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Hi Adah,
Have you heard of wall wisher? You can have students post information on a sticky note. The notes can include video and pictures and students don't need a login. This would be good for brainstorming, providing feedback, or even as a formative assessment. I have used it to have kids find potential partners for groups based on mutual interests.
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This thread is so timely for me. I'm sorry there is so little conversation happening here!
I promise to view the sites that have been posted thus far, and to start reading the collection.
If it's OK to distract the conversation just a little, my current ponderings surround the administrative functions that may or may not accompany these online tools. On a scale of 1-5 what do you think would be the value added by each of these approaches (1=not and 5=must-have; and feel free to comment in addition to rating if you are so moved):
- Administrative or LMS-like functions built right into the online tool (i.e. student and class account set-up, feedback/review/commenting/grading ability, ability to move student products from private “work-in-progress” to publicly viewable gallery of published work, and student performance database).
- An online science-themed portal that puts links to the variety of online tools in one place (may be a way to provide access to an array of tools in addition to content that supports a specific unit or topic).
- The administrative or LMS-like functions available online, but not directly integrated into any of the online tools.
Thanks for pondering with me!
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I have been exploring the use of Google Docs in the classroom to allow student to collaborate and publish their work online. I am developing several lesson plans that will integrate math, science, and technology using Google Docs. Check out the link below for more information.
Google Docs for Educators
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If the rule is only one resource I would have to go with the one I started with: our class wiki. I use PBWorks. The basic edition is free for educators.
The students use it to find information on assignments, exams, calendar, syllabus, and other online resources. It is 'web 2.0' because the students can collaborate on webquests, group projects, respond to questions on individual assessments, post video, mp3, PowerPoints, glogs, prezis, etc. It is the online hub of the class that branches out to spokes like the the class blog, edmodo(like an education facebook), and our backchannel chat.
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http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
I get an email from this site every day. Great site. Not all things discussed are science related.
I recommend you all RSS this site to your favorite reader. Several new resources everyday and great pdfs presented using Issuu that catalogue some of the best resources of the past.
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I too find this post to be "just in time". Although I seem to be in a very different boat. My school is very behind the times for technology. I love to use it, see the benefit for the students, but don't yet have a way to share it with them. Until I get to a school which has the techno-capabilities to share all the internet, fun, stuff. I am relying on good-ol-fashion hands on. Worked for me and my folks, why not for them.
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This year all my seventh graders were given netbooks on the first day of school. As the life science teacher I have been challenged to go paperless, and integrate their access to the web as often as possible. As a district we use Moodle for posting assignments, turning in work, participating in forum discussions and even posting podcasts. We have used google docs to create class powerpoints on invasive species, audacity to create podcasts on bacteria and viral disease, animoto and photostory for creating video. This is such an exciting time to teach science!
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Reading what has been posted regarding web tools has been so benefical. Thanks to everyone. I really needed this background.
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Hi Everyone -
Great discussion topic! I attended a 1:1 Laptop workshop this week and we were introduced to several Web 2.0 Tools:
Diigo http://www.diigo.com/
Website bookmarking, web annotation, sharing websites, networking ... in the cloud. Free account and request free educator account upgrade.
Bubbl.ushttps://bubbl.us/ Collaborative Concept mapping, Mind mapping
Prezihttp://prezi.com/
My students enjoy this site for creating multimedia posters. Free accounts available.
Dorothy
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Dorothy, thank you for the additional resources. I have used Prezi and am bookmarking the other two sites to include in my curriculum guides for teachers.
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The link below contains a list of free websites that "boost student engagement and teacher productivity."
http://www.eclassroomnews.com/2012/02/24/free-websites-help-boost-student-engagement-teacher-productivity-2/?
I have not played a lot of them, but the write up sounds interesting
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I just checked out the free site Watch Know Learn.It has thousands of videos (there are 7529 science videos)---many are video clip---sorted into concepts and identified by specific student ages. I like the fact that teachers can show a short clip to enhance their lesson plan, rather than showing an entire video.
I also liked the 'classroom' feature that allows you to collect those videos you are interested in ---sort of a folder within the site. You can also create student accounts, assign videos, and track your students' viewing of the videos (which I didn't try yet).
You can also add videos to the collection so that other teachers can benefit.
Looks like a great place to do one-stop shopping for the right video to supplement a topic.
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I follow Richard Byrne on twitter. His Blog is http://www.freetech4teachers.com He has great tutorials and lots of ideas about tools. But remember no matter what tools we use it about the thinking skills the students use. When the tools are used for collaboration and synthesis we are encouraging the skills students need.
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Adah, I had never heard of wallwisher before, so of course I immediately had to go and check it out. I can’t wait to try this with my middle school students to see how it works. I love the sense of humor displayed in their FAQ section. I think one of the features that attracts me the most, aside from being free of course, is the 160 character limit. That would force my students to be precise in their questioning strategies. I will give it a try and post how it went.
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I have really enjoyed reading this thread and clicking on the awesome links that people have shared. I have tried to use a couple of these already including Prezi to create more interesting presentations for parents and students and Google Docs to have students submit work. I think that technology is such a powerful tool and I am continuously searching for more ways to incorporate it into my classroom. I am far from being 'tech savvy' and I truly appreciate any suggestions that people share as I am amazed at how these tools can help to reach students far beyond the walls of the classroom.
Since it seems that there is always something new, I really appreciate it when there are resources that have been reviewed and that I know can be trusted and used appropriately within the classroom. For this reason, this thread has been great. I also have found a couple of other resources that have links to a number of Web tools for educators. One is Edutopia which is a website run by the George Lucas Educational Foundation and a wiki called Cool Tools for Schools which is a collection of Web 2.0 tools compiled by a teacher. Maybe these can be a jumping off point for more resources that others have not yet explored. (Disclaimer: I have to admit, I haven't had the opportunity to try many of them listed!)
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Hi all,
Thought I'd jump in with a couple of great online GIS sites... All these are web-based tools, so no downloads and installs are needed.
Here's a good resource from ESRI that allows users to build presentations with a number of pre-made or home-grown maps. It's pretty intuitive and great for projects.
ESRI's ArcGIS Online Explorer
WorldMapper is a GIS tool that builds a 'distorted' view of the world based on values such as population, cotton production, etc. The animation tool is cool and keeps the kids engaged!
WorldMapper.org
Also, NationalAtlas allows users to build maps from numerous US Government layers. There's info on agriculture, water resources, transportation, etc. - all sorts of good stuff.
NationalAtlas.gov
Enjoy!
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I attended a three day workshop on technology, and here is one of the presenter's collection of resources: https://sites.google.com/site/mikestechnologycloset/ It took us 2 1/2 hours to go through them all!
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I used this website to create a screencast during a workshop, and it was very easy to use and user friendly: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
If you are considering "flipping" your classroom, it may be useful.
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And here is a free online book on teaching using GIS:http://www.esri.com/library/ebooks/advancing-stem-education-with-gis.pdf
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Hi Suzanne,
Hey, that's a great .PDF! Looks like it was just updated as well (July 2012). Thanks for posting that one.
Thought I'd add in a couple of links to open source GIS applications. These are downloads that will need to be installed, but can help 'get things going' if funds are short, etc.
Here's Quantum GIS. It's a well-recognized, stable, multi-platform open source GIS from Europe that's gaining a great rep world-wide. There's versions for Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and Ubuntu (plus more...). I've seen it run very nicely in an open source computer lab with Ubuntu machines, so if you're looking for an inexpensive, quality way to get kiddos into GIS, this could be an answer.
http://www.qgis.org/
There's also MapWindow and while I haven't given it much of a test-run, it's had some pretty good reviews. I believe it's Windows-only at this point. (If anyone has other info, please chime in!)
http://www.mapwindow.org/
Enjoy!
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Mark Francek sends out a list of favorite websites every week. Here is the list for this week
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