For my final assignment for EDIM 514, I had to create a digital portfolio. I chose to create a Google Site to present all of my material. The reason that I chose this medium was because I was very familiar with it and because this is something that will grow with my professional development, I felt it was important to utilize a tool with which I was very comfortable.
My site has 6 subpages. The landing page for the website is the "Welcome" page in which I give a brief description of who I am and what to expect within the website. On the "Resume" page I created and embedded a Glogster that displays all of my education and employment experience in a timeline format. I had also played around with Smore, but decided to go with Glogster because it seemed more impressionable. For the "Selected Works" page, I created a list of all of the Wilkes classes that I have attended along with a an example of a work I created along with a long. I also included links to my various blogs that correlate with each class. In the "Online Presence" section, I listed links to my Twitter account, personal Blogger blog, and my teaching Google Site. In "Favorite Links," I created a Symbaloo of many of the sites that I regularly or with which I have at least experimented. Finally, in the "Contacts" page I incorporated an embedded email form along with a list of other ways to contact me through Twitter and Google +. The one thing that I really wanted to do was embed my Twitter feed, but, because of the changes to iGoogle, there was no way to create one. I've searched and experimented a lot, but could not seem to find a way to do it.
View my digital portfolio here.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Monday, December 2, 2013
Attend a Live Webinar
This week's assignment (actually last week's) was to attend a live webinar. The reason I'm posting today is because I attended a webinar today. I actually had planned on attending a webinar last Wednesday night, but, even though it was marked on the calendar, it was not presented, presumably due to Thanksgiving being the next day. Anyhow, I found a webinar on Discovery Education to attend.
The webinar that I attended was titled Discovery Education Techbook: The Student Experience. The hour-long program was hosted by a man named Duane Waber and began at 4 p.m. on Monday December 2, 2013. Before I was able to attend, I had to download Cisco's Web Ex application. The presenter announced his arrival and explained that he was a substitute presenter due to the original host being unable to attend. He welcomed everyone, explained the purpose of the webinar, and gave the attendees access to view his desktop. From there, he walked us through the steps on how to create and manage classes in the techbook and gave us a general tour of the techbook interface and how to switch between grade and content areas. He continued with explaining how assignments worked and how they could be shared through a wide variety of social media including Facebook and Edmodo. Finally, he showed us a newer application within Discovery Education known as the "Board," which was very similar to Glogster. He also showed us how students and teachers could share "Board" projects with others throughout the Discovery Education Network. He concluded by asking for any questions, to which there were none, and thanking the attendees for their attendance.
In order to break down my observations of the webinar as a medium, I've created three lists below as strengths, weaknesses, and strengths/weaknesses (I'll explain that one when I get to it).
Strengths
The greatest strength of a webinar is the ability to communicate with the host, attendees, or both. It is not just a lecture, rather a conversation. This allows for the host to mold his talking points to his audience. For example, the host of this particular webinar asked, "has anyone ever used the techbook before?" I explained that I used it briefly, but for a grad class, not on my own. Other participants stated that they had never used it. So, the host took a very general approach to the content.
Some other strengths I observed were the ability to collaborate with people from all over the world, the ability to archive, and, something I hadn't thought of before, the ability to replace a host. As for the latter, I thought it was neat that, in the event of emergency or some sort of happenstance, someone else could step in instead of canceling the broadcast.
Weaknesses
I really only noticed one weakness with the medium. Technical difficulties happen, oftentimes beyond our own control. Power outage, lack of Internet connection, or other hardware issues can render a session kaput.
Strengths/Weaknesses
Finally, I created this category because each item can be a strength or a weakness. The first strength/weakness is the ability to view the host's desktop. Its great for demonstration purposes, but if you were to follow along with the host on your own browser or other application, you would have to switch back and forth. Maybe a small weakness, but worth stating. The other strength/weakness is the fact that it is all live. Its a strength because that is the whole point of a webinar, to collaborate live. Its also a weakness because an attendee or a host would have to be at a certain place (somewhere with access, essentially) at a certain time as opposed to a prerecorded show that could be created or viewed at one's leisure.
Aside from my previous observations, I would say that I enjoyed the presentation in that format. The content was presented a bit slowly, but of course it was geared toward the other two attendees, who did not have any experience with the techbook. But, it was definitely nice to have the host explain the techbook with a live demonstration. It made it easy to follow along. I do think I will attend some webinars in the future. They are typically free and easy to access, so it would be a great way to help myself professionally.
This type of webcast could be incorporated into the classroom as a way for students to connect with professionals around the world. Initially, my mind shot straight towards high school students attending webinars as a surrogate for college orientations or as a way to interact with professionals in their potential fields. But, then I also thought that elementary or middle school students could benefit from this in the form of meeting veterans on Veteran's Day or something along those lines. Although, I also think that Google Hangouts or Skype would be a bit easier to manage with students. Students could also benefit from webinars as broadcasters, but again, I would presume secondary students only. There are certain themes that go along with being a broadcaster such as digital literacy, public speaking (sort of), professionalism, flexibility, and content mastery all of which benefit students immensely. Students could present their own broadcasts as an alternative to typical projects or even broadcast live events such as sports or band concerts.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
The webinar that I attended was titled Discovery Education Techbook: The Student Experience. The hour-long program was hosted by a man named Duane Waber and began at 4 p.m. on Monday December 2, 2013. Before I was able to attend, I had to download Cisco's Web Ex application. The presenter announced his arrival and explained that he was a substitute presenter due to the original host being unable to attend. He welcomed everyone, explained the purpose of the webinar, and gave the attendees access to view his desktop. From there, he walked us through the steps on how to create and manage classes in the techbook and gave us a general tour of the techbook interface and how to switch between grade and content areas. He continued with explaining how assignments worked and how they could be shared through a wide variety of social media including Facebook and Edmodo. Finally, he showed us a newer application within Discovery Education known as the "Board," which was very similar to Glogster. He also showed us how students and teachers could share "Board" projects with others throughout the Discovery Education Network. He concluded by asking for any questions, to which there were none, and thanking the attendees for their attendance.
In order to break down my observations of the webinar as a medium, I've created three lists below as strengths, weaknesses, and strengths/weaknesses (I'll explain that one when I get to it).
Strengths
The greatest strength of a webinar is the ability to communicate with the host, attendees, or both. It is not just a lecture, rather a conversation. This allows for the host to mold his talking points to his audience. For example, the host of this particular webinar asked, "has anyone ever used the techbook before?" I explained that I used it briefly, but for a grad class, not on my own. Other participants stated that they had never used it. So, the host took a very general approach to the content.
Some other strengths I observed were the ability to collaborate with people from all over the world, the ability to archive, and, something I hadn't thought of before, the ability to replace a host. As for the latter, I thought it was neat that, in the event of emergency or some sort of happenstance, someone else could step in instead of canceling the broadcast.
Weaknesses
I really only noticed one weakness with the medium. Technical difficulties happen, oftentimes beyond our own control. Power outage, lack of Internet connection, or other hardware issues can render a session kaput.
Strengths/Weaknesses
Finally, I created this category because each item can be a strength or a weakness. The first strength/weakness is the ability to view the host's desktop. Its great for demonstration purposes, but if you were to follow along with the host on your own browser or other application, you would have to switch back and forth. Maybe a small weakness, but worth stating. The other strength/weakness is the fact that it is all live. Its a strength because that is the whole point of a webinar, to collaborate live. Its also a weakness because an attendee or a host would have to be at a certain place (somewhere with access, essentially) at a certain time as opposed to a prerecorded show that could be created or viewed at one's leisure.
Aside from my previous observations, I would say that I enjoyed the presentation in that format. The content was presented a bit slowly, but of course it was geared toward the other two attendees, who did not have any experience with the techbook. But, it was definitely nice to have the host explain the techbook with a live demonstration. It made it easy to follow along. I do think I will attend some webinars in the future. They are typically free and easy to access, so it would be a great way to help myself professionally.
This type of webcast could be incorporated into the classroom as a way for students to connect with professionals around the world. Initially, my mind shot straight towards high school students attending webinars as a surrogate for college orientations or as a way to interact with professionals in their potential fields. But, then I also thought that elementary or middle school students could benefit from this in the form of meeting veterans on Veteran's Day or something along those lines. Although, I also think that Google Hangouts or Skype would be a bit easier to manage with students. Students could also benefit from webinars as broadcasters, but again, I would presume secondary students only. There are certain themes that go along with being a broadcaster such as digital literacy, public speaking (sort of), professionalism, flexibility, and content mastery all of which benefit students immensely. Students could present their own broadcasts as an alternative to typical projects or even broadcast live events such as sports or band concerts.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Broadcast Yourself
Intent and Purpose of the Broadcast
The purpose of this week's assignment is to perform a live broadcast. I chose to make a broadcast about creating parody songs as motivational tools for students taking the PSSAs. This is an activity that I have been doing
for the past 3 years at the middle school and the students really enjoy
it. In all honesty, standardized testing
is not too exciting for the students that have to partake, so the idea is to
motivate them by allowing them to take part in the process of parodying a
song. Originally, the middle school had
an “advisory” period on every Wednesday and would do different activities. When I arrived, I helped my mentor, Marisa,
with helping to create and record parody songs for her advisory. I have a strong background in music and
brought a lot to the table in terms of recording (especially with having a
MacBook and GarageBand). Other teachers
would have their students simply record the new lyrics over the old songs. But, I would find an instrumental track and
have the students sing over it and then, of course, spend countless hours
mixing in order to create a polished final product. I then became “in demand” when PSSA parody
time came around. Last year, however, it
was decided to not do the PSSA parody so I took it upon myself to create
one. This time I created a movie via
iMovie to accompany the song. The kids
really, really enjoyed it and, from there, I realized that it was something
that I should push myself to do annually. The first song we parodied was "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz. The second song parodied was "O.M.G." by Will.I.Am and Usher. And, the third song (with video) is "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen.
With the changes that our
district went through over the past summer, I am now teaching a class at the
high school called Video Productions.
One thing that I wanted the students to do was create a PSSA parody song
and video for the elementary and middle school students. This is a project we are currently working
on. I have two groups of three students
working in a “competition.” One group is
parodying “What does the Fox Say” by Ylvis and the other group is parodying “Walk
this Way” by Aerosmith/Run DMC.
Testing
I chose to go with Livestream because I've seen it in use before. Sign up was simple. I downloaded the "Livestream for Producers" application and played around with it on Tuesday night. On Saturday, I tried out the live stream for practice 3 separate times and rehearsed what it was that I wanted to broadcast. The feature that I thought was the best was the ability to cast camera or screen or both. I also played around with the mixer feature because when I would play the QuickTime files, they would present feedback so I adjusted to only record the internal audio as opposed to the microphone.
Advertisement
To advertise, I sent out a tweet on Saturday in the afternoon. I then emailed my colleagues at my district and posted to FaceBook. I posted to Twitter several times on Sunday and once again on FaceBook.
The Broadcast
I started to broadcast at approximately 7:55 pm on Sunday night. I started early to get prepared. At 8 pm I began the true broadcast. I started by identifying myself and my purpose. I worked with Livestream's "Livestream for Producers" application and was able to show myself on camera and show my screen (which was very important for demonstration purposes). I quickly explained the purpose of the broadcast and showed a couple of example PSSA parody songs. Then, DISASTER!!! Not really, but I hit stop on the Livestream application instead of stop on iMovie. It was an easy problem to fix, so no big deal. Although, I did forget to turn the mic on when I came back in (about 1 minute, whoops), but I fixed that and repeated what was missed. Anyhow, I moved into the demonstration portion in which I explained how to acquire an instrumental track mp3 and how to open GarageBand and import the mp3. Then, I demonstrated how to adjust key and tempo as well as how to adjust different audio effects. The next step was to record vocals, which I also demonstrated (poorly, yeah I know) and explained. Finally, I showed how to create a final mixdown and check audio levels as well as how to export. I wrapped up by explaining how to use the parody song with iMovie and allowed for time for anyone to ask questions.
The Good:
I thought I performed fairly well. I mumble and stutter all the time, so that wasn't nerves or anything. I was happy with the topic I chose and thought I explained it fairly well. I spoke fairly clearly and reminded myself to slow down when talking. I thought I did a good job with utilizing both screen and video capture and simultaneous screen/video capture. I rehearsed my spiel several times before and thought it flowed well. I think that when any adverse things happened, I recovered well.
The Bad:
I could have improved the lighting and did a little bit more practice with working with the audio (my voice booms sometimes). Overall, the broadcast, with better practice and timing, could have been about 5 minutes shorter. I could have explained some of the more technical things with GarageBand, or maybe just given a more straightforward example instead of bumbling from advanced to beginner speech. In my mind, I kept telling myself to remember the audience that I was broadcasting to.
The Ugly:
Attendance... I did advertise several times on Twitter and FaceBook and emailed all of my colleagues at my district. I got two friends from FaceBook, one colleague from work, and my wife (who you can hear in the background every once in a while). So, despite my efforts, I did not have much of an audience. I was pretty disappointed by this because I did reach out to a lot of people. I presume there may have been several factors including the fact that I chose to broadcast on a Sunday night. I thought it was a good time, but I don't have kids or cable, so that may have been an oversight on my part. Anyhow, I did publish the broadcast to FaceBook, Twitter, and my weekly Tech Blog for my district. Hopefully I will get some more views.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would say that I actually really enjoyed doing this. Even though I was disappointed by the turnout, I had fun explaining something that I know and enjoy very much. I definitely see the value of broadcasting in education. However, I would assume that it would be difficult to get students to attend a live broadcast outside of school. I would also assume that some students would really enjoy it. It would not work with my 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th graders, but I could see getting a good draw from my two elective classes (9th-12th and 10th-12th graders). I can see myself using this in the future, but sparingly, unless I can really develop it into a very purposeful activity. I do like the archival capabilities of Livestream, but as a free subscriber, broadcasts are only available for 30 days. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience and I hope to develop a way to incorporate broadcasting into my professional life.
Here is the archived broadcast - http://new.livestream.com/accounts/6313323/events/2586978
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
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