Final Projects

Well we've come to the end of the semester. Please post a shore (not more than a few paragraphs) description of your Final Project below (before midnight 7/29) and also post the entire Final Project to the wiki: http://wikidave.wikispaces.com/Final+Projects this way future participants will be able to add to, and improve upon, your project in the wiki--perpetually evolving, forever improving, changing, and growing.

It was a pleasure working with all of you. I will be sending you your semester grade next week.

Good luck, and as always, feel free to contact me if you ever have any questions.


Professionally Yours,

Dave Fontaine
Internet Librarian
National Board Certified Teacher
Educational Consultant
DaveFontaine1@gmail.com
http://professionaldevelopmentcredit.com/

921-Session 12-Research Supporting Edublog Usage

This session is research-based, and a little heavy on the statistics, so take what you can from the information, save the citations, and use them in the future if you need to substantiate and legitimize edublogging in the classroom.

But before we do that you may be interested in checking out this screencast on how to turn your blog postings into audio for differentiated instruction. (Click on it twice):




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This session will be spent on gaining background knowledge on the research out there suppporting edublogs in the classroom. It is ready to be downloaded. While you are waiting, check out just a few of your peers' blogs.

• Jennifer created a team blog where she and a few other school librarians will co-author the postings. This is a great example of how to foster collaboration with your peers, and an additional bonus is that it reduces the workload.

• Kim added some great 'suggested readings' in the margin, as well as a cool widget and survey feature.

• Diane has tons of kids commenting.

• Leilani is having fun with her Kindergarten class and has added a weather pixie.

Also, check out, some of these links to past participants' postings and blogs.

Additionally, one recent posting that I really like is from: http://anne.teachesme.com/2007/01/17/rationale-for-educational-blogging/
this is from just one of the blogs that I subscribe to. It addresses the "Rationalization for Educational Blogging." It is very well written and a great place to start when trying to substantiate edublog usage in the classroom.

Also check out Christian's blog. I suggested he take a look at Slideshare.net and he took the ball and ran with it. (His March '07 postings) What great examples of presenting student work for an external audience. Fantastic!

And lastly, you'll find a number of links in the left hand margin that will bring you to screencasts for a few of Blogger's tools and resources. Check them out and don't forget to experiment with adding gadgets.

Good luck and have fun!

Dave

Past participants' comments:

Spring '10
Spring '09

Summer '08

and older past participant comments and insights may be accessed here.

921-Session 11

One of the elements we'll be covering in this session will be videoblogging. This is the ability to post more than just text to your blog, but entire videos to help support your lessons. I've shown you a few examples on our class blog this semester.

One of the great things about this tool (there are many to choose from) is that every resource and skill I will be showing you can be done for free.

You may read past participants' comments here, and here:

Spring '10

Spring '09

Summer '09

Here is example of a college using a vodcast (a video podcast), to help them solicit prospective students. They've posted this to YouTube so whenever a potential student does a search for Franklin College they'll receive this video as part of their results:






This session you will have the ability to go into as much depth as your curiosity allows. There is basic, elemental information available, as well as advanced information, instruction tutorials, and text directions for you to recreate and duplicate what these models show you. Similar to the distinction I made with Podcasts about the ability to simply use this tool, as opposed to creating videos yourself, please remember that I try to give you more information than you can digest with the hope that you will revisit these sessions in the future when the need (or desire) arises.

Here is another tutorial showing you a service that make podcasting seem simple:

Good luck, have fun, and keep an eye on the clock.

DF

PS--I am currently in Fla. visiting Mickey (with my kids and won't be home until Sat.)  I'm having uploading issues with the file size for S12 which prohibit me from uploading and updated version fixing some of S12's dead links.  Please feel free to download the session anyway and disregard the deadlinks, otherwise please wait until Sat. when I will have a chance to remedy this issue.  Thanks for your patience.

 

921-Session 10

Welcome to Session 10--Podcasts!

As we move into July and towards the end of the semester I'd like to remind you to please don't wait until the last minute to contact me if you have any questions, and as with all of these projects, "Practicality Shall Take Precedence over All." That means that if you have an idea to modify a Deliverable or Final Project so that it will be more useful to you in your setting then please feel free to pass your ideas by me. (I approve most of them.)

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If you'd like to read past participants' comments you may find them here:
Spring '09

Summer of '08 are here.

Some people find that reading these ahead of the session gives them some well-needed perspective.

It is easy to get overwhelmed with Podcasting, so let me put it in simple terms. You have the choice of going the 'simplistic route' or the more 'complex route'. The simple route entails finding, listening, and integrating podcasts that have been created by others into your lessons. The complex route entails creating them yourself or with your students. Keep these distinctions in mind to avoid drowning yourself in S10 & S11.

Someone mentioned that they wanted to know if it was possible to set up an "Instant Messaging" box on their blog. The answer is, "yes!" I haven't tried it myself, but I know that you can use any number of services, like: (http://www.plugoo.com/, or http://www.meebome.com/learnmore.html )

Mr. Dudley (a past participant) mentions his success here.
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This session brings us to a new category, "PODCASTING." I have found that teachers' experiences, and exposure, to podcasts vary widely, so I built in some 'Differentiated Instruction' into this session. For those of you new to the term you will be enlightened, and if you want more detail there will be hyperlinks from most slides that will give you that extra support you may need or want. Here is a video to give you a brief overview if you're a 'newbie.'

For those of you with more experience, I have integrated into the session the opportunity to bring yourself to the next stage in your 'podcasting evolution.' You will find video tutorials, and dozens of resources, that will help you rise to the next level of 'podcasting sophistication,' so you may create your own if you are so inclined. Here is a more 'research-based' video for those of you interested in that aspect.  And for those of  you that are in school libraries you can read this article.

For others, you may not have any desire to learn or use podcasts at this point in your career, so if that is the case you may skim through this section and focus upon your Final Project. Next session will expand on Podcasting and address Videocasting.

Good luck and podcast away!

Dave