Web Tools Reflection

As I reflect upon my experience with WebTools, I can’t help but get excited about the new technologies I’m planning on using in my own classroom. One of the most important ideas that I became familiar with during this course was that using a new technology in a new way (one not possible without technology) take instruction to a new level. A new level that is entirely engaging and interactive for the students. The teacher doesn’t need to be a “sage on the stage” because there are so many awesome tools that allow students to explore, create and learn. The possibilities are really limited only by one’s imagination.

With that being said, I don’t believe that technology implementation is a necessity to be a successful teacher. Several of my colleagues shared stories about teachers that use minimal technology in their classrooms. I think most of us agreed that there isn’t a set picture or set number of educational strategies or a set amount technology implemented that defines what it means to be a great teacher. If I were to finish this sentence, “I use technology as…” I would say…
• a tool that opens new doors and allows one to “see” new places not possible without technology
• a tool for organization
• a tool for collaboration
• a tool for creation and presentation
• a tool for gathering (and receiving) information

The last bullet makes me think “Web 2.0.” And the perfect way to conclude is to explain what I learned about the Web 2.0 and how it affects my life. I learned about several tools that can be classified as Web 2.0 instead of Web 2.0. One key Web 2.0 tool that I used this semester was Google Reader. Google Reader allowed me to instantly receive the new information being posted to other websites or blogs. The information was coming to me (in one spot) rather than me having to go out and find what I wanted. What a big time saver! The Web 2.0 is different than past “generations” because information comes to your rather than you going out to find information. This makes a lot a sense. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of the concept prior to this class. Maybe it will be like so many trends, once it “lights up,” it will take off like wild fire. I know I can’t wait to share the tools that I’ve learned this summer. I wonder if my principal would give me 5-10 minutes during our monthly staff meetings?

Final Project - Finally

My final project consisted of created an "In Plain English" like video on the the Mole. I wrote up my script and brainstormed what clip art I would use a few weeks ago. See my previous blog post for a picture of the 9 pages of dialogue I wrote.

The video took a lot longer to put together than I anticipated because I did it COMPLETELY alone (I pressed record on the camera and everything). I used a simple flip camera that I check out at school. After searching for and then cutting out all the clip art I was ready for my first "take." After scrapping the first 5 or 6 takes, I decided I would have to shoot in small clips. I was really happy with the end result. I did no editing, I just combined the 7 small (about 1 and 30 seconds each) mp4 files.

I had issues with my FlipShare program only wanting to save my combined clips as a .wmv file (and I don't think Mac users can open that). So I downloaded a "free" converter program and when 20% of my movie was converted to an mp4, the free download was asking me for a subscription and fee. I thought, enough with that, I could try to upload my first youtube video. Here is my video :-)

Let me know what you think? I'm on to my final project for CHEM580

Week 6 Tools - Images, Images & More Images

It really would be devastating to me to lose my photos in a fire or other unfortunate event. That would probably be my #1 reason for uploading my photos to a site like Picnik or Flickr.The photo at right is one of the photos in the collection I uploaded to Flickr. It's a pic of my youngest son last fall. You can see the 5 photo album here.

This week I signed up and played around with web tools involving images. I created accounts in Picnik and Flickr. Lee LeFever, author of the In Plain English series, has another great video for “Photo Sharing.” The video is less than 3 minutes and you can see it on youtube here. If anything he makes a good point, that because of the threat of fire or unfortunate event, we all should back up our previous photos on the web. He also suggests trying out the public share option after uploading your photos. I may try this as I agree that keeping them private is no better than putting them in a physical photo album and letting them sit on a shelf. I also really like the easy method of organization using titles and “tags.” I’m using the “tags” feature with the website organization tool Diigo now. Tags make finding a specific item in a sea of hundreds or thousands really easy. Picnik is a commercial site and they want your business. One downside of Picnik is that only 5 photos can be uploaded at one time (unless you pay to upgrade).

For Flickr, I can’t believe I had to generate ANOTHER EMAIL ACCOUNT. I think that brings my tally up to 5! Five email address, that ridiculous! Anyway, I really like the sharing capacity of Flickr. Although as Eric pointed out, because there is a wide variety of photos that are shared, some that may not be appropriate for our students, we might want to close monitor what our students are looking at. I would almost bet that both sites are currently blocked at my school for that very reason. I would need to put in a request for access. I do like the idea of photo sharing. And with Eric’s example of the 5 photo oil spill collection, I can definitely see some classroom application. If you missed it, find it here. The photo of the dragonfly with oil on its wings and the wave crest with oil drops was especially powerful but disturbing for me. Here is a link to the small collection I put together. It’s my family and I carving pumpkins last October.

Week 5 Tools

Google Earth

I can’t believe how fast time flies just exploring one tool. I first downloaded Google Earth yesterday and spent a few minutes (okay, an hour and a half) just looking at various features. I really like Google’s description of this awesome tool:

“The idea is simple. It's a globe that sits inside your PC. You point and zoom to anyplace on the planet that you want to explore. Satellite images and local facts zoom into view. Tap into Google search to show local points of interest and facts. Zoom to a specific address to check out an apartment or hotel. View driving directions and even fly along your route.”

I see lots of application for Google Earth in all elementary grade levels and middle school. However, for a high school chemistry and physics teacher like myself, I don’t see Google Earth playing a huge role in my curriculum. Anything I want to reference a place on the globe or a map, Google Earth has the advantage, hands down, over the traditional globe or map. Because there is a space component of Google Earth, I see the tool being extremely utilized in an astronomy class. One way that I could incorporate Google Earth in my high school physics class would be to add a virtual tour piece into my already existing Physics Hall of Fame Project. Here students create a tab poster that includes 10 facts (underneath flaps or tabs) that are numbered and increase in detail as you go down in number. So tab #10, might say something like, “This scientist was born in Copenhagen on October 7, 1885.” While a more specific Tab#5 might say, “Recognition of this scientists work on the structure of atoms came with the award of the Nobel Prize for 1922.” I could require students to take us on a virtual field trip that follows important places in the chronological time line of their physics’ (Niels Bohr in my example) life.

Here was a resource (free download) that is “An Illustrated Guide to Creating Virtual Field Trips Using Google™ Services.” Let me know what you think.

I suppose it just takes a little brainstorming to come up with a creative way to incorporate a web tool like Google Earth. Unfortunately, not all of our students are as geeked about science as we are. So anytime you can create a lesson that incorporates other disciplines, I think you enhance the learning experience for your students.

Make a Link for Your Document

As you can see from my previous posts, I blogged about wikis and blogs in the classroom. For this I created a “Blog Self Assessment” Rubric. But when I wanted to attach my document to my blog post I only saw a button to upload an image or video. Never fear, I remembered one of my classmates raving about how easy Scribd was to use to publish a document, presentation, spreadsheet etc. Actually, I couldn’t even remember what the publishing site was called. So I researched it and Scribd rang a bell. I created a link that I embedded into my post in seriously less than 1 minute. You can see my rubric here that I created using Scribd.

"Blog Self-Assessment" Attachment

Oops I forgot the attachment to my last post. Take a look. I'm pleased with this rubric and think it would be very useful for those of us thinking about adding a blogging pieces to our classes. If you have any suggestions for changes, please feel free to share. Thanks!

Blog on Blogs

I can certainly see the application of using both blogs and wikis in my own classroom. I could see integrating a blog requirement in my high school science courses that would serve as a great way to collaborate or simply ask a question. Requiring each student to make a few posts over the course of a unit could be extremely beneficial. I could see students helping students a lot more using a method, the internet, which they love. I would also incorporate and require students to fill out a form that summarizes their blog posts and comments to other students. Minimally, the grading rubric would include questions like, “Did I make write a post that raised an original question or issue stemming from the reading, lab, and/or homework assignment for this unit?” I would then ask students to provide the title, date and a one sentence summary of their post. See the attached form for my “Blog Self-Assessment” Rubric.

As far as a class wiki, I don’t see myself incorporating a classroom wiki in the near future. I can see the benefit for using a class wiki for a virtual learning experience. I watched the youtube video posted by Gordon that includes a teacher explaining how her students collaborate using a wiki in order to write an essay. All the while I was thinking why not just use Google Docs? For those teachers that are already using a wiki for something like a group essay, what is the benefit over using Google Docs?

Requiring either web tool could prove to be discriminatory. As some of my students don’t even have a computer at home, making a requirement that involves the internet could serve to be a hardship or challenge for some. I may need to provide in class time for such a requirement. Or maybe when I help them set up their blog accounts, I could ask them to fill out a simple technology survey. From the survey, I should know who may have limited access to the internet. For these students, I could provide them a one-day-a-week pass to my seminar (a 25 minute “homeroom” of sorts that falls in the middle of the day).

Web Tools - Week 4

Google Docs is definitely the best web tool I’ve explored this summer. I can’t count the number of times I was at home the night before I was to teach a specific lesson creating and then emailing myself something to use the next day. Or I can’t believe I was taking the time and putting my computer at risk of viruses to load a lab report from a student document. All the while we could have been using Google Docs. Here’s a In Plain English video that I found very informative.

I can see SO MANY BENEFITS from using Google Docs both for myself and my students. And I can’t wait to share this tool with my colleagues. I found this video created by teachers and administrators that describes a few of the possibilities and benefits of Google Docs. One teacher describes the editing and sharing between classmates and says that the quality of student work goes up because they are publishing work that their peers, parents and other will see. Their work has more personal value. And Google Docs isn’t for just word processing documents. Students could collaborate on a presentation or a lab report that involves a spreadsheet. Plus this sharing, editing and collaborating can occur 24/7/365! If anyone is already using Google Docs, please share your favorite applications of the tool.

This week I also explored several science simulation sites. My favorite site was PhET Simulations from the University of Colorado. The site was referenced in an article I read on Virtual Labs on Circuits in the Science Teacher Summer 2010. The simulations are very interactive, colorful and applicable. They are organized by content including chemistry, physics and biology. Although, the majority of simulations are physics related. Simulations can also be searched by content and grade level.

Lastly, I took a look at Google Translate. This web tool is fairly simple. But I can see it having application in my rural West Michigan area. The area where my school is located has a lot of agriculture and immigrate workers to help harvest the various crops. Local schools have a fluctuating Spanish population as immigrant families move in and out of the area. Google Translate could be a very powerful tool for those ESL students. This web tool is able to translate text, web pages (simply copy and paste a URL) and documents from 55+ languages. It could also serve as a great resource for any foreign language class. Here’s a resource to get you a quick intro. And Google Translate has this URL: http://translate.google.com/.