Jeff's CSUSM Ed422 Spring 06 Blog

This week is about collaboration and teamwork as we strive to craft movies around issues of social justice!! It is definitely my favorite assignment of the semester and one that I hope stays with you all after the course has ended. Everyone should come to class Tues/Wed with tape in hand, ready to edit your masterpieces. The majority of your time this week will be devoted to editing our films. However, there are still many assignment/collaborative projects that are in the works.

Current Assignments: Social Justice Film, iMovie Proficiency (short films with CSUSM footage), Software Review, Journals 6 - 10, EdTechProfile, and last, but certainly not least, TPE Collaborations.

The TPE collaborative assignment seems to be a difficult for everyone to complete. I know that you have a ton of work to do, but this assignment will allow you to demonstrate your amazing new technical acumen to your prospective employers!! The collaborative process should also help those who find writing about technical proficiency difficult. Help each other out and it should make the process easier, not harder.

The iMovie proficiency assignment is completed when you show me in person that you can do everything on the checklist. You sign, I sign, and you turn the paper in. Some of you have been submitting your movies, which is fine, but the most important aspect of the assignment is that you show ME that you are proficient in the program.

Sitting at my desk, I have come to the sad realization that my days in the snow have probably ended this winter. Mother Nature has tortured me this year by not snowing when I had time and snowing when I have been busy with work. . . Don't cry for me, I'll be okay . . .it is baseball season.

Anyway, I have checked the discussion board to see your overall progress on the pod collaboration. In general, I'm please. There are groups who are very conscientious and some individuals who are not. Hopefully, the individuals who need to participate more will step up. Please give me some feedback in class as to how the whole process is going.

What we have currently going on: Finishing Journals, Excel assignments were due on the 15th, NETS IV should be completed this week, filming for your social justice movies!!! And iMovie software proficiency. . .

If you need to redo an assignment that was assigned after the Inspiration project (Photoshop, journals, etc. . .) get going on them ASAP . . .the semester is quickly waning.

New Assignment: Software Review. I will discuss it in class this week. It's due April 30.

I will go over some camera techniques and get your project pitches before you go shoot. . .Get your brainstorms, storyboards, and pitch sheet completed before class.

Remember: you can check-out cameras on a first-come, first-serve, basis in the library.

If you have any assignments that haven't been regraded or there are some other issues, please take this week to talk to me so we can get your grade straightened out.

Apparently, Flat Stanley has stolen one of Amy's credit cards and is still at large in Austin. I hope the authorities can apprehend him before I'm bankrupt! I guess the moral here is to never trust a two-dimensional man posing as a friend of the people. . (insert pun here).

I have graded all journals that had a document submitted under the assignments. The big lesson for me is to remind everyone to please, please, spell-out the two questions so that it is easier for me to fine them in your postings . . .I can't find a needle in 85 student haystacks.
Also, I graded the Photoshop assignments (too many were missing!!). The big lesson here is that when you are writing instructions for students (and adults as well), ensure that you tell them what they are going to do, and try and be more "student friendly" with the instructions. The best assignments broke the process down into smaller tasks and explained each of those tasks. The directions didn't have to be perfect, but they should at least attempt to mimic the type of instructions you would give your students. But I must say that the credo samples were awesome!! The credo, "Dance Like No One is Watching" was the big winner. As there were too many 4s to count, I'll find another way to recheck any redos.

I have been keeping a close eye on the Discussion Board for your TPE collaborations. Please don't put this off, it will only cost your group points in the end.

Journals: See last entry for the final two topics

Due this week: Excel Spreadsheet assignment, work on TPE 14, NETS 3!!

Beginning this week: We will begin the process of making movies!!

There are only a few weeks left. Keep up on everything so we can enjoy the last week.

Hello everyone. I sincerely hope that your spring break didn't leave you spring broke. Like my good friend Flat Stanley, I was very busy over the break doing everything non-academic. My wife absconded to Austin, Texas, with Flat Stanley, for a little time at the Lake Austin Spa. Zoe, Lily, and I had a great time playing, staying up late, and refusing to eat anything green.
Anyway, we are now in week eleven of 15 with only a few more activities to accomplish before the end of the semester. My T/Th class has begun the formal Pod Collaborations around TPE 14. NOTE TO T/TH: I am going to give EACH POD its own discussion board. For the Wed class, you'll understand tonight.

Due this week: Photoshop and Copyright.

Journal articles: The new L & L has arrived!! For the last two articles, we will focus on issues of equity and social justice. I want you to read "Bridging the Gap" by Don Hall in the current issue, page 15 (Vol 33 #7). For your last article, I will let you choose any article that has to do with issues of equity and social justice that relate to technology. You may search L & L or go "Outside the Box" and find any article that deals with how technology can address issues of equity or social justice!! If you do get an article from the web, please include a link on your blog.

I think that's all for the week, I'll write more later if I can think of anything else that contains a modicum of interest to the collective.