1. We chose to target middle school age group. We chose a magical and wizardly theme based off of the Harry Potter Series. Middle school students like reading these books and magic and mystical things are always interesting. We created the wiki in fun colors, but not vibrant colors to go along with the theme. A lot of the tools that we chose to incorporate into the wiki were interactive. Gizmos, photostory, Google doc. presentation, and taking a final quiz are all interactive technology tools. Because the subject of the wiki was a bit dry, we decided that the wiki needed to have a theme that the students liked and it had to be fun to navigate through so that the students would stay engaged in learning the information.
2. The creation of online collaboration and communites via social networking tools can have an enormous impact on school media centers. These networking tools can help the students learn about other classrooms, countries, students etc. Authors of books can speak to the students without actually visiting the school. School media centers need to have the technology tools and equipment so that students can interact on a global level and so that in the upper grades the teachers will have another reason to take their classes to the media center.
3. The Google doc. presentation was easy to use, but it did not have as many fun options as powerpoint presentation. I also found that when changing the font, color, and other options on the wiki that it was frustrating to use. Many times the changes that I wanted to make did not go through until the 3rd or 4th time I attempted to change it.
4. Although we did not have to meet in person I found it easier that we did, but it was difficult to find a day that we both could meet. The library that we met in provided access to the internet, but the internet was extremely slow so it was frustrating and took longer than we expected. I like collaborating because the project seemed to be a bit easier to divide up some of the parts and work on other parts together. Overall working together helped the project come together and be successful. Things that I had trouble with Carolyn helped me and things that she had trouble with I helped her.
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Yes, you are correct that Google presentations does not have all the bells and whistles; and sometimes creating things online can be frustrating due to all of the things you mentioned. Another choice would have been to make your presentation in Powerpoint and then upload it - it still wouldn't have the transitions, etc. - but you would have more control over the design elements. In any case, the presentation was really very good!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that the two of you could help each other and spark ideas off of each other. I wish that you had tried using Skype to videoconference to work collaboratively. It might have made things easier for you!
The project is just great!