2. The Very Hungry Project Sharer From Project Share caterpillar to beautiful butterfly! Kristy Vincent ESC Region XIII Austin, TX You! TEA Technology
3. Today‘s Flight Path Project Share E-Portfolio Bye-bye binder! Metamorphosis The change! My Corner The ”info” page Groups Connections! Courses It’s the content!
Introduction Name, Region, Job Why this title? quick synopsis of converting from other LMS Feeling lost in the sea Nibbling on pieces before binging out on all it offers The blog was my green leafPoll of PS use
There are five main areas to look at today. E-Portfolio This is the one of the largest and most beneficial pieces of PS. And the most useful tool in my personal opinion. We will do a brief overview of a couple of my favorite tools to at least get you started. Do you have plans for 8:30 in the morning? My lovely boss is presenting an entire session on the power of the ePortfolio. Check it out in room 105. One thing you should definitely know is that changes here are reflected across the whole www. Generally the url will be projectsharetexas.org/whatever your login is. There is more than I can possibly cover while also diving some other pieces. One of those pieces is “My Corner”….My Corner There are really two parts to this. The back end or maintenance side and the sign-in quasi private side.. It’s not private but it is powerful. Think of it as your snap shot page. Still with me? Taking notes? Wondering when I will give you contact information so that we can stay connected after the conference? Welcome to the power of groups!Groups Groups are at the heart of humans. We are SOCIAL! Give us a water cooler, reality tv show, or internet connected device and we can gab it up!!! Our good friends at Epsilen apparently know all that too and have built in this whole social aspect, they cleverly labeled groups. The one problem with pointing out all this fascinating information is to realize this is a PROFESSIONAL network. It is not the best practice to publish questionable pictures of form a “Love my Grandkids” group. This was designed and intended to be used for EDUCATION. Courses Ah yes, what would education be without “stuff”. I once worked at a private school where we weren’t allowed to say the ugly C word (curriculum, yes it was all PBL). Well that apparently stuck with me because I don’t’ even want to call this section content. It is called “courses”(man the C words!). This is a PIECE of Project Share. I’ve already listed three other parts and barely grazed the surface. Only a piece……..Metamorphosis Not an actual PART of Project Share…. It is our goal, the end in mind type of thing for when you leave this session. Let’s get busy!
Does this look familiar to anyone? Well it may if you have ever been to someone’s public e-Portfolio in PS (click). Mine. Shoe obsession (if you were 5’ 2” and teaching HS, you would too!) LOVE the color purple. Quick aside (hat story). OK, so now that we have that out the way……….. This is the area referred to as e-portfolio. Quick, audience participation. Not specific to PS, what is a portfolio? Big binders, page protectors? Today doesn’t fly. Why? IVC job interviews, Googling prospective employers, sharing, always available, etcNotice the personalized URL? Public for the world to see! Don’t learn this the hard way. When you make changes… in your eportfolio they are instantly changed and VIEWABLE for all the world. It can also be customized. Notice mine is purple. . I don’t know about you, but I was never real successful with lugging a VCR around with me to watch a tape I recorded showing what a fab teacher I am. This particular ePortfolio can handle multimedia. It can include PPTs, Docs, videos, slideshares, etc. Also has a blog! This was my personal great breakthrough. Oh how I fought this like a two year old and bed time. I DID NOT want to use this new fangled waste of money; I was more than perfectly happy with what I had been using. Then I found the blog! Man, I had a way to document my frustrations, feelings, etc. in a way that allowed me to receive help from others. What a novelty! I was hooked. One of the easiest ways to get a new tech in the classroom is to get them nibbling on a little something. It is viewable and instantaneous. General rules of thumb…. Not everyone has Word. Spell Check BEFORE posting! Once on the web, always on the web…. Even if you later delete it. The vast majority of setting this up is found on the backend under eportfolio. Let’s take a quick peek. HYPERLINK – show the front and back side. Remember more on this will be presented at 830 in the morning. Click on “what is my corner pop up”. Use back side to segway into my corner.
Part two… My Corner. Basically a snapshot for members only. It is the ‘info’ page. How many facebook users? Ok, great! When you search for someone and it tells you so-and-so has a private page? This lets you in the door to see the private page. See the little e. It precisely details my corner. The biggest deal is to understand what is available about you to other MEMBERS!
Connections……… Ok, not that kind. This is really a powerful tool for connections, collaborations, and learning! As you continue to use PS and explore its many features, you will likely find others with similar interests. Form a group! Ever attend a workshop (aahhhem, like this one) and want to continue the conversation and form stronger working relationships with those people? But it dies out when we all return to our own worlds…. Form a group! Rural schools using these to have “virtual department meetings”. Pilot projects, subject matter, projects, etc…. Number of different uses for groups. Here’s your need to know. Your institution may not allow you to create a group. It may have to go through the institution. Check with them. If you join a group that you DID NOT create, you have to contact the person who did form the group asking to be removed. There is no leaving the group of your own free will. Watch carefully, this may change.
Why that video? Awareness! A large part of what I do involves teaching/learning online. You may be shocked at the number of classes that are just like this young man’s. Why? It’s easy. Avoid the dump and digest model. Not fun, not effective, not interactive and not learning or teaching. Use the interactive tools already provided. You don’t have to use every single tool available but at the very least use the discussions. Most likely you will also use the gradebook and lessons. Lets take a brief look at those now.
