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Sharing Tips and Tricks of Using Technology in the Classroom Part 2

In your courses you have been asked to share your tips and tricks of using technology in the classroom.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Terra Kirsch on February 4, 2012 at 11:49am

This sounds great, I will have to check out vozme. I do a similar project using voki where the students type a paragraph and then paste it into their voki created avatar and listen to hear how their text sounds. It has a feature for a different types of pre-formatted computerized voices, which are fun but sometimes muddle the pronunciation of words. Maybe vozme does a better job of this.

Permalink Reply by Christina Harrison on February 5, 2012 at 1:17pm

Thanks for sharing vozme.com. I have never heard of this website but it sounds amazing. I look forward to checking it out to see what it has to offer.

Christina

Permalink Reply by Ashley Witherow on February 2, 2012 at 10:30pm

A great way to increase communication between students is by creating a blog. This blog could be used for students to ask questions, teachers to announce assignments, etc. Teachers can also provide links to educational websites for students.

Permalink Reply by Kelly Mahoney on February 2, 2012 at 10:33pm

I recently discovered springpad while looking for new apps to download. springpad is a great resource for anyone that is trying to make sense of notes, pictures, comments, reminders, ideas, etc. Essentially, springpad is a giant notebook that is mobile and accesible anywhere. You can download the app or you can go to the website, http://springpadit.com/. So, if you are on a website and you found a great lesson idea, you can save the site and springpad will help you organize it into a way that makes sense. For me, it is a way that I can have all my apps in one place which cuts out a lot of guessing and searching.

Permalink Reply by Chuck Commeret on February 3, 2012 at 1:18am

I have never used this tool. Looks very interesting. I may have to spend some time looking around. Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Jessica Smith on February 2, 2012 at 11:00pm

One wonderful resource I have used while teaching technology to 4-6th grade students is a free digital storytelling site Kerpoof. Kerpoof allows students to select a theme for their story, design backgrounds, drag in characters, type their stories and insert speech bubbles. As an educator you can set up all of the students accounts so their work will save. The site also provides tutorial worksheets you can use with students and wonderful lesson plans. I highly recommend it as a starting point with digital storytelling. They also have a great movie maker site. My students were on this the second they came into the door and most worked on their projects at home!

- Jessica Smith

CEP 812 Spring 2012

Permalink Reply by Chuck Commeret on February 3, 2012 at 1:21am

Sounds like you created a highly engaging lesson! Well done.

Permalink Reply by Terra Kirsch on February 4, 2012 at 11:53am

I have used Kerpoof as a stand alone computer lab activity, but have not explored the story aspect. Digital storying telling with this tool sounds great. I'll have to check out the lesson plans. Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Melanie B on February 5, 2012 at 3:42pm

This sounds like a great resource. Thanks for sharing.

Permalink Reply by Seth Hendrickson on February 5, 2012 at 12:24pm

CEP 810 Spring Semester-

I have found through our class exploration in social bookmarking that using these sites in an educational setting could be especially useful for collecting helpful resources for projects and classwork in general. Using a Web 2.0 resource like del.icio.us is a great way to consolidate these resources and allow students to access them from any place in the world at any time. Coming from an international school perspective, a system in which I grew up going to school in and am about to begin working in, global access is very important. Students commonly come and go, and vacation around the world, and consolidating in del.icio.us would allow for worldwide access to resources that could help students not only for a specific project but in future classes and projects.

I have also found that using google calendar can be a very beneficial reminder for students and teachers alike. In our CEP 810 Class google calendar is used as a reminder for due dates and has helped me greatly in getting things done on time. These calendars can also be embedded in blogs, so if you have a class blog, students can easily follow their assignment due dates and keep more organized.

Permalink Reply by Nancy Ayers on February 5, 2012 at 12:32pm

These tools are excellent for the uses you mention here. It is too bad that many schools still block students and even teachers from using blogs through the school networks. Hopefully in time they will realize that having teachers work with students using the tools, they will use the responsible and safe way to work with online tools.

Permalink Reply by Bradley J. Gagnon on February 5, 2012 at 1:14pm

Hi Ed-Techies,

This problem is another that stands in the way of technology, similar to the school that used a computer's webcam to record a student off campus and after school. A copy of the story can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbins_v._Lower_Merion_School_District

Bradley Gagnon