Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Virtual Worlds
Can't say I am a fan of Virtual Worlds and I haven't changed my mind. I don't think this something I would want to encourage with students either. But is just my point of view and I am sure there are some positives involved - just not for me!
Image Generators
Image Generators are a bit of fun. I like using them to create signs to put on my IWB in the morning to get the students involved in the day - it might be a welcome message or a provocation for something happening in the day.
I really liked the doppelme website in which you could create your own avatar. I have added my avatar to my profile on blogger. I think this would be great to use with the students to create their own avatars to use with their own blogging ( something I intend to experiment with soon.)
I really liked the doppelme website in which you could create your own avatar. I have added my avatar to my profile on blogger. I think this would be great to use with the students to create their own avatars to use with their own blogging ( something I intend to experiment with soon.)
Social Networking Sites
Users be aware. A common sense approach needs to be taken when using any of these sites.
Facebook
After I watched the movie "The Social Network" I did have a great desire to deactivate my Facebook account but I do find it useful to keep in contact with friends interstate and overseas. It is great to see what they are up to and share photos with them. Not that I like sharing my photos.
Th trend of some colleagues to take photos at work functions and then post them on Facebook is something I don't like and try to avoid this happening or I request photos not to be posted. ( doesn't always work though)
Lots of Education groups are now creating Facebook Pages and I do use my Facebook page to keep up-to-date with information, news etc.
Twitter
I am a fairly recent to Twitter and I am actually finding it a really useful way of keeping up-to-date with trends in education, connecting with other PYP educators globally and finding out about some useful apps and websites. I have been looking for a good way to try and keep up with all the tweets. I have tried Nambu (only for Macs), Tweetdeck and recently Tweetbot. I recently attended a workshop and Seesmic was recommended as a way of keeping track of all your social network sites with one app. I am yet to check it out but I intend to have a look soon.
LinkedIn
I have recently closed by LinkedIn account as it was not something I could see as being useful. I think it is quite useful in the Business sector but have yet to see any advantages for it in the Education sector. I guess I could be convinced otherwise though. It did take me a while to see how Twitter could be useful. I like to remain open-minded about new tools and applications.
After I watched the movie "The Social Network" I did have a great desire to deactivate my Facebook account but I do find it useful to keep in contact with friends interstate and overseas. It is great to see what they are up to and share photos with them. Not that I like sharing my photos.
Th trend of some colleagues to take photos at work functions and then post them on Facebook is something I don't like and try to avoid this happening or I request photos not to be posted. ( doesn't always work though)
Lots of Education groups are now creating Facebook Pages and I do use my Facebook page to keep up-to-date with information, news etc.
I am a fairly recent to Twitter and I am actually finding it a really useful way of keeping up-to-date with trends in education, connecting with other PYP educators globally and finding out about some useful apps and websites. I have been looking for a good way to try and keep up with all the tweets. I have tried Nambu (only for Macs), Tweetdeck and recently Tweetbot. I recently attended a workshop and Seesmic was recommended as a way of keeping track of all your social network sites with one app. I am yet to check it out but I intend to have a look soon.
I have recently closed by LinkedIn account as it was not something I could see as being useful. I think it is quite useful in the Business sector but have yet to see any advantages for it in the Education sector. I guess I could be convinced otherwise though. It did take me a while to see how Twitter could be useful. I like to remain open-minded about new tools and applications.
Library Thing
Library Thing is an excellent tool for organising book collections. I think I could possibly use this to organise my classroom library and to keep a record of what is there. I might possibly use this with the students to help them with novel selection.
I am also thinking that this might also be a good way to keep track of the books we use in different Units of Inquiry. Then I would have a record of them no matter where I was.
Worth exploring further.
Flickr
Flickr is an easy way to add photos to blogs and other social networking websites.
The photo which I have added is form a trip to Thailand a few years ago.
The photo which I have added is form a trip to Thailand a few years ago.
Monday, April 18, 2011
iGoogle
iGoogle is great. I like it and have set up my page with some widgets that I find useful to have at hand, such as calculator, clock, calendar, word of the day and ABC news feeds. I used to use Pageflakes but find iGoogle more convenient and easier for me to use. I have this as my home page and have it up and use it on the IWBs at school. The kids love it, especially when I add Maukie, the virtual cat to the page.
One of the strategies that Google employs is the Google Innovation Model which is a policy where Google encourages their employees to spend approximately one day a week on "innovation" activities that come from their personal interests and passions. I think this is a great innovation to keep staff engaged, motivated and to keep them learning.
I think this would be a fantastic example to follow in any creative business and would be fantastic if we could give teachers the time to do this. Time to explore and work on ways of being innovative in schools could only enhance teaching and learning.
One of the strategies that Google employs is the Google Innovation Model which is a policy where Google encourages their employees to spend approximately one day a week on "innovation" activities that come from their personal interests and passions. I think this is a great innovation to keep staff engaged, motivated and to keep them learning.
I think this would be a fantastic example to follow in any creative business and would be fantastic if we could give teachers the time to do this. Time to explore and work on ways of being innovative in schools could only enhance teaching and learning.
All Things Google
I have used some of the features provided by Google before but I knew I was not using them to their full potential. I have dabbled with Google docs but this was an opportunity to make me go further. I have also used Google Maps before for different things.
Google Books
I had not used this before or to be honest, even noticed it was there! Definitely a great tool for Teacher Librarians in schools. I could also see the possibility of using it in the classroom to allow students to select "Just Right" books for independent reading. They can often see a review and the first few pages of the book. This would help them make choices about their reading before visiting the library. I definitely intend to give this a try.
Google Maps
I often use Google Maps to help me find my way to unfamiliar places or to places I have not been before. I don't think I would ever use the add a place function but maybe there is a reason to use it that I can not see.
Google Docs
I have been at workshops and conferences where the presenters have used Google Docs to share documents with participants. I have also had documents shared via email lists. I have not personally set up a document and to be honest I am not sure I would use this at this stage, as there are too many hurdles to overcome in using it, in my current school.
Google Books
I had not used this before or to be honest, even noticed it was there! Definitely a great tool for Teacher Librarians in schools. I could also see the possibility of using it in the classroom to allow students to select "Just Right" books for independent reading. They can often see a review and the first few pages of the book. This would help them make choices about their reading before visiting the library. I definitely intend to give this a try.
Google Maps
I often use Google Maps to help me find my way to unfamiliar places or to places I have not been before. I don't think I would ever use the add a place function but maybe there is a reason to use it that I can not see.
Google Docs
I have been at workshops and conferences where the presenters have used Google Docs to share documents with participants. I have also had documents shared via email lists. I have not personally set up a document and to be honest I am not sure I would use this at this stage, as there are too many hurdles to overcome in using it, in my current school.
Up in the Cloud - Web 2.0
Web 2.0, the second generation of web design which allows and facilitates collaboration on the WWW. There has been an explosion of Web 2.0 tools since 2004 - some seem to be here for the long term, whilst others are fading away.
The term "cloud computing" seems to be the latest "piece of jargon" to describe using these tools - hence the title of this blog entry.
In schools we have been playing around with these tools for a while. There have been a number of reasons that have stalled this process - sites being blocked, suspicion of information being up "there" and security issues to name a few.
As a teacher, I can certainly see how this tools can be used with classes and could contribute greatly to teaching and learning.
Finding a way to use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom was one of the reasons to commit, 2011 to learning even more about Web 2.0 tools and working out a way to integrate them authentically into the classroom.
The term "cloud computing" seems to be the latest "piece of jargon" to describe using these tools - hence the title of this blog entry.
In schools we have been playing around with these tools for a while. There have been a number of reasons that have stalled this process - sites being blocked, suspicion of information being up "there" and security issues to name a few.
As a teacher, I can certainly see how this tools can be used with classes and could contribute greatly to teaching and learning.
Finding a way to use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom was one of the reasons to commit, 2011 to learning even more about Web 2.0 tools and working out a way to integrate them authentically into the classroom.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Blogging Journey Begins
Welcome to my first blog entry. I am a teacher in a PYP school. I attended a PYP workshop called ICT in the PYP in Hong Kong last year. I have been exploring the use of ICT at our school & am exploring the use of Web 2.O tools. This blog is et up to be my experiment with blogging.
Wish me luck!
Wish me luck!
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