Robin the Newf is a guest collaborator tonight. Because of her presence (at my feet) I’ve been ruminating tonight about canine companions. My father-in-law, Walter G. Schmidt, also loved dogs. In fact his love of dogs was extolled in his eulogy given by the Reverend Charles Valenti-Heine:
…”And that world, for Walter, included his beloved Canines. Lucy, Canis, Oaf, Chaucer, Trollope, and Freud, the last named because Walter was told that the companionship of a good dog was of greater worth to people than any other therapy! The one time I remember Walter speaking in church was when Trollope died, and he stood up during joys and concerns to opine: ‘If there is a place in heaven for Presbyterians, then surely there is a place for greyhounds.’
Do dogs match their owners in physical appearance? in personality? There is an interesting body of research dealing with these questions. Here is one citation. Here is another entire article (Download Roy). Under what circumstances does pet ownership reduce stress? increase it? Why in the world did I spend $250 tonight on pet treats? Perhaps I still am affected by my first reading of Argos‘ blind enduring faith. Robin, the patient gentle giant, knows.
These might be questions to give my Introductory Psychology students to encourage them to conduct a scholarly literature review. Perhaps in the process I’ll teach them about Evernote, Diigo, Delicious, Zotero, and Google Scholar and have them help me compare the strengths and weaknesses of these tools in addition to comparing the kinds (and quality) of answers they get using Internet search engines versus library data bases.
Here is some anecdotal evidence provided by one of my playful students that owners like me (though there is a debate between Robin and me as to who is the owner) may start looking like their dogs!
Trivia question from Robin:
What was the name of the Newf who accompanied Lewis and Clark?
Answer is here if you fail to find out—and even if you do.
Today I explored the Apps on my Mac that begin with the letter “A.”One of my favorite (but underused) apps( that I am glad I use since the advent of Heartbleed ) is 1Password. It allows me to quickly and securely access my myriad accounts and quickly find things, like this Animoto video of a year ago that I had forgotten I had made to celebrate the wonderful creative work of some of my students.
Another app I take for granted (behind the scenes but there when I need it) is Adobe Reader. But do I really need AlarmClock Pro any more?—Perhaps, if I remembered that it has a time-zone converter and an uptime recorder that can embarrass me with a record of how long I’ve been sitting at my machine!
“How many different music players do I need,” I ask myself as I rediscover my AmazonCloudPlayer? How many flashcard makers are necessary (which one best suits my needs or those of my students) as I find Anki again, untouched, and with a new version:). And, heaven forbid, there is always the temptation to visit the MAC App store especially since it is built into the Mac Mavericks Operating System.
I REALLY should learn how to use AUTOMATOR and its distant cousin, TextExpander—and their incredible capabilities for improving the efficiencies of my work flow and my commenting on student papers. To achieve that mastery I most likely shall first seek out the sage guidance of David Sparks and his incredibly well-written books, ebooks, and screencasts. Hmm, I see that he uses Vimeo for his screencasts. I’ll have to revisit it when I get to my “V'”‘s.How about—oh, the audacity of suggesting it, Audacity? I have several times attempted to master it because of an interest in creating podcasts and wanting to support open source software endeavors, but alas, because it just crashed my machine, it has been banished to the trash. Besides, if i ever reach the “W’s” among my apps, I suspect that “Wiretap Studio” will serve the same function—and better.
Though I won’t have time until this summer to deeply explore the 2014 Horizon Report which I alluded to in an earlier post, I wanted to share some initial reactions here:
I concur with the Report’s assertion of the growing ubiquity of social media. The challenge for me is to find the right balance between the kinds of deep thinking which I believe “more traditional teaching methods” correctly implemented can foster and an ability to capitalize on the enabling capabilities of social media for producing, communicating,creating, and collaborating. I don’t find that my present institution has the appropriate classroom infra-structure for leveraging these social media tools within the physical classroom and traditional class-room meeting time.
I agree with the Report’s suggestion that that it is inevitable that higher education must allow and facilitate an integration of online, hybrid, and collaborative learning.
Though I have always been interested in “adaptive” learning and personalizing the learning environment, I find the promises of “an emerging science of learning analytics” overblown, premature, and creepy in terms of degrees of invasion of privacy.
I applaud and embrace the identified trend of students as creators rather than merely as consumers though I would urge that one not lose sight of the importance of quality control of their products.
I concur that the time is ripe for university programs to support aggressively “agile, lean startup models” that promote a culture of innovation in a more wide-spread, cost-effective way as long as there are built in assessment procedures which validly document the weaknesses and strengths of these (maybe) new approaches. Too often I have seen institutions chase after the latest educational fad and fail to benefit from organizational memory of prior, similar failed ventures.
For me, online learning is a useful complement rather than a viable alternative to most forms of face-to-face learning. As I’ve written earlier, I regularly and increasingly use “nontraditional” learning tools to supplement my personal professional development and my digital literacy. I am still sorting out, however, how to embed and assess that literacy among my students. In what venues I should foster those kinds of skills and intrude them to top learning tools. I am increasing wary of a “digital divide” that ironically exists between K-12 and higher education instructors with the latter—and their students—being the more deficient!
What do you think? I’m also interested in readers’ suggestions about what I should write:
Examtime is a relatively new (beta) version piece of software which has interesting potential for students and teachers. Here is a relatively recent Lifehacker review.
Here is an example of a fun “quiz” I made. I included multiple choice, True/False, and multiple response check-list formats. It was easy to upload images. I’d like to see the capability to include html code, videos, and hypertext links. by dsimpson
Here is a silly example of flash cards: by dsimpson
Here is some feedback I received from two of my research assistants, Liz and Amy:
ExamTime is an education tool used to make mind maps, quizzes, and notecards. The application also allows you to take notes and build schedules for studying. ExamTime is a great place to for students and educators to collaborate and share information. The application is currently in a beta version and is a free tool.
To explore the features of ExamTime I made a mind map, notecards, and a quiz. Of the three, the most time was spent on the mind map, which was the most extensive of the three. I found the ability to personalize the mind map very appealing. ExamTime allows you to make the map as linear or randomized as you wish. Other features include, the ability to add notes or pictures within the mind map and to customize the shapes and colors to make the map visually appealing. This tool is an exceptional addition to classrooms, educators, and students of all ages. For example, 100 level language students could use ExamTime flashcards to study vocabulary, make a mind map for verb-conjugation practice and quizzes for cultural integration.
Things I especially liked. On the surface, the application is very simple, but has many features. I particularly like the ability to create quizzes to share with friends for studying together. I also love that after creating a mind map, with a simple click you can transfer the information into notes. Additionally, you can add videos, links, photos, and slideshows to a note. Not only does this application have a significant number of options for studying, it is very user friendly and allows members to organize a large pool of information quickly and easily.
Things in Need of Improvement. When making an extensive mind map, there is a set amount of space available, so running out of room can be a concern with this application. Another struggle is perfectly matching the color and shapes of nodes so the final product looks polished and professional. Additionally, hypertext links cannot be added to the information which can limit some types of information sharing.
What are your experiences with Examtime? How does it compare with other similar software?
A common theme I’ve encountered in a number of meetings and informal conversations with faculty, staff, students, trustees, and alumni is a growing awareness of the rapidity of change in higher education—in how we teach, in how we learn, in from whom we learn, in where we learn, and even in in what times of the day and night we learn! These concerns are addressed well by the new learning avenues explored by the shared online learning insights of Debbie Morrison on the distinction between the creation of personal learning experiences (PLE’s) and personal learning networks (PLN’s) . I am also increasingly influenced by the “the learning flow” concept advanced by Jane Hart.
Even as I proctor an exam while writing this blog post I am learning online—checking my Twitter account especially for posts by
Thank you, fellow educators across the world for all you share and how you teach and inspire me. Teaching and learning clearly are not constrained to the classroom.
Introduction to Edynco—and research assistant Angela: Click me.
Review of Edynco by Angela Wong
Things I really like: Edynco is a multi-feature learning tool for educators. Created in Slovenia two years ago, this tool provides easy-to-use templates for creating learning maps. The creators of the software are quick to distinguish between mind maps, which are usually used for brainstorming and planning, and learning maps. Reminiscent of Prezi [which I, DS, personally find dazzlingly distracting]. Edynco’s setup is different because its learning maps allow for additional media, clarity, discussion and communication between educator and student, and numerous kinds of interaction. The blended learning method style is intended to help anyone who wants to educate others. Overall, Edynco is well-thought out with a beautiful design.
Areas in need of improvement. There are a few areas that still need improvement. Throughout the website, users will find quite a few spelling and grammatical errors. ESL users in particular may suffer from these translation errors. Users unfamiliar with dynamic technologies may too quickly become overwhelmed. For better UI, the learning map module should integrate a “snap to grid feature” (as illustrated on Microsoft, Adobe, and LucidPress software). Lastly, the tutorial that automatically pops up every time when entering a learning map is slightly annoying, as it can be accessed anytime.
Despite these minor and relatively unimportant flaws, Edynco is incredibly sleek and promising. The user is not left wanting for a “share” feature to post on social media. Edynco also has an export to computer feature that is inaccessible to non-subscribers. The interface is dynamic, responsive, and relatively easy-to-use. In addition to the learning map software, all users have access to additional content, including micro-lectures, quizzes, videos, images, audio, and more- all of which can be seamlessly added to the user’s customizable learning map. The developers have left room for expansion to release even more educational tools and are to be praised for the present wonderful-work-in-progress. Educators and students alike should be excited for this beta software to go live—and in the interim, to try it and to provide constructive feedback for improvement.
This semester has been especially challenging with my teaching three consecutive 70 minute courses three days a week. I have found it quite difficult to make a smooth transition from the past 35-years of teaching in 50 minute blocks. In the past I have often had an hour between classes for regrouping, reflection, meeting with students and gathering my thoughts. I have missed very much the usual abundance of in person quality time with my student assistants. whichg is vital to my happiness.
We have often had to coordinate their work efforts for me via electronic communication. I am most fortunate to have highly skilled, patient, playful student research assistants who can respond to a hurried, fly-by query from me “learn how to use Movenote and report back to me its potential value”with a quality response like this. Thank you for your most able and cheerful support!
Many thanks to student readers who have shared their thoughts about the technology learning tools from Jane Hart’s survey (identified as favorites by 500+ learning professionals from 48 countries worldwide). I found your responses thoughtful and helpful in informing my reflections about which tools to teach, which to further investigate, and which to use in my own personal learning plans. I found especially interesting your sharing which apps help you become a more effective learner. Keep those insights coming.
Continuing my ruminations from Part 1, I have mixed reactions about Tool #14, Wikipedia. I do use it as a starting point when I explore topics about which I know little. I am amazed at how current its articles often are. Moreover, I am intrigued by the Association for Psychological Science’s Wikipedia Inititiative to improve it. However, I can’t convince myself of its credibility nor can I motivate myself to dedicate time to joining others in making it better.
I have played with Prezi (Tool #15) as an alternative to PowerPoint, but find it too “jazzy” a presentation tool for my purposes. I can see how it might readily engage and entertain an audience youngerthan I ordinarily interact with. I have found Tool # 16 (Slideshare) more useful as a personal learning tool than as a teaching tool. I am fascinated with the potential of Tool # 99, Learnist.
I can’t image NOT using Tool # 17 (Word). Though I presently prefer blogging tool WordPress (Tool # 8) over Tumblr (Tool # 65), and Blogger (Tool #18) and Typepad , that is more a personal preference that has evolved over time. Here is a recent comparison of some of the elements of several blogging tools. And here are some “scoops” about technology learning tools as my top tool preferences evolve.
Which of these tools allude to above serve your learning needs best? Why? What tools like this do you use most often?
This course is designed to provide an interactive cultural immersion experience through the extensive use of Web 2.0 technology learning tools. The course emphasizes the significance of a cultural understanding in a technological and culturally connected world. Global connections provided will increase students’ understanding of European culture through studying social norms, history, and the impact of European culture and language on American political decisions. Drawing upon local and global resources students will interact with new cultures and practice world-wide communication.
Phoumany, Catrina, and AmyRyan, Liz, and Maxine
Ryan Waters:
When I first saw the e-mail sent from Carroll about developing a class using technology, my first reaction was receiving two credits along with a piece of technology. Soon after Dr. Simpson approving to be the teacher of this technology centered CCE immersion, the six of us started to brainstorm some ideas for the course. I clearly remember deciding Europe was the way to go because we tried to determine what would be the place most students from Carroll would like to visit? This was affirmed by Dr. Simpson showing us an article that most Americans still want to visit Europe more than other countries. This set in motion the course developing process and how we were going to go about giving a European immersion experience.
This pilot course has been a great blessing in which I have been able to learn so much more about our neighbors across the Atlantic, not only through research but also the interaction with the people who live there. I have been able to broaden my horizon on how the rest of the world lives their lives in comparison to how our American culture lives. This experience would not have been possible without not only technology, but also how to use technology to its full effectiveness. I learned so many new forms of technology tools through Dr. Simpson or Jane Hart’s Top 100 tools for technology. These tools have been extremely useful in creating and experiencing a European virtual immersion. Such tools have been translators and movie makers to help translating information in different languages as well as editing movies filmed on this iPad. I have also used tools that I was completely ignorant about before this class such as Haiku deck and how to use Google drive and Twitter to their full potential. The Ipad I received for creating the class has been a small learning experiencing within itself. I previously have had an IPhone 4 and 5, and have learned how to use Apple devices, except MacBooks those are still a work in progress. Although iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches are all very similar there are still some minor differences that I learned while using the iPad. These tips were learned through experience and fumbling along with reading a book about 100 iPad tricks which refreshed my memory on some of the great uses of the iPad.
Technology has become such an intertwined part of our culture that we sometimes forget how such tools are taken for granted. The ability for me to write this reflection on this iPad uses an operating system which is somewhat 7 years old on an app, Evernote, which allows information sharing through social media or e-mail. I await the new technology that will bring all cultures closer together in the near future, and hope to see where this course goes in the future. This semester truly has been a creative, fun, and humbling experience to how the world operates and how it is rapidly changing.
Phoumany Phouybanhdyt:
Through the course of this semester, I had the honor of creating a pilot CCE course with my fellow STEAM members. It was quite the journey. We had our ups and downs. We had times we laughed and times we were just plain frustrated. No matter what, we trucked through it all and did what we could. For a group that was fairly on the bigger end, I think we did a great job. I think, now, we are all ready to return to normal activities in Dr. Simpson’s office and are ready to wrap this up. Maybe an opportunity will pop up in the future for us in relation to this, but for now, here is what I learned this semester.
I think one of the key words of the semester was “technology”. We learned about various forms of technology and learned how to utilize them to our advantage. We discovered what worked and what did not. Through this all, I think we can all agree that the university truly wants to embrace technology and emerge it more on campus. But, the reality of it is that this school is not yet ready for the shift! We did not even have the appropriate adapter for the presentation. Several times a year, major Internet issues arise. Carroll still has a long way to go. Aside from this, I learned of new forms of presenting and other tools that I was not knowledgeable or really understood before. Because of this project, I definitely am a huge fan of Google Drive. It is one of the greatest things ever in forms of collaboration. Also, being more knowledgeable of Learnist and Haiku Deck, convinced me to possibly use these in the future.
The other big thing I learned is that creating a class is hard! In one sense we did not meet our expectations because I think we expected to have every single detailed figured out and everything would be great. In reality, it is not the case. These types of projects, we learned, are constantly a work in process. You are going to come across complications and areas that had a bit of improvement needed. For example, we would have fared better knowing more foreign contacts, but we settled with what we had. Whoever wishes to maybe take this on in the future would be better off than we were in this area. We had multiple discussions about how we could provide the framework for this class but whoever decided to use our idea, might not like half the things we prepared and would just alter it to what they want. So, moral of the story is, creating a class is hard! I suppose, one day I may be in the position of creating lesson plans and exams and such, but it requires a lot of work. Your expectations need to be reasonable. Also, being all full time students on top of it, we were busy balancing the rest of our lives this semester.
Overall, this was an enriching project and a tremendous learning experience about everything. I could not have asked for a better crew to share this with. I am incredibly proud of what we had accomplished this semester. I cannot wait to see what projects we have in store in my final year in Dr. Simpson’s Office. I think we all deserve a well- rested, enjoyable summer now!
Throughout the development of this course we have encountered many challenges or difficulties, discovered new tools, and learned how to collaborate and compromise collectively as a group. I think one of the key elements I did learn from this course (or creating it) was time management. Every week I needed to make sure I produce some work to add to the course and I had to continue doing research that could be useful for everyone in our group. I not only learned about time management while working on the project on my own, as a group we had to compromise and find a time that would work out best for everyone. Other than time management I got the chance to learn about a lot of new technology tools, some that I have heard of through looking at Jane Hart’s Top 100 Tools while others I had never heard of before. Tools such as Learnist, Haiku Deck, Ning, and Google Drive were very beneficial to this course. I think it was great to find key tools that would be the most effective to creating this course, but these tools can even be useful for me outside of this project. I have also learned more about the utility of the iPad and how much I can really do with it. Sure many people know that there are lots of applications that one can download, but it is also about spending the time to look into those applications. I found a lot of background information on Switzerland through applications that covered current news, history, and cultural norms. It was very helpful to learn that there are many different applications and iBooks available to give background information and history about something before I even got onto the Internet and did a Google Search. This just let me know that there are a number of ways to do research, besides the library and the Internet, right on the iPad.
While I was doing research on Switzerland I learned a lot of information about the history, currently news, and most importantly the Swiss culture. I personally do not know a lot about Europe at all, besides what I have learned from various history courses since I have been in school. It was interesting to focus more on the culture and be able to compare it to American culture. This course idea is to help get students immersed into another country’s culture and I feel that I learned a lot about the country, and other countries from other group members, by taking the time to research and by trying to connect with the country, their culture, and the people of that country.
Overall I have learned about many different technology tools that not only helped me while working to develop this course, but these are tools that I can use for personal use or on other school projects. I have learned much more about Europe, especially Switzerland. I also learned from the challenges we faced while developing this course and researching, such as conflicting ideas and determining which tools would be beneficial to use. From those challenges I learned to compromise with one another and to choose solutions that would be best for the overall group and project, because we can not use every tool or website we come across.
Amy Peterson:
The opportunity to design a cultural immersion experience through the use of technology tools was a completely unique and rewarding experience. I formed new connections with two alumnae, Amy Williams and Jenrette Nowacznski as well as Dr. Paul Rempe, an emeritus Professor of History and learned a great deal from these individuals. I was exposed to a variety of technology tools, including Google Docs, Ning, Learnist, Haiku Deck, Wikispaces, and became familiar with the use of these tools and learned the practical application in a course format. I have developed an improved set of research skills as well as interviewing abilities. I was fortunate enough to be a part of this project from the beginning and create a unique course for students in the future. Our work went beyond that of a typical classroom and I was able to interact closely with technology, my team and my contacts. I have learned a great deal about British history, social norms, and other aspects of culture like food and clothing as well as social etiquette. This course challenged me to think both critically and creatively to overcome potential obstacles and encourage students in the future to have as comparable travel experience to those who have the means or time to travel abroad. I have learned how to work closely in a team and collaborate. My team and I learned to help each other, to give support to ideas, work out problems together and above all, respect the contributions of all to create a multifaceted perspective on our project. Through this project, I have gained many skills with the support of my team and Dr. Simpson.
I was fortunate enough to speak with very well-travelled and well-versed individuals. I gained a great deal of insight through my many conversations with Amy Williams. She added a realistic perspective to the variety of information I was bombarded with via travel guides and videos like Rick Steve’s Best of Europe, BBC news and history, social etiquette guides, and other information on regional differences, clothing and food. I learned the difference between pubs and clubs, the practice of tipping, the social strength of afternoon tea, the effect of American influence, and even how English weather affects the daily lives of the people. Jenrette Nowcznski’s contributions further supported my understanding of British culture and social norms including the role of transportation and British style. Technology made these communications significantly easier and while we experienced problems with campus wide Wi-Fi, and adapters for our iPads, among others, they could be easily remedied by campus administrative support. Both as a team and individually, we were exposed to and later mastered several technology tools including our collaborative work area and communication boards, Google Docs and our Ning. I personally enjoyed the challenge of finding a new presentation tool, Haiku Deck which limits the number of bullet points on a slide show presentation to 5 and a title and shrinks the size of the text to fit on one line of the slide. I created a Haiku deck to experiment with its effectiveness of showcasing several key points in British history and shared the information with Dr. Rempe who gave me some very helpful feedback. I enjoyed working with Learnist as a space to present the information I collected through the course of the semester. It was very helpful to find a tool that will automatically embed videos, show the live site as well as allow commentary from both the presenter and viewers. I have worked with other presentation tools like Voicethread in the past but was limited because I could not embed videos or links to the presentation effectively.
Throughout this project, we encountered potential problems due to physical distance between our students and potential contacts as well as the barriers of time with a full time student’s schedule. I have developed the fortitude to balance many projects and complete them. This course has taught me that perfection cannot always be reached but that it needn’t always be. I have also learned to constructively apply honest criticism to my work which has enabled me to become a much better student and vastly increased my understanding on a number of topics. A major part of this course was testing our ideas in the context of a course and I firmly believe that this course can significantly expand student’s cultural understanding and expose them to new experiences and new people as effectively as physically traveling to that country.
Elizabeth Firkus:
Is it possible to substitute a course that is looking to achieve immersion with one that doesn’t actually have an immersion component, but is virtual? Since taking on this pilot program, this question has continued to come up for me. I have continued to ask myself if the course that we have designed has realistic and achievable expectations without the immersion component. After much reflection, I have come to the conclusion that, I do believe there is nothing like being fully immersed in a country and a culture, but I do find this course to be a practical idea.
This course is practical and realistic because by design, it looks at all of the same things that one would learn and encounter when immersed in a culture. The course may not have an immersion factor, but it does include interaction with a native. Something to point out as well, is just because one is immersed in a culture does not ensure communication with natives. The student has to want to interact with the natives, and I’m sure not all students are entirely comfortable with their language skills to do so depending on the country that they are visiting.
Piloting this course allowed each of us to study a country of our choosing, which I feel was extremely beneficial because the more you are interested in something, the more time you are going to spend researching. For me, I have always wanted to go to Italy, so researching Italy was the perfect choice for me. Not only has this course taught me more about Italy, but also it has increased my desire to travel both to Italy and elsewhere abroad and gave me a chance to learn different technology tools.
The technology component for this course was extremely important. With all of the new technology advancements it is crucial to stay update with technology. The course development consisted of many different technology tools, including Ning, Google Drive, Haiku Deck, and Learnist. Prior to this course I had not even heard of Haiku Deck or Learnist. After completing the course, I would now use both in my academics. Haiku Deck is such a nice alternative to a PowerPoint, that I know I will use it for presentations in the future.
Overall, this course was very beneficial. I learned a lot, from technology tools to about Italy in general. In addition, my desire to travel has also increased. Putting what we learned aside, it was a great way to collaborate with the rest of the team before we lose one of our team members this fall.
Maxine Venturelli
First, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Maxine Venturelli and I am currently a sophomore at Carroll University and majoring in Elementary Education. This is my second year working for Dr. Simpson as a research assistant. This year when the cultural immersion pilot project was first proposed by Carroll University I was unaware until it came up in a discussion at work with the rest of Dr. Simpson’s research assistants. I realized that only two groups of students would have the opportunity to participate in this opportunity and me being the worrisome person that I am did not know if we would actually get one of these two spots. As a team we crafted a proposal and submitted it for consideration. It turns out that we were granted a chance to create our own pilot course. Along with the project, we got to choose a piece of technology that each of us would be able to use to enhance the course, so we decided on the iPad. And so our journey began.
Personally, I was very excited to be given the opportunity to craft a course. Being an Education major, I took this as an experience that I could learn from in the future. Since I am early in the Education Program, I had some tools at my disposable and some knowledge from previous courses. I am really interested in how to best teach students and engage them in the learning process. Since I am so passionate about education, I set up an idea in my head about how I would like the course to look; however I had to compromise with the rest of my peers in creating the course. I offered my ideas and debated the prevalence of some of my ideas. A realization that I came to is that this is not my course, but our course. I learned that even once I enter the teaching profession I will have to work with my colleagues. Throughout the process, my peers and I faced some drawbacks, such as the Wi-Fi connections and a lack of materials that would make the iPads work throughout the campus, but we worked together to make the best of the situation. We only were able to meet together once a week because of our busy schedules, but we made sure to keep each other informed. I think that a large part of this project was learning how to work as a group and produce a product in the end showcasing our work. We ran into difficulties, but the important part is that we used our problem-solving skills to work out the situation. I have learned many things that I can carry with me into my future career.
Collectively, we decided to focus on Europe and delve into the cultures of individual countries. Individually, I chose to research France. I have been interested in France since taking a French language course in 6th grade and continued my French language learning throughout high school. I really wanted to try to branch off into all aspects of French culture in order to give students a taste of what life may be like in France. With the help of my iPad I explored apps that would help expose students to the French language, French news, and French music among others. Also, I took advantage of the technology resources that were introduced to me through Dr. Simpson as well as some other devices that I was familiar with. To display my research I chose to use Prezi and Learnist because I believed that they really were able to capture my research information into one place. I used other resources too, such as videos from YouTube, and a plethora of websites to find my information, and even had the opportunity to interview some French exchange students. The gathering of information was enjoyable for me and I was able to broaden my knowledge of France as well as presentation tools.
I would like to take this time to say thank you to everyone who made this possible. I am so thankful to be given this opportunity and to work with some amazing individuals.
