Final Reflection

Final Reflection

          I know I have come a long way when it comes to technology thanks to this class and you Dr. Gross.  This class forced me step out of my comfort zone and start interacting with different types of technology.  I can honestly say that at times, I felt like I had been living under a rock.  How did I not know about Infogr.am or Ease.ly?   Learning about the different social media, and how they can be used as learning platforms by keeping ourselves and students connected was so educational.  Similarly, working with the different Webb apps like Animoto, Piktochart, Screencast-O-Matic, Pixton and all other apps we were exposed to during the course was fun and educational as well.  Sharing the knowledge I learned with fellow peers and learning from all of you through your blogs was rewarding and insightful at the same time. 

          I really do think that getting familiar with the different tools was fulfilling even though some proved to be challenging.  If I had to pick favorites, two come to mind:  Animoto and Screencast-O-Matic primarily because they offer such a unique way of presenting information.  I loved how easy working with Animoto was and then seeing the end result was truly amazing.  I feel like Animoto would be a tool students will enjoy because they tend to gravitate towards videos already.  In the classroom, videos can be used to introduce a topic, as a re-teach, to a lesson previously covered, as enrichment, support etc.  As a library media specialist, I would utilize videos to teach procedures, how to use a Web app, advertise a section of the library, upcoming activities, and lastly showcase books and resources.

          Screencast-O-Matic was a bit challenging, but worth the trouble.  Screencasts also offer a unique and creative way to communicate with your students.  They engage students and enhance their learning.  On the plus side, it is a great tool for teachers as well because once done it can be accessed by students at anytime and from anywhere.  I can see myself incorporating both Animoto and Screencast-O-Matic in the library and currently in the classroom. 

          Vine and Instagram were my least favorite.  I feel like these two social media platforms did not lend themselves as easily as the rest for the classroom and education as whole.  I favor using Facebook, Twitter or Blogger for the sharing of ideas, collaborating, and learning through connectedness.  I feel that learning by staying connected is without a doubt extremely beneficial for students. Having them discuss topics through a blog, or record audios through Soundcloud or Podbean is wonderful.  As a whole, the experience gained in this course has definitely broaden my horizons and provided me with learning opportunities I can offer my students.

Media (is) the message

Media (is) the message

The article The media debate clearly conveys the ambivalent views held by experts in the field about the impact media has on achievement and learning.  Many of us “digital immigrants” still think of media in traditional terms.  The media was limited to the news, radio, and television.  My primitive frame of mind made me question whether this debate meant “media” to embody that traditional and simplistic meaning.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized how stuck I was in my ways.    I was sure that Richard Clark and Robert Kozmas meant media to be inclusive of technology and everything in between such as Webb Apps, software, and hardware in this debate.  Or did they? The debate was written in the early 90s if I’m not mistaken, a time when technology was slowly emerging.   I was stuck again!  I decided to take a closer look at what Clark and Kozmas, two academics in the field, deemed media to be. 

In this article, Clark defined media as the “vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement” (1).  In reference to his definition of media, one could argue then that media is not just referring to the traditional concept of news, and radio only.  In today’s computer or technology world, "media" can be any web technologies used to communicate information; hence “digital media” a term used by Anderson and Krathwohl in Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy.   If so, I strongly disagree with Clark’s assertion that media does not influence student learning and side with Robert Kozma who argues that the capabilities of media can influence learning for particular students in various ways.

          Kozma suggests that different media have different capabilities and characteristics that given cognitive elements and methods can influence learning.  I believe Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy supports his affirmation by explaining that media are tools used for “achieving, recalling, understanding, application, analysis, evaluation, and creativity”.  If they assist in the learning process than Clarks argument is not precise.  The use of different media can alter the thinking process of students depending on their learning styles.  For example, using certain digital media such as blogging, filming, animating, and podcasting encourages and facilitates collaboration, discussion, and sharing of ideas, which support the HOTS (higher order thinking skills) of Blooms Digital Taxonomy.  In the same manner, googling, social bookmarking, twittering, all forms of media, support the LOTS (lower order thinking skills).  Given this information, it is evident that media in all its varied forms do contribute to a given extent to the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. 

Furthermore, Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything, visually depicts the same assertion that media apps can help develop cognition in a learner.  Schrock organizes technology apps to correlate with Blooms digital taxonomy.  For example, Spark Video, CANVA, FOTOBABBLE and PODOMATIC, all support the creating level.  This proves once again Kozma’s argument that certain media affect the ways in which individuals represent and process information.  Moreoever, Schrock suggests that when using these media tools for learning purposes, the teacher takes the role of a facilitator by setting broad goals and then offering students a choice of tasks using multiple media tools which can create an enhanced learning experience for students (Schrock 5). In other words, students also learn to evaluate, make choices, and take ownership of their work.  Students use text and media to organize and present the effects of their learning using different types of media.  Schorck’s guide to using media tools for teaching and learning supports Kozma’s argument that media has a direct learning effect.

Media, in all its forms is redesigning the way we teach and the way students learn. I believe that multi-media has become an integral part of our education system because it has proven to be helpful.  Take for example the reading programs out there designed to help the struggling reader/learner.  The programs are media designed to provide features that can hopefully enhance learning; they chunk data, provide visual representations and assistive language components to mention only a few.  It is clear that for certain types of learning and for certain types of learners with different learning modalities, media are vehicles that influence, alter, modify, and facilitate the process of learning.  The use of technology with guided teaching, and well planned lessons does have a learning impact.  Dschneider said it well in The debate goes on, “Cognition is not only in the head, it sometimes needs tools or other people” to achieve deeper or more meaningful results.

  

Sources:

Anderson, L.W., and D.R. Krathwohl. 2000. A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Becker,K. (n.d.). The Clark-Kozma debate in the 21^st Century.  Retrieved November 19, 2016, from http://www.academia.edu

Bloomin' Apps. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2016, from http://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html

Kozma, R. B. (1994).The influence of media on learning: The debate continues. School Library Media Research, 22(4) 233.

The media debate. (2012, August 30). Retrieved November 18, 2016, from http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/The_media_debate

Podcasts

Podcasts

Podcasting is the ability to create and listen to audio or video content either live or downloaded for later use.  My twelve and nine year olds are obsessed with podcasts.  They can sit and listen to someone talking about a video game or a toy they like for hours.  After listening to some podcasts myself, I understand why podcasting is something that is trending in education and why it’s so popular among students.

 Podcasting can be used in the classroom or by teachers in a variety of ways.  It can be a tool teachers/librarians use to communicate with parents, and students outside of the classroom.  Teachers/librarians can communicate upcoming school and classroom events, projects and activities.  In addition, teachers can use podcasting to give a lesson that students can access outside the classroom and can be viewed for tutoring or to re-teach at a later date. Teachers/librarians can have students publish their work, do book reads, book reviews, conduct interviews, and much more.  I tried using Audioboom but was not successful.  I tried to figure it out for two days until I found out it was an Apple application. I went as far as creating the account listening to some podcasts, but creating one wasn't an option.  I thought I was doing something wrong, so then I created a new account using a second email, but I faced the same problem.  The other two Podomatic and Soundcloud were fairly easy to use.

Podomatic

I was truly bracing for a very frustrating evening trying to make a podcast using Podomatic since my experience with Audioboom had not been very positive.   I was really feeling anxious about it.  However, I was amazed to see how it was exactly the opposite!  I created the account and on the main page without having to go anywhere else, I clicked on the create a podcast button located at the top of the page.  I thought to myself "it can't be this easy".  However, I was really pleased to see that it was.  The app asked to download the file, add a title, and publish.  That easy!  I will for sure use this again in the classroom.

Sound Cloud

SoundCloud was just as cooperative as Podomatic.  The sound isn't good on this one.  It sounds like there's too much echo,or the sound is just too low.  It might be that this podcast was not a file upload; the recording was live.   

Cartoons and Comics

Cartoons and Comics

Our schools, classrooms, and libraries are filled with students with different learning modalities, backgrounds, talents, and needs, and as educators, we are always on a quest to find new and creative ways to engage them all.  This is a challenge that is underestimated in every way.  Thinking outside the box is made easier when we have so many webb apps like MakeBeliefssComix, ToonDoo, and Pixton, at our disposal.  Having students create comics and cartoons is a fun way to make reading, writing, and thinking more enjoyable.  They provide students and teachers with unique ways of interpreting, and expressing language by integrating images and words.  Students can create comics and cartoons to plan a story line, summarize short stories and chapters, illustrate short biographies, learn about current events, and create daily journals using new vocabulary- to name a few.  

MakeBeliefsComix



I created this comic for a quick write.  We will be reading "The Monkey's Paw" soon and the story touches on the theme of superstitions.  I thought it be a nice way to introduce it, and learn about superstitions. Makebeliefcomix was really easy to use. I love the fact that they offer many ideas on how to incorporate comics into your lessons and classrooms.  Some of the ideas mentioned sound great especially for my ESOL students.  Filling in the thought bubbles, so they can practice language skills are great mini lessons that can dramatically help with language development.    The only downfall to Makebeliefcomix is the limited number of characters.  I wanted a witch for my last panel but couldn't find one.  All in all, I think our students can have a great time creating their own comics using it.

ToonDoo

My comic is a chapter summary of the short story "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W.Jacob.  My students will create their own comics for chapter 2 and 3 to show comprehension of the reading.  ToonDoo is a great webb tool that is easy to use.  However, at times, I felt a little frustrated because I'm used to using the undo arrow whenever I make a mistake.  ToonDoo does not have the undo arrow!  I loved the variety of characters; and the fact that you can change the posture and expressions.  These two features can serve students well when thinking about characterization.

Pixton

My reading class has been doing a "Meet and Greet" every week.  I provide them with an article about a person who has changed or influenced the world.  They usually jot down important information like the reasons the person is remembered today using the 5 key point graphic organizer. I thought I'd try doing the comic instead.  I think it works perfectly. I can't wait to have them work on one next week. Pixton provides the user with so many great options.  One of the features I really enjoyed using was moving my character's posture and changing their facial expressions.  Moreover, Pixton was  easy to use, I had no real problems at all. 

Tellagami

http://tellagami.com/gami/NP763Z/

Videos and QR Codes in the Library

Videos and QR Codes  in the Library

Videos

Video are such a fun way to deliver information, and students love to watch them.  In the classroom, videos can be used to introduce a topic, as a re-teach to a lesson previously covered, as enrichment, support etc.  In the library, a media specialist can utilize videos to teach certain procedures such as how to use the online catalog and databases, how to use a web app, advertise a section of the library, advertise activities, and lastly showcase books.  The following were videos that I think would be useful and the most fun to watch for students.

The NHS Library

I thought this video on how to use EBSCOHost could be useful when teaching students how to use databases for research purposes.  It shows students what to do step by step in an easy to follow manner. I enjoyed following Tiger around in the library, and I think students will too. Students will think it's a fun vide while learning about the library.  Tiger models library procedures from start to finish.  He shows students they should sign in when first entering the library, teaches them how to find a book using the online catalog.  Tiger advertises  the different resources available by using a computer to search  for more articles on tigers.  Tiger shoes how fun the library can be by doing a little reading, enjoying some time his friend playing chess and visiting the periodical section .  Tiger also models how to properly check out a book by reminding students that a school id is required. Finally tiger shows students where to return books. 

The Unquiet Library

Creative Commons? What is that?  These are some of the reactions students have when they are told to either provide attribution to their images or use images from the creative commons realm.  This video would be very useful to teach students about some of the places they can search for and find images that are free to use.   Students love watching other students in project videos like this one.  I chose this video because it shows students having fun while learning about Greek Mythology.  Videos like this one can ignite excitement in other students to create their own videos. Pikesville H.S Library  I thought this video would be beneficial to high school students because it provides information they need to know for graduation.  Often times, students don't know what courses are needed to graduate or how many learning hours are required.  I feel that the more they know the better they will be.  Having a video like this one posted on the school's webpage at the beginning of the year for parents and students to watch is a great idea.  

       Students would like this video because it shows that the library can be fun.  It also shows that adults care enough to allow students to do something they'd enjoy.  Having seniors plan and choreograph this scene in the library adds a memorable and positive experience that students can take with them fore ever.


  This video would be beneficial for students because it walks you through how to create a citation for a website using NoodleTools.  The video was very clear and detailed.  

            

Forget the those late paper notices.  This is a better way to bring students awareness about turning in their books on time.  Fun to listen and watch; students would enjoy  it!

Book Trailer 

When Gerald was a child he was fascinated by fire. But fire is dangerous and powerful, and tragedy strikes. His substance-addicted mother is taken from him. Then he loses the loving generosity of a favorite aunt. A brutal stepfather with a flaming temper and an evil secret makes his life miserable. The one bright light in Gerald's life is his little half sister, Angel, whom he struggles to protect from her father, Jordan Sparks, who abuses her, and from their mother, whose irresponsible behavior forces Gerald to work hard to keep the family together. 

QR Codes

Quick Response Codes can be used in the library in many different ways.  We can create QR codes to advertise books, have students participate in scavenger hunts, link webpages to handouts and for quick responses to a lesson you have previously delivered.  QR codes are easy and fun and offer a neat way to integrate the use of technology.

Screencasts, Instagram, and Vine

Screencasts

Screencasts offer a great way to communicate with your students.  They capture their attention and enhance learning.  It’s a great tool for teachers becaue it can be used to teach procedures and answer common questions that you find yourself saying over and over. The best part of creating screencasts is that students can access them at any time and from anywhere.

          For my first screencast I used Screencast-o-matic. Creating an account took no time whatsoever.  Everything about it was self-explanatory. Screencast-o-matic offers great features; for starters, it is free and it gives you up to fifteen minutes of video.  These are two good things; however, it does limit the user to 5 screencasts.  It offers a free screen and webcam recorder to record your screen videos.    Other features include, changing the size of your frame and the resolution, having the option to pause and continue was also very convenient.  In addition, it allows you to share by giving you the option to upload to Screencast-o-matic, and YouTube.  A unique URL is given to you after you hit done so if you choose to embed and share anywhere else you can.  The only downside to this program is the fact that you can’t edit after you stop recording. I couldn’t figure that out.  I had to start over a couple of times.

http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cD6qrijkEv

          Signing up for Adobe Spark was also easy.  As soon as you look at the page you are entranced with all the possibilities and the eye catching display of templates, phot layouts, and designs. I think Adobe is more sophisticated in terms of options and features.     One of the best features of the app is that you can create more than just videos.  With Adobe Spark the creation of memes, portfolios, invitations, catalogs, and photo journals is made easy and possible.   The setup is comprehensive, you have an option of creating a post, page, or video right from the start.   I delved in and created an inspirational meme with one of my favorite quotes by clicking on the post button.  I proceeded to go into the video button which is for creating animated videos.   I clicked on the Teach a Lesson category and I soon found myself creating a short literary elements review for my students.  It came in handy since this week was review and midterm week.   I really enjoyed creating my presentation without the stress of adding any audio then having the option of going back and including it once I was ready to do so.  You are also allowed to change the format from slide to slide and add music effects if you decide not to narrate. The best feature is that you always have the option of going back to make changes!

          Screencast-o-matic and Adobe Spark are two great web apps.  I can see myself incorporating both into my lessons and having students create great projects using them as well.  I personally enjoyed the versatility and flexibility that Adobe Spark offers.   It offers the user more options and it is easy to use.  Screencast-o-matic has less features but serves its’ purpose well. 

Instagram and Vine

I am quickly finding out how useful social media tools can be in the classroom.  Instagram, the popular sharing app can be used like Remind 101 for announcements and reminders.  Posted photos can be used in a variety of ways.  You can use them to advertise the different activities in the library, or a new trending book that just arrived.  It can also highlight finished projects. A posted picture can be used as the basis of a journal writing, or it can be used as stimuli to think about and write about a specific literary device such as symbolism or tone. In both cases, the student’s language skills are being targeted and challenged.  Pictures can prompt critical thinking by having students predict outcomes, make inferences, draw conclusions, determine cause and effects, identify problem and solutions etc.

Vine, the short video sharing service can also be used in the classroom to hone in on memorization techniques, vocabulary acquisition, and reading skills.  I especially see Vine being a useful tool for my English Language Learner Reading class.  Students love guessing games and using Vine as a Charades game can really be beneficial for all students especially our new arrivals. Having students act out the meaning of words and then having others guess which word is not only helping them learn and memorize, but also targets the speaking domain by having them pronounce words.  Creating mnemonics to remember a process or the steps to a task is also another useful way of incorporating vine into the classroom.  Because my student’s English proficiency level is limited, they benefit from mnemonics very much especially when they are expected to write well-structured and concise responses with limited language abilities. The following are examples of mnemonics that I use.  I've been using these for quite some time and they do help.  I did not come up with these my self; they've been shared with me by others.

https://twitter.com/jessloves2read/status/789134674366824448?s=09

http://twitter.com/jessloves2read/status/789135064248430592?s=09

            

         

Ingographic-Science and Technology:Benefecial Forces in America

Infographics

"Teaching kids to create their own infographics — to break down complex information, then  use image, symbol and text to communicate it attractively and effectively... [Infographics] pushes students outside their normal, comfortable “school” reading-and-writing habits, but it gives them practice in the ultimate 21st century skill: telling stories with data.”  This quote found in How One Class Learned to Create Their Own Infographics explains the amazing ideology behind infographics. 

I realize that the transformation of data into visual representations if done right does help the brain process and understand data better.  I think this would be an absolutely useful tool to use in the classroom because many of our students are visual learners. Communicating effectively incorporates words, numbers, and visuals.  Data driven or evidence driven data is better told with infographics.

Creating an infographic turned out to be more fun than I thought.  I must say that all three websites Infogr.am, Easel.ly, and Piktochart were impressive in their own way.  I chose Piktochart because it had appealing templates and it was easy to use. I passed on Infogr.am because I thought Piktochart was perfect for the type of article I chose.  Infogr.am seemed more geared toward charts, graphs and less on visual representations which is what I was looking for.  Deciding between Easel.ly and Piktochart was the hard part because both had what I was looking for.  Easel.ly had many templates to choose from and a great collection of visuals as well, but in the end it came down to ease.  For me Piktochart's interface was practical, learning how to navigate through it wasn't time consuming.  It just came more natural.

Here is my Infographic. Enjoy!

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/16999683-lssl-5391-science-and-technology-beneficial-forces-in-ameri

What is an RSS?

           I honestly had no idea what an RSS reader was.   I was a little embarrassed to admit this, but I realized this is was the whole point of this assignment.  I set out to learn and look at the different RSS (Really Simple Syndication) apps and see what they were all about.  I even looked at YouTube videos that could help me clarify some of the information I was reading.  In simple terms RSS readers are used by many to help them keep up with the abundance of information and news from various sites.  Therefore, An RSS app is a help tool/ resource that helps readers read relevant information posted on their preferred websites in an organized clever way.  Instead of going into several individual websites you click on Feedly to look at new and updated posts from all your favorite sites.    

           

I chose Feedly from a myriad of other RSS readers for a couple of reasons.  First, Feedly is free and easy to use.   In addition, when reading the reviews, many users compared it to Google Reader (which was loved and still missed by many), and say Feedly is the closest to it.  Feedly, has been dubbed  the next best thing, and others say it’s even better.  With feedly, you won’t miss any new and updated posts. It is a cross platform app; it works with androids, iOS, and pcs. Moreover, the interface design is simple to use and follow.  Another feature that impressed me is Feedly gives the reader the option to choose how to receive their feeds. Some of the choices are: *Title view, which is a text heavy, in other words, the titles appear, and the reader choses to read the feed based on interest on the title.  * The Magazine View also provides title plus a short summary. I personally prefer the magazine view because the title alone does not give me a whole picture of the article.  The last option is *The Card View- an option that focuses on visual feeds. Feedly  also provides many sharing tools, so if you feel like you must share via Facebook, email, messenger, twitter, etc. right away- you can. So if you are an amateur user like me or an accomplished expert, Feedly sounds like the right choice.  The cost is non-existent; the design of the interface is easy to manage, and it is a cross-platform application whose features empower users to make their experience unique. 

3 of my favorite picks from Feedly:

1: School Library Journal- Very informative.  I get pleasantly lost reading all their book reviews.  Also very interesting articles, I read something that caught my attention on video games.  I recommend all mothers who worry and wonder about the impact video games are having on their children to read it. The article is called “The Surprising Impact of Brain Games on Learning”.

2. Tiny Tips for Library Fun- this is great blog to follow.  I’m not a librarian yet, and reading about all the fun possible activities librarians incorporate into their programs is so refreshing.  Reading blogs like these is quickly becoming a nice way to end my day.  Some the activities I read on were ideas to promote reading among children during low traffic times in the library.   One example is Free-quent reader club- created based on the concept of frequent flyers earning bonuses and air miles-very clever! The winner earned a book.  Smart Cookies, Club also an idea to keep students checking out books and reading, here a cookie is added to the bulletin board after each student completes a read.

3. Goldnview Middle School- As I was going through some of the news, I stumbled across the cardboard challenge the Goldview was doing for the month of September.  I thought huh? Then I saw the video called  “Caine’s Arcade” where Caine a 9 year old boy builds a whole arcade out of empty cardboard boxes.  It was brilliant!   Children need to use their imagination and creativity in fun ways like this.

2 of my favorites on Tumblr URL:

carmar0315.tumblr.com

 4.  http://motivational.tumblr.com/post/

I truly love to read positive quotes on a daily basis.  It’s a great way to start my day.  I even share them with my students, and they love them too.  Now I have them all in one place.  I don’t have to google inspirational quotes in the morning.  I can access from my phone!

  5.  http://creatinglibrarydisplays.tumblr.com/Great Library Displays- Awesome ideas found here! The posted pics are inspiring-they are awesome. 

Facebook and Twitter

Facebook has evolved into so much more than just a place to socialize.  Businesses both small and large are embracing Facebook for marketing purposes.  It makes sense then, that many school  libraries are jumping on the bandwagon and have started using it to promote everything about the library.  Martin High School, a local school where I live uses Facebook for their book club.  Students keep up with upcoming events, meetings and discuss books! Austin ISD also has a Facebook that posts news, videos, state wide library initiatives, displays of books, upcoming events such exhibits in the community.  I enjoyed seeing all the pictures and reading some of the book reviews and articles that some of these libraries posted.  After seeing all this, I realize that Facebook is in invaluable source of information if used appropriately.   Keeping it current and interesting plus not having control of how students might comment on certain posts by others would be the only disadvantages.  However, the benefits out weight the negatives.  Our students know and like Facebook; it is a great tool/medium to use to connect with our digital natives and promote literacy by giving them a space where they can share ideas, communicate, collaborate and learn from one another.

Twitter has also become a very popular medium of communication and a good source of information that can be used to promote the library.  I enjoyed following the tweets of many of the ed. tech. leaders.  I found Jim Lermans' tweets about emerging technology applications and trends to be very informative.  I think his tweet on "What Education Technology Could Look Like Over the Next Five Years" is something that is already taking shape in education.  The article reaffirms the notion that technology is becoming a fundamental element in educational practices.  I can see the importance of also following some of the professional organizations such as AASL because it provides the public and professionals in the field of education with pertinent information such as  dates for seminars, peer reviewed articles, and upcoming webinars.    YALSA, The Book Horn and School Library Journal promote books by tweeting book reviews and including illustrations and fun pictures. 

As future librarians we want the library to be thought of as the place  with the most up-to-date, the most relevant, and most cutting edge resources and for that to happen,  we must stay informed and then share with others.  Facebook and Twitter are two popular mediums of communication that facilitates this.  

 

Introduction

Hello everyone! I'm really excited to see what is in store for us this semester. Hope everyone had a restful summer and I wish everyone a smooth start and a great year.