CEdO540 Getting started with Statistics

This week we began with an intro to statistics. We looked at the different ways to produce an "average" and the types of representations of data in a statistical study. The whole idea of statistics is somewhat intimidating to me. I've never considered myself a mathematical wizard, but I do appreciate the ability to use data to drive instruction and to provide concrete support for progress in an instructional program. I am looking forward to gaining a better understanding of statistics that will hopefully help me speak with more authority about the educational outcomes within the program I support.

CEdO530 Week 5: Digital Storytelling

This week we put the finishing touches on our Pecha Kuchas, created rubrics to evaluate multimedia projects and evaluated multimedia hardware and software in our small groups.

I enjoyed the Pecha Kucha project and developed a new appreciation for storyboarding as part of the preparation process. Of all of the digital stories we submitted in this class, I found this one to be the easiest to put together in the final stages because of the storyboard. The system of putting to paper the images I had in mind and the words I would use to describe my story helped me to stay focused when I actually sat in front of the computer to compile my presentation. It was great and I plan to use the storyboard as a regular part of my preparation when it comes to multimedia presentations.

I like the idea of using a rubric, and while I am not a classroom teacher I think it would be useful in evaluating my own presentations as well as a tool for my staff to evaluate multimedia projects they put together for their own lessons. I am still thinking this through, so I have not put it together as of yet...

This has been a great class with a lot of new tools and techniques that I look forward to using in the work I do.

CEdO530 Week 4

This week's work really focused on pulling it all together.

One of our tasks this week was to create a Prezi of our top six pictures. I enjoyed using Prezi--I think it is a great alternative to using Power Point and the novelty of how the images and words move in and out of view is a useful way to hook the audience. I found Prezi to be pretty user-friendly and I liked how everything is all laid out on one screen, which makes it easier to get the big picture and see how it all connects.

Presentation Zen wrapped up with the "Delivery" phase of presenting, which I found interesting and reassured me that what I am doing now is on the right track; I have a lot of fine-tuning to do though. It is evident to me how important preparation is in the delivery process and it is an area I want to spend more time investing in. I really enjoyed Garr Reynold's book and plan to revisit it often as I re-evaluate training and meeting presentations I've used in the past and plan to recycle in the new school year.

The Pecha Kucha is another project that is currently looming over my head. It is one of those things I know I will enjoy once I get into it, but I'm having a bit of a block with it at the moment. I think one of my issues is the prospect of having to do voice overs, which has been a challenge for me in the previous assignments. I know I will take so much away from the experience that I can apply to what I do both professionally and personally, so I just need to jump in and do it!

CEdO530 Week 3

This week's lessons included an introduction to Animoto, another tool that can be used to create digital stories. I am excited to work with this application because I think it could add a lot to the work I do, especially as I work toward digitizing parts of the company training process.

Presentation Zen addressed Design Principles and Techniques, which I found to be extremely valuable. I like the way the book shows examples of original slides alongside final products with recommendations of how to apply the principles introduced. While I think I've used some of the principles throughout my presentations, I realize I have applied them inconsistently and without a strong understanding of how to fine tune my final products. I come from the old school presentation framework of bulleted lists, which I have known for sometime haven't been as effective as I would like; but I wasn't sure what I could do to change things up and still provide the information. I look forward to learning how to get away from those bullet points and provide a thought provoking "sticky" presentation that is as enjoyable as it is informational.

Overall, I enjoy the content of what we are learning--I am extremely overwhelmed by the amount of work and the amount of time I am having to spend getting it done. I know it is time well spent, but for the first time in my master's program I feel like I might not be able to keep up. Anyone else out there finding themselves in the same boat? I will continue to hang in there...

CEdO530 Week 2

This week of Digital Storytelling introduced us to VoiceThread , which is an online tool to facilitate commentary on presentations, including the ability to record voice commentary that could be used to narrate the information on the slides. I am interested in getting a lot of practice with this tool, as I see it having a lot of potential for the work I do with new staff members. Much of the beginning training process is covering the basics: About the company, roles and responsibilities, HR information, etc. The ability to create an introductory module to the training process in order to share this information through something like VoiceThread could not only improve the consistency of the message people are receiving, but would also cut down on the time I am taken out of daily work tasks to deliver this as people are hired throughout the year. Using VoiceThread would not eliminate the need for me or one of the supervisors to meet with new employees for orientation, as I believe that face time is important to making new hires feel welcome and to get them off to a good start; but consistency can be a challenge, and can be impacted by multiple factors (tight schedules, environment, person delivering the training, etc.)...a tool like this would serve well to eliminate the variables and ensure all receive the same message.

If I were teaching in a classroom, I could see using VoiceThread as a way to share samples of student work with families and a vehicle for students to receive feedback from a broader audience. This would certainly take some careful monitoring, and would depend on school/district policies about the use of this type of technology, but it has great potential. Students could also use a tool like VoiceThread to present culminating projects for their coursework: they could even start in a more familiar application such as Power Point and then upload and use VoiceThread to add the finishing touches.

Once again, I am looking forward to learning more about this new tool and I can't wait to try it out as I continue to update and improve training materials and techniques at work!

CEdO530 Week 1

This week marks the beginning of Digital Storytelling, which I anticipate is going to be a lot of fun to learn about. We were introduced to some examples of digital stories, which I enjoyed very much and can't wait to learn how to create one of my own.

One of our ongoing assignments is to take a picture a day and post it to posterous.com, which I thought would be easy but now I'm not so sure! I find myself over thinking this and need to just do it. I like the idea and am curious how the photos will be used down the line.

We also had to tell a story of our lives as we see it in the future. I found this exercise to be difficult in the sense that I was originally going to make it humorous and fantasy-like (a happily ever after story) but ended up keeping it more realistic. I anticipate we will be using this story for the basis of a digital story project...

As I said, I am looking forward to gaining new skills in the area of digital storytelling that I can use at work to enhance training and marketing materials, as well as in my personal life to prepare something special to share with my family.

Week 6: CEDO 525 Enhancing Learning Materials through Technology

Final Reflection

Last night we presented our final projects where we took existing lessons and enhanced them using technology. In my case, I evaluated processes and procedures within my workplace and determined ways to use technology to enhance our professional learning community.

While my workplaced has evolved quite a bit over the years, our organization has continued to fall back on old habits of communication, including over-use of email and print resources. Through my coursework I've been introduced to a variety of online tools that could be introduced to my staff to improve lines of communication and cut down on the amount of paper used to support new processes & procedures. One of the most valuable tools I learned about was Google Sites because it provided me with a location to store documentation, as well as facilitate communication (via an annoncement page and calendar, and collaboration through discussion boards).

The site has been live for about one month now, and the feedback I have received has been really positive. Overall, my staff members are finding it to be a valuable resource where they can obtain documents in one central location. People are beginning to participate in the discussion boards: Educational Resources and Mimio Lessons. For the most part, several have posted lessons and links to sites / articles they think might be of interest--the next step is to get others to reply to the posts in order to get more of a conversation going in regards to those initial posts. I talked to the staff about it yesterday during our staff meeting--we looked at the site and I had some teachers come up to share their posts. We talked about what we liked about the sites, what might not be as useful, etc. and I then demonstrated how that discussion could continue outside of our monthly meeting times by replying on the discussion boards. It's new, and it's only been up for a few weeks, so I realize it will take some time to reach it's full potential; but I'm very pleased with the results thus far and feel that I am well on my way of meeting my objectives.

This course helped me to consider learning strategies through the process of creating the company Intranet in Google Sites. I was able to see that although I am not teaching in a classroom, many of the learning strategies used by classroom teachers apply to the professional development I conduct for my staff. I took the learning strategies into consideration as I evaluated the site I created, and proceeded to add or tweak what was already there to meet my objectives of improving communication and fostering a professional learning community.