Today I created a teaching newsletter for the first time. I created it in the content area of Social Studies because that is the area which I have the most experience in and will hopefully one day be teaching. This was an interesting and helpful project because it made me not only learn about Education 2.0 but it it challenged me to think of ways I would explain it to parents. In many cases, parents are not as concerned or impressed with technical definitions and are simply looking for a simple explanation on how this is going to help their child.
Explaining Education 2.0 to parents and practicing explaining how certain class assignments will incorporate elements of technology is definitely an aspect of education which will become more and more prevalent as we more into the future.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Engrade Review
After signing up and reviewing this web site, I think it is really confusing. I don't think this is a software that I would choose to use as a teacher in real life. I like the fact that it is easy to manually enter the names of the students and the number of assignments, as well as how much of the final grade percentage each assignment will be worth. It is also a nice feature to be able to drop the lowest grade.
However, all of those nice features do not make the site any less confusing. I have been playing around with the web site for hours and have still not been able to figure out how to enter grades for what each student would have earned on the assignments, so I can not even utilize any of the grade calculation aspects of the web site.
My suggestion would be to make the program more user friendly and maybe have a tutorial for teachers on how to use it. It needs to be more clearly labeled what each section is worth and how to properly use each section of the web site.
If a teacher can actually fight with the program long enough to actually figure out how to use it, I can understand why a program like this one would be useful to students and teachers. The ability for parents to see their child's grades can be helpful in being proactive and contacting the teacher before any severe academic problems arise with their children. I know a lot of students who receive poor grades often either attempt to hide them from their parents, or do not tell their parents right away. The ability for a parent to be able to log on and see their child's grade regardless of if they actually show them their classwork or not.
Below is a picture of a grading matrix I attempted to create. It includes the assignments I created and how much of the final grade each assignment was worth. Unfortunately I was unable to figure out how to enter grades, so I was unable to experiment with what comes next as far as the grading process.
However, all of those nice features do not make the site any less confusing. I have been playing around with the web site for hours and have still not been able to figure out how to enter grades for what each student would have earned on the assignments, so I can not even utilize any of the grade calculation aspects of the web site.
My suggestion would be to make the program more user friendly and maybe have a tutorial for teachers on how to use it. It needs to be more clearly labeled what each section is worth and how to properly use each section of the web site.
If a teacher can actually fight with the program long enough to actually figure out how to use it, I can understand why a program like this one would be useful to students and teachers. The ability for parents to see their child's grades can be helpful in being proactive and contacting the teacher before any severe academic problems arise with their children. I know a lot of students who receive poor grades often either attempt to hide them from their parents, or do not tell their parents right away. The ability for a parent to be able to log on and see their child's grade regardless of if they actually show them their classwork or not.
Below is a picture of a grading matrix I attempted to create. It includes the assignments I created and how much of the final grade each assignment was worth. Unfortunately I was unable to figure out how to enter grades, so I was unable to experiment with what comes next as far as the grading process.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Digital Story
Today I created my first Digital Story. This was the first time I had ever created a presentation like this with any program other than Power Point. It was stressful at first because I consider myself somewhat of an expert on Power Point and have become very comfortable creating presentations with the program to give in front of my classes.
However, once I became accustomed to the Photo Story 3 program and started to get the hang of using it, the project became fun and easier. I chose to do my story on the United States use of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima at the end of World War II because I am studying to become a Social Studies teacher and it is easier for me to teach my own content obviously.
I particularly like being able to narrate the video myself, as it can be a little more exciting for people watching the presentation to hear a real voice, rather than having to read the words themselves.
Click here to view my page about my Digital Story on Hiroshima
However, once I became accustomed to the Photo Story 3 program and started to get the hang of using it, the project became fun and easier. I chose to do my story on the United States use of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima at the end of World War II because I am studying to become a Social Studies teacher and it is easier for me to teach my own content obviously.
I particularly like being able to narrate the video myself, as it can be a little more exciting for people watching the presentation to hear a real voice, rather than having to read the words themselves.
Click here to view my page about my Digital Story on Hiroshima
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