HHS Technology Bits

Using Web 2.0 tools in the Classroom

HHS Technology Bits

Web2.0 Smorgasbord

March 29th, 2009 · No Comments · Blogroll, Digital learners, Web 2.0

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There are so many new tools popping up all over the web – it is impossible to stay current on everything.  Here is a small sampling of things to use in the classroom.  Check out a few and let us know which of them you use with your classes and how.  Be sure to see the new videos added in the widget to the right. Use the Comments section to share your experience with others.

VisualTools -

Google – a plethora of useful class tools.  Create a Google account, first.

  • Google Docs & Spreadsheets – Great for online collaboration. Docs are notes that can be accessed from anywhere online.  Docs & spreadsheets can be shared with multiple contributors.
  • iGoogle – customized info delivery – brings information to you.
  • Calendar -
  • Notebook – clip web resources to share with others
  • Earth – download & use to explore, search, map, etc.
  • Blogger - use Google for blogs – text, photos, video… you can even use your phone to post.

Check out the siftables:

David Merrill – Siftables

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Gcast/ Talkshoe edublog tutorial

October 23rd, 2008 · No Comments · Educational Technology, Integration Ideas, Podcasts, Video - Vidcasts, Web 2.0


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Gcast is a great way to make your own podcasts for classes.  This is a podcast created by GCast and then turned into a widget to post on the page. Obviously, the podcasts can be embedded into a blog.  Talkshoe is a site that not only lets you create podcasts, it allows students to converse or chat collaboratively.  It cn get a bit hard to follow due to echoes.  How might these awesome technologies be used for YOUR class?

http://www.gcast.com/

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/main.jsp?pushNav=1&cmd=home

Widgets can be added to wikis or to Blogs to enhance your content.  You can play podcasts by others.  Most podcasts done as MP3 files can be downloaded & played on portable devices – think of the potential learning!

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The best of web 2.0

April 27th, 2008 · 5 Comments · Educational Technology

    An excellent way to find new tools to use for your websites, wikis, blogs, and podcasts or just educational tools is to check out this year’s award winners for WebWare http://www.webware.com/html/ww/100/2008/winners.html

Check it out and let me know what you think!  There are so many Open Source tools out there, it is amazing that we spend so much on software in education. 

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Growing Up Online

January 23rd, 2008 · 8 Comments · Blogroll, Copyright and Fair Use, Digital learners, Ed-Games, Educational Technology, Integration Ideas, Internet Safety, Podcasts, Video - Vidcasts, Web 2.0

Every educator should watch the PBS Frontline special, “Growing Up Online.”  It is a great insight to the digital world in which these kids live.  What are the implications for education?  What are the new issues?  Your comments about this program are greatly appreciated.

Growing Up Online  (PBS Frontline, 1/22/08)

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Where, oh where?

January 13th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Blogroll

Ok, I was playing around and found this great site that lets you track the locations of different people visiting your site.  I just had to try and and put one on this site.  I also put one on our Cultural Exchange wiki.  Heritage is attempting to increase the “global” cultural awareness of our students.  We have a wiki called the Cultural Exchange wiki for students who are in other countries to post information & photos about that country and our students can ask questions to learn about the culture and people.  Currently, most of the students who are posting are American college students studying abroad.  We would love to find participants who are natives for each different country, and in one case we have.  If you know someone who would be willing and interested in participating, please let me know.

If you visit the site, the countries listed across the top are those for whom we think we have found foreign participants.  Not all have had a chance to post information, but several have and are quite interesting.  These different country pages are also listed along the left-side navigation bar.  I encourage you to visit the site!  Take your students to the site and see what they think about it. 

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“Safety First” a New Year’s Resolution

January 2nd, 2008 · 2 Comments · Blogroll

Congratulations to the 35 faculty members who have become Certified in Internet Safety from the iSafe site.  They have completed the entire online course – every chapter of all 6 modules.  That means that they can now access the curriculum materials for their classes and have students take the online assessment surveys.  What an awesome accomplishment for our faculty!

One of the great things about the iSAFE training site and materials is the online assessment tool.  The site has pre- and post-  surveys for students to determine their internet habits and to see if these habits change after kids have done the lessons and learned about the issues and dangers.   Material is available for a wide range of content on the site, so Internet Safety can be integrated into almost all courses at high school.  Are you integrating Cybersecurity, Cyberethics, and Cybersafety into your classes?  Should we be teaching internet safety to students?  You can still take the training and earn the recertification points.  Register for the course in PDMS, to earn points, then  register at the iSAFE site and complete the modules.

News Flash (From iSAFE)

Spammer Locked Up

For the first time ever in the U.S. a spammer has been convicted of felony spamming.  Jeremy Jaynes was sentenced to nine years in prison under Virginia’s tough new spam law.  Jayne’s sister, Jessica DeGroot, was fined $7500 for her involvement in Jayne’s spam operation. According to court papers, Jayne and company repeatedly sent over 10,000 spam messages over a twentyfour hour period—and those were only the ones reported by irate recipients. The Register of Known Spam Operations rated Jaynes as the eighth-most prolific spammer in the world.

Students may think that what they are doing online is harmless or funny and not realize the serious consequences for these actions.  Students have recently gotten in trouble with the law in several states for items posted on MySpace or FaceBook.  Students need to recognize threats to their safety online and know how to circumvent predators.  Students also need to know when their files or their financial information are endangered. 

You have taken a giant leap forward in educating yourselves about some of the Internet Safety issues.  I encourage you to use the iSAFE materials and do the lessons with students.  I am available to help you plan or to teach a lesson with you – just sign up for my time via e-mail and reserve a lab or laptop cart.  Please encourage students to STOP, THINK, CLICK in that order when online.  What else should we do to promote and encourage online safety and responsibility for our students?  Make a comment and share with others what you are doing in your classroom or other related issues.  Just click the Comment button below.

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Video plus voice

August 29th, 2007 · No Comments · Blogroll, Digital learners, Integration Ideas, Video - Vidcasts, Web 2.0

Record the sounds of learning and share them with students, parents, other educators…

VoiceThread.com allows you to record voices and attach them to a sequence of pictures and post the files so that others might make audio comments or simply listen and watch.  Educator accounts are free and you can set up files for each student in a class.  Then the entire class can upload comments and start threads of their own.  It is a web forum that lets one talk, capture, and save audio to surround the images.  Lots of different voices, or people, can attach comments to the same image.  (See http://voicethread.com/pachy.php)

A word of caution about photos on the Internet:  Once the photo is out there you cannot take it back.  I’m using a photo that was already published on the Internet – which I simply downloaded and cropped.  Photos can be electronically altered and republished.  It may be best to post diagrams or student work.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=5520" width="480" height="360" wmode="transparent" /]

 [kml_flashembed movie="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=115512" width="480" height="360" wmode="transparent" /]

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Hello Heritage Teachers!

August 16th, 2007 · 15 Comments · Digital learners, Educational Technology, Integration Ideas, Web 2.0

Welcome to Edublogs.org.   This site has been set up to allow us to learn about blogs, or web-logs, by using one.   This section is for posting – where your thoughts and comments will go.  If you join edublogs – you can post here, if not, you can still make comments.

You are invited to share your thoughts, expertise, and tips on teaching & learning with technology on this site.   You can simply read what is here or you can jump in and add to our expanding collective experience as we learn together some new ways to use technology.  Simply click the bold Comments button at the bottom of this section.

You can do this with your classes and allow students to post comments about what they are learning.  Edublogs is a free site for educators and your blogsite can be kept private – so that only those who know the URL can access the page. 

Why blog?  Anytime, anywhere access with Internet - some of our students can use their phones or PSPs.   It is a dynamic, interactive tool to engage students in discussions and to allow them to publish their thoughts and share information.    

Notice the sidebar – section to right, there are different media tools.  The top section shows how many comments there are.  Next is a video section with videos from VodPods – watch them by clicking.  The orange RSS sections are the latest headlines from PBS Learning and Urban Legends.  Simply click a headline to read more about it.  The headlines are automatically updated as content is added to both sites.

Finally, at the bottom of the sidebar, is a ‘WidgetBox’ which collects news from around the world and people’s thoughts on what’s  happening.  You can read the sections by clicking them, e-mail the sections, or comment.  This is just a sample of what is possible.   You can suggest or introduce topics that you want to share or those that you want to learn more about.  Contribute!  Question!
For more information on using blogs in classes -
http://edublogs.org/10-ways-to-use-your-edublog-to-teach/

What about YOU?  How might you use these tools in your classroom?  What guidelines should be in place for students?  How might students benefit from online tools for learning?  Honestly, any thought or idea that you want consideration of, or response from others on, is worth posting.  We will all gain from our common knowledge and ideas, including questions.

Pages:  Across the top of this page (above the school picture) are some other pages.  Click the name to see those.  Check out Web 2.0!!

Practice using this site.  Click the comment button at the bottom….
Write a comment!  Just Do It!

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