EDMODO

Is a free micro blogging platform which us actually built for students and teacher. It also students and teachers to send files, documents, attachment etc. It also is like an online diary where teachers can send out reminders about sports day, assignments, money due! It can be compared to twitter or facebook - but strictly educational!

Features:
Safe
Teacher can delete inappropriate comments
Attachable files and homework
Communication between teachers and students
Alerts and reminders
Upload/dowload files and music
Intergrated to any learning area
Its free and simple to navigate
Dont need an email
Incorporates Gardner's muliple intelligences.

After the EDMODO presentation, I would easily say that this innovation is one of the few out of all the technologies we have been introduced to, that I would absolutely consider using in my classroom. Organisation is very important for me, and this innovation supports that exactly!

Voice Thread

Voice Thread allows users to upload photos, record voice messages, and add comments to these photos. It is sort of similar to a digitial photo album or multimedia slideshow that is very simple to use and user friendly.

The main features are:
Upload photos
Adding comments
Sharing with friends and family
Doodle - draw arrows, point out features etc
Muliple identities
Moderations -private or public?
Embed onto other websites

Voice Thread in the classroom?
Communication with students.
Intergrated through all learning areas.
Incorporates seaking, listening, writing, reading and viewing.
Facilitates speaking and listening activities.
Assessemnet evaluation tool.
Online dicussions.

2nd Life

Second life is a game. However, in many senses, more then just a game. Its a virtual world where you can interact with people from all over the globe. Much like the interactive game The Sims, you can chose your character, what they wear, what the do and who they communicate with. It has become so popular that real life businesses have created virtual representations of themselves.

Second life has many, many educational uses, and as Ive just recently found out, the international space flight museum has been created in the virtual form and allows residents (or users) to view a 3D version of the planets. There are lectures and teachers who also take classess in Second life which makes this innovation a very indepth and creative one.

This innovation is definitely something Id like to incorporate into my classroom and learn more about. The possibilties are endless!

Here is an example of how a librarian has used Second Life...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6D9I36zsec&feature=related

GAME MAKER

Game Maker is quite an interesting piece of technology that allows users to actually create games themselves. It enables users and students to construct, deconstruct and use mathematical skills in one program. after using this innovation I found it quite difficult to navigate and understand what it was i had to do. In the whole construction section, there are many elements such as your character (clown or ghost), music, creating your wall and timing etc.

As you can imagine it is VERY time consuming, and even at the completion of our individual game, I wasn't thrilled with what was created unfortunately.
in the classroom I believe this technology would need to be well researched and used by the teacher or a student before the rest of the class started using it. In saying this, technologically advanced student most probably would thrive on something of this nature. So all in all, teachers should be careful when incorporating this into the classroom, but not be opposed to the idea either!

Hot Potato Hot Potato!

Hot Potato is a program that teachers can use to create all sorts of educational materials for use in the classroom. It is exceptionally helpful in creating interactive tests, exercises or any assessment for that matter.

The main features of Hot Potato are:
1. Multiple-choice exercises
2. Short-answer quizzes
3. Jumbled-sentences
4. Crosswords
5. Matching/ordering
6. Gap-fill exercises

Hot Potatoes also comes with four major applications:
JCloze
JCross
JMatch
JMix
JQuiz

What is so good about Hot Potatoes is the user friendly element! After the presentation, I feel that I could quite easily incorporate this innovation into my classroom. It is not time consuming, nor is it irrelevant. Complete lessons could be set around it, or just as study or practice for upcoming tests and assessments.

Glogster

Glogster Poster's

Forget your boring classroom posters, and in come Glogster - a new poster creating innovation. It virtually is an interactive poster, where images, text, photos, music and videos can all be uploaded. It is also user friendly so nearly all people can use them quite easily. Perfect for schools, Glogster was created for teachers, students and of course classrooms!


www.glogster.com/what-to-do/ tells us all about how and what to do with Glogster...

What to do with Glogster?
Mix graphics, photos, videos, music and text into slick Glogs.Glog yourself every day!
Amaze your friends - send others links to your Glogs.
Pimp your profile! - share your creations on Myspace, Facebook, Hi5, Friendster, Bebo or wherever you want...
Find new friends by their style
Have fun browsing Glogs, comment on other people's Glogs and get inspiration


Glogster PLUS

• created for teachers
• no software to install
• can set it to private - privacy for children
• master account for teachers - can keep a check on each student!
• collaboration of work - students helpers
• send others links
• can be adapted to other Learning Areas - versatile

Glogster MINUS

• carried away with being creative
• targeted mainly at girls
• friends have ability to contact others - inappropriate language
  
  
  

Twitter Dee & Twitter Dum

Twitter is a real time short messaging/status update service that works over multiple networks. It is mainly used on your mobile phone to communicate with all different types of people, from any where around the world. It surrounds the idea of what are you doing? In saying this, Twitter allows users to keep in contact with family members in a very personal way!



We have had a debate about whether or not Twitter is appropriate for use in the classroom. Personally, I do not think I would use this technology because it is too time consuming with no enough educational benefits. On the other hand, it could be useful for school organisations and for parents. Below are some reason for and against Twitter in the classroom context...



Ways to use twitter:


· Use as a privacy system for students to inform teachers about certain issues they may be having (using direct messages) so that it is a communication between the teacher and student only.
· Teacher can tweet a story opener, and each student has to reply by adding a sentence on. Aim is to create a class story.
· Let parents ‘follow’ their students on twitter. A good way for busy parents to have some sort of contribution to their student learning.
· Give students either a story introduction, a character description etc to begin in 140 characters.
· Teacher can tweet out a particular word and students can give either definition, synonyms etc.
· Class studying a story/novel/short story – each student/pair of students is allocated a character and the other characters discuss a particular issue in the point of view of their own character.
· Reflections – what did I learn? What I could do better next time? Etc

The following are Twitter pages used in 3 different schools..

1. http://twitter.com/leamore_primary
2. http://twitter.com/ColintonP6
3. http://twitter.com/KingstonStMary

Limitations:
· Too distracting
· Does not take into consideration students with diverse abilities
· Multitasking increases stress – affects other learning areas
· Reduces ‘on task’ behaviours
· Can go against classroom expectations – courtesy etc
· Easily off task
· Difficult to monitor/regulate
· Time consuming for the teacher
· Difficult to get started

Itchy & Scratchy

Scratch is a new programming tool that allows users to 'create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web' (mres, 2009). Originally designed for ages 8 and above, nearly all ages can use this innovative technology in some form or another. It was designed for young students to learn and become familiar with 21st century learning skills. Howard Rhiengold distinguishes some 21st century literacy's or skills which I have been able to relate to Scratch itself.



1) Attention - Scratch engages students by the freedom of what their multiple characters can do.



2) Participation - each student is responsible for how their interactive stories turn out, this in turn encourages students to try their hardest and work in a positive environment.



3) Collaboration - students are able to share their Scratch inventions on the web for other peers and other students to view.



4) Network Savvy - once students are familiar with Scratch their skills and understandings will enable them to help others and use the tool to help with other Learning Areas.



5) Critical Consumption - students will need to learn to sift through the useless information and discover personal relevance to what they are doing.



Scratch has some positive points:

-allows for creativity

-learning important mathematical ideas

-computational ideas

-interactive

-fun

-reason

-work collaboratively



Scratch has some negative issues as well:

-time consuming

-hard to work out

-does it cater for all developers?

-is Gardner's Multiple Intelligences accounted for?

-not user friendly

Jing-a-ling

Jing is an interesting piece of technology that I definitely have never heard of. It virtually is a print screen technology that allows you to capture anything on your computure at any time. After a photo capture, the possibilities are endless! Editing plays a large role in this innovation, and as you can see below, a piece of text can be edited as much as you like...

The features include a highlighting tool, an arrow tool and a text box which allows for all your editing desires! What I liked most about this concept was that this techonology is in a digital form, so sending in various ways is easy. In saying this, teachers can easily send 'editing' documents to parents who may not have enough time to actually come into the classroom and talk one-on-one with the teacher. It can give good insight into what their child needs improvement on.

Along the same lines of parent information - Jing allows short videos to be taken and then sent to whoever is interested. This means teachers can create videos of a homework schedual or a definition of a particular assignment.

In saying all this, I do believe that this innovation needs to be carefully thought out about before an integration into the classroom occurs. I found it can be 'fiddly' and time consuming, with results that do not inspire me, personally. I would probably not use Jing as a teacher as I find it unreliable - could not upload a video successfully for this blogspot in fact! However, it could be used for high school student instead.

A Bit of Strips?

I never knew such an innovative piece of technology existed until today - Bitstrips that is! If you know anything about 'facebook' you will probably appreciate Bitstrips. It is similar in the way that you can add friends and communicate, however Bitstrips allows the user to make cartoons that can and do convey meaning, describe/recount particular events, or just creative works themselves.

I really like this technology because it’s something just a little different. Something I never really thought about, let alone knew was invented. In relation to using Bitstrips in the classroom, I believe students could gain so so much from it, that it would be a disservice to your students if you did not apply it into the classroom.

The following points are reasons I believe Bitstrips should be used in the classroom:

- It caters for a broad array of Learning Areas - Art, Science, English etc.
- Allows students to be focussed on something interesting.
- Can be used as a part of an assignment, or just as free time.
- Means students are engaged.
- More likely to behave appropriately if students are content.
- The more interested a student is, the more likely they are to achieve something they consider 'worthwhile'.
- Students who are more 'technology inclined' are willing to help others (introduces collaborations).
- Also allows students to work independently.
- Caters for a range of abilities - all students can contribute as little or as much as they wish/are able to.
- Allows for open ended tasks.
- Students are not held back.
- Helps students in recounts ie. can be a visual stimulant for later writing a recount.
- Caters for Gardner's series of 'Multiple Intelligences'.
- Students are proud of their work, developing self worth and a higher sense of self esteem.

All in all, I truly believe Bitstrips can easily be integrated into the classroom, with little to no fuss. Once students get the hang it, unstoppable limits can occur!

Wiktastic !

A Wiki is a website that has many many functions, and allows for a broad array of communication. It also allows users to create and edit WebPages for many different uses. It is different from a BlogSpot in the way that it is not just about one person. A BlogSpot focuses on one person who posts different articles about whatever they wish. A Wiki on the other hand can be created by a number of writers. This allows for an extraordinary use. It allows a number of people to communicate and organise a certain something at the same time. It is exceptional for cooperation and collaboration. This huge diversity means (especially for learners at all levels and stages) that a great deal of exploring and discovering will take place.
In the classroom, a wiki can be used very effectively. What is great about them is the openness to all learners, regardless of their ability. Students can contribute as much or as little, and in whatever way or form they desire. It brings out the creativity of the students and a means of thinking ‘outside the square’. As the wiki contains many different elements (ie. home, discussions, videos, news, updates, members etc) student are given an array of different areas to contribute. This links closely with theorist, Howard Gardner’s, idea of multiple intelligences within learning.
The following video is a great way to understand what a Wiki is, as explained in ‘plain English’. It uses a camping trip as an example (which many of us can relate to). Click away and have a sneak peak!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY&feature=fvst

NUMBER ONE

Welcome to Twitter-Dee's Blogspot!

My name is Victoria and this is my very very first post. I have read many a blogpost in the past, and all I can say is that I've been quite impressed. What I think makes blog posts different from other forms of innovative technology, is that it allows you to share information that you may not have thought about before. This information can then be passed on to any one around the world, even people who you never knew existed. Whatever your interests, there is a sure-fire chance of someone around the world just waiting for your next post!