Blog Post 4 – Romanek

1. Our text categorizes electronic information into four types:

Textual Information: consists mainly of words, as opposed to electronic objects such as photos, animations, etc. This information typically takes the form of an announcement or document.

Below, you will find an example of an announcement prepared using the LMS software (Blackboard) for my other course this quarter.

I find it to be effective because, first, like the regular interaction via email cited in Dr. Newberry’s media theory podcast, it provides speed of feedback for the class as a whole. Second, while it does not transmit cues (e.g. facial expression, body language, etc.) this is a failing captured by all textual information aside from the brief indications exclamation points and particular phrasing allow. Third, like email, announcements are in a format that students are comfortable with and as such allows for natural language. Finally, while it is not personally focused, I, as the reader, take positive feedback from the first paragraph and see the reminders for continuing work as specifically directed at me as well. This may not be the case for other students, depending on how their expectations (as per Dr. Newberry’s own research in the field. :-D)

Presentation Graphics Slide Show: convey information visually (despite the fact that they ordinarily consist primarily of tect)

I found this PowerPoint on the web. I’ve seen it before and much of the information shows itself as out of date (they talk about MySpace, how passé, wink, wink, nudge, nudge), but I would qualify it as effective.

In comparing it to the criteria for media richness theory, it seems to fall down on the instant feedback criteria as it doesn’t give much feedback at all, but I expect that that is a valid criticism of most presentation graphics slide shows. The structure of this particular PowerPoint, while lacking facial expression or body language, does communicate a certain tone of voice as it “speaks” to us and they certainly structure it with a certain natural quality to its language. There are times when I am reading it that I nearly feel as though I am being spoken to by someone. Finally, and I see this as the most important piece that makes this PowerPoint effective, the creator of the PowerPoint structures the facts and their mode of being related in such a way that they while they have a quite broad focus, they seem very pertinent to me. (i.e. 25% of highest IQ people of China is more people than the entire population of the US.)

Spreadsheets and Databases: representations of data

An example of an effective use of spreadsheet might be a “read-only” file of the instructor gradebook. This would allow students to play “what if” with their grade to see various routes to the achievement of their goal grade. This, according to media richness theory would be effective as it gives plenty of instant feedback (as they play what if), is not likely to transmit much in the medium of cues (a category wide weakness), tends to result in stilted language as people weigh the balance between description and saving space (a category wide weakness), but finished strong with a great deal of personal focus as the student is afforded a very intimate view of their own course work potentiality.

Multimedia objects: consist primarily of still pictures, moving pictures, or sound or some combination.

In looking for additional resources to which I can point my students, I found the following you tube video which teaches solving for unknown lengths with 30-60-90 special right triangles (both important on the SAT, ACT and in the geometry standards, yay math!) [I apologize if you get the weird butt ad that I just had before the video, though it does support my hypothesis that knowing more math will help you have a stronger gluteus maximus ;-D…]

I found this video to be effective as it 1) gives instant feedback (though not so personal) as he works through several example problems, 2) does the best job of any of these mediums in communicating cues and 3) allowing for the natural flow of language, while 4) this particular educator had a personal focus and a naturally “goofy flavor” to his work (Which makes my students feel right at home. I know, I know, you’re surprised that I’m goofy in class, as I’ve never given you any indication that I might be quirky. I’m sorry I burst your bubble, 

Enjoy this replacement with my compliments (Easter themed for your enjoyment!):

2. Our text goes into some very specific detail on the proper formatting of textual information. Explain what you believe to be the most important guidelines for your use of textual information that are provided in the text and then create a sample text document (other than an announcement) that demonstrates the best practices of formatting textual information. Be sure to explain the purpose of the document and who the intended users are if that isn’t obvious from the document itself.

The text suggests the following to promote best usability of text documents from a computer screen:

·            Chunk Information

·            Use white space, bulleted lists, and other text attributes

·            Use URL links appropriately

·            Use text links within documents

·            Address user viewing preferences

·            Require standard file formats

Additionally, the text suggests the following to promote best usability of slide shows:

·            Brevity: The Six-by Six Rule

·            Use Special Effects and URL Links Sparingly

·            Control File Sizes to Minimize Download Times

While all of these are important, the ones that are most important to me, in my current practice are the second from text and the second from slide shows. As a visual learner, I find white space, bulleted lists and other formatting techniques to be particularly helpful. I can often close my eyes and see these objects in my mind’s eye.

The example document (click the download button under Sample Text Design) that I chose was built to help students differentiate between the tools they have to solve for side lengths or angle measures. Being able to have a quick and easy reference allows students to find/verify the information that they need and apply it to their work.

3. What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication as it is used in eLearning and how do you choose between the two for a given task?

Forums, a common asynchronous technology used in eLearning, are useful for encouraging critical thinking and for promoting a stronger positive feeling in consideration of social presence theory.

Chats, a common synchronous technology used in eLearning, are also useful when trying to develop positive social presence, yet their use has to be much more clearly moderated if it is not going to degenerate into a free for all. Food fight!

When choosing between the types of communication, it is better to consider first and foremost the number of participants who will be included in your activity, if the number is less than 8 or so, a synchronous chat can be moderated readily enough; if including 8 or more, then an asynchronous forum might be a better choice.

        

 If the topic you would like students to discuss relates itself to short answer responses, then a chat might be the appropriate choice; if it will require more detailed, thought out answers, then a discussion would seem to be the way to go.

Next into the ring, Synchronous vs. Asynchronous!

Both types increase student interaction, enhance students’ ability to learn from one another, help develop quality communication skills, encourage students to take pride in their writing, and are both characteristic (age, gender, race, disability, etc.) neutral.

Synchronous	Asynchronous
Can participate from any location at the right time	Can participate from any location at any time
---	Reserved students feel more comfortable posting as they can revise and edit before “speaking.”
---	Anonymous posting for discussions of sensitive or controversial topics.
Can cause higher anxiety in students whose language skills are not the best as mistakes are more tolerated by others in speaking.	Gives students with writing anxiety more time to refine their work before they present it to others.
If possible, should not exceed 3-7 participants.	Can be moderated for far more participants easily.

4. What technologies does your CMS/LMS have to support synchronous communication?

The basic schoology CMS does not support synchronous communication in and of itself. To expand it’s functionality, you need to integrate one or more of the available apps (like Moodle add ons) to access synchronous technology capabilities. A few available apps are:

·            Backchannel Chat – a monthly pay ($15) chat app that offers a wide array of controls over the chat room for the teacher to ensure that conversation is on topic, free of profanity, and allows the teacher to designate or un-designate students as contributors versus watchers.

·            Blackboard Collaborate – a monthly pay (see your administrator pricing… eek!!!) app that allows for embedded web conferencing or instant messaging.

5. What technologies does your CMS/LMS have to support asynchronous communication?

The basic schoology CMS offers forums in two ways for teacher use. The first way is through a discussion board supported under each classroom/course that you make. The second way is that the teacher (or  students, if allowed by the teacher) can create a group with whomever they want, from their class or not and allow discussion in that regard.

6. Describe a task or assignment you could use in an online class that would use either asynchronous or synchronous communication. Explain the task or assignment, identify the technology you would use to support the activity and explain why you chose that technology. Explain what you would do to ensure that the activity was successful.

This year, I taught AP Statistics (I love this video… I seriously watch it when I’m in need of a pick me up!) and one of my big, aha’s! was that many of my students had a) 0 expectation of actually reading the chapters I assigned b) lacked the skills to read the chapters and pull the important information from them and c) suffered from this lack of skill and work completion. So, how do I hope to resolve this next year?

I would like to set up weekly discussions on the schoology class pages to a) engage the students in the chapters and the reading thereof b) help them refine their understanding of what is important when they are reading a college level text and c) help them apply the information they garnered from these discussions into greater success.

Similar to the weekly assignments that Dr. Newberry gives us, I’d assign questions or request lists that help students focus on and learn to identify the most important parts of a chapter. Requiring interactions with each other and leaving the topics fairly ambiguous will help students explore the topics in ways that are most relevant to them and that allow them to help each other and encourage each other to higher levels of understanding. I would choose to use the discussion board because it doesn’t require the students to install anything else for its use and will make it more accessible to each of my students.

To ensure that the activity is successful I will implement the following incentives:

·            Assign a grade for 1) the original responses of each student and 2) the required two quality interactions with other students.

·            Excuse students with discussion board participation above and beyond the norm from the dreaded, buh, buh, bum! reading quiz.

·            Moderate the threads through responses, questions, and surprise extra credit opportunities to encourage student engagement with the boards on a regular basis.

Week 3 - Way to be!

 

1.    Reflect on the topics discussed by the guest speaker. What was most interesting to you and why? Be sure to provide links to additional resources and sources of information about the topic.

While many of the things that Dr. Monaghan spoke of were interesting, I think that the most personally interesting topic was when he spoke about the meta-analysis done by the US Department of Education concerning which of the following three provides the best education: face to face instruction, online learning, or the hybrid classroom. Dr. Monaghan said that the very short summary was that online learning and face-to-face instruction were found to be comparable, while the hybrid classroom seemingly had the best results as it was able to combine the best elements of both teaching styles.

Looking at the meta-analysis itself, I found that while they completed (as expected for a meta-analysis) an exhaustive search of the available literature, very FEW experimental or quasi-experimental research studies had actually been completed and of those ninety-nine that were used, only nine involved K-12 learners. (At least the Beatles would be happy…)

I found this to be intriguing because we are, at my site, encouraged on a monthly basis to consider in what fashion we might be able to bring technology into our classroom. I’ve seen teachers using (or attempting to use) Edmodo, Schoology, or Class Dojo. I’ve seen students creating videos for French, Social Science or Mathematics. I’ve seen teachers attempt flipped classrooms (attempted it myself, even) and work to have students construct and maintain their own blogs in English and Digital photography. And school wide, we’ve worked (or been asked to work) toward students maintaining constant, needful use of their gaggle accounts so that we may have better access to them, via email, and so that they might learn to use a common interface and gain from that experience over time.

And while it is lovely that we are being encouraged, and that we are trying new things, I always wonder, should we be using common tools in a more designed and particular manner? Would that be better, in that students affective filters will be lowered as they have comfort with the tools, or would it be worse, as students consumption and abandonment of interesting technology tools is legendary. (When was the last time I saw a student play Temple Run or Flappy Birds? These games both had their heyday, but have since all but disappeared…) And, it seems, that the answer is yet to be determined for K-12, at the very least, because I’m just not convinced by the evidence found in nine K-12 studies.

What do you all think? What experience do you have at your school sites? I’d love to hear from you!

2.    What is a "standard' or "typical" online course at CSUSB according to the guest speaker?

According to Dr. Monaghan, a standard or typical online course at CSUSB is delivered through a course management system (either Blackboard or Moodle). This course is typically constructed following a modular model, usually consisting of 10 modules as that follows the 10-week quarter system of CSUSB.

Each of these modules has several components to help deliver the content; these components most typically consist of a powerpoint with audio or perhaps a video which tends to be around 5 minutes or less. In addition to these inputs, students are generally expected to conduct some sort of independent research (See above in regards to finding more information on flipped classrooms, webinars, etc. and their use in the K-12 educational setting) and then some sort of structured discussion with peers (visited any blogs lately? ;-D).

Finally, most courses employ multiple assessment methods to both guard for academic integrity and give feedback to students. (Discussion boards again here, solo or group projects, low stakes quizzes and very occasionally, high stakes tests.)

3.    What tools does CSUSB provide to support online learning?

CSUSB’s office of distributed learning will assign an instructional designer to instructors working to build their online course. This instructional designer works with the, usually, new instructor to a) help them understand that they cannot just film their lectures and put their tests online and then call it good and b) help instructors identify what their goals and objectives are, how they work these in a traditional face-to-face course, look at available materials and then help them make their course the best it can be. (ADDIE anyone?)

Additionally, at their Academic Technologies & Innovation site, they maintain blackboard support, online tutorials, designer tips, how-to’s and general resources to both faculty and staff to help them in all things eLearning.

4.    Describe the Talkshoe experience and discuss how it can be used to support online learning.

The Talkshoe experience has been nice whenever I have worked with it. While I’ve never made it to a live call, tracking down the podcasts that I have needed has never been difficult (thanks Dr. Newberry!) and, likely due to Dr. Newberry’s organization, I’ve even been able to explore his previous talkshoe recordings when fancy strikes.

Talkshoe is nice in that it allows students that are spread far and wide to come together in a synchronous (if their schedule allows for it) setting and be able to speak with their professor, classmates, and as setup, guest speakers from the location where they usually complete their asynchronous work. This even extends to those users driving or away from their typical class interface as they can call in from anywhere so long as they have a phone, and can log in from anywhere so long as they have access to a computer/tablet with the Internet.

Like discussion boards, it still allows for multiple users to interface as questions can be either typed or called in directly to the professor/speaker/moderator.

I particularly like the recorded, saved and posted aspect, because I can take it with me anywhere and listen to it AND I can listen to it as often as I have need to make sure that I understand.

My only question is, what support is there for auditory learners? I had a discussion with a colleague about how much I’ve been enjoying these online courses and she shared that she hates online courses. She said that she’s an auditory learner and that she likes to be able to get answers to her questions on the spot. I am a visual learner, so it’s no surprise to me that I’ve liked being able to see everything so much. How do you all feel?

Till we meet again!

Michelle

Session 2 - Beam me up Scotty! Scotty?!?!

ETEC  674 – Blog 2

1. Central to our investigation of eLearning Technologies and Methods is gaining an understanding of Learning Management Systems (LMS) sometimes also called Course Management System (CMS) software. Chapter 1 of our text discusses the functionality of typical LMS/CMS, identifying four major categories. What are those categories?

         The four categories of LMS/CMS functionality as described by our text are: 1) distribution of course information, 2) student-instructor and student-student communications, 3) student interaction with course resources and 4) online testing and grading.

2. Use the Internet to find three different course management systems. Provide the name, a URL and a brief discussion of what you can find out about the similarities and differences between the three that you find.

Moodle: https://moodle.org

         According to their website, this Australian company has more than 65 million users and is the world’s most widely used learning platform. Their development was guided by social constructionist pedagogy to deliver a “powerful set of learner-centric tools and collaborative learning environments that empower both teaching and learning.” Moodle is an open source software. This means, in short, that Moodle is free and anyone can adapt, extend, or modify it for commercial or non-commercial projects. Their CMS offers collaborative tools (forums, wikis, glossaries, database activities, etc.), all-in-one calendar(keeps track of academic calendar, course deadlines, group meetings, etc.), file management (from skydrive, dropbox, and google drive), text editor, notifications from teachers and others, the ability to track student progress through the course and more.

Blackboard: http://www.blackboard.com

         Blackboard is a course management system like Moodle. It offers many of the same features, though it does have a more nested file system for management of courses. In comparing the opening log on screen to Moodle, course work and documents can be far more buried in the Blackboard file system. The other big contrast to Moodle is that while it is a pay system, this payment comes with more support for individual company/university support as a group works to navigate, customize and upgrade from version to version over time. Additionally, through it’s “pay to play” style, Blackboard has worked to build up its line of products to include other style products such as Blackboard Engage, a K-12 webhosting community management system of which I’m sure Captain Picard would approve.

 

Sakai: https://sakaiproject.org

         Like Moodle, Sakai is an open source community LMS. Unlike Moodle which was originally developed by a single individual, Sakai was put together by the following five universities: Michigan, Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, and Indiana. It was created based on existing tools that were contributed by each of the founding universities and while not as well known as Moodle, it has a reputation for higher-end features, scalability and security, features which Moodle has but it has been found that much more work on the part of the adopting group is required. Finally, it has been found that it can be more challenging to integrate Sakai with other software systems than Moodle and that as it is more complex, it also takes more time to install and set up, making it less compelling for projects that are looking to quickly begin.

3. If you were going to create an online class right now, what LMS/CMS software would you use? Explain what you know about your system's functionality in each of the four areas identified by the book. (If you don't have access to LMS/CMS software just use Blackboard for your discussion in this area.)

If I were to create an online class right now, I’d probably use schoology. First and foremost, it is free and that is about how much money my site would be able to commit to my online course LMS at this time.

1)   distribution of course information

Schoology is set up to have an interface similar to facebook. As facebook is an interface that most of my students are familiar with navigating, building off of this pre-existing knowledge to engage students more readily seems a no brainer. The sooner I can get them comfortable navigating, the more that I can do with the course and the students over time. I can update my students with posts, like on Facebook, that will show up on their homepage.  I can upload documents of various file types easily for students to access from their homepages.

2)   student-instructor and student-student communications

I can easily email/message the whole class and they have easy immediate access to me through email/messages as well. While it is not ideal to have to moderate student-student communication (as slowing the student communication process prevents them from engaging with each other and the material), high school students are not always them most considerate or thoughtful and educators at the high school level are responsible for what goes on in their online classroom environments as well. Schoology allows me to moderate student comments to prevent anything from getting out of hand like it might in a freer environment. Finally, Schoology has an app, that once again, has an interface similar to that of Facebook that would allow my students to get on and get going with course material right away.

3)   student interaction with course resources

Schoology does not have anything in particular that encourages student interaction with course resources, but it provides storage for various file types and easy access from students through the Internet and/or through their app. Moreover, through the message or update option, students can be invited to participate in online field trips or experiments or given links to access additional supports as they traverse the murky, eel-infested waters of an online math course. :-D

4)   online testing and grading

Schoology allows for assignments varying from multiple-choice quizzes/tests to essays to be completed through the LMS and aligned with K-12 standards. In the case of multiple-choice items, Schoology will automatically grade the item and input the score into the grades management system. Moreover, this system also allows for time constraints to be set and for the instructor to allow students as many or few retakes as they’d like. This would make for very nice self-quizzes for students as they work to master material (and get feedback!) before a large exam. (Unfortunately, I would not be completely free to use this even in a completely online course as all grades through the district must go through our attendance/grades management system, Synergy, and it links up with no LMS of which I am aware.)

3. Chapter 1 of our text identifies six steps for getting started with eLearning. Discuss each step and use each step as a springboard for discussing what you want to do with eLearning either now or in the future.

Step 1 – Ask Yourself Why

I would like to use eLearning more in the future to:

a)    Get my students used to being online and engaged in the learning process. My students will be expected to prove their understanding of their years of mathematical education through an online test provided by the SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) and they are NOT used to doing math online in any way shape or form.

b)   Give my students more opportunities to self-reflect on where they are in the mastery of the course material. I am only able to give so many quizzes or tests in class. Engaging in the online environment would enable me to structure items so that the students can self-test their mastery more reliably before these in class items come available.

c)   Give my students more structured ways in which to interact with each around the course material. We work in cooperative groups in my classroom, but by extending the educational day into eLearning, students are able to interact with everybody, not just the other three people in their group.

Step 2 – Make a Commitment

I would like to commit to using Schoology next year to bring more self-evaluation tools to my students along with the aggregation of currently available online tools to help them practice, self-identify, or learn topics that they did not understand, missed, etc.

Step 3 – Develop a New Vision for Your Course and How You Teach

The biggest change I’d like to make in my teaching in the future is to have students quiz regarding certain topics far sooner than would be normal in my classroom. I would like to provide documents, quizzes, or links that will help them self-assess where they are at in their mastery of the standards and how they can make progress toward their ultimate goals for the course. All of my work will be focused toward that goal.

Step 4 – Determine the Resources Available to You

We have few resources dedicated toward improving eLearning opportunities at my site. My discussion with other colleagues using Schoology has been the sum total of my ability to find things available to myself that already exist, hence my previously stated preference.

Step 5 – Acquire New Technology Skills and Develop New Instructional Methods

I intend to bring about my new implementation when I have finished my course work in this program. As the author so pointedly states (several times, I might add) the most important thing for me to do is be sure that I have the time available to commit and until then, I do not.

Step 6 – Plan

I do my best long term planning over the summer and always set myself yearly goals for some new thing to incorporate in my teaching. When I move to implement Schoology in my classroom, I will spend a great part of the summer making sure that the classroom pages are all pre-set at least through the first quarter with things I know that I will want (self-quizzes, syllabus, projects, etc.) so that I am able to easily add the weekly things without becoming overwhelmed.

4. Chapter 4 of our text discusses the functionality of specific LMS/CMS tools in terms of being for one-way communication, two-way communication or for organization. Explain the key differences between one-way and two-way communication and identify the tools your LMS/CMS provides for each type of communication.

One-way communication: this is a form of communication in which information is sent to one party with no expectation of a reply. If Captain Kirk were to say, “Beam me up, Scotty” with no real intention of Scotty doing anything, as if he said it just for the fun of it.

Two-way communication: this is a form of communication in which information is sent to one party and the other party replies. If Captain Kirk were to say, “Beam me up, Scotty” and then Scotty actually beams him up.

Organizational: these tools allow you to constitute groups of course users with special privileges and to create a directory structure to organize eLearning resources on your coursesite.

One-way tools consist of announcements and documents created using the LMS, files uploaded from other software, gradebooks, email, calendars, homepages with listings of current information and external links. Schoology allows for announcements (like Facebook status updates), files uploaded from other software, a gradebook (though, as previously stated, my district requirements block its efficacy), the ability to message, a calendar for organization, external links reference and a homepage from which students can see all sorts of updates.

Two-way tools consist of discussion boards, online tests and a private storage space. Schoology has discussion boards available whose access can be customized by the instructor, online tests that can be scored by schoology (multiple choice) or scored by the instructor (free response) and they have a limited private storage for each user.

5. Consider how a CMS/LMS supports the three types of interaction (Student-Content, Student-Instructor, Student-Student) that were discussed in the first session 1 presentation. Specifically, list all of the tools or features that your CMS  (as discussed in question 3 above) offers. Then identify each type of interaction that each tool would support. Finally, explain what you know about the strengths and weaknesses of each tool to support the type of interaction you identify for it.

The one-way communication tools would support the following:

Announcements	Student-Instructor
Uploaded Documents	Student-Instructor, Student-Content
Gradebooks	Student-Instructor
Messages	Student-Instructor, Student-Student
Calendars	Student-Instructor
External Links	Student-Instructor, Student-Conten

Each of these one-way communication tools appears to most strongly support student-instructor interaction. This is information, whether it be an assignment coming in, instruction going out, or feedback being received, going from one party to another which is not really built upon a foundation of a dialogue. Their strengths are delivery of information but their weaknesses are in building new knowledge throughout the group.

The two-way communication tools would support the following:

Discussion Boards	Student-Student, Student-Instructor, Student-Content
Online Tests	Student-Content
Storage Space	Student-Student, Student-Instructor

Of the tools available in my LMS, it would seem that the most valuable for engaging in student-student interaction (one of my 3 goals for eLearning) is the discussion boards. And, as we have seen before, it is not enough that the boards exist, but the student population must be taken into account in the design of the required interactions or my most valuable resource is going to go to waste. Online tests will be incredibly helpful, again when structured with student population in mind, as I do want my students to be able to self-assess.

ETEC 674 - Session 1 AKA YES!!!! We get to BLOG again!

Hello out there in TV... er Internet Land! My name is Michelle Romanek-Beyronneau and this is my 10th year of teaching math at the high school level. I taught my first seven years in San Bernardino at Arroyo Valley High School and have been teaching at Desert Hot Springs High School in Desert Hot Springs (we're part of Palm Springs Unified School District), CA for the past three. Over those school years, I have had the opportunity to teach math courses from the Algebra 1 as a 2 year course level to Algebra 2 Honors and AP Statistics.

This is my third quarter in the program at CSUSB as a student and I have to say it has more than surpassed my expectations thus far. The structure and material of the courses, the interaction with other students and the teacher have been fabulous; my experiences have already helped me grow as a teacher. I experimented with my own bit of online learning for my students midway through this first semester and I, and my students, quite enjoyed the process. I look forward to garnering the knowledge that will allow me to utilize online learning in my practice as an educator more often and more fully. Also, I really enjoyed the blogging aspect of the course that I took last quarter with Dr. Newberry and I am very excited to be blogging again this quarter.

In the masters courses that I've taken so far, I must say that my preference for interaction has been online. I earned a masters in educational administration, all courses in the face-to-face style and while I did enjoy the courses, I've found that I actually get more student to student interaction in the online courses that I've taken over the past two quarters. I am not sure if that is true of all online courses or just the structure of the courses in which I have enrolled, but I really enjoy seeing the thoughts, ideas, and reactions of my class mates to the same material as, invariably, the interpretations and understandings shared are different than mine. I always finish the week having learned more by seeing the material afresh through the eyes of my classmates. (I can see straight through your armor! Just kidding...)


Well, I consider myself comfortable using my blog, but I'm sure that the interface has untold options that I have not explored, so I certainly wouldn't call myself proficient. I worked with a team last quarter which had a teammate attend a talkshoe call with Dr. Newberry, though I did not attend myself. I, personally, have listened to the talkshoe recording and have played around some with the website to familiarize myself with how it works. I am comfortable using my computer, the Internet and the other programs on my computer to word process, etc. and that's really all I can think of for now. 


So, for now, I'm Bob Barker... I mean, Michelle Romanek reminding you to help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered!