Wiki for Owosso Gifted Kids

I started my wiki and have been developing the pages.  I'm kind of stuck at how to promote it so if you have ideas, please share them!!  With school out now, I'm not sure how else to connect to parents besides facebook and sporting events.

http://owossogiftedkids.wikispaces.com/

First Podcast Hilliker Wicked Problem

First Podcast-Wicked Problem brief description

https://www.msu.edu/~rahill/artifacts/wickedhilliker.mp3

Web-Conferencing (Reflections)

Wow...what a test of my patience! :) For the web conferencing lab and group project our group tried a few different "tools".  Vyew was great for the purposes of sharing documents and talking between ourselves as all being presenters automatically.  However, we could not seem to record our session while getting everyone's audio on one "track". After trying many other free trials of random programs we found (we ruled out adobe connect from the get go because 2 out of 3 of us have not been able to get our audio to work previously in adobe connect) we finally found a free program that worked-sort of. We did a few test runs of BigMarker and everything went well.  When we finally recorded our brainstorming session we thought all the screen sharing was being recorded as video, however it did not come through.  Only the multiple audio and chat were recorded.  The tricky part of BigMarker is apparently you have to upload files to the conference room and pull them into the conference to get them shared in the recording.  I think the most stressful part of it was finding a program that would do what we needed, for free, without any hiccups! :) If I had a flipped classroom, I can see that this could be a useful tool for getting information out to students in advance and allowing for a group discussion that may not otherwise take place in class.

Part A - Brainstorm Session (812 Group Leadership Project)

The trickiest part was trying to find the right web conference tool to record our session.  After many failed attempts, we finally produced this conference however the documents we shared did not come through-only the audio and the chat window.   Group Leadership Project: Part A - Brainstorm

1. What web conferencing tool did your group use?  Which one DIDN'T we use might be more appropriate!! :) We tried many, but settled on BigMarker.com
2. What were the advantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project? What was not seen in the recording is that we were able to switch between presenters, share screens, audio and video as well as documents/files. It did not limit our recording time like some tools said and it was all free.
3. What were the disadvantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project?  The disadvantages seemed to only be in figuring out how to get the tools to work. Some of the tools we tried only would record one person's audio.  Others wanted to charge or the file of the recording was so large we couldn't get it to "process".  Other than that I am pretty sure we picked a great tool to discuss our project.  

Our group decided to create a google doc presentation where we could all input research on our topic/project and bounce ideas and material off of each other.  We decided to get together Sunday (June 3) and start working out the details.  So far, we have thought about some basic instructional videos  on the Interactive Wiiboard, walking through a basic lesson plan using google earth, geography as the subject matter, and designing it to be best utilized on a whiteboard.  I am going to be looking at the visual and creative aspects along with the pedagogy, Dale will be looking more at the technical parts, and Ashley will be focusing on the content and pedagogy. We hope to being a rough draft of the Prezi is the upcoming days.

PART A - Description of Need or Opportunity

As a parent of gifted children I often struggle with the lack of gifted programs or even clubs for my children to be engaged in. In our school district, and many others around the state, funding for gifted programs was cut years ago. The challenge is to find ways to connect other parents of gifted children to resources that can help them engage their children outside of the classroom.

My strategy is to use a Wiki to get local parents talking to each other and provide information for how they can challenge their gifted children. There are many websites out there that provides educational resources that are free and challenging. However, being able to connect local parents would mean giving support to them to be able to arrange group activities, talk about what the students are currently studying in specific classrooms,  and what resources and activities reinforce the current topics in class. 

This is an example of a wiki that seems to have been created in 2010 by a school district and offers resources but doesn't look like it has been used since its creation. Identifying why this wiki fell short may help in preventing barriers to the implementation of my project. This is an example of a wiki that seems to be active and has content as recent as last week.  It provides information for parents of gifted children to connect with each other, local events, resources for educational materials for gifted children,etc.  This wiki shows me that my project is plausible.

For this project, I hope to be able to connect with other parents and get content into the Wiki.  After the completion of this course, I hope to be to promote the wiki in the community via social networking, networking with parents at sporting events, and connecting with the school district to gain their support and promotion.  Ideally, in a year it will also enable me to plan online and local activities for gifted kids in our area.

I have begun a google document with resources and ideas for content on the wiki, however each link will need to be visited prior to determining its usefulness.

A successful implementation of this project would result in a membership roster for the wiki that contains 20 or more active contributing members (parents, students, school teachers or administrators) by winter break in the upcoming school year.

CEP 812 Introduction

My introduction for this class can be found here.

UDL review reposted

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Click the icon to download a copy of the checklist.

UDL Guidelines - Educator Checklist
I. Provide Multiple Means of Representation	Your notes
1. Provide options for perception
1.1 Customize the display of information	Feature: Information is clear and concise on each slide sticking to a consistent format but allowing for the student to outlink to policy, procedures and forms.
1.2 Provide alternatives for auditory information	Feature: Information is provided in a video (auditory) but then notes are bulleted after the video for the important take away lesson.
1.3 Provide alternatives for visual information	Feature: Information is also provided in a video (auditory) example.
2. Provide options for language and symbols
2.1 Define vocabulary and symbols	Feature: Students will be familiar with the vocabulary, since they are already on the job. Terminology reviewed as a part of the mock interview process.
2.2 Clarify syntax and structure
2.3 Decode text or mathematical notation
2.4 Promote cross-linguistic understanding
2.5 Illustrate key concepts non-linguistically	Feature: Images throughout the lesson help convey the “tone” of each slide.
3. Provide options for comprehension
3.1 Provide or activate background knowledge	Feature: Learners are instructed not to complete the tutorial unless they have the necessary background knowledge.
3.2 Highlight critical features, big ideas, and relationships	Feature: Follow up slides and incorrect quiz slides reiterate big ideas.
3.3 Guide information processing	Feature: Slides for incorrect and correct answers take learner through the train of thought process used to arrive at said conclusions.
3.4 Support memory and transfer	Feature: Quiz of material covered supports memory of information

II. Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression	Your notes
4. Provide options for physical action
4.1 Provide varied ways to respond
4.2 Provide varied ways to interact with materials	Feature: Mock interview process allows the student have a hand-on interaction with the materials.
4.3 Integrate assistive technologies	Feature: An incorrect answer shows an explanation as to why it is incorrect to assist the learner in reviewing the information before answering quiz question again.
5. Provide options for expressive skills and fluency
5.1 Allow choices of media for communication	Feature: Learner can review policy or the videos for choices of information
5.2 Provide appropriate tools for composition and problem solving	Feature: Links out to policy
5.3 Provide ways to scaffold practice and performance	Feature: Learner can retake the tutorial or go to “previous” slides to review information
6. Provide options for executive functions
6.1 Guide effective goal setting
6.2 Support planning and strategy development	Feature: Slides indicate strategies for interviewing properly
6.3 Facilitate managing information and resources
6.4 Enhance capacity for monitoring progress

III. Provide Multiple Means of Engagement	Your notes
7. Provide options for recruiting interest
7.1 Increase individual choice and autonomy
7.2 Enhance relevance, value and authenticity	Feature: The value of the lesson is expressed in the results of an interview that did not cover all of the information needed from the client in order for the learner to perform necessary job duties efficiently.
7.3 Reduce threats and distractions
8. Provide options for sustaining effort and persistence
8.1 Heighten salience of goals and objectives
8.2 Vary levels of challenge and support	Feature: Some of the quiz questions only review basic information the learner would have previous to this tutorial while other questions ask the learner to take their thinking to a new level which is challenging.
8.3 Foster collaboration and communication	Feature: The goal of the lesson is to increase communication with clients.
8.4 Increase mastery-oriented feedback
9. Provide options for self-regulation
9.1 Guide personal goal-setting and expectations
9.2 Scaffold coping skills and strategies	Feature: the lesson plan looks at coping strategies and skills for interviewing and obtaining appropriate information and addresses the difficulty of asking clients certain personal information that may be sensitive.
9.3 Develop self-assessment and reflection

811 Reflections

Throughout this course I have learned quite a bit.  For starters I learned that a Wiki can be a very useful tool for interaction and that it is very different from Wikipedia in general!
I have learned that when trying to integrate technology into lesson plans using effective teaching strategies there is a very easy yet organized process I need to take.  Using UDL principles to create or revise existing lesson plans will definitely make a more solid lesson. As a non-teacher and what seems like a lifelong student --I have always enjoyed training sessions that are multimedia for my own learning style.  I have realized that a teacher has a better way of reaching all of their students if they use a multimedia lesson plan.  One of my goals for this class was to get a good start on my website and be able to have a vision for where my MAET portfolio needs to go and I would say I have accomplished that task.  My new goals are to learn Captivate and begin creating lessons to showcase on my website/blog.

Bring it on 812!