Week #6 in CEDO 535

As a summary exercise we are supposed to make a SMART goal for how we will implement what we have learned in this class to our own classes. A SMART goal is an acronym for:

(credit for the above image goes to Prof. Loeffler at Cardinal Stritch University)

My SMART goal is to use Screenr to create a series of 30 AP problem solutions that the students will be able to work on and view.  In order to share the work load, I'm going to try to have students create the screencasts during their review time and then we will use each other's results to help practice for the test.  The screencasts can then be embedded into our Blackboard site for viewing, or I can put them up on my web page for the students after I have checked them for accuracy.  This should empower the students to review at their own pace as well as enable me to check for their understanding individually verbally.

Week #5 in CEDO

This week we finished up our google sites and worked on finding new web 2.0 tools. The tool I chose to look at was a flash game creation tool called classtools.net

This tool lets students make their own flash games for reviews or to make annotated pictures.  Here is one that I made in only 10 minutes:

Click here for larger version

This is a great tool and students will love it!  I hope to use it with my students soon as everyone loves to make and play games.

Screencast on Smartnotebook Use

Here is a useful Smart Notebook screencast to get you familiar with the digital whiteboard software.

Week #4 in CED 535

This week in CED 535 we are working with podcasts, wikis and crowd-sourcing.  I have been a huge fan of screencasting for quite a while, but I have only done 2 or 3 podcasts for my students.  My biggest hurdle has been trying to get the files in a place that is accessible to my students both at school and at home.  Chapter 8 of our book has given me some avenues to check out since Youtube, iTunes, and multiple Youtube clones are all blocked by my school and I have been looking for a quality hosting environment. If anyone has any other ideas, please share!

I look forward to exploring wiki use in my classroom since it has been a couple of years since we had a big wiki push that left all the students dreading the use of the term "wiki". Hopefully with the knowledge that we have been getting from these courses I can set mine up in a way that does not make it extra busy work, rather useful and meaningful to my students.

My Flickr Stream For Lab Safety

Here is a Flickr Stream that has to do with lab safety.