Servive Project Wrap-up

This was our last week for service projects, and our class was really busy putting the final touches on everthing. As on online correspondent, I have been busy e-mailing my peers to ask if they needed help with anything. I have been mainly corresponding with group 4 (mealworms) and I commented on their blog. Group 4 was really on top of things, and the only help they needed was comments. Their blog and VoiceThread look great.

I reached out to other people to through e-mail asking if I could do anything to help, and they either told me to just comment on their blogs for the kids to see, or that they are already finished. So, at the end of this project, I ended up being more of a "commenter" than an online support, because the other education majors that I was in contact with really had it under control. I really enjoyed being able to look at all the ECDC group blogs, and I was amazed at how well they turned out. When we first started, I thought that it would be really tough to get 2nd graders comfortable with the technology, and that the education majors would end up doing the bulk of the work for the students. But, when I look at and interact with all the student blogs, I can tell that the students really did the research, and the education majors were really there to facilitate learning.

I did get to practice with VoiceThread on my own, since in our previous assignment I used SlideShare. I explored the site, and I know I will use VoiceThread not only in the future, but in the present. I have already started setting up a VoiceThread for one of my clients with autism to do. I think that all the technology applications we have learned this semester will really revolutionize classrooms as well as private clinics like the one I work at.

Week 2

Because of my job, I cannot attend face-to-face sessions with the kids at the ECDC, so I will be helping my group out with online correspondence. I emailed the members of my group and asked how they were progressing with the students and what I needed to do. Katie replied with everything and said that the group we are working with is off to a great start. They have their KWL charts up on GoogleDocs, and they also have their blogs up with their first entry.

Because I cannot phyisically be with the students in my group, I will be corresponding with other education majors who are able to meet with the students at the ECDC this week. They're goals are to collect photos of mealworms and embed them into their blog, and also get their VoiceThread started. I will be working behind the scenes, so I will be commenting on blogs, working on the VoiceThread, and doing anything else I can.

Because I am now assigned to a group, I feel much more comfortable and confident about this project. I wasn't sure what to expect last week, but I have a feeling that all the education majors are going to help these students complete wonderful research projects.

This week we were given the basic principles of our service projects. I will be working with students in the ECDC, and although we have not had a chance to meet with the students, I have been thinking about and preparing questions that will help the students with their researching and incorporating technology into their projects.

Here are just a few open-ended questions to ask the students to help them think deeper about their project. I am excited about getting to help them learn about the different technology that they can incorporate into their research project.