, at back-to-school night, and as an embedded reminder on my classroom website.

This presentation software is such a fun change from the traditional PowerPoint format. In my middle school computer class this year, I can use Haiku Deck to help students create simple presentations that are not overloaded with text or misused images. It will be great for my digital citizenship lessons or as just a simple presentation about themselves.

My Haiku Deck artifact demonstrates multimedia and contiguity principles in how I used images to complement the text. Haiku Deck made it very easy to create a simple, straightforward presentation that focused on the purpose of the presentation rather than extraneous design. As for contiguity, my text and images work together to relay meaning. They are not separate but function as one.

AECT content standards 3.1 and 3.2 focus on artifacts that create and utilize instructional designs resources while making professionally sound decisions. My Haiku Deck artifact employs both of these standards as it uses the multimedia and contiguity principles to create an instructional product and utilizes an appropriate resource to provide optimal learning conditions. This artifact is clear and concise, as it demonstrates its purpose free of distractions.

EdTech 513: Sketchnote

For this Sketchnote, I used the Adobe Sketch app to express the basics of the Multimedia Principle and the different types of graphics. This assignment was difficult for me in general. As someone that has no artistic ability and as a perfectionist, it was hard for me to create and “step away” from my artifact. It is nowhere near my normal level of work; however, I do think it demonstrates my purpose and my ability to create instructional design products/utilize appropriate resources and processes (as detailed in AECT Content Standards 3.1 & 3.2).

I learned that sketchnoting is an interesting and creative method of relaying understanding that many of my students would enjoy. This year, I’ll be teaching a middle school computer class, and I think that my students would enjoy the possibilities of sketchnoting as an assessment, a study tool, and a creative platform.

Finally, my Sketchnote artifact demonstrates that I can make professionally sound decisions to select appropriate resources, the Adobe Sketch app, and to create an instructional design product. I looked into several other applications, but this one seemed to be the best blank canvas that I could choose. It was simple, yet detailed enough for me to create to the best of my ability.

EdTech 543 – Final Reflection

To say that EdTech 543 was not what I expected is an understatement because I honestly didn’t know what to expect out of a social networking class. I feel like this class has given me a better understanding of social media as it fits in the classroom but more so, how it fits in my students’ lives. The module on digital footprints, in particular, helped me to think about my personal and professional footprint in a new way. Instead of seeking to minimize, I should really be seeking to enhance it and broadcast my successes. As a professional lesson, that module was eye-opening, but it had a real-life application for my classroom as well. Students need to consider early in their digital lives that all they do and say online can have a real impact, particularly with things like college and job applications.

I quite unexpectedly enjoyed and learned a lot from the live PD opportunities that I participated in. Usually, I’m one of those people on the “fringe” that looks more than participates; however, I really enjoyed participating. The Twitter chats that I attended were engaging and left me with a positive feeling about professional development through social networks. I hope to participate in more live online PD opportunities, be they webinars or Twitter chats, in the future.

I did not have much experience with blogging until I began this program at Boise State, but since then, I have truly enjoyed the format and sharing/connecting opportunities. In this class, I think I have done really well on my blog. Some posts are shorter than others, but I believe that my posts have been professional, insightful, and reflective. Overall, I am not sure where to deduct points and discuss areas of improvement, so I would give myself a 75 out of 75 on this assignment.

EdTech 542 – Final Reflection

Michelle Hughes’s PBL Website: https://sites.google.com/u.boisestate.edu/michellehughespbl/welcome

In the beginning, I was not sure what Project-Based Learning was. My understanding was very limited. I only knew what I had read on Pinterest or through various Edutopia articles. Now, I feel that I have working knowledge of PBL and its purpose. PBL achieves something greater in the classroom than most learning/teaching methods. It teaches skills that teachers otherwise struggle to teach, and it produces products that demonstrate student knowledge on a professional, purpose-driven scale.

Honestly, I had no idea what I would learn or do in this course. It was a part of my certificate, so I registered for it; however, I greatly enjoyed producing my project website and planning the final product. In particular, I enjoyed creating something that I can use in my current classroom. I have the had the pleasure of creating something practical in only a few of my classes, so for that reason, I feel like I did learn something quite valuable to my professional development.

EdTech 542 – Week 9 Reflection

The most important people to include in the debrief after the viewing party are my students. I want to know what they learned and how to make the project better as well how we can expand the project’s purpose and audience. While I’d also like to know the thoughts, ideas, and opinions of my fellow teachers and administers, my students will have the most insight on the process, product, and purpose.

The debrief process will probably be informal. At that point, I’m sure students would be tired of paperwork, forms, and rubrics, so a simple discussion between teacher and students will suffice. I’ve never had a group of students that was not willing to critique something, so I do not fear that there will be silence or a lack of input.

I think the debrief will be just a one-time thing unless I awake in the middle of the night with more questions. Devoting the entire day following the viewing party to debriefing and discussing the possibilities of the project is plenty of time. However, one thing that I could do following the debrief is to have each student write a reflective discussion post or film a reflective vlog entry. Overall though, I do not think extending the process is incredibly beneficial. At that point, we would have worked for several weeks and reflected as a class on how to succeed during each section of the project.

EdTech 542 – Week 8 Reflection

I’m a firm believer that if you want something done right, do it yourself. When it comes to my teaching style, I tend to go overboard on making things clear, accessible, and example-driven. Assuming the role of a facilitator – one that stands back and allows my students to make decisions, may be a little difficult for me because I never want a student to feel defeated or incapable. I will have to change my mindset to become a successful facilitator, and I will have to allow my students to fail a bit more. A successful facilitator empowers students to make their own decisions and to solve problems. He or she works with students to use original and creative thought as the basis of their solutions rather than pre-made or teacher-made suggestions.

If I am able to change my mindset and adapt my teaching methods to empower my students to be more independent, I think students will learn the core competencies of PBL (critical thinking, problem-solving, etc.) and the skills needed to succeed beyond the classroom. Independence is definitely something that I want my students to learn more of, and I feel that I do not always do the best job at requiring it. Therefore, utilizing PBL more in my classroom has the potential to make the skill more of a reality.