I worked with Posterous Spaces for my RILS project. I created a blog site for bringing awareness to Vision Therapy. My goal was to have several contributors that would post at least two times and comment on other posts. Adding the contributors was easy and Posterous sent a pre-written email giving instructions on how to sign up and then how to post. I asked four people to be contributors. Only one person followed through and posted once. Posterous did not make it clear that the person would not be able to see the post until I, the administrator, accepted the post. Once I accepted the post, it was visible to the public. Not having the other contributors follow through was disheartening, but I certainly learned a great deal from this experience. I had also created a Google Form to be filled out and submitted, but only the one person completed the task.
Another issue that surfaced was the fact that I wasn't aware that I needed to have written documentation to use the clinic's name on my site and that the other contributors needed to fill out other release forms besides the one's from Full Sail. WRENCH! WRENCH! WRENCH!
After discussing these issues with the Dr. and his wife, we decided that this blog site would not work for the audience I should be targeting, teachers. Therefore, I will be deleting this site and creating a new one dedicated to teachers and vision therapy awareness within the classroom setting. The sight will be a Q & A blog site where I will post questions and the doctor will answer them. Teachers will be able to leave comments and ask other questions. The doctor's wife had some great ideas on different possibilities we needed to look into. One of the possibilities is having a Webinar once a month on different aspects of vision, vision disabilities, good vision hygiene within the classroom, and many more. I have decided that I like the WordPress platform better than I like Posterous Spaces and will be creating the new blog there. I am more excited now for this new direction than I was before even though my RILS project crashed and burned. I will keep you posted on the progression of my revamped RILS.
Brief Overview: This learning scenario is designed to introduce the learner to a Posterous Spaces as a blogging site. This Community of Practice blog will be dedicated to bringing awareness to Vision Therapy.
Target Audience: My target audience will be contributors to my Vision Therapy (VT) Posterous Community of Practice blog.
Materials:
Computer
Laptop
Internet Access
Log In for Posterous site
Objectives:
At the end of this scenario, Contributors will be able to:
1. join my VT Community of Practice blog site.
2. create a presence on the site.
3. respond to prompts or discussions at least two times.
1.Ask contributors to join the Vision Therapy Posterous Community of Practice blog site through email.
2.After confirmation of contributors, email the link to Posterous site.
3.Contributors will gain access to the VT Posterous Community of Practice blog site.
4.Contributors will join the community by logging in and creating an ID and password.
5.Contributors will then respond to prompts or a discussion topic posted on the site.
6.Contributors will post their response to prompt or discussion.
7.Contributors will respond to at least two prompts or discussions.
Web 2.0 Tool:
Posterous Spaces is a personal online Web 2.0 tool for sharing. It provides a safe and easy way to privately and/or publicly share and/or collaborate any content the user desires.
Social Participation/Social Learning:
Collaboration will occur throughout the whole scenario as contributors post responses to prompts or discussions on the Vision Therapy Posterous Community of Practice blog. Contributors will have numerous opportunities to share and comment on the blog site.
Making Connections:
a)Contributors will use their experiences with Vision Therapy to answer prompts or discussions on the blog site.
b)This site will allow contributors to share relevant content and experiences with the online community.
c)This blog will be a public blog allowing local and global audiences to comment on posts.
The contributors will respond to at least two prompts or discussions on the VT Posterous Community of Practice blog site.
Assessment:
Learners will have joined the Posterous Spaces Community of Practice blog site, set up a presence within the site, and responded to at least two prompts/discussions or posted their own entry. I will also use a rubric.
Assessment Rubric:
Element
Yes
No
Joined Community of Practice blog site
Set up a presence within site
Responded to at least two prompts/discussions
Reflection:
Contributors will respond to prompts and/or discussions on the Vision Therapy Posterous Community of Practice blog site. Their posting will demonstrate their knowledge and experience with Vision Therapy. Contributors will also reflect on the effectiveness and ease of use of Posterous by filling out a Google Form Survey.
The administrator of the blog will monitor and respond to the posts and comments of contributors. The administrator will also reflect on the effectiveness of the blog according to how many contributors posted responses to prompts and/or discussions. The administrator will take into consideration the responses of contributors through the completed Google Form Survey. Changes will be implemented according to findings.
Google Form Survey
Posterous Spaces is a great tool for starting an online Community of Practice about any topic.
As I continued to work with Posterous, I had trouble finding my saved draft post. I went to my profile and looked at my choices. Searching in this tab led me to find out more about being an administrator and allowing others to post to the site. I have the ability to allow or disallow contributors. I also have the authority to delete posts that I feel are not appropriate. But, I did not find my saved draft. So, the search continued. I went through several more areas with no luck except learning more about this web tool. I finally saw a cog in the upper right hand corner of my profile page and moved my curser over it. EUREKA! I found my saved post!
EUREKA!
I don’t know why I didn’t see it in the first place, but nonetheless, I did eventually find it. So, I posted it.
Now, I need to figure out how to add a video to the post. It isn’t as easy as Blogger where you have choices from which to upload. I would like for it to have a YouTube up loader but it doesn’t.
The next step for me is to invite contributors to post on the Posterous site.
I will go to the office on Monday and compile a list of people to invite.
I have also left a comment on VisionHelp's WordPress blog asking for advice on enlisting contributors to my blog. I have yet to receive a response. Their blog site is what I would like mine to become eventually.
I know that it will take a tremendous amount of time and effort, but I know that bringing awareness to my area will be beneficial for everyone. I will also be a contributing part of my end Action Research Project. I will be able to direct interested parties to this site in order for them to obtain more information about Vision Therapy and its benefits.
For the Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenarios project for my ETC class, I have chosen to work with the Web 2.0 tool Posterous Spaces. This site allows anyone to create an online sharing public community of practice or a private blog.Posterous allows anyone to share videos, pictures, and/or any information.
The Posterous Spaces format allows anyone to create an online community with ease. I will be using Posterous to start an online community regarding Vision Therapy. I will be asking patients, parents, educators, and Optometrists to submit to the online community. They will have the opportunity to respond to prompts or discussions. I am hoping that this site will help bring awareness of Vision Therapy to the East Texas Area and possibly reach a global audience as well. The next step I will be taking is enlisting contributors to respond to prompts and/or discussions.
Please watch this video about vision problems described by an educator:
For my second Web 2.0 tool, I am exploring collaborative/networking sites. I plan to use this site as a community of practice for my Action Research project on Vision Therapy. My hope is to have many volunteer authors, such as optometrists, educators, parents, and patients, to help contribute to this site on a regular basis. I have not settled on one tool as of yet. I am still exploring, but for this assignment, I started a site on Posterous. I will also show you the other sites I am considering.
The first step was to sign up for a free Space. There is a video you can watch that will show you how to start and create your very own Posterous space.
As with any site, you customize the look of your site from various choices. For now, I have chosen something simple with a professional feel. I will also change the name of my space as I continue.
You also have the choice to create a private or a public space. There is a brief description of how each type works.
I will be choosing a public site because I want to bring awareness to Vision Therapy, and have a place where professionals and non-professionals can post information and testimonials.
The last step is to create your first post. I have created mine. I haven't published it yet. I am still working on the layout and contacting volunteers who will be willing to contribute to the site. For now, I have saved my first post.
I am also looking into Wikispaces and pbwikis. This collaborative site will be part of my Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenarios (RILS) assignment.
I have included a YouTube news video below for you to watch in hopes that you will be able to glean some understanding of what Vision Therapy is and how it affects learning.
(I posted this earlier, but for some reason, my video didn't upload correctly and I couldn't get the messed up video off the post. So, I am reposting the original post along with the video. I hope this time it works properly!)
This is the last post for the iMovie tutorials. As a final project, I created a Trailer from video I recorded today at my son's school carwash fundraiser. My son is not in the video because he was hunting today. On the other hand, you will see my daughter, Anna. She graciously filled in for her brother. (He owes her big time!)
While creating this video, I played around with the Trailer features. The main one that I used was the Video selection tool. If I wasn't happy with the piece of clip in a segment, I could click on the double arrows, and the entire clip would show up in the screen. Then, all I had to do was move my curser to move the clip to the portion a wanted. I love that! I have a lot more to explore and learn. That will take time and time and time... My movie is like the "Blair Witch Project." It is very shaky. I plan to clean that up on the next one. But, I kind of like it myself. It gives it a little added suspense. What do you think?
So, without further ado...Here is my iMovie Trailer for "Dirt."
I FINISHED THE TRAINING!! It was fabulous! I have learned so much watching the videos. Chow is great at his job of creating them.
One of the many tools I learned about was the Precision Editor. This is a very useful tool if you wan to time cue the music exactly with the pictures, at the end of the shot if you want to cut out exactly at the right moment or where you want a transition.
I can't wait to use this tool. I also liked the Beat clip, Jump cut, Green/Blue Screen Effect. I could go on and on, you too? I will admit that it will take several tries before I understand what I am doing. I am sure I will go back and watch sections of the training to refresh memory. There was so much information, I'm not sure my brain kept up. Hands on, Hands on!! Ready? Let's get CREATIVE!
Follow this link to Rebecca Stuart's Blog. It turns out that she and I have something in common: We are both band Geeks! Love it! She went beyond me, though. She marched in a large college band: The Tallahassee Marching Chiefs. It looks like a blast!! While you are there, go ahead and check out her other posts. She blogs about a Web 2.0 tool - GameClassroom. What student wouldn't want to be allowed to play games in the classroom?!
If you haven't subscribed to H2T2 yet, you should! Bill is everything technology. If you have questions, he can answer them. I know this from experience. Follow this link to my comments on Bill's blog about the Web 2.0 tool DivShare, online Media storage. You'll be glad you did!
I have seen so many cohorts with Wordles in their posts. So, I wanted to try one too.
I created a Wordle with the words from my profile page: About Me, Favorites, etc. I liked playing with the fonts and colors. I also liked clicking on the random button, too. This was a lot of fun, and I can see students enjoying making one for a project, report, or for their personal network site, i.e., Facebook.
I didn't realize that you could only take a screenshot of it and weren't allowed to save it to your computer. I saved mine in the public gallery, but I am glad I have the option to go back and delete it if I so choose.
Here is my ABOUT ME Wordle:
I have been watching the '11 iMovie tutorials on Lynda.com. I have learned a great deal so far. I have read other cohorts' blog's, and I concur. We should have watched these training videos the first month! Maybe if enough of us say this in our blog, FSU will incorporate that into the first month and in the fourth month, students can learn Gargeband or a different Mac program.
I've finished the first third of the training. Most of this training I learned on my own or with another cohort's help during my first few months of classes.
The tool I liked the most during the first months was the "switch/swap project & events." I really liked the ability to edit my clips where I wanted. I personally like to edit at the top and have my clips at the bottom.
Another tool I liked was the "muting and unmuting audio levels." This was a great discovery because I didn't always want to hear the clips as I edited them. You can also see some of the other great tools in this picture.
I am excited to finish the tutorials and know that I can accomplish making an iMovie without losing my hair or yelling at the computer screen! See you in the next post!
My daughter and I have been playing around with Storybird - which is described like this - "Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories you make to share, read, and print. Read them like books, play them like games, and send them like greeting cards. They're curiously fun." - on their web site. This is a great tool for anyone because it allows you to be creative with your words and not worry about your drawing abilities. This is especially important for me because I don't have any drawing abilities!
The first step is to sign up for an account which is free and easy.
Signing up
The next steps are as follows: Start a storybird, choose an artist by look or theme, then begin creating your story.
It is simple. Just drag and drop the picture you want to use, position it on the canvas, and enter your text.
Continue until you have written your whole story. It's that simple. Then you save it, publish it, and/or send it to a friend.
This is a great Web 2.0 tool for any age group, adults included. Not only does it allow you to create your own story complete with great artwork, but it is also a collaborative storytelling tool. Your students can create stories together! Oh, and did I mention that it was a lot of fun! My daughter and I had a great time learning to use this tool together. See the explanation below. Here is the URL for her poem:http://storybird.com/books/my-fatal-death/. Please go and read her 3 page Nature Poem she wrote last year in the 6th grade. (She had this poem published in the book A Celebration of Poets, a Creative Communication publishing company for student writers: www.POETICPOWER.COM)
It was brought to my attention that the link to my daughter's storybird didn't work properly. So, I investigated. Below is the reason the link did not work:
MY DAUGHTER HAS BEEN CENSORED AT AGE 12! She thought this was very funny!! I'll remove the link.
This week I have been revamping my iGoogle page. To be honest, I haven't used it since our first class MLR where we created it. After reevaluating the gadgets and tabs, I believe I will be spending an enormous amount of time on this page. I forgot how convenient it was to have everything right at my finger tips. Below, you will find the screen shots of my pages. I added an extra page to the list to help me keep up with my classmates blogs.
Tab 1 - Home
I already had my Facebook and twitter gadget on this page. I am an avid tweeter, especially networking with educators who are in the technology field. I find a lot of useful apps, websites, insights, and information from them. I also have my calendar, Gmail, and To Do list on this page.
Tab 2 - FSO/AR
This tab is everything FSO/AR right at my fingertips. YAY! No more going to bookmarks. I am very excited to have this page. Of course, I have a To Do list on this page as well. I find that I, personally, cannot have too many To Do lists posted. I need all the reminders I can get.
Tab 3 - Resources
This resource tab includes links needed for my current class, Emergent Technologies in a Collaborative Culture (ETC). One box includes links to this blog and useful ETC web sites. The second box includes links to Lynda.com, a web site that houses useful training videos for the programs I am learning to use during this program. I also included a Flickr gadget to have my pictures at my finger tips whenever I need them.
Tab 4 - Blogs
I have created another tab where I will keep the links of my fellow classmates blogs. No more going to my bookmarks. This will prove to be a very convenient and efficient tab. I also have a few of the other blogs I follow on this page and in the Google Reader. I plan on adding a Link Box for each of the blog types to which I subscribe. Again, I love to collaborate and network. Check out some of the Educational blogs. They are full of great resources.
