Mark+Roque

Hey! This is my new wiki page. Welcome!

This is the link to my google site: []

My avatar name in SL is Mark123456

=
My gadget is the Engage Wireless LCD tablet by UwriteTouch. Essentially the "Engage unit" functions sort of like a poor man's SmartBoard. It is a small (10.1'' diaganol mesaurement) tablet that has a touch screen that one controls via a stylus or with a finger. The touch screen displays the same screen that is on the user's computer which is connected to an LCD projector. The tablet communicates with the computer by way of wireless signal carried to a transmitter plugged into the USB port.=====

=
The manufacturer claims the unit offers advantages over both the Smart Slate as well as the Promethean Slate. It comes with some software called Edutab, but we have also been advised by our tech department to install and use the Smart Notebook software that is typcially used with Smart Boards.=====

=
The main advantage that I have seen in using this over a SmartBoard is the price. That is also the driving force behind why our county purchased them. All other academic departments (asides from social studies) have SmartBoards installed in their rooms. Being -- for some reason -- deemed not as important as the other subject areas, we had none. Heck, I still have a chalkboard rather than a dry erase white board in my room. The engage unit is far cheaper than either a Smart or Prometheon board. It can be used to do many of the same activities that one can do with an interactive white board. Not only can you run the Smart Notebook software, but you can display webpages or Word documents on it as well since it essentially is just an add-on to your computer that is already connected to an LCD projector. With this, one can now highlight, circle, or interact with any document or item projected on the screen.=====

=
There are some disadvantages, however. One is that in order to get students to interact with the technology, you must either take the tablet to them or have them come to wherever you are operating it in the room. With a SmartBoard, they can simply go up to the board and touch it. Also, while it may be an advantage for the teacher to be able to use it from anywhere in the room rather than just at the board, it also require you to have your eyes off the class and on your tablet's screen. This could be a problem with some classes. In fact, in one of the videos on the web regarding use of the engage unit, the instructor is never really able to look up from his tablet to observe what his students are doing.=====

=
This tablet is relatively new and I imagine other, similar products will be introduced fairly soon. I see uses for it in my social studies classes in many ways. For example, I may use it to add information to a map that I am projecting on the screen or to fill-in a graphic organizer that is being viewed by the class. Also, a teacher can highlight or underline text in a Word document as a way to model for the class how to do this.=====

=
I plan to research my gadget on the web and look at help sites as well as any video tutorials I can find. I have already viewed one example of a teacher using the engage unit to instruct a class. I also have attended two training sessions sponsored by the Allegany County Board of Education where one of the county's two tech-infusion specialists showed us the basics of using the unit in the first one and then several ways to put Smart Notebook to use with the engage unit during the second meeting. We have another training scheduled in a few weeks as well. I will use some of the time alotted to us during staff development to "play around" with the device and experiment. I also will do this during my planning time and after school a bit as well. Finally, I have identified several MKOs that I can turn to for help. In my building, one of our science teachers is very tech-savvy, particularly on things such as Edmoto, My Big Campus, and SmartBoard and Smart Notebook. Her expertise with Smart Notebook and the SmartBoard will greatly benefit me as I learn to use this new device. Since it essentially is like using a small SmartBoard and the best way to use it is by utilizing Smart Notebook, I know she will be able to answer nearly all of my questions. Also, our Vice Principal is one of the county's certified Smart Board trainers and is very knowledgable in various aspects of technology. Having two people in the building will be a great help. Additionally, I can always e-mail one of the teachers who piloted use of the engage unit or one of our system's tech-infusion specialists with any questions I may have.=====

* use tablet to point out a selected nation

 * select a student to use tablet to write (using Smart Tools software) the name of that nation on it
 * discuss with class whether the student named the country correctly, spelled it correctly, etc
 * repeat for other nations
 * have a student review nations with others once all names have been printed in the correct places (use tablet and software to do so)
 * Assessment:** orally quiz students on various countries by challenging them to name a given country before a classmate can write its name on it.

**Powerpoint presentation for Gadget Report:**
media type="custom" key="14088024"

“The Flipped Classroom” webinar – extra credit write-up

On Thursday, May 3, I attended a webinar titled “The Flipped Classroom.” During this webinar, participants were informed of just what exactly a flipped classroom is, how it is done, and the benefits of it. The webinar was extremely well-organized, as the several presenters had an agenda of exactly who would present what information, in what order each would speak, and for how long each would talk. They did a great job of sticking to the schedule to keep the webinar on track to finish in the allotted one hour time frame, including a question and answer session at the end. The basic concept of flipping a classroom involves reversing the traditional order of presentation and practice as far as what is done in the classroom and what is done at home. These teachers make videos of their lectures and presentations, which the students watch at home via the internet. That is their homework. The next day, their classwork involves doing practice work or assignments using what they learned the evening before at home. An advantage is that the student can pause, rewind, or even view the entire presentation again if he or she needs to. It was noted that this approach was extremely helpful to special needs classes as many of those students would watch the video repeatedly as they completed work with their instructor the next day in class. The instructors who came up with and piloted this concept revised Bloom’s Taxonomy and kept UDL in mind when creating the original flipped classrooms. They realized that the traditional method of lecturing and then having the kids practice at home was not the best use of the time they have in class. This method allows for all students to become individual learners, as there are no gaps and no hiding for students who normally might be overlooked. It employs standards-based grading and is a great way to differentiate lessons. It was pointed out that this is not a solve-all or a solution to poor teaching. It is simply a tool to use, like several others that are out there, to assist in enabling students to learn to the best of their abilities. The concept also adapts itself more readily to certain subjects (science) while others may not be the best place to use it (elementary reading, for instance). I feel that this concept definitely needs to be explored more and tried out by many more teachers. This is something that is so basic in theory, yet can definitely have great results in improving learning. I had never heard of this idea before, but can see myself trying it out -- at least to a degree – in my classroom next year. It is yet another way that technology can be used to enhance learning. Students today are very tech-centered. Therefore, this method adapts to their culture as well as their style of learning. Students watch short videos online routinely. They are more likely to watch these instructional videos with little resistance than they would be to do traditional homework. That way, they can do the practice work at school where assistance is available.

**Second Life Reflection**
====**This was my third technology education class this year, so it was also the third time I've used SL for educational purposes. I am much more comfortable with it now than what I was at the start of the fall semester. I struggled a good deal with it during the fall semester. My intersession course only used it to a small degree -- just to meet and discuss any other course issues we had. I was fine doing that during the fall semester as well, but the field trips, building, moving around, etc. always proved to be an issue. The same thing happened with the virtual theatre this semester, as I had a ticket, was wearing it, yet couldn't get access into the the film until the host teleported me into the movie. That said, I still learned more about how to use SL and was able to do much more by myself than only a few months ago. Back then I would not have even been able to find the ticket or wear it after purchasing it. I learned how to adjust the wardrobe as well as some features such as audio, graphics, etc. I think some of my issues involve my six year old laptop not being optimal as far as processing speed and available memory needed to run such a program.**==== ====**I realize that there certainly is a great educational benefit to using SL. Virtual field trips to places that are important for the students to see, yet financially or logistically impossible to do in actual life, are relatively easy to plan. Students can visit Paris for a French class or the beaches of Normandy for history. Additionally, speaking of history, a class can be virtually transported back in time to witness -- or even participate in -- a historical event such as a battle, protest, or debate. One roadblock to using such technology, however, is the fact that administrators who are ignorant to the technology have it blocked. In my district, even the things we use for this class are blocked by the system's filter (wiki is a very, very bad word to the higher-ups here). Hopefully, over time, this will change. It was only last year that YouTube was forbidden in our county. Despite years of teachers explaining the educational benefits of the site and its usefulness as a resource, the answer was always "no" to having it unblocked.**====
 * Personally, I would rather meet in eluminate for actual class than in the SL virtual classroom. As stated above, I see the benefits for trips and the like, but class is just much simpler in eluminate. If the class is just going to be having a discussion, lecture, presentation, etc., I see no need to complicate it when there is a much simpler alternative available. But that is just my opinion, as I realize others may prefer the SL method for various reasons.**

UNIT PLAN -- The unit is a technology integration unit on The Cold War for 7th grade students.

[|Cold War tech integration unit page]

The page includes a basic overview of what the unit covers, teacher-created software applications (Power Point and Picassa album of images), tool software assignments for students to create and/or publish (making a Power Point or a Timetoast timeline and publishing to a site such as Slideshare), two different multimedia projects I created for instructional use (a Voki to introduce the unit as well as an instructional video students will view and use as a tutorial), and a rubric (to be used as an assessment tool).

Additionally, content standards from the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum for social studies 7 are listed as well as the Maryland technology standards for grade 7. The lessons cover several consecutive days and specific plans for each day are listed as they appear in my online gradebook. A copy of the worksheet used (created in MS Word) is also available on the linked site.

Finally, a write-up of the unit itself, what the students will be learning (both content and technology) and how technology is integrated is included. The write-up also contains information on the relative advantage of using technology for this project as opposed to doing it without the use of technology for both teacher and student use.