This week was a slow week as far as technology is concerned. Most of my classess were working on projects that did not require the use of a computer or internet. I did have one class use OIS to take an online quiz. OIS is similar to Blackboard. It is just powered by Southeast MO State University. One of the features is called Utest. It allows students to take quizzes and tests online. I've been having my classes take vocab quizzes on Utest. The students like it because it gives them instant feedback. They can see their score as well as which questions they missed. I like it because it is very easy to set up and it saves me the trouble of grading plus breaks down the scores so I can see which questions were missed most so I know what I may need to reteach.

So last week was a short week (no school on Friday) and I didn't do much in the technology department. This week my child development class created Power Points as a comprehensive project. We just finished studying the developing child. So far this year we have studied ages birth thru 12 years; their physical, intellectual, social and emotional development in each stage. I wanted to see what my students had learned. I had them create a Power Point timeline telling me what they know in each of the developmental areas in each stage. They could only use the Internet to find pictures. This was NOT a research project! I gave them specific instructions: limited transitions, slide #'s, background/font colors, use of pictures. I told them to tell me what they knew. I had planned on this taking just two-three days but they have surprised me. I think most are creating a Power Point novel and I've had to extend the deadline to next week. Power Point is a breeze for most students and I'm not really having any issues. The biggest issue I have is them putting too much info on the slides. They try to write slides like they would a document. I've told them to limit their information but it just doesn't seem to sink in.

So last week I mentioned that I had begun creating web pages with my class. Well it's over. They figured it out eventually. Now the problem I've run into is that many of them named their files the same so when I went to upload their picture files I couldn't. I am now going to have to have the students rename their files and then reinsert them onto their web pages. Next time I will know to tell them to name their files with their name so I don't have this problem again. I think most of the students ended up enjoying this project. This is the first time I've attempted this but I think I'm going to do it again :)

You can check out what they've done. Please keep in mind that I don't have everything uploaded yet and I don't have all the files corrected yet. Another mistake I made was I uploaded their pages and then graded them. I now realize I should have had a submission date so that they could have made spelling/grammar corrections before I uploaded them. So be ware...there are some typos on their pages. Again, this was a learning project for me and I will know better next time.

www.mrsgremaud.com/housing/housing.html

Week 2: Jan. 26-30

This week I had to resort back to a very old piece of technology... the overhead projector. My SMART board had to go in for some minor repairs. I needed to teach a lesson showing how to create floor plans. Without my smart board or projector to do this I resorted to an old dusty overhead that had been shoved in a lonely corner of the library. It worked, I got the lesson taught but the students were a little taken aback at my low-tech piece of equipment!

Friday I started my first technology lesson. I'm having my students create web pages that will be linked onto my website. I'm very excited about this. In my interior design class we studied housing styles and architecture. I had my students explore their community and take digital pictures of different housing styles. My plan is for them to create web pages with these photos with descriptions of the housing styles and features. I spent the entire class hour on Thursday going over step-by-step on how to create the web page. I even gave them a handout with screen shots and everything so they could use it as a reference. On Friday we started this project. Some of them got it, so of them not so much! About half of the class got in and have their pages almost done with no problems. The other half had trouble getting started. As tech savvy as most students today are I was amazed that this particular group couldn't even rename or resize their picture files. After an entire hour they had only managed to get their pictures edited and ready for their page. I'm really hoping this assignment turns out well because I think it's a pretty cool idea. We are continuing this tomorrow (Monday) so I will have more to say when this is all done...