Here is the first of 3 posts sharing technology tools that I have used this year.
www.twitter.com
This will be a separate post because I have used it in so many ways in my classroom. All of my students have been required to have a Twitter account, follow me, and our class hashtag which I established at the beginning of the semester.
Extranormal – Digital Storytelling Tool
http://www.xtranormal.com/
I created a story that I tweeted about a class that I teach, Digital Communication Tools, to try to generate some publicity and stir up interest in the class.
Students were given this tool as an alternative on their Business Cycle project in Introduction to Business. They were asked to write a story or narrate a scenario where you are telling the audience about the 4 phases of the business cycle. The purpose was to teach someone (through story) about the 4 phases (needed to mention 3 economic indicators in each phase) and then state where the US currently is within the cycle based on current research and articles that you found.
Today’s Meet – back channel
http://todaysmeet.com/
Introduction to Business students used this tool to record their group’s findings on the different types of investments they researched. Each group was given 2 types of investments and they had to decide where to place their money based on the 2 investment options and why. Others in the class then asked questions and each group had to justify their response. Upon completion, I tweeted the online conversation and sent the link home in a message to parents saying, “Look what we talked about in class today!”
I also used this during a district professional development as it is much less intimidating than Twitter. I presented on Screencasts and told participants that they could discuss or share ideas on Today’s Meet as I was presenting.
Poll Everywhere – polling tool that can be used online or with cell phones
http://www.polleverywhere.com/
Occasionally, I used this as a class opener in Introduction to Business & Entrepreneurship. I’d ask a question related to our topic that was happening in the news to see get a pulse on how many students were aware of related current events. Or I might ask a review question based on something that we learned the day before. I also used Poll Everywhere for a unit review. I asked a series of 25 MC questions as a review for their unit test the next day.
Edmodo – Social Networking Site for Schools
www.edmodo.com
I just started using Edmodo this spring. I currently use it in my 9th grade Keyboarding class & my Personal Computers II (PC 2) class. Keyboarding & PC 2 students submit all of their assignments on Edmodo. For the keyboarding students, I provide feedback here as well. PC 2 students still submit a hard copy of the rubric that goes along with the assignment & I provide feedback on the hard copy rubric. This has still cut down considerably on paper and allows for better assessment of their work when I can view it electronically. My PC 2 students have also engaged in discussions in Edmodo and taken quizzes here. For Keyboarding students, I like to share links to typing games and Quia activities that support additional practice.
When signing up for Edmodo I encouraged all students to activate the setting that allows them to receive text messages when an alert has been sent out. That way if a student submits something incorrectly or if I need to provide an extra reminder or announcement, they get that information on their phone and don’t have to log in to Edmodo to see what I’ve sent them.
I think that I’ve barely scratched the surface with this tool and hope to use it more in my classrooms next year.
Songify – iPad app that turns audio into song
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/songify/id438735719?mt=8
Songify is an app that allows you to speak & will automatically put it to song. It offers a few free music assembles and then also has the feature to buy additional music.
Students were given this tool as an alternative on their Business Cycle project in Introduction to Business. They were asked to create lyrics to a song where you are explaining to the audience about the 4 phases of the business cycle. The purpose was to teach someone (through song) about the 4 phases (needed to mention 3 economic indicators in each phase) and then state where the US currently is within the cycle based on current research and articles that you found.
StoryLines – ipad app where you can play the game of telephone with pictures
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/storylines/id464977336?mt=8
I have used this app in a couple of different ways:
First, I have allowed my keyboarding students (my fast typers) to play this game when they have completed all of their work. I force them to play using the SAT words version.
Secondly, I plan to use this app as a semester review in my Introduction to Business class. I will combine all of the terms, concepts, & ideas & students will use those to play this game. I’ll let you know how it turns out! If it’s successful, I may do this in Entrepreneurship next year too.
Glogster – online, interactive Poster
http://www.glogster.com/
Glogster comes in handy when I want a blog post to be more than just text. I used Glogster to create a blog post at the beginning of the year. The main purpose of my Glog was for parents to have the information that I shared with students on the first day of school presented in a fun, interactive way and for students who enter my class after day 1. They are still held accountable for reviewing that information.
Introduction to Business students created a Glog during our Social Responsibility unit. Students were asked to film an ethics scenario. Their Glog needed to include the following:
· a 3-5 video created by your group that illustrates a case study related to the topic
· Description/ definition of your topic
· Pictures and/ or videos to help visual learners
· Important information that you think the rest of the class needs in order to study &/ or understand the topic better. This may include organizations, laws, vocabulary words, other videos your group has found, current facts, etc. Be sure to organize your information so that it is easy to read. Students want to read short, key facts & information, not paragraphs of text copied from websites.
Upon completion I shared all of the links on a blog post so that all students would have the information and could use the Glogs as a study tool for the unit exam. I also shared the Glogs with parents.
Introduction to Business students used this tool again during our marketing unit. Students were asked to create a poster on Glogster or Lionit that illustrated the various forms of promotion. Students needed to identify the type of promotion they found, where they found the ad, & who they thought the ad was targeting (ie. target market). By using Glogster, it allowed the students to find & illustrate examples other than print ads. If they saw a commercial they liked last night on TV they could go find it on YouTube & use it in their poster.
Lino It
http://en.linoit.com/
An option is given to Introduction to Business students during the marketing unit to use Lino It if they did not like Glogster. Read the above example on what they created.
Screencast-o-matic – Screencast Tool
http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
You may have seen on my blog post at the beginning of theyear, that I included a screencast of me going through my syllabus. Again, the purpose was for parents to hear the information and for students who were added to my class late to also have the information.
I used screencasts in Entrepreneurship when I was absent. I left the substitute with a link so that students could see and hear me going over an assignment before they started it when I was gone. This way it left no room for miscommunication between the sub & the students.
I used it to reinforce material in Entrepreneurship that I felt like I had to rush through. We were restricted on class time so I asked students to watch a short 3 minute clip to help reteach a concept they may not have understood as clearly as I wanted them to. I just tweeted the link shortly after class.
Lastly, I use screencast-o-matic as an assessment tool for students. My Personal Computers II students are asked to act as online trainers. They must prepare an online training tutorial for 2 advanced tasks that they draw out of a hat. For example, they might do a tutorial on how to do a Lookup table or save a workpace in Excel.
To be continued. . . . .
