Well now, I have finally completed the 23 Things I heard everyone talking about when I entered the MAT program. Although I will not use all of the Things for my classroom, I certainly appreciate learning about them. Many of the things I find useful I already used, such as Google Docs and Calendar. Other Things I found fun, but may not actually use, such as the on-line image generators. However, there were a number of tools I had never heard of that will be very useful in my teaching career. I really like the capabilities that Delicious and LiveBinders provide. Having these resources available where ever I can access the cloud is very useful, and the ability to share resources opens up a ton of educational opportunities for students.
Where to go from here? I think one of the purposes of this 23 Things exercise is to give people the confidence to be curious enough to continue learning about Web 2.0 applications. Technology is a fast moving field, and you may end up feeling that learning some of these tools was a waste of time. However, this process is about committing to being a life-long learner. I think it important to continue this Web 2.0 learning quest not just for the benefit of ourselves, but to learn what may help our students or find out what they find interesting. After all, the key to reaching your students and getting them to be more engaged is getting to know them. The next generation of students are all about learning the next cool online tool, and we better at least have heard about it!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Crane's Thing #23
Hmmm ... after learning about Creative Commons in class, and then reviewing it again for this post, it occurs to me that there are a lot of people unknowingly infringing on other people's creative work. This APSU 23 Things blog gives proper credit to the origniator of this content by posting the following message:
*Note: This project is loosely based upon the website 43Things (which allows you to set and track personal goals) and the Stephen Abram article titled 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006).
The blog also concludes by providing the creative commons licensing agreement that explains how others may modify the content of our 23 Things to include the Creative Commons Some Rights Reserved image and link.
Now that I have been shown Creative Commons and taught about content licensing, there is really no excuse to not follow these rules. Most people don't mind sharing their content, especially for educational purposes. I will certainly go through Creative Commons from now on instead of using the Google image search that I have used in the past.
*Note: This project is loosely based upon the website 43Things (which allows you to set and track personal goals) and the Stephen Abram article titled 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006).
The blog also concludes by providing the creative commons licensing agreement that explains how others may modify the content of our 23 Things to include the Creative Commons Some Rights Reserved image and link.
Now that I have been shown Creative Commons and taught about content licensing, there is really no excuse to not follow these rules. Most people don't mind sharing their content, especially for educational purposes. I will certainly go through Creative Commons from now on instead of using the Google image search that I have used in the past.
Crane's Thing #22
I think LiveBinders is an excellent tool. It not only allows you to compile and organize resources, but you could share these resources with others. The site was fairly intuitive, which was good because the video tutorial was not the greatest. I quickly compiled three binders to try the site out. They all have to do with my subject area of social studies. They are History Education Sites, Historical Images, and Geography. I have shared the History Education binder below.
History Education Sites
I have thought of a few different uses for this in my classroom after viewing the capabilities of this LiveBinder tool. First, it is simply a good resource for a teacher to access and share with others. Even further, though, you could share a binder with your class for a research project. Conducting research is a complicated endeavor that many teachers assume students already know how to do. Research, like everything else, should be scaffolded whenever needed. This is where LiveBinder comes in. If you have an 8th Grade History Class and want them to conduct research, you can share a binder with them. This way you are helping them review relevant material and controling what they are accessing. Pretty cool.
I have thought of a few different uses for this in my classroom after viewing the capabilities of this LiveBinder tool. First, it is simply a good resource for a teacher to access and share with others. Even further, though, you could share a binder with your class for a research project. Conducting research is a complicated endeavor that many teachers assume students already know how to do. Research, like everything else, should be scaffolded whenever needed. This is where LiveBinder comes in. If you have an 8th Grade History Class and want them to conduct research, you can share a binder with them. This way you are helping them review relevant material and controling what they are accessing. Pretty cool.
Crane's Thing #21
Animoto is a very neat site that is very easy to use. Below is a quick video that I created using this service.
Make a video of your own at Animoto.
I think this tool could be used to make a better connection with your students, and just as important, their parents. I remember my daughter's first teacher giving me a CD of a collection of pictures set to music of all the activities she did her first year. I thought it was really touching, and it made me realize how much this teacher cared for her students. Using Animoto could accomplish the same thing, but without needing a CD - simply e-mail the link or share it on your classroom website.
Make a video of your own at Animoto.
I think this tool could be used to make a better connection with your students, and just as important, their parents. I remember my daughter's first teacher giving me a CD of a collection of pictures set to music of all the activities she did her first year. I thought it was really touching, and it made me realize how much this teacher cared for her students. Using Animoto could accomplish the same thing, but without needing a CD - simply e-mail the link or share it on your classroom website.
Crane's Thing #20
I love Youtube! Although I clearly recognize that most of what is on Youtube! is time-wasting drivel, I find myself regularly going to it as a useful resource. I have used it to many things from learning how to chop down a tree with a chainsaw (always good to see someone else you one of those things first, even if on-line), fix stuff around the house, and bring up old music videos.
I know I would like to use video clips from Youtube! like the one above in my History class. I understand many school districts block Youtube!, but you can find the video clips you want, and then covert them. I also thought that the List capability could be very useful if you were trying to compile a series of related video clips. Students like to watch videos, so why not give them something worthwhile, yet short enough not to detract from your lesson.
Crane's Thing #19
Although Facebook seems to be the dominant social networking site at the moment, I was certainly aware of other social networking sites. I know of mostly professional organizations, which I think can be very useful. Besides Facebook, I am apart of the LinkedIn networking community. That site is specifically designed for developing and maintaining professinal networking connections, although I did reconnect with a couple of old classmates that had entered my old profession. I know LinkedIn is trying to differentiate themselves from a pure social network by offering cababilities to not just display your on-line "resume," but have your networked collegues attest to the quality of your work.
I had no idea about TeacherPop. I joined and look forward to seeing how much I'll use that instead of my other social networking sites. I do like that I am at least a member of one teacher-specific network. As far as other sites I visited, I have used the IMBD site. Since I am a movie buff, I may get back into using that site again. With family and work, I find my time limited, so it would be nice to have a site that can steer me toward movies that are worth my time.
I had no idea about TeacherPop. I joined and look forward to seeing how much I'll use that instead of my other social networking sites. I do like that I am at least a member of one teacher-specific network. As far as other sites I visited, I have used the IMBD site. Since I am a movie buff, I may get back into using that site again. With family and work, I find my time limited, so it would be nice to have a site that can steer me toward movies that are worth my time.
Crane's Thing #18
Sorry, I couldn't quite bring myself up to joing Twitter, but I do see the value in Facebook. Funny story - I was dragged into joining Facebook four years age with the birth of my fist child. As you can imagine, the grandparents were always asking for pictures. When I noticed my wife excited about this new social networking site called Facebook and posting pictures of the kids on it, I thought my grandchild picture distribution headaches were over. I just told everyone they had to join Facebook and "friend" my wife to see as many of the pictures of the kids they wanted. The next thing I knew, all of the grandparents were so excited about Facebook, they started sending friend requests to everyone they knew - including me. So, with the circle complete, that is how I ended up on Facebook. Since that begrudging day, I have come to see the value that it brings (if you can stay disciplined - like with many things on the web, time can easily fly by!) I have since been reconnected with long lost friends and Army buddies, which would have never happened if I hadn't joined.
No matter your level of involvement in social networking sites, I think it is important that you understand them and their use because your students will certainly be using them. How are you supposed to connect with your students to build a relationship with them if you don't understand what they like? Young people love to talk and share (sometimes too much), and whether it is Facebook or the net cool thing, they are going to want to be a part of it. As a caring teacher, you need to at least know about these things.
I think Facebook can be valueable in an educational atmosphere, as well. Even if they won't admit it, most students want to feel like they belong. That is why schools offer so many extra-curricular activities. Why not extend this concept into the social networking world. Schools are already setting up Facebook Groups, so common interest groups like Chess Club or Dance can easily be done.
No matter your level of involvement in social networking sites, I think it is important that you understand them and their use because your students will certainly be using them. How are you supposed to connect with your students to build a relationship with them if you don't understand what they like? Young people love to talk and share (sometimes too much), and whether it is Facebook or the net cool thing, they are going to want to be a part of it. As a caring teacher, you need to at least know about these things.
I think Facebook can be valueable in an educational atmosphere, as well. Even if they won't admit it, most students want to feel like they belong. That is why schools offer so many extra-curricular activities. Why not extend this concept into the social networking world. Schools are already setting up Facebook Groups, so common interest groups like Chess Club or Dance can easily be done.
Crane's Thing #17
I really like this Delicious toolbar application. I have always used my web-browsers Favorites tool to save and categorize websites I am likely to want to return to. This list of websites can grow too big, though, and quickly becomes a hassel. Even worse, I have had old computers crash causing me to lose all of those sites and the little bit of organization that Windows folders allows.
I have already started adding many of my Favorite sites to Delicious and have added the "Add to Delicious" button on my Toolbar so that I can save future sites. The tagging system is great since I can create the tag labels that make the most sense to me. After all, the primary reason I added this to Delicious in the first place was for my benefit! But seriously, this tool is like cloud catalogue computing for all of your favorite websites.
I could certainly see a use for Delicious (or other social bookmarking sites) in a classroom setting. It obviously could be a shared resource for teachers. If I am looking for a site that has content that could help my class, I can view a colugues sites that he or she has bookmarked. For students, this could be a great way for them to obtain access to quality websites for supplemental materials to enhance a lesson. Delicious is delicious!
I have already started adding many of my Favorite sites to Delicious and have added the "Add to Delicious" button on my Toolbar so that I can save future sites. The tagging system is great since I can create the tag labels that make the most sense to me. After all, the primary reason I added this to Delicious in the first place was for my benefit! But seriously, this tool is like cloud catalogue computing for all of your favorite websites.
I could certainly see a use for Delicious (or other social bookmarking sites) in a classroom setting. It obviously could be a shared resource for teachers. If I am looking for a site that has content that could help my class, I can view a colugues sites that he or she has bookmarked. For students, this could be a great way for them to obtain access to quality websites for supplemental materials to enhance a lesson. Delicious is delicious!
Crane's Thing #16
I think many of use these on-line productivity tools already in our lives without thinking just how convenient they are. I chose Yahoo! for my start page because it just seems visually ergonomic to me. It can easily be customized to only show the things you want. For example, I like to have the weather tool on my home page so I can quickly see how hot or cold it is. I can always click on it to be taken directly to the national weather service if I am curious to see the weather prediction for the next ten hours. This has prompted me to bring an umbrella on more than one occasion! My home page also has my list of stocks and mutual funds that I can glance at to compare them with their respective indices, and I always like to see the headlines from the Associated Press. I always feel fully informed by the end of my first cup of coffee.
Now, I may like Yahoo! for my home page, but I feel Google Calendar is superior for scheduling my day, week, life ... About a year ago, my wife and I were having difficulties keeping our competing schedules straight. We decided to try Google Calendar since we already had gmail accounts. Now, I don't know how we manged before we used it. We can see each others schedules and color coordinate activities to visually assist us. I also like how compatible Google is with smart phones and integrated it is with other on-line applications.
As far as to-lists, my life seems to be ruled by them. I use my phone to help me keep up with my lists, but I sheepishly admit, I still find myself jotting notes and lists down on notepads. I guess I'm old fashioned; I just seed to think better with paper and pencil.
I would certainly recommend any of the tools I mentioned above to anyone wanting to better organize their lives. I would suggest to them that they try a home page of a service that they use for their e-mail. That way you already have an account with them, and there is no need to change or forward your e-mail.
Now, I may like Yahoo! for my home page, but I feel Google Calendar is superior for scheduling my day, week, life ... About a year ago, my wife and I were having difficulties keeping our competing schedules straight. We decided to try Google Calendar since we already had gmail accounts. Now, I don't know how we manged before we used it. We can see each others schedules and color coordinate activities to visually assist us. I also like how compatible Google is with smart phones and integrated it is with other on-line applications.
As far as to-lists, my life seems to be ruled by them. I use my phone to help me keep up with my lists, but I sheepishly admit, I still find myself jotting notes and lists down on notepads. I guess I'm old fashioned; I just seed to think better with paper and pencil.
I would certainly recommend any of the tools I mentioned above to anyone wanting to better organize their lives. I would suggest to them that they try a home page of a service that they use for their e-mail. That way you already have an account with them, and there is no need to change or forward your e-mail.
Crane's Thing #15
I was very interested in learning more about wikis since the only wiki I ever heard of was wikipedia. I really liked the concept of wikis as was described on the Youtube tutorial where friends collaborated on what they would need to take on a camping trip. The process of Edit, modify, then SAVE seemed simple enough, as well. However, I was very confused when I clicked on the APSU 23 Things Sandbox page. I easily found the Edit button, but it required a password. Also, there were lists of folders with some having files and others not. I tried to add or modify to the list of files, but was not able to. So, although the idea of wikis are intersting, this exercise did not seem to be helpful to me.
I do see how wikis can be used in the classroom with group projects. This could be students gathering supplies for a presentation or creating a wiki page to create a themed collage on recently learned concept.
I do see how wikis can be used in the classroom with group projects. This could be students gathering supplies for a presentation or creating a wiki page to create a themed collage on recently learned concept.
Crane's Thing #14
Flowcharts and Concept Maps are frequently used as instructional aids in Social Studies classes. They can not only be used as graphic organizers to link concepts, but they can also be used to differentiate instruction for lower level learners. I chose the Gliffy fowchart tool to create the simple Venn diagram below.
This simple diagram can be used as a visual representation to assist visual learners. I also experimented with the mindmeister concept mapping tool. It took a little practice to get accustomed to using the tool, but once I got the hang of it, it offered a great way for teachers and students to organize facts into logical categories. I think it is important for teachers to offer these types of learning aids to their students to improve academic achievement.
This simple diagram can be used as a visual representation to assist visual learners. I also experimented with the mindmeister concept mapping tool. It took a little practice to get accustomed to using the tool, but once I got the hang of it, it offered a great way for teachers and students to organize facts into logical categories. I think it is important for teachers to offer these types of learning aids to their students to improve academic achievement.
Crane's Thing #13
Zoho versus Google Docs - This post will compare these two on-line productivity tools and describe some of their advantages. Zoho was very easy to sign up for, and its Writer productivity tool is free. The features had a very familiar look and feel to them that was very similar to Microft Word software. The button and features were alike enough that there were no issues in manipulating the document or saving it.
I did not have to sign up for Google Docs since I access it through my gmail account and have used it before. Of course, Google has now integrated Google Docs with Google Drive, their new cloud storage powerhouse. Once again, the features are very similar to their counterparts in Microsoft Office, so creating documents is very easy. Below is a sample document that I created for this post.
In this example, you can see how an on-line document can be very versatile and advantageous to use in the classroom for a group project. All of the group members can add content to the document, even at the same time. This sample document shows how a group of students could divide the work into sections, and then collaborate on the conclusion. I have personally used Google Docs for a class project, and it was very beneficial. With group members leading busy lives, it was hard for us to find meeting times to collaborate. With Google Docs, we would add content to the group project at whatever time was convenient for each of us.
Although both Zoho and Google Docs are very similar and easy to use, I will continue to use Google Docs because it is quickly accessible with all of my the other Google tools that I already use (including this blog!). Of course, I'm sure that is why they make it so convenient ... so you will always stick with them!
I did not have to sign up for Google Docs since I access it through my gmail account and have used it before. Of course, Google has now integrated Google Docs with Google Drive, their new cloud storage powerhouse. Once again, the features are very similar to their counterparts in Microsoft Office, so creating documents is very easy. Below is a sample document that I created for this post.
In this example, you can see how an on-line document can be very versatile and advantageous to use in the classroom for a group project. All of the group members can add content to the document, even at the same time. This sample document shows how a group of students could divide the work into sections, and then collaborate on the conclusion. I have personally used Google Docs for a class project, and it was very beneficial. With group members leading busy lives, it was hard for us to find meeting times to collaborate. With Google Docs, we would add content to the group project at whatever time was convenient for each of us.
Although both Zoho and Google Docs are very similar and easy to use, I will continue to use Google Docs because it is quickly accessible with all of my the other Google tools that I already use (including this blog!). Of course, I'm sure that is why they make it so convenient ... so you will always stick with them!
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