EdTech Musings

Reflections on Educational Technology

Thing 23: So Many Resources…So Little Time

August 4th, 2010 by · No Comments · EdTech, Personal

This course has been a whirlwind of information, activity and thought.  Whether known, revisited or new infomation, all of it has made me delve deeper and rethink how our students learn and the tools they will need to become successful citizens and more specifically digital citizens. The differences in how a student will take in, organize and synthesize this overload of information in order to contribute, collaborate and share with others as a life long process should be considered as we now take our “educator toolboxes” back to our schools.  I also believe I will continue to deconstruct and synthesize this information myself in order to bring organization and implementation in the new school year.

The foundation for the next step has already been laid through our wonderful technology director.  She held a series of “Boot Camps” for teachers recently and I participated in some along with other teachers.  Some of the same web 2.0 concepts, resources and tools were shared, in addition to some great in-house collaborative tools presented.  With the many wikis, blogs, bookmarking and other web 2.0 tools commenced, we now have a basis for continuing these concepts with others as the school year nears.

I can not go without mentioning the ease of this course.  Even with the vast amount of information, taking 2 to 3 things a week made it manageable.  It is my hope to inspire others to take the time to explore just 1 or 2 thingscartoon a month and see what knowledge they gain. I would also recommend this course to anyone willing and not afraid to explore on their own.  It is also easily a course that can be repeated, since technology is ever changing!  You can always find something new to share.

I also am proud that this is the most resourceful I have ever been with blogging.  It is a goal for me to have more technology focused blog within our school community this year.  Then who knows maybe I will start a more public one again too.

Thing 22

August 4th, 2010 by · No Comments · EdTech

Sometimes it is all about the timing. I never paid a lot of attention to Classroom 2.0. Glanced at it now and then but never took the time to really delve into it. In just two short days, I have now connected with other educators (mostly looking, reading and watching…but you gotta start somewhere!)and have set up my page and hope to become more active so I can bring a wider range of resources to technology in our school.

I also appreciate a fresh look at Twitter, which until now I have mostly used as a personal friend tool.  I am still not sure of the specific connections in the elementary classroom or even our middle school courses.  I know most of our students currently are not interested in Twitter.  I have even talked with some of our local high school students who mostly label Twitter as an adult tool.  I loved seeing the connections at the University Level. The resources given by the 23 Things Wiki have led me to what I see as a new and wonderful journey to connect with other educators.  I have already added many resources to my Diigo account by just adding a few new follows to twitter which I hope to grow throughout the year!

Thing 7c: iLearn technology

July 26th, 2010 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

iLearn Technology is one of the RSS feeds in my reader.  One of the most recent posts is also one of the coolest!  The AnswerGarden is a simple little web tool in which you can create a question and receive feedback in short 20 character answers.  This could be just a novelty or can also have curricular connections.  Suggested academic uses were brainstorming, planning, or hosting a classroom poll.  Students could also create questions in geography, history, characters in a story.

The key is once a question is created, you have a choice of creating a link to it or embedding it on a blog or a website.  Then anyone who has access can answer and see the results in the form of a word cloud and if answers are repeated, the number shows next to that answer.  Give it a try above or answer my AnswerGarden question below…it is so simple, yet has so many uses.

Thing 21: Flakes…Vibes

July 26th, 2010 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

The idea behind Pageflakes is a good option for those looking for a free resource to create a useful webpage.  I see the main attraction to be that you could build sets of resources and instructions for students embarking on a web project.  I particularly loved the China Webquest and the use of Voki to speak the instructions.   [Read more →]

THING 20: Google This…

July 25th, 2010 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

I feel I have come full circle with Google Apps. Starting with iGoogle, a gmail account & small sites page that I thought would be great for groups wanting to discuss tech to  total abandonment of all things google.  Now in the past couple of years, I am using it more and more  and feel ready to bring students into the fold, engaging them in this ever growing collection of web 2.0 tools.  I feel it will bring greater collaboration student to student, teacher to student and even teacher/student to parent since everything is on the web and can be accessed any way, any time and any place.

Sample of a Chart a student might create in the Draw Google App.

Sample of Google Draw

I know teachers are beginning to talk more about it and we have already discussed in a couple of workshops this sumer some ideas for using it with students. Language Arts writing projects can now become collaborative pieces with peer editing. Teachers can access their writing and edit and provide feedback online. Students can create charts, drawings, flow charts, thought webs and more with the Draw App. They can also save and pop these into another Google App!

Other uses could be for students:

  • to track their grades in math in Spreadsheet.
  • create surveys on a topic that requires opinion or factual knowledge (i.e. Who really discovered America?)
  • create a storyboard in Draw for digital movies we create throughout the year.
  • to take pop quizzes or study quizzes using forms. Students could even help to create them, share and get feedback from teachers.
  • to use presentation to create flash cards, vocab study and more.

Truly using Google Apps is only limited by the imagination.  As a faculty, we have used forms to sign up for workshops, forms to give feedback to events, Docs to create a Self-Study of our school for accreditation,  and Spreadsheet to create a curriculum map for all grades and subjects just to name a few.

One area I have not explored as much was Presentation.  With such great software (MS Powerpoint & Apple Keynote), it is hard to pull away from all the bells and whistles provided in them.  However, I found the Google Presentation to be a quick easy and fast way to create something simple and to the point.  It took only a few minutes to create the following: Why Google Docs?

I think the coming school year will be one of both exploration and execution of greater collaboration using so many of the web 2.0 tools I have learned this summer including Google Apps.