Blog Five

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

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	www.prezi.com 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.
2.	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.
	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.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	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.

SpicyNodes

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	www.spicynodes.org 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."
2.	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.
	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.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	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: http://www.spicynodes.org/education.html

Edmodo

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	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.
2.	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.
	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.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	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.

A Maths Dictionary

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/ 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.
2.	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.
	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.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	If I were teaching math, I would certainly share this resource with my students.  It could strength math literacy skills.

Glogster

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	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.
2.	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.
	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: http://blog.edu.glogster.com/2013/05/ 13/40_ways_to_innovative_teaching_using_glogster_edu/ that proves 40 ideas for specific uses in the classroom.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	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.

Jing/SnagIt

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	www.techsmith.com/jing 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.
2.	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.
	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.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	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.

YouTube for Education/TeacherTube/SchoolTube

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	www.youtube.com/education www.schooltube.com www.teachertube.com 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.
2.	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.
	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.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	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.

Blog Four

The following technology explorations are about different means of presentation.  This week we were asked to discuss TED talks as well.   I have watched a few TED talks, and I have listened to even more on the TED Radio Hour, which brings together talks from TED events around the country. This is where to access them:

http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/

I like to listen in the car to the podcasts.
In the discussion board, I talked about Jill Bolte Taylor's My Stroke of Insight:

http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight

I did not have access to students this week, but I will add a presentation that I have made in the past that addresses how literacy can be enhanced or improved using a particular content area.  I wrote this presentation about technology courses.  The theoretical audience was school administrators/school board members.  The presentation was intended to argue that technology classes can be used to improve reading skills in students.

I think the content within the presentation is still quite valid, but the graphics could be improved.  There are no pictures to get the audience thinking of specific examples.  If I were to do this presentation over, I would need to imbed more graphics and add video clips and more examples. The content of the presentation is more relevant than ever for me personally because the technology department was REMOVED from my school, and replaced with another math or reading position. 

Here is the presentation, hosted by slideshare.net:

Dr. Goldberg will be pleased that I learned how to embed this presentation on this blog, and began using slideshare.net as well!

Here are my technology explorations:

Comic Life

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Comic life is online software that lets users transform their pictures into comic strips or graphic novels.  The software can be purchased for $30, but educators can buy single copies for $20, and site licenses are available.   Comic life's creators consider it "the word processor for digital graphic writing".  Any kind of digital images can be incorporated into a comic.
2.	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.
	The program is appropriate for all grade levels and subjects.  The teacher could start out by making comics to illustrate lessons, then the students could make their own. The comics can be used anywhere that content need to be explained or displayed.  The level of help required would decrease with the age group.  Any image found on the internet (or uploaded) can be incorporated quickly.  The site has many suggestions for ways to use Comic Life in the classroom.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	There's a free trial available so teachers can experiment with the way the software works before committing to a purchase.

VoiceThread

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	VoiceThread is complicated to explain.  I offer the following definition from the article, "Seven things you should know about Voicethread," which sounds like it could be straight from Voicethread's branding department, but is actually from a higher education consortium for educational technology: "VoiceThread is a media aggregator that allows people to post media artifacts for community feedback. The application, developed  at the University of North Carolina, makes it easy for users to add voice those who disconnected will to an artifact, which might be a document, a slide presentation, a video, or a collection of photos. Commentators can add remarks by means of microphone, webcam, keyboard, or telephone. The resulting Flash-based animation contains the original artifact and the commentary on it. In educational settings,  students can post visual media, instructors can comment, and peers can offer verbal or text-based assessments..." The article can be found here: https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7050.pdf
2.	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.
	Students can collaborate using text, voice and video.   The teacher can start with a file, such as a document with a research topic, and students can add other media as they discuss it, and add their comments to make a complete presentation.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I would need more experience personally with this technology before recommending it.   I do have concerns about the fact that the site uses Adobe Flash to create the Voice Threads, and flash is no longer supported for android or iOS devices.  VoiceThread Mobile makes VoiceThread media files available for Ipad and Iphone, but there is no mention of support for Android phones and tablets.  I would not personally buy any software for a school setting that is strictly tied to Apple because I have as many or more students using android devices.

Storybird

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Storybird lets users create their own stories using illustrations and art from the site.   They say, "Your words, our art."  Students build storybooks by selecting art from the site, and its compiled.   Examples of work created in storybird are here: https://storybird.com/read/
2.	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.
	Students can illustrate their stories, poems or essays, or even non-fiction writing for other content areas. Teachers can create presentations of content for use in class, and monitor, score and comment on students' work on the site.  The teacher maintains a class with student accounts.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Storybird is entirely free, and is already in use by a lot of people, so there is no risk in signing up to see if it works for your own needs.

Kidblog.org

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Kidblog.org is a blogging site with educators in mind.  Teachers control the classroom blogs and the student accounts.  The idea is to keep the content appropriate for kids.  Other media files created with"web 2.0" programs can be embedded into log posts.
2.	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.
	I think that blogging for students could be effective at any age group with reading and writing skills.  I am interested to see how blogging develops in the future, and if there are schools that are participating in blogging school-wide, not just classroom-wide.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Kidblog.org's basic program is free, and is doable at this level. Teachers or schools that are really using the blog model across disciplines would likely want to upgrade.

Read the Words

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Readthewords.com is a site that will convert any document into speech, and you can download the speech files for later use.  The site also has custom animated avatars that read the texts.
2.	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.
	This site is appropriate for creating audio files from any printed document or webpage, so its uses correspond to any need for a custom audio file.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	The free account only allows audio recordings up to 30 seconds in length.  The $10/mo. /$40/yr plan allows recordings up to one hour in length.   The $15 mo/$70/yr plan allows audio recordings up to 8 hrs in length and more features .   The free package will allow you to see if this is the right text-to-speech program before purchasing.

Blog Three

For my example of desktop publishing, I decided to include a brochure I did when I was working to promote my sister's business a few years ago.  This was before smartphones when people still wore watches. (yes, I know, they still wear watches, a few of them, anyway.)  This isn't something I would use in a classroom, but it is a good example.  We printed thousands of these from home and mailed them all over the country. Outside and inside pages:

 Here are my tech explorations:

Assistive Technologies

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Gpat.org is the site for the Georgia Department of Education’s Project for Assistive Technologies which aims to define Assistive Technology devices and aid schools in implementing them.  The site’s focus is primarily informing educators about the laws and definitions, and what is available to assist students.
2.	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.
	The site could be used as a resource for discovering what technology exists for assisting students with disabilities or special needs in a classroom setting.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	There is a long list of available devices and information about the process involved in obtaining devices, but I would recommend teachers also look at their own state’s information if they live outside of Georgia.

Zoho

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Zoho is a CRM software company.  CRM stands for Customer Relations Management, and Zoho offers a suite of applications that can be accessed online to manage sales contacts, sales campaigns and other projects.  There are also applications for enhancing collaboration,such as file sharing, and wiki creation.
2.	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.
	The collaboration programs could be beneficial in a school setting. Teachers could set up wikis and online forums for students to use that are strictly monitored, and protected from public view.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I am pleased to see that the program is entirely online and integrates well with Google Apps, which is free and universally available.  Teachers could have students set up google accounts and have one main login for all of the programs and projects.

4teachers.org

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	The 4teachers.org website provides online tools to assist teachers with classroom tasks, such as assignment calendars, rubrics, quizzes, classroom floor plans.  Rubistar is likely the most well-known program from the site.
2.	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.
	Rubistar is a wizard for creating rubrics. Teachers can use the online forms to type the criteria for an assignment at different levels of performance, so students have a strong understanding of expectation for that assignment. As students get used to working with rubrics, they can have input on what criteria are included. Classroom Architect allows the teacher to design a floor plan for their classroom using premade shapes on a grid.  The plan can be saved as a cookie on the site and printed for later use.  Web Poster Wizard lets teachers produce and publish a web page on a topic very quickly.  The tool lets teachers or students produce worksheets or poster documents with text, pictures, and links.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	There are several tools on this site that teachers will find helpful, and it’s easy to create a class and student logins for that class.  A teacher can create a class and assign projects, with the instructions published immediately, then students log in and work at their own pace, and their work is saved online.

Dimio

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Dimio is a computer programmer that has developed tools for converting text to speech and exporting it in a number of audio formats. Teacher can use the software to create audio files from printed material using text to speech technology.  Users can customize the scripts to use different voices to simulate dialogue.   Dimio does not distribute the voices directly, but has links for downloading them from various sources.
2.	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.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?

PowerTalk

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	The site fullmeasure.co.uk has a free program, Powertalk, that will automatically speak the text of a powerpoint presentation (or other slide show).  It uses the computer voices that come with Winsdows Xp/Vista/7/8 or other high quality voices from third party software companies. It is interesting to note that the program was written in reponse to an open letter from a person with Asphasia who wanted better access and use of technology for persons who cannot speak.
2.	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.
	The site offers dozens of general uses for the program, but there are some more specific uses in a classroom: Teachers could allow the students to review powerpoints on their own at a computer with headphones without disturbing others. They can use it present a slideshow when they have lost their voice, as this inevitably happens sometimes!
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Powertalk is free so anyone can download it and use it for their own individual needs.

Webquest

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	The site WebQuest.org claims to be the" most complete and current source of information about Webquest model," which is an inquiry-oriented lesson format where most of the information that the learner works with comes from the internet.  Webquests are still available on this site and elsewhere, but  Webquest.org looks like it is no longer being maintained.  The founder's blog does not have a post since 2007, and the latest news section does not have any posts past 2008.  The online webquest creation software Questgarden is still running, and the founder, Bernie Dodge, is still involved in its development.  www.questgarden.com The software is available for a 2-year subscription for $20, but there is a free trial for one month.
2.	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.
	The site could be used to develop new web quests, or find ones that already exist.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	This may be from the creator of the Webquest model, but there are many other free sites for creating webquests that also do not require any knowledge of html.

Read the Words

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Readthewords.com is a site that will convert any document into speech, and you can download the speech files for later use.  The site also has custom animated avatars that read the texts.
2.	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.
	This site is appropriate for creating audio files from any printed document or webpage, so its uses correspond to any need for a custom audio file.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	The free account only allows audio recordings up to 30 seconds in length.  The $10/mo. /$40/yr plan allows recordings up to one hour in length.   The $15 mo/$70/yr plan allows audio recordings up to 8 hrs in length and more features .   The free package will allow you to see if this is the right text-to-speech program before purchasing.