BrainPOP in Education - Final Project Video

iPad vs. Kindle Fire in Education

I had prior experience with an iPad. For this reason, I focused most of my attention on the Kindle Fire and explored all of its features. I found that some of the apps were the same but the Apple app store had many more choices. I would of liked to explore the actual usefulness of all the apps and their quality and compare them from the apple store and the android store. I don’t think that Kindle Fire has as many opportunities as the iPad. I also think the iPad is much easier to use. By this, I mean that it is easier to find things and navigate through the iPad rather than the Kindle Fire. The pros to both of these devices are that they are mobile. This will allow a school to share them from teacher to teacher. The mobile devices even allow the students to move them outside for certain lessons. This would prove for much more engaging lessons which in turn will probably lead to deeper understanding. Mobile tablets are great tools to use in the classroom and I believe every educator should take the initiative to use them in their own classes. 

Podcasts in Education

My Introduction.egg on Aviary.

Podcasting has been the most challenging tool for me to learn and accept. I think my biggest issue with podcasting is that I have to review the podcast and I am one of those people that cringe when they hear their own voice.  I like that any person with some form of technology whether it be an iPod, iPad, cell phone, or even a laptop or desktop can have access to podcasts. This may e a very useful tool for teachers to use to review lessons or give instructions. I would definitely use podcasting as my first choice to inform parents of upcoming class and school events.  I think it put some personalization on the updates and can lead to parents feeling more welcomed in the school environment.  I also think podcasting can be a good way to display student work or allow students to record themselves and use it as peer teaching. It is good to use for English Language Learners in that they will be able to hear themselves. I like that podcasting can be audio and you can even have a vodcast, which is a video podcast. I like podcasting and would like to explore it further to communicate with my students and parents.

When I created this podcast in Garageband, I was able to attach photos and time the voice with the picture transitions. However, I could not figure how to embed the podcast to Blogger so I copied it to the Aviary program and lost the picture component of the podcast. 

Edmodo in Education

Screencast-o-matic in Education

In case you forget, please use this video to help you record and save your screen recording. :)

Survey Monkey in Education

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Glogs in Education

LOVING ME SOME GLOGGING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  

Voki in Education

In my school, student achievement is somewhat evaluated based on a students interest level and engagement in the class. For this reason, I chose Voki to focus on for this assignment. I feel Voki will assist teachers increase the interest level as well as enhance student achievement by the encouragement of technology. As an introduction to technology and interesting site, students will be able to utilize it effectively.

In the Voki website, www.voki.com, users can create speaking avatars.  The creator picks from numerous characters, colors, backgrounds, voices, etc. Multiple avatars can be created on the same account. This will keep the students wondering what will come next. Avatars can be edited as well. For example, one avatar can be used for every unit. The teacher may want to change the script of the avatar but leave everything else the same (i.e. the avatar looks).

Voki avatars will help to motivate students to participate. I visualize a class of engaged students (distance or face-to-face) utilizing this educational tool. Instead of the teacher talking everyday and repeating himself/herself, Voki can be used and re-played as many times as the individual student needs. This helps with differentiating instruction according to each student’s ability level. It is an interesting and different tool to use. This will better help students understand what they are learning.

Voki can also be especially helpful to English language learners. This will eliminate the need for students to feel lost or left out due to their language barrier.

Voki is a free tool. However, an enhanced version of Voki can be purchased for teachers to organize each class and register students. The Voki Classroom allows teachers to setup multiple classes, multiple lessons, and multiple students. They also have access to the Teachers Corner for extra help and support. With Voki Classroom, students don’t have to register. Privacy is always an issue, especially in education. Voki Classroom lessons can be set to private. If you don’t have Voki Classroom, there are no privacy settings to keep your information safe. 

Go Animate in Education

EDLT Decimals by starla_t on GoAnimate

Animation Maker - Powered by GoAnimate.

Google Docs/Presentations for Education

Google Docs is AMAZING! There are so many things you can do with it! From crating simple word-like documents to spreadsheets to presentations to drawings and forms, Google Docs is a way to save and store your information online. Plus, IT’S FREE!

In any school setting, some kind of collaboration is required and expected from the students. With technology advancements nowadays, that is possible even when students are in the same room. Google Docs can help students and all other people collaborate and provide peers, group members, colleagues, and any other people with instant feedback on different types of documents. They will be able to work together to create and edit documents. By focusing on middle school students, teachers can review student work to provide guidance before assignments are due. Students can also work together to develop real-time documents without the hassle of having to meet or send the documents as attachments back-and-forth to one another.

It seems that the features of Google Docs are endless. Just like any word processing software installed on hard drives, students can create documents, spreadsheets, booking forms, and presentations all formatted the same as the software. You can upload previously created documents to share (and edit if necessary) and then turn around and change them back into the Word document, PDF document, or the other form it was prior to the initial change. Participants can edit and leave comments that others can read. If group members are working on the document at the same time, they see instant changes and added comments. The documents save automatically which helps any unforeseen circumstances of losing information.

More features of Google Docs include inserting pictures, and forming equations and having the ability to utilize other mathematical symbols. You can also embed videos and provide links to websites.

Another great feature of Google Docs is that it can be accessed anywhere Internet is provided. You can even utilize the tool from a smartphone! You can now use Google Drive and be provided even more saving space.

On another note, as with many things in education, the privacy of each student is very important. Google Docs has the option to share with certain people. There are three different groups of people to share with: public, those with the document link, and certain people by request of the document creator (this requires a log-in). You also have the option to allow people to edit, comment, or only view your document. Depending on the assignment you will need to determine how your document will be shared.

Google Docs is a great way to have students submit work. It eliminates the use of paper in a face-to-face class.

Poll Everywhere in Education

Polleverywhere.com...

            Poll Everywhere is can be used in so many ways. It can be used in many different places, including conferences, presentations, classrooms, radio, TV, and pretty much anywhere. People can vote from a mobile device such as phone, iPad or other mobile devices. Or they can vote from a computer. You can create a multiple-choice poll or one where people type their own responses.

It’s even international! You can even conduct fundraisers by having people pledge via text messaging.  I love that you can embed your poll into a PowerPoint presentation or Twitter without having to install anything. You can control when to start or stop a poll and also if the poll can allow for more than one response from one person. Its pretty neat that Poll Everywhere can tell if a person is trying to vote a second time from the same computer or phone number. The poll is instantly updated so you see the results in real-time.

You can expect vibrant and customizable designs from each plan. You can also screen the comments on the poll to eliminate inappropriate responses or even off-topic responses. Poll everywhere is free of advertisements and spam messaging.

I would definitely use this tool in my class and embed it to any PowerPoints I do. Because I am trying to use a zooming type of presentation to increase student interest, I would like to figure out if it is usable in Prezi. I feel it is important for students to use their technology for educational purposes. Limiting their access is only harming their future and the future of our nation.

Teacher subscriptions

The free plan includes 40 responses per class. Even though you can have as many classes as you like, you cannot allow more than 40 responses per class. The free service also has a link for frequently asked questions.

$50/year allows for grade reporting, response moderation response segmentation, and email technical support. There is also a higher plan with even more options.

Wiki in Education

The link to the hearing loss prevention page is pasted below:
http://healtheducation4you.wikispaces.com/7.+Hearing+Loss+Prevention

Oh the world of wiki and the places to see and things you could do with it. I think students would learn to love wiki. They would be allowed to avoid actual face-to-face communication and feel more comfortable collaborating with their peers online. Especially in middle school, students have an increased sense of being shy or too embarrassed to express their true feelings and ideas.

There are three main ways in which wiki’s would be used in my classroom:

1.    Group/Whole Class assignments – In this situation, I would assign students to complete word problems or any math problem for that matter. Each student would complete only one step at a time for the problem until the final resolution is found. Each student would be responsible for checking the previous persons work and verify it is correct.

2.    Create a list of steps – For this, students would create a list and explain each step to a specific math problem. Just like above, they would be responsible for verifying correctness from the previous person. Having students explain reasoning for each step makes their step concrete.

3.    Co-worker Collaborations – Many times teachers are expected to create ideas to submit to the principal or staff. A wiki would help teachers be able to save time by meeting face-to-face and be able to create the same if not a better document. Some specific examples would be lesson plans, field trip plans, celebrations or dances, etc.

Being able to post images, videos, documents, and links helps a lot in making sure every person is on the same page. Wiki’s eliminate scattered e-mail and missed or mixed messages. 

Blogs in Education

It's true! I enjoy blogging. It is a great way to share your thoughts, learning, and even collaborate with peers. They can leave comments and discussions for one another providing feedback and suggestions for improvement. Often times, in education, students are not given the opportunity to share their writings. This is a perfect way for students to do this. If they are shy or embarrassed that they will sound unintelligent, they can post their writings or class reflections on a blog and their peers can provide feedback, or visa versa. 

            It would also be easier for teachers to provide feedback in a quicker manner. With mobile technology, teachers can eliminate carrying multiple papers and thus releasing the liability of lost assignments. I think students can even post full documents, or at least provide a link to Google Docs or something so others can read their writing.

            Because I will be teaching math, I see my students using blogs to post their reflections on their learning. If they were confused about a certain topic, hopefully another student would take the opportunity to teach the struggling student. Sometimes a student can say the same thing the teacher did, but to the confused child, the words are different and they often reach to true comprehension. It would be wonderful for students to track their learning through a blog!

Videos in Education

I envision showing this video on the first day of class. I would show it to a group of middle students. I see it as an attention getter for the students. I would hope it would create a comfort level in that they would understand my class humor and openness for untraditional ways of learning. Students may be more intrigued to learn math if they are provided with the opportunity to use humor and creative gestures to present their learning. This would be a great opener and can even be used to lead into an ice-breaking activity. Even though they may not “learn” from this video, it will still inspire them to open their minds to differentiated learning, especially in the subject of mathematics.

The following link is to a website that provides songs that can be purchased for educational uses. http://www.songsforteaching.com/index.html

The link below leads you to a site to preview a math song. Load the page and then click on the play button. http://songsforteaching.com/mathrocks/orderofoperationsPEMDAS.htm