Canterbury, 29.8.2012 - 11.8.2012

Using technology in the classroom - level 2

Day 1: Google Docs, Diigo, free digital photos

Google docs

● an important and easy to use online tool when editing and sharing documents, presentations etc.

● can be used in the classroom and as a way to share and edit docs among colleagues

● everyone with a gmail account can access and use google docs

Diigo

● saving and storing bookmarks/links online

● you can use tags and notes to make your bookmarks more organized

● you can highlight certain passages or important information on a web page

● you can share your bookmarks with your colleagues/students by creating a group

Free digital photos

● there are several web sites that offer free photos

● we avoid copyright infringement

● the most useful web sites below:

Day 2: Jing

● screen capture & screen recording● great for taking screenshots and making online videos, voice-overs

(tutorials, video feedback for students)● videos can then be uploaded to screencast and shared with others

(videos can also be embedded in a blog or a wiki)● the video format is .swf so you need a special player (Real player)● Jing also allows you to easily add text, arrows or highlight

sections of your screen capture. This is a great feature for teachers wanting to add notes on top of images or text, for students

Day 3: cyber safety, avatars, wiki

Cyber safety● cyberbullying is a big problem nowadays, so we have to educate

our pupils about the issue

● one useful tool is the Disney online safe surfing game, which teaches the pupils different ways of how to protect themselves online

● when presenting yourself online it is important to use avatars instead of real photos

● 'me on the web' is a valuable tool developed by Google which alerts you every time something about you is posted on the web

● it is of the utmost importance to always use a secure password

Avatars

● www.clayyouself.com

A great web site for making avatars youcan then use for your online identitiy.

● www.pixlr.com

Using this tool you can edit photos, pictures online or you can download the application and use it on your computer, mac or PC.

Day 4: Wikis

● a platform that promotes collaborative work (an online classroom)

● allows its users to add, modify, or delete its content via a web browser

● a user can insert documents, pdfs, pictures/photos

● you can also embed a video and use various widgets (a small application that can be installed and executed within a web page - widgets often take the form of on-screen device, i.e. clocks, event countdowns, calendars...)

● we can reduce plagiarism by protecting your wiki using creative commons

● it's user friendly and self-explanatory

pros & cons - wikis

PROS

● free software, easy to create an account

● we access to wiki/materials after the class ends

● promotes creativity, collaborative work and includes multimedia

● easy to share information

● previous versions of a page can be recovered

cons

● poor IT skills can create problems

● can possibly be time consuming for the teacher to set up

● If relying on free wiki software, the company could discontinue the service or start charging

● plagiarism and copyright issues

● assessment

Day 5: Digital storytelling

People learn better with words and pictures. Some examples of web pages where you can make your digital stories:

● www.littlebirdtales.com

● www.demogoanimate.com

● www.educreations.com

● www.animoto.com

How to use these tools effectively?

3D Effect● define your objectives

● do a research for the audio option

● do not use a heavy on-screen text

● ensure that your content is interesting

Day 6: Webquests, linoit

● pupils are given a task/a theme and then they do their research on the web

● a good web page for creating webquests is zunal.com

● linoit is a platform for notes and photo sharing

Day 7: Podcast, Wordle, Tagul, Voxopop

● Podcast: A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of audio files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device.

● Voxopop: In voxopop you can record audio messages to express your ideas or ask questions and then people can record their own messages to respond to you.

● Wordle & Tagul: Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds”from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.