Time to Give my Blog a Facelift: Zha, Zha, Zho

This week in my Web Technology class, we spent a lot of the time talking about Zhooshing up our blogs. As I have mentioned, this is my very first blog endeavor! I really want to make sure my blog has the Zha Zha Zhu!

So, from this day on, I solemnly swear to…

1.  Categorize & Tag all my posts…from here on out
2.  Include useful Widgets in my side bar…from here on out
3.  Find a sweet balance: not make my posts to long, or too short…from here on out
4.  Include a wide array of
   1. images (that are cited!)
   2. hyperlinks
   3. other sources
   4. videos…from here on out
5.  Add a splash of COLOR

By doing this, my hope is to make my blog easier to navigate and to make it more aesthetically pleasing to your eye. Thank you so much for putting up with me this far 🙂!

This week, I found another technology gem: animoto. (See what I did there! I hyperlinked it so it would be easier for my followers to find out what I’m talking about). Like I’ve been saying over-and-over-and-over-again, I am not the most technologically savvy person, but I am willing to learn and try. As I started to use this gem, I realized how easy it was! I was able to get pictures from my facebook (or any other social media) through animoto. Once I picked my theme, it was pretty self explanatory. I basically drag & dropped pictures and added text. Simple as that. Animoto did all the tough work: adding the music, timing the music, and making it look pretty & professional. I know it’s a little bit cheesy, but look at my sample video I made…

I honestly feel that adding one of these personal videos would bring the classroom to another dimension! Animoto has a few options. They have a Lite version (free), a Plus version ($5/month or $30/year), and a Pro version ($39/month or $240/year). For more information about the features each version has, just click here.

Over & Out.

Lights, Cameras, Action!

There are so many benefits of using educational videos in the classroom. When my future students walk into my room, I want them to be transported into another (math!) world. Using videos can do just that! Videos create an experience, plain and simple. Although I like to believe I am the MOST interesting person in the world, I have my doubts that my future students will have a mutual feeling (and that’s ok!). By using videos that are incorporated within the lesson, it will give students a break from my voice (sad, I know) and break up the lesson. Instead of it feeling like one long, continuous, unbearable never ending 40 minute period (or 90 minute block), videos could help make the time (hopefully) fly. In addition, by just hearing a different voice, it might facilitate students’ learning and memory.

Here, the teacher is using a flipped classroom. Students are actually interacting with the teachers, This is a two-way communication, whereas a traditional class, the communication is one-way (teacher to students)

photo credit: kevin dooley via photopin cc

 However, there are so many other ways for students to use videos for educational purposes. In my class last night, we discussed the possibility of using a flipped classroom model. Which, to be honest, I always thought was an awful idea. The more I actually thought about it yesterday, the more I felt it might actually be a good idea. Like all things, it needs to be placed/planned right. I remain open to assigning a flipped classroom assignment once a week, or so. By using this type of model, or videos in the classroom (in general), my hope is to reach as many students/learners as I can so I can interact with them in the time I am given. Instead of using the class period to lecture to blank faces, it may be smarter to interact with them instead of to them.

In addition, the way I show/explain a concept may be different than a video does. Maybe Students A through R grasped the concept the way I explained it. But what about Students S through Z? Don’t they deserve the same understanding of the concept? Perhaps the way Salman Kahn will reach those students or PatrickJMT on youtube.

When students leave my classroom, I want them to feel better about themselves and abilities than when they entered; maybe one way to do this is through video. So, Lights, Cameras, Action! Let’s learn…together!