Website Process and Reflection

Screenshot from Checkpoint #1

I am glad that I decided to create my website using Weebly for Education.  Weebly allows you to be as creative as you want to be.  I was able to alter one of their templates by adding an Avatar of myself that I created using Bit Strips - http://www.bitstripsforschools.com/

Content seemed to be the biggest obstacle for me in creating my website.  First, I had to decide what I wanted my website to offer.  Since I am not currently teaching, a class website was out of the question for me. 

At first, I really wanted to be able to offer lesson plans to teachers that integrate technology.  I soon realized that that would be a daunting task, and that it may take months to a year to create that kind of content.  (This may still be a potential goal for me) 

So, I decided to concentrate on content that I’ve already created, either in this class or others that I’ve taken.  I finally decided that I wanted to share what I’ve learned with others.    

Screenshot from Checkpoint #2



I’m glad that I had the photos on hand to create the content for this page.  The assignment was to include a photo sharing site to our websites.  I decided to use PhotoPeach because I had never used it before.  I like the spiral staircase effect with my pictures.  My slideshow also included music, but I was a little disappointed that the music, by default is turned down.  Visitors to my site may not know that they have to turn up the sound in order to hear the music. 

Screenshot from Checkpoint #3

By checkpoint #3, I was beginning to struggle with creating content, again.  I decided to create this sleep survey in order to point visitors to my tutorials and cheat sheets on creating forms within Google Docs. 

Screenshot of Final Website: http://www.laurabenfield.weebly.com/

I enjoyed searching through http://www.widgetbox.com/ for the extra touches to my website.  As you can see from this screenshot, I added a Google search widget and a counter to help me keep track of how many hits my website gets. 

I also went to http://www.voki.com/ to create an Avatar to introduce my website to visitors. 

As I said before, I plan to continue to work on this website by adding more content on a regular basis.  One thing I learned from this project is that “Content is King”.  Without content, you have nothing. 

Now that my website is “Live”, I plan to “Babysit” it more and make sure that the content stays current.

Professional Learning Community (Entry 3)

I did enjoy the time I spent exploring the resources posted within Classroom 2.0.  However, I do not expect that I will remain an active participant within the PLCs on this site.  One group that I joined, Google Apps for Education, had an active group of participants, but I found that they were all mainly new to Google apps.  It became clear early on that I would not learn much from them.

I’ve always been able to find great information from the individuals that I followed on Twitter.  The only downside is that many of the people I used to share information with have stopped Tweeting.  Oh, well. ;-)

Professional Learning Community (Entry 2)

It seems my desire to participate in the groups within Classroom 2.0 has fizzled out a bit.  I’ve also noticed others within the groups I joined seem to be getting bored.  There has been very little activity during the past few weeks. 

However in looking though the past posts, I have been able to find a gem for teaching history.  There is a series of videos titled, “We Are History”, that you can only access through YouTube.  I will definitely hang on to these in case I go back into the classroom.  They are very entertaining, and only about 10 minutes each.  What do you think? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jHzQMSmYh4 

Enjoy! :-)     

Professional Learning Community (Entry 1)

I recently joined Classroom 2.0.  I added a badge to the contact tab on my website.

 


I was interested in several groups within the PLC.  I am currently a member of History Resources, Moving to the Cloud, and Google Apps for Education.

Lessons Learned at NCTIES 2011

Below are the notes and links from the sessions I attended at NCTIES 2011.  Enjoy! :-)

Social Learning: Networks Teaching Kids Where They Live – Kevin Honeycutt

·         Have students Google Alert their names

·         Can’t Over-reach School Walls

·         How can you get false fb pages off the web?

·         Kids should use Google Alerts for Research

·         Twitter bulletin boards – Life sized at Schools

·         Ask kids…What would you do if you were cyber bullied?

·         Have kids tweet how they feel each morning…write out and share with class

·         Gateway to fb…collaboration with Google Docs

·         Video of Street Musicians singing the same song – Stand by Me - Video Called “Playing for Change”  - Use video as a conversation starter for Local Collaboration

·         Use: Classroom 2.0, Plurk – Have Teachers Develop PLNs

·         Use Plurk as Homebase for other Networks Like Twitter

·         “FB is a Highway…it can get you places, but without Driver’s Ed, It  can get you killed”

·         Art Snacks Social Network…like greeting kids at the door – Volunteer Mentors that help Monitor & “Tag Team”

·         “Pet the Kitty” Widget ;-)

·         Have kids write books in Google Docs…ABC Book at Elementary Level

·         How many people read what kids write? Blogs vs. Essay Students are motivated by readers

·         Lulu can make student writing Public or Private

·         Use it first...”tame the tool”

·         Use Lulu for school Yearbook…fundraising

Cyber-bullying: A Growing Problem

·         Principals are required to report offenses

·         Teachers need to be made aware of the law

·         Teachers are responsible for teaching ethical behavior to students

·         Teacher could be held responsible for not addressing behavior

·         The school needs to communicate the Policy to Students and Parents

·         Free Tools for Parents:

·         Dr. Phil – “Keyboard Bullies are using weapons of Mass Destruction”

·         Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover – Share his story

·         4-Hour Video Course: Bullies – Their Making and Unmaking

·         http://gordonneufeld.com – School Counselor Can Be Certified

·          Discipline Help: #13 – The Bully http://www.disciplinehelp.com/teacher/list.cfm?cause=All 

·         What to do about bullying to prevent it in the first place?  Focus on prevention!  Not what to do after it happens

·         FunnelBrain.com http://www.funnelbrain.com/c-282524-adele-meets-frank-shares-interest-figure-skating-inter.html

·         Smokescreen, A Thin Line (MTV)

·         http://tinyurl.com/eSafetyContent  Google doc with Lots of Information

Lunch Speaker

https://sites.google.com/site/rushtonatncties2011/   

Will iPads Replace Laptops?

·         What are the merits of both? Weight and Size…Different types of laptops…iPad most portable

·         Battery Power…9-10 Hours for iPad

·         Interface:

o   Old iPad (iPad 2 has more capabilities) - touch screen, onscreen keyboard…can get external keyboard…portable…3G Capable…IOS…Pinch and Zoom…Multi-tasking?  Word cannot be up the same time as the internet…good that students can’t have multiple windows open…can add a mouse

o   PC – Many Options…Has USB Ports…VGA Output…Webcam…

·         Exceptions-Macbook Air & Tablet

·         Software:  App Store – Ways to take notes – Apps that dissects a frog – White board collaboration – You can still do Google Docs and Save in the cloud

·         http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/

·          No Flash on iPad – No workaround – Could be a deal breaker

·         Used to not be able to Skype, but you can, now

·         Could not use Dream Weaver on iPad

·         Price – $500 for iPad, $1,000 notebook – have to add lots to iPad…apps, case, keyboards, etc.

·         Implementation: Cart or Take Home? With cart, you buy 30 licenses but only install once… Cart makes it easy to manage…students would not be able to add apps…Take-home has big issues…have to give students gift-cards to install apps…Cart fits schools better, but not a true 1:1 situation

·         To Lock Down or Not Lock Down?

·         http://ipadeducators.ning.com

·         Sharing earbuds…gross!  What do you do?  Have kids purchase?

·         How do you Identify iPads? Give numbers to keep up with them…

·         Professional Development is needed for this to be used effectively in the classroom

·         Cases?

·         The Webb School of Knoxville: Told students they had to buy iPads to come to class…private school…don’t have to worry about accounts or pushing out apps…managed by parents

·         Cedars School of Excellence: Could not take iPads away from students…as vital as a textbook.

·         What do we need a laptop to do?

·         90% of your work can be done on an iPad…Is the other 10% worth the sacrifice?

·         Think of the iPad as a completely different tool from laptops

 Digital Citizenship – Your Passport to Today’s World

·         Multi-tasking is the norm…This generation can do two things at once

·         How do we move forward to teach our students in this age?

·         What does it mean to be a good citizen?

·         Where do student learn to be good citizens?

·         What changes when we add the word digital?  Becomes global…larger…more challenges

·         More exposure on the web

·         Students are already better at using digital technology than adults…adults need to catch up and teach students to be good digital citizens

·         Who will you be? Create/Credit or Steal? Video

·         A good digital citizen will always show all credits at the end of a video

·         “When I get to school, I have to power down.”

·         Can students learn online? Yes, but will they learn what we want them to learn?

·         What are some hazards of digital communication? Scratching the surface, but never going deeper…lazy communication…predators online…texting while driving…misinformation…

·         “When a student graffitis the bathroom wall, does the school discontinue bathrooms?”

·         “Screenagers”

·         Adult’s role to model good use of technology

·         Digital Danger in London of people running into polls while texting, or looking at their phones

·         Focus on us, not them…what are some changes that need to take place in our schools?

Web Design – LeslieFisher.com

·         Content is King…do not create a website without content

·         Prepare to Babysit your website

·         Who controls the content?  Who owns it?  Is it a problem child…

·         Put your website in the form of an organizational chart

·         Has to make sense on paper before it can make sense virtually

·         On the org chart/spread sheet mark how often this content needs to be updated

·         This helps to avoid being blamed when the website is not updated

·         Watch out for those who think their content needs to be on the front page

·         Gathering content is the biggest issue

·         Design: Must have a design committee ….use anything that creates Brand Identity for the school…use colors, mascot, etc.

·         Could hire a designer or purchase a template…this is getting cheaper to do…Wire Frame $200+-

·         Crowd-Sourced Web Design…Hire many people to design your website…Anyone submits designs to you…you can choose the best from 20 different designers…you pre-pay for the template – Go to 99 Designs and check it out

·         Template Websites

·         Make sure that you do not tackle more than you should

·         Students forget that content exists…they are more visual…Do not put them in charge of the school website!

·         Create A Site using html: Adobe DreamWeaver is the best for this

·         Make your website easy to edit, so others can do it and you are not locked into it

·         Adobe Contribute: Can set up users and groups with this application…you can accept or reject changes from your users…$100 a copy…just email key to other users, and it transfers all info to that user

·         Weebly.com, google sites,

·         Content Management System like Moodle – Expression Engine $99

Alice: The Free, Fun  & Easy Way to Introduce Students to Programming

·         http://www.alice.org

·         http://aliceprogramming.net

·         http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/aliceinSchools/workshop08?lessonPlans.php

·         http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/alice/aliceinschools/workshop08/tutorials.php

·         http://www.personschool.com

·         http://learnalice.blogspot.com

QR Codes-Why they matter to education

·         Pet Shop Boys – Integral  -  Videos that go to websites

·         QR: Quick Response – Physical link to the virtual world

·         Chrome – Apps Store – QR Reader

·         Create your own QR Codes that take you to websites

·         Webcams can take you to QR links, also

·         Ideas?  Have students write reviews of books in the media center, and then put the codes on the back on the books for students to access with Smartphones…etc.

·         Google: QR Codes on Library Books http://www.google.com/search?q=QR+Codes+on+Library+Books&rlz=1I7GGLD_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7

·         Students that have trouble typing URLs can scan QR Codes and this will take them to the site that you want them to go to

·         The Yellow Arrow Project: http://yellowarrow.net/v3/ 

·         SCANveger Hunt: http://scandayton.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=89&Itemid=309   

·         http://www.qrstuff.com/   The more text, the more complicated the QR Code

·         Interactive Bulletin Board:

·         Students Checking Their Answers: Make Flashcards so, they cannot easily check the answers…they would have to scan

·         Students can scan the answers to their Quizzes

·         Can have a quiz inside the QR Code

·         Use QR Codes for Voting

·         Twitter: @QRNCTIES11

·         Rewrite the ending to books in a Google Doc

·         “I live in the future & Here’s how it works” – this books has QR codes at the beginning of each chapter, so the author can provide additional information later

·         Create a comic strip…make the thought bubble a QR Code

·         Lesson Plans: Post QR Codes on your door for Principals to scan, so they know what you are doing that day – Less printing and less disruptive

·         Get Directions:  Have assignments posted on color coded QR Codes – Teacher is repeating self less

Tim Smith: timothy.smith@cms.k12.nc.us

Jake Standish: Jacob.standish@cms.k12.nc.us

Sharing Through Moodle

This past week I started a Moodle page to share with the teachers at my schools.  Here is the link:  http://moodle.fcschools.net/course/view.php?id=1517 

I've been trying to get the teachers interested in using Google Apps for Education.  Within this Moodle page, I've included step-by-step instructions for using "Web Apps".  I hope that this will encourage the teachers to use it more.  I did provide a PD workshop at one of the schools, but it is clear that more instruction is needed.  Web apps could be a useful and valuable tool for all teachers to use if they would just take the time to learn how to use it.  

First Day in a New Class

I just enrolled in ECI 719, yesterday.  Today is my first day trying to navigate around the course, and seeing who my new classmates are.  Luckily, I do recognize quite a few names.  I can't wait to meet the others and learn from each of you. 

Since I am currently working as a Instructional Technology Facilitator in a public school, I hope to share my knowledge with you.  This morning I assisted another ITF in instructing teachers how to use templates in Google Docs, publish them as web pages and then link those documents to their Moodle pages.  It has been a very interesting day! :-)