INST 4010 - Tech for Elem. Teachers |
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Today you will teach your final projects to the class. The ones we don't get around to will teach us on December 1st. Additionally, I have emailed your grades to date.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Time in class was used to work on projects, answer questions, tech support, etc.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Here are PowerPoint templates for Jeopardy Games.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Today we continue with Digital Storytelling. We examine scripting and the open source program Celtx. We'll do some techical support to make sure everyone is set to go with PhotoStory3 and look at some examples. And then I'll present the final project to you.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
I went to Vernal over the weekend to help students there with video production (a demonstration). Then I introduced them to PhotoStory3. This program is very popular in education, particularly with elementary educators. That's because there are many uses for "digital storytelling" and it's really easy to create (if you ever use an Apple computer, iPhoto will do the same thing since PhotoStory3 is Windows-only). So I showed the class PhotoStory3 in class to finish tonight's lesson. No assignment was given, but you may want to consider using PhotoStory3 for your final project. Here are some links you may want to use:
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Some have struggled with Audacity, I have Googled away and found these tutorials:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=Tutorials
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=4107349
http://www.guidesandtutorials.com/audacity-tutorial.html
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df4f25rh_198c9tqf9kr
Additionally, I have found a few others in PDF format and have enclosed them in a .zip file that you can download here.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
After I played "Bribing Mr. Rathke" in class, I did an audio editing demonstration in class using the audio exercise files you can download from my web site. Then you will need to do the audio editing assignment for next week, Tuesday, October 13, 2009. You will need to export your edited assignment to either .mp3 or .ogg to submit it. (NOTE: Do NOT email the Audacity file, which has the .aup extention).
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
In class we went over just how to accept the invitation to my blog and how to author a post and how to make a comment. Hopefully, everyone will have been able to connect by the end of class.
Then I went over the various file types involved in audio. These include .wav (uncompressed wave), .aiff (Apple's version of uncompressed wave), .mp3 (compressed wave 10:1 with meta date), .m4a (AAC format which is a better version of .mp3 but with higher qualities and more capabilities for meta data. Apple iTunes music is in this format), .m4b (same as .m4a but with chapter bookmarks for audiobooks. This format is preferred by Audible.com), .m4p (this is the copyprotected version of AAC. This used to be the format from iTunes but was abandoned earlier this year) and .ogg (stands for Ogg Vorbis, an open-source format with the quality of AAC but completely unencumbered by legal issues like patent and copyright laws the way .mp3 format is. That is why you need to seperately install the LAME library to get Audacity to export to .mp3).
For the next class, be sure to have Audacity installed and ready to go. For the best easy of use, make sure that you download the beta version (either 1.3.6 or 1.3.7, 1.3.8 or 1.3.9). They work just as good as the 'stable' version numbered 1.2.6, but actually is easier to use.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
As mentioned last week in class, I will be at Parent/Teacher Conferences today at Stansbury High School. That gives you an additional week to complete the web page assignment. Don't worry if Blackboard says it's late, I can't change that without deleting any assignments already uploaded.
You may not have to come to class, but you do still have to do some work. In this case I am experimenting with blogging in this class. One reason is to show you how blogging can generate constructive interaction. The other is because the two locations, Uinta Basin and Tooele, are seperate in Blackboard and there is no way for those students to participate in an online dialogue with the rest of the class. So I created a blog on Blogger and made all of you authors. I used the emails that you used to submit assignments or the email listed in my classlist under Banner. The blog is called ISSUES IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY and can be located by typing tech-ed-issues.blogspot.com into your browser.
So what exactly are we going to discuss? First you need to read all of these articles. (What!?! You scream. Relax, they're mostly just a page or two):
After you have read these articles that have very diverse ideas and opinions, formulate an idea you could use or an opinion you may have and post it as a blog post to my blog. Additionally, you need to check back and make at least two comments to two different posts to the blog (more is better, this is just a minimum). My first blog post is an example of what I'm looking for in a blog post (please feel free to comment). You should have no problem reading the blog, but if you have trouble posting, let me know. You will need to create a Google account if you don't have one in order to post. You don't need a new email address or one from Google to open the account. Have fun with this, and let's see if we can get some lively discourse going! [NOTE: The articles above are also in the Reading Materials folder on Blackboard.]
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
I believe we have conquered all the issues with installing software in previous classes. Therefore, you should have Kompozer installed on your computer or flash drive and be ready to go today with web page design. Following the instruction, we'll start working on the web page assignment that is due by Tuesday, September 22, 2009.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Welcome back. I hope your holiday was a happy one. Now back to laboring with technology. Hopefully you have downloaded and installed GIMP as mentioned last week. Additionally, you should have downloaded a .zip file with two images in it: one of an old grain silo and another of a lizard. You will need these images in class today. After we have worked in class in GIMP, you have an imaging assignment to do for next week.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
We will review the Prensky article and discuss your thoughts on the subject regarding Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. Then we will discuss the use of the Internet as a form of communication and how we believe we can advance the curriculum with this wonderous invention. I will also go over the software we need to work on the projects in this class. Hopefully we will be connected to everyone this week (we may need to spend a little time in class reviewing what happened last week).
You will need to download and install some programs to your computer. Or install what is called a portable application (portable app) to a USB flash drive that you can run from that drive in a computer lab on the school's computer. My recommendation is to go to portableapps.com to see what I mean. You will need the following:
- Kompozer web design program either
- GIMP (image manipulation software) as either
- Audacity 1.3.9 (sound editing software) as either
- direct install (Windows or Mac) or as
- portable app Windows only). NOTE: The portable version of Audacity is version 1.2.6 which is not as good as the directo install of version 1.3.9
Also, be sure to download this zip file of images for the photo editing lesson next week.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Welcome to the first day of class for INST 4010, Technology for Elementary Teachers. This is my teaching web site. I use it daily for my high school classes and have adapted this section for our class on Instructional Technology. Please feel free to view the high school site and to use this section to keep up-to-date in this course as well. Pay attention, relax, hold one, and have fun. This is designed to make learning fun for us, not just the children!
- We will discuss the syllabus in detail today, don't let all the techno-speak scare ya!
- We will also discuss the age of technology on children and their learning. Be ready to participate in a class discussion on this reading for next time.
- We will create our UEN accounts and check out what the Utah Education Network has to offer.
- You will be assigned a reflection paper and be ready to discuss the reading on September 1st.
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