Last blog (!!!)- It was interesting to see the jigsaw in action last week. This activity could be useful in geology classes that require rock or mineral ID's. The 1st set of groups could spend time becoming experts on what characteristics best facilitate proper identification of a certain mineral or rock. Then the experts would share that knowledge with their 2nd group, while demonstrating what characteristics best lead to correct ID's (i.e., with the minerals/rock in hand while demonstrating their expertise). Such an activity would help students more quickly narrow down what qualities of each rock or mineral allow proper ID, building a skill set that can be daunting for students new to geology or mineralogy.
 
In other news, I am excited to be done with our lengthy tech talk today, and excited to be done with blogging! In future news, I am super excited to (hopefully) be done with my thesis by the end of the semester. Amidst the black hole of thesis writing, sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel seems small, but I think it's getting bigger (75 pages down with further areas to flesh out identified and a long "to-do" list of minor details). Big Spring Break plans? Addressing those weaknesses.

I really like the idea of using Skype to bring experts into the classroom. That could have been a super useful tool as a middle school teacher in rural Louisiana. However, on the middle-high school level, using Skype to incorporate experts could also present special challenges;  for example when the school day incorporates many periods, ensuring that all classes have the same access to experts could be difficult. Nonetheless, I 'm sure that with proper planning and creative thinking, such issues could be mitigated.

Skype would be equally useful for incorporating experts into the classroom on the college level.

Also, I like the potential for using Skype or other techniques to allow "contagious but capable" sick students to still "attend" class, or to provide chronically sick children some degree of normalcy in their lives.

I still have questions regarding how flipping the classroom would work for high needs/low income students. I am most interested in applying this concept in a K-12 classroom to afford more in-class time working with individual students, but I need convincing that this method could work effectively for students from all backgrounds.

On the college level, I think that high needs issues/access to needed materials (video, computers, etc.) would be less of a problem, since students should at least have access to this technology on campus. However, for me as an instructor of scientific writing, I don't see how flipping the classroom would be effective.

I think flipping the classroom is having the students view the introduction to class content at home, be it via video, powerpoint or reading. Then the traditional "homework"/ discussion is completed at school.

To me, it seems like a good idea as long as you can ensure that your students have proper access to and actually complete the required "at-home" portion. I love the idea of opening up more in-class time to address individual students' questions regarding new material. I am interested in learning more about how effective this method is, particularly in high-needs classrooms/low income schools.

Blahg 4- While blogging is definitely not my most favorite thing, I did enjoy learning about clickers last class. I really like the potential for class engagement and also for saving paper + scantrons on multiple choice exams.

As for presentation media, Google slides sounds promising, particularly for group projects. Generally I am a diehard PowerPoint fan, but I like the appeal of a collaborative forum for group work; that way, one person is not stuck trying to merge multiple group members' slides into 1 cohesive powerpoint.

I guess theoretically Prezi could work for groups as well, although I don't know that it would allow simultaneous editing. Also, I've seen many Prezi presentations  that "surprised" the author mid-presentation with weird cropping of text/the intended screen. Likewise, it seems to be harder for the author to predict whether text will be too small to be legible for the audience or if color contrast is appropriate (again, audience legibility issues) on Prezi. Since I've only observed these glitches and never used Prezi myself, I'm not sure whether these problems are user-error or inherent in Prezi. To stay on the safe side, I'll avoid Prezi.

A ha, finally found my way back after getting lost in the behind-the-scenes machinery of my blog apparatus- just when I thought I was getting the hang of this...
 
Since the only folks likely to intentionally view this blog are my Rumpelstiltskin cohorts, then I figured I'd make this week's post relevant to us. Spent some time this evening doing a little background research on video tech + teaching, & turned up a few articles, along with the added bonus of some articles on gaming + teaching for our later tech talk. Don't have the mental power tonight to read them in-depth, but one's on "Application of Core Science Concepts Using Digital Video" & looks promising. Since we're all science folk, figured we could present this as an example from the science perspective and challenge our classmates to come up with relevant examples from their fields. Also found an article about "The effectiveness of classroom capture technology," which might be useful for discussing the implications of all these techno bells & whistles. I'd post the articles here, but don't want to anger the copyright gods, so I'll come armed & ready to class tomorrow!

Post #2- Since I missed class on Tuesday, I'll take this opportunity to complete the phrase: When I think about teaching with technology, I am both excited and a little intimidated by the possibilities. In general, I am not a technology guru; I have not updated my very basic phone from 2007 and I don't text. My most memorable experience regarding teaching with technology occurred at the high-needs middle school where I taught for 2 years; we were lucky to possess 2 Smartboards, but unlucky in that they rarely were used, since no one was trained on how to use them, nor were training opportunities readily available. So, in an effort to prevent finding myself in a similar situation in the future, I am taking this class.