I prefer free apps, but I'm much more likely to consider paying for an app if I know that it has been reviewed by a reputable source.
photo by: foundphotoslj "Student in Class"
Showing posts with label diigo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diigo. Show all posts
22 February 2010
From the Web:: Education Apps Rated
I prefer free apps, but I'm much more likely to consider paying for an app if I know that it has been reviewed by a reputable source.
photo by: foundphotoslj "Student in Class"
05 February 2010
Top 10 List via Teach42
Last Saturday, Steve Dembo shared this Prezi at the NICE Miniconference and was kind enough to also share with his Twitter followers. It's his list of the Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Educators.
Many of these are fantastic tools for the classroom, some I have never tried. I love Glogster, but still have to deal with blocks in my district. Teachers at my site got some great work out of students using Glogster before it got blocked last winter. Why was it blocked? It was flagged as a social networking site. This year, I've discovered Wix and my students really like it. Many of them now have their own accounts and regularly create Wix projects for class assignments.
I've also had pretty good luck with Edmodo and Wallwisher as I've described here and here, respectively. Prezi is a fun way to do presentations and is much more interesting than more traditional presentation tools. I've also used Wordle with good success. I've even used Poll Everywhere and really need to do so more often. It's really kind of funny that I was thinking of Poll Everywhere last week while at our district budget community meeting. When community members arrived, they were asked to check out an Activote clicker to participate in the session. I wonder how, if we're so deeply in debt, the district can afford the price tag of an Activote system with nearly 100 clickers. They could have done the same thing for less than $100 with Poll Everywhere. Go figure.
I haven't used Delicious, but instead use Diigo, a similar social bookmarking tool. Unfortunately, both services are blocked in my district. Why? They are flagged a social networking. I recently signed up for Kidblog, but haven't started using it with my students quite yet.
Next on my list to try is Voicethread. We're currently working on a project in class that will fit nicely with Voicethread so those students who are up to the challenge of trying a new tool, will be able to check it out. I hadn't heard about iPadio, but I'm very intrigued by it. What can beat a podcasting solution from a phone?
This is a great list of tools to try in the classroom. If you haven't used any of them try one (Wallwisher is probably the easiest). If you don't like it, go to another. That's how this stuff works. There's something out there for everyone.
Many of these are fantastic tools for the classroom, some I have never tried. I love Glogster, but still have to deal with blocks in my district. Teachers at my site got some great work out of students using Glogster before it got blocked last winter. Why was it blocked? It was flagged as a social networking site. This year, I've discovered Wix and my students really like it. Many of them now have their own accounts and regularly create Wix projects for class assignments.
I've also had pretty good luck with Edmodo and Wallwisher as I've described here and here, respectively. Prezi is a fun way to do presentations and is much more interesting than more traditional presentation tools. I've also used Wordle with good success. I've even used Poll Everywhere and really need to do so more often. It's really kind of funny that I was thinking of Poll Everywhere last week while at our district budget community meeting. When community members arrived, they were asked to check out an Activote clicker to participate in the session. I wonder how, if we're so deeply in debt, the district can afford the price tag of an Activote system with nearly 100 clickers. They could have done the same thing for less than $100 with Poll Everywhere. Go figure.
I haven't used Delicious, but instead use Diigo, a similar social bookmarking tool. Unfortunately, both services are blocked in my district. Why? They are flagged a social networking. I recently signed up for Kidblog, but haven't started using it with my students quite yet.
Next on my list to try is Voicethread. We're currently working on a project in class that will fit nicely with Voicethread so those students who are up to the challenge of trying a new tool, will be able to check it out. I hadn't heard about iPadio, but I'm very intrigued by it. What can beat a podcasting solution from a phone?
This is a great list of tools to try in the classroom. If you haven't used any of them try one (Wallwisher is probably the easiest). If you don't like it, go to another. That's how this stuff works. There's something out there for everyone.
07 September 2009
To Block or Not to Block?
I work in a district where internet filters block access to sites determined to be inappropriate. When I try to access these sites I get a message telling me under which category the block falls. Most frequently I get messages claiming the sites are for 'social networking/dating' or 'adult content.' Sites blocked include:
In the past eight years, I've had one request to unblock a site granted. That was for Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index.
So, what is the point of this post? Two great posts bring this issue to the forefront for me yet again. First, at It's All About IT, Lisa writes about the ethics surrounding the use of proxies to allow students access to blocked sites. One of the things she does is suggest how useful these sites could be for teaching students about ethics and digital citizenship:
Then I read Alex Couros' post on 'Freedom Sticks.' In it he describes his frustration in working with teachers to develop their tech skills only to be stymied by filters. His solution was to give each teacher a 'freedom stick' of portable apps that ultimately bypassed the filters.
The comments on both posts are instructive as well. It seems to me that those of us trying to integrate technology are trending more toward Dr. Couros' so-called guerilla tactics to give students (and teachers) access to information and resources that would otherwise be blocked.
I'm not sure where I am on this spectrum. While I don't allow the use of proxies, I am extremely frustrated by my inability to use certain Web 2.0 tools. My restrictions are not due to respect for the filters or authority, but because I don't want to risk losing data similar to last years' incident. I certainly don't have the solution, though I can see myself becoming more and more frustrated as time goes by.
In the past eight years, I've had one request to unblock a site granted. That was for Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index.
So, what is the point of this post? Two great posts bring this issue to the forefront for me yet again. First, at It's All About IT, Lisa writes about the ethics surrounding the use of proxies to allow students access to blocked sites. One of the things she does is suggest how useful these sites could be for teaching students about ethics and digital citizenship:
I talk to my students about topics like Identity Theft, protecting digital privacy, and CyberBullying. It would make so much sense to pull up a site (like FaceBook) and go over things like the TOU and EULA. For example, I had a number of grade 7’s last year who had FaceBook accounts. Even ones who were younger than 13 (FaceBook’s minimum age). A valuable discussion to have….not possible with the site blocked.This practice could be very useful. I believe that it is important to teach students about responsible behavior online. I made the conscious decision not to allow the use of proxies in my room after an unfortunate series of events that led to our newspaper program being shut down for several weeks while hard drives were reformatted. The ultimate problem did not result from using proxies, but the attitudes rising from proxy use in direct violation of district policy probably helped.
Then I read Alex Couros' post on 'Freedom Sticks.' In it he describes his frustration in working with teachers to develop their tech skills only to be stymied by filters. His solution was to give each teacher a 'freedom stick' of portable apps that ultimately bypassed the filters.
The comments on both posts are instructive as well. It seems to me that those of us trying to integrate technology are trending more toward Dr. Couros' so-called guerilla tactics to give students (and teachers) access to information and resources that would otherwise be blocked.
I'm not sure where I am on this spectrum. While I don't allow the use of proxies, I am extremely frustrated by my inability to use certain Web 2.0 tools. My restrictions are not due to respect for the filters or authority, but because I don't want to risk losing data similar to last years' incident. I certainly don't have the solution, though I can see myself becoming more and more frustrated as time goes by.
27 July 2009
SimplyBox - Think Inside the Box
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SimplyBox - Think Inside the Box
This could be the answer to my social bookmarking issue. I've posted before about my search for a good social bookmarking tool for research groups in my classroom. Unfortunately, both Diigo and Delicious are blocked in my district. I like Zoho's Notebook, but SimplyBox might be even better. I really like the ease of the 'boxing' feature and the visual nature of the tool. Best of all, it looks like students CAN'T access random boxes from people they don't know. Now to see if I can access SimplyBox at school....
Posted from Diigo.
23 June 2009
Part 2: Searching for Social Bookmarking
Even though I haven't written about social bookmarking sites in awhile, I have continued to look at options available. As you might remember, I face a dilemma in that I want students to collaborate on projects in part by sharing resources. One way to do that would be to use Diigo or Delicious, but both of those services are blocked by district filters at my site. I favor Google Notebook, but production stopped on that months ago so new accounts aren't being accepted.
Over the weekend I started playing with Zoho Notebook.
Last night I created this notebook about the new service thisMoment, in about 5 minutes. Go ahead and click on page one above to view the page in the notebook. I referenced the article from Mashable, the home page for thisMoment, and a sample. I then quickly added some text about general ideas for classroom use. Within the program, there is an easy to use navigation bar on the left hand side and at the top of your work area. I can click one button to enter email addresses of people with whom I would like to share my notebook AND I can give them either Read Only or Read/Write privileges. Further niftiness allowed me to publish and embed my notebook here.
I am liking Zoho Notebook, but now need to check to make sure it's not blocked at my site.
Over the weekend I started playing with Zoho Notebook.
Last night I created this notebook about the new service thisMoment, in about 5 minutes. Go ahead and click on page one above to view the page in the notebook. I referenced the article from Mashable, the home page for thisMoment, and a sample. I then quickly added some text about general ideas for classroom use. Within the program, there is an easy to use navigation bar on the left hand side and at the top of your work area. I can click one button to enter email addresses of people with whom I would like to share my notebook AND I can give them either Read Only or Read/Write privileges. Further niftiness allowed me to publish and embed my notebook here.
I am liking Zoho Notebook, but now need to check to make sure it's not blocked at my site.
10 May 2009
Part 1: Searching for Social Bookmarking
While I've personally used Diigo for nearly a year, I have yet to use social bookmarking services with my students. Earlier in the school year, as my geography students were researching climate change, I wanted a place where we could collect useful links as a group. That was when I discovered that Diigo was blocked by district filters (interestingly, as shareware/download because of the toolbar). Not to be deterred, I quick went to Delicious, but, alas, that was blocked too.
I thought about Google Notebook, but since Google has stopped development, I'm not sure how long it will be around (though they promise that current users will continue to have access and I can create new notebooks with collaborators). The other downside to Google Notebook is that I can't recommend it to other teachers as new sign-ups aren't being allowed.
So, I'm looking for something that is: 1) not blocked at school, 2) easy to use, 3) I can recommend to other teachers.
I put out a request to my Twitter PLN and was inundated with possibilities. I had no idea there were so many social bookmarking possibilities out there! Now my task is to begin sorting through the possibilities and choose a few to test at school.
My first task is to go through Larry Ferlazzo's "Best Social Bookmarking Applications for English Language Learners & Other Students." After that, I'll start mowing through Wikipedia's list of Social Software.
Stay tuned for updates....
I thought about Google Notebook, but since Google has stopped development, I'm not sure how long it will be around (though they promise that current users will continue to have access and I can create new notebooks with collaborators). The other downside to Google Notebook is that I can't recommend it to other teachers as new sign-ups aren't being allowed.
So, I'm looking for something that is: 1) not blocked at school, 2) easy to use, 3) I can recommend to other teachers.
I put out a request to my Twitter PLN and was inundated with possibilities. I had no idea there were so many social bookmarking possibilities out there! Now my task is to begin sorting through the possibilities and choose a few to test at school.
My first task is to go through Larry Ferlazzo's "Best Social Bookmarking Applications for English Language Learners & Other Students." After that, I'll start mowing through Wikipedia's list of Social Software.
Stay tuned for updates....
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