Christine+Brown

Full Project TimeSheets Midterm Presentation Final Reflection Final Presentation Annotated Bibliography

Reflections

September 12th My internship focuses on the integration of Web 2.0 into the classroom. With Bluffton Elementary pushing towards a technology school status with the district, we need to improve our overall use of technology in classroom situations. I decided to focus on Web 2.0 after leading a school summer book study with my kindergarten and first grade teachers. The book study was conducted through Edublog and the teachers had to post their responses to different chapters each week. Some teachers had never utilized blogging or the site and had difficulty understanding the program. After a short tutorial, they were able to easily continue. My thoughts went to how many others would use Web 2.0 if they just understood how it could impact the classroom. My five choices of sites were Edublog, Google Earth, Museum Box, Animoto, and Panoramio. These five were chosen because they would integrate well with elementary level curriculum standards.

My next obstacle was finding a mentor. Our school had a wonderful technology coach during the 2009/2010 school year, but she moved to another school to help implement STEM. Bluffton Elementary has since hired a new technology coach and she needs time to acclimate herself to our school district. I approached our district level technology specialist and he agreed to help.

I asked the kindergarten and first grade teachers to meet with me during their planning time to discuss Edublog. During our discussion, the common theme was difficulty understanding how to logon as the main issue. Most of the other issues were site related technical issues. I, also, met with the grade level team members to discuss their current knowledge level of Edublog. All were interested in the site and discussed wasy it could be used for staff discussions and projects. (Teachers use our school website, School Fusion, to blog with parents and students) After these reviews, I will focus more on the logistics of creating an account and logging in for the first time for beginners.

Next I looked as ways to create the video tutorials. I downloaded the trial version of Camtasia and I already have Jing installed. I created a pretend video through Jing first and it was very large and would be difficult to use with our limited resources at school. After seeing Dr. Smyth’s email about screenshots, I was relieved. I can now use Power Director and have the ability have handouts that are the exact same shots as the tutorial. The teachers will be able to easily find answers to questions they may have while using the program on their own.

The remaining part I reviewed this week was the technology proficiency level for the teachers. All teachers are required to take a technology proficiency test each year. This test has been put in place by the state department. Here is the proviso:

**1A.32. (SDE-EIA: XI-E.2.-Teacher Technology Proficiency) To ensure the effective and efficient use of the funding provided by the General Assembly in Part IA, Section 1 XI.E.2 for school technology in the classroom and internet access, the State Department of Education shall approve district technology plans that specifically address and incorporate teacher technology competency standards and local school districts must require teachers to demonstrate proficiency in these standards as part of each teacher's Professional Development plan. The Department of Education's professional development tracking, prescriptive and electronic portfolio system for teachers is the preferred method for demonstrating technology proficiency as this system is aligned to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) teacher standards. Evidence that districts are meeting the requirement is a prerequisite to expenditure of a district's technology funds. ** 1A.32. (SDE-EIA: XI-E.2.-Teacher Technology Proficiency) To ensure the effective and efficient use of the funding provided by the General Assembly in Part Bluffton Elementary has 47 certified teachers that took the test. 10 teachers were not able to make the 80% passing score. 15 were able to score well above 90%. With these results, I will focus my beginner tutorials on the 10 that did not pass. The advanced tutorials will be utilized with all others. As the teachers work with the tutorials, I will monitor the progress to determine if groups need to be adjusted. **Note:** teachers will be retaking the test during the month of October. I will review results and make changes to the grouping during that time as well.

My next step is creating the first tutorial, Edublog and presenting it to the teachers. The teachers will complete a usage survey at the end of the week as well. The survey will be created through Google Docs. 1A.32. (SDE-EIA: XI-E.2.-Teacher Technology Proficiency) To ensure the effective and efficient use of the funding provided by the General Assembly in Part IA, Section 1 XI.E.2 for school technology in the classroom and internet access, the State Department of Education shall approve district technology plans that specifically address and incorporate teacher technology competency standards and l

cal school districts must require teachers to demonstrate proficiency in these standards as part of each teacher's Professional Development plan. The Department of Education's professional de Reflection 2 - September 26th

I started the week of September 12th looking for journal articles for the bibliography. Not as easy as I have hoped it would be. I can find quite a bit of information on what Web 2.0 sites to use and even a few that discuss how to use them. My biggest issue is locating ones that discuss the effectiveness of Web 2.0 or ones on the specific websites I am using for my internship. Many articles tend to list several top sites and give some brief information on the basics of the sites. I think I will shift gears a little and look for ones that give effectiveness and are generally related to my choices…ie edublogs to general blogging, animoto to general animation/photo sites.

The discussion of my internship project with the staff was very interesting. I can easily spot the novices versus the “tech geeks.” The geeks were anxious to get started and had never heard of panoramio or museum box. The novice reminded me of the students in class that didn’t know the answers: they tended to not make eye contact and acted like they were taking notes. A couple of high flyers in technology came to me the next day and had already started playing on the museum box site. Overall everyone was willing to help with the project and interested in the video tutorial idea. They liked the idea that they would have access to it from my Wiki so they could review them at home too.

Ok, honestly, the stills are very time consuming. The Edublog site has soooo many levels and it is difficult to grasp all of it for the novices. My video tutorial for them may be lengthy. It was made a little easier with the fact that they have an easy version button for beginners. I currently have 20 stills and haven’t complete a fully set-up blog yet. I am considering breaking it into two tutorials for novice, one to get registered and one to login and create a blog. Thoughts anyone? The expert one is very quick and easy. No trouble there.

Dr. Smyth, to answer your questions about the technology test: it has changed with the times. There are now several questions directly tied to Web 2.0 sites, especially Wikispaces. I could count at least 5 questions just on Wiki. The Google earth site and one called Crazy Talk (2d animation) was utilized in a best answer classroom situation. The test pushes application of technology with students more as well. The test questions focus on how the students could use the sites for projects and collaboration.

elopment tracking, prescriptive and electronic portfolio system for teachers is the preferred method for demonstrating technology proficiency as this system is aligned to the International So Reflection 3, October 25th Wow, since the midterm the staff has really helped step it up with the training. All training on Edublog and Museum Box has been completed. The staff has completed the surveys for both and the results will be compiled and added to my Wiki soon. I have reviewed all the comments and made some adjusts for the next video. For Museum Box, many staff members wanted to be able to “jazz” their boxes up a little so I did an additional training to show them some of the cooler features of the site. I worked on changing number of boxes, color schemes and how to add all the students so they have their own accounts. The teachers loved the last part so we are continuing the staff development on that feature as a side item. I have completed the videos for Animoto and will train everyone on those this week. We will only have two more to go after this. It doesn’t affect us too much but we have a fall break from 10/31 through 11/4. I will utilize that time to compile the results, work on annotated bibliography and complete all the remaining videos. If things go as planned here is the remaining schedule of events: Animoto survey – October 28th Week of 10/31 – Nov. 4th – off for fall break, work on above listed items Week of 11/7 – 11/11 – Complete training on Panoramio and do survey <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Week of 11/14 -11/18 – Complete training on Google Earth and do survey <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Nov. 19th – 30th <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">-Write 3-5 page reflection and submit to Dr. Smyth <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">- Submit products to Dr. Smyth <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">- Have mentor write evaluation and submit to Dr. Smyth <span style="color: white; font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: top;">echnology in Education (ISTE) teacher standards. Evidence that districts are meeting the requirement is a prerequisite to expenditure of a district's technology funds.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Reflection 4 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">November 7, 2011 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Christine Brown

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The past week and a half has been very productive. The productivity wasn’t so much from implementation since our school was on fall break, but for me in production of materials. The teachers did finish the Animoto training before break. I sent them the survey to complete over the break. During the break I was able to complete all training videos, created remaining two surveys, compile survey results for first two trainings, completed handout for Panoramio and started with Google Earth. I even had an opportunity to work on the Annotated Bibliography and update my Wikispace.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Since returning to school on November 7th, we have started the training on Panoramio. The novice training has gone very well, especially since this site is extremely easy to use. It was exciting to watch them search for their home towns or old elementary schools. For the advanced users I decided to add another site with Panoramio called Gigapan. It is very similar in use but has panoramic pictures instead.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I made one change to the video tutorials based on the survey results. The teachers asked for ways to utilize in their classrooms so I have made refer to that idea throughout the remaining videos. For the Google Earth videos, the advanced users have asked me to provide several training videos on the various features since there are so many. I will keep the novice one simple and then provide a variety for the advanced users to choose from..ie how to visit the Moon or view the sky and constellations.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Almost there!

Reflection 5

November 22, 2011

These past two weeks have been great. The staff has finished all videos and really enjoyed the trainings. I completed the training on Panoramio and started thinking about Google Earth. I had the one basic video but there were so many unique features to the site that I wanted the staff to see. I spoke to my mentor, staff and to the media specialist. Everyone agreed that multiple videos were needed. I did about 6 different additional videos. They were a big hit. The staff has used Google Earth in their classrooms more than the other sites so far. We even utilize Google Earth during a media attended event about our students partnering with a Japan elementary school that was affected by the tsunami. The students couldn’t believe the devastation. We used the time lapse tool to show them the before and after shots.

At this point, all training and surveys are done. I have to add some stuff to the Wikispace and will accomplish that this weekend. All that will be left is the bibliography, final presentation and final reflection/time sheet.

The staff at my school has been wonderful and extremely supportive. They were receptive to the videos and really have come to expect them. I am blogging a weekly Web 2.0 site and they love the ideas. The teachers with weaker technology skills have asked me to create short videos on some the sites that they are interested in using. I think I am going to start a staff training area on the school staff drive. My mentor even asked me if he could share some of the videos for other schools to use. It is awesome that the teachers want to pursue more Web 2.0 usage in the classroom to help engage the students.