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Final of Final project

Well...of course once I sat down to work on my final project I decided to change topics and go in a different direction. I began by thinking of an annotated bibliography assignment which is often something librarians suggest to instructors because if done right can give students a good background on finding specific types of sources and more importantly evaluating the sources.

Then I began to think about how to use the tools we have learned about in class in the annotated bibliography. Then I thought about my experience with Moodle this semester and it all came together.

My idea for my project is to create an example Annotated Bibliography assignment for instructors to use and adapt.

Here is the site: https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=2528 (you should be able to enroll with your x500 and it is easy to unenroll when you are finished looking around)

I enjoyed working with Moodle as a framework--partly because my speed is increasing in creating content and partly because so many of the digital writing tools we have been working with are all contained within Moodle--so it was easy to create examples without having to describe the "set-up" process for other tools such as UThink, Blogger, or PbWiki.

I created learning objectives and began trying to think like an instructor and what materials he/she would want to be able to teach and facilitate this activity. It quickly caught my imagination as it is so flexible and can be adapted in many different ways depending on how an instructor would like to use it.

Here are a couple of examples I thought of:

• For course on race in america--have all of the students create a group annotated bibliography throughout the semester. Have them post their citations and annotations to a class blog (creating incentive to post early so your item isn't posted by another student). This can be used to build subject knowledge on the topic.
• For a writing course--have students create individual blogs on their semester long project topics and begin collecting materials early and throughout the semester (e.g. weekly/bi-weekly posting deadlines). The instructor or peers can check quality of the sources.

Obviously deadlines and number of sources can be adjusted based on an instructors needs.

In the Moodle site I wanted to create a framework of resource material an instructor could use to teach or refresh students finding and evaluating skills with lessons and mini-tutorials they could "plug and play" into their own course.

I created lesson outlines for the following:

• Who creats information? How do we get information?
• The scholarly publishing cycle
• Selecting a topic
• In-class exercise for creating rubric for grading blog posts
• In-class exercise for creating rubric for evaluation of sources
• Writing annotations
• Creating citations in RefWorks

I outlined the 15-minute Finding Lessions and created an example for "Newspaper Articles" (May need to click on Newspaper Articles: https://moodle.umn.edu/mod/book/view.php?id=180405&chapterid=2852)

I created an example Wiki Knowledgebase to demonstrate how students, possibly in small groups to create a help guide on finding specific sources with tips and tricks to go beyond the 15 minute Finding Lessons.

I also created an example blog entry for the Newspaper article with an framework for how student posts could be formatted.

I also added the RSS feeds for a couple of Library sites to the side column of Moodle which ties in nicely and would add fresh content to the page.

Next Steps:
The next steps with this project would be to continue to create content--much of which is re-purposing content from other instructional materials and working to find an audience for this type of resource. How would an instructor like to "discover" this type of resouces? Where do instructors go to look for this type of thing?

I hope to have time in January to continue with adding content. I am still learning how to use Moodle as a "container" but it may make sense to move this to a website or wiki or other format with a lower threshold to access the content.

Learn more: Handout for project

final project

Wikipedia--how to use it effectively--

--rules for citing

--Look at history

--Look at changes

--Use citations

--carleton site on wikipedia

what is wikipedia

largest encyclopedia 

anybody can change things at any time

overall most experts agree that the content tends to be accurate but at any given point in time it may be wrong and  quality varies widely.

controversial topics

living people

Evaluating--icons and how to evaluate what you are writing about

Lesson plan--blogging about research

digital writing and research--

when is just a link appropriate

when do you need to use a full citation

writing about digital writing--

scholarly article icon

magazine article icon

blog post icon

podcast icon

youtube/video icon

wikipedia entry icon

book icon

conference icon

grey lit icon

"research blogging"--www.researchblogging.org

science blog 

cognitive daily

tagging the topic

students as consumers and producers

chart of how to assign and evaluate research in each technology

help students to be good consumers of information (also good finders)--peer review and standards will be going away and must be able to find for themselves what is good and bad.

Portfolios

As I go back over the blog posts I can see that my skills have grown--simply learning how to do things like podcasts and video which were new to me. It is much easier to imagine how to use these tools to teach digital writing. In the beginning I would have to spend lots of time thinking of how to apply these in a teaching situation. After talking in class about a technology, then trying it out, then talking again about all of the ways it can be used has helped free my mind to be able to apply the technology in many different ways. I have enjoyed learning how these are being used from high school to college--even through I am more interested in the academic audience I have learned much from hearing from the high school applications. This helps know what sort of experiences students will now have had by the time they start here a the University.

This also allows me to frame information literacy as being important to students both as consumers of information (i.e. finding a journal article) and producers of information (i.e. posting on a blog). When students are writing a paper for the instructor to read it is hard to talk seriously about your responsibilities as an author but when your writing is truly available for the public to see it is more meaningful

They technology in blogs would help to utilize this as a portfolio or at least as a space for reflection. Most blogs have trackbacks which would allow you to link back to the post that students had posted and reflect upon them. This would build on the linking nature of blogs and give students a nice recursive finish to using a blog.

In terms of what content students would include in a portfolio or a final blog summary I think having student reflect on the projects/blogs they were most proud of and those on which they learned the most would be useful. I think self selecting would provide students with the most intersting posting options.

At a Teaching with Writing seminar recently I heard about using portfolios within the professional major of pharmacy--as a tool for reflecting on their 5 week rotations as a tools for professional development. This is very much valued in the field and an expectation of someone in the profession. This is a unique hook as students should learn how to be reflective about the experiences and things they are learning. In terms of independent and life long learning (aka liberal education) this skills (which does need to be taught) of reflection are very meaningful.

21st Century Skills

new report:

http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/21st_century_skills_education_and_competitiveness_guide.pdf

English Map from 21st century skills

Including Information Literacy:

Skills Definition

--Accessing information

4th grade Outcomes:

Access and critically evaluate information and use information accurately to solve problems

Access and critically evaluate information and use information creatively

Evaluate information critically and competently and use information accurately and creative for the problem at hand

8th grade outcomes:

Use information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand.

Use information accurately and creatively to generate new knowledge.

Evaluate information critically and competently

Posses a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surround the access and use of information.

12th grade outcomes:

Possess and share a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

Use information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand

Evaluation of Digital Writing

I am not creating a unit for the final project so here is a hypothetical assignment and rubric:

Assignment: Digital Writing and Research Video project

Goals of Assignment:
1. Understand role of research in creating documentary/informational video.
2. Collect graphics/images, quotes and facts used in video using citation style.
3. Clearly cite and give credit to graphics/images, quotes and facts used in video.
4. Develop criteria for evaluation of sources used.
5. Create video project appropriate for intended audience.
6. Organize content in logically and effective for intended audience.
7. Engage views with interactivity.

Peer-Review process:
1. Write useful feedback to peer after reviewing video project.
2. Revise project based on peer feedback.

I created a rubric created using Rubistar which focused on content and research.



I also created a rubric for the production elements. I like the idea of separating these two elements but I am not sure if this would make grading more difficult as it may be hard to separate the content and the production. I created this using iRubric--including trying out the grading feature.

quick capture youtube

YouTube has an option to use Quick Capture if you have a webcam or internal camera. Go to YouTube and go to upload button. Fill in information and then select "use Quick Capture" button.


http://www.woopid.com/--Online tutorials

videoant--can annotate video
http://ant.umn.edu/
Give url for video--not hosted on site but need URL for flash file.


Useful for:
"reader-based feedback"--give writer reactions so they see how reader is experience text (or media)

Slideboom

iMovie

Over the weekend I took some random video without any read idea of how I would use it. I tried to remember some of the shots we learned about in class (e.g. close up, far away, etc.). When I was using my camera to take the video I turned the camera as i often do, to take the vertical shot. I assumed I would be able to edit this in class using iMovie. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Thus I ended up using my one video clip that was facing the right way. I added transitions, titles, music and sound effects using iMovie. I uploaded it to Media Mill and then to YouTube.

I was amazed at how easy it was to make the video and work with iMovie to add effects. The technical part was easy--I can see how the challenge is in making the content good. I think it would be interesting to use this in conjunction with a piece of academic writing such as have the students write a traditional research paper and then assign a video project to go along with it. I wonder if students would enjoy that as much or if enjoyment has to do with being creative and putting their personality into the video--like the high schoolers.

I like how Elizabeth had some many examples of how to break down the projects into smaller pieces--such as analyzing the shots in the Burger King commercial. It is amazing to think how much more accessible video is with the advent of YouTube--to find both good and bad examples of video. I also think breaking down the projects in so many small steps would help to discourage the weekend video session--and improve quality.

iMovie--Date for Technology

iMovie project: