Blog #2 Multimedia Montage Project Step 1

As I started to think about the Multimedia Montage Project, I became a little bit overwhelmed yet excited. I am looking forward to joining various communities and learning about new technology tools and ideas that I have yet to hear of. At first, I didn't know where to start. After reading about the ADDIE Model, I tried to start with the "Analysis" section and really think about what topic I wanted to pursue. After thinking about my student teaching experience, as well as the classes that I had taken in the past year, I thought up the idea that I can pursue the topic or "challenge" of assessment. To be more exact, formative assessments in the elementary classroom. Formative assessments are crucial for teachers to track student's progress and understanding, and with the integration of technology and multimedia, it can become a much easier, fun, and organized task.

Finding specific assessment communities turned out to be a daunting task. As I searched through the Google+ communities to find one to join, I ended up going a more general route and found a great group called EdTech. This community has over 48,000 members which leads me to believe that it's a great resource for anything educational technology related. It is an active community where its' members post interesting content from tips to tools and everything in between. This community has a plethora of information, and with the amount of members present that are contributing their knowledge, it will allow me to get an inside look of what really occurs in the classroom and how different technological tools that can be integrated with regular instruction.

Outside of Google+, I am also planning on joining the edutopia community which after using this resource for an assignment for another class, I realized how great of a website it was. This website has many resources for almost any educational topic or question you may have. After looking through the site some more, I also found that they have a lot of content that is focused on technology including discussion boards, videos, lesson plans, and informative articles. I hope to take the information that I learn about assessments through this site and connect it to what I learn about technology.

After going through and exploring different communities, I can relate it to what stuck out with me in the DIY Media reading, particularly "social learning". Learning through interactions (on blogs, wikis, social media, etc..), otherwise known as "social learning" can "contribute to the development of a 'pull' approach to learning...[which] will 'better serve the needs of twenty-first century students'"(Knobel and Lankshear, 2010). Twenty-first century students (such as ourselves in this course), can use these various tools to help them become increasingly "literate" (in Daley's terms).

As someone who does not have as much experience in the classroom as others, I feel like being a part of these communities, which have knowledgable and experienced members, will help me gain more insight on what it really means to be an educator. I hope to be able to participate in these communities and engage/collaborate with others who can help inform my upcoming project.

Resources: 
Hodell, Chuck. (2011). Chapter 3: Instructional systems development and the ADDIE model. In ISD From the Ground Up: A No-Nonsense Approach to Instructional Design (3^rd ed.). American Society for Training and Development: Alexandria, VA.

Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2010). DIY media: creating, sharing and learning with new technologies. New York: Peter Lang.

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