BP12_2010063_One_Minute_Evernote

Here is my one minute message about Evernote. Please post a comment below.

BP11_2010063_Comment_4

See my comment to Justin's post here.

BP10_2010063_Comment_3

See my post on Kristi's blog here.

BP9_2010063_Web_2.0_Evernote

Evernote makes it easy to remember things big and small from your notable life using your computer, phone, and the web. With Evernote you can capture everything. The use of Evernote in an educational setting is expansive. For example, students could use their cell phones to capture images for a field trip scavenger hunt, instantly upload them for viewing later. If you can see it or think of it, Evernote can help you remember it (Evernote, 2010). You can type text notes take a screen shot of web pages or snap photos (Evernote, 2010). Evernote will keep it all safe (Evernote, 2010). Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed, and made searchable (Evernote, 2010). If you like, you can add tags or organize notes into different notebooks (Evernote, 2010). Search for notes by keywords, titles, and tags. Evernote magically makes printed and handwritten text inside your images searchable, too (Evernote, 2010).

I plan on using Evernote in class for assignment where students have to prove with a visual image that they have completed a task. I would also like to use it for field trips to museums where students need to capture images, and tag the phote with the proper tag to not only prove they went to the areas but also that they know what they viewed and can explain what they learn. I would also ask the students how they want to use Evernote. It is a great program that has many uses. Like other great programs, it is free which is a plus.

Evernote. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.evernote.com/about/learn_more/

BP8_2010062_Schoology_One_Minute_Message

BP7_2010062_Comment_2

See my comment on Patrick's post here.

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See my comment on a blog here.

http://ngonic3.blogspot.com/2010/06/quizinator.html#comments

BP5_2010062_Schoology

I have finally found a Web 2.0 tool that is truly an all-in-one place for classroom interaction. Schoology does everything a social networking site like Facebook does but adds the ease of grading and other school related activities. The video above does a good job explaining the features and benefits.

Setting up an account is easy. Complete your name, email address, and your school name, and once you get a confirmation email, your account is active. Also like Facebook, Schoology is free.
I am going to test and use this to teach summer school. It will serve me well to practice with this technology before I am able to use it in my classroom during the school year.

I will also be able to use it for action research. The ability to post assignments, grade, blog, and collaborate makes this program one of the best I have seen for teachers.

BP3_2010061_Web_2.0_T1_Skitch

The free program, Skitch, is a Web 2.0 tool with many uses. It can be used to snap screen shots and easily manipulate images. You can use Skitch to grab an image of something on your screen or within view of your iSight camera, and then modify it with text, arrows, drawings, and other basic sketch tools (Snell, 2007). Once you've finished marking up your image, you can drag its Drag Me tab into an iChat window to add it to your chat, press a hotkey to e-mail it, or click on the Webpost button and watch as Skitch uploads your image to your blog or Flickr account (Snell, 2007).
With the purchase of a Wacom-Bamboo Pen and Tablet, $69.99 at Best Buy,
(http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Wacom+-+Bamboo+Pen+and+Tablet+-+Black/9469014.p?id=1218110423543&skuId=9469014&st=bamboo&contract_desc=null), and with access to a projector, Skitch can also be used as a whiteboard or blackboard in your classroom, depending on the settings. Skitch can be used to provide information on lessons or it could allow in interactive way for students to participate in the lesson.

If you want to have some fun, for a review students could play a game of Pictionary using terms or concepts from past lessons or units. Again, Skitch is an interactive, useful way create and modify images. Everything can be saved by clicking the Save button or a simple drag-and-drop to the desktop or wherever you need it.
I really like the how easy it is to share created images or snapshots. I put a few examples of some of the different ways Skitch can be used. Simple drag and drop.

Snell, J. (2007). Skitch. Macworld, 24(9), 32. Retrieved from Academic Search

Premier database.

This Skitch captured image shows how you can highlight buttons easily to show information easily using highlights and arrows.


This Skitch captured image highlights where you name and drag and drop images.

BP2_2010061_Edu_Uses_for_Blogs

The traditional classroom needs to be ready for the changes Web 2.0 tools provide. Web 2.0 is an integrated Internet program that allows users to not only consume content but also create content. The Web 2.0 tool called the Weblog, or blog, has several uses in education. Blogging allows students to publish their own writing to get used to public scrutiny and overcome shyness (Beeson, 2005), build camaraderie, closeness, and community (Beeson, 2005), and participate by creating, commenting, and collaborating with different content (Churchill, 2009).

Content produced and published by students improves because “many students take extra care in editing their [work] prior to posting” (Beeson, 2005). This helps the students focus on the content and the assignment because they know it is not going to be read by just the instructor.

The sense of closeness and camaraderie created by blogging can be compared to what a family experiences. Carolyn Mason, journalism opinion instructor at University of Alabama states, “There’s a group closeness and compassion I’ve never seen in all my years of teaching. I can only figure that it’s from the blog” (Beeson, 2005). Blogging allows classroom and student unity that was not available.

The greatest change blogging allows in education is the ability for students to participate in learning in a variety of ways. They can create, comment, and collaborate in ways like never before. This also changes for the instructor. [Blogging] takes the professor out from behind the podium (Beeson, 2005). He is a participant instead of a fountain head (Beeson, 2005).

Blogging can change the way instructors teach and students learn and create content. Education has to change and embrace blogging and other Web 2.0 tools. The positive effects are clear and will only become clearer as implementation grows.

Beeson, P. (2005). Bringing blogs into the classroom. Quill, 93(6), 27-29. Retrieved from Communication & Mass Media Complete database.

Churchill, D. (2009). Educational applications of Web 2.0: Using blogs to support teaching and learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(1), 179-183. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00865.x.