Aug
09
2008
I really like Web 2.0 tools. They are accessible, as long as you have an Internet connection, and relatively easy to use. Here is a tool that has caught my eye today, Dipity. Dipity is an online software tool that allows you to create timelines, flipbooks, maps, and lists collaboratively. Yes, you can add information to a timeline and any other member of Dipity can add to it. I found one that is very interesting, a timeline of Internet fads and events.
I think I will have my students create a timeline. Hmm…
Aug
07
2008
It is an interesting idea, using avatars on Web sites and in course management systems. It is believed that they have the potential to help guide students through the process of learning. I have created a Yahoo Avatar and posted my virtual resemblance to this message. I have also posted this avatar into my course management system - blackboard. Possibly, it will give my online students this semester an idea of what I look like. At least, virtually. Yahoo Avatar had many templates to choose from with many extra categories to embed into my image - from accessories to pets. I think one could become lost in the possibilities!
I have created an avatar using Voki but this service now places ads on your avatar. When using as an educational tool, I am not sure advertisements are a good idea.
Of course, you can create your own avatar using a paint program. This would be a static avatar - no movement. I think it would be effective though.
I was doing a little research on avatars in education when I came across this article, The secret life of avatars. What an interesting article. Using what education research identifies as good teaching to improve learning, a company, Global Matrix in England, has begun to develop avatars that can teach. Yes, teaching avatars. No human needed. Interesting idea.
Avatars are being utilized in schools around London, England - Not as teachers, but as guides on the side. Something similar to “talking notes”. If students are having difficulty with a lesson, they are guided by the avatar with practice problems in order to build skills and move on to the next level. If students have questions, at any point in a lesson, they can ask the avatar. A personal and hands on approach to teaching and mentoring a learner.
The U.S. Department of Education is looking into the possibility of avatars to help teach English to Spanish speaking students. Very interesting.
I tried to do a quick search on the company but came up with nothing. It truly is secret! Though, I did find proceedings discussing the U.S. Education Department’s interest in sign language avatars. Cool. To learn a bit more about signing avatars, meet Andy.
Jun
25
2008
I was reading a post by Gardner Cambell this morning and I am glad that I did. Gardner introduced me to a Web 2.0 tool called Wordle - I must say, Wow. Wordle is a thought provoking tool that provides anyone who views it a visual representation of words. Hmm. It wraps around what we call tags (keywords) and creates an image around them.
Below is a visual representation (word cloud) of my delicious tags. Hmm…
Notice how it takes my tags (key words) and creates a cloud of it. It manipulates the text and wraps them together to create its own meaning.
Gardner in his post, provides a link to a visual cloud of Martin Luther King’s speech, I Have a Dream. I was amazed, what a great way to ‘hear’ this speech - visually.
This has tremendous potential for use in our classrooms. My suggestion, explore Wordle.
Jun
23
2008
Students in the Instructional Technologies course I am teaching this summer are creating some good projects and organizing them into a Web portfolio. They are using googlepages for their portfolio and I must say that this tool only gets better and better. I thought I would share a few of the student portfolios (this is a large class) with you. If you like them, post a comment onto their blog to let them know. They will like that.
http://dnnwallace.googlepages.com/home
http://garyleeclay.googlepages.com/home2
http://wardlawmt.googlepages.com/teachingphilosophy
http://ronellerapp.googlepages.com/home
http://sophfronia83.googlepages.com/home
http://pnjbaier.googlepages.com/home
http://hfulkerson.googlepages.com/home
Jun
23
2008
Our class wikibook is coming along nicely. Actually, the students have taken over and are doing a terrific job. They found good research to support their topics and have written a draft page on wikispaces for their portion of the book as a group or independently. Now, it is time to look at each draft in order to make suggestions for edits, provide comments, and begin to look at how interactivity and media can be incorporated onto the page to enhance the content, message, and meaning.
Reminder: This book is intended for K12 teachers and is being written by K12 teachers. The goal is to provide a resource for teachers to learn about information literacy topics, ideas, and skills. It is important that teachers meet the needs of their students and to enhance their classrooms by incorporating these ideas into their curriculum. Our hope, this book will help with this process.
Take a look and provide any and all suggestions that you have directly on the wiki document itself. As one of my students suggested, please provide many and all suggestions that you have!
- Literacy Models and Relevancy
- History of Literacy
- Tools
- Differentiation and Information Literacy
I am adding a few more….June 24….to this posting. It is easier!
- Differentiation & IL
- ESL and Information Literacy
- Application of Information Literacy in the Classroom
Three more added June 24 (afternoon)
- Information Literacy
- Theories
- Safety and Information Literacy
Jun
05
2008
Below are some resources that came through my email today. I thought I would pass them on to you. They provide teachers with resources, activities, and most importantly ideas.
- Science Whatzit! an online science learning project created by the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI), in collaboration with the Science Learning Network. Students can send the Science Whatzit Gremlin their science questions, queries, thoughts and ideas. They can also look on this site to find ideas for science projects.
- Kennedy Center’s ARTSEDGE site is giving the who, what, when were, and how of storytelling. There are also lesson plans.
- eMentoring is a collaborative tool where adult penpal mentors, chosen by teachers, will mentor your students through reading and discussing books, via email, about curriculum-aligned topics.
- COOL SCHOOL: Where Peace Rules! is an interactive computer game designed to teach children (ages 5 to 7) about conflict resolution.
- Climate Change: Connections and Solutions consists of two 2-week curriculum units—one for middle school and one for high school. The units have critical thinking activities built in. Focus is the global problem of climate change. Students are expected to collaborate on finding possible solutions.
- Mixing in Math offers 40 activities that can be used to “slip a little math” into students’ everyday routines.
- WorldWide Telescope a project at Microsoft that incorporates astronomy, education and computing together to create a great tool and resource site.
Enjoy!
May
19
2008
I was reading the Examiner.com today and found out that George Mason has received a $7 million grant to create an interactive history Web site. The goal of this site is ‘to improve history instruction throughout the United States’. The site will provide lesson plans, forums for discussions, and each lesson will be aligned with state history standards.
The Web site itself states that it is…
Designed for high school and college teachers and students, History Matters serves as a gateway to web resources and offers other useful materials for teaching U.S. history.
To visit the site directly, go to http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
As more and more of these quality sites are placed on the Web, information becomes more accessible and necessary.
