VoiceThread

I signed up for VoiceThread recently and watched my first video.



This was the video I watched & commented on.

Skype

Kevin Dennis & I "Skyed" one another one evening last week. The online video conferencing software was nice, and much easier to use than AOL's Live Chat which I've been using to allow my kids to video chat with their grandparents.

I'm not certain if Skype has recently renovated their home page, but this past visit to their site was much easier to navigate than previous attempts at setting up an account.

My only complaint about my first attempt at "Skyping" was that once I closed the window that contained my conversation with Kevin, the connection did not close as well. I could not see any connection to Skype via my task bar, however I could still talk to Kevin & hear him...and he could still see me. It wasn't until I pulled the USB plug of my webcam from its port that the connection was closed. I thought that was sketchy.

Overall, I could see Skype being used in the classroom as a tool for communicating with either peers from another school or current authorties of relevant topics that we discuss in class. Such video sessions could offer my students a glimpse at the larger world of math in our global community and offer a means to reinforce the importance of learning the topics we discuss every day.

Audacity

I made my audacity file today. It went pretty smoothly. I used to as a way to accurately give repeated instructions to each of my classes during finals. It seems that students still have trouble understanding how sensitive scantron machines are. So, they carelessly write on the answer sheet, which results in points being taken away.

Anyway, the audacity program does offer a simple, and viable option for recording audio tracks and playing back in the classroom.

I used the .wav files because I could not download the LAME file (as I'm not an administrator). I won't have a problem using the .wav file, however I would like the LAME file because I feel that the .avi file is a more universal recording.

I'll look into getting the LAME file...

Here's a link to my Audacity "trial file"

http://www.mariemontschools.org/vahue/OAA%20Audacity%20File.wav

2009 K-12 Online Conference Reflection

I participated in "Around the World With Skype" Since I've used AOL messenger to have my children talk to their grandparents online while using our webcam, I had some knowledge of video conferencing, but this conference was a helpful overall education on software, hardware, and tech knowledge needed to get started.

The online conference itself was interesting to be a part of. I liked the learning style and was pleasantly surprised at the actual potential of people learning & interacting using this medium.

I'm a devout techniphobe. I don't trust new technologies to instantly solve problems. Typically new technologies create new problems while not actually solving the original problem completely.

However, there are useful applications of some new technologies and I can see video conferencing being a useful tool in education.

Etherpad

Etherpad is a web based word processing program that allows people to edit a document simultaneously. It's apparently just be acquired by Google, so it would be a nice addition to Google Docs.

I wasn't an immediate fan of Google Docs, however I've recently seen a greater need for this tool. Having the ability to simultaneoulsy collaborate on a document especially during a Skype session would be a great way to speed up the cooperative process of co-authoring any project.

Etherpad is a lot like "Microsoft Word Meets Instant Messanger".

Like Kevin Dennis said on his blog too, I also couldn't import a document successfully. I tried 3 different Word docs and none of them "took".

This has a couple of interesting school applications, like working on a group project with each student at a separte laptop; or at their respective homes. I could definitely see this being used ever more increasingly in the future.

Scriblink

Scriblink is an online application that offers a variety of drawing capabilities. There's an equation editor, drawing tools, graph paper, and the ability to import pictures. It combines a few of the features found in Microsoft Word, Paint & Picture Editor. However, it doesn't have a pointer tool for moving objects around (neither does Paint, however SMART Notebook does). It doesn't allow you to edit photos like any basic photo editing software allows. And, I could not get the equation editor to work properly.

I would have to guess that this was someone's graduate project and it never got debugged.

I'll stick to Word, Paint, SMART Notebook, and any other photo editor out there.

Chad

Bloom's Taxonomy

By following the guidelines set forth by the ODE, I use higher level thinking skills while teaching students to respond to the 2 & 4 point problems of the OAA. Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) are used in class to develope vocabulary, symbolic notation, and axiomatic properties in the math classroom. HOTS are used for all other problems.

One project that involves HOTS that I'm excited about introducing is Algebraic Proof beyond the first quarter of our class. Having students prove the means/extremes property of proportions utilizes HOTS and reinforces their understanding of proportions, fractions, and simplifying rational expressions.