Emerging Technology 4: Animoto

Oh my goodness! I think I just found my new best friend. After seeing several of my classmates use this website to create short videos, I had to try. Please, watch my video that I made for a class project that I am going to introduce. My plan is to use this video as the introduction!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I found this site so easy to use. There are several options. You may make free 30-second videos anytime you desire. They are perfect for introducing projects to students, adding a little flair to any blog, summarizing a topic or concept learned or taught in school and more! I really like how the website took you step by step through the creation of your video. There are several things you can choose from their image and musical library when creating your video. You can also use pictures and music from your own library as well and it is easily uploaded.

It would also be a nice tool to have for administrators for team building activities in staff meetings to present a topic or ask the teachers to think about something for the meeting. I personally would find it very creative on their part if they were to use Animoto in a meeting! It took me honestly about 10 minutes to make my video especially when I was inspired! I didn't have any pictures nor did they have any I wanted to use, so I simply went to Google Images and saved several that I wanted to use to my computer and was able to upload them from there. Piece of cake!

Not only can you make videos and use them for educational purposes, Animoto provides the opportunity for you to create and send personal videos to family, friends, and loved ones. What a nice idea for a birthday or a holiday! It is very personal and the person receiving your creation will know you spent time and energy to make it personal!

The only thing I didn't like was that if you wanted to create a video beyond 30 seconds, you had to pay. One full-length video costs $3. However, if you plan on using the website often, you can by an "All Access Pass" for one year for $30. That's at least 10 videos if you think about it, which again isn't bad if you were to use it more often that that.

Link to Animoto.com

Module 4-2: Digital Literacy

"The biggest question about technology and schools in the 21st century is not so much "What can it do?" but, rather, "When will it get to do it?" We all know life will be much different by 2100. Will school? How close will we be to Edutopia?"

This quote from Shaping Tech for the Classroom by Marc Prensky caught my eye immediately when I was choosing an article to read. I hear this so often among teachers in my building! It seems like there is always a new program, software, hardware or social forums that we are supposed to be linked to....It makes you want to pull out your hair!!!

Prensky speaks about the steps a typical school takes to integrate technology into their school. He begins by talking about how schools start with "doing old things in new ways" such as passing along documents, announcements, invitations, letters home in electronic form. Nothing new, but in an old way. Electronic documents are honestly a thing of the past now. Using word is very elementary and doesn't include the students in deep technology education

The next step up would be a school that tried "doing old things in new ways." Using simulations and interactive models online are a newer way of showing the old thing. No more plastic model in the classroom to show you how the organs fit together, but still the same old thing.

The next step would be a school that does "new things in new ways," but Prensky talks about several factors the render most schools to enter into this final stage of supporting our digital learners. One of those factors are "digital immigrants." These would be the teachers who resist change. They like what they've been doing for many year because it works for them, they know what to expect, and generally have the feeling that this is just another fad or program that they won't be held accountable for and it will just fall to the way side like everything else that has come and gone through a school. All the social reforms that never take hold. Prensky states it perfectly in my opinion when he writes "...resisting today's digital technology will be truly lethal to our children's education." He goes on to give examples of how our current student's lives are very fast-paced and full of technology. It hurts the child because they shut-down at school due to boredom. Do you really want that for you students? He challenges teachers and schools to experiment with the "new" and watch the students take hold and responsibility for their own education while WORKING, LOVING, and LIVING the edutopia of a digital learner.

Where does your school fall into Prensky's scheme?

Link to the article

Not so sure about technology yet?

Welcome to the Digital Generation

This video shows from a kids perspective why technology is so important to the, how they use it. and how it changes their view on school. This video and the others also in the module make me aware of how much kids use technology that isn't necessarily school related from texting, making videos on the weekends with their friends to their iPods. Why wouldn't we want to use more technology in the classroom? Do we really want to seem that boring to our students? I have already made a goal this year to incorporate more technology in my classroom. I have done just that and the students are so engaged. We will be finishing a video project before spring break. Stay tuned for blog posts with their videos!

Emerging Technology 3- Classroom Response Devices (CRD)

What is the number one method of assessment used by most teachers in American school systems? I bet if you're a teacher you use it all the time without even realizing it! The answer is verbal inquiry. Classic scenario, teacher has their students answer a question to themselves, then asks one student what their answer was. Now here is where it gets classic....The teacher most likely will ask the entire class next "how many of you also got that answer?" And you watch at the kids raise their hands in the air....or not....How many really had the same answer? How many of those students raised their hand anyway because they didn't want to look foolish in front of their peers? Is there a solution beyond the classic write on your paper or dry-erase boards? Well, absolutely! The answer is Classroom Response Devices (CRD).

Devices like this are simple ad-on's to your basic program of power point. However, the beauty of CRD's is it allows each student to submit an answer via their handheld device, track their individual answers, compare their answers to their peers, allowing the teacher to check for all student's learning while the student gets to maintain anonymity.

Click on the link below to go to a specific clicker to see the perks! Very lightweight, easy to use and set-up without requiring a lot of maintenance.


http://www.turningtechnologies.com/audienceresponseproducts/responseoptions/responsecards/responsecardrf/

Turning Technologies is a good website for different types of technologies that could be used in the classroom.

http://www.turningtechnologies.com/

These are different types of clickers available for students. Our school has the first type in the list. They are VERY easy to use and the application to power point is simple!

http://www.turningtechnologies.com/studentresponsesystem/studentclickers/



Another type of a similar device is also called a Classroom Response System (CRS).

http://www.einstruction.com/products/assessment/cps/index.html

These types of devices can be used at every level of education as well as every subject. I use the devices when I want to check for understanding with in a unit, after a new topic is taught, for quizzes, for review and surveys. The kids absolutely love it!

These devices are not cheap. Often however, these student clickers are offered as part of a textbook adoption option. There are ways to get them! Don't forget the money available in technology grants all over the country that go unclaimed every year. Once you have them, you need to make sure there are clear procedures that kids can follow to maintain the "health" of these devices.

Below is a link to a teacher's testimonial of her experiences with CRD's.

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=139599&title=Classroom_Response_Systems

Emerging Technology 2- Moodle

"Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites."

-moodle.org

As we develop the 21st century and prepare for the technology of the future, it's good to be able to apply new and emerging technology to education. Moodle.org is a FREE website that allows educators to create websites for their students to interactively use for class.

I think any teacher would find this tool very valuable, especially if they have personal or school goals to integrate more technology into the classroom. You can create libraries and catalogs to enrich learning in a certain subject matter, provide worksheets and assignments, chat spaces to discuss live with students, provide quizzes and tests and also collaborate with other students and teachers not only in the United States, but internationally! There are over 200 registered countries using Moodle.org. Students can use your website from their own home. You can also have virtual feeds with other schools who also use Moodle.

For those teachers who have students who are ESL, Moodle also provides Moodle Documents in a variety of languages for those students needing to be immersed in the English language. Perhaps you would like to have an international pen pal class. Moodle is just the place to find a cooperating class to work with!

Moodle is also a Professional Learning Center (PLC) where teachers can take 100's of online courses to earn their Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit hours for license renewal. Moodle also provides many opportunities for teachers to attend workshops, seminars or conferences near or far by providing information.

Teachers also have the opportunity to collaborate with other educators through open-chat forums. Teachers can post problems, questions or even suggestions to an array of different forums to have answered or discussed with other "Moodlers."

Again, you run into the problem of student perhaps not having Internet access at home, so you will need to be able to provide an alternate assignment for some students, allow computer time in class where they could complete an assignment or quiz, or provide paper copies of what the student may need at home.

Here is a link to the main page of Moodle:

http://www.moodle.org/

Here is a direct link to Moodle's demonstration page:

demo.moodle.net

Here is a direct link to Moodle's statistics:

http://moodle.org/stats/