EdTech2 (weekly)

February 27th, 2010
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

skramstad EdTech

CAHSEE Online Test

February 25th, 2010
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I’ve resurrected an old student programming project from one of my students four years ago to create an online CAHSEE practice test in English and math.  I am posting 25 questions per week and students compete against teachers (not literally) online in a Jeopardy game format.  Questions come from your standard CAHSEE practice book, but allows for a little more fun interaction in preparing for test like questions.  Anyone can log in and play as a guest at http://www.lincolntigers.org/challenge.

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Blogs and Wikis in Education

January 21st, 2010
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Blogs

A blog (also know as web-log) is an online diary or journal about a topic where the most recent post (or reflection) appears at the top and older posts are constantly archived below it.  Blogs exist on all topics from politics to cats, from educational technology to pottery.  Sadly, many people have negative opinions about blogs due to some of the louder, more inane blogs.  There are as many positive and constructive blogs as obscene and inappropriate blogs (in the same way, there are Oscar nominated movies and just plain stupid movies).

The most popular places to create a blog are: Blogger (www.blogger.com) and WordPress (www.wordpress.org) and Typepad (www.typepad.com). Students can also blog privately within a Moodle course.

Getting started with a blog is a relatively simple process.  You must create an account and you can start posting (writing) immediately.  Customizing the themes and content is a matter of learning the software’s relatively user-friendly interface.

Why blogs are beneficial for student achievement and learning?

Blogs provide an informal way for students to think about a topic or subject and express their opinion (like a free-write or a journal entry).  It allows students to comment about topics casually without worrying about perfect syntax or grammar.  This type of reflection is helpful and useful for later composition of an essay.

As a teacher, you can see the development of students’ thinking about a topic over time and make accommodations to your lesson plans to address areas of misunderstanding and confusion.  Blogs also allow students to associate links, images and visuals with their writing with a simple click (a limitation of a normal journal).  All posts are archived for a running record of student progress in writing and critical thinking.

Wikis

A wiki is a shared online repository of information about a topic, edited by a number of users.  The most popular wiki is Wikipedia, an ever-changing online encyclopedia edited by users globally.  Studies have shown that the number of errors in Wikipedia is no excessive than Encyclopedia Britannica.  A wiki can focus on any topic, but usually are a one-stop location online where you can find exhaustive information about a particular topic from Web 2.0 resources to baseball.

Since many topics today are complex, detailed, and ever-changing, a printed text or book is rarely satisfactory.  A wiki allows a group of individuals to edit one growing document.  Each revision leaves a record, so you can always revert back to a previous version and track abusers. Ultimately, you will have a detailed online resource about a topic available to the entire Internet.

The most popular places to create a Wiki are: PBWorks (www.pbworks.com) and Wikia (www.wikia.com).  You can also create a wiki within a Moodle course.

Possible Applications for the Classroom:

* Students can blog about class topics or books they are reading in class and teachers can assess comprehension and create a dialog.

* Students can follow a current event topic over number of weeks and blog about it on a weekly basis and link their response to news articles.  At the end of the period, students would have an ongoing discussion of the content and a list of sources for generating a larger research paper.

* Teachers can blog about learning experiences in the classroom or topics of interest related to education.

How wikis are useful for student achievement and learning?

Students become collaborators and creators of an online resource of information.  This information can then benefit the whole group of class, including future students and educators who might access the resource.  Students learn to write informatively and objectively about topics for specific audiences.  Future classes can utilize the content in their own learning and edit it for future students.

A wiki is useful, not only to its initial creators, but to all the people who can benefit from the information in future years. Wikis have a clean and simple format, the ability to have multiple editors, and the flexibility for adding or editing content over time, making it an ideal choice for some projects and assignments.

Possible Applications for the Classroom:

* Students can create a wiki about the school or community they live in.  Unique topics are valuable because it requires original writing and thought since they cannot find information existing elsewhere.

* Students can create a wiki about unexplored or ever-changing topics (like comparison of government systems between different nations, the theme of survival in multiple pieces of literature or frequently asked questions about an emerging career or technology).

* Some classes (like AP Classes and science bowls/decathlon teams) have to cover a large quantity of information each year.  Wikis can allow your classes to continually build on the content from previous classes in one online location.

* Teachers can create a wiki about a club or program (Debate Team / Leadership) or a major test (CAHSEE or AP Government) or a complicated procedure (video editing or web design).

* Teachers can use a wiki for collaborating on interdisciplinary lessons or projects.

I’ve summarized the difference between blogs and wikis in education in this document.

skramstad EdTech

Bookmarking the Newest Sites Online

January 14th, 2010
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I’m constantly bookmarking great websites in all subjects.  You can see all the sites available here.

Also, you can see my current bookmarks in specific subjects like:

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Tips for Creating a Multimedia Project using PowerPoint with Students

December 3rd, 2009
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Even though we may have all suffered an overdose of PowerPoint everywhere we go, PowerPoint continues to be an ideal technology tool for our students.  As we all know from our CLAD classes, the more we can support our students with non-textual connections to our content the better (through images, pictures, audio, and video).  In addition our students will benefit significantly from increased opportunities to speak in front of others.

Use a Template: Creating a blank PowerPoint with all the slides empty with the information you wish them to include is sometimes necessary.  Unless you want to spend a lot of time repeating directions in terms of creating slides, adding textboxes and inserting pictures, having a blank template will allow students to focus more on the content and less on the PowerPoint software.

Gather Research Ahead of Time: Students should never start a PowerPoint without their notes and writing completed ahead of time.  If they have not written out anything, they will likely copy and paste straight from the Internet without properly giving credit or putting it in their own words.  With the content already written down, students will have to rewrite it in their own words as they create their slides.

Questions or Storyboards: To focus students’ research on their topic, they should have a number of research questions they are expected to answer.  This provides necessary structure for our students when they visit the library or computer lab to research.  You can check their understanding and the completion of their research by their hand-written notes in response to the questions.  If time persists, they should even create mockups of their slides by filling in blank slides, sketching what they intend to write on each slide and the images they will choose.  You can create three blank slides and print them in Handout form and make copies for students (See attached.)

Presenting their PowerPoint is as important as its creation: Students should be expected to present their PowerPoint presentation in class whether in groups or on their own.  Emphasis should be placed on presenting without reading from the PowerPoint; in fact, students should not use full sentences or paragraphs on the PowerPoint, but short bulleted points in PHRASES.  PowerPoint slides are intended as a visual aide for a presentation, not in substitute for the presentation.  They should select images that best illustrate the ideas in their speech or presentation.

Emphasize Good Slide Design: Sometimes there is a temptation to make students create a large number of slides in their PowerPoint.  It is preferable to have students create three to five quality slides than 7-10 mediocre slides.  If you have samples of previous PowerPoint presentations, you can show them good and poor examples of slide design.

Well Designed Slides = Short Concise Phrases on Main Concepts, Representative Graphics/Images, Easy to Read Text and Colors, Photographs are Sized Properly/Not Blurry.

Encourage the Tech-Savvy Students to Experiment and Help Others: Some students are comfortable using PowerPoint and we should encourage them to apply advanced features of the software, including animation, slide transitions, and narration.

Download Word Document

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