Foliotek Instructions

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I have added a link under "Class Handouts" on the right entitled "Foliotek Instructions". Take a look at these instructions. Use the link above to login and begin adding the required links to your e-portfolio. We will go over this in class tomorrow night.

We will also complete our word processing final so be ready!

Professional Blog Instructional Videos

I have posted three instructional videos on professional blogs including;

1. Professional Blogs: Creating
2. Professional Blogs: Content
3. Professional Blogs: Layout

You can find these videos under Instructional Videos on the right. These videos by Dr. Strange should answer any questions you may still have about how the professional blogs are to be done.

Presentations Next Week!!!

I need all groups to be ready for their presentations (project 11) next week. There will be no time for make-ups so be sure your group is ready. If you have any porblems give me a call. SS

Week 11: October 27

Tonight we will:
1. Review Course Calendar
2. Introduce Google Earth
3. Use Google Forms (project 5)
4. Discuss project 8
5. Discuss PLN Post
6. Discuss Skype project 7
7. Summative Presentation project 11

Project 5 - Cut & Dry

Create a Google form that collects the following demographic information: Name, Address, Phone, and email address. In addition you must ask three other questions that you think will be important for you to know about your students when you are a teacher. Create a link to your form in a post on your blog.

Finally, you must visit the blogs of at least three of your classmates and answer their questions. Leave a comment on their blog providing them feedback on their questionnaire. When you have finished email me the names of the students who's forms you completed.

Project 8 Report

You must participate in Comments4Kids by posting at least 5 comments on blog sites of kids throughout the world. Assignments will be separately distributed. You must report on this assignment in a post on your blog. In your post discuss the kinds of things the students were doing, how they appeared to use technology, etc. This post must be made no later than 5 pm of the last class day of Week 14, November 17th.

Week 10: October 20

Tonight we will:
1. Introduce Google Earth
2. Begin working with Google Forms
3. Review for Word Processing final
4. Monitor PLN Progress
5. Discuss Skype project 7
6. Summative Presentation project 11

Google Earth: Better than Ever!

Take a look at this video showing new features in Google Earth 5.

Week 9: October 13

Tonight we will:
1. Discuss Midterm Reflections
2. Review Revised Syllabus
3. Review Blog Topics part 2
4. Review Delicious, Twitter (PLN)
5. Discuss Skype project 7
6. Summative Presentation project 11

Is the internet making us stoopid?

Writer Nicholas Carr, has written an article for The Atlantic Monthly with the provocative title, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

Click Here and listen to the interview listed under the title listed above.

Project 11: Summative Presentation

This is a collaborative project with 2 other students. A list of proposed topics are listed below. These presentations must involve the use of all media (audio, video, graphics, still pictures and text). These presentations are expected to be professionally done and should demonstrate the mastery of the skills developed through this course. Due Week 13.

Possible Topics

Electronic Books vs. Print
Outstanding Teachers with Technology
EDM 310 Class Ad
Future of Print
Future of Schools
Debate Computers to Kids vs. Computers to Labs
Debate Tech Literate vs. Not Tech Literate
Hand Held, Inexpensive Digital Video Cameras - Review 3
Faculty Interviews
Use of Instructional technology at South Beyond WP. ( excluding ecollege and foliotek)
You Propose a Topic

4th Annual Technology Expo and Luncheon

The Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind is hosting the 4th annual Technology EXPO and Luncheon. 18 vendors will be on hand to demonstrate technology that assists people with sensory impairments. Click Here to see the blog for more information.

Preparing Personal Learning Network PLN

Here is a great presentation on preparing a PLN by Richard Byrne, How to Build a Personal Learning Network Actually, this entire blog is a great resource for current and future teachers.

Week 8 - October 6

Tonight we will:
1. Review Blogs (Topics part 2)
2. Review Twitter (PLN)
3. Introduce Skype (project 7)
4. Podcast Interview Presentation (project 12)
5. Midterm Reflection

Class Photo Fall 2009

After a rough night of podcasting the students of EDM 310 were just chillin! Great job folks!! Stay tuned, these podcasts will be released soon on itunes.

Podcast Recording - You MUST Attend!

Tuesday, September 29 - be ready to record your podcasts. In case any one is worried about the camera, don't! These will be audio only.

Remember, make sure you know the plan and don't read your material know your material!

I know you will all do great! See you tomorrow. SS

What Do we Know About the Students Taking This Course?

This is a report on all students taking EDM 310 this semester (8 classes)
How old are you? Over half are 19-22 (53%). Teens and 20's make up 82% of the classes. The 30s are 15%, 40s 2% and 50s 1%. Most of you (71%) do not have children living with you. Most of you never read a newspaper, or do so only occasionally (59%). Only 10% of you read a newspaper every day. Most of you (99%) watch videos. 44% of you watch more than 4 hours of video every week. Half of you own an iPod or an iTouch, 70% of you own some MP3 player. 51% of you listen to music more than 2 hours a day, 27% listening 3 or more hours a day. 98% of you own a cell phone. 25% of you own a smart phone; 11% own an iPhone, 8% a Blackberry. 34% of you send 50 or more text messages a day. Eight of you report sending more than 200 text messages a day! Most of you are Facebook users: 81%. Over half of you have a MySpace account: 54%. 44% of you spend an hour or more a day on your social network accounts.
59% of you read less than a book a month (not counting class assignments).
94% of you own a computer. 91% of you own a PC. 5% of you still have a dial-up connection to the internet and another 5% have no access to the internet at all.
64% of you have a digital video camera, 87% of you have a digital camera that takes still pictures. 82% of you claimed to be proficient in word processing at the start of the class. 94% of you had never participated in a podcast before this class.
19% of you are taking an overload (more than 5 classes) 59% of you work half time or more. 91% of you intend to enter the teaching profession and another 5% say they probably will. 54% of you want to teach in an elementary school, 18% kindergarten, 15% middle school and 35% high school. (You could select more than one so % is greater than 100) The most desired subject areas were Sports (19%), Literature/Reading/Writing (18%), Social Science (13%), Math (10%).
91% of you think that teachers should be "technologically literate" (no definition was given for this term). Only 19% of you thought you were not technologically literate when you entered this course (again, no definition of this term was given)

And that is YOU!

Week 6: September 22

Tonight we will:

1. Call for old business
2. Project 4: Professional Blog
3. Web Accessibility
4. Podcast examples & discussion
5. Work on podcasts in groups

Podcasts: Groups and Topics

Group 1 - The Pros and cons of Online vs. Traditional Classroom Education

Ham Barnett
Lizzy Eiland
Justin Wall

Group 2 - Useful Websites for Elementary School Teachers

Hannah Reynolds
Lindsey Clausheide
Whitney Kyte

Group 3 - Incorporating Web Technology into the Elementary Classroom

Allison Benton
Shaneise Tate
Angel Padgett
Nicky Jittan

Group 4 - A Debate: The Impact of Technology in the Elementary Classroom

Julie Szteiter
Julie Hays
Mat Moorer

Group 5 - Reflections: Randy Pausch's last lecture.

Britney Thomas
Ashley Janes
Katie Johnson

Group 6 - Using Google Tools in the Elementary and Middle School Classroom

Kevin Robertson
Timeka Holloway
Keith Burt

Week 5: September 15

Tonight we will –

1. Make-up Presentations
2. Start Professional Blogs (project 4)
3. Discuss Personal Learning Networks (project 6)
4. Review Twitter
5. Review Delicious
6. Review Word Processing in Google Docs.
7. Begin pod/video-casting (project 10)
a. Assign groups
b. Develop topics

Did You Know 4.0

Did You Know 4.0 is now available! Add a review of this new version to the assignments already given for September 20, 2009.

Or Click Here to watch on You Tube.

Week 4: It's Presentation Time!

Tonight everyone will have an opportunity to make their presentation to the class. As each class member presents all other students will fill out an evaluation form rating various aspects of the presentation, the subject matter, and the presenter. I will also evaluate each of you. I will use my evaluation and the evaluations provided by your peers to assign grades for this project.

Remember, this is a fun activity on a topic that you know more about than anyone else, "YOU". So enjoy yourself, be fair to your peers and you will do great!

Post Your Presentation to Your Blog

Below is my presentation, "Lake Bruin"



To post your presentation to your blog -

1. Go to Google, Documents, and open your presentation
2. On the top right click SHARE and choose "Publish / Embed".
3. Click "Publish Document"
4. On the next screen that comes up you will see 2 lines of HTML code at the bottom. Select that code.
5. Click the right mouse button and click "COPY"
6. Go to your blog click "New Post" and "Paste" this code into the post.

Week 3: September 1

Tonight we will:
1. Discuss podcasting assignment
2. Working in your blog
a. Add Alt and Title modifiers to a picture
b. Layout in Blogger
c. Google Gadgets
i. Link to class blog
3. Create an iGoogle page
4. Create a Google Gadgets Demo Blog
5. Google Dos
a. Presentation
b. Forms
c. Word Processing
6. Delicious
7. Review Storyboards

Delicious - Social Bookmarking

social book marking is sort-of a community of bookmarks and you can sign up for free. Click Here To view an introduction to social networking by Lee Lefever.

Visit Delicious on the web and sign up!

Also, under Class Handouts on the right see "Delicious and Firefox" handout for important information about how to use Delicious more effectively with the Firefox browser.

Additional Instructional Videos

Six instructional videos have been added regarding; Blogger exercises 2 and 4, RSS Feeds, IGoogle, Google Reader, Twitter,and Itunes. They are all listed on the right under Instructional Videos.

Week 2: August 25

Tonight we will:

1. Take Profile Pictures
2. Adjust Blog Settings
3. Add Pictures and Links to Blog
4. Explore ITunes
5. View "Twitter in Plain English"
6. Explore Twitter
7. Explore Picasa and Photo Shop Elements
8. Complete Math Diagnostic
9. Complete Plagiarism Survey
10. View Presentation in Google Presentations
11. Complete Word Processing Diagnostic

Twitter

Twitter is a free service that lets you keep in touch with people through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Click Here to view "Twitter in Plain English" by, Lee Lefever

Week 1: August 18

Tonight we will:

1. Introduce ourselves
2. Review the Syllabus
3. Create a Google account
4. Establish a Gmail account
5. Send email to Instructor
6. Begin Project 1: Create a Blog
7. Post to a Blog
8. Introduce Class Blog
9. Take EDM 310 Survey
10. Take Class Pictures

Click Here to complete a Google Documents Form for this course. This will provide me with information to help me determine whether I need to modify the course. It is also an example of one of the Projects that you will do in this class.

Welcome to EDM 310 Where Email, Word, and Power Point Won't Cut it Anymore

Welcome to EDM310. This course used to cover Word, PowerPoint Excel, and a database like Access. Not now. Email, Word, Excel and PowerPoint Won't Cut It Anymore.

Information is growing at an exponential rate. Information is not just words, but pictures, videos, sounds and graphics. There are few editors anymore. Everyone can be an international publisher - instantly - with the potential to reach a world wide audience. Books, newspapers, even emails are being replaced by tweets, SMS and MMS messages, video chats, podcasts, Skype calls, and YouTube.

The classrooms in which you will teach, if they continue to exist, will be very different from the classrooms in which you were taught. The things you will have to know and do will be very different from those your teachers experienced.

iTunesU now has more courses online than all the courses taught at the University of South Alabama. And more are being added everyday.

All of this is primarily the result of a profound, rapid and breathtaking change in communication. I can talk with and see people throughout the world instantly and without it costing me a cent. My videos can be on YouTube 4 minutes after I take them, ready to be seen by millions of people.

Printed materials are disappearing. Newspapers are dying or becoming electronic in form. Textbooks are being replaced by e-books (or no books). Reading and writing have become watching and listening.

We don't really know what schools should be like in this new world where information no longer resides in libraries but in clouds instead, where "all information is in all places at all times," where there are no editors or moderators of what gets "published", where videos and audio are as important, or more important than the printed word, where time and space have collapsed and it now takes only a microsecond to transfer information (in any form) from one place to all places in the universe (well ,at least on this planet), where privacy no longer has meaning, or very little if there is a bit left.

Are you ready to be a teacher in this new world? Do you have any idea of what the world of learning will be like tomorrow? Are you excited about learning and eager to share that excitement with others? Can you survive in a classroom where you will certainly not "know it all" and where many of your students will know a lot more about some things than you? Are you ready to practice your profession in a world in which collaboration is more important than individual action, where information is dispensed in 140 character tweets, where YouTube videos multiply at a rate that far exceeds the world of publishing's most successful era, where videos and audio are listened to and watched more than books are read? Sounds like chaos? Well, you may be correct!

You are about to encounter the chaos of the new world in EDM310. Welcome aboard!

Dr. John Strange