Unit_1

=Unit 1: Social Networks= September 14- October 20
 * Unit Question:** How can we use social networks to improve our school lives?
 * Area Of Interaction:** Approaches to Learning

Day 1: September 14th, 2009

 * Today's Question:** What is a social network service?

media type="custom" key="4420751" The Handout:

Day 2: September 16th, 2009

 * Today's Question:** In what ways can I use a social network for school work?

Agenda

 * 1) **Class Wiki (bsge-tech10.wikispaces.com) demonstration.**
 * 2) **Individual work:** sign out computers, register for wikispaces, and join the wiki. Work on your homepage.
 * 3) **Discussion:** In what ways is a wiki like most social networks, and in what ways is it different from most social networks?
 * 4) **Turnitin ([|http://turnitin.com]) demonstration.**
 * 5) **Individual work:** register for turnitin.com and enroll in the class.
 * 6) **Youth Voices ([|www.youthvoices.net]):** sign in and post a "What's up?". Read and comment on at least two posts by other students.
 * 7) **Group work:** Make a chart of the three websites you have visited today. On the chart, list their social networking features and the features that can be used for school work.
 * 8) **Homework:** check the assignments page.

Day 3: September 18th, 2009

 * Today's Question:** How can I use social networks to help me do research?

Agenda
> (publish your findings in a GoogleDoc with the title //"Tech-10: Social Networks Project: [Your Name]"//, shared with me at ssaha@bsge.org)
 * 1) **Watch the video** "Social Bookmarking in Plain English" from Common Craft.
 * 2) **Discussion:** what websites do you bookmark?
 * 3) **MiniLesson:** Using Diigo
 * 4) **Individual/small group work:** sign out computers, and sign in to Diigo ([|http://www.diigo.com]) using the account that was created for you. Bookmark **three** sites that interest you, and share the bookmark with the [|BSGE_Tech_10 group] in Diigo. Use Diigo tools to annotate the sites, and comment on one bookmark of each of the other students in your group.
 * 5) **Project work (start in class, finish for homework):** Choose a social networking service that you are familiar with (and which is accessible in school). Make a thorough investigation of the site, including the following
 * Document the steps necessary to sign up for an account at the site.
 * Document the types of information that are displayed in the User profile.
 * Document the ways in which members of the site can communicate and associate with one another.
 * Find two reviews of the social network published on other web sites. Bookmark these reviews in Diigo in the BSGE_Tech_10 group, and annotate them. Include annotated citations to these sources in your GoogleDoc.

Day 4: September 22nd, 2009

 * Today's Question:** What social networking problems can I identify and solve?

Agenda

 * 1) **Watch this screencast** about how to create a Blogger blog.
 * 2) **Discussion**: what have you found in your investigation of your chosen social network site that might confuse or turn off new users?
 * 3) **MiniLesson:** The Design Brief
 * 4) **Individual work:** Write a preliminary Design Brief for your project.
 * 5) **Pair work:** exchange your Design Brief with a partner. Read your partner's Design Brief and write down 2-3 clarifying questions about it. Discuss your questions and answers with your partner.
 * 6) **Pair share:** present your partner's Design Brief to the class.
 * 7) **Homework:** Revise and post your Design Brief in GoogleDocs (//title is "Tech-10: Social Networks Design Brief: [Your Name]", shared with me at ssaha@bsge.org)//

Day 5: September 24th, 2009

 * Today's Question:** How does a screencast work?

Agenda

 * 1) **Demonstration:** Creating a Screencast using Jing
 * 2) **Project Work: (start in class, finish for homework)**
 * 3) Test possible programs or web services for creating your own screencast. For each one that you test, create a short screencast with it, and then attempt to upload the screencast you created to Blip.tv and to youthvoices.net.
 * Jing ([|http://jingproject.com])
 * Screencast-o-matic ([])
 * Screen Toaster ([])
 * Screen Castle ([])
 * FreeScreencast ([])
 * Other tools (some of which can be downloaded and run on your computer at home) can be found here
 * 1) Write up your findings in your Social Networks Project GoogleDoc. Include the following:
 * Which programs or web services you investigated (minimum three)
 * Describe the features you liked and did not like about each program/service
 * Based on your research so far, explain which program or service would you choose to do your final screencast.

Day 6: September 29th, 2009

 * Today's Question:** What are the main elements of a good screencast?

Agenda

 * 1) **Reading:** the handout "What makes a good screencast?" (you can find the document here:[[file:doc.pdf]])
 * 2) **Video:** watch "Online Photo sharing in Plain English" (link to it here: [])
 * 3) **Video:** watch "Twitter Tutorial" (link to it here: [])
 * 4) **Video:** watch "How to add friends to FriendFeed" (link to it here: [])
 * 5) **Group work:** make a list of the "do's and don'ts" for making a screencast by comparing the three videos, their strengths and weaknesses.

Day 7: October 1st, 2009

 * Today's Question:** How can I recognize what a solution to a problem looks like?

Agenda

 * 1) **Reading:** "Top 10 tips on how to avoid a professional embarrassment on Facebook" (link [|here])
 * 2) **Mini-Lesson:** the Design Specification (see document here[[file:Sample Design Specification.pdf]])
 * 3) **Project Work:** (start in class, finish at home) Create your own Design Specification for this project.
 * Design Specification must include the items in bold on the sample document. The remainder are up to you.
 * Specification should show evidence of research to solve a problem, either by personal experience or by referring to cited sources (preferably both).
 * Upload your Design Specification to Turnitin by Monday, October 5th.

Day 8: October 5th, 2009

 * Today's Question:** How many different ways can a problem be solved?

Agenda

 * 1) **Mini-Lesson:** Creating a storyboard. See the [|sample storyboard] (click on "View Together" at the bottom right and then look at the speaker's notes for each slide)
 * 2) **Project Work:** (start in class, finish at home) Create two alternate storyboards for your project.
 * Create a Google Presentation named **"Tech 10 Social Networks Project Storyboard: [your name]"** and share it with ssaha@bsge.org.
 * On this presentation, create two alternate storyboards for your screencast.
 * You may use screenshots of your own, or ones that you can find on the Internet.
 * In your speaker's notes, outline what you will say, and put what you will do in square brackets [ ].
 * Distinguish the two storyboards with two separate title slides.

October 7th, 2009
Periodic Assessment #1

Day 9: October 9th, 2009

 * Today's question:** How can I determine what solution to my problem is best?

Agenda

 * 1) **Pair work:** Use the following procedure. **//Note: students who have not handed in their Design Spec will spend this time writing (or in some cases, rewriting) it//**.
 * Get computers.
 * Sign into googledocs.bsge.org, and share your Design storyboards with your partner.
 * Exchange the Design Specifications that you created with your partner.
 * Read your partner's Design Spec. Then view your partner's design storyboards.
 * Discuss your partner's designs with him/her. Evaluate the two designs against the Design Spec, and choose which one you think is the best.
 * Write your evaluation in a GoogleDoc titled **"Tech 10: Social Networks Design Evaluation:[your partner's name]"** that you share with me and your partner.
 * You will receive two grades- one for the quality of your evaluation, and one (given by your partner) for how well you adhere to your design specification.
 * Evaluation Rubric: Use the **Criterion B: Design** rubric.
 * 1) **Individual work:** Create a **Plan** for your project. On a new GoogleDoc named **"Tech 10: Social Networks Plan: [your name]"** that you share with me, write the following:
 * What **time** you plan use to work on your project (at home, in class, during 6th period, etc.)
 * What **tools** you plan to use (a school computer, a home computer, other hardware or software, etc.)
 * What **people** you plan to use as resources (other than your teacher)
 * 1) Students who did not submit their work to Turnitin as originally required must type up their Design Specs at home and resubmit them on Wednesday **//on paper//**, typed, double-spaced, with proper headings. They will work on this part of the project next Wednesday in class.

Day 10: October 16th, 2009

 * Today's Question:** What changes do I need to make in what I am doing?

Agenda

 * On-Track Students:**
 * 1) You have most of the period to work on your screencasts. You may sign out one of the new MacBooks to work with. You must either share the working headsets or find a quiet space in the room or hallway so that you can use the built-in microphone.
 * 2) At 12:45, you must stop work and write an Engineer's Journal entry. Log into googledocs.bsge.org. Create a new document named "Tech 10 Journal: [Your Name]" and share it with me.
 * Students who are behind:** hand in your printed Design Specifications, and work on the procedure for Day 9, as seen above.

Day 11: October 20th, 2009

 * Today's Question:** In what ways does my screencast succeed or fail in achieving its objectives, as represented in the Design Specification?

Agenda

 * Project Work:** Work on this in class, and complete it for homework. Parts of it must be completed by today (see below), the rest of it must be complete by midnight tomorrow night.
 * 1) **Complete working** on your screencast.
 * 2) **Create a discussion post** with your screencast on YouthVoices (http://youthvoices.net). This post must have the following elements (posted by 7PM tonight):
 * Choose the proper //**type**// of post (i.e. if you can embed the screencast, choose Video, if you can only link to it, choose text and media)
 * Write an appropriate //**title**//
 * Choose an appropriate //**category**// and //**keywords**// (include the keyword "Tech_10")
 * In your body, //**introduce**// your project (include the external link if you have to), then paste your latest modified //**Design Specification**//.
 * Summarize your //**Engineer's Journal**// for the project.
 * Ask for viewers to watch the screencast and provide //**warm and cool feedback**//, focused around the question of the day above (you may copy the question or put it in your own words).
 * Make the post part of the //**Baccalaureate School group**// and the //**Technology and the World group**// in Youth Voices. Also make it public
 * 1) Write a **comment on your own discussion post**. Look at the Rubric for Criterion D, and make a case for what grade you should receive for your product.
 * 2) **Watch the screencasts of two other students** in this class (one from your table, and one from another table). **Write comments** for those students and **justify a grade** for them.