Reviews

Ok, since whenever I read reviews in magazines I always look for the quick information in bullets, I will also write my reveiws this way.  Hopefully it saves you time and me time as well since I am in the middle of a move and just flooded my kitchen taking out a dishwasher! :)

Phixr:

Pros: 

Easy to understand interface

Powerful to use options

Easy integrate with other sights such as Facebook, flickr, mugshots, photobucket, etc...

Shows preview of changes before you make them

The button to finally make a change is "execute" which is fun to say as you do it

Free!

Cons:

Not as easy of interface to use compared to other options on the market

Few options compared to other photo editing software

Overall- it seems like a fine piece of freeware and I like that there is no software to download so you can access it from any computer.  I would rather use other photo editing software that I have come across though given that I would be using the same computer for most of my computing needs. 

Google Docs

Pros:

Free!

Great for comuters that wouldn't have any spreadsheet software or word proccessing software

Wonderful organization of documents... GMAIL users would be right at home

Edit to HTML button creates code for posting the items to the web

Easy to learn

Imports differenty types of files

Exports PDF's and other files

Work from anywhere with out fancy desktop software such as MS Word and excel

Cons:

Limited abilities

Tables and Charts were a pain

Graphics not as nice or as fancy as MS Word and Excel

My overall take... I am very happy that there is free office suite software being developed to give people an option, especially since most computers come with very lame software themselves or we have to shell out $75 or more dollars to get a decent desktop system.  I really like the possibilities of online applications such as this and could see in an open source world how users could really take over the great Microsoft at least in personal computing applications.  

R/D13

I am very intrigued by the us of AI in developing educational tools.  The ELM-ART system sounds very interesting as it is a web based adaptive interactive text book.  Because it is web based it can also be constantly updated unlike text books which have numerous editions.  Think of all the money college students could save by not having to purchase a different edition of a book every semester! I really liked the idea of an application assisting a student and understanding when it may or may not be ready to test or quiz on a subject.  The use of AI seems to be one avenue in which learning will be come more individualized and learner centered.  

The other item that jumped out at me was the  "body tracking."  This idea seems to have such a great possibility in giving instant feedback and assessment to a learner.  Now it does seem very physical in nature, so I'm not sure how it will affect cognitive learning.  I do see it being a great tool in helping to promote proper physical technique and muscle memory.   My wife things it could be used really well in the medical field and with physical therapy.  I have to say I agree with her. 

R/D12

One idea that I will pull away from Chapter 30 in the book are "when working with low knowledge learners... be particularly careful to employ relevant principles of multimedia design."  As a teacher we often have a room full of students who are coming to the class with vast differences in prior knowledge and experience.  Working in what I consider a "one size fits most" educational setting I feel that it is essential to provide rich media experiences when possible in order to make sure that we are able to accmodate our low knowledge learners.   It seems to be an even bigger help since the book discusses how the higher knowledge learners are not adversely affected by rich media.  

The other idea that I will be pulling away from this chapter is the reminder that it is not the delivery media that that causes learning per se but it is the instructional methods.  I often times feel that I use instructional media just because it is there and I feel it may add value.  I am once again reminded to look critically at the media that I use and to see if it is really the best instructional method or if it is just convenient.  

Google Pages

First Off, I will have to give this google pages thing another try.  I use Safari as my browser and google pages does not support the use of my browser to it was not fun trying to add images.  Most things worked pretty well though.  Do to some of my troubles I personally do not like google pages at this time but would possibly like it after using it more with IE or Firefox.   

I created a page that could be a "homebase" for a class.  Depending on the assignment I could see students adding their own pages to the website.  I feel that there are safety issues with having students create websites at schools as it is easy to hide links that could be very  innapropriate... Our computer teacher has students make websites that our for lack of better words "fake."  

This page is an example of how a student could create a webpage for specific information and the rest of the class could later use the website for that information.   Similar to what we did for our wiki.  In my case, I chose tool safety.  We currently have students research and give presentations on each tool but having students create websites would add another level of understanding and be interdisciplinary instruction.  

Here is the link to the main page  http://mqswanson.googlepages.com/clickheretogobacktothemainpage%3A 

Screencasting

At first I wanted to create a screencast to get the experience but I hate downloading "trial" software and filling my hard drive up with applications that lose their purpose in a short time.  Plus, I would rather save my 30 day free trial when I will have more time to play with all of the features that the software allows and to truly create screencasts that I will use as a teacher. 

The first thought that came to me when I was reading and watching about screen casts would be to create a screen cast that would help students locate items on our school network.  In sixth grade I have students research about bridges.  The students have to logon to our school network (which is a big chore for many) and then find my Eboard.  An Eboard is a teacher website that is formatted for easy use and understanding.   The students struggle with finding my Eboard on the web because it doesn't show up very high when the "google" it.  They can locate my eboard by going through nearly 5 links on our school website or typing in the very long mswanson.portage.site.eboard.com.  I would definitely want to have a screen cast that clearly explains how to find my website.  Once there I would like to create a screen cast that shows how to fill out the students research packet.  I ask the students to look up many terms, perform simulation labs, play a game that allows them to be a city planner, along with other activities.  Students often times have the same questions as to what is expected and what to look for on their webquest.  A screen cast could answer many of these questions allowing the students to have greater self advocacy.  I also could spend more time working with individuals as many of the students could guide themselves through the lessons.  I currently have to do a presentation using a data project.  This "live" presentation is not as consistent at a screencast would be, and also requires that I am there.  A screencast would allow "me" not to be there but for the students to get a similar more consistent experience.  This would also allow for students who are absent from class to do the same work from home with proper explanation.  

Using screencasts to help students navigate the web for webquests may not be "computer imagination" but seems to be very practical and will be something I will use.

R/D11

While reading Chapter 27 (R/D11), reflect on what you perceive to be your own areas of strength and what competencies you feel you need to work hardest to develop given your professional goals. State and describe at least three competencies you’d like to develop and why.

Some of my strengths are:

• Developing instructional materials
  
• promoting transfer of knowledge and skills
  
• prepare for instruction and improve organization
  
• communicating (verbally) effectively
  
• apply basic research skills to design project

As a teacher I would like to develop further the following competencies:

• Select and use a variety of techniques for determining instructional content
  
• Stimulate and sustain learner motivation
  
• Provide clarification and feedback
  
• promote retention of knowledge and skills
  
• Use performance analysis to program

The above bulleted competencies I feel are all essential parts of instruction that I feel I could improve on.   The main one that I really would like to develop many strategies for would be to learn more about stimulating and sustaining learner motivation.  I feel that many staff members would love to go through PD in this area.  Different classrooms and subjects are more prone to having apathetic kids and it is a great skill for a teacher to motivate and sustain motivation.   The other bulleted competencies are areas I desire to have professional growth.  Providing feedback, especially positive feedback is essential to teaching behaviors and in middle school behaviorism is always alive.  Also, I feel it is important to promote retention and skills that can be built upon.  If our students are constantly filling and purging their brains, it is difficult to make connections later on.  

The competencies in this chapter are very interesting as we get to self analyze, which is the first step in developing/designing a better teacher!

R/D10

Two of the major themes that I felt went accross the contexts between K-12, Business, and  Higher Education were constant evolution and collaboration.   In all of the contexts where instructional designers worked the text discussed how a instructional designer must be willing to work with others.  In some cases this could be school boards, project managers, tenured faculty, grad students, principals, owners, and content specialists to name a few.  Because collaboration is seems to be essential in instructional design it will be imperative that instructional designers are good communicators and are open to the ideas and opinions of others.   The different steps of instructional design make it essential for collaboration.  Analysis, design, development, implementation,  and evaluation could include a few to a large number of people depending on the scope of the project.  No matter what context an instructional designer may work in it seems inevitable that they will be collaborating with a multitude of people and rarely working as an island start to finish.  

The other area that I found interesting is the constant evolution of the IDT field.  This totally makes sense as the field is based on design and at the end of every design cycle I have looked at their is some sort of "test and evaluation" phase.  After an evaluation there would be a need for more analysis and design to solve any issues that the evaluation found. It would be no wonder that a field where everyone is constantly analyzing, developing, and evaluating their would be constant change as they would always be looking to improve themselves.  This is a positive thing for the betterment of field but may could become daunting to keep up with if a person is not practicing and keeping up with the field.