Read THIS to Become and Expert Blogger....or not!

Okay, okay....so tell the truth....was anyone else a little unsure of how to write a blog? LIAR...you were too, but that's ok, you don't have to admit it to anyone except your mirror in the morning. Anyhow, I was trying to find some research surround blogging, prezi, or slidesix, but there just isn't much out there yet that ties directly to research based strategies for education. I did; however, come across this blog that sets some basic guidelines (with a little added humor) for the new blogger:

23 Rules of Thumb for Effective Blogging

\http://blog.steffanantonas.com/23-rules-of-thumb-for-effective-blogging.htm

Link to our PREZI

Check out our Prezi!

https://prezi.com/secure/cd916a2c4e5503c488eacac05c80a89fca42c6ca/?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=shareprezi&utm_medium=email

Presentation Blog: Prezi/Animoto

At first I thought it was going to be difficult to communicate with everyone in the group. However, it was quite the opposite, everyone was giving feedback on the project. Animoto was a great selection to use four our assignment, we all had used it before.

Animoto provides a multimedia experience. It is very easy to use and also to explain how to use it. In no more than five steps, one can create videos and even transfer them to YouTube. Also if one has pictures in places like Facebook, Flicker, Photobucket, Smugmug and Picasa, they can easily be transfer to Animoto and create different projects. The projects can range from biographies, field trips, digital storytelling, science projects and more.

A group of my ACE students used Prezi last year to show a project presentation for their CPD-Career Counseling Development class. It was just amazing it was related to water. At that time I had never heard of this Web 2.0 tool. All the students in the audience were just amazed just as I was. I think this tool opens the door to everyone, to be creative and pursue new things.

We welcome the non-linear teaching approach to presentations. This is probably not the end of PowerPoint, but simply another option. Prezi feels like is more realistic than PowerPoint, it feels like a more easily way to showcase examples and text references.

Great Job Team!!!

Prezi and Animoto

I was very impressed with the teamwork and collaboration for this weeks project. It is an honor to work with Lisa, Rachel, Daniel and Eldon.

I found this simple exercise in Prezi to be challenging, and very interesting. The emails, and notes in Prezi provided the collaboration and help that was needed during the project. I enjoyed watching the Animoto and SlideShare videos that my teammates created and shared in the Prezi demonstration. Your classrooms must be exciting places to learn for your students.

I believe that innovative teachers can find many ways to use programs like Animoto to create projects that promote critical think skills as my teammates have demonstrated in our Prezi project. I read in the edutecher.net website that we must look beyond the Web 2.0 which lived 1999-2010 according to Adam S. Bellow, to whatever follows which will incorporate the use of mobile devices, the cloud and more. We must keep our eyes to the horizon looking for tools that will stimulate critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. Animoto and Prezi are but two ways to accomplish this.

Dennis

Prezi Link

Here's the link to our Prezi presentation, great job everyone!! http://prezi.com/frvuts8rja7u/creating-an-engaging-classroom-with-web-2-0/

Mind Tools are Mind Boggling

Since I am pretty new to most Web 2.0 tools and especially Prezi, I am totally envious of all you techies out there! Every time I try to add, delete, or move something on Prezi, I end up editing the wrong thing...and don't even get me started on the pathways! These tools provide spectacular multimedia capabilities that stimulate learners, but the time it takes me to complete the set up is mind boggling.

Like my fabulous group members have mentioned, I too am glad we choose Animoto as our primary tool of focus. It is very easy to use. I even thought I was doing something wrong since it was so easy! I added just a quick little section on Slidesix since I use it quite frequently for professional development. Basically, it is Powerpoint on steroids!

Thanks group for being so great! I forgot what it is like to not have to push people to get there work completed. I am lucky to be part of a group of self starters!

Animoto and Prezi

Like Rachel posted, I'm also glad that we did Animoto as the 2.0 tool for our Prezi presentation.  After creating a sample presentation, I was once again reminded about how easy it was to use Animto.  More than that, I was reintroduced to the plethora of activities that it could be used for in the classroom.  My class is currently focusing on the American Revolution, in social studies.  Animoto could be used for quick presentation on the major players, causes of, results, and many other topics that I am looking to discuss in class.  Cause and effect, plot, and other reading materials can always be used in a presentation or lesson.  As shown in the Prezi presentation, science principles can be easily put together and presented to the class in a nonverbal, creative manner.  I'm looking forward to using Animoto in the classroom, as soon as I get it approved with parents and the tech people at school.

Prezi was an exciting tool as well!  I watched an amazing example in which words and pictures zoomed in and out, with ease and clarity.  I was overwhelmed and went into "Just do it and hope for the best" mode.  However, once the presentation started to come along, I found Prezi really easy to use.  I love the concept, moving from one idea to another in an easy, distinct manner.  This could be used to plan writing, storyboard concepts, present group ideas (connecting concepts), showing cause and effect, reinterpreting stories, and so much more.  I was impressed with all the avenues of presentation that Prezi provides.

The only issue I had with Prezi, that might not have been a problem for the rest of you, was the horrible ordeal of moving one item at a time.  I wanted to highlight an entire section and move it at once, but was not able to.  This was the one, frustrating detail in Prezi.

For our instructor's benefit, and to reiterate how much I appreciate this team, we put together a terrific presentation.  Through email and the blog, our teamwork was outstanding.  At the beginning, I was worried that we wouldn't be able to collaborate without getting together or constantly calling each other.  That was not the case.  We communicated our ideas and thoughts, worked together to brainstorm and edit ideas, and continuously verified the project, as individuals and a group.  If we did this, on one project, wouldn't our kids do the same?  What an amazing opportunity.

Finally, I wanted to agree with Daniel!  I would love to see this blog used for more than just the assignments.  If we have an interesting experience at school or in class, blog it!  If there is a problem that you can't solve, blog it!  This blog is a great tool for communicating and I look forward to learning more about your unique experiences.

Thanks everyone!

My Thoughts on Animoto

Animoto is the tool our team chose for analysis of a Web 2.0 tool. I'm glad we chose this tool. I think it's a great tool for the classroom. It's easy to use and a great way to display information and content for the teacher and the student. Some ways to use it are for storytelling and introducing different cultures. I think it would be a great way to make social studies content and science come alive for students. It's a wonderful way to engage students and make them interested in the content. It can also be a great tool for a collaborative group project in older grades. For example, students could do a research project on a person, a culture, or a country, and create an Animoto presentation showing what they learned. Also, like Eldon stated on the Prezi, Animoto can be used as a cross-curricular tool. It can be used in any area, even math.

Crocodoc

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a wonderful Spring Break!!

A few weeks back I found this Web 2.0 tool that is really cool. It converts PDF forms into documents that you can complete. This can help people that don't have capabilities of Acrobat reader that lets you write on forms. This is a wonderful tool for students that completing scholarship forms that are only giving to them in PDF format or are posted in websites as PDF format. Click on the image below and you can a see a sample. Then you can print the document or save it.

idroo for Skype

I am inspired when I read Daniel's thoughtful well written posts. I hope this measures up.

Skype is a tool that offers inexpensive or free communication on the computer and/or telephone. In my house we use Skype on the computer to stay in touch with my sister-in-law in Vienna and my brother in San Diego. Using the video capability of Skype makes talking to your distant friends and family like a dinner table conversation.

Skype has a free app that is a terrific collaboration tool for a phone call or a conference call and that is called idroo which can be downloaded at shoppe.skype.com. It has the look and feel of a white board. Let me know what you think.

I setup my iPad to work with Skype this week. I don't have the new iPad2, and the original iPad doesn't have a camera, so the person that I am communicating with only gets to see a terrific profile picture of me while we talk. Perfect for those early morning calls. What more could they want?

If you don't have Skype, the latest version can be downloaded free from skype.com. To use Skype, a microphone is necessary, a webcam is nice but not necessary and you must create an account; but you don't have to put money in the account because using a computer to computer connection is free. In the contact area look for your friends and family that already have accounts and send them a request. If you are like me and don't have any friends, search for me, Dennis Olson, I live in Tucson. We can get all of the problems resolved and you can introduce Skype to others.

The AUP lesson and research was enjoyable; of course I always have fun when I am learning something new like the AUP. I was surprised at the collaborative design of some AUPs. Scott County School District for example had AUP videos made by the students and brochures. I thought that most AUPs originated in an attorney's office and then went to the school district making for a dull document that had no buy in from the students, staff and faculty. I believe that the contracts the parents and students signed were above the skill level of many elementary students and would like to see how teachers (my peers) work with AUPs in the classroom.

I believe that the blog should be used more by our group. Beyond our blogging assignments, this blog gives us an opportunity to get to know each other better and to share our experiences with all the new applications. I know that have a lot to learn from your classroom experiences.

I hope your Spring Break is awesome!

Dennis

Mindtools for Learning

All of these great Mindtools are wonderful for learning. As far as rating them individually can be hard, all four of them are different. Each of them is unique which is what makes them interested. I had a hard time using Kidspiration and Inspiration. Kidspiration is a Mindtool designed for learners K-5 grade level and Inspiration is design for learners 6-12 grade level. I think that with more practice on these both Mindtools, one can have a very powerful teaching style in class, where students can interact in learning by using these amazing tools. Sometimes I envy the kids today because they have so many tools to help them learn and interact with each other. Is not just the teacher in the front of the room lecturing, those days may soon be over.

I found Xmind easier to use. Xmind is so easy to make different types of projects. I love it how it can go from a visual view to an outline view and vice versa. Easy to move clusters/clouds around it just give one so many options. I can see how this can be useful in the classroom when creating family trees, concept maps, and classification of any type of things or animals. It’s just mind-blowing how this Mindtool functions. Most important of all is that is FREE.

Continuing talking about free Mindtools, I don’t have the words to express what OpenOffice does. It’s like having all the Microsoft Office Suite products for FREE. The quality of the product, I must say is excellent. When I first saw this I was shocked and the first thing I thought to myself is this some type of “reverse engineering” or this company in trouble for having similar software to Microsoft. I sometimes wonder why we don’t hear of such great FREE opportunities. This could help millions of people that can’t afford to by Microsoft Office Suite or updates. I have briefly used the programs. But I would rank this product.

1. Microsoft Office
2. OpenOffice
3. Microsoft Works

Give some more time and I will let you know how my ranking might change.

Kidspiration, Inspiration, Xmind and OpenOffice

I downloaded and installed Kidspiration, Inspiration, Xmind and OpenOffice on a computer.

The mind mapping tools Kidspiration and Inspiration appeared to be easy enough to use for the intended age groups. Xmind was easy to use and made mind mapping a quick operation. I don't have much experience with mind mapping and believe that I will need to go into a project with a list of keywords and thoughts. But then again mind mapping tools are supposed to be used for collaborative brainstorming.

OpenOffice is easy to install and use but why do it when tools like MS WebApps and Google Docs are available in the Cloud, don't require loading software, and provide storage of files and folders.
I would opt for OpenOffice only on computers at home that didn't have an internet option.

Xmind, OpenOffice, Kidspiration...

I downloaded all of the programs and my favorite hands down is Kidspiration. I absolutely looove it! I wish I had this program at work, I think I would use it just about every day! When I was exploring it I would think of lessons that I had already taught and how I could have made them so much better if I had had this. One I thought of in particular was teaching addition/subtraction with regrouping. I'm really impressed with the program, not with just the math applications. It has wonderful ideas for reading, writing, science, and social studies. I would absolutely love to be able to use this in my classroom. The OpenOffice was my second favorite. It's basically just Word, Xcel, and PowerPoint all wrapped into one program. Definitely worth having and cheaper than buying the Microsoft updated versions every few years. Lastly, Xmind was okay. I liked it, but I don't think my kids could navigate it very well. It would be a great tool to use as a whole group, but not individually.

AM I DREAMING?

Am I dreaming or is Openoffice the same as the several hundred dollar Microsoft programs I recently purchased? Can this really be true?

XMIND

Like the tool....but don't love the tool. I like its ease of use, especially that the connecting lines just appear! However, I do have to point out that CMAP is similar and has some cool features too. The ease of use of XMIND is better for younger students, but the ability to draw the connecting lines and move them around is a cool feature of CMAP that this tool doesn't have.

Kidspiration and Inspiration

It must be the mood I am in today (I have found the negative in just about everything), but I was disappointed by these tools! Don't get me wrong, if I would've checked these out just eight weeks ago, I would've said I LOVE THESE TOOLS! However, this semester I have learned about a ton of tools that do the same thing....for FREE! I can't argue that there are free tools for every aspect of these programs, but with the current budgetary issues facing education, I am thinking there are tools that come close!

Kidspiration, Inspiration, and SmartDraw

I just took a gander at these three tools and was blown away.  I used one of them to create a model drawing for one of my other courses.  The ease and simplicity of the programs is awesome.

One of my favorite aspects of these programs are the previously made templates.  Students and teachers can use these templates to add information for presentations, without the process of creating the presentation itself.  Some templates, those in Kidspiration, are also lesson starters, allowing students and teachers to review a skill and then add to it.

Check them out!  I was really impressed.

TPACK

I thought that the TPACK discussion was right on time. The ability to assess and evaluate the teacher's ability to teach technology was something that I was looking for. Not being a teacher but a technical specialist causes me to continually look for ways in which I can teach the faculty and students in the commons better. I think that TPACK is a system where I can start that process.