Reflecting on Making a Podcast

Podcast Reflection

I enjoyed learning about Audacity.  I had not had previous experience with this type of program and I found it to be worth my time and effort to learn how to use it.  In my previous projects I have struggled with background noise.  If I had used this in my other projects I would not have struggled so much and possibly would have been done quicker. 

After I finished my tutorial I asked one of my colleagues to watch it and let me know if it helped her to understand the basics of the program.  I also showed it to two of my classmates and asked for their opinions as well.  I have a daughter that is a senior in high school and her amazement was the most uplifting to me.  She was excited about the possibilities of Camtasia and Audactity.  I explained to her that Camtasia is only free to me for a month and that I had read that a lot of my classmates were using Cast-O-Matic.  Together we looked at the new site and found that it was simpler to use but did not have the capabilities that Camtasia had.   

Lately I have been frustrated with my class’s assignments and this class was no different.  We receive an assignment and then the day before the week begins we receive an overview.  The assignment and the overview were not in sync with each other.  I began my week wondering which directions I should follow.  We continue to be told that we are in a master’s program and that our work should reflect that but I would like to state that yes we are in a master’s program and I would expect that the assignments from the professor held up to that standard as well.

Reflection on Creative Commons and Audactiy

Audacity was a very easy program to download and learn to use.  When Audacity was loaded onto my computer I was a bit overwhelmed.  I was able to Google YouTube videos that gave me step by step directions on how to use Audacity.  Last week when I was working on my assignment I was very frustrated with the background noise as well as how different parts of my speech were different volumes.  After working with Audacity for a while I realized that if I would have used it for my narration I would not have been so irritated. 

The Creative Commons License was very confusing and I have yet to decide which license I will choose.  It does not bother me to have others use my work but I have been making videos with pictures of families and friends.  Out of the six licenses I think that I am leaning towards Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike License.  Creativecommons.org explains that with this license others must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made, they may not use the material for commercial purposes, and if they remix, transform, or build upon the material, they must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

 

Audacity. (n.d.). Introduction. 1(2). Retrieved November 27, 2013 from

     http://audcity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/intro.html

 

"Licenses." Creative Commons. N.p., n.d. Web. Retrieved November 27, 2013 from 

      http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/

 

Audactiy Tutorial

Click on the link below to watch a tutorial for using Audacity.


http://youtu.be/7kiZwHAO9hk

Video Reflection

Nutshell Reflection

This assignment worried me from the very beginning.   I was not allowed to use more than 150 words and my video couldn’t be more than two minutes.  I am a person of many words.  You should never stop to talk to me unless you have at least thirty minutes.  I sat down to write my script and when I was finished I had a total of 530 words.  It took me two days to condense my script enough where I could actually start on the video. 

I went through many different programs before I decided to use Windows Movie Maker.  I was so adamant about using a song in the background and some of the programs I was looking at would not let me raise and lower the volume of the song throughout the video.  Windows Movie Maker was easy to work with.

I shared my video with Linda Moody my partner teacher, Rosemary Grimm, and Patricia Vaughn. 

My Life In A Nutshell

http://youtu.be/SbuPwz0bAOE

Are We In Compliance?

HCISD's Technology Plan

The Classroom of the Future

The Classroom of the Future

     It is very important that school districts keep up in the ever changing technology world.  In order to guarantee that our students are given the opportunities to compete in the world of tomorrow each school district needs to ensure that all teachers are comfortable and well versed in the latest technology trends.  Schools are turning to the NMC Horizon Report to advise them on the technologies of the future.  Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Cummins, M. (2012) explains that “The NMC Horizon Report: 2012 K-12 Edition, examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative inquiry within the environment of pre-college education.” This report is a positive approach to aiding school districts into becoming proactive for the future.

     In the future our classes are going to be working more with Cloud Computing.  The possibilities are endless.  On the website Cloud Computing For All it explains that it will be “having all the information, data or software stored in servers on the internet (instead in your local hard drive) and then it is cached temporarily on the user’s computer, desktop, notebooks, and mobile devices every time the information or data is being accessed.”  Students will be able to access their information at home, in the library, in the coffee shop or anywhere they are able to access the internet.  Students will be able to work collaboratively on projects or essays and they don’t have to be in the same room, the same town, or even in the same country.  

     Non-open and open sources are being developed that will be used throughout our future classrooms.  Some of those already used are Moodle, Web 2.0, Sakai, and Dokeos to name a few.    Many of these will eventually be incorporated in both open source and non-open source learning management systems.  (Wikiaeducation.com, 2009)

     The video called Classroom Of The Future HD: What's New in Educational Tech describes the classroom of the future with ceiling mounted projectors that engage larger groups of learners, wall mounted flat panels used to display computer based materials for smaller groups, and mobile devices in various parts of the room.  Within the classroom there will have personal learning environments.  These environments were described by Johnson et al. (2012) as “personal collections of tools and resources a person assembles to support their own learning.  Such things as smart phones, tablets and apps are examples of things that have begun to emerge as a compelling alternative to browser-based PLE’s and e-portfolios.”(p.9)  Therefor each student will not need to have a mobile device provided for them.  The goal in the future classroom is to let the students have more control over how they learn in school.

     The furniture will need to be lightweight and movable because collaboration will be a large part of the future classroom.  Interactivity between students will become prevalent in the future classroom.  Students will be leading the discussions.  Teachers will be moving around the room listening to the discussions and only guiding if needed.

     I think Ignacio "Nacho" Estrada said it best when he said, “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn." This quote helps me to describe why our classrooms should be using game based learning.  In the next five years will be using game based learning as an integral part of the education process.  Students today are in a never ending game world.  Educators will be using this fact to reach all students at all different levels.  These games give students a chance to submerge themselves and become a part of the solution.  Goal oriented games will center around concepts that the students of today feel are important.  The TEKS will still be the blueprint for the lessons that the teachers will teach but relevant real life experiences that interest our students will be used.  These lessons will motivate the students to become successful at their own pace while they learn from their own failures. What a perfect way to differentiate instruction.

     The classroom of the future has already started.  Many classrooms have the ceiling mounted projectors, computers, and are participating in the BYOD.  We are on our way to the classroom that is designed around students leading the learning with the latest technology at our fingertips.  Cloud computing, open sources, mobile devices and students driven discussions are only the beginning of the changes that we will be seeing in the next 5 years.  There is no time to waste because it is already upon us.  Educators need to be incorporating as much as they can because we cannot let the world move on without us.

 

References

Classroom Of The Future HD: What's New in Educational Tech [Video file]. (2007, September

     12). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcXEznPXj8k&feature=youtu.be

Estrada, I., (2012, March 1). Quotes Cafe.  Retrieved on November 3, 2013 from

     http://quotescafe.com/quotes/ignacio_estrada/

Johnson, L., Adams, S., & Cummins, M.. (2012). The 2012 Horizon Report: K-12

     Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

What is Cloud Computing? An easy definition of Cloud Computing. (n.d.). Cloud Computing

     For All. Retrieved November 3, 2013, from http://cloudcomputingforall.com/what-is-cloud-

     computing-an-easy-definition-of-cloud-computing/

Wikiaeducation.com. (nd). Course management systems. Retrieved on November 17, 2009, from

     http://schoolcomputing.wikia.com/wiki/Course_Management_Systems