This week, we will be reviewing what you need to do for the Competency Study Guides you will be preparing. In addition, you will be completing your first skills application, the PowerPoint portion of the MTT test.  You will also continue your work in seeking funding sources for your classroom or school.

 Your reading this week will include the information provided below that prepares you to begin working on your MTT competency.

• Meeting in Collaborate
• PowerPoint Skills App A

You will be expected to complete PowerPoint Skills App Problem A this week. This skills app is similar to what you can expect to find when you take the MTT exam. The Skills Apps are either from the test prep manual study guide or have been developed to simulate the typical test skills application problem. You can find all of the practice tests (except Haddad's) at the following location: http://thebutlerdidit.pbworks.com/w/page/41488170/MTT-Practice-Tests 

We will be reviewing the requirements for the PPT Skills App in Collaborate this week.

Project Description: Please note that you are only responsible for the standards listed in your cell of the chart. Thus, you would not present on the entire competency, but only those letters that are listed. If you have not already selected a competency, one was assigned to you by your instructor. Thus, you must check on the Course Portal Page to see which competency was selected for you.

You will be providing a presentation/lesson that will serve as the study guide for those who are preparing for the MTT exam. This study guide will include the following components:

Component 1 - PowerPoint Presentation

For Part 1, please create a PPT presentation that will provide information pertaining to the competency you chose. Although I know that you all have learned many presentations that can be much more dynamic than PowerPoint, it is critical that you learn to develop effective PPT presentations. Keep in mind - a really bad presentation in Prezi is still a really bad presentation, even if it swirls around the page. 

A PowerPoint presentation also stretches the capabilities of Collaborate much less intensively than Prezi, et. al.  Since we will be presenting in Collaborate on a very tight schedule, we want to make sure to keep the gremlins at bay.  Anything other than PPT alerts the gremlins and the technology glitches begin.

Also, PowerPoint presentations can be imported into Collaborate and will be available through the archived session. Keep in mind: You will be expected to use the best skills that you learned in EDTC 6340 about creating effective presentations. While the presentation in Collaborate will be rather static, the PPT itself (for those of us who download it) should POP!!!!

As an example, see the sales presentation below.

For your study guide, you will provide an overview of the competency you selected and what the MTT is expected to know about the competency. If there are any key terms, provide a working definition and other relevant information regarding those terms. If the concepts can be illustrated, then please provide graphics so that we may better understand the concepts.  A picture is worth 1,000 words and all that.  Please note:  Again, you will be expected to follow the rules of good design as explained in the test for 6340, They Snooze, You Lose.

Your presentation should provide your information with the understanding that peers will be studying the material as well as watching your Collaborate presentation. Thus, in the presentation, you should provide an overview of your study guide materials and how to use them rather than all the details needed for the competencies. Above all, this is not to be an "information dump" presentation. This means that we do not want you to simply copy and present the competency bullets of information.  

Component 2 - Creating a movie and embedding it in PPT presentation

Another component of the presentation will be a video that you are going to create for the competency PowerPoint. This video can be created in Jing, Photo Story 3, iMovie or any other software that you may have. In this video, you will need to provide more information on your topic. This can be a mini lesson, a website tour, a snappy introduction, or anything else you feel is relevant or exciting about the competency you selected.  Length: 30-90 seconds.

Then, you will upload the movie into your PPT presentation to play automatically. While this movie will not play in Collaborate, it will play when the PPT is downloaded.  Learning how to embed a movie into PPT will provide you with another skillset.

We have noted some areas that are important for you to consider when you are developing your presentation, but please do not limit yourself to the suggestions made below.

Some key points to note in each competency:

In Competency 001, bullets 12 and 13 deal with citation of sources. You may want to include some key examples of the information needed when citing sources for articles, databases, encyclopedias, listservs, emails, photographs, graphics, music, etc. While you do not need to be specific to a particular format (for example it does not matter whether you are citing for APA or MLA) the information required in a citation is essentially the same. Thus, for a journal article you need to cite author, title, volume, issue, date and page numbers. Volumes have been written to cover citation documentation, so you do not need to cover all the possible sources but instead focus on sources that are most likely to be used.

Competency 002 requires that you know a great deal about animation, so make sure that you provide a good working definition – and examples, if required to better understand the terms. Proportion, balance, color, variety, etc. are important design concepts for all media not just website design. But remember, a picture is worth 1,000 words, so if you can show us rather than just tell us, we will better understand.

In Competency 003, you do not have to provide a tutorial on developing websites, but you would want to provide definitions for the most common terms used in Web site mastering such as some basic HTML tags (bold, underline, italics, alignment, for example), hyperlinks and how to create them, alt tags purpose, firewalls, links to email, etc. How the typical MTT would use this knowledge in the completion of the Case Study is key to this competency.

Competency 004 requires much background information on digital video technology. All terms should be defined. Examples should be provided, when possible. Some terms may be duplicated in Competencies 002 and 003, but, that’s okay. The more we are exposed to the terms, the better.

Competency 005 has some terms that are also identified in other competencies, but it is important to reinforce these terms – so duplication is not a problem. In this competency, please address lossy compression and the different files formats such as bmp, gif, jpg, png, tif, etc. What do they mean and when do you use them? Although not mentioned, I would think it would be helpful to provide definition of vector and raster graphics and why it is important to understand the difference. Also, what are the differences in the various graphic formats and under what circumstances would you use the various formats? Rubrics are also part of this competency. Please provide rationale for their use – why are they so important?

Competency 006 should address the various forms of communication and what format is appropriate for what purpose. This should look at audience and purpose, productivity tools and presentation formats.

Competency 007 is rather large. The discussion below might be helpful in preparing study guides.

• In bullets 1-9, discuss assessments and their role in education. You would need to address such issues as bias, reliability, and validity. Discuss quantitative as well as qualitative assessment – differences and purposes of each as well as formal and informal assessments.
• Bullets 10-19 should provide a broad overview of educational research as well as instructional strategies. For example, what is direct instruction, cooperative and collaborative learning, project-based learning, and student-centered vs. teacher-centered instruction? What does the research say is effective?

Competency 008 deals with diversity – so please give an overview of Assistive technology and the role of the MTT regarding Assistive technology.

Competency 009 and Competency 010 will be covered in class so we will not have study guides for those.

Component 3 - Game Time
For this Component, you will be creating a game that will serve as an additional study guide for potential MTT test takers. You will include key concepts and vocabulary in some format that will allow test takers to prepare for each competency in a somewhat "drill and skill" format, albeit more fun than "drill and skill" stuff, we hope. You can create flash cards, a Jeopardy game, a Who Wants to be A Millionaire? game, 20 Questions, SoftChalk drag and drop or any other game that will help others review for the exam. You may branch out and try something more creative for the study "games" you are developing. Often, the unusual will stimulate learning more than the traditional tools for learning.  You might consider creating a video "rapping" or singing the terminology/skills for the competency information needed, a catchy little series of slogans for vocab or an epic poem, an interactive online game for learning, a branching story or scenario, a great and wonderful or corny mystery or ??? Creativity in your presentation will be rewarded and will help the candidate remember the content they need to learn.

If you do want to use a PPT game, you can find templates for a variety of activities on the MTT site. You can use one of these templates or create your own – one of these games or create another. Please indicate your name on your project materials as well as copyright information because your projects will be posted on the MTT site for others to use.

Component 4 - Resources added to page
In addition to the PPT and the "drill and skill" study aid, you will be expected to prepare a list of relevant websites and add them to the wiki study page. These will serve as additional resources for the potential MTT candidate who is preparing for the test as well as the MTT who is performing as a mentor. These websites should focus on the competency you are addressing in your project. Please indicate your name above your resources as well as the relevant competency they pertain to.

Component 5 - Presentation in Collaborate
Presentation in Collaborate. You will select your choice for the order in which to present and post it in the wiki under the appropriate page. However, it will be first come, first served; so, if you have a preference, you may want to sign up for your slot early.

In addition to working on this project, you should continue to work on your grant application.