Normally, I like to highlight tech tools that are FREE. There are so many great services popping up on a daily basis during some weeks that we do not seem to have a shortage for integration into our studies. Honestly, it often is overwhelming… which one should we try now? The key is finding something that truly meets your need. With that in mind, this school year, we did something that we rarely do. We paid for a subscription to a tool: BrainPOP.

BrainPOP is a service that creates short, animated movies on, what seems like, every topic in science, social studies, English, math, technology, arts & music and health. An interactive quiz, suggested experiments/activities and a comic strip for each topic also is a part of the package.

What I like about BrainPOP: It has been created with kids in mind. The content is appropriate for upper elementary with just the right amount of silly humor to keep them engaged. Also, educators are a part of the creation process at BrainPOP, so a teacher can be reassured that the information is accurate. There is an academic standards search tool, too, making it easy to find what you need on a topic. Finally, knowing that the students are on a safe, academic website that they could navigate independently is a perk as well.

What is the appropriate setting for BrainPOP? That depends on the teacher, the students and your circumstances.

1. A teacher could introduce new units or concepts by showing the BrainPOP movies to a whole class using a classroom projector.
2. Students could use laptops to review concepts by watching the movies and taking quizzes.
3. Likewise, in a computer lab, students could access topics simultaneously and review at their own pace.
4. A one computer classroom could utilize BrainPOP as a center for students to rotate through to explore a topic.
5. Add a headphone splitter to desktops or laptops, and students could work as partners.

My school has opted for a school subscription, so we can access it anywhere in the building during the school day. This flexibility will allow teachers to be spontaneous and capitalize on those teachable moments, such as when a current event happens. Maybe, there’s a BrainPOP video topic that will help students understand?

One last thing that I’m impressed with are the teacher resources. BrainPOP Educators is a free membership with great ideas, tutorials and professional development opportunities. Even if you don’t have a subscription to BrainPOP, you can join. Of course, then you have to plan around finding free movies to try out all of the cool stuff.

I’m curious about how others are using BrainPOP, or if anyone has any suggestions or advice for us.

Thanks for reading!

Last week, I attended the MassCUE Conference where I had the honor of being a presenter on both days. One of my presentations was a sharing of our MassCUE Initiative 2010 Grant. As nerve wracking as it is to prepare and give a presentation, I always find them to be such a wonderful way to reflect on what I’ve learned when it comes to the integration of technology. When you write up a grant, you’re never really sure how your bright ideas are going to work out. I even wrote about VoiceThread in an earlier post, outlining some tips and an explanation of the project that we were undertaking.  I’d like to take this opportunity to share the results of our VoiceThread project via SlideShare (embedded below). You will see that we set up a classroom blog that served as the backbone for the project, giving the students easy access and so many opportunities to communicate their learning. As always, your thoughts are welcome!

We are six weeks into the 2010-11 school year, and now that the dust has settled, some inspiration has hit to get me blogging again.

Recently, a third grade teacher asked me if there were any podcasts “out there” that taught the parts of speech. She was looking for some reinforcement for the nouns work that they were doing in the classroom. This would be a good avenue to reach the different learning styles in her classroom. Excited to get iPods into the hands of third graders, I did a little searching and came across this tremendous resource that I would like to share: mrcoley.com .

This site has wonderful examples of podcasts by both students and teacher (and one fit the bill for the parts of speech topic); however, this site is has even more to offer beyond podcasts. It has gotten me and some of the teachers at my school thinking about how we can use our Nanos in a whole new way: for flash cards.

It’s a basic concept that Mr. Brent Coley, a 5th grade teacher, explains with step by step directions and tutorials (Thank you!). Using PowerPoint or Keynote, make simple slides that teach or review a concept. Then save them as pictures that can be loaded on an iPod.  By clicking “next” on the photo album’s contents on the iPod, a student can review at his/her own pace. By having the iPod “play” the slide show, it now is more advanced for such subjects as math facts, adding in the element of a timer. Now, third graders are trying to “beat the iPod” to the answer!

Sure, the students could do their fact practice with paper flash cards, but this “hook” of using the iPods makes the learning very exciting and motivating. One teacher reported to me that 19 sets of earbuds came in on one day’s notice. (Students have to supply their own earbuds to use our Nanos, and if you don’t have earbuds, you can’t use them.) She said that getting permission slips back in a timely fashion never happens, but using an iPod got their attention! Engagement is up! (Even in the bus line on the way home, students enthusiastically were telling me that their teacher was signing out the iPods again for another lesson.)

Wondering how slides will look on something as small as an iPod Nano? Here’s what an Explorer review that I created looks like:

Nothing fancy, but it is easy to read. Its linear fashion allows a student to review for the benchmark by reading a question on one slide and then following up with the answer on the next one.

Everything doesn’t have to be in a quiz format either. Perhaps, a teacher could take a PowerPoint that was used to teach a lesson and convert it to work on the iPods, too. Students could use the lesson for reference to do assignments or to study at school or at home on their own device. The implications for special education and ELL  students are vast. I’m even thinking that students could create their own “flash cards” or content slides to share their learning.

My brain is percolating! Where could this take us? I’d love to hear others’ thoughts.

** Don’t forget to check out the great examples on Mrs. Coley’s site as well.

I would like to share this wonderful resource that was passed along to me via Twitter a few months ago. Martin Jorgensen, a member of my PLN, created Building Community in Your Classroom as an extension of his web site, The Digital Narrative.

This resource is a great idea generator and quick start guide for teachers about what technologies are available. Blogs, podcasts, VoiceThread, Glogster and wikis are a few of the topics highlighted. This resource is written very simply and clearly with great tips and suggestions of how to use the tools effectively in the classroom.

I particularly like the rationale about why this site was created. I agree that these social web sites are tools for creating a global community of sharing of ideas. I don’t believe that this technology isolates us, but rather brings us together in a forum without walls or borders. The tools certainly can enhance your classroom and teach students to be responsible, contributing members. And as Silvia Tolisano says, ‘It’s Not About the Tools. It’s About the Skills.’

Please bookmark Building Community in Your Classroom!

This month, I’m very excited to start working with VoiceThread with students. VoiceThread (VT) is a medium that works like an interactive scrapbook. A creator uploads pictures and can add written, verbal or video comments. A VT can be shared with others who also may leave comments. Moreover, there is a doodle tool that lets a commenter draw directly on the image in the VT. This feature is superb for highlighting and accenting key points. You know how most sites have made instructional videos? The makers of VT do a wonderful job of using their own tool to explain and demonstrate how to do things in VT. Check out how to make one here… it’s very fast!

Previously, I have used it in a professional development course that I co-taught. Essentially, I snapped lots of candids of the class learning how to podcast using GarageBand. I then uploaded the pictures as a VoiceThread. Next, we asked the teachers to visit our VT and leave comments reflecting on their experience. It was a great summarizer of podcasting as well as an authentic use of VoiceThread.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a classroom collaborator until now. A third grade teacher and I co-wrote a MassCUE Initiative 2010 Grant that will allow her social studies students to act as detectives. They will analyze primary source documents, specifically portraits, from the American Revolution. Students also will create their own document (using a drawing program, such as KidPix) to challenge others to analyze the picture clues. We have chosen to use VoiceThread as our tool because of its easy to use voice recording and doodle tool features. These components will allow students of all abilities in this inclusion classroom to share their knowledge. The grant has allotted us the opportunity of purchasing a one year subscription so that her students may have individual accounts in an educational setting of VoiceThread as well as give us additional storage space for all of our images.

However, this is not a tool that a teacher needs to spend money to use. A teacher can sign up for a free account and use the “identity” feature. The teacher can make enough identities for an entire class. This is ideal if the teacher logs into the account and wants to have students interact with a VT as a class, but wants each student’s contribution identifiable. The drawback is that the students are logged into the teacher’s account, making all work created by the teacher accessible with the potential of being deleted accidentally. Another option is for students to have their own accounts since an email only is required to sign up. This option probably is best for older, more independent students since the teacher will not be able to manage and monitor the student’s work. VT does a nice job of discussing pros and cons with its education manuals. (BTW- Just like Glogster, there is a non-educational setting as well.)

There are tons of resources at the site as well. There is a VoiceThread ning. Also, this slideshare presentation has some great examples. A member of my professional development course and math resource facilitator at my school has given me permission to share her Finding Equal Groups VT. (Thanks, Katie!)

What inspirational work have you done or would like to do with VoiceThread?

I always want to put the tools into the hands of the students. I want them to be the creators. I believe they will make more meaning and definitely get more out of it if they are able to take the reins.

At the elementary level that often can be challenging with a project. To make a project more manageable, I often find I have to be a bit of a micro-manager, controlling many aspects. I find that my job is to come up with the best approaches on how to integrate technology. It should be doable, logical and, hopefully, seamless. I also find from my work with adults and children that presenting mini-lessons or concepts in small, digestible chunks make people feel more successful. And success breeds success, right? However, realistically, when I work with a teacher, one of the main concerns that we discuss is how long the class can spend on the topic. Unfortunately, the curriculum is packed, and students can’t linger on one subject/topic… I’m sure we could digress here and have a month’s worth of blog posts and comments around the curriculum coverage issue… Let’s just say- time is a factor.

So when the opportunity arises to give the students a little more wiggle room and independence for the output of their work, I’m excited.

Recently, I was brainstorming with a teacher about enhancing her students social studies knowledge about the American Revolution and Constitution. She wanted her students to research information from a web site that we have on our curriculum links and design their own questions that could be typed up as quizzes that they could print out and administer to each other. This email conversation coincided with me reading Suzanne’s Blog (a member of my PLN and blogging alliance). I can’t seem to find the exact post, but it mentioned using Classltools.net. This site created by Russel Tarr has templates that allow you to make interactive organizers and games that can be embedded or linked to a blog or wiki. Perusing this site gave me the idea of having the students go paperless and make their quizzes with this online tool.

We started the project last week, and the hook of creating arcade-like games certainly has motivated the students to research and create questions. Classtools.net is very simple to use. It doesn’t require a username or password to access the templates. When you create something, you are given a link and embed code. According to the site, it stores your work indefinitely. I have set up a private Wiki/Blog where I am going to have the students post their quizzes, so they can take them.

Classtools.net also can be used by teachers to design interactives for their students. There are tons of templates and samples. The dustbin template looks great for categorizing/sorting. There’s also a traditional memory game. All great for reviewing concepts. Not to mention- there are interactive graphic organizers and even management tools such as a timer or class picker that could facilitate a whole class activity.

Explore it and see the possibilities for teachers and students alike! It may be the perfect fit for a project that you envision students researching, designing and sharing their knowledge all on their own.

Being producers of our own podcasts, I often forget that there are so many free podcasts already available to us in iTunes. There are video as well as audio podcasts. Some are great for students, and some are great for your own professional development. We’ve started to gather some here of various subjects. All can be subscribed to in iTunes.

One area that I want to explore more is iTunes U. This is a great introduction video to check out. If you have a desire to learn about a topic, this is the place to go! And no tuition is required even from some of the most prestigious universities on the planet. iTunes U would be a great match for high school. It also is a wonderful professional development opportunity for specific content teachers.

And you don’t need an iPod to access any of these resources. iTunes is a free download to a computer. Therefore, a classroom computer could become a listening station for a student. Add an inexpensive headphone splitter, and two students can listen together.

Splitters also work great with iPods, doubling iPod accessibility. And if you only have one iPod, you could invest in a RockStar. Ask students to bring in his/her own earbuds (cost effective for you and healthier for them!), and you have a center for a small group of students (up to five). (Management tip for elementary: we have students keep their earbuds in a labeled baggie in their desks.)

Of course, it’s extremely motivating when students create their own podcasts, and they can be loaded in a computer’s iTunes library and even synced to an iPod. You can’t beat the sense of pride and accomplishment that students feel when their work is being shared. Students love checking out each other’s work as well. However, this should not be a passive activity. Students should have a purpose to listen (and watch) whether it’s a classmate’s creation or a podcast from another resource. If the podcast is being accessed on a site, usually the site is equipped to accept comments for the author. However, if the podcast is in a computer’s iTunes or on an iPod, feedback or reflections need to happen in a different way. Many teachers create a simple worksheet for students to fill out as they listen. Often there are three “generic” questions. 1) Which podcast did you listen to? 2) What is one thing that you learned from this podcast?  3) What is one thing that the podcast creator did well? If you want to be green or collect this feedback for easy analysis in a spreadsheet, a Google Form could be utilized. (Check out a previous post about Google Forms.) Another idea if you have iPod Touches is to have students give feedback using Notes and email it to the teacher right from the Touch.

Looking for more tips on podcasts and iPods? Tony Vincent’s site (and podcast) Learning In Hand has been very helpful to me.

All in all, if you haven’t been window shopping in the iTunes store recently or ever, it’s worth a look. Go on a free podcast spree.

Do you have any tips, tricks or management ideas? Or favorite podcasts?

Over a week ago, I had the pleasure of being able to spend a day and half of professional development time with four other instructional technology specialists and a dozen teachers (grades K-5) exploring Glogster. This time gave way for much needed “play” and discussion about how to integrate this tool into the curriculum. By the end of the second day, we had examples and resources to share as well as a new contact, Jim Dachos, Glogster’s Education Manager. (I originally started following Jim on Twitter and set up a Skype session with him during the second day. He is a tremendous resource!)

In a nutshell, Glogster is a service that allows a user to make glogs or graphic blogs. Glogster’s slogan describes its service well: “Poster Yourself”. This medium is very appealing to all kinds of learners because of the ability to express yourself not only through text, but with pictures, videos and sounds- all on a web page (glog) that is like an artist’s canvas. It’s also very simple to use.

I recently read on Sean Banville’s blog that he used a glog as a way to introduce himself to his students. Sounds like a great alternative to a PowerPoint! I also have used a glog where my normal inclination would have been to present with a slideshow. I used a glog as a backdrop for a Web 2.0 presentation that I gave to parents this school year. That was a different experience, but one that was very interactive and visual for participants. It really showed the parents a Web 2.0 tool in action. The first glog page is embedded below. (If I were to do it again, I definitely would embed some video!)

*Here are links to a few ideas/examples that we created on our PD day:

Biography

What If? Biography

Animal Report

Kindergarten Author Study

Once you get started, the integration possibilities are endless as you will see by visiting the site. Jim Dachos stressed the importance of a teacher signing up for an education account at Glogster Edu. There are many resources available to teachers there. Check out that home page! And don’t forget to scroll to see what’s been added. There are links to tons of student examples, step by step directions, the Educator Resource Library and even tips for Mac users. With the education account, a teacher can receive 200 student accounts (very nice!). All can be managed by the teacher from a dashboard. Also, glogs can be made private and shared only to certain individuals via a link or they may be embedded on a web page, wiki or blog. The standard service is free, and you do get a lot for that price tag! To upgrade to premium, it’s about $100 per year.

Glogs are great a vehicle to deliver instruction to students as well as have students synthesize their own meaning on a topic.

What do you think about glogs?

————

Want to learn more? Here are two great Glogster resources:

Traci Blazosky’s Wiki

Karen Ogen’s (@teacherkab) Glogster Handout

*Thanks to Andrea Gardner, Joy Courcy, Margorie Nardini, Ruth Freeman, Sarah Rivard, Karen Burke and Liz Colantuonio for letting me share their terrific work!

Go ahead… press the play button!

(Text version: Does your blog or web page have the blahs? How about spicing it up with some talking avatars?)

Recently, I have seen quite a few of these critters on various people’s media or projects, and I have to say, I am mesmerized! A talking cartoon totally grabs my attention, so why not use it as a hook for your students? They may seem silly or just plain fun, but they could serve practical purposes as well. Some students need to hear the directions AND read them. A speaking avatar is there for all students without singling out those below grade level readers. The avatar also could be a hint giver or summarizer for the assignment that a student could access over and over again. Why not make academic accommodations using avatars from Voki? (This service lets you choose a language, accent and a voice as well. It works well with phonetic spelling. Does it have ELL possibilities?)

On the other hand, students also could make their own avatar to demonstrate learning. If a student is researching an animal, instead of writing up the traditional report, have the student draw the animal (in KidPix or even scan a hand drawing) or find an image of the animal. Then using Blabberize, upload the image, animate its mouth and voice record a first person (or rather animal) account of interesting facts, etc. Students may record up to 30 seconds for free. Sound files that are created and saved as WAV or MP3′s in another program, such as GarageBand may be uploaded, too.
Here’s a mini sample:

Another idea is to have students complete a book report or review using an avatar. Here are some examples of book review avatars on this glog (a.k.a. graphic blog… more about that tool at a later date!!! ) *Please note: These book reviews were not made with Voki or Blabberize. However, they serve as a source of inspiration of what one could do with an avatar. There are other cool avatar making options that have been shared with me that work with Logitech cameras; however, I have not found them to be Mac friendly. Please let me know if you have some good finds for the Mac and its built-in iSight camera!

Both Voki and Blabberize can be embedded on a blog by copying and pasting the “code” into a blog post (or anywhere you are allowed to put HTML). That’s what I did on this post.

The hurdle that I see is the usual: making accounts at these sites for young students without emails. You can create a Voki without signing up. You just won’t be able to store or access your work at a later date. Blabberize does require an email to use the service. Perhaps, a teacher could create a class account (or several using Gmails) and designate a computer as an avatar making station. (That’s what I’m envisioning in our computer lab.) Students could create their avatars and copy and paste the code into a text file (Word document) that could be saved to a server that they would be able to access at another time or from a different machine when they were ready to copy and paste into a blog post. The class account at the avatar site would store these creations in case a student needed to recopy the code.

Do you think integrating avatars could be worthwhile?

Need to survey people, or want your students to administer a survey? Want to make online quizzes for students? Or even better: have students make their own quizzes for each other to demonstrate what they know? Then look no further than Forms in Google Docs.

Do you send out an email whenever you need to gather info from people? This Google video illustrates the hard work of compiling data using the email method. Can you say management nightmare?

Creating a form that is online and gathers data for me to analyze (with graphics!) right in Google Docs is slick. It looks so professional, and then to be able to download the data into Excel makes it even better.

Try out this sample one that has been embedded below:

Loading…

What will you need to do to get started making your own? First, you need to create a Google account or log into an existing one. From there you need to get into Documents and create a new Form.

I found this how-to use a Google Form to create an online quiz video on Wesley Fryer’s blog originally. It’s very easy to follow. You can use this video to create a survey, too. Looking to go one more step and have the form act as a self-grading quiz? Then you’ll want to check this screencast out as well.

There is one possible hurdle to overcome: Google accounts for younger students. The good news is that you don’t need an account or email to fill out a form or take a quiz. The form or quiz can be embedded or linked on a teacher’s web page or blog for students to access. All of the results go to the teacher’s or creator’s spreadsheet in Google Docs. If you want younger students to create their own surveys or quizzes and collect the information, you will need to set up Google accounts for them. Instead of managing all of those accounts, create a handful for your class and have students work in groups. Changing the passwords allows you to keep using those accounts with new students.

Google Forms are practical, yet cool. They will gather data, but also encourage the critical thinking of design. The integration possibilities are starting to take shape in my head…I’m thinking a choose your own adventure… How will you use them?

Resources to check out:

AHS Google Form Ideas (submitted by a Form!)

Google’s Lead Learners examples

Google Docs Help for Forms