VoiceThreads

I don't have any new and exciting technology related ideas to contribute tonight, but I can say that reading the post on VoiceThreads was exciting for me! I can't wait to learn more and try it out- I will keep you all posted on my progress.

Digital Blooms OR Dang, Why Didn't I Think of This!

Another shoutout for Twitter for pointing me to this visual combining Bloom's with Web 2.0 tools. Credit to Mike Fisher who is coining the term digigogy: "Where pedagogy is about methods to instruct, Digigogy is about those methods, but with a technological frame."

Could a visual like this be used to help our colleagues understand the power of these tools? I am thinking this would be a great visual for the induction training we did in January, new GL training in the future or other tech PD opportunities.

What do you think: Great visual, or mish mash that nobody but technophiles can appreciate? Mike's blog post is here.

JayCut

JayCut is an online video editor with unlimited uploads for free! Couple of notes on the program:

*Easy to use - similar look and feel to other video editors.
*You can have your product saved as private, friends only or public.
*If you want to embed your project, you must choose public.
*You can upload videos or photos.
*Great for uploading pictures or videos to blogs and websites.

If anyone has used it or has feedback about the program, please post!

Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation

This past Saturday I attended the Colorado Conversation at Heritage HS in Littleton, CO. This was a powerful conference about integrating technology in the classroom. It was amazing to see people from all over Colorado having the same conversations that we Global Learners have been having all along. I'm posting some of the links for you to access in case you are interested in the topics discussed. The Conversation was a bit of information overload, so I cannot possibly re-hash it all here. Let me know if you have specific questions.
Home: http://colearning.wikispaces.com/Home+2009
Writer's Workshop Seminar I attended: http://colearning.wikispaces.com/Powering+Up+The+Writers+Workshop
Shifting Literacies Seminar I attended: This one is a GOLD MINE for secondary teachers who want to get more ideas about incorporating wikis and blogs more effectively into Literacy/Humanities classes: http://colearning.wikispaces.com/Shifting+Literacies--A+Learning+Conversation

Again, if you have specific questions, please let me know.

I just thought I'd share my experiences using the live webinars from Classroom 2.o. This weekend I participated in a discussion on VoiceThreads in the classroom. Classroom 2.0 uses a software called Eluminate which has really nice functionality. I learned a lot more about voicethreads and how they can help foster transformative learning practices through collaboration. I see the real strength in VoiceThreads as an opportunity for students to gather feedback and reflect metacognitively on their projects. Here's a little VoiceThread I put together with some screen captures from the webinar. Here's the link: http://voicethread.com/share/360781/

www.gapminder.org

"Gapminder is a non-profit venture promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by increased use and understanding of statistics and other information about social, economic and environmental development at local, national and global levels. We are a modern “museum” that helps making the world understandable, using Internet."

Click here to see a TED talk about this visual statistical tool.

"Gapminder work serves a purpose of filling a gap. There has been a market failure in distributing global data. A lot of people are interested in the data, but don’t get access to it (and if they manage to access the data, they need to be advanced skilled statisticians to analyze it). Gapminder wants to make data more accessible and easier to use for instant visual analysis. We believe decision makers, politicians as well as education at almost all levels lack adequate tools.

There is no political agenda behind the work. The idea is that all people, independently of their political agenda, should get free access to already existing statistics about global development to easily improve their understanding about the complex society."

www.gapminder.org

I see many possibilities using this in the MS or HS classroom. With various descriptors (ex: GNP, CO2 emissions, age, infant mortality etc) linked to countries or regions in the world over time can allow "trends" to become dynamic.

Follow the bubbles!

Check it out.

Doug

Who's in YOUR 5?

This article outlines the top 10 tech tools for young learners. As I browsed the list I found a few that I use (blog, wiki) and many that I had heard of but never actually used (kerpoof, Create-A-Graph).

If I had to pick my top 5 tools they would be:

1. SmartBoard - versatile and engaging, couldn't live without it. Notebook 10 is full of great gallery tools that can be used in a variety of ways. I have it installed on my desktops so students can access their interactive files on the systems of the body.
2. VoiceThread - on the top of my list for tools I want to use more. There's a lot of potential with VoiceThread. It is like Powerpoint for the 2.0 world.
3. Wikispaces - This is my go-to tech tool. I use it to post sites for my students to conduct research, as a home page for parents to look at my newsletter and a place to collaborate.
4. Blogger - Great place to post student work. A better collaboration tool in my room than the wiki.
5. WiZiQ - Love this tool! Great for real-time collaboration and gives so many choices for communication (text, voice, video, annotation) that it is very versatile.
Also 5. Document Camera - it made the overhead and the expensive transparencies obsolete - nuff said.

I love finding out what other technology teachers are using and how they are using them to reach students and access the curriculum in brand new ways. Now that we are more than halfway through the year, I want to know what you are using. So Global Learners... What are your top 5 tools?

Animoto

Has anyone used the web 2.0 application animoto? I want to get my students writing into a technology application. I came across animoto in the past, but I didn't take much of a look. If anyone has used it, any recommendations or suggestions on teaching the application to students? I'll let you know how it goes! We're hoping to spend some time on our big writing projects next week.