Group+4+Tech+Tools+Edtech498+Spring+2013

__Tech Tool Briefing__ **Consensus** for Group 4: Allison, Heather, Kevin H., Mindi, Molly

Thanks for organizing those ideas. I just decided to pick a couple, then we could all add to the ideas to complete the final project, and then we can post it to the top of the page when we are finished. I chose the moodle, because it was one of the ideas that that many people described. And I picked the Khan Academy, because it relates well to the article that suggests student directed learning. Feel free to change these ideas if you would like, I just feel we need to get the ball rolling to complete this by Tuesday. I began filling out the information that we are required to do, so add to it as you please.


 * Moodle**

Why?: Our group described a lot of management and organizational tools with similar features. So Moodle was one of those options.

Applied in Practice:

// What could be additional opportunities for teaching and learning using these tools? //

Moodle offers the ability to create chatrooms within your classroom. This could be utilized to create small group discussions within guided reading groups in an elementary classroom. The conversation could continue even when the students are not meeting with the teacher, and the teacher could monitor these discussions and check back on them later.


 * Khan Academy**

Why?: The article that we read recently suggests a rapid movement towards student directed learning, centered around student’s interests. The Khan Academy allows for the instructor to monitor the student’s movement, but provides students with information that they are interested in, and can become fully engaged.

Applied in Practice:

// What could be additional opportunities for teaching and learning using these tools? //

As a resource tool within the classroom to match with curriculum and standards to present information on various subject areas. From what I know about Khan Academy, it provides lesons and videos in an order that makes sense, so when a student needs help on a certain topic, they are able to go back and review lessons in an order to make sure they understand the basics before they try to develop more difficult skills.


 * Group 4- Two Technologies**

1. It looks like many of us chose a course/ learnng management system to include. How about we pick one of those to be one of our choices. ( Blackoard, Edmodo, Moodle, Facebook) Just a suggestion. Let me know what you think.

I've grouped the others together according to their similarities, I think, to help us narrow down to two choices. Feel free to chage anything.


 * Khan Acadmey, Youtube, TEDed, iTunesU
 * Scribblar, ShowMe
 * Minecraft, Second Life
 * Shutterfly, Pinterest
 * Google Drive, Wiki

These might fit together:


 * Twitter?, Linkedin?, Yahoo Answers, ?
 * Julie Kennedy?, Teach-nology?

I don't know where these really fit: Lino (like Diigo), podcast, blog, polleverywhere.

__Tech Tool Briefing__ **Individual Technologies of Interest** for Group 4: Allison, Heather, Kevin H., Mindi, Molly


 * Mindi's**

[|Khan Academy] 1. Khan Academy is a site where users can, "Learn almost anything for free." There mission and goals include, "changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere." With over 4,000 educational streaming videos, "Students can make use of our extensive video library, interactive challenges, and assessments from any computer with access to the web." Also, the site offers monitoring of the learning by allowing, "coaches, parents, and teachers to have unprecedented visibility into what their students are learning and doing on the Khan Academy." Additionally, the site contains an educational blog that can be subscribed to or followed on the following sites:
 * [[image:https://khan-academy.appspot.com/images/social_rss_box_orange_48.png link="http://feeds.feedburner.com/KhanAcademy"]][|Subscribe to this blog]
 * [[image:https://khan-academy.appspot.com/images/social_facebook_box_blue_48.png link="http://www.facebook.com/khanacademy"]][|Join us on Facebook]
 * [[image:https://khan-academy.appspot.com/images/social_twitter_box_blue_48.png link="http://twitter.com/khanacademy"]][|Follow us on Twitter]

[|Lino] 2. Lino is a fun, //"//online web sticky note service that can be used to post memos, to-do lists, ideas, and photos anywhere on an online web canvas." By creating groups, students can share their ideas with peers which can be monitored by the teacher. Lino also has a smartphone app that could allow students to use their phones in class for an educational purpose. We use traditional sticky notes in class, all the time, for notetaking and sharing. Making use of a paper-free digital option will make for less environmental waste and is another opportunity of bringing a simple Web 2.0 tool to the classroom.

[|Scribblar] 3.Scribblar is an online interactive whiteboard which is a, "free online collaboration tool that is perfect for online tutoring. It is used by teachers, students and schools in over 25 countries."

Julie Kennedy offers an online testimonial by claiming it to be, "A wonderful tool to engage students in real quality learning experiences and interactions." Deputy Principal, Sydney Distance Education High School

[|Yahoo answers] 4. This is a website which is part of the yahoo domain. When a user posts a question (educational or otherwise), any other user is able to respond by answering the question. The responders are then awarded points for providing the most accurate and user friendly advice based on the questioner's opinion. This type of Web 2.0 allows students to post questions about any subject, and receive ongoing amateur to expert advice.

[|Blackboard] 5. This online interactive classroom management tool does just about everything: blogging, holding student enrollment, live information on students participating, forums, email, online lesson plans, online videos, and paper submission tools for checking plagiarism. They are constantly upgrading and updating to keep up with consumer and education demands. They profess to be, "Dedicated to improving every aspect of the education experience for millions of learners and educators around the world. We work with thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government organizations, providing them with tomorrow’s education experience today."

Here are my ideas. I titled them primary or secondary, denoting the age level that would benefit most from that type of assignment!
 * Allison's**

1. Podcast [] Why? -offers the ability to record and share all over the world. Students can listen and comment on each other, and have their ideas heard. Primary: way to primary students to record their poems. Could paste the link to their poem on a wiki page, and have students listen to each other’s poems and give compliments about what they liked. Secondary: could be used in a language classroom where students could record their voices having a conversation in that language (say Spanish). Students could listen to each other’s conversations and interpret them as a follow up.

2. Twitter [] Why? Access to resources and experts all over the world that are posting current up-to-date information Secondary: gather relevant information on a given topic by locating experts to follow via Twitter. Students must give a reason why they chose that person as an expert. Secondary: create hashtag to collaborate and post on a group assignment with a small group. Could use the hastag to gather articles, followers, and experts in whatever field they may be studying.

3.Blog [] Why? Provides an opportunity for students to chronicle their experiences over a period of time, as well as comment and assist with others Primary: Could use a blog as a year-long documentation of their technology projects. For example, they could create wordless at the conclusion of each science topic about what they learned, and post these wordless to their blogs, so they have a summary of the year’s units. Secondary: complete homework assignments given in class by posting on the blog where the teacher can leave comments. For example, create a poem with alliteration that they could post to their blog, and students could comment on each other’s.

4. Wiki [] Why? Collaborative, private environment that is very education friendly already Primary: This idea is from one of the articles that we read, but I really liked it! Working with book buddies (perhaps 5th and 1st grade students), the 5th graders could post a summary of the read aloud, and first graders can go review the book on the same wiki after it has been read to them. The fifth graders could use that information to choose the next book, and repeat the summary and review. It will create a documentation of all the books that they shared together. Secondary: Students will be given a topic where they are each assigned to find separate information that they must bring together to create on project. For example, if they are studying ancient Chinese civilization, one could bring information about food, one about military, one about resources, etc. and combine their ideas on the wiki to create the final product.

5. Pinterest [|www.pinterest.com] Why? Network of people all over the world, that post and share images related to a wide a variety of topics and categories Secondary: Students could create group boards to find websites and articles to assist them in the completion of group project. Pinning from other user’s boards, as well as creating their own, so they are adding to the wealth of the community. Primary: Students could create a board of images that make them feel a certain emotion. By searching through images, they could pin these images to their board and display these emotions through picture collages. (I don’t think Pinterest is this user friendly yet, but these are the possibilities I feel that it could have).


 * Kevin's**

1. Youtube www.youtube.com On youtube, you can find a video on pretty much anything from putting in a new toilet to learning how to dance. You can post videos yourself as long as you follow a set of rules. The videos could then be shared and commented on. Videos can be uploaded by teachers to introduce units. The video could pose questions for students. Teachers could also post videos on topics for further discussion. To go further for the students to create and share videos as group projects.

2. Second Life secondlife.com/ I chose second life because it is fully participatory within a virtual world. Students could work with others in their classroom or connect with people from around the world. It gives another avenue for students to participate. Some may be shy to speak out in the class but open up in a virtual world. One way Second Life could be used is for the students to explore places they physically can't be. They can create a world based on their knowledge. In this space, the students can interact with one another along with the teacher. For example, a plantation could be created and maintained for students to learn history and economics. Another way Second Life could be used in a Science setting. I attended an informal talk by the Educational Gaming Commons at Penn State that talked about using Second Life to view and manipulate 3D images of chemical structures in the virtual world. The teachers not only communicated with their students but also with colleagues on different concepts.

3. Facebook www.facebook.com Today it seems like most students have a facebook account. It is free and it is quick way to communicate. One way would be a little out of the realm of the classroom. Teachers could communicate with students and parents through facebook. You can use direct posts or private emails. Another way to use facebook would be to create a classroom page. It can be restricted to members only and could be used to post ideas to one another. It could also be used to share what they have found with each other. Assignments and announcements could be posted by the teacher. Parents could also be invited to join so they are kept up to date.

4. Shutterfly www.shutterfly.com I chose shutterfly because you can share photos/videos and create a webpage. The pages can be secure to members only or public. People can make comments on each album or picture/video that is posted. One way it can be used is presenting a leaf collection. Students can take pictures of a leaf, post it, and write a caption about what it is, where they found and when. It can be shared on a page they are a member of with the entire class. Another way could be for an art student. They can post pictures they have taken, videos, or scans of any artwork.

5. Google Docs (drive) [|drive.google.com] I chose Google Docs more because of the entire suite that Google provides with Google +. It provides a replacement to Microsoft Office. By using Google Docs to work on a project, teachers can see which student wrote what. This way it will show if one student ends up doing a bulk of the work. Also, There is the capability to communicate instantly if more than one is working on a document at the same time. Another way would be using it in conjunction with Google +. Using hangouts, the students could work on projects through video conferencing. They can meet and collaborate on a project even if they are not physically able to be together.

___

Molly's-- I tried to choose ideas that weren't already used.

1. Edmodo [] - This is a network set up like facebook, but fo education. This network provides teachers with the ability to make an account for their class. Each student would also then have an account and the ability to 'join' the different 'classes' that the teacher creates within their account. This program is great for managing student work, posting student assignments, students communicating with eachother, and even posting online quizes. Works well with ipads in the classroom; can weill be used on a desktop at home just fine.

2. Showme [] -This is a program that allows teachers or students to create screencasted videos for sharing. Once videos are created and saved, they are directly added to your file of created videos for all other showme users to use in their classrooms. For students there is a capability for their created videos to go directly to your account. Students in K-12 could use this program to teach content learned back to the teacher who could then use the video to check for understanding.

3. Moodle [] - Moodle is an online learning platform similar to the idea of edmodo. Teachers may log on the program, and once they are a member they may create different classes and assignments for the students to complete. This is not necessarily a program that would be used for a particular lesson, more as a way to manage your class throughout the year.

4. Google Drive [|www.drive.google.com] - A platform to create many different things, from collaborative documents and spreadsheets, to online forms to be completed. All of these things can be shared online with different people, all of who have the capability to edit if so desired. Students in 3 or 4 - 12 could use this effectively to have online conversations on a document or contribute to a spreadsheet.

5. Minecraft [] - This is an online game which basically consists of giant digital legos. Students can create 'worlds' which other people can then join. This can be a great program for doing cooperative assignments in science or history/ geography. Students can change the landscape of the 'world' they create and as well as the materials that they are allowed to use. The thing about this program is that you do not talk in it, the students talk out loud and have to communicate with eachother well enough to be able to work on specific parts of whatever they're doing.

6. Poll Everywhere [] -From teacher created questions, students can go to the website pollev.com and type in the correct numerical code to vote as part of the class. The polling is anonymous so students do not have to worry about being wrong about an answer. They can just put whatever they think and then do not have to worry about being embarrased. Teachers create the questions on polleverywhere .com and are able to have an account which will save old questions. Questions may be created as multiple choice or short answer.

Heather's Tech List- I also tried to choose new ideas to add to this list.

> > > >
 * 1)  [|Doodle.com] This may not be the best tool for k-12 education but I know I have used this site a lot both as a participant and as a creator as a quick and easy way to figure out schedules and when to set meetings. If you are working in larger groups, instead of having to email availability back and forth, you can have one place that makes it easy for the meeting planner to figure everything out.
 * 1)  [|Linkedin.com] This should be familiar to most of you and again, is probably geared more toward the college or adult than k-12. Last semester, I had my students create a linkedin account to show the power of it as a recruiting tool and employment opportunity tool. It also allows users with similar academic or professional goals to join groups and discuss relevant topics.
 * 1)  [|Ted Talks] Often when I am searching for supplemental media for my class, TED comes to the top of-S the list. It is a wealth of information on a number of different topics with short to full length videos from respected and renowned experts in their respective fields.
 * 1)  [|iTunesU] In the similar vein as TED Talks, iTunesU can be a great resource for those who want to supplement their education and learn almost anything from the palm of your iPhone or iPad.
 * 1)  [|Teachnology] This is a resource for k-12 teachers to incorporate brain training games, professional development, and other educational tools in to the classroom. i have also used tools like this in my college classroom as a way for future teachers to see what technology is out there for them to use.