Watching a Webinar

I decided I wanted to watch a webinar which would be useful for my professional development, especially since we have a two day holiday for Buddha's birthday (May 17, 2013) and my school scheduled a Professional Development day on Teacher Appreciation Day (May 15th in South Korea). I also decided a prerecorded webinar made the most sense for me since I there is an eleven to fourteen hour time difference between the USA and South Korea.               

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I'd had some prior experience with a prerecorded BrainPop webinar for educators (I watched how to use the Mixer to make my own personalized quizzes, and I also shared this experience in an earlier blog post). One of my frustrations with the quiz mixer, though, was that if I wanted the students to report their results, they would either have to email me the results, take the test in my presence in the Mac lab, or print a copy of their score. But now that I've become more proficient in Google Drive, I wanted to take my tech knowledge to the next level.

And so I watched: BrainPOP and Google Apps for Education. In order to view this webinar, though, you need to be a BrainPOP educator. Rather than force people reading this blog to sign up (especially if your school does not have a BrainPOP license), I'll just have to have faith that the people reading this blog will not completely abuse my trust, and I'll let people log in using my ID and password. You'll need to email me for the info. And unless you change the password on me, I'll reset the password at the end of CE5160.

The webinar was INCREDIBLY useful! It was originally recorded in January 2013, and it was very timely. Andrew Gardner, a Senior Manager for BrainPOP Educators, guided me step by step through the process of integrating Google apps, and the lesson on directly collecting quiz scores in a spreadsheet (very useful data) was probably the best gem in the program. I can't wait to share this with my colleagues at work on Wednesday during our PD time.

BrainPOP integrates with Google docs so that a spreadsheet is generated with the names of the students, their first, second, and last scores on the quiz (since they can take the assessment multiple times), and sorts the tests by the tabs at the bottom of the page. This will save me tons of time as a teacher, and it puts all of the information in one spreadsheet rather than creating a new document for each quiz.

A key difference in this recorded webinar, as opposed to a live webinar, is my ability to stop the recording in order to actually follow through with what the presenter, in this case, Andrew, was discussing. In a live event, I'd just be taking notes. Plus I find I can become distracted by the side chats occurring simultaneously. 

I think that this webinar relates to two of the course objectives for CE5160.

• Design and implement digitally-based learning experiences with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments.

The BrainPOP Mixer quizzes are a fantastic way for me to quickly assess my students' understanding of a topic. For example, this week, as part of the Social Studies lesson, I am going to discuss citizenship (which can be a challenge). In addition to the textbook reading, I plan to use the BrainPOPJr. video which ties into citizenship, Rights and Responsibilities.

Then, when we head to the Mac lab in the afternoon, my students will take a quiz I made with the Mixer. I should know before the students leave for the Buddha's birthday break how well they understand the Social Studies concepts.

• Use knowledge of digital tools and technology applications to facilitate experiences that advance learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

Since my students will have a five day break from school, I want to be able to give them a few videos to watch. Thankfully, all of my students have access to the Internet at home (this is South Korea, after all!), and I can ask them to watch a few videos over the break which will reinforce some of the concepts we have covered in Science class relating to matter and energy, light and sound. So I don't have to be face-to-face with my students for them to take some responsibility for their learning over the break. 

Then, with just a quick check of the BrainPOP spreadsheet tabs on Sunday evening, I'll know who took the quizzes, how many times they took the quiz, and their scores. I couldn't be happier! Although a little part of me wishes I'd known about this sooner, perhaps I would not have been mentally ready to embrace the technology before now. Kudos to BrainPOP and Google!