Podcast

The podcast software was surprisingly easy to work with.  I am very glad of this, as I think I am getting a cold and I really didn’t want to fight with a computer too much today. Mostly, the idea of recording my voice and then posting it as a podcast seemed very surreal to me-  as I said in my podcast, I felt like I was recording one of those apocalypse type videos where whoever is the last person living records a video to tell future people how they all died, and to not make the same mistakes again.

So, for future people looking to not make the same mistakes:

·         My computer is a very basic model, and it is old, so a lot of the software didn’t want to play on my operating system. This led to cursing, tears, and then trying to figure out what download I could use to make it work. 

·         Because of said computer, none of the videos and tutorials worked for me, since I was missing buttons or other things most people apparently have.

·         As a teacher, I need to not assume students have access to all of this technology- if I want them to use something, I need to make sure they have access to it, either at school, at the library, at home, or as a check out. This is especially important given where I want to work- there are a lot of low income families.

·         I am a very outdoors, hands on person, so I don’t immediately think of technology as a way to get kids in touch with nature, but through videos and pictures and such this could definitely work.

I like the structure of the project overview form. It really helps me ground my project idea in reality. I tend to be really good at coming up with ideas and big picture concepts and schemes, but not as good at the nitty gritty and making sure they are realistic. Having a template like this makes me go over my idea with a fine tooth comb and ask myself over and over again…”Is this doing what it should be?”

My original idea was to have students become masters of their environment by pursuing a project in which they can end up being the teachers, and to create a resource for others to use to learn more about their environment. It is a neat idea, but I didn’t really think in too great a detail about how the students were going to do this. I had vague ideas about picture guides created, videos produced, keys  and databases and stories created and recorded.  I wanted the students to get in touch with experts in the field they were focusing on. After that it got…..blurry.

 

The project overview made me sit down and think about how everything would work out. I had to think of a realistic timeline, and what information they would need to be able to do their projects. It also made me realize a significant hole in my idea- what is the use of a resource if no one knows about it? So marketing the website became part of the project.

Thoughts on using the Google site.

 

After playing around with the Google site some more, I can appreciate it a bit more. I still think the user interface is confusing, but I do like that I can add all sorts of media and pages, and that it is free (!).  This class really stretched my comfort zone- I am comfortable with the technology that I use currently, but learning new technology is not something that comes naturally to me. There were many times I cursed at my computer, and needed to go get a cooler head to help me through steps.  I think being able to use technology in the classroom to share resources is a really neat idea, but I think for my sanity, I would get help in the beginning next time.

I do like the Google site better than the wiki pages, so I suppose there is that. The wiki pages seem harder to use as resources from a audience perspective, where as the Google site, while maybe a little bare bones, functions just like any web page I am used to using.

I wish Picasa was easier to use, since pictures are very important for natural history.

Uploading videos using you tube was easier than I expected (which means it was still very difficult for me, but I didn’t pull out the big guns, curseword-wise .

Picasa is possibly the most annoying thing ever. I went to upload pictures, and I can insert a single photo on to my site, but when I try and make it a photo album it doesn’t show any of the pictures. A google search informs me this is because my privacy settings are too high, but there is no way I can see to change that through the site. So then I download Picasa on to my computer (more unprotected downloading….I’m going to need to scrub my computer after this) to see if that will work. In the mean time, Google decides this means I have accepted Google+ into my loving arms and keeps on popping up windows of “do this!” “friend these people” “this is cool!” every 3 seconds, so I keep on getting derailed from Picasa because I have to close all these pop ups. So far, I am not impressed with the user friendliness of Google, and I am very much feeling stalked by it.

Also, this is just my personal feelings about photos, but I much prefer to see individual photos than a slide show photo album. Additionally, for what I want to do with natural history, I think the individual photos- where comments can be right by- is more useful than an album.

Making the screencast and a YouTube account was tricky. My lap top is old, and does not have a built in microphone- thank the good heavens for gamer roommates. Then I had to download Java, because apparently my laptop has an ancient version. I’ve downloaded so many things tonight….I almost feel dirty. I worry about computer STDs.   

I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and do a recording of me uploading photos via Picasa. Once again I ran into a stumbling block with the screencast o’matic to you tube….for some reason the first 3 times it didn’t want to allow my sign in to work. The fourth times worked, even though I didn’t do anything different. I think, over all, give what I would be taking videos of, I’d much rather just record stuff with my digital camera, upload it on to my computer, and then upload it to you tube. Plus, then I don’t have to download any possibly weird programs, or connect various logins with others.

I remembered to click the html button the first time around, so that made the upload process on to the website easier

I am finding the layout for Google sites very frustrating. I started out trying to use a ready-made template, but then it wouldn’t let me input any of my own stuff.  Then began the battle to the death with Google over me trying to delete the site, and start over. I finally smarted up and went to the Google search engine and found out how to delete it that way. I think this is an example of how all powerful searching Google for how to do stuff is. I might not like their sites and interface for Gmail, sites, etc, but they sure know how to connect me to any and all information I might want to find.

The next fight was trying to get multiple pages. This, surprisingly, was much easier. This gives me hope that adding things to said pages (PowerPoint’s, documents, photos) will be much easier than actually setting up the site in the first place.

I still think trading skills (my cookie making abilities with my friend’s tech skills) would be a more efficient use of time in the future.  I like the idea of using tech in the classroom, but I have a feeling that now that I know what I can use, I would probably have someone else set the sites up for me (in exchange for cookies).

Tweet Tweet

Feel free to suggest more nerdy science tweeter for me to follow, since I am supposed to explore this resource.

https://twitter.com/JennaRaino

Sketch of a project. A Natural History resource.

My favorite sub-discipline for biology has always been natural history. Natural history is also incredibly important for an environmental educator. Topics in natural history are taxonomic (mammology, herpetology, botany) ecological (stream ecology, alpine ecology, forest ecology) and interdisciplinary (geology, historical).

These concepts matter because they allow people to understand how organisms and abiotic factors impact each other, as well as set up a framework for being able to view and distinguish details in the natural world. Knowledge of these subjects is useful to hikers, backpackers, fishers, hunters, scientists, urban planners, farmers, and numerous other people.

I think looking at specific ecosystems are a great way to be interdisciplinary, as in one single ecosystem a person can look at the human history, the geologic history, the animals, the plants, the climate, and perhaps the literature that arose from it, or the art that was inspired.

I would love to do a project with students where we create a natural history database/reference for the local area. Student could evaluate the knowledge already easily available, analyze what would still be needed, and create media for public consumption. Off the top of my head, I can imagine nature documentaries, field guides with pictures, dichotomous keys, oral histories being recorded, and seasonal changes being recorded. There might be articles written about fun facts, or radio interviews encouraging people to become aware of an issue. I think for natural history, having it be local will really engage students, once they start exploring, because they can take ownership of it. Connection to the land is very important, and being able to communicate all the different ways to connect will be inspiring and meaningful.

I would like to encourage mastery over a certain subject for each student, as well as a broad knowledge of the rest of the subjects. I think having students cooperate with each other and share knowledge is extremely powerful.

Starting out

I joined the global education conference (http://www.globaleducationconference.com/) because I like the idea of being able to talk to educators around the world about the environmental and science issues they are facing in their own home towns.

 

My thoughts about PBL so far:

Technology for me is something that can be very useful, but it is not something I enjoy in and of itself. I appreciate the technology that gives me a wonderful digital camera, so I can go out on a hike and take beautiful pictures of spring flowers. I appreciate the technology that allows someone in Kentucky to share their own spring flowers with me over the internet.  

For me, the three mediums that have me most excited are videos, blogs, and internet databases that allow people from all over to come together to share information.

I spent a month and a half in Australia, and one of the projects I completed was a nature documentary short. I think something like that would be a wonderful project for students, as it combines audio, visual, and kinesthetic learning, and, if done right, ensures the students know what they are talking about, and gives them something they can show off at the end. As a class, we actually produced 5 videos, and at the start of our student research conference we held a film showing of all 5. It gave parents and friends something tangible that they could understand about what we were doing over in Australia, and it made sure all of us were doing the proper amount of research and exploring. To this day I can still tell people a ridiculous amount of information about wallabies.

 

urls to the videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZcX_VYe5jA&list=PL01vH_Q_xyH4LYspRtZyDYWJg0ntP08Qm&index=60

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vJ4I7ohO9I&list=PL01vH_Q_xyH4LYspRtZyDYWJg0ntP08Qm&index=57