CEDO 599 Blog #3

I have completed all of my tutorials, I have linked everything to my Ning, I have documented all of my work on my E-Portfolio and I am now officially DONE!!!!!!! I can't ask for a better B-Day present than to be officially done with this program. Not that it wasn't enjoyable because it actually was, but I'm so looking forward to going back to improving other areas of my life and having the time to devote to these improvements. Tonight I'm treating myself to a B-Day present of going to Menards and purchasing paint, a new entry door, and all of my wood for my new deck as this weekend I begin the fun and excitement of ripping out all of my shrubbery to begin completely relandscaping my yard. In about 1 and 1/2 months time I should have a new deck, all new floor beds, all new shrubbery, a new rain garden in my backyard, a new front porch, a new screened in patio, a new entry door, and freshly painted trim work on my house. I can't wait because I'm pretty sure this is shaping up to be the most painful month and half of my life but it will look awesome when I'm done.

As for my culminating project, everything went relatively smoothly and I managed to complete everything within the alloted time frame. I think the final project will really impact my classroom and will greatly enhance the experience for my students. The one thing that I did encounter when completing my culminating expereince, however, was that I made the decision to switch over from Ning to Grou.ps because of the pricing plans of Ning. Originally I was just going to pay for the Ning but as I started counting up the space required by my video tutorials I realized that I would need the mid level version and at $19.95/month times 6 seperate nings for each of my classes, I wasn't about to pay $120/month to have a nice site for my students. I know, I know, I'm cheap. Really I found this Grou.ps site that was every bit as productive as Ning and it's still free so I am currently in the process of moving everything from my Nings over to Grou.ps. The beauty is that Grou.ps was designed to scoop all of us former Ningers up because it provides step by step procedures for transfering information from the Ning to the Grou.ps network. I've gotten 3 of my six networks done and will continue to work on this as the school year approaches.

It's been a blast learning from you and working with many of you. I hope to keep in contact with you guys and bounce ideas off you as this has been extremely rewarding for me throughout this experience. Thanks again to all of you who have had to put up with me throughout this program.

CEDO 599 Blog #2

I chose to use Jing to create my video tutorials and I must say it was a pain in the butt. Not because of Jing but because of all the unforseen things that happen when creating a screen capture. During my screen captures I had a phone call, cell went to silent mode as I restarted, I had my dogs barking at people walking by, the house got closed up so the dogs couldn't see anyone, I forgot to click save when done as I was excited to start the next tutorial, I had to remind myself to slow down, and most predominately my mind was moving way too fast for my mouth and fingers and I'd foget a step and have to start over. I did create screen cards for me to follow but I found that I just wasn't smart enough or proficient enough to flow back and forth between my notes, my program, my screen capture, and what I was trying to accomplish so I took the approach of doing a test run with my notes and then going back and completing a screen capture after my review. This process seemed to work best for me and once I got on a role these went pretty easily. That is after I figured out how to avoid all the other pitfalls.

I created a screen capture of my Pro E water bottle tutorial for my Exploratory Technology class, a Pro E Model Rocket tutorial for my Drafting and Design class, and a Solidworks Oven Rack and Loft tutorial for my Principles of Engineering class. I linked each of these tutorials to my Nings for each of these classes and have provided an area where my students can access them from home or school.

In addition to my screen casts, I have also created a tutorial for my students to create their E-Portfolio. I intend to have each of my students create an E-Portfolio that they can use to document their artifacts in my classroom so they can show others their accomplishments within my classroom. We use extremely expensive drafting software in my classroom so very few people have access to this software. Because of this, just saving their work to a disk does not suffice for documenting their work so by providing them with an E-Portfolio my students will be able to save images of their work and share this with others without the need for the software.

I really enjoyed this process despite all of the little obstacles I encountered as I love the fact that this is going to be productive for my classroom. I can't wait to see how my students respond to these tutorials and how this improves my classroom.

CEDO 599 Blog #1

I have to say that I'm really looking forward to this assignment as this was the reason that I decided to pursue this particular Master's program. For my culminating experience I am transferring three of my tuturials to screen capture tutorials. I'm doing this because in my current position, I am asked to attend numerous professional development activiities for advancing my curriculum and thus my students are left to complete assignments without my assistance. My subs do not possess the knowledge or experience with the programs my students are operating to assist them through any questions they may have. Because of this, it was my desire to create screencasts of my completing the assignments so my studnets could have a detailed idea of exactly how to complete the assignment. By doing this I have not only made my sub days more efficient but have also taken away some of my stress of being gone as well as the stress of my students and sub. If the students don't get how to complete the assignment, they will begin screwing around and cause issues for the sub but if they are able to get through the assignment they will remain busy and thus everyone remains happy.

In addition to transitioning my tutorials to video tutorials, I am also in the process of writing a tutorial for my students to create a personal e-portfolio of their own. I am doing this because in my particular field, the ability to show your experiences is essential and that isn't always easy to do without the use of a computer with the programs already loaded on it so this portfolio will allow my students to post screen capture images to document their work and demonstrate their knowledge and abilities to future employers or professors.

My biggest fear in this assignment isn't the process of completing the assignment but rather finding the time to complete all of the assignments. Like with most things I'm sure there will be speed bumps along the way and with my tight schedule I don't have a lot of time for mistakes and redo's so I'm hoping that my pre-planning will allow me to utilize my time to max efficiency and allow me to complete everything in a timely fashion.