I want to thank those individuals who took part in the Twitter feed on Tuesday.  Very scrumptious.  Apart from the tiny bones and feathers... It was there I received my muse and discovered my question.  “Are screencasts an effective tool to deliver instruction and professional development to teachers?”  Shortly afterwards, I surfed Google Scholar for any journal articles that relate and found a few.  I would love to purchase some of the books and articles but alas...I’m broke.  The results from the action research regarding screencasts are very positive.  I’m especially encouraged by the excitement that the instructional delivery of screencasts created.  Many of the recipients of screencasts felt more empowered by owning and being able to control the pace of instruction.  

My concern with my forthcoming research is my ability to create effective surveys that reject any bias on my part and offer fair and balanced responses from the participants.  I vividly remember my statistics professor discussing the many obstacles inherent to polling.  One misplaced word and the participants are thrown off.  I hope to find some guidelines regarding this tricky step or maybe it will be covered in this class due to the qualitative nature of the research.  Bringing this issue up in the Twitter meeting might be all it takes.  I find Twitter Hour every Tuesday and/or Thursday immensely useful for issues such as these.

This week’s blogs were very informative and some were downright comforting.   There were some that proclaimed frustration and indecision and others that discovered correlation and causation.  Regardless, reading each one was enjoyable.  I found a few that I could relate to including a very well written blog regarding Writer’s Workshops.   I’ve used Google Apps to design a Writer’s Workshop for my fourth grade class and right away I observed students’ new found “eagerness” to write.  Having students add peer editors and instructing them on creating meaningful and positive feedback created a free flowing press room where ideas flowed in real-time.  Stories were produced faster and they immersed their ideas both on their stories and the stories of two other writers.  Anyways, I shared this concept and hope it helps.  I also shared my experience with the online ClassDojo for classroom management.   I figured it could lend itself to research due to it’s downloadable progress reports.  Unfortunately, my troublesome time-management issues kept me from commenting sooner than I...or they might have liked.  This leads me to what I would like to correct next week.  When I’m done with this blog entry.  I will open week four and begin.  I won’t wait until Wednesday.  There will be no more celebratory moments come Sunday at 12:01.  I must pace my research and steps throughout the week.  I’m writing this down on my walls with chalk tonight?

Again, thanks to those of you who pointed out that I don’t need a group of students under my wing at all times to commit to action research.  Special thanks to Dr. Lee Graham for moving me forward on Tuesday.  I’m looking forward to putting this together.

This is a short list but I have just now set on an action research topic and did not attempt too many research articles.  Here are three that will help guide my understanding and establish background information.

Brown-Sica, M., Sobel, K., & Pan, D. (2009). Learning For All: Teaching Students, Faculty, And Staff               With Screencasting. Public Services Quarterly,5(2), 81-97.


This quarterly references the use of short, quickly produced online tutorials.  The article discusses ways and methods to create screencasts that are customized to each troubleshooting issue.  The screencasts are created with an emphasis on getting the information to the customer as quickly as possible.  The methods sacrifice perfection in order to deliver customized support. The rationale for creating, evaluating, and publicizing tutorials is discussed but not compared to professional development that is based in person.


Dana, H., Havens, B., Hochanadel, C., & Phillips, J. (2010). An innovative approach to faculty coaching.              Contemporary Issues in Education Research (CIER), 3(11), 29-34.

The primary question beeing researched is “Will faculty relationships be enhanced and will teaching measures increase by the use of multimedia technology in coaching?” This study looks at the use of screencasts to inform department chairs of technology integratration into assessments and analytics.  The purpose is to ascertain the effectiveness of professional development through the use of screen casts.  The study assisted department chairs and administrators’ decisions concerning the tech integration.  

Peterson, E. (2007). Incorporating Screencasts In Online Teaching. The International Review Of                   Research In Open And Distance Learning, 8(3). Retrieved                                                                           fromhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/495/943

The research presented attempts to remedy a deficiency in instructing students in the Dewey Decimal Classification System.  To assist the instruction, basic screencasts were developed to assist distance education students.  Using benchmarks, researchers were able to preclude the possible outcome of using these tech. tools. The expectation or hypothesis is “students will have increased success because of the addition of screencasts. (2007).

I have enjoyed the conversation about our new standards because they have all been positive.  Their might be some trepidation for the very near future on how we are going to change our teaching and most importantly, assessment methods but everybody seems to agree that less will be more in term of in-depth learning and higher creative thinking.  

I'm hearing that many of us are looking to tech tools to support the new standards.  My take on is...

*There are many out there and some more effective than others.  These tools do the same thing now and the only change in effectiveness will come from how their used by the instructor. 

*Some apps will step out and help save the day like Show Me, Puppet Pals, Educreations, and Explain Everything.  These are apps that allow students to create videos and use screen shots that can then be explained using visual options like arrows, backgrounds, pictures, photos, etc.  These allow students to explain and show inference in a way lined paper cannot.  

*Google Apps & Drive will assist teachers in analyzing student work.

*There are many ways to use collaboration to model the new Listening & Speaking standards.  It is here that teachers will reach for technology.  Presenting oneself with formal vernacular on a video screen is intimidating...at least it was for me.  I never had so many opportunities to practice compared to students now.  I can turn on my ipad and take wonderful video and then edit away with seconds.  Hitting the playback on a speech can be a wonderful learning experience.

Oh barnacles!  I don’t know.  I turned in my classroom for a suitcase with wheels packed with buttons and cords and am continually scratching at my head trying to come up with a meaningful action research plan that can support my department and meet the objectives laid out in the syllabus.

So, there are many of you that have great ideas and want to work together with other ambitious professionals to find out what works best and implement it.  

I’ll be your Huckleberry. (Honestly, I don’t remember where I heard that phrase but I love it.)  

If you have an idea that incorporates games, apps, video conferencing, or any other tech related item to the new standards, I would be game in adopting this plan and offer all of my knowledge and the knowledge of five other tech teachers in my department.    Any idea would be great.  I very much want to collaborate with others on this.  In conclusion...help me...help you.


chris carlson

At the beginning of this school year, I took a new position as an Instructional Technology Teacher under the department of Curriculum.  My first priority was to match the new Alaska State Standards with supporting technology.  As I prepared my report, I began recognizing noticeable differences between our new system and the previous Grade Level Expectations.  

For this blog, I want to touch on my own observations.  I find pointing out the obvious over and over can become redundant.  Not that it's obvious right away.  The Powerpoint presentation offered in the seaccr website is a wonderful and comprehensive collection of three notable differences.  I am very pleased to see a shift towards non-fiction.  Most of the fascination I have experienced with books comes from reading biographies and tales of great feats.   

If you haven’t already presented this to yourself, please watch Dr. Anne Jones' PowerPoint presentation, Using Collaborative Classroom Research to Implement the Standards ‘shifts’ in your classroom.
http://seaccr.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/ed-626-ela-shifts-presentation.pptx

Observation #1

If you begin every reading and writing standard with “I can…”, the sentence makes sense.  Not so with the GLE’s.  The GLE’s tend to state what students have to prove or be assessed on.  I know that sounds a dash confusing so the way I think it through is that each new standard will help base my “essential questions” for my lesson plan.  I’ve initiated my backward design lesson plan with one standard and off I go creating meaningful instruction and so far it’s been a more seamless experience when building my lesson plans.  So in conclusion, students are going to see and hear about these standards in the lesson and will become more familiar with what their goal or objective is for the lesson because teachers can interprit them easier and state them clearly in the beginning of the lesson.  I have “I can…” statements printed or projected in the classroom at all times during my thematic lessons.

Observation #2

Less is more but those standards are packed with words and phrases that ooze deeper understanding, higher order thinking, and expanded analytical processes. (EED 2012)  The new standards offer more in depth and cross curricular instruction than the GLEs.  Teachers can wrap a unit around one standard and not feel pressured to wrap it up and move quickly to the next “testable” item on the list.  In conclusion, the new standards are framed for exploring and research compared to the checklist style GLEs.

Alaska Department of Education & Early Development
Tools for Standards Transition
Grade 4 Comparison

Please watch the Showme video below.  Showme is available at the App Store for the Ipad and can be used by teachers.  Students can acquire accounts with parental consent.