The biggest personal development I made during this class had to do with my pursuit of edugaming. I have definitely taken a number of steps forward to making this dream a reality. From the commencement of my MAET course work edugaming was one of my main goals. Reflecting back on my childhood I had been taught several major concepts through the stealth tactics of entertaining that were also educational. From my research in the SIG I have begun to learn several strategies as to how to structure games in my classroom. I will continue to follow this path on my own until I can use gaming in my classroom. Effective edugaming is my ultimate goal for technology in the classroom. I will achieve it! I hope to develop an effective strategy to use these games by the end this coming summer (2010), then a means of allocating funds for class licensing by the end of next school year (2011). Hopefully I will be able to effectively implement these games by the beginning of the 2011 school year.
Perhaps the most challenging part of this class was my podcasat post. I had no problem creating the actual file but uploading the file to my MSU webspace using notepad as my webpage designer was quite a challenge. This certainly helps me evaluate the technical challenges that I would wish to avoid when I am using web design processes in class. If I do use a path this complicated to post files I will definitely create quite a bit of structure so that my students don't run into the same time consuming problem.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Blog Evaluation
Next time I approach a project such as this I will make it much shorter. I feel that the assignment was too lengthy so instead of putting the lessons together over a rushed 3 day period I would actually make the assignment cover the entire semester so this project is more like a journey as opposed to a quick sprint. Throughout the lesson I learned that grouping students in pairs is the best way to tackle an assignment such as this. When students are learning a software for the first time pairs give them an opportunity to work together on a solution to a problem. The collaborating solutions allow students to work on their team work skills and the knowledge of how to do something stays with the student longer.
If I were to do this project again I would not spend so much time searching for a large number of links. When I put together tech lessons my search is a little more focused and streamlined. I felt that I was looking for links just for the goal of meeting a quota instead of an actual useful purpose. However I do intend to do more projects similar to this in the future because I believe it brings ideas to life more than what a textbook can do. I really want to get more interactive pieces similar to this. I don't think I will change how I structure the over all assignment in terms of individual responsibility or the technical steps that are needed to master the software.
If I were to do this project again I would not spend so much time searching for a large number of links. When I put together tech lessons my search is a little more focused and streamlined. I felt that I was looking for links just for the goal of meeting a quota instead of an actual useful purpose. However I do intend to do more projects similar to this in the future because I believe it brings ideas to life more than what a textbook can do. I really want to get more interactive pieces similar to this. I don't think I will change how I structure the over all assignment in terms of individual responsibility or the technical steps that are needed to master the software.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Internet Research for TechQuest Project
After giving some great thought into the Techquest Project I have actually decided to change directions from addressing note-taking skills to implementing Google Earth in my classroom. There are a number of reasons behind my switch. First I feel that the availability of Google Earth makes this a more available tool that just about any student with a computer can access because it is free (this is also great for installation on just about any school computer as well!). This allows me great flexibility because students will not be locked into only being able to use a few computers to complete their assignments if I had maintained the status quo with researching Inspiration. Another major factor behind my change was the fact that I already have quite a bit of good researched structure in Note-Taking skills where as I don't have much great stuff for the interactivity that Google Earth affords in Geography.
During my collection of resources I have determined that a great number of teachers have spent a great deal of time blogging about Google Earth’s potential. Surprisingly none of these teachers have really laid out clear objectives and goals that correlate with state or national standards. Also most of these activities are "fun" activities that don't really have much of a point and require only basic levels of thinking. In the hustling world we live in with all of the standards teachers can ill afford wasted days that do not work toward achieving specific standards so I feel that this would be a worthy allocation of my time to put together an effective Google Earth lesson that will help develop student's geographic awareness.
What I learned while I was researching was that Google and Bing were the two sites. Google came out on top because of the Google Scholar application. This site really helped me quickly find journal articles that directly pertained to what I was looking for. Each abstract also did a good job of providing a citation which really eased the burden of searching for the information needed to give credit. As for Bing, this search engine did a better job a directing me to regular sites that had a little more substance (I won't even get into Yahoo which basically provided me with a whole lot of nothing). For instance while using Bing I came across the Connexions website which is basically an online teacher sharing database. Google never even registered Connexions. This site was awesome because it clearly laid out several clear lesson plans with easy to read objectives. Best of all these lessons were cited back to the author with several citation formats. As for strategies I used while searching I tried several combinations of words using quotations around different key areas. At times this would yield different results in Google. I would also try to use the other suggested search key words. A final strategy would be to look at the key words provided in each summary. If the words were used in the context I was looking for I would read into the source if not I would just ignore it. At times I would think I had a hit but after reading the site the information was so scattered it made no sense or the site was full of a bunch of advertisements. The most distracting feature was the fact that most people just had too much junk on their web pages which made it difficult to find what I was looking for.
Anyway here are the best resources I discovered!
Google Earth & Discovery United Streaming Lessons. Great Monuments of the World. Google. http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/services.google.com/en/us/educators/learning_materials/Earth_Lesson_HighSchool_Geography.pdf
This lesson was designed by Google in collaboration with Discovery Education. The lesson basically entails the use of Google Earth to create a World tour of the top world sites & wonders in order to build a better sense of identity and geographic awareness. This lesson is acting as a cornerstone of what I will plan to do with my lesson however I want to gear my lesson toward U.S. political geography. I will probably adopt the main goal and the lessons two central objectives:
Objective 1: “Demonstrate an understanding of famous cities, landmarks, ancient ruins, or natural wonders.”
Objective 2: “Demonstrate an understanding of cultural identity by creating a presentation.
Patterson, Todd C. 'Google Earth as a (Not Just) Geography Education Tool', Journal of Geography, 106:4, 145 – 152 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/section?content=a788160864&fulltext=713240928
This site lists the benefits and disadvantages of Google Earth as well as the context the program can be used. The best part of this site is it lists National Geography standards with suggestions as to how each standard can be met by different uses of Google Earth. For example see below
Places and Regions 4. The physical and human characteristics of places.
Utilize the terrain feature of Google Earth to appreciate the physical nature of place—such as undertaking a virtual fly-through of the Grand Canyon or NewYork City
Pantazes, Tom. Google Earth in the Social Studies Classroom. Connexions. 20 Oct. 2008 http://cnx.org/content/m18054/latest/
This site really gives an overall encompassing idea of how to use Google Earth in class. It does have links to specific lessons that can be used with Google Earth. This site also gives several tips for teachers that I will be able to use. Additionally the site lists several benefits and drawbacks that I can expect while using Google Earth. This will be useful in creating my lesson because I can create steps and explanations to pre-empt any questions students may have.
McFadden, Megan. Tech Module: Google Earth in Intermediate Elementary School Classroom. Connexions. 20 Oct. 2008 http://cnx.org/content/m18057/latest/
In this site there are a couple links that lead to pre-made user guides that can be used to help instruct students how to use the different features on Google Earth. Much of what is provided in this site is very similar to the other Connexion site that I researched. There are a couple different tips for teachers that will be useful such as “Find a way to integrate subjects with Google Earth to help it stay aligned with state standards.”
During my collection of resources I have determined that a great number of teachers have spent a great deal of time blogging about Google Earth’s potential. Surprisingly none of these teachers have really laid out clear objectives and goals that correlate with state or national standards. Also most of these activities are "fun" activities that don't really have much of a point and require only basic levels of thinking. In the hustling world we live in with all of the standards teachers can ill afford wasted days that do not work toward achieving specific standards so I feel that this would be a worthy allocation of my time to put together an effective Google Earth lesson that will help develop student's geographic awareness.
What I learned while I was researching was that Google and Bing were the two sites. Google came out on top because of the Google Scholar application. This site really helped me quickly find journal articles that directly pertained to what I was looking for. Each abstract also did a good job of providing a citation which really eased the burden of searching for the information needed to give credit. As for Bing, this search engine did a better job a directing me to regular sites that had a little more substance (I won't even get into Yahoo which basically provided me with a whole lot of nothing). For instance while using Bing I came across the Connexions website which is basically an online teacher sharing database. Google never even registered Connexions. This site was awesome because it clearly laid out several clear lesson plans with easy to read objectives. Best of all these lessons were cited back to the author with several citation formats. As for strategies I used while searching I tried several combinations of words using quotations around different key areas. At times this would yield different results in Google. I would also try to use the other suggested search key words. A final strategy would be to look at the key words provided in each summary. If the words were used in the context I was looking for I would read into the source if not I would just ignore it. At times I would think I had a hit but after reading the site the information was so scattered it made no sense or the site was full of a bunch of advertisements. The most distracting feature was the fact that most people just had too much junk on their web pages which made it difficult to find what I was looking for.
Anyway here are the best resources I discovered!
Google Earth & Discovery United Streaming Lessons. Great Monuments of the World. Google. http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/services.google.com/en/us/educators/learning_materials/Earth_Lesson_HighSchool_Geography.pdf
This lesson was designed by Google in collaboration with Discovery Education. The lesson basically entails the use of Google Earth to create a World tour of the top world sites & wonders in order to build a better sense of identity and geographic awareness. This lesson is acting as a cornerstone of what I will plan to do with my lesson however I want to gear my lesson toward U.S. political geography. I will probably adopt the main goal and the lessons two central objectives:
Objective 1: “Demonstrate an understanding of famous cities, landmarks, ancient ruins, or natural wonders.”
Objective 2: “Demonstrate an understanding of cultural identity by creating a presentation.
Patterson, Todd C. 'Google Earth as a (Not Just) Geography Education Tool', Journal of Geography, 106:4, 145 – 152 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/section?content=a788160864&fulltext=713240928
This site lists the benefits and disadvantages of Google Earth as well as the context the program can be used. The best part of this site is it lists National Geography standards with suggestions as to how each standard can be met by different uses of Google Earth. For example see below
Places and Regions 4. The physical and human characteristics of places.
Utilize the terrain feature of Google Earth to appreciate the physical nature of place—such as undertaking a virtual fly-through of the Grand Canyon or NewYork City
Pantazes, Tom. Google Earth in the Social Studies Classroom. Connexions. 20 Oct. 2008 http://cnx.org/content/m18054/latest/
This site really gives an overall encompassing idea of how to use Google Earth in class. It does have links to specific lessons that can be used with Google Earth. This site also gives several tips for teachers that I will be able to use. Additionally the site lists several benefits and drawbacks that I can expect while using Google Earth. This will be useful in creating my lesson because I can create steps and explanations to pre-empt any questions students may have.
McFadden, Megan. Tech Module: Google Earth in Intermediate Elementary School Classroom. Connexions. 20 Oct. 2008 http://cnx.org/content/m18057/latest/
In this site there are a couple links that lead to pre-made user guides that can be used to help instruct students how to use the different features on Google Earth. Much of what is provided in this site is very similar to the other Connexion site that I researched. There are a couple different tips for teachers that will be useful such as “Find a way to integrate subjects with Google Earth to help it stay aligned with state standards.”
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