Technology Integration

This Abraham Lincoln Voki is a demonstration for a secondary history course.  I have suggested Voki and/or Blabberize as tools for this classroom to begin implementing technology into high school history classes.  In the proposal shared in Evernote, I provide a link directly to the Blabberize character that I created as an example of that application.  In this blog, besides seeing the Voki sample, there are other examples of technology used in the classroom, including podcasting, Photostory, and Animoto.  There are many links of other applications that may of interest to teachers of any subject.

Web 2.0 and Education

After watching the Jing presentations on all of the exciting (and free) Web 2.0 tools, I’m glad that we get an opportunity this week to reflect on what we’ve learned and think of possibilities of how we can implement these in our own classrooms and how we can share these resources with others.  I remember last spring when I took Foundations of Educational Technology, I was so excited about the opportunities and tried some of them in my classroom.  Again, this spring I’m fortunate enough to get to try these in my classroom as I learn about them.

I have already shared with others that Animoto is a great tool for photo slideshows, and I plan to share it with my Multimedia class this spring.  Voki and Blabberize are easy programs that I also plan to share with my Multimedia class.  I think Jing is a great tool that I wish that I had found a long time ago!  I will definitely be using it.  I may even use some of these fun programs as a teaser to my Computer Applications class to get them interested in taking Web Design and Multimedia.

Besides Multimedia, I’ve learned about several other tools that I plan on implementing into my other classes—Personal Finance and General Business.  CoboCards, the electronic flash cards, will be a great resource for any class.  I plan to use Bitstrip in Personal Finance and General Business.  I will give each student a small topic and have them create a strip to explain or demonstrate the topic.  Awesome Highlighter is another resource that I want to try; I want to see if I’d rather use it than copying and pasting into Word like I do now.  Also, I’ve just begun to use Evernote, but I like what I see so far and believe that it would be a great way to store information online so that it is available wherever I am.

Other Web 2.0 resources that some of my classmates have mentioned that I’d like to explore more are Prezi  and Online Converter.  I have done a little research on each of them.   I am going to set up Prezi and try it. It is not slide by slide like a PowerPoint presentation, but more like a whiteboard.  I have been in need of the online converter to convert images, audio, etc. from one format to another, so I will definitely be bookmarking it.

It is so exciting to have so many new resources!

Voki Avatar

The Web 2.0 application that I chose was Voki.  Using this application, you can create a personalized Voki avatar with voice that can be added to your website, profile, or blog.  My tutorial using Jing demonstrates how to create the avatar.  I have published my Voki, as well as the tutorial. 

This was a fun application to use, and I believe my high school students will really enjoy this.  There are also games that can be played with Vokis, and they could be used for teaching language and vocabulary.  My first use of my Voki is to be an introduction to my Multimedia course next year.  I can see these being popular with all ages.

While searching for a Web 2.0 application, I considered doing my tutorial on Big Huge Labs, Scratch, and Wallwisher.  Big Huge Labs allows you to create posters, trading cards, mosaics, and magazine covers.  Since my Multimedia students like to experiment with new software and applications, I have had Scratch installed in my computer lab for them to explore if  they finish projects early.  It introduces them to programming because they can create interactive stories, games, music, and art.  Wallwisher is an online notice board maker.  After searching, I chose Voki for my tutorial because it would be an application that I could implement in my classroom.   

As I was posting this tutorial, I see that my video is very large.  I have a widescreen that I used when I captured my screen with Jing.

 

Cloud Computing

According to Wikipedia, Cloud is a metaphor for the Internet.  Cloud Computing providers deliver common business applications online that are accessed from another Web service or software like a Web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.  Open Source software has provided the foundation for many Cloud Computing implementations. My opinion would be that Web 2.0 is part of Cloud Computing.

Cloud Computing lets you access software applications, hardware, data and computer processing power over the web.  You don't have to purchase and run software on your computer anymore, but there are Ups and Downs of Cloud Computing.

Some of the "Ups" of Cloud Computing are the ability to use applications from multiple locations, many are free, and they are helpful when collaborating at a distance. Virtual field trips, interactive websites, and online educational games support learning experiences.  The "Cloud" can provide a diverse learning experience outside of school hours. 

"Downs" of Cloud Computing include security issues, sometimes the need to filter content, and that even though some of the applications are free, some software still needs to be purchased. 

When I think about my experiences in high school many years ago, it is almost mind boggling to think about what is available today.  I believe that the ups definitely outweigh the downs. With the capability of technology doubling every day, the possibilities are endless.  What an exciting time!

Photostory or Animoto?

I believe that both Photostory and Animoto were fun to work with.  Since I did the Photostory first and did the voice recording, I was a little disappointed when I found out that I couldn't put the voice on  Animoto.  On the other hand, I really enjoyed the animations in Animoto and like the fact that there was music available that was easy to use. I have seen some of my former students that are Seniors and told them about Animoto and that it might be fun to use to make their Senior slide shows look more "professional" than the PowerPoints that many of them use.  I'm going to teach Photostory and maybe Animoto in Multimedia this year.  I love it when I can use something from a college class in my own classroom when the timing is right.

Both my Photostory and Animoto videos are tutorials about making an All Vegetable Soup.

My 1st Podcast!

The topic of this podcast for my Personal Finance class is Payroll Deductions.  Thank you Jason Shaw at audionautix.com for the use of your music.



Podcast Powered By Podbean

Copyright

According to Wikipedia, copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute, and adapt the work.  Copyright does not protect the ideas, only their expressions.

Taking the Mystery out of Copyright from the Library of Congress is a great resource for teachers that I just found during this search, which I plan to try out in my Web Design and/or Multimedia classes.  In Foundations of Educational Technology with Dr. Jurkowski, he shared a link with us that I have been using that the students really like.   It is A Fair(y) Use Tale, which uses clips from Disney movies (ironic, I know) to teach about copyright.

Fair Use, according to a government copyright site that I found, is Section 107 of the copyright law, and it contains a list of purposes where the reproduction of a work is fair.  Those purposes include criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.  It also sets out factors to use to determine whether or not a use is fair.  Those include the purpose and character of the use (commercial or nonprofit educational purposes), nature of copyrighted work, amount used compared to the amount of copyrighted work as a whole, and the effect of the use on the value of the copyrighted work.  It also indicated that the distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined.

The idea that the distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear is so true.  I teach copyright, but still struggle with it.  I always try to be overly careful, and the students know it.  I have to remind them that just because they can get it from the internet doesn’t make it theirs to use without permission.  I had a student find some pictures that someone had taken that they wanted to use.  I told him that he couldn’t use them unless he got permission.  He contacted the person and told that he would like to use the pictures for a website that he was doing for a class and that he had no intention of publishing the website.  The guy wrote back and gave him permission.  I reminded the student that he had the permission to use them as he had stated, but that he couldn’t decide to later post the website because that was outside the permission that he was granted.

According to Wikipedia, creative commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works.  They were initially released in 2002 by Creative Commons (a US non-profit corporation).  You keep the copyright, but allow others to copy and distribute your work if they give you credit. These licenses differ as indicated by Wikipedia’s Creative Commons  Frequently Asked Questions.