Web 2.0 edu Glogster

Had a play with Edu Glogster and I think this will be a big hit with the children we have coming over to play next month. You can set up a virtual classroom of upto 200 students, each with their own login and password. A great tool that combines Web 2.0 technologies, fun and learning in one great activity. The user get to explore and present ideas on any curriculum subject or topic of their choice, allowing for innovative creative teaching and learning!

Web 2.0 Projects

One of the features of the Year 3 BA course is an onsite teaching experience with children from a local school. Over the years I have tried to vary both the schools we use and the projects that we develop. In the beginning the projects tended to be quite prescriptive and used applications that were familiar to the classroom, such as Microsoft and Textease. As time went on I began to encourage my students to try more innovative technologies in their planning, Digi Blue cameras and Blogs for example. It seemed the ideal opportunity as they were in a relatively safe environment, that being there were 13 of them to teach and support 28-30 children, with both the class teacher and myself at hand in case there were any issues they had not anticipated. This time, without dictating the day’s proceedings to my students, I am trying to encourage them to explore a range of Web 2.0 and other innovative software rather than more traditional ICTs. Planning will take place next week, so here is hoping that last week’s Activity generator session inspired their creativity and innovative juices!

Guys if you are reading this check out the link above to Terry Freedman’s Web 2.0 projects book.

The Heart Wiki

I set my students the challenge of employing their multiple intelligences (Howard Gardner) this week in a collation of activities designed to combine fun, innovation and learning. I set the task " the Workings of the Heart". Then using the ideas of John Davitt's activity generator I gave each group the way in which the task was to be presented.

these were the choices;

1. as a text message
2. as a sonnet
3. as a comedy strip
4. as a rap
5. as a sports commentary

See the link to their wiki for the results, very funny and some great use of ICT employed throughout!

http://baed2009.wetpaint.com/#

Glogster for Education

It just keeps getting better! Just as I discover Glogster, I receive an email to tell me all about Glogster EDU. The glogster designed especially for education. It tells me that there is a new world of educational innovation awaiting me! I can't wait to begin to explore what it has on offer.

They boast that it was "...conceived to imaginatively, productively, and collaboratively respond to the dynamic educational landscape and exceed the needs of today’s educators and learners."

The bit that excites me the most is the virtual classroom...I am looking forward to testing that out on a group of students in the very near future...who will it be I wonder?

Powered by Podbean.com

At last I have found somewhere to host my podcasts PodBean! PodBean is a podcast hosting service, you can create professional podcasts in minutes without any programming knowledge. The interface allows you to upload, publish, manage and promote your podcasts with just a few clicks of your mouse. We created out podcasts in Audacity then loaded them on to PodBean very quickly and easily. I had a few issues with it playing in SMU though, but is seems okay now!

Futurelab

I went to a Futurelab conference last week called "Seen and Heard: Young people creating digital media". Futurelab is passionate about transforming the way people learn. Tapping into the huge potential offered by digital and other technologies, they develop innovative resources and practices that support new approaches to learning for the 21st century. The conference was lead by both the new and old from the world of technology, and from a range of fields of work. There were some very interesting speakers, and a few "workshops" that didn't really work for me, they were more of a platform for promoting their kit. Nevertheless each and everyone there had a view, an idea and a vision and the best part of the day was meeting and sharing ideas. The day was little like a Blog role play!

http://www.futurelab.org.uk/events/listing/seen-and-heard

Forget Blogs here come Glogs!