Here’s a wrap up of my final project. Thanks to Karl for his advice and guidance throughout our summer session. I’m really excited to begin using some of these great tools in my classroom. Special thanks also to our EDTEC 541 instructor, Dan McDowell’s, whose own AP wiki projects inspired some of the ideas behind my own.

Final Project Podcast

A link to the wiki site if you want a closer look:

http://apworldhistorysuhi.wikispaces.com/

This final post will cover the last three stages of the ADDIE process used in the development of my final project.

Development

• What tools (or combination of tools) will you use to support the site?

The primary component of the final project for EDTEC 700 will be a wiki project that I will be setting up for my AP World History classes. As explained in previous posts, the site I set up will get students started on a year-long wiki collaboration as they work through the five time periods of the AP World History course. I plan on linking the wiki site the AP World History webpage that I created for my students last year during our time in EDTEC 541.

• What customizations will you need to do to your site?

I just changed the color scheme and added a Sweetwater High logo to the opening page to more closely resemble the look and feel of the AP World History site. I changed the navigation bar to make it easy for students from my three AP sections to quickly find the correct period and theme group. From there I pre-loaded a set of instructions and guide questions to help students begin setting up their own wikis.

• Are you happy with how well it turned out?

I was a little frustrated at the beginning with trying to set up the navigation bar. But, after some guidance from Karl, I was able to set up a simple and easy to navigate site. I’m pleased with the initial set-up of the project. I won’t know for sure whether the site will succeed until I see what my students add to it. I anticipate that most of my challenges will come while trying to manage the site as a work-in-progress. Since many of my students have never worked with wikis before (at least most have never created their own) I have no idea how many roadblocks or problems I may encounter.

Implementation

• How will you introduce this to the class?

I have already introduced elements of wikis to the class. In the process of setting up my wiki site for the purposes of this project, I demonstrated for my students the basics of editing wikipages. I used a computer hooked up to an LCD projector and I was able to demonstrate how to add/edit text as well as place images and links. Though many students indicated that they had never created their own wiki page, some likened the process that I demonstrated to setting up their own MySpace page.

I already have student wiki groups in place and I’ve given them preliminary instructions. As we begin working our way through the studies of our first time period (the “Foundations” unit), students will soon begin adding content to their pages.

Evaluation

• How will you know if this site is helping your users reach the objectives you’ve defined for them?

I will use the following rubric to assess the success or failure of the students’ wiki pages:

Evaluation of student performance during this project is only part of the story. The real measure of the success of failure of the wiki assignment will be when students receive their AP scores in July. The rubric serves two purposes. First, it gives the students immediate feedback on whether they successfully interpreted their given AP themes. Secondly, it’s a tool for me to gauge students strengths and weaknesses for each AP theme and each time period. Initial indication as to the success of the project will first come during the series of practice exams we take during the spring semester.

Here’s my amateurish attempt at a podcast. I couldn’t really think of anything relevant for a 1-minute show so I decided to remind myself of all the the stuff I have to do before leaving for Sacramento on Saturday to see my new nephew, Bryce.

1-minute-podcast

• What do you want users to be able to do when they visit this site?

I will create an overall start page for students to begin their project. Upon arriving at the start page, students will be able to locate their class (Period 2, 4, or 6) and select the theme that has been assigned to their group. I will provide a start page for each group that will come “pre-loaded” with a breakdown of their theme and some guide questions to get them started. Students will then use their reading notes and AP snapshots worksheets to begin organizing the information pertaining to their theme. They will then create a wiki entries that provide information on their theme for each time period that we will be studying throughout the course. Once we have worked through each of the five time periods, this project will become an online database and study guide for students to use in preparation for the AP exam in May.

• Is it a recurring effort, or a one-time project?

This will be an on-going project that will be completed over the course of the school year. However, after the exam, I think it would be wise to stash these pages away so that next year’s class doesn’t “borrow” to much information. I want these projects to be unique to each class and organized in a way that best suits their needs.

My first stop along the ADDIE model regarding my final project is the analysis phase. My initial idea for a project come stems from a PowerPoint project that I did last year with my AP World History classes.  They have five overarching themes they need to analyze as they go through each of the five major time units during the course.  In the past, I had them create PowerPoint presentations as we approached each time period.  They were placed in groups and assigned one of the five themes.  When we would go onto the next time period, the groups would change, as would the themes.

The one thing I felt was lacking in this project, is that once it was done, it was problematic to store the presentation for later use in studying for the AP exam in May.  I felt that converting this project to a wikipage, it would be something that students can continually edit and add to throughout the year.

My idea is to create a site that would act as a skeleton for a year-long compilation project as my classes make their way through all the time periods.  For each time period, students will be assigned a theme and group (2-4 students depending on class size).

• Who are my users?

My users are my AP World History students.  At the moment their are 96 tenth grade students.  In order to enroll in the course, these students had to complete recommendation forms that were signed by their ninth grade Geography and English teachers.  They needed to have maintained an “A” or “B” grade in their ninth grade Geography and English classes in order to be admitted to AP World History.

• What do you want them to be able to do as a result of using your web site?

Students will become resident “experts” for a particular AP theme during the given time period that we are studying.  The idea is that I will try to give students experience being the expert on as many of the AP themes as possible throughout the year.  When we have completed our course, this project will serve as a student-created study guide that students can use as they prepare for the AP exam in May.

• What have others done that is similar?

I know that my EDTEC 541 instructor, Dan McDowell, also has been doing a similar project for his AP World History classes.  His project actually inspired me to convert my original PowerPoint project to wikis.  Although the focus on my project differs from his, the overall purpose is the same: a student-created study guide for AP World History.

• What performance drivers might prevent them from learning with this tool? (skills/knowledge, motivation, environment, incentive)?

Problems may arise with students who don’t have access to the Internet at home.  While they will be given considerable time in class to compile their pages, they will be expected to spend some time outside class to organize the content of their pages.  Many of my students have not had experience creating wikis before.  I expect there to be a considerable learning curve as they learn how to create their wiki articles.  I think the incentive for this project will be strong being that these students are in the class primarily to pass the AP exam and earn college credit.  The more work they put into creating a useful study guide, the more confidence they will have as we approach the exam in May.

My name is Marty Jimenez and I’m entering my 8th year of teaching at Sweetwater High School in National City, CA.  Our school year for 08-09 starts Monday and I’ll be teaching AP World History and World History Accelerated to mostly 10th graders.  I’ve also taught English-10 and 11 in the past, but my real interest is in teaching history.

I graduated from SDSU in 1998 with a B.A. in Journalism and a history minor.  I suppose it was my dad who inspired me to go into the education field as he has been teaching at Montgomery High School since 1974.  So, after completing my B.A. I obtained my teaching credential from National University in 2000.  Aside from teaching I love watching baseball, football, and boxing.  I’m also in an “on again-off again” rock band with my brother-in-law and an old high school friend.  We’ve been doing that since 1994.

I have regularly used the CNN Student News podcasts with my history classes.  As a history teacher I try to tie in as much current events content as I can when it relates to topics that we’re covering during the school year.  I would like to explore other podcasting opportunities as well in this coming school year.  But, outside of CNN News, I haven’t used other podcasts in my class.

Before coming into the COMET program, my only experience with wikis was from occasionally using Wikipedia.  After taking EDTEC 541 from Dan MacDowell, I was exposed to some other wiki content.  He also teaches AP World History and I read into some of the wiki projects he does with his classes and it got me excited about using the same tools in my own classes.  However, I have yet to learn the skills involved in creating a wiki environment for my students.  I’m hoping this class will show me the ropes so that I can get started.

My blogging experience has thus far been limited to the blogs we created for assignments in EDTEC 572 with Terri Linman.  I occasionally read other blogs outside the education field, but I find that I don’t explore much  of that world due to the time crunch of teaching while trying to finish COMET assignments.

I’m thinking that my final project would be to create a wiki site for my AP World History classes.  My students have so much content that they have to learn and analyze (40 chapters in 32 weeks, 10,000 years of history spanning 6 continents).  I would like to set up a base for them to get some general information about one or more of the five major time periods they will be covering.  Other ideas I have floating out there are related to the PBL project I’m creating for EDTEC 570 relating to the history of nuclear weapons.  I’m also thinking, since world religions are such an important component of the AP World History class that I might create a wiki or podcast detailing one or more of the early world religions that my students will be learning about this first quarter of the 08-09 school year.  I think I’ll narrow down the topic once I get a better handle on what the project entails and how comfortable I get with the tools I’ll be learning about.