Technology and Communication: June 2010

Friday, June 18, 2010

Tools to Facilitate a Paperless Classroom

We discussed the possibility of making a classroom entirely paperless... In doing so, we can utilize a variety of resources to make the process as seamless as possible. The students will most likely not have a problem. However, we -- the old school educators -- might feel somewhat uncomfortable; for, our initial use of the web was simply one way communication and not the collaborative, social tool that it is today. In short, the kids are comfortable and we are not...

The planning stages of a project are extremely important... I feel that one should take as much time planning, as they do creating and synthesizing their final product. We often hear that the means is as important as the end... this is very true.

Here are a few resources to help with the planning and implementation of the project.

bubbl.us (planning and mindmapping) - This is a must see. Not only is it great for mapping; but, it allows you to save your map as a jpg file.

fillanypdf.com (productivity) - Upload pdf.'s to the site instead of printing them, filling them out, and scanning or faxing. In the classroom, fillanypdf can be used for project proposals, tests, quizzes, and a multitude of other purposes.

zamzar.com (file conversion) - In addition to converting files, zamzar can be used to download YouTube videos and other online files. The videos can be saved in a variety of formats and embedded into presentations and other files that can be used in the classroom.

pbWorks.com (wiki) - This site, which allows you to create a wiki without the need for email addresses is a great resource for online collaboration. Students can plan a project or field trip, collaborate on a presentation, or create a classroom study guide for an assessment. Two of the most powerful features of the wiki are the user and time identifiers... you know who contributed what and when.

Possible planning workflow: Bubbl.us to brainstorm, Fillanypdf to create a project proposal, and then back to Bubbl.us and pbWorks to plan the project... off they go...

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

How about class earlier in the day for the remaining sessions?

Take the poll. Let "us" know if you would like to move class earlier in the day... If we can get the okay from our hosts at TWHS.

Replace audience response hardware with Poll Everywhere

Creating a Collage with Picasa

Click here to see how to create a collage with Picasa. Below is a collage of Blake that was created in about a minute, since I already had the pictures imported. You can use Picasa in your classroom to organize photos, to introduce photo editing or to create timelines, websites, collages, or videos (scrapbook style). Further, Picasa allows you to instantly add photos to your blog, creating a efficient workflow from importing to editing to sharing.