So Much to Learn...So Little Time

Web tools I use

Welcome to the first in a short series of mega posts.
More for personal reasons I decided to audit the different web / ict resources I use, have used or intend to use. This list is those web-based resources I have used in class or for other professional reasons. I have tried to give examples (where appropriate), along with a screenshot. So here goes.

firefox

great free open source web browser, built to work with RSS technology. Lots of add-ons (foxy tunes links directly to your computer's media player and allows you to control media player from browser) and customisability. Blocks pop ups, links easily with different google apps and as with most open source stuff safe because those in the know work to protect it. Cross platform usage (windows, mac, linux etc)

flock
specialised social networking browser. Just out of beta. Links all your social networks together in one browser. I use it for uploading to flickr (great resource for this puprpose..multiple uploads easy batch tagging). Just seems to have too much going on at one time for me. I like to ...browse with my browser.

animoto
great way of putting together slideshow. Free for 30 second videos. Upload copyright free music to go with photos. Quick way of putting together an exciting slideshow to include in a presentation. There is a pro version which allows you to produce full length videos, about $30 I think for one year.

bubbleshare
Nice way of presenting photos in a slideshow

BubbleShare: Share photos - Here comes Halloween!

slideshare / slidecast
Used it for publishing my own slides from presentations, but have used slidecast to produce vocab learning resources. Could be used to promote pupil produced resources. Slidecasts are quite easy to produce and synchronise but you need to have a url for a voice file, I just uploaded to my blog and used the post's url. Would be great if you could upload sound file direct.

| View | Upload your own

zamzar
Great little resource to convert all kinds of file. etc into other formats. Have used it to convert my .mov files to .wav files and vice versa. All conversions carried out on zamzar servers. They then send email of link where to download converted file. Simple and efficient.

Uploaded with Skitch!

pbwiki
Wiki for collaborative work - collaboration depends on collaborators getting on board, but this is very simple. As easy as a Peanut Butter sandwich. If you can email or word process you can use this. I am currently using it to promote our activities in our Connecting Classroom partnership. You can upload files (limited file space if you have a free account) or you can embed using the plugin menus...I find this a great way to post videos without using too much space.

I want to get into using it with students as a way of helping improve writing skills and helping them build a portfolio of work.

Uploaded with Skitch!

wikispaces
as above but above but I prefer look and feel of pbwiki.

google docs
as I am disorganised with paper this is a great way for me to keep documents. No need to worry about school server packing up. However not as feature filled as office and I some times find it a bit frustrating...although I hear microsoft are coming up with a web based version of their office suite to rival it. Includes word, xl, powerpoint equivalents. The ace thing about these docs is that there is a share/collaborate tool which allows you to work together on a document.

Uploaded with Skitch!

gmail
great easy to use unlimted webspace email. just about impossible to fill up inbox. Also creates conversations with mails exchanged between same people. The search facility is fantastic as well. A million times better than the new yahoo mail where I also have an account. (Compare these figures, in the last week my yahoo account had over 100 spam mails, gmail account had 2 so there is very good spam protection.) I am considering whether to start an experiment with a class where each student sets up a gmail account. I can then link them all to their own blog / wiki or whatever, but there is also an IM chat facility so I could specify a time online where difficulties with homework could be rsolved away from class... WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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feedburner
creates feeds...don't ask me to explain how it works or what it does but it works. Basically if you create sound files or write blogs you can ensure that potential subscribers can follow your every outpouring...you can probably tell I don't fully understand it but it works.

Uploaded with Skitch!

typepad
blogging platform, paid but comes with all the whizz bangs necessary. You can link text, embed videos slideshows...as you can see from this very post. Extremely simple to use.

flickr
photo sharing website. Great for photo blogging etc. I have used the creative commons search facility to find photos for use in class. It can be used to share photos from class trips or school events etc. There are loads of "toys" that can be used with your flickr photos (motivational posters etc.). Try flickrvision for a few minutes, its mesmerising.

flickrslidr
produces embeddable slideshows from your flickr photos

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

skitch
allows sharing of screenshots. These can be annotated. Does lots more that I've not yet discovered. ONLY FOR MAC. I STILL HAVE 2 INVITES AVAILABLE FOR ANYONE WHO LEAVES A COMMENT. See examples on this post.

bloglines
This is my feed reader. allows me never to miss what people whose blogs I enjoy reading write. Also does a whole heap more that I've not discovered.

Uploaded with Skitch!

youtube
video sharing website. Upload films and share with the world. Embed or link to your blog, social networking site etc.

teacher tube
video sharing website specifically aimed at educators. Self moderated

school tube
As teacher tube. requires registration via a school based email address and videos are moderated before publication. Doesn't seem to be as easy to use as tt but allows for longer films and are able to identify more specific channels for film. Was excited about it at first but am cooling on it very fast.

delicious
Bookmark sharing. Great way of helping students find web-based resources also enables you to bookmark interesting sites on whatever computer you are using. Here are my own favourites.

Uploaded with Skitch!

vixy.net
"record" videos from you tube etc to your own hard drive. In other words allows you to convert youtube files to files viewable on PC, iPod, PSP etc. Great when school network doesn't let you see you tube

Uploaded with Skitch!

miro
A bit like itunes specifically set up to search video sharing websites

Uploaded with Skitch!

rss
really simple syndication. aggregates everything that interests you on the web. rather than you going out to look at something all the time this is the technology that brings it to you, via bloglines in my case. Look out for the little orange logo in your  browser address bar which lets you know you can subscribe to the site via an aggregator (eg bloglines, netvibes, my yahoo, google reader etc.)

voki

Talking avatars. Create cartoon type characters from the available types then record, text or upload voice file (max 30 secs). Great way of encouraging kids to speak without having see themselves, good amusement factor as well.

Get a Voki now!

flashmeeting
open university hosted free web based video conferencing. can chat in back channel, exchange urls etc. All conferences are also recorded and available afterwards, including all chat. This links to the recording of a flashmeeting organised by Joe Dale.

That's it for now. Hope this wasn't too long. Maybe I should have written a separate post for each application...hmm!
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K12 Online 2007 - David Warlick

Have spent most of the day doing CPD on the lounge floor whilst kids played out in the sun.
Last night I subscribed to the video podcast channel for the K12 Online Conference 2007. I didn't know it existed last year and found out about this years via Vicky Davis' Cool Cat Teacher Blog.
So (in a Fast Show stylee) today I have been mostly watching David Warlick. Now I'm sure that for most of you who read this David Warlick is not a new name, but if he is click his name to find out more. Anyway his keynote was entitled Inventing New Boundaries and dealt with how teachers are in the strange position of trying to educate students for a future we are unable to describe...scary isn't it, but so true. Most students have very little idea about how they will make a living once they leave school.

The real crux (for me) of David's presentation came towards the end when he talked about the gulf of knowledge about using new technologies between students and their teachers. Apparently 57% of US students have produced original digital content and as a result communicate directly with their audience.
To my mind too many teachers are stuck in their traditional ways with little desire to shift out of their comfort zone...there ought not to be a comfort zone anymore, things move so fast. There are a surprising number for whom email is still an alien force with a mind of its own. More importantly there often seems to be a total resistance to change within our profession, in other words " i have been doing the same lessons the same way for years and I'm not going to change my lesson plan for nobody..." that kind of thing.

I am not saying every teacher must blog, podcast and spend hours, like me, checking out things on the web but surely every teacher must now start to make some kind of effort to get near the kind of learning landscape which our students inhabit. Did they all have lessons on how to Bebo? Who gave the YouTube homework? What was the Facebook NAB like? See what my point is? We all need to be pro-active in using new info and finding out about it.

I'm nowhere near as eloquent as David so let me quote his blog:

One question that I consistently get is,  “How do we train teachers to work with today’s information and communications technologies?”  I don’t quite understand this.  It’s probably my own very unique perspective, my outside the box mentality, my own success as a learner, and less success as a student.  But this just doesn’t seem like such a big problem to me.

It’s completely understandable that educators, with the institutional culture that we work in, would attack the problem by asking, “How are we going to teach this to teachers?”  But yesterday, I asked the audience, of almost 300, to raise their hands if they could say that they learned at least half of what they do with technology by teaching themselves — and almost every hand went up. 

The thing I am finding with much of this web 2.0 stuff as i go along is that it gets far easier to pick up the more you look into it and ideas for using the things come quicker...the big thing though is making sure there is educational value in using your chosen technology. As Ewan says

its the teach not the tech.

School Tube

SchoolTube now online.

Thanks to Jane Knight bringing to my (and everone who reads her) attention the existence of SchoolTube. It puports to be a safe environment for students and educators to upload videos. On initial inspection there are more appropriate categories for your videos than on TeacherTube. I am quite looking forward to using it.

German Slidecast 2

Here's a German vocab slidecast with a lovely piano ballad in the background. Does it work for you?

Re first slidecast

Told my S2 French class about the slidecast to help them with their revision and played it in class and had them drill the words....they loved it.
Every single pupil in the class listened and repeated the words in unison. WHY?

Any answers?

An Experiment in Action Learning

The posts linked below on RateMyMates  are the result of a wee experiment with my students in 1F. Instead of using the usual direct teaching methods to cover the topic of school I asked the students to work in groups to produce either a film or a radio show.
The aim of the production was to introduce German-speaking visitors to The Gordon Schools; to give an idea about its history, the subjects studied, give some opinions, some interviews etc. The only real guideline I gave them was to use the vocabulary from their vocab guides to ensure reasonable quality German. You can see/hear the results for yourselves but here is my own analysis of how the experiment went.

1. I allowed it to go on for too long, although much of the time was down to various disruptions
2. some level of direct teaching is involved beforehand to ensure some familiarity with the labguage to be used
3. I'm not sure how much of the language they have learned
4. there are some fantastic ideas in there which with a little tweaking could produce really high quality work, both language-wise and creatively
5. once again just when you are getting brassed off and you think they are taking the mick the students come up with the goods...in general.
6. the script is king, queen, emperor and general dictator all rolled into one
7. on the whole THEY HAD A BALL..look at the bloopers at the end of the films

Will I do it again? YES, but with the above in mind.

Please leave 2 stars and a wish-type comments on their work!!!

Der_BJKKM_Shau

Die_Gordon_Schule

Ein_Tag_in_der_Gordon_Schule

A top 10 minutes

Had one of the best ever meetings today. 10 mins at break time, 3 buttered pancakes and a cup of coffee...BUT. Someone who wanted to hear about some of the stuff I've been doing, who sounded genuinely excited about it and who thought my latest idea (see below) was rather interesting. Thank you Tracey Stewart from she Determined to Succeed...and thanks to Fiona for letting me know she would be in school.

As a result I have now spoken to Louise McDonough from DoBe about the possiblity of providing some content...could be interesting.

The Gordon Schools Television

...now known forever as TGStv.
What do you think of the logo...just thought it up on the spot now.

So of you may be aware of my adventure into internet radio with school this last session (TGSi.) Although we didn't get as many "listeners" as I would have hoped I thought the quality of broadcast that went out was pretty high. A lot of good work was done by quite a small team. This next session I am looking at moving on from that into the realms of "TV",  or vodcasts to be more precise. I would like to produce a monthly news programme featuring two anchors and reporters reporting from various TGS events on video which then by the miracles of Garageband can simply be turned into a video podcast.
I also want my more senior students to help create resources which can be accessed by the younger ones. I have a secret yet cunning plan to produce a  kind of soap opera which will back up the vocab guides. We shall see.

YO! Maths Raps.

C'mon all you maths teachers, git down with the Mrs Burk groove.

Mrs Burk is one brave American maths teacher. Her maths teaching raps are a stroke of genius. Have a look at this one then check the rest on you favourite video sharing site...Teacher Tube.

ECML Photos

Here's my photo's from ECML BLOGS Workshop