I have to be honest. I could get crazy with the widgets. They're just so darned interesting! Fortunately, the choices on Blogger are not that exciting, so it was easy to limit myself to two: search and poll.
The search feature I generally find useful when trying to shorten the time I spend looking for information on a site. Why would I want to take the time to read every entry when I'm only looking for one thing? So, that's why I added it to my blog. If someone were interested in reading something about Widgets, they would easily find it using the search tool on my blog.
The other feature I added was the poll. Despite not being statistically valid, they can be a fun distraction. I thought I'd ask if people are up-to-date with their 23 Things, just out of curiosity. I'm a week behind, but I don't feel so bad about it. Hey, I'm almost done!
It's the week before Project Term and the end of 3rd quarter...what could be better?
Monday, March 8, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
A Little Out of Order: Thing 14
Add your voice in VoiceThread!
Ah! I've never been one to come up with good taglines or jingles. I'm much better with more words than less. I'm good for a harangue, or diatribe, or filibuster because I've never been short on words. Blunt maybe, but never short on words.
I find VoiceThread an interesting tool that I could definitely see using especially when it comes to looking at art in class. But what I really want a tool like this for is to grade and give feedback on essays. I want to have a "video" of my corrections and feedback that also records me talking through my changes. I have tunnel vision as far as this is concerned. So I tried it with VoiceThread and found that this particular program does not work for this purpose. I uploaded the essay fine, but was unable to keep the document zoomed in to add my edits. So, the document is virtually uneditable, because I can't see it (too tiny).
So my search for "the holy grail" of programs for my commenting/feedback idea for essays continues.
Ah! I've never been one to come up with good taglines or jingles. I'm much better with more words than less. I'm good for a harangue, or diatribe, or filibuster because I've never been short on words. Blunt maybe, but never short on words.
I find VoiceThread an interesting tool that I could definitely see using especially when it comes to looking at art in class. But what I really want a tool like this for is to grade and give feedback on essays. I want to have a "video" of my corrections and feedback that also records me talking through my changes. I have tunnel vision as far as this is concerned. So I tried it with VoiceThread and found that this particular program does not work for this purpose. I uploaded the essay fine, but was unable to keep the document zoomed in to add my edits. So, the document is virtually uneditable, because I can't see it (too tiny).
So my search for "the holy grail" of programs for my commenting/feedback idea for essays continues.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Calling all actors? Thing 15: Screencasting
Although I'm not new to screencasting, I honestly haven't used it beyond the training I received on it during a technology training class. However, I certainly have been looking for something like this for essay grading. I have a vision that instead of handing back a marked up essay with written comments, that I can return to students a visual and audio of my thought process while I mark up their essay. Since feedback is critical to improvement in writing, I want to give as much feedback as possible. And let me be honest, the further I get down in the pile of essays, the less inclined I am to write tons of comments. That's why it takes me so long to grade papers. With a visual though, I can write minimally but talk through and show what I'm talking about in the paper. I've not been able to find such a beast to help me accomplish both things at once though. Screen-O-Matic gets me there somewhat, but the shortcoming is that there is no way to filter through the entire essay. It appears that I can only chunk it, which will lead to multiple files for students. Not good. However, I have to say that it's at least a start. Here's what I practiced today using Screen-O-Matic. Forewarning: it's choppy and awful! But, it was worth the practice.
Initial thoughts: excellent concept! I want to be able to use this for my essay grading. I see that files can be exported as MP4s. I just need the capability to go through an entire essay in one file.
Initial thoughts: excellent concept! I want to be able to use this for my essay grading. I see that files can be exported as MP4s. I just need the capability to go through an entire essay in one file.
Thing 13: YOUUUUUU TUUUUUBE!
I LOVE YouTube! Did I say that I loved YouTube? I love YouTube. I have found so many uses for YouTube in the classroom. I found endless instructional videos on writing effective introductions and conclusions, and here is one that I found to liven up a PowerPoint presentation on postmodernism:
Not all videos are good though, so it does take time to watch and filter out those that don't accomplish what I want them to accomplish. However, I don't find that a deterrent to using YouTube in the classroom, much like I do some other programs.
YouTube also opened the door for amateur movie makers. One thing that I discovered today while on the site are the "shows" uploaded. You can follow certain people as he or she creates new episodes of his or her show. I've not explored this before, although my kids have exposed me to Fred and Dax Flame, who are both very funny (and stupid) at times.
My 79-year-old mother has also taken to YouTube. She likes cute cat videos the most, but enjoys all sorts of funny videos as well. Evil Eye is one of her favorites:
While Evil Eye is definitely a cute video, I about fell over laughing when I saw this one:
Not all videos are good though, so it does take time to watch and filter out those that don't accomplish what I want them to accomplish. However, I don't find that a deterrent to using YouTube in the classroom, much like I do some other programs.
YouTube also opened the door for amateur movie makers. One thing that I discovered today while on the site are the "shows" uploaded. You can follow certain people as he or she creates new episodes of his or her show. I've not explored this before, although my kids have exposed me to Fred and Dax Flame, who are both very funny (and stupid) at times.
My 79-year-old mother has also taken to YouTube. She likes cute cat videos the most, but enjoys all sorts of funny videos as well. Evil Eye is one of her favorites:
While Evil Eye is definitely a cute video, I about fell over laughing when I saw this one:
Thing 12: Fun Web 2.0 Tools!
Wow! Thing 12 can sure take a lot of time out of my day if I wanted it to. What amazes me most about these applications is that they are free. FREE! I tried out a couple of them, but clearly could have spent more time exploring the majority of them because they look so interesting.
One tool I used was www.befunky.com, which is a fun to with which to work. I know that there are a lot of programs out there that do some of the same things as befunky, but there seems to be a lot of choices in this particular program. Not all of them look so good. Here is one that I do like though.
I can see using this program for photo variations on homemade Christmas cards. You can even use it to change clip art. In this next image I took a simple red "no" circle clip art and added an effect to it for a completely different look (see the before and after photos).
I also created a video AND learned how to embed it into this blog!
This program (www.xtranormal.com)definitely has potential in the classroom. If you don't have time to allow students to create their own videos from scratch, Xtranormal is an easy and creative tool your students can use to quickly make a video.
One tool I used was www.befunky.com, which is a fun to with which to work. I know that there are a lot of programs out there that do some of the same things as befunky, but there seems to be a lot of choices in this particular program. Not all of them look so good. Here is one that I do like though.
I can see using this program for photo variations on homemade Christmas cards. You can even use it to change clip art. In this next image I took a simple red "no" circle clip art and added an effect to it for a completely different look (see the before and after photos).
I also created a video AND learned how to embed it into this blog!
This program (www.xtranormal.com)definitely has potential in the classroom. If you don't have time to allow students to create their own videos from scratch, Xtranormal is an easy and creative tool your students can use to quickly make a video.
Thing 11 is Delicious!
Before I begin blogging about Delicious, I just want to comment on how thankful I am for snow days to catch up on 23 Things! Lately I've found it increasingly difficult to stay on top of everything I have to do for school, and 23 Things is one of them. So I'm thankful for the 6.7" of snow that has already fallen in Ann Arbor by 7:35 this morning!
Now, on to Delicious...
I joined Delicious last year, and once again, I find myself wondering why I don't use this tool. I see the last time I logged in or used Delicious was about a year ago. Delicious' best feature, in my opinion, is the fact that you can capture all of your bookmarks in one spot. Although it's not much different than adding a website to your favorites, it appears that there is the added feature of being able to share links or search links with other people. Is that right? So, if it is correct, then I can see a greater benefit using Delicious over the Favorites option in Explorer. It appears that you can set up groups maybe? So if you have a group of English teachers using Delicious, you can tap into the links they've found. If what I write is true, then that would be the biggest advantage to using Delicious, in my opinion.
I'll add though that, for me, there are too many of these page thingys to keep track of. When do you use Delicious? When do you use NetVibes? It's all so overwhelming to me at times. That's when I resort to my "old ways" of searching and adding to my Favorites. I'm not sure I will use Delicious. I suppose there are some ways to use it in the classroom. It might work for group projects for a pooling of Internet resources; I'm not sure. Does anyone have any thoughts on this application? I don't think I'm resistant to it; I just don't know if I've found enough value in it to make a concentrated effort to go to the page.
Now, on to Delicious...
I joined Delicious last year, and once again, I find myself wondering why I don't use this tool. I see the last time I logged in or used Delicious was about a year ago. Delicious' best feature, in my opinion, is the fact that you can capture all of your bookmarks in one spot. Although it's not much different than adding a website to your favorites, it appears that there is the added feature of being able to share links or search links with other people. Is that right? So, if it is correct, then I can see a greater benefit using Delicious over the Favorites option in Explorer. It appears that you can set up groups maybe? So if you have a group of English teachers using Delicious, you can tap into the links they've found. If what I write is true, then that would be the biggest advantage to using Delicious, in my opinion.
I'll add though that, for me, there are too many of these page thingys to keep track of. When do you use Delicious? When do you use NetVibes? It's all so overwhelming to me at times. That's when I resort to my "old ways" of searching and adding to my Favorites. I'm not sure I will use Delicious. I suppose there are some ways to use it in the classroom. It might work for group projects for a pooling of Internet resources; I'm not sure. Does anyone have any thoughts on this application? I don't think I'm resistant to it; I just don't know if I've found enough value in it to make a concentrated effort to go to the page.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Thing 10: Mashed Potatoes -- I mean, Mashups
After 30 minutes of trying to figure this mashup out, I finally did it. Sadly, it was the easiest thing to do, but I wasn't finding the directions that clear despite it saying "Spell" and having a blank box following. I don't know what my problem was, but I'm happy I figured it out. So, here's my creative output using this mashup. I have to say that mashups are pretty interesting, and they certainly give the techno people out there something more to do with their time. Again, just another thing to find myself sinking numerous hours into if I started checking out all the mashups there are out there. The Flickr ones are evidence enough at how consuming some of these applications are.
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