BP 18- Reflective Media Asset #2 REPOST

This is a re-post

BP-17- Comment of Charis blog

Sunday, October 18, 2009

BP#14_Kideos_Web 2.0 Tool

Kideos videos for kids is a wonderful website for parents and teachers to use with kids. This free website with no ads is a great alternative for children to securely watch videos online. Each video has been screened by a Video Advisory Council consisting of parents and teachers. This enables them to be in control of what their children/students are watching. What is appealing about this site is that the videos are grouped according to age. It is a very kid friendly site because they can navigate the site on their own. Parents and teachers can also have their own personal tools to choose videos that are age appropriate so that the child will only access videos that match their age. Kideos has videos added to the site daily after it’s reviewed by the Council. So kids will always have new videos to view.Much of the content is very diverse. It includes children’s television shows, movies, educational videos, music videos, songs, cartoon and book characters, cute animals, and much, much more. As I perused the site I clicked on a Berenstain Bears video. The video had been posted on youtube. Below the video, there was a short summary of the video along with the age level the video is for. Also, I could add to a playlist if I desired. Below the video there are related videos. After clicking on the video I was able to click on full view and the quality of the video was good. The age levels are 0-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10 years. The implication for education allows teachers to utilize this to access the educational videos that are available. This site can be recommended by teachers to parents to give parents a safe alternative for their children. This allows parents to have control and be comfortable over the type of videos their children view.

BP16-Web 2.0 #6 Delicious

Delicious

This is a great resource for teachers and students. How many times have you saved a website in your favorites, only to get to work or somewhere else and can’t remember the site address? Do you have a website you would like your students to view for a special assignment or project? Social bookmarking is the answer! Many schools would like to include a list of online resources for our students for educational purposes. An easy way for this to be accomplished is to create a social bookmarking section on your school website and linking to www.delicious.com You can create accounts by departments, or individual teachers.

What is social bookmarking you might ask? And Why do we need it? Do a Youtube search for the video Social Bookmarking in Plain English. (PS.. it’s not a bore, it’s cool J)

Delicious Social Bookmarking.
A great resource for teachers and students

Social Bookmarking in Plain English

I think this is a wonderful resource for any individual who wants to locate and share resources with others.

BP-15 Web 2.0 #5 WIkis

Web 2.0=Wikis

Wikis have several educational benefits to teachers and students. They are becoming more and more popular. It is great for collaborative learning and exploration. Students can easily create simple websites, without learning HTML code, and extensive web design. The wiki provides a ready to use site with a simple user interface, ability to easily add pages, and simple navigation structure. This allows students to spend more time developing the content of the site, instead of trying to learn how to make one. The simplicity of the wiki syntax, or language for formatting text, inserting images and creating links, means students spend less time trying to figure out how to make the site do what they want. As more organizations adopt the wiki for collaboration & information, students will be well prepared to use it in their careers.

A wiki makes it easy for students to write, revise and submit as assignment, since all three activities can take place in the wiki. A student can be given a wiki page to develop a term paper, and might start by tracking their background research. This allows the teacher, and peers, to see what they’re using, help them if they’re off track, suggest other resources, or even get ideas based on what others find useful. Next, the student can draft the paper in the wiki, taking advantage of the wiki’s automatic revision history that saves a before & after version of the document each time s/he makes changes. This allows the teacher and peers to see the evolution of the paper over time, and continually comment on it, rather than offering comments only on the final draft. When the student completes the final draft, the teacher and peers can read it on the wiki, and offer feed-back.

Students are exciting about learning these days because of wonderful resources like wikis.

BP15- Web 2.0 #4

Blog Post for Web 2.0=Puxxle Maker

Puxxle Maker is a great web 2.0 tool http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/ This website can provide a wonderful resource for teachers, parents, and students to create puxxles crossword, and word searches. This is a way to create creative and unique documents for student learning.

This site can be used by all who want to create a great resource, or just want one for fun.

I can use this resource as a vocabulary builder, and a non-traditional assessment tool for students.

BP14-Web 2.0 Blog 2

BP13- Flickr Lesson Plan

This lesson involves using digital cameras, flickr, and poetry.

I will have my students take pictures on a digital camera, choosing one that they would like to write a poem about. Each student will upload their own picture on Flickr and add text within the picture that reflects their poem. The poem can be posted onto the Flickr website along with the picture. One of the main objectives of this lesson is to get each student to take ownership of their writing, and to feel like they have some "say" in what they can write about. It will get them thinking about key words that reflect the mood and topic of their poem. Also, the movement of going outside or around the building to take pictures will hopefully get their creative juices flowing, and create excitement about a task (writing poetry) that is difficult for some.

I could definitely use this in my classroom. I would probably use it in a computer applications course with a language arts integration. I could further enhance this lesson by incorporating digital storytelling. Students would record a their poems, or write a story about the picture they uploaded to flickr. They could blog about their story, and share it with their peers.

BP12- My comments about Alicia's blog

bp12_20091011_Flickr

Lesson Plans Involving Flickr

I found a lesson online involving using pictures on Flickr to tell a story. The lesson was aimed at second grade students and centered around wildlife animals. The teacher would upload photos of the animals onto Flickr and then project them on the screen for the students to see. The students are then asked to write a story based on the animals that they see. After allowing students the time to write, they can share their stories

with the class (Woerner, 2009).

I could see using a similar idea in my music classroom. I believe that analyzing music is important for a well-balanced musician, which is why I required daily journal entries. It is also important to make connections between the arts, which is where I see a lesson plan involving Flickr fitting in nicely. I would create a series of images on Flickr and then play different music examples and ask the students to write how the tone of the picture changes. The same picture can have two very different meanings depending on the music and the context that it is shown in. The mood of the piece can have a drastic effect on the photo. A woman staring out at the sunset over the ocean could be a very calming peaceful picture, but pair it with music that is in D minor and Andante and the mood of the picture changes to sadness or longing. Another lesson could include displaying a picture and asking students to compose their own piece of music to describe the picture. The reverse could also be done by playing a piece of music and having the students find a picture on Flickr, or take a picture and post it to Flickr, that embodies the musical piece. The possibilities are endless.

References:

Woerner, R. (2009). Example of Flickr at the elementary level. Retrieved October 11, 2009, from http://wiki.itap.purdue.edu/display/ INSITE/Example+of+Flickr+at+the+ Elementary+Level

1 comments:

my4brownsons said...

Alicia I think this is an excellent idea. Way to go, thinking outside of the box. I really never thought about using Flickr in this way. I have used it the traditional by just sharing images with friends, but now that you have shared an additional way for using this resource, I am excited about the things I will be able to do within my classroom. This can certainly be used as a learning tool in every content area. The excellent thing about this all is this is one of the few online tools that is not blocked in my district.

BP-11My favorite Web 2.0

BP10-Web 2.0 #3 Dabbleboard

Figure 1. Dabbleboard Website, Austin (n.d.). Source: dabbleboard.com.

There are an abundance of Web 2.0 tools which can help streamline education. I chose Dabbleboard because of its powerful ability to communicate ideas while offering an extremely user friendly interface. Tools such as this one provide educators with the ability to visualize and share ideas without having to struggle with complicated software applications. Educators can focus more time on content and quality rather than wasting hours working on a single tool which may not even function as expected. Dabbleboard is fun and easy to use. It is an interactive whiteboard application. It automatically detects most common shapes. Dabbleboard allows sharing and real time collaboration. Others can view and edit drawings others have made.

If you've been using MS Paint to brainstorm it's time to upgrade. Dabbleboard is one of the better efforts I've seen. It lets you put together a map of ideas very quickly, and supports both free-hand drawing, along with a system that will automatically convert basic doodles into sold shapes like circles, triangles, and squares.

Dabbleboard's killer feature is that it lets you save bits and pieces of these doodles into your library for later use. Once you've added anything to your library you can simply drag and drop it into whatever you're working on, and the pieces will follow you between projects. This is helpful for any complex design elements or images you've uploaded and plan to use in a later session.

In addition to its library tool, Dabbleboard boasts online collaboration that lets you work with several others at the same time. The one downfall here is that only one person can be actively making changes for it to save, otherwise anything you're working on can be overwritten by someone who jumps in and draws something. The system is smart enough to alert you when the other person is using it, however, I found it to do a poor job at respecting the precedence of an edit that had begun before someone else's.

Any work you've done can be shared in a central library with items that can be copied back to your personal collection for editing and redistribution. You can also embed any of these works on a blog or site with code, which means when someone makes a change it will go live wherever it's been embedded. This is ideal for students working on group projects, or student/teacher collaboration. A teacher can help students brainstorm ideas, or provide constructive feedback with a shared document.

BP9-Web 2.0 #2 Diigo Bookmarking

Figure 1. Diigo Home Page, Los Angeles (n.d.). Source: diigo.com

It would be easy to dismiss Diigo as yet-another social bookmarking tool, but that would be a big mistake. Diigo's highlighting, bookmarking and site sharing tools are a subset of features in a rich collaborative application that puts information discovery and the writable Web at the center of discussions among colleagues, friends, and like-minded people. Diigo represents a move to maturity in the Web 2.0; it is a business tool, leveraging social models to deliver real value to its users. Educators can use Diigo to share resources with each other, as well as their students.

If you aren’t familiar with it, Diigo is a social bookmarking tool with extra features like highlighting and adding sticky notes. Daily bookmarks posts can be created automatically with Diigo; any time you see a quote from a site in you can use Diigo bookmarks highlights feature.

They also have something called Webslides that allows you to create a “tour” of webpages based on your bookmarks.

Diigo has all of the basic social bookmarking features. You can bookmark any site, add a description and tags, and allow others to comment on your bookmarks. Now, remember, Diigo isn’t built specifically for bookmarking but for annotation. With that said, you can attach highlighted text and notes to any bookmark and even simultaneously bookmark to other social bookmarking services, such as Del.icio.us, Blinklist, Shadows, RawSugar, and more. Why would Diigo allow you to bookmark to other social bookmarking services? If I had to guess it’s simply because many people are already comfortable with services they use, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need Diigo for its annotation. I can use Diigo for annotating a page and then bookmark it to Diigo and Del.ico.us and because the notes are saved to Diigo, the next time I go to that website from my Del.icio.us bookmarks, the notes will be there. You don’t have to use Diigo for its bookmarking - entirely optional. You may also import your browser or Del.icio.us bookmarks to Diigo and export them when needed. Publicly saved bookmarks can be found in the community section along with a tag cloud to navigate through them.

Diigo will also create a separate webpage for each group you create, helping you organize your bookmarks/notes further! This technology is useful for any class, but I think is a must have for any group trying to organize resources. I’m hoping to convince all the core teachers to set up a group page for their classes, and organize their book marks there!

BP8-Web 2.0 #1 Ning

BP8-

Ning is a social networking platform that allows people to create and manage their own social network. This tool was created by Gina Bianchini. Ning has made a real impact in the Web 2.0 game as anyone today is able to create their own social network and stay connected with friends from all over the world.

Ning can be used for almost anything in education. I've seen Ning used by everyday teenagers to famous celebrities like Ellen. Ning can be used for business purposes as well. People who are interested in your idea and what your company does could join your network and give you great feedback. In our previous course, a few of the groups created a ning website that merged poetry with music. This site was interactive and engaging. My group used created a ning site to allow students to share projects, and promote blogging and collaboration. Unfortunately, the difficult part of this my school district blocks websites such as these, and this is truly unfortunate because there are many exciting experiences students can be introduced to.

Ning can be used as a social networking site that would tap into the creative juices of our students. Allowing students to keep in touch with friends, by creating their own websites. I like Ning because of all the control I have as a user. Being a member of MySpace or Facebook is great, but being a member of Ning means something more. I'm more than just another member. With Ning I can have unlimited access to customize all aspects of my page and the social network I maintain.Ning usage in education can bring students and teachers together in order to build the professional relationships necessary for effective collaboration. Collaboration can take many forms, this web 2.0 tool allows people to partner on projects and start conversations on topics related to global education.

BP7-ETC Page

B6-iGoogle

BP5-igoogle account

BP4-Social Bookmarking in Education?

BP4- To me it is quite obvious what the benefits are for using a social bookmarking tool in a classroom setting. Even if you look at it from the aspect of convenience. I do not know how many times I have found a educational resource on my home computer, would save it in my bookmarks, go to school, and completely forget the web address, only to realize it is only saved on my home computer. The invention of web 2.0 tools such as social bookmarking has transcended education as we know it, so that we can move it to higher levels of learning. We must continue to use cutting edge technology tools to transform education to meet the needs of the 21st century learner.

Social bookmarking supports teaching and learning. It is designed to facilitate and encourage sharing and collaboration of teachers and students, or individuals with similar interests and learning across all categories.

Social bookmarking is an efficient tool in teaching and learning (Aswath, 2007, p.89) . It allows users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the internet.

Social bookmarking tools to organize, classify and share web contents while promoting collaboration and relations among students and teachers.(Berger & Trexler, 2007, p.2)

References

Aswath, L. (2007). Social Book Marking: An Efficient Tool in Teaching and Learning. Journal of Library & Information Science, 32(2), 89-96. http://search.ebscohost.com

Berger, P., & Trexler, S. (2008). Social Bookmarking: Locate, Tag and Collaborate. Information Searcher, 17(3), 1-5. http://search.ebscohost.com

Secker, J., & Price, G. (2007). LIBRARIES, SOCIAL SOFTWARE AND DISTANCE LEARNERS: BLOG IT, TAG IT, SHARE IT!. New Review of Information Networking, 13(1), 39-52. http://search.ebscohost.com, doi:10.1080/13614570701754536

(2008). WEB 2.0 AND LEARNING. Technology & Learning, 29(3), 1-4. http://search.ebscohost.com

BP3-Google Reader

Educause

Edutopia

Us Department of Education

The National Educational Technology Plan

The Power of Educational Technology

I chose these resources to further enhance my knowledge in cutting edge technology resources, and educational tools that are currently available. Educational technology is my field and any resources that are available to me I will use. All the resources are educational based.

BP 2-Educational practices as we know it should end!

Educational practices as we know it should end. It does not meet the needs of our students, it does not give our kids what they need to compete in this global society. Students need experiences that allow them to explore, and become inspired by their learning. I am a prime example of a student who felt failed by the educational systems structure. I attended a academically gifted and talented school, and although I was smart enough to get into the school, I did not feel the school made a good effort to meet my learning style, or the various learning styles of my peers.

Currently, in my classes I have incorporated course a course management system that has been working wonderful. My students are engaged, they are taking ownership of their learning, and they are excited about using PLE and Web 2.0 tools. Introducing those resources to my students has opened up doors and has changed our entire learning environment from a traditional cookie cutter classroom, to a more authentic learning environment for my students.

The main component I would like to see in 21st century classrooms in the complete integration of technology, and technology enriched classrooms, extensive professional development for educators regarding multiple intelligences, and brain based learning, so that they will be able to enhance their classrooms to meet the needs of all students.

One of the key component of 21st century classrooms is to provide students with an authentic learning experience. Students leave classrooms excited about learning, excited about the opportunities they will have in the future, and excited about what the relevance to their own lives.

BP 1-Educational Blogging!

Blogging in education is spectacular. It is a wonderful tool to inspire children, by using a non-traditional method. Teachers can communicate with students, by encouraging them to think out of the box. There are numerous educational benefits of blogs. Blogs are highly motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in classrooms. It provides excellent opportunities for students to read and write. Blogs are effective forums for collaboration and discussion. It is also a powerful tool to enable scaffolding learning or mentorship.