Last Friday was another ‘up and down’ day. We started by having a look at GoAnimate (http://goanimate.com/) but for some unexplained reason(s), the site just was not cooperating. So after trying to get things to work, plan Bwas put into action. In this case, we had a successful look at Voki (http://voki.com/). Thanks to the IT boys getting Flash updated and Java installed, we were able to move along. We still had issues with these programs on different machines which really does impact the flow of the class. Does a teacher wait and hold back others or does the teacher move ahead knowing full well that those waiting for IT support will fall behind??
Everyone was able to register into Voki which will allow them to save their work to show and edit later on. By snack time, the body language indicated that a change of gears was in order. So after the break, I showed the group some tools that I thought would be of great use to them in a classroom. The tools and/or sites were:
Google’s Advanced Search – as a classroom teacher, I was able to use this feature and find previously made documents that I could save and modify to meet my needs. It proved to be a real time saver for me!
Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/) is another tool which allows me to have access to files without having to carry around a flash drive or external hard drive. Using Dropbox, I can save files online so that all I need is an internet access to be able to open and work with the document.
Had a look at Facebook and Twitter. Most of the participants are actively involved on Facebook. We talked about security and safely using the social media tool. Twitter was a media that I don’t believe too many of the members use. I use it extensively for I’m able to follow various experts in the education field and pick up ideas and links to help teachers in the classroom.
Wordle – now that we have Java installed, all the participants were able to create their own wordle poster. This is really a neat tool for summarizing documents and reports, generating the main theme for a given piece of work and just for creating title pages for reports.
We ended our Friday class by having a look at xtranormal (http://www.xtranormal.com/). Yet another web tool that allows both teachers and students to create their knowledge. Gone are the days of boring oral reports. We now have tools like xtranormal to add a unique touch to how information can be presented.
Todays lineup:
Wiki’s using Wikispaces (http://www.wikispaces.com/).
Wiki’s are great for collaboration! This web tool allows multiple users to work together to ‘create’ knowledge. Rather than be passive information receivers, we become the creators of knowledge.
We will first have to register/create an account through Wikispaces. So with your internet browser up and running, type into the URL www.wikispaces.com/.
Once there, select “Sign In” from top right corner of the wikispace site.
Then look for and select “Create A New Wikispaces Account”
Enter a Username, Password, and your email.
Then select ‘Join’.
You have now created a Wikispaces account – don’t forget your username and password!
Now you need to check your email. There will be an email that was delivered to you by me. I have invited you to join my wiki “Nature Island 2011” (http://natureisland2011.wikispaces.com).
Open up this email that was delivered by Wikispaces from me.
There will be a link to my wiki within the email.
Click on this link and it will open up the Homepage of the Nature Island wiki.
Since you have created a Wikispaces account,enter your username and password.
This will give you access to the wiki that Ihave created.
You will have full editing rights to this wiki!
I will walk you through how to create a page and how enter text and images. So you’re job until the snack break is to choose a topic that you will be responsible for. This will be used to give your page atitle. You will then enter the information along with images to complete your page. This will be a work in progress. So by tomorrow, you should have a paragraph or two along with images to detail your topic about Dominica. Have a look at last year’s wiki that the group made last year - http://2010dominicaproject.wikispaces.com/.
Entering information into the wiki:
Click on “New Page”
This will open to where you enter the Name for the page you are creating – so a name for the page
Click on ‘Create’
This will cause the wiki to open automatically to the ‘edit’ feature for your page. You MUST enter something (text – image) to have the page created. So at this point add a welcoming to your page.
Then click on ‘Save’ to see what your page looks like.
To get back to editing – you simply click on the ‘Edit’ found at the top right of the page.
To enter text, you simply type in your information.
To add an image, locate and click on the button that has ‘File’ on it.
You then would click on the button that has “+Upload File” on it.
What we have to make sure of is that we have already searched on saved your images onto the desktop so that you can then ‘upload’ into the wiki. So you will have to take some time and search the web using Google images or Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) to ‘save picture as ’to store the image on your desktop.
Once the image is uploaded, double click on that image and it will then be placed on your page. You will have the ability to position the image and to make it smaller or larger.
Be sure to save your work regularly. This is one tool where your work is NOT automatically saved.
The neat thing about the wiki is that since we are all members of the same wiki – we can not only look after our own page, but you can assist others in creating and maintaining their pages. It becomes a truly collaborative learning environment where we all contribute to a work of creating or generating knowledge! As well, the collaboration process can be carried anytime – anywhere!!
To create your own wiki:
locate and click on your username at the top of the wiki page.
This will open you up to your dashboard.
At this page, locate and click on “Create a New Wiki”.
Enter a unique name for your wiki in the textbox provided. Your wiki will have the username attached to wikispaces. So your URL will look somewhat like this wikiname.wikispaces.com.
Under wiki type – choose K-12 Education.
Then click on ‘Create’ and you now have full control of your very own wiki.
After the snack break, we’ll have a look at Glogster (http://rwilso.glogster.com/). This site provides the user with the ability to make digital posters as opposed to making physical paper posters. You have the ability to be very creative and also add little animated characters that you could never do with a typical poster. Glogster can be used for a multitude of purposes in a classroom – reports, summary of books, used as part of a presentation, etc.
Please create an account so that you can save your glogs!!
Once you are logged in, create a new glog by:
Locate and click on “Create a New Glog” button
When you arrive at the working area, the page will look very busy. Not too worry!
Look for the palette that allows you to manipulate the glog – it is found on your left hand side and it is in black. See image for what it looks like:
Using this palette, you can see that you can manipulate graphics, text, images, video, sound and your background wall. All you have to do is click on the area (ie wall) that you want to modify and you will be prompted with various options to choose from.
Your assignment to be completed before you leave today is to create a glog which depicts something about the Dominican way of life. We will 'embed' this glog tomorrow into your own wiki tomorrow.
Last but not least - please go to wordpress.com and enter a blog for today's activities.
Last Friday was another ‘up and down’ day. We started by having a look at GoAnimate (http://goanimate.com/) but for some unexplained reason(s), the site just was not cooperating. So after trying to get things to work, plan Bwas put into action. In this case, we had a successful look at Voki (http://voki.com/). Thanks to the IT boys getting Flash updated and Java installed, we were able to move along. We still had issues with these programs on different machines which really does impact the flow of the class. Does a teacher wait and hold back others or does the teacher move ahead knowing full well that those waiting for IT support will fall behind??
Everyone was able to register into Voki which will allow them to save their work to show and edit later on. By snack time, the body language indicated that a change of gears was in order. So after the break, I showed the group some tools that I thought would be of great use to them in a classroom. The tools and/or sites were:
We ended our Friday class by having a look at xtranormal (http://www.xtranormal.com/). Yet another web tool that allows both teachers and students to create their knowledge. Gone are the days of boring oral reports. We now have tools like xtranormal to add a unique touch to how information can be presented.
Todays lineup:
Wiki’s using Wikispaces (http://www.wikispaces.com/).
Wiki’s are great for collaboration! This web tool allows multiple users to work together to ‘create’ knowledge. Rather than be passive information receivers, we become the creators of knowledge.
Now you need to check your email. There will be an email that was delivered to you by me. I have invited you to join my wiki “Nature Island 2011” (http://natureisland2011.wikispaces.com).
I will walk you through how to create a page and how enter text and images. So you’re job until the snack break is to choose a topic that you will be responsible for. This will be used to give your page atitle. You will then enter the information along with images to complete your page. This will be a work in progress. So by tomorrow, you should have a paragraph or two along with images to detail your topic about Dominica. Have a look at last year’s wiki that the group made last year - http://2010dominicaproject.wikispaces.com/.
Entering information into the wiki:
What we have to make sure of is that we have already searched on saved your images onto the desktop so that you can then ‘upload’ into the wiki. So you will have to take some time and search the web using Google images or Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) to ‘save picture as ’to store the image on your desktop.
The neat thing about the wiki is that since we are all members of the same wiki – we can not only look after our own page, but you can assist others in creating and maintaining their pages. It becomes a truly collaborative learning environment where we all contribute to a work of creating or generating knowledge! As well, the collaboration process can be carried anytime – anywhere!!
To create your own wiki:
After the snack break, we’ll have a look at Glogster (http://rwilso.glogster.com/). This site provides the user with the ability to make digital posters as opposed to making physical paper posters. You have the ability to be very creative and also add little animated characters that you could never do with a typical poster. Glogster can be used for a multitude of purposes in a classroom – reports, summary of books, used as part of a presentation, etc.
Please create an account so that you can save your glogs!!
Once you are logged in, create a new glog by: