Reflection #5: 11/13 - 11/26/12Shelby E Simmons
EDET 650 Internship Dr. T. C. Smyth 11/26/12 Reflection 5: Development and Implementation - Bigger and Better In the previous reflection, I announced that I had selected lessons and posted the first lesson for the project website. I am now happy to announce that the project implementation website: http://ccis.ccsdtitle1.org now contains three complete lessons on internet safety for parents. The current session topics are Anti-Cyberbullying, Digital Life 101, and Scams and Schemes. The lessons are active for use, and I will begin promoting them immediately. Over the course of the past two weeks, I have resolved the issue of my on-site supervisor. Mrs. Turner will continue to act as my supervisor and will review content from home as she recovers from surgery. I will also rely more heavily on Mrs. L. Douglas for day-to-day support on the project. I have met with Mrs. L. Douglas on several occasions for collaboration, and we have decided to structure the lessons so parents or older teens can use them rather than creating separate lessons. We will also link to activities appropriate for both parents and students to enhance the instruction available at the website. The last lesson for the website will be on the rights of digital content creators, once that lesson is posted in slide show and print format, I will begin work on the videos for all of the lessons. The content of the videos will have been created, the slides will all be developed, and the scripts are written, all that will remain is the editing of the video and audio portions to create a complete video instruction. Since this is a reflection, I can list several things I could have done better: start faster, work smarter, select more engaged student participants, and be more decisive about when to pull the plug. However, I am still pleased with the products I have developed so far and think the project will be an overall success. With the little time remaining, I will use my time in a highly focused manner and will be able to complete much of the work left to do – except the audio/video editing – at work as a part of my work and internship duties. I will definitely have worked well over 100 total internship hours by December 7. I will have also earned my break! I plan to use that time to prepare for a presentation at SCASL in March of 2013. So far, the parents and staff members who have seen parts of the sessions/lessons have been very complementary about the content and the style of the site. The school-level facilitators are looking forward to using the sessions at family night with parents in the school computer labs. We will send flyers and post cards encouraging children to use the sessions and other resources at home as well. I believe I will be able to give a positive final report because I have learned quite a bit about myself, my skills, and the opportunities within my district and my field; hopefully the evaluations from learners will be equally positive! |
Reflection #3: 10/9 - 10/29
Shelby E Simmons
EDET 650 Internship Dr. T. Smyth October 29, 2012 Reflection III: Direction and Development I have had an opportunity to look at the projects of my group members and I am very interested in the topics and proud of what they have accomplished! Most of the projects for the whole class are meaningful and will have a positive impact on a large group; I only hope I can be as successful. By and large, while our projects are not similar, you can really see that time in equals a quality project! Time and organization are important and I was missing both for much of my project. I think I knew what I wanted to do but did not have a clear picture of what I could actually complete in the time available to me… I may have also over-estimated the time I had! I have finally posted on my internship website all of the lesson topics and plans I will use for instruction and one lesson plan that shows how I will modify the lessons for a parent audience. Some of the videos I will use are already posted on the http://ccis.ccsdtitle1.org site and others are available at http://commonsensemedia.org. I have decided not to reinvent the wheel. Since I will not be able to get students to act in the videos, shoot, and edit them in time, I will only film myself introducing and connecting the lessons and combine that with professionally produced video and assessments designed for the online/video format. I am working to meet my revised timeline and have implementation begin during the first full week of November. Being out of the office 3.5 days last week and 2 days this week will not help, but being more realistic definitely will! I am also working with a group of fellow students from EDET 650 on one of the components I will use for the lesson of cyberbullying (this component is not a deliverable for this class but will enhance the lesson). Details of that collaboration and project components is available at http://breakingdesigns.weebly.com . I have begun talking with parents about the online and video sessions and once the first lesson is online, I will promote it and the upcoming lessons on all of the district’s websites and through social media. I will encourage our Title I schools to use the computer labs during family nights and other parent events to give parents access to these lessons. I will also invite the public library to access our materials. I am very excited about the prospect! I have already applied to present the results of this project/internship at the SC Association of School Librarians (SCASL) conference in March 2013. I hope that that will go as well as or better than my October 24, 2012 presentation on Web 2.0 tools and promoting parental involvement which I shared with the SC Association of Title I Administrators in Myrtle Beach. I am looking forward to breathing my next “sigh of relief!” Reflection #1: 8/23 - 9/16
Shelby E Simmons
EDET 650 Internship Dr. T Smyth 9/16/12 Reflection I: Getting Started The first part of this internship is analogous to the Analyze section of the ADDIE model, this entire period has required me to think about what skills I want to develop, what products I would like to create, and what can I do to serve my “client”. Rather than moving too far out of the box and trying to do something totally unrelated to my daily life and professional goals, I decided to develop technical skills that I have used in small ways previously and broaden the scope of activities I have previously attempted. Since our office is federally funded, and we are being monitored this year, if I wanted to be able to work with colleagues during the workday, I also had to be very careful to ensure my project serves the documented needs of the parents I serve. My project is to create online coursework for parents that teach parents topics required by the k-12 SC Internet Safety standards. The content will have video and text based components and provides additional resources for parents to share with children ages 4-18. I feel very fortunate to be working with a National Board Certified Media Specialist on the project and look forward to writing scripts, shooting skits, editing audio and video, designing assessments, as well as evaluating and cataloging resources. Out of nearly one thousand surveys that stakeholder have completed about preferred session topics, internet safety for children and bullying prevention top the list of requested sessions and this project will help fill that need while also filling parent’s requests to have flexible session times. So far, the only completed portions of the internship are writing the proposal and contract. I tried to think carefully about what the deliverables for this project will be – what would be meaningful and demonstrate mastery. Reviewing the ACET standards was very helpful, as was Dr. Wissick’s suggestion that we begin thinking about our final portfolio, both of those recommendations led me to focus on needs assessments rather than just looking at personal preferences and to refine the language of the contract and proposal to be more specific in selecting and discussing objectives. Since receiving the approved contract, I believe I have “finished” the Analyze phase and am moving on to the Design and Development phases of ADDIE. I have clearly defined goals and objectives, I know what components and objectives are required and now I am deciding on the best tools to use to provide instruction. I have quite a bit of information on my audience and a lot of support within my department and in the district. The project has the support of the superintendent and I have already arranged with the video arts teacher at our high school for access to the studio for shooting and editing. I am really looking forward to the next steps of this process! |
Reflection #4: 10/30 - 11/12
Shelby E Simmons
EDET 650 Internship Dr. T. C. Smyth 11/12/12 Reflection 4: Development and Implementation For my fourth reflection I am pleased to announce that the first lesson for parents is now available at http://ccis.ccsdtitle1.org and is on the topic of cyberbullying. I have also selected the titles and begun work on the next two lessons for parents and students that will hit the site the week of Thanksgiving: Digital Life 101 and Scams and Schemes. Rather than Bookbuilder, the tool used to create the first lesson, I will use a series of video, games, and text for the next two lessons to supplement a video slideshow that will be broadcast on local cable television. The initial lesson is currently under evaluation by parents and classmates, and I am hoping we also have outside users find the resource online and make suggestions for improvement. I am already thinking of possible redesigns to shorten and otherwise revise the digital book, although I am very pleased and proud of it! I have also made changes to the structure of the Internet Safety website to make it easier to navigate and provide more opportunities for engagement. The next two lessons will be designed for a broader audience, not just parents; while parents are my focus, the material will be suitable to be used directly for and with children in a family or school viewing environment. I have even auditioned students to be video presenters and actors for the lessons to help provide relevance and realism for younger viewers. Now that I have completed my presentation at SCATA, and have had more time to focus, these lessons are coming together much more quickly, although I am sure the editing process will take a significant amount of time over the Thanksgiving holiday. I have also experienced the temporary loss of my on-site supervisor due to a totally unexpected emergency situation that resulted in a surgery and may require me to find a new supervisor or simply using alternate means of communication – I am hoping for the latter! This week I will be filming segments of the lessons at Colleton County High School and next week I will be editing and implementing. I am also continuing to collect evaluations of the Cyberbullying lesson. I finally feel like my feet are on solid ground and I look forward to continuing the process! Reflection #2: 9/17-10/8
Shelby E Simmons
EDET 650 Internship Dr. T Smyth 10/8/12 Reflection II: Development Delay It seems as if I have only had one week to work on the development of this project – the time has flown by and I am looking forward to doing more! So far, I have narrowed down the lessons to be taught and mentally begun to storyboard the videos for parents and students. I have worked on the training from Common Sense Media, and am much more familiar with the resources available through that site and within that curriculum and believe that it will adapt well for my purposes. I am, however, not as far along as I would like to be due to the printing of district calendars I have been at work until 6, 7, 9, and 11pm working days, nights, and weekends with an end finally in sight! I have not made the planned update to the http://ccis.ccsdtitle1.org website I created to be the home of the Colleton County School District Internet Safety online portal. I am developing the NCIS-like theme for the web portal and the videos will be complete packets of instruction that can stand-alone but are supplemented by the site/portal. I expect to make progress this week by organizing and posting the resources I have gathered along with rough storyboards or concept maps for the videos. I have also looked at using bookbuilder to create content for this project and it looks like I may be able to use some of the content and resources my 722 ISD Team will create to support this project an implementation. The meat of the project and the deliverables will be created completely within the confines of the internship. I have arranged to begin the process of creating video and/or filming for the instructional videos at the end of this month and will be receiving training on the equipment at the high school next week. I will also have to have at least the first video ready for review by the district’s media specialists in time for the video to premiere at the Colleton Association of Library Media Specialists (CALMS) meeting at the beginning of November. I also hope to co-present this project and collaboration at the SCASL conference in March! I believe setting these goals will help get me back on track – goals and some sleep that is! |