Monday, August 31, 2009

Comments on Your Posts

I have just finished TT 2 and TT 4. Making progress! Only W6 and the assignments due last Sunday are still to be dealt with.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Do Not Remove Comments Before You Consult With Me

I will repeat what I said in class this week.

I do not anticipate the need to remove a comment made on your blog, but two people can remove a comment: the owner of the blog and the person who posted the comment.

If you believe it is necessary to remove a comment that has posted to your blog, do not do so until you have consulted with me and I have approved its removal.

Are You Keeping Up?

Does the link to your blog work? If not, contact me immediately.

Do you have your picture on your blog? If not, please post your picture immediately. Instructions can be found in the handout Getting Started With Blogs.

Are you up to date on your posts? It is virtually impossible to catch up at the end of the semester. Do not get behind in your assignments!

Comments On Your Posts

I have been trying to get the instructional videos posted ahead of when you need them. That has slowed me down in commenting on your blogs. I have completed TT11 and will probably finish TT2 today. The other classes will be finished as soon as possible. Tomorrow I will be making instructional videos on Delicious, Evernote, Instapaper and perhaps Posterous.

Three Additional Instructional Movies Now Available

I have been busy! I completed three more instructional videos: RSS Feeds (replaces an earlier movie); iGoogle and Google Reader. They are all listed on the right under Instructional Videos by John H Strange.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Two New Instructional Movies Have been Added

I have added a new instructional movie - iTunes: An Introduction
I have also added a movie covering the Settings area of Blogger - Blogger Lesson 4: Settings

Both can be found in the list of instructional videos on the right.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Additional Assignment for Tuesday 9/1

Mr. Needleman has asked that you watch Video in the Classroom Introduction before he speaks to the class on Tuesday. Please post a comment on your blg after you have watched this short video.

Week 2 - What We Covered

1. Student Blogs. Are they working?
2. Comments. My comments on your blogs. I will comment on all your posts in Week 1 by midnight Sunday 8/30 and at least 1 post every week (which may combine my thoughts on all your posts).
3. I will read all your posts every week.
4. You will begin commenting (requirement) on other student;'s blogs in Week 3, but you can start now if you want.
5. We will start comments4kids (Project 8) one week earlier than expected. Expect to begin that project next week. I will be visiting with the teachers at St. Christopher's School in Richmond, VA on Friday (8/28) morning by Skype. They want you to participate in commenting on their kids blogs (private high school). In addition, teachers in Missouri, South Carolina, Arkansas, New Zealand and Australia started their comments4kids program this week. We will join them next week.

I will distribute instructions in the first class next week. Those instructions will also be on the class blog.

6. We discussed how to use iTunes to find the podcasts which you are assigned to "dabble" in for this week's blog posts. A movie is now available to acquaint you with iTunes. If you have any questions, watch the movie. Still have questions? Email me or call me. It is important that you get a sense of how the podcasts are done. Some are real conversations. Some are scripted. Some are speeches strung together. Some are fun. Some are dull. Think about how you want to approach your podcast. We will practice the podcast in Week 6 in class (Attendance Required) and record the podcast in Week 7 (Attendance Required).
7. Students completed a math diagnostic and a survey on plagiarism. If you missed this class, you must bring me an official excuse and take complete these either before or after class next week, or at a mutually agreeable time.
8. We put your pictures on your blog. If you have not completed this, see the video. I think this is in Creating A Blog but it may be in the Adding Pictures and Links video.
9.We discussed how to prepare your presentation in Google Docs. See the movie for more information.
10. We discussed how to get started thinking about your Personal Learning Network. There are 3 handouts (Twitter for Beginners, Using Twitter Effectively and Creating your PLN) and the Twitter video (being posted by 9 pm Thursday 8/27.
11. I announced that Mr. Needleman, the author of Mr. Winkle Wakes, called me on Skye today. He will visit the TT 11 class next week. I will record his visit and share it with the other classes. He has asked that you watch a video before he speaks with the class. I have made that video an additional blog assignment. the link is in the post immediately above this post.

Some New Instructional Videos Available

A new video on Twitter is now available and can be found under the Instructional Videos by John Strange on the right.

A REVISED version of How to Create A Presentation in Google Docs is also available. The earlier version had trouble with the audio. It is in the same section on the right.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

An Additional Blog Assignment for August 23, 2009

In 2008 Mathew Needleman created a short movie entitled Mr. Winkle Wakes in response to the 2.0 version of Did You Know?

Did You Know 3.0 is an assignment for your blog posts for August 23. Add Mr. Winkle Wakes to that assignment.

TueThur Classes: By Thursday Class (8/20)

1. Have your Google GMail account. If you did not include it in the survey, send me an email from that account and ask me to add it to the survey.
2. Set up your blog. Be sure you follow the instructions on the handout. Watch the video if necessary. ZIf you have trouble, we will solve your problems in class.
3. Begin to work on your Blog Assignments due Sunday 8/23 at midnight. If your blog is not yet set up, make yourself notes on what you will write.
4. Come prepared to have your picture taken.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Week 1

I will take your picture and post the pictures on the internet so that you can use them in your blog.

I will review the Syllabus. A link to the Syllabus is posted on the right. I am trying to go "green" this year and not print class materiasl. If you want to print them you may do so. But if you process them on your computer you can save a tree or two.

I will record what I say and what happens on the computer screen as I review the Syllabus. In fact, I will record everything I do. This is a demonstration of the new set of tools that you will be using when you teach. My goal is, by the start of next semester, to have instructional videos completed for the entire course. Classroom time will then become lab, discussion, help times. This semester we will be working toward that goal.
I will pay special attention to these parts of the Syllabus:
ATQS Standards and Foliotek
My views on teaching, learning, grades, etc.
The course objectives, especially 1 and 2
The necessity for PRACTICE and Keeping Current With Your Blog Posts!
The Google Class Calendar
Projects Required for This Course
Required Equipment
ALL Projects Must Be Completed


If you have not yet created a Google account, you will do that. There is a video available to assist you in that process as well as printed instructions.

Once you have created a Google account, you will create your blog and begin posting. Again, links to printed instructions as well as video instructions are available on this blog.

I will discuss grades. I hate grades! In 1970 I started the College of Public and Community Service at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. It was a competency based program. There were no grades. This course is close to that - close to Pass/Fail. I will explain why I am so passionate on this subject.

I will review the Blog Assignments. In doing so I will emphasize this point: You cannot afford to get behind in your blog posts!

I will ask you to complete a Google Documents Form for this course. This will provide me with information to help me determine whether I need to modify the course. It is also an example of one of the Projects that you will do in this class.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Welcome to EDM310!

Email, Word, Excel and a Database Won't Cut It Anymore
Welcome 310 Movie

This video is also available on YouTube. You can watch it there by clicking here. Because YouTube uses Flash to play the video and my gallery plays Quicktime H.264 movies, the quality of the video will not be as good on YouTube as it is on my movie.

The text of what I said in the video follows.

Several years ago this course used to cover Word, PowerPoint Excel, and a database like Access. Some of you may think it still does. You are incorrect. Email, Word, Excel and PowerPoint Won't Cut It Anymore.

Information is growing at an exponential rate. Information is not just words, but pictures, videos, sounds and graphics. There are few editors anymore. Everyone can be an international publisher - instantly - with the potential to reach a world wide audience. Books, newspapers, even emails are being replaced by tweets, SMS and MMS messages, video chats, podcasts, Skype calls, and YouTube.

The classrooms in which you will teach, if they continue to exist, will be very different from the classrooms in which you were taught. The things you will have to know and do will be very different from those your teachers experienced.

iTunesU now has more courses online than all the courses taught at the University of South Alabama. And more are being added everyday.

All of this is primarily the result of a profound, rapid and breathtaking change in communication. I can talk with and see people throughout the world instantly and without it costing me a cent. My videos can be on YouTube 4 minutes after I take them, ready to be seen by millions of people.

Printed materials are disappearing. Newspapers are dying or becoming electronic in form. Textbooks are being replaced by e-books (or no books). Reading and writing have become watching and listening.

We don't really know what schools should be like in this new world where information no longer resides in libraries but in clouds instead, where "all information is in all places at all times," where there are no editors or moderators of what gets "published", where videos and audio are as important, or more important than the printed word, where time and space have collapsed and it now takes only a microsecond to transfer information (in any form) from one place to all places in the universe (well ,at least on this planet), where privacy no longer has meaning, or very little if there is a bit left.

Are you ready to be a teacher in this new world? Do you have any idea of what the world of learning will be like tomorrow? Are you excited about learning and eager to share that excitement with others? Can you survive in a classroom where you will certainly not "know it all" and where many of your students will know a lot more about some things than you? Are you ready to practice your profession in a world in which collaboration is more important than individual action, where information is dispensed in 140 character tweets, where YouTube videos multiply at a rate that far exceeds the world of publishing's most successful era, where videos and audio are listened to and watched more than books are read? Sounds like chaos? Well, you may be correct!

You are about to encounter the chaos of the new world in EDM310. Welcome aboard!

This video is also available on YouTube. You can watch it there by clicking here.