7/25 Reflection

7/25 Reflection

Similarly to previous videos we have seen in this class, I had seen today's before.  In fact, I have watched it many times over the last couple of years.  Each and every time I watch it, though, I take away something new and today was no different.

My thoughts today revolved more around the style of this video and how I could use it in professional development and how our teachers could use this as a learning tool for our students.  Imagine students in a Language Arts class creating small clips about a novel they are reading.  They wouldn't have to be artists to tell the story of their thinking.  They could "animate" stick figures, create digital "flipbooks," and/or insert still photos, while creating an audio track of their thinking over the top of it.  Instead of one, or a few, student(s) participating in a classroom discussion about the novel, each student is sharing their level of learning and understanding.

Once again, I'm leaving class today with more questions than answers which I think has been the beauty of this course.  The questions, wonderings and ideas are limitless...

Notes/Thoughts 7/25

Lynda.com   -   Great tool for "how-to" videos, 5 licenses at L&C that students can access for a week or so at a time, more of a business application but many relevant tools to education

Center Court:

• What will you do (in your context, in your circle of influence) first in the Fall?
• Develop a presentation for district administrators around what we have learned this week
• Summer Learning Wiki - beginnings of curated site for technology resources
• Focus on the "why" in order to build momentum to do the "what"
• reddit.com  -  an open source site where readers vote on content - raises and lowers in feed based on readers' votes
• PD - iMovie, Google Docs, etc.

Sir Ken:

iTunes:
Huge source of free curriculum, created and submitted by schools, districts, universities, etc.

MOOC
Massive Online Open Courseware - MIT Open Courseware, Stanford, and more

• www.mooc-list.com

Online Learning
Huge push (sometimes because of competition with other/neighboring districts).  Lot's of districts have used BYU and other resources, yet have had no control over content, curriculum alignment, etc. and still giving credit. 

Interesting dialogue around special programs and how to serve students and meet federal requirements (ELL, Sped).  Online charter out of Baker calls upon home district to provide services.  TTSD is a program instead of a charter and has deemed program is not appropriate for ELL students.  They refer them back to their zoned school.  They also screen IEP applicants to determine whether or not online program is appropriate or not and will deny an application that SDI cannot be met.

Effective Websites

• Web Presence
• Clear Vision and Purpose - should know immediately what it is about
• User Focused Navigation - think about users, don't make users think
• User Engagement -
• Clear and Concise Messaging - Simplicity on front page is of high value

Effective Presentations

• Simple
• Limit Bullet Points
• High Quality Graphics (especially photos) (avoid cheesy clip art)
• Effective Charts