PowerPoint and Dropbox

Summary

Part One

This week, I was required to do something I have done a million times before and yet I can also say that this week I have tried and learned about more things than I have in previous weeks. I remember when, just a few years ago, being able to create a PowerPoint made you the cool kid in class. But, with the rate of technology, presenting a PowerPoint in class is likely to make you the boring, unimaginative one. I have to admit though, I find well done PowerPoints to be an efficient and effective educational tool along with other presentation mediums and I use them all the time. I have not yet felt prepared to move on from this technological tool. In defense, I do always try to use new designs that will catch my students’ attention and serve as visual tools to help them remember the most essential content. This week, the assignment was to create a PowerPoint. I took this opportunity to explore features of PowerPoint that I have never used before or have not fully experimented with.

Part Two

Whenever I take my PowerPoints to school, I email them to myself and put them on my flash drive because I can’t bring my laptop (which I use to create my PowerPoints). This is not always an easy and safe procedure. There have been occasions when I have not had access to my email account or when the file didn’t save or send properly. Dropbox, a cloud application, may just solve all of my problems. Dropbox can be downloaded to your computer and is available online by registering. By dragging and dropping a file into a Dropbox folder within My Computer. By doing so, the file magically appears within a personal Dropbox account folder online. The file can then be shared with others, no emailing required!

What I Did

I created a PowerPoint that is drastically different from any other I have made. I recently learned that when movement is involved in educational presentations, students are better able to remember content, and therefore, I added animations to my PowerPoint. I also included sound effects that will hopefully bring life to the lesson. I limited my use of informational text as much as possible (which is not my strong suit, clearly), I synthesized shapes and background styles to create slides with unique backgrounds, and I added a video. My PowerPoint corresponds to standard 5.6 and 5.7 of the Virginia Standards of Learning as it is a review of the seafloor with connections to erosion and weathering; it will hopefully keep any fifth grader’s attention and interest.

            I made my PowerPoint available for viewing by putting it in Dropbox and copying and pasting the link proved within my blog.

What I Learned

            This time I’m going to have to turn this section into a list. Get ready, it’s long…   

PowerPoint Related

·         How to animate text

·         In a given order

·         one or more sections of text at a time

·         How to add sound effects

·         How to change the color of a background style

·         How to use shapes in different ways

·         How to set a photo within a shape

·         How to change the width and height of beveling effects

Dropbox Related

·         Dropbox is simple to use

·         Dropbox can be used for personal purposes or to share files

·         The size of the file doesn’t matter

·         Files can be drag and dropped, they do not need to be uploaded.

How I Would Use It

            Both teachers and students can use PowerPoint to present information. I like to use PowerPoint to include written directions in lessons that can be easily referenced throughout a lesson, to have easy access to videos for lessons, and supply information in a visual format (as opposed to an unaccompanied lecture) for students with a visual learning style. Asking students to create PowerPoints, allows them to choose information to present that they think is most important and interesting through while tapping into their creativity through design.

Standards Reflection

            As PowerPoint is a digital tool that incites creative and critical thought in its user, in order to present relevant information to reach individuals with multimodal learning styles, I believe that the use of PowerPoint in the classroom meets all of ISTE-NETS-T’s standards and the majority of their components.

            When teachers use Dropbox to share files, they are collaborating to communicate ideas in a way that promotes efficiency in the workplace and therefore, they meet standard three of the ISTE-NETS-T’s standards.

Diigo: Week 3

I have added three new articles to my Diigo Library. Here is a highlight of the articles for this week.

The Myth of the Culture of Poverty by Paul Gorski-ASCD.org
Students from low-income families are being stereotyped by teachers. This article lists some of the common beliefs about parents and students living in poverty and offers insight into the realities of their struggles. With this information, teachers may better understand how to reach these individuals.

Education Site Expands Slate of Universities and Courses by Tamar Lewin-NYTimes.com
Coursera expands to include more partners and more courses.

Newark Eyes Merit Pay for Teachers by Lisa Fleisher-CNN.com
A few states in the U.S. have instituted merit pay for teachers but for NJ, Newark's negotiations with the state's infamous teachers union may bring groundbreaking change.

Check out my Public Diigo Library.

Map:Google Earth

Summary

Good. Better. Best. The staff at Google never stops to rest when it comes to their applications. Google Earth 6.2 is the most rich and versatile Google mapping tool yet. What’s better, your personal Google Map can be imported into Google Earth. Google Earth can be downloaded to your desktop and used to view geological features, buildings in 3-D, panoramic photos and more. These images are brought to you using both hi-resolution and low-resolution imagery. Much of what is seen is displayed from satellites; these images may appear pixilated and are not hi-resolution images. However, Google’s panoramic images and users self-submitted photos were most likely taken with hi-definition cameras, they images appear less distorted. These images are seen by operating the application similarly to Google Maps. Users are able to zoom in and out and scroll across the terrain using a mouse. However, in Google Earth, users are also able to “travel” using the ground level view as opposed to a bird’s eye view. In addition, millions of pictures can be viewed by clicking on the Polaroid icons. Hours could be spent exploring your neighborhood, a region you’ve always wanted to travel to, the depths of the ocean, and the wonders of the world (both natural and man-made) that you’ve only every read about or seen on television.

With Google Earth 6.2, users are no longer confined to exploring the far reaches of planet Earth. It is now possible to travel around mars and throughout the solar system.
 

What I Did

            People who have access to my Google Map are able to rate it, comment, and open map with a KWL file in Google Earth. After taking a look at Google Developers page about KWL, I learned that the acronym stands for Keyhole Mark-Up Language which is a file format used for displaying geographical data (to pinpoint locations, overlay images, etc.). Using the KWL file option, while it sounds complicated, was one of the easiest tasks I’ve had to complete yet. With my Google Map open, I clicked “KWL” and…….well, that was it! Google Earth opened automatically and zoomed in to show my place marks. From there, I could use Google Earth as normal or click on the place marks to view my descriptions.

To se the Jing Screencast of my Google Earth map, click here.

  

How I Use It & What I’ve Learned

I have been using Google Earth for several years now and have even worked it into previous lessons. One of my favorite uses for Google is the ocean feature. I have used it in the past to explore the features of the seafloor with my students. Although, I have not used Google Earth since it was last updated (the 6.2 version). I was disappointed to find that the ocean feature, while it had been updated, was less user-friendly than it had been. In the previous version, it was simple to plunge into the ocean and scroll along the ocean floor. The updated version drags the user down to the bottom and has them creep along the bottom by double clicking to move forward. If there is a landform, the user will be walked into it and then moved around it. It is a very tedious process and the landforms are more difficult to define. Unfortunately, I will have to be careful if I choose to do my sea floor lesson again.

Earth Science is my passion, in looking through Google Earth lesson plans in Google for Educators, I found a lesson for a Geological scavenger hunt. It’s the first one on the list in this Google Lesson Plan Library.
 

Standards Reflection

            When teachers engage their students in the use of Google Earth in their classrooms, they are meeting ISTE-NETS-T’s Standard 2 and its components. A typical lesson can be brought to life using Google maps, an interactive tool that encourages students to explore and make discoveries by following their interests. Using the varied features Google Earth offers students can create land marks, videos, measurements, and more to share their knowledge, develop innovative products, and provide evidence of their learning for purposes of assessment.

Map:Google Maps

Summary

            Whether you are planning a real field trip or an imaginary one, Google Maps can help. I once, very recently actually, thought that Google Maps was for finding a single location or directions from one place to another. However, I have learned that Google Maps can be used in quite a different and spectacular way; individuals can create their own Google Maps with unique legend icons, lines, shapes, and descriptions. These maps can be titled, described, edited, and published to the web. They can be saved to be either public or unlisted (a link is needed to be able to access the map’s webpage). Creating a Google Map can be approached in two ways 1) a specific place can be searched for and a temporary placemark will appear in the location you are looking for or 2) you can zoom into the map and search within an area for places of interest. I can't imagine someone not learning something from the map during the process!

What I Did & What I Learned

            I created a cross country field trip itinerary based on a trip (Discovery) conducted by my previous school. In the past, the teachers and students involved in such extended trips would collaborate to create web pages dedicated to sharing their experiences and learning with others. However, in the past couple of years, students have been put in charge of recording this information during their travels on a Facebook page. Doing so has allowed them to easily upload photos and share short essays collectively. It has also allowed peers, teachers, administrators, and families to send comments from home. In the future, the students could use Google Maps to create a summary of their trip as an artifact of their learning.

          In order to create my Google Map, I explored the student’s most recent Discovery page to learn about their trip across country to Alaska and back. I took what I learned about their trip and created a map illustrating their travels and experiences. Doing so inspired me to think of similar, local experiences I could lead for my future students.

Check out my map in view my map in Google maps.

Access my Google Drive document detailing the field trip's theme and the school's mission.

To read more about the mission and objectives of Discovery as well as to learn more about recent trips, check out the Discovery Archives Page.

Check out Discovery 2011's Facebook Page.

Learn more about the school by checking out its website.

Other Things to Be Illustrated Using This Tool

·         Underwater scuba dive

·         “The Way” or “El Camino” to Santiago de Compostella

·         City tour

·         Museum tour

·         College tour

·         The Oregon Trial

·         Places where Laura Ingles Wilder lived (discussed in her series of books)

·         Places in the community (study of relative and absolute location)

·         Tour de France

·         Civil war battles

·         Civil historical sites

·         Where George Washington has traveled

·         Route 66

·         Order of State Adoption

Standards Reflection

Using Google maps coincides with the ISTE-NETS-T’s Standard 1, “b and c.”           

        There is no better way to have students explore real-world issues than to take a look into their local, national, and global communities. Doing so by traveling outside of the classroom is best. If students in a class use Google Maps to create a record of their travels, they are required to reflect upon their experiences and learning through collaborative means using a tool meant to demonstrate understanding of geographical concepts, planning, and creative thought. But so often, traveling is simply not possible. But, traveling with the click of a mouse in Google maps still allows the teacher to guide students to solve authentic problems regarding any geographical topic.

Map: Batchgeo Part 2

Recap & Summary

            Yesterday, I collaborated with colleagues to compile a list of our locations and emails in a spreadsheet in order to prepare for creating a Batchgeo map of our learning community. We shared a Google spreadsheet in Google Docs which could be added to and edited at any time by any number of people. This was much more efficient than emailing the document and copying and pasting the data into an Excel document saved onto our individual hard drives.

Today, I created a publicly accessable map that has all of our locations tagged. By going to the URL here and clicking on the tags, you can access our addresses and links to our emails. You can also zoom in to better identify our relative locations. While we are a community of Shenandoah University students, we are also members of a virtual learning community. Many of my colleagues I have never met before. Being graduate students at a school with two campuses, we live throughout an expansive area of Virginia. Creating such a map allows us to feel a greater sense of classroom community as it helps us to learn more about the experiences of others.

What I Did

            Batchgeo let you create a map right from its home page. I selected all of the data from the class’s spreadsheet, copied it, and pasted it into a box on the website. After that, I clicked the “map now” button and Voila a screen appeared with my map! The site gave me the option to double check the locations of the tags and to edit the map if need be. In fact, after clicking the “Save and Continue” button, giving my map a title and description, and the most important part, submitting my email address, I am able to go back to edit my map any time.

What I Learned

            While I feel that I am a proficient computer user and knowledgeable regarding using the internet as resource, I am coming to realize how much more I can get out of these technologies by being more of an active than a passive user. I grew up learning that the internet was for surfing; I have had many years to perfect using my mouse to scroll through pages and pages worth of status updates, pictures, videos, and text. It is about time that I started to use the internet for purposes of creating and sharing objects to be used as resources by others.

How I Would Use It

            Until recently, I worked at a private middle/high school that promotes experiential, community based learning. Throughout the year (Jan-Dec) the school sets aside several days and a few weeks for students to organize and/or be involved in off campus learning experiences (traveling, community service, etc.). Faculty and staff arrange many experiences for which students must choose one or have an independent activity approved. For instance, the school is closed for one week in the spring during which teachers and administrators lead small groups on local, national, and international trips, each with a unique theme that corresponds to the school’s curriculum. When all return to school, students and faculty are encouraged to share their experiences. If students were taught to use Batchgeo, they could create maps detailing their travels for their peers, parents, and teachers as evidence of their learning. 

Standards Reflection

            Using Batchgeo in the classroom aligns with ISTE-NETS-T’s standard 2, parts “a,” and d.” Students are using authentic data and information with a contemporary tool to create an artifact to be shared collaboratively in an effort to augment students’ combined knowledge and to be formatively assessed as evidence of learning.

View EDU 585 Learning Community in a full screen map

Diigo Library Update: Week 2

I have just added three new stories/articles to my Diigo library. Here is an overview.

NYTimes.com
Fellowships that encourage smart students to pursue knowledge and forgo the college experience in order by tackling authentic applications that will get the job done.

CNN.com
When children receive things from other, they are othen made happy for a time. But, may the process of giving lead to both immediate and long-term happiness in children's lives.

U.S.News.nbcnews.com
Michelle Rhee comments on Obama's "Race to the Top" program and Romney's ideas regarding local level control on education and vouchers for low-income studnts.

To access my public Diigo library, click here.

Batchgeo Part 1: Google Docs

Summary

            Google maps are not just for finding directions! Batchgeo  allows users to create a web based Google map that indicates essential information about a location once the location information is plugged into a spreadsheet and copy and pasted onto the website. The application works by identifying addresses, intersections, cities, states, and postal codes. A Google map is served with tags that identify places around the world. Viewers can zoom in and out and click on the tags for additional information just as if using Google Maps.

To view my blog post about Google Docs, click here.

What I Did

When creating a Batchgeo map, first and foremost, it is necessary to create a spreadsheet. This can be done either using Microsoft Excel or Google Docs Spreadsheet. For this assignment, my colleagues and I are collaborating to synchronously (in real time) create a Google Doc Spreadsheet within which we are sharing our home addresses (including house numbers, street names, towns, states, and zip codes) and our email addresses. As we each input our data, Google Docs will automatically save the document, storing all necessary information for later retrieval. Once all data are input into the spreadsheet, we will be able to independently engage in Part 2—accessing Batchgeo, creating a personalized map, sharing it publicly online, creating a hyperlink to the map’s Batchgeo URL, and embedding our maps in our blogs.

For privacy reasons, I will not be including a link to the class spreadsheet.

What I Learned

            I have used Google Maps for two main purposes, 1) to get directions and 2) to identify places of interest in a location I am planning to visit. Once I zoom into a city or town, symbols for theaters, restaurants, schools, etc. appear. If I am trying to identify a place to meet a friend for dinner in a location I’m not familiar with, for instance, I will scroll my mouse overtop of the restaurant symbols to access information about the street address and I may even be able to see pictures, reviews, and restaurants’ URLs. I had no idea that an individual or company could create a customized map with similar options. Since I am already familiar with using such features on Google Maps, using a map created with Batchgeo should be easy.

How I Would Use It

In the elementary classroom, Google Docs may be used for such things as sign-up sheets (computer use during indoor recess, group projects, etc.). Additionally, teaching productivity may be enhanced in elementary schools using Google Docs when applications are used to collaboratively create and share lesson plans, notes about student performance for team teachers, presentations for shared unit plans and lessons, administrative sign-up sheets (bus duty, kitchen duty, etc.), parent sign-up sheets (parent volunteers, supply list, etc.)

 

Standards Reflection

The use of Google Docs as a teaching professional best corresponds with the ISTE-NETS-T standard three and its components. I believe that Google Docs can most thoroughly be used to enhance a teacher’s professional abilities. Working with colleagues and parents in the school community through Google Docs allows for the sharing of resources and knowledge, a demonstration of collaboration and the ability to communicate ideas. Any teacher who is able to make use of Google Docs and does so proficiently, proves themselves to be engaged in professional advancement in the field of digital technology and able to contribute productivity to a large community and so, successfully meets aspects of standard three.

When teachers share Google Docs with their students, for the purposes of collecting, organizing, or synthesizing information, they are working within virtual environment to construct collective knowledge on a subject, corresponding with standard two, “a.” This is unique to the traditional school learning experience in which students are expected to absorb the information they are given for synthesis into their own understanding of the world, taking critical thinking and team collaboration to a whole new level.