My First Vlog

Major tech issues and a bad "freeze face", but it's finally in one piece :)






Here's my final project mind map:

Favorite Vlog

I had a really fun time seaching for vlogs and watching them. I've seen some pretty good ones over the past year as I've discovered them, but this was a fun assignment. My favorite vlog I saw this week was focused on 2012 and narrated by Karen Alloy. Her humor and tongue in cheek approach was amusing to me. I liked the simplicity of the video paired with a variety of camera shots. The editing was smooth while still creating that 'tick tock' feeling even after the actual tic-tock sound was stopped. In addition to the camer photo-style shooting, the plain background with a close up of her speaking created the 'tension' feeling they were going for. It starts off with typical big-picture issues but then takes a turn for the silly. This keeps the viewer guessing as we watch her work through the information.

The intended audience was likely people who are neutral about the 'end of the world.' She is putting a lot of history into a tight package and giving opinion/analysis while bringing people up to date if they aren't familiar with the whole Mayan prediction hype. Her use of humor and consistent tone made the video fun to watch and interesting as well.

Wading Through Gobs of Information

For my final project, I am considering creating a site or digital book of some sort that is all accessible with American Sign Language to teach about these tools (RSS, Diigo, Blogs, Vlogs, etc). I would have two audiences, students and teachers. As a deaf educator, I see so much potential in all of these tools, and while many people have already started using them, I know the school I worked at is not employing these tools. We are “stuck” in the past using old fashioned ways of looking at research and information. We are not preparing our students for what is next. Part of making a successful step forward will be ACCESSIBLE information that is not dependent on verbal or even printed text. I want to make the site as accessible in ASL as possible. This is a huge task, and I doubt I’d finish it in this semester, but it is something I’d like to see happen.

For the research piece, I will rely heavily on Will Richardson’s text as well as other texts and research databases. I often use search indexes on the University’s site. I also hope that as I become more comfortable with RSS, feeds, etc that will allow me to collect resources, blogs, community resources, videos, etc that could be used to this end. The specifics of the search are hard to outline right now. I know there aren’t that many sites out there that are accessible in ASL. There are some sites that feature vlogs, but they are not usually teaching based; they tend to be video replacements for printed text blogs. I will need to do a lot of research on understanding how to use these tools and be able to explain them in clear, meaningful ways.

Using tools like Diigo, etc is hard right now—it doesn’t feel natural yet. I can’t picture using Diigo in my research yet—maybe as the semester goes along and the platform becomes more comfortable I will see how to use it. Right now it feels like one more thing I am obligated to visit and search on behalf of other people. I hope my view changes (I am open to it changing!). I am new to RSS and to things like Diigo, and their very concept is overwhelming right now. I, like the students in the text, like the idea of collaborative learning, but I am very leery of depending on other people’s tags and ‘interests’ to help me do research.

I have added a few different subscriptions in my Google account. I decided to start with key words that are of interest to me rather than something related to my project. I want to get the bugs out on a topic that I am really motivated to know about. As I learn to selectively read everything collected in my Reader, I hope I get faster at it. It’s AWFUL right now (smile). I was very glad to go back and read what Richardson said about how it might seem overwhelming at first…it does right now!

As far as bringing students into these strategies—I am too much of a novice to go in that direction right now. I am looking forward to going through this process myself this semester and as I settle in be able to adjust and think of ways my students could benefit from these tools. They say it is tough to teach something you don’t know, and that is VERY true right now. I want to share these tools with my students (and former students), but I can’t articulate what they do and how to live with them yet. That will come.

Close, but no cigar

I decided not to accept the itinerant teaching position that I interviewed for. It wasn't the right job for me right now. I was excited to use all sorts of tech-tools in this position to bring a community of people together in new ways, but alas, it is not to be this time around.
Now I just need to fight through this late summer cold and get my homework done before looking for other jobs. Doors and windows...the Lord is good at managing them.

Thoughts on Blogs

The use of blogs in my classroom is something I wish I would have taken an active step toward while I still had my classroom. I have known about blogs for years and had one for my husband’s overseas deployment, but I didn’t bring it into the classroom. I am committed to changing that when I return to classroom teaching. For my current job as an itinerant teacher, I think blogs might be just the ticket to linking the community I serve! Many of those students are isolated and are living with a hearing loss without anyone else in the district or region (or so they think!). I would like to settle into my job a bit and then set up a Ning (with blog pages) or something similar to allow them to connect in a safe environment that I can help to moderate and connect them as peers and people in a community--albeit one separated by miles of corn fields.

As a student, I am keeping two blogs this semester but have not kept an active blog for school purposes. I like the ideas shared in the PDF article about using a blog to share thoughts about the class with my students or teaching peers. I get nervous about the time commitment to keeping all the connections current and relevant though. As a student, I would be frustrated if my teacher didn’t respect the time it would take to create, maintain, and comment on each other’s blogs. I’ve had that kind of experience with a web-based course I took. The professor saw the online piece as an add-on and didn’t respect the time it took for us to read and respond to each other. I didn’t like collaborating because my time wasn’t respected and it became a chore rather than a valid piece of the learning culture in the class.

In the future I would like to apply blogs more consistently for myself as an educator (to connect with other educators) and as a way to promote community and writing. Many of my students struggle with writing, and having them write in an environment like this that is lower stakes (or at least feels that way to them) in a community that I can control the audience could be a very ‘safe’ and appealing way for them to write more often. They need to write more in order to progress in their skills. Additionally, so many times there are great thinkers in the class who do not participate in the group. It would be great if they could all have a safe place to read, write, and respond to each other without the pressure of processing time or the class dynamic interfering.

Additionally, I want my students to recognize the power of writing always in-progress. Too often today we have a due date where students complete work, turn it in, get a grade and recycle the paper (if we're lucky!). I want them to recognize the power of thoughts and writing in progress. There doesn't have to be an end-date to everything (although teaching time management is still important). If they are able to compose, interact, edit, change their minds, and go through this whole process continually, they are stronger learners and able to collaborate and grow as they would in a face to face community.

Some goals I have for myself this semester are to become more comfortable with the daily investment of blogging, using wikis, Nings, etc as a means of extending my learning. I am able to keep a blog (when I want to), but I am not skilled yet at linking and incorporating various sources into my approach. I like the idea of collaborating, but going out to find things is time consuming and creating my own personal ‘web’ of information seems sticky. I’m hoping to shake that conception and find ways to meld various 2.0 tools together. That epilogue sounds like a really great place to teach/learn. I would LOVE to be able to integrate all of these tools to that level and work in a community that can do the same.