BP8_Links To Comments

Follow this link to view my comment on Shawn McKeown's Blog: Education Illumination

Follow this link to view my comment on Jennifer Williams' Blog: Digital Tools for Educators

ETC_Final Project

Relevant & Innovative Learning Scenario

Instructing Educators To Integrate Twitter Into A Behavioral Science Class

Target Audience – For my learning scenario I will be instructing my colleagues, approximately ten college-educated adults.

Materials – In order to successfully complete my RILS I will need:

- A classroom or work environment
- A computer
- A projector or display
- An internet connection

Objectives – At the end of this instructional session my colleagues should be able to:

- Analyze the different types of Tweets one can send through Twitter, the effectiveness of micro-blogging, and the techniques that various organizations and personalities utilize through Twitter.
- Design their own micro-blogging presence, follow interesting and relevant organizations and personalities, and customize their online presence.
- Create their own Tweets, share links to relevant information, and effectively promote discussion through micro-blogging.

Procedure –

1. Discuss the value of micro-blogging, promoting community, allowing for simple and effective feedback and alternative means of communication.
2. Create a Twitter account
3. Follow at least 10 educationally relevant organizations and personalities
4. Review the types of messages one can send and receive on Twitter
5. What to Tweet: Send 3 different types of Tweets: Original material, Retweet & Simple Response

Web 2.0 Tool – Twitter.com

Twitter is a simple micro-blogging tool that allows users to post information, share links and follow other users. Twitter users are limited to 140 characters in the transmission of their messages.

Link: Full Sail BSC Online Twitter Account

Social Participation/Social Learning – An integral part of the Twitter concept relies on Social Participation. It is an environment where the best, most entertaining or most interesting ideas rise to the top. My target audience will experience this type of participation first hand through the “Retweet & Simple Response” exercise where they will communicate with another Twitter user and respond to one of the other participates in the target audience.

Making Connections – Engaging our students on their level and promoting social interaction are always a focus in a forward thinking educational environment. This activity will serve to foster those interests, lend to student focused research and discussion and hopefully lead to more timely assignments through additional reinforcement.

Create/Produce – By the end of this learning scenario my target audience will have learned how to create a Twitter account, produce engaging messages and share relevant links.

Assessment – At this point in the assignment all of the Behavioral Science instructors should have a twitter account with a standardized format (i.e. @MDunn_BSCO) Since I will be able to follow my fellow colleagues micro-blogs I will be able to assess their comprehension of the lesson through the messages they have sent. If they were able to successfully send three messages they will have successfully passed the learning scenario.

Reflection – The reflection process will be observed through their micro-blogs as well.

- One day after the initial learning experience my target audience will be asked to make a quick post to their account to show the most important thing they learned through the RILS experience.
- I will reflect on my own RILS experience through personal interviews and observation of the micro-blogs in my target audience.

PE5_Twitter

Now that we have set up our official Twitter account for my Behavioral Science class it is time to make our first tweet! We will keep it simple and straightforward to start with then we will go over some of the different types of messages you can send on Twitter. Here is our inaugural message:

Next we will post a Retweet or RT of one of the Twitter users we will follow. This function can be used as a recommendation or an easy way to share a link with your followers. For our first RT we have chosen a Tweet posted by Daniel Pink, the inspiration for this blog. The excellent video on Motivation created by theRSA.org and narrated by Mr. Pink has been nominated for an award and through Twitter @DanielPink has shared a link to a site where readers can vote. We will do our part to support and Retweet Daniel's message by simply clicking on the Retweet button:

Finally we will recommend one of the Twitter users we follow in order to share more information with our followers. We will use the general Full Sail Twitter (@FullSailUpdate) which frequently shares information regarding special events at Full Sail.

Twitter can offer a number of benefits and conveniences to the world of Education. While Web 2.0 tools are constantly growing and changing it is the simplicity at the core of Twitter that leads to it's ease of use and popularity. All to often we might champion a new and powerful tool that proves to complicated for those less literate in technology. I am looking forward to implementing this tool in my classroom and sharing this tool with my fellow educators. While the particular uses of Twitter are virtually endless, as it has the ability to evolve as the community sees fit, some of the benefits I am looking to foster include:

• Classroom Community: As students view similar responses to material on Twitter they will feel a connection to those with similar concerns and interested
• Reader Response & Assessment Of Opinion: Concerns regarding class material can be easily voiced and address quickly and concisely
• Collaboration: Students can work together to share links to pertinent information
• Research: With a number of reputable journals and news sources on Twitter, users can easily search to gauge a more accurate worldview on a topic. This can include everything from Doctoral level research to simple personal opinion.
• Facilitation Of Discussion: The ease of response promotes quick discussion
• Facilitation Of Personal Learning Networks: With an open API, Twitter can be easily integrated into a student's Personal Learning Network (PLN)

Some examples found in Grosseck (2008).

References:

Grosseck, G. & Holotescu, C. (2008) Can we use Twitter for educational activities? The 4th International Scientific Conference eLSE "eLearning and Software for Education", Bucharest, April 17-18, 2009, http://adl.unap.ro/else

PE4_Twitter

With it's massive popularity and exponential growth over the past couple years Twitter might seem like a simple Web 2.0 tool to explore. It's popularity and breadth of use is second only to Facebook and Google and it is consistently adding new members. What is intriguing about this tool that might be initially dismissed as a "pop fad" is it's inherent ability to connect users in times of crisis or need and the ability to share information quickly and coherently. The strength of Twitter may very well lie in it's self imposed limitation. A Twitter user only has 140 characters per message (or tweet) to disseminate their information. This forces the user to be concise, to evoke a message or response in as little words possible. I have been familiar with Twitter as a personal tool but I plan on using this experience to explore the educational possibilities of this tools and hopefully integrate this technology into the learning environment in my classroom.

To start my journey I will make a Twitter account specific to my class, Behavioral Science. Creating an account is a simple two step process. Once I have picked my user name (@FullSail_BSCO), set my password and agreed to the terms of service I am brought to a page where I can follow users based on my interests. My goal is to follow ten users related to the field of Educational Technology. The users I follow will serve as a teaching tool to my target audience. The following Twitter users will serve as an example of this powerful tool and the types of messages one can convey.

Since this account will act as a platform to update our Behavioral Science students I filled in some simple information in the profile section including a profile photo and short description.

Up next we will send our first tweet to tell the world what's happening in 140 characters or less!

BP7_Slide Rocket Video

BP6_Shawn McKeown

Click here to view my comment on Shawn McKeown's Blog.

Shawn is a professional educator as well as a Show Production expert. This unique combination of the theoretical with real world hands on experience makes him a versatile instructor and an entertaining author as well. The title of his blog reflects this specific mixture perfectly, Education Illumination.

BP5_Rosetta Cash

Click here to view my comment on Rosetta Cash's Blog.

Rosetta offers a unique perspective in her blog focussing on Education Technology in relation to an African based program. She often uses Egyptian culture to show an interesting connection in material that may be unfamiliar to most Western viewers. An excellent writer and entertaining presenter, Rosetta is one to watch!

BP4_Slide Rocket

"Slide Rocket builds conversations not lectures"

Web 2.0 tool Slide Rocket is a dynamic presentation tool platform that allows for easy updating, consistency across presentations and sharing of information. The quote above condenses the message of Web 2.0 technology, that we no longer live on a static one way street of information technology and communication but rather an open environment where everyone can contribute and the best ideas rise to the top. Exploring the tool the features are very similar to Microsoft Powerpoint or Apple Keynote. The interface is elegant and easy to understand and there is a surprising amount of functionality here for a web-based tool. Fonts can be changed easily, colors are editable and there are a number of well designed presentation templates as well. The templates reflect the aesthetic of Web 2.0 design with use of gradients, strong sans-serif fonts, drop shadows, and embossed buttons.

I'm sure every veteran instruction has had at least one time where there slides didn't work due to a technical error. There is always a chance things won't go as planned but if one can connect to the internet they can access their slides. No need for flash drives or file errors. Overall, had Slide Rocket been a simple online presentation tool it would be of note, fortunately it is much more for that. By integrating online conversation tools, Slide Rocket truly turns your presentations into conversations and perhaps the biggest lesson we can learn from Web 2.0 technology is the natural human instinct to converse and the power therein.

PE3_iMovie

Utilizing the skills I gained during my iMovie certification I created a video detailing the instructors for an assignment my students complete in their second week. I am hoping that the use of video can appeal to multiple intelligences, cognitive styles and the "Youtube Generation" in general. I used the format of a news broadcast. If this proves effective I would like to create an update at the beginning of each week of class informing my students what they will be working on during the week. The course has giving me a greater confidence in video composition and editing. I am looking forward to exploring this subject with more depth.

PE2_iMovie

During the course I particularly enjoyed learning about creating effects through lesson #6. The change in interface from previous versions made me feel like they left out some of the fun tools I learned in iMovie 06'. Fortunately there are more (and better) effects in iMovie 11 I just needed to learn for to find and utilize them. I remember fondly exploring the lightning bolt effect in previous versions. The effects in iMovie 11 are much more elegant and professional. I had been frustrated simply adding titles in previous assignments but this lesson showed me how to make my visuals pop with simple editing techniques. I plan on using this knowledge both in my personal and professional life. Having completed the class and earned my certification my next goal will be to put this knowledge to use and create an assignment trailer. My hope is that by creating a dynamic and entertaining video utilizing course concepts I can motivate my students to a higher level of performance and engagement.

PE1_iMovie

I have had some experience using iMovie for educational purposes but it was a pleasure to learn the proper way of editing and composing video through this powerful tool. I have often been frustrated by the interface and preferred iMovie '06 to the numerous updates since. The older versions used a linear style similar to Final Cut and the newer versions appeared to be tailor made for those with no experience in video editing whatsoever. Through this lesson I learned some of the advanced techniques that I was unaware of within the program.

Lynda.com is an amazing resource. One cannot underestimate the value of instructor immediacy but for a strong self-starter the lessons on Lynda can be great introductions to technical topics. I plan on growing my skill set through continuing the certification processes.

The duration of this program was a bit daunting but I found the author, Garrick Chow to be an excellent instructor and communicator. The organization was the class was laid out logically and I liked how I could see which components had been completed in the process. Overall, Lynda did a great job of presenting and organizing this course and I am looking forward to earning my certificate of completion.

BP3_iGoogleScreenShots