Today starts a new semester with the Cluster Challenge Program and Bentley University's partnership! This semester, we will be going to the Kennedy and McDevitt Middle Schools and working with a various group of classes and subjects within the Cluster Challenge Curriculum.
The new schedule has been sent out to the schools, and it will be posted on the Bentley Universtiy Support site within the next few days.
http://sites.google.com/site/clusterchallengeweb20tools/
If you have any questions/comments/concerns, feel free to send out an email to us, or even better, post to this blog!
Thank you,
The Bentley Computer Assistance Team
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Today was our first day of service. We will be working on creating individual Google Sites for each student in the class, as a project. Since it is the end of the term, most classes are finishing one project, and will be starting new projects soon.
ReplyDeleteToday, three of us went to the McDevitt Middle School and sat in on a technology literacy class. We learned that the students do not have a lof of computer experience, which gives us a good insight to the amount of time we need to allot when working with them in Cluster Challenge classes. We also talked with Mrs. McCrary about setting up specific teachers with students for the next time we visit. (possibly changing a time or two)
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday two of us went to the McDevitt Middle School. We had a meeting with Mrs. McCrary and talked about what we can accomplish this semester. They have done some interesting projects already such as making a pamphlet with information about a part of a computer, and then the students got to take apart computers to find that part of the computer. If the students can get online and blog about this many more people can see what interesting things these students are doing. The next step is to get a list of teachers that want our help and split up our student’s amount them to work with their class.
ReplyDeleteOn Wednesday I brought 4 students to Kennedy Middle School. Each student was sent to a different class (math, science, and English classes). I talked to each teacher and they are doing a dinner party project. I want to bring web 2.0 into the project by using Glogster or some other online poster maker in order for them to make invitations, grocery lists, and a menu. They can then email their Glogster to each other as invites, instead of mailing them. For science, the teacher wanted the kids to blog and post pictures of what they are doing. For example, their current project is building boxes and placing objects in them. These boxes would then theoretically be sent to mars.
Two students and myself went to McDevitt Middle School and met with Allison McCrary to talk about possible 4th-credit pair ups with teachers. Because their schedules are based on teacher availability, it was a bit difficult to match times, yet we pulled through. Many teachers, according to McCrary, have been dabbling with the Web 2.0 tools. There were a couple of teachers who are quite conservative about their teaching methods, but agreeing to have a Bentley student aid in their potential web projects proves to show that even the most conservative teachers are willing to break into the world of technology. Once McCrary sends us the specific teacher contact information, we will have a better sense as to what teachers would like to gain from each Bentley student.
ReplyDeleteToday two Bentley students and myself went to the Kennedy Middle School and discussed plans for the semester with one of the teachers. We talked about setting up the Gmail accounts for the students, showing them how to use Google Docs, and how to make a Google Site. We talked with Joe Salvo, and figured out how to access the list of student user names and passwords for the Gmail accounts. We will be presenting a powerpoint next time we have service, showing the students how to create documents in Google Docs, and how to share them.
ReplyDeleteOn Monday I went to Kennedy where I met up with 8th grade science teacher Julia Norman, who I worked with last semester. I am working to help them tie together their building a home presentations. I am also working to help plan out their upcoming project about healthy lifestyles and appropriate data collection/presentation methods.
ReplyDeleteOn Monday, I also went to the Kennedy and worked with the 8th grade classes with Building Homes of Our Own. The students are going to be having an "Open House" with all of the students of the class. They will be creating a presentation about their houses on Voicethread.
ReplyDeleteToday, I went with two other Bentley Students to the McDevitt. I worked with a class on using Google Earth. The two other students worked with a math teacher, who is working on "exploring Mars". The Bentley students spent the classtime working with the teacher to brainstorm possible Web2.0 uses.
On Friday I went to McDevitt with two 4th Credits. Because the scheduling is pretty hectic, we decided to go to the site for whole two hours and have our preparation time in the McDevitt library.
ReplyDeleteThings were a bit more disorganized today because the McDevitt kids and faculty were ready for vacation next week. I was able to help one of teachers out by suggesting some web 2.0 tools for her Greek project with her class. One of the 4th-credits is working with a Math teacher trying to find some tutorials for algebra using CPS. Another 4th-credit helped me out today with one other McDevitt teacher who is working on Windows Movie Maker. We agreed to research on more tools to enhance the movies that her students already made as well as figure out how to overlap voice with the music playing within the videos.
Today we continued to work on our projects for Ms. Sardina and Mr. Maillis. For Ms. Sardina we are teaching her students how to use animoto for a class project on health. I applied to register for a teacher license today so students can make longer videos. For Mr. Maillis, we are going to use mixbooks.com so that the students can post their re-proportioned recipes online. BTW: Check out my groups site for our Web 2.0 SEO optimization project. Feel free to post the link anywhere if you like the content and want to help us out! http://burmeserecipesiphoneapplication.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteToday two Bentley students and I went to the Kennedy Middle School and worked on preparing the usernames and passwords for the Gmail accounts, so that we can distribute them next week. We also worked on creating powerpoint and a handout explaining how to use Google Docs and Google Sites. We are planning to present the powerpoint next week.
ReplyDeleteTwo Bentley students and I went to the Kennedy Middle School today. We helped students set up their Gmail accounts on the new laptops that the school purchased. There were a few issues, but we managed to work around them for the most part. In two weeks we plan to present the rest of our PowerPoint on Google Docs and Google Sites.
ReplyDeleteToday we talked to Mr. Maillis and Ms. Sardina again. Ms. Sardina really wants to use Animoto so I subscribed for an educational license and was granted unlimited use. Now the students have access to make as long of videos as they want. All i need to do is created 50 dummy gmail accounts (anyone want to help us??!). Mr. Maillis wants to use mixbook.com to create an online recipe book. My students and i are looking further into that, but it will most likely consist of making more accounts.
ReplyDeleteLast week, two Bentley students were able to be assigned to our permanent teachers while I continue to be somewhat of a floater for any teachers who need computer assistance.
ReplyDeleteOne of the Bentley students is working with a Health teacher. Using a wiki, he will be demonstrating how to use it to the teacher's class so they will be able to work on their specific Health project.
The other Bentley student is working with a computer teacher where the class is learning how to use specific programs as well as disassemble a hard drive to understand the hardware of computers.
Because the computer teacher is out sick today, the Bentley student has been working with the substitute teacher. The sub has been working with PowerPoint in the class and has asked to look for certain games online to help students with their typing skills.
Last week, I have been searching the web for new effects for Windows Media Player as well as trying to find ways as to incorporate background music with voicethread digitally. I have emailed the teacher I'm working with regarding that.
Today I am working with a separate teacher, history, and they are working on an Asia Project where they're are working with PowerPoint and saving their files on their individual drives.
Have a good break everyone!
Today I went to the Kennedy Middle School with two other Bentley students. We were finally able to log into the Google Accounts. We began to distribute the usernames for them, and help student with resetting their passwords. The teachers were very happy that we were finally able to get them working. Next week we plan to distribute the rest of the usernames and reset the rest of the passwords.
ReplyDeleteToday I went to the McDevitt school with two other students.
ReplyDeleteOne of the students is working with a teacher for a wellness project and today they participated in a tutorial using Noodle tools to create a bibliography for their project. Next week they are planning to learn how to use wiki and utilize Gloster in their projects.
Today the other student worked with a teacher to teach Windows Movie Maker and he is also researching PowerPoint related tools using Google Docs.
I have been working on developing a presentation for Math Project due at the end of the semester.
Today I went to the Kennedy Middle School with two other Bentley students. We finished distributing the Google Accounts usernames, and resetting the passwords for the students. We are planning to present our powerpoint on Google Docs and Google Sites to the students in the library next week. The students will have laptops and will follow along with us. Creating a Google Site will be the beginning of their project, which they were starting today.
ReplyDeleteToday we went to McDevitt.
ReplyDeleteOne Bentley student taught a class to use VoiceThread for a wellness project.
Another student created a step-by-step guide of office publisher with examples for a teacher. This will help them get started for their next class project.
I have made a couple of PowerPoints regarding Microsoft Excel to teach students how to make charts, use simple mathematical commands, etc. Students will utilize these PowerPoints for their annual Math Project Fair this year.
Today we explored social bookmarking. Many computers still run Internet Exlporer 6 at Kennedy and therefore are incompatible with Google Bookmarks. Delicious is being considered, but everyone would need a Yahoo account which is tedious. Google Notebook appears to run fine on the school computers although it is no longer supported by Google. For now I'm recommending search on Delicious and copy the helpful links into Google Notebook.
ReplyDeleteToday my group presented the first part of our PowerPoint about Google Sites and Google Docs to the students. The students were able to create a site and learn to do many things involving Google Sites. Next week we are planning to continue presenting the PowerPoint.
ReplyDeleteToday my group finished presenting our PowerPoint on Google Sites and Google Docs. We then showed the students how to do many different things on Google Sites. Next week we are planning on helping them put their research and information on to their Google Sites.
ReplyDeleteLast week we didn't go the school because of Good Friday.
ReplyDeleteToday one Bentley student is working with a teacher, creating Glogster accounts for all her students to use for projects.
The other Bentleys student is working with kids with their Wellness project incorporating voicethreads, wikis, and other web 2.0 tools.
I was able to converse with the Library teacher here at McDevitt and we had an interesting chat about the program and technology in itself. It made me realize that everyone (the middle school students and teachers and Bentley students and even the Bentley teachers) needs a better understanding of what Cluster Challenge is all about. I want to propose a meeting of some sort or a type of assembly explaining what the program is and what needs to be done to make the program successful.
At the McDevitt, I, along with 3 other Bentley Students have been working on Glogster tutorials. There is an opportunity to create educator accounts; each teacher can create one for free and then upload their students (100max with a free account). There will be a tutorial link on the Cluster Challenge Wiki Page within the next few days.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we have received a pros and cons list from another Bentley student that outlines the uses of a number of Web2.0 tools. This will assist teachers in determining which tools to use for their projects. This will also be available on the Cluster Challenge Wiki Page in the near future.
Today is the last day of Tuesday service for the Bentley Students, but if any teachers need further assistance, feel free to email me at grenier_greg@bentley.edu.
Thank you for a great semester!
-Gregg
Today myself and two other Bentley students went to the Kennedy Middle School for our last Service Learning session. We worked with the students in their groups, as well as the teachers, to answer specific questions about Google Docs and Google Sites. We also revisited the main points such as sharing and creating new sites and pages.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was our last day of service.
ReplyDeleteOnly one Bentley student and I attended service.
I along with the other Bentley student helped several teachers use Windows Media Player that the McDevitt students were using for a number of their projects. We got to help the McDevitt students directly with specific questions such as adding music and recording voice overs and embed them within their movies.
I came across this post whilst doing some on going research of my own.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that nowadays there are dedicated computer support teams to fix computer problems in many universities. That's a far cry from my university days....
ReplyDeleteYour university must have been a lousy one. It is common nowadays for schools to hire the services of online tech support to fix computer problems at school.
DeleteNice oneremove my photo background
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