Mobile Learning Lab

I have actually been experimenting with the use of cell phones in class. Students always want to have their cell phone with them and love text messaging so I thought rather than fight them on this I would utilize their cell phones. I set up a couple questions that serve as quick assessments and reflection on a day's learning. Using polleverywhere.com I set up simple questions such as "How do you feel you understood the material covered in class today?" the students are able to text a key code that matches up with their particular thoughts. I have found that these are a simple way to gauge class feedback and it's something the kids enjoy partaking in as well.

Part D: Findings and Implications

As discussed in part C my project is progressing forward, and I am on pace to put everything into action in April. This week I have hit a bit of a snag in moving forward with the curriculum the kids need to learn to take part in the project. Due to weather we only had 1 day of school this week!! I have been able to to coordinate a collaborating class with a teacher in Vermont and as soon as we our back at school the students will have a test Skype session with their Vermont teammates. My hope is that this session will offer something we talk about in engineering which is "proof of concept." I'll get feedback from the students after they Skype with their partners and if they are able to communicate and share effectively this will demonstrate one of my big goals for the project; communicate effectively via video chat as they would in person. So even though the students aren't beginning the project yet, a successful test run with Skype will help solidify that one of my problems of practice has been successfully addressed.

Having developed this project basically from scratch I now fully realize what a huge undertaking it has been. Fortunately now that a lot of the ground work has been laid when I do this project or a similar one in the future I'll already have a lot of the curriculum for it created. All I'll need to do is find a collaborating teacher who is willing to try something new.

In order for a project like this two work it a few things are necessary. First, obviously is the access to necessary technology that allows videoconferencing without any hiccups or internet interruptions. Second, the students need to be introduced to it and they need to buy into it. The students should be excited about the opportunity to video conference with students from other schools and take part in a project they haven't experienced before. Third, the teachers have to be organized and fully on board. This project requires a fair amount of prep time to schedule meeting times and set deadlines and if either of the teachers aren't fully committed the students will suffer.

Upon the completion of the project this spring I hope that it goes well enough that I haven't been turned off to this type of collaboration. No matter I have invested a lot of time in this project and it is certainly something I will do again. Depending on the quality of work the students create with their collaborators maybe I will change the time constraints placed on the students to finish their necessary design work. I look forward to the students reactions and suggestions for a smoother implementation the second time around. It would be great if my collaborating teacher is one that I can work with on a regular basis and we can develop a comfort level with each other.

Data Visualization

Part C: Implementation

Part B: Storyboard and Script

Previously our group decided that we would be teaching how to use Window Movie Maker and that we would be creating a Prezi with the step by step instructions on how to use Movie Maker. Our group met again on Saturday evening to share our progress on our individual storyboards and scripts. While each of us chose a slightly different way to layout how we will be creating our section of the Prezi I feel that in reading the storyboards and scripts it is easy to get a feel for how each section will be taught. In the document linked to below it is clear each group member has put lots of time into scripting the flow of their section and in some cases even provided screen shots of the images that will appear in the Prezi. My section of the project has to do with adding titles, and captions to pictures and editing track timings. Other group members have said that as they continue to work their storyboards will be revised and refined before they begin to create their section of the Prezi.

Based on our most recent meeting and the work done in the storyboards some group members will be narrating their portion where as others will rely on text and pictures to describe how to use Movie Maker. I have been experimenting with the use of audio in Prezi and at the beginning of my section I'm going to have an audio introduction explain what will be taught and then the path I create will use text and screenshots from Movie Maker to demonstrate how to use the specific skills in Movie Maker. We will be meeting again next Sunday to discuss the progress we are making in the Prezi and to come up with a logical path to follow so that the view will come away understanding the essentials of Movie Maker.

Storyboard

Script

Web-Conferencing

Our group used both vyew.com and Googledocs to do web-conferencing. We found that while vyew.com had more functionality as far as communication went we had some technical problems with it. Vyew.com offered web and audio chat which was a nice plus but not all group members had webcams or microphones. The second time we met we used Googledocs and although we weren't able to video chat the sharing of documents went much smoother and we were able to communicate without any problems using the IM feature. For our future meetings we will use Googledocs as it provides a greater comfort level for the group members. I plan on using either vyew.com or Skype in my classroom during the implementation phase of my Wicked Problem Project, this will allow for quick and clear communication for team members in different schools.

Part A: Brainstorming Session

For our first meeting we used vyew.com and found that some of us had some difficulties viewing the public document so for out second meeting we used Googledocs and things went much smoother, the realtime editing capabilites proved to be very useful. Using vyew.com did offer the ability to video and audio chat but not all group members had webcams and microphones and sometimes there were problems with audio echoing so we just decided to communicate through the IM feature on the site. As a result of the difficulties we decided to meet on Googledocs for our second meeting and use the IM feature there as well. Once we got past the difficulties of the first meeting things progressed nicely, we were able to communicate without any problems on Googledocs. I had not used Googledocs to collaborate in this way and I was very impressed by the ease with which we could all edit the shared document and format it how we saw fit. This feature avoids the group having to send endless emails in which the intent of the writer can sometimes be clouded by the reader, when you are all chatting in person discrepancies can be cleared up immediately. When working on group projects in the past I have enjoyed the aspect of meeting in person and getting to know the group members a little better but being involved in an online class that is not really possible and I would consider web-conferencing to be the next best thing. All group members were present for both meetings and the chat logs are included below.

Second meeting

https://angel.msu.edu/AngelUploads/Files/bobalik_msu_edu/brainstorming_part2.docx

First Meeting

https://angel.msu.edu/AngelUploads/Files/bobalik_msu_edu/Room_Chat3.pdf

During our first two meetings we decided that we would be teaching how to use the program Windows Movie Maker and we would teach it through the use of Prezi Presentation software.

We broke up the teaching of Movie Maker into the following areas; starting a project which includes uploading and capturing video and pictures, editing a project, which covers video effects, slide transitions, and text and credit editing, and finishing a project which includes how to export a finished movie to a hard drive, disk or the web. The teaching of editing a project will be shared by two group members as there is more to teach in this section. Each group member will have two and a half minutes to explain their section for a total of a ten minutes presentation.

At the conclusion of the second meeting we decided to meet again on the 19th of February to make sure the storyboards are finished, coherent and cohesive with one another.