Project Scorecard -- Final Version

The final version of my Project Scorecard is now ready and available for download. Again, I had to use the Blackboard content system to upload my document, so you will need to be logged into Blackboard (or have an active session) to retrieve the document.

Download the MS Word version of the Project Scorecard here.

Learning Styles & Technology: Resources

I am posting some articles I had stored on my computer relating to technology and learning styles. Hopefully, some of you might find something interesting in some of these. Does everyone have a method by which you archive articles that you retrieve on the Web? I have a couple of things that I do, which I will be glad to share if anyone is interested. Just let me know if you are. If I have time, I could also include the process in a blog entry. [BTW, I'm not going to bother with the indentions in my APA citations below because it's a pain via blogger.]

Smith, K. L. (1997). Preparing faculty for instructional technology: from education to development to creative independence. CAUSE/EFFECT, 20(3, Fall), 36-44, 48.

Riding R.J. & Sadler-Smith, E. (1997). Cognitive style and learning strategies. International Journal of Training and Development, 1(3): 199–208. [Note: As with viewing pictures on this blog, you must be logged into Blackboard (or have an active session) to download this file.]

Project Realized -- Part II

As I mentioned last week, overall, the lesson I taught was successful, and I was pleased. Below, I have pasted further thoughts relating to my experience.

Reframing -- If I were to teach this lesson again, I would again use technology to assist me but re-evaluate how I should use technology for the lesson. The virtual guest speaker via Elluminate worked just fine and was successful. But, in reality, Elluminate was just a tool I used to present direct instruction. There's nothing wrong with this, but, the way that I used this particular technology wasn't rocket science. It just provided a means to let the students listen to a guest speaker they would not have been able to hear otherwise. The technology part that I would change would be the way that I used Camtasia to develop another segment of the lesson. I developed a Camtasia movie where I read information about Baroque music in England over screen shots of composers from that era. If I taught this lesson again, I would definitely not just read over the moving images but, instead, talk off the cuff (after practice, of course). It appeared too staged and came across as boring. [Also, I mentioned this before, but the sound of this movie wasn't loud enough... and this was a little problematic.]

Evaluations -- Before, I mentioned that I was concerned with what the audience truly thought about the presentation. Well, I finally got feedback, and I am proud to say that they didn't have anything but glowing comments regarding the lesson. So, I was glad to hear this.

Those are my further thoughts for now. I am in the process of updating my Project Scorecard (including some comments reflecting on how the lesson went). I will post that in my blog after revising.

Project Realized -- Teaching My Lesson

Well, this week was the week that I got to teach the lesson that I had developed as part of my class project. Overall, the session went smoothly, and I was pleased with the experience. For the currently blog entry, I will post my initial thoughts regarding the lesson. I plan on posting a full-scale summary in my blog during the next week.

1. Because of this class, the first thing I did after leaving the session was think about reframing. What could or would I do differently the next time? Unfortunately, this was a one-shot deal... but at least I can write about it in my blog and reflect [more later].

2. Although the class members were gracious and extremely thankful after I was done, I still worried whether or not the lesson was a success...but, don't we all do this after every teaching opportunity? I am going to send the students an evaluation via email (regarding their thoughts about the lesson). However, I won't have a chance to really assess what they absorbed.

3. All of my technology worked as expected except one pre-developed Camtasia video didn't project as loudly as I expected it to. Although I had practiced with it before the students arrived, the acoustics of the room were different once the chairs were filled with bodies.

4. I did as Dr. King and my peers suggested and divulged my hidden agenda to the class. They seemed appreciative and, actually, had several questions at the end of class that they would not have had without my admission.

As I stated above, these are just some initial thoughts upon completion of the teaching session. I will expand on this later in the week.

Mom's in Town (and Happy Easter)

My mom came into town on Friday, so I might not post as much as usual. We haven't seen each other in a little over a year, so we have a great deal of catching up to do (and shopping and eating, of course). I just thought I would let everyone know, so you wouldn't worry if you didn't "see" me around as often as usual.

BTW, Happy Easter everyone!

Reflection on Presentation

Tonight, I had the opportunity to host an Elluminate session with our class and discuss my class project. The presentation went better than expected technology-wise, and I was quite pleased. Typically, when using the Elluminate software with a group for the first time, I like to host a test session to make sure everyone's system is ready to go. But, this time, I wasn't able to plan a test session early enough to have everyone attend. Nevertheless, everything worked out, so I'm glad.

I spent the first part of the presentation demonstrating Elluminate's features (text and audio chat, polling, application sharing, the whiteboard, video, et cetera). Although I've demonstrated the software plenty of times, I always learn something new each time I demo it. Also, my classmates were impressed with the features of the software and mentioned that they saw great potential for use of the software for distance learning. So, I feel like my decision to use Elluminate instead of MOO was worth the effort.

Another good thing to come out of the presentation was the constructive comments I received. I will certainly use many of the ideas given to me as I continue to plan my project. Some of the comments included suggestions to (1) divulge my "hidden agenda" to my audience (to expose them to technologies typically used in online classes within their degree program) and (2) revisit my goals and objectives and re-write them to emphasize the items that can genuinely be grasped within such a short time frame (i.e., students will leave the session feeling more comfortable with music... , students will leave the session being more aware of how technology can be used to deliver lessons related to music, et cetera).

Project Scorecard Initial Report

This week, I put together my initial report (based on Dr. King's Project Scorecard document). You can download and view my initial report in MS Word format here--click to download.