I am soooo done with my Web2.0 class. It was very informative and I learned a lot, but it really sucked the life out of me. I'm not complaining, since I learned a lot of FREE applications that can be used personally. Also, many of the applications would be wonderful to use in the classroom. What my district does in the future will decide what can be accomplished for work. Some of the applications would be pure fluff, but others could really be used in a way to enhance student learning and achievement. As with any new information, it will take time for me to sort through what will be the most efficient use of time, both in planning/preparation, as well as with classroom time.
Overall, this was a GREAT experience. I have a file to go through to refer back to the applications, web addresses, login information, and passwords...as well as this blog to refer back to my initial thoughts for each application. I'm sure my thoughts will change as I actually start using what I learned from this class.
From my time zone, it's a little less than 8 hours until....
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Podcasting
Instead of creating an “About Me” podcast (boring!), I chose to podcast a short message to one of my sisters.
I’ve never been a fan of recording things, so there was that uneasiness. It might have been better if I had been home alone. Both Podomatic and Gcast were easy to use. Gcast may have been a bit simpler, but Podomatic made it easy for me to insert a photo. Since I suffered through recording my own voice, I did not find it necessary to also include a picture of myself…my dog’s much cuter!
My file uploaded immediately with Gcast, but with Podomatic I did something wrong and flipped through various screens to be able to find out how to fix my errors. All in all, that didn’t really take too long, though. Podomatic did make it easy to send the podcast url via email. I’ll decide which site I like better after I upload more.
Podcasting would be a great tool to use frequently in the classroom. I’d love to make podcasts of all of the spelling lists, then just play them weekly for at least Friday’s retest. Also, if students are absent, it would be easy for them to take the test simply by going to that week’s episode. Lessons could be recorded and used later for review/remediation as needed. Again, the information would then be available for any students who are absent.
There’s a lot that the students could do with podcasting. They could record stories, which would give them more fluency practice. They LOVE listening to the main story selection on CD each week, so podcasts would also be a way to easily include other short stories for them to listen to. It would be fun to have “guest” podcasters, such as parents, the principal, and special area teachers. Podcasting also would be a fun way for them to practice retelling stories. Then when they went back and listened, they could evaluate how well they did and what could be improved on. They could podcast information about topics they are learning about in science and social studies, which would be a good review of concepts.
I’d really like to set up a podcast of the weekly newsletters (Thank you, Joy!), with the kids reading the information. That might be a good incentive for some of them to complete work during the week so that they can have a turn at podcasting the newsletter. The parents would love it.
That said, I’m almost finished with this class!
YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!
Podcasts
I asked my sister for some suggestions of what to listen to, knowing that she listens to several. Then I also checked out iTunes under hobbies and was amazed that there were so many knitting podcasts. I listened to…
The Knitmore Girls This is a mother and daughter production. The topic is evident by the title. They discuss what they are working on and knitting in general. It made me feel better about having so many unfinished projects! Yes, I’ll listen to more of these podcasts.
Let’s Knit 2gether This one was a video podcast. The one that watched demonstrated several techniques, reviewed a book, then talked about various upcoming events. I’ll also check out more episodes of this, because the one I watched really was a great tutorial.
Socks in the City I checked this one out because the title cracks me up! She begins talking about various KAL’s (Knit-ALongs), then just babbled about socks. At the end of the episode she shared a vintage pattern.
Here is my first attempt at toe-up, magic loop socks. Maybe if I did listen to more of the above podcasts, it would keep me motivated to finish these in a reasonable amount of time.
Podcast subscriptions in the classroom: I think this would be worth some time spent searching for something relevant to share with students, now that I have a much better idea of where to go looking. But, that will have to wait until I finish this class. And write up my lesson plans for next week. I cannot believe how quickly this winter break is flying by.
The Knitmore Girls This is a mother and daughter production. The topic is evident by the title. They discuss what they are working on and knitting in general. It made me feel better about having so many unfinished projects! Yes, I’ll listen to more of these podcasts.
Let’s Knit 2gether This one was a video podcast. The one that watched demonstrated several techniques, reviewed a book, then talked about various upcoming events. I’ll also check out more episodes of this, because the one I watched really was a great tutorial.
Socks in the City I checked this one out because the title cracks me up! She begins talking about various KAL’s (Knit-ALongs), then just babbled about socks. At the end of the episode she shared a vintage pattern.
Here is my first attempt at toe-up, magic loop socks. Maybe if I did listen to more of the above podcasts, it would keep me motivated to finish these in a reasonable amount of time.
Podcast subscriptions in the classroom: I think this would be worth some time spent searching for something relevant to share with students, now that I have a much better idea of where to go looking. But, that will have to wait until I finish this class. And write up my lesson plans for next week. I cannot believe how quickly this winter break is flying by.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Animoto
This would be a good way to put together photos to share with family and friends. I'm not sure about classroom use at this time, especially with the age and technical skills of my kiddos. I'm sure older students would really have fun with this.
I had to come back in and edit this today, because yesterday I did something wrong and the video that came up was an ad for Animoto. Maybe I did it right now. I also noticed when I was fixing this that I had uploaded the required number of photos, but only 9 of them showed up in this.
Online Productivity Tools
In order of preference:
ZohoWriter…I liked that a tutorial popped up, so help was easy. Uploading was fast and simple. The formatting was pretty good with the word processing.
GoogleDocs…Tedious to upload one document at a time, but the word processing was fairly simple.
ThinkFree…I think not. Again, computer issues with internet access when trying this site, several times, while all the other sites were fine.
Maybe it’s simply familiarity, but I would not be willing to give up Office for any of these. I really like Word and Excel, which are what I use the most. OK, you’re scaring me now! And making me wonder what will be in store for the district in the (near?) future. It would make sense for businesses to consider these options to save money with all of the licensing fees involved. If it comes to that, I’ll still be using my Word and Excel at home. For now.
ZohoWriter…I liked that a tutorial popped up, so help was easy. Uploading was fast and simple. The formatting was pretty good with the word processing.
GoogleDocs…Tedious to upload one document at a time, but the word processing was fairly simple.
ThinkFree…I think not. Again, computer issues with internet access when trying this site, several times, while all the other sites were fine.
Maybe it’s simply familiarity, but I would not be willing to give up Office for any of these. I really like Word and Excel, which are what I use the most. OK, you’re scaring me now! And making me wonder what will be in store for the district in the (near?) future. It would make sense for businesses to consider these options to save money with all of the licensing fees involved. If it comes to that, I’ll still be using my Word and Excel at home. For now.
Online Storage Sites
These sites were easy to use for saving files. Right now, I won’t be using any of them, but would if I had to. It would be easy, but tedious, to transfer over all of my Word documents. I’ll keep my thumb drives for now, thank you very much! In the future it might be a way for schools to deal with the storage issues. Again there’s the concern of student safety with these sites, so consideration would be needed of the best way to implement something like this. My main concern would be with the sites that allow document sharing.
Discussion Forums
One can find a forum for just about any topic. I’ve been on Yahoo for several years (but note problems from previous post!). I think all of the groups that I belong to are for members only. One is for a small group of friends who live in various parts of the country and the rest are for information/help on personal interests.
Discussions forums could be a concern, but if one was set up for members only, that would keep it safe for class discussions. Yes, I do think that there could be positive aspects to using these in the classroom if set up wisely.
Discussions forums could be a concern, but if one was set up for members only, that would keep it safe for class discussions. Yes, I do think that there could be positive aspects to using these in the classroom if set up wisely.
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