Final Project

Here is my final project, a podcast and a wiki. 

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As seems to be typical for me regarding technology, in the eleventh hour, things didn't go the way they were supposed to.  The good news is that every opportunity is a learning experience.  I'm going to publish this post since it is due for my class, but in the mean time, I'm going to find some answers...  For example, I've been having trouble changing the autoplay setting in the html code and publishing on the blog.  Strange.  I wanted to upload it as an audio file to this blog but was having trouble with the html being accepted.  I've also included my website http://www.readwriterun.com/ since the audio file is located on the Door in Wall page under Junior Great Books.  That way, it doesn't have to be downloaded to itunes - it can just be listened to.

In the past, when the students have read The Door in the Wall, I've had them act out a "crime" scene from the book.  I've had them act it out as though they were a newscast with interviewers on the scene interviewing the victims and others involved in the crime scene.  I thought that making it in to a podcast would be a terrific extension of the learning process.  The story takes place in the Middle Ages, so at first the students asked they had to speak in "thee's and thou's" like in the book.  Then we had to discuss how we could have a modern newscast when they didn't have that kind of technology.  I explained that doing a modern day type newscast would be our way of exploring and understanding the characters.

Our class is under certain time constraints so we had to work efficiently.  The students were each assigned a character.  They had to come up with their character's responses to questions they thought an interviewer might ask them.  Those who were assigned interviewer roles were asked to come up with questions for those they would interview.  Then we matched up the questions with the answers, filling in where necessary.  One student was assigned the role of news desk person - this person introduced and closed the program.   

For the actual production, I recorded the newscast on video, downloaded it to mediamill and made an audio only  podcast derivitive.  As usual I discovered a few things along the way.  One thing I discovered is that Microsoft Word and Google Docs are not necessarily always compatible.  The beauty of using Google Docs was that I could collate the scripts at work and then continue editing them at home.  I thought that I could simply cut and paste a word document into my google doc document but I could not.  I had to download my google doc document as a word document, then do my cutting and pasting on word.  It worked fine, I just found the process interesting.

I found that making a newscast that was made into a podcast really engaged the students.  They actually did more writing than I had been having them do in the past when I simply had them act it out.  And the writing didn't seem laborious.  They were imaginative and creative with their scripts.  The students were also creative with their characterizations.  Some of the characters in the story that they represented hadn't even been fully developed in the book, yet the students brought personality to the characaters through the process of making a podcast.  I will definately try to incorporate the use of podcasts in other novel studies that we do.  The other Junior Great Books novels that we study are included in the wiki I have made for them: http://waysmooth.pbworks.com/w/page/30814313/FrontPage

Reflection on learning technology

I think I can easily sum up my semester of learning in the digital writing class as a humbling experience of realizing how much I still need to learn!  I am worlds ahead of where I was just 6 months ago.  Six months ago I never would have believed I know what I know now.  My first graduate level course I jumped right in to Technology Tools for Educators.  Triple shock: the shock of incorporating school into my life and family life, the shock of a condensed summer school course and the shock of learning to use technology.   I enjoyed every minute of it though, and decided to continue with Teaching Digital Writing this fall semester.  More shock factor.  I had no idea what a wiki was and blogging was very foreign to me.  I vaguely knew about some of the techy stuff, but, as I've learned, I'm a digital immigrant and so for me, it's all new.  I am so very thankful for the opportunity I've had.  To have my knowledge expanded in this direction has been a delightful surprise and very practical.  I have been exposed to so much and now two of the greatest challenges for me going forward will be implementation and continual professional development.

My experience is that in many respects, there is a disconnect between what we have learned in class and everyday reality.  I have had opportunities to implement some of the technology we have learned: website development, Voicethread, podcasts, movie making, use of Google Docs, but some of the other Web 2.0 tools like Diigo, wikis, blogging, vlogs, comics, I have not had the immediate opportunity to implement.  Staying current with technology seems similar to learning a foreign language: use it or lose it.    So I think a great challenge for me will be conintually finding ways to implement technology in a purposeful way. 

My goal remains to teach English and now realize that my technological development is crucial to that goal.  When and if I do have that opportunity, my second challenge will be teaching the use of the same technology to others.

If I were to teach a class that required students to create a portfolio, I would have them include a variety of written work similar to what we have done in this class.  I think it would be important for students to showcase their best writing but also to demonstrate their own familiarity with the use of technology.  In other words, students should have opportunities to collaborate online and submit that written collaboration to their portfolio.  They should also be able to demonstrate writing in a variety of online genres: presenation, narrative, comic, audio and/or video presentation.

As far as students displaying their work, I think both the blog and wiki format have their advantages and disadvantages.   Wikis are wonderful for their collaboration aspect but are more limiting in their creativity appeal.  I think it would really depend on the situation - how many students, how many sessions of the same class, etc.  I think one criteria for evaluating would be written student reflections.  This is where a blog as part of the portfolio would be handy.

One reason I think a variety of genres in the portfolio is important is it aids in authenticity.   As we have learned in our digital writing class, some students will feel more free to reflect and write when they have an anonymous or character forum to participate in.  By giving students many means of reflection and participation, they will not only demonstrate ability in a variety  of areas but it will be easier to detect authenticity by comparing their various responses.