Curating my Interests

I had a difficult time choosing which curation site to use for this assignment. I viewed the video for Pearltrees and thought it was very similar to Delicious- where you can bookmark sites, share your bookmarks with others, and find people with similar interests to your own. Since I already have a Delicious account, Pearltrees seemed redundant. I checked out a few of the featured sites on Storify but I wasn’t a fan of the linear nature of the pages- I prefer the organization of a newspaper. I enjoy scanning through information, whereas with Storify I had to scroll down to view something new. Next I checked out Curated.by and I liked that it allows users to organize multimedia, bookmarks, and tweets- not just one form of content. With Curated.by, you can organize all of those different forms of information into “bundles” and share them with others. In the end, I decided to go with Scoop.it because I liked the feature where it suggests pages to you that you might be interested in. Usually iTunes Genius is correct and I do enjoy the music they suggest so I thought I would try Scoop.it for that very reason. 

Although I had decided on Scoop.it, that didn’t mean that I actually got to use that website to curate. I applied for an “invitation” on Sunday evening. When it didn’t arrive within an hour, I realized that something must be wrong. I spoke with my classmates and professor and they were going to send me invitations as well. I’m not sure of the process of sending an invitation; however, they never arrived…. I checked both of my email accounts and nothing.  It is now Wednesday evening and apparently I’m not cool enough for a Scoop.it account. :( Because of time constraints (parent-teacher conferences tomorrow night until 9:00 pm and the first football playoff game Friday night) I decided to use Curated.by instead. I was originally impressed with their ability to “bundle” multiple types of information so I chose it over Pearltrees and Storify. I will sign up for Scoop.it whenever they invite me just so I can check it out. 

Curated.by was super easy to join- no invitation mess! It took me approximately one hour to start following other curators and to set up my own bundle. It’s quite easy to bundle information; you just drag and drop websites or copy/paste the URL into a box. I like that I can chose which websites and information to include in my bundle. With paper.li and Tweeted Times, I didn’t have control over everything- all new twitter posts of individuals or companies that I followed were included. However, on Curated.by I can chose what I want in my bundle. All of the curation sites that I checked provided more freedoms and personal control than Paper.li or Tweeted Times. I will still use my Paper.li paper because it organizes my Twitter feeds, but I prefer Curated.by for true curation. 

What I like about curation is that I am able to organize the information that I find and share it with my friends/family, classmates, coworkers, and my students. It makes me the center of my personal learning network and allows me to be a part of other people’s personal learning networks. I’m not sure if there are any aspects of curation that I do not like because I can be creative and share what I find is important with others… there’s really no downside to that. 

I could definitely use Curated.by in my classroom because I am the one to pick out what information is or is not included- I don’t have to worry about inappropriate material. I could teach my students how to use Curated.by but I think the greatest benefit would be to use this for the “Science in the News” project so that my students have a place to go for valid references and current articles. 

Curated.by allows you to embed your curation into blogs or other websites. Below is my "bundle" and here is the link to my Curated.by page.

Web 2.0 Resource for the Physics Classroom

Although it seems odd, I chose to try Pixton.com to create a comic strip. I’ve never made a comic strip before, because I’m not artistic or funny, but I think it would be fun and useful in a Physics classroom. I was new to Pixton and the comic idea in general and thought it would be a fun thing to try. Comics allow us to think outside the realm of real life- creating our own reality with new universal laws of motion. Think back to “The Matrix” and how exciting it is to see what is possible without gravity and other laws we’ve come to know and love. A comic strip would allow students to create something outside of reality. 

I chose to make a comic strip project that my students will actually do this year when we start Newton’s Laws in a few weeks. (My free trial will end in 3.5 weeks from now so I’ll have time.) I am having my students create a comic strip that accurately portrays one of Newton’s Laws. I created my own comic (shown below) as an example. 

My students will each create their own comic and then present it to the class to show off their work as well as to explain their reasoning.  It was extremely easy to sign up on Pixton and to set it up for my classroom. Creating the project took about 5 minutes total and even provides a “rubric generator” so you can quickly and easily create a grading rubric for your project. Here is the link to my project. To view the project, you will have to log in with the username CTER1 and password of CTER11. You can also see the rubric that I made to fit my project so my students know how I will be grading them. Actually making the comic strip (and my avatar in front of the Eiffel Tower) took some time because there are so many options and the directions are not as simple as the video portrays. I imagine that it took me close to an hour to make my comic. Now that I’ve made one, it will take less time. 

I think that my students will benefit from this because they are able to demonstrate their understanding of Newton’s Laws without having to make a PowerPoint or take an exam. This is a nice alternative assessment and I imagine that my creative and artistic thinkers will greatly appreciate the opportunity. I also think that the students will benefit by being able to “free their minds” like Neo in the movie clip by creating something that isn’t possible on Earth. The only resources necessary are computers and the internet (if you’re using the free trial.) I will assess the comics using the rubrics provided to the students. 

frostysnowbro. (n.d.). Matrix: The Jump Program. Retrieved October 12, 2011, from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXv3SSijPFc

Education in 2025

Education in 2025 will be vastly different from education today. I see my classroom set up the same but each student has their textbook in their laptop- I no longer need that bookshelf. I see my students doing simulations on their computers to gain background knowledge at their own pace rather than passively sitting in their desks taking notes as a class. My students are collaborating online rather than frantically copying homework problems before I get to their desk. My students don’t need to bring their textbook, notebook, binder, or calculator every day. I don’t have stacks of paper on my desk to grade nor do I have a paper grade book to write the scores in. I don’t have post-it notes, extra pencils, jumbo pink erasers, or five million red pens. However, I do have computers, Pasco/Data Studio hardware, interactive textbooks, web 2.0 tools, and students that enjoy participating, collaborating, and creating. 

In the future I will keep all of my old labs that serve their purpose- but make the reports collaborative in a wiki. I will keep my old presentations- but record my voice over them and make them accessible to my students. I will keep my grading scale (92% tests, 8% everything else)- but modify my assignments and tests to better suit my learners. Examples of modifications include more computer-based simulations, collaborative problem-based projects, and discovery learning opportunities. I will focus more on problem-solving skills, the ability to communicate, technology skills, and creating a personal learning network. My job will no longer be to transfer the ever-changing science knowledge into my students and to test their ability to regurgitate the content; my job becomes empowering my students to discover and decide on their own and to prepare them to be contributing members of a technological society. 

Other than a large amount of professional development to prepare teachers for the technology available in the future, the biggest change I see for teachers and schools comes from the availability of data. I believe that the advancements in data collection and organization will enable politicians and administrators to make more informed decisions regarding student learning and teacher performance. This data collection and organization will lead to better allocation of resources and more effective teacher preparation and professional development.

There are two videos below that summarize what I believe will be the future of education. The first is of the “Science Storms” exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The exhibit is interactive, exciting, truly engaging, and sparks curiosity in everyone present (especially with the giant Tesla coil hahaha.) All of the technology in the world can’t compare to the awesomeness of live demonstrations. I hope my classroom is even more interactive and exciting in the future- just as this exhibit is now.  The next video is an advertisement for interactive textbooks by McGraw-Hill. Notice how the books are available on cell phones too- not just computers! A year ago (and again last month) I sent information and the free trial to my department chair of the Kinetic Physics books that I got to try at the NSTA conference in 2010. We haven’t adopted them yet, but I’m excited because the change has to start at some point. Maybe it will start with me :D 

AllState. (n.d.). The Future of Science Education. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from YouTube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_kEREMJbyk

MHEducation. (n.d.). McGraw-Hill Connect: Connect, Learn, Succeed. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from YouTube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhpHEi8ILtc