Final thoughts on class...

Well, tomorrow is our last day of class. It has been a great class. I have learned a ton! I am sort of sad that I'm not returning to teach in the fall since I now have a ton of new ideas that I could try. I have, however, began "teaching" my friends the stuff that I have learned in the class so that they can use it next year! I have even passed along many of the resources on our class wiki to my friends.

My favorite part of the course was probably either learning to use Moodle or the podcasts. I definitely see the value in both, and I will definitely use both in the future! I wish that I would have had more time to learn more about them, but I will have to play around and teach myself more.

I also really enjoyed the asynchronous discussion. I didn't think I'd like the discussion part, but it has been a really good experience. I like the fact that I can read other's posts and take time to gather my thoughts before commenting. I feel that the discussions have been great (until for some reason this week...when it's my turn to facilitate and no one is discussing!). I don't think that I would have participated if the discussions were required just because I didn't see value in them before the class, but I'm glad I did. I will definitely use those types of chats when I return to teaching!

The hardest part of the course would have to be the wiki! I think it is a good resource, but I didn't have a whole lot to add. I wasn't incredibly knowledgeable about any of the topics on it, so I didn't feel that I had a lot to add. But I think it will be helpful in the future as I start to learn more!

Overall, it was a great course!

Podcast reflections...

I finally finished my podcast! Yeah! I must say that I could learn to love podcasting. It was so much fun creating mine... I just wish I had more time and I knew more about Audacity. Also, my voice has still not returned, so I sound a bit manly, but oh well...for my first podcast, I'd say it turned out pretty decent.

I think that having students create podcasts would be a PERFECT project for my speech class (if, that is, I was still teaching). I teach a unit on voice (rate, pitch, volume, pronunciation and articulation), and this would be a perfect speech to demonstrate voice. I also think that teachers creating podcasts for students to listen to could be very beneficial. I am interested to see how this takes off in k-12 education...

Website finished...podcast started

After all of the stress with creating my website, I think it turned out really well. I decided to use the Propaganda topic that I used in my webquest. I have a lot of good resources there...I just wish that I was returning to teach in the fall so I could use the material that I created. That is the hard part about being at home (don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade being at home with my girls for ANYTHING)...but I am learning so much this semester (and last), and I am anxious to implement it. Maybe I'll have to start teaching my 20 month olds about propaganda :)

I really like the asynchronous chats that we are using in this class. Letting my group see the things I have created and getting their feedback has been really helpful. Sometimes after you look at something for so long, you can't see the flaws with it, so having group feedback has been great for me!

Now that I am done with the website, I have begun my final project...the podcast. I am the most nervous about this project, because I have NO knowledge about podcasts. I've listened to one or two, but never created one. I decided to do my podcast on different propaganda techniques and example advertisements that use the techniques. It's actually really interesting! I have written the script and am ready to start recording. I have only one major problem...I lost my voice. I had a cold last week and I am feeling better now, but I still don't have my voice back. I'm hoping that it comes back soon or my group member will be SCARED of my podcast since my voice sounds really scary now :) We shall see...

More Website Woes...

So after creating my Moodle course I decided that my first website design, a speech informational website, would be pretty much a repeat of the info in my Moodle course....so I decided to change my idea. I created a website (or I should say I am in the process) of creating a website for my students to use when they complete their persuasive advertising & propaganda speech. I had fun creating it, I love that speech, but I'm hoping I have enough resources for a good grade! I am once again struggling with "playing" with the design of the website, and not taking as much time as I probably should to focus on content. I am just learning so many new things in this course that I want to "play" and worry about content later.

Online Courses

This week we are creating a LMS course in Moodle. This is my favorite assignment yet! I had some difficulty getting started on the course because I wasn't sure how it would work with Public Speaking, but I did some research online and found a course taught at another college that was a "hybrid" public speaking course. The course was mostly online, but it met on campus 4-5 times when the students delivered their speeches. How cool... the students can learn about the different speeches online and research areas such as verbal and nonverbal communication, listening, stage fright, etc. Students can communicate in discussion forums and chat rooms, so there is still plenty of communication going on, just not face-to-face. I think this course would be excellent for students who have a fear of public speaking, because it takes some of the pressure off. I would LOVE to teach a hybrid course like this! I've been creating my course like that one... it's been fun. I have enjoyed learning a new technology and playing it. I think I am benefiting so much from this online course. I am spending tons more time on it than I would an average face-to-face course. I find myself checking the boards and wiki every time my girls lay down for a nap... I know, I need to get a life, but this course is teaching me so much and I'm anxious to use it! I am looking forward to my online class in the fall (Authoring Systems).

Instructional Website Woes

Well the assignment for this week was to come up with an idea for an instructional website...and I seem to be struggling to find an idea. This is ironic, because I love to design websites. My problem is that I love to do the visual stuff and could care less about the content...which is not a good thing considering the content is what I need to teach my students :) I just get caught up in the design aspects and spend all of my time there. Anyways...my idea is to create a functional website for my classroom that students and parents can access to find information about assignments and homework and that will host the class blog and wiki. I will also provide links to reputible speech-related websites. I am excited about the website, but I hope it truly meets all the requirements of the assignment.

I think the class is about to get interesting...with the LMS assignment due next week, and we haven't even started on that, yet. I'm hoping to be able to keep up...

WikiWiki

This week's reading really intrigued me... at first I wasn't sold on wiki's, but the more I read and learn about them, I think they have great potential in the classroom. In the "Using Wiki in Education" article, there are several examples of how wiki's could be used in the classroom. I especially like the Group Project example. I think that having groups collaborate using a wiki would be a great way for teachers to monitor the groups' progress. So many times I see groups where only one person does all the work or one person doesn't do anything. This would be a great way to encourage everyone in the group to participate...and to track their participation. I also like the idea of using the wiki to develop a project. In speech projects students start with brainstorming and listing to creating a rough draft and final outline. By having them use the wiki to help in this process I would be able to monitor their progress all along the way and give them constant feedback throughout the process. It would also be a great way to incorporate peer reviews... this brings up the issue, however, of time. Teachers would need to devote more time to checking individual wiki's... but if it benefits the students and enhances learning, it would be worth it. I can also see wiki's being used to eliminate paper trails among the staff. Areas like what modifications work with specific special ed students and which students are on the homework list all would work well in a wiki! I think wiki's will become a standard in education in the near future...