My Brainshark

My Brainshark is an interesting site for teachers to use.

Using this site teachers can upload their PowerPoint presentations and then add their audio to it to then embed the presentation in their online course or email their students to share the presentation.

You can also upload other documents, photos or video clips and add audio to these.

While this site has been developed for businesses but can certainly be used by teachers for educational purposes.

It is free to sign up.

SchoolTube

I have used YouTube (like everyone else),TeacherTube (which I love) and now have just found SchoolTube.

This web site was launched some time ago and is a teacher moderated video sharing website.

They are dedicated to supporting educational institutions and have a range of videos for educators to show how a range of ICT tools and software can be used in the classroom to enhance the thinking and learning as well as motivating the students. Teachers are able to share concepts, ideas and lesson plans with others.

There are various channels you can use starting with the free channel for teachers. There are other options which will cost the school e.g. a Premium channel costs $US495 a year.

I was disappointed to see on the main page of the site showed this video (title). I am not sure if the teacher moderated this video. While I know it is fashionable not to correct a student's work it is possible to discuss the spelling of something like this before it is uploaded to the site.

Online networks

Not all agree with the last post. In our Saturday Press is an article "facing up to Facebook" by a university lecturer from New Zealand. He is a lecturer in Marketing but also has an interest in 'what makes people tick' - how people interact and express themselves in online worlds such as Facebook. He highlights how these sites can be used in positive ways but also warns that there is a 'dark and dirty side'.

It will be interesting to see this research when it comes out.

Learning together online

Steve Wheeler has just put up a new slide share about Learning together online. This presentation discusses how social networks are an important part of the culture of many young people. In light of this teachers need to exploit the power of these tools to engage students to enhance the thinking and learning in their classrooms.

Here in New Zealand, we have had some instances where a social media network (such as Facebook) has been used in a way where the outcomes are probably not what was envisioned by the young people using it. Teaching how to use the tools in a responsible way is also important.

Learning together online

Diipo

What is Diipo???

Education 2.0: Social networking for your class

Diipo connects the teacher with their students making it easy for the teacher to communicate with their class. Diipo also connects teachers with other teachers as well as their class with other classes. Diipo uses an easy-to-use and familiar user-interface which is similar to Facebook and Twitter. One of the aims of Diipo is to help students stay connected and engaged.

Teachers can connect with other teachers to share and exchange ideas as well as best practices on how to get the most out of Web 2.0 technologies. In addition teachers can share educational content with each other or brainstorm ideas for collaborative projects.

This is an ideal site to use with the students so that they can also learn to use a social networking site in a responsible way.

Art History

Smart History is an wonderful web site for Art History students and teachers.

This is a free and open multimedia website that can be "taken anywhere" replacing the heavy text books.

You will also find videos timeline, articles and podcasts to engage the students and increase their understanding.

They aim for reliable content and invite Art history teachers to contribute to the site through photographs, content or ideas.

Teachers TV

I have been a fan of Teacher TV for ages. This web site has now been closed down but luckily the Dept of Education in the United Kingdom has stepped up and:

signed a number of non-exclusive distribution agreements that will ensure that the 3,500 15 minute programmes in the archive will still be available to watch on-line.

I am so pleased about this as I have been sending so many students and teachers there as there are just so many useful resources and ideas for teachers.

Edutopia

Eudtopia have free downloadable books for teachers. The latest is Ten Tips for Classroom Management which looks at all areas of the school. In their tip about the relationship between schools and home they suggest going digital and using Edumodo which offers a free platform where you are able to set up a secure social-networking site for you, your students and your families - this would have been a great site during our earthquakes (for those with access to the Internet!!). Many of our schools ban social networking sites such as Facebook (one school I was working in had also banned Delicious accounts!) so this might be acceptable for them.

Other (free) books they have available include:

• Ten Top Tips for teaching with New Media
• Summer Rejuvenation Guide
• Ten Top Tips for Assessing Project Based Learning
• Home to school resource guide

Converge Special Report

Center for Digital Education published a Converge Special Report.

This report covers such things as:

• From digital tools to digital teaching
• What does digital teaching mean?
• Types of digital content
• Digital teaching and the evolving classroom
• Ensuring digital teaching is effective

It discusses the different roles and the skills a digital teacher requires. They point to the focus in the classroom being on the student creating more personalised learning. They suggest that the classes are able to be interactive where students are fully engaged in their learning.

A teacher who uses Web 2 tools in her classroom has found that her students have a higher level of interest when they are allowed to illustrate their own videos and upload them to a blog or when they participate in a wiki collaboration with another school.

Another teacher discusses how they have used Inanimate Alice to infuse digital and interactive literature. The teacher says; 'I have never seen them more engaged in text'.

Automatoon

Automatoon is a great Web 2 tool to use in the classroom for free. There's no authoring software to install and you can share your animations online. You can also export your animations and embed them in your own websites (e.g. classroom blogs), all for free! These could also be used in other web 2 tools such as Glogster or 280 slides. What a great tool to use as a reading activity for example - certainly would give motivation for some readers. I used animation in my classroom as a reading activity where the children designed an activity (simple) that one of the characters from the story was likely to do. They could then make the animation for others in the group to guess who it is and what they are doing.

This video shows you how to use it.