This module I discovered Flickr and all the amazing things you can do and create there. I uploaded about 6 of my holiday snaps of various places in Australia and overseas and then played around with a few by adding stickers and shapes etc which was fun! Here is one for you to see, taken on Mollymook beach and then made a bit more exciting!
I can see many uses for Flickr in the classroom. I did an advanced search for Creative Commons content and there is so much available for tags like France, Paris, monuments in Paris etc, which would be fantastic to use in the classroom. It would really open the students eyes to what these places actually look like. Some of the photos are fantastic. It is also great to have my own Flickr page now where I can upload my own photos and share them. It is a great resource and I really think I have only just scraped the surface of its potential.
The Copyright issues I find a bit overwhelming at the moment and it is something I will have to do a lot more research on when I get more into using these tools. The smartcopying site looks great and the sections I looked at on wikis and blogs for students and teachers were easy to understand. The Creative Commons site also explained things easily in the videos I watched and this is a great thing to know about for teachers.
Flickr is definately a tool I can see myself using a lot both personally and as a teacher and I like how user friendly it is.
Until next module.....
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Module 3
In Module 3, I leant about Google Docs, a free web-based program that allows you to create and edit documents online, and to collaborate with others on-line in real time. Once again, it is great to find out about these things as I had no idea a program like this existed.
The Atomic Learning website was very helpful and after watching many of the tutorials I had a go at using Google Docs myself. The first document I created was a form. I actually set it up as a sort of revision quiz that students would be able to complete at the end of a unit. I like the way you can easily change the options for the types of questions you want to create, eg text, multiple choice etc. Afer thinking about it a bit more though, I think a better way for me to use the form would be at the end of a unit of work to evaluate how students found the unit and I would also try and include a few questions in French for them to provide a text answer for. As well as an evaluation, this would then also allow me to see if they had understood the work covered in class. At the moment our students complete their evaluations by hand and they often do not seem to put much thought into their responses. Perhaps completing them on-line in this format would make them more fun. Students could also complete them at home.
I also had a go at creating a document which was a draft of the school magazine report for the LOTE faculty. I can see how it would be useful to set up a page on language activities at the start of the year that my colleague and I could add to throughout the semester / year. That way when it comes time to hand in the report we already have commentary on the events that have taken place during the year.
I think Google Docs would also be a great tool for students completing group assignments. Earlier this year my Year 7 RE class had to do a group project on creating a prayer liturgy. Google Docs would have been a great way to allow them to collaborate on their liturgy at home and not rely purely on getting together in school hours. I'm sure that working on-line would also appeal to many students not always interested, or to shy to put forward their ideas in class. By tracking the changes made to the document it also allows me to keep an eye on which students did not pull their weight in the group, a common complaint amongst many students.
So overall, I think Google Docs had many uses for the teacher and students and I look forward to being able to use it with my classes.
The Atomic Learning website was very helpful and after watching many of the tutorials I had a go at using Google Docs myself. The first document I created was a form. I actually set it up as a sort of revision quiz that students would be able to complete at the end of a unit. I like the way you can easily change the options for the types of questions you want to create, eg text, multiple choice etc. Afer thinking about it a bit more though, I think a better way for me to use the form would be at the end of a unit of work to evaluate how students found the unit and I would also try and include a few questions in French for them to provide a text answer for. As well as an evaluation, this would then also allow me to see if they had understood the work covered in class. At the moment our students complete their evaluations by hand and they often do not seem to put much thought into their responses. Perhaps completing them on-line in this format would make them more fun. Students could also complete them at home.
I also had a go at creating a document which was a draft of the school magazine report for the LOTE faculty. I can see how it would be useful to set up a page on language activities at the start of the year that my colleague and I could add to throughout the semester / year. That way when it comes time to hand in the report we already have commentary on the events that have taken place during the year.
I think Google Docs would also be a great tool for students completing group assignments. Earlier this year my Year 7 RE class had to do a group project on creating a prayer liturgy. Google Docs would have been a great way to allow them to collaborate on their liturgy at home and not rely purely on getting together in school hours. I'm sure that working on-line would also appeal to many students not always interested, or to shy to put forward their ideas in class. By tracking the changes made to the document it also allows me to keep an eye on which students did not pull their weight in the group, a common complaint amongst many students.
So overall, I think Google Docs had many uses for the teacher and students and I look forward to being able to use it with my classes.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Module 2
I really enjoyed this module and feel that my eyes have already been opened to many new things from this course. Before completing this module I was not even really sure what a blog, or especially a wiki were, but now I feel very pleased with myself that I have created my own blog and was able to upload it to the CEO wiki.
I looked at many of the suggested websites about the use of blogs and they ceratinly gave me plenty to think about in terms of how I could use blogs in my classroom teaching. Many of the blogs I saw created by teachers were used either as a means of giving information to students and / or parents, of showing photos of class activities or some were used almost like a journal of their daily / weekly teaching experiences.
After having seen many of these examples I have come up with a few ways in which I think I could use blogs in my teaching. I teach mainly Year 8 French this year and am always looking for new ways to keep my students motivated and interested. I think starting a blog which they could contribute to and respond to would work really well as an addition to the work we cover in class. For example, I could use it to provide a brief review of the work covered that week and then have a question in french for them to respond to, eg "Qu'est ce que tu aimes?". When students have plenty of topics to revise (like now when they are preparing for a test) they could also share their techniques for revising new verbs and vocabulary. If we are following a cultural event in France or learning about a city, blogs could also be a way for students to share information or useful websites they have found with others.
Some websites did deal with some of the issues that we as teachers need to be aware of when using blogs in the classroom - things like getting parental permission for kids to blog, keeping to the school's acceptable use policy and teaching students about the etiquette of online posting. I think before setting up a blog for the students I would need to clearly work out the purpose I wanted it used for and then have clear guideliness and expectations that I wanted the students to follow.
As you can see this module has given me plenty to think about and I am excited about the prospect of how I can use blogs to further engage and interact with my students outside of a traditional classroom setting.
Until next time!
I looked at many of the suggested websites about the use of blogs and they ceratinly gave me plenty to think about in terms of how I could use blogs in my classroom teaching. Many of the blogs I saw created by teachers were used either as a means of giving information to students and / or parents, of showing photos of class activities or some were used almost like a journal of their daily / weekly teaching experiences.
After having seen many of these examples I have come up with a few ways in which I think I could use blogs in my teaching. I teach mainly Year 8 French this year and am always looking for new ways to keep my students motivated and interested. I think starting a blog which they could contribute to and respond to would work really well as an addition to the work we cover in class. For example, I could use it to provide a brief review of the work covered that week and then have a question in french for them to respond to, eg "Qu'est ce que tu aimes?". When students have plenty of topics to revise (like now when they are preparing for a test) they could also share their techniques for revising new verbs and vocabulary. If we are following a cultural event in France or learning about a city, blogs could also be a way for students to share information or useful websites they have found with others.
Some websites did deal with some of the issues that we as teachers need to be aware of when using blogs in the classroom - things like getting parental permission for kids to blog, keeping to the school's acceptable use policy and teaching students about the etiquette of online posting. I think before setting up a blog for the students I would need to clearly work out the purpose I wanted it used for and then have clear guideliness and expectations that I wanted the students to follow.
As you can see this module has given me plenty to think about and I am excited about the prospect of how I can use blogs to further engage and interact with my students outside of a traditional classroom setting.
Until next time!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Module 1
My name is Priscilla Curran and I am a languages (I currently teach French) and Religion teacher. I decided to do the Web2.0 course so that I could keep up to date with the latest technologies and see how I could use them in my classroom on a more regular basis. I have found, especially with the teaching of languages, that technology is the best way to keep the students motivated and interested. In Module 1, I enjoyed setting up my igoogle account and adding gadgets to the page. I can now easily the view the weather in Paris each time I sign in and the currency converter will be useful as well! I also found the link to the 20 most useful Web 2.0 tools interesting. I am looking forward to completing the next modules and seeing how I can best use this technology in the classroom.
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