CEP 812 Wicked Problem Project Presentation

 

Part A: Educational Problem/Need

1. What is the important educational need that you are seeking to address?

Due to geographic location and financial concerns, it is not possible for students and teachers to visit many places to learn about the significance, geography, and history of various places. With the use of technology that is available, these barriers can be removed.

2. How you plan to address this educational issue with technology? SOLUTION

I will address this educational issue with technology with a virtual field trip using Google Earth. Students and teachers can attend the virtual field trip at their convenience without any cost involved for students, teachers, or the schools. By their participation, they will be able to learn about a given area and expand upon their geography, and technology skills.

3. Logistics of solution:

The technology can be used on a computer, and shared with others via e-mail. It can be used for an unlimited amount of time if needed and there is no cost in using the technology because it is available for free on the internet

 4. Relevant research and resources (from the Internet and elsewhere) including reports on the closest effort you can find to what you are planning to do as well as ideas and materials you may be able to build upon in your own effort. Your description should include: 

Using the internet, I did a search using the Google search engine and found a PDF files that help explain how to create virtual tours using Google earth. These resources are going to help me in the implementation of my project.

http://www.african.ohio.edu/Pdfs/Creating%20a%20Google%20Earth%20tour.pdf

http://www.bridge.edu.au/verve/_resources/GoogleEarthHowToVFT.pdf

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/01/100-incredible-educational-virtual-tours-you-dont-want-to-miss/

After performing my search, I learned about how to use Google Earth to create virtual tours or field trips. I also learned what the general description of a virtual tour is. I would definitely using the Google search engine again.

5. A plan for the portion you will implement during this course and the portion you will implement after this course completes.

During this course, the portion that I will implement is the design and creation of the virtual tour using Google Earth. After this course is completed, the portion that could be completed is observing the benefits and negative impacts of a virtual trip in a class.

6. How would you know you were successful?

If my project is successful, it will be determined by feedback from individuals that would use the virtual tour. At the end of the tour, there will be a survey for participants to complete.

Part B: Application of TPACK

1. What is the TP knowledge for the solution?

For my Wicked Problem Project, I have chosen to use the Experiental Learning strategy using the method of a field trip. However, it will be a virtual field trip. There will also be direct instruction in the form of lectures, and drill and practice. The technology that I decided to use to support my instructional strategy and method is Google Earth. Google Earth supports my strategies by enabling me to create a virtual tour of various locations. In the process of creating a virtual tour and adding a placemark, there are many options available to me in Google Earth. These options allow me to incorporate direct instruction through the ability to direct the audience of the virtual tour to powerpoints that contain information about the given location. Experiential learning can be defined as a process in which students develop knowledge and skills from experiences outside a traditional setting. Experiential learning can encompass many different activities, one of which can be a virtual field trip. A virtual field trip is outside a traditional setting and enables them to acquire knowledge, and skills in geography and technology.

2. What is the TC knowledge for the solution?

The educational need that I am seeking to address is that many do not have the ability to travel to places to learn about the history and significance of various places due to the barriers of time, distance, and financial restraints. Specifically, this technology with the aid of the internet's vast resources makes the content of my educational need more accessible by enabling one to easily participate in an interactive tour of the Washington D.C. area, and learn about the significance and history of the people and the region.

3. What is the PC knowledge for the solution?
In the process of creating a virtual tour and adding a placemark, I can add informational text, images, links to videos or websites, podcasts, and powerpoint files. These options allow me to direct the audience of the virtual tour to powerpoints that contain information about the given location, or contain a series of short quizzes about information that was presented to them. The audience will be basically be able to experience a field trip with some 3D viewing so it may feel like they are actually there instead of at a computer

Part C: Implementation

Link to podcast:

www.msu.edu/~withero3/wppimplementation2.mp3

Part D: Findings and Implications

Formative: Did the project get implemented as planned?

Yes, the project did get implemented as planned. My implementation plan was to create and design a virtual tour using Google Earth. After doing this implementation, I learned that creating a virtual tour requires a great deal of time, and work. I also learned that technology glitches can occur at any given second during the creation process and that you have to be ready to troubleshoot the problems (if possible) or start from scratch! The final version of my virtual field trip accomplishes my goal of creating a virtual tour that teaches students about the significance, and history of the area and I believe it will provide an experience for potential students that was originally intended.

Summative: Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice.

The problem of practice is that many are unable to leave school to visit other places to learn about them due to various reasons. The evidence of my success in addressing the problem is a creation of my virtual tour or "field trip" to Washington D.C. Virtual field trips can provide new opportunities for learning by being able to take students places they wouldn’t be able to go any other way such as the ocean floor.

How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned here?

Based on what I have learned using Google Earth, I would approach another project of this type by trying to use another program similar to that that allows users to attach files without the need of a link. Providing a link wasn’t a problem for several things such as links to websites and presentations. However, it was a problem for images. In the placemark window of each location in the virtual tour designated as a “stop” or “placemark” instead of being able to see an actual image right away in that window, one would see a photograph link. This presents itself as a problem because students will not be able to easily compare the differences between a 2D and 3D view of the locations without going back and forth between computer screens. The pedagogical strategies that I tried such as direct instruction worked well as long as students would indeed click all the links in the placemark windows.

What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?

The lessons that I learned that others may benefit from are that in order to attach anything to a placemark in Google Earth, one needs a URL. While creating my virtual tour, a lesson that I learned is that images and Powerpoint presentations can only be incorporated by providing a link. In order to do this, any files that I created myself to incorporate into the tour, I saved them on the Google Docs web server or my AFS space with MSU.

In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do.

The ways I expect to endeavor doing the same project is to use a different software program.

A major strength in this project for actual learning is that it created an experience of visiting a place outside the traditional format (taking a bus, car, etc. and going to the location). Using Google Earth, I feel there is only one thing I could have done differently to apply TPACK better to improve the learning opportunities for students which is to allow students to create podcasts about a specific location and incorporate them into the tour.

CEP 800 Action Research Reflection

           When I was an undergraduate, I began college as a biology major so I felt comfortable using science content as the basis for my lesson. The lesson plan I designed for a potential virtual course consisted of a PowerPoint presentation on the topic of ecology.  The presentation was followed by a short activity, and a twenty question quiz based on the material presented in the online lesson. Originally, I was going to use the forms in Google Docs to deliver my quiz but then I found a free site on the internet where you could create quizzes or tests. The free site is http://quizstar.4teachers.org/ . Using this site to deliver my quiz allowed me the options of creating short answer, multiple choice, or true/false questions. On my quiz that I created, I elected to only have multiple choice and true/false questions and timed it. Additionally, I gave learners the option of creating a short presentation or paragraph in Google Docs or in Microsoft Office.

            In the beginning, it was somewhat disconcerting to me, wondering where I was going to get students and how I was going to implement a lesson using technology. In retrospect, I feel that to the best of my ability, I was able to successfully complete this course task.  After I cajoled some friends and relatives to help me out, I immediately began the task of implementing the lesson. Piloting my lesson plan was very difficult for me. First of all, I am not a teacher with an audience at my disposal in which to implement the lesson. So I had to rely on co-workers, friends, and extended family members who volunteered to be the class for me. As a result, my class consisted of students ranging in age from 11 to 67 years old and all with different educational backgrounds. The breakdown of my students was: one in elementary school, one in middle school, three recent high school graduates, and five who were over the age of 38. Considering the diverse educational backgrounds of my students, I felt that my lesson was well implemented and the student learning outcomes were positive.  After looking at the assessment results, which was the quiz I required each student to complete at the end of the lesson, it appeared that the students understood the concepts presented. Since the technology experience of nearly all these “students” were rather limited, all ten completed the activities in Microsoft Office and not in Google Docs. This was not something I had anticipated, so reflecting on my lesson, I am glad that I designed the lesson to be compatible in both programs. This way, the students were able to complete the task assigned with no technical glitches on their part.  Since both programs are compatible with each other the activities that each student completed could be shared with others by the instructor in this scenario until students learned about Google Docs.  When I planned the lesson, I never realized that my students could lack the technical experience, so I am happy that I set up the lesson using two different software programs for the students to use. In the future, I realize I can’t assume that everyone will have the same amount of technological knowledge and experience.  In this regard, I have to make sure I can offer online support to assist them if it is needed.

My lesson’s goal for this digital lesson answers the following essential question: What are the similarities and differences between the relationships of organisms?  This goal also correlates to the Florida state standard SC.912.L.17.6: Compare and contrast the relationships among organisms, including predation, parasitism, competition, commensalism, and mutualism. The purpose of my lesson was to allow students to explore relationships of organisms and the intent was to extend the learning objective that was already central to the state’s science curriculum.  The affordances for how the knowledge/information was being represented in the digital lesson were that students would be able to view the information on their schedule in a given time frame, and provide an opportunity for personal online research of the topics presented. It was assumed that all students would have full computer access and internet connectivity in order to complete my on-line lesson. The constraints were that a computer and internet connection were required. Learning outcomes took place through information processing of facts presented, and cognitive constructivism. There really were no elements of behaviorism that I could observe through this particular lesson.

The topic for the lesson fits into existing high school curriculum and was intended to enhance the learning of something already central to curriculum. Differences among my learners were taken into effect by providing visual and audio depictions as well as providing learners a logical path to aid them in moving from one part of the lesson to the other essentially made it possible for this particular lesson to be successful. This was purposeful on my part, to insure a level of success for my diverse learners who for some, possessed limited technological experiences. For any type of digital lesson, both teachers and learners need to know the basics of operating a computer as well as a basic knowledge of opening files, receiving and sending emails, and creating an account to access Google Docs. The underlying assumptions about the nature of knowledge were that my students had completed science courses from middle school through basic high school biology. I measured student understanding by checking their quiz accuracy as well as their completion of a short activity.

The main technology used was Microsoft Powerpoint. The role that it played was to present the content clearly and be adaptable for all of my student learners. The advantages that the technology held for this role is that it allowed the lesson to be presented with pictures, text, sound, and video clips and made it interactive for the learner. My digital lesson was designed to address several multiple learning styles (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic styles) of students. It facilitates learning by allowing students to become interactive in the lesson and engaged. In a survey I created for feedback about my lesson, several learners stated that the incorporation of the videos and organization within the presentation helped them to learn the material they were given. I expected students to make use of the technology in the lesson by using resources on the internet to complete their short activity which consisted of creating a paragraph or a 5 slide presentation about one of the relationships they learned about. If my learners had any questions about the lesson, they never told me. Based on the paragraphs and the presentations I received from learners, I would say that my learners made sense of the technology (Microsoft Office) extremely well.

          

Group Leadership Project

 What tool did your group use to deliver the the PD tutorial? Why?
The tool that my group members and I chose to use to deliver the final version of our professional development tutorial is Microsoft Windows Live Movie Maker. However, we orginally completed the presentation in Prezi but decided to make a video using Movie Maker with audio recordings using Audacity. We chose to use this tool because it allowed us to easily include images of our presentation, audio, and video clips we found on Youtube or those we created ourselves.

What did you learn during the development process of the final product?
During the development process of the final product we learned several things. One major thing I discovered was that sometimes the images you use in the video may appear extremely blurred after saving and publishing the video. I also learned how to add other videos to our own video. Another major learning lesson was figuring out how to adjust the timing of everything we put into our video to prevent any audio and videos playing at the same time and ensuring the audio would not end prematurely. It was also difficult figuring out which type of font would have a good visual appearance. I also learned that group projects can be difficult to coordinate but so much can be learned.

What would you do differently if you had to develop a similar product again?
If we had to develop a similar product again, we would not use Prezi. We were not able to get a program to record or capture our Prezi transitions without them appearing blurred or choppy. Additionally, Prezi does not allow audio. Due to these reasons, we ended up with more work than expected. I would recommend using powerpoint for images and audio and add special effects in Movie Maker vs. using Audacity, Jing, Prezi, and Movie Maker.

Professional Learning Plan

I chose to do a Powerpoint presentation to complete my professional learning plan. It can be found at the link given below.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=2B613FEE69293E87!115&authkey=!ALN_lprMqELBnNE

Wicked Problem Project: Part D - Findings and Implications

Formative: Did the project get implemented as planned?
Yes, the project did get implemented as planned. My implementation plan was to create and design a virtual tour using Google Earth.


Summative: Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice.
The problem of practice is that many are unable to leave school to visit other places to learn about them due to various reasons. The evidence of my success in addressing the problem is a creation of my virtual tour or "field trip" to Washington D.C.

How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned here?
Based on what I have learned using Google Earth, I would approach another project of this type by trying to use another program similar to that that allows users to attach files without the need of a link.

What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?
The lessons that I learned that others may benefit from are that in order to attach anything to a placemark in Google Earth, one needs a URL.

In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do.
The ways I expect to endeavor doing the same project is to use a different software program.

Wicked Problem Project Part C: Implementation

Here is a link to my podcast for my Wicked Problem Project Implementation.
www.msu.edu/~withero3/wppimplementation.mp3

Here is a link to my Google Earth tour that I created as my implementation task for this project.
NOTE: You must have google earth installed on your computer to view this tour.
www.msu.edu/~withero3/VirtualFieldTrip.kmz

CEP 800 Digital Story Production

This is a digital video I created for my CEP 800 course that tells a learning story which incorporates the learning theories of observational, situated learning, and constructivist.

www.msu.edu/~withero3/CEP800storyrevised.wmv

Group Leadership Project: Part B - Storyboard and Script

My group members and I chose to create a Google presentation to illustrate our storyboard and script.  Additionally, we completed the basic foundations of a prezi to show graphics and videos. The graphics and videos will represent our "sketches".

So far it has been great doing the project. Dale has worked on the Prezi, hardware, software, lesson plan material and the script, Rachael has worked on troubleshooting, resources, lesson plan/software options, and I have focused on the content for the lesson plan we will be demonstrating and the script. Each of us has come up with ideas for videos, graphics, or material. 

Over the next few weeks, Dale will be doing an instructional video of the setup with a PC,  and a video of the lesson plan and Google Earth tour that I created. Rachael will be doing a video using an iPad and a application that works well for the IWB, and I will be working on the final audio of the Prezi. Each of us will continue to edit the Prezi as we continue doing this project.

Our Google presentation can be viewed at the following link:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_yOvJUnwR_Q9Kx9fxLez4gpCkiKRoccKE8KxeH4NJ5A/edit?pli=1#slide=id.p

Our Prezi can be viewed at the following link:
http://prezi.com/shce8wy9_bs8/group-5-interactive-wiiboard-tutorial/

Mobile Learning

Several tools that I have used before include a USB drive, smart phone, and laptop. Two resources that I explored were Poll Everywhere and Classroom 2.0. My membership with classroom 2.0 is still awaiting approval. I created a question on poll everywhere and following the directions given on my computer screen after I created a poll question, I submitted a response to the question via SMS from my cell phone. If I had a classroom, I would definitely want to incorporate technology into the curriculum on a daily or minimally a weekly basis. The challenges that I believe would occur when incorporating technology is developing lessons that will use technology and engage the students.

Wicked Problem Project: Part B: Application of TPACK

1. What is the TP knowledge for the solution?

For my Wicked Problem Project, I have chosen to use the Experiental Learning strategy using the method of a field trip. However, it will be a virtual field trip. There will also be direct instruction in the form of lectures, and drill and practice. The technology that I decided to use to support my instructional strategy and method is Google Earth. Google Earth supports my strategies by enabling me to create a virtual tour of various locations. In the process of creating a virtual tour and adding a placemark, there are many options available to me in Google Earth. These options allow me to incorporate direct instruction through the ability to direct the audience of the virtual tour to powerpoints that contain information about the given location.

2. What is the TC knowledge for the solution?

The educational need that I am seeking to address is that many do not have the ability to travel to places to learn about the history and significance of various places due to the barriers of time, distance, and financial restraints. Specifically, this technology with the aid of the internet's vast resources makes the content of my educational need more accessible by enabling one to easily participate in an interactive tour of the African savannah area, and learn about the wildlife, significance and history of the people and the region.

3. What is the PC knowledge for the solution?
In the process of creating a virtual tour and adding a placemark, I can add informational text, images, links to videos or websites, podcasts, and powerpoint files. These options allow me  to direct the audience of the virtual tour to powerpoints that contain information about the given location, or contain a series of short quizzes about information that was presented to them. The audience will be basically be able to experience a field trip with some 3D viewing so it may feel like they are actually there instead of at a computer.