The following sites are
used in creating presentations, saving images and video for later, and broadcasting
to students. From the following,
SpicyNodes was entirely new to me.
Mindmapping is vaguely familiar, but SpicyNodes adds a web development
element to the mix. I have never used software like Jing or SnagIt, but I am
constantly seeing examples of recorded lectures that use this kind of
tool. A teacher can record a lesson
using voice and anything that is happening on the computer screen. This kind of lesson is often mentioned in a
discussion about flipped classrooms in which the content/lecture portions are
viewed at home, and the activities and homework are completed at school. I am pleased to see that free tools exist to
create the recorded content from any computer.
Here are my technology
explorations:
Prezi
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1.
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Describe what you learned
from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
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Prezi
is an online interface for creating presentations. They consider themselves an evolution from
the standard slideshow with the "zooming user interface "in which
users can zoom in to change the detail displayed or browse to different
media. It is a popular web 2.0 tool
used in business and education.
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2.
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How could you use this
resource in a school setting? It does
not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the
resource might be used in educational settings.
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Prezi
can be used to create presentations for any use similar to that of
traditional slide show presentations. It lends itself well to complete,
animated presentations that are played like video.
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3.
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Would you recommend this
resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so
forth. Why or Why not?
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Free accounts have all presentations posted
publicly online, and paid accounts can make their work private. There is a pro account that allows for offline
editing. A basic "Enjoy"
account is free for educators, $4.92/month for everyone else.
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SpicyNodes
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1.
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Describe what you learned
from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
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A
simple way to describe the SpicyNodes interface to an educator is that is a
way to combine mind mapping with content delivery on a website. Visitors to a website can click on segments
of a mind map to zoom in, and see more branches emerge.
From
the SpicyNodes About
Section:
"SpicyNodes is
a way to visualize online information that mimics that way that people look
for things in the real world. Bits of information — such as text, links,
photos, and other media — are placed into "nodes," which are then
linked together in an appealing interface that invites exploration."
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2.
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How could you use this
resource in a school setting? It does
not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the
resource might be used in educational settings.
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Educators could make interactive mind maps
that combine content for students to use at home or in the class. For example, a science lesson could start
with the vocabulary that branches out to definitions, but then have those
term link together to explain concepts.
Mind maps could be teacher or student created, and build as the
semester progresses. The maps could be
used as reviews as well.
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3.
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Would you recommend this
resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so
forth. Why or Why not?
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Individual accounts and basic functionality
is free. Watermarks are removed from the nodemaps with a premium membership
and nodemaps can be password protected.
A free membership will get teachers started to see if this resource
works in their classrooms. The
education portal is located here:
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Edmodo
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1.
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Describe what you learned
from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
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An easy way to describe Edmodo to someone
familiar with the internet is that is an "education only facebook".
Teachers can create classroom accounts and add their students. Students have access to all of their
teachers' postings in one place. Parent accounts allow parents to see their
children's assignments and grades.
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2.
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How could you use this
resource in a school setting? It does
not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the
resource might be used in educational settings.
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Teachers can post content such as video,
presentations or other media for students to view, as well as assignments or
student polls. Students can submit
assignments for grading. Edmodo is
designed to be a safer, closed social network model for use in school, but
can be subject to some of the security and misuse issues of social
networking.
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3.
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Would you recommend this
resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so
forth. Why or Why not?
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Schools
worldwide are using Edmodo, but I have only used it as a collaboration tool
with other teachers. The teachers I know that use Edmodo love the site.
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A Maths Dictionary
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1.
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Describe what you learned
from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
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A
Maths Dictionary is an online interactive dictionary for every term related
to math. It is very easy to use and
students can refer to it for definitions and examples. It is very
kid-friendly.
The
site also hosts printable math charts and other resources for teachers.
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2.
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How could you use this
resource in a school setting? It does
not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the
resource might be used in educational settings.
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This resource could be used as a daily
reference when teaching math for students to remind themselves of the words
used when talking about math.
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3.
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Would you recommend this
resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so
forth. Why or Why not?
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If I
were teaching math, I would certainly share this resource with my
students. It could strength math
literacy skills.
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Glogster
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1.
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Describe what you learned
from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
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According to Google's dictionary:
"Glogster is
a Web 2.0 tool that allows users to create virtual posters combining text,
audio, video, images, and hyperlinks and to share them with others
electronically."
And,
I have to confess, I had to look it up.
I had been seeing it mentioned as a site/media that could be included
when using other 2.0 tools, but had not experienced it.
The
virtual posters are "graphic logs" or glogs, and are designed and
used primarily in education. The interface
for mixing text, audio, video, images, graphics and more and provides
flexibilility with portrait and landscape options, an editing tool and simple
drag & drop function for adding various kinds of media.
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2.
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How could you use this
resource in a school setting? It does
not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the
resource might be used in educational settings.
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Students create glogs to illustrate what
they have learned. Teachers can
present new content, or make them ahead for reviews. The glogs are much more
interactive that just static text and images in a webpage. There is a blog post here:
that
proves 40 ideas for specific uses in the classroom.
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3.
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Would you recommend this
resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so
forth. Why or Why not?
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There
is a seven day trial for educators, after that secondary educators will have
to pay $95/year for a teacher account and 125 student accounts. I would recommend browsing the site and
trying out the free account before paying.
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Jing/SnagIt
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1.
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Describe what you learned
from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
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Jing
is software from techsmith.com that allows the user to capture any portion of
the computer screen and save as an image file and then compile for video or
other uses. You can also record the
screen's activity in real time for demonstration purposes. The company also
makes a chrome extension for Google Apps called SnagIt that you can use to
record and narrate screen activity and share the video on YouTube. Snagits is
available to teachers for $29.99 and there is volume discounting.
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2.
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How could you use this
resource in a school setting? It does
not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the
resource might be used in educational settings.
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Lessons that could use an online animated
demo would benefit from this software.
It could be used to replace a list of directions for a computer
activity for students who are struggling with reading. Multi-step computer concepts could be
demonstrated and reviewed at the student's pace. Recorded lessons could be viewable at any
time.
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3.
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Would you recommend this
resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so
forth. Why or Why not?
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Any
teacher who needs to make recordings of screen activity, including recorded
lectures and demonstrations could benefit from this software. Simple tasks like partial screen capture
are also made easier with this software.
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YouTube for Education/TeacherTube/SchoolTube
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1.
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Describe what you learned
from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
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Youtube
for education is the education portal for the media uploading juggernaut,
Youtube, which highlights videos for education, and features content-specific
channels by subject area.
Teachertube
and Schooltube are sites that are designed specifically for schools and
teachers to use and the uploads are monitored. Many school districts had blocked access to
youtube, and these sites serve as alternatives. Both require registration,
and you have to agree on these sites that you aren't uploading inappropriate
material for students. Schooltube
requires school information in order to register.
Schooltube
is a more focused community and the videos are moderated as they go up, but
nothing is foolproof.
Schooltube
also allows schools to make their own channels, and their own school
administrators approve membership. It
also allows schools to broadcast live on their own channel within the site.
YouTube
remains the largest collection of educational videos from around the world. YouTube is, however, in the wild, and is
moderated, but not as carefully as the school centered sites.
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2.
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How could you use this
resource in a school setting? It does
not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the
resource might be used in educational settings.
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I
use video in a classroom setting whenever possible. Video has immediate appeal to different
learning styles. Also I am not a media
creator, I know there are many gifted teachers that have made videos that are
brilliant at explaining and demonstrating concepts.
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3.
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Would you recommend this
resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so
forth. Why or Why not?
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Teachers
who have no access to YouTube will benefit most from Schooltube or
Teachertube. If I had a large amount of
video media to share with students, I would upload all of it to Teachertube
or Schooltube so that I could safely direct my students there to view them in
my absence. If I am in control of the
searching and playing, then YouTube remains the most comprehensive site for
information.
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