As I think about the media production techniques that I’ve learned this semester and the specific ways that I can incorporate them into my library media program many ideas come to mind. As I pondered over exactly what to write in this reflection I was amazed at how many really good technology tools I have acquired this semester. You don’t realize the quantity of new tools you’ve added to your “toolbox” during the journey. It isn’t until then end of the trip when you get back home and reflect on all you’ve done that you realize, wow, I’ve learned a lot!
My first journey was a digital images one. This journey will help me when taking pictures for the school newsletter, and the morning news show. As the media specialist, I’m also in charge of keeping the school website updated (which included photographs) and sending pictures and articles to the local newspapers. The different techniques I learned for lighting and speed settings, and resizing will without a doubt (and already have) come in handy.
In my second journey I honed my website skills by creating a wiki. I became much for familiar with the ins and outs of navigating and editing a wiki page. I plan on using a wiki to facilitate my Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl team next year. My plan is to post summaries with pictures and activities to go with each book, as well as a few questions. I would like for students to then be allowed to modify (with me as the moderator) the wiki and add their own reactions, questions and thoughts about the books as they read them. I think this would be a great experience for the students to share their reactions to the books with one another, and I think by adding the web 2.0 aspect, students will be engaged and excited about reading and sharing their thoughts.
My first side trip was the electronic graphic organizer program, Inspiration. I haven’t explored this program a whole lot at school, aside from my projects this semester. I did look for it at school, and learned that we have the program, and shared it with a few teachers. I would like to give a short tutorial training session at the beginning of next year on this program just to inform teachers about the huge benefits that it offers, and show them how to use it. I found that it was pretty user friendly. Research has proven that using a visual organization tool helps students organize their thinking and remember and retain the information.
My second side trip was Jing, a free screen casting program. I think this program excited me the most of all four of my trips! By taking a screen shot with Jing, I can easily share with my teachers various technology techniques, anything on my computer screen that I’d like them to see. With a screencast, I can create a video to demonstrate to teachers (or students) how to use various software programs, or navigate various websites. I plan on sharing the Destiny tutorial video that I created in this assignment with the teachers at my school this fall.
The only barrier that I tend to see encountering is that of juggling my time to incorporate all these techniques. I have to focus on just one thing at a time. Another barrier might be getting the teachers on board with Inspiration or getting them excited about using and accessing Jing. Some teachers who are hesitant to learn new technology may not understand how to access a Jing video or clip. This isn’t a hard thing to do, but I may have to show some teachers one on one how to watch the Jing videos.
I plan on keeping up with new technologies and tools by staying connected with my fellow media specialists in my county. We have a Diigo group and always share new websites that we find with one another. I also plan on trying to attend at least one continuing education workshop, aimed at media specialist each year. I’m already registered for one such convention this summer with my media specialist friends!
The best part of this trip was learning more new things! I’ve added so many new tools to my toolbox! My favorite new tool would have to be Diigo though! I’ve got several groups and know how to quickly and easily add bookmarks without a second thought! I’d heard of Diigo before this class, but now that I’ve used it, I’m familiar with it and really love it! I would also like to teach my teachers how to use Diigo! They could share valuable websites and resources with their grade level, or the entire school.
The toughest part of my journey, really wasn’t that tough! I had a little stumble with my second side trip when attempting to use Captivate/Camtasia. I downloaded and watched all the tutorials, and probably spent 3-4 hours preparing. I was all set to go, and then kept getting this crazy error message. I had taken the entire afternoon to do this project and wasted so much time for nothing. I began to get a little frustrated, but Dr. Baumbach then introduced me to Jing, which as you read above was awesome! On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the toughest thing ever, this was barely a one. I have thoroughly enjoyed this class and the support from Dr. B and my fellow classmates!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
How to Use Destiny Video
How to Use Destiny
by Lisa Markham
This video was created using Jing for K-5 teachers from Crooked River Elementary to utilize. This tutorial will help you become familar with Destiny, our automated circulation system. I would suggest you watch it for some helpful hints at navigating Destiny. You'll be surprised at all Destiny has to offer!
To view the tutorial simply click the link below and watch the video.
Destiny Tutorial Video
by Lisa Markham
This video was created using Jing for K-5 teachers from Crooked River Elementary to utilize. This tutorial will help you become familar with Destiny, our automated circulation system. I would suggest you watch it for some helpful hints at navigating Destiny. You'll be surprised at all Destiny has to offer!
To view the tutorial simply click the link below and watch the video.
Destiny Tutorial Video
Side Trip #2 Begins - Captivate
Well, it's Friday and I just realized that I didn't have a blog post last week! Not sure if this one will count or not since it's a day late, but I figured I'd tell you what's been going on this week and show effort, despite the fact that's it's a day late. Maybe I'll get partial credit!
This week I began Side Trip #2. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I chose to do the Captivate/Camtasia Activity. I had never heard of either of them. Captivate is basically a screencasting program that records screen shots and audio to use as a tutorial to teach technology programs. Rather than just still shots, like a Power Point presentation Captivate records video of what you're doing in a demonstration so the learner can actually see your mouse moving and pointing as you teach. I've watched many such tutorials online, but I never knew how they were created.
So, I downloaded Captivate, watched all the tutorials, took notes, and I was ready to dive in! I began the practice actiivity in which we recorded our actions as we inserted a table into a word document. All was going fabulous and then I hit a wall. After completing the activity, the last step is to hit the "end" key on your keyboard. When I clicked the "end" key, I got a message that said "an error occured while copying sudio stream". I wasn't sure where to begin. I closed everything and tried again. Same error. I checked all my audio settings on my computer, and still same message. I googled this error message and found several forums (here and here) online where others were getting the same message. I read the directions for the fix, but didn't even understand how to follow them! So, I called Dr. B for a little assistance and she had several great suggestions:
1. Try Camtasia and see if you have better luck with that program.
2. Post your question/problem in our class discussion room. I think I read another classmate's post who used Captivate. Maybe someone could be of help.
3. Try an online program like Jing.
I'm going to try solution #1 and I'll let you know how it goes!
This week I began Side Trip #2. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I chose to do the Captivate/Camtasia Activity. I had never heard of either of them. Captivate is basically a screencasting program that records screen shots and audio to use as a tutorial to teach technology programs. Rather than just still shots, like a Power Point presentation Captivate records video of what you're doing in a demonstration so the learner can actually see your mouse moving and pointing as you teach. I've watched many such tutorials online, but I never knew how they were created.
So, I downloaded Captivate, watched all the tutorials, took notes, and I was ready to dive in! I began the practice actiivity in which we recorded our actions as we inserted a table into a word document. All was going fabulous and then I hit a wall. After completing the activity, the last step is to hit the "end" key on your keyboard. When I clicked the "end" key, I got a message that said "an error occured while copying sudio stream". I wasn't sure where to begin. I closed everything and tried again. Same error. I checked all my audio settings on my computer, and still same message. I googled this error message and found several forums (here and here) online where others were getting the same message. I read the directions for the fix, but didn't even understand how to follow them! So, I called Dr. B for a little assistance and she had several great suggestions:
1. Try Camtasia and see if you have better luck with that program.
2. Post your question/problem in our class discussion room. I think I read another classmate's post who used Captivate. Maybe someone could be of help.
3. Try an online program like Jing.
I'm going to try solution #1 and I'll let you know how it goes!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Journey 2 Comes to an End
I finished up Journey 2 this week and learned alot about creating a wiki. I have created a wiki in another class, but I learned even more this time and became much more familiar with wikispaces.
As I was creating my website, I used this link that Dr. B shared with us in the module to find the Incompetech Creative Industries website, where you can download royalty free music. I thought adding some light, happy music to my homepage might be a nice touch. I downloaded a song, but ended up taking it out because I couldn't figure out how to get it to automatically play without the reader having to click on the button. Thus, an answer to your question Dr. B, about why I had a music reference at the bottom of my page, but no music. I forgot to remove the reference when I removed the link to the song.
Another website that I used frequently while browsing wikis and learning some new tricks, was Getting Tricky With Wikis.
Side Trip 2, here I come!
As I was creating my website, I used this link that Dr. B shared with us in the module to find the Incompetech Creative Industries website, where you can download royalty free music. I thought adding some light, happy music to my homepage might be a nice touch. I downloaded a song, but ended up taking it out because I couldn't figure out how to get it to automatically play without the reader having to click on the button. Thus, an answer to your question Dr. B, about why I had a music reference at the bottom of my page, but no music. I forgot to remove the reference when I removed the link to the song.
Another website that I used frequently while browsing wikis and learning some new tricks, was Getting Tricky With Wikis.
Side Trip 2, here I come!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Journey 2 Off and Running!
Well this week, the rubber met the road, and by that I mean I dove into Journey 2, creating a website. I created my "baby" website using Microsoft Word. I never knew you could do that! I do realize though that Microsoft Word isn't the best way to make a website, but it is one way. I turned in the baby website Monday, and then using Inspiration, created the plan for my actual media center website. I submitted it today (Tuesday) and it was approved. Dr. B, you said in your comments, "complete at least one of them in detail", meaning one of my webpages. May I ask exactly what you mean? I planned on giving each page a heading, text, images, contact info., and navigation links to all other pages on the site. Is that enough? Is that what you mean?
As I think back over this week, here are some of the things that come to my mind:
1. Internet vs. World Wide Web - There's a difference. I've heard this before, but it was good to read exactly what the differnce is once more. I read over the information several times to make sure I really got it. Basically, the way I understand it, the internet is the physical connection between computers, and the world wide web, is the electronic documents that you view when you get on the internet. Am I correct?
2. Step one in planning for your website is to analyze your audience. I think the audience for my media center website would be both parents and students. Is that ok? I plan on creating the website with those two "patrons" in mind.
3. I really chuckled out loud when I looked at the website called Websites That Suck and Bert's Extra Ugly Web Pages. It's always a good idea to show your students non-examples, and these are some of the finest.
As I think back over this week, here are some of the things that come to my mind:
1. Internet vs. World Wide Web - There's a difference. I've heard this before, but it was good to read exactly what the differnce is once more. I read over the information several times to make sure I really got it. Basically, the way I understand it, the internet is the physical connection between computers, and the world wide web, is the electronic documents that you view when you get on the internet. Am I correct?
2. Step one in planning for your website is to analyze your audience. I think the audience for my media center website would be both parents and students. Is that ok? I plan on creating the website with those two "patrons" in mind.
3. I really chuckled out loud when I looked at the website called Websites That Suck and Bert's Extra Ugly Web Pages. It's always a good idea to show your students non-examples, and these are some of the finest.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Journey 2 Begins
This week I’ve begun Journey #2, which for me is creating a website. Thank you Dr. B for the helpful hints in your email and the class blog, as well as the tip to check out Karen G.’s blog. They’ve been so helpful! I’ve spent the week preparing for this project by reading, investigating and browsing other school’s library media websites to get some ideas. I’ve built a foundation of knowledge, and now I have to sort through it all and begin laying out my plan. I especially found this website helpful and informative. This article, however, only gave me a morsel of a tease because you had to be a subscriber to read the full text. Ohh! I loved this website though! I’ve got so many ideas swirling in my head at this point, and I’ve got this weekend to sort it all out and put it together. Next week is my spring break from school, so the kiddos are going to day care and I plan on dedicating my daytime to making a spectacular school library media website.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Finishing Up Side Trip #1
This week I finished up my first side trip, which was a project with Inspiration, an electronic way to create graphic organizers. The practice reading and tutorials for this project were so wonderful that it made the actual project a pleasure! I'm sure I only scrated the surface of what this program can do, but it seemed to be very user friendly. In very little time I had the basics down with ease. I created a story map using Inspiration based on the classic children's picture book, Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.
Dr. B, you asked me if you think this is something my students would use, and I would answer a definate yes. I think this would be a great way for students to create their own concept, thinking maps. I think if a child created their own concept map, they're going to internalize the concept so much more than filling in one that the teacher created. Like I said, it's very easy once you're shown the basics of how to insert objects and link them together, and I think even young elementary students could create basic thinking maps. Dr. B, you also asked if I had it at my school. I did a little research and we actually do have it at my school, but I don't think alot of teachers are aware of it! I have shared with several teachers this week about the program and they didn't know about it, and seemed excited to know that we had it!
The second half of last week I took a few days off of college work and enjoyed the UCF spring break. I plan on beginning Journey #2 this week, and you'll hear all about the ups, downs and triumphs of it all right here in my blog! :)
Dr. B, you asked me if you think this is something my students would use, and I would answer a definate yes. I think this would be a great way for students to create their own concept, thinking maps. I think if a child created their own concept map, they're going to internalize the concept so much more than filling in one that the teacher created. Like I said, it's very easy once you're shown the basics of how to insert objects and link them together, and I think even young elementary students could create basic thinking maps. Dr. B, you also asked if I had it at my school. I did a little research and we actually do have it at my school, but I don't think alot of teachers are aware of it! I have shared with several teachers this week about the program and they didn't know about it, and seemed excited to know that we had it!
The second half of last week I took a few days off of college work and enjoyed the UCF spring break. I plan on beginning Journey #2 this week, and you'll hear all about the ups, downs and triumphs of it all right here in my blog! :)
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