Important EDM310 Information

1. Class is CANCELLED Thursday December 6, 2012.

2. If you have not completed your Foliotek you must do so by 4 pm Thursday December 6, 2012.

3. You have been sent the Final Exam/Questionnaire. It must be completed by midnight Sunday December 9, 2012. Do it earlier if at all possible. If you did not get it, send an email to EDM310 Help immediately.

4. Your Final Reflection is due midnight Sunday December 9, 2012. Keep it between 3 and 5 minutes and I will be happier. If necessary, do more but do not exceed 10 minutes.

5. Grades will be submitted to the Registrar by noon on Monday December 17, 2012.

Happy Holidays.

Foliotek

We will check your Foliotek entries at the beginning of your first mandatory class this week (December 3, 4 or 5, 2012) or we will help you complete them if necessary.

1. You must have registered for Foliotek BEFORE your first class this week. It costs $ 35 for one year. To register and pay for Foliotek follow these instructions:
a. Use Chrome or Firefox browsers ONLY.
b.Go to the USA Online Login page.
b. Login. Your User ID is your J number. Your password is the last 4 digits of your social security number.
c. Click on Sakai and then click on Foliotek in the left column. If you have not established a Foliotek account, do so. You will have to pay by credit card. After all information has been entered you will have to Accept the Foliotek rules, etc.
2. Once you have registered and paid for Foliotek and Accepted the Foliotek rules, etc. you will be able to post to Foliotek.

Think of Foliotek as a storage device in the sky where you will store evidence of your accomplishments in the College of Education. Every course you take in the COE has state established standards which you must meet. You must store the evidence used to determine whether or not you have met these standards in Foliotek where anyone desiring to can see that evidence. Your instructors will provide detailed instructions of what evidence must be submitted for what standards. You then place electronic copies of that evidence in Foliotek.

In EDM310 all of your evidence for all of the standards associated with EDM310 is in your blog and the EDM310 Class Blog. Therefore your blog and the Class Blog are what "go" into Foliotek. Since your evidence consists entirely of blogs we only have to provide Foliotek with links - links to your blog and the Class Blog. Therefore completing the Foliotek requirements for EDM310 is quick and easy.

You will need:
1. A list of the standards associated with EDM310. They are:

Literacy: Oral and Written Communications (3)(c) 1.(iii)
Literacy: Technology (3)(c) 4.(i)
Literacy: Technology (3)(c) 4.(ii)
Literacy: Technology (3)(c) 4.(vi)
Professionalism: Ethics (5)(c) 5.(ii)
Professionalism: Ethics (5)(c) 5.(iv)
For Elementary Majors ONLY: General Special Education: 290-3-3-.34 (2)(g)2.(iii)

Note that the standards are grouped into Literacy, Professionalism and Teaching K-6(for General Special Education). (There are other groups.) Also note that there is one small letter i (or two or three of them) at the end of the numbering system. These are VERY IMPORTANT. Be sure you pay attention to them!

2. You will need the URL to your blog and the URL for the Class Blog ( http://edm310.blogspot.com )

3. Then follow the instructions in Foliotek Instructions.

4. After you have completed Foliotek, your entries must be checked in person by one of the EDM310 staff members. This is an ABSOLUTE requirement and it must be done in class before 4 pm Thursday December 6, 2012. If one of us does not sign off on your Foliotek entries in person you will get an I in the course. And if you do not complete Foliotek (which is a GREAT hassle for you and an even greater hassle for Dr. Strange) no later than February 18, 2013 your I will become an F no matter what you would have gotten in the course.

Dr. Strange Selected as "Top Prof"

Dr. John Strange was selected as a Top Prof by Mortar Board member Bailey Hammond at the Annual Mortar Board Top Prof Celebration held Thursday November 29, 2012

In her award comments Bailey cited Dr. Strange's antipathy to "burp back education" as one of the reasons for his selection as Top Prof.

Lab Open and Closed

For the Thanksgiving Holidays the Lab will be OPEN and CLOSED as follows:
Wednesday November 21, 2012 OPEN and staffed until 2:00 PM
Thursday November 22, 2012 CLOSED
Friday November 23, 2012 CLOSED
Saturday November 24, 2012 CLOSED
Sunday November 25, 2012 OPEN and staffed 1:00pm - 6:00 pm

Happy Thanksgiving

Normally I have no assignments during Thanksgiving Week. Hurricane Isaac necessitated moving the "lost week" into Thanksgiving Week. To partially make up for that I will end C4K posts after the one due next Sunday (11/25/12). I will also end C4C after next Sunday (11/25/12). And there will be no Blog Post #14 Assignment which I had removed but warned of a replacement. I am also allowing Blog Post #13 to be submitted no later than Sunday December 2, 2012. These changes do not totally eliminate the work necessary during Thanksgiving Week. I hope, however, these changes make the next two weeks a bit more enjoyable.

C4C and C4K assignments will be available by noon on Monday 11/19/12 and will be due Sunday November 25, 2012. They will be the last C4C and C4K assignments. Happy Thanksgiving (and the week after).

Foliotek

If you have not paid for Foliotek, you should do so NOW!

If you have paid for Foliotek you need do nothing until the last week of class.

I will post additional instructions for Foliotek on the Class Blog after Thanksgiving so you can complete your EDM310 Foliotek ahead of time. We must still check your Foliotek BEFORE classes are over. We will do this in the first class meeting of the first week in December.

You must use either Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer to access Foliotek.

Click on USA Online at the bottom of the USA Web Page.

Click on Sakai.

Enter your J Number as your user name and your JagMail password as your password.

You should see EDM310 at the top of the page. Click on it

In the left column you should see Foliotek. Click on Foliotek and follow the instructions to make your payment.

Entering the Contest? Watch These Videos.

These two videos should help you generate ideas for your contest entry. Remember: Due Date Sunday December 2, 2012. The contest entry movie should be from one to two minutes long.

Additional information can be found at the Made At the USA site.

Dr. John Strange and Chris Smith Discuss the Contest

Dr. John Strange and Chris Smith discuss the Made At the USA Contest in USA Contest Video 1 (3:21)

Chris Smith Discusses the Contest

Chris Smith elaborates on the Made At The USA Contest in USA Contest Video 3 (1:42)

Blog Post #14 Assignment Will Change

Beware. I have changed the Blog Assignments Manual once again. We are now using Version 11. There is no assignment for Blog Post #14 BUT THERE WILL BE. Another version of the Blogpost Assignments Manual will be published soon. If you have an earlier version, DO NOT USE the Assignment #14 that is shown in it. Always use the latest version of all manuals.

How to Use Green Screen and Examples

Learning to Use the Green Screen

Elizabeth Brooks shares her Green Screen (Chroma Key) Secrets in her video How to use Chroma Key in Adobe Premiere Elements 9 starring previous EDM 310 student Ramsey Willis.

Jacey-Blair and the Jag Brooms

Elizabeth directed Jacey-Blair in a thrilling green screen movie Jacey-Blair and the Jag Brooms. Watch it to see how the green screen magic allows Jacey-Blair to fly, as Elizabeth said,"around South Alabama's campus using the new Jag Brooms providing much better transportation than Jag Bikes".

Song used in this video is "Prologue" from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by John Williams.

Spellbinding

Elizabeth and Bailey spend another Spellbinding Day in the Lab - well with a bit of "extra" added.

Special Blog Assignment Due Wednesday Midnight November 7, 2013

Read the USA Today article A World Where Grades Will Be Left Behind by Mary Beth Marklein. Summarize the article. Then respond to the arguments of the author from your perspective as a preservice teacher. This response, should be thoughtful, personal, and reflective. It also must be well reasoned. It must not contain any grammar or spelling errors. DUE WEDNESDAY midnight November 7, 2012

Midterm Evaluations

Otherwise Known as Grades

You gave yourself a grade at midterm after evaluating yourself on a number of items of importance including doing all your work on time, the quality of your writing, the quality of the content of your posts, the grading system prescribed by the University of South Alabama ( A - Outstanding, B - Above Average, C - Average, D - Below Average, F - Unsatisfactory.) You also were to have been honest in your evaluations. You also were to have considered the evaluations provided by me and the Lab Professionals through our comments as well as the comments of your fellow students (which, I fear, must be heavily discounted since most are not true evaluations but cheerful "You are doing great" statements even if that is not true).

How do the grades you gave yourself compare with the grades I have given you?
Here are the data:

Dr. Strange gave a one letter better grade that the student gave him or herself: 4 - 3.5%
Dr. Strange and the student agreed exactly on the grade given: 37 - 32.7% (including 2 D grades)
The students gave him or herself a one letter higher grade than Dr. Strange gave them: 38 - 33.6%
The student gave him or herself a two letter higher grade than Dr. Strange gave them (A vs. C):10 - 8.9%
The student got a D from Dr. Strange but gave him or her self an A, B or C: 12 - 10.6%
The student did not complete the midterm questionnaire and therefore did not give a grade to him or her self. (All of these students were given an F or a D by Dr. Strange.): 12 - 10.6%

How were the grades given by Dr. Strange distributed?

A - 25 22.1%
B - 35 31.0%
C - 27 23.9%
D - 13 11.5%
F - 13 11.5%

How were the grades given by students distributed?

A - 59 52.2%
B - 31 27.4%
C - 09 08.0%
D - 02 02.8%
F - 00 11.5%
No Grade given 12 10.6%

Here are data concerning how you evaluated yourselves as to writing:

Here are data concerning how you evaluated yourselves as to as to the quality of the content of your blog posts:

Some of you need to sit down and have a talk with me about your work. Who needs to do that?
Everyone to whom I gave an F or D (24 students not including the 2 students who gave themselves a D)
Everyone who gave themselves a grade two letters better that I gave them (10 students)
The two students who gave themselves a D (and I agreed) might also benefit from a chat with me although it is not required.
If you were within one grade of my grade or equal to my grade (and you did not get a D or F), we do not need to meet. Why not?
1. I have not reviewed all of your work yet (podcasts, my sentence, C4T, and some C4K assignments as well as comments by partners on cooperation or lack thereof).
2. This is midterm. Most students are improving the quality and timeliness of their work (which is what we should expect).
3. I used + and minus scores which the University does not recognize and which will not show on your midterm grade report.
4. There is limited time and I must meet with 34-36 students already.
How can you find out whether you must meet with me? I will send everyone who needs to meet with me an email by midnight Sunday October 29, 2012 stating the time for our meeting. You MUST confirm the appointment by return email. All appointments will be scheduled during the time slots allocated to your EDM310 section.

Correction: Lab Open and Staffed Saturday 10/28 and Sunday 10/29

The Lab will be open and staffed Saturday and Sunday October 28 and 29, 2012. We have found an available staff member (Carly) for Sunday.

Richard Howell Offers Good Advice on Writing

Richard Howell, an EDM310 graduate, offers excellent advice on writing in his blog The Demeanor Report. Read his post How to Write Something Thoughtful and Commendable.

Lab Open and Staffed Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday

Need to catch up during the Fall Break? The Lab will be open and staffed Saturday 10/6, Sunday 10/7, Monday 10/8 and Tuesday 10/9. Regular hours will apply.

Lab Open Sat 9/29 But No Staff; Sunday 9/30 Open and Staffed

The Lab will be open (if it locked ask the Lab attendant across the hall to open it Saturday September 29, 2012. It will NOT, however, be staffed on Saturday. The Lab will be OPEN and STAFFED Sunday September 30, 2012.

Comment Rejected Because It Did Not Meet 3rd Grade Standards

On p. 16 of the Projects Instruction Manual you will find this listed as point #3:

All comments must be proofread and free of spelling and grammatical errors. Have you read Some of You Won’t Make It Through 3rd Grade ? If not, do so now. I do NOT want to find out that your comments have been rejected by a teacher (3rd grade or not) because of spelling or grammatical errors. For heavens sake! You are planning to be a teacher, correct?

If not, do so now made bold and italicized for this post.

I also told this story in every class during one of the first mandatory classes.

Sunday (September 23, 2012) I got this email from Anthony Capps, my very first Lab Professional and now a 3rd grade teacher (just like Mrs. Yollis) at Gulf Shore Elementary:

If you can't read the text in the image, here is what Anthony wrote:

Hi Dr. Strange,

I can't publish this comment because BBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBBB didn't capitalize her letters appropriately, and she included more than one run-on sentence. We just got finished discussing the importance of capitalization and punctuation last week, and I don't want this comment to undermine our progress.

In contrast, Daniel Morgan's post was very helpful! We just began learning how sentence variety makes writing more interesting, and his use of questioning was exemplary.

Thank you,

Anthony

OH MY! Four times she used i instead of I. One time she made poll plural by adding an apostrophe s. She had one run-on sentence. In addition, data is always plural. The singular form is datum. Using data as a singular noun is incorrect. Unfortunately, many people treat it as a singular noun as did this student. The misuse of data as a singlar noun apparently played no role in the rejection of her comment. I would have rejected it for that reason, however.

Students:
You must proofread your comments.
You are not texting when you leave a comment.
Please do not let this happen again.

Where Have All the Students Gone?

One of my favorite songs by Pete Seeger is Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

So Where have all the students gone?
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Why do I ask this?
Well 25 (21%) did not do Blog Post #4
40 (34%) did not do the C4T#1
and 34 (29%) did not do their presentation.
For some they have started like the Saints: 0 and 3. Not many teams have ever made the playoffs starting 0 and 3.

Embed Your Presentation - Google Changes the Rules

Google has changed the way to get the code that will embed your Presentation in your Blog. Here are the new instructions:
1. Create your presentation.
2. Proof it for spelling and grammar.
3. Make sure you have followed the instructions and have 15 or more slides including a Title page and an End page as well as acknowledgements for pictures and material used.
4. Go to the File menu in Google Docs (Drive) with your presentation open in Docs (Drive).
5. Select Publish to Web.
6. Click Start Publishing.
7. When asked if you are sure you want to publish this documet, Click OK. 8. Change size to Small (480x 389). 8. Select time for slide to Automatically Advance The default - 3 seconds - will probably work. If it does not, go back and change it by selecting Publish to web under the File menu. (Unfortunately the new version of Google will not let you select Manual Advance.)
9. Copy embed code.
10. Go to Blogger and create new post.
11. Add a Title - Project # 5 Presentation.
12. Be sure the HTML tab is selected.
13. Paste embed code.
14. Publish and make sure it works.

C4K Starts Monday September 17, 2012

I think C4K is one of the most important parts of EDM310. You will be commenting on kids blogs throughout the world. But you must PREPARE for this activity before you undertake it. Here's how:

1. Read/watch all material for which links appear in the section for Projects#3, #4 and #7 in the Projects Manual, p. 18
.....a in the opening paragraph
.....b in the General rules numbers 1-5 (on p.18) and 6c (on pp. 19-20)

2. If your C4K assignment has a Class Blog, look it over. see what you can find out about the class and the assignment. For Week 1 I have done a bit of that for you. Where possible I have listed the teacher's name, the school, and the grade. But YOU must explore every week. Don't just treat this as a quick assignment. Think about the way the teacher is approaching instruction, how she uses blogs and for what purpose.

3. PROOFREAD your comment. Do not have it rejected because of your failure to use good grammar, to spell correctly, or to avoid texting techniques.

4. In this first iteration, C4K will take more time than it will later in the semester. Invest quality time in this assignment. I assure you it will be beneficial to you in the future.


Some Additional Reminders:

Many of these students have been blogging since September. The students at Pt. England School probably have been blogging for 3 or more years! They know more about blogging than you do. Pt. England School is one of my favorite schools and has been for a long time. We will visit Pt. England School quite often.

Three Special Reminders
1. If the student to whom you are assigned does not have a post, choose another student and notify me (at edm310help@gmail.com) of the student you selected instead.
2. You must find out about the teacher and the school BEFORE you leave a comment. You are a visitor there. Know where you are and with whom you are interacting! This is extremely important!
3. We will discuss what you should do in completing your C4K assignments in class this week. Tuesday and Wednesday classes are mandatory (Wednesday night 6-7:15). If I were you I would wait to start on C4K until after that mandatory class.

Add Your Picture to Your Blog Profile

Here's how:

Go to the Class Blog.

On the right, just under Instruction Manual, click on Click on the Emergency Access to the Instructon Manual.

At the top of the light blue area, click on your class in the Subpage(s) list

At the right, click on the Down Arrow. This will download your picture to your computer. On a PC it will (probably) go into the Pictures folder. On a Mac it will go into the Downloads folder.

Go to your blog.

In the upper right you will see your name with a down arrow. Click on the Down arrow.

Click on Blogger Profile

Click on Edit Profile in the Upper Right

In the area where it says Profile Photo, click on From your computer and choose your picture which should be in the location specified above. It will be named YouLastName,YourFirstName.jpg, e.g. Baxter, Alecia.jpg

It will upload and appear in the Profile page and on your Blog

VERY IMPORTANT: Scroll all the way down and click on Save Profile on the Left.

In a yellow bar near the top of the Profile page it will say "Your settings have been saved" and there will be a link to "View Updated profile". Click on that link to check it out.