Reflection #5: Vidcasts

WHAT?: This week we learned about vidcasts in class. Our assignment is to create a vidcast using one of the following formats: how to, tutorial, public service announcement, or intro to instruction. We learned different tools in where we could create these vidcasts. Once we create them we are to put them on our classroom site and YouTube (for practice if we want.)

SO WHAT?: This technology is very important to me, because as a teacher I think vidcasts would be a great way to teach/announce certain things to students. Even as a colleague or student now they can become very helpful. As a colleague you are then again allowed to announce things between co-workers, or if you post your Vidcast on Youtube you could also share it between colleagues/students. I think that the coolest tool we used for creating Vidcasts was the "PhotoStory 3." I seriously was so impressed by this, because I had never seen anything like it besides PowerPoint. I love on PhotoStory how self-explanatory it is. There was nothing complicated about it, and sometimes I feel like PowerPoint can be confusing at times.

NOW WHAT?: I think as a teacher these are great tools to learn about, because not only are they going to be helpful for me to create certain things, but they could also be helpful for my students to create different assignments. I think that this assignment is really fun/informational that we are creating right now. This would be a great assignment to do for my students, even if we completed it as a class. They could also complete it like we are in class, with partners/groups this way they could collaborate and come up with creative ideas. Also like we all know, everything is going technology-based in our classrooms, I think that Vidcasts are going to be a great tool to integrate into my classroom. It is better for the children to experience more than just POWERPOINT. With PhotoStory, it is similar to PowerPoint, but you can shake certain things up for the students. I honestly was so impressed with this week in class. I love learning about new tools, because it gets me so excited to go out there and teach! All these great tools they have out there today are going to be so helpful to me, as a teacher, to create new and improved things for my students!