ETEC 524: Reflection #8

Throughout the semester you have been exposed to a variety of technologies, researched studies to further your knowledge, develop your educational technology philosophy, a blog, and much more. What has made the biggest impact on you? How are you going to change as a result of it? What are some other "Aha" moments you had this semester? Finally, will you continue to utilize your blog and if so, how?

The technology activities have had the biggest impact on me. Being able to CREATE is what learning is all about for me. I am amazed how many courses I have taken in undergraduate and graduate school that did not have a create or practical application component. I now wonder how this is even possible! Imagine teaching accounting but never filing taxes or creating forms/worksheets for a small business. Learning formulas in a lecture room is not enough. Technology may not be the sole answer for this but it can aid in teaching and creating a wealth of concepts.

My goal moving forward is to design student-centered "create" based lessons and assess my instruction and the use of technology. A major change I will be making is to store materials online for learners to access at a later date. This is primarily for staff workshops and my marketing/media interns. Other "aha!" moments came reading my colleagues posts regarding different technologies being used and how they are being used. There is just so much out there!

Yes, I plan to continue this blog. If not being used for another course next term then I will continue posting about technology, student affairs and higher education topics.

ETEC 524: Reflection #7

Lesson plan activity

I chose to create a lesson plan outline on typography. First I would use a combination of the YouTube videos to break the ice on typography, see below. Students will then use the social media site Pinterest to create visual boards of serif and sans serif fonts. Pinterest will allow students to share pins by repinning and to comment on classmates pins. 

The second part of the lesson will include a research component using fonts already installed on the computer and the site dafont.com to draw inspiration. Each student will create their own original font on paper and then transfer the font into the computer software, Illustrator, using a drawing tablet and image scanner. The student will then solidify a working type font. The student will also provide a reflection paper demonstrating an understanding of the history of typography and explaining how their research inspired their original font creation.  

How we can improve student learning...

Where do I begin! There are so many methods to creating interactive and engaging learning environments with and without technology. I have always been an advocate of doing while learning "a la practicum style". If anyone is familiar with Babson College you will understand what I mean. Babson encourages the use of practical applications of education towards entrepreneurship and global studies. This means that students are just learning about what to do when they graduate they are actually doing it prior to graduation. It's a mind frame and technology is there to assist the process. 

We can take a business marketing approach to education. Students are customers. If this is true, why are we not going to them and instead expect students to conform to us? Education is not water. A great education is a privilege and therefore more like soda. As a soda maker I am not expecting students to line up out of necessity and I am more likely to be meeting students in their space. What is their space? It is on Facebook, Twitter, in blogs, on YouTube, outside, at work, in the evening at home, etc. A traditional classroom is not their space. Education must balance the integrity of the curriculum and embrace the needs of its customers, ehrm... learners. In the first video multiple students admitted to not using their laptops in class for class related objectives. So give them something to do online during this period of time. Too many texters? Encourage text-to-tweets for a classroom backchannel. This way yes, the student is texting, but they are more likely to be texting for the class and engaging with classmates. This seems like a better outcome than them texting pictures of my backside covered in chalk to half the university while sitting stadium style with over a hundred people they've never met. 

Two videos for your pleasure regarding education and human behavior... 

The Pleasure of the Tweet

Changing Education Paradigms

ETEC 524: Reflection #6

The purpose of my podcast was to briefly introduce the Twitter based program, HootSuite. I use HootSuite at work to monitor the University's brand, provide customer service support and monitor student activity on Twitter. Currently, I host workshops throughout the year for staff within the division to get them set up on HootSuite. However, I am leaning towards making podcasts for staff to review if they need a refresher after the workshop. Especially using some of the more advance features the platform offers.

I also get requests for speaking on campus about digital identity and branding through social media and other web 2.0. A series of similar podcasts could benefit the students and provide a reference point for how employers may find them online and how it can impact their future.

I used Quicktime's "record screen" feature. Quicktime also has a feature to directly upload videos to YouTube. I did not do any editing on this specific podcast however I usually do and use iMovie for that. Thanks to the stock software on my Mac it is pretty simple and cheap, FREE! Yes, I plan to create more educational podcasts in the future.

You can view my channel on YouTube or even the channel I advise but is mostly student produced.