The Final Frontier

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My husband would be appalled at my title for this blog post as I know nothing about science fiction or this film. As such I am probably doing some injustice to the movie; nonetheless, I feel as though I am in the final frontier with regard to our course prototype. Please feel free to comment below if I have offended you (I did link the title to the film.  Does that count for anything?!?) …

 

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Lindy and I spent a good deal of time putting together the final pieces of our prototype today.  We spent time last week on our course profile and outline assuming that it wouldn’t take a lot of time to put the finishing touches on our unit.  We needed to make a few changes, put together a couple rubrics and then upload everything to google classroom.  Well – wonder of wonders, we experienced some technological glitches.  When Lindy tried to upload her mysimpleshow, it changed the name of her video to something entirely different. What?!?  When we tried to import her PowerPoint, it didn’t transfer sound.  What?!? When we tried to join google classroom as a student, it wouldn’t let us join.  What?!? There wasn’t an option to “make a copy for each student” on the google doc. What?!? Needless to say, the final frontier had a few more pitstops and hair-pulling incidents than anticipated.  I think we’ve ironed out most of the kinks (not the google docs – insert eye roll), but it’s a good reminder not to do things at the last minute with technology.

Google classroom screenshot

As far as our platform, google classroom has mostly worked well to meet the needs of our students.  I still appreciate its accessibility for both teachers and students as far as viewing, submitting and collaborating on assignments.  However, as I’ve mentioned previously I find the scrolling/stream option a bit limiting – meaning that the last thing you add is published at the top of the screen.  We had to populate our unit in reverse order in order to make it appear in the correct viewing order.  I feel as though google classroom is a bit limited in its organization in this regard.

Overall, I am very pleased to have put so much effort into something that is valuable to me in the classroom.  Having to utilize new tools (explain everything, iMovie, edPuzzle in this module) certainly increases my knowledge as well as my use of different forms of technology in the classroom.  While I’m not sure I would create my own content in the same way (SO MUCH TIME), I do think my interaction with these tools increases the likelihood that I will use them again for myself and my students.  In addition, meeting and working with someone new (Lindy!) is always a great way to learn, build collaboration and create new relationships.

I look forward to viewing and hearing about what my other classmates have put together for their prototypes!