November 27, 2011 Web Conference Reflection

Dr. Abernathy reiterated that students need  to work in teams of 3 to 5 people.  She suggested that students post in the discussion board notify their IA if they are not yet in a group.  You should have a team within your own section.  99.9% of students say that working in groups was a wonderful experience, even though they wanted to do it themselves originally. 

The Week Two podcast only requires audio, but we do need to have an embed code for our eportfolios.  We are supposed to use Audacity for the podcast.  I felt better after learning that I am not the only teacher that has not ever made a podcast or used Audacity.  It was suggested that we search YouTube for Podbean tutorials.  These are free web 2.0 tools.  We should be sharing with our administrators that there are valuable instructional tools that are available and free.  We should be leaders on our campuses and share our expertise and knowledge of web 2.0 tools. 

Dr. Abernathy mentioned that Google sites are great for eportfolios, but we should make our own decision on what we want to use.  I've decided to use Google sites.  I also just learned about Drop Box, which has been invaluable for my group to sharing files.

Probably the most important thing I learned today is that we need to document our original work with Creative Commons – including our podcast, digital story, and PSA.  Dr. Abernathy  and the faculty believe that we should have our students register their work at Creative Commons, as well.

The web conference was very informative, as usual.