Welcome to Web 2.0

1. Blog Reflection

Now that you’ve had time to digest the week’s information, discuss the following questions:
1. What are your plans for sharing your enthusiasm and with whom?
2. How can you utilize your learning to become a leader in your department/building/district?
3. What advice will you give to colleagues who are resistant and/or who have not yet explored Web 2.0?
4. What will you be doing for the rest of the summer to prepare for the start of the school year and your integration of Web 2.0 technologies? Who can you go to for help?
5. How has will your work from the past transform your classroom to more closely represent the “ideal” according to the Net Gen (refer to your Before, During, After blue sheet)?

2. Complete the course evaluation – log in to http://gpde.smumn.edu

Username: gpde5256b
password: the email address you used to register for this course
Select “Summer 09″ for the Term.

3. Continue working on the assessments. Make sure you label all of your final copies as “final” (change the name of your document within Google Docs and make sure it is shared with Ryan and Barry) All assessments are due by Friday, July 3rd.

4.  Please comment on THIS POST with specific suggestions for making this class more effective; we are open to your feedback and always work to make our instruction as effective and meaningful as possible.  Best of luck!

Ryan and Barry (and probably the rest of you) would love to hear about your adventures with integrating technology. Please continue to use the Google Docs and this website to aid in your explorations. Please feel free to share your experiences with all of us. Also, let Ryan and Barry know if there is anything they can do to support you!

1.  Blog Reflection #4; follow these new prompts for this reflection:

Briefly describe your philosophy of education.  Has your philosophy changed at all during the week?  How?

How do Web 2.0 technologies, as you have come to understand them, fit into your philosophy?  What continued challenges do you anticipate with Web 2.0 and your philosophy?

In what specific ways can using these technologies make your teaching more effective?

How can you work toward putting these tools in hands of more students?

2.  Continue working on checklist and assessments: Make sure they are shared so that you can receive feedback.

3.  Open your mind to new ways of approaching your instruction, curriculum, assessment, etc…Be on the lookout for things you might run across on the internet and ask yourself, “could this be used in my classroom?  How?  Why?  When?”

1.  BEFORE YOU LEAVE TODAY: Write a new post regarding your initial ideas on integration ideas (i.e. what technologies will you use and what for…be sure to include your grade level, subject, etc…Title this post: New Technologies in MY Classroom)

2.  Visit your fellow learners sites, read their post (from number 3 above) and add your ideas for integrating technology into their classrooms.

3.  Write Blog Reflection #3

4.  Continue searching the web for relevant ideas.

5.  Continue working on your assessments.

6.  Do both readings (Let’s be “digital multipliers” and Engage me or Enrage me)

Click “Read More” for an update on Assessments

Read the rest of this entry »

VOD – Video on Demand

We’ve already seen a variety of uses for VODcasts (screencasts); the predominant use of screencasting is for the purpose of teaching a technology skill (i.e. setting up a blog or performing specific functions using specific software).  However, there are other uses that might be useful for your class.  You can tweak the functions of the tool to serve as a review for a narrated presentation.  The opportunities are wide open.  In this course, we will investigate the use of the Tipcam from uTipu.com (you’ve already downloaded this software on your flash drive! class account username: smugpde; password: teachers)  To find a bunch of screencasts on how to do screencasting using this software, click here!

POD – Play on Demand

You may wish to incorporate using podcasts on a variety of levels.  Either the you find some that are premade that fit your criteria, or you, or your students, can make your own.

1.  Finding some pre-made PODcasts:  iTunes (search by topic to find relatable content like foreign language learning, etc…) Education PODcast Network (student/teacher created workon a variety of topics)

2.  Make your own using Audacity (you have this application on your flash drive) Audacity Tips and Tricks

GPDE Test PODcast

GPDE Test PODcast

bvoight’s Podcast

You may need a place to put your PODcasts to make them easily accessible (upload them to your blog or wiki or perhaps a third-party site devoted to handling PODcasts).  Try Pod-o-Matic (this will give you an RSS feed which you can place in your blogs!) see what this looks like in VOIGHTclass 2.2

3.  Don’t want to mess with software?  Use Gcast – allows you to place a phone cal which creates a podcast for you!

As you work through producing a screencast and podcast, think about how you could incorporate these into your work.

**SIDEBAR**  – as you are attempting to customize your site, you might want to find or create your own cool widgets/gadgets!!  Widgetbox allows you to turn your RSS feeds into nice looking widgets.  Check out what these and other fun widgets look like in Mr. Sackett’s class page.

• Assessments – Checklist, Rationale, Implementation Framework
• Blog Reflection #2
• A) Find and read an article on best practice use of technology or B) find and example of best practices in practice in your content area. Add an annotation to the annotated bibliography in the corresponding area. Provide links to examples of technology in use if you do option B.
• Search the web to find podcasting examples or resources. Preferably, this should be applicable to your content area. We will be recording podcasts tomorrow during the day.