Thing #11.5 Evaluation

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Learning the secret behind screencasts!
Understanding the purpose and value of Twitter.
Playing with new online image generators that my students will use in their learning and when creating project final products.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
While in graduate school (online), I had a mainline to cutting edge librarianship through my coursework. Once again, participating in 11 1/2 Things was like being back in school with the bonus of no grades! I’m a slower and visual/hands-on learner, so going at my own pace in this type of learning venue is perfect. What's next, Lifeguards?

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
Discovering how others have used or will use the tools introduced this summer.
Realizing the need to expand the scope of the digital citizenship skills lessons my students receive.
Feeling more confident about the bond technology that will be put in place this year.
Continued amazement at the tremendous at point of need support and professional development growth opportunities generated by SBISD Library Services. Kudos, Vaughn, for the 24/7 support!

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Going through 11 ½ (instead of 23) Things this summer was more manageable and made it easier to delve deeper into each one. Where and what are we playing next summer?!

Thing #8 Screencast

The secret of the "How To" videos is out! Going through Thing #8 was like finding out the secrets behind a magician's trick. This is a marvelous teaching tool for any type of learner since it incorporates audio, visual, and motion. The bonus is that the screencast can be replayed at point of need by the user. I can see this tool being used by students, teachers, staff, and parents. Students can create screencasts for peers; screencasts could be accessed by teachers and staff to review what you have shown them as a group; parents could access them on a blog to learn about what their students are learning at school or for help in accessing sites pertinent to their lives.

Here is my first try using Screencast-O-Matic. It is a video showing how to add an image to a DotNetNuke page.

The audio syncs with the video, but for some reason I lost the pointer tool. The video is not as large as I had expected, so it is hard to see details on the page. Quick Tips for Improving Screencasts mentions greater success when using a smaller screen setting than I used and an "autopan" feature that automatically moves the region being recorded as you move the mouse, which wasn't available in the software I used. Will try another software next time. I rambled shamelessly at the end of this video, cut to other pages thinking the video had ended, and then couldn't get the editing tool to work, so I can see that lots of practice is needed before creating a final product!

Decided to try another software, this time Camtasia. Much easier to use and more options for editing. And the pointer tool showed up this time! I still don't like the small screen size...