The following are tools that are available for you to use with your students in the classroom. Attached is a brief description of each and don’t hesitate to ask for my assistance if you would like to try any of them out.
I have been using a web 2.0 tool (Jing) to create short flash movies that introduce students ans teachers to tools that are available to them in the classroom. Below are links for a Moodle Intro and Google Docs. The maximum length of these movies is 5 minutes, but if you have time take a quick look. Jing is a free download and all you need is a microphone, and the Flash 10 plugin which is also free.
Elmo Document Camera- These sites focus on using ELMO document cameras in the classroom. There are suggested ideas and lesson plans on how to integrate document cameras in classroom activities.
Google Docs- Create and share your work online, Upload from and save to your desktop, Edit anytime, from anywhere, Pick who can access your documents, Share changes in real time. Create and share, Word, Excel and PowerPoint Documents! Take a test survey here to see how Forms and spreadsheets can be used together
Blogs- There are a variety of blogs available to use. Some that we encourage are:WordPress, Blogspot, Blogger and classblogmeister.
Wikis- Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. The 2 main types of wikis we would use in an educational setting are: PB Wikis which can be used to share information with a number of people. These pages can be edited multiple times, but only person in the group can edit at a time. The other type is Wikispaces. Wikispaces are more like webpages that multiple people in a group can edit. Again only 1 at a time.
Moodle- An online Course Management system (CMS) that contains class features such as discussion threads, assignment posting, wiki’s, blogging, etc. This CMS is hosted on the MHS webserver and is used only by MHS students and staff.
Social Bookmarking- With Social Bookmark websites, users can save and categorize a personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others. Social bookmarks are ofted “tagged” with keywords. Users may also take bookmarks saved by others and add them to their own collection, as well as to subscribe to the lists of others. Examples of tools used are Furl and Del.icio.us Great tool for research related activities
Ning- Want to create a social network for your class, but feel uncomfortable using Facebook or myspace, this may be the solution for you. Another tool that may be similar and geared a bit more towards educational values is Drupal.
Jing- Wanna learn a cool trick? Next time you have to give a presentation, wow your audience with an embedded video. This will help you explain certain things without the usual static screen captures and bullet points. Jing allows you to capture and record audio for anything that is on your computer screen. Create tutorials, presentations and much more.
Voicethread- A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to leave comments in 5 ways – using voice (with a mic or phone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.
SurveyMonkey- Ever want to poll a certain group of people but know you’ll never get all the papers back? Surveymonket makes it easy! Create surveys and let the online application do the rest. Sort, analyze and graph your data in a variety of ways! Surveys can be administered via e-mail or as a link on the web.
RSS Feeds- RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. Use RSS feeds for your favorite websites, databases, etc. to track any current information that is posted. Save hours not having to filter out old information you have already sorted through. A news aggregator can help you keep up with all your favorite weblogs, websites, etc. by checking their RSS feeds and displaying new items from each of them.
Podcasting- is kind of like a radio show that you can download to your computer, Ipod or other MP# device to listen to anytime. Great to post student working for public speaking, debates, language arts, etc.
Vodcasting- A step beyond podcasting, vodcasting, also called video podcasting or vlogging, adds video to the downloadable sound files podcast listeners are used to. Download the video files is a simple matter of subscribing to a vodcast in one of the many freely available directory programs.
