CEdu534: Session 5

This week I finished up my Wiki space, which I plan to use with my U.S. history students in the fall. Overall, I thought that creating a Wiki was pretty fun and interesting. I am interested to see how my students like utilizing the resources from this source, which will actually allow me to utilize less paper in the classroom. I also think that the possibility for collaboration is a really nice aspect of Wiki spaces and hope that it would encourage/create even more in class discussions concerning the material being covered.

Also, using TokBox to create a video recording was a fun activity, which is another tool that I could see having my students use next year as a way to present material and/or ideas that they have learned.

CEdu534: Session 4

This week, I really enjoyed creating a Wiki space using PB Works. The one that I created I plan to use next year with my students as a way for them to use less “paper” and submit assignments to me electronically. One of my favorite things about the Wiki page that I created is the RSS feeds that I gave students access to as a way to hopefully be more current with world events and then comment on them for the rest of the class to see. I also plan to use this Wiki for review purposes and as a way to provide access to classroom materials/resources to my students, especially those who have been absent. For example, on my Wiki, I plan to post weekly class assignments and PowerPoint presentations of new material. Overall, I envision my Wiki space as a tool for me to create more interaction between myself and my students outside of the classroom.

The other thing that I really enjoyed getting experience with was podcasting, which I plan to integrate in a few projects that I will have my students complete next year. One that I wanted to do this year was a historical podcast. One that I plan to do next year with my students is to have them research the conditions that soldiers faced during the Vietnam War and then create a letter from a soldier or nurse to a loved one back home that contains factual information. Then, after writing the letter, students will record their reading of the letter, incorporating emotions and even sound effects into the letter to make it come alive. We will then play these for the whole class. I also like the idea of having students create a “how to” podcast because I always encourage my students to “think like historians,” so what I would do with this podcast is having students create a podcast that explains how to perform a task in the way that a historian would.

Week One: CEDO515

This week I found both the presentations program and graphic program assignments to be useful. The presentation program Empressr was an interactive way for me to share my presentations with both students and fellow educators. I could use this program to allow students to have access to class presentations for review purposes or to gather material if they missed class. The graphic program Toonlet.com allows users to not only create characters, but also comics with those characters. I plan to utilize this program with my students next year for a project we do involving comic strips. Overall, this first week was challenging and useful because it introduced me to some of the new technologies that are available, which I plan to use next school year professionally.

Feeds and Flickr......

One thing that I found to be very useful that we learned this week was how to use RSS. I set up my account through Google Reader and was pleasantly surprised to see that the Reader is not blocked by my school district. As a result, the feeds I chose to follow will come in handy for me professionally as an educator. Some of the feeds will provide me with teaching strategies and professional development opportunities. Others, such as the Flickr White House feed will be used in my classroom, maybe once a week, as we follow what the president is up via pictures. A few of the other feeds include various historical articles and news features, which can actually be read with my students and used to facilitate class discussions.

Besides subscribing to Google Reader, I also really like creating a photosharing account using Flickr. Overall, my Flickr account was easy to create and, like the Reader, it is not blocked at my school. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I could envision using photosharing to have my students tell a story and “think like a historian” and tell a story visually. Since students can have school access to Flickr, such a project (and others for that matter) would be feasible.