This week has been crazy busy in ICT we have still been working lots on our websites and mine is coming along well, a few more additions and I will be set! This week we are talking about digital media, what it is, how to use it, and how it can benefit us in the classroom.
We have done work with a few programs such as Animoto which I am having so much fun with!
It is a program that you can make stories with by uploading your own pictures. You can create a movie-style slideshow with super cool graphics and animations. The downfall to this website is that you can only create a 30 second video for free and other than that you have to pay for it. One of the perks of being a teacher (or a teacher in training) are all the resources that you are supplied with and here Animoto does not disappoint. Teachers can sign up, for free, and create videos that are more than three minutes long! The videos that are created on Animoto look so professional; I can definitely see myself using this with students in the classroom for presentations and my sister has already asked me to create a video using it for my Nephew's provincial hockey tournament!
This program provides you and your students with many more opportunities rather than just making power point presentations or poster boards for projects. It allows you to incorporate technology into the classroom in so many more ways and also allows your students to express their creativity and individuality, one thing that I believe to be extra important in the classroom to helping the students develop and to help you get to know your students better.
I leave you now with an example of a video that I made with Animoto composed of some pictures of my horses, enjoy!
Ti'll next time!
Friday, January 31, 2014
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Wonderful World of Technology!
What a week in technology! We are talking about e-portfolios and building websites and I have my own website underway, which is very exciting! Now I have never made my own website before so this is a learning experience. I am still figuring out the ins and outs of how it is all done.
Cheers!
We were given a list of different sites that we could use to make websites with:
-Yola
-Weebly
-Google Websites
As much as I wanted to keep everything under my Google account, you saw how much I like all of it in my last blog, I chose to use Weebly because it seemed user friendly and the templates were sleek and professional looking (not to mention it was also free! Win-Win!!), sorry Google.
Isn't it pretty? I have already seen a few teacher websites so I have a pretty good idea of what I want to include on my classroom website, but first I want to talk about why it is a good thing to have a website for your classroom.
We are in a world of technology, it is around us everywhere, and if we can incorporate it properly into the classroom it can not only make our lives as teachers easier but make things much easier for our students and their parents as well. For students we can include deadlines of assignments, this is great because students can forget to write deadlines down in their agendas or forget them at school. By having these features on the website students will be able to access page numbers, question numbers, and due dates via website.
Students will also be able to access any resources that you may have used in class such as websites or articles. If you provide these links to your students they will have them available to them always. This also avoids nagging questions to the teacher such as "what was that website?" "I can't find that website anymore!", this encourages independence in students.
This is also a great resource for parents because they have access to what their kids are doing in the classroom, they can see deadlines and schedules themselves. Another great resource for parents is to provide them with forms that you may be sending home with students. Sometimes these forms don't make it home, get ripped or ruined, accidentally thrown out, or lost once they get home. This gives parents the opportunity to print out these forms a second time or find out more about where you may be taking the kids or what you are doing with them. If you are going on field trips you can provide links to websites, maps, and other various information that is on the website that maybe wasn't included in a descriptive handout. You can also provide parents with examples of students work by taking pictures and posting them on the website, or pictures of the classroom so parents can see what students have been doing.
Another great feature to have on your website is to create a teacher profile, you can include your e-portfolio or just include a picture and a short description of yourself. This may give parents some ease at knowing who their children are spending their days with. This will build a good relationship between parent and teacher which is important in our students education. The learning process includes a triangular relationship between student, teacher, and parent.
These are only a few of the great opportunities that having a website provides to the classroom and is another great way to incorporate technology! I can't wait until my website is up and running, even if I don't have my own classroom to use it with yet, I see possibilities in using it while student teaching!
I'll leave you now with a super cute video from Kid Snippets!
Cheers!
Friday, January 17, 2014
Google Drive, Google Drive, Google Drive!!!!
I thought it would only be appropriate to start this week's blog off with a little chant (today's blog title) about one of my favorite programs that we just so happened to be talking about this week in ICT!
Google Drive ladies and gentlemen!
This program, in my opinion, is one of the best things that could have happened to me in my university career. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Google Drive let me give you the run down. This program gives you the ability to create documents, slideshows, spreadsheets, drawings, forms, and allows you to add other 'apps', for example the Desmos Graphing Calculator, all while storing it in a 'cloud' out on the web which makes it accessible from any device that has internet access! I know, sounds too good to be true, right? Wrong! It does exist and I find myself using it daily.
Now you may think, "why is that useful when I only use one device which has all of my files on it?" this is where you and I may differ. I walk to school every day and therefore I do not haul my laptop around with me because: a) Living in Manitoba and it being winter I have a fear of slipping and falling on the ice and smashing my laptop in my bag and b) it adds quite a bit of weight to my already full-of-books bag, which can really take a toll on a girls back! But I digress, from a student standpoint this program makes it easy for me to access all of my school assignments no matter what device I may be on. I can be on my laptop in my apartment, my desktop when I am at home for the weekends, the school's computers at the University, my tablet when I am in class, and my smartphone when I am on the road. Did I mention I travel a lot? Oh, and another fun fact, it is fairly compatible with Apple products. I can edit my documents and files from my Ipad and my Iphone, fun I know! There are apps for Google Drive available that I have downloaded on my tablet and phone. Google Drive really takes the pain out of having to e-mail my assignment to myself every time I make a change to it in order to access it later when I am on a different device.
This isn't where the Google Drive's awesome features end. Have you ever been apart of a group project and found it extremely difficult to find days and times where you could all meet because of your busy schedules? If you have ever been a student of any type, weather it be high school or post secondary education, your answer is probably yes and if it isn't you are in the minority that has never had a problem with a group project, ever! Now being in education we know all about the negatives of group projects, but we are also told that they have to happen, it helps us become educators, and so on (do you catch my bias on the group project topic?). But once again, I digress, the great thing about Google Drive is that you can share your files with others and you can all work on, edit, add information at the same time or at separate times. This means that you don't have to be in the same room at the same time in order to complete a group project! There are more fun little features like adding comments to communicate on a certain part of the project, or open up the chat box feature and carry on a conversation while you work. If you are skeptical about this, fear not because I have done it before with complete success! Put five busy education students in a group together and we will overcome and come out in the end successful, with minimal stress I may add.
I know all of this sounds great but I haven't talked about my all time favourite feature about this program, boys and girls get ready for your mind to be blown. Google Docs has an automatic save feature, I know I can hear your gasps of amazement from here! I had the same reaction when I first found out about this feature. How many of us have been working on a project and got a great start or accomplished a huge chunk of a paper only to have your power go out or your computer crash and end up losing everything. I know the heart sinking feeling and I am all too familiar with being near finished an assignment only to loose about half of what you had been working on being completely mortified that you will never get back what you had been working on.
Now that I have touched on a few of the factors that make Google Drive a great program from a student standpoint, let me tell you about a few of the great features that make it awesome for a classroom. Number one, the "I forgot my homework" excuse. One of the great things about the cloud in Google Drive is that if your students forget their homework they can access it from any of the computers in the school, print and hand it in.
Number two, your students can submit files to you by sharing their Google Drive file with you and it will pop up in your gmail and it is now stored in your Google Drive. Not only is this green by saving a lot of paper and ink but if you already have your students email assignments to you, the chance of the email being accidentally deleted or the attachment not working is eliminated. No formatting issues here!
The third great feature from a teacher standpoint is that you can have students share their assignments with you when they first start working on them and have access to their assignment while they are working on it. This means that you can see what students are actually keeping up and working on their assignments and what students are leaving theirs till last minute. This provides you, as a teacher, with the opportunity to approach that student and see if they are having difficulties with the project or get them back on track. This approach was actually used in my pre-service teaching placement and was very efficient!
Another awesome thing that can be done with Google Drive is sharing assignments or notes with students so they can access these from home, providing they have internet access, if they forget a binder or the assignment at school (but that never happens, right?). This means that students can be more independent and still have access to that file themselves.
Before you go off running to create a Google Drive account thinking that it has no faults, I am going to burst your bubble. Like any program there are a few things that Google Drive could improve on. Firstly there are some factors in Google Docs that Microsoft or other word processing programs have that Google Docs does not support. For example, Google Docs does not have the "other first page" option where the second page in the document can be the first numbered page of the entire document. While this is frustrating, I have found it is not the end of the world- I just create a title page for the document in a new file, easy-peasy! There are a few other formatting issues that I have come across, such as the margins being quite small, so small that when you add your page number into a header that it is cut off if you do not press 'Enter' to move it down the page slightly. Once again, a minor issue but I feel as though it is good to let others know about it so you don't per chance print a document to only find out that your page number is only half showing on the paper, get frustrated, crumple up the paper in rage, and figure out how to solve the problem and print again with trial and error, all the while wasting of paper, ink, and money. Three things most university students are short on.
Okay, now you can run off and create your Google Drive and have as much fun with it as I do. I am off to complete my paper due Monday, which I am doing on my Google Drive. Today's pictures brought to you by Evernote, a super cool program for another blog... another time.
Till then Folks!
Keep calm and pretend it's on the lesson plan!!!
Google Drive ladies and gentlemen!
This program, in my opinion, is one of the best things that could have happened to me in my university career. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Google Drive let me give you the run down. This program gives you the ability to create documents, slideshows, spreadsheets, drawings, forms, and allows you to add other 'apps', for example the Desmos Graphing Calculator, all while storing it in a 'cloud' out on the web which makes it accessible from any device that has internet access! I know, sounds too good to be true, right? Wrong! It does exist and I find myself using it daily.
Now you may think, "why is that useful when I only use one device which has all of my files on it?" this is where you and I may differ. I walk to school every day and therefore I do not haul my laptop around with me because: a) Living in Manitoba and it being winter I have a fear of slipping and falling on the ice and smashing my laptop in my bag and b) it adds quite a bit of weight to my already full-of-books bag, which can really take a toll on a girls back! But I digress, from a student standpoint this program makes it easy for me to access all of my school assignments no matter what device I may be on. I can be on my laptop in my apartment, my desktop when I am at home for the weekends, the school's computers at the University, my tablet when I am in class, and my smartphone when I am on the road. Did I mention I travel a lot? Oh, and another fun fact, it is fairly compatible with Apple products. I can edit my documents and files from my Ipad and my Iphone, fun I know! There are apps for Google Drive available that I have downloaded on my tablet and phone. Google Drive really takes the pain out of having to e-mail my assignment to myself every time I make a change to it in order to access it later when I am on a different device.
This isn't where the Google Drive's awesome features end. Have you ever been apart of a group project and found it extremely difficult to find days and times where you could all meet because of your busy schedules? If you have ever been a student of any type, weather it be high school or post secondary education, your answer is probably yes and if it isn't you are in the minority that has never had a problem with a group project, ever! Now being in education we know all about the negatives of group projects, but we are also told that they have to happen, it helps us become educators, and so on (do you catch my bias on the group project topic?). But once again, I digress, the great thing about Google Drive is that you can share your files with others and you can all work on, edit, add information at the same time or at separate times. This means that you don't have to be in the same room at the same time in order to complete a group project! There are more fun little features like adding comments to communicate on a certain part of the project, or open up the chat box feature and carry on a conversation while you work. If you are skeptical about this, fear not because I have done it before with complete success! Put five busy education students in a group together and we will overcome and come out in the end successful, with minimal stress I may add.
I know all of this sounds great but I haven't talked about my all time favourite feature about this program, boys and girls get ready for your mind to be blown. Google Docs has an automatic save feature, I know I can hear your gasps of amazement from here! I had the same reaction when I first found out about this feature. How many of us have been working on a project and got a great start or accomplished a huge chunk of a paper only to have your power go out or your computer crash and end up losing everything. I know the heart sinking feeling and I am all too familiar with being near finished an assignment only to loose about half of what you had been working on being completely mortified that you will never get back what you had been working on.
Now that I have touched on a few of the factors that make Google Drive a great program from a student standpoint, let me tell you about a few of the great features that make it awesome for a classroom. Number one, the "I forgot my homework" excuse. One of the great things about the cloud in Google Drive is that if your students forget their homework they can access it from any of the computers in the school, print and hand it in.
Number two, your students can submit files to you by sharing their Google Drive file with you and it will pop up in your gmail and it is now stored in your Google Drive. Not only is this green by saving a lot of paper and ink but if you already have your students email assignments to you, the chance of the email being accidentally deleted or the attachment not working is eliminated. No formatting issues here!
The third great feature from a teacher standpoint is that you can have students share their assignments with you when they first start working on them and have access to their assignment while they are working on it. This means that you can see what students are actually keeping up and working on their assignments and what students are leaving theirs till last minute. This provides you, as a teacher, with the opportunity to approach that student and see if they are having difficulties with the project or get them back on track. This approach was actually used in my pre-service teaching placement and was very efficient!
Another awesome thing that can be done with Google Drive is sharing assignments or notes with students so they can access these from home, providing they have internet access, if they forget a binder or the assignment at school (but that never happens, right?). This means that students can be more independent and still have access to that file themselves.
Before you go off running to create a Google Drive account thinking that it has no faults, I am going to burst your bubble. Like any program there are a few things that Google Drive could improve on. Firstly there are some factors in Google Docs that Microsoft or other word processing programs have that Google Docs does not support. For example, Google Docs does not have the "other first page" option where the second page in the document can be the first numbered page of the entire document. While this is frustrating, I have found it is not the end of the world- I just create a title page for the document in a new file, easy-peasy! There are a few other formatting issues that I have come across, such as the margins being quite small, so small that when you add your page number into a header that it is cut off if you do not press 'Enter' to move it down the page slightly. Once again, a minor issue but I feel as though it is good to let others know about it so you don't per chance print a document to only find out that your page number is only half showing on the paper, get frustrated, crumple up the paper in rage, and figure out how to solve the problem and print again with trial and error, all the while wasting of paper, ink, and money. Three things most university students are short on.
Okay, now you can run off and create your Google Drive and have as much fun with it as I do. I am off to complete my paper due Monday, which I am doing on my Google Drive. Today's pictures brought to you by Evernote, a super cool program for another blog... another time.
Till then Folks!
Keep calm and pretend it's on the lesson plan!!!
Monday, January 13, 2014
New to The World of Blogging....
Well folks, welcome to my first ever blog post! I have always wanted to have a blog but never felt that I had too much to 'blog' about! I am in my first year of the Education program at Brandon University and for my my ICT in Education course we can create a blog to reflect on what we are learning every week. This blog is where I will share my thoughts and experiences with you as I venture into the world of ICT in education.
I am a firm believer in using technology in the classroom. Society is changing and we need to adapt our classrooms to keep up with this change so that our students learn to use this technology properly.
This week we talked about the importance of curation and discussed some examples and how they are beneficial. Curation is when you work through and sort out the information on the internet so you have easier access to information that you may need more often. I know that myself I use so many different websites that having bookmarks and categories is the only way that I can find them and use them again. I use curation in many programs such as Pinterest, website bookmarks, Google Docs, YouTube channels. All of this is very useful in the classroom to both teacher and students. You can keep a group of all the websites your students may need for research or informational purposes so they are easier to find.
All of these different programs can amaze our lives as teachers easier and more convenient. Because technology is such an important factor in the classroom curation will make it easier because as teachers we are already so busy we don't need to be spending our time searching for videos, pictures, or websites.
Till next time!
I am a firm believer in using technology in the classroom. Society is changing and we need to adapt our classrooms to keep up with this change so that our students learn to use this technology properly.
This week we talked about the importance of curation and discussed some examples and how they are beneficial. Curation is when you work through and sort out the information on the internet so you have easier access to information that you may need more often. I know that myself I use so many different websites that having bookmarks and categories is the only way that I can find them and use them again. I use curation in many programs such as Pinterest, website bookmarks, Google Docs, YouTube channels. All of this is very useful in the classroom to both teacher and students. You can keep a group of all the websites your students may need for research or informational purposes so they are easier to find.
All of these different programs can amaze our lives as teachers easier and more convenient. Because technology is such an important factor in the classroom curation will make it easier because as teachers we are already so busy we don't need to be spending our time searching for videos, pictures, or websites.
Till next time!
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