Edunology

Have you taken a look at a Glog yet? The website http://edu.glogster.com is a free Web 2.0 site for educators. The site allows for teachers to create an account and then within that account create up to 100 managed student accounts. The entire setup takes about 3 minutes to complete. On my wiki page I have provided instructions for accessing and setting up an account on Glogster. http://edunology.wikispaces.com/glogster.

A Glog is a digital poster that may contain text, images, clip art, videos, audio files, backgrounds and hyperlinks. All of these items can be arranged  in a very creative and artistic way. There is not a template that is forced on the user. Glogs are designed to be presented to an audience upon completion.  This is where a Glog separates itself from other presentation tools such as PowerPoint.

We have all sat through a number of PowerPoint presentations delivered by students and our peers. How many of these presentations have been dreadful? How painful is it to sit through a presentation in which the presenter has slide after slide of text that he or she continues to read word for word? In many cases students are copying and pasting text from the web and then reading it out loud to the class. This is not an exercise in higher order thinking. Students are not synthesizing the information they have uncovered. They are just reading information that they found on the web.

Glogster can change the way you and your students deliver presentations. A Glog is a one page digital poster. All of the content for your presentation must be contained in one page. It is designed to be populated by primarily images and short text labels. By limiting the space allocated for content the presenter must provide meaning and depth to his or her presentation by offering explanations and descriptions for the content they have added to their Glog. The presenter must have a clear understanding of the topic and be able to offer explanations in his or her own words to explain their content selections.

Example: The Glog that I have linked to below is a digital poster assignment in which the presenter is stating a case for a President that she believes a monument should be built for. It was designed by Mrs. King in our Middle School as an example for a class project. Each image has a full explanation that provides justification for her argument. Mrs. King must provide this explanation to her class. This explanation is verbal. Ther are not large text boxes of content that is being read. Mrs. King provides a verbal justification to her class and uses the images to support and add meaning to her content delivery.

http://kingcrown.edu.glogster.com/john-f-kennedy-monument/

By providing our students with a presentation tool that steers them towards reflective analysis, verbal explanations, public speaking and creativity we are not only preparing them for the 21st century, but we are providing them with an avenue for synthesis of ideas and information. This type of assessment will have a positive impact on student learning that exceeds what we are currently experiencing with MS PowerPoint.

In my latest edition of the Instructional Technology Newsletter I spoke about how SKYPE can be used as a free video conferencing solution for the classroom. Currently there are thousands of teachers around the world looking to connect and collaborate with other classes in the same or different country.

While the benefits and opportunities with this type of global collaboration are astounding, there are other ways that Skype can be used in the classroom. Skype can be used to connect with a subject area expert, author, professional, artist, or anyone that has an experience to share.  Access to Skype and a web-cam is no longer a limitation for many individuals. Most laptops come equipped with a built in web-cam. Since Skype is free the barriers to entry are minimal!

Recently I read about a high school class in Colorado who recently read the book, “A Whole New Mind“, by Daniel Pink. The teacher sent an email to Mr. Pink requesting a short video conference with him. To the teachers surprise, Mr. Pink agreed. The students were able to speak with Mr. Pink live in their classroom. They were able to connect their thoughts regarding the book with feedback from the author.

This type of opportunity has never been so easy to make happen. By connecting with experts and authors around the world we are extending our classroom beyond the 4 four walls. Technology is allowing our students to be educated by individuals that they could only read about before.

Are you ready to globalize your classroom? Have you sent an email to an author or subject area expert? Because of the convenience of this technology you will be surprised how many people are willing to connect with you.

Here is a great place to start. Skype with an Author Network, is a wiki page that was created to provide access to Authors that are willing to Skype with classrooms for free. “The mission of the Skype an Author Network is to provide K-12 teachers and librarians with a way to connect authors, books, and young readers through virtual visits.”

If you are interested in using skype in your classroom for one of the above mentioned connections please do not hesitate to contact me. I will be happy to put it all together for you!

Enjoy!

I came across this site thanks to a blog posting I read here. It is called The Week in Rap.  The week in Rap is a music video that summarizes the major world events of the week. It is organized as a Rap video.  A typical video is under 5 minutes.

This is a great alternative tool for teaching current events. It may be a great end of the week activity.  Some ideas that come to mind are:

1. Link to this in a Moodle discussion and ask students to respond to a question regarding it.

2. Have students develop a blog posting reflecting on these events using Ning, a wiki, Moodle, Google Doc, or traditional journal.

3.  Have students create their own music video that discusses a global issue. Use this as an example.

http://theweekinrap.com/

Enjoy!

I came across this excellent resource posted on one my favorite blogs “free technology for teachers” .  It is an interactive site created by the American Revolution Center. Here is a description of the center straight from their about page:

The National Libary of Virtual Manipulatives was created to supply teachers with interactive mathematics manipulatives. It is available free of charge on the web. Here is a description of their site taken from their about page:

“The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM) is an NSF supported project that began in 1999 to develop a library of uniquely interactive, web-based virtual manipulatives or concept tutorials, mostly in the form of Java applets, for mathematics instruction (K-12 emphasis). The project includes dissemination and extensive internal and external evaluation.”

This site can be used on an interactive whiteboard. Links to individual activities can be incorporated into smart notebook lessons as well. Faculty members can provide links to individual activities on their website for students to access at home.

http://nlvm.usu.edu/

Enjoy!

I came across this great diagram to distribute to students.  It is a guide for how to conduct classroom conversations for students. It is based on a technique called Accountable Talk. I read about this resource on the following blog posting.

Class Discussion Guidelines

Enjoy!