Final Portfolio

Here is a link to my group's FinalPortfolio.

Ted Talk and Copyright Reflection

After watching the Ted Talk and Copyright Youtube video I learned several new things. I learned that: 1. The corporation can find a copy of a video even if the creator only copied a small part of the video. 2. The corporation allows the copy to be published and benefit from the video- example the wedding video using Chris Brown's song. Sony got revenue from it. 3. If you have content that others are uploading your information to Youtube you should register in the content ID system so that you don't miss out on benefits and you control how your content is used. I agree that: 1. we need to manage the material being copyrighted 2. the content owner should get credit and have control of how their content is used. I disagree with: 1. How the person copyrighting does not get into any trouble or gets blocked for taking someone else's content. 2. How some companies get revenue or how others get credit for stealing other's content. Questions: How can we try to lower the number of people getting credit of benefiting from someone else's work? On average, how many videos uploaded are copyrighted?

PhotoStory and Reflection

Digital stories help with the learning process in children. Making stories with digital tools allows a student to use critical thinking and hands on media tools and softwares to construct a lesson. Digital storytelling is a great method of allowing a student to express themselves. It teaches them self-expression and lets a student be confident in their own work. "Through creating narratives students develop the power of their own voices." Students must be creative when using digital storytelling and can create their own story pertaining to their own imagination. A student can achieve great measures by the will power of their own imagination and determination to construct a project that expresses themselves. Through images, music, and words a student learns how to display their personality in the classroom. Here is an example of a student's digital storytelling that demonstrates how I might use digital storytelling in my classroom. I want the assignment to be fun, expressive, and result in the student feeling satisfied that their story is worth being proud over. For an extra example of how I might go about doing a digital storytelling, here's a breakdown of how a teacher went about her assignment.

Modified WebQuest and Explanation

This is my modified version of the WebQuest "Alien Anthem."

I believe my WebQuest is a "real" WebQuest because it goes along with the quote "A real WebQuest is a scaffolded learning structure that uses links to essential resources on the World Wide Web and an authentic task to motivate students’ investigation of an open-ended question, development of individual expertise, and participation in a group process that transforms newly acquired information into a more sophisticated understanding." My WebQuest takes resources from the web and in history and causes students to work together. With creativity and expression, students explore deep into a particular topic learning new things along the way. Through participation and understanding the students create a final project, which in my WebQuest they did, and it followed the real Webquest procedure. In my WebQuest students work together using online tools as well as hands on items that result in critical thinking to solve the task they are faced with.

Transformative Group Process: With this process students create their own project and are unable to copy someone else's work. For example in my WebQuest the students had to create their own sounds, movements, and pictures to interpret the Star Spangled Banner into another language. With this process students have to collaborate with one another to complete the required assignment.

Individual Expertise: Many students do not have a background or are an expert on the topic they are learning about in the WebQuest. A real WebQuest requires students to do some prior research to receive a better understanding of the concept before starting the project. In my WebQuest the students watched a video of the history of the Star Spangled Banner and when it was written. They also were given tools that if they did not know what certain words or phrases meant, they had to look it up.

Authentic Tasks that Motivate:  This subject states that WebQuests should motivate the students as well as give them confidence to succeed as well as in their work. A real WebQuest should give the opprotunity for a student to express themselves and feel confident that their work is satisfactory and appealing. In my WebQuest each member of the group is required to create either their own sound, movement, or picture that can be translated into a different language. Then the students collaborate together to create a final production that all of them can feel proud of. A student can also feel satisfaction in this WebQuest if they had to do a lot of research before hand in order to do this assignment.

WebQuest Rubric

Beginning	Developing	Accomplished	Score
Overall Aesthetics (This refers to the WebQuest page itself, not the external resources linked to it.)
Overall Visual Appeal		All the information and directions are centered which can be hard for students to read and focus on at times.		2
Navigation & Flow			All links open correctly and quickly.	4
Mechanical Aspects			No mechanical errors.	2
Introduction
Motivational Effectiveness of Introduction			Asks students questions based on their interests.	2
Cognitive Effectiveness of the Introduction			It explains clearly what the lesson is going to be about and what final goal is.	2
Task (The task is the end result of student efforts... not the steps involved in getting there.)
Connection of Task to Standards
Cognitive Level of the Task
Process (The process is the step-by-step description of how students will accomplish the task.)
Clarity of Process			The directions tell the students directly and clearly what they are to do.	4
Scaffolding of Process			Students are given instruments and other tools to help them create a different version of the Star Spangled Banner. Gives lots of details and supplies links for assistance.	6
Richness of Process	There is no seperate roles to compete the text, they are just working together.			3
Resources (Note: you should evaluate all resources linked to the page, even if they are in sections other than the Process block. Also note that books, video and other off-line resources can and should be used where appropriate.)
Relevance & Quantity of Resources		The resources drew connection and were benificial, however, some of the information was saw more than once.		2
Quality of Resources			The resources have a variety of information that could not be found in the classroom.	4
Evaluation
Clarity of Evaluation Criteria			The evaluation asses the students project based on what they were expected to do and learn.	6
Total Score				37/50

Alien Anthem Webquest

WebQuest

Role: Technophile

___Efficiency Expert

___Affiliator

___Altitudinist

__X_Technophile

Your Impressions

WebQuest	Strengths	Weaknesses
Grow School Greens	Has lots of cool digital effects and bright, glowing colors. I really like the moving, animated icons.	Does not require a lot of web search. They research the plants but most of it is hands on
Where is My Hero?	Has a lot of color to it and has a variety of different images throughout the presentation. It also requires students to use technology to research their topics.	It requires the students to present a handmade poster, which I feel it should be made online with cool effects. Using tools like Word on the computer could create a really neat poster that a student might not be able to make handmade.
Underground Railroad	This article requires for students to search the Web and read articles online. It incorporates technology in the learning process. This article also has several appropriate clip arts and images.	This presentation lacks in its appearance compared to the other articles. Instead of bright, extravagant colors and text, the colors are dull and not too appealing.
Ice Cream	Has a bright pink color that quickly attracts the eye. It also has a bunch of appealing pictures of ice cream that also catch the attention of the view. It also uses different style fonts and shows creativity. This article also requires students to search the Web and look at links of how to make ice cream	Even though there is some Web usage, most of this project requires students to fill out a worksheet instead of using the Web. Also most of the process is all hands on and no technology is used.
Ancient Egypt	Has some neat images of hieroglyphics that are appropriate to the lesson. It also requires a lot of technology usage as students are required to make their own projects on creative products like Pixie. Allows students to create using digital tools.	Does not use many colors and has a very plain appearance.

Best WebQuests:

Grow School Greens: This WebQuest was one of the better ones because it was very colorful and expressive through out the whole presentation. It used a lot of different style fonts, images, and animated cartoons to appropriately display the topic of discussion.  Even though it didnt require a lot of Web usage overall as a whole it was a very appealing project.

Ice Cream: This article I also thought was one of the better projects because it used bright colors and tasty images to attract the reader to bring them in to doing the project. It also calls for students to find recipes and use the web to find other helpful resources to assist them in making ice cream.

Worst WebQuests: 

Underground Railroad: I thought this was one of the worst WebQuests because it was very unappealing. It used dark, dull colors and did not attract the reader's attention. It was not very expressive and used the same font for most of the presentation. It was very bland compared to some of the others.

Ancient Egypt: Like the Underground Railroad, the Ancient Egypt was also one of the worst WebQuests in my opinion. It was so plain, the least appealing out of the five. The project was all white with black font with just a few purple hieroglyphics. Had no attraction or "life" to it. It look unprepared and unprofessional.

What does the best and the worst mean to me?
The best to me means that student took a lot of time on the assignment and devoted much effort into it. I expect the finished product to be very appealing to the eye with images, bright colors, fonts, and an overall layout displaying the information. I also think a project is at its best when students are suppose to heavily engage themselves into digital tools and use technology to assist them in their learning process. The product should be well designed, symmetrical, and organized.

The worst means that the students simply just typed what was needed without adding their own sense of personality and creativity. The final product is plain and simple with little effort on their part. The presentation lacks basic aspects like design, layout, and color that would better strengthen the overall appearance. I also think the project is bad if it does not incorporate much usage of digital tools throughout the lesson.

As a group, which one did you agree was the best? Which one did you think was the worst? As a group we felt that the ice cream presentation was the best because it allowed creativity and caused students to be engaged through out the process. The presentation was colorful and very well done. Overall it was the most developed and intriguing.

We thought as a group that the worst WebQuest was the Ancient Egyptian presentation. It was very plain and dull and did not attract attention. It didn't apply a lot of work or creativity that allowed a student to engage in. It was very simple and was not as developed as some of the others.

Story Bird

ISTE NETS-T Standard 3 for Model Digital Age Work and Learning
    b. collaborate with students, peers, parents and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation

StoryBird is a great tool for people to use in order to successfully work together through media products. StoryBird allows one person to begin a story choosing through several different characters and templates and then allows someone else to access the story and add their own creativity to successful complete a media tool together. Users of the site use such technology to work together using the resources given to create a unique tale that is good in quality. This is also a great way for someone to express their own imagination! StoryBird definitely applies to the ISTE Standard.

Times are quickly changing. Today's society is becoming more advanced with new technology and media tools that we must adapt to and use in our everyday lifestyle. It is important for young students to early get a grasp on such devices and tools to better themselves and have a better chance of being successful. Teachers can use online sources like Edmodo, Skype, and StoryBird to allow students to engage with others online and learning the skills of using technology as well as a source of communication. Like stated in Technology Enhanced Collaborative Learning, "Recently state and national policy leaders have begun to call for a greater emphasis on teaching students in K-12 schools about teaming and collaboration. This rationale for this new direction is two-fold, to increase and deepen learning, and to prepare students to be collaborative team members in work environments that are increasingly dependent on virtual, online collaborations." More work fields call for possibly online interaction and collaborations from long distances. This is why it is helpful if young students are being prepared and taught 21st century skills so they are ready when they go out into the real world.