Walking the Talk: My Professional Learning Plan

Professional Learning Plan on Prezi

What were some of the online resources that you found that were really helpful? If so what were they and how were they helpful?

-PREZI: I was just thinking that PowerPoint presentations, while useful, have become increasingly "outdated" and fairly stagnant when compared to many of the apps students use on their phones or computers. Prezi increases interest with panning, zooming, and more interesting transitions while also allowing everything to be viewed on one large screen so that viewers can quickly see the connections.

-JING: I had never heard of this before, so I became curious quickly when many of our tasks said "you can Jing it". What a WONDERFUL tool! Not only did I use it for my opening introduction, but I also relied on Jing when I made my Implementation report for Wicked, AND used it to help create our Group Leadership project! I would have truly LOVED to use it in conjunction with my Prezi for the final Wicked presentation, but unfortunately my complete lack of a voice (I can squeak, but that's about it) made that less plausible. When my voice recovers, I may pull my Wicked Prezi back out, as well as my scripted presentation, and Jing it. So far I've only used Jing with PowerPoint, so I'm really looking forward to utilizing it with Prezi.

-WIX: I've been relying on Weebly since I first learned about it, but I've never liked it whole-heartedly. I prefer Google sites, which is far less buggy and easy to "pop into" since I already have a google account and can get there from Gmail. Wix is like a whole new WORLD! Not only does it have a very logical interface (very user friendly, if you click on something, it let's you edit it, etc.), but it also has a wealth of clip art, photos, sound clips, etc. that you can utilize. AND the various templates are OUTSTANDING! They look very professional and include all the components needed for a variety of web-based businesses, etc. Yet, anyone can choose a template and then modify it to suit his/her own needs. I began a site for my husband, who is a chef, and who would like to do some consulting work (on menus, food costing, large event planning, etc.). It's not finished yet, but so far it is much more refined that the Google site page I'd started for him a while back! :) www.wix.com/chefljdavis/chefdavis

Did you find any other online communities that could provide resourceful information? If so what were they and how were they helpful?

YES. I joined Classroom 2.0 and I now receive e-newsletters daily with various tech topics, upcoming events of interest, etc. However, I have to admit that the most useful online community I have learned recently is Twitter. I now follow various professors/administrators from our MAET program, as well as WIRED magazine, Karl Gude (who gave the Data Visualization presentation used in this course), and some TEDx tweets. Speaking of TEDx, I recently was discussing it with Abbie and we both were saying just how stimulating the TEDx talks usually are. I hadn't heard of TEDx until I started taking MAET courses and now I am incredibly eager to attend one of these sessions!! I posted a TEDx link in a different discussion forum (Data Visualization, I think?). The talk was by an Egyptian man who works for Google and was involved in the recent uprising there. He shared how Web 2.0 technologies enabled the citizenry to realize that they weren't alone in their frustrations and then also allowed them to freely communicate and tweak their protest plans on a massive scale. Facebook, Skype, e-mail, Twitter... all of these tools (and others) truly EMPOWERED the people. If only our District could realize just how powerful (and empowering) it can be to put these technologies into students' hands and then to teach them safe & proper use. If only, if only... Perhaps Abbie & I will find an effective way to change the board's mind on this. We will see!

What strategies were helpful for trying to learn a new technology?

-Viewing Online Tutorials: These work well for me because I can watch and re-watch as needed, pause, rewind, etc.

-Looking at Examples: Seeing the way something works (and how someone else has done it) always helps give me ideas and sometimes allows me to realize that a tool has far more options/potential than I ever knew
-Reading a Guide Document: Following step-by-step procedures come in handy, as well. Again, I can go back over things or stop when needed.

-"Blind" Tinkering: When I learn a new tech device, I usually like to play around with it for a little while before I resort to reading the rule book or watching the tutorial. While this is a fun way to just "dive in", it can result in missing out on certain features, etc. It's best for me to do a mix of these things to learn a new technology

How does working with others (versus working alone) support you in your own learning?

Working with others supports my learning immensely! I tend to be very social, so I like to have discussions about topics to reason through things with classmates. Having Abbie in this course with me was WONDERFUL. We would discuss course content at lunch time or meet up to talk during her prep or mine, etc. Being able to share our takes on things and hear someone else's understandings can enhance learning substantially.

How will you use this experience to support your own lifelong learning of technology?

-My experience in CEP 812 has already had a profound impact on me. This has been one of the most difficult semesters of my life (both due to course content and my own various issues), but I feel as though I have come out of this class with an abundance of "arrows" in my educational technology "quiver". One HUGE impactful moment came in watching the Data Visualization presentation (TEDx: Karl Gude). What he said resonated with me greatly, as I am someone who tends to be wordy with everything: e-mails, worksheets, discussion posts... What he said about saying a lot more with a lot less, being "text light", etc. has inspired me to strive for that. My Personal Learning Plan ("More Walk, Less Talk") is an attempt to adhere to this "text lightness" and seek to say more with less words. While it was certainly a challenge to keep my words to a minimum, the end result is much more visually stimulating and less daunting to take in. I hope to continue with this "more walk, less talk" way of presenting things and am already seeking out better ways to use visualization in my classroom (with sites such as Mind42 and Bubbl.us, for example). Another way I will continue to learn is through my Twitter feed. By following more tech specialists, theorists, etc., I am already getting more informative and educational tweets than I was when I was simply following Ashton Kutcher and J-Lo. :) I want to keep finding more intellectuals to follow on Twitter so that I can quickly "feed my brain" just by clicking on my twitter app.

-Our experience with our Wicked Problem Project was a major learning experience. By getting caught up in red tape, we were able to realize just how debilitating district policies and restrictions can be--for teachers and students alike! To continue being a role model for learning and pursuing higher knowledge of tech, I (along with Abbie) want to keep churning out new techy things that pique the interest of students and staff alike (e.g. my Weebly page with Google Calendar embedded).

I also want to assist other staff members (especially technophobes) with becoming more comfortable with educational technology so that they might better serve the "digital natives" that enter their door every day.

Thank you for reading,
w.

The WICKED Problem Project

"GOOBLY"

A Weebly/Google Calendar Initiative

Wicked Problem Project-W. Davis on Prezi

Wicked Problem Project:

• Part A: Description of Need or Opportunity (The WICKED Problem)
• Part B: Application of TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge)
• Part C: Implementation
• Part D: Findings and Implications

PART D: Findings and Implications

Wicked Problem Project:  
Google Calendar (& Weebly) Initiative


Formative:  Did the project get implemented as planned?

NO.  After emailing our district tech department to alert them to our plan and the sites (Weebly & Google) that we'd be using, we thought we had support.  However, within a few weeks, Weebly suddenly become BLOCKED by our district.  The reason being that it "violates district web policy".  This was a HUGE stumbling block for us.  Since we planned to train our colleagues in school, having the key site for their website creation COMPLETELY INACCESSIBLE made this impossible.  Thankfully, we already had helped a few colleagues begin their Weebly work, so they were able to modify it further from home, but this was not our goal.  Accessibility from home OR school was one of the key parts of our plan.  Having our district flatten that possibility was disheartening, to say the least.



Summative:  Evidence of Success in Addressing the Problem of Practice
The Problems of Practice were these:  lack of teacher time, hindered communication with those at home (parents/guardians/students) due to outdated "Homework Hotlink" system, and lack of user-friendliness of current system


Were these problems addressed with those teachers who have started our Weebly/Google Calendar shift?  Absolutely. Below is feedback provided by one teacher trained in our initiative:

"Pros about Google Calendar:
-easy to maneuver through the steps to create events/ lesson plans
-I like the fact that only a brief descriptions shows, but when you click on it, more info can be edited in
the option to view day/week/month is helpful
-long term viewing (month) works well when planning units
-the fact that we can share calendars is awesome! Essentially, we could have one calendar per subject -area per grade and then the individual teacher could adjust the description as needed. 

Cons:
-none at this time"

This same teacher has voiced that she has saved time not only in her own lesson planning and calendar updates, but also in her supervision of the school's Student Activity Council. She created another calendar specific to the SAC which has given her a great way to communicate with the students who are part of this council and parents who want to be more involved. Since the students on SAC are from all grade levels and have highly varied schedules, the Google Calendar has enabled their sponsor to centralize their updates and easily communicate with them about upcoming events.


How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you've learned here?
Pre-approval is huge. Making sure that not only your administrators, but also your District Technology Department are on board is essential to full and effective implementation. While I thought we already had all of these components when we started, next time I will be sure to check (and RE-CHECK) that we have the support of all stakeholders first. I also would like to create some web-based tutorials for any tech that I implement with staff so that they can easily access these from any computer and train at their own pace, on their own time, if needed.


What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?

• Know your District's tech policy THOROUGHLY before you begin 
• Communicate VERY CLEARLY with your Technology Director/Department & Administrators about your implementation and its components 
• If necessary, have DATA READY to support your plan & show how it can positively impact your learning environment/community 

In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again?

I will not let this filter issue keep me from helping make educator's lives more easy and communication improved with stakeholders at home. I plan to continue training those who are interested in Weebly and Google Calendar. My hope is that, once we are able to show how parents/guardians and students feel about the modified class sites, we will be able to get our district on board. This may require extensive data collection, presenting at board meetings, as well as volunteering to help make changes in district policies, but I believe that the overall goal of technological progression is worth the effort.

On Mobile Learning...

After completing the lab on Mobile Learning (using mobile technologies in the classroom), here is my feedback:

Regarding the "Tools I Tried" and "How I might Integrate Mobile Tech into MY classroom":
I have been part of a class that involved cell phones, specifically a Pollseverywhere.com survey.  It was fun and I loved being able to bust out my phone in class as a TOOL rather than as a guilty habit. :)  The teacher was able to show us our texted poll results instantaneously and it was a really technologically forward way to get us involved.

I have also been fortunate to work in a classroom that had a class set of student laptops (with wireless Internet), digital camera access, a class set of iPods we could check out, and clickers to go with our Promethean board.  All of these items were fantastic to incorporate into our learning process.  Students who previously were "checked-out" would gain interest in using the tool and, in turn, embrace the course content.  If I had access to tools like these again, I would definitely be tapping into them to help make Spanish not only come "to life" more, but also to increase student motivation.

Challenges:
My current district has incredibly stringent limits on our web access.  Since they are so conservative in that area, I do not see how some of these tools (especially cell phones in classes!) could be approved for use by our school board.  This shift is one that would have to come very gradually and most likely include extensive beta-testing and showing PROOF that these tools can be more than just digital distractions.  I would hope that, in seeing what students can do and the new heights of learning they might achieve by being allowed these tools, some day our district might be INSPIRED to move beyond our current limits and policies.

Data Visualization: Trying Out Prezi & Wix

Here is are 2 samples of my "test-drives" in our Data Visualization lab.

1)  I practiced with Prezi, an online presentation program with some basics from our Wicked Problem Project.  It's free, it's fun, and I'm looking forward to using it more in the future! :) After clicking on the image below, move your mouse around the screen to zoom in on different areas and view the blurbs and images I've added.  Enjoy! :)

Google Calendar & Weebly for Educators on Prezi

2) I also tried out Wix, which is a free website creator.  While I like Weebly, I was eager to try out something new.  Being familiar with more free site creators will make me a better resource to my colleagues as they begin exploring new class site options.  I chose to create a test version of a site for my husband, who is a talented chef.  He would like to start a menu-creating business, so this is a very basic start for that:

http://www.wix.com/chefljdavis/chefdavis

Group Leadership Project: Wordle Tutorial

Below is our Wordle Tutorial video. Educators can learn the basics of Wordle.net as well as view an assortment of examples and ideas from various content areas to help get them "Wordling" in their classrooms.  Enjoy!

My Quick Overview of  Project Development:

As a group, we used a variety of tools to create and deliver our tutorial.  First of all, we began brainstorming using Google Docs since it allowed for sharing ideas without having to find a common time to "meet".  From there, Abbie created the basic PowerPoint of our tutorial and also shared it via Google Docs.  We were all able to easily edit and contribute to the PowerPoint this way.  We continued utilizing Google Docs as we created our Storyboard & Script for narration. 

As the volunteer final editor,  I first recorded Abbie using Jing, then (since Jing only allows a 5-minute movie in the free version--eek!) I had to record that version to my computer using GarageBand.  This program is also where I recorded my audio on the 2nd part.  Since I had to make a "copy of a copy" for Abbie's portion, the audio isn't as clear as mine, but it works!  I didn't want to lose her voice on the project since she had done such a great job with her narration. 

Lastly, I edited everything together using iMovie, but the project was 13 minutes long which meant the file size was HUGE and YouTube wouldn't accept it, nor could it be easily attached to an email.  In order to make our video more succinct and publishable, I spent extra time editing out any unneeded pauses or commentary to cut the time down to just under 10 minutes.  Once that was complete, I was able to FINALLY publish the project to "YouTube" from the iMovie Share options.  Phew!

If I had to create a similar product again, I would be sure to note any time limitations that might affect publishing from the beginning.  Since I'm new to Jing, I didn't think about the 5 minute limit until it was too late and the same applies to YouTube's 10 minute video restriction.  Those were the key factors that resulted in TONS of additional editing time and modifications.  Other than that, I really enjoyed the tools we chose--from Google Docs to iMovie--and I'm glad that we had a great group of motivated contributors.  :)

If the video isn't loading correctly, try this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9uFo_TlteU

PART C: Implementation

Below is a slidecast regarding our implementation of a Weebly/Google Calendar initiative at our building.  This portion of the Wicked Problem Project became one of the more painful parts due to a substantial bump in the road, as  you will hear in my presentation.  Thank you for listening and I look forward to any suggestions and/or feedback you can offer.



Click this link if above video doesn't load correctly: http://screencast.com/t/TVwkLqh5M 

PART B - Storyboard and Script

For our Group Leadership Project (a Wordle Tutorial for Educators), Team4Tech created a storyboard and script using a shared PowerPoint presentation on Google Docs. Click the following link to view our work: Team4TechWordleScriptandStoryboard

Thus far, Abbie kicked us off by creating a shared PowerPoint to start our project.  She gave an example and listed the step-by-step instructions required to create a Wordle.  I added to the presentation by creating an Introduction/Attention-getter slide and a few slides titled "Why Wordle?" to explain the logic behind using Wordle in the classroom.  I also did some minor editing of the wording on a few of Abbie's slides.  

Therefore, as a group, we started the Storyboard and Script AFTER the PowerPoint itself.  Because of this, we had to "work backwards" a little bit--describing and scripting the slides that Abbie and I had already created, but then mapping out the other slides that had not yet been generated in the presentation.  

The Final Work distribution is as follows:

• Everyone:  Add any additional examples and details by Monday night, Feb. 21st.
  
• Abbie:  Incorporate various examples gathered during Computers class from students and record full voice-over of script
  
• Wheatley:  Generate FINAL product (recording, final editing of all slides, etc.) in conjunction with Abbie

I am looking forward to creating our final product.  Wordle is a tool that many teachers don't know about yet, and it is simple to use plus a GREAT way to get students to engage with reading and writing in any content area! :)   

PART B: Application of TPACK

First of all, let me clarify: TPACK = Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge.  Clear as mud, right?  In other words, TPACK is the intersection and interconnected nature of technology, content, and pedagogy, which is the ideal scenario for incorporating technology into educational practice. The idea is that, by considering those three elements when integrating technology, one should be able to ensure that the tech tool easily slides into practice rather than stands out as a separate entity.  Sadly, what often happens, though, is that technology is treated as an independent, stand-alone element rather than something that is fully integrated into practice and a harmonious part of the educational experience. 

For the next portion of the Wicked Problem Project, I will break down the technology initiative that Abbie and I have proposed into its different knowledge components and clarify how those elements intersect to reinforce the reasoning in our plan.

Google Calendar supports the teaching strategy of communicating with parents and students by allowing teachers to easily edit their daily course content and assignments with a few quick keystrokes. This allows for fast adjustments, requiring less time from teachers as well as leading to more accurate information on the teacher’s homework site (ease of use means they are more likely to make adjustments when things change). The pedagogical notion of parent/teacher/student communication is fully supported by the incorporation of Google Calendar because it allows an optimal venue for information to travel between school and home.  Information can be shared in a visually pleasing format, can be viewed as soon as the teacher has created or modified it, and access is more seamless with Weebly and Google Calendar (Images 1B and 1C) than with the current Homework Hotlink system (Image 1A).

Image 1A (Homework Hotlink Sample)

Image 1B (Weebly Sample)

Image 1C (Google Calendar Sample)

 

The technology of Google Calendar increases intellectual accessibility by allowing those at home (parents/guardians/students) to view what is taking place in class easily via a well-organized website. This access can be gained through a computer, a cell phone, or any other gadget that has an Internet connection. Also, if parents or students already use Google Calendar on their own, they can easily add the teacher’s updates to their personal calendar—meaning that sharing is increasingly seamless and requires a few clicks--no printing or copying by hand. 

Not only does the content become more easily accessible for those at home, but teachers can now modify their entries from anywhere with an Internet connection—they are no longer limited to editing their sites from school only. This is ideal for situations where a teacher might not be in his or her classroom (snow days, illnesses, etc.) and needs to change course details.   Additionally, teachers are able to easily add further detail on any given task that the viewer can then read by clicking on that task (see Image 2 below).  In Image 2, also note that  Wednesday, February 2nd was a Snow Day and the teacher was able to easily readjust her calendar by simply changing the date on her tasks, a process that took less than one minute to complete.

Image 2 (Assignment Detail available by Clicking on Task)

When considering the components of: teaching strategy (communication with those at home), content delivery (via the Internet in an appealing manner), and the pedagogical choices (a more user-friendly and time-saving system for viewers & teachers), it is clear that there is a strong "TPACK" intersection present in our initiative.  All elements overlap nicely to justify our choice of technologies (Weebly & Google Calendar) and support our strategy for implementing them to better serve educators, parents/guardians, and students alike. 

I am proud of the work we are doing and its positive repercussions for all stakeholders involved in the learning process.

PART A - Brainstorm Session

For the kick-off to our Group Leadership Project, we (Team4Tech) chose to meet using Adobe Connect.  We chose this tool because:

• We were all familiar with it already.
• It was free to us (since MSU has an account).
• We were able to have our professor set up our meeting, as well as help us get started, making a successful session more likely.
• It offered an easy way to record our conversation both via microphone and via chat.  

During the development process, I was able to note some additional features of Adobe Connect that I hadn't before.  This was in response to difficulties I had at first.  I was struggling with a slower Internet connection as well as choppy audio and was limited to TYPING rather than speaking like everyone else.  These glitches resulted in feelings of frustration and disappointment.  I can honestly say that, for the first portion of our session, it was the WORST Adobe Connect experience I've ever had.  One feature that came in handy, though, was the "raise your hand" feature. When my group was busy talking and I wanted to call their attention to a comment I had typed, I was able to "raise my hand".  I also noted the "agree/disagree" options, as well as other generic responses, which I hadn't seen before.  

My experience helped me realize how frustrating it can be to feel "silenced" when trying to contribute to a group.  While I wasn't being marginalized by anyone intentionally, the lack of a fully functioning program made me feel like I was on the "outside looking in", which is a miserable place to be when you long to be involved.  This reminds me of when students don't have technology available (or have sub-par tools) at home and are left feeling further disconnected, rather than connected, by technology.  

While we were brainstorming, our group also used Google Docs to document our "plan of attack."  Thank goodness for Google Docs!  This tool was easy for me to access and the chat feature there worked much more efficiently, too.  Our plan came together nicely and it was really helpful to have a common, editable-by-all document to log our progress.

If I had to develop a similar product again, I might choose a different forum.  While this was our best option with our current circumstances, I found that being limited to a chat feature while everyone else had audio/microphone access left me feeling isolated more often than not.  I also found that I prefer having a typed chat so that you can actually READ what someone wrote if you missed what was said.  Plus, people can't speak over one another.  When I logged on the main decisions had already been made, but by reviewing the chat log all I could see was a few quick "hellos".  The full "meat" of the decision-making process had been verbal, so by not being present at that point (or able to hear), I had missed out and would have to wait to watch the replay to feel fully caught-up. 


I would prefer using a typing-based tool (perhaps even a group chat on Skype) so that everyone could quickly read key points & re-visit them as the discussion progressed.  A typed chat also means an instant "hard-copy" of what was said and eliminates the need to watch a recording to seek out verbal comments.

Thankfully, I have a great group that was able to pull things together effectively, but in terms of tools--while I still love Google Docs, Adobe Connect was less than impressive this time around.  

If you'd like to view our recorded Brainstorm session, click below:
http://breeze.msu.edu/p91777893/

PART A: Description of Need or Opportunity

Wicked Problem Project:  Part A

In my six years as a teacher, I have noticed that the demands of this career have increased steadily over time.  Every year I am expected to complete more paperwork, address an increasing number of student needs, get more hours of training/education, communicate more thoroughly with parents, etc., while still accomplishing my regular daily teaching tasks.  Yet, while the demands on my time rapidly increase, the number of hours in a day remains the same. 
In other words, while the expectations of teachers grow constantly, we still have the same limited amount of time to accomplish these items while simultaneously lesson-planning, grading, learning from student data, and so on.   Thus, a major educational problem is that teachers lack time. 

Increasingly effective communication with parents/guardians and students is another key requirement of teachers.  However, making 200 phone calls daily is impossible and often weekly newsletters are problematic due to the ever-changing nature of lesson plans and the heightened demand on schools to cut back on paper and mailing costs.  

Parents/guardians and students generally want to know what is happening in our classes daily and, specifically, what homework or practice is expected of the student for that day or week.  In our district, “Homework Hotlinks”, or teacher websites that are basically snapshots of Word documents edited on a weekly basis, are the suggested solution to this problem. 

While the “Homework Hotlink” does provide a place for teachers to communicate with those at home about daily tasks, the format leaves much to be desired.  For one, teachers are limited to including only one week’s tasks at a time.  Also, teachers have to create new documents for each separate course that they teach.  When the daily plan is altered due to new developments in class or unexpected changes in the schedule (snow days, for example), this means the teacher has to then find time to edit the documents or leave them as-is, inaccurate and no longer useful.   This is a drain on time, provides limited information, and does not offer much in terms of interactivity/user-friendly format.

As a potential solution to the problems of teacher, parent/guardian, and student communication and the increasingly limited amount of time teachers have available to them, my colleague, Abbie, and I suggest the following: 

Abbie will train teachers on Weebly so that they can create their own websites easily and quickly--including separate pages within their sites for each course they teach.  Meanwhile I will teach them how to use Google Calendar.  Together we will show our colleagues how to embed customized links to their calendars on Weebly for each of their classes.  

Google Calendar will allow teachers to manage multiple courses simultaneously, quickly make adjustments when needed from any computer that has Internet access, show their entire year’s-worth of assignments, and, if they choose, divide the task of posting to Google Calendar among their department to easily collaborate, edit, and unify their lessons. 

We believe that this two-fold training will help save teachers time overall, allow them to easily share common tasks/plans for courses, and provide a more user-friendly, accessible, and interactive method of communicating with students and those at home.

We have already begun to implement this plan with five colleagues in our school.  This represents the beta-testing group of our initiative.  Based on how these teachers react and interact with Weebly and Google Calendar, we will then be able to plan a broader, building-wide training initiative.  It is our hope that those who are currently in training will then be able to assist others with trouble-shooting as they begin this process.   Ideally, by the end of this school year we will be able to train at least half of our staff (roughly 15 people) in these technologies.  Additional training could then take place during our summer/fall 2011 orientation to get everyone up-to-speed in time for the start of the next school year.  This would enable us to start the 2011-2012 school year with a fully renovated “Homework Hotlink” system in place that should prove more effective for all parties involved.

Also, in 2011-2012, students and parents/guardians could then be trained on Google Calendar so that they can easily click on a teacher’s calendar and have those tasks instantly embedded into their own, personal calendars.  If embraced by enough students, this fully integrated personal class/task calendar could essentially replace our current paper-based “Student Agenda” system (saving resources such as paper, printing costs, etc.) and enable students and those at home to see daily/weekly tasks at a glance with minimal extra effort required. 

On an even larger scale, we are hoping that our efforts in our building will prove effective enough that these same tools would be embraced district-wide so that a seamless system of communication would be present from building to building and from the classroom to district-level. 

Regardless of how much this training is able to be spread, we will consider this project successful if we are able to:  decrease the amount of time teachers spend in maintaining their class sites/calendars (Homework Hotlink), improve the communication that teachers have with parents/guardians and students, and alter the perception of our school’s Homework Hotlink system (i.e. users will note that the new system is more user-friendly, more useful overall, a better format in general, etc.).

The following are links to relevant research and resources regarding Google Calendar and its use as a communication tool for teachers specifically or in professional settings in general: 

PRINT SOURCES:

Adams, D. C. (2008). Gaga for Google in the Twenty-First Century Advanced Placement Language Classroom. The Clearing House, 82(2), 96-100. Heldref Publications. Retrieved from http://heldref.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.3200/TCHS.82.2.96-100

Claburn, Thomas. "New York Schools Get Google Apps Option." InformationWeek 1282 (2010): 22. General OneFile. Web. 5 Feb. 2011.  

http://0-find.galegroup.com.elibrary.mel.org/gps/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A239132571&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0

Feddern-Bekcan, Tanya. "Google Calendar." Journal of the Medical Library Association 96.4 (2008): 394+. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 Feb. 2011.

http://0-find.galegroup.com.elibrary.mel.org/gps/infomark.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&docType=IAC&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A200410211&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0&searchType=BasicSearchForm&source=gale&infoPage=infoMarkPage

Hargadon, Steve. "Mind the time: busy? Online tools can help you manage that schedule." School Library Journal 55.6 (2009): 19. Educator's Reference Complete. Web. 5 Feb. 2011.

http://0-find.galegroup.com.elibrary.mel.org/gtx/infomark.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&docType=IAC&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=PROF&docId=A201711722&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0&searchType=BasicSearchForm&source=gale&infoPage=infoMarkPage

WEB RESOURCES:

Online Calendars:  Virtual Schedules Help Busy Educators

http://www.edutopia.org/online-calendars

Google Calendar/Apps Pros & Cons (Collection of Links on a Wiki)
http://teachweb2.wikispaces.com/Google+Calendar
Gives links to articles that present strengths, weaknesses, challenges, Opportunities, Threats, and some examples of uses in the classroom.

Google Apps Education Training Center (EduTraining)
http://edutraining.googleapps.com/
Specific Module for Calendar
http://edutraining.googleapps.com/Training-Home/module-3-calendar

Intro Take 2: LIVING THE DREAM

This time around I have described myself by showcasing those who've shaped me most, my family. I also changed my tech interests from those I enjoy in general to that which I most want to learn and eventually implement on a much larger scale.

Please pardon the extra length... I will continue to scale it down over time. Also, I am aware that the word "neighborhood" gets cut off at the end. *sigh* I look forward to your thoughts! Thanks for watching!

http://screencast.com/t/enQxBurqbbc

Me, Myself, & My Current Tech Interests

To get a little peek into who I am, where I teach, and what my current educational technology passions are, check out this video I created using iMovie:



If the above video doesn't load correctly, use this link to watch on YouTube:
CEP 812 Intro Video

P.S. I will share more details about myself in our Discussion Forum! :)