LAST CLASS! :(

Today was our final class for Instructional Technology. We finished up by taking some surveys and presenting our WebQuest projects.

I do want to say that I learned some interesting things in this class that I hope to put forth in my classroom.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!!!

Finished WebQuest

Here is a link to our finished WebQuest. Instruments of the Orchestra

Jing

Today the class looked at an applaciton called Jing. I'm not sure what this does because I'm taking an Action Research class. I'll have to look over it during Thanksgiving break. I'll post a blog on what I learned and such when I figure it out.

We also completed the evaluation for the class.

Catch up day!

Today I worked on finishing my prezi presentation to link here to my blog! It is complete and ready for your viewing pleasure!

Here is a link to my prezi titled: What is Opera?

Evaluation

Today we didn't have class. We were asked to evaluate our "performance" as to what grade we deserve for meeting the requirements for the class. I looked at the examples and feel that I should receive an A-, I have attended all classes, except 2 (due to my senior recital, which I explained ahead of time), and have completed all assignments. I did look at my blogs and have completed all the said topics we discussed in class. I realized, though, the second day I missed, last Thursday, we uploaded our prezi presentations. I will have to figure out how to do that and then upload mine. It is pretty much done, a couple slides left to add to the prezi, but other than that it's working out. I may be able to finish and upload that this weekend as well if I can get it to work. Also, I saw that a couple people have their webquests done and uploaded. We have been working on ours but we haven't completely finished it, so we will probably get that done over Thanksgiving break and post it to our blogs. I was told that we had mostly all semester to work on it and that's what we've been doing, but since people have theirs done, we will finish ours up over break. I believe that that is why I should receive and A- (People have missed more classes and I've done all the work and put a lot of time and effort into this class. I've learned a lot and hope to be able to take that and adapt it into the music classroom. I've already shown one of my professors how to use some of the programs we learned about in this class. I also showed my dad, who is a teacher in Preston County. Thank you for all you have taught, Dr. Pierce; it is really nice to learn about all this technology, seeing as the students are growing up in this new "technological world"!)

Audacity

Today we created our pod casts of our PowerPoint presentations. When we presented the presentation, we video taped and audio recorded it. With the audio recording, we saved it to a jump drive. Today we took that and opened it in Audacity. We then amplified our voice and then added music to the background. Here is a link to my podcast if you would like to listen. (Sorry about all the "ums") :)

Last Thursday

Last Thursday I came late and there were only a handfull of people here. The room was dark and I peeked my head in and asked the girl sitting by the door what was going on. She said they were working on their Prezi presenations. I said okay, and left because I had to work on some stuff for my recital. I continued to work on Prezi graph.

Prezi

Today we learned another method of technology to use for making a presentation. This is online and it is called Prezi. Here you create a presentation on one "slide-type" plane. Then give it a path and the presentation moves to each of the topics. It is very interesting, but very confusing-like at the same time. It moves all over and it makes text bigger and it spins around. I'm not going to say that I dislike it because I haven't worked with it long enough, but it is hard to get started using. If you want to try it out, click on the link to go to see Prezi.

More Presentations - Last week....

So last week I forgot to post blogs again because I didn't want to get on the computer while others were presenting their presentations. This time (second time around) we video taped and audio recorded (2 separate things) recorded our presentation. We now have an audio recording for use of a pod cast and a video recording for to watch.

PowerPoint

Today we worked on different applications with PowerPoint. For example we worked with a quiz show presentation and I learned how to do some extra customs animations.

Tuesday, October 20th

Tuesday I was unable to attend class due to my "dress rehearsal" for my Senior Recital Jury. 9:30am was the only time we could meet (my accompanist, voice insturctor, and myself).

Last Week

Last week we were doing powerpoint presentations for midterm. I wasn't able to make a post because I thought it would be rude to be on the computer during someone's presentation. Therefore, I'm making the post now.

PowerPoint

Today we started working on our presentations for midterm. I'm working on something with music for mine and trying to find a concept that I can teach in 5 minutes. It shouldn't be too hard. We'll probably post something to show our final project.

Oops!

I forgot to make a blog post last class, here it is:

Last class we worked on coming up with our layout for our webquest. We now have a better idea of what we will be trying to accomplish in the webquest. Once we are finished we will post a link or something so that you can access it. :)

NAEP Graph comparison

Here is a link to my graph and explaniation.

2 Things I Learned

The first thing that was interesting I learned was all of the google applications. Making a site and using google docs, forms, calendars, and such will definitely be something that I can use in a music classroom. This will be very beneficial in performance ensembles by making a website and putting pertinent information on there like the calendar for dates of performances and such and the parents can even see it.

The second thing I learned in this class is the use of the snipping tool. This tool is very neat in the fact that we can take "pictures" of anything on the computer screen.

Crappy Graphs

So I created this graph on the website for Crappy Graphs. It was really simple. Just click on the line that shows "create your own" and then pick the type and go. As easy as 1, 2, 3. I just came up with something to put on here, doesn't necessarily mean it is correct, haha.

Snipping Tool

Today we learned how to use the snipping tool. This tool was found by clicking on the window start button and searching for "snipping tool". This tool allows for us to select anything we would like and make a copy of it to save as a picture on our computer. Here is an example that I made with this tool of the "My computer" window.

Storage Graph

This is a graph that shows what we have been using in this class as storage locations. It shows that everything we have done goes to our blog but comes from different storage areas.

Google Sites

Today we worked with google sites. Here we added our resume from google docs and our calendar from google calendar to the page as two separate links under our home page. Here is a link to my site musicwondererproject and you can then search through to see what I have added.

Here is a link to my resume and a link to my calendar for easier access.

WebQuest

We are now beginning the "quest" to make a webquest. I still don't fully understand the point of this, but hopefully as we work through it I will gain a better understanding of how it will benefit my teaching. We will be working in groups decided by our disciplines, which means I'm with my girls Sarah and Jenny. We are going to work hard to bring a good webquest to everyone. If you would like to better understand or even view a webquest, please click on the link and check it out. I'll post when we complete ours and maybe even a link if we are able to. :)

Here is an example of a choral webquest that I found for higher level students while searching the webquest site.

TeacherTube

I just created a TeacherTube account. Once I complete my Photo Story video, I'll be uploading it to TeacherTube and then making a link and putting it in my blog here! I'll keep everything updated as I go along!

Photo Story: Information

Photo Story is an interesting little program to create a picture slideshow. You can easily add pictures and captions and even music. It works like a normal slideshow, switching the pictures at it's own pace. There is a free download available so that you can start making your own! Believe me, it is easy and fun! Good luck and happy slideshowing!

Web Publishing

I missed the last fifteen minutes of class on Tuesday do to a doctor appointment... so here is my post for web publishing.

For web publishing you can use google docs to make documents and have them correspond to a link which you can pull up on line any time.

For this activity I made a resume online. (It's not my complete resume, but it has a lot of my information... some needing updated) After making the resume, I saved it on my google doc application and then clicked on the share button to publish as a webpage to be viewable to anyone. If you have questions about it please let me know and I'd be happy to explain how to use the program. It is very interesting and can be used anywhere a computer is present!

(I included my resume in this blog post. If you would like to view it just click on the underlined "resume online" in blue and it'll take you directly to it.)

Photo Story Downloaded

I downloaded Photo Story on my computer last night. I didn't add my pictures yet because I didn't have time to find them and put them on my computer. (I bought a new computer and haven't transferred my pictures to it yet) So... I guess I'll be taking some time this weekend to do that. Hopefully it won't take long and I can get my video up and running!

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

To store files in your student/ faculty FTP site for those attending Farimont State, you will need to follow these following steps:

1. Go to the FSU Library website (this can be done by going to the FSU homepage and clicking on the Library link.)
2. From the Library website, click on FTP link toward the top of the page in the maroon strip.
3. Once under the FTP access, scroll down to mid-way with the section titled: For Internet Explorer 6 users.
4. Once in that section, whether a student or faculty member, copy the link under your corresponding title (not the hyperlink shown in blue but the text link, not in blue, under the hyperlink).
5. After copying the link, go to the Start button icon and Right click.
6. When the menu appears, click on Explore.
7. In the open window, paste the link in the address window (like typing in an internet address) (make sure all the other words are deleted before pasting the link!)
8. Once the link is pasted, click enter and it will automatically bring up your FTP!!

After having this window open, you will be able to drag your work from the desktop into your FTP where it will save your information. This is great to use incase you don't have a jumpdrive or such to save your work from getting lost. You will be able to bring this up on any computer using the steps above to obtain your saved materials! GOOD LUCK! :)

This is new...

This is my first blog ever. This is weird.