As an elementary educator, I do not see much usefulness in this technology for my students. For one thing, it is definitely blocked in our school district. In looking at the different videos and links provided to learn more about Second Life, as well as doing research on my own, I have learned that Second Life is really for adults and those under 18 are not allowed (I am not sure how they "police" this since I know 8 year olds with Facebook accounts and they are not supposed to be able to do that either!). I also learned that there is a Teen Second Life that is for students from 13-17 years old and that adults have to have special permission given by the SL team to have access to certain areas of Teen Second Life.
That said, I do see some benefits of SL for students at the college level in terms of distant learning and virtual learning in some disciplines. Many colleges already offer some programs utilizing SL. The students can participate in symposiums or take "field trips" without leaving campus. Second Life can allow students to work collaboratively on projects. This would be especially helpful in collaborating on a project between different universities around the world.
To step aside and be a proud mom, for a bit... Last summer, my son who will be a senior in Biomedical Engineering at Saint Louis University this fall, was working at an internship at Virginia Tech University last summer. Part of his project was to build a training module in SL that would allow students to learn how to use a particular type of CT scanner in a virtual manner. He then made a video to describe the SAM-CT facility to explain about the training center. So, while I do not see me as ever needing to use this Web 2.0 application, it does have it's purpose in our world and in education.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
K12 Online Conference Sessions
Okay, so I have been totally engrossed in this conference and attending different sessions and I really just need to get down to business and reflect on what I have seen. This was AWESOME! I checked out many sessions, but my two favorite were "Options for Building Your Teacher Website and Why YOU Should" presented byCyndi Danner-Kuhn, and "Little Kids, Big Possibilities" by Kelly Hines. Cyndi is an instructor at Kansas State University. Her presentation was about the different free tools that you can use to build a website. Most of them I had heard about, but Cyndi had some really good examples of classroom websites that were created with each of these tools. I think that I am going to try Weebly because it can allow your students to create their own websites. I already have a school hosted website, but there is no way for the students to create their own. I know they would be very motivated to use this tool. Kelly is a 4th grade teacher who uses a lot of Web 2.0 tools with her students. This was a good presentation of not only those tools (most of which I had already heard about or used myself), but also her ideas of how she used those tools with her students. Some of the tools that she used that I had not seen before were the comic creator tools. Again, I think that her ideas were good and will be very motivating for the students to use.
This conference was a very useful professional development tool (which I plan on sharing with my fellow teachers and a friend who provides professional development to teachers for the state). I could attend on my schedule, listen to the presentation multiple times, and even pause the presentation so that I could go get a bowl of ice cream (hey, it's hot out there!). The presentations were fairly short (most of the ones I looked at were about 20 minutes). I found it interesting that the teachers used different methods to create their videos. The topics were timely and the presenters all seemed very knowledgeable about there content. They even provided a link to their handouts and links that were presented in the presentation. I am presenting 3 sessions at the MOREnet Instructional Technology Conference this fall and my mind is now spinning about the possibilities of spreading my message for at least one of them for this K-12 Online Conference. Hmmm....
Well, I really should go...I need to get to Twitter and add some new teachers to follow (who I found in this conference). The learning continues!
This conference was a very useful professional development tool (which I plan on sharing with my fellow teachers and a friend who provides professional development to teachers for the state). I could attend on my schedule, listen to the presentation multiple times, and even pause the presentation so that I could go get a bowl of ice cream (hey, it's hot out there!). The presentations were fairly short (most of the ones I looked at were about 20 minutes). I found it interesting that the teachers used different methods to create their videos. The topics were timely and the presenters all seemed very knowledgeable about there content. They even provided a link to their handouts and links that were presented in the presentation. I am presenting 3 sessions at the MOREnet Instructional Technology Conference this fall and my mind is now spinning about the possibilities of spreading my message for at least one of them for this K-12 Online Conference. Hmmm....
Well, I really should go...I need to get to Twitter and add some new teachers to follow (who I found in this conference). The learning continues!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tappedin
As far as professional development and using Tappedin, I decided after a week of exploration that it doesn't work well for my needs. For one thing, many of the discussions seemed old (2005, 2007). I also never encountered a whole lot of people to engage in discussion with. I also found it not to be a very intuitive environment to move about in. It reminded me a lot of Second Life (perhaps a precursor to SL or a lower tech educationally focused version?), which I also have not been a huge fan of. It may have its benefits for college level instruction, but I have not found uses for it at the elementary level. I feel that I spent a lot of time wandering around, but not really learning anything. I did not like that I was identified by name and could not choose a screen name for the application. I did join a couple of groups. One that I joined that had about 30 members was classroom management. As this is always a hot topic in education, I figured that there would be a lot of posts in the discussion. There really wasn't. I was disappointed to find people had posted questions and nobody had ever answered them. There were posts that were years old. Frankly, I get more out of my listserve (http://teachers.net/) that I belong to for third grade teachers. The teachers are supportive and active on the listserve. To me it is a better place for teachers (especially at the elementary level).
Friday, July 23, 2010
Twitter and my PLN
I joined Twitter about one year ago and what a year it has been. I never dreamed how beneficial this tool could be for me. It started out slow. I was just following about 10 people for a long time. I now follow 77 people and have 17 people follow me. I don't tweet much, but I sure benefit from the people I follow!
Most of the 77 people I follow are fellow teachers like me who have a great interest in integrating technology in their classrooms. These people are my PLN (Personal Learning Network) and boy do they live up to their acronym! I feel like I go through a professional development session on a daily basis. So many ideas, websites, news links, and blog links are shared by these people. When I started using Twitter, I had to remember to go to the website and sign in every day. As a busy teacher and taking classes, I wasn't making the most of my Twitter experience. Many nights, I was too busy to check my Twitter feed. Then I download Twitterrific. This feed reader has changed my life! As I work on my laptop, this application runs in the background and every few minutes, it automatically pops up with the new tweets in my feed. This has simplified my life. As I work, I can learn. During the past year, I have been finding myself quoting my Twitter buddies to my colleagues at school. I have found some terrific ideas and websites through my Twitter buddies. I also share these with the teachers that I work with. They wonder how I have time to scour the internet for all these terrific resources, but I always give credit to my PLN.
I built my PLN slowly over time following more and more people (and an occasional organization...I would highly recommend following one of the MODOT highways, as I follow MODOT I-44 and I get updates on Twitter when there are traffic issues on that highway). Some people tweet a lot...(@ktenkely, @amandadykes, @budtheteacher) and some just occasionally. The best thing that I have become involved in with Twitter in this past year is the weekly #edchat that I have been following. This is a weekly synchronous discussion on a topic that is chosen by a survey of Twitter followers of creator @tomwhitby. This discussion takes place every Tuesday and when it is going on, the tweets flow fast and furious. The comments are thought-provoking. It is like going to a weekly conference...and it's all free!
If you are new to Twitter, I would recommend doing the following to get yourself started:
Most of the 77 people I follow are fellow teachers like me who have a great interest in integrating technology in their classrooms. These people are my PLN (Personal Learning Network) and boy do they live up to their acronym! I feel like I go through a professional development session on a daily basis. So many ideas, websites, news links, and blog links are shared by these people. When I started using Twitter, I had to remember to go to the website and sign in every day. As a busy teacher and taking classes, I wasn't making the most of my Twitter experience. Many nights, I was too busy to check my Twitter feed. Then I download Twitterrific. This feed reader has changed my life! As I work on my laptop, this application runs in the background and every few minutes, it automatically pops up with the new tweets in my feed. This has simplified my life. As I work, I can learn. During the past year, I have been finding myself quoting my Twitter buddies to my colleagues at school. I have found some terrific ideas and websites through my Twitter buddies. I also share these with the teachers that I work with. They wonder how I have time to scour the internet for all these terrific resources, but I always give credit to my PLN.
I built my PLN slowly over time following more and more people (and an occasional organization...I would highly recommend following one of the MODOT highways, as I follow MODOT I-44 and I get updates on Twitter when there are traffic issues on that highway). Some people tweet a lot...(@ktenkely, @amandadykes, @budtheteacher) and some just occasionally. The best thing that I have become involved in with Twitter in this past year is the weekly #edchat that I have been following. This is a weekly synchronous discussion on a topic that is chosen by a survey of Twitter followers of creator @tomwhitby. This discussion takes place every Tuesday and when it is going on, the tweets flow fast and furious. The comments are thought-provoking. It is like going to a weekly conference...and it's all free!
If you are new to Twitter, I would recommend doing the following to get yourself started:
- Make sure you include that you are a teacher and things that you are interested in Bio on your profile. This will help others find and follow you.
- Start following just a few people. How do you find them? Start with the people whose blogs you read. Most of them also Twitter.
- Pay attention to the people who are being retweeted by the people you follow. If you like what they are tweeting, then start following them also!
- Use hashtags (#) to tag your tweets so that your tweets are included in a search of tweets on a particular topic. Hashtags can also be used by you to find what people are saying on a particular topic in a search.
- Follow a couple of non-education people (entertainer, business, sports figure, etc.) just to provide you with a little R&R.
- Just relax and have fun with it!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Online Media in the Classroom
Video
I use a lot of online media with my students. Unfortunately, YouTube is blocked in our district so I primarily rely on using videos from Discovery Streaming (if you have not seen the Pendamonium series and accompanying games, you are missing out...and so are your students!).
The YouTube video that I found is one I have used in the past with my students. It's a catchy song from Rockin' the Standards about Perimeter and Area.
I think using videos with our students is an extremely useful tool. It engages them in the topic more than just straight lecture. It can also help reinforce the concept that you want the students to learn. Teachers can create their own video lessons that the students could watch (or download) to reinforce what they have learned in the classroom, to help them study for a test, or to watch when they have been absent. Teachers can also work with their students to create a video that shows the understanding of a concept.
Slide Show
The slide show that I found on Slideshare (which is also, unfortunately, blocked in our district) to share was kind of a cool idea. It is a set of first grade addition flash cards (so I am not first grade anymore, but this idea could definitely be adapted to 3rd grade). The problem was created by the student using word art in PowerPoint on the first slide and then the answer is on the next slide. This gives the students ownership of those facts. This would be a very easy group project to do. The only thing that I disagreed with was the fact that the teacher had each of the student's pictures and names on their slides. I would either do their name or their picture, but not both. That is a safety issue for me.
I have not thought of using Slideshare with my students (even if it wasn't blocked) before because I have primarily used it to watch presentations for professional development. This example shows a great way that this can be used with the students. One thing that we do use in our district which would have the same effect is iSpring Free. This is a free download that can convert your PowerPoint into a flash video. This video can then be embedded into your class website or blog. The only difference between this and Slideshare is that I wouldn't have to have my slide show hosted on the Slideshare website (although I still wouldn't post my students' pictures with their names).
VoiceThread
I found a presentation by a group of 3rd graders who had written their poems and then recorded them reading the poems on VoiceThread. I liked this presentation because the kids were reading in loud, clear voices. Their poems were very good for third graders. The only thing that I would have changed was to have the students use their own illustrations for the project.
I have never used VoiceThread before (I'm not sure if this one is blocked in our district), but this example and some of the others I looked at gave me some ideas for how to use this with my students. In particular, I want to team up with one of our Title Reading teachers who pushes into our classrooms once a week. We can work a writing project together and then I could use the VoiceThread with my students to record them reading their writing. What a powerful tool to motivate students to write!
Just for Fun
I came upon this video on YouTube this past spring and it is one of my favorites! I shared it with my students and they wanted to (a) watch it again, and again, and again; (b) sing along; and (c) they wanted to know if our school could do this! What a great message for kids. The power of media!
I use a lot of online media with my students. Unfortunately, YouTube is blocked in our district so I primarily rely on using videos from Discovery Streaming (if you have not seen the Pendamonium series and accompanying games, you are missing out...and so are your students!).
The YouTube video that I found is one I have used in the past with my students. It's a catchy song from Rockin' the Standards about Perimeter and Area.
I think using videos with our students is an extremely useful tool. It engages them in the topic more than just straight lecture. It can also help reinforce the concept that you want the students to learn. Teachers can create their own video lessons that the students could watch (or download) to reinforce what they have learned in the classroom, to help them study for a test, or to watch when they have been absent. Teachers can also work with their students to create a video that shows the understanding of a concept.
Slide Show
The slide show that I found on Slideshare (which is also, unfortunately, blocked in our district) to share was kind of a cool idea. It is a set of first grade addition flash cards (so I am not first grade anymore, but this idea could definitely be adapted to 3rd grade). The problem was created by the student using word art in PowerPoint on the first slide and then the answer is on the next slide. This gives the students ownership of those facts. This would be a very easy group project to do. The only thing that I disagreed with was the fact that the teacher had each of the student's pictures and names on their slides. I would either do their name or their picture, but not both. That is a safety issue for me.
1st Grade Flash Cards
View more presentations from lgifford.
I have not thought of using Slideshare with my students (even if it wasn't blocked) before because I have primarily used it to watch presentations for professional development. This example shows a great way that this can be used with the students. One thing that we do use in our district which would have the same effect is iSpring Free. This is a free download that can convert your PowerPoint into a flash video. This video can then be embedded into your class website or blog. The only difference between this and Slideshare is that I wouldn't have to have my slide show hosted on the Slideshare website (although I still wouldn't post my students' pictures with their names).
VoiceThread
I found a presentation by a group of 3rd graders who had written their poems and then recorded them reading the poems on VoiceThread. I liked this presentation because the kids were reading in loud, clear voices. Their poems were very good for third graders. The only thing that I would have changed was to have the students use their own illustrations for the project.
I have never used VoiceThread before (I'm not sure if this one is blocked in our district), but this example and some of the others I looked at gave me some ideas for how to use this with my students. In particular, I want to team up with one of our Title Reading teachers who pushes into our classrooms once a week. We can work a writing project together and then I could use the VoiceThread with my students to record them reading their writing. What a powerful tool to motivate students to write!
Just for Fun
I came upon this video on YouTube this past spring and it is one of my favorites! I shared it with my students and they wanted to (a) watch it again, and again, and again; (b) sing along; and (c) they wanted to know if our school could do this! What a great message for kids. The power of media!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Online Organizational Tools
There are many tools online that can help teachers and their students organize information. One of the tools that I looked at was Netvibes. This is a personal dashboard where you can keep different pages on topics that you are interested in. Netvibes pulls information on your topic(s) from the web. You can chose to add or delete widgets on the page. I had heard of Netvibes before, but had never actually tried it. While I could see some uses for it, it seemed to pull a lot of information that I wouldn't use (I understand that it scours the web for the information). It was almost too much information and it kind of overwhelmed the senses. The user can add their own RSS feeds. One of the benefits is that you can have multiple pages on different topics. When I first started looking at Netvibes, it reminded me of iGoogle. I have had my iGoogle page for over a year now. I find that it is a very good way for me to organize all of my RSS feeds. It also allows me a quick way to access a particular website that I may use a lot without having to type in the URL. I have my homepage set to my iGoogle page on the computers that I use at home an at work. If a colleague asked me which one they should use, I think I would tell them that between the two formats, I would choose iGoogle. First of all, it starts you off with more of a blank slate so that you can put the information on your page that is truly relevant for you. Both pages allow you to customize your page and have multiple pages. It would be less work to have the iGoogle page than the Netvibes page because you build from the bottom up instead of trying to figure out what you need and what you need to remove. Another reason to choose iGoogle over Netvibes is that iGoogle integrates with all the other Google products that a teacher may be (or need to be) using such as Picasa, gmail, Google Docs, etc.
Another tool that I looked at was the Bubbl.us graphic organizer tool. This tool was very cool, but probably not one that I would have my students use. It was FREE! That is always a plus, however, it was not as user friendly as Kidspiration (which is also a graphic organizer, but it can cost a district a bit of money). I felt that Bubbl.us was a tool that I could use with my class, as long as I was doing the typing. It allows you to customize the colors of the bubbles and to drag and drop the bubbles to connect them (this could be useful on an interactive whiteboard if I had the bubbles already created and then had the students move them to connect the ideas). You can print your graphic organizer or post it on your website. You can also set up "sharing" for your organizer so that multiple people can add to it from different computers. It was fairly easy for me to type and add in new bubbles, but I am not a third grader. I know that some of my more tech savvy third graders would be able to use this tool with some support from me. I also know that Kidspiration, while it can be pricey, is more child friendly for my students and while free is great, sometimes it is better to fork over the money to pay for a tool that would be more child friendly and less frustrating for my young students. If the technology is getting in the way of my students learning the concept, then I would not be using the technology. I could see Bubbl.us being a fantastic tool for high school students to use.
I know we were only supposed to look at 2 tools, but I did want to say something about Classmarker website. This looks like a wonderful tool to use in class. It is a free, online test creator where your students can take their tests online and then they are "graded" by the website. It is a tool that I would like to try out with my students. I have used the spreadsheet in Google Docs to administer a self-grading online quiz with my students before and this seemed very similar, but perhaps a bit more polished. My big question that would be answered by using it with my students is "What are the advantages of the paid version of Classmarker?". I read through the site and looked at the comparison of the features in the table, but I really couldn't see how paying money was going to get me many more features that I would need except for perhaps emailing me the results. It's something to think about.
Another tool that I looked at was the Bubbl.us graphic organizer tool. This tool was very cool, but probably not one that I would have my students use. It was FREE! That is always a plus, however, it was not as user friendly as Kidspiration (which is also a graphic organizer, but it can cost a district a bit of money). I felt that Bubbl.us was a tool that I could use with my class, as long as I was doing the typing. It allows you to customize the colors of the bubbles and to drag and drop the bubbles to connect them (this could be useful on an interactive whiteboard if I had the bubbles already created and then had the students move them to connect the ideas). You can print your graphic organizer or post it on your website. You can also set up "sharing" for your organizer so that multiple people can add to it from different computers. It was fairly easy for me to type and add in new bubbles, but I am not a third grader. I know that some of my more tech savvy third graders would be able to use this tool with some support from me. I also know that Kidspiration, while it can be pricey, is more child friendly for my students and while free is great, sometimes it is better to fork over the money to pay for a tool that would be more child friendly and less frustrating for my young students. If the technology is getting in the way of my students learning the concept, then I would not be using the technology. I could see Bubbl.us being a fantastic tool for high school students to use.
I know we were only supposed to look at 2 tools, but I did want to say something about Classmarker website. This looks like a wonderful tool to use in class. It is a free, online test creator where your students can take their tests online and then they are "graded" by the website. It is a tool that I would like to try out with my students. I have used the spreadsheet in Google Docs to administer a self-grading online quiz with my students before and this seemed very similar, but perhaps a bit more polished. My big question that would be answered by using it with my students is "What are the advantages of the paid version of Classmarker?". I read through the site and looked at the comparison of the features in the table, but I really couldn't see how paying money was going to get me many more features that I would need except for perhaps emailing me the results. It's something to think about.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Technology in Education
I believe that technology should be an essential part of education in the 21st century. The students who come to us are using these technologies at home and to ignore them (or disallow their use) at school is doing our students a disservice. In a blog post that I just read today, Sylvia Tolisano was talking about "connecting your classroom to the world" in terms of using a blog with your class. In her post, she described a podcast by Wes Fryer where he described the difference between technology that is accommodating and that which is transformative. She said that he described technology being accommodating when you use it to replace non-digital learning. I believe that this in itself is not a bad thing. I think that this is where we need to start in our classrooms. Where we need to move towards, however, is using the technology in a transformative way...where what the students are learning would not exist without the technology.
Students are very adept at learning new technologies (as illustrated by my summer school class students who are 6, 7, and 8 years old). It's time for us as teachers to think outside the box and look at the projects that we already do with our students and ask ourselves, "how can I do this project with technology?". If I create a graph with my students, why can't I do it using Excel or some other graphing program? If my goal is to have my students learn how to collect data, create a graph, and then interpret the data, then what's to say that we can't do it electronically? Why do we have to use paper, pencil, and crayons? Using technology, and more specifically Web 2.0 tools, can open your students to a world that exists beyond the four walls of your classroom. This is important for our students today as they grow up in a global society. Technology can help prepare them for their future in our society, but it can also link them to people all over the world. Their world has expanded beyond the town that they live in! When I first started blogging with my students two years ago, they were so excited about the fact that their writing could be read by people all over the world, including in China (where a classmate had just moved back to). This gives their words power. It connects them to others. It helps make them more aware. I think by using more technology in our classrooms, our students will become more motivated and focused on the lessons we are teaching. They are seeing it as "fun"...I look at it as the vehicle that I am using to engage them in their learning and motivate them to learn more. Being focused, motivated, and engaged, this is what technology in education can do for our students.
Students are very adept at learning new technologies (as illustrated by my summer school class students who are 6, 7, and 8 years old). It's time for us as teachers to think outside the box and look at the projects that we already do with our students and ask ourselves, "how can I do this project with technology?". If I create a graph with my students, why can't I do it using Excel or some other graphing program? If my goal is to have my students learn how to collect data, create a graph, and then interpret the data, then what's to say that we can't do it electronically? Why do we have to use paper, pencil, and crayons? Using technology, and more specifically Web 2.0 tools, can open your students to a world that exists beyond the four walls of your classroom. This is important for our students today as they grow up in a global society. Technology can help prepare them for their future in our society, but it can also link them to people all over the world. Their world has expanded beyond the town that they live in! When I first started blogging with my students two years ago, they were so excited about the fact that their writing could be read by people all over the world, including in China (where a classmate had just moved back to). This gives their words power. It connects them to others. It helps make them more aware. I think by using more technology in our classrooms, our students will become more motivated and focused on the lessons we are teaching. They are seeing it as "fun"...I look at it as the vehicle that I am using to engage them in their learning and motivate them to learn more. Being focused, motivated, and engaged, this is what technology in education can do for our students.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
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