Monday, December 6, 2010

Thing #21 Screencasting: Jing, Screencast-o-matic

I made a quick lesson about my blog to publish on my blog.  I used jing to record it but another resource is Screencast-o-matic.  There is a five minute time limit. Here is the URL to the screen cast.  This would be a great way to share information with students or staff.

http://www.screencast.com/t/ZDBa5OQdo

It took me several tries to figure this out.  I went to history on Jing and then clicked on screencast.com.  After creating an account, I uploaded the audio to scrreencast and then went to share.  From share I copied the URL and then brought it to my blog.  Finally sccess!u



Sunday, December 5, 2010

Capstone Things #15-21

A good question is how will I use these technology applications to improve learning experiences for ASD and MOCI students and/or improve my own practice. t The pdf converters are needed occaionally to make a document I receive usable.  I wouldn't use Google calendar at this time since I use the Groupwise calendar. 

MACUL space is a resource I will check into from time to time to stay current and since others from my District are going to the upcoming conference in GR I might join them.  LearnPort is required for GRPS staff to use for registering for courses.  I don't think my Facebook ABA group is very helpful right now but I may have an opportunity to use it more.  MEL is a great resource I already knew about and used to get lexile scores of particular books or to find books in certain topics with a certain lexile range.  I will definitely use Bibme to reference resources that I often share with staff in the weekly happenings. 

I signed up for an RSS aggregator--iGoogle--but right now feel like I am in information overload so may not be consulting it too much. The idea of a virtual classroom is great--staff can be more organized and provide some neat opportunities for students.  I can use this idea to manage resources and communication with staff to be more effective. 

The visual strategies such as Bubble.us, Gliffy, Wordle and Tagxedo would be very useful for learners with disabilities. 

I am looking forward to doing some screencasting to communicate with staff. 



The one of the seven things that I would like to describe an activity for is screencasting with Jing.  I would use it to communicate to staff how to use the Unique Learning System website assessments. This would help teachers become more tech savvy so they can apply all the technology standards in their classrooms. This would be a good way to use the strategy of non-linguistic representations in the teaching I do with staff.

Thing # 8 Copyright and Fair use

Copyright issues are important to know about for educators .  I did a survey and staff knew this  about copyright:

     Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the US Constitution and granted by law for original works.

     A school can show a movie without obtaining permission from the copyright owner.

     Copying can NOT be a substitute for the purchase of books when districts can't afford the cost.

     The teacher can NOT copy books designed to be "consumable" such as workbooks and standardized tests.

     The original authroship appearing on a website created by a teacher may be protected by copyright.

     Copyright laws apply to material found on the internet.

Staff were not sure if they could copy copyrighted materials for each student or the amount of a one thing that can be copied.  The official copyright site is a good place to get questions answered.  http://www.copyright.gov/

Thing #19 Virtual Classroom

ASD and MOCI staff can use technology to improve instruction for students. A course management system such as moodle can be used to present content and expereinces to students. Staff can use social networking tools to collaborate with their peers as well as things like Google docs to collaborate also.


Students need access to a computer that has:
  • Adobe Reader
    Allows you to read a PDF (Portable Document File) document. PDF documents are created so content may not be altered.
  • Flash
    Allows you to experience mutimedia on the web.
  • Java
    Allows you to view applications written in java programming language.
  • Apple Quicktime
    Allows you to play back audio and/or video. Originally designed for Mac computers but can be used on both Macs and PCs.
  • Windows Media Player
    Allows you to play back audio and/or video. Originally designed for PCs but can be used on both platforms. 
  • Real Player
    Allows you to play back audio and/or video. This is an older version but may still be needed.
Why do you want to take an online course?
How is online learning different from face-to-face?
Do you think you can learn this way?
What happens if you don’t like it? Can you drop?
Will you have a teacher you can talk to?
Will you still graduate on time?
Will you be taking this at home or at school?
Do you need your own computer? Do you need Internet access at home?
How will you get tech support?
Are there any costs?

Questions for Students to consider when planning to take an online course:
Will a student be part of the planning team?
What are my choices for online courses?
Can anyone take an online course?
How many courses can I take?
Do I need a computer at home?
How much access will I have at my school?
Who will support me with technical issues?
What if I have my own laptop – can I use it?
Do I need special skills to take an online course?
Will this be harder than a face-to-face course?
Will there be any charges?
What if I don’t like it, can I change or drop it? Is there a penalty?
Will I be able to see a review of the course and/or instructor?
Do I need my parents' permission?

Check out Navigating the Land of Online Learning.  The game allows students, parents, teachers, technology coordinators to look at all the considerations to online learning.  By looking at these questions, you can see that there is alot involved in being a successful online student.

Questions for Parents to ask Students:

Thing #17 Research & Reference Tools: MEL, RefDesk, Wikipedia

http://www.mel.org/

This is the link to MEL.  you can read full text articles from magazines and newspapers; find current reference sources; use advanced search functions; cite sources.  The advantage of this site is that the information is valid and reliable, and limited in comparison to a search performed within a search engine like Google or Yahoo.

Students can find lots of databases for student research such as e-Library Elementary, Kids InfoBits, InfoTrac Junior Edition and Student Edition, SIRS Discoverer Deluxe and SIRS Renaissance.

RefDesk is amazing!  It has pulled together only the legitmate resources and has them well organized and categorized.


Here is e-library and SIRS:


Wikipedia has something about everything but students should be reminded to be careful when using it.  Even though submssire are checked, there can be alot of inaccurate or misleading information.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Thing #16 Professional Learning Networks

Learnport is a resource that you can use to enroll in and take professional development classes.  I looked for classes I could take related to behavior and found these offerings.  I think training parapros might be a good one for me and there is one I think I will recommend to a staff member.








MACUL offers technology conference as well as the website that has many ways for educators to connect related to technology and education.


Classroom 2.0 is a website for technology and education.  Online webinars with live events such as Parents as Partners and many are recorded so you can play them any time.


You can go to You tube and type in "How to Twitter" and learn how to post or subscribe to other people's twitters on whatever educational topic you are interested in. Listorius has a list of educational twitter accounts that are sub-divided by categories such as special education. I have a Facebook group for applied behavior analysis but find I am not really using it since all the members I also communicate with through regular school channels.


kisd.pbworks.com/w/page/7609263/Professional-Education-Organizations is a link to many professional organizations that Ron Houtman from Kent ISD has assembled.


Two Way Interactive Connections in Education is a neat website that I could see using for virtual field trips.  I am not thinking about joining any tecnology professional organization other than maybe MACUL. There is no cost for menmbership and it would be a good way to see how others like me are using technology to enhance their jobs.  Maybe I could share what I have learned so far and how I have applied this to improving the ASD and MOCI program.

Thing #14 Online Video/Audio Resources: Learn360, Teacher Tube, iTunesU

GRPS staff have access to Learn360.   It has  PBS, NOVA National Geographic, and many other resources.  . Additionally, Learn360  allows you to upload podcasts, documents, and other supporting materials (similar to Teacher Tube.)

Check out iTunesU !  It contains educational content available for play using the iTunes media player. Content includes lessons, course materials and more. .

Podcasts are audio or video that you can subscribe to that can be used with students to teach or for differentiation.

Staff need to be careful when using You Tube.  There are lots of neat things available but they need to be screened first and downloaded and students should not be allowed to go to this site themselves during the school day.

Teacher Tube:  Free Online video resources that include videos, the opportunity to subscribe to RSS feeds on specific channels, and the opportunity to create groups for viewing and launching videos. Designed as a safe place for teachers and students to view and share videos.


School Tube is another free educational site designed for video sharing. It has an image bank and educational games (in beta). This site also is a popular site for school news programs. Additionally there are contests and links to educational partners.

Audio and video resources have lots of benefits for our students.  Visual may help them see what it is you want them to learn but audio also helps them learn in a lecture type format. ASD and MOCI students often lack the backgound content needed to learn new concepts and audio and video resources can help to provide it.

Other resources:
Online Educational videos from www.edutube.org
10 phenomenal educational video websites.
Educational videos and K-12 lesson plans
neoK12.
Annenburg Professional Development and teacher resources. (http://learner.org)
Math Video Lessons from Teacherzone (
http://teacher.tenmarks.com), Khan Academy (http://khanacademy.org),
National LIbrary of Virtual Manipulatives is cool, especially for math.
HippoCampus has lots of manipulatives, many have a video short clip.
PhET has interactive science simulations