BP14_2009103_Web 2.0 Tools #4

There is a terrific web tool out there that is called edu.20. The tool is totally free. I plan on using this tool when I begin teaching my online Foreign Language classes. It allows the teacher to sign up on two different platforms. The teacher may add themselves onto another school or create their own school. I created my own school already, in preparation for my upcoming school semester. My home page is http://mariannel.edu20.org/ and I am the administrator. I can add other teachers as I go along throughout the course. I will be teaching a German Level I class online, however I plan on using it for my seated classes next semester as well. I can create my classes so that they have different aspects such as: an overview, news, resources, forums, calendars, groups, assessments, parents, teachers, and administrators. I can upload my students and keep track of their progress as they go through the course. There is a place for a question bank that I may add. There is also a place to incorporate a rubric for the students to use in order to self assess their submissions so that they are able to see the deliverables for the assignments. The students may also view the grade assessments and view proficiency requirements that are set. There are different communities that I can set up via blogs and discussions. I can add news items and subscribe to RSS feeds. There are also translators directly on the site for the students to utilize. I can also set the students up into different groups where they can collaborate on different assignments. There are various other resources that I may incorporate into the teaching assignment. I can list the different assignments and their due dates on the online, onsite calendar. I can create online forums and discussion questions and view each student’s response. I can register my school district, if it is not already registered and I can network with other schools. It is a wonderful organizational tool for the online teacher and student to utilize and I look forward to using it.

http://mariannel.edu20.org/site

BP13_2009103_Web2.0Tool Advertisement

BPComment_2009112_Comment3

Sunday, November 8, 2009

BP8_2009112_viddyou_Snead_James

Viddyou is similar to YouTube in that it provides a platform for you to upload videos on the Internet and post a description. I found that you could post videos to it and keep a file of all your films. You can either make you file public or private. I found that you could create videos and upload them for classroom purposes. I would use it to help me with my frontal teaching. I would save my videos online and use them while I assist students in the classroom. This gives me someone to co-teach so that I may get around the room to assist struggling students. I can also use this site to post videos I want students review for homework. It can be used as an archive of lessons to help students review and prepare for tests. Students can also Viddyou to make video reports and share what they created for class. The videos can be used just like a blog because it gives the viewer an opportunity to respond to the video produced. This is a great way for students to converse about what they are learning in the classroom asynchronously. There are lots of instructional videos Viddyou to help you create you movies and movie effects. One video explained how students could create side-by-side video shots. In the video they created an asynchronous recordings of themselves side by side. It was kind of ingenious on their part because they created a special effect using iMovie. One video was about diabetes. It gave you the cellular information you needed to learn how the pancreas works and how these cells maintain equilibrium within the human body. The video was scholarly and should be considered when by teachers for instruction. This article was found through the search engine provided on the website.

Viddyou, Home, Retrieved November 8, 2009, from http://www.viddyou.com/index.ph

BPComment_2009112_Comment2

Monday, November 2, 2009

bp3_2009112_web20tools

http://sketchfu.com/home

Sketchfu is an awesome Web 2.0 application that I can use in my 2nd grade classroom to enrich the learning experiences of my students. Using this application, students will have a creative outlet for expression in a new media rich format. Sketchfu is a free application and can be used to promote learning communities and groups because you can connect and share with others on the network and amongst other networks such as MySpace, Facebook, Blogger, and others. Sketchfu allows the artist to use simple drawing tools such as color and line selectors to make simple or elaborate drawings. You can save your work, share with others, view other artist’s work, make comments, and receive feedback.

I would use this tool by having my students create a Sketchfu drawing to go with a creative writing assignment they've penned. Using Sketchfu, they could illustrate their work, publish, and share with classmates. One of the most exciting parts of this process for them is sure to be the fact that they can replay their brush strokes and watch their creation come to life over and over again. I would allow students to make comments on each other's work. Students could also publish their writing or story that goes along with the drawing as the first comment.

What a great and free Web 2.0 application tool! I can remember using computer programs similar to these in elementary school, but without the networking capabilities. One of the best features of this tool is truly the ability to share with others far and near. The possibilities are endless. From pen pals to classroom presentations, Sketchfu is an awesome tool

Now...I hope I can get to it from our school website...

BPComment_2009111_Comment1

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009

BP8_2009112_Web2.03_DoILikeToArgueOrDebate

I enjoy a good debate as much as anyone. But I hate to argue. There is a difference. Arguing is pretty emotional stuff. People tend to do it either with their hearts, or an uncontrolled temper. Neither of those will lead to an ending that will leave all people satisfied.

I usually won't debate religion. I won't debate with people I consider zealots on any subject at all. If people are going to cry, or yell or throw things, probably better not to debate it to begin with. Those are some pretty basic rules that keep my life pretty calm. I like calm, well, calm meaning not angry. I am all in favor of excitement, happy, and joyful, all of the good things.

I do love to debate a topic with an intelligent person who is not emotionally invested in the topic. Now that can be a lot of fun, especially if both parties know a fair amount about their sides of the debate and are prepared to listen to the opposing side. It makes for a lively encounter, and people can actually learn from each other.

To this end, I have found a Web 2.0 Tool that has actually surprised me more than any other. amap.org.uk is the website where you can find this amazing little tool/widget. I guess I'm amazed because I didn't expect Great Britain to be the birthplace of a tool of argument. I think of England and I think of rational, calm, Harry Potter, Queen Elizabeth. Not people arguing, and throwing punches, which is not necessarily what this tool is for, but I think you know what I mean.

aMap is designed for you to be able to choose your topic and put it out there the invitation to choose up sides. It is possible to buy already created aMaps, or even to sell your aMaps. There are great areas for teachers to find low cost aMaps with critical thinking teacher's packs, and even explanations about logic and reasoning. It's a very creative way to get students to think about current or historical events, and come up with sound and logical explanations for their way of thinking. It is one method for them to begin to understand the world for themselves.

I appreciate the idea behind this tool, but it took me a few minutes to get there. When I first looked at it, I was a little disgusted. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to encourage people to argue more, when it seems like there are so many arguments already. But after looking over the site and reading about the education program, and seeing some of the arguments, I have to say I think it's a brilliant idea. No one is forced to argue or debate, and I think it's good for people to consider ideas contrary to their own sometimes. It can be a learning process for us all, even me.

BP11_2009112_Web tools 2.0 #3

http://beta.thoora.com/

Thoora is a wonderful website that offers the user the flexibility of unraveling current as well as older news items. The user is able to read the latest news on any given topic. There are main categories, which may be chosen from such as “Top Stories, Business, Controversy, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Politics, Sci/Tech, Sports”. These may be chosen from the startup screen. Once the search has been started, one may navigate through the multiple blogs on the topic. The site gives the user the information regarding how many different stories there are which refer to that specific topic, how many blogs there are on that topic, how many tweets/hour have been posted on that subject as well as any further comments that have been posted regarding the subject. I found the site extremely easy to navigate and use and I can definitely see how this site could be extremely useful in the classroom for many multiple tasks. It may be utilized cross-curriculum and assist the student in any research topic. In my classroom, for example, I assigned my students an extra credit assignment involving the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I offered and encouraged my students to utilize this website as a spring board for further in depth research on public sentiment regarding the fall of the wall and what it meant twenty years ago and what it means to society today. The students who utilized this site found the articles and blogs easy to understand and offered them a great perspective about the history of the wall itself and what it meant to the German people both then and now. The students reported that they were easily guided through the website and this enabled them to quickly accomplish the given task as well as learn something new along the way.

BP10_2009112_Web tools 2.0 #2

http://www.zoho.com/

Zoho is another wonderful, user friendly website that awards the user an online word processing platform as well as an online collaboration site. The user can easily move about the site and create word processing documents, online presentational tools, on-demand Customer Relationship Management solution, an online organizational tool, a centralized public repository, a project management tool, instant messaging and group chat tool, online invoicing, online databases and reporting, online web applications creator, online document manager, web conferencing, online note taker and an online Wiki with public, private and group permissions tab. All of these wonderful and useful tools allow any user to create an extremely professional report and or presentation while organizing the users simultaneously. The site permits easy collaboration with multiple users at the same time. It also offers a presentational platform, which would offer students the ability to create presentations of high professional quality. The student will also be able to utilize this site in order to organize any given task and/or project. I can envision this site to be useful on multiple plateaus. It could be used cross curriculum. I would especially encourage any of the seniors in my High School to use this site in order to create their final Senior project. Each student in the twelfth grade must create and submit a research paper that consists not only of a paper product but they must include some form of technological product as well. This tool could be highly useful to create and organize the student through this process. I would whole-heartedly recommend referring students to this web site when the student is faced with the prospect of any kind of research or presentation. It is very straightforward and easy to use. The use of this site will allow the student to create a very professional product and give the student a personal feeling of accomplishment.

BP9_2009112_Web Tools 2.0 #1

http://www.loogix.com/

This site offers the user a new twist to photography. The visitor to this site will immediately be engrossed in what the site has to offer. One is able to take an ordinary photograph and make it extra-ordinary. By doing this, those who are asked to view the site/work of the user will enjoy the different picture tools that the user had been offered. The user can take an ordinary picture and make it come alive for all who view the picture. There are multiple choices to create a different illusion for the pictures. By doing these cool manipulations, the user can enjoy photography like never before. I can see multiple functional uses for this web tool. The user may embed the image into a presentation and make this same boring presentation come alive. I can see various uses for myself with my students. Every school semester I encourage the students to share a little bit about themselves. I incorporate various ice-breaker activities and this could be one of them. I would ask the students to take one of their pictures and download it and then use one of the functions from this site to make that same picture come to life. I then would have the student write a paragraph introducing their peers to themselves. I then would read several of the paragraphs aloud and have several choices of pictures for the students to decide which picture goes with the paragraph just read. For upper level students, I would have them create the paragraph in the target language so as to spotlight their abilities in the target language. I then would merge all of the pictures into one folder within this same site and include each students paragraph about themselves on the site. This would be a tremendous but worthwhile project.

I have included a sample of one of my pictures that I have changed using this web tool. Click on the link in order to view it and enjoy!

http://www.loogix.com/images/6438246

BP8_2009112_Webtools video

BP7_2009112_Flickr blog

I have found a wonderful application for the use of Flickr within my classroom. At the beginning of each semester, I spend several units talking about making introductions in the target language. I would set up an account/group in Flickr and invite my students to join the group. I would then instruct them as to how to upload a picture either of themselves or of their family member(s). From there I would ask them to write a little bit about their picture that they posted for the group. Depending on the level of language learners that I am teaching for that semester, this activity could be tweeked so that they more advanced language learner would be able to report their paragraph in the target language. This would then allow the students to introduce themselves in a non-threatening platform and one that would be fun for them to utilize as well. I also noticed while I was browsing the site that Flickr also allows the user to upload a video feed. I could offer extra credit for anyone who chooses to do this in the target language orally. I might also incorporate this as an activity for later on in the year. The most important thing that I would have to remember to do is to make sure that I keep the settings for this site that we create as a private site so as to keep it limited to only the class to have access to this information. What w terrific way to engage learners of today!

BP6_2009112_social_bookmarking

Social bookmarking has become extremely popular especially if one is working on a research project. As the author of the May 2005 article of Educause.edu states, “Social bookmarking simplifies the distribution of reference lists, bibliog-

raphies, papers, and other resources among peers or students.” It is a way of sharing with others who have already researched on one particular topic as well as a way to gain new insights on a topic. I say this because if you are researching something such as rabbits. Prior to purchasing a rabbit one might decide to google search about rabbits and the different kinds. However by utilizing the social bookmark system in the search, you may uncover another aspect about rabbits, such as diseases found in rabbits, which may cause you to check into a different pet instead. Social bookmarking is a way of narrowing down as well as expanding one’s search on subjects. It is an extremely useful tool and can save countless hours, which would be spent otherwise on research. When used properly social bookmarks can be very beneficial. However, there is always a down side to things that are too good to be true. The one thing that appears to be a big obstacle is the fact that there does not exist a consistent method of labeling the bookmarks and therefore many amateurs are labeling them incorrectly. This will require the user to spend needless time reviewing the different bookmarks that were previously created. Social bookmarking, although it has some downfalls, is here to stay. Dr. Chan states in his article that 47,600,000 searches were performed for social bookmarking sites as of July 4, 2009. This is proof positive that this web tools is one that many computer literate people are using on a regular basis.

http://browse.workliteracy.com/awareness-networks/practice/social-bookmarking/

http://christytucker.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/tcc08-social-bookmarking-to-support-professional-practice/

http://www.ifla2009satelliteflorence.it/meeting2/program/assets/Chan.pdf

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7001.pdf

http://www.slideshare.net/sitkasitchensis/social-bookmarking-supporting-collaborative-research-and-communities-of-practice/

BP5_2009112_Del.icio.us

BP4_2009111_snapshots_of_deliverables

BP3_2009111_WebTools2.0Assignment

Image: Retrieved from the Blurtt web site:

http://www.blurtt.com/

There are so many choices to choose from when searching through the Web Tools 2.0 site. The majority appear to deal mostly with social networking through websites such as Facebook and Twitter. ALthough these are very popular sites, especially with my students, I would have an extremely difficult time trying to get then incorporated into my classroom curriculum because my school district has strict usage rules and regulations. I was able to find a web tool however that I thought would be user friendly for my Foreign Language classroom. The tool that I think would assist me in one of my classroom assignments would have to be Blurtt. Blurrt is a postcard writing tool which allows the user to send virtual postcards to anyone, anywhere in the world. The user does not even have to know the recipient's address. The only requirements that are needed is the receiver's name. An email address would be great, but not necessary. The user has the option of linking it to their Facebook page so that the user can easily surf through their friend's email addresses, when possible. The tool has multiple images to utilize for the front of the virtual postcard and then the user must include a message. I could easily create an assignment whereby my students would have to create a postcard to send to one of their relatives elsewhere in the world . THe students would be required to include in their message that they were on vacation and decided to send out a virtual postcard. Each student would have to write a message in the past tense explaining what they have been doing while on vacation and how the weather had been. The students would be evaluated on their vocabulary usage and their grammar structure. The only "down side" to this web tool is that it is not free. There is a charge of .99 or 1.99 for international cards. I would have to set up an account through my school for this an ensure that the students would not submit more than one card that would be sent to my email address so that they would be abel to be evaluated. Unfortunately, this would pre-empt the idea of actually sending it to one of their own relatives.

BP2_2009111_GoogleReaderSubscriptionsAssignment

The subscriptions that I chose were:

1. eLearn Magazine: I chose this because it has current ideas about distance learning.

2. Moving at the Speed of Creativity- outlines educational partnerships

3. Videos related to "Technology Fear Factor in Education" - addresses people's fears about technology merging with education

4. Box of tricks>> Technology and Education- discusses new tools for the classroom

5. Education Futures Boundless conversations- discusses issues surrounding education w/o boundaries.

BP1_2009111_Blogging In Education

Blogs can be an extremely useful tool in today’s educational environment. They can be useful for both the learner as well as the educator. Blogs can help create a virtual environment, which transports the learner into an awesome techno-based virtual experience.

Blogs can be extremely useful for the students to network. The student can utilize the blog postings in order to collaborate with other students within the same virtual environment. They may be used to ass credibility to a project as well as permit students to exchange ideas in a non- threatening environment. Blogs allow students to feel connected to other students and also allows for responsible communication within the virtual classroom.

Blogs can also be extremely beneficial from a teacher’s standpoint. Teachers may utilize blogs for delivering specific classroom administrative housekeeping issues. They also may be used to initiate classroom chat, which often requires the students to create journals in which they might reflect on any given assignment. The teacher is permitted to offer various tips for the students from within the blogs. Some teachers also utilize the blogs for their own personal practice enhancement. Blogs allow teachers to remain current on new trends within the teaching field.

Blogs are definitely a very beneficial tool for both the student as well as the teacher. They are the “voice box” of online learning.