April 24 Class Recap: Google Mapping Project

Although I was absent from this class today I did complete the assignment as well as some tutorials.
This class focused on Google Earth and we created a mapping project that reflected an educational aspect through the use of five places in Oregon. I chose to pick five National Wildlife Refuges that were all within reasonable distance from Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon. Beyond the actual assignment I saw so much potential in this application for my education career. I found many useful tools to help me plan better, more interactive, real life lesson plans and ideas for English language learners as well.

Google Oceans  is a feature that allows you to see under the surface of water! So awesome and I envision using this for the both lecture and play in the content of science. Historical Imagery is another great feature on Google Earth. It can be used for social studies and economics as well as history because it allows you to see how things have change over time, whether it be landscapes or urban building. If you combined any of this with 3D layering you have a very vivid real-life experience. Students can also make their own buildings and have them inserted on Google Earth which would be a great design/architecture/computer skills assignment. You can even land on the moon and explore historical sites through this amazing application. Probably my favorite feature is the ease in which the language can be changed. This will surely be a valuable tool to my English language learners and the entire class. My mind is teeming with the possibilities for lesson plan design. Never again will I need to pull a picture from a text book to illustrate a certain Biome or geographical location!

Until next time,

~Jessica~

April 17 ED421 Class Recap

It's business as usual in ED 421 and this week we are working with iMovie and creating a public service announcement concerning an issue of our choice. We learned some terminology associated with iMovie and video production like long shots, medium shots, and so on. We are given some constraints like the length of the movie is only 30 seconds and we are to incorporate at least 30 clips. This seems a challenge but should be fun. The only problem is that we are limited to iMovie. I just don't foresee me having access to even one Mac let alone enough to have all my students working with iMovie. It also isn't very compatible with sharing and working on other computers. It seems limited although a cool application.

Additionally we finished up the collage assignment which has us commenting on five pictures. The method of having students be the first and fifth comment on one picture almost guarantees everyone having five comments on their own picture providing great feedback. Feedback allows us to grow and see things from a different perspective and I think it's a great tool when it's specific.

Jessica