Today I held my first ever web conference with my group from MSU. We decided to use Vyew, a free online web conferencing tool. There were a few other options including, Adobe Connect, which offers a 30-day free trial; Yugma, which only allows you to invite 2 other people; and WebHuddle, which wasn't as pretty as Vyew and didn't have as many features. However, if you'd like to record your session, I'd suggest going with WebHuddle as Vyew's recording software is still in its alpha phase and doesn't record audio. Instead of recording a silent session, I recorded 15 minutes of the session using screen-o-matic, but it was only 15 minutes. Nevertheless, I still found Vyew's interface more intuitive and user-friendly. I loved all the tools you could use to draw and highlight.
Aside from the recording problem, Vyew was great! We were able to upload pictures and documents; share our screens; type, highlight, and draw on the board; and use webcams to communicate. In a lot of ways it was more efficient because we had so many tools to work with, and everyone was able to show documents or their screen if they wanted to demonstrate something. Another great feature was that you could have multiple pages so that if you wanted a clean slate, you didn't have to erase it, you just went to a new page. We could then flip back to a previous page if we wanted to remember the notes that we had made.
That said, we did have some technical difficulties. One of the group members never got her webcam working. Another was unable to turn his microphone off resulting in terrible feedback if more than two people had their mics on. Although annoying, this was actually beneficial because it made me think about what I said and decide whether it was necessary before I said it. Finally, the screen sharing was only partially successful in that only one person was able to see the other's screen. I think these are small problems, however, and if we did this again, we would most likely have worked out most of the glitches.
I'm not sure I would use this tool in my classroom. We see our students and they see each other everyday. There is rarely a need for out of class communication, and it would be nearly impossible for the students to find a time they could all meet. If our classes had less time together, this would be a great way for speaking classes to get extra practice. They could practice speaking, record the session and give it to the teacher for marking or just to prove that they did it. The extra tools such as typing and showing pictures could be used to better demonstrate ideas or for students to teach each other.
Furthermore, I think this would be great for communication between our branch in Korea and the University of California Riverside in the States. It's often difficult to communicate with them due to time differences and lack of easy communication. They've mentioned several times that they'd like to work with us on professional development, but all of their webinars are scheduled for them and nearly impossible for us to attend. However, with this tool, we could invite them to our webinars (at a more convenient time for everyone) and work on bridging the gap between the two campuses. In addition, we could record our sessions to show them what we're working on and maybe get feedback or ideas for them.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Group Leadership Project: Part A
Using a web conferencing tool of your choice record a group session that meets the following requirements:
All group members are present and participating in the session
- All four of us attended.
A technology is chosen to be taught (This will be what the tutorial is about)
- We chose to teach how to use Facebook as a communication tool.
A technology is chosen to facilitate the learning (This is the tool used to demonstrate the tutorial.)
- We chose to use screencast-o-matic or jing to capture video and IMovie to put the clips together.
Technical aspects of how the work will be completed is discussed & a timeline of who will be doing what is created and agreed upon
All group members are present and participating in the session
- All four of us attended.
A technology is chosen to be taught (This will be what the tutorial is about)
- We chose to teach how to use Facebook as a communication tool.
A technology is chosen to facilitate the learning (This is the tool used to demonstrate the tutorial.)
- We chose to use screencast-o-matic or jing to capture video and IMovie to put the clips together.
Technical aspects of how the work will be completed is discussed & a timeline of who will be doing what is created and agreed upon
- What web conferencing tool did your group use?
We chose to use Vyew for our web conference. Although Adobe’s free trial was recommended, we wanted a tool that we could continue to use even after the class ended. We looked at Yugma; however, it only allowed you to invite two other people into the meeting and we needed three. Webhuddle was another option, but Vyew had a slicker look and better editing tools. The main problem with Vyew is that it doesn’t have a recording tool. Instead, I used screencast-o-matic to record 15 minutes of the web conference and uploaded the video https://www.msu.edu/~rebaemil/wc.flv. Pam also took pictures using Jing.
- What were the advantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project?
The advantages of using web conferencing were being able to see one another and having the shared board to put up pictures, notes from the brainstorming, and share our desktops. The tools on Vyew were great. We used video, voice, pictures, highlighting, typing notes, etc. It was much, much faster than trying to chat through emails. It was also nice to be able to see and hear everyone. We got a better feel for each other’s personalities which made assigning tasks easier. In all, I think we were able to understand the task better and know what our next steps were.
- What were the disadvantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project?
It took a lot of emailing to find a time that worked for everyone and for a while I was worried I’d have to do it in the middle of the night. Once we all got to the room, there were definitely a few technology problems. Dave couldn’t figure out how to turn his mike off, and Tammie couldn’t turn hers on. We all needed to realize that unless we turned our mikes off when we were done, the feedback was deafening. Aside from scheduling, most of these problems would probably disappear if we did this again since we would know what to expect and plan for it. I would definitely use web conferencing again as a means to brainstorm and communicate with a group. I also like how we use it in class, and if I were doing an online class, I would definitely use it.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Part B - Application of TPACK
The technology I chose to use is Moodle glossary and games. Moodle glossary allows students to create dictionary entries for their vocabulary words using text, speech recordings, or pictures. In addition, they will be asked to define the word using an example sentence. An example sentence is a sentence from which the meaning of the word can be understood. After the glossary has been created, it can be used to create games such as hangman and crossword puzzles.
The content is the vocabulary words. This encompasses both the students' ability to recognize the word from context (such as if there is a gap in an example sentence) as well as their ability to use the word correctly in a sentence.
The pedagogy is the use of example sentences, the use of a glossary which allows multimedia definitions, the high level of student teaching, and the use of games to study.
The technology supports pedagogy in that the students create their own study materials and therefore teach each other. It also supports different learning styles by allowing students to use pictures and recordings as well as text to define the words. The games allow for fun revision rather than cramming.
The content is the vocabulary words. This encompasses both the students' ability to recognize the word from context (such as if there is a gap in an example sentence) as well as their ability to use the word correctly in a sentence.
The pedagogy is the use of example sentences, the use of a glossary which allows multimedia definitions, the high level of student teaching, and the use of games to study.
- What is the TP knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?)
The technology supports pedagogy in that the students create their own study materials and therefore teach each other. It also supports different learning styles by allowing students to use pictures and recordings as well as text to define the words. The games allow for fun revision rather than cramming.
Moodle is especially well suited for this assignment because it includes a glossary, where students can add new entries. The glossary allows students to use different media to define the words. Moodle then automatically uses the words in the glossary to create any games the teacher makes. Finally, the teacher can monitor how often the students use the study materials and how well they score on the games. This makes the students more accountable since they know that someone is watching them.
- What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about representation.)
The technology makes the content more accessible because the words are defined in pictures and sounds as well as words. The use of games such as crosswords and hangman increases motivation and repetition, which is necessary for vocabulary retention. In addition, students can study from anywhere. Most of them have smartphones, tablets or Ipads so they can study even on the bus or subway.
Also, I can save previous groups' sentences and use those to build games if we're running out of time or if the students are very low. This allows them to benefit from lots of examples without having the stress of making all the sentences immediately.
Also, I can save previous groups' sentences and use those to build games if we're running out of time or if the students are very low. This allows them to benefit from lots of examples without having the stress of making all the sentences immediately.
- What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible?) Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies.
The pedagogy supports content in that example sentences demonstrate a full understanding of the words including spelling, grammar, and meaning. Example sentences also help improve students’ vocabulary acquisition skills. In class, we study methods to guess the meaning of new vocabulary words. Students are able to practice these skills when trying to put the appropriate word in a sentence with a blank.
The use of Moodle as a teaching pedagogy allows the students to teach each other. They are able to see and learn from each other’s sentences and then use them to study. In addition, the teacher can check the students’ sentences for misunderstandings before the quiz.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Survey
Summary
I also used the Google Forms to create my survey. I changed a few questions since I was mainly having my friends fill the survey out, and not all of them are students. In total, 8 people between the ages of 24 and 50 filled out the survey.
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEJZeFAtbmhuRTMxWnR5T0ZpV2FTSEE6MQGoogle Forms was pretty easy to use. One important thing is how to re-edit the form. When you click on it, an Excel file pops up, and you have to click on "Form" "Edit form" to be able to edit the survey.
Another useful point is that when you email the form it gives you the option of including the form in the email. While this is useful because people can fill the form out in the same window, they can't see the pretty background. I decided not to include the form to force people to see the prettier form.
I didn’t like that each scaled question had to be entered individually; however, you can duplicate questions, which makes it easier. The spreadsheet was clear. It allows you to see each person’s individual responses and edit them if need be – my friend Jon chose “female” by accident. "Show summary" was great because it gave you graphs of total responses. This would be very useful for a presentation on results to the school, parents, other teachers, etc.
Results
For a complete view of the results, use this link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/gform?key=0An-PGaY2awXjdEJZeFAtbmhuRTMxWnR5T0ZpV2FTSEE&hl=en_US&authkey=CP3q0voF&gridId=0#chart. In total, 5 men and 3 women completed the survey. Most of them used and learned about technology at home. Everyone used DSL or high speed cable. The most commonly used technologies were email, finding information and downloading files. Spreadsheets, computer games and blogs were the least commonly used.
While everyone felt comfortable using email, editing papers and downloading files, most people were less familiar with creating videos and maintaining blogs and websites.
The technologies most commonly used outside of school or work were laptops, smartphones, and digital cameras. No one used DVD or CD burners, which surprised me because I know many people still watch DVDs.
The results for how people learn while using computers were varied, which shows the many different learning styles in this group. No one said that they copied information directly from the internet or CDs. Most people seemed to produce better work and be less confused while working on a computer; however, the results were not strong enough to be significant.
Questions
I used an Iframe to embed my survey in my blog. Does anyone have any other ideas on how to include it in a blog?
Monday, May 9, 2011
My First M4V!!!
Monday, May 2, 2011
PART A - Description of Need or Opportunity
The Problem
A major problem we have teaching English in Korea is vocabulary. The Korean education system emphasizes rote memorization of terms rather than focusing on how to use the words. In reading class, we address that by having the students create "Vocabulary Logs," where they write down 1) the word 2) the part of speech 3) the definition or a synonym and 4) an example sentence.
The example sentence is the most important part of this task as the sentence should be written in such a way that a reader should be able to understand the meaning of the word from the sentence. For example, "The room was xxxx," would not be a good sentence since you can't guess the meaning of the vocabulary word (represented here by xs). In contrast, "The room was xxxx; there was nothing in it," would be an excellent sentence. The reader can guess that the vocabulary word is "empty."
Since theses sentences are difficult to create, students are allowed to use dictionaries, the internet, etc., with the understanding that the sentence must convey the full meaning of the word. They are also aided in this task by the "understanding vocabulary from context" activities we complete in class. They are shown how to guess the meanings of words through techniques such as recognizing synonyms, antonyms, and guessing from context. Then they are encouraged to use these techniques when writing examples sentences. However, even with this amount of support, creating example sentences is difficult, and it's not clear that it's not just another type of memorization.
The Solution
I plan to use the Glossary and Game Modules in Moodle to address this issue. The Glossary Module allows students to create their own dictionary. They can enter in a vocabulary word and define it using text, pictures, audio, and/or video. The Game Module can then be used to create crosswords and hangman games using the definitions from the Glossary.
This solution addresses the problem as it helps to spread out the workload. Rather than having each student create their own individual log, I will have pairs of students create definitions for half or a third of the words. The students will then vote on which sentences they want to use to study and only those will be used in the games. This provides extra scaffolding for the students as they can receive feedback from their peers and instructor before the quiz. In addition, the students can view other students' work and learn from their examples. Finally, the students will be required to complete the crossword and hangman games showing that they are able to correctly recognize contexts in which to use the vocabulary.
This solution also addresses the UDL principle of allowing students to choose how to define the word (ex: picture, text, video, and/or audio) and which of these they would like to use to study. The definitions that are not chosen for the games will remain in the glossary for students to study with if they wish.
Scope of the Project
This scope of this project is one session - a two-month period. The tool will mainly be used outside of the classroom although classroom time will be used in the first week to introduce the technology and method of use. Unfortunately, as I am sabbatical this session, I will not be able to implement this until after CEP 812 has finished.
Research
Research supports the use of wikis in the classroom. Wang & Turner (2004) found the following:
"Wiki collaboration systems encourage student-centered learning environments ... The class wiki becomes a central repository of knowledge acquired and expressed by students in the class. As a result, the class develops a sense of community ownership of course content, and students become active contributors in each other's learning."
In addition, it has been shown that student-created dictionaries have a positive effect on vocabulary acquisition. Szedmina et al. (2005) showed that
"Often the user does not have a clear idea of the context in which the word can be used, and either goes for the 'trial-and-error' option, or relies on the use of that word in his native language ... sample sentences included in OpenDict will hopefully be of help to users of English in order to avoid using the the right expression in the wrong way."
They also not that "(The Wiki system) is self improving while it is used. When someone finds a better translation for a certain vocabulary item, they can alter the dictionary."
Finally, Szedima & Robert (2004) note that the use of review games are useful.
"As a user of this multimedia application the student is given to opportunity to work (and enhance his knowledge) by himself. There are two options in the application to choose from, ‘practice’ and ‘test’. When going for the ‘practice’ option, the solutions of the exercises can be immediately checked. This enables the student to set his own learning pace. It is a well-known fact that one’s learning pace is individual, and unfortunately, it is inevitable that the teacher’s teaching pace will be too fast for certain students, and too slow for others. While practicing on his own, the student does not have to take into account anyone else’s (fellow students’) learning pace, but work in his own time."
In addition, similar projects have been done at other schools, demonstrating that other teachers have found this technique useful. For example, Robin Shtulman, in her blog "Beware of the Blog," writes a proposal for a school-wide vocabulary wiki. She highlights the benefits of this project including: vocabulary building, community building across grades, friendly competition, critical thinking, community building across roles, technology skills, archive, and opportunities for kids with different learning styles. Kristian Still also discusses the use of Moodle glossary and games to help students learn vocabulary in her blog, Kristian Still's blog. She says that she edits the students' entries rather than having them vote, which may be a more time-effective strategy although it fails to provide feedback on mistakes.
The tools I chose to use for this project are Moodle Glossary and Moodle Games. I chose these tools because our school already uses Moodle so it will be familiar and easy to access. In addition, I liked that students are able to use pictures and audio to define the words as well as text.
Indicators of Success
The most obvious indicator of a successful project will be higher scores on vocabulary quizzes. This will show that the students studied more and/or had a better understanding of the vocabulary words. In addition, at the end of the session students will be asked on their program evaluations whether they enjoyed using the Moodle to learn vocabulary or not. This will indicate any change in motivation based on the use of glossary and games.
A major problem we have teaching English in Korea is vocabulary. The Korean education system emphasizes rote memorization of terms rather than focusing on how to use the words. In reading class, we address that by having the students create "Vocabulary Logs," where they write down 1) the word 2) the part of speech 3) the definition or a synonym and 4) an example sentence.
The example sentence is the most important part of this task as the sentence should be written in such a way that a reader should be able to understand the meaning of the word from the sentence. For example, "The room was xxxx," would not be a good sentence since you can't guess the meaning of the vocabulary word (represented here by xs). In contrast, "The room was xxxx; there was nothing in it," would be an excellent sentence. The reader can guess that the vocabulary word is "empty."
Since theses sentences are difficult to create, students are allowed to use dictionaries, the internet, etc., with the understanding that the sentence must convey the full meaning of the word. They are also aided in this task by the "understanding vocabulary from context" activities we complete in class. They are shown how to guess the meanings of words through techniques such as recognizing synonyms, antonyms, and guessing from context. Then they are encouraged to use these techniques when writing examples sentences. However, even with this amount of support, creating example sentences is difficult, and it's not clear that it's not just another type of memorization.
The Solution
I plan to use the Glossary and Game Modules in Moodle to address this issue. The Glossary Module allows students to create their own dictionary. They can enter in a vocabulary word and define it using text, pictures, audio, and/or video. The Game Module can then be used to create crosswords and hangman games using the definitions from the Glossary.
This solution addresses the problem as it helps to spread out the workload. Rather than having each student create their own individual log, I will have pairs of students create definitions for half or a third of the words. The students will then vote on which sentences they want to use to study and only those will be used in the games. This provides extra scaffolding for the students as they can receive feedback from their peers and instructor before the quiz. In addition, the students can view other students' work and learn from their examples. Finally, the students will be required to complete the crossword and hangman games showing that they are able to correctly recognize contexts in which to use the vocabulary.
This solution also addresses the UDL principle of allowing students to choose how to define the word (ex: picture, text, video, and/or audio) and which of these they would like to use to study. The definitions that are not chosen for the games will remain in the glossary for students to study with if they wish.
Scope of the Project
This scope of this project is one session - a two-month period. The tool will mainly be used outside of the classroom although classroom time will be used in the first week to introduce the technology and method of use. Unfortunately, as I am sabbatical this session, I will not be able to implement this until after CEP 812 has finished.
Research
Research supports the use of wikis in the classroom. Wang & Turner (2004) found the following:
"Wiki collaboration systems encourage student-centered learning environments ... The class wiki becomes a central repository of knowledge acquired and expressed by students in the class. As a result, the class develops a sense of community ownership of course content, and students become active contributors in each other's learning."
In addition, it has been shown that student-created dictionaries have a positive effect on vocabulary acquisition. Szedmina et al. (2005) showed that
"Often the user does not have a clear idea of the context in which the word can be used, and either goes for the 'trial-and-error' option, or relies on the use of that word in his native language ... sample sentences included in OpenDict will hopefully be of help to users of English in order to avoid using the the right expression in the wrong way."
They also not that "(The Wiki system) is self improving while it is used. When someone finds a better translation for a certain vocabulary item, they can alter the dictionary."
Finally, Szedima & Robert (2004) note that the use of review games are useful.
"As a user of this multimedia application the student is given to opportunity to work (and enhance his knowledge) by himself. There are two options in the application to choose from, ‘practice’ and ‘test’. When going for the ‘practice’ option, the solutions of the exercises can be immediately checked. This enables the student to set his own learning pace. It is a well-known fact that one’s learning pace is individual, and unfortunately, it is inevitable that the teacher’s teaching pace will be too fast for certain students, and too slow for others. While practicing on his own, the student does not have to take into account anyone else’s (fellow students’) learning pace, but work in his own time."
In addition, similar projects have been done at other schools, demonstrating that other teachers have found this technique useful. For example, Robin Shtulman, in her blog "Beware of the Blog," writes a proposal for a school-wide vocabulary wiki. She highlights the benefits of this project including: vocabulary building, community building across grades, friendly competition, critical thinking, community building across roles, technology skills, archive, and opportunities for kids with different learning styles. Kristian Still also discusses the use of Moodle glossary and games to help students learn vocabulary in her blog, Kristian Still's blog. She says that she edits the students' entries rather than having them vote, which may be a more time-effective strategy although it fails to provide feedback on mistakes.
The tools I chose to use for this project are Moodle Glossary and Moodle Games. I chose these tools because our school already uses Moodle so it will be familiar and easy to access. In addition, I liked that students are able to use pictures and audio to define the words as well as text.
Indicators of Success
The most obvious indicator of a successful project will be higher scores on vocabulary quizzes. This will show that the students studied more and/or had a better understanding of the vocabulary words. In addition, at the end of the session students will be asked on their program evaluations whether they enjoyed using the Moodle to learn vocabulary or not. This will indicate any change in motivation based on the use of glossary and games.
Final Reflection
1. Through taking CEP 812, the most useful thing I learned was how to build web pages. I'd never even thought about designing my own web page and frankly, I was a bit scared. Luckily, the tutorials were very simple, and eventually I felt confident enough to start playing with HTML and even CSS. Since then my newest hobby, much to my husband's chagrin, has been editing Wikipedia. There are a lot of fun projects to collaborate on, and I'm learning how to do cool things like merge pages and copy edit.
2. The main technology I've integrated into my courses has been the use of Moodle Lesson. It was a challenging module to build, and I'm not sure I'll do it again unless I move into blended or fully online teaching. Still, it was great to be able to learn how to do it. In addition, a large part of this course was evaluating the utility of resources. My favorite session was the one on UDL because it really forced me to focus on what I could be doing to better meet my students' needs online. As a result, I've made a point of embedding videos into each of my online lessons to appeal to my many students who (I know) love that sort of thing. I've been keeping up with You Tube's autocaptioning initiative and really wish they would let users help edit the captions. Hopefully, in the future, they will!!
3. My goal for this course was just to build my confidence in using technology. Although it's easy to feel like I understand something, I get nervous about trying it out for the first time. This class forced me to try things I never would have done on my own. I'm really glad I had the opportunity to lear how to read and edit HTML. I've even started teaching myself a little bit of code just to be able to do more in Moodle. At this goal at least, I feel like I succeeded.
4. My new goal is to learn how to read and write basic code. I've been watching MIT's free online lessons and watching these great online tutorials. Between the two, I've been able to write some really, really basic programs. Still, it's more than I've ever dreamed of doing. In the future, I plan to continue following MIT's coding course. In addition, next session I'll be taking CEP 812, which I hope will continue building my technological skills and confidence. My long term goal is to get a Masters in Educational Technology and get a job in technology integration.
2. The main technology I've integrated into my courses has been the use of Moodle Lesson. It was a challenging module to build, and I'm not sure I'll do it again unless I move into blended or fully online teaching. Still, it was great to be able to learn how to do it. In addition, a large part of this course was evaluating the utility of resources. My favorite session was the one on UDL because it really forced me to focus on what I could be doing to better meet my students' needs online. As a result, I've made a point of embedding videos into each of my online lessons to appeal to my many students who (I know) love that sort of thing. I've been keeping up with You Tube's autocaptioning initiative and really wish they would let users help edit the captions. Hopefully, in the future, they will!!
3. My goal for this course was just to build my confidence in using technology. Although it's easy to feel like I understand something, I get nervous about trying it out for the first time. This class forced me to try things I never would have done on my own. I'm really glad I had the opportunity to lear how to read and edit HTML. I've even started teaching myself a little bit of code just to be able to do more in Moodle. At this goal at least, I feel like I succeeded.
4. My new goal is to learn how to read and write basic code. I've been watching MIT's free online lessons and watching these great online tutorials. Between the two, I've been able to write some really, really basic programs. Still, it's more than I've ever dreamed of doing. In the future, I plan to continue following MIT's coding course. In addition, next session I'll be taking CEP 812, which I hope will continue building my technological skills and confidence. My long term goal is to get a Masters in Educational Technology and get a job in technology integration.
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