Reflection #6- Jing

I struggled with this assignment, but most of my frustration and challenge came with creating the Wiki- not with learning to use Jing to create a screencast. I loved Kim Swartz's example that she posted to the forum for this assignment, and decided to do something very similar. To begin with, I created a Wikispace to use during professional development that I'll be doing at Nashua-Plainfield during the upcoming school year. The Wiki will be a place where collaborative teams can post their meeting agendas, minutes, and other documents pertinent to their work. The Wiki also contains a blog- or a discussion forum- which will allow teams to communicate with each other throughout the school year, posting updates about their particular topic of study.

After creating the Wiki (which won't be "finished" until after our first PD session on August 11), I experimented with JING to create a video explanation about how I will use the Wiki with the N-P staff. Again, when the Wiki is updated to reflect staff member names, and collaborative team topics, I will use JING to create a tutorial. The link to the tutorial will provide each N-P staff member with an introduction to the Wiki, and a very simple explanation of how to use it.

I'm really excited about both tools- the Wiki and Jing- but found myself really struggling with the Wiki. I haven't been able to figure out the "right" way to get my introductory text to show up with the blog page. What I want is for a participant to be able to click on the Discussion button from the home page, and get to the blog- that has my introductory paragraph with it. I haven't been able to make that work yet. What I did instead (I think) was create a separate page to enter my text into- then I "directed" that page to the blog page. It works, but it isn't what I want. Now, I think what I have is a Wiki with TWO blogs- one of which accompanies my text, and one that doesn't. But... when I try to keep the one that works, and delete the "empty" one, they BOTH go away!

I'm sure it's an easy fix- and I'll keep at it. I have a feeling that my trouble is in the way that I'm "perceiving" the organization and structure of the Wiki. I think I often times approach these NEW tools- with my OLD glasses on- meaning I think about them in terms of what I know about how a basic Word Processing tool works- or even a PPT. I have trouble abandoning what I know about the OLD tools- in order to learn the NEW ones! AUGGGGHHHHH!