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They are going well.
So far, I have figured out how to do everything I generally do with Camtasia studio but it did take going out and buying a 9 pin to 4 pin firewire cable.
I can screen capture, I can edit my screen capture, I can put in titles and narrations – interesting as much of that is different on the mac version from the pc version.
I can pull video from a cameras (through iMovie), I can do picture in picture, etc.
I like it.
I’m trying out Donor’s Choose and have set up a project at
<http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=406778&sharebar=true>. Would love it if people could donate towards this.
I’m requesting two XBox controllers to start with.
It’s a pretty long-drawn out process to set up your initial account, and they do look at each project carefully – they required more information on the first pass.
I hope the few non-teachers who read this blog can help and pass it along. I’ll let everyone know our progress.
If there is a way to do on-line learning, I’ve done it, both as a participant and as a teacher. Unfortunately I think pure on-line learning doesn’t work well for most people, adults and high school students.
The biggest reason I think that on-line learning of new concepts doesn’t work well is that teaching is a two way communication process and there is too big of a lag with most on-line techniques. Now, that doesn’t apply to distance learning. I’m talking about the asynchronous model where the students and teachers log in at different times.
The absolute worse way of doing online learning happened with a student last year. He would sit down and blast away at assignments and not wait for feedback. He was not very successful.
I have had a very successful student. He would submit an assignment and wait for feedback. I usually got back to him within 24 hours. He was also at my school and very assertive about asking for help.
The other problem with on-line learning it is puts the work and responsibility on the student and most people aren’t comfortable with that. We’re used to coming into a classroom, sitting down and doing what the teacher tells us to do. Yes, as students we have to get up and get there, but someone has usually put consequences into not learning.
In Texas, we have truancy courts that make students come to school. As teachers, we don’t get paid and have to suffer some unknown fate if we don’t go to a required staff development. But most on-line courses don’t have consequences if we don’t attend.
I’ve been in an online course with a friend who really hates them. He perceives, probably correctly, that we have to do more work when we take an online course. I know that the requirements that were made were probably more difficult to do in an face to face, traditionally class – which was to rewrite a lesson in a different format.
In fact, most people taking online courses perceive that they are working harder. I know as a teacher, I front load all my courses, and if I am doing them face-to-face, will reduce the assignments. I don’t do that as much when I am teaching online – I leave it up to the student to find a way to get the work done.
By front-loading, that means that I plan enough material to cover the class than I really need. I’ve found it’s easy to throw out stuff then to make stuff as I go along.
Back to the student. On-line courses put the learning back in the hands of the student. They have to interact with the course, they have to do the assignments, and have to wait for feedback. It’s difficult to ask for assistance, again, because of the lack of timely feedback – and how many times have you as a student been off track? It is better if there is a way to get instant feedback – lots of studies over lots of subjects prove that.
I find on-line courses enjoyable, but it has to be something I already have a lot of knowledge and interest in. Face to face is much better when it is a completely new skill. Learning Illustrator, for example went better when I took it at New Horizons with an instructor who could keep me on task. Learning Photoshop in an online environment didn’t go as well – and both courses were from New Horizon, and both were done at their facility.
So I wouldn’t write off face-to-face instruction very quickly. I think there is going to be a need for it for a long time to come. Besides, who else is going to keep up with our teenagers?
Here's a quick PIP video I made with Camtasia:mac using a Webcam
So far, the whole Mac experience has been interesting. I went by the Apple Store after I finished with camp, and left about 10 minutes later with a Mac Mini, a converter to VGA, which I haven't gotten to work but didn't spend a lot of time at it, and stickers on everything.
Not entirely convinced it is something I want or need, but I may very well keep it. I'm doing a presentation on Saturday for the Apple Corps: http://acd.us/emailblast_august14.html
Haven't seen the receipt yet in my email, hope the sales guy got it right. I guess as long as it is in their system.
I'm making some movies on it and getting familiar with the whole setup so I am ready for the presentation.
Oh, the presentation — Camtasia for the Mac which is similar but not the same for the PC.
FYI: Love @Camtasia not sure about @macmini
I’ll say I did a pretty good job recruiting, I’ve doubled my student load.
Here’s how:
The biggest thing is to be out there so students meet you. Also teach cool stuff in your classes so that friends want to try it.
Today is the first day of Office Depot’s discount for our area so I plan to go by and stock my classroom.
I am good when it comes to my favorites: paper and white erase stuff.
So my plan is to get the following:
Not sure what else, will see when I get there.
We’ve traditionally mailed out a summer packet before school starts. I think this year’s is about 20 pages.
In the past, this was printed and mailed out to all the families.
This year, it’s been posted to the school website and available electronically.
Saving paper, saving mailing (sorry post office), saving a parent from spending at least a day getting the physical part done.
Wonder how many copies don’t get there, get lost and don’t get used? Probably as many electronically but we saved a parent a day, a ton of paper, and energy.
We’re in Day 2, and we still have twice as many kids as we did last year. They are VERY cool kids.
I started with Alice (www.Alice.org) and had the kiddos do the 4 tutorials. Some finished yesterday.
Today I started out by showing the school website, especially calendar and how to find it (we’re the second hit on a Bing search using Hillcrest High School Dallas and 3rd on a google search).
After the tutorials, I have them look at the same worlds and then let them loose to explore.
Tomorrow, I’m going to show them how they can do a web page in Word, Powerpoint and then show them Dreamweaver. Then I’m going to cut them loose and see what they come up with.
Last day, movies.
The other elective teacher and I are swapping kids next week.
The beauty of my “curriculum” is that I can go with the flow, give them a taste of my courses, and a feel for how I teach – basically give them a set of assignments and let them go.
Probably the responsibility that has driven me the craziest. Yes, I freely admit that.
It involved making sure that reports of down equipment were entered, including phones. Involved making sure dead equipment was removed. Make sure Novell passwords were reset, etc. Also responsible for online testing, required surveys, etc.
It was a lot like herding cats.
I’m still responsible for the school website, that was a volunteer aspect of it.
Losing some of the abilities is going to be worrisome – people needed me. Plus anything that was needed for my classroom was done immediately. Especially things like Novell passwords, etc.
Oh, and they haven’t filled the job for my replacement.
It will be nice to be a teacher again. I’ve been teacher tech for the majority of the 18 years at my school, and backup for the real teacher tech when I wasn’t.
Oh, and losing the $1000 a semester isn’t good.