I have just learned about wikis and they seem like they could be a very useful educational tool if used in the classroom, building, or with parents. It seems like having a forum to be able to build on ideas as well as showcase work that others can comment and add information about is a creative collaborative tool. I liked the Village Elementary wiki that has examples of student work and would like to see if anyone is using it as a tool at the middle and high school level.
In the videos for training, it talked about putting upcoming meeting agendas out on the wiki with documents to be discussed and then coming together with greater knowledge and having moved further ahead in the process. It seems using the voice and other tools in a wiki would eliminate the need to have meetings, except for getting that personal connection of a face to face. There are some meetings it seems this would be appropriate to do like updating a document or making some decisions about a student's work or educational plan.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
New Resources
I have been exploring through this class some additional resources for school and teachers including Teachertube, Next Vista for learning, Youtube, and Clipblast. I was familiar with Youtube before as it seems Youtube has made it onto many other websites as it seems to be everywhere.
The additional sites make a little more focused sense to me except Clipblast which seems to be like Youtube, but does not have that much content on it. Teachertube seems to have a lot of resources and also some time wasters like Youtube. It appears that the difference in the control of the site and the for profit type. Teachertube seems to be a focused forum for teachers, but without the moderation to make sure it is useful or relevant. Next Vista appears to be a little more restricted in allowing their videos on their site. The videos are not as prolific, but seem to be relevant to teaching. I learned a lot more about Ukiyoe, the history wood block printing process in Japan from their featured video.
All of the sites appear to be fairly easy to use of you have reached the learning curve of searching for videos through Youtube it is pretty similar. I like that there is a blog which can tell you a little more about the video prior to checking it out. it also seems to be a chance to connect people in similar curriculum of they were to use it all the time.
I could see using it with students well to be a forum for their projects and as a resource for research. There were a few mental health videos which appeared to be research on particular mental health disorders. These seem to be good jumping off points for student to do further research and use technology. I could see filming a number of social skills in role plays (eye contact, entering a group, manners, etc.) that would be fun to video and put on a web site like this to teach themselves and other students how to socially interact with other in addition to particular course content. It will also be helpful in my role as a resource to teachers.
The additional sites make a little more focused sense to me except Clipblast which seems to be like Youtube, but does not have that much content on it. Teachertube seems to have a lot of resources and also some time wasters like Youtube. It appears that the difference in the control of the site and the for profit type. Teachertube seems to be a focused forum for teachers, but without the moderation to make sure it is useful or relevant. Next Vista appears to be a little more restricted in allowing their videos on their site. The videos are not as prolific, but seem to be relevant to teaching. I learned a lot more about Ukiyoe, the history wood block printing process in Japan from their featured video.
All of the sites appear to be fairly easy to use of you have reached the learning curve of searching for videos through Youtube it is pretty similar. I like that there is a blog which can tell you a little more about the video prior to checking it out. it also seems to be a chance to connect people in similar curriculum of they were to use it all the time.
I could see using it with students well to be a forum for their projects and as a resource for research. There were a few mental health videos which appeared to be research on particular mental health disorders. These seem to be good jumping off points for student to do further research and use technology. I could see filming a number of social skills in role plays (eye contact, entering a group, manners, etc.) that would be fun to video and put on a web site like this to teach themselves and other students how to socially interact with other in addition to particular course content. It will also be helpful in my role as a resource to teachers.
Monday, December 3, 2007
How is blogging
How has my blogging experience been thus far?
I would say I am learning at a modern pace. The blogging process is simpler than i had thought prior to this course. The most difficult thing has been to remember which user name and which password goes with each account and web site as it has been a challenge logging them into my short term memory.
I have found a lot of great resources by linking onto others blogs and resources as well as a never ending wealth of information. There is always something curious that can lead me to the next thing.
As far as using it into the future, I hope to be able to use it as a communication tool kit a few ways. One, I hope to be able to speak to others within my department and outside of my department sharing resources knowledge and perspective.
It would be exciting to be able to have resources for different topics within the counselor/mental health/substance abuse/art therapy worlds to bridge these resources with the wealth of resources within the school as well.
Also, I hope to be able to develop it into a resource for parents and students to feel comfortable accessing and working together to support the students through the counseling department. I hope to be able to reach students where they are and make it convenient for their parents to access the department as well. Overall, I hope to use blogging as a collaborative tool to support our students.
I would say I am learning at a modern pace. The blogging process is simpler than i had thought prior to this course. The most difficult thing has been to remember which user name and which password goes with each account and web site as it has been a challenge logging them into my short term memory.
I have found a lot of great resources by linking onto others blogs and resources as well as a never ending wealth of information. There is always something curious that can lead me to the next thing.
As far as using it into the future, I hope to be able to use it as a communication tool kit a few ways. One, I hope to be able to speak to others within my department and outside of my department sharing resources knowledge and perspective.
It would be exciting to be able to have resources for different topics within the counselor/mental health/substance abuse/art therapy worlds to bridge these resources with the wealth of resources within the school as well.
Also, I hope to be able to develop it into a resource for parents and students to feel comfortable accessing and working together to support the students through the counseling department. I hope to be able to reach students where they are and make it convenient for their parents to access the department as well. Overall, I hope to use blogging as a collaborative tool to support our students.
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