Welcome to Session 6!
Before we get into the content of this week's lesson, I thought I would speak a little about the Midterm Project. There are more details in the syllabus, but in general you are to create a presentation (using the tool of your choice-a few are listed on Wikidave here) The over-riding goal of this assignment is to convey the power, influence, and benefits (for your particular setting) to your organization if they begin to embrace OER's and incorporate more Digital Content. More details can be found at the bottom of the syllabus. As I have stated in the past, I want this to be as pragmatic as possible for you, so if you have an idea that is outside of the description, and if you think that this would be more useful for you, then just pass it by me first for pre-approval.. Other than that, there aren't any restrictions on the direction you take this, just make sure that it is practical for your setting. You'll post a brief description of it under Session 7's blog posting as well as a link to where we can view the presentation (if anyone finds this too difficult, then I can walk you through it depending upon which presentation tool you use) and it will be due before Session 7 (3/18/13).
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This week we will be discussing a topic I'm sure you are all interested in. "How do we really customize this content to serve our local educational community?"
Before we address that I thought that I'd take a moment to address some possible gaps. A few of you have asked for some more examples of 'open' content for the humanities or cooking. OpenLearn is a site of free, open courses all CC licensed, so the material can be copied and shared, and you can create derivative works from them as well.
I just did a quick search for Spanish lessons and material and received these results. And these for French, so it may be worth exploring. (I use Chrome, as opposed to Internet Explorer or Safari, so it was nice when I was exploring the lessons in foreign languages b/c there was a button to translate the page. Worked pretty well from my layman's perspective.)
Another great site to access and borrow from is OpenTapestry. Give them a quick skim. One of our topics for this session is the 'personalization' of Digital Content that you cull/borrow. Read about OpenTapestry's personalization on their 'about us' page.
They have lots of CC licensed material to support all disciplines (This link takes you to just the courses available. They also have lots of great 'open content' for ELA. (They even give you directions about how to put it into your wiki or webpage).
They also have plenty of resources for those of you teaching World Languages. Here's a brief video introduction. It's a little dry, but gets good during the demo around the 30 minute mark. And here's just a cursory search for 'cooking'.
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Next we are going to continue with following along with the "Integrating Open Educational Resources in the Classroom" material created by my team of professors for a Curriki Fellowship. This session will walk you through the personalization, customization, and remixing of OER's to suit your specific goal or curricula. Let's start with Dr. Cynthia Gautreau's introduction video here. (I know she says it's the third module, but I thought that it would fit best in our S6.)
When you've finished with that I'd like you to then go through her module here. You don't have to complete every assignment here, but I would like you to reflect on questions 4a, b, and c that you will find here.
Please go through the material diligently to ensure that you gain a comprehensive level of knowledge with this content.
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Now, I debated whether or not to add this one, but sometimes my material can get rather heavy. This video is the polar opposite. Once you get through the silliness, the content is actually accurate. Who's hungry for some CC Cake?
Lastly, the dreaded mid-term. As I've mentioned repeatedly throughout the semester, my motivation for teaching this course is to have educators gain the most practical information and resources available for their particular setting. Additionally, you've all noticed that I've been keeping tabs on the workload each week b/c I realize that you all have 'day-jobs' so the last thing I want to do is overwhelm you.
So in the past I've given an in-depth mid-term assignment, but the workload was heavy. In place of that this semester I'd like you to still focus on the goals of the original midterm, but strip it down and simplify it. The over-riding goal of this assignment is to convey the power, influence, and benefits (for your particular setting) to your organization if they begin to embrace OER's and incorporate more Digital Content. More details can be found at the bottom of the syllabus. As I stated above, I want this to be as pragmatic as possible for you, so if you have an idea that is outside of the description and if you think that this would be more useful for you then just pass it by me first for pre-approval..
Good luck this week and as always, have fun!
DF
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8 comments:
I have completed my screencast.. in the process I am finding sites that I like and don't like to use. I was disappointed with CK12.org.. it was very slow loading things (don't know if its my computer or the site but this definitely hinders my use of it)
my screencast is at
http://www.screenr.com/WFt7
I utilize edcanvas.com and educreations.com which are video supported sites. I find with mathematics, students learn much better when they can hear the explanation of the problems and concepts. My goal is to create video canvasas of all the concepts in Core Algebra I and branch from there. I think its important for students to go to "one place" so I have created a link on the school fusion class web page for them to go to edcanvas, or educreations, or the holt book online... etc.
What a week!!! I attended the LFA/RI's Empowering Practice Through Technology conference yesterday, and what a great opportunity to learn about how to integrate technology in my content area so that I can better examine formative assessments and enhance literacy. The workshops were great and I am glad that I attended!! My greatest "take away" from the conference was the PearlTrees website; check it out (when you have some time to play) at I like your screencast, DD! :) I think that I learned about solving equations by watching the videos; don't think I could take a test on it yet, since equations are not my specialty, but I how you show where to access the resources and how you put the link on your FusionPage for students. This week, I also put a link to a YouTube video on my FusionPage (Here it is: ) so that my students can have a more interactive model as they begin to create their annotated bibliographies. They seemed to appreciate watching it in class (i know it's not as exciting as some of the other videos out there)
As far as the questions go, here are my ideas: I think that key factors to consider prior to remixing OER lessons or information are not too different from those that we encourage students to use when writing. The audience must be at the forefront, so the "remixer" need to consider who is viewing the content, and how that content can be shared appropriately and effectively. Attribute rules are important; I definitely need to read more about the symbols on OER Commons so that I can remember which is which. I am not sure what help I need, yet, since I am still trying to read, think, search, and compile materials, but I know that my questions can be answered when they arise- either by information or links on this blog, or by my colleagues. The postings of prior students who took this course have also been helpful.
I forgot to mention, before, that although I liked the initial visual appeal of OpenTapestry, I was not impressed with the content in my subject area. One of the links went to a PDF, which, although informative, was not engaging. This is something that may be more appealing to adults than to teenagers; one of my goals is to make my own digital text, and screen cast, both educational and appealing to a teenage audience.
I really feel quite accomplished this week. I worked on my text and really was able to transfer a lot of my information, documents, and videos. I have found ck-12 relatively easy to use, at least after some practice. I also have "played" with Educreations and I think once I have Reflector installed at school it will be even more useful. I am actually going to share on our PD day how to start a text like the one I am working on. I think what I like the most is how complete the text can be, which is far better than how fragmented our School Fusion pages seem to be. I agree the when "remixing" the audience must be considered. I have worked very hard to appeal to my student audience. I will use Screenr this week and think that also serves as a potential resource for students to use as well.
I was plugging away with my chapter so much I forgot to post!! Apologies...
DD, I don't find that the CK12 is too slow, but I did find--the hard way--that you have to save save save as often as possible. I'm used to google docs where everything saves automatically:) I look forward to checking out your screencast! I think your video canvas sounds amazing. . .something I wish I had in high school math classes. . .
Andrea, I can't wait to hear about the conference more. . .I like the idea of pearltrees to use for research and other school-related webby items for the students. . .I love the idea of curating and cultivating. . .so wonderful.
Melissa, I totally agree with your comments on CK12. After finishing a number of concepts, I'm finding it easy and fun to write!
Can't wait to see people's screencasts!
It may be my computer that makes things slower, but I do think it has to do with all the different types of symbols, graphs, pictures, video's, etc that come with writing math....Anyway, I am also creating an Algebra I book. I will do another screen shot after I go out to eat.. Will post it before the w/e is done. I really enjoyed the PD that helps to incorporate all this new technology stuff. I will explore glogster more .. think it looks much better than edcanvas, but that is for later.
Here is my new screencast folks. I have incorporated the previous one into this one because I added the creation of an algebra I core book.
here is the link:
http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cIebflVFYZ
Hello,
So far I still like Ck12 and Curriki but it is fun to explore the newer options such as Open Tapestry and Sophia. I am creating my digital textbook unit on Sound Waves. I am hoping this will allow me to conduct the unit in a more project based format in which the students work in cooperative groups to create a musical instrument. So in reality I would want them to do the readings/ activities via the digital text outside of class and then discuss, problem solve and work in groups on the project while in class.
DD-I agree with you that students learn much better when they are able to hear the explanation of problems and concepts rather then just seeing it. I love that you utilize all those resources (educreations, edcanvas, online book, etc.) to facilitate the students learning.
Stacey
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