Dis.+ed.+Project

Group Project… v Use a minimum of 10 reputable sources, at least 3 of which you access via GALILEO. Include a reference list following APA style. v Spend time designing the presentation to be both functional and appealing. Incorporate links to online audio and video resources. The best presentations will be interactive, allowing users to navigate in a non-linear fashion. v Strong group communication is obviously critical to success. Use the tools in WebCT -- each group will have a discussion area and chat space -- to conduct group business, in order to make your participation evident to the instructor. Our topic v What is the role of distance education in today’s schools? What is the future? Who should be involved in overseeing the planning, implementation, and evaluation of distance education to see if it is meeting the needs of the students? What we should do… There are three people in our group. It looks like there are three questions that need to be answered. Pick one…I’ll do what is left. It also looks like there needs to be 10 sources found. You ladies find 3 and I’ll find 4. We should all find at least one using Galileo. Once we get all of our info together we need to figure out a way to compile it so that we can present it in a meaningful fashion (which to me means no PowerPoint). I would suggest a wiki so that we can all edit it and place our contributions there.

Jane's topic: What is the future? Carmen: What is the role of dis ed in today's schools? Justin's topic: Who should be involved in overseeing, planning, implementation and evaluation of dis ed to meet students needs?

Is there a certain template we are going to use? If we start a PowerPoint should we email the files to each other through WebCt?-Carmen

I would be hesitant to use PowerPoint. I just think it sounds like she is looking for something different than just a powerpoint. We could create a new page on this Wiki and use hyperlinks, podcast and video to make our points and it eliminates having to email back and forth a powerpoint project. I do agree that we need a template? Anyone got any ideas? JC

I have an intersting idea to present our project. I am thinking that we should do a podcast. What we would do is take our articles and read them thoroughly enough to be able to discuss them. We would select one day/time to have you guys call me. I would have you guys set up so my computer would record our conversation. I could then edit and clean up the podcast. I could then post it to this website and post in WebCT. This wiki could hold our referance page and shazam....project done. Any thoughts? We could ask Dr. Cooper what she thinks of this...do make sure we aren't waisting our time....JC

Hi, Carmen and Justin --- I sent an e-mail but thought I would post here, too. Let me know the next step. I don't know if there's a record of last night's chat room, but some of us asked about this project in addition to asking about the grant. Somebody asked about the "paper." I did not understand that we would turn in a final paper --- rather, that we would turn in a group project that conveyed the ideas from our research. Jane

Hi. I finally got back into Wiki. Jane I got your response to my email in WebCt. I am not against doing a podcast, this would be a great experience for me because I have never done one. I have done interactive PowerPoint that contained videos and narration. I guess this would be simple. What about the online video link I added in PowePoint in your Webct emails? Is there a way we can use it. If so I need to add it to the reference page. I have already added two references and that was going to be my third reference. If we can not use the video I will post another reference. Let me know when you all want to do the podcast.-Carmen

I went back and looked over the chat transcript. She said in there no PowerPoint... twice....Carmen you had a very nice PowerPoint, but I don't think OP wants that. My suggestion is this. (You guys can take or leave it.....or tell us something better.) Audacity is a free online podcast recorder. You guys can download it. We could each take our topics and discuss our findings that we found through research. You could both then email me your individual podcasts and then I can merge all three together. Just a thought....but the deadline is ticking. Hope to hear from you soon. JC

Thanks, Justin, for volunteering to merge the three podcasts. I'll look into the possibility of podcasting and get send another note later today. Can a podcast include links, images, "branches," etc.? I liked seeing Carmen's thorough outline b/c I better know what I can emphasize, echo, or leave out of mine. Justin, do you have an outline that we could see? We might have a better overall presentation. ..

Ok. I will download it today. I will send it to you by tomorrow evening. I have never done a podcast before, so this is going to be a new experience. I'm sure it will be fun. I guess I will post another reference because I would assume the video link I found it out of the question.-Carmen

Basically....all a podcast is you speaking and it records what you are saying. There is no video, images, or graphics. If we are able to pull this off...I will take all three of our contributions and blend them together. I'll start with some intro music like a raido show and then I'll say a little introduction. Next I will insert each person's contribution. Each persons podcast will be seperated with me coming in and transitioning to the next section. Then at the end I'll sumerize and close it out with some music again. We can link the podcast hopefully in our wiki and then the refernce page we have created will be right there. What do you ladies think? It might be good for your personal podcast if you just had an outline to speak from so that what you are talking about will sound smooth. If you have more questions just ask. JC

Almost forgot..I chatted with Dr. Cooper this evening. I made the point to him that it didn't say verbatim in his directions no PowerPoint...So if the podcast is too challenging for you I guess that could be a backup plan. You can go back and look at the chat transcript if you would like. It is the little icon to the right of the chat room.JC

(You spoke to HIM? I'm glad to know he's a HIM; others had spoken of Dr. Cooper as a HER. I think we missed out by not having that introductory meeting!) OK, Regarding the project. . . What if we used a PowerPoint as a framework (just a few slides -- intro, one slide for each of our podcasts, conclusion), then linked the podcasts to each of our separate slides. Then, we would have "images," "links," and a different form of presentation. Slide one: Title Slide two: outline (just the three separate components that we each are addressing plus some kind of graphic) Slide three: Carmen's link to podcast with graphic (or Carmen could have two slides so that she could link to that video that she found on Youtube.com) Slide four: Justin's link with graphic Slide five: Jane's link with graphic Slide six: Concluding slide Of course, you know that I know the LEAST about making this happen than anybody. I will be going to Best Buy in a minute to get a mic for my computer. I looked at downloading Audacity, so I'm thinking I can do a podcast. . . Jane

I got the mic. Also, I'm sending my outline via the class e-mail, so look there. I included some pictures at the end of the outline in case I needed a graphic --- I think the crystal ball one would be good for the "future of distance ed" if we decide to go with a ppt framework. Jane

Jane, I like your thoughts above. Here is a alternate view.....Since we know OP doesn't like powerpoints...lets just do the same stuff you mentioned above....in the wiki. It can be done. Each one of those 'slides' can just be a new page. We could load each individual podcast on a separate page. Just brain storming here....why not each one of us just do our own wiki page with the info, graphics...podcast we want. I'll do the intro page and we can just put in hyper links to connect each page. What do you ladies think? JC

I am about to try and do my podcast now. Then I will check out the email Jane sent.-Carmen

Helpful Link....[|How to Podcast]...JC

I have finished my Podcast. How do I send it to you? Email?-Carmen

I can not get onto West GA's website. Is there a problem?-Carmen

Not sure what the deal is with West GA....try to email it to me. jcastile24@gmail.com How did the idea above about creating a wiki page as our presentation page?JC

That works for me. I am not sure how to add an extra space thought. Also, how will we get the video in the presentation? Linking it to the PowerPoint? I emailed the Podcast. Please provide feedback. I am so glad we have used Wiki since West GA's site is down.-Carmen

The link to the video is http://www.edutopia.org/online-learning-video. It also has a source code so it can be embedded into the site.-Carmen

I will create us a page that we can just use for our presentation. I'll divide it up into three areas. Each on of us can add our podcast to that part. I have put a sample podcast on the Home page....to check out. Forgot to tell you ladies that you will need to download a MP3 converter file for Audacity or it won't make MP3's. -JC

JC I have emailed the MP3 file to you. thanks.

Hi, Justin and Carmen --- Thanks, Justin for the helpful links. I'm ready to record, so when I get finished, I'll send the file to your e-mail, Justin. I may be calling one or both of you so you can walk me through the final phases. This is my first experience with podcasts, Wiki, on-line group projects. . . Lots to learn. I didn't see where my e-mail with my outline made it to the course site. One question about the Works Cited page: Are all of the lines supposed to be double-spaced and formatted with "hanging indent"? I always taught the MLA style, so I'm not sure about APA. Jane

One more step I e-mailed the podcast to you, Justin, and I see where you have a page set up for us. Is this project due Saturday night at midnight or Sunday night? Jane

Hi, Justin and Carmen -- I was just adding a little color to our presentation page, but then a pop-up said someone else was editing, too. So, I'll get off for now. I am going to try to add a picture or two to my area. I need to see a sample Wiki page to see what the possibilities are. . . Are you guys more experienced at working with Wiki than I am? It's kind of fun, but I will defer to the more experienced. Jane

Justin, Jane and I have tried to make the project page look nice. We did as much as we could. Jane even managed to get her podcast loaded, I still have not figured it out. Anyway, the link has been sent to Dr. Cooper. I enjoyed working with the two of you. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Ladies...Great JOB! We made it.....Thanks for being great partners. Let me know if I can help you with anything else in this class or future classes. JC