Overall Course Reflection

IT740 has certainly been a very interesting and engaging class and there are many tools that I will incorporate into my educational courses, both face-to-face and online. Even though I teach high school and community college students, there are tools that will apply to both situations. Tools like Layar, VoiceThread, Screenr and Glogster can be very beneficial for both Desktop Publishing and Graphic Design because of the built-in creativity factor as well as the engaging approach used by these tools. Personal Finance students will benefit from YouTube, GoAnimate, and Screenr because of the opportunity to present their ideas and work in a unique way. There are other tools that can benefit all of the students, such as ThingLink, Scoop.it, Wordle, and many others that may be found at http://www.go2web20.net/. This website lists hundreds of tools that can be used for myriad applications in many fields. The possibilities are really endless, and the ability to present class materials in many different formats will help me reach the many different learning styles that are involved and should keep students more interested in learning. 

My favorite assignment in the class was the presentation of a Web 2.0 tool to the class. This allowed for every student to choose a favorite tool, research the tool, learn how to use the tool, create a presentation, and then deliver the presentation to the class as well as teach the class how to use the tool. This gave each of us an opportunity to share our knowledge with our community of learners, and it made the learning much more interesting and engaging. The challenge was finding my favorite tool because there were so many beneficial ones available. Once I chose the tool, however, it was easy to learn the tool and share it with the class. It was also fairly easy to see the correlation between using these tools as an instructor and how they might be used by the students. I totally agree with Dr. Yuen about how professional development has been centered around training teachers how to use tools, but not really showing them how those tools can be interfaced with curriculum and learning so students will be more engaged. Additionally, we are tasked with the duty to train teachers how to provide the tools to the students so they can use them to complete assignments, and how the results can be assessed. Perhaps if teachers are armed with this knowledge, they will make better use of the tools that are now ubiquitous.

While in this class, we used a site call mixxt, which served as the web host for our class instructor, the syllabus, course information, class assignments and postings, course schedule, discussions, lecture notes, videos and images. It is a fairly simple site that is easy to navigate and offers an avenue for collaboration and a community of learning. It is a "member only" site so it does make it somewhat private, which I prefer. It also offers a blog where classmates can post things of interest to the class, and there is even a place for online chat. This is definitely an option that I would consider using as an instructor. 

Final Project

The final project consisted of a report, the creation of multimedia products, and a slideshow presentation.

Report and Multimedia Products

This is an opportunity to share a lesson plan inclusive of some of the Web 2.0 tools used throughout this course. This particular project will focus on a course called Multimedia Presentations that is taught as a required class in the Marketing Management program at Hinds Community College under the direction of the Mississippi Community College Board. The desired student outcomes of the course include gaining general proficiency in the use of the Microsoft PowerPoint software application, working independently to create professional-looking multimedia slideshows, and using multimedia slideshows in various professional, educational and personal situations.

            

Based on the acquisition of 21^st Century Technology Literacy Skills, it is necessary to incorporate myriad learning tools to increase student engagement, motivation, communication, connection, and collaboration. With the use of Web 2.0 tools, students can experience different modalities for the purpose of acquiring a fundamental understanding of learning materials presented in a specific course. The following will list and describe the specific tools to be used in Multimedia Presentations, how the tools will be used, implications for learning, and the expected outcomes.

            

The first tool to be utilized is Voki, an avatar and audio creation and delivery tool that will allow me to introduce myself and welcome the students to the class. With Voki it is easy to create an animated character on a background template, and it allows me to speak or key in text that the avatar will speak. Voki has limited capabilities if used as a free tool, it provides 60 seconds of audio recording, scene editing, audio editing, background templates or uploads, and posting capabilities. Also with Voki there is a choice of over 200 characters. This is a fun way to engage students that are auditory and visual learners as well as increase student interest at the very beginning of the course. The students in the course will be asked to create and post their own Voki in order to introduce themselves to their classmates, and then all students will be required to watch the posted Voki’s to gain knowledge about their peers. This activity will promote collaboration, communication and connectedness among the students in the course forming a community of learning.

The second Web 2.0 tool that will be used in this lesson will be Screenr.com. This tool allows screen capture as actions are performed as well as share the screencast on the web, via social media, or as a file upload. Since the course will be using the resources located on the GFCLearnFree.org site, the screencast I create will provide a step-by-step tutorial on how to navigate the website and find the resources necessary to complete course assignments. Screenr.com will visually engage the students in the learning process and motivate them to use the GFCLearnFree.org website with confidence. Students will be asked to create a screencast of their own using Screenr.com to record their actions when completing the following PowerPoint exercises: 1) Open the PowerPoint application, 2) Minimize and maximize the ribbon, 3) Create a new presentation, and 4) Save a presentation. Students will be asked to complete a discussion board relative to the experiences using the PowerPoint interface and respond to at least two of their classmates.

The next tool to be experienced will be Scoop.it, which is a curation-based application that enables an individual to research, find and post artifacts of interest and/or subject-related materials. This is a free service offering the capability of sharing scoops via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or LinkedIn, but comes with a limit of two sharable topics. The purpose for using this tool in this course is to provide multimedia-related materials for the students giving them a sense of connectedness to the world of creating slideshows and delivering presentations in a business context. The students will be asked to create a Scoop.It of their own, share it with the class, and update it weekly with at least one new related artifact. This will help engage and motivate students to remain current with subject-related information as well as provide a hub for available resources.

Scoop.it for Multimedia Presentations

Quizlet is another tool that will be used during this lesson. Quizlet is an interactive flashcard application that allows students to study terms and definitions related to the subject matter. The instructor can create flash card sets and then provide a link to the cards within Canvas. The students will access the card set and use them to study for the chapter quiz. It is also possible to provide the cards within a group so students can collaborate and study together in a “real-time” environment. Quizlet provides an arena for student engagement, motivation to study, communication, and collaboration. Students will not be asked to create a Quizlet of their own, but it will be available for them to do so if they so choose. 

View my Quizlet

Finally, YouTube videos are used in the Multimedia Presentations course to offer students an opportunity to view tutorials and topic-related videos produced by business professionals. Although the students are not asked to create any videos, this type of activity promotes student engagement and can motivate students to learn more about the subject. For visual and auditory learners this option can be extremely helpful in the learning process. 

            

Essentially, the Multimedia Presentations course provides a multitude of Web 2.0 tools that are used on a regular basis for instruction and learning.  In fact, some of the tools used are readily available as a link in Canvas making it quite simple to integrate them into the instructional process.  The proper and efficient use of Web 2.0 tools in any classroom is crucial to student achievement relative to the 21^st Century Learning Skills and can certainly make learning less of an arduous process for students in all types of learning situations and on any level. It is paramount that instructional designers lead the way in the introduction of Web 2.0 tools, how they can be integrated into curricula successfully, and how they will enhance learning.

Slideshow