Synchronous and asynchronous communication

Synchronous communication


Asynchronous communication

Another synchronous shot - this took forever to figure out where it was saved to, I really think that it was use error that caused this fault, but it will be easier now in the future.


I certainly preferred the synchronous communication because it allows there to be instant feedback, and less video like. It allows for a greater span of information to be shared because questions can be answered and addressed immediately, you don't have to wait for it. Asynchronous communication is nice because like we have seen on our class website, it can answer mass questions that many students may have, or to give instructions. So, really they both have their advantages and disadvantages, you just have to choose which one is best for you.
In my classroom it could be possible to include video communication to help students with homework, or on assignments that they have to complete. It could also be nice to record experiments done as 'proof' students have to submit to you or that are done in class that can't be repeated for those students who were absent one day.

Discovering New Tools

Guess what? I learned what a wiki is, and how to start to navigate it.... that is exciting. I am excited to get a webpage started, I am going to have to play with it more before I am excited about what I have created, but it is a start. This is the biggest thing that I said that I was excited to learn, so here we go.
It is difficult getting started with these new tools and not really knowing what they can do, so you don't really know how you are going to use them despite that you know they could be useful to you. But I have seen classroom websites that are really useful, so I am excited to get going with this one. I can see that it can be useful to have a place that students and parents can go that has a calendar with assignments/events past and coming up for the class. I can also see that it could be used as a great tool to feature future careers in chemistry or chemistry related fields.

O.k, another tool I learned how to use: Qualtrics - a free survey builder software. I am so excited to come up with good questions to use all of the question types.... like rank the order and side by side. I am so excited about this.

Well, I am just getting started for now, but here is my class website: Everydaychemistry

Teaching Limiting Reactants

The purpose of this video is to use it as an introduction to limiting reactant products so that students see that it is similar to things in their everyday life, and to see that life issues are sometimes harder than the chemistry behind figuring out these problems. There should be a worksheet to accompany the movie that has a list of the lanyard options, it holds students accountable for the information, and gives them an opportunity to start the thinking process for the day. Hope that you enjoy.

Finding How to Reach Students

There are many challenges that teachers have to face in order to teach the the core standards to students. One approach to overcoming this is to incorporate multimedia projects - especially when it can help to better explain a concept. As a teacher it is important to recognize what is legal to show or not, and honestly I had never really thought about the seriousness of this, but I am glad that I went through a copyright tutorial so that it
a) brought the issues to my attention, and
b) described what is allowed and what is not.
I found the most useful piece of the tutorial was the fair use video. Anyways, I decided that I wanted to demonstrate learning through multimedia and help show how limiting reactant problems are all around students, sometimes even in more complex terms than you find them in chemistry. But that they are still important and they help us to function in the society we live in. Hopefully it turns out well, but here is my idea....