IT IS NOT A MATTER OF GOODBYE BUT SEE YOU SOON

Hello there :)

Well, you know that all good things come to an end... and now it is time for me to present the last challenge I carried out in the ICT subject. And... what better way to say goodbye than a virtual tour through all the challenges developed during the term!
It is incredible to reach this last challenge, because it seems like only yesterday when I opened this blog with my first post and I didn't know what to write or explain... and here I am talking about my last ICT task. I should admit that, when I started this subject, I didn't know how to use ICT resources in the classroom. However, in the past few months, I have known many tools and resources, all of which have broaden my vision about the area. Definitely, although at times it hasn't been easy, looking back I have to say that it has been worthwhile.

Some of you may have followed me in this months and, as you have seen in this blog, in this subject we have developed an extensive work. The aim of this last challenge was to disseminate that work and make a presentation . In order to create an organized presentation of each module, I started this challenge preparing what I wanted to highlight along the presentation. The
following step was to gather all the screenshots and materials that could be utilized as visual sample to accompanied my words, for that, I used this blog and the links I uploaded throughout the term.

Once all the information was well organized, I had to choose an adequate tool to make my presentation. As always, my teacher Mª Jesús provided us with many webs and tools. I had used some of them in other challenges, such as Genial.ly, so I decided to select a different one to broaden my possibilities. After checking all of them, I decided to use Present.me, because it was the best adapted to my necessities.

The tool presents many advantages, for example you can choose between four options: upload the presentation together with a video or with an audio, use only a slide or a video. This option makes the tool really practical and intuitive, since you only need to upload the presentation and add the detail you prefer.

Other advantage is that the slides of the presentation have to be played manually. In this way, if you are recording your voice, you can adapt the time of each slide to your discourse requirements. Moreover, I would also highlight an option that the tool provides: when you have already finished your work, if you click on the "edit button" (Picture 1) it allows you to get the embed code as well as creating a license for your presentation (Picture 2):

Nevertheless, the tool presents many limitations too. The main drawback is that you need premium account if you want to developed more than three presentations and also if you want to use particular resources. Besides of that, if you want to delete an specific section of your speech and repeat it, you can't. With this tool you only can edit the last part of your discourse.

Definitely, as every tool, it has some pros and cons but I have to say that I am really satisfied with the final result it offered. What I like the most of Present.me is that you can create the whole presentation (including the video and audio) using a single tool.

Without further ado, here I leave you my presentation using the tool, I hope you like this virtual journey.

       

And remember, as I said in the presentation, this is not the end of the blog because I intend to continue uploading resources and ideas that you can find interesting.

It is not a matter of goodbye, but see you soon

CREATING RUBRICS TO EVALUATE OUR E-PROJECT

Hello everyone!

After overcoming a great number of challenges and beginning to prepare our own collaborative e-project, it is time now to create something to evaluate them. If you follow this blog or my peers’ work, you will know that in a previous task we evaluated an e-project using different rubrics provided by our teacher. But this time was different since we had to create our own rubric!

And... what is a rubric? It is a sort of assessing in which you find standards and criteria that a teacher follows to evaluate the degree of achievement of the objectives in an objective way. So, taking this definition into account, our challenge consisted on developing some standards and criteria to evaluate our own collaborative e-project.

First of all, I decided to prepare a draft so as to know which criteria I would like to include and the different degrees of achievement. I thought that it would be really difficult but, as our teacher had provided us with many examples and rubrics that she uses to evaluate our challenges, I realized that I know what I want to highlight and assess.

After developing all the points, it was time to look for an online tool to create the rubric. Mª Jesús had recommended us the tool QuickRubric so I decided to make a start there. I have to say that the tool honour’s its name since, after logging in, it only took me a few minutes to create my online rubric because it is really intuitive and easy to use. If you want to know how it works, you only have to follow the steps I explain here:

1. The first step is to log in. For that, you only need to click on "Log in", at the top right corner (1). Then, a new option will emerge, if you are new you have to click on "I'm a new user" (2)

2 When you are logged in you only need to click in “Create my Rubric” and you will see a screen like this:

 As you can see, you can add all your topics and criteria, the score of each standard...and so on. 

3 The second step will be adapt the rubric to your necessities by adding rows and columns clicking on the section: “Add Row” or “Add Column” (picture 1). You can also eliminate rows if you click on the red cross (picture 2).

Picture 1

Picture 2

4 When you have finished your work, you only have to click on “Save Rubric” and that's all! Your rubric is already done.

As you can see, it is really easy to create your own rubric but, as every tool, QuickRubric has also drawbacks. In this case, I would like to point out that the tool doesn't allow you to obtain an embed code, it only provides you with a public link. To overcome this problem, my classmate Laura suggested us to download the rubric as PDF and upload it to Drive, by doing that, you can obtain the embed code and share it with others.
From my own experience, I recommend you to create this sort of assessment so as to adapt them to every context and student. In education, rubrics are effective and adequate because every student receives feedback by looking which elements of his/her work needs to be improved or are developed in a correct way. As teachers, we have to consider the evaluation as an opportunity for the student to keep learning together with our own development as professionals.

Finally, here I leave you my rubric in case you want to have a look or even use it to evaluate an e-project. If you have any comment our suggestion, do not hesitate to comment!

See you in the next post,

Ana.

ONCE UPON A TIME... AN AUGMENTED REALITY

Hi there!

As you know, on April 23th it is celebrated the World Book Day and our ICT class wanted to create something special. For that reason, our new challenge consisted on talking about what type of reader are we, our favourite book, why we recommend it… using the tool Aurasma.

From the beginning, I really liked the idea of preparing a different challenge for this day, because in my home city, Zaragoza, the April 23th is a special day since we celebrate San Jorge together with the Book Day. We prepared many activities related to books and reading. This is why this activity was an opportunity for me to maintain that beautiful custom.

Returning to the challenge, I didn’t have much difficulty deciding on what I wanted to explain, because I really  love reading. Here, in Madrid, I do not always have the time I would like to read this is why I take advantage of every moment I can. I usually use my e-book to read because it is lightweight and I can bring it with me during my trips and travels. Besides, e-books are cheaper than the originals and this is a positive point for people who devour books, like me. However, I should admit that I prefer books on paper support since the feeling is completely different, in fact, in my room there are a crazy number of books on the shelves and I love it.

As you will see in my final outcome, during the video I comment that I love mystery and detective stories and I choose Harry Potter as my favourite book. I didn’t select my special book only for the content or story, but also because I still remember the emotion experienced when I read it, a feeling that none other book makes me feel. Definitely I thought that this would be a good reason to choose it. Moreover, as I see it, that Harry Potter’s saga teach beautiful values, such as friendship, courage, justice… and so on.

An online tool to edit videos

To record the video, I used two different programs. First of all, I used QuizTime Player, my own computer program, to record what I wanted to say. I spent many time in this point of the challenge because I wasn't satisfied with the result, but after many attempts, I did it. 
Then I edited the video using Kizoa, an online tool. The tool is easy to manage and many resources are available such as transitions, effects, gifts… moreover, you have the option of uploading your own pictures and gifs so as to use them in your creation. Other option that I really liked was that you can make “clips” of your video, which means that you can use specific parts of the whole record. I used all these possibilities in my creation by added some gifts related to my favorite book to make it more engaging and eye-catching. The only drawback that I would highlight is that you can not download your creation unless you have a premium account but you can upload it to YouTube, Blogger, Facebook and other social networks. Here I leave you both: the link to the video and the video uploaded to YouTube:

The second step of the challenge was to create a cover related to the book we had chosen. I took into account that the cover was going to be the "face" of the project, so I worked hard so as to make it as meaningful as possible. For that purpose, I used Piktochart, a tool that I utilized to create an Infographic in the previous challenge. Piktochart, gives you the opportunity to choose plenty resources, sized, pictures, templates, backgrounds, and so on without the need of having a premium account. Finally, I decided to combine different images related to my favorite genres and books as a tribute to the World Book Day.  Here I leave you the cover:

So the last step was to link all this materials in the same tool, Aurasma. I have never used it before this challenge. It isn’t difficult to manage but I recommend you to watch the following video in order to know how it works easily: 

But the video that really facilitated my work was the one recorded by some of my peers, their explanation about how Aurasma works is really clear and visual. You can watch it by following the following link

But what is Aurasma? I wondered the same at the beginning because I couldn't imagine its functioning. Well, Aurasma is a tool that allows you to create an augmented reality by linking a picture and a video, in other words, when you scan the cover of the Aurasma (called trigger image) through your mobile or tablet app, you can watch an augmented reality of the video that is inside. But, I should admit that the best way to understand how it works is checking it.
As teachers, I think that it is an engaging tool for students and adults who can watch a video in a different way. However, it has some drawbacks too, for example the fact that you need a mobile phone and a computer if you want to see others' work. This requirement makes the tool quite uncomfortable. Besides, I had some technical problems uploading the video since the format wasn’t compatible with the one I used and in other attempts I couldn't hear the video’s voice. I overcame that problem by recording again the video in a format that was compatible with the tool.

So, with out further ado, here I show you my final work using Aurasma, if you have the tool in your mobile phone you can follow my channel: anafuertecano and watch it by scanning the trigger image below:

Finally I want to share with you my peers' fantastic work. We have created a board on Pinterest called A Wall of Books in which all of us have "pined" our final outcome. In my opinion, it is a way of growing together while creating meaningful learning. I like very much the idea of sharing our opinions and recommendations about books, in fact I have already bought the book recommended by Elena, one of my peers.

This is all for now, I hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I did facing the challenging. I would like to say good bye with a significant sentence about stories.

"The stories we love best, live in us forever"

J.K. Rowling