Wicked Problem Project: Part C- Implementation

For Part C of the Wicked Problem Project,  I recorded my podcast on Audacity, uploaded it to my web portfolio that I made for CEP 811 and linked it here. Other than practicing during the lab, this was my first real experience making a podcast and figuring out how to publish it. I talked about my wicked problem project, surprises I encountered, challenges, and delights!

Enjoy!

http://lisajmele.weebly.com/uploads/4/2/7/7/4277941/podcast.mp2


Below are some of the final sample student PSA projects:

1.)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfJTQJG__38 

Cyberbullying (could not embed, but a good video)

2.) Endangered Animals: Pandas

3.)  Child Soldiers

4.) Disaster in Japan

5.) Child Labor

6.) Economic Inequality

7.)  Stem Cell Research (they had a bit of fun with this one)

Wicked Problem Project Part B: Application of TPACK

1.) What is the TP knowledge for the solution?
       The technology which will be used in my Wicked Problem Project, flip cameras and iMovie, supports the teaching strategies and methods I have chosen in many ways. Students will learn how to use the various technologies through guided learning. They will follow along with a tutorial that I will project to the class. Then, they will be given the opportunity to work independently using what they learned about how to use flip cameras and how to edit on iMovie. I will also provide links to the tutorials on my class website so students may reference them as they work independently. Although students will work independently to write and create their PSA's, I will encourage them to help each other as they run into problems. This type of cooperative learning is important because it gives students the opportunity to instruct or learn from peers.

2.)  What is the TC knowledge for the solution?

   The purpose of using a public service announcement instead of a standard slideshow presentation is to encourage students to engage in higher level thinking. They are required to take the concepts they learned about their research topic and turn it into a persuasive appeal to urge viewers' into taking action. This requires students to think critically about their topic, summarize the main ideas, and create an original, persuasive product. The technology used to do this, flip cameras and iMovie software, gives them the means to create such a product through guided learning and independent, hands-on practice. Having such technology allows students to think of the persuasive presentation as a commercial and provides them with the means to combine elements like music, speech, pictures, and videos to present their topic.

 3.) What is the PC knowledge for the solution?

By using guided instruction, time to work hands-on independently, and cooperative learning, students will be able to access the concepts of writing and filming a public service announcement in many ways. They will have time to learn from me and be walked through the process, time to explore the materials and concepts of a persuasive presentation on their own, and time to learn from their peers as they come across challenges. These varied learning methods will address the different learning styles of my students. Furthermore, because the students doing this particular assignment are gifted, it will require them to engage in higher level thinking as they create their own persuasive message and decide on how to encourage viewers to take action.

Group Leadership Project: Part A

For our group leadership project, our group, the middle school teachers, met on Thursday using Vyew. Stacy recorded our meeting using Camtasia. I must say, this was the most frustrating online experience I have had during my CEP courses yet. During the beginning of our meeting, we all talked by typing in the chat and everything was fine. As soon as we went to the webcams, it was a mess. One person was able to talk, but couldn't get the webcam to work. Another person kept being kicked out and had to sign in over and over again. I was only able to hear people from time to time and often caught the very end of what they said. I felt like I couldn't do my part to contribute because I never knew what anybody said. Also, when I clicked the 'talk' button, nothing happened, so I was never able to speak. Fortunately, I was still able to utilize the chat room feature and so I communicated by typing. While I was able to put my two cents in every so often, I often didn't know what the rest of the group was saying. The group did manage to summarize what they were saying in the chat box for me though after they had finished discussing, so I was able to contribute my thoughts at that point. Eventually, I turned my webcam off and by doing so, I was able to hear what everyone was saying much better, but I still could not talk. I have no idea why this happened. This experience made me appreciate Skype more than ever! While it was good to learn about other web conferencing tools, I think Vyew has just too many kinks that still need to be worked out.

Advantages:

• The program was free
• All four of us were able to be there
• You could type/chat and communicate through webcam (if it had worked)
• All of us could view and write on a document while chatting
• Had features like a hand raising button

Disadvantages:

• Connection problems for one person
• Audio problems for me
• Webcam issues for one person
• Made communication a very difficult and long process

Overall, it was good to learn about web conferencing, but there were many challenges with it this time.

You can see some of the group meeting video here:

Wicked Problem Project: Part A- Description of Need or Opportunity

Educational Need/Opportunity
Each year in my 8th grade language arts class, students research and write a 4-6 page essay about a topic of their choosing. The only limitation is that the topic must be based on Gandhi's quote, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."  From that, students are encouraged to think about a local, national, or worldwide problem that they are truly interested in and truly want to see change. Students pick everything from animal abuse to effects of Hurricane Katrina to saving the arts in schools. This has consistently been a valuable research project that has helped the students to look beyond themselves and their own needs. I am always impressed with the depth in which they explore their topics and what they learn from them. However, after all that researching, I feel it is important for the students to share with each other what they have learned about this problem and what solutions are possible. In the past, each student has created and presented a PowerPoint to share information about their paper. After two years of having presentations done this way, I learned that no matter how interesting the topic, all of us become bored after seeing slideshow after slideshow. I knew there had to be a better way to approach these topics. The real educational problem faced is that students presenting and those viewing were not getting much benefit from the presentations. I want the presentations to be meaningful for all involved and of course for students to learn about problems affecting our world. This year I decided that it will be more effective if my students create a public service announcement. Not only will this meet multiple standards within the NC Standard Course of Study, it will also make the presentations more authentic and important to both the student creating it and the students viewing the PSA. With the point of a PSA being to grab viewers' attention and urge them to take action, it will create the challenge of deciding how to create the best argument for their cause. It will cause students to have to think critically and persuasively. While they have done this within their writing, a PSA would cause them to have to think of their topic from a completely different perspective and in a new format. They will need to write a script, identify the problem immediately, speak persuasively, use appropriate images, text, and music to persuade, and present plausible and practical solutions all within a minute and 30 seconds. Some of the standards within our curriculum that will be addressed by this assignment are:

2.02 Use multiple sources of print and non-print information to explore and create research products in both written and presentational forms 

3.02 Continue to explore and analyze the use of the problem-solution process

3.03 Evaluate and create arguments that persuade

Adding in Technology

 My plan to use technology to help with this project is to use video cameras to film PSA's and iMovie to edit and finalize them. Another option is to just use iMovie to create the entire PSA (using images, music, text, voiceovers only). I think that creating a PSA will be a more authentic experience for students than creating a PowerPoint and repeating what they already said in their research paper. A PSA will allow students to think creatively about how to best approach a topic in a way that will touch viewers and at the same time motivate them to take action. The level of planning and thinking involved with a PSA will be a much better use of their time than simply restating facts from their papers onto a PowerPoint. Furthermore, a video PSA will be more effective than presenting this as a live skit. Students will have had time to edit their message and include film/images/music/motivating text.

Logistics 

While I truly think this would be best for all students, the amount of technology I have for this type of project is limited. Due to this, I will have to limit the PSA portion of the assignment to my AIG students (Academically/ Intellectually Gifted) because it will provide them the extra challenge that AIG students are required to receive in class. In the future I hope to be able to open the PSA assignment up to all students. In the meantime, this year I will give other students the option of using Glogster, Prezi, or making their own website, as opposed to requiring just a PowerPoint. I will also provide multiple formats for other students to present with (ie. from perspective of someone who has experienced the topic). This will still allow them to analyze the key parts of their papers and they will still be required to identify proposed solutions and to give viewers ways to take action.

Other logistics for my AIG students making the PSA's will be as follows:

3 flip video cameras (1 from Donors Choose and 2 from Digital Wish-they have a 2 for 1 special for teachers!)

2 team Canon video cameras

10 Mac computers with iMovie (in the computer lab)

6-8 days of class time

There are anywhere from 5-10 AIG students per class

Students will be allowed to film around the school within the first 2-3 days and will be required to begin editing by the 4th/5th days. I will provide a tutorial in class ahead of time on how to use iMovie, but most students are already familiar with this program from a 7th grade iMovie project they completed. Although 5 video cameras won't cover every AIG student in each class, they will also have the option of using just text/music/pictures, which would not require a video camera. Also, they will be allowed to use their own video cameras if they choose and have parent approval. In the past, students have preferred to bring their own technology (laptops/iTouches/video cameras/digital cameras) for projects and it has not been a problem.

Research/Resources

http://web.utk.edu/~impact/iMovie.html - This site gives great tutorials for how to use iMovie, using iMovie lesson ideas, and sample videos made with iMovie

http://kathyschrock.net/psa/index.htm - This site has many, many sample student PSA's as well as great resources for how to make a PSA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc - This site shows a Sarah McLachlan PSA that has been on television lately. I plan to use this to introduce students to the concept of PSA's.

http://www.flipvideospotlight.com/resources/shooting.aspx - Tips for how to shoot using a Flip video camera

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/03/20-ways-to-use-flip-cameras-in.html - This site gives ideas for various ways to use Flip Cameras in the classroom

http://www2.facinghistory.org/Campus/bethechange.nsf/home?OpenForm - This site tells stories of others who made a change. I plan to use it as a starting point.

Plan for Implementation:

My students will be completing their research papers this week, so they will begin this project as soon as they turn in their papers. To begin, students will be required to complete a story board and script before they are given a video camera or permission to work on iMovie. I will approve their story board/ script to ensure that it truly is a PSA and it meets the guidelines I have set out for them. They will have about three days to film and three days to edit and finalize their videos. All videos will need to be burned, uploaded to YouTube, or saved to a flash drive to turn them in. Students should be completing the entire project during the duration of this CEP course as it is only a two week project.

Indicators of Success:

I will know that the project has been successful if it is clear that students are able to critically analyze the information from their essay to create a persuasive, motivating video that clearly identifies why their topic is a problem and what viewers can do to help solve the problem. I will grade the videos with a rubric that will look at things like a clearly identified topic, the information is presented as a problem, statistical information presented, a clear solution presented, organizations that can help presented, the video is a PSA in nature that uses appropriate video/images to motivate, etc.

As with all new projects, I'm sure there will be some challenges in starting this one. However, I believe my students will thrive because they love the opportunity to be creative, especially when using new technology. I'm looking forward to seeing their public service announcements as a way of spreading the message about a topic they genuinely care about.

CEP 812: Video Introduction

Hello- to view my video introduction please click on the following link:

Lisa's Video Introduction

CEP 811: Final Reflection

 It's hard to believe that CEP 811 has already come to an end. It felt like this course really flew by! For my final assignment, I was asked to reflect on this course.  Below are the questions and responses.

• What are some things that you have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology?

I learned that when integrating technology into the classroom, it is important to test out whatever technology format you plan to use. With my STAIR assignment, I had to go through the entire thing testing out correct answers and incorrect answers. It seemed like just when I thought it was perfect there would be another minute detail that needed to be fixed. If I hadn't tested this out thoroughly before giving it to students to complete independently, it could have been a real problem. The STAIR assignment also taught me a great way to use PowerPoint so that students could access it while using different learning strategies. I also learned that it is very important to design the technology-based task with the assessment goals already planned out.

• How did integrating web-based technologies help you think about and evaluate uses of technology?

 Integrating web-based technologies, such as the PowerPoint STAIR, helped me to think about PowerPoints in a different way. In the past, I have used it as a tool for students to create presentations. Now, I know that I can actually use PowerPoint as a way to lead students through a lesson independently and as a way to assess their learning. It helped me to realize that technology can be used in a variety of formats and it is important to explore all different options. I also learned the importance of evaluating the type of technology used for to make sure it adds value to the lesson and isn't just being used for the sake of using technology.

• How have you met your own personal goals for learning about technology integration?

With this course, I learned about MERLOT, which will be an incredible resource, UDL principles, how to use Wikis, information about online learning and using technology with face to face learning, and much more. I have had the opportunity to reflect on my own lesson plans and the technology used within them, created/edited a wiki, made a web portfolio, and created a STAIR Power Point. All of these experiences have helped me to become a more knowledgeable teacher, especially when it comes to integrating technology. I feel that I have met personal goals for learning about technology integration because I tried new technological formats and analyzed the uses of each type of technology. I also have shown myself that although I may not know how to do something when it comes to new technology, with persistance and online guidance, I can learn. When first trying to publish to my afs space, I struggled with how to correctly do so. I had to watch the videos provided multiple times before I got the process right. It's always such a learning experience when you struggle and struggle with something and then finally achieve success. I am grateful for what I learned during this course because I know it will make me a better teacher for my students.

• Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new goals and your long-term goals after this course is over?

My goal is simply to continue learning and continue being open to new things. Coming into the CEP courses I thought I knew so much about technology and thought that I used technology effectively in my classroom a great amount. Now I am seeing that there is so much out there that I can still learn, and of course, it is always changing. I look forward to seeing what other great tips I learn from my future CEP courses. During CEP 810, my long term goal was to get into the MAET program. At this point I have already been accepted to the MAET program, so my new long term goal is to learn as much as I can from each course and apply it to my own classroom. I also hope to one day work as a technology supervisor in a school. Ideally, I would love to be able to go to other teachers' classes and teach them how to effectively integrate technology. I also am interested in teaching online courses through NCVPS someday. I really don't know what the future holds for me, but I'm sure that the MAET program is my first step on the journey.