Prezi is a neat presentation tool that kids can use as an alternative to keynote or powerpoint. What I really like about it, is that it is not slide based as are most presentations. Prezi is a flash based application that allows you to create non-linear presentations where you can zoom in and out of a visual map containing words, links, images, videos, etc
The interface itself is pretty intuitive, once you've worked out how to manipulate the "zebra" I had a play with it the other day and in no time I had made my first presentation. As with most of these tools, you can sign up as an educator (school website url and email address required) and then you are set to create an account for your class to use.
A number of my students were pretty keen to use this tool to showcase their most recent learning. Here is an example of a student's cultural heritage presentation.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Twiducate (2)
Twiducate is more than just a cool tool for bookmarking links, important dates and posting homelearning etc.
The other week I used it with my class in, what I think, was a real neat 21st century way. We had been having some discussion around what "culture" means. I got my kids in groups of 3 and they logged onto our class twiducate account. I then posted the question to the class, "What does the word "culture" mean to your group?
All groups posted their replies back to me, and as a class we went over them using the data projector. I then asked them, in their groups again, to use the "like" button to indicate which of the group definitions they thought was the "best" answer. Again, using the data projector, it was clear that one particular group's definition was the clear favourite amongst the class, having the most "likes" From there, as a class, we further developed this particular definition to arrive at a whole class shared definition of what "culture" is.
It was alot of fun and most kids were fully engaged for the duration of the activity :-)
The other week I used it with my class in, what I think, was a real neat 21st century way. We had been having some discussion around what "culture" means. I got my kids in groups of 3 and they logged onto our class twiducate account. I then posted the question to the class, "What does the word "culture" mean to your group?
All groups posted their replies back to me, and as a class we went over them using the data projector. I then asked them, in their groups again, to use the "like" button to indicate which of the group definitions they thought was the "best" answer. Again, using the data projector, it was clear that one particular group's definition was the clear favourite amongst the class, having the most "likes" From there, as a class, we further developed this particular definition to arrive at a whole class shared definition of what "culture" is.
It was alot of fun and most kids were fully engaged for the duration of the activity :-)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Social Media
I've been thinking alot about communication lately. I read recently where email as a form of communication is fast disappearing from the digital landscape and social media is the cool tool for the "now" Our kids certainly understand this and as educators we need to make sure we are meeting these "communication" needs within our own classrooms.
I still have a number of issues with facebook and twitter as options for use within the classroom. This has led me on a search for an alternative that meets my needs as a teacher (moderation, security etc) as well as the needs of my students. Twiducate is an option that is well worth exploring for your own classroom. As part of my presentation for the Learning @ Schools Conference held in Rotorua recently, I shared how my class is using twiducate on a day to day basis.
If you are looking for a closed micro blogging platform, where the teacher has full control over posts and chat, then check out twiducate - I'm sure you'll be impressed.
I still have a number of issues with facebook and twitter as options for use within the classroom. This has led me on a search for an alternative that meets my needs as a teacher (moderation, security etc) as well as the needs of my students. Twiducate is an option that is well worth exploring for your own classroom. As part of my presentation for the Learning @ Schools Conference held in Rotorua recently, I shared how my class is using twiducate on a day to day basis.
If you are looking for a closed micro blogging platform, where the teacher has full control over posts and chat, then check out twiducate - I'm sure you'll be impressed.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Audio Tools
Vocaroo is a neat audio tool my class started using late last year. It is essentially an internet voice mail service. Some of the features include being able to ...
• Send your voice message to others via email
• Send your voice message to others via a link
• Embed your voice message into blogs or wikis
• Download your voice message
What I really like about vocaroo is that it is so quick and easy to use. Perfect for capturing student voice in the classroom.
Our class used it last year to record our prior knowledge about out topic study.
These were then embedded into our wiki page, easy for the teacher to access and refer to.
Here is an example ...
• Send your voice message to others via email
• Send your voice message to others via a link
• Embed your voice message into blogs or wikis
• Download your voice message
What I really like about vocaroo is that it is so quick and easy to use. Perfect for capturing student voice in the classroom.
Our class used it last year to record our prior knowledge about out topic study.
These were then embedded into our wiki page, easy for the teacher to access and refer to.
Here is an example ...
Friday, January 28, 2011
Online Class Environments (2)
Following on from my last post, and thinking about the big ideas that underpin elearning pedagogy, I've decided to create multiple online environments to document students learning journeys. This will hopefully provide them with greater opportunities to document various aspects of their learning in ways which I never explored last year.
This is a progression from last year, where my focus was on establishing a class wikispace. It focussed mainly on showcasing students finished work. It wasn't until the end of the year that I started thinking about how I could use digital tools to capture the process as well as the product.
Here is an example, click on the image to enlarge it.
The idea here was to capture a student's planning process through to her writing a draft copy of a simple informational report on a rainforest animal. The template for the planning process was created using Inspiration software. There are many resources available to help with this process. This particular template I used was one in a CD series created by Jacqui Sharp
As well as developing the process and product aspect of documenting students learning journeys via wikis, I've finally got around to establishing individual students blogs. Much has been written about the benefits students derive from blogging, and I'm quite keen to see how my students go with this ... I'm pretty sure they will love it.
For student blogs I'm using kidblog. I choose this platform as it enables the teacher to moderate blogs and restrict viewing options, plus it is so simple to set up.
This is a progression from last year, where my focus was on establishing a class wikispace. It focussed mainly on showcasing students finished work. It wasn't until the end of the year that I started thinking about how I could use digital tools to capture the process as well as the product.
Here is an example, click on the image to enlarge it.
The idea here was to capture a student's planning process through to her writing a draft copy of a simple informational report on a rainforest animal. The template for the planning process was created using Inspiration software. There are many resources available to help with this process. This particular template I used was one in a CD series created by Jacqui Sharp
As well as developing the process and product aspect of documenting students learning journeys via wikis, I've finally got around to establishing individual students blogs. Much has been written about the benefits students derive from blogging, and I'm quite keen to see how my students go with this ... I'm pretty sure they will love it.
For student blogs I'm using kidblog. I choose this platform as it enables the teacher to moderate blogs and restrict viewing options, plus it is so simple to set up.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Online Class Environments
My physical classroom environment set-up has been put on hold for a while ... let's just say it is a work in progress. I've had more success thinking about how my online class environments will look this year. Some of the big ideas that underpin elearning pedagogy have helped me make decisions on which direction to take.
First, the notion that classrooms in the 21st century should be "open walled" enabling learning to occur wherever and whenever. I've renamed our class wiki to help promote this idea in the minds of my students - I even took a screen shot of the wiki banner, ran it through PosteRazor (which is a free mac app that allows you to blow images up a large as "printed it off - laminated it and stuck it on the "front" wall of the class.
If you have a mac go to http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/20738/posterazor
Looking for a web 2.0 tool? http://www.blockposters.com/
I'm hoping this poster will help promote some discussion amongst students.
Second, the notion that social media is the means by which students today communciate and learn. I found this to be particularly true of my class last year. Out of a class of 30 students, 29 had facebook accounts. I was quite surprised (although I guess I shouldn’t have been). With this in mind, I’m going to trial a “closed platform” network for my class this year, it does have a few limitations, but the potential for creating new and rich learning experiences is huge - I’ll post more on this later.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
A vision for elearning
My main focus this year is to move in the direction of establishing an authentic elearning classroom. Whether I "arrive" at the end of the year or not remains to be seen, but I see it as an ongoing journey that probably has no "final" destination ... which is I think is good thing - keeps teaching / learning fresh and relevant. The main thing is to be on the road and moving in the right direction.
One of the big "a-ha" moments for me personally, was in coming to grips with the differences between a digital classroom and an elearning one. Have a look at this slideshow, it is quite helpful.
Digital classrooms focus on the tools and their availability (1-1 computing), the mode of delivery is usually teacher instruction.
With elearning classrooms there would seem to be a "better fit" (in my opinion) with the key competencies. Children facillitate their own learning through understanding their preferred learning style and by choosing the appropriate tools to meet these ends. Social media is the medium by which they communicate and learn. Students develop their own learning pathways and document these through eportfolios. There is a focus on self reflection and assessment. Finally, classrooms become "open walled' where learning occurs whenever and wherever.
This is the challenge for me in 2011, to embrace this paradigm for teaching and create multiple learning environments where my students will have success in their own learning journeys.
One of the big "a-ha" moments for me personally, was in coming to grips with the differences between a digital classroom and an elearning one. Have a look at this slideshow, it is quite helpful.
The e learning classroom
View more presentations from Jacqui Sharp.
Digital classrooms focus on the tools and their availability (1-1 computing), the mode of delivery is usually teacher instruction.
With elearning classrooms there would seem to be a "better fit" (in my opinion) with the key competencies. Children facillitate their own learning through understanding their preferred learning style and by choosing the appropriate tools to meet these ends. Social media is the medium by which they communicate and learn. Students develop their own learning pathways and document these through eportfolios. There is a focus on self reflection and assessment. Finally, classrooms become "open walled' where learning occurs whenever and wherever.
This is the challenge for me in 2011, to embrace this paradigm for teaching and create multiple learning environments where my students will have success in their own learning journeys.
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