This mind map about Social Software Interactions was found on flickr. Although I thought it was just a social picture sharing site it seems there is alot more variety than that.
Many classroom now use mind mapping on computers in the classroom at the beginning of a topic to gain insight into students prior knowledge and where future learning should lead to. This could be published to sights like Flickr to share ideas.
Downloaded from Flickr at
On reflection on the previous post about digital storytelling I thought about where publishing takes place and how we share products with a wider audience. The use of social software such as blogs is a great place to publish students work as it allows the students to view, have their work commented on and reflect on their learning. Many people are now posting digital storytelling on sites such as YouTube and TeacherTube mean that these products can be shared with a variety of audiences.
The movie on Tim blog about Digital Storytelling discusses the benefits of sharing stories as well as keeping these as momentos of loved ones.
A great way I could see Digital storytelling in the classroom is to enhance critical literacy skills. When making Digital stories students should consider audience, delivery, visual cues and how their story positions the viewer. In addition the opportunity to collaborate with peers can also help with social skills, roles and negotiation skills.
Ella’s podcast on blogging and assessment had many valid points however I believe it is important to not use it just as a summative form of assessment. The nature of blogging allows for discussion and reflection to also take place and inform students learning.
The internet and specifically social software has made it alot easier to connect with the outside world. What I am most impressed with is the amount of sharing that goes on between educators who are passionate about using this technologies in the classroom to enhance student learning.
There are two that I would love to share with my fellow classmates which have opened me up and explained many new things.
Firstly is Allanahk’s - Allanahs blog has various real life examples of technology in the classroom and includes what schools are doing in this area in New Zealand as well as professional development and classroom blog links.
Secondly is Vicki Davis’ blog - Coolcatteacher which has a wealth of information for educators on various technologies and the use of these technologies in classrooms.
This is a podcast of an interview with Lindy McKeown and Joy Kay from the EdNA site discussing the use of 3-D virtural worlds and by using these worlds in the classroom can make learning more engaging and interactive.
I would never have thought of using this sort of environment in the classroom for several reasons the main being I have little knowledge of the subject. I do think however only older grades and High school - Has anyone had any experience in classrooms or in life with these worlds?
Click on the link below to listen to podcast.
Download Title
On several blogs and websites I have noticed Twitter mentioned. Although we glazed over it in class I wanted to find out more about it. A social networking tool where you can put any question out there and have a group of people answering it. It seems to be a great tool to sharing ideas and resources.
A great information source about Twitter is Franks blog explains it through videos, how to use it in the classroom and the top 17 ways to use twitter.
After trawling through the internet for days I still feel there is so much to learn about new technology and how these technologies can be used in the classroom.
Although there are some very innovative teachers and access to these teachers is easy because of the web and their willingness to share, on reflection, the majority of the classrooms I have been in use very little technology except for basic word processing etc. I still want to explore technology to be informed as a teacher and as part of that I think it is imperative to think of the children we will be teaching. This clip gives an idea of the Digital Natives that are in our classroom today. (It is a bit slow to start of with but has some important things to say).
Download Video: Posted by kingismike at TeacherTube.com.
Download Video: Posted by edtecher at TeacherTube.com.
I love google earth - you can visit anywhere in the world. Recently using this in the classroom for a 4th grade class to link with a text which has specific non-fiction location I found the students where engaged and they were excited to look up these locations.
Tina C has a wealth of information on using technology in the classroom as well as a link to an elementary school with specific google earth lessons. They are interesting, various and I feel would engage the students in their learning.
