Final Discussion for TECS390

[Cyndi Danner-Kuhn]

Well can you believe it, we are basically done. And we have only begun to scratch the surface of what teachers have access to when it comes to integrating teachnology into your classroom. You have added lots of "things" to your portfolio website and I hope you are proud of your work. It is important to realize that for this to be really a portfolio you need to continue to keep your website updated. That means making it a habit in you work week. Find 30 minutes each week to update your website. This will be important when you become a teacher. If it is already a habit, it will be easier to continue to do.

1. For this final assignment, I would like you to tell us about the three tools you enjoyed learning the most. "Enjoyed learning" may not be the right question, three tools or things we did you are absolutely sure you will continue using. Tell us what they are, give us a link to the project you did using them and tell us why you love each tool. REFLECT!!

2. Please post a live link to your website. For example: http://www.cyndidannerkuhn.info

3. You must also take some time and explore all of your classmates websites and respond to their post about their website. Compliments, ideas, suggestions, reflect on what you liked, disliked and what idea you plan to "steel" and use on you site in the future. This is your final task for the semester and it is considered your final exam and worth 100 points. You must respond to each of your classmates. This final exam assignment must be completed between December 8 and December 15. There are numerous things you should consider when evaluating your classmates websites.

—Does is include all the TECS390 required items?
—Does it include more than just the required items?
—Is it well organized?
—Is the website a good representation of who the author is as a person and teacher?
—When you visit a page or class project, is there plenty of information, i.e., reflection about the project, link to the tool, etc. In other words, is there enough information to allow another teacher to find and use the tool?
—Did the site keep you attention?
—Where there 100+ resources off their delicious site?
—Was there a link to Cyndi’s site, the FHSU website, the College of Ed site, Kan-ed, etc.?
—Is the site free of typos and errors?
—Is the site something to be proud?

[Rusty Willis]

This has been a great semester. I just reviewed everything we've done, and I'm having trouble choosing just three applications that I will continue to use. There are several things I plan on using all the time.

During my social studies internship, the students were talking about early civilizations and my mentor teacher kept discussing the definition of "technology." The students wanted to talk about computers, but my teacher tried to get the students to understand that technology is anything that makes someone's life easier. I have two children and a busy household, so choosing three applications finally came down to what I can use in my everyday home life, as well as in my classroom.

The first thing I chose is the last thing we played with. I fell in love with Animoto. I am now rethinking every occasion in terms of photos to make the best video presentation on Animoto. This site makes everything so easy. The different types of music are there, uploading items is quick, and they do the rest. It will change how I put together memories to store forever. I also plan to use it to document a student's year in my classroom. Then I can burn DVD's to give to the students at the end of the year as a keepsake. It would be great!!! I will throw in Scrapblog in this section, because it also gives me a new way to organize and store photos in a bright, attractive way.

Big Universe was also a big hit with me. I love creating and this website gives everyone a forum not only to create books, but to share them with the world. How special is that? Can you imagine how this would help a struggling reader, or a student with a need to express issues? We are taught to give interest surveys now. This is the ultimate interest survey that is for keeps. The book I created for our assignment was born out of my father-in-law's massive heart attack. I wasn't sure how to explain it all to my children. The book I created really did the trick. It made it so much easier for them to understand, and it was an emotional outlet for me at the same time. I am already encouraging my daughter to create something we could put in Big Universe together.

The other program I will continue to use regularly is VoiceThread. The students do book shares every quarter and all the teachers are bored to death with Powerpoints. VoiceThread is a great progression for student presentations to get away from Powerpoints, with a polished, exciting look that blows Powerpoints away. The students can also add oral elements through recording, which they cannot do with Powerpoints. I have also seen many a Powerpoint lost in the mobile lab somewhere, where VoiceThreads can be saved online as well.

All of my projects are available directly on my website or through a link on my website. I have two VoiceThread projects on my website. My Animoto presentation is on the Photo section, my Big Universe project is on the Projects section. That section also has a link to my screencast of Big Universe.

I hope you enjoy my website and please feel free to email me with comments if you care to. My email link is on the home page of the site.

You can find the site at http://rustywillis.homestead.com.

[Robin Whelchel]

Rusty
I love your website. You are good with technology and I wish I was. I loved that you were able to place all the voice threads or read the words into your lesson. I think that it will come in handy with in your classroom for the parents and studnets to get to know you.

[Danielle Dinkel]

Rusty, Your website is amazing, and thanks to you I ended up using Homestead. com to create my website, which I think works great for me, Im still in the learning phase of the website but its fun to look at yours and know that I can have a website some day that will be amazing. I love how you put a little bit about your self on each page and how you put the lesson plans you have been working on in your internships, I wish I was in internship classes, but I know I will get the chance to add them to my website, GREAT JOB and good luck with your future career in Elementary Education!!

[Traci Wood]

Rusty, you have a lot of personality in your website, especially with the Missouri music on front. I can always tell by how you write that you are a writer. Now that I've seen your website, I know you have a journalism degree, no wonder you're so good. I liked the tutorial and the how do you make it tags on your projects. I also liked your homework section. You must be good with technology, I haven't gotten all my projects embedded. Nice job.

[Carlotta Patterson]

Rusty,
Great job. You did a good job of including reflections and how-to's in your website. I could tell that you were also able to use projects from other classes. I can see that you will continue to use this website as you go.

[Julie Griffin]

Rusty, your website is great for parents and kids alike. I can see kids and parents sitting down at night to discuss the day and the student going online and getting excited to show mom and dad what they are doing in class.
My most positive thoughts came from the 'Quesitons or concerns; e-mail me' tab. That is great! It makes you seem so accessable to the parents all they have to do is touch a button and they can be in contact with you. It is important to not seem out of reach from the parents and you seemed to hit the nail on the head with this one. Your site was great. You are obviously very good with technology.
Everything had a place and there was a place for everthing, I think that it was very logical and most of all, personable and user friendly. There wasn't overwheliming amounts of information, which was nice because overwhelming people on a website is bad news and by making your website in this manner, it doesn't make me want to switch and look at a different one. It is welcoming and puts out a 'come in and look around' feel to your website. It makes your classroom semi-vertual and that is good! Great Job Rusty! :)

[Leslie Kinsey]

Rusty your site is awesome! It's so clean and organized that it's so easy to navigate through. It doesn't look like you had any problems at all placing any of the assignments on your website either like VoKi. I had so many problems with that assignment that I was happy to see that it worked on your website! Awesome...kudos to you!

Leslie Kinsey

[Ashley Salmans]

Rusty,
I think your website looks great! It is easy to navigate and you have useful information posted to your website. I know students and parents will greatly benefit from this website and it will allow them to find important informtion and to easily see what is going on in class. I enjoyed looking at all of your projects from our class and your other classes.

[Kelly Giebler]

Rusty- this was a great website. I like all the extra information you have included about yourself and your place of birth. The Voki cartoon was really cute I think your students will appreciate it. I also thought your comic of the week was funny. This site is very easy for students and parents to access. I think you have met all of the requirement and have gone above and beyond what was needed for the assignment. Great work on the website.

[Shalon Ragnoni]

Rusty, I admire how you have had this site set up for sometime. I tried starting with one thing and ended up switching to something else. You have done a termendous amount of work! Good Job. I take it you like a non-Kansas team, haha. What really jumped out at me was your Homework page. That would be wonderful for students and parents to be able to go to the site and see what homework there is, just in case the student forgot (oh, no, they never do that) or even what they missed a day they were sick. Really good job!

[JENNIFER HILL]

Rusty, you have a great site. I really liked the personal touch of the Missourri Tigers theme song. I thought your website looked very neat and thorough. After viewing your website, I wished that I had used homestead too. I will definately take a closer look at that site for furture references. I also liked your voki, it showed a not so serious teacher side that I think all kids and parents like. Great job.

[Lorena Cisneros]

WOW, I am impressed as to how nice and unique your website is. I know that it must have taken you tons of time. It is a great site and I cannot imagine how much use people will give use of it in the future. I can tell that you are very resourceful when it comes to technology, it looks like you really know tech or are really good at it. This is a site I might come back to for future reference. It is pretty simple and right to the point. There are no ten buttons to click before you gat what you want. Great job and good luck to you in the future.