A GAME I am Losing

As an educator, I’ve developed ideas and some have proven to be successful and others fell flat on their faces.  I am nervous that my current GAME plan is in the process of completing a graceful swan dive. I need to make some changes in order for any further progress to be made.  

In my previous post I reported that I completed the initial building of a website for my program.  I created the website using weebly.  It took hours.  My plan was to have each of my students create a weebly as well.  I would then link each of their blogs to the class site.  This would broadcast our classroom activities to the community.  I also reported that weebly is blocked on my district’s server.  This is going to be the death of my plan. 

Here is the weebly I created:

www.wavetvnews.weebly.com

I placed a request for weebly to be unblocked in August BEFORE school started.  One of our Engineering teachers also asked for the site to be unblocked.   She hopes to use it as an online portfolio like I do.  Unfortunately, the site is still blocked.  Two months later.   Students cannot access it at school.  I’ve made multiple attempts to get the site unblocked.  My school’s Instructional Technology Specialist also made several attempts to contact the district.  No changes have been made.  This causes frustration because this site is what was recommended by other broadcast journalism teachers in the nation.  They gave me the suggestions on our listserv.  A few also suggested wordpress, but this requires a server to run.  This is not available to me.  

So, I thought I would scrap weebly and just trash the website I spent hours on.  I tried to look for other alternatives.  I haven’t found any.  I cannot find an easy to use website creator that also works well with video.  To say I am frustrated is an understatement.  My entire GAME plan hinges on a website.  Do any of you have ideas?

So, here I sit under a pile of posters I designed and printed using QR codes for the new website, students who are eager to create websites, and no way to move forward.  My students are still completing self-assessments using Google Drive.  I just wish they were able to post them online for the community.  

Any website suggestions?  I want it to look professional with an option to blog and post videos.  Essentially an online portfolio.

GAME Plan: Current Needs and Obstacles

Implementing my plan seemed very easy on paper, but I have encountered many obstacles.  Both of my goals depend on using weebly.com to create a website and support students in creating their personal websites.  

Needed Resources:

I have developed an issue with weebly.com and the internet block on the internet at school.  My classroom is equipped with 10 iMacs connected to the internet; however, these are deemed useless without weebly.  I have requested, through our IT department, to have the site unblocked.  This may take weeks.  

Intended Learning Strategy:

I have already completed the assignment sheet with extensive project requirements for my students.  Unfortunately, I cannot assign the project until the website is unblocked.  I have students who do not have internet access at home.  Until the site is unblocked, students are emailing their blog posts to me.  These posts act as their self-assessment for each week’s production.  The blog post does contain the content I wanted to engage students with.  The website was more of a polished way to post and evaluate their work.  

Steps I Have Taken:

So far, I have created the class weebly to share with the community.  I have not shared the link yet.  I want to wait until each student’s blog is linked to the page.  The community can still access our public schooltube page:www.schooltube.com/channel/wavetv 

Once the class and student weebly accounts are complete, I will change the link on our school’s webpage to reflect the weebly page.  This has been a blessing in a way as well.  My producers and I have decided to redesign our graphics.  We are creating new title screens and lower thirds.  Therefore, when we launch the new weebly page we can also launch our new show design.  It is exciting. Below is a picture of our new graphics.  

Technology Integration Goals

I would say that my classroom is more innovative, untraditional, and technology saturated than a typical classroom.  I have always found value in having my students actively engaged in hands on experiences.  I mean, the word technology is even in my course name.  I teach Media Technology (broadcast journalism and film production) on a high school level.  My students lead and produce a daily news broadcast and a monthly cable access show.  They also compete in local, state, and national film and journalism competitions.  As I read the ISTE Standards, I began to reflect on areas I could improve on even more.  

Two standard indicators I wish to improve are “Promoting student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes” and “Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation” (International Society for Technology Education, 2008).  

Goals

Goal 1: Implement a more innovative and collaborative self-assessment system in my classroom.  In the past, my students were required to complete a written self-reflection.  I was the only person to read it.  I would like students to use technology and share their reflections with their classmates and myself. 

Goal 2: Collaborate and communicate better with parents and the community.  In the past, I posted announcements to parents on the school website, communicated using a texting app, and posted our shows on our schooltube.com page.  I would like to develop a program specific form of collaboration.  

Actions

Goal 1: I plan to implement each of my students to create a weebly website.  It is essentially a personal website, blog, and online portfolio wrapped into one.  After each news package or film project, students will post their reflections and behind the scenes topics from the production process. 
 

Goal 2:  I created a weebly website for the program.  It is still in progress, but the bones are complete.  It will include a blog produced by my producers, a link to our shows, list of awards and honors, links to the students’ blogs, and a contact section.  

Progress

For both goals, the progress will be monitored based on a pasting schedule.  Each student must post a blog weekly or bi-monthly (depending on their production style).  The producers must update the program blog each month.  The schooltube page must be updated daily.  Essentially, the upkeep of the websites will show the progress. 
 

Evaluation

          I will evaluate the progress based on rubrics for the blogs.  The websites will include view counts and our facebook page shows how many people were reached.  The website views can show the success of reaching the community.  The participation of students in writing their blogs also determines the self-reflection and collaborative method.  At first, students will not be required to comment on their classmates’ blogs; however, by the second semester it will be a requirement.  

The link:

www.wavetvnews.weebly.com

Reference:

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers

Reflection

Step 1:

Before this course I had a brief understanding of how learning theories impacted how teachers can impact their students.  At the beginning of the course I stated that my preferred learning theory if social-constructionism.  I still stand firm in that analysis; however, this course has broadened my understanding of the theory.  For example, learning more about the cognitive learning theory fostered an understanding of how the brain works.  This understanding makes me more aware of how to build connections while teaching students.  Technology is important no matter what the learning theory; however, using technology creates a dynamic learning environment. 

Step 2:

Seeing that I am from a technology rich background and that my students use technology daily, my repertoire of instructional skills didn’t increase much.  There are not any immediate plans I plan to make to my instruction.  Perhaps in the long-term changes will be made to the production system.  What I did learn was how to in cooperate technology more seamless within my classroom.  Two technology tools I plan to use in my classroom are concept maps and VoiceThread.  Concept maps will allow students to build connections and see how the various parts of news packages relate to each other.  VoiceThread will become a great place for students to give feedback on student work. 

Step 3:

The first long-term goal I have is to integrate a VoiceThread system to allow students to give immediate feedback to their classmates.  I do not plan on implementing this process this year; however, next year I will.  I will have students create an account on VoiceThread and Vimeo.  Then students can upload all work on to Vimeo and link them to their VoiceThread.  Students will be required to comment on 3 classmates’ work each week along with posting their own. 

The second long-term goal is to flip my classroom more.  I will use my school website to post links to videos or articles I want my students to read or view.  This will open discussion within the classroom.

Social Learning Theories

A news studio requires students to create original work while working with a group of peers.  This could be as simple as co-writing a script, running a camera for the reporter, or editing content produced by others.  This collaborative learning allows students to enhance each other’s learning.  Cooperative learning encourages an environment where students can reflect on knowledge, process the information with their peers, and develop a common understanding of the content (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kahn, 2012).  In most studio settings this learning process is classes Social-constructionism.  Dr. Orey defines this as students actively engaging in constructing an original artifact while working collaboratively with others (Laureate Education Inc., 2011). 

Tips and Tricks of Cooperative Learning:

1. Vary the formation of groups.  Allows students to choose some projects and assign based on level of performance on others.  This allows students to develop knowledge and keep changing their perspective. 

2. Keep groups small.  Most of my students complete packages in pairs or three person teams.  In a pair I have a reporter and a photag and the role of editor is shared.  In three person teams the editor is separate.  These groups are determined by the complexity of the package.  The production team consists of 4 people: the anchors, teleprompter, and camera operator. 

3. Keep things systematic.  Each role as a specific rubric and pre and post production assignments to complete.  These are used to assess student knowledge and keep control among the studio

. 

Here is a video example of how my students work collaboratively (created by my current Director and Lead tech) that describes the class as a whole:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/54dc90bfba3c44cfba94/Wave%20TV%20Promo

Voice Thread:

Although Voice Thread is praised by Walden University, I was not impressed.  Sure, it allows students to gain feedback socially and therefore connect knowledge and content with context and culture as defined by social learning (Laureate Education Inc., 2011), but it did not have enough potential for the level of media collaboration I would expect from my students. It would not allow me to upload a simple 45 second video.  I tried multiple browsers, formats, ect.  The video format followed the requirements according to their list.  I was not pleased.  I would want to use this source to allow students to give feedback on student work.  I will stick with vimeo or youtube for this form of collaboration.  Moreover, my students are expected to edit their audio and video with strict guidelines.  They are not able to do this with voice thread.  It would be a poor use of time to have students do such a thing when they can complete original artifacts and post to a blog or video sharing website.  I thought about posting potential discussions or problem-based query; however, I already do this on my website and on edmodo.com.    I encourage this format for other classes not media driven as much as mine. 

Here is my Voice Thread:

https://voicethread.com/share/5179863/

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011a). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Counstructionism: How Students Learn in a Studio Environment

Constructionism in the Studio

For a Media technology classroom, constructionism is the most widely used learning theory I have observed.  The theory states that students learn by creating artifacts.  This is done by using the learners scheme and either forming accommodations or assimilations during the process in order to achieve equilibration, or balance within the knowledge (Laureate Education Inc., 2011).  Obviously, when students create news packages or produce the school’s news broadcast, students are creating original artifacts.  This is essential to learning.  For example, the first products from my level 1 classes are usually choppy and littered with errors; however, their mid-year projects are leaps and bounds better.  This is because students developed their own assimilations in order to achieve equilibrium.  Basically, their attempts allowed them to use problem solving skills to achieve products that met the defined expectations.  This would not happen through lecture or teacher-centered instruction.  

Generating and Testing Hypotheses

The packages they create are their assessments and students constantly form hypotheses in order to achieve their assessment goals.  Constructionism fits this practice because students should be engaged in a variety of structures in forming their hypotheses (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012).  Each package produced allows for different structures.  Moreover, students should be asked to explain their thoughts and systems (Pitler et al, 2012).  This is done by having students create package outlines pre-production and self-assessments post-production.  

Project-Based Learning

A format that works great in my studio is project-based learning.  It allows students to work towards a goal using systematic steps and organization directed toward one clear defining question.  I strongly suggest using this system.  I have used it for two years and have found an abundance of success.  Students are actively engaged, meet course standards, and enjoy the un-traditional classroom setting.  I am not sure about you, but my studio doesn’t include student desks or traditional decorations and organization.  My classroom/studio has a large conference table, couches, and production equipment and planning materials (see picture below).  For more information about project-based learning check out this link: http://www.bie.org/tools/online_resources/pbl-online

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program seven: Constructionist and constructivist learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works

                (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.