The vast majority of the projects I have done for my tech class were not terribly intimidating, even if not something I was comfortable with. For some reason, making podcasts and/or vodcasts makes me nervous. Maybe it is the thought of seeing myself on video or hearing myself recorded. I think perhaps it is the idea of my recording being sent out into the world for other people to see and hear that makes me cringe. I do see the many varied benefits of this technology, and I did make one for this class, but I think I want some more hands-on training before I go full-tilt into this particular bit of technology.
I have been looking at the work that many other students in my class have done, and it appears that many were able to upload a video they recorded on a camera. Because I had to be difficult and have Ubuntu, a Linux-based OS, installed on my computer, I am not able to do some things in the straight-forward and simple way a Windows user may be able to do. I do, however, have some slightly more awesome applications available for my use if I can figure out how to use them. The key is finding instructions that are written in a language other than Geekese.
I did manage to record myself reading a book with Audacity, and transfer it to an mp3 with LAME, but when I tried to upload this to any of the websites, I was unable to because of length. I went back and recorded some directions for a specific type of poetry, which was much shorter and was able to be uploaded. For some reason, it sounds a bit garbled. I am still working on perfecting this. I do think that the application of recording and loading directly on an mp3 player would be incredibly useful, and I plan on doing quite a bit of this after I get players for my classroom. I am going to pursue this on DonorsChoose.org. This is a wonderful website that allows teachers to post materials for projects they want to do with their students, and hopefully receive funding from well-meaning people in the cyber community.
My first attempt at podcasting can be found at my class website: MissCabeensClass.WikiSpaces.com. Hopefully future attempts added there will be better.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Animoto-A Creation Exploration
The students in my class this year are very tech-savvy for the most part. Most have cell phones, and some even upload videos to YouTube from their Flip cameras. (I am envious. I want a Flip.)
I did, however, find a tool that all my students can enjoy and learn from. I have discovered Animoto through my technology class, and my students love it! I have only made a video with one group of my students so far, and the rest of the class is supremely jealous. We made an "advertisement" for the book we are reading in small group, Mr. Popper's Penguins. All my groups will be making videos like this in the near future, so look for more great book advertisements.
Animoto is a video production website that allows members to create short, professional looking videos for free (30 seconds or less). If you want to make longer videos, you have to pay to subscribe. You also get a few additional bells and whistles with a paid subscription. The site is very easy to use. You can select pictures from a selection Animoto offers, upload them from your computer, or even import them from select websites such as flickr or FaceBook. You can also import video clips in the same fashion, selecting the piece of the video you want to include. You also get to include a soundtrack in the same way. The help available is, well, very helpful. I was a little concerned at first, but haven't had any real problems yet. I am excited about the potential this holds for my students!
I did, however, find a tool that all my students can enjoy and learn from. I have discovered Animoto through my technology class, and my students love it! I have only made a video with one group of my students so far, and the rest of the class is supremely jealous. We made an "advertisement" for the book we are reading in small group, Mr. Popper's Penguins. All my groups will be making videos like this in the near future, so look for more great book advertisements.
Animoto is a video production website that allows members to create short, professional looking videos for free (30 seconds or less). If you want to make longer videos, you have to pay to subscribe. You also get a few additional bells and whistles with a paid subscription. The site is very easy to use. You can select pictures from a selection Animoto offers, upload them from your computer, or even import them from select websites such as flickr or FaceBook. You can also import video clips in the same fashion, selecting the piece of the video you want to include. You also get to include a soundtrack in the same way. The help available is, well, very helpful. I was a little concerned at first, but haven't had any real problems yet. I am excited about the potential this holds for my students!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Assistance Needed in the Education Aisle, Please
Many children have special needs. Many adults have special needs. Do you have glasses or contacts? Then you have a special need. Do you work better in a quiet setting without other people? Then you might have a special need. The special needs of children are met in many different ways. Some are as simple as glasses, or being tested in a separate room, or even being seated near the teacher or a table away from a group.
Some special needs are met or aided by assistive technology. Assistive technology comes in many shapes and forms. In my classroom, I have no students with serious needs requiring major, obvious assistive technology like wheelchairs or having a teacher wear a microphone. I do, however, have some students who benefit from minor assistive situations. Some of my students get read-aloud for mathematics and science, and now many of the different texts are online with a read-aloud feature. I can allow these students to work at a computer and listen to the page read aloud while I work with students around the room. I also have students who benefit from listening to stories read aloud that are above their reading level. These students can listen to the books on cd, tape, or on an mp3 player. All of these read-aloud situations help these students show their true ability to think and comprehend even if they have difficulty actually reading.
Our county is also using ClassScape to assess students. This program, designed by NCState, has the ability to enlarge the font on the screen for students who cannot read tiny print on a computer screen. Some tests even have a read-aloud feature.
There are several sites that offer helpful information about assistive technology in an educational setting. Visit any and all of these for more information.
Education World
Web Resources List
K-12 Resources
LD Online
Some special needs are met or aided by assistive technology. Assistive technology comes in many shapes and forms. In my classroom, I have no students with serious needs requiring major, obvious assistive technology like wheelchairs or having a teacher wear a microphone. I do, however, have some students who benefit from minor assistive situations. Some of my students get read-aloud for mathematics and science, and now many of the different texts are online with a read-aloud feature. I can allow these students to work at a computer and listen to the page read aloud while I work with students around the room. I also have students who benefit from listening to stories read aloud that are above their reading level. These students can listen to the books on cd, tape, or on an mp3 player. All of these read-aloud situations help these students show their true ability to think and comprehend even if they have difficulty actually reading.
Our county is also using ClassScape to assess students. This program, designed by NCState, has the ability to enlarge the font on the screen for students who cannot read tiny print on a computer screen. Some tests even have a read-aloud feature.
There are several sites that offer helpful information about assistive technology in an educational setting. Visit any and all of these for more information.
Education World
Web Resources List
K-12 Resources
LD Online
Sunday, November 29, 2009
File Sharing the Easy Way
How often have you had that wonderful Power Point fully crafted with video, sound, and all the bells and whistles, ready to email to your superior, only to find the file is too large to attach?
WinZip could compress your file and make it small enough to send. Oh, wait. Can you guarantee that your recipient could unzip it without downloading more software that will be rarely used to his or her computer?
There must be another alternative. In steps file sharing. "But wait," you might say, "isn't that illegal? I remember a lot of lawsuits over Napster and other sites." Ah, yes. There are issues sharing files that are copy righted, but any file that is your personal creation can be shared freely and without penalty.
There are a plethora of file sharing sites available, but many are blocked by the firewalls of public school systems. One of the few that is not blocked by my particular school system is MediaFire. This site is easy to use and creates ways to make sharing the files you upload quick and easy. When you opt to share a file, you are given a special url to share through email or a web address that only allows access to the file or folder you have selected.
This fileshare system also allows you to access your own files from a variety of places without the worry of losing your flash drive, the email system being down, or any other such electronic dysfunctions. Hooray for an easy-to-use, useful web tool.
WinZip could compress your file and make it small enough to send. Oh, wait. Can you guarantee that your recipient could unzip it without downloading more software that will be rarely used to his or her computer?
There must be another alternative. In steps file sharing. "But wait," you might say, "isn't that illegal? I remember a lot of lawsuits over Napster and other sites." Ah, yes. There are issues sharing files that are copy righted, but any file that is your personal creation can be shared freely and without penalty.
There are a plethora of file sharing sites available, but many are blocked by the firewalls of public school systems. One of the few that is not blocked by my particular school system is MediaFire. This site is easy to use and creates ways to make sharing the files you upload quick and easy. When you opt to share a file, you are given a special url to share through email or a web address that only allows access to the file or folder you have selected.
This fileshare system also allows you to access your own files from a variety of places without the worry of losing your flash drive, the email system being down, or any other such electronic dysfunctions. Hooray for an easy-to-use, useful web tool.
Free Online Gradebooks? Really?
Oh, the dreaded task of any educator: grading papers and entering grades in a gradebook. Even more dreaded is the calculation of final grades. Do I count my tests twice or not? How do I weight this project over regular homework assignments?
You can purchase expensive software to do this for you. Or, you can look into the many free online gradebook programs.
My personal favorite is SnapGrades, which is super easy to use and is very reliable. Reports can be printed for parents showing each individual assignment and grade for each. This makes conferences simpler and allows parents to see where Junior is messing up. An individual, school, or school system can pay for SnapGrades and get even more features, including the ability for parents and students to have their own passwords to look at their individual assignments and grades. A middle school in our system successfully used this system; parents were very responsive to the ability to check their child's assignments at any given time. I did not pay for this feature, but often printed reports for parents who requested them.
The state of North Carolina has been moving toward a uniform gradebook system for all of its schools, and our county was initiated last year. In the 08-09 school year, we only used NCWise for attendance. The teacher went in and selected absent or late for the necessary students, checked "attendance complete" and was done. Now, our grade 3-5 teachers are using NCWise as a gradebook program as well. While it is nice to have everything in one tidy place, NCWise's gradebook function is by no means as user-friendly as many other options. Setting up a gradebook is probably the most difficult part; after that it is simply remembering how each step must be done. The protocol for NCWise is very picky, and does not appreciate people trying to do things out of order or from the wrong screen. If a person who is fairly capable of manipulating most online gradebooks has to use the how-to video for a software, it is probably poorly designed.
This video was made by S. Anderson, the tech guru of Stoke County Schools that I bow to at least once per week.
At any rate, it is required and I am becoming accustomed. I just loathe leaving a wonderful program for one I feel is not the best. However, as NCWise becomes a more regular part of my day, I tend to get along with it more. I only wish I could access it from my home computer, which was the whole point of moving toward using this system. I have a Linux-based OS, and NCWise does not have the supports necessary to work with this OS. Our tech support said it could be forced to work on a Mac, but Linux users are simply out of luck. So much for doing all my grading at home in front of the TV--but on the up side, I do leave more work at school this way.
You can purchase expensive software to do this for you. Or, you can look into the many free online gradebook programs.
My personal favorite is SnapGrades, which is super easy to use and is very reliable. Reports can be printed for parents showing each individual assignment and grade for each. This makes conferences simpler and allows parents to see where Junior is messing up. An individual, school, or school system can pay for SnapGrades and get even more features, including the ability for parents and students to have their own passwords to look at their individual assignments and grades. A middle school in our system successfully used this system; parents were very responsive to the ability to check their child's assignments at any given time. I did not pay for this feature, but often printed reports for parents who requested them.
The state of North Carolina has been moving toward a uniform gradebook system for all of its schools, and our county was initiated last year. In the 08-09 school year, we only used NCWise for attendance. The teacher went in and selected absent or late for the necessary students, checked "attendance complete" and was done. Now, our grade 3-5 teachers are using NCWise as a gradebook program as well. While it is nice to have everything in one tidy place, NCWise's gradebook function is by no means as user-friendly as many other options. Setting up a gradebook is probably the most difficult part; after that it is simply remembering how each step must be done. The protocol for NCWise is very picky, and does not appreciate people trying to do things out of order or from the wrong screen. If a person who is fairly capable of manipulating most online gradebooks has to use the how-to video for a software, it is probably poorly designed.
This video was made by S. Anderson, the tech guru of Stoke County Schools that I bow to at least once per week.
At any rate, it is required and I am becoming accustomed. I just loathe leaving a wonderful program for one I feel is not the best. However, as NCWise becomes a more regular part of my day, I tend to get along with it more. I only wish I could access it from my home computer, which was the whole point of moving toward using this system. I have a Linux-based OS, and NCWise does not have the supports necessary to work with this OS. Our tech support said it could be forced to work on a Mac, but Linux users are simply out of luck. So much for doing all my grading at home in front of the TV--but on the up side, I do leave more work at school this way.
Delicious: The Tastiest Bookmarking Site on the Net
If you are an Internet Explorer user, you have Favorites. With FireFox, you have Bookmarks. Either way, when you switch computers, there is no way for you to access this list of websites quickly and easily. Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone created a place for people to store their bookmarks online, so that they could use them on any computer they happened to be using? And even better, offered useful ways to organize and share these bookmarks with other people? Oh, and while we're dreaming, let's have a button on the toolbar along with our other internet tools to mark these pages quickly. Sound like a dream? Not if you use a social bookmarking site!
Several social bookmarking sites are in use currently, and most offer these tools. Some offer more specified tools, such as Diigo. I have not explored this option yet, but a brief check seem to indicate a high level of usefulness for research and other uses that would be aided by sticky notes and highlighting. Others include Delicious, SocialBookmarker, and Digg. While I am sure there are others out there, these three are the most common, and Delicious is perhaps the most widely used of all.
I use Delicious for work, school, and home. At work, I use many different sites with my students daily. If I want a student to work on a particular site I found and bookmarked, I can bring it up on their computer quickly and they can go from there.
You can also view other people's bookmark list, and see which of your bookmarks have been bookmarked by other people. If someone has one of your favorite spots bookmarked, they might have other useful sites you haven't discovered yet!
For more information, this YouTube video on social bookmarking outlines many more uses for this nifty tool.
Several social bookmarking sites are in use currently, and most offer these tools. Some offer more specified tools, such as Diigo. I have not explored this option yet, but a brief check seem to indicate a high level of usefulness for research and other uses that would be aided by sticky notes and highlighting. Others include Delicious, SocialBookmarker, and Digg. While I am sure there are others out there, these three are the most common, and Delicious is perhaps the most widely used of all.
I use Delicious for work, school, and home. At work, I use many different sites with my students daily. If I want a student to work on a particular site I found and bookmarked, I can bring it up on their computer quickly and they can go from there.
You can also view other people's bookmark list, and see which of your bookmarks have been bookmarked by other people. If someone has one of your favorite spots bookmarked, they might have other useful sites you haven't discovered yet!
For more information, this YouTube video on social bookmarking outlines many more uses for this nifty tool.
PageFlakes: My personal internet manager
Facebook, email, Twitter, the weather, my bookmarks, that great podcast...there is so much each individual keeps up with on the internet! Wouldn't it be nice if there was one place that was organized in such a way you could access your most important applications quickly and efficiently, without ever navigating away from one page? Glory be, there is such a place! While I am sure many such sites exist, one that I have found to be easy to work with and manage is PageFlakes, a site organized by a variety of wigits that can be embedded into one webpage for easy access.
Many different wigits are available, including all of the ever-so-important ones listed above. I am sure that if you are more tech-savvy than I, you could put other wigits not created by PageFlakes on your page. They also offer a calendar, a to-do list, and sticky notes. I have set my personal PageFlake site as my homepage, so that when I go online all of my most commonly used tools are at my finger tips. For the person who struggles with electronic organization, this site is a valuable tool!
Here is a screenshot of some of the possible wigits available for use through PageFlakes:
Many different wigits are available, including all of the ever-so-important ones listed above. I am sure that if you are more tech-savvy than I, you could put other wigits not created by PageFlakes on your page. They also offer a calendar, a to-do list, and sticky notes. I have set my personal PageFlake site as my homepage, so that when I go online all of my most commonly used tools are at my finger tips. For the person who struggles with electronic organization, this site is a valuable tool!
Here is a screenshot of some of the possible wigits available for use through PageFlakes:
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Edmodo-Another Option
The various social networking tools I reviewed previously are all options open to the general populous of the internet; any and all may have an account and interact with the world. There are certain sites that are slightly more exclusive.
Facebook used to be one of these options. Once preferable to MySpace for its exclusive inclusion of those with active college email accounts, and then to high school students on a separate network, now Facebook too is open to all. These sites have both been noted for getting people fired. Putting up pictures of the account holder doing unsavory acts, and these photos being viewed by an employer, has caused actual ramifications in the real world. Even something as seemingly innocent as a teacher pictured drinking a beer has caused serious repercussions. When Facebook was exclusive, this was not as much of an issue. Now, every word and photograph must be carefully censored before posting.
Another issue these sites, especially MySpace, have been notorious for is online predators. Children now are not only warned of strangers in the street or park, but also of strangers in chat rooms and on social networking sites. If children are going to have sites and interact with one another, they need a safe place to do so. Unfortunately, it is difficult to create such a place. Most schools do not give email addresses that can be verified as school accounts, and there are always those who would try to find ways to hack into such places. Edmodo is a possible alternative to less secure and less g-rated sites.
Edmodo is a site for teachers and students to collaborate in a variety of ways. Files can be uploaded and sent, messages can be written and replied to, links can be shared, and homework can even be assigned and submitted. Teachers create a site for each of their classes, and they get a special code that must be entered for a student to create a login. If a person does not have the special code, they cannot log onto the site. An email address is not required to create an account as a student. The teacher can review the list of members at any time to kick out those that may not belong in the class.
This site is an amazing resource. Parents could also create accounts, or certain parts of the site can be made public for parents to see. Announcements could be shared in this way, while student work remained confidential. The possibilities here are boundless--or limited only by the amount of computer access each student has. As more and more families have the internet in their home, students are more likely to be able to complete assignments via computer. Unfortunately, several of mine still do not have home access, and our computer time at school is limited. We have a lab, but are scheduled for only an hour a week. In our classroom, we have three student computers, but one is not currently networked. Of the other two, one has fairly severe issues--I believe it needs to see a doctor. My ESL student monopolizes much of the time on the other computer because many of the tools I have available for her are computer based. My students are understanding and work hard to share the resources, but expecting assignments to be turned in by a certain time is still an issue we struggle with. Hopefully, this will ease with time. Even if I choose not to use Edmodo with my student, and use a wikispaces account instead, I realize its amazing potential and respect those who integrate this tool into their classrooms.
Facebook used to be one of these options. Once preferable to MySpace for its exclusive inclusion of those with active college email accounts, and then to high school students on a separate network, now Facebook too is open to all. These sites have both been noted for getting people fired. Putting up pictures of the account holder doing unsavory acts, and these photos being viewed by an employer, has caused actual ramifications in the real world. Even something as seemingly innocent as a teacher pictured drinking a beer has caused serious repercussions. When Facebook was exclusive, this was not as much of an issue. Now, every word and photograph must be carefully censored before posting.
Another issue these sites, especially MySpace, have been notorious for is online predators. Children now are not only warned of strangers in the street or park, but also of strangers in chat rooms and on social networking sites. If children are going to have sites and interact with one another, they need a safe place to do so. Unfortunately, it is difficult to create such a place. Most schools do not give email addresses that can be verified as school accounts, and there are always those who would try to find ways to hack into such places. Edmodo is a possible alternative to less secure and less g-rated sites.
Edmodo is a site for teachers and students to collaborate in a variety of ways. Files can be uploaded and sent, messages can be written and replied to, links can be shared, and homework can even be assigned and submitted. Teachers create a site for each of their classes, and they get a special code that must be entered for a student to create a login. If a person does not have the special code, they cannot log onto the site. An email address is not required to create an account as a student. The teacher can review the list of members at any time to kick out those that may not belong in the class.
This site is an amazing resource. Parents could also create accounts, or certain parts of the site can be made public for parents to see. Announcements could be shared in this way, while student work remained confidential. The possibilities here are boundless--or limited only by the amount of computer access each student has. As more and more families have the internet in their home, students are more likely to be able to complete assignments via computer. Unfortunately, several of mine still do not have home access, and our computer time at school is limited. We have a lab, but are scheduled for only an hour a week. In our classroom, we have three student computers, but one is not currently networked. Of the other two, one has fairly severe issues--I believe it needs to see a doctor. My ESL student monopolizes much of the time on the other computer because many of the tools I have available for her are computer based. My students are understanding and work hard to share the resources, but expecting assignments to be turned in by a certain time is still an issue we struggle with. Hopefully, this will ease with time. Even if I choose not to use Edmodo with my student, and use a wikispaces account instead, I realize its amazing potential and respect those who integrate this tool into their classrooms.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Twitter, Skype, and Wikis--Oh my!
Online communication comes in many forms. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. As an educator, here is my personal review of several popular types: Skype, Twitter, and Wikis.
Skype
Skype is a tool used much like your old-school AOL Instant Messenger, but with video and audio capabilities. This is a very useful tool for quick communication between two computer users, such as two teachers in the same school confirming information about a lesson, or even business partners before making a purchase. The video and audio capacity make this tool more versatile by far than IM ever thought to be. Video conferencing with other schools in far-off places is now easier than ever--and free! Through Skype you can also share your computer screen with the other user, allowing tech help to be simplified. I know that my father would love to have this feature when aiding his step-father with his many computer mishaps.
As a teacher, the screen share frightens me a little bit. I would not allow my students to use Skype unsupervised because of this feature. I realize that each student would not be using this program independently anyway, but this feature makes me more adamant for the time being that this program only be loaded on our SmartBoard computer and used collectively. Through this program, I plant to interact with our Peace Corps Correspondent located in the Philippines. I also hope to do some collaborative work with another fifth grade teacher in my county who has taken the same technology class. This way, our students can bounce ideas off one another, and possibly play trivia games together.
Twitter
Each person has something to say about everything, and twitter is one of the few places this seems acceptable...at least, if you can say it in 180 characters or less! As a place to quickly share new ideas and blurbs about current topics, Twitter is a wonderful platform. Sharing websites with the help of tinyurl.com is another productive use of tweeting. However, tweeting about how your dog ate your socks this morning seems to be a waste of our collective cyber space.
I think Twitter is very useful--I have found many new informative websites and keep up with current news through the various people and organizations I follow. I also think that tweeting every little change in your day is excessive. I am not sure how I feel about using this application with my students. I love that you can protect your tweets so that you have to approve people to follow you. This makes this a safer application for students to use, but I am not sure at how purposeful I feel it is. After reading so many complaints on various blogs about the worthlessness of many tweets, I feel that for the most part an elementary age students tweets would not add much to the quality of the community. Students can create much more meaningful interactive environments elsewhere, in a place with room to say what needs to be said. A ten year old is simply not concise enough, or pithy enough, to create "quality" tweets.
Wikis
Creating a website is easier than ever before with the variety of wikis available. My personal favorite is WikiSpaces. This site allows users to create pages that can be edited by users that have the permission of the creator. All accounts are free, but a paid upgrade is available if the creator of a site wants to be rid of minor add space. More and more companies and educational communities are using this type of site because of its versitility and ease of design. Anyone can easily interact with a wiki.
Probably the most famous of all wikis is Wikipedia.com, an online encyclopedia created and edited by a community of people. While we encourage our students to not use this site as a source for papers or any other academic useage, I find myself using the site to check information that I need quickly. It is a wonderful "fast and dirty" way to get normally accurate information. It is true that anyone can change a Wikipedia entry, and that not all entries are credible, but when used in concert with other sources, or as a starting point for further research, Wikipedia is a very helpful creature.
Overall, I feel the most useful type of online communication community for students is a wiki. Only those invited can change a space, and they do not typically come up when a particular topic is googled. Students can add discussion to pages, and create various multi-media and upload them directly to the site. Not all wikis allow this, but several do, including WikiSpaces. I know a middle school teacher who has an AMAZING wiki that she uses with her creative communication students. Someday, I hope my fifth graders become as involved with our wiki.
Skype
Skype is a tool used much like your old-school AOL Instant Messenger, but with video and audio capabilities. This is a very useful tool for quick communication between two computer users, such as two teachers in the same school confirming information about a lesson, or even business partners before making a purchase. The video and audio capacity make this tool more versatile by far than IM ever thought to be. Video conferencing with other schools in far-off places is now easier than ever--and free! Through Skype you can also share your computer screen with the other user, allowing tech help to be simplified. I know that my father would love to have this feature when aiding his step-father with his many computer mishaps.
As a teacher, the screen share frightens me a little bit. I would not allow my students to use Skype unsupervised because of this feature. I realize that each student would not be using this program independently anyway, but this feature makes me more adamant for the time being that this program only be loaded on our SmartBoard computer and used collectively. Through this program, I plant to interact with our Peace Corps Correspondent located in the Philippines. I also hope to do some collaborative work with another fifth grade teacher in my county who has taken the same technology class. This way, our students can bounce ideas off one another, and possibly play trivia games together.
Each person has something to say about everything, and twitter is one of the few places this seems acceptable...at least, if you can say it in 180 characters or less! As a place to quickly share new ideas and blurbs about current topics, Twitter is a wonderful platform. Sharing websites with the help of tinyurl.com is another productive use of tweeting. However, tweeting about how your dog ate your socks this morning seems to be a waste of our collective cyber space.
I think Twitter is very useful--I have found many new informative websites and keep up with current news through the various people and organizations I follow. I also think that tweeting every little change in your day is excessive. I am not sure how I feel about using this application with my students. I love that you can protect your tweets so that you have to approve people to follow you. This makes this a safer application for students to use, but I am not sure at how purposeful I feel it is. After reading so many complaints on various blogs about the worthlessness of many tweets, I feel that for the most part an elementary age students tweets would not add much to the quality of the community. Students can create much more meaningful interactive environments elsewhere, in a place with room to say what needs to be said. A ten year old is simply not concise enough, or pithy enough, to create "quality" tweets.
Wikis
Creating a website is easier than ever before with the variety of wikis available. My personal favorite is WikiSpaces. This site allows users to create pages that can be edited by users that have the permission of the creator. All accounts are free, but a paid upgrade is available if the creator of a site wants to be rid of minor add space. More and more companies and educational communities are using this type of site because of its versitility and ease of design. Anyone can easily interact with a wiki.
Probably the most famous of all wikis is Wikipedia.com, an online encyclopedia created and edited by a community of people. While we encourage our students to not use this site as a source for papers or any other academic useage, I find myself using the site to check information that I need quickly. It is a wonderful "fast and dirty" way to get normally accurate information. It is true that anyone can change a Wikipedia entry, and that not all entries are credible, but when used in concert with other sources, or as a starting point for further research, Wikipedia is a very helpful creature.
Overall, I feel the most useful type of online communication community for students is a wiki. Only those invited can change a space, and they do not typically come up when a particular topic is googled. Students can add discussion to pages, and create various multi-media and upload them directly to the site. Not all wikis allow this, but several do, including WikiSpaces. I know a middle school teacher who has an AMAZING wiki that she uses with her creative communication students. Someday, I hope my fifth graders become as involved with our wiki.
Blog Creation
This first step to consolidating my technology experiences has already caused a positive change in my life. I have created a GMail account, which I have been meaning to do for quite some time but had not done for the simple (and lazy) reason that I did not want to deal with converting all of my correspondences over from the Yahoo! account I have had since 9th grade. Progress has been made today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)