Final Class | So Long!

I saw some really creative implementations of curriculum through the use of technology.  It was great to have a venue to pour out my ideas/rants about education, technology, and bringing them together in the classroom.  I hope you enjoyed reading my Civil War unit and I look forward to reporting whether or not this lesson was a success (or utter failure).  I am appreciate of the passion you have for this subject and it has only encouraged me in pursing it more so. 

So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Ken

Teachers and Death by Power Point

I mentioned before that I have a love hate relationship with Excel, but Power Point leaves me in a depressing rut and there is nothing worse than Death by Power Point. I love all things visual and I love a good presentation, so why should I have such strong feelings about this presentation software? Below is the reason why:

Image via the Examiner

Gizmodo ran an article by Wired Magazine about how Microsoft has sent a consultant to a military base in Georgia (the state, not country) and help teach officers how to properly make a power point presentation. The example to the right is what convoluted nonsense can occur when little appreciation is put into the idea of aesethics.


 We Are Torturing our Students
Within education, I firmly believe that teachers are sapping the life out of their students by presenting crappy Power Points. If we all know that our kids will be subjected to boring presentations throughout their adult life, why would we want to put them through this fate now? But there is a solution to this dilema, teachers should make good presentations! Ditch the Comic Sans font and stock Microsoft clip art and get creative. Here is something for any teacher making a Power Point to remember: just because you are "reaching out" to your visual learning students, it doesn't mean that you can carelessly slap some text and a stock clip art image on the screen and expect learning to happen.
  I would encourage any teacher who utilizes Power Point to do some research about HOW to make good presentations. Seriously, Power Point is a product of the 90's and we need to move on and push the limits of presentation software! Prezi has been such a program to attempt this, but I haven't been able to run it through its paces yet so I can't hold much of an opinion. Below is a presentation about how to make a good presentation, you will be doing yourself and future students a favor by taking in this wisdom teachers:

You Suck At PowerPoint!

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE

Google Docs, Blooms Taxonomy, and the Chromebook

The Software
I can do a full write up about why Google Docs can be a great collabrative tool for the 21st century classroom, but I'd rather show you this chart I have seen floating around the internets to demonstrate the relationship of Google's apps to Blooms Taxonomy, enjoy. 

 

 

http://kathyschrock.net/googleblooms/

The Hardware

There has been a lot of buzz about Google's cloud based services and their Chromebook co-developed with Acer and Samsung. At a cheap price point this simplified piece of hardware provides all the power necessary for a collaborative classroom. Although I am a Mac man, I would love to have a classroom stocked with these. Simple, light, and efficient.
Imagine, students can produce reports or presentations without having to crowd around one computer or pass around a thumbdrive/ CD.

Getting your Gradebooking on with Excel

I have a love/hate relationship with Excel. The most exposure I have had with Excel outside of a Statatistics final was co-assembling our wedding guest-list. I try to keep my interactions with the program to a minimum and leave all the data crunching to my SMRT engineering wife, but in my Educational Technologies course we ran through the basics of creating an Excel grade book.

Making an Excel gradebook is helpful when I need to store and generate grade data results in a pinch. I don't know if I will end up using this as a long term resource since im sure every school has some form of grading software, which are all basically over glorified Excel programs. I have seen my Master teacher use it to tabulate live data results for during classroom competitions. Besides that, he uses the software on his school PC. In either case, I feel confident enough to create my own grade book spreadsheet!

Here is a mock up of a grade book I made in class:



Yeah, the students in this imaginary classroom are pretty eclectic, reformed theologians and entertainers alike!

EDU4113 - Term List

This should make the process of reading through my terms list a bit more enjoyable:

	Aggregation: taking specific information from various sources and compiling them into one location. Examples include Google Reader, Reddit, or other RSS feeds
.	Avatar: Is a customizable virtual representation of yourself online. The complexity of avatars vary from full interaction (e.g. Nintendo Mii charecters) or just an image (e.g. Yahoo! user avatar).
.	Blog: (web + log), a site that is usually maintained by an individual and allows them to post information, video content, opinions, or descriptions in reverse chronological order. Blogs also allow some interaction by allowing viewers to comment on the content posted.
.	Cache: a way for the computer to remember or store requests for quicker retrieval when accessed again in the future.
.	Captcha: A security identification method to identify people as people and not automated spam-bots. Uses convoluted/distorted characters and/or symbols that only a pair of human eyes could understand (after at least 2 attempts in my case). Cloud Computing:
.	Image via Virtual Shackles  Need I say more?
.	Digg: A content aggregation service.
.	Hash Tag: a method of labeling metadata on Twitter. Like most forms of tagging, users enter the "#" symbol and a word. The purpose of this is for users who want to access data on a particular trending subject can get it all from one search (e.g. #iranelection).
.	HTML: (Hypertext Markup Language) Is a form of coding. Considered to be the building blocks of the internet, HTML script uses tags to dictate where certain web elements go. Browsers are used to read the HTML and generate the webpages we love so much.
.	Podcast/ Webcast: Audio or video recorded shows/programs that are put online for consumption. Uses the same model as the RSS for listeners/viewers to get a feed as new material is posted.
.	Tags: Metadata that labels information in common categories. E.g. Facebook tagging.
.	Tweet: Reference to posting an item/ status to twitter.
.	Web 2.0: The era following Web 1.0 wherein users interact and collaborate with one another in a virtual community.
.	Wiki: Is a type of website that is often utilized for collaborative web page generation.
.	Source Code: Computer programing language used to write programs. There are MANY different types of source (e.g. C++, Java, and Unix). Within HTML, a users can view the source code of a webpage to see how it was developed.

History Through the Film Lens | WWII Shorts

YouTube is often championed as the hub of all video content, but I wanted to spotlight another video service called Vimeo. I have been using them for my church's media needs for sometime by posting sermons and shorts.

What I have found is that YouTube definitely has a large quantity of videos to choose from, but I would argue that Vimeo tends to have better quality videos for choosing. However, I must admit that this site has more of an artistic edge, so don't expect to find History Channel shorts here. A lot of the videos are posted by independent film, here is one such example:

The Bridge

This 10 minute short is based on a true story involving a volunteer Japanese solider (from the 442nd) fighting in Italy during WWII. The violence/cursing is a bit much for the classroom and the characters seem like caricatures at times, but the film has a good production quality and its worth checking out for your own personal enjoyment.

The Colonial Friend 

Click Here to view the film

 Here is one French animated short that I found in the special features section of the 2006 film, Days of Glory.  It is a well made animated short based on a true event.  The story follows a North African solider who signs up to defend his "mother country" of France during the early stages of WWII and the realities of colonial rule after the war. This would be an excellent film for a World History class that has wrapped up their unit on World War II and is transitioning into Post-Colonialism and the Cold War.

Image via DVD Beaver

There is little spoken dialogue until the end and the majority of the story is told though visuals. I couldn't find the subtitled version online, but you can rent the movie Days of Glory, or translate for your students. Basically, the Frenchman over the PA is saying, "You are not getting paid, go home."
This short, but powerful film should spur some good discussions about the realities of post-colonial rule after WWII.

Civil War Unit | Technology Utilized and Conclusion

As mentioned throughout these posts students will use various web based resources to help them in these projects.

Research Tool
The assignment on Civil War letters/diaries will require students to hit the web and read various letters in order to better understand why soldiers fought. Students can also use trusted sites to research invidividuals for their Fakebook assignment.

Fakebook
 Students can demonstrate their knowledge creatively and in a familiar way through making their own Fakebook and generating a character profile of an individual whom they pick and do a bio on them.

Google Docs
This is another method for students to demonstrate what they have learned. Once the students have completed their research they can then compile their notes, thoughts, and ideas into one shared document with their contingent members via Google Docs.

Conclusion
I love technology and I love history. My goal is to continue to seek out how to combine the study of the past with present and future technologies. My aim as a teacher and facilitator of learning is not to raise technology on a pedestal or use tech just for the sake of its existence. No, I believe classroom technology is a helpful resource for teachers to leverage a good deal of creativity in a world that is making current classroom practices more and more irrelevant. I want to instill in my students the importance of collaborative effort and online research skills.  Ultimately, I want my students to walk away with an understanding of the key events of the Civil War, but I also want them to have an understanding of the tools and techniques that helped them get that knowledge. I believe this unit will provide that opportunity to get the message across.

-Ken Tinsley

Next: Evaluation Survey