Module Three -- I Need More Hours In My Day

I was doing pretty well last week, actually, but this week the wheels fell off. 

I did some work (go me!), but because I had put so much into the course last week, I decided that my focus this week should be learning from others and interacting with other course pages.

Here are a few things I learned this week:

• With the Flipgrid information, I switched out my classroom introduction exercise from VoiceThread to Flipgrid.  I like how that works a little better, and I think it is a really nice way to say a few things in a different format that what we would then use for discussion on VoiceThread.
• I did refresh my memory on making videos and saving them to YouTube...something I got pretty good at during my last Masters program.  So you might see a new added introductory video of me on my class page.  
• I don't want to have my face on the screen all the time.  To do this, I discovered Screencast-O-Matic, which I really enjoyed exploring.  Took me a few tries to figure out everything, but I like the option of talking over a PowerPoint, having some interaction with my face to the camera, and then some voice over aspects.  I think when I really make this class, I may consider switching some of the early VoiceThread presentations to this method...or at least re-recording some with voice only.  Between SCoM and VT and FG, there are some great options for engagement from the professor and students!

• I am such a nerd!  I went ahead and signed up for a Webinar on VoiceThread that was offered on Tuesday evening.  It was very helpful.  I learned a few things about videos, being able to write on it (which I see Lauren figured out no problem) and a few other aspects of the program to make life easier. I also learned how to add cover art to a VT and add in media sources, including taking slides or comments from other VTs to a new one (yippee for not recreating the wheel every time!)  Two key takeaways:
• First, that you can set up your VoiceThread so that students can add slides into the thread, but not edit or delete anything else.  I think this would actually be a great way to do my Worldview discussion.  I could start the slide, and then each student would insert a slide of their own with their "results" and response to the prompt.  This way, everyone in the class could engage in dialogue about everyone else's slide and that could keep the discussion a little less linear.
• Second, I learned that it is possible to search people on VoiceThread so you can see who commented where.  This would allow not only ease in grading (finding if a student fulfilled the required 3 responses, for example), but also the ability to respond directly to specific students as needed.  Maybe this was obvious to others, but I was happy to have learned a new "trick." 
• We really need to make an effort at Trinity to do ongoing sharing of work.  I know that takes extra time and effort, but looking at what others in this class have done and the creativity that is evident has been wonderful!  I think we should all be doing more to see what others are doing and then borrow/steal/recreate/reinvent it for our own uses.  After all, that's like 85% of being a teaching, right?  

Final Confession.  I didn't get to the EdPuzzle yet.  I'm going to try to tackle it this weekend.  It fascinates me, as I always want accountability, especially on videos and the like.  (I was that horrible person in grad school who, when submitting a PP presentation to the class, always added in voice over and video and then recorded it as a movie, so no one could click through the slides, but had to watch the entire presentation!  I'm evil.)

So, stay tuned.  Maybe an EdPuzzle will show up on my class page after all.