Final Reflection

This semester has been an interesting journey for me.  I started taking classes toward my Master's degree this summer.  I hadn't been in school in 8 years.  I was a fast and furious process. Throw in my wedding and honeymoon, visitation with the step kids...it was crazy to say the least.  This semester has been almost as crazy.  I started my new career as a library media specialist at an elementary campus (K-5th).  I have had my ups and downs with classes and work.  I have enjoyed learning the new technology, while also working in a library.  I try to incorporate as much as I can into my program while I am learning about it. 

 

My favorite technology aspect that I learned this year is screencasts.  I have always wondered how they do those in my trainings.  The two that I made for the blogs will go on my website at some point. Playing with social media sites was interesting as well.  I am a Facebook junkie; I admit.  I need to spend more time off of the site.  I enjoy seeing the tweets from leading people in my field, but I still haven't become a huge Twitter fan.   Until I started these courses, I had never read a blog much less written one.  I do like blogging.  Having my blogs all in one place with the blog reader is extremely helpful.  Hopefully, when I have more time (after graduation) I will be able to read them. Along with building a better library website, I have plans to start a library blog.  Here I will be able to add (embed) the items that I want to students and parents to see...book trailers, book reviews, recorded lessons, etc...The book collection sites were really eye opening.  I had only heard and used one (LibraryThing) up to this point.  I like the fact that I can read reviews from everyone, not just critics and publishers.  I am really excited about incorporating QR codes into the library.  I need to get the technology (iPads) for the students to be able to use them, but I do plan on adding them in.  I hope to make a QR scavenger hunt for the beginning of the year next school year.  The online comics were fun as well.  I like to run stations in my library.  I hope to have iPads later in the year.  I will do a screencast explaining to them how to use. it and them allow them to summarize a book we read.  I really think they will enjoy working with them.   

 

My biggest frustration was getting technology to corporate.  There were many times that I had to ask my husband to help me figure out how to embed an item onto the blog or why a certain program was not working correctly.  He has helped me to learn many troubleshooting items that has saved me for turning things in late or incomplete. 

 

The biggest technology problem I has was on the podcast assignment.  I couldn't get the sound to play back.  I ended up having to use a laptop and the mic it came with versus my desktop and the expensive pair of gaming head phones we have. The infographic assignment had me pulling my hair out.  Whether it was the website or a slow internet connection, I struggled for hours putting something together that should have only taken 30 minutes.  Also, I wished that the assignments were due on Saturdays.  Between family and a full time job, having Saturdays to work on assignments would have help tremendously. 

 

Overall, this class has been entertaining and useful.  I love learning new technology.  I feel the skills I have learned in this class will help me be more of a resource for my staff and students. I can't pick just one that I feel will be the most useful for my students.   I hope to use these skills/programs to build a great website that can changed to meet the needs of all my students. 

Pew Research Center - 13 Things to Know About Teens and Technology

Rainie, L. (2014). 13 things to know about teens and technology. Pew Research Center, July 2014.
        Retreieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/07/23/13-things-to-know-about-teens-and- 
        technology/


I feel that I have a decent amount of knowledge about the technology out there.  Am I an expert?  Absolutely not!!!  I realize that children, now teens, have grown up in a world very different from my childhood.  They were bombarded with technology from the very beginning.  How do they use it?  What do they know about it that I do know?  What can I learn from them?  These are all questions that I hoped this study from the Pew Research Center will answer.

The presentation agreed that teens live with tech-saturated lives.

• 95% use internet (3/4 have broadband at home)
• 74% access internet on mobile devices
• 78% have cell phones 
• 47% have smartphones
• 80% have desktop/laptop
• 23% have tablet computers
• 81% use social networking sites
• 76% use Facebook
• 24% use Twitter
• 25% use Instagram
• 1 in 7 use Pinterest
• 1 in 10 use Tumblr

 Teens today have immediate access to information.  They are constantly linked in to data. An online survey of 2,462 Advanced Placement writing teachers found that 77% of the teachers believe that the internet and digital search tools have a mostly positive impact on the students' research work.  87% agree that these technologies are creating an "easily distracted generation with short attention spans." 76% of these teachers agree "the internet enables students to access a wider range of resource that would otherwise be available."  While at the same time 76% strongly agree that internet "search engines have conditioned students to expect to be able to find information quickly and easily."  It is a yin yang situation.  There are positives and negatives with every way you look at the information.

So, what is the future of learning?  The old idea is that knowledge is objective and certain.  The new train of thought is that knowledge is subjective and provisional.  Learners no longer just receive information, but create knowledge.

Overall, everyone has opinions on how technology has affected our children and their ability to learn and how to learn.  This is an interested article, but just seeing the slides to the powerpoint was confusing.  I would have loved to hear the presentation that went with the information,


55 slides.

Pew Research Center - "Teens, Technology and Romantic Relationships"

Anderson, M., Lenhart, A., and Smith, A. (2015). Teens, technology and romantic relationships. Pew Research Center, October 2015. Retrieved from
                  http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/01/teens-technology-and-romantic-relationships/

Technology, especially social media, is an important part of the social life of today's teens. Not only do they socially interact with one another via social media, text messages, etc... it has become a way of dating / romantic relationships as well. 

According to this study of 13 to 17 year old teens, 35% of American teens have ever dated, hooked up with others or have a romantic relationship.  As much time as youth spend on social media, I would have assumed this to be much higher.  It stated, "Though 57% of teens have begun friendships in a digital space, teens are far less likely to have embarked on a romantic relationship that started online."  It nice to know that face to face meeting is still how most youth meet a boyfriend/girlfriend. 

Flirting, on the other hand, is a totally different matter.  Technology is a major way that teens can flirt or expressing interest in someone. 

• 55% of all teens have flirted or let someone know they are interested through technology.  This do not surprise me at all.  It is much less intimidating to type out your feelings than to express them face to face, especially if you do not know if the other person feels the same way. 
• 50% of teens have let someone know they "liked" them via Facebook or other social media sites.
• 47% have expressed interest in others by liking or commenting on social media.
• 46% use social media to share something funny with a romantic interest.
• 31% have sent flirtation messages.  (I figured this would be much higher!)
• 11% have made them a music playlist - this generations version of the mixed tape.
• 10% have sent flirty or sexy pictures of themselves. 
• 7%  have made a video for them.

It is important to note that most of these behaviors or actions occur with teens who have dated before.  Teens with no or little dating experience are less likely to flirt online.

In real life situations, teens face uncomfortable situations with flirting or people that they are not attracted to romantically.  The same is true online as well.  25% of all teens have deleted, unfriended, or blocked people who made them uncomfortable with their online flirting.  Girls are more likely to be the targets of unwanted or uncomfortable flirting. 

Social media can also fuel jealousy in a teen relationship and affect the stability of the relationship.
Here are the statistics of social media users with dating experience (30% of teens surveyed for this report):

• 59% feel like they are more connected to their partner through social media
• 47% feel that social media gives them a place to show how much they care about their girlfriend/boyfriend
• 44% feel emotional closer to their significant other with social media
• 27% say that social media makes them feel jealous or unsure about their relationship

There are some MAJOR drawbacks to having a relationship on social media for the world to see.  It allows others to comment on their relationship and often try to intervene.  They can show support for others' relationships, but often too many people can see what is happening in their relationship.

Teen daters use social media to connect with each other daily.  85% expect to hear from their significant others at least once a day.  They also connect with each other through texting, phone calls, and hanging out with each other.

•   92% teens text message their partner at least occasionally
• 87% spend time on the phone with each other
• 86% spend time together in person away from school
• 70% visit via social media
• 69% use instant or online messaging
• 55% video chat
• 49% use messaging apps
• 37% use email
• 31% talk while playing online video games

With teens using technology to stay in contact with one another, what about breaking up?  I have seen numerous parodies and Facebook posts on this topic.  Thankfully the majority of the teen daters in this study agree that breaking up in person is the most socially acceptable way.   This chart from the Pew Research Center shows the results of the questions they asks on technology and breaking up with a partner.

Dating is not always the most positive experience.  Technology can sometime be used to control or harm the other party.  Here is the articles break down of this behavior:

During a relationship teens are most likely to experience:

• 31% of teens with dating experience report that a current or former partner has checked up on them multiple times per day on the internet or cellphone, asking where they were, who they were with or what they were doing.
  • 26% of teen daters report that their partner checked up on them during their relationship.
  • 5% of teen daters report that a former partner checked up on them multiple times per day after their relationship ended.
• 21% of teen daters report that a current or former boyfriend, girlfriend or partner has read their text messages without permission.
  • 18% of teen daters report such an experience during the course of their relationship.
  • 3% report that a partner read their texts without permission after their relationship had ended.
• 15% of teen daters (or 5% of all teens) say a current or former partner used the internet or text messaging to pressure them to engage in sexual activity they did not want to have.
  • 10% of teen daters report that this happened during a relationship.
  • 5% report that a former partner did this to them after a relationship ended.

Potentially controlling and harmful behaviors teens experience both during and after a relationship with similar frequency³:

• 16% of teen daters have been required by a current or former partner to remove former girlfriends or boyfriends from their friends list on Facebook, Twitter or other social media.
  • 10% of teens experience this during their relationship; 7% experience it after a breakup.
• 13% of teens with dating experience report that their current or former partner demanded that they share their passwords to email and internet accounts with them.
  • And teens are about equally as likely to experience this during a relationship (7%) as after a relationship ends (5%).
• 11% of teens with relationship experience report that a current or former partner has contacted them on the internet or on their cellphone to threaten to hurt them.
  • 8% of teens with dating experience have been threatened digitally by an ex.
  • 4% experienced this during a relationship.
• 8% of teen daters report that a current or ex-partner used information posted on the internet against them, to harass or embarrass them.
  • 4% had this happen during a relationship, and another 4% have experienced this after the relationship ended.

After a relationship ends, teens are more likely to experience:

• 22% of teens with relationship experience have had a partner use the internet or a cellphone to call them names, put them down or say really mean things to them.
  • 14% of teen daters report that this happened after a relationship ended.
  • 8% of teens report that a boyfriend or girlfriend had done this to them during a relationship.
• 15% of teen daters report that a current or former partner spread rumors about them using digital platforms like mobile phones or the internet.
• 13% of youth with dating experience report that this happened after a breakup;
• 2% of teen daters experienced this during a relationship.

It is interesting to see how social media and technology has evolved the way teens meet and respond to others.  When I was younger, I would spend hours on the phone with my significant other.  We would send each other codes via our pagers.  Of course, with the change of technology the youth have changed in their interactions with others.  They strive for acceptance and socialization.  However, it does seem to be much easier for one party to control another.  As a teenager, I was in a relationship with someone who wanted to control who I was friends with, who I spent time with, etc... He would have definitely had an easier time "keeping tabs" on me with technology and social media.   I am glad to read that overall face to face is still how most prefer to spend their time. 

76 pages

Pew Report: Social Media Usage: 2005-2015

Perrin, A (2015). Social media usage: 2005-2015. Pew Research Center, October 2015. Retrieved from
              http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/2015/Social-Networking-Usage-2005-2015/

Social media has become a big part of daily life for many adults and teens.  The Pew Research Center has been tracking the usage of social media sites since 2005. Their finding our quite interesting.

1.  65% of American adults use social networking sites now compared to 7% in 2005.
2. Young adults (18-29) are most likely to use social media - 90% do. (This is not a surprising fact).
3. 35% of 65 and older are using social media now.
4. In the past, women were more likely to use social media, now the rates are pretty even.
5. People with higher education levels and higher income use social media more than lower levels of education and income. 
6. There is no notable difference in usage by race or ethnic groups.
7. There is a difference in community - 58% of rural residents , 68% of suburban residents, and 64% of urban residents use social media.
8. 30-49 year olds have increase from 8% - 77% today.

Typically, I focus on children's literature and ways to technology in the classroom.  However, I believe that the information in this article is extremely important.  We want to reach our children with technology.  It is just as important to know, which adults are using this form of communication.  As educators we are reaching out with social media (school and library webpages, twitter accounts, vine videos, and websites such as volunteer spot and classdojo), to connect with parents.  We need to know who is the most likely to use these resources.  For example, if I teach in a urban area with students who come from low social economic backgrounds and have grandparents that are stepping in as the parents, social media should not be the only way I attempt to communicate with my families.

It was pretty shocking how quickly the percentages have skyrocketed in many of the categories. 

10 pages

Can Instagram and Vine be used in a classroom?

Instagram and Vine...I have to admit until now, I have had very little exposure to them. I have watched many vine videos (Batdad is my favorite) posted on Facebook, and the same goes for Instagram. They are popular with today's tech savvy youth.

But, can we use this medium/media to connect with students. I have recently read and seen many great uses for these programs in classrooms. However, most schools have wised up the the dangers of social media. The filters in our school district do not allow any social media access while using school internet/WiFi. The only way I could use these with my library student would be to embed them into blogs that I use in the classroom.  I have embedded an Instagram photo and a Vine video into the blog to show this.

I need some time to read!

A photo posted by Danna Church (@dannac1024) on Nov 18, 2015 at 6:56pm PST

Uses for Instagram

1. Book buzz - this is a bulletin board in my classroom where students leave a written recommendation. We could change this. Use the green screen in my library to take a picture with the book you recommend. Have them on a loop playing in the library (using moviemaker or similar program.

 2. I always took a beginning of the year photo for my prek/kinder class and an end of the year picture. It would be a present for parents on the last day of school. This can now be done using Instagram and sharing on a class blog or webpage.

3. Take random photos for writing prompts.

4. Make a school scavenger hunt using Instagram.

5. Take pictures of students' work.

6. Take pictures of field trips, special guests, and activities on campus.

7. Show and tell

8. Getting to know you activity - students have to guess who's picture it is.

9. Inference lesson - What can you infer about the situation/person/place in the picture?

10. Use it for figurative language (metaphors, similes, personification, etc...)

11. About me activity / student of the month - The student get to take pictures to show the important things in their life.

12. It can be used as documentation for a science project.

13. It could be used as a photo booth, to make picture collages, etc... to be sold or auctioned off as a fundraiser for school.


 

Uses for Vine

1. Step by step video instructions for a foldable or simple project.

2. Study guide for math facts or vocabulary.

3. PBL (project based learning) quick projects

4. Document science experiments

5.  Book reviews

6. Book trailers

7.  Homework or announcements

8. Animation (stop motion / claymation)

9. Recite lines in a play

10. Give quick instructions to class

11. attention grabbers

12. Act out story scenes

13. Act out story summaries.


Both of these programs were simple for me to use.  As a first time user, it walked me through each step.  Vine is associated with Twitter.  Both programs can be shared with most social media programs.  Instagram has several different ways to change the pictures.

I can see how easy it would be to get addicted to playing with these apps.  It was alot of fun.

Sceencasts: How in the world did they do that?

I have sat through 9 school years of professional developments. Some are in person trainings, while others are webcasts (live or recorded). The video trainings or live webcasts often feature videos of the trainers computer screen. These videos show step by step how to complete a specific task. I love these types of trainings. It is amazing to me to see the actual screen. I have always wondered how in the world to they do that?!?!

Today I learned that it is not as hard as I previous believed. First of all, the process is called a screencast. Just like it sounds, it is a podcast (audio recording) with the video of the actual screen. I love this!!! I have so many ideas for screencast that I can add to my school website. I can record lessons I am teaching my students, so they can go back and revisit any time they need to. Not to mention, instructional videos for the staff saved to our school wide shared drive. Like most of my previous posts, I looked at three different websites that give you the possibility to create screencasts.

Screenr

Very simply put...don't bother to go to the site.  It is no longer a working site.

Screencast o matic 

To use this website, you do have to set up an account.  It was simple to sign up.  An email verifying my email account was instantaneous.  The free account does have limits to the number of videos that you can create.  The website offers a Pro Recorder account for $15 per year or $29 for 3 years.  The free account offers 15 minutes of recording, screen and webcam recording, YouTube HD publishing and the ability to save as a video file.  There is also some downloading involved.  I quickly set up the account and downloaded the required items.  Screencasts were easy to create even for beginners.  

Click Start Recorder.  A box will appear for recording.  You can record a portion of the screen or the whole screen.  The site offers a sound bar that visually lets you see when sound is being picked up by the program.  Click the red "REC" button and you are recording.  I was able to save to my computer.  

Here is a seven minute video that I made for my students on how to use our school library database to search for books on our campus.  

I really like that the mouse has a yellow circle around it.  This makes it very easy to find on the screen.  Also when you click, there is a blue ripple or flash that indicates that the item was clicked on the screen.  

Jing

Jing is hosted by TechSmith.  I found this site much more cumbersome to navigate.  I did the free download and set up my account.  I then had to use there search bar to find Jing. It include step by step tutorial.  Once you have the program running, there will be a small yellow semicircle at the top of the screen.  When you want to screen shot or record screencast,  you do it from here.  Recording the video is pretty easy.  I did have to go into the settings and change the settings for the microphone.  I recorded 3 videos with no sound before I found the problem.  This site limits you to 5 minutes per recording.  It keeps a history of your screen shots and screencasts. They are saved to screencast.com, also part of TechSmith.  Screencast.com has a limit to the amount of bandwidth and storage as well.  I found it EXTREMELY frustrating to find out how to embed the videos.  I was unable to save the videos to my computer, only to screencast.com.  I am attempting to embed my instructions for making a comic here: 

How_to_make_a_comic_video_001 - Test

I recorded this on a larger computer monitor.  When I attempted to play it on a smaller monitor, it did not adjust to the screen.  

Obviously, it was hands down that Screen o matic is my favorite.  I will definitely continue to use it in the future.

Cartoons and Comics

Cartoons and Comics

As a child, I always loved to read the comics.  My parent never had a subscription to the newspaper, but anytime we bought one my brother and I had to read the comics.  Of course, Sunday comics were the best.  They were in COLOR!!!

Now as an adult, I have noticed the same love of comics in my own children.   I believe children love the simplicity and ease that comics possess.  I have mentioned several times that I am currently working in an elementary library.  I have witnessed the love by boys and girls for graphic novels.  It is so popular that I have pulled them from the spot in the Dewey decimal system and given them their own book case.  There the patrons of my library can find graphic novels of all kinds: fiction, biography, informational, etc...

Over the past week I have had the opportunity to learn about another wonderful application of technology.  Teachers and students can easily create/author their own comics!!!  I explored three different sites that provide such a service to their users.  

www.pixton.com

Pixton requires users to set up an user name and log in.  There are three different account options that are available: Pixton for fun (personal use), Pixton for schools (proof that you work with a school is required), and Pixton for Business. Of course, you can purchase a subscription as well to get more out of the program.  The program was fairly easy to use.  In the upper left corner are the menu buttons.  Click the "pencil" to continue to work on a strip or to create something new.  From there, you need to pick your layout - comic strip, storyboard, graphic novel, poster, or photo story.  I explored with the comic strip layout.  The creators also break it up into beginner and advanced users. I chose beginner and was given a large amount of settings to start my strip. The user the must chose either 1, 2, or 3 characters for the first pane. It goes on to have you pick pre-made characters based on your setting. I found adding dialogue easy. Overall, I feel students (and teachers) would find this easy and entertaining to use. It was by far my favorite of the three.   Here is my example of how it could be used;

My cartoon strip

Pixton is not the only program available for free.  Next I looked at www.makebeliefscomix.com

This comic doesn't require a login or membership.  The program is simple: click and drag to the pane.  I was easy to delete items.  I believe third grade and up could handle creating comic strips on this. 

The art work is basic.  The comics can be emailed, printed, and posted on to facebook. There is additional resources and tools at the bottom of the page for students, parents, and teachers. 

Here is my example:

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/?comix_id=240347374C1773001

Lastly, we come to Toondoo.com.  

When I began researching the three different sites, I started with Toondoo.  The first night I found it incredibly slow.  Nothing was loading, so I figured my internet was not working correctly.  I have since tried it three more evenings and on two different computers.  

The program would allow me to sign in and pick a layout.  I would chose my layout, and then I would get stuck. It stayed on these screens for over an hour.  I would refresh and/or restart my computer, and it would start all over.  My computer is updated to Windows10, so I thought maybe the website had problems with it.  My laptop has Windows8, but ran into the same issue.  This website uses Adobe Flashplayer, which is notorious for hanging up or having "issues." My Adobe Flashplayer is updated to the latest version.  I also tried the program using internet explorer and google chrome.  Both yielded the same results.   This was highly frustrating for me.  Students will definitely not have the patience for this program.   

Students thrive when asked to use technology for an assignment.  It is the single best way to get them engaged quickly.  Comics can be use to demonstrate knowledge learned, as a presentation for a project, as an instructional tool and much more.  These will definitely be added to my bag of tricks!!!

FYI...

Telligami is a free app at the Apple app store.  You can create short videos with an animated character and a recording of your voice.  I know many times as a teacher I felt like a broken record. Why should I repeat myself?  I should just record and save these little mini videos to play.  Love it!!!!  Check out my "gami!"

El Deafo Book Talk