Session 12

This is the final session for ESC 529. We will be going over the remaining digital stories and Culture Quest projects today. We have a three questions that we have to answer for out Culture Quest projects.
Our Culture Quest project helped me learn more about Norway and Norwegian foods. Prior to the assignment i really had no idea what they ate in Norway. Now i know some christmas dishes, traditional dishes and some appetizers. One of the appetizers with Edam cheese i will attempt to make myself. Doing a project on food has its benefits! I also learned about different aspects of Norwegian food production, in terms of what types of fish they eat.
For project based learning we were able to divid the project in to easier sub topics. At first we werent able to come up with anything but eventually we worked it out as a group. By everyone doing their own webpage, we were able to work as a group and do our individual topics. We were also able to help each other out with link ideas for our webpages. It would be good for students doing a project because they will each having something to achieve on their own. They will also be able to help each other with doing the webpage as well.
In terms of technology using Googlepages was a great help. Prior to this assignment i had never really created a website. With a website like googlepages you're able to create a webpage very quickly. The inference is very simple and easy to learn. It's also nice because once you "publish it" and anyone can view your work. For a student project, the teacher could see how the projects are coming along. We also used the website Filamentality to compile our links for our projects. At the end we had a nice amount of links for all four sub topics. Filamentality allows everyone in the group to put their own links up so everyone else can use them too.

Session 11

Today we came in and began to work on Excel. I have never really used the program before, so it was helpful. We were using the program as a grade calculating program. At first i had some trouble because i did not know the formula. Eventually, i got it though, and everything went smoothly.
The next part of the class was watching every ones Digital Stories. Everyone did really good ones. I especially liked the ones with peoples dogs. They were all very genuine and honest. I especially liked the one about basketball, it was really nice. When mine popped up, i was laughing to myself. I was wondering if you could hear the phone that was ringing in the background of one of my slides.
The last part of the class, one of the groups presented their Culture Quest on Brazil. It was informative, the topics ranged from Art, to music ,to literature. Next we will be presenting on Culture Quest on Norway. I need to brush on some of the recipes for my page. Before next weeks class i will have to visit two museums.

Session 10

Walking to class today it was really hot outside. I'm not used to this warm weather. I arrived in having done my webquest the night before. Today i had to do the narration for my digital story. I got a microphone, and attempted to do my narration. The problem was i only had a microphone and no speakers. So i was recording but didnt know how it sounded. I'm pretty sure i had some pauses in there and some mess ups. After i was "finished" i went to do something else.
I added some links for my groups culture quest project. We're just about done with that. One of our group members is doing the main page for out Norwegian project. It's just about done. Next week we have to present the culture quest project to the class. I'm not sure how that is going to work, but we'll see. The end of the class had us going over the program Exel. I've worked with the program before but now i have a better understanding of it. Next week is pretty much our last offical class.

Session 9

Today's session began with us doing the evaluations for the class. It took around 20 minutes for everyone to finish. The next part of the class i had to upload my digital story to the digital drop box. Everyone else was began to work on their culture quest projects. Unfortunately i could not access the website on my computer. I tried several times and was getting frustrated. I then tried it on the computer next to mine, and it didn't work either. Eventually i moved to another computer and it worked. The professor advised us to add more hyperlinks to our paragraphs so i put some in. In one of the recipes the Cod fish is mentioned, so i found a website about Cod. I also added something about Christmas in Norway which worked well for the overall website.
The next part of the class had to do with blogs and how to use them in the classroom. The professor made us go to blackboard so we could read other peoples blogs from the classroom. We had to leave a comment on someones blog. There was also an article to read about blogs. Like the article said, blogs could be a good way to extend the classroom discussion after school ends. Kids are spending so much time on their computer anyway, might as well contribute to discussions for the day as well.
Finally, we went over how to do narrations for our digital story. You record your voice over each slide for around 10 seconds each. The professor also showed us how to use movie maker. In general i thought it was a productive class. The next time we meet will be in two weeks.

Session 8

For the beginning of today's session we worked on our culture quest projects. My website about Norwegian recipes is just about done. I added links from the other people in my group. I also added one more recipe on the main page, as well as two more general websites about recipes. The one thing i don't like is for some reason googlepages adds a purple underline under my links. Overall though, i thought my website came good. i think our website for Norwegian food will be fairly informative.
The next part of the class had to do with cultural literacy. Each student had a country attached to their forehead, and had to interact with the other students in the class. By using comments, you had to guess what country was on your head. My country was England, which i figured out pretty fast. They gave me some good hints and comments. The next part of the class had us filling out a kind of questionnaire about our own culture. After it was done, the teacher handed it out randomly to different students. We had to guess what culture the person was from based on their answers. This was a good exercise because it helps students become aware of different cultures. Understanding different cultures is very important especially in the classroom. Stereotypes and misjudgements need to be looked at for people to get along. For next week we will be doing the narrations for our digital story. Hopefully i don't mess up too much!

Session 7

In todays class we went over googlepages some more. We also learned how to create websites on Netscape composer. It seemed to be a bit harder to do than the googlepages method.
The next part of the class had to do with visual literacy. We had to look at a Japanese picture and make a poem off of it. I quickly made something up, that somehow rhymed. After this, we had to look at various images and answer some questions. Students these days seem to connect more with visual images, so lessons like these are good. We ended the class working on the culture quest websites. My Norwegian website is almost finished, i just have to add some more links.

Session 6

In the beginning of the class we got some info for our Culture Quest project. We needed content for our website. I had some information for various recipes, so i put it into paragraph form. I also collected some pictures from the internet for my website.
We used a nice program by google to create websites. At first i could not sign up for a Gmail account, but eventually i got it to work. It is very easy, and i was able to create a website quickly. I put some pictures of the different recipes, and my information on how to make them. After this class, we have a two week break. During this time i'll have to go somewhere for the fieldwork. I'll also work on my digital story board, and the webquest.

Session 5

Session 5 began with the professor giving out some folders for our papers. It's a little easier now to find stuff, now that i have 3 folders for the class. We spent some time going over our Culture Quest projects. Some people did their Power point presentations as well. the main part of the class was about a new assignment we will be doing. It's called a digital storyboard.
Using our one page story we had to write, we now have to create a story using only pictures. We will be able to record a narration over it as well. The example the teacher showed in the class about the father growing up, was very well done. My story is about a guitar, so I'm not sure it will have the same emotional impact. Never the less, i will see how it turns out. I'm thinking of putting some comedic elements into the story to jazz things up. I know I'll be able to find a lot of pictures for the project itself.

Session 4

Session 4 began with the class going over some of the Power Point presentations. I thought the three people that went did really well. The music Power Point was solid and had some good information. The presentation about using technology was also good. I was especially intrigued by the program "smart board." I've never seen it before but it sounds really nice. Seems like a very interactive program, and has a huge number of features.
The next part of the class was about our Culture Quest project. At first we had planned to do some general topics about Norway. Eventually the professor told us the topics were too broad. After much discussion and confusion, we finally arrived at some kind of sports related project. We couldn't finalize anything for that either, so we asked for some help. Eventually we settled upon food in Norway. The separate topics are traditional dishes, food production, recipes, and holiday foods. I will be handling the recipes part of the project. Hopefully by the end of this project I'll be able to cook some kind of Norwegian dish.

Session 3

After what seemed like a really long time, session 3 arrived. I had some trouble with the digital drop box but i believe i have it under control now. The first part of the class we talked about our webquests that we made. Unfortunately i saved it as a word processor doc, so i wasn't able to view it at school. When i was browsing Webquests i stumbled upon alot of good ones, but couldn't find a way to make them my own. I finally got to one that i could work with a bit. The second part to the class was working with a program called 'Inspiration.' It's a neat little program that helps with graphic organizers. You can customize them any way you want, and you can import little graphics to make it look better. Another nice feature, was transferring your product to a word processor and coming up with a list of your ideas. You can also import what you make in inspiration to powerpoint. It can be a good learning tool for teachers trying to explain timelines or main ideas (for social studies). We then attempted to do the same thing in the word processor which was a bit harder, and wasn't as easy.
The end of the class we formed our groups to do our cultural project. The country that my group will be doing is Norway, and i will be taking care of the music aspect. This sounds like fun, and making a website should be a good learning experience. I need to start looking up information on the net about music from Norway in the past 50 years.

Session 2

Today's class went pretty well. The main part of the class was about how to use Webquests. Webquests are websites online that teachers can use to help teach a lesson. They are very good tools because it engages the students. It promotes cooperation, critical thinking and searching the Internet for relevant information. It also helps the students become interested in the topic. The group work we did in class was good because it helped us see how to make a quality webquest. By looking at the Webquests online, we were able to see their positives and negatives from various perspectives. The Webquest assignment seems pretty straight forward and i will be working on it this weekend.
The last part of class was about how to use Power Point. This was my first time using the program, but it went smoothly. The program is very easy to use, and basic slide shows can be created in minutes. It is definitely a good way to make a lesson more interactive. The days of chalk and blackboard are a thing of the past, we must embrace it. The trick now is to teach as many teachers as possible programs like these, so it can be a smooth transition.

First Session

Today was the first meeting for my ESC 529 class. I'm very intrigued by the class and i feel it's going to be a very good learning experience. Using technology in the classroom is definitely the wave of the future, so a class like this is essential. Like i said in our introductions, at first i was intimidated because of all the teachers in the classroom. I soon realized however, the whole technology aspect is new to some of them. I've been working with computers for a long time (alas i cant type to save my life), so hopefully i pick up the new stuff fairly fast. As for many of the assignments throughout the semester, they seem like fun. I love history, so searching for history related things on the internet to use in the classroom is fine by me.