Resources and Ideas of Classroom Tech Integration
Uncategorized
Vote for Mr. Smith’s Project in Limeades for Learning
Aug 14th
Sonic and DonorsChoose.org have an exciting partnership called Limeades For Learnings. With your help, I can get the funding I need to inspire my students to learn.
Your part is simple. Just go to LimeadesForLearning.com to vote for my project. SONIC is donating more than half a million dollars to the projects that receive the most votes. But I need your help to make sure one’s mine!
Here’s the project I submitted:
I am requesting 2 digital video cameras, 2 digital cameras, and one tripod in order to create multimedia projects with my students. Through the use of this materials I plan to create video book reports, video research projects, video podcasts, and photo stories with my students. Students already have access to editing software such as Windows Movie Maker and Windows PhotoStory which are free for PC owners, but the amount of equipment is limited.
Digital Media is a fast growing area. Schools do not have the funding to keep up with the fast pace the industry is growing. Nearly every business will be highly involved with digital media in some way by the time these students graduate. That’s why it is so important to expose them to it now.
Go to LimeadesForLearning.com to learn more about it. And don’t forget to make your vote count. Thanks for your help!
Tech Tip 4 Today 06/21/2010
Jun 20th
-
This website provides useful mashups (or combinations) that can be used on Google Maps.
Classroom Use: Teachers could use some of these mashups within geography and social studies when teaching about maps. The distance mashups could be used in math, and the earthquake features in science.
- – By Jason Smith
Posted from Diigo. The rest of Tech Tips 4 Teachers group favorite links are here.
Tech Tip 4 Today 05/24/2010
May 23rd
-
This timeline creation website creates multimedia timelines using pictures, videos, and articles from a vast number if websites. Sources such as Flickr, YouTube, Digg, and more are used to pull media resources in order to create interactive websites. It is difficult to create timelines on historical events as it pulls from current resources, but it a great resource to use when discussing current events! Timelines are also embedable to wikis, blogs, and websites.
- – By Jason Smith
-
TimeRime.com – The timelines site
This is one of the sites online you can use within class to create digital timelines. It is fairly easy for students to create timelines. Students can then embed them into wikis or blogs. Teachers can also create digital timelines in order to share or present information with students and embed them into class websites or wikis.
- – By Jason Smith
Posted from Diigo. The rest of Tech Tips 4 Teachers group favorite links are here.
Tech Tip 4 Today 05/23/2010
May 22nd
-
WIkis are a wonderful way to integrate technology into the classroom. There are many tutorials around them web explaining purpose and setup. However, even the most novice computer user will find wikis quite simple to manage. They are actually built very similar to what one would find in Mircosoft Word.
Uses: PBWorks is a free wiki creation site. This link actually takes yout o the class wiki I have created and use in my own classroom. I use it to post new assignments, rubrics, and other information the children may need (or often lose). Students know if they have lost a rubric, they can simply go to the wiki and pull it back up. It’s simplistic features make this one of the easiest options to use. PBWorks offers free accounts, and premium upgrades. Most teachers will only need to free features.
One nice advantage to wikis over blogs is its security. By editing folder security, all objects inside will only be viewable by certain students or groups. This allows for more student freedom and safety as it is not publicly accessible.
- – By Jason Smith
Posted from Diigo. The rest of Room 403 Version 2.0 group favorite links are here.
Weebly: A Free Internet Hosting Site
Mar 2nd
Weebly is an online website creator and hosting site. Normally, when someone wants to create a website, they must pay for the storage space and the domain name. You can even end up paying for the site design itself. Some sites, such as Google Sites, offers free space to create and design web pages, but is fairly limited to its capabilities. If you really want to pay, there are sites like Godaddy.com that offers domain names (the www.yourname.com) and hosting, as well as design programs like Website Tonight. This offers much more customization and the ability to add in many tweaks and widgets that Google Sites does not have.
In steps Weebly. Weebly is the mix between the two. Weebly offers free website design and hosting (it does not offer domain names, but that is the cheapest part of the equation, and Weebly has its own walkthrough so it can be linked to your account if you purchase one). Weebly is also very user friendly. Everything is simply drag and drop. There are many designs to choose from that look professional, and not as empty as many of the designs from Google Sites.
Classroom Uses
Weebly provides a free alternative for teachers to set up class websites. There is no advertisement, so it is safe from outside links. It is easy to setup with drag and drop features, and also looks much more professional than Google Sites. Weebly also offers 30 student accounts for free (with a 2 page limit). This provides an opportunity for teachers to create student pages in which they could display ePortfolios or other work done in classroom. Having student work displayed online is a good way to link home and school, and gets students excited about the work they have completed.
For an example of what a Weebly page could look like, feel free to check out my class page at www.themrsmith.com !
CNN Student News: A Great Way to Get Students into the News
Mar 1st
CNN Student News is a great way to get students involved in current events. With all the information at our finger tips and the wealth of knowledge available, students should be guided where to find useful information on the internet. Today with the massive overflow of information students receive, it is often hard for them to know where to find reliable information. That is where CNN Student News comes into play. CNN Student News has setup a wonderful site for students to use as well as being full of resources so teachers can incorporate it into the classroom.
Classroom Uses
CNN Student News works well with students around grades 3-8. It breaks down current events, as well as explains important background knowledge in quick segments. For example, when reporting the arrest of a high ranking Taliban official, the news team
reviewed who the Taliban were and why it was a significant news event.
Not only does CNN Student News review past situations, but they also develop discussion and comprehension questions for further use within the classroom. This provides instant feedback for the teacher as to the students complete understanding of the news report. There are also interactive maps, assignments, and other resources for teachers to use within the website. Overall, it is definitely worth the visit to check it out!
Vodpod: A Teacher’s Treasure Chest of Videos
Feb 28th
Vodpod is a very interesting website. In a way, it’s like a notebook of videos. In essence, what Vodpod does is it allows educator’s (or anyone really) to “collect” videos from any number of sources in one place. This way it makes it very easy to find later. Like bookmarks, you can tag them, put them in collections, or just collect them into your own giant pot of videos.
Uses in the Classroom
Vodpod can be used in many different ways for educational use. While it is not a site dedicated to education (it is more of a social sharing site for videos), it has more restrictions that can be placed on a users profile than other sites such as YouTube. This makes it much more “student friendly” since uneducational videos don’t make their way in. One way to place such restrictions is to create a “Vodspot.” You do this after you create a free acount. Within your profile you choose share, and then choose other. This takes you to the Vodspot creation page so you can set a design, and the collection of videos you desire. This also makes an easy website you can send student to in order to rewatch videos at home or as make-up assignments.
Another nice feature about Vodpod is it’s collection of widgets that can be easily integrated into blogs, websites, and other pages. Also, Vodpod has it’s own widget in Edublogs.
You can check out my Vodspot here to get ideas of how I use Vodpod in my classroom.
