Week 13

I chose for this to be my week that I didn’t submit the assignment. See the excerpt from the course schedule section of the blog.

Important Dates:
Audio production due November 11 (5 pts)*
Still production due November 18 (5 pts)*
Video production due November 24 (5 pts)*
Collaborative projects due November 24 (15 pts)
Finals (Short Reflective Paper) due December 13 (10 pts)
Participation (5 pts)
*Note: You ONLY need to do two (2) out of these three (3) assignments. You get to choose which ones you will submit towards your overall score.

I still contributed to the discussion and read the assigned readings.

Week 12

These are the photos I entered on the flickr contest:

HOW TO BE A GOOD HUSBAND!

Here is the layered picture of my beautiful little girl.
Click the thumbnail to enlarge.

Week 11

Click HERE for my podcast
(There is a link on the podomatic page to subscribe)

If this works out well, I may create a iTunes page for my class so that my class can get podcasts on their iPhones.

So, I didn’t use the program Audacity since it is only audio… I downloaded it, and it seems like a good enough program for audio use. However, since I think that video podcasts are the way to go, I made one of those, which has audio in it.

In terms of helpful links I have made a list from both the reading and my own research.

Podomatic
iTunes FAQ
Audacity
Podcast Blaster
Videora
Podcourse
Creative Commons

Group Project Submission

Click Here

Week 10

I would say that I rely a lot on informal assessment, where I give individual attention to student throughout the class to see where they are. This can be done by questioning (blooms taxonomy) and other ways like white boards. I rarely am surprised by a formal assessment because I have good informal assessment practices.

I use rubrics for assessments that are more subjective to keep myself from arbitrarily grading. They keep grading fair especially when you get to the 150th assignment and it just so happens to be that student that rubbed your the wrong way that day. Don’t lie, it happens.

I feel as though our current assessments do not cater to divergent thinkers. In fact, our current educational system is stifiling student’s creativity. Alternate assessments allow for us to accurately assess students in much more meaningful methods for the students. I tend to be pretty progressive and student centered in my educational philosophy, therefore it is no surprise that my primary goal is meeting the needs of the individual student…. Don’t even get me started on standardized testing. Sorry essentialists.

In the blog post by Barry Joesph, he says. “One approach to empowering youth to be more in charge of their learning…” I think this is key. We have trained our kids to accept that education is what we tell them that it is. The result is information being shoved their way that is totally irrelevant in their lives. Learning can’t and will not happen that way. Education will, learning will not. When the student’s take ownership ( control we have to be willing to yield), true learning will take place for the individual student.