BP16_2009113_MediaAssettQuizletReview_Snead_James

BP15_2009113_WYPgame_Snead_James

After viewing this website whatsyourplace.de (WYP) I came to the conclusion that I could not find any use for this in the classroom. After viewing the Michael Wesch video I thought I would be getting something that would transform the classroom for the students but what I found was a game that would empty their pockets. The website was very easy to register for you just had to create a name for the game and develop a password. The really didn’t ask much information from you to join. Make sure that you pick the right country. I made that mistake but it was easily remedied by clicking on the little flag on the upper right hand corner of the page that stood for the United States. They then asked me to pay nine ninety-five in order to play the game. It also gave me the opportunity to play the game for free. Once I made my choice I ended up getting a Google map and directions that suggested I pick a parcel of land. I choose a parcel of land and the game sent me some options of what I was going to use this parcel of land for. My choices were city, industrial, or farmland use. Once I chose my options the game again tried to charge me nine ninety-five. This time I wasn’t able to go any further until I paid the money using a credit card. I really did know how the game was played other than the fact that it was supposed to allow me to get involved with real estate deals and work with others within a community setting. It would not be suggested for use in the school environment.

BP14_2009113_QuizletKathy_Snead_James

Hello Kathy, I really like the the Quizlet site because it allows the students to create flash cards to drill and practice answering questions. It also has various levels of quizzes that makes it possible to create flash cards on the students ability level. I also like the fact that it can be used during and after school. I was showing my students how to study using flash cards this week to prepare for a test. They seemed intrigued by the concept. I guess they just don't have the study skills they need and a program like this would help them.

Jim Snead

BP13_2009113_JamLegendXaivier_Snead_James

Nice game and can be beneficial to learning as Xavier stated. There are down beats that can teach the students rhythm. He also stated that it is a game but schools who do not allow games might consider this one because of the way it engages the student to work cooperatively with others. This appears to be a great way to drill and practice and at the same time increase motivation, build relationships, and meet the challenge of gamesmanship.

BP12_2009113_elearningforkidsclara_Snead_James

I went to this website and got introduced to one of the instructional games that was on this particular website. Clara identified that the site was very user friendly and that students can find interactive video clips that required the students response to move forward. There are lots of games a available in a variety of subject matters. I found the site to academic, fun, and entertaining.

BP11_2009113_JingSapp_Snead_James

Mr. Sapp reviewed an interesting product that is as he said virtually free of cost. It allows you to snag things off the internet. I downloaded it and tried it out for myself. Students can download it at home and make collages of information they glean off the internet. I think this is a great tool for students to make visual presentations of what they are studying. This week I am going into the cell and I will be taking pictures on the computer with my digital microscope. Jing will allow me to take some shots of what well be seen inside of the microscope. The students can then send the photos to Flickr for posting.

Jim Snead

BP10_2009112_MixedTapeCRWMatt_Snead_James

I like your post. I have been talking to the music teacher about Web 2.0 products. This is low technology and it allows the students to use what they already have on them. I like the way it engages them in doing a project for class. They can gather various genre of music and share them with each other for an assignment.

BP9_2009112_reflectivemediaasset_Snead_James

BP8_2009112_viddyou_Snead_James

Viddyou is similar to YouTube in that it provides a platform for you to upload videos on the Internet and post a description. I found that you could post videos to it and keep a file of all your films. You can either make you file public or private. I found that you could create videos and upload them for classroom purposes. I would use it to help me with my frontal teaching. I would save my videos online and use them while I assist students in the classroom. This gives me someone to co-teach so that I may get around the room to assist struggling students. I can also use this site to post videos I want students review for homework. It can be used as an archive of lessons to help students review and prepare for tests. Students can also Viddyou to make video reports and share what they created for class. The videos can be used just like a blog because it gives the viewer an opportunity to respond to the video produced. This is a great way for students to converse about what they are learning in the classroom asynchronously. There are lots of instructional videos Viddyou to help you create you movies and movie effects. One video explained how students could create side-by-side video shots. In the video they created an asynchronous recordings of themselves side by side. It was kind of ingenious on their part because they created a special effect using iMovie. One video was about diabetes. It gave you the cellular information you needed to learn how the pancreas works and how these cells maintain equilibrium within the human body. The video was scholarly and should be considered when by teachers for instruction. This article was found through the search engine provided on the website.

Viddyou, Home, Retrieved November 8, 2009, from http://www.viddyou.com/index.ph

BP7_2009112_orchestrate_Snead_James

Orchestrate is a scheduling software that helps you plan where qualified personnel will work according to their specific job related skills. How I see I can use this in the classroom is through identifying what skills the students in my classroom have and deciding where they can be placed to do the most good in the classroom. I do a lot of projects and use cooperative teaching techniques within my classroom. This Web 2.0 product allows you to schedule students for project placement on the right day in the right group project. It also allows you to follow where the project is going and what should be completed by which day so that benchmarks and goals can be achieved. It gives you team, task, and location or group number and members of that group. It allows you to assign students with the correct qualification for each task. You can utilize Multiple Intelligence to qualify what skills the individual student has. It also give you the ability to put in information concerning the special needs of each student and makes it possible for you to place that student effectively. This is great because you can stay in control of you students, tasks, and skills they can perform. Orchestrate also allows you to put members of a group in a block form spreadsheet. Whenever a student is absent you can place or rotate a similar student in that group to fill in for the day with the same skills as the student that was absent. The good thing is that the student can log-in and get instructions on what group they will be working with, what task they will be working on, and schedule of benchmarks and goals. Orchestrate is a business Web 2.0 application that can be used by the teacher as a way to control the various learning abilities of their students.

Orchestrate, A Quick Tour of Orchestrate, Retrieved November 8, 2009, from http://orchestrateapp.com/tour.html

BP6_2009112_WiZiQ_Snead_James

WiZiQ is a Web 2.0 product that allows you to have access to a virtual classroom. You can perform online tests, content share, manage contacts, web conference, and teach and earn. You can either teach synchronously or asynchronously. This feature allows you to leave lessons on line for students to access at later dates. Documents can be stored on it as well as links and other multimedia products. WiZiQ allows the teacher to manage their contacts and group them so that you can access them according to their schedules. You can pull up certain people you what to access at a specific time. Students can respond to the instructor synchronously by either raising their hand with icons, or clicking on a check mark for yes or no. The instructor can also log in for tutorial sessions after school hours and make parental contact through the web conference abilities. Teachers can create tests online for their students. They can create specific test rules, create their own questions, create public question, create private test questions, and invite specific students for testing. WiZiQ allows you to also contact other members for support or information. Classes are available for free online to help you better prepare yourself as an online instructor. This platform also connects you to teachers and students worldwide. A teacher can actually tutor a student from the convenience of his or her own home and get paid for it. Teacher can use PayPal as part of their e-commerce package to get paid for their services. It appears to be a great tool for helping students does their homework while listening to their instructor online. Schools are looking for ways to extend the school day and provide more instructional time. WiZiQ is the perfect product in that it allows teachers to schedule office hours where they can personally tutor students and give them one on one or small group instruction. This also gives teachers an opportunity to record the teaching style to self-monitor what they are doing to provide instruction. Critical friends can also view recorded episodes of instruction so they may be able to help improve instruction.

WiZiQ, WiZiQ Free Online Teaching and E-Learning with Web Conferencing, Retrieved November 8, 2009, from http://www.wiziq.com/

BP4_2009112_Delicious_Snead_James

The first use I found for social bookmarking is article called Integrating “Web 2.0 in Health Education.” The article identified the need for people in the health field to find articles that are related to the research they are doing. They need updated information that can only be provided through the Internet and other digital media. Devices like podcasts, (RSS) feeds, and audio/video files can be bookmarked by people in the health field and distributed to thousands of others via the Internet (Hanson, Thackeray, Barnes, Neiger & Mcintyre, 2008). These feeds automatically notify the subscriber when any new content is available. This helps them by sorting through thousands of material for them. Social bookmarking allows the device to use tagging to bookmark with. “Tagging is the process used by site developers and users to categorize digital content such as photos, blog posts, and videos” (Hanson, Thackeray, Barnes, Neiger & Mcintyre, 2008).

The next article is “Capitalizing on Emerging Technologies: A Case Study of Classroom Blogging.” This article is about using social bookmarking in math and science to help students in the classroom. Mr. K. a math teacher used social bookmarking to help his students learn math. He introduced his students to Delicious by having them sign up for accounts. The students were able to co-construct and share collections of Internet-based resources. He also linked Delicious to his classroom blog. The blogs the students found helped them do the following: increase collaborative learning, nurture community, develop student centered learning, to provide a place for reflection, to provide enrichment to the class (Macbride & Luehmann, 2008). What Mr. K. found out was that the students increased their productivity through increased motivation. What the students got was increased information through and sharing and collaboration.

The last article is about using Delicious along with iGoogle, and Google Reader as web feed aggregators in a language class. These Web 2.0 products collect news feeds, blogs, podcasts, and videos all together into one interface (Chinnery, 2008). It explains how it benefits student’s critical thinking skills. The article, “You've Got Some GALL: Google-Assisted Language Learning” explained how teachers used social bookmarking to teach a language. Students could use Google Docs to hold information that students gather while rambling through search engines and blogs preprogrammed through gadgets found in iGoogle. Students can continue projects by researching Google Maps as a mash-up tool which allows learners to tailor-make maps, with descriptive text, and digital images and drawings (Chinnery, 2008). Bookmarking of blogs and other (RSS) feeds can be organized through various gadgets. “Social bookmarking sites (e.g., del.icio.us) similarly utilize user-generated tags” (Chinnery, 2008). In conclusion social bookmarking can be very helpful in getting students motivated, and engaged with the learning process.

References

Chinnery, G. M. (2008). You've Got Some GALL: Google-Assisted Language Learning. Language, Learning & Technology, 12(1), 3+. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5025510007

Hanson, C., Thackeray, R., Barnes, M., Neiger, B., & Mcintyre, E. (2008). Integrating Web 2.0 in Health Education Preparation and Practice. American Journal of Health Education, 39(3), 157+. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5028594903

Macbride, R., & Luehmann, A. L. (2008). Capitalizing on Emerging Technologies: A Case Study of Classroom Blogging. School Science and Mathematics, 108(5), 173+. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5027651199

BP5_2009112_Flickr_Snead_James

I found a great lesson plan that allows the students to find cells and cell parts using a microscope with a camera on it. They take photos of what they found and tag them on Flickr. The lesson plan is as follows:

Microscopy and Histology: Flickr meets science lab

Created by: jorrflv Modified by: jorrflv

Show History

Subjects: anatomy, Histology, Biology

For students of 9th to graduate grade.

Purpose:  The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the concept of "tagging" on the social picture sharing website, Flickr.  

Objectives:  As a result of this lab students will be able to: 

1.  microscopically identify the cells, tissues and organs of the human body. 

2.  Photograph tissue samples through the microscope. 

3.  Upload and tag photos in Flickr. 

4.  Search for others photos using Flickr search.  

Materials: (per group) Microscope Prepared slides of various tissues Digital Camera Laptop  Procedure:   

1.  Orient the students to proper microscope use and handling. 

2.  Teach students how to photograph tissue samples with the digital camera. 

3.  Explain how to upload and tag pictures to flickr. 

4.  Students identify each tissue type available and photograph sample. 

5.  Students upload photographs to flickr and appropriately tag photos. 

6.  Have students compare tissues of the same type by searching for the      appropriate tag.

(Jorrflv, 2009)

I like this idea and plan on using it this year. I will be covering the cell in my next unit. I purchased a microscope a few years ago and uploaded the software into my computer so I can take photos of what I find. We will be looking at parameciums under the microscope when we cover cells.

Reference
Jorrflv, Microscopy and Histology: Flickr meets science lab, Retrieved November 3, 2009,from http://www.wikiteach.org/index.php/wikiteach/action/lessonplan/iVar/279
      

BP3_2009111_Web2.0_iGrOOp_Snead_James

(iGrOOp, 2009)

I looked at a Web2.0 product called iGrOOps. I chose iGrOOps because during our school improvement team meeting last week with the Department of Education we were told that we neeI looked at a Web2.0 product called iGrOOps. I chose iGrOOps because during our school improvement team meeting last week with the Department of Education we were told that we needed to work on our school community. The students stated that they wanted to let people know what was going on in the school. Many of the new clubs and activities were not being mainstreamed to the rest of the students. In fact they said the only way they can get information is over the public address system in the morning. The students wanted to use other means to get the message out to the rest of the school and to the school community. After looking at iGrOOps it came to my attention that this could be an effective way to use this Web2.0 product.

It could be a website that hosts an asynchronous television program that teachers could display in their homerooms each morning via the Internet. Students would also be able to access the broadcast at various times and locations. It would allow students and teachers to leave academic and student activity information via twitter, blogs, audio, and video. In fact I see this also as a way to get parents together to discuss ways they can support the school through the PTO. Many of our parents would like to be informed about what’s going on in their child’s school. Sports never get a chance to be broadcast in our state. This website gives students a chance to see themselves online involved in an activity. A news and television club can be developed and mini-programs can be created. Streetwise Security Zone states:

1. iGrOOps supports many Web 2.0 features such as blogs, podcasts, discussion forums, live video broadcasts and auto-responders, which provide members with a rich experience that can bring great value to visitors with different learning styles.

2. iGrOOps manages payments and security features transparently.

3. iGrOOps offers an affiliate program that can help cover the cost of the hosting, or even provide profits in itself.

4. iGrOOps has an active discussion forum for administrators to get quick help or tips from other group administrators.

5. iGrOOps has flexible membership levels that allow for different member types to have tailored access to content, as well as teasers to entice visitors to move up to higher membership levels.

6. iGrOOps lets you grant privileges to members for specific functions like administrating forums or live broadcasts, as well as authoring their own web pages.

7. iGrOOps is supported by a team who operates several of their own membership sites, and has experience with what works and doesn't work.

8. iGrOOps offers unlimited instances of membership sites for one flat monthly fee (Wright, 2009).

References

iGrOOp Sales, Home, Retrieved November 2, 2009, from http://www.igroops.com/index.cgi

Wright, S. How to create your own social media website, Streetwise Security Zone, Retrieved November 2, 2009, from http://www.streetwise-security-zone.com/members/streetwise/adminpages/igroops

BP2_2009111_GoogleReaderFeeds_Snead_James

This week I took a look at five Google Reader feeds. The first feed is related to the work I am doing in school at the present. We are researching the reasons why the Chesapeake Bay is being over populated by Sea Nettles. The problem with the Sea Nettles is that they are stinging the swimmers in the bay. It appears to be a seasonal problem and over abundance and stinging of humans has occurred during the past decade. It has something to do with the increased nutrients in the water. I choose the Chesapeake Bay feed to give me some recent data for my students to process and come up with some solutions for the existing problem. I also want to use it to plan for next year’s curriculum.

I am also following a feed on Ning. Dr. Deason first introduced me to Ning and I presently have quite a few videos uploaded to the site. I would like to keep up with the skills I learned about Ning and continue to build on the website my team developed during his class. We developed a site about using cell phones in the classroom. We put our site together pretty fast and would now like to take some time in developing the ideas we came up with for future references.

The next site I looked at was a blog about Web 2.0 products on the Internet. It provided me with a lot of new Web 2.0 products and how to use them. I think this is going to be helpful in this class since we have to critique the various products that are on the Internet and tell how we would use them in the classroom.

I found a site for Blip TV and added it because I place videos on it. I saw some information about viral videos and about online video professionals. I would like to get into that as part of my inventory or skills on my resume. I saw a lot of great ideas that I could use and build upon. There was even some information on YouTube video creation.

The fifth and last feed is about e-learning and software development. I saw something in this list that was about personal learning environments. I also saw lots of information concerning applying software development paradigms to open educational experiences. I think this feed will help me in developing my own personal learning cloud.

BP1_2009101_GettingStartedwithBlogger_James_Snead

Research educational uses for blogs and create your first post from your findings.

Educational blogging started with the term Weblog. It started as a way for librarians to communicate information to an online community. The weblogs serve as a diary of information posted on the web. Educational weblogs keep information for teachers and students. The weblog can provide information for the entire school community. The blog helps teachers and students keep up with the latest information by experts who blog via the Internet. From elementary to high school blogging can be used by teachers in the classroom. “Classroom blogging has the potential “to motivate students, to build online collaboration, and enhance learning opportunities” (Clyde, 2005). It is stated that blogging is a virtual extension of the classroom. Blogs can be used for creating connections in difficult places, provide channels of information, promotes the use of technology, promotes writing habits, and promotes reading. Blogs are considered to be public personal communication zone. This technology promotes a reflective analysis and the emergence of a learning community that goes beyond school walls (Clyde, 2005). Blogs have become a tool of web-based learning. It uses the aspect of peer-to-peer learning. The peer interaction creates knowledge. “Similarly, interaction allows students to create knowledge and negotiate meaning, thus making the interaction both more engaging and more rewarding” (Ellison &Yuehua, 2008). Students use blogs to exchange information in many social networking sites. The percentage of student’s blogging on the Internet is increasing as they learn to use it to express themselves. “It is claimed that blogging is a useful practice for the development of higher order learning skills, active, learner centered pedagogy, authentic learning, associative thinking, and interactive learning communities” (Farmer et al, 2008). It is stated that the interwoven use of links helps users to create what is called a “blog sphere” (Farmer et al, 2008). Blogs are considered to be public learning. In conclusion social networking through blogging can provide plenty of feedback to the learner within their social group at a level of understanding they can understand.

References

Clyde, L. (February, 2005). Educational blogging, Teacher Librarian, 32(3) 43-45, Retrieved October 31, 2009, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=6&sid=0349234b-9a03-4ae5-a04f-a20aca171ae2%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d

Ellison, N., Yuehua, W., (2008). Blogging in the classroom: A preliminary exploration of students attitudes and impact on comprehension, Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 17(1), 99-122, Retrieved October 31, 2009, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=4&hid=6&sid=0349234b-9a03-4ae5-a04f-a20aca171ae2%40sessionmgr4

Farmer, B., Yue, A., Brooks, C. (2008). Using blogging for higher order learning in large cohort university teaching: A case study, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24 (2), 123-136, Retrieved October 31, 2009, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=4&hid=106&sid=0349234b-9a03-4ae5-a04f-a20aca171ae2%40sessionmgr4

RE: Role of the parent

How can we change the role of the parent in today's educational environment? Very similar to Will on Star Trek who was mature enough to pursue his education while working on the ship.