I was inspired by IBM’s commercial Buzzword Bingo to make my own Buzzword Bingo card so I can play along at the next educational technology conference I go to. Make yours and have fun. You might actually pay better attention during the keynote! 
Thanks to Educational Jargon and Ice Breaker Buzzword Bingo for assistance with the words.
Gmail. I love this web based email system and the fact that I can access it from any computer. Not only do you get tons of storage but I like the way it keeps the threaded conversations together. Gmail chat is also nifty.TOP 100 TOOLS FOR LEARNING – SPRING 2008
as collected by Jane Hart
2007 Top Ten Tools: http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/colettecassinelli.html (my current list is pretty similar to the 2007 list. Hey – I like what I like!)
Photo Credit: http://flickr.com/photos/cayusa/2221656599/
Engaging Students with Authentic Technology Projects – Sun, 2/17/08, 7:30-8:30 pm
Handouts located at: http://edtechvision.wikispaces.com/ITSC
Embrace 21st century strategies to create an instructional learning environment that moves away from teaching isolated computer skills towards an integrated thematic approach. Come learn how you can combine everyday productivity tools with Web 2.0 to support curriculum integration and collaboration.
The National Technology Standards for Students (NETS*S) recommends that educators establish new learning environments that provide real world opportunities for students to utilize current information and technology resources (ISTE, 2000).
According to The American Youth Policy Forum (2000) instruction in today’s high schools must change. Disengagement from the learning process is a widespread problem in high schools as students do not perceive how lessons are relevant to their lives.
The American Youth Policy Forum reports that lecture style classes continue to dominate classroom instruction and content is divorced from the real world. Schools need to embrace new strategies for learning based on current research of how students learn, implement effective uses of technology in the classroom, and develop “21st Century Skills” while maintaining a rigorous academic curriculum (Burkhardt et al., 2003 http://www.ncrel.org/engauge).
It takes vision and planning to engage students in authentic learning experiences. Teachers must identify which instructional strategies are most effective and understand how to infuse technology into lessons with real world applications.
Instead of asking the question “What technology skills must students have to face the 21st century?” should we not be asking “What thinking and literacy skills must students have to face the 21st century?” These skills are not tied to any particular software or technology-type, but rather aim to provide students with the thinking skill and thus the opportunity to succeed no matter what their futures hold.” Justin Medved, Dennis Harter
Curriculum is designed from the best practice approaches to teaching and learning found in Understanding by Design
The Essential Questions for the 21st Century Learner are:
These questions speak to thinking, critically evaluating, analyzing, and communicating. They emphasize the value in responsible behavior and knowing yourself as a learner. http://newliteracy.wikispaces.com/
Goals: critically evaluating, analyzing, communication
Work Samples:
Career Resources:
Goals: analyzing, communication, evaluating
Work Samples
Nutrition / Waste Recycling Resources
TOP 100 TOOLS FOR LEARNING 2007 – http://c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/toolbox2007.html
Note: Some of the lessons in this session are based on activities that I designed for my Action Research Project for my MA in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University. Three complete thematic units are located at http://cadres.pepperdine.edu/ar/c9/Cassinelli/arp.htm
Works Cited
I still teach a basic computer application course (as opposed to working with HS teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum) and my goal is to make sure students have the tech skills necessary to be successful in class. I don’t, however, want to just teach “computer skills” – and teach technology just for the sake of learning technology. The past few years I have redesign my computer application course around themes, such as career exploration, teen issues, nutrition/recycling, and CSI (computer scene investigation!)
Through out each theme. we use the tools of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Web 2.0 tools to investigate our topic. For example, during the career unit we took a personality tests based on Dr. John Holland’s theory that people and work environments can be classified into six different groups: Social, Artistic, Investigative, Enterprising, Realistic and Conventional. We created tables in Word to describe the attributes of these personality traits and listed careers for each group. We collected data about annual earnings, percent of growth and number of annual openings and analyzed the data in Excel and created graphs to display the information. We made online slide shows, cartoons, and magazine covers using favorite Web 2.o tools like toondoo, polldaddy, photo show and flickr toys. For a final culminating project, we are designing kiosks (using science board type displays) to display all of our information. We will host a career fair to help other classmates discover their strongest personality trait and which career options are best for them.
While I feel that the students are much more engaged in the thematic units, it does require careful planning on my part to make sure that all the required skills are introduced, reviewed and mastered throughout the term.
Today I participated in the OETC professional development cadre. We spent the afternoon discovering some Web 2.0 technologies. Yes, most of these tools are online, free and can be embedded in websites – but only a handful would actually be useful in the classroom. The others are just for fun – or another scheme to get you to register and capture your email address. Here is a list of some of them that were shared:
Voki - create your own talking avatar. I’m not quite sure how to use this in education or how it qualifies as a Web 2.0 tool – but it’s fun thing to have on your blog or website.
PhotoShow – online free version of Photoshow5 software. Upload photos from your computer, any MySpace account, or photo URL. After uploading photos, you can customize your music, captions and transition styles.
Voicethread – Upload photos and record narration for a photo story. Allows viewers to record their comment to show. Very easy to use and allows multiple user to comment on each account. Of the list here, probably the most useful in the classroom. Updated version coming October 10th.
PollDaddy – Create free polls for your website. Easy to make and easy to embed.
Toondoo – Cartoon strip creator. Fun and easy to make. Better for younger kids.
Slide.com - Slide widgets — including Slideshows, Guestbooks, SkinFlix and FunPix — are popular on top social networking and blog platforms.
Sitekreator – You can build your own professional site with page and navigation management, add an unlimited number of pages, and maintain a unified appearance and consistent navigation structure. The folks that evaluated it were not that impressed.
OurStory - Save stories, photos, and videos on a collaborative timeline. Has potential – need to check it out more.
Bubbl.us – Bubbl.us is a simple and free web application that lets you brainstorm online. you can create mind maps online, share and work with friends, and embed your mind map in your blog or website.
kSolo - Online karaoke!
I loved the networking and sharing of the professional development cadre and they modeled some great techniques for presenting professional devleopment with technology, but I was concerned about their choice of Web 2.0 tools. Since over 1/2 of the members of the cadre were new – why weren’t tools like del.icio.us, blogs, wikis, podcasting, Google docs, Moodle, flickr, etc reviewed (or at least introduced to the newbies!). I’m concerned about the explosion of “free” online tools that can be embedded on websites tooted as the latest Web 2.0 tools. Most of them are geared towards the Myspace crowd and don’t have a place in the classroom.
I am glad we watched the new Did you know? video and visited the ShiftHappens wiki at: http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/Suggestions+for+Using+the+Presentation
Other tools that were shared that I didn’t get a chance to check out yet:
I was re-reading Will Richardson’s book “Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms” today because I am giving my copy to a new techie teacher. Even though I am already familiar with the topic I still found the information interesting and relevant. This time through the names from the examples were familiar from bloggers like Tim Lauer, Darren Kuropatwa and Bud the Teacher. Wow – what a difference a year of blogging makes!
Will discusses the pedagogy of blogging. He writes that “weblogs are truly a constructivist tool for learning”. Student’s construct their own knowledge through reading, writing and responding to one another’s posts. This type of “connective writing” engages students in higher-order thinking. Students are first reading critically and looking for important ideas to share with their audience. Opportunities to make connections and synthesize ideas from other bloggers demands organization and clarity in student’s own posts. The “real audience” reminds students to observe editorial correctness and to continue the discussion beyond the post and interact with users who make comments.
In discussing wikis, Will notes that “the collaborate environment that wikis faciliate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, and how to operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is more and more becoming a group effort”. Like blogs, empowering students by allowing them to create and edit and construct their own knowledge is very compelling and will lead to student engagement.
Besides blogs, wikis and podcasting, Will discusses other Web 2.0 tools like RSS, social bookmarking, flickr and what it all means. If you are looking for a simple explanation of how to go about integrating Web 2.0 tools in your classroom I highly recommend this simple book – plus – when you get it down pat – you can pass it on to another educator!!!
Sidebar: I am getting ready to set up blogs for my classes this school year and am debating which format I am going to use. I use Moodle for my CMS and like the journal module for students to write directly to me but I don’t care for the blog feature. I was just going to use Blogger since we will already be using gmail accounts and Google docs but now am considering 21 classes (mainly for privacy reasons and the having a main entry page). I am seeking input from other teachers who have used it. I like the fact that the students can customize their pages – which will be critical for my graphic design students. Any comments???
In his article about Instructional scaffolding, Konrad Glogowski describes a educational scenario how Web 2.0 tools support learning:
Let’s say that the student has chosen a specific aspect of the broader topic of social justice and is in the process of collecting information and resources. In today’s world of the world wide web and information overload, the student can begin to feel lost amid all the information. This presents the teacher with a perfect opportunity to introduce RSS, for example, or a tool that can be used to aggregate video clips, such as VodPod or a YouTube account. It also presents a perfect opportunity to work with the student on specific curriculum related skills, such as summarizing. This can also be a fantastic opportunity to help the student start a research journal (on her blog, using a del.icio.us account, or a tumble log) or use mindmapping to develop a plan for further research. The point here is that once the student feels stuck, overwhelmed, or discouraged, a perfect opportunity presents itself for the teacher (or a more knowledgeable peer) to step in and offer support.
Glogowski quotes Judith A. Langer who argues “that in order to use instructional scaffolding teachers need to ensure that the students have ownership of the learning event”. Glogowski goes on to say that “once the student is engaged as a researcher/writer/thinker, the teacher can focus on conversing with the student.”
Researcher/writer/thinker. Do we view our students like that? Do we give our students the respect to initiate, plan and developing their own learning and thinking? Do we see our ourselves as “co-participants” in our student’s research or are we waiting for the final product to be finished so we can “evaluate” it.
This mind shift is critical if we are to embrace a learner-centered environment. But Glogowski also makes a second point:
The sense of partnership that developed through the initial set of instructional conversations needs to evolve in order to be of benefit to the student. Since I now know (I have seen) that my student has made progress, I need to use different tools and engage in different conversations in order to ensure that the student does not see my involvement as patronizing or intrusive. The set of competencies that developed as a result of our instructional conversations now demands that our conversations increase in sophistication.
Our responsibilites and the tools we use change as our students grow and learn. As educators we cannot sit by passively and wait for our students “to get it”. We need to constantly adapt, challenge and find new ways to engage them in the conversation so they are involved in the process. Glogowski states that “blogging in a supportive community of peers …allows for the development of higher-order cognitive operations”. He concluded with two pieces of advice:
Create “activity settings” where writing is a tool for learning and not a way of presenting acquired information. Ensure that writing is motivated by the student’s need to communicate ideas that are important – things that he or she wants to say.
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach made an important statement about Web 2.0 tools and learning:
It’s All about the Learning
Teachers like tangibles. I think the reason there is so much focus on the tools, rather than how to use the tools to support learning is because when we are learning something new we want something concrete to manipulate. Web 2.0 tools like blogs, wikis and podcasts give us that concrete fix. Teachers, like their students, need time to explore the tools before getting on with the learning. However, at some point in a PD 2.0 workshop the focus needs to switch from the tool itself to making the tool a seamless medium for mastery of standards-based objectives and 21st Century life skills.
I have been blogging about my favorite tools lately and I don’t want anyone to get the idea that it’s all about the tools – it’s not – it’s about how the tools support learning. I think Sheryl is right when she states that teachers like students want some time to play around with tools. My concern is always if the the learning stops when the tool is mastered -OR- does the ease of the tool now allow the focus to be whether this new tool will actually support or enhance learning or not.
Learning is social. Web 2.0 tools are social and collaborative in nature. The tools embrace the read/write/reflect nature of learning. It is critical for teachers to utilize blogs, wikis, podcasting, and other mash-up tools themselves before they bring these technologies to their classrooms. Once they have experienced this powerful medium that gives them a voice and an audience who reads, responds and reflects upon what they have said – then they will understand how this can be powerful for their own students.
Because quite frankly, their students are probably already doing it at home and if a teacher doesn’t immerse themselves into this digital world, they will most likely attempt to use Web 2.0 in a instructivist teacher-centered mode. What a shame it will then be when the teacher complains that “these tools” don’t work and throw them out.
It’s not just about the tools. It’s about embracing a student-centered environment where students have choice … are given opportunities to have their voice heard … are encouraged to be creative … and take ownership of their own learning.
Our students want this type of learning. Are we providing it?
(Note: Motivational poster made at fd’s Flickr Toys)
Thanks to a comment by Larry Ferlazzo I have been checking out the various lists of top ten favorite tools that are listed on Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day.
You can submit your top ten list of favorite tools (only 10???) and then Jane is compiling all the tools mentioned into one master list – the Top 100.
I especially enjoyed looking at the list by guest submitter Jay Cross. Hearing how and why different folks liked their chosen tools intrigued me enough to spend way too much time checking them all out.
Here are my favorite tools (in no particular order).
So, there’s my list. I didn’t include software tools like MS Office, Dreamweaver, Inspiration, InDesign and all of those productivity tools that I use everyday.
What is your top 10?
All rights reserved. Discovery Education is a Division of
Discover Communications LLC. Discovery Educator Network
is a service of Discovery Education. Copyright (c) 2007
Discovery Education.
Bad Behavior has blocked 3 access attempts in the last 7 days.
