Camtasia

Camtasia is a recording software that allows instructors to record Microsoft PowerPoint presentations and add voice over commentary. This is especially beneficial to history classes that feature a lot of lecturing via PowerPoint. Mind you, this software can be used in almost any class but I would assume it is more beneficial in lecture oriented class sessions. Though I've experienced instructors who post their PowerPoints online for their students benefit, they can sometimes be confusing to the students. After all, PowerPoints do not always provide all of the information that was discussed in class. Additional bits of insight that the professor mentions are seldom explicitly included in PowerPoint documents. With Camtasia, teachers could include voice over commentary that includes the footnotes that they mentioned in class. This could be especially helpful in cases when students want to go over and study for upcoming tests. Camtasia can also be used for students who have missed a day of class. So as a result, the student will not be as behind on their studies because it would have been like they had never missed class. Though Camtasia serves a simple purpose, the simple addition of recording a lecture and PowerPoint concurrently, allows for further instruction outside of the classroom.



http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html

Webquest

I've greatly used Webquests in the past and have found them to be every engaging and fun. A Webquest is essentially an internet scavenger hunt that the instructor assigns their students to do. After reading the introduction of the Webquest, the student is given a series of tasks to accomplish. The student is also supplied the preferred resources for research purposes. The teacher also lays down the process and steps that the students should accomplish to finish the task. The Webquest also shows the student how they will be evaluated and ends with a conclusion or reflection piece. Many of these components are sequential, however it is subject to change depending on who created the particular Webquest. One of the main benefits of Webquests is they are both very versatile and adaptable. Though Webquests have some base similarities, no two are often a like. Webquests are also usually intended to be fun and engaging, resulting in more interested students. As mentioned before, one of the best features of a Webquest is that they can be assigned by any instructor and can be used at any grade level. This is primarily because they can be modified to fit any classroom setting. It's no secret that Webquests also help students strengthen their research skills when navigating through the internet. As a future teacher, I will most definitely use Webquests because it's engaging and fun qualities and its positive effects on internet research.

http://webquest.org/

Examples:

http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/kimbrough/pilgrimlife/
http://www.education.umd.edu/Depts/EDCI/edci385/webquests3/Webquest1/webquest1.html
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/kimbrough/desert/

Google+

Though one could easily dismiss Google+ as just another social media networking site, Google+ offers many more educational uses than sites such as Facebook or Myspace do. Instructors could assign work and due dates on Google+ which would then in turn, show up on the feeds of their students' Google+ accounts. Also, the "circles" feature helps teachers and students organize their groups to avoid confusion. For example, a teacher could add circles for each of their classes. As a result, instructors could assign different rubrics and projects according to the class they belong to. The same could apply to students, as they could divide their classmates according to what classes they share and most importantly, the students could make circles for group assignments. Google+ could also act as a public forum as they could post their questions regarding an assignment or project and it would then show up on the teachers feed. Much like this class and its use of Blogger, teachers could also use Google+ to remind students of due dates, requirements and the criteria that they want met. While Google+ is most definitely a social networking site, it also acts as a classroom surrogate outside of school hours.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-with-google-plus-terry-heick

Prezi

I recently discovered a new multimedia presentation tool called Prezi, which offers a new alternative to Powerpoint presentations. It essentially takes a Powerpoint document and makes it more interactive and certainly more visual. As teachers, we have to remember that all students learn and take in information differently. While some are more adept at learning by listening to a lecture, others are more visual learners. The "Zoom" feature is one of the main selling points of Prezi and allows the presenter to zoom out of the presentation to show students the big picture and how all of the content connects. Prezi offers a more engaging twist to Powerpoint slides, as they can be bland and boring at times. The services are free for the basic service, but using a school email (Student/Teacher) enables even more features not included in the basic service. A critical feature of Prezi is that the presentations can be edited and shared by multiple users online in real time. I feel that Prezi allows teachers to teachers to use presentation slides in an engaging and fun matter and also presents content easier to students than a Powerpoint ever could.

The Prezi "Canvas"

Interactivity #5

The teacher I interviewed is a high school biology teacher in the Denville school district. The teacher has taught for about five years and teaches 9^th to 12^th grade. I was quickly surprised to learn that she knew what NETS was when I mentioned it at the start of the interview. She told me that her school was not implementing the standards at this point in time and has no time frame when it will. The teacher I interviewed actually knew a lot about the standards and their intentions. She also said that it wasn’t as popular in New Jersey. She said that schools generally just followed the state standards and would only change if the standards themselves changed. She contemplated whether the standards were more popular in other countries as she mentioned that the, ISTE who organized the standards, were an international organization. I was quite surprised to learn that she knew a lot about NETS because not a lot of local teachers were familiar with it according to some of my classmate’s posts. She knew a good amount of the standards and the ISTE organization.

                The teacher did mention that technology was heavily integrated into their school. Every classroom had at least three desktop PC’s and a Smartboard. Students were taught basic navigation through Windows operating systems and applications. Every student created a school Gmail account which promoted file sharing and messaging to complete projects. Google docs was a very important online application in which the students used for group projects too. This correlates with my experiences at Montclair State University and this class itself, as I have recently learned how useful Google Docs is. So, to some degree the school did fulfill some of the NETS standards.

                As a future educator I would speak in favor of having my school uphold the NETS standards. It encourages them to be fluent with technology and understand that it can be used as a tool to aide in research and group work. It also teaches them how to safely and responsibly use technology to avoid any legal and ethical problems. While it’s good for technology to be used as an aide for curriculum standards, I feel it should also be taught concurrently with the lesson because of its real world applications for students. After all, the NETS standards only further promotes leadership, collaboration and creativity. I would push for the standards in schools that already have a lot of technology and also use it as a reason to get more funding for schools that don’t have a lot of technology. Either, I feel there is no harm in implanting these standards.

Revised Lesson Plan

Interactivity #4

World War II is often one of the most covered topics in high school history classes. However, most of the time lectures and documentaries are used as the primary way of teaching students about it. I chose this lesson plan because it allowed students to use primary sources to learn more about World War II. The lesson plan involved students preparing interviews with their classmates and then interviewing people who had lived during and experienced World War II. I think it is very important to teach history through primary sources because it offers students with another perspective that is not offered in textbooks.

Though the lesson plan has great potential, it failed to use many technologies. Most of the project involved peer review, class discussion and one on one interviews. Students were advised to use the Library of Congress website for sources and the film Swing Shift is included in the lesson plan, but other than that the lesson plan lacks technology. I had to add the technological aspect to many of the lesson plans strategies which included PowerPoint presentations, online databases and documentary films. The lesson plan also did not meet all of the standards and I had to add additional components to the lesson plan to make it complete. For example, the lesson plan focused a lot on the perspectives of individuals but not the attitudes and decisions of entire nations. Granted, the lesson plan's primary task was to conduct interviews with people who experienced World War II.

I feel that the further integration of online resources could have made this lesson plan better. Despite the emphasis on the interview, students could have been told to compare their interview findings with data they found online. This could have been very beneficial to them as it could show them to not always depend on one source when conducting research. Online resources could have also helped students in learning about World War II in a broader sense, which could provide a different perspective that a personal interview could never do.

Link to Google Doc:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqoWUbvtDXBbdGdTeFVPOEp3UFIxT1BhUWtKS3ROS1E

Interactivity #3

I would consider that the group process for this interactivity was an authentic collaboration. I personally prefer working alone on projects. This is because I feel its fair to be graded by my work rather than the work of others. Often times people do not pull their own weight in groups and as a result, the entire group suffers. Also, it is usually difficult to organize a group towards working on and finishing an assignment. However, I was surprised to see that this group project was easier to accomplish than I had expected. It was nice to see my group members take initiative and this was evident when Jess started the Google Doc. She also emailed everyone in our group so that we could be added into the Google group. Bobby made sure to text me and remind me to email Jess my Gmail account. Google Docs was also very easy and convenient to use, especially in a group setting. Rather than email numerous drafts of the same Excel document, we could edit and save our progress in real time. In the Google Doc, my group members and I contributed by adding in our technology findings into the spreadsheet. The revision history tool was useful as it showed our individual contributions to the final project. This is beneficial to the group and the teacher because it shows the amount of effort made by each group member. So, because of the organization and work output I would consider this project an authentic group collaboration.