Personal Website

I have been vigorously working on my personal website and I am super proud of what I've done.  I hope that everything shows up the way its supposed to because on some computers my background was not showing up correctly.  I still have some finishing touches to do but here is a link to see what a have so far! My Website  I present with my team today and I think we are all going to a great job.  The team website looks amazing and I think everyone who sees it will be impressed with all that we have accomplished over the course of this semester.  I have learned so much from this class and I truly feel like I am knowledgeable about technology now. 

Digital Story Telling

I was able to successfully upload my video onto http://www.youtube.com/. Here is the link to my digital photo story project http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlAxU_3HP74. Enjoy!

Digital Story Telling

So, it has been a while since I have posted anything on here, but I've been extremely busy lately.  Well anyway, I wanted to fill you in on the most recent project I have done for my EDTF200 class.  It's a digital story telling project.  We had to use My Photo Story 3 to create a digital story about our lives.  I absolutely LOVE this program.  It is really simple to use and there are all sorts of neat things you can do to make your story even more interesting.  You can add captions to your photos and music, you can record anything you want on certain pictures and you can have fun messing around with the timing, transitions, and even colors of the photos.  If you want to make a good photo story though, make sure you have some time set aside.  It does take a while, but the end result is well worth it.  I worked really, really hard on mine and I hope everyone enjoys it, because I do and I am very proud of what I have produced.  I tried to post my photo story into this blog but I am having some technical difficulties.  I'm going to get help on how to post it somewhere that it can be seen.  Eventually it will be on my personal website but I also need help on posting it to that.  Check back to see my video!

Microsoft Publisher

In Instructional Media today we learned how to use Microsoft Publisher and all of the awesome things it has to offer.  MS Publisher has templates for all different types of documents.  Today we worked on business cards, brochures, fliers, resumes and award certificates.  MS Publisher is so easy to use.  It already has everything set up for you; all you have to do is fill in the different boxes for information and it automatically inserts it into the template you are using.  You can then go in and customize everything to the way you like it; changing fonts, font sizes and colors, logos and color schemes.  I really enjoyed getting to make my business card. It turned out so pretty! We also learned how to use the mail merge function when we were working on our award certificates.  All you have to do is format the award once, use the mail merge function to add a list of people, and then MS Publisher automatically inserts the name and all the information with one click of a button; it really reduces the time it would take to have to go back and type in each person's name on each individual certificate.  I'm really glad that I got to learn how to use MS Publisher.  It is turning out to be one of my favorite programs so far!

Using Google Docs

Today in my EDTF200 class (Instructional Media) we learned how to use Google Docs.  The professor explained that Google Docs, in essence, works the same way that Microsoft Word or Microsoft Works would.  The only difference is that Google Docs is web-based, which means it is free to use.  Anyone that has a gmail account can log on to Google Docs and type up a paper the same way you would if you were using Word.  Google Docs has an area already designated to save all of your work and this makes it possible to access your documents on any computer anywhere in the world.  With Google Docs you can also collaborate on one document with other people.  Using Google Docs to collaborate eliminates multiple copies of a document.  It attaches email addresses to a document as opposed to attaching documents to an email address.  Click Here to view a video that we watched in class that helps better explain what Google Docs is and how it works.  After watching the video I really understood all the perks to using Google Docs.  I am still trying to figure out how to use it, but it is getting easier as I go along.  I will definitely be using Google Docs in the future.  Google Docs ROCKS!

My Concept Map!

I made a concept map with this program, called Inspiration 8, that we learned about in my Instructional Media course.  This is the first time I had used the program, so I was still getting used to how everything works and thats why the map isn't super spectacular.  Since then, though, I have gotten more familiar with the program and I can do some really neat stuff with it! Check out my group blog to see my group's collabrative concept map; it is much better looking than this one!

Teaching from the Grave

The other day in my instructional media class, our professor had us watch a video called, "Teaching from the Grave."  The video was about a new approach to teaching, where the teachers took their students to a local grave yard to collect data that they could incorporate into different areas of study. I thought that is was very interesting that the students got to take a hands-on approach to learning. It seemed like the children were enthusiastic and genuinely interested in doing their schoolwork.  When the students were interviewed for the video, they seemed so excited to talk about and explain all the things they were getting to do while collecting data from the grave yard.  This "teaching from the grave" is a really cool way to incorporate a bunch of different disciplines, such as math, history and even science, into one big learning experience.  It's also really cool that the students were getting to learn about local history and get involved in their community.  As the one teacher said, "It's a good work ethic they gained."  The students had to be organized and stay on task, in order to get to take part in this new program and still stay focused in their regular academic classes and work. Click here to view the "Teaching from the Grave" video