I have used buzzword a lot in the supported English class that I am in. It has been very useful in teaching editing skills, and when we have used it consistently, the student’s writing has improved dramatically. I have also tried to get my Special Needs students in My Study Skills class to send me their essay’s in buzzword so that I can also help them with the editing. Another useful part of buzzword is ht disorganized students don’t loose their papers.
I also would like to try to get students to use googledocs to work on making study guides for their mid-years. Students could work in groups and make up practice quizzes as a way to prepare for their tests.
I used google doc to make a quiz for my English class to use. It is on Drama Terms
I easily downloaded the Skype program onto my computer; however, I had a much more difficult time figuring out how to use the program. So my husband helped me and I Skyped with him. Once that I figured it out, it is very easy to use. My husband was watching TV and I could easily see the program in the background. I also figured out that there is not a camera hooked up to the school laptop. So I could see my husband but he could not see me. I am not sure how or if I would you this program at school. I would much more likely use it to talk with relatives that I don’t see on a regular basis.
I have enjoyed being exposed to all of the many programs, but have also become overwhelmed. Usually, I like to learn one program at a time and then explore how to use it. The biggest problem that I have faced with this class is finding the time to play with the various programs and digest all of the possibilities that they offer. If I don’t have time to play with new programs, I have to relearn them each time I want to use them. I also keep getting all of the passwords mixed up. I think that I have only just scratched the surface of all they offer to my students. Hopefully I will keep searching to more ways to use them
I liked the idea behind Aardvark and signed up. I asked a question and received an answer. The answer that I received was very general and less than I could get if I surfed the web. In order to be useful, I think I would need to spend time figuring out how to use it more effectively. I used delicious and have been very happy with being able to keep track of the websites that I use on the web.
An important part of any foreign language program is getting the kids to learn the basics around how nouns, adjectives, and verbs work. This particular task is usually accomplished using family members vocabulary. A tried and true practice / assessment for this is to have students create a family tree. In the days of old, posters were made. At a certain time of year, one would see kids carrying large cardboard representations of their families to foreign language class. I too fell victim to assigning such a project.
I then discovered a program called Inspiration and tried that with this project. It worked well. The program had, what I thought, was plenty of interesting clip art etc.. The one thing that I did not like was the amount of time it took to complete in the computer lab.
At the end of the project, I would surveyed my students. I found that they did not agree with me and felt that the program was limited in its clip art. I finally decided that this year I would try a combination of the both methods. However, before I could try it, I came across a website called Glogster.com.
Since it’s a website where you can create poster like projects, I immediately thought of my family tree project and decided that this site might be what I was looking for. First, it’s a website so it is easily accessable on any computer with internet.(at home) I plan on having them do most of the work at home and have two days in the school computer lab to introduce the project and to help out on any problems they may have. Thus cutting the amount of time needed.
Once I signed up for it (free) I was also able to get “sub accounts” for all of my students. The sub accounts are set up with individual nicknames/usernames and passwords. And of course it’s all secure !! It does not have to be ”open” to the public. Which means that the whole world can not view it.
The students can create a poster that can be viewed on the website. All students can view and comment on each others posters. With it, students can use the clipart and make different types of text boxes and backgrounds.
I created a poster on this website, which I will use when demonstrating how to use the program. To be honest I was not very impressed with the clipart that they provided. The site does allow importing photos and other pictures, which was very easy to do. Aligning the pictures and text boxes proved to be a little tedious at times but I’m sure my students will manage.
In all, I am eager to try it out on the kids. I think I have even come up with other ways of using this site in the future.
Has anyone found the templates section of the google docs?
It has some pretty cool starters. I like the scrap book, and one of the many many calenders. There was also a credit card payoff calculator. You could put in payments amounts and get the number of payment month left or if you would rather you could put in the number of months and get the payoff amounts necessary to attain it.
I’m still searching to see what else is there!
Whenever we attempt a new projects or experiment there is a definate learning curve. Adjustment to the output, grading scale and expectations are inevitable. I am curious about how using the web will help me streamline what I am doing in my class. I am sure that an investment of time now will yield a time savings in the future. Will all of these internet based technologies help me to do a better job? I do want to avoid doing experiment the same way that I did in college!
One tool I see myself using in all of my classes is Buzzword. The advantages of this form of online collaboration is tremendous. I modeled my second project after the podcast we did in our classroom. I updated an old (but tried, true and fan favorite) assignment on the causes of World War I by integrating Web 2.0 elements into the activity. Students explore the causes of the First World War by taking on the role of one of the major players. The teams then participate in an extensive discussion forum (face to face) focusing on the question “Who is to blame for WWI?” also known as “The Blame Game”. At the start of the forum, each country team introduces itself. I decided to have the students create a audio and visual podcast that addresses the basic information about their country on the eve of WWI and they are to include why they are NOT responsible. They will collaborate on buzzword to create a narrative, collect images and appropriate music/ sound effects ( eg. country’s national anthem) and then create their podcast. I plan on doing an example of a podcast but have not had the chance to do so yet. I look forward to working with Stephanie on this project and learning more about both buzzword and podcasting.
As I spend more time deliberating on our class project I am beginning to realize the uses of many of these tools. Delicious has some very distinct advantages for group projects. Researched links can be shared easily!
When we first looked at Delicious I wondered why I would want to have all of my favorites listed in an online site. I could just as easily carry a laptop place to place or simply wait until I have it at my avail to complete any work that I am doing. I have to stop looking at how the world revolves around me!!
The only thing my freshmen hate more than writing is the research paper-writing requires. I assign a 3-5 page paper during 2nd semester; students start their research in February and finish their papers in May–with a lot of check-ins along the way. One of my biggest goals in assigning this project is getting students to understand that, while the web is a great tool for research, we can’t rely on every site that pops up on a Google search. For that reason, I have students create an annotated bibliography; this forces them to really investigate the sources they find on the web to determine their legitimacy (or lack thereof). Since students conduct research both at school and at home, I thought that having them create a Delicious account would be a great way to help them keep track of the internet sources they find at either location. I could also have students provide me access to their accounts so that I can check the validity of their sources myself! Delicious allows students to write notes on each source they find–a great start to their annotated bibliography.
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