Interactive Whiteboards

I really enjoyed learning about interactive whiteboards. I never had the opportunity to use the software so it was very helpful to be able to see how presentations can be put together and how it can be used as an interactive tool in the classroom. I think using such a tool can help to engage students in their learning and give them the opportunity to play an active role in a lesson rather than sitting in their desks listening to the teacher talk. It is unfortunate that not all schools are able to have an interactive whiteboard in every classroom. I believe Children of the Net Generation who are using technology in their home lives on a daily basis would be able to better relate subject content if they had the opportunity to take part in more interactive white board lessons.

When I have my own classroom I hope to have access to some type of interactive whiteboard. Although I don't think it should be used for every single classroom lesson, I believe incorporating an interactive whiteboard activity into a unit can help the students apply what they have learned in a very interactive way as opposed to taking a quiz or writing a reflection. Smart boards enable students to physically see and manipulate information to achieve the a desired outcome. They are in some sense teaching themselves with the teacher acting as a facilitator to guide them toward the correct result. I think this is a great way to convey a specific message within a lesson or a unit and it gives the students a higher chance of retaining the information long after the lesson is over. Every teacher who has access to such a tool should try to incorporate it into their lessons to help the students become more engaged in their learning.

Copyright

Copyright has always been a touchy subject when it comes to the classroom. So many teachers don't know or understand the laws and some simply choose to ignore them. Many teachers violate copyright laws on a daily basis not realizing or not caring that they are breaking the law and setting a poor example for their students.

I read the articles for this week and also researched a few resources on my own. I wanted to be sure I had a proper understanding of what the law allows and does not allow when it comes to copyright. I researched some information on the United States Copyright web page (http://www.copyright.gov/) and was surprised to learn that not only are literary works protected by copyright but so are pantomimes / choreographic works as well as sculptural and architectural works. It really makes you think twice about what copyright laws you may have infringed on without necessarily knowing it. Another point I found very interesting is that there is no "international copyright" law that protects from unauthorized use of a United States copyrighted source in another country. Something that is copyrighted under law in the United States may be freely accessed by a citizen of another country depending on that country's specific copyright laws.

There have been many instances throughout my education where I have witnessed copyright infringement. In many music classes teachers have copied sheet music instead of purchasing a copy of the song for each student in the class. Some of them even mentioned the fact that they had illegally copied the music but were not too concerned that they had broken the law. I have also had many professors in college who copied pages from a textbook for students to reference so that their students would not have to spend the extra money to purchase the entire textbook. Many of them also acknowledged that this was a big "NO NO" but that they wanted to be sure we received the information within the copyrighted material. And of course there were those teachers who passed out unauthorized copies of copyrighted work who were not even aware they had done anything wrong!

I believe teachers need to be the facilitators of copyright and to explain the laws and rules to students from an early age. I think showing a video such as the one in our diigo readings this week is a great way for students to begin to understand what is appropriate and what they are not to do when using copyrighted material. I think that the information that is given should always be age appropriate and it should be made very clear exactly what is expected of them as students. Also teachers should exhibit proper copyright practices in the classroom. Modeling proper behavior allows students to observe the desired use of copyrighted material throughout their education and display this behavior when given an assignment that requires them to do so.

PSA Project

I really enjoyed creating a PSA video in class. Jen and I chose "Safe Driving" as our topic. We wanted to show ways drivers can become distracted as well as stress the fact that these distractions can cause fatal accidents. We came up with a storyboardwhere our video would show short clips of people exhibiting unsafe behaviors behind the wheel (ie talking on the phone, applying makeup, texting etc) all leading up to an impending car crash that can be heard against a black screen. We want our viewers to gather that the accident was a direct result of driving while distracted.
We shot all of our footage prior to class and once we uploaded everything we got to work deciding the best sequence for the short driving clips and how we wanted everything to flow including transitions etc. We wanted our PSA to be easy to follow. We didn't want to complicate it with complex transitions so we chose a regular fade option for all of the clips. We thought this would help clarify our message.
After all of our clips were placed and we had included our statistics, we proceeded to choose the music and sound effects for our video. We chose an up tempo youthful song for the first portion of the video inorder to emphasize the irresponsibility of the distracted drivers. When the crash occurs we were able to find a great sound clip of a car crash. It is a little dramatic, but we felt it really drove home our point that distracted driving causes accidents. For the last part of the video which shows the stats about distracted driving, we chose slower more somber music with an almost ominous feel. We felt this drastic change would help turn the focus of the viewer to the statistics on the screen and help reinforce the consequences of driving while distracted.
At the very end of the video we decided to add footage of Jen demonstrating safe driving behaviors with text overlaying the image that reads "Don't be a Statistic...Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel" to reinforce the importance of driving safely.
I really liked learning how to use Movie Maker. Honestly, prior to this course, I didn't even know you could upload video to your computer from a video camera!! (it's sad, I know!) I am excited to use what I have learned to upload and edit my home videos. I think its a great way to preserve memories and make them more accessible. But mostly, I am excited to be able to incorporate video into my classroom. I think it can be an exciting way to convey parts of a lesson or to enable students to personalize their learning in a unique way. Overall I think video is a great tool for the classroom.