Final Reflection

Throughout the semester and all of the Web 2.0 technologies that we explored, I feel that as a future teacher I will try my hardest to implement technology into my library and or classroom as much as possible. The way the world is advancing right with technology, it is vital for the future of our world to be experienced with a variety of technologies. I hope to enhance their learning experience as well as open their eyes to what Web 2.0 has to offer.

Podcasts, videos, and wikis are aspects of this class that I especially enjoyed and can see myself implementing right away. I think that students would enjoy using all of the as a tool to enhance other assignments. These technologies can be used in many different ways to enhance or create a new lesson.

This class was very beneficail to me as a future educator or library media specialist and I am excited to be able to use this knowledge and these technologies in the future.

Podcast Review

I'm sorry that it is a little late, crazy week with finals and all! I forgot to add my summary of the podcast that I downloaded and listened to in my reflection. A little summary of my podcast... I listened to a Grim Tale: The Brothers Grimm. This was a podcast that was produced by howstuffworks.com from The Stuff You Missed in History Class. The podcast featured two females who gave a brief history of how the two brothers became so involved in fantasy writing. They began as lawyers but after the death of their parents were forced to take care of their 5 siblings. The brothers were not making enough money to support and feed all of the siblings and themselves and while in the library became interested in fiction writing. I feel that this podcast and other podcasts from the same series would provide a fun listening activity for students. They provide interesting usually unknown information in a short period of time. Overall I really enjoyed listening to this podcast and plan on continuing listening for a while.

Podcast Reflection

Podcast are a great way for students to experience technology at a young age and at any age really. I feel that through podcast's students are allowed the freedom that they are not always given in school settings. in the library media center students would be able to explore the technological aspects that books or poetry can provide. I think that students would really enjoy being able to pick what they were going to record and to be able to edit it in whatever way they would like.
If an assignment was to give a book report or presentation a podcast could provide students with another way to complete the assignment. For students who do not necessarily enjoy given oral book reports or speeches it can be a way for them to succeed on the assignment while not being forced to present in a way that does not appeal to them personally. if students were out sick or missed class for some other reason, a teacher could record what when on in the classroom and then publish the podcast to the blog each night or each week so that students could catch up on what they missed. This could also be beneficial for students who were still confused on an assignment or wanted to hear an explanation again.
The production of a podcast is not by any means a strenuous or time consuming process. I think it is important for people to understand that a podcast does not have to be perfect. It can be a rough audio clip that gives the general information that is needed. Instead of sending home a monthly newsletter, a podcast could be posted on a classroom or library media center blog informing parents of what is going on in the school and of upcoming events.
I feel that there are so many beneficial things that a podcast can potentially provide for future students as well as teachers and library media specialists. Technology is an ever-growing and changing industry and it is imperative for students to learn how to use these up and coming technologies. I can see myself implementing a podcast into my future classroom or library media center.

Digital Video Reflection

When thinking of how I wanted to produce a digital movie project I debated over whether to make a book trailer or to promote a library. After careful thought and deliberation I decided to promote the Teachers Resource Center. The TRC is housed in the brand new Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences. Having moved into a large, spacious room it was a perfect time to create a digital video to promote the library.

I started out just assuming that we would be using windows movie maker or iMovie to create our movies. When we received the assignment I was surprised to read that we would be using an online resource to produce these movies.  Researching the Web 2.0 movie making sites was slightly scary. I wasn’t sure how I was going to promote the TRC in only thirty to sixty seconds while incorporating pictures and audio. Through my research it was very relieving to find out that through most of the Web 2.0 resources provided audio that was easy to add after you had compiled all of the pictures.

I chose to use the movie making tool Animoto. It seemed user friendly at the time and the videos that I previewed were all nicely put together. After using Animoto for free the first time, I think that next time I would try out a different program or pay to have more control over the movie making process. There were many aspects of Animoto that turned out to be not so user friendly. Being as there was only thirty seconds to work with, it was hard to choose which pictures that I could incorporate into my final project. There was no tool in Animoto that allowed the producer to set the amount of time each picture showed on the screen. I had to go through the process of editing and rendering and re-editing and re-rendering the project several times before it turned out the way I like it.

Having completed this assignment and taken the time to look at others projects I feel that I definitely have room for improvement when it comes to creating a thirty to sixty second movie. I feel that this project could be very beneficial in a classroom or library setting. Student could create movie trailers, create digital book reports, or even create a vide promoting their classroom or library. I feel that it is very important to introduce technology and Web 2.0 tools to young children because as time goes by technology is only going to become more prevalent.

Podcast Assignment

This is a poem by Shel Silverstein. I got the sound effects from freesound.org and uploaded it to archive.org. I really enjoyed doing this assignment and after showing it to a classroom that I help out with, I am confident that they are a great tool to use in a library/classroom setting.

Digital Video Assignment

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

For my Digital Video Assignment I chose to make a promotional video for the brand new Teachers Resource Center at the College of Education and Human Sciences in Missoula. The room is still undergoing a little construction, so the walls are a little bare. Hope you enjoy the video and definitely come and check it out!

Reflective Essay About How I WIll Use Blogs as a Resource

Blogs can be a very useful resource that can be accessed from anywhere at anytime. The ability to view blogs can be restricted to very strict standards which can be very helpful when blogs are used in the school environments. As a future teacher/librarian a way that I plan to use blogs as a resource would be to update my blog regularly containing information on class events. This would be a way to "Go Green" in the classroom, instead of sending home paper copies of class newsletters, it is now possible for anyone to access the internet (public libraries, personal computers, WIFI connections, etc). The parents could then comment on the newsletter or ask questions that way allowing other parents to see the question and response from the teacher which would also help cutback on the teacher receiving duplicate questions. Another way this could be used as a resource is to use blogs as a collaborative environment for students to work. The privacy settings can be set to where only people in the class as well as teachers can view the blog. This could help on group projects, collaborative discussions, reviewing of articles and many more. It is a tool that requires little management and the students can work on without taking many materials and supplies home.  I believe that there are many ways for blogs to be used as a resource in the classroom/library. Knowing that there are unlimited ideas on the internet, I cannot wait to further explore the ways that blogs can be used as resources in the classroom/library.