Ramble #8

This week's video is from Edutopia. It is an informative video regarding project-based learning. We have been learning about project-based learning in other classes and it is something that genuinely interests me. Anyway, check it out! 

I was going to talk about digital citizenship and literacy in this week's post.......

BUUUUUTTTTTT, I couldn't find the inspiration within myself.... believe I tried..... I just couldn't.

Instead, this week I want to talk about YouTube.

This past week I was wracking my brain for video ideas. It is times like last week that remind me how truly un-creative I am. I spent an absurd amount of brain effort trying to think of an idea to no avail. I found myself going to YouTube to look for ideas. I searched things like "Great video ideas" and "Funny videos" to find inspiration. There were cool ideas, but nothing that resonated with me.

As I was scouring YouTube for video ideas I had a major realization. Too many things in life we take for granted. For me, YouTube is definitely one of those things. If we really take a step back and look at YouTube for what it is; it is mind boggling! I seem to remember hearing that 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. I don't know if that is a correct statistic, but I could definitely believe it! YouTube has a video for almost everything you can think of. It is not just cat videos anymore...

I use YouTube everyday. I watch a variety of content on YouTube... everything from podcasts, educational videos, vloggers, and prank videos. YouTube is truly the new T.V for myself. I spend far more time on YouTube than any other media platform (Netflix is a close second). I often fall into the ever present "recommended video" trap. I will sit down to watch one video and before you know it I have watched 14 more videos and end on a completely different subject. This is the power of YouTube. It is simply people sharing with people in ALL forms you can imagine and it is AMAZING!

Anyway, I just wanted to take sometime to appreciate YouTube this week.

Oh and I did finally think of a video idea. YouTube had nothing to do with my epiphany though...

Until next week,
Justin   

Ramble #7

Another video for you all this week! This week's video is a motivational "Pep Talk" from Kid President. Just what we need at this stage of the semester!

This week we listened to John Finch from MB. Education speak about literacy with ICT and copyright law. I thoroughly enjoyed John's presentation! He is a very engaging and interesting speaker. I particularly enjoyed his good stories and use of humour throughout the presentation.

What John discussed about copyright law was extremely enlightening. I previously did not know how stringent copyright law actually is. I had no idea that people posting cover versions of their favourite artists' songs are violating copyright law. I see many of these cover songs on YouTube quite frequently. It must be the case that these people have received written permission from the artist to cover these songs. 

When John began speaking about copyright law in relation to schools/education I learned a lot. I had no idea about the "10% rule". However I appreciate the rule because it is easy to understand. I also am happy to hear that schools are becoming more aware of the copyright law and taking measures to inform their teachers about the rules. I sure wish I had written down the website John showed us that quickly allows us as teachers to check whether what we are doing is violating copyright law in Canada or not. Darn it! However, I do have the booklet that John gave us which will serve as a tremendous resource for me. 

I have decided to do the video project all by myself. This is for logistical reasons. Group work is hard having to coordinate meeting times and what not. I have been brainstorming ideas for the video for a few days now and I am excited to execute on one of my ideas! I plan on shooting the video using my iPhone, which should suffice. Also,  I am looking forward to breaking out the iMovie software again and playing around! 

Until next week,

Justin 

Ramble #6

As always, here is another video I like!

This is such an amazing story! It is comical, but also an inspiring story of perseverance.

This week in class we discussed digital storytelling and multimedia presentations in the classroom.

I have a decent amount of experience using a variety of multimedia programs and applications throughout my life. This is mostly due to my interest in technology and all it offers. Just like most, I have used PowerPoint countless times, however, I have also used audacity, sway, prezi, and iMovie many times as well.

My girlfriend and I took a trip to Mexico two years ago. I wanted to document this trip well. I decided to take a lot of pictures and a few videos as well. When we got home I had all of these photos and videos on my iPhone. I was inspired to pick up iMovie on my MacBook and put together a video of these pictures and videos to music. Wow! It was a steep learning curve but at the same time I was fascinated by the editing program and editing process. It brought our trip to life! During the next few months I watched a bunch of iMovie and video editing tutorials on YouTube. I learned a lot of information as well as tips and tricks! The following year (last year) we went back to Mexico. My new found knowledge and skills came in handy when we arrived back home. This time I had decided to take a lot more video (clips, timelapses, etc.) to put together a true video. My new found knowledge and skills created a much better video this time around. It was all video; no pictures at all. I created an overarching narrative to the video and had a variety of camera shots and angles. I truly loved experimenting with my camera and the editing software to create the best video possible for me at that time. There is always more to learn, so I look forward to more personal and professional video projects in the future!

As I stated earlier creating these videos seemed to bring our trip to life. It is an amazing tool to capture and re-live memories in our lives. I could definitely see creating multi-media projects for my students when I am a teacher. It is a special way to capture knowledge and skills in an ever present technological society.

Until next week,

Justin Rowe

  

Ramble #5

Another great week has come and gone!

I absolutely love this video! As a potential science teacher myself, I am inspired by how passionate this teacher is about the subject matter he is teaching. He also pulls in the real world to hammer home theoretical concepts. I strongly believe in this practice.

This week I started working on my ePortfolio. So far, so good! In class on Tuesday we were shown a really neat application known as "Kahoot". It allows teachers to make fun, competitive, and educationally valid games for their students.

I really enjoyed the competitiveness that is built into the application. After every round of play the app displays the game leaders as well as the highest climbing individual for that particular round. It really created a buzz in the room when we were playing it. Everyone wanted to know: who were the top 5 players after each round? Would "Tels" keep her 1st place position or would she lose it. It was engaging and lots of fun!

Although the game isn't exactly the best way to introduce new information it would serve well to review information in a fun way. I imagine using this in a science class as a way to review key terms before a unit test or quiz. It would get students thinking about key terminology in a tremendously engaging way, which is always the goal of the teacher.

For all the good of the application, I think it might have a problem as well. As stated earlier the game is grounded in competitiveness. Using this with younger grades could result in conflict within the class. Younger kids have a tendency to get very competitive and as such "Kahoot" could upset kids when they lose. I can hear it now... "Shut up Billy! My phone didn't load as quick as yours! I actually won..." I think the use of this application would be totally class dependent. Teachers know their students well and would know whether or not their class could handle a game of "Kahoot".

Until next week,

Justin

Ramble #4

Another week, another video!

Wow! What an inspiring story!

This week in class we continued discussion on building a web presence. Specifically, we were introduced to the power of ePortfolios.

I have some prior experience with ePortfolios. This is because my girlfriend is a 2nd year Ed. student here at B.U. Last year she created an ePortfolio for this I.C.T class. Given that she is not the most tech-savvy person, she required some help with the development of the website.

We chose to use the website 'Weebly'. Honestly, it was an amazing experience! I had never made a website before but 'Weebly' made it very simple to execute. The process of developing the site was super intuitive. Even my girlfriend caught on to the process very quickly!

As for what I think about ePortfolios...

I think ePortfolios are tremendously valuable to us as pre-service teachers. We need any advantage we can get in order to make an impression on hiring committees and principals. ePortfolios give opportunities for us to highlight what makes us unique as individuals and educators. It allows us to share who we are as a person as well as who we are as a teacher. When my girlfriend and I developed her website we included things such as: photos, philosophy of education, classroom management philosophy, about me, education, fun lesson plans, among many other things. These various pages allowed my girlfriend to express herself as a person and how that manifests itself in her classroom. I believe this information is very valuable to principals that are hiring.

I look forward to developing my own ePortfolio this term. Yes, physical portfolios have value too. However, I think that in the modern world of technology we should take advantage of the endless unique opportunities that online portfolios and websites allow for. On top of that, ePortfolios allows for access across space and time!

Until next week,

Justin

P.S
Thanks to Alex for the shoutout within his blog last week :)