Wicked Problem Project - Final Presentation

Problem:

In my middle school, a huge educational need is continuing to educate students who are truant.  Often times this is not any fault of their own-they would prefer to be at school instead of staying at home to take care of younger siblings or having no ride to get to school because there is no one able or willing to take them that particular day.  Talking to other teachers and instructors in this course has made me realize that my problem is one that is common.  Nancy, the course instructor, also teaches 5th grade and commented that she has several students with 30 or more absences and only one of those students has any kind of medical excuse.  This is a huge educational need facing many of our schools.  

Solution:

My solution to this problem is to create vodcasts of lessons that students may access online. Not only would this help students who are truant, this would also assist students who are simply sick or out of town on a family emergency.  There is some research out there on this topic, but it is scarce and widely debated.  In the article The Flipped Classroom Model: A Full Picture it is stated that, “One of the major, evidence-based advantages of the use of videos is that learners have control over the media with the ability to review parts that are misunderstood, which need further reinforcement, and/or those parts that are of particular interest.”  Although many see the flipped model as an innovative way to reach more students’ needs, there are those who see it as just another passing fad. The research backing this idea is scarce, but I am willing to be a part of those teachers who try this new model and gather data on its credibility.

Application of TPACK:

Technological Pedagogical:  I have chosen to utilize my website to upload vodcasts of my lectures and lessons so absent students have access to their education while they are out of the classroom.  This technology is the most appropriate fit for my problem.  (It also inspired me to look at possibly flipping my classroom next year!)  For now, however, I simply wanted my students to be able to access information in their absence.  Vodcasts are a simple, easy way to get information to my students whenever they need it.  

Technological Content Knowledge:  For my Wicked Problem, my subject matter will be changed significantly for my students due to the anytime accessibility.  Students will be able to review lessons or portions of lessons they did not quite grasp the first time around.  Having vodcasts of lessons will increase a student’s ability to access content information no matter the time of day.  Allowing students to have information they can review and learn at their own pace will increase student knowledge in my subject matter.  Having a site that students can visit at any time for a first view or review of any lesson, along with having additional resources available to them,  will solidify their content knowledge.   One of my cohorts stated on my blog that, “ One obvious point you made above is something I hadn't thought about. You mentioned the fact that your students will be able to view ALL or SOME of the lesson AT ANY TIME. This is a wonderful accommodation for any student. Many of them have crazy schedules or only short periods of time when the computer is available to them or the house is peaceful enough for them to attempt to learn. I hope everything turns out well for your project because it's such a great idea that I may just have to do something like this at school!”

Pedagogical Content Knowledge: There are numerous ways that students learn, and being absent from school can often hinder their best learning style because they are not there for the entire experience.  However, podcasting lessons, as well as providing additional resources for students to use, hit upon multiple student learning styles.   Using podcasts and additional resources on my website will help all of my students learn!   Another of my cohorts stated on my blog, “ You make a great point that your students will have the ability to learn differently since they have the option to go back and listen to recordings as much as needed. There have been many times when I needed to listen to a video twice, or read something twice in order to have a better understanding of what I was learning. This is powerful for your students to have the option to listen again and again if necessary.” 

*Please excuse my voice as you view my presentation. I just had my tonsils removed, and I sound a little funny!*

Implementation:

I attempted to use podcasts and vodcasts uploaded to my website for students who are absent from school.  Being so close to the end of the school year, I was only able to attempt this with one assignment.  The biggest bump in the road was that I did the recording in PhotoStory which would not properly upload to my website.  Luckily, I have PhotoStory on the computers at school so student who had been absent could still access the vodcast.  I had to re-record the assignment using Jing, and it is now successfully uploaded to my website.   From feedback I have received, it sounds like there are other folks out there who are inspired to use my project in their own classrooms.

Findings and Implications:

Overall this project had positive results.  Even though there were bumps in the road along the way, and I had to do some quick thinking, I still had students use the vodcast I created for their assignment and they completed their assignment with ease.  This is definitely something that teachers in my building need to look at incorporating next year.  

Group Leadership Project - Final

What tool did your group use to deliver the PD tutorial?  Why?

My group members and I chose to deliver our PD tutorial through Camstasia.  None of us had any experience with Camstasia, but we had seen excellently produced videos posted online, and I had viewed lessons that teachers had presented to students using Camtasia and was impressed.  We decided to expand our horizons and learn/use a new tool!

What did you learn during the development process of the final product?

Getting all four parts of the presentation to mesh together was difficult.  Lisa volunteered to put our final presentation together.  It seemed as easy as emailing the presentation we each created individually.  However, mine would not export from Camtasia to ScreenCast properly.  I had to save the project to my computer and upload to ScreenCast.  Then when I tried to share it with Lisa so she could add it to our final product, that would not work either!  I wound up having to give Lisa my username and password into ScreenCast so she had access to it.  This also happened with one of our other group members, so at least I wasn't alone in my struggles!

What would you do differently if you had to develop a similar product again?

I think that if I had to develop a similar product again, I would use a tool that I already knew so there may be less technical difficulty.  I would also give more thought to what I wanted to teach to others.  In my mind as we were in our first collaboration meeting, I thought that teaching Blogger would be a simple task.  I was wrong.  There is so much to Blogger, and I had to be really careful to make sure that I was delivering each step with clarity.  I think it would be much different teaching this face-to-face with students, but it helped give me some insight as to how to help teachers produce tutorials for their students for next year.

Below is the video of our Blogger PD tutorial.

      

Professional Learning Plan

It was really interesting to peruse through my Growth Plan from 810 because it was the first class that I took last fall.  I realized that I had set fairy attainable goals for myself (and my students!).  Most of what I wanted to accomplish had come to fruition. 

I chose to approach my Professional Learning Plan with a culmination of what I had learned from my Growth Plan and what I plan to accomplish over the next six years.  I felt that I could not go beyond that because I am constantly learning new things and trying to improve, so really, I am not sure what I want to do after I reach the last goal I have set on my Professional Learning Plan.  I also chose to present my plan by using Glogster.  I have been feeling very creative and thought it was a great way to tie into what I have learned about visuals.

Here is  a link to my Glog!  Enjoy!

http://amcclain1978.edu.glogster.com/learning-plan-/

In addition, we were asked to view the Professional Learning Plans of others and reflect not only on theirs but on our own.

• What were some of the online resources that you found that were really helpful? If so what were they and how were they helpful?

 One of the best resources I have found is a blog called Daily Writing Tips.  Now, I realize this is a technology class, but I look for different ways to incorporate technology into writing.  There are always interesting little tid-bits on this site that have helped me develop lessons.  In the technology realm, the best resource I have by far is Google-Docs.  Although I tend to be highly organized, I have organization issues with flash drives.  I will misplace them, forget what I have on them, etc.  I love that G-docs organizes all of my documents, presentations, spreadsheets and forms all in one place.  I never have to worry about losing another flash drive or document again!

• Did you find any other online communities that could provide resourceful information? If so what were they and how were they helpful?

 Outside of this class I have not really found any other online communities that could provide resourceful information.  However, it is part of my PLP to look into using online communities in my own PLC. 

• What strategies were helpful for trying to learn a new technology?

The best strategy for me to use when learning a new technology is to first (hopefully!) view a small tutorial so I have a basic understanding of the program or tool and then play!  I work best by just jumping in head first and playing around.  It is frustrating at times, but I think I learn more this way.  

• How does working with others (verses working alone) support you in your own learning?

 Working with others really forces me out of my comfort zone.  It's not that I am necessarily anti-social, but I am very particular about my work.  I have been faced in the past (not at MSU!) with having to work with others that do not hold themselves to high work ethics and that bothers me.  I have learned to depend on myself and not allow help from others.  My experiences in the MAET program and working with others is starting to help me rely on information from others and know that I have people around me that I CAN depend on for high quality work.  I think there will always be that part of me that likes to work alone, but collaborating online still allows me to complete my own portion of assignments on my own within the set time-frame. 

• How will you use this experience to support your own lifelong learning of technology?

 I think what I will take away most is that I am learning to collaborate with others through the use of technology.  Although I am still not 100% comfortable working with others, this class has helped me get over that fear, and I will be better at online collaboration because of this course and the wonderful ladies I worked with in my group leadership project.  I owe a lot to them and this course!

Wicked Problem Project: Part D - Findings and Implications

1.     Formative: Did the project get implemented as planned?

My project did not get implemented as planned.  With the end of the school year approaching and students with final projects to present, I was only able to get one assignment posted in vodcast form for my students.  I was hoping to have more content-oriented lessons posted for my students.  I was also not able to provide my students with any additional resources due to the lack of time.  I wanted to be able to do the research in order to provide my students with more to assist their learning.

2.     Summative: Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice

Every teacher experiences and struggles with students that are not present at school, and they feel a great responsibility to deliver instruction to those students.  Realistically, however, it is overbearing at times to catch these students up.  It was a rare day that I only had four students absent out of six classes the day a Glogster assignment was presented to students in class.  The evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice is that three of my absent students actually used the lesson I recorded, and they completed the assignment with ease.

 

3.     How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned here?

I would approach another project of this type with more time to develop appropriate and meaningful lessons.  I would also make sure not to take on too much with one idea.  When starting this project, I was looking at trying to do too much with too little time.  I think the first half of the year of implementation of my particular project would be to create the podcasts and vodcasts of the needed lessons and a question/note sheet to accompany the lessons students completed at home.  I would also locate and share all additional resources I could for students to ensure student success.  Then in the second half of the year, I would look at adding tutoring sessions through Skype.

4.     What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?

I think the most important lesson I learned while completing this project is making sure you know all of the ins and outs of the tools you are using.  I had such difficulty with PhotoStory uploading correctly to my website that I became frustrated.  I thought that because PhotoStory itself is such a simple tool to use, it would be a simple upload to my website.  However, I did not realize that my Weebly website would not upload this type of video without purchasing/ upgrading to their Pro version.  I was not willing at this time to pay for an upgrade.  It took a bunch of “playing” and numerous frustrating nights to figure out how to solve this problem.  Knowing your tools will equal more success and less frustration.

5.     In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?

I will not be attempting this project again myself because I have a new position within the administration at my school.  I will be a writing coach!  I am really excited about this opportunity.  I believe that although I will not be able to create this project for students of my own, I will be able to guide the teachers in using technology to enhance their students’ writing.  I will also be able to offer support to my “old” teammates in their endeavor to create a flipped classroom.  I will be able to make sure that teachers know their tools before trying to attempt this project with their students.  I am looking forward to assisting more students and teachers to a successful writing classroom!

Wicked Problem Project: Part C - Implementation

Here is the podcast of how the implementation of Part C of the Wicked Problem Project went!




Here is the vodcast of the assignment my students had to complete.



This is a picture of what my students will now see when they go to the website to get assignments.

Group Leadership Project: Part B - Storyboard and Script

If I can say anything, it would be that by the time this project is over, I will have overcome great technological issues!  It seems to have been one thing after another.  However, once I finally was able to get my Google Docs to once again work properly, I was able to help with the creation of my group's storyboard for the Group Leadership Project.  We have chosen to teach how to create a blog using Blogger. 

For my portion of the assignment, I am in charge of teaching how to create a new blog site and its design.  This is not as easy as one would think.  Taking another person through a procedure step-by-step required an immense amount of thought.  Below is a link to my group's storyboard.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jNzZEIgXMQF7JzXO9RNYoso5N3OusKUZD40DP7dDlI0/edit

For the final project, each of my group members will  develop the portion we created.  We have chosen to use Camtasia Studio for our final product.  After we have recorded our individual portions, we are going to email them to Lisa, who has kindly offered to put them all together.