Project 2

I don't know what happened, or what this really is, but here it is anyways :)

THE FILM

Reflection

This class stressed me out a lot and often, but upon reaching the end of it all I realize that it was largely in a good way. I need to become more techno-proficient if I am going to get ahead in life. And although it they were stress-inducing, they were lessons I needed to learn.

In effect, pretty much everything we covered in this class was new to me. Every project took me a long time to do even a halfway decent job on because each step of the process was something difficult I had never seen before. Afterwards I would have a decent understanding of the new technology and could, in a life or death situation, probably replicate what I had created. I believe this was one of the objectives of the class. I believe it was met for me.

I have many questions about technology still. I don't think all of the connections have been made in my head to give me that big picture yet. I was born more towards the beginning of the "millenial generation", so maybe technological ability wasn't hard-wired into my genetic make-up as effectively as the younger kids. I do have a good grasp of how to find answers though. I have gained the ability to use technology, what limited skills I have gained, to communicate, teach, and understand better and more clearly. Plus, blogging is fun!

In conclusion, I know how important technology is becoming in this day and age. I cannot be oblivious or resistant to that if I want to be successful. This class has started a solid techno-foundation for my life that I can build on to succeed.

Project 3

I preface by saying that I am still not the most technologically-sound student here at BYU, and especially not in this class. Even powerpoint is mostly foreign to me... Thus, my original project idea proved almost impossible for me to do. It took me a lot of brainstorming (and stressing) to figure out an alternative. I'm happy to say that I am satisfied with the result.

The project I would have my students complete is outlined in this google document:

Biology Presentation Project

This is an example of the project that I did:

Torpor Presentation

I am still not a master at creating powerpoint presentations, but making a presentation on google documents is even harder. I still don't know how to animate any of the texts or images or set the timing or anything... I have a lot to learn. I am hoping that the students learn a lot through this project. The truth is, google documents is a very useful program to learn.

3rd Project

I am doing Option 1- the student assignment.

Target Audience: Biology Students
Technology: Google Sketch up
Learning Activities: I will create a written assignment for my students to do using Google Sketch-up. I will then do the assignment myself. I will post both the assignment and the product on my blog.

As far as what the assignment will actually be, I am not completely sure yet. Something to do with evolution or genetics I'm sure.

Anchor Lessons by Asynchronous Video

Television Telephone

Haha, that's what video chatting seems like... to me, at least. My girlfriend video chats on skype with her family and friends back in Sacramento all the time (like seriously every other day or something) so it is always really easy for me to just join in on her conversations. I usually avoid the crazy new technology, but today I decided to see what it was all about.

Skype is pretty unreal. My biggest problem was not knowing where to look! I always wanted to look at the screen but then my eyes were obviously not looking at the person I was talking to. But if you look at the camera you can't tell if you are really looking straight into the picture, because you are looking at the camera... Very unsettling. Other than that, skype was effective and pretty awesome. You get to see the faces and emotions of those you are communicating with. I think this can help keep your mind from wandering too much (at least it helps me). Plus, they can show you things instead of having to just try and describe it sufficiently, which can be difficult.

There are definite advantages to video communication of this manner. As an educator, you could more effectively present information to students who miss valuable instruction in the classroom. Or, you could have a sort of live-action video podcast thing going on. In conclusion, television telephones are a great invention.

Fair Use...

... to the rescue! Haha, so I just posted a negative little blurb on how lame copyright can be sometimes- well, there is hope! Fair use is a "loophole" which allows educators (and friends) to use material that has been copyrighted so long as it is not for commercial purposes or for stealing purposes. This is great news for teachers- we don't need to suffer our hands tied any more by the ineptitudes of law and politics. We just need to be careful that when the capitalist copyrighters come calling we can back up our innocent reasons for using their work.