Cloud Learning Reflection

After using Google hangout with Katie, I can see its benefits in terms of collaboration with other teachers.

I have seen the benefit of Skype and Google hangout in my graduate program. A lot of professors prefer using those tools than having actual office hours as it is much more flexible. Further, you can bring in multiple people to discuss a particular question or problem.

I think this might be a particularly useful tool for places like the Literacy Center or the IRC. Perhaps we could have students staffed that could take questions from other students that are in class. It would help to have students explain topics to each other and give a teacher more resources to work with other students.

Depending on the class or topics, perhaps you could also have guest speakers reach the class via the hangout. This might expose students to real world applications of what they are learning in class.

Cloud Learning Artifact

Here is a final review guide I created for my students to use over winter break. I gave each student their own copy, using google docs. This way students were able to work on the problems and select answers. Embedded in the review are links to explanations of problems. Students who worked on this activity generally scored higher on their finals.

Final Review Guide

Social Bookmarking Artifact

LMS Artifact

Chrome / FOSS Artifact

Here is an activity I use with the Geogebra app from the Chrome store. To get students ready to use Geogebra, I created a guided scavenger hunt of how to use the icons in Geogebra. 

Geogebra Scavenger Hunt

Chrome / FOSS Blog Reflection

I agree with the concept of Open Source Content, particularly when viewing it through the lens of a first year teacher. I remember not knowing how to effectively plan lessons for my students and at my wits end in terms of looking for content or suggestions. Having an open forum where teachers can share lessons and materials used would have been extremely helpful in those first few years and I still think I would find it beneficial when I have to cover a new topic. I do struggle with how to compensate people for the work they have completed. While the goal is to give equal access to knowledge, we still have to figure out a way to make sure people's efforts are rewarded. I think this is what the article was talking about when it mentioned DOSC (Developing Open Source Content).

Overall, increased access to materials for students is the best policy as it provides equal opportunities for all. Transitioning to a system like that presents quite a challenge for society and educators.

LMS Blog Reflection

The difference between a regular teacher website and LMS (Moodle) is the amount of interaction that can occur between the teacher and students, or between students and students. Teachers are also able to use Moodle to assess student learning, which is not done with the regular website.

I can see using Moodle for quizzes as being beneficial as students can receive instant feedback and retake an assessment. Teachers can also use the assignment tab to have students upload papers and activities to the website. Student forums can also be set up to encourage discussion between students over a particular topic.

In terms of Math, I like the glossary option of Moodle. I think creating a centralized glossary of math terms would be extremely helpful for students to search for particular terms that they are unfamiliar with in class.

RSS Blog Reflection

In my classroom, students can leverage the power of RSS through my website. Students can readily see when I have added new content to my website. For example, when I post homework assignments or weekly agendas, students can quickly access that information to see the newly added information. 

The greatest benefit of using RSS is the amount of time being saved. If students subscribe to particular links, blogs, or websites, they can easily see new updates and save time. It also makes students more tech savvy and better able to handle to enormous amount of information that is currently available on the web. 

Social Bookmarking Reflection

Setting up the Diigo account was relatively painless. I am still awaiting approval for the classroom use. I did have some technical problems networking with others as the link didn't always work to find other people.

I could see using this with students in an Humanities course. The ability to highlight and annotate text is pretty neat and could be very useful for students reading certain texts or links. There are a lot of possibilities of things to do with that tool. A teacher could find an article online and post their annotations or thoughts when they read the text for students to see. It could also make for a good study or review guide as a teacher could highlight important parts of a website to review.

With co-workers I could see using this as a place to share common documents. In special education, we deal a lot with IEPS, so I could see using this site to highlight or annotate example IEPs or documents that help in crafting the IEP. It would also be nice to share bookmarks that are helpful with IEP writing.

With parents, I could see creating a group that might list resources for your classroom. With IEPs, it might work out to have a group with resources on IEP related materials.