Monday, November 22, 2010

Friday, November 12, 2010

20 Free Screen Recording Tools



Check out this list of 20 free screen recording tools you can use in your work environment or have your students use in your classroom.

Design Beep

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Ellen Woodfin on Sweet Search...

Ellen Woodfin discovered Sweet Search, which is a search engine specifically for students. Visit her blog Wading in the Stream of Consciousness for more on Sweet Search and other great ways for incorporating web 2.0 tools in the classroom.





Check out the one-minute video version here!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Bitstrips for Schools - from Jana Claybrook

Jana Claybrook took this web 2.0 tool for creating comic strips into her math classes. Read about what this tool can do and how some of her students responded to this engaging way of working with math concepts.

"We presented my student evidence to my administration and they purchased this program for 325 students."

Getting Rewired with Technology

Check out Jana's One-Minute Message created with her students!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

100 Great Blogs for Art Students and Enthusiasts


Art Projects for Kids

I came upon this link today. I believe the title speaks for itself. Hope someone finds something they can use:) The above link will take you to an individual blog. Click here for the other 99 links!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Two for One - Brian Thomas on WikiSpaces


Brian Thomas has created two awesome videos on WikiSpaces. The first video is a tutorial for setting up and working with WikiSpaces in an educational environment. Brian does a fantastic job explaining the home page, discussion pages, usage pages, complete history and more. Check out the tutorial here.


Brian's second video is a must see Rappin'Review. Take Brian's advice and watch it on Viddler:) Enjoy!



Thanks, Brian!

Sharon Clay on toolet.com

In week one of October, Sharon Clay reviewed a comic strip tool called Toonlet. Within her post she include a detailed video tutorial highlighting the features of this - still in beta - tool. Follow this link to The Sharon Clay Chronicles. Thank you for sharing this, Sharon!




From Sharon's blog:

WWW.TOONLET.COM is a fun, exciting, and creative web2.0 tool which allows the registered user to create comic strip characters and insert them into their very own comic. I learned that even the most limited artist can design a comic with a professional appeal for free. I think this tool will help inspire my students to write and I am looking forward to introducing my class to this program.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Practical Experience Examples


W3 PE Examples
Check out the PE posts at the following links.

Inspiration in the Workplace by Maia Kirkpatrick

Mike Colletti's Musings

My Life as a Grad Student... Created by Trina Dralus

Not a blah, blah, blog!


Thanks to Maia, Michael, Trina, and Torrey for sharing their workl!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Edmodo - A Secure Social Learning Network

Last week, Scherrie Davis created a post on Edmodo from an experienced users point of view. Anyone interested in sharing experiences they have had with edmodo or any other social learning networks, please feel free to add your comments. The rest of Scherrie's post can be read from the link below. Thanks for sharing this, Scherrie!

BP4_Edmodo







I can't lie to you all....I've had some experience with Web 2.0 tools before. However, to say that I know all of them out there and what they all do would be boldfaced lie! I have visited the website http://www.go2web20.net/ before and checked out some of the tools offered there. I will say that I never paid any attention to the tags along the right side, which categorizes the tools for you. So, once I saw that, I knew that I definitely wanted to see what was available for education, teachers specifically. I saw one of my favorite sites on there, one that I am currently using with my students and have used in the past, Edmodo. For the life of me, I cannot think of why I did not know that this is a Web 2.0 tool. I actually know why I feel that way and it deals with my understanding of the definition of a Web 2.0 tool. Throughout this course, I hope to come to a concrete understanding of Web 2.0 and be able to define in my own words so that I can understand what falls into the category of Web 2.0.

In any case, Edmodo is a social networking site specifically geared...Read more.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Great find by Curt Isakson - ischoolband!

The following was posted by Curt Isakson on his ETC blog - check it out:)


In searching out Web 2.0 site, I stumbled on a company that really hits my sweet spot for functionality, ease of use, has many options for user interface, and also includes social participation somewhat like facebook. The site is called ischoolband.





I am a band director and I have had a website for my band for years. I have news, pictures, resources, videos, and a calendar (shelbybands). It works great and I have a great following locally and even a farther reach that covers the country through relatives of band students. The problem comes is that it is work-intensive and I have to format everything from scratch.

ischoolband is a new Web 2.0 tool that creates a complete environment for my students with less work for me and it has features that I haven’t gotten to or have no idea how to do.
The number one feature it has is a secure entrance. This is great. All students and parents get an opportunity to sign in and be a part of the site and it is password protected and it is also allowed through our school’s network.

This site is so deep it will be difficult to completely describe in this essay. But I will begin in saying you can create a location for each of your ensembles. From there you can add media and documents. This includes ...Read more on Curt's Blog

Thank you for sharing this, Curt!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Creaza

Re-posted from Mike Padilla's blog - great review of a fantastic web 2.0 tool. Check it out!









The web 2.0 tool that I chose for this assignment was Creaza.

This website provides a creative suite of tools that students can use on any ANY computer that has access to the web. Due to the massive amounts of flash and content on this site, a strong internet connection is recommended.

Once I realized all that is involved in this FREE tool, I was blown away! If someone told me when I first got into non linear video editing nearly 10 years ago, that you would be able to edit videos using a website - and store it all in a cloud based system, I would certainly not have believed you - but that is exactly what ... Read more here...

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Jacqueline Jones and Virtual Worlds


In July, Jacqueline Jones created a post on her Instructional Design Blog reviewing several virtual worlds including SmallWorlds.com. Her AR project focuses on role-playing in the virtual classroom and in this post she does an excellent job highlighting key features as well as some of the limitations of several virtual worlds. She includes embedded videos and several resources.

Check out her blog and her most recent entry which links you to Mark Krynsky's blog post, Lifestream Blog Reviews SmallWorlds and share your ideas for using virtual worlds in your learning environment.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Gregg Eilers on Diigo Education

Check out this great post written by Gregg Eilers on Diigo Education.



Have you ever wanted to create collaborative groups with your students that could possibly have the option to work collectively in and outside of the classroom? I want to share a Web 2.0 tool called Diigo Education. Now, we are already familiar with Diigo since we will be utilizing this tool for our Action Research Projects, but Diigo Education is a fantastic grouping tool to use with students in and outside of the classroom.

Diigo Education makes it possible to have students create a learning community not only within the classroom walls, but to also extend their collaboration outside of school. This effective tool makes it possible for teachers to create collaborative groups to use during project-based lessons that involve the power of working together towards a common goal. The aspect that I think I like most about this tool is the fact that educators can use it to effectively teach students how to not only collaborate together, but to also understand the purpose and importance of researching a specific topic.

As a teacher, I always strive to impress upon my students the importance of gathering facts and information to support a main idea. This is simple for some, but for the most part, difficult for individual elementary students to grasp. When there is a group involved, not only is there more than one brain at work, the group is enhanced by having the capability to share their findings online through Diigo Educator. This alone creates a safer environment for students that wouldn’t normally share out in class, to be able to give input within this community.

Finally, Diigo Education is free for teachers! To apply for a Diigo Education Account online, follow this link and you can then have access to everything from whole class accounts, email accounts, and pre-set privacy settings so that teachers and students are the only ones allowed in the group. Everything through Diigo Education is filtered and safe, so teachers don’t have to be concerned by what students are viewing in and out of school within Diigo. In fact, my application for Diigo Education was just accepted and I now have my account ready to go for next school year.

I even got this cool Diigo Education Pioneer badge for joining!

diigo education pioneer








All in all, Diigo Education is a fantastic Web 2.0 tool for integrating more effective group collaboration within the classroom.

Students Using Diigo on Computers image by theunquietlibrary used courtesy of Flickr through a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Week 4: Motion - Example

This post is a student example of what you might post in your blog for the tool/application you will learn about in week four. Make it your own:)

I started going through Motion tutorials today. I found out that there is a good sized learning curve with this program. Luckily, the have created templates which make it easier. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as I thought it might be because I have never used it or anything like it. Thank goodness for great tutorials.

To begin with, this started with an overview, which did not adhere to the best e-learning principles set down by Lisa Smith ( actually set down by Clark and Mayer:), but it was great information. Although the instructor read everything that was on the PowerPoint slides, she did defined several unfamiliar terms, so I learned some extras in addition to operations.

The welcome screen does adhere to good e-learning principles in that it lets you choose a starting point according to your current schema, skip or go back later if you want reinforcement or repetition. The tutorials are broken down into short segments according to tabs and windows, and you can click on your own project in motion while going through the lessons. The clips I want to use need to be split and shortened, so I didn't create anything yet, but I want to use one of the templates which shouldn't be a problem after I finish the last section of lessons tomorrow.





Another thing I learned tonight is why this software is so expensive. Just going through the pre-existing effects and templates that are available in just this one application within the studio is mind boggling. I am very excited!!!

Finally, the last shot is of the tutorials I completed tonight. Gotta go to sleep now. More tomorrow.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Eample of how to link to a comment.



Follow this link to Kathy Kellen's Blog to see an example of how post your links to your comment.

Thursday, July 1, 2010



Check out Lindsey's OMM for Storyjumper!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

BP29_201005_ OMM Examples

These two videos are examples of the One Minute Messages you will be creating.




BP28_2010044_Paul Devoto's Final Project

The video below was created by Paul Devoto for his ETC final project. It is the persuasive message option and is an excellent example of what you might choose to do.

BP27_2010044_Tracy Alt's Final Project

The video below is an example of what you might do with the short documentary option for your final project. Tracy was contacted by Tikatok in order to obtain permission for the use of her video on Tikatok's website.




Wednesday, March 10, 2010

BP26_2010024_Persuasive Message by Stacie Stoumbaugh

This is a ETC Persuasive Message Final Video produced by Stacie Stoumbaugh. Excellent work. Thank you for sharing, Stacie.

BP26_2010032_Video by Jodi Zeigler

This is an ETC Short Documentary produced by Jodi Zeigler. Excellent work, Jodi. Thank you for sharing.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

MAKE MORE RIPPLES!!! DROP THIS ALL OVER!!!


Hey Everyone - Watch the video at the link below and share it with others who want to see what collaboration and creativity can do with middle school students. Dr. Ludgate and Full Sail University worked with Sharyn Gabriel, the principal of Ocoee Middle School, to produce this.

VIDEO: Gotta Keep Reading

Absolutely AWESOME:)

For more information go to: Ocoee Middle School

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Thanks for sharing, Joe!

Interesting article shared by Joe Huber! Would make for some good discussion at next week's Wimba! Not required! If you are interested, here's the link.

Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up

Lost Generation - Great Video!

A student from October's ETC Class sent this link to me today. Fantastic video! Well-worth sharing! Thanks, Nick!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Linking a Comment Example



Follow this link to Kathy Kellen's blog and view her format for linking to her comment on Abbie Toy's blog!

http://kathykellen.blogspot.com/2010/01/bp72010012link-to-comment-on-abbie-toys.html

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Games in Education?

Hmmmm - let talk about games. Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 2 (which was released two months and two days ago) just surpassed a BILLION dollars in retail sales. It's ENGAGING!!!! Learning through games and simulations MAY be the way to go - huh?