A blog, is a web log that creates an opportunity for online communication and collaboration for teachers and students. Not just teacher to student, but student to student. Blogging is a great way to keep track of learning, reflect on learning and just share information, views and opinions. Not just text, you can integrate video, podcasts, links and other digital media to demonstrate proficiency while teaching and learning. At the same time, students have an opportunity to build 21st century skills. In the classroom, students can utilize blogs to interact both in and out of the classroom. They can post public or private posts to class discussions. They can write reflections to the essential questions used to design your class. This website offers over 40+ blogging sites available for use.
Tracking activity on blogs and podcasts seemed overwhelmingly time consuming. In
fact, I thought of adding blogs to my classroom. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up. So, I didn’t do it. Now, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) makes tracking activity not only possible but doable. In fact, once you set it up so that the information comes to you! RSS can be used in the classroom to send assignments home and enhance communication between teachers and parents.
Podcasting
Podcasting in education can be used to stay connected with audio files. Podcasting in the classroom can help prepare their students for the future. Imagine students that struggle with reading. Podcasts can offer a great way to share information. What if writing was an issue? Students can now create a podcast to communicate the same information in an audio file. This gives the classroom teacher a great tool to help provide a multisensory approach to delivering and receiving information.
Multisensory Approach to Teaching and Learning
Streaming video is a great tip to adding technology in the classroom. On a regular basis, I pull videos off of you tube and put them into presentations to help students understand a topic or give further instruction. In the past I used United Streaming. Now, I use you tube. In web design, students want to explore so many aspects what they can do with their websites. We couldn’t possibly cover them all in class. So, I collect a wide variety of video tutorials that students can pick and choose from. (Example; Resizing videos in photoshop). With JING, I can create my own tutorials. There are numerous ways technology can be used to create an interactive classroom to meet the needs of all learners. I would love to connect students to other places around the world. Global Schools and Epals, offer students to get connected using tools such as blogs, podcasts and other web 2.0 tools.
Lena,
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing blog post. So many links and ideas for how to use this technology in the classroom. Thank you for the wealth of information you've included here.
Rachel
Lena - I am liking your visual references you have been adding to your blog. Nice touch! I know, how can you not love the RSS world! It is so wonderful and what a time saver. I have not yet used the RSS in my classroom as of yet, due to email issues (my kids do not have email, so therefore, no google accounts), but I do plan on trying something like it soon. Jing is so wonderful. A nice lesson for your students, is to have them use Jing and teach each other. What a better way to assess learning than with the student teaching the information. As you know, when you teach someone else something, that is where the real learning comes in!
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