Group Leadership Project

Our group used Camtasia for our PD tutorial to demonstrate a screencasting software.  Camtasia is one of the best screencasting software’s on the market and gave us the freedom and ability to create a really clean and professional looking presentation.  I have also tried other software liked Cam Studio and that was not anywhere near as clear in production and options where very limited.  For our purposes and to really give a good overview of what screencasting really is and what it entails Camtasia was the best choice.

I learned a lot about how screencasting works.  I understood the general concept of what screencasting was but it was my first opportunity to really use the software first hand.  I was able to experiment and play around with a lot of the different features.  I have video editing experience and Camtasia was very similar.  I actually found the Camtasia software to be much more useful that most other video editing software.  I would recommend Camtasia for teachers who not only want to screencast but to create any kind of video to use in the classrooms.  It is very conducive to educator’s needs.

If I had to develop a similar product again I would probably have wanted to split the whole thing into 4 parts instead of 3 parts and one person doing the editing and voice-overs.  This way it is much easier for the person who is doing the screencasting to do the voice over.  This will allow the voice to match up with the video much more easily.  I struggled with this when I was putting together the final product and doing the voice-overs.  Every person reads at a different pace and it is tough to match up the video and the audio.  I really had to watch the video several times and using our storyboard to explain what was going on in the video.  Doing it where every person does their own part would make putting the final product together much quicker and easier.

Here is the link to our final project:

www.msu.edu/~dionneer/camtasia/Final.mp4

PART C - Implementation

Here is the link to my podcast:

WPP Part C

PART D - Findings and Implications

Formative:  Yes the project was implemented as planned.  It was a little difficult in some classrooms since there isn’t a consistent level of technology depending on what room you are teaching in.  However, for the most part, I was able to use the technology and implement my plan to engage students in transitional activities that in turn led to better classroom management.

Summative:  This project was somewhat difficult to show hard evidence that it worked.  Even through anecdotal records, the way that I had to implement this project made the results comparing apples and oranges.  I looked for and kept notes on number of disruptions, outburst and number of times students needed to be redirected.  I was looking for overall engagement and classroom management and I found these to be the most measurable indicators.  The difficulty in comparing the results came from the fact that as a substitute I was in a different classroom, with different students and sometimes even in a different school.  This made it difficult as I didn’t have a baseline so I couldn’t be sure if it was my project that I implemented that was having a real effect on classroom management.

In an ideal situation I would have been able to approach this project differently and used it in the same classroom.  I would have liked to have been able to have a before and after to compare things too.  In the project itself though, I would change the type of transitional activities that I focused on to see if I could find ones that would work the best.  For example, going into this project I had assumed that showing short video clips about the topic they were learning about would be the best.  They were often easy to find thanks to youtube and teachertube and I thought they would be the most engaging.  However I ran into some problems when trying to use videos.  First of all, they only work if all students finish an activity and are ready to transition at the same times.  And secondly, I found they aren’t as engaging as I had hoped.  Many students, since there was no activity or reason for them to be engaged and focused, still caused disruptions.  I actually found that using activities where I had students actively working on an activity and told them I would be collecting their results had a much higher success rate in lowering classroom disruptions.

I will endevear to do this project again and when I do I will focus on these more active and engaging activities.  Things like watching videos may be easier; however they are a much more passive activity.  Having an activity where students actively have to be engaged and produce something has a much higher success in classroom management. 

Part B - Storyboard and Script

Here is the link to our group's Storyboard and Script:
Storyboard

My responsibility and effort in this project is a behind the scenes focus.  I will be taking the different parts of the project from my group members and using them to put together a final product.  When working in a group project it is sometimes difficult to pull all of the pieces together.  Since I am proficient with the technology that we are using and creating a presentation with I volunteered to fill in this role.  I will also be doing all of the voice overs and syncing them with the videos.

My group is going to (and has done) a great job of gathering information and putting together their parts.  This part was split up into 3 parts with each person creating slides for each.  I will then take all of these excellent pieces of the puzzle and put them together creating our overall picture and presentation.

Part B - Application of TPACK

1.   What is the TP knowledge for the solution?  (i.e., how does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?)

The technology supports the teaching strategies and methods that I have chosen by allowing the teacher to have quick access to a variety of transition activities.  It would do no good if the transition into one of these activities lasted just as long as it would moving into the next part of the lesson.  That would defeat the purpose.  The technology allows for these activities to be presented to the students quickly to hold their attention and keep them engaged.  Technology also gives the teacher or substitute teacher the advantage of being able to access things such as videos and music quickly as well.  The technology has the advantage of providing a wider array of options to implement this strategy.  Technology can also be used to differentiate activities for students that may finish with assignments early.  This way you can challenge all students without a set task that may be too hard for some and too easy for others and won’t engage that student.

2.           What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible?  Be sure to think about representation.)

Technology makes this content much more accessible.  While substitute teachers should bring things in with them transition and extra materials technology gives these teachers a much wider array of options.  Technology allows teachers access to short videos, music and other activities that can engage students keeping them from causing disturbances during down time.  These down times often occur during transitions or if a lesson runs short.  This is something that happens more often with substitute teachers but is an issue of classroom management for all teachers.  The technology and its ability to let you access a wide array of activities also allows for teachers to differentiate instruction for different students.  An activity that may engage and challenge one student may be too easy and therefore not engage another.  Of course this differentiation can’t happen all the time, especially as a substitute because there would be no time for the lesson.  But if a student finishes with a lesson early this access to several resources will come in handy as it will allow you to challenge that student and/or give them multiple activities.

3.           What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies.

Technology is a large part of our culture and especially the culture of the students we teach.  The purpose of activities to support classroom management is to have engaging and challenging activities that will hold a student’s interest during transitions and/or if a lesson doesn’t run as long as planned.  Implementing technology into these activities help make the activities into something engaging and meaningful for the students and not just busy work.  A short video clip of something like current events can be engaging for example because it is happening in the world and is something students can relate to.  It is also educational and gets them thinking about the issues of the world.  Technology can be a great tool for something like this because it allows us to access these types of video clips.  There are also several educational activities online such as gizmos.com.  This is a place where students can learn through inquiry.  There is such a large array of choices with these inquiry activities that a teacher can find one that relates to the topic quickly and easily.  Each activity also comes with questions so that students will have to have something to show for their work and won’t just goof around.  The main goal with these activities is to keep students engaged to help classroom management as well as learning and stimulating their brains.  Technology is a great tool that allows us to accomplish both of these goals.

Screencasting Leadership Project Web Conference

Here is the link to the video of our web conference about our screencasting leadership project:
https://www.msu.edu/~carlrobe/CEP812/CEP812_Group_Meeting.mp4

Our group used the Google+ hangout feature.  It is a great video conferencing tool that allows up to 10 people to have a meeting all at once.  One of the advantages of the Google+ hangout tool is that it shows one persons video bigger in the middle of the screen.  Depending on who is talking and how loud they are talking it changes whose picture  is in the middle.  This is a good feature but it puts the focus on who is talking and keeps people from talking over one another.  Google+ hangout feature also has a text chat feature.  A disadvantage of Google+ hangout is that it can be a little temperamental.  During our web conference Jon was dropped from the conference when he tried to go to play around with some other features.  In its basic form it works very well but the other features need to be worked out.

PART A - Description of Need or Opportunity

1.   What is the important educational need that you are seeking to address? This element is fundamental in this project. Since we have limited time, energy, and resources, cool technology without a clear sense of why it matters or what we gain by it is of little value in the educational setting.

It was difficult for me to come up with a topic for this project since I am not a full time teacher so many of the problems that can be focused on as a full time teacher aren’t practical for me as a substitute.  What I decided to focus on then instead is something that all teachers, especially substitute teachers, need:  Classroom management.  This is an essential tool for any teacher.  As a new teacher it is also something that I believe would be very beneficial to have a better understand and knowledge of.  The more ammunition I have at my disposal for when I eventually have my own classroom the better off that I’ll be.  This is a very broad topic so I am going to focus on ways to keep students busy to limit downtime when problems usually arise.  This will focus on using technology to fill transitions and if lessons run short.

2.           How you plan to address this educational issue with technology?  You need to make a clear and convincing case that your proposed solution will make a real impact on the issue you identify, and that your proposed approach is a reasonable approach given its costs and possible alternatives.

Issues of classroom management usually arise when students are bored and/or have too much down time.  Students who are consistently engaged in learning are not going to have any time to be disruptive or get into trouble.  Technology can be a great asset in helping keeping students engaged.  One of the places that students have down time and problems can arise is during transitions.  As a full time teacher these transitions are usually smoother since you did the planning for them, however problems can still arise here.  Transitions can be especially challenging for subs since you aren’t always sure how long things will take or exactly how the students are used to things flowing.  Technology can be used to fill these times.  By putting on a short clip or a fun word or logic game up on the screen or smartboard for students to work on when they have their materials out.  There are several options you have when using technology to find small and quick games to fill these times in transition or even at the end of a lesson.  Another way to use technology to help solve students being bored if a lesson runs short or a student finishes work quickly is to have them do research on any question they might have come up with about the work and then possibly report back to the class on their findings.

3.           Logistics of solution: For example…

a.            What is the scope? (e.g., when and where will tool be used and for how long? Who all will use it?)

The scope of this solution is very large.  This is something that can be used anywhere by anyone for as long as needed.  It is a topic that several PHD educators and others have researched in attempts to make more effective teachers and teaching methods.  For my specific part of this project, my solution will be used by myself and the students I am teaching.  This solution will help me improve my classroom management and make learning more effective for the students that I am teaching.  I hope this is something I will be able to implement in any classroom with any set of students.  That would be ideal.

4.           Relevant research and resources (from the Internet and elsewhere) including reports on the closest effort you can find to what you are planning to do as well as ideas and materials you may be able to build upon in your own effort.  Your description should include:

a.             The results of your search (What resources may help guide your project? What resources may help in the implementation of your project?)

2. What you learned from performing this search. For example, which search engines did you use? What strategies did you use? What helped or hindered your search? How would you search again next time?

http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/classroom/management.htm - I found several good ideas here on several ways to use technology as a classroom management tool. Cambourne, B., Labbo, L. D., & Carpenter, M. (2001, November). What do I do with the rest of the class? The nature of teaching-learning activities. Language Arts, 79 (2), 124-136. Teachers need to challenge students by keeping them occupied with appropriate learning activities. - Technology allows more access to these types of activities that will keep them challenged, learning and engaged. http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?method=cResource.dspResourceCatalog - Gizmos is on online catalog of simulations that all relate to teaching standards.  These are all short interactive simulations that come ready with questions to keep the students focused.  It is a great resource for students who have finished quickly.  You can easily find something related to what was taught that day. I used Google to perform my search and found that there are several ideas out there for classroom management techniques however when it comes to technology most of the information out there is about classroom management techniques for implementing technology in the classroom not technology for implementing classroom management techniques.  What I decided to do was take the information that was out there on classroom management techniques (especially for subs) and incorporate technology in to that.

5.           A plan for the portion you will implement during this course and the portion you will implement after this course completes.

During this course I will implement strategies as a substitute.  The ideas to extend a lesson or fill up down time.  This will be the extent of what I’ll be able to accomplish without having my own classroom.  After the course hopefully I’ll have my own classroom that I’ll be able to implement other, long-term strategies in place for classroom management and test their effectiveness.

6.           How would you know you were successful?

The success of the implementation of using technology to assist with classroom management is something that will be hard to know immediately or with 100% certainty.  To measure the success I will have to do things like keep anecdotal records of student behavior.  I will focus on number of outbursts by students, number of times I have to redirect students and other disruptive behavior.  The difficult part of analyzing the data will be trying to account for factors like different students in different classes.  As a substitute it will be difficult to compare from one day to another since I am usually in different classes.  Different students means different types and frequency of behaviors.  I will have to use generalizations to analyze the data.

A Funny Thing Happened With Technology - The Podcast

Here is the link to my story about a funny thing that happened with technology.  I hope you enjoy.

https://www.msu.edu/~dionneer/AFunnyThingHappenedWithTechnology.mp3

Video Bio

Hello everyone!  Below is my video bio.  I used audacity to record the audio and a movie making software to combine both the audio track and the pictures.  Enjoy!