Teaching With 21st Tools & Some Reflections

This blog is dedicated to technology tools for educators and my reflections on some of those tools. Feel free to bookmark this blog and use the tools below to help build your curriculum and engage your students with the use of technology.




Online Searches and Bookmarking:


This free online service allows educators to add a list of favorite websites and create folders to save them in. Unlike adding links to your “Favorites” I like the idea of adding symbols to sites to indicate how much you like them and that this can be a backup server that can be accessed anytime you are away from your personal computer. One of the perks iKeepbookmarks has is a Form page that allows the user to discuss topics with other users.

Ikeepbookmarks. (2010). Retrieved from

http://www.ikeepbookmarks.com/


For my classroom:

• Have students research a topic related to energy and categorize all the websites they found by using the symbols for likes and dislikes.


This free online service allows educators to archive bookmarks, copy and save text from documents like pdfs, and highlight and clip pictures that you have found interesting. One item that I found interesting was that you could take snapshots of the pages you viewed and tag them so it is easy to find them within your personal folder. It is very easy to share your material with others and like the other service you can access it anywhere the internet is available.

Diigo. (2010). Retrieved from

http://www.diigo.com/


In my classroom:

• Have students complete a report together as a team whereas they will use all functions to save pictures, tags them, and submit documentation.



Working Together on Documents:


This free online service provides educators the opportunity to discuss and share documents in real time. One advantage is you can control who sees your documents. By using GoogleDocs you will be able to have others edit all types of documents and respond to your questions in a chat format.


Googledocs. (n.d). Retrieved from

http://docs.google.com/


In my classroom:

Provide students with an assignment were they will have to edit it and setup access to their teammates to view and respond too.


Websites For All Types of Teachers:


1. This website is a way for teachers to make up quizzes for their students to take. This site allows you to create, administer, and view results for a particular quiz.

Center for Advance Learning Technologies. (2008). Retrieved from

http://quizstar.4teachers.org/



2. This website is to the History Channel which contains the Modern Marvels television series. They have numerous videos with lessons plans on subjects like distillation and Renewable Fuels.


A&E Television Networks. (2010). Retrieved from

http://shop.history.com/?pagemax=all&v=history_subject_science-and-technology_modern-marvels



3. This website is to the Center for the Advancement of Process Technology. They have online resources such as asking experts and other teacher’s questions, lesson plans, and updated news on the industry. I show the students job openings and scholarships usually.

College of the Mainland. (2003-2010). Retrieved from

http://captech.org//

4. This website is to o-net, which is great source to show students that are building resumes. The site by the U.S. Department of Labor list different skills for every job in the US. It shows students what industry is looking for and the abilities needed to do the job.


Department of Labor. (n.d.) Retrieved from

http://online.onetcenter.org/



5. This link can be used when writing objectives. It is based on Bloom's and real easy to copy and paste objectives into documents.


Radiojames. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.radiojames.com/ObjectivesBuilder/



Social Networking Tools:

• Wimba Inc. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.wimba.com/


Reflection:


Some of its features are audio and video conferences, application sharing, and instant school notifications. A student only needs to download Wimba and build a profile. Once they have done that they will see their classes listed and can view which classmates are online to chat. It potential benefit to education is enormous. From a teaching standpoint you can have online office hours and send IM to your whole class and discuss questions at anytime. From a student’s standpoint it opens up dialog on the weekends, nights, and non class hours to help build relationships and conduct tutoring if needed.



For my classroom:

I would have students setup an account and post office hours for myself to help students during those hours.


• LinkeIn Corporation. (2010). Retrieved from

http://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=hb_home

This network is aimed at the young professional that wants to build a page that contains business and personal contacts. You can make your profile fit your personality or job description. The network contacts you to others that are linked to people you now as a way to build relationships on the professional level.


• YouTube, LCC. (2010). Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/

This social network has thousands of video clips that individuals have posted and the public can view. My students enjoy YouTube and very regularly point out video clips they have seen, not always educational though. It is easy to access and to search for topics.


In my classroom:

Have the students find specific clips related to topics to begin a project that will be presented to the class.


Podcasting In A Classroom Environment:


• Apple Inc. (2010). Retrieved from

http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html


Apple provides steps on how to setup and get your podcasting broadcasting to the world. I had some problems with the extension file but once I figured that out it was really simple. I would recommend it to teachers as a way to communicate to the iTunes generation.


In my classroom:

Some of the positive uses for my students would be on the days they miss class they could listen to my podcast and take notes from them without trying to track down a classmate. Students would learn some responsibility by going out and finding the lecture and being prepared for the next class. Also, by using an audio podcast students would develop better listening skills. Students would learn that technology can be user friendly and might express interest in creating their own podcast for class projects.