11.5 Thing 3: Skype

I think Skype, or "like Skype" applications have a place in the classroom and the library. For a foreign language class, it takes "pen pals" to a whole new level! The article, 50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom, is pretty overwhelming to me, but full of great ideas. From virtual fieldtrips to virtual author visits, Skype has great potential for learning situations. I think you just need to make sure you plan what you do well, and test it thoroughly first. I downloaded Skype, but am having trouble finding others who have it as well.

Some of the other applications that are Skype-like sound really good, too, such as WizIQ. I looked at that website, and it looks like it would be a good application to use. It does not require downloading to run the virtual classroom.

11.5 Thing 2

Wordle is a fun tool. Here's one I created using my blog's url:

Students will enjoy using Wordle to create word clouds of topics they are learning about. They could use a paper they've written as the text, and the larger print should be the main idea of their paper.

Voicethread seems really cool. I can definitely see this being used by students, similar to a photostory, but with the added bonus of being able to comment on photos or videos. I would love to use this next week when we return to school, (so students, by class, can comment on a short video about posting photos to the internet) but don't see how I can get everyone set up to comment in this amount of time.

I already am familiar with animotos, so I looked at Voki and created a talking avitar. However, I could not get it to display in this post. I put the provided code into the Html, but it just had a link to Voki where you would have to sign in. Anyway, it was fun. I just have to figure out what I did wrong, or it won't be very useful for me. I think an email with a talking message would be much more of an impact than a typed message.

Bookr is similar to photostory, but the turning pages make it feel more like a book. Students could use this to create "books" showing what they learned from various units of study. I found an example of one about different kinds of cats (wild and domestic), written in Spanish.

11.5 Thing 1

I have seen this video before, perhaps in a class. At any rate, it was familiar. It makes a great deal of sense to me, in my current position as Librarian. I try to create lessons that help my students use technology to find and access information. I am a facilitator to learning, not an all-knowing person with all the answers. I have not encountered a student like the one in the video, but that was a high school setting. But, my students are eager to use technology, and I'm sure they can be just as successful.