LIBE 477: Final Vision Project
LIBE 477: Final Vision Project: Design Considerations
What to Do? Where to Begin? My Process.
As I began contemplating where to go with my learning and what to focus on for my Future Vision Project, I knew immediately I wanted to focus on something I could use and share with my colleagues as a classroom teacher to promote 21st century learning and something I could share and use as a future teacher-librarian. By reading Why School: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere and doing my reading review research, I’ve learned about the importance of teaching in a manner that promotes learning to learn rather than content collection. With the onslaught of technology, education is no longer something that needs to be delivered. Students need to be taught how to be self directed, literate, organized, to make sense of people and information online, how to connect and build relationships online in a safe, ethical and effective manner, and how to stay on task (Richardson, 2012). So what could I do to promote this learning and share what I’ve learned?
Since our school district has provided our schools with iPads and Chromebooks with the intention of helping our students develop 21st century skills around technology, my colleagues and I have been trying to figure out ways to do this in classrooms over the last few years. We
have access to databases, google suites, and various apps. What I have found, through observation and my own experiences, that due to various comfort levels using technology, teachers often get their students to use technology mostly as a means to find research for projects and maybe type out what they’ve learned. That’s it. Although I recognize this is a great starting point, there is so much more that can be done with it to benefit our students. That is why, as I was deciding what to do for my Future Vision Project, I began leaning toward exploring how to share what I learned about promoting collaboration through technology.
Based on reading Why Schools and the research I did for my reading review (see my blog for my learning), there is a lot we can do as educators to help students use technology as a means to promote collaboration. It’s a huge amount of information and I don’t want to overwhelm my colleagues with what I want to share. Not only that, when would I have the time to do so? That is why I think I want to hone in on the use of a specific tool we are already using in our schools...Google Suites. I love using Google Suites in my classroom and with playing around, experimentation, and learning through this course, I’ve learned some great ways to use it for collaboration and enhancing student learning. As most of my colleagues have at least a little bit of experience using the Google Suites (primarily docs and slides), I think this would be a great place to build from.
I know from past experiences during PLC presentations or Pro-D days, when information is shared in a general way, but without the chance to explore or look back on presenter notes, I find I often forget to implement the learning that was shared in my classroom. Not only that, I want to be shown explicitly HOW to get to and use the various tech tools out there and have the time to play with it and get comfortable with it before using it in my class. This led me to reflect on how I would want to share this knowledge. My target audience, to start, would be my own staff at the school I work at through a PLC day. I’d also like to create something that I could easily share with other colleagues if there is interest through an email or link. The primary goal is to create something that teachers can go back to, watch, and learn from.
With these thoughts in mind, I’m thinking I’d like to create some sort of document (Slides, Powtoon) with embedded video links that show screen recordings of me actually using the Google Suites features in ways that get students collaborating with one another and with the teacher. Or maybe just making the whole thing a video? I’m not quite sure yet as I’ve never made videos before and will have to explore how to put all of my information together.
So, with all this in mind, I have begun to research some ways I can capture what I want to teach about the Google Suites from my chromebook. Our instructor, Darcy, was my inspiration for what to do next. On her weekly video announcements, she includes screen recordings of where things can be found online (i.e. the calendar for instance). This gave me the “lightbulb” idea to do the same - use a tech tool to record what I’m doing on my computer screen as a means to guide teachers in using Google Suites.
I’m going to “play around” with the Screencast-O-Matic Launcher Google extension to start. There are several support websites and YouTube videos that will help me with this process (just as I hope to create for my colleagues!):
Screencast-O-Matic Launcher: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/screencast-o-matic-launch/eefedolmcildfckjamddopaplfiiankl?hl=en
Support Website: https://support.screencast-o-matic.com/hc/en-us
Video: https://screencast-o-matic.com/blog/beginners-guide-free-screen-recorder/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1jIPo1bWCo
I’m also going to look into embedding my video recordings onto Powtoon and found this information to help me:
https://support.powtoon.com/en/article/adding-a-video-to-your-powtoon-4226001
Lastly, if the Powtoon option doesn’t work, I’ve added the WeVideo extension to my chromebook to see whether I can piece my videos into one “flowing” video.
I am nerv-cited about this project as it’s pushing me past my comfort zone. Not only am I using tech tools I’ve never used before...hello...VIDEO!... but it’s encouraging me to go beyond my own learning and sharing with others. My hope is that by putting myself out there and sharing my ups and downs with this experience, my colleagues will feel confident enough to approach me to help support their learning too and be confident in trying different tech tools on their own. Let the learning journey continue!
Richardson, Will. Why School: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere. TED Conferences, 2012. Open WorldCat, https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=0500B761-E92D-48E9-BF5E-4272F545CDE1.
What to Do? Where to Begin? My Process.
As I began contemplating where to go with my learning and what to focus on for my Future Vision Project, I knew immediately I wanted to focus on something I could use and share with my colleagues as a classroom teacher to promote 21st century learning and something I could share and use as a future teacher-librarian. By reading Why School: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere and doing my reading review research, I’ve learned about the importance of teaching in a manner that promotes learning to learn rather than content collection. With the onslaught of technology, education is no longer something that needs to be delivered. Students need to be taught how to be self directed, literate, organized, to make sense of people and information online, how to connect and build relationships online in a safe, ethical and effective manner, and how to stay on task (Richardson, 2012). So what could I do to promote this learning and share what I’ve learned?
have access to databases, google suites, and various apps. What I have found, through observation and my own experiences, that due to various comfort levels using technology, teachers often get their students to use technology mostly as a means to find research for projects and maybe type out what they’ve learned. That’s it. Although I recognize this is a great starting point, there is so much more that can be done with it to benefit our students. That is why, as I was deciding what to do for my Future Vision Project, I began leaning toward exploring how to share what I learned about promoting collaboration through technology.
Based on reading Why Schools and the research I did for my reading review (see my blog for my learning), there is a lot we can do as educators to help students use technology as a means to promote collaboration. It’s a huge amount of information and I don’t want to overwhelm my colleagues with what I want to share. Not only that, when would I have the time to do so? That is why I think I want to hone in on the use of a specific tool we are already using in our schools...Google Suites. I love using Google Suites in my classroom and with playing around, experimentation, and learning through this course, I’ve learned some great ways to use it for collaboration and enhancing student learning. As most of my colleagues have at least a little bit of experience using the Google Suites (primarily docs and slides), I think this would be a great place to build from.
I know from past experiences during PLC presentations or Pro-D days, when information is shared in a general way, but without the chance to explore or look back on presenter notes, I find I often forget to implement the learning that was shared in my classroom. Not only that, I want to be shown explicitly HOW to get to and use the various tech tools out there and have the time to play with it and get comfortable with it before using it in my class. This led me to reflect on how I would want to share this knowledge. My target audience, to start, would be my own staff at the school I work at through a PLC day. I’d also like to create something that I could easily share with other colleagues if there is interest through an email or link. The primary goal is to create something that teachers can go back to, watch, and learn from.
So, with all this in mind, I have begun to research some ways I can capture what I want to teach about the Google Suites from my chromebook. Our instructor, Darcy, was my inspiration for what to do next. On her weekly video announcements, she includes screen recordings of where things can be found online (i.e. the calendar for instance). This gave me the “lightbulb” idea to do the same - use a tech tool to record what I’m doing on my computer screen as a means to guide teachers in using Google Suites.
Screencast-O-Matic Launcher: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/screencast-o-matic-launch/eefedolmcildfckjamddopaplfiiankl?hl=en
Support Website: https://support.screencast-o-matic.com/hc/en-us
Video: https://screencast-o-matic.com/blog/beginners-guide-free-screen-recorder/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1jIPo1bWCo
I’m also going to look into embedding my video recordings onto Powtoon and found this information to help me:
https://support.powtoon.com/en/article/adding-a-video-to-your-powtoon-4226001
Lastly, if the Powtoon option doesn’t work, I’ve added the WeVideo extension to my chromebook to see whether I can piece my videos into one “flowing” video.
I am nerv-cited about this project as it’s pushing me past my comfort zone. Not only am I using tech tools I’ve never used before...hello...VIDEO!... but it’s encouraging me to go beyond my own learning and sharing with others. My hope is that by putting myself out there and sharing my ups and downs with this experience, my colleagues will feel confident enough to approach me to help support their learning too and be confident in trying different tech tools on their own. Let the learning journey continue!
Richardson, Will. Why School: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere. TED Conferences, 2012. Open WorldCat, https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=0500B761-E92D-48E9-BF5E-4272F545CDE1.
Thank you for sharing your thought process for this first blog. I like following how one idea leads to another. It leads perfectly to your goal of creating videos of yourself using the very tools you hope others will use/learn from you to use. Starting with free resources is great, too, as many teachers are often looking for those (myself included!). I've used PowToon before, but I've never embedded videos. I'll look forward to seeing what you find out about doing that!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the G-suite is a natural place to focus a project, since most students have access and teachers are only just becoming more accustomed to using the apps. Lots of us still need guidance and ideas to make the tech go beyond wordprocessing ;) I really like how you plan to extend your own learning by investigating video!
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent post that shares your thoughts, learning, and process. I appreciate the link back to our course reading. Creating a bank of video resources to support teachers as they learn more about G-Suite will be a valuable resource. You may want to consult this source for ideas: https://teachercenter.withgoogle.com/certification_level1
ReplyDelete