In the Clouds

My wordle is from The Biology Corner, a website with resources for biology 

teachers.

Cloud Computing Sites:

Popcorn Maker-Students and teachers may use this site to remix web videos, audio and images to create mashups that can be embedded into other websites. 

Classconnect-Instructors may build, upload, collaborate, find and share lesson 

plans. 

Scitable-Scientists, teachers, students and experts collaborate and create a 

large online library on subjects they choose.  Popcorn maker lets students createa website about a subject they are currently studying.  They are actively 

involved in researching, analyzing and creating.  Scitable lets teachers and students interact with scientists and experts. They get a chance to collaborate and 

discuss authentic science.  Classconnect allows teachers to more easily obtain 

material and collaborate with other teachers, expanding access to material.  

http://www.pearltrees.com/sdood

Social bookmarking is a way to collect and share a lot of information about a 

topic.  You may access it easily in one place.  By using tags it is possible to 

find what other people have collected.  In the NMC Horizon Report 2011 K-12 it isstated that cloud computing saves resources.  Social bookmarking lets students 

and instructors find material that previously would have been harder, or

impossible, and more expensive to obtain.  Students may see videos about topics 

that are hard to visualize so instead of just reading about something they get tosee it too. Social bookmarking also allows collaboration among students.

Overall I think tags, social bookmarking and tag clouds let everyone find much 

more classroom material than was possible in the past.  It allows collaboration 

and the opportunity to sometimes see an abstract topic in a video or other form 

of presentation.  I did not know about Pearltrees.  It makes it so easy to store and retrieve information!  In the NMC Horizon Report 2011 K-12 it is mentioned 

that Northwestern University has created iLab Central, an authentic virtual 

laboratory in the cloud which lets high school students of all socio-economic 

backgrounds take part in experiments.  This creates new opportunities for 

students and helps hold down costs to schools.  

Blogging & Twittering

Although I have read blogs in the past I have never created one so this is progress toward becoming a little more tech savvy.  After reading about blogs I can see their benefits in education.  They help students and instructors with writing skills, reading and researching a topic.  Hopefully if someone is going to post on a blog they will take a little more time and try to write as skillfully as they can.  Some reading will probably need to be done before posting on a topic.  Students may need to read and analyze many articles before they can really address a topic intelligently.  This experience helps them learn how to research a topic.  When students post to a blog it enables individual participation which is important when teachers are trying to engage students and get them to play an active role in the classroom.  As stated in the 2009 Horizon Report:  K-12, technology is a primary way for students to take control of  their own learning.  They also indicated controlling your own learning leads to deeper and longer retained learning.  Using an IPAD or other device to blog may get students who do not participate much otherwise to become more involved.  Blogging also allows collaboration and discussion, reinforcing learning because students work with others and discuss each other's ideas.  By following posted links on a blog students may be directed to information that might help them understand more.  If students learn how to do podcasts it also helps with their speaking ability.

I have been on Twitter for a few years now.  I started when my son went to Washington, DC with his eighth grade class.  His teacher set up a twitter account which parents could access so we knew what the kids were doing.  She tweeted on the way to DC and gave updates daily.  It was very convenient and comforting to know what was going on.  Since then I look at Twitter for short periods, sometimes every day, to check on my son's and other tweets.  I follow some of my friends, a few celebrities, news organizations, and other networks that interest me.  It is fun to see direct communication from well known people, their words are not altered or filtered like it happens sometimes in newspapers or articles online.  Twitter lets you see comments that might not make it into a newspaper or an online article, especially those from friends.  It lets you find information very tailored to your interests.  Even though I follow I have never tweeted and until this week's class readings I was mostly unaware of educational benefits.  Since tweeting is microblogging I can see how they have some of the same benefits.  Some benefits mentioned in the video "Tweets for Education" include finding out what is very currently in the news, and getting information on topics form very direct sources, such as a Civics class student following Senator John McCain.   Twitter may be used as a tool for class discussion.  If tweets are monitored closely students can respond immediately and take part in a discussion.  Students also have the ability to respond when they want from a variety of devices.  Twitter allows building a community inside and outside the classroom. One last point I will mention is that since tweets are limited to 140 characters it makes students determine what is important enough to be said, hopefully making them use a more critical type of thinking.

Overall, blogging and Twitter are good ways to communicate personally and professionally.  These tech tools are newer ways to get students involved and motivated to learn.