Digital Stories

The History of the Peace Sign on Prezi

This week I've spent some time playing with various different digital presentation programs that are available online. The one I chose to use is called Prezi. In the most basic sense, it is a really creative and interactive version of PowerPoint. You can still give a cohesive and interesting presentation with pictures and text, but it can be controlled by the viewer so it is more conducive to being shared online (such as in a blog) than only for use as a presentation. It makes the project much more entertaining and interesting to watch and explore than a simple PowerPoint.

I chose to put together a very brief project on the history of the peace sign. The idea behind it was for a lesson on counter culture of the 1960s. I really enjoy planning lessons that employ collaborative learning. There is that old adage that you learn more by teaching others, but I really do believe it is true. I like the idea of having students research something specific in groups and then sharing it with the rest of the class. This could be incorporated into a current US History class (usually 10th or 11th grade). I would be really interesting to hear how effective my sample presentation was. Since I know the full narrative in my head, I would like to know if I was able to convey the information with minimal text.

Overall I really enjoyed using Prezi. It was a little bit difficult to get used to the different wants to manipulate text and pictures because it is so different from any other program. Also, there are several tutorials on the site but once you enter the design template there is not much assistance. Some of the sample presentations on the site are really amazing but they unfortunately require a higher (i.e. you have to pay for it) version of the program. I'm looking forward to playing with the site more to see what else you can do with it. I think the future I would make sure I pick a topic that lends itself to using a lot of visuals. The peace sign was an interesting idea but I didn't realize that pictures for it would not vary much.

Final 4!!

Huge weekend on campus for so many reasons (look for a post later about some of them)!! The MSU Men's Basketball team is going to the Final 4 in Indianpolis next weekend. I, admittedly, am not the biggest sports fan but I completely understand the excitement and school spirits it breeds. I love that everyone is so supportive and so proud of the school's team. It couldn't be any better press or publicity for our university (especially given the fiasco regarding the football team just before our bowl game in January). As I come closer and closer to graduation I am realizing even more how important my connections to this university are. I am so happy for the team and excited to watch them play. GO GREEN!! GO WHITE!! Photo: State News

Flying with Google Earth

This week I spent some time exploring and playing with the Google Earth download available through Google. I've heard so much about it and seen it used mostly just for fun. Now that I have downloaded it I've realized what an awesome tool it could be in a classroom. With budget cuts and funding in schools being revoked, as well as the logistics usually involved, field trips are scarce at every level of school, but Google Earth would enable me to take a class half way across the world to look directly at some of the things we are studying. They have really neat historical and location features that I could use to show landmarks, geographical areas, cities, and interesting sites that correspond with lessons. This goes nicely with the last TPACK exploration that I did about virtual field trips as well. To pair a virtual tour of the Smithsonian with a walking tour of downtown Washington D.C. and the Smithsonian museums would be an incredibly effective lesson without leaving my classroom. Here is a screenshot I took while I was exploring the MSU campus -

Another feature that could be really useful is the Tour function. This allows you to record and share a tour of a specific area and provide narration. This could be used to either supplement a lecture or lesson, or as a presentation school for student projects.

Also, here is a really interesting blog (unofficial yet endorsed by Google) that explains some of GoogleEarth's features, gives tips, and information related to using the download.

Interesting Article...

Big tech news today...Google is choosing to not withdraw their company from China but instead route searches through a Hong Kong server in order to go around Chinese censorship laws. This article was really thought-provoking and I will be interested to hear more on the topic. I did know that China had very strict rules regarding internet usage by its citizens but I didn't really realize that something like this would be an option for Google. I commend them on their attempt at bringing equal and fair access to everyone but at the same time it seems to violate pretty serious social norms. It is a very western approach that Google would know better than the Chinese government. I am interested to see what, if anything, is done about this move. Check out the article on CNN.

I am Back!

After a week spent relaxing and enjoying the sunshine - I am back into the swing of things at school. I had a great time catching up on some much needed rest over my Spring Break. It was so refreshing to come back to nice weather instead of snow! As for the week of no technology, I hate to admit that I actually enjoyed it. It was kind of a relief to be unreachable for a little while. I didn't feel like I had to be in constant connection and I could just enjoy being outside and going on adventures. I say this with complete understanding that having no technology would be completely impractical to my life on a long term basis. I still think it was a nice break and gave me an appreciation for the minute by minute access I have to news, information, and everyone's lives. I am finding it kind of hard to get back into the swing of things though. Email and Facebook usage are back to normal but the blogging and my Twitter account have suffered a little. Hopefully this will come back without completely starting over because I was just getting used to these various means of communication.

SB 2010

Happy Spring Break everyone!! Enjoy the time off and relax a little. I will be sans technology for the next few days (no cell phone, computer, or TV) so I will update when I get back about how that goes. Part of me is looking forward to being a little tuned out and the other part of me is nervous that I am just too used to having all of this at my fingertips. Either way, this is a much needed and appreciated vacation!

PLN

So far I feel fairly successful in developing a PLN that works best for me. I enjoy blogging and twittering the most because it is personal and immediately rewarding. I think the biggest downside of all of this online communication is that there is just so much information. It is overwhelming to sift through all of the sites, blogs, articles, posts, tweets, etc. regarding education. I am learning more about what styles and opinions I enjoy reading and am getting more comfortable contacting others about their thoughts or ideas. In my opinion, the latter part is the real purpose of PLNs and networking.

My Very Own Website!

I just put the finishing touches on my midterm project for CEP 416. So far, it is the majority of my online portfolio including my resume and a potential lesson plan using technology. I am very proud of it considering a few months ago I was happy to be using e-mail effectively! I am really impressed with the amount I have learned and the amount of information I can actually see myself using in a classroom. I would love feedback or input of any kind about my work. Check it out - Lauren's Website

Finally..

Here is the finished project of the presentation I posted the other day. I added a narration using VoiceThread. I can totally see the benefits of using this in more of a business or networking sense but it is harder to apply in a classroom - seeing as how I would be delivering the lecture in person. Something like this really could revolutionize how teachers give students their work for days they were absent though. Enjoy!

Practice with Presentations

This week I have been playing around with a couple different applications that allow users to create effective and interesting presentations. Similar to PowerPoint, these programs create a slide-show that you can personalize and use for many different purposes. I tried to use the concept of Beyond Bullet Point or BBP for this sample lesson. Basically, the developers of BBP explain that both the positive side and downfall of PowerPoint presentations is that they are easy to create. That being said, they aren't always made effectively. Individuals learn in many different ways but there are some basic concepts to understand before giving a presentations. Learning is multi-faceted and in order to be effective, the presenter must strike the perfect balance between simple, easy to understand slides, and information overload. The slides need to use the space, time, and images to convey important points.

Too often in classes that I have taken a teacher has created presentation to guide a lecture that was only bullet points, and then simply read us these slides. While being un-creative, these types of presentations are insulting to one's audience. If learning were as simple as reading, we wouldn't need to attend a lecture on it. Effective presentations waste nothing - they use speech, text, and images to the best of each of their abilities. Here is a look at a sample presentation that I have created as an introduction to the US Supreme Court.