Current Issue - Do you think year round school might help students achieve greater success.

website

I think my first goal of the summer will be getting my website up and running. As I mentioned previously this will be a starting point for my class and I can add much of this new stuff to the site. I do wish I had more class computers. I am also looking forward to getting the class blog underway. I cant wait to see some of the responses I might get from students concerning my essential unit questions.

i know

Learning about all of these tools has been a great experience. Although there have been many frustrating situations to overcome I think it is worth it for the 21st century learner.

I enjoyed learning about teacher tube. It was nice to add another place to get video for the class other then u tube since it is difficult to get these videos here at school. I think a new step would be finding a way for u tube censor enough material through a special filter so all of that content can be accessed more easily at schools.

Internet Safety

One thing that keeps coming to mind during this sharing process is internet safety. Although each of these sties mention security I often wonder how they can be so sure. For many of these projects I was concerned about having my creations out there to view. That is one reason why I wanted to do my video from an anonymous perspective. I also worry about having too much student information or even just pictures out there on the web.

wiki moodle or web

I am eager to have a class website with places for class collaboration, information and questions however I am struggling with what to use. It seems that moodle has more protection since it is part of the school network. I like the options it has for student viewing and feedback however I like the simple layout of wiki as well. Some website creators are pretty user friendly these days as well. Any suggestions?

Time

I can see why this class is now three credits. I haven't spent this much time on one class in a long time however it was well worth it. I will now need to spend some more time learning about my favorite programs so I am ready to use them in the fall.

File formats

This class has offered many news for sharing information however the file formats can be extremely frustrating. Especially when I had spent time working on a project and was ready to share and was denied because of the size or format. I will need to do more research on this in the future.

Jing

I loved working with Jing. I really found it on my own when I was looking for some ideas for teacher tube. It is such a user friendly program with many of the same perks as the pay sites. Too bad the format is not more universal for embedding. I was excited to share this find with the class but Val got there first.

my video

copy and past link to play
http://screencast.com/t/MjNlZjhlOT

User Names and Passwords

As I have been taking this class I have definitely grown tired of all of the user names and pass words. I know that it is suggested to save these somewhere but where? I have used so many combination's of the same user name or pass that I am getting them all mixed up. I really get bothered when my user name is already in use. Then I have to add numbers to it. I really need to come up with a system.

Class Blogging

I am looking forward to having a place for students to respond to the essential questions of our social studies units. The questions that I have been working with are open ended and often opinion based with factual backing so this would be a great place to hear the students voices. I will need set up the expectations for the blog use as well as a proper response with detailed evidence from class.

I do worry about how to make sure the site is used authentically. This would be great for homework however I know many of my students do not have access to computers at home. It would not make sense to check out a computer cart or go to the lab just to respond to a question that I could put on the overhead.