Lino
Lino is an online visual tool. You can view the Lino that I made below to learn about all of the educational opportunities. Lino hosts a web-based canvas where you can post sticky notes, photos, links, documents, and video. Users can create multiple canvases on the platform. In class, you can have students post their answers to warmups, share ideas, post ticket-out-the-doors responses, and collaborate. Not only can students write text, they can upload videos, post pictures, and upload documents. Teachers can create their own where they can host assignments, use it to share ideas or resources for other teachers and students to view, or display student work for others to see.
Lino has the capability to assist students who struggle with writing and grammar because they can express themselves through images and videos. Students can also freely collaborate with students online in a low-risk environment where everyone’s voice can be heard. This helps students who struggle with communication and speaking up to get their point across. If teachers use it as a ticket-out-the-door or a warm up, teachers can quickly gauge how well their class knows the material as well as allow each student to answer in a low-risk environment as long as the teacher keeps the board private to only the teacher viewing it. If teachers allow all the students to see it, it could be an issue of high risk for the students as they may not be as open to posting their answers or they could cheat off of what others on the board are putting. Should teachers be using it to collaborate the whole group, teachers can assign students that if students post a similar idea as some they have to add to it with their own personal thought or comment that would curb the cheating. Evernote
Evernote is an organizational tool that can assist with school, work, and personal life. Evernote can capture texts, images, audio, and PDF files from the web, your email, and you can create your own notes and reminders all in one place. This program can be accessed through the website, the web clipper add-on, and your personal devices through the app. I highly encourage students to use Evernote to take notes and keep up with assignment due dates. This tool is easily something that the students can use while in high school and can follow them to college and beyond. With this application, students can organize their classes with different Notebooks within Evernote. Students can set reminders and create tasks. You can have the reminders emailed to you every day until they are complete. If students handwrite any notes or anything really, they can easily take a picture of it and upload the information to their Evernote to keep it all in the same place. After it is uploaded, they can still search the document for keywords just as if it was text.
Students who struggle with keeping up with their assignments and notes in class can benefit greatly from using this tool. If students get the premium subscription, they can record their teacher (with permission) so they can go back and listen to the notes. Students who have ADHD can also benefit from using Evernote. Check out this article about how Evernote can help students with ADHD to learn more. Evernote essentially helps them focus on one location for all their work that is easy to access from multiple devices. I would recommend this to students who have difficulty organizing information during a project or research paper. They can clip parts of websites to their notebook and access it later when they need it. When students are using it, the teacher needs to make sure the students are on task if you allow them to use it during class. It would need to become part of your classroom management and teaching students appropriate uses for the application. I believe that teachers could manage this tool without many problems as long as the specific guidelines on usage were addressed at the beginning of the school year. Now, some other challenges as teachers we may face are student’s access to computers/apps outside of school. Teachers would need to work with these students to schedule regular time in their classroom to use the computers or have access during class to take notes on and print them. Despite this concern, Evernote truly can be a game changer in a student’s life to organize their school assignments. The beauty thing about this application is that students can continue to use this as they grow—it is not just a school tool. I provided two articles for you to explore to learn more about ways to use Evernote and ways to improve note-taking. Also, follow them on Twitter @evernote. Ways to use Evernote Improve Note Taking Lucidchart App
Lucidchart can be used by both teachers and students as a great productivity tool. This app allows students to use their phone or tablet to create a nicely designed mind-map of a topic. The teacher can use this app as an assignment to assist with students thinking through a topic and displaying it visually. Teachers can also use this during notetaking to illustrate an order of events or all the components of a topic. There are a variety of options that can assist students in understanding the information. The app is user-friendly for all grades and levels. Students and teachers can share their charts amongst each other. Within the app, students can start with one chart and add new pages within a particular topic to create more charts. The feature I think is neat is the ability to write on the line that connects to the individual boxes. Users can add colors, use different shaped boxes, change the text fonts and sizes. The app contains many manipulatives that allow students to use their creativity.
Students who need assistance in seeing how topics relate to another, cause and effect and sequencing to name a few can use this app. Teachers can also help by developing their own charts to help with student understanding depending on the topic. Despite this being an app that most students can access from their phone or tablet, some students do not have that ability and it would be beneficial for students who do not to still have that opportunity. Lucidchart makes this possible by allowing students access to it from the web. Teachers would need to ensure that these students have computer access. The products from this app can be as simple as a flowchart to as complicated to an interactive chart. Teachers and students can collaborate on assignments, create charts, organize ideas, and develop critical thinking skills. Lucidchart’s website also provides a blog that you can learn more about the uses of Lucidchart such as using it for project-based learning like this article mentions. You can follow them on Twitter @lucidchart. Screencasting- Kahoot! : A new way to assess and engage students
Have you ever experienced students requesting to review for a topic in class? Well, once you start using Kahoot! you will! This interactive, competitive game allows teachers to host quizzes, discussions, and surveys on its website. In the screencast below, I discuss how to create a Kahoot! quiz that allows students to verse each other a quiz that you make. You can use the quiz as a review or introduce a topic. To learn more about this neat assessment tool, check out my screencast.
I have to say using screencast was a great experience. I used Jing as my screencasting tool. I have not only found that it does an excellent job for recording screencasts, but also to capture screenshots. For my first time recording screencasts, I have already discovered many tips and tricks that I would love to share with you if you have not tried this before. I recommend writing your main points down, to begin with before you start recording. At first, I tried writing word for word what I wanted to say, but then once I played back the screencast I noticed that it sounded rehearsed and not welcoming. I went back and just jotted down the main ideas and it sounded much better. While doing the screencast it is important to explain every detail to make sure your audience can follow along easily. I can see that this tool can provide a variety of opportunities for teachers. Teachers can use this to flip their classroom, to explain a topic to students who are absent, or even to teacher other teachers about technology tools like I did. Please feel free to share any ways that you use screencasting in your classroom in the comments below or any other technology tools that I should check out.
2 Comments
Podcasting
Podcasting is something new that I experimented with this week and was pleasantly surprised at how useful and informational it is. Podcasting hosts a multitude of topics from varying interests where students and teachers alike can find something that interest them. When I was exploring the different topics of podcasting, I discovered Grammar Girl, TEDTalks Education, Stuff You Missed in History Class, and Out of School. These all provide interesting information from teaching techniques to history information that I can use in class. The beauty of podcasting is that you can listen to it when you are commuting, listen to it when you are working, or whenever you would like. This flexibility is great, especially for a teacher on-the-go! Students can be assigned podcast to listen to and use the information it provides for extending thinking and knowledge, reinforcing material that they have already covered in class, and for some ELL students you can find a podcast in their native language to help them understand the material. Teachers can also differentiate instruction by providing students to explore topics that interest them in the unit they are studying in class to promote engagement or teachers can flip their classroom by assigning a podcast to listen to prior to class/create their own podcast for class. Podcasting is a tool that I believe is underutilized and needs to get the recognition it deserves for providing great opportunity to engage, teach, and inform students and teachers.
TEDTalks Education provided inspiration to me and made me think differently about the way I view education. I enjoyed that it challenged my views on education and provides different perspectives. I can see this being a podcast that I can listen to regularly on my way to work. Grammar Girl discusses grammar topics and explains tips and tricks of writing. This is something that you can assign your students to listen to, especially if you are working on a specific skill that you are focusing on in class. Stuff You Missed in History Class explains topics more in-depth than what you would be able to provide in a history class. Teachers and students can use this to provide more information on a topic or to extend students’ knowledge by assigning them one to further engage them. Teachers can also reference information from these podcasts to provide another perspective. Out of School podcast highlights technology tools/Web 2.0 tools to use in the classroom to engage students. I recommend teachers to listen to these to learn about emerging technology and the uses that it has. Technology is always changing and evolving, so what better way than to stay updated on the topic. Teacher Tools:
Flikr
When you think of Flikr, I am sure you think of a place where you can view and upload pictures. Well, what you may not think of is that you can use Flikr in your classroom. There are multiple ways you can utilize this resource. As you can see from my example below, students can create a story using pictures from Flikr. Flikr filters their pictures in a variety of ways, but one way that allows other to use their pictures is filtering with Creative Commons. Creative Commons allows users to use posted photos as long as they provide credit for their sources. Teachers can also have students find a picture from Flikr and write a story based on the picture. They can differentiate instruction using Flikr by having students find pictures that represent the definitions for vocabulary words, or visually tell a story if they struggle with writing.
Classroom 2.0 Website
Classroom 2.0 website is an excellent resource for teachers. This website provides a place where teachers can come and discuss their lessons, share ideas, get advice, and ultimately learn more about Web 2.0 tools from other teachers. I would definitely recommend this for beginner and novice teacher would are looking to expand their knowledge about Web 2.0 tools to use in the classroom to engage their students. The site does require you to sign up for a free membership to access the full site. It is well worth the sign-up to be able to join in on forums and groups and network with other colleagues from across the globe.
Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker creates videos with audio using images and video footage. This program allows you to record audio, add music, title slides, and transitions. Teachers can utilize this tool to have their students create, produce, and edit videos. By using this, students will take ownership of their work. It uses higher order thinking skills and engages them in the material. Teachers can assign a project where they create a music video over a specific topic, create a commercial, or create a documentary. I recently tried creating a country profile video with my students where they explained the government structure, economy, cultural aspects, and population trends to provide a snapshot of the country. My students enjoyed uses the technology to create this video, which allowed them to explore new resources and express themselves in a different way.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2024
Categories |