Final Reflection

Since the class is now over, it seems appropriate to reflect on what I have learned this semester. Each of the assignments brought something new that I had not previously thought of or tried before. Learning to make a website will definitely come in handy one day. Even if I don't use that ability for teaching PE, it may be more accessible for a different class that I may be teaching. I can't see myself using Studiocode for anything else other than college assignments or critiquing my own teaching one day, but it will definitely be very useful for the next year and a half. IMovie, however, I can see myself using for years. The potential for making videos to teach skills to students (and then post it to a class website) seems the most applicable for PE purposes of all the technologies learned in class, and I would almost guarantee that I will be using it again.

This class has also changed the way I think about teaching and technology. I really struggled to think of applications for teaching with technology before this class. I really thought the only practical uses would be in a computer class. Now, I know of several uses for technology in addition to the aforementioned ones. Students can use a class website to post suggestions on readings, take surveys, and edit content. My views on technology have changed as well. Thanks to Dan's "teach the process, not the program" motto, I believe it is best to learn the process rather than taking a class that just teaches a program (that I know I'll forget in a week anyway). I am not so overwhelmed by unknown technologies anymore because I know I can learn how to do things correctly. It's been a great class, one that I know I will use for years to come.

The Future of PE: Is the Apocalypse Upon Us?

As I searched the web to find technologies and websites to blog about, I happened upon several articles that piqued my interest. The articles discussed ways that PE teachers are using technology in the classroom, mostly with heart rate monitors and pedometers, which are excellent ways of qualifying and quantifying physical activity, respectively. However, these technologies are not particularly new, as they have been in use in physical education for at least a few years now, though they are beginning to catch on more and more. What interested me the most, is (in my mind), the horrible proposition that technologies such as the Nintendo Wii's Wii Fit and the game Dance Dance Revolution could become commonplace in the gym or classroom for PE. Here are some things that I've learned over the last several years: youth today love video games. I worked with a group of Boy Scouts for about a year and a half, and getting them to do anything that didn't involve video games was like pulling teeth. I also know that people need physical activity to help with disease prevention and many other things. So, if people need physical activity and love video games, games like Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution should be the perfect storm, right? Well, I still have a hard time believing that one day I will have stations set up in the gym (or what's left of it) for teaching a PE class using a Nintendo Wii or a similar technology. Does it have a better chance of providing health benefits than just sitting in a chair playing a video game? Of course it does, but I don't know if it can ever beat good ol' fashioned health-related fitness activities and games. Can it?

PE Central

Not to be too self-promoting for BYU, but one of the best websites for PE teachers out there is a site called pecentral.org. As we learned about Web 2.0 two weeks ago, I remembered a plug that our Advocacy teacher, Dr. Todd Pennington, made about a website that he and a colleague had created back when most people were still figuring out what the web was. PE Central is a site that PE teachers can use to search for and add content to to help other PE teachers throughout the world who may be short on ideas for their classes. From its small beginnings of two grad students in 1996, it has grown to a site that utilizes over 175 volunteers and has tremendous resources. The site contains links to online stores where you can purchase physical education equipment, ideas for practices, a section for adapted physical education, bulletin boards to bounce ideas off of other teachers, and much more. As a teacher, I could see myself using this site when I am out of ideas, to look for job openings, to reference PE journals and research, order equipment, and find media to use to teach. The website is an excellent example of user-editable content and something that teachers in a field that is not typically linked to technology can use.

Web 2.0

I still don't know much about Web 2.0. Sure, it's user editable content and is a way for everyone to be involved in a web page, but are there really any practical applications for it? I'm not entirely sold. Teachers could use it as a way for students to post different opinions on subjects and assign coursework, but do we really need all that? Can't we just show up to class? I think Web 2.0 has a lot of potential, but the social networking aspect of it is one I am already sick of, so I think my opinion has soured already. I think dispensing assignments and such will be the preferred avenue for me for now, but we'll see what the future holds. Maybe it's already time for Web 3.0.

Studiocode Stupor!

Okay, so actually it wasn't all that bad. It was a bit tedious to code every aspect of instruction and management that we wanted to look at, but the actual program is fairly straightforward to use. There were some hiccups throughout the process, namely the preview picture freezing about every two seconds of video, but it went smoothly thanks to Dan's step by step instruction.

So, what did I learn about management and instruction from the Studiocode project? Well, my classrooom management skills leave a lot to be desired. In the class on the video, I could have varied the formations more often. I think I only had 2 formations that I used in the lesson, so even counting them leaving their places to warm up, there were only really 3 different instances that you would even notice formations. In this lesson, I also could have used my whistle a lot more for the signals. I used it a lot at the beginning, but tailed off once the "dancing" started.

In reference to instruction, in watching the video again and reliving the lesson through Studiocode, I know I could use a lot more cues to teach. In this lesson, I feel like I did an excellent job with demonstrating the steps, but there could have been more cues for them to remember and to describe the steps. I also learned that dance is a tough lesson to give individual feedback without someone asking a question. General feedback is easy, but it can be hard to see the individuals struggling without watching it on video. In a real classroom setting, those students would be kids in my class that I would see again and offer feedback to.

Next semester, I know I will grow as a teacher and do a lot of things differently. I will focus more on giving more and better cues, try to be better at giving specific feedback, and try to vary the formations (just to change things up). I know Studiocode will help me find things to work on every week as we film and evaluate our lessons. We'll see how that goes.

Self-Help Through Video Analysis

The next task for us in IP&T 286 is to use Studio Code to analyze our own teaching. Sure, most of the time I'd care to not have to relive my teaching experience for that day, but supposedly it's good for me. I could probably go through a list of criteria and tell you what I did wrong and what I did right, but if it's on film (or digital video as the case may be), then my teaching is at least immortalized to poke, prod, overanalyze, and laugh at for...well, forever. However, I will say this: when I watch my teaching on video, I actually find a lot of good things among the bad and can improve from those things as well. Haha! Take that, self doubt!

iMovie Final

Here is my iMovie project about stealing a base in all its finished glory. Please, hold your applause 'til the end. I think as an actual coach, baseball is the most practically applicable use of iMovie to actually teach skills. Baseball skills are very intermittent in the games themselves, so batting, pitching, fielding, and baserunning can all be easily taught and captured using video. As I get faster using the program, I know I'll be able to more effectively use it throughout my career and my life.

Outline for iMovie...is there an "inline"?

The latest assignment in IP&T 286? An iMovie project, this one a video that explains a particular sports skill. Since it was going on 10 years ago now that I last played real sports (city rec leagues and intramurals don't count), it's actually pretty hard to remember very many drills or mechanics from the sports that I played (baseball and football). However, I was only pretty good at one thing anyway: stealing bases. Since I could probably still do it in my sleep, that's what the iMovie project will demonstrate. Here is a general breakdown of the iMovie. 

I. Intro- A little inspiring music, probably some clips of famous base-stealers like Rickey          Henderson, Lou Brock, etc. 

II. Switch to a clip of me teaching base-stealing 101

    A. Leading off first base

    B. Watching the pitcher

    C. Diving back to the base

    D. Favorable pitches to steal a base

    E. When to start running

III. End Credits

It sounds so simple when you break it down scientifically. Next week the blog will include the finished product, so until then.....!

iMovie = i'M Frustrated

So, here's the deal. I love my Mac I have at home. Because I already had just about everything with the PC before I switched to the dark side and Apple's evil empire, I went with the Mac Mini and things are great. I have lots of built-in features with the Mac that my PC could never hope to match. Here's my problem with Mac (besides the surprisingly political commercial-imitating smear ad campaign starring Justin Long and that geeky guy that was on Flight of the Conchords once): every program has a steep learning curve, and iMovie is no different. It's never as simple as every other movie-making/editing program out there, such as Windows Movie Maker or Avid or Adobe Premiere. Apple has to make every program a total pain to use and be different, which goes against one of their advertising ploys, claiming that Macs are "so intuitive". I long for the days of simple timelines and easy-to-insert effects. Looks like those days are gone. I better get with the times.

iSafe: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?

First off, let me start by saying that I think Internet safety is EXTREMELY important. I have a young child and their safety is absolutely paramount to me, even more important to me than my own. I would never consciously do anything to compromise that safety, yet I know that even as careful as I try to be, I probably give out too much information about myself in some of my online activities, whether it be registering with a website, ordering things that I like (which I admit is a little more fun for me than I would usually care to admit), or simply using email or social media. Make no mistake, I am not the type to post 600 pictures of myself on a social media site and then make my profile public for anyone to see me and possibly begin cyber-stalking me or steal my identity, but I probably give out a little too much info unthinkingly. So, from now on, anything commercial will be linked to an email address that does not have my real name (or any name at all) connected to it. There is simply too much to lose and too much safety of my child to compromise.

            Because of this renewal of interest in practicing Internet safety, I sat down and had a little discussion, or what I call “a lesson,” with my wife. We discussed making access to pictures, accounts, and blogs private so that only the people that we want to see them can see them. She even blocked someone from viewing her blog posts that she didn’t recognize the name. Turns out, it was one of her best friends using the ward blog (which she was responsible for, but the ward’s name is a man’s name). We also discussed making a more concerted effort to keep an eye on the online accounts we have.

            That being said, I also signed up to use iSafe, and let me tell you, it was incredibly disconcerting to find iSafe MAKING you fill out way more personal information than they need to know. From watching the videos, their stated intentions are good, but the actual execution of those intentions is a little off. Guess what, iSafe? You don’t need to know my name, address, phone number, or anything else other than an email address so that you can send me info if I forget my password. So guess who will be getting more spam. ME! Thanks, iSafe! 

Now I'm a Web Designer!

We have been working on a website for the last two weeks. It's interesting to think about all the things that I have learned to do in that time that I either a) had no desire to do, like post a video to YouTube, or b) never imagined I could figure out how to do, like come up with a survey and get it up and running. Neither of those things are as difficult as I imagined them to be, but the learning curve can be kind of steep in some aspects. For example, even with YouTube, which is pretty easy to use in general, it took me a lot to be able to find the video I posted. Maybe "Coach Smith" is too generic of a name for a video, but I had to go back to my account information on YouTube to be able to figure out what the url for it was to post it on my site. When embedding anything on the site, I also didn't realize that it wouldn't show the video, map, etc. until you clicked "Save." It took me several minutes to calm myself and keep from throwing my Mac Mini through the window. Pasting using Google Sites was a nightmare as well. My wife, who is an experienced Blogger user, had to tell me to go up to the navigation bar at the top of the screen to be able to paste anything, because Google has no way of doing it using the right click. STUPID! I also couldn't figure out how to switch the order of my pages on the sidebar. It's not that significant, but I want it to look the way I want it to, not just in the order of when I added it. However, even with the slight hiccups, I made it work. Things turn out alright in the end. Here is the link to my new page: 

http://sites.google.com/site/geraldspesite/

Copyright Law and Me

This last week in class we learned about copyright laws, and guess what: my opinion didn't change much. I feel how I have always felt about them. They are the fabrication of evil and conspiring men to keep the money in the hands of the rich and to suck the joy out of the lives of the poor. It really boils down to simple economics. If you are making money off of something that I created, the chances are that I am not. Boohoo for me. Sorry to musicians and moviemakers and other creative people. I really feel like those who want to make more money need to lower prices and create a better product. I'm personally tired of paying too much money for an album with one good song or a movie that I only sort of like. Yeah, yeah, I know. ITunes and the like take care of things like that. Well, I'm not even going to pay a dollar (or whatever it is now) to you as a mediocre (or even good to great) artist to buy the "license to listen to" your song when you're going to charge me $60 for a concert that you don't even sound as good when I go to. In addition to that, I don't want Apple making more money when they don't lower the ludicrous prices of their iPods and accessories, but that's a rant for another day. I'm not condoning getting illegal movies or music. I don't do it, and I don't think it's even okay, but here's the bottom line. Copyright laws serve a very small group of people, and that's the copyright owner, their lawyers that write the copyright laws, and the companies they work for. I think the only way to change it to make it completely equitable is to do away with copyrights altogether, but you and I know that the suits will never let that happen. In the meantime, stick it to the man in the only way possible, in the wallet.

Saving Time and Effort

There are many helpful resources on the Web that can help you (and me) in your progression towards being computer savvy and learned, even for teachers. For example, www.w3schools.com can help you learn web development languages quickly and accessibly. As a teacher or anyone else trying to become more technologically advanced, learning one or several of the languages on the site can make the information you are trying to convey or learn more convenient and eco-friendly for those you teach or associate with. Diigo.com is a great site that can help you stay organized and keep track of interesting things that you find online. It has a very handy highlighting system for important information and online sticky notes. Finally, www.zotero.org is a great resource for any learner, especially those doing research. It allows you to take the research material you are gathering, sort it, and then cite it without having to do all the tedious work of figuring out how to properly cite it in your paper or article. It also has an iTunes style way to store your research. It seems like a great tool to use. There are probably thousands of other sites to further the learning of anyone and everyone, but for now, these are enough to keep me busy!

First Post and Goals

Hello, blog followers! I think you'll find this blog as thrilling as you imagine it to be! This blog is for IP&T 286 at BYU, which is a technology class for future physical educators. I personally hope that I can get some great ideas on how to use technology in the PE forum, as well as instruction in the actual programs that we use. I also hope to be proficient enough in those programs that I will remember how to use them once I graduate and actually have a job out in the field. I think it will be okay because I feel reasonably confident in my ability to use most simple computer technology. Most of that sentiment is a result of growing up in the computer age and being a former broadcasting student. We'll see how it goes!