Final Thoughts

This was part of your Journey into 21st Century Learning. We all know there is more learning ahead, but we are life-long learners and that means the journey never ends.  Whether this was the beginning of your journey or  a continuation, I would like to congratulate each and every one of you for your accomplishments and hard work!

In one short week you put  a lot of time and effort into learning, and also experienced some frustration. Frustration comes with technology, this is a fact! It simply gets less frustrating when you expect it and have a backup plan in your pocket.

You were exposed to many useful Web 2.0 tools and you got a chance to "play" with them. Play is very important and it is a great way to learn to use the computer as a tool. Playing helps develop the problem-solving skills you need to be successful. Recommended problem-solving strategies include talking it out, using help sections available, or searching for directions/tutorials/videos on the web. After all, it's probably out there.

It's summertime and undoubtedly you will be using the web for personal purposes. This includes travel plans, online shopping, researching, and communicating. Since plenty of practice is the best way to learn to use these new tools, please consider using them. Why not have a little fun and also get more comfortable with them at the same time? Here are some ideas...

BagTheWeb:
Create a bag of possible hotels for an upcoming trip. This will probably spark more ideas, such as restaurants to visit, things to purchase for your trip... Play with this tool!

VoiceThread:
Create a fun summer voicethread. One page is just fine. Share it with friends, family members, coworkers OR the people in this class. Find out where people are traveling OR upload a photo and ask everyone to comment on it. Nothing fancy, just play!

Blogger:
Create a personal blog. Use it as your own online journal and make it private. Practice publishing links in the sidebar. Create a blog about a hobby like gardening. Take pictures of your garden, include links to gardening tips. The possibilities are endless, just play!

Glogster for Education:
You can create an online poster about anything in the whole wide world. Create a simple glog about something that interests you. Create a glog to keep track of your family members and include photos, videos, GoogleDocs. Or, how about a travel glog. The door is open, just play!

Google Docs:
Keep using them to increase your efficiency. Consider getting a personal Gmail account and using it. A great way to use a Google Form is to collect information for a roster for a sports team. What about using it to organize a potluck? You will think of ways to use it to truly help, as long as you just play!

Finally, I would like to share a video with you which was taped one year after this teacher began his journey into 21st century learning. Mr. Kannan's words are powerful and you might notice his mention of never using computers with students prior to his journey. I hope you will benefit from sharing his enthusiasm.

This video was shared with the School Board and I have been given verbal and written permission to share it with the world.

21st Century Learning in the MS Social Studies Classroom, Ashley Kannan

StartUp Tasks on Friday

1. Please check out the VoiceThread and Pixie 2 samples linked to the post below. You can skip Ms. Peterson's sample for now, we will use it as a point of discussion.
2. Take a look at Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. It is easiest to understand if you click on the link to the poster. These resources are available in the post below BagTheWeb

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, Andrew Church

Bag of Resources

Pixie 2 for Learning in D97

View samples:


Pixie 2 and VoiceThread Samples:

• Ms. Peterson - 5th Grade Narrative Poems
• Ms. Childress - Reading Buddies
• Ms. Vogt - Creativity Using Pixie
• Ms. Oxnevad - Students Creating with Pixie 2

Pixie 2 and Google Presentation Samples:

• Ms. Frick - Catostrophic Events, 6th Grade Science
• Ms. Creticos - Alliteration, 2nd Grade
• Ms. Rajashekar - Land and Water SlideShow
• Mr. Naber - Please publish this GoogleDoc and we can link and share it.
• Stella Turi, City WildLife

Thursday Agenda

8:30 - Startup tasks are listed below, but please answer the question of the day first.

8:45 - Time change
 -Wordle Discussion, levels of uses

• Post a form on your blog
• Copy and paste text
• Copy and paste the webaddress to a blog or addional source of RSS feed.
• View wordle ideas

-Learn more on the Web 2.0 page
-Demo: Use a Google Form to collect information for a Wordle.

9:30
-Pixie II for Learning, Software installed in our labs only not Web 2.0. 
-Get a 14 day trial to install on your home computer to "play".

• Samples:
• Try it
• Publish it in Our Online Portfolio, the google presentation with Our Wild Selves. 

10:15: Glogster for Education, create an online multi-media poster
-Watch Gallo Video
-Glogster.edu Demo & Student Account Managment
-Sign up for an account
-Hands on: Create a sample glog, portfolio
-Resource: SlideShare Tutorial to learn how to Glog on. Great find, Kerri!
-Learn more about Glogster on the Web 2.0 page

11:00 Your choice:
-Set up a Wordle for your students.
-Keep glogging
-Create a VoiceThread (view samples)
-Update your blog
-Create a Pixie 2 project

11:00: Discussion

• Tomorrow: We will devote the entire day to creating content and collecting the resources you need to use these tools in your teaching to engage students and create a 21st Century Learning environment. Then we will publish it so it is ready and waiting for you when you need it.

Thursday StartUp Tasks

Important task today... 
Please answer the question of the day, posted in the sidebar.

After you are done...

• View sample glogs
• Learn about Wordle on the Cool Tools Blog. 

Wednesday Agenda

8:30: Startup Tasks See below

9:00:  Design...Edit...Create
View and collaborate on working list Find it in your list of GoogleDocs

1. Graphics, Photo Editing and ArtPad

• Copyright
• Good sources of graphics 

2. Web 2.0 Photo Editing Tools

3.  ArtPad

10:15: Work Time
Below please find a list of tasks to accomplish. I'd like to see if you can use the Web 2.0 section of my website to accomplish one or more of these tasks.

1. Please start by opening the Web 2.0 section of my website as a new page. 
2. Choose a task to start with. They are not listed in any particular order.
3. Use the key words listed in the task to find a link to the pages you need. 
4. If all goes well, you should find the information you need to complete the task.
5. Note: There is a search box at the top of my website? 

Tasks to try:

1. Create your own graphic. Use WP ClipArt and PhotoFlexer. 
2. Display photos on your blog. Use Picassa and the Blogger SlideShow Gadget to publish a slideshow.
3. Consider publishing a photo of yourself on your blog. Have some fun. Use PhotoFlexer to erase wrinkles and fix blemishes before posting and use the Blogger Picture Gadget to post.
4. Create and submit an ArtPad recording for publishing on the ArtPad Glog. 
5. Your ideas. Use these tools to create and publish.

Need help creating links on your blog? Find handouts in the Blogger section of the Web 2.0 page.

StartUp Tasks on Wednesday

New Tasks:

1. View our VoiceThread, published in the sidebar.
2. Return to our shared Avatar slideshow and write a little blurb about your online identity. To add text to your slide, choose Insert > Text Box 

If you haven't already done so...

1. Review some powerful blogs created by d97 teachers and contribute ideas to Webspiration. Blogs to check out is a new page that has been added to the top of this blog. Please use this page to look at blogs and search for ideas. If you see something you would like to try, modify, or discuss, please add it to the Webspiration document which is linked to the sidebar of this blog. This document was significantly modified after today's class. The goal is to get everyone to collaborate on this Webspiration document and we will use it every day. If you are having trouble accessing the Webspiration document, please email me from home or talk to me in class.
2. Explore some other Avatar creator websites. A GoogleDoc has been started and shared with you. You should see it in your list of GoogleDocs with a New label. Directions are written on the document itself. We will use the list you generate to learn how to evaluate Web 2.0 tools and then we will use another Web 2.0 tool, BagTheWeb, to create a collection of resources to post on your blog.

Go to Create an Avatar

Note: By clicking on this link, you will access the published document, but you won't be able to Edit it directly from this link. This is a complication resulting from Gmail not recognizing our op97.org accounts as Gmail accounts.

Tuesday: Agenda

Good morning!

• 8:30: Startup tasks See below
• 9:00: Voicethread
• 10:15: VoiceThread Project plan
• Whole Group: NETSS collaborative GoogleDoc Shared and available in your list of Google Documents
• Setup your own VoiceThread activity and plan for use in the fall.

Startup Tasks on Tuesday

This is our ongoing collaborative work. 

1. Review some powerful blogs created by d97 teachers and contribute ideas to Webspiration. Blogs to check out is a new page that has been added to the top of this blog. Please use this page to look at blogs and search for ideas. If you see something you would like to try, modify, or discuss, please add it to the Webspiration document which is linked to the sidebar of this blog. This document was significantly modified after today's class. The goal is to get everyone to collaborate on this Webspiration document and we will use it every day. If you are having trouble accessing the Webspiration document, please email me from home or talk to me in class.
2. Explore some other Avatar creator websites. A GoogleDoc has been started and shared with you. You should see it in your list of GoogleDocs with a New label. Directions are written on the document itself. We will use the list you generate to learn how to evaluate Web 2.0 tools and then we will use another Web 2.0 tool, BagTheWeb, to create a collection of resources to post on your blog.

Go to Create an Avatar
Note: By clicking on this link, you will access the published document, but you won't be able to Edit it directly from this link. This is a complication resulting from Gmail not recognizing our op97.org accounts as Gmail accounts.

VoiceThread Resources

• What is VoiceThread? Read about it on the Cool Tools blog.
• Learn more about VoiceThread in the Web 2.0 section of my website.
• View and comment on a d97 VoiceThread Project. It's published using another Web 2.0 tool, Wallwisher.
• Watch a video featuring a teacher and student talking about VoiceThread.

Video tutorials: Created using ScreenToaster, a user-friendly Web 2.0 screencasting tool.
Comment on a VoiceThread

Welcome

This blog is our primary source of communication for this course. We will use it as a teaching tool and also as a place to publish work completed in this class. You have all been invited to contribute to the blog and will be administrators after accepting the invitation sent to your email.