www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_KnC2EIS5w
Google sites is an easy and free way to create and set up your own website. With Google Sites, basically all the work is done for you. There is a prompt for all your needs. You can easily add a title. Change the font in any way just like a document. You can add links within your text just by highlighting a word and clicking on links. You can also upload photos and videos to your website. Google Sites first originated as JotSpot by Joe Kraus and Graham Spencer in February of 2006. Later that year, Google acquired it and released Google Sites on February 28, 2008 using the technology from JotSpot. Google Sites can be useful for a variety of users. I would guess that it is most useful to small business users who don’t want to fork out a lot of money, but have some technical abilities. It is a great way to publicize their business. It can also be useful for non-profit organizations to help circulate news about their association. Teachers can also find this a very useful tool. They can use it as means of communication between teacher, students, and parents. One actual instance I’ve seen teachers use it effectively is my son’s teacher who created a classroom website. On it, she had the daily lessons, just in case your student was absent that day. It had a link to any homework assignments or worksheets. It also had information about what was to come.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Google Docs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYPjJK6LZdM&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7y7NafWXeM&feature=channel
Google Docs came from two separate products, Writing documents was launched in August 2005 and Spreadsheets, which was launched in August 2006. Google docs are similar to a regular word document on your computer. You can type, edit, and save these documents; the biggest difference is is that you can save these to the internet not just your computer. This way you can access it from any computer that has internet access. You can also share the documents with other users and allow them to edit it as well. This can be a great tool for those who write and edit documents frequently, so there’s no need for email or copy and paste. Teacher’s will enjoy this program because they can allow their students to write in these documents, post them, and have fellow classmates revise them and give pointers on how they can improve their essay. The students are able to get those remarks and revise their paper to something with improvement. Having the students read each other’s documents, puts an added pressure on them to do a better job. Also giving the parents the opportunity to see their child’s work is a great tool for their teachers to have and show how their students are progressing. This also eliminates the use of paper and filing that teachers must do, and saves the planet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7y7NafWXeM&feature=channel
Google Docs came from two separate products, Writing documents was launched in August 2005 and Spreadsheets, which was launched in August 2006. Google docs are similar to a regular word document on your computer. You can type, edit, and save these documents; the biggest difference is is that you can save these to the internet not just your computer. This way you can access it from any computer that has internet access. You can also share the documents with other users and allow them to edit it as well. This can be a great tool for those who write and edit documents frequently, so there’s no need for email or copy and paste. Teacher’s will enjoy this program because they can allow their students to write in these documents, post them, and have fellow classmates revise them and give pointers on how they can improve their essay. The students are able to get those remarks and revise their paper to something with improvement. Having the students read each other’s documents, puts an added pressure on them to do a better job. Also giving the parents the opportunity to see their child’s work is a great tool for their teachers to have and show how their students are progressing. This also eliminates the use of paper and filing that teachers must do, and saves the planet.
Social Bookmarking
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&source=hp&q=social%20bookmarking&rlz=1R2SKPB_enUS337&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#
Social bookmarking was first developed in 1996. It was a way to keep track of all the websites you found interesting or of use. Because there are so many websites out there that you have searched and found useful, someone came up with the idea to help you keep track of all these websites in an orderly fashion. When you find a website that you like or want to use in the future, you save it in a “folder” on the internet by clicking “tag”. This then saves it in your folder, but it also organizes it for you by letting you at key words about the page to help you search for it later. What makes this type of bookmarking useful is that it is not just available to you. It is social, meaning anybody in a social group can look up the websites you’ve saved to help them. This becomes very useful to those who use the internet quite frequently to research various things. They can trust the search of a colleague and look at the websites they have already bookmarked. It is also useful for teachers who often search the internet for the same things such as lessons. Once a teacher has saved these in their folder, they never have to search the internet for them again. Now all the teachers in his social group can have access to the same websites that he uses for his class.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&source=hp&q=social%20bookmarking&rlz=1R2SKPB_enUS337&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#
Social bookmarking was first developed in 1996. It was a way to keep track of all the websites you found interesting or of use. Because there are so many websites out there that you have searched and found useful, someone came up with the idea to help you keep track of all these websites in an orderly fashion. When you find a website that you like or want to use in the future, you save it in a “folder” on the internet by clicking “tag”. This then saves it in your folder, but it also organizes it for you by letting you at key words about the page to help you search for it later. What makes this type of bookmarking useful is that it is not just available to you. It is social, meaning anybody in a social group can look up the websites you’ve saved to help them. This becomes very useful to those who use the internet quite frequently to research various things. They can trust the search of a colleague and look at the websites they have already bookmarked. It is also useful for teachers who often search the internet for the same things such as lessons. Once a teacher has saved these in their folder, they never have to search the internet for them again. Now all the teachers in his social group can have access to the same websites that he uses for his class.
Social Media
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfBGfP_zdxI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQPe8bNnjx4&NR=1
Chris Shipley founded the term “social media” at a BlogOn conference in 2004. Social media focused on the business side of things and was used to build communities through communicating through blogs, wikis, and social networking. Social media is a great tool for advertising substance that may be important to your community and allows for businesses to share ideas. It can also be used for advertising special events and talking about what may have been successful through social media. People can share worldly events that we don’t about through our local media. Social media is also used for online schooling for students who can go to school in front of their computers, and participate when it’s continent to the student. Social media has help us with how we learn, find jobs, and advertise with our communities which makes us smarter of the world around us. Teachers can utilize this system by communicating school curriculum and posting discussions that students can reply and use this for a platform of communication. Also teachers are able to download personal video media or video blogging. Different varieties of options that a teacher can venue with media source as this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQPe8bNnjx4&NR=1
Chris Shipley founded the term “social media” at a BlogOn conference in 2004. Social media focused on the business side of things and was used to build communities through communicating through blogs, wikis, and social networking. Social media is a great tool for advertising substance that may be important to your community and allows for businesses to share ideas. It can also be used for advertising special events and talking about what may have been successful through social media. People can share worldly events that we don’t about through our local media. Social media is also used for online schooling for students who can go to school in front of their computers, and participate when it’s continent to the student. Social media has help us with how we learn, find jobs, and advertise with our communities which makes us smarter of the world around us. Teachers can utilize this system by communicating school curriculum and posting discussions that students can reply and use this for a platform of communication. Also teachers are able to download personal video media or video blogging. Different varieties of options that a teacher can venue with media source as this.
Social Networking
http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/04/myspaceforschool
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/what-makes-social-networking-websites-so-popular-386451.html
Social networking started in 1985 when The WELL began to bring communities together by creating chat rooms to share personal information with each other. Social networking focused on personal homepages that gave personal information for their viewers and broadened social communication. Now days MySpace and Facebook are the fastest growing networking companies today. Some negative effects that social networking has had is, identity theft and more and more teenagers have been using these sites and can be dangerous. These social networking systems are helpful in many ways, such as creating your own community of friends or family and this creates a simple way of talking with each other. Also these sites such as Facebook, MySpace, or Bebo are free to use which makes these social networking sites popular. Social Networking can be useful for teachers because they can create an online discussion that people can participate in and open the minds for communicating. Also teachers can produce ways that they can allow students to communicate outside of the classroom to produce communication between a particular group, or school. I think that a teacher has minimal use from these social networking services because teachers don’t have the time to keep up with all the demands that these sites need. I think that a personal quote or a weekly discussion that the students can participate in is all that a teacher can realistically do with a site like this.
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/what-makes-social-networking-websites-so-popular-386451.html
Social networking started in 1985 when The WELL began to bring communities together by creating chat rooms to share personal information with each other. Social networking focused on personal homepages that gave personal information for their viewers and broadened social communication. Now days MySpace and Facebook are the fastest growing networking companies today. Some negative effects that social networking has had is, identity theft and more and more teenagers have been using these sites and can be dangerous. These social networking systems are helpful in many ways, such as creating your own community of friends or family and this creates a simple way of talking with each other. Also these sites such as Facebook, MySpace, or Bebo are free to use which makes these social networking sites popular. Social Networking can be useful for teachers because they can create an online discussion that people can participate in and open the minds for communicating. Also teachers can produce ways that they can allow students to communicate outside of the classroom to produce communication between a particular group, or school. I think that a teacher has minimal use from these social networking services because teachers don’t have the time to keep up with all the demands that these sites need. I think that a personal quote or a weekly discussion that the students can participate in is all that a teacher can realistically do with a site like this.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Virtual Classrooms
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_education
www.wiziq.com/.../Learn-Teach-live-Virtual-Classroom.aspx
There are many advantages to virtual classrooms. For one, a student is able to take one on their own time like the girl who was competing to be a world champion ice skater. It was difficult for her to practice after school so now she is able to practice during the day and take classes via the internet at night when it’s convenient for her. It also fits the schedules of many college students who find working full-time and having a family plus going to school very difficult. I know for me, I can pick up my computer at night when all the kids are in bed and complete my work when it best suits me. Another advantage of virtual classrooms that I hadn’t thought about is that it offers a much bigger curriculum to its students. Some high schools don’t have the resources to offer as many electives for their students, so by adding virtual classrooms, they are able to offer many more interesting classes. Many students don’t do well in a teacher-student classroom environment. Another advantage of virtual classrooms is that it can allow those students a more comfortable environment to work in. Some disadvantages of virtual classrooms include not have that real person interactions. They are less personal. Some virtual classrooms don’t offer immediate feedback from the instructor when you need it. As a teacher of a virtual classroom, I would not want my students calling me until 10:00 in the pm. I think the video shows a very positive side to virtual classrooms in the public schools. I had no idea that they used virtual classrooms in public school, but I think that they use them in a very productive manner. I don’t feel that we should progress to an all virtual classroom world. I feel we need that person-person interaction that humans need. To have both would be ideal.
www.wiziq.com/.../Learn-Teach-live-Virtual-Classroom.aspx
There are many advantages to virtual classrooms. For one, a student is able to take one on their own time like the girl who was competing to be a world champion ice skater. It was difficult for her to practice after school so now she is able to practice during the day and take classes via the internet at night when it’s convenient for her. It also fits the schedules of many college students who find working full-time and having a family plus going to school very difficult. I know for me, I can pick up my computer at night when all the kids are in bed and complete my work when it best suits me. Another advantage of virtual classrooms that I hadn’t thought about is that it offers a much bigger curriculum to its students. Some high schools don’t have the resources to offer as many electives for their students, so by adding virtual classrooms, they are able to offer many more interesting classes. Many students don’t do well in a teacher-student classroom environment. Another advantage of virtual classrooms is that it can allow those students a more comfortable environment to work in. Some disadvantages of virtual classrooms include not have that real person interactions. They are less personal. Some virtual classrooms don’t offer immediate feedback from the instructor when you need it. As a teacher of a virtual classroom, I would not want my students calling me until 10:00 in the pm. I think the video shows a very positive side to virtual classrooms in the public schools. I had no idea that they used virtual classrooms in public school, but I think that they use them in a very productive manner. I don’t feel that we should progress to an all virtual classroom world. I feel we need that person-person interaction that humans need. To have both would be ideal.
Henry Jenkins on New Media
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media
whatsnewmedia.org/
New media refers to new technological ways of communicating generally using digital resources that have come out in the late 20th century. Examples of new media include the internet, websites, computer games, etc. Henry Jenkins is the director of Comparative Media Studies at MIT College. Henry Jenkins continually studies media and maps it’s progression through our society. He obviously studies the different types of media sources and shares them among his students. He is qualified to discuss learning with new media because, for one, it is his job to know everything about it. Secondly, he has a classroom and students of his own that rely on his knowledge to educate them about the subject. Two key points that (Dr.) Jenkins makes in his video are that our schools are doubly failing and that teachers need to stop being frightened and willing to use technology in the classroom. I agree with Dr. Jenkins when he talks about our schools doubly failing, first when we don’t allow those students who are technological savvy outside the classroom to continue their growth in the classroom and secondly when we don’t provide a technological environment for those students who don’t have access to technology outside of the classroom. All students should have access to technology inside the classroom. I also agree with Dr. Jenkins when he asserts that teachers need to stop being scared to use technology in the classroom because they feel they might lose control of their classroom. These teachers need to be willing to admit that it is something new, but be willing to find help that is out there and use the technology.
whatsnewmedia.org/
New media refers to new technological ways of communicating generally using digital resources that have come out in the late 20th century. Examples of new media include the internet, websites, computer games, etc. Henry Jenkins is the director of Comparative Media Studies at MIT College. Henry Jenkins continually studies media and maps it’s progression through our society. He obviously studies the different types of media sources and shares them among his students. He is qualified to discuss learning with new media because, for one, it is his job to know everything about it. Secondly, he has a classroom and students of his own that rely on his knowledge to educate them about the subject. Two key points that (Dr.) Jenkins makes in his video are that our schools are doubly failing and that teachers need to stop being frightened and willing to use technology in the classroom. I agree with Dr. Jenkins when he talks about our schools doubly failing, first when we don’t allow those students who are technological savvy outside the classroom to continue their growth in the classroom and secondly when we don’t provide a technological environment for those students who don’t have access to technology outside of the classroom. All students should have access to technology inside the classroom. I also agree with Dr. Jenkins when he asserts that teachers need to stop being scared to use technology in the classroom because they feel they might lose control of their classroom. These teachers need to be willing to admit that it is something new, but be willing to find help that is out there and use the technology.
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