On a scale from ‘0’ to ‘5,’ the mean rating for Writely was 4.67.
This technology tool has been purchased by Google. Use of the Writely tool is obtained through a GMAIL account.
IMAGINE LEARNING
On a scale from ‘0’ to ‘5,’ the mean rating for Imagine Learning was 3.89.
“This program is great for our student’s to use in the classroom and at home. It falls in line with the class that we are currently taking (ESL), thus, it has some activities for children to perform that correlates to the methodologies in which will assist in their developmental skills”.
BLOGGER
LEARN OUT LOUD
On a scale from ‘0’ to ‘5,’ the mean rating for LearnOutLoud was 3.33.
“Learn out loud is a website where users are provided with both an audio and visual learning environment. Some of the features include educational audio books, MP3 downloads, podcasts, and DVD videos. Users can learn a foreign language, or even listen to classical music. The website has a directory of many different topics such as education, history, languages, travel, etc. For example, if a user wanted to learn more about Benjamin Franklin, he/she could easily download the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I enjoyed this website because it had a variety of many topics to choose from, and their resources were helpful and easily accessible”.
“This software is like most search engines, it gives too many results and you have to be very specific about what you are looking for. This is supposed to be a tutorial software and that is exactly what it is and no more”.
HOT POTATOES
On a scale from ‘0’ to ‘5,’ the mean rating for Hot Potatoes was 1.25.
“The concept for Hot Potatoes is a very good one as it allows one to create learning exercises or quizzes to reinforce and check student learning, but it is very difficult to complete the exercise. There are tutorials and very detailed explanations about the design concepts with instructions, which I was initially excited about, but when I tried to navigate my way around to create a sample exercise, I kept getting stuck and couldn’t understand what I needed to do next after I completed the tutorial on a sample question using JMix. I think that the program design needs to be upgraded so that it is user friendly, efficient and easy to use. Also, it would be very useful for it to be flexible in hiding the correct answer or feedback section of the same exercise for the student’s edition and incorporating it for a teacher’s edition”.
“Hot Potatoes appears to be intended for teacher construction of tests and other forms of assessment. However, the program may be difficult for people at first glance. Hot Potatoes really does not allow for web exploration. It is designed for document creation. Hot Potatoes assists teachers and students in developing several kinds of assessments. It may not be characterized as incorporating the best use of multimedia. It really does not allow for communication between students or teachers. It is really not designed for online direct communication”.
43 comments:
Writly, seems to be fun to use in your classroom because it allows teachers and students edit, and be able to talk.
I thank my ED-451 course for introducing me to Writely. This can be a great way for collaborative work approach. It can be used for students group work assignment, which will allow them to communicate online. Because it is like an online word processing tool, my students will get a chance to create and edit a document.
For me a blog is something for personal use. It is like a journal or newsletter for public view. This will allow the viewer to post information and comments about the site, just like what I am doing right now. As a college student, I am assessing the technology tools that I have used in my class. Teacher can use this to get the students to post their opinion about a certain subject matter.
Learn Out Loud:
I really like this tool. There are some things that have to be purchased, but if looking to save some money, clicking on “Free Stuff” gives the user plenty of choices. I think this would be a great tool as a resource for students to use for research for a project, exposure to something that is a little hard to grasp just from discussion, or students could use this tool as an enrichment activity that helps to reinforce what was just discussed in the classroom. I believe this is something that students would really enjoy because it provides both audio and video for some topics. As a future special education teacher, this would be a really good tool for students with a learning disability in reading because there are books that are available in audio form.
Blogger:
I like the blogger tool. It really is convenient and easy to use. This is something that could easily be use in the classroom or at home. In the classroom, the teacher will be able to post a comment or thought on something previously discussed and the children will be able to respond. I think this is something that is really great when a student is too shy to speak up in class, they could still get participation points by using the blogger. Because this tool is available on the internet, students could also add their input to a discussion if it comes to them later on in the day. Students could get on the computer and type what they think so that they do not forget it later.
Hot Potatoes:
I think that this program is a great program to use when having to develop assessments for students. Though it looks difficult at first, if the user has the time to become familiar, they will be able to use this tool a lot when having to prepare assessments for students. Personally, I think that I would really use this tool when having to prepare assessments. This program makes it a lot easier then having to do one from scratch.
Blogger
The Blogger, makes it very possible for teacher, student and even parent (should the teacher choose it) to communicate easily. Upon simply creating a Blogger site, a teacher can post what is happening in the classroom as well as post assignments that students can check back on to see what they need to complete.
This concept to me is similar to that of MySpace or Xanga. As students are fascinated with such sites I find it a good opportunity for teachers to use that spark of interest to form his/her own site for the easy access of students. Being that assignments will then be readily available online, (as well as help from fellow students or the teacher), hopefully the student would have motivation to do the school work and do much better in school.
Writely
Writely is a great way to view the same document and edit accordingly without being in the same room. With Writely, changes on documents can be seen as it is made (like being in the same room and witnessing the changes as it is being done). This is quite an advantage as one can save much on transportation and time.
Some disadvantages to Writely would be that there is no ‘exact’ way of knowing what was edited unless otherwise specified. The editor has to indicate (either by changing their font color or making their font style/size different) what changes they made. Additionally, I found that “Writely” takes quite some time to show/load the changes. I personally prefer chat rooms or downloading the MS Word document, making changes and sending the file back to the original person.
Hot Potatoes
This is a great way to form tests and quizzes that are easily graded through the computer. Within seconds one can make jumbled sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap filled exercises. In the same manner, within those seconds, a teacher can have the same quizzes graded.
Some benefits to this program include the fact that each student can work on his/her pace, place, and time to fulfill the quizzes and there are hints to directly guide the student. Though most find this as too teacher centered, I find it as a great tool for rote memorization activities such as vocabulary, grammar, or multiplication.
WRITELY
Writely is, by far, one of the best websites to share documents online with students. All the editing and revision can be done online and one of the advantages to it is that it saves a lot of time for both the student and the teacher. It seems as if the only disadvantage to it (if it may even be considered a disadvantage) is the fact that it is necessary to obtain a Gmail account. Nonetheless, it’s a perfect tool to include technology into any type of lesson plan.
IMAGINE LEARNING
If I had known that there was a program like IMAGINE LEARNING when I was teaching ESL, then life would have been a little bit easier. The self-directed learning aspect to it is probably the most engaging for any student. As far as ESL is concerned, they would be able to keep up with their own pace, and have a taste of a little technology integrated into the curriculum. For teachers, individualized planning for each student is probably a big favorite. In any case, Imagine Learning should never be overlooked.
BLOGGER
Blogger seems to be the more informal way of online group discussion. One good thing about it is the fact that it is very student-friendly since it allows for easy navigation and is very simple to use, so that any individual can use it. Peer-evaluations would be one form assessment that can be conducted in Blogger since it allows for open feedback. As a future educator, Blogger is probably a program I would use to enforce student interaction with technology for the classroom.
Writely
Is a place where students and/or teachers can chat and edit the same chat window/document window at the same time. This feature eliminates the trouble of sending a file, for example a word file, back and forth with the other members for revision. Since everybody can edit text on the same window. If you are chatting with more than 1 person, then you definitely have to select text of different colors because it would be hard to tell who’s talking/typing since the chat window does not ask for chat names.
Imagine learning
Imagine learning is a very supportive tool for learning especially for beginning English language learners. Imagine learning offers a lot of program where each of which targets specific needs of students. It offers supportive learning tools to develop and reinforce skills on vocabulary, reading, listening and speaking. This program will surely motivate the students to learn more because it is very eye-catching, interesting, it includes art, music, songs and videos. I would surely like to take advantage of this program to support my students’ learning. I think that this will not only help them with the English language, but it would also encourage teacher-student interaction and open communication.
Learn out loud
Is a website that provides audio and video learning. It offers a wide variety of titles for different areas of learning. You can get the videos/audio tutorials from Arts and Entertainment, History, Philosophy, Science, Sports, Technology, and more. Learn Out Loud will be very useful inside the classrooms. I would like to use it in the future because it supports learning without having to stick to the traditional style of teaching. I could integrate audio/video learning in my lessons to reinforce skills. This will also motivate students because it is more interesting and replaces teaching that is out of the box.
Blogger
Is a place where you can port comments. It is similar to an online diary which you want to share with everybody. It is a good tool for communication. Teachers can post a topic or a question related to a lesson previously taught in class or to be taught in class and students post their ideas, comments or opinions on a blog. This is typically useful for different type of learners, especially for students who tend to shy away when during a regular recitation inside the classroom. It would help establish teacher-student relationship and encourages open and active communication.
Writely:
I thought that this was a great online tool. It was easy to navigate and I had minimal problems. This could be used in my lesson planning when I want to diverge from the traditional paper and pencil routine. For example, in my field of social studies, I can have the students edit and publish their essay questions on the U.S. Civil War. Then, I can review their work online and make comments for revision. It is a great tool for incorporating technology into the classroom.
Image Learning:
I am not too familiar with this tool. However, I feel that it has some points of interest. According to the information, this tool allows students to be self-directed and also allows then to manipulate their virtual environment. This is tool is great for an ESL class, so I am not too sure as the use for my future social studies class. On the other hand, I can possibly incorporate this into some of my lesson planning as an application tool to complete assignments that I may give my students.
Learn out Loud:
I really enjoyed this website. It is an Audio Visual website where students and teachers can listen to audio books, mp3, DVD, and listen to classical music if they wanted to. It is an online educational search engine that serves as a great research tool. I can use this in my lesson planning for my students to use as a researching too. Another interesting concept was the fact that students could learn a different language on this site if they wanted to on. I would have to definitely use this site in my teaching.
Hot Potatoes:
This site was not very user friendly. Although I feel the concepts were good, it needed some construction. I would prefer to use the other tools for my lesson planning. However, I feel that this may be a good form of assessment, granted that I figure it out first. If and when I do, I can use this as a means of assessing my students.
Writely:
Writely is now under the management of Google (new name I believe is called Google docs and spreadsheet), and from what I have gathered, it is an online service in which people can access and share documents and do some collaborative works online. It accepts different file formats such as DDC, XLS, DDF and other frequently used formats. With this type of service, teachers will be able to work with other fellow teachers by means of sharing documents regarding principles of instructions and other classroom related activities. Likewise, students can do the same thing by collaborating with their fellow students especially when they have to work on projects that require group efforts and teamwork.
Imagine Learning:
This is an online tutoring system geared towards elementary teachers and elementary students who are English Language Learners. The best thing about this site is that it caters to different students’ learning abilities and styles. It also focuses on subjects regarding vocabulary development, elements of communication (listening and speaking) and it also has programs introducing students to technology such as incorporating computer and internet use for the classroom activities. It also follows specific guidelines as dictated by the No Child Left Behind Act. Another advantage is that the learners’ prior knowledge is also considered because their first language is studied to see if they (researchers and teachers) can build some kind of connection within the English language so that it can be incorporated into the curriculum. This is done by means of utilizing the most current related research works. This is certainly a tool available that would benefit not just the teachers but most especially the students themselves.
Learn Out Loud:
This is another medium to access different forms of media such as educational videos and audios. This website offers free downloads as well. I wanted to find out more about this site but I was having a hard time getting through, something that I do not experience often with other free online services. Because the information I got was so limited, the only thing I can say about this site is that we can find out or learn about the availability of educational videos and audios we need which we can also download. This site can also be helpful for those who are looking for additional reference materials since it includes catalogs of free and non-free items. This site is particularly not easy to access. I believe you must have a fast broadband ISP in order to access it and take advantage of the things it can offer.
Writely assessment:
There was some initial chaos when first using Writely, but that is to be expected. It would have helped to have had rules or guidelines for input (different font colors, etc) beforehand, but those came later, on their own. Using Writely, it helps to have a document already written. This would give collaborators a set beginning from which to work. Again despite some confusion, Writely, and other online collaboration applications, can be more convenient and rational than sending separate copies of a file to others on which to collaborate. This way there is one document, no duplications and no danger of overwrites.
Blogger assessment:
Blogger is quite straightforward once one gets used to it. I like that blogs would allow students to have a space (outside of class) to share thoughts and brilliant ideas with classmates, teachers, and (depending on topic and student confidence) others. Blogger can serve as an open space for students to publicize thoughts and learn the value of having a personal stance which others will critique. It provides freedom and lessons in responsibility.
Learn Out Loud assessment:
Learn Out Loud is a collection of free and pay-to-download audio and video recordings of many canon written works read, ostensibly, as they were meant to be read. Famous speeches, sometimes in the original, are also available. While teachers and students may not find, in the free section, the full recordings they may need, samples are provided for many, if not all, among the vast collection. Moreover a sample, about thirty seconds, may be all that is needed for students to get a feel for tone, pacing, and dialect, etc—aspects which are important for a deeper appreciation and understanding of written works, speeches, and the like. Overall, it seems like it would be a handy resource for those tricky poetry issues of pronunciation and tonal variation (among others).
Writely
Writely requires users to have a Gmail account, which is available for free for anyone. It acts like a Word Processor and Spreadsheet application, the only thing that is different is that it is an online Word Processor and Spreadsheet. Users have the ability of saving their documents onto their account and then sending it to their teacher or other classmates to receive feedback. Real time collaboration through chatting is also a great feature that is included. I am rot really supportive of this tool; I would rather prefer applications that I am familiar with like Microsoft Word and Excel. I am very simplistic when it comes to technology so I would prefer students to email me their Microsoft Word or Excel document so that I could correct it and then email them back the corrected version instead of using Writely.
Imagine Learning
Imagine Learning is a software for both teachers and students ages 4-7. Through this software, students who are apart of LOTE (Languages Other Than English) or ESL (English as a Second Language) have the opportunity of learning English through interactive software that incorporates vocabulary, listening and speaking, phonemic awareness, emergent literacy, and school readiness skills. The fact that this software is eye-catching and entertaining, will entice almost all learners to try the new gadget. It would be a great learning device for English speakers who are beginning to learn the language. The greatest part about this software is the interaction of students with a new technology. I feel that the earlier students learn how to use computers then the more secure they will be when working with other technological devices in the future.
Learn Out Loud
Learn Out Loud is a website in which interested individuals can purchase audio and visual educational material such as audio books, MP3 downloads, podcasts, and videos. These materials can be found for the following educational subjects: Business, History, Language, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Science, Sports, and Technology etc. These educational materials are a great way of making learning a boring subject like History or Science (boring for me that is) a lot more interesting. Becoming a registered member is free and there is also an assortment of free materials. I would definitely consider incorporating some of the free materials into my classroom. I believe that students want to learn more when they are taught with other materials besides the traditional view of teaching (lectures).
Writely
Writely was a fun and interesting tool to use because it allowed us to communicate and edit a document in real-time without having to do cut-and-paste through an Instant Messenger service, and it saved time from emailing an attachment back and forth for revisions. Although our in-class trial of Writely grew confusing because we had different people inputting their thoughts all at the same time, I think that Writely would be ideal to use in small group settings. I wish I had known about Writely over the summer because it would have been so much easier for us to collaboratively write our Case Studies for ED300. I don’t see myself using Writely with my elementary school students, but I do think it would be a useful tool to share documents with my colleagues.
Imagine Learning
Imagine Learning seems like a fun and educational way to learn English, not only for ESL students, but also for those who are academically behind because they have not yet mastered the English language. The colors and the medium through which the lessons are presented are sure to be appealing to any child, and although it costs money to obtain, it certainly seems like a program worth trying.
Blogger
I like the simple, clean-cut layout of Blogger because it gives it a more professional look. I also like the fact that we don’t have to be a subscribed user in order to view a page or post comments. I would probably use Blogger as an alternative to sharing a document on Writely, mainly to get comments and suggestions on whatever it is that I posted.
Part # 4
Writely
Writely is a free online service that bills itself as a web word processor. If you have an account, you could invite your colleagues or the shared documents could be among a teacher and his/her students. They could see each others work at the time he/she is typing down the sentence. They could make corrections at the same time. It is also a good place for having conversations or editing texts. It is a good place for teachers to edit and even publish their students work.
Learn Out Loud
It is a place for Audio and Visual learning. It is like a directory for different topics. You could use audio books, MP3 downloads, DVD Videos etc. Since it is dealing with both audio and Visual, you could learn foreign language from there.
Blogger
It is a web-based tool that helps you publish to the web instantly—when ever the urge strikes. It is also know as weblogs or blogs. It is also good place for teachers and students to have dialogues. It is a best place for posting photos and even texts.
Part #4
Writely
Writely is a free web word processor which lets you share and collaborate your work online. It also keeps documents current and lets the people you choose update files from their own computers. It allows teachers and students to edit, publish, and blog documents on line. This site enables teachers to view their student’s work online and offer suggestions for revision.
Learn Out Loud
Learn out loud is a website found to be good for teachers and students due to the fact that it provides both audio and visual learning environment. You can access this site through Learn out Loud.com. This site enables teachers and students to learn other languages beside their first language. Above all, on this site you can find educational audio books, MP3 downloads, pod casts, and DVD videos.
Blogger
Blogger is a web-based tool that can help teachers and students publish to the web instantly. On this site, teachers and students can communicate with each other and the teacher can provide feedback to the students regarding any topic. Students and teachers can also post photo’s on this site and publish comments and opinion.
WRITELY
Writely is great means for writing and for table making; think of it as an online Microsoft Word and Excel—you are able to do exactly as you would in either of this software… the only difference is it’s online! This way, whenever you have an assignment to type up or write out, you can do so using Writely and not worry/stress about “forgetting to save a file” such as when there’s a power outage, the computer crashes/freezes, or the flash drive corrupts; it automatically saves the file while you are creating it! Also, it lessens the hassle of passing back or loss of graded papers. I believe the only disadvantage is that you must have a Gmail account for accessing it. I would most definitely use this in my class over Microsoft Word/Excel because the students wouldn’t need to spend for a flash drive/floppy disk/CD, wouldn’t need to worry about using up much computer space/memory for their numerous files/assignments, and would be able to easily collaborate with others and the teacher.
IMAGINE LEARNING
Imagine Learning is awesome! It is great for those who have limited or no English proficiency or have a hearing impairment. It provides for authentic experiences/assessment, instructive feedback, and multiple learning styles. (The SpEd major in me is yelling “COOOOL!”) Imagine Learning also provides explicit exposure for TESOL/ELL students. Downloading the program may take some time, but it’s worth it. The game-like instructions/lessons keep the students interested and motivated; students are more likely to retain what they’ve learned through this. I will definitely use this in my Resource Room as part of a daily assignment/enrichment for the students; and my class will never be boring!
HOT POTATOES
Hot Potatoes is a good means for creating assessments and is more for teacher use. It provides various examples of formats, and so it becomes a convenience for teachers. It somewhat aligns with Stiggins’ and McMillan’s principles for developing/constructing an assessment instrument—ordering of prompts and answers, relevant learning targets, and others. Hot Potatoes is also simple for correcting these students’ assessments; and everything is online, so it won’t get lost and there shouldn’t be any calculation discrepancies. Although I would prefer to construct my assessments myself, I would definitely transfer my self-constructed tests to Hot Potatoes, so that I have it easy when grading them and when relaying feedback and the results to the students.
Blogger
Blogger is a wonderful communication tool that allows just about anyone to interact via internet. Blogger is a convenient way in which anyone can post concerns, opinions, or feedback pertaining to any topic. As a future educator I would love to introduce Blogger to my students, so that they may observe another way of communicating amongst each other, besides email.
Imagine Learning
Imagine Learning seems like an absolutely, beneficial tool to just about anyone. I love how this particular tool adapts to each student’s learning capabilities. Also, through Imagine Learning, developmental skills within the English language are enhanced through a variety of activities that are fun and easy to use. This program would absolutely be beneficial to teachers on Guam, simply because we are surrounded with so much diversity.
Part # 4: Communication & Pedagogy:
Google’s Gmail “Writely” is an online word processor, albeit at this stage, it is still in beta and is missing some important features to make it a real threat to Word. It works with Camino, Firefox, Mozilla on Macs and Internet Explorer, Firefox and Mozilla on Windows. Sadly, Safari and Opera 8.5 do not support Writely as they do not support “design mode.” According to Opera’s developers, version 9 does support “design mode”, although it is still buggy. Regarding Safari, the developers of Writely say:
We’ve tried really hard to work around the issues with Safari, but we’ve hit the limit of what we can do on our end. If any of you would like to remind Apple that we’re still waiting, we wouldn’t mind.
It’s more like a web version of Microsoft Word which lets me to do serious word processing on any computer with a web browser. Tables and embedded images are supported, although the language is one of the web, with parameters such as padding, alignment and floating. It’s also pretty cool being able to essentially take all your files and word processor to anywhere you can get on the internet. Nowadays that’s most of civilization. And you don’t have to fear losing or damaging a memory stick. Plus, with the collaboration, having someone else on the other side of the world work on the same document is a snap. And of course, with versioning, you can backtrack if anyone screws up. (It would never be you...)
What doesn’t it do?
Writely refers to itself on its home page as, “The Web Word Processor.” For a word processor, there’s still many common features missing, most notable being: headers and footers; page numbering; columns; user definable styles; footnotes/endnotes; page breaks and fine character and paragraph controls.
Its lack of these features indicates at this stage it is being developed more with creation of documents for publication on the web.
Speed
I was happy with the speed - it’s fast enough but there is some feelings occasionally of sluggishness. It would be interesting to hear feedback from people on slow connnections.
Costs and limitations
While in beta, Writely is free - although subscription is necessary. Though in the future, developers envisage having payment tiers for individuals, starting at no charge for the basic service, and with additional features being charged for.
Overall
As a beta, I am impressed with Writely. It does what it does well, in spite of its limited word processing features. It provides a glimpse into a future we’ve expected for many years, where it won’t matter what computer you use because the software will be web based. But if it’s not developed into a genuine word processor, there’ll be tumbleweeds blowing around the Writely website.
If you want to sample the future or want another way to break free of Microsoft, and don’t need things like headers and footers, give Writely a look.
What does Writely do?
Writely allows you to edit documents online with whomever you choose, and then publish and blog them online.
What exactly can I do with it?
You can:
* Upload Word documents, HTML or text (or create documents from scratch).
* Use our simple WSIWYG editor to format your documents, spell-check them, etc.
* Invite others to share your documents by e-mail address.
* Edit documents online with whomever you choose.
* View your documents’ complete revision history and roll back to any version.
* Publish documents online to the world, or to just whomever you choose.
* Download documents to your desktop as Word, HTML or zip.
* Post to your documents to your blog.
Blogger
Blogger can be an alternative to a Moodle Room. Since most students have blogs of their own, they might not have any trouble using Blogger. Blogger doesn’t really have as many features as Moodle, like grades, schedules of events, and even notification if a person turned in an assignment; however, the blog can be controlled—it can be public or strictly private. If most of my students are familiar with blogging, I would use this tool just as an open forum outside of class.
Writely
Students can use Writely to edit documents such as reports or spreadsheets asynchronously without having to download the file itself and open MS Word or Excel. It can also act as a chat room, and when students are done they can just save the discussion as a document for future reference. People would need a gmail account to access this, but I still prefer using a regular, offline word processor and just sending the file to other people since it’s possible to track changes on the document.
Hot Potatoes
The concept of Hot Potatoes is nice, but just trying to make a quiz is confusing. The freeware only allows the quiz to have no more than 5 questions for most types of quizzes (multiple choice, fill in the blank, matching, etc). A tutorial is included, but it would be more helpful to have some type of document wizard to guide you when making a quiz. I would only use this software if they provide a document wizard and more room to add questions.
Writely
"Writely" can be used for students to communicate in written form. Students will regularly work in groups and with this internet source, students would be able to collaborate and corroborate with their groups without physically meeting each other. "Writely" can also be used to store student work, and can easily be retrieved through the internet.
Blogger
"Blogger" would be a great way to encourage and cultivate writing outside of the classroom. With a web log, students would be able to record their thoughts, feelings, etc. With each publication of their blogs, students will witness the growth of their writings as it will act as a testament of not only their grammar, mechanics, etc., but their level of maturity as well. A big benefit for the "Blogger" website is the fact that students will encourage others to write, as people are able to comment on others' writings. (But of course, any negative comments will not be tolerated and disciplinary actions will be taken.)
Learning Out Loud
"Learning Out Loud" can be used in the classroom as a method to research information or for supplemental reasons. The site has information available for students that would like to acquire data on miscellaneous subjects. If students become greatly interested in the topic, they can order the books that are advertised for that certain searched subject.
Blogger.com
Google purchased Blogger and the Blog*Spot hosting service from Pyra Labs earlier this year. Blogger and Blog*Spot are free now, with features of the former Blogger Pro premium service gradually moving into the free, ad-supported service. But until a feature has been transferred to the free service, there's no way for a new blog to use it. As a result, we couldn't test some premium-service features that haven't yet been transferred.
Posting to Blogger is a snap: Just enter plain text or HTML code in the editor, spell-check it if you like, and click a button. Previous posts are handily listed below, in case you want to edit them. You can click the BlogThis! button on the Google toolbar and quickly post a link to the page you're viewing, with your comments. By the time you read this, the mail-to-blog feature should be available. With a separate subscription to audio Blogger ($3 a month), you can even phone in audio-only posts.
Blogger doesn't emphasize community interaction; it alone among our contenders doesn't let visitors discuss or rate posts. Another serious lack in the service: Your Blogger blog is also completely public, with no means to limit access. And the ability to host images hasn't yet trickled down from the premium service to the current free service. But it's free, and that may suffice to convince you to join its 1.5 million registered users.
If you've been sitting on the sidelines, wondering how to create your own blog, you no longer have an excuse. Google's Blogger.com is a blogging service that's simple to use and free. Compared with other blogging services, such as Six Apart TypePad, however, Blogger lacks high-end features, such as the ability to add video posts or allow multiple authors. Beginners will appreciate Blogger, but more-experienced Netizens should opt for paid services, such as TypePad.
Blogger requires a simple three-part setup. First, create your account (by answering five questions), then name your blog (a two-step process), and finally choose from 12 predesigned templates or design your own template. Blogger allows you to put your blog on your Web host and make your blog a part of your own Web site, or you can use Blogger.com's free hosting service, Blogspot.com, instead.
If you're not comfortable writing basic HTML, Blogger.com provides a simple WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface. Buttons enable you to choose different fonts, sizes, colours, bulleted lists, and text alignment within your posts. Like TypePad, Blogger also allows for RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds for your online content.
For most beginners, the templates and options provided should be more than enough. If you know HTML, however, you'll also be able to add your own block quotes or create bulleted lists. Unfortunately, Blogger lacks the advanced HTML-editing tools found in TypePad that allow you to create photo albums or add video with ease -- annoying if you don't want to take time or if you don't already know HTML.
Blogger.com hosts an extensive online help page with dozens of tips and tricks for basic and advanced use of the service. Sadly, Blogger does not provide human tech support, either via e-mail or phone.
Overview
The program Hot Potatoes, currently produced by Half-Baked Software, Inc., was designed to allow teachers to make interactive, Web-based exercises that can be accessed by students at any Internet-capable computer terminal with a standard Web browser. Hot Potatoes uses both HTML and JavaScript; however, one does not need to know these languages to make the Web-based exercises. Instead, teachers use the program's exercise templates to create exercises on Web pages which then can be uploaded to a server where students access them. Hot Potatoes can create six different types of Web-based exercises which can stand alone or be linked to other exercises to form a sequence of tasks. Students can correct their own work based on the clues and feedback set up in advance by the teacher. Hot Potatoes also allows the teacher to specify an email address to which scores are sent. Although no knowledge of Web design is necessary to create the Web page exercises, teachers with such knowledge can customize the materials to a greater degree by manipulating the program code.
Description
Hot Potatoes is actually a software suite comprised of six different programs, referred to as modules in this review. Each module can be used to create a different type of interactive, Web-based exercise. The six different modules are referred to as "potatoes," and consist of JBC, JQuiz, JMix, JCross, JCloze, and JMatch, with each name referring to the type of exercise the module creates.
Summary
The Hot Potatoes program, which consists of modules for creating six different types of exercises, is an excellent resource for creating on-line, interactive language learning exercises that can be used in or out of the classroom. These types of exercises can be especially useful in language learning laboratories with Internet access, or for remote learning. When matched with both appropriate content and motivated students, Hot Potatoes exercises seem likely to promote second language acquisition. Hot Potatoes' user-friendly modules also allow more adept teachers to create complex, interactive exercises. Hot Potatoes is not intended as testing software, and should not be used as such. Nevertheless, the Hot Potatoes program suite provides teachers with flexible, easy-to-use modules for creating Web-based language exercises that students can work on while also receiving feedback that will direct them towards correct answers.
Part #4
Writely
I personally haven’t used Writely that much but I find it to be a good tool for any classroom. It has a lot of special features not found in regular email accounts. Documents and spreadsheets can be created, stored, and published online at a click and push of a key. It allows teacher and students interaction. The teacher can see her students’ works online and can give feedback right away. When doing group works, the writers are allowed to edit their works at the same time and see everything that they’re doing. I can see this technology tool as one that can be put to good use in my classroom.
Imagine Learning
Having fun and engaging activities and games to introduce and incorporate lessons with to children is always very effective. I like how interactive learning is the main strength and focus of the program. It’s great for young learners with all its’ visuals and colors. I think it would be as much fun and easy for teachers as well as for students to use. I think I can definitely use it to teach and tutor my English as Second Language students.
Blogger
I like the idea of having an online forum. As a teacher, I can post a topic for discussion and have my students respond to it and freely express their views. It’s a nice way too for some students who are otherwise hesitant and shy to speak in the classroom to participate. It’s another unique technology tool that educators can use.
Learn Out Loud
There are a lot of materials and different topics to choose from in this site which is great. It’s for audio and visual learning experiences. I can find specific materials for my different kind of learners and students will find it easy to use too.
Hot Potatoes
The tour of the site didn’t exactly spark my interest. It didn’t seem to be that user friendly. But it should be of use to teachers for developing some tests and assessments. I just think that the site needs some sort of improvement to serve it’s purpose.
Writely:
This is a good tool for teachers and students to communicate faster. It allows for teachers to give feedback a lot faster so that no time is wasted for the students. The students could improve on their writings or their reports because of the rapid response. I would use this tool to provide faster feedback to the students.
Imagine Learning:
This tool is good for students who need more one-to-one help or who want to know more. It can track the students’ progress and is also fun for the students. This tool also helps students with their reading.
Blogger:
This is a good tool for feedback. You can respond back and forth with the students. Teachers could post a discussion and everyone can post comments to the discussion. This also allows for all students to participate.
Writley is the best site for teachers. As opposed to Moodle, uploaded work can be revised and resubmitted. Blog opportunity is available enabling communication with members among students and teachers alike, with the added feature of being able to attach documents to the blog and to circulate information efficiently with ease. Like Yahoo Briefcase, it incorporates a feature to organize files on the site. As with the other pioneers of educational technology, the day will come where most students will have access to a computer at home, when the effects of allowing students and teachers to communicate freely outside of class will become apparent. I would use it to open a line with my students that is not available during regular class time.
Imagine Learning is an interactive English tutoring system online. Being geared for youngsters, it can be easily adopted for older people struggling in language acquisition. In a world of immigration and multilingual communities present in the U.S. melting pot, the site meets the demands of society, but is limited in features. Feedback on completed work is immediate and available at all hours of the day, but I wonder if it is a machine correcting work or a person.
For anyone that desires to improve their understanding of English, though, I would recommend this site. If I ever found myself teaching English to prospective Green Card holders or citizens or teaching minors English as a second language I would wholly embrace this site.
Blogger is a site that enables communication form any online terminal and includes the ability to upload pictures and text from cell phones. It looks to be geared toward anyone with a desire to communicate and the layout can be navigated even by youngsters with a little help. It is wonderfully composed so that it would be ideal for introducing very young people to a web-based technology. Again, as a communication tool it is highly desired in today’s world since it can double as a student/teacher resource, which is what I would do, where assignments can be “submitted” and feedback granted. I would recommend any prospective teacher to look into it deeper.
Learn Out Loud appears as a more professional website and is a tutorial website using audio and visual means. Users can pick a topic and listen to or watch audio books , mp3’s, podcasts, etc. Because it has a wide range of topics it can be used across the curriculum by all teachers to refer students to, should they have trouble with reading comprehension. History, science and social studies, to name a few, are all prominent throughout primary and secondary education so the site lends itself well to incorporation into a curriculum or lesson plan. A teacher could choose which information he or she would like to process and know that the means exist on the site to accommodate students with difficulty, which is how I would use it.
Hot Potatoes offer the opportunity for teachers to create a host of assessments, from quizzes to multiple choice questions. As I went to click on some links to navigate the site, the comments read that the site needed updates and I couldn’t get to the overview in German that I wanted to see. Furthermore there is no communication capability for students and teachers, which is why I would not want to incorporate it in my lessons. At most, for prospective teachers, it is helpful in designing assessments, but it does this in a myriad of languages besides English.
Blogger is a good site to give or post information and then get feedback on it. I can see myself utilizing in the class one day. The best thing about it was that it is easy to use.
Learn out loud is a good tool to use for finding out information. I would use it to explore many subjects, especially history, it can be long. It is good that it has audio and video. Some students get bored just reading.
Writely is good because the student can write and edit work online. I could have the students do an assignment and have the work at my fingertips. Although a gmail account is needed to access it.
Hot Potatoes (4 out of 5)
Hot potatoes features exercises for different languages. The languages are French, Spanish, Swahili, and English. It features second language exercises, and Intro to Computer. Teachers and students may be able to find that educational resource they need from this website.
Learn Out Loud (5 out of 5)
Learn Out Loud is an interesting and effective way of learning academic school subjects for math, english, history, and science. Students learn by listening (auditorially) and watching (visually) to an audio book such as the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success audio book. It also features a variety of audio books for philosophy and traveling. It is an online audio book extravaganza.
Blogger/ website blog/weblog (5 out of 5)
The blog spot or weblog is an effective way of sharing with students’ and teachers’ useful and interesting educational information. The weblog can be used for educational or personal purposes. The weblog can be an innovative way to advertise your business/sales online which is similar to eBay. A weblog could be a personal website similar to My Space or People From Guam (PFG).
Imagine Learning (5 out of 5)
Imagine learning is a variety of Educational pdf’s. There is an Imagine Learning activity for listening, phonemics, emergent literacy, and school readiness. There is also an Imagine learning for Tesol. The activities are educational, fun, and interesting.
Writely (gmail account) (4out of 5)
Gmail has an effective way for students to communicate and collaborate with one another. Students can discuss about class assignments and homework. Collaborators can share documents and ideas online. Teachers and students will find this website to be an effective educational tool.
Learn out Loud:
This website provide with both an audio and visual learning environment. It includes some features of educational audio books, MP3 downloads, pod casts, and DVD videos. This website is good for some special education kids such as those who have the problem of sight or visual impairment. These special education kids can enjoy the audio as well. But for those who have to search for something, I think the teacher should be present at their time of searching to make sure they have to stick to what they searching for. I think it is better for group to search using this site so they have someone can pull them back to what they are searching for when they are away from what they are searching for because this site have a lot of features that might taking you away from what you are searching for.
Hot Potatoes:
Hot potato is useful for making test or assessment. It’s not allowed students and teacher to use it as a direct communication tool. However, I would like to say that this tool is only good for teacher to use it as their tool to create tests or quizzes for their students.
Rating for Hot Potato is 1. 20
Writely:
I never know about this site before. But by looking at this introduction, I thought it is a good tool for both teacher and students to use it. As the purpose of this course, I think this site or tool is a very helpful way to use as an educational tool in a learning center. Collaborative learning might be much more appropriate on this tool. Students and students or students and teacher might use this tool to be interacting to each other collaboratively.
Imagine Learning:
Imagine learning is a program that can allow the students to use as both, in the classroom and at home. I hope that this program can help the ESL learner and also the slow learner. This program could be taking to the learning center and help the students to work individually on some activities that will assist their development in learning skill.
I would rate this program as an excellent student and teacher centered technology tool for Tutorial and exploratory learning, especially for the ESL students.
BLOGGER:
The blogger website encourages communication between people on the net. The communication would be going on and on, on whatever topic is posted. I think blogger is a very good way for teacher and students to use in the learning center. Teacher can just post the topic on the blog and students may view it from there and post comments or whatever they reflect to the topic.
Writely
Writely is a web site for students and teachers. Writely allows teachers and students to work collaborately to view and share documents, communicate with one another and revise and edit. Writely is convenient because this it is all done online. This is a tool to have in the classroom. Writely allows opportunities for students to use the computer and communicate with one another.
Hot Potatoes
Hot Potatoes include six applications that enables you to develop test and quizzes. It also provides sample formats and saves the teacher a lot of time creating an assessment from scratch. Hot Potatoes is very convenient for the teacher because you can not only create these assessments, but you could also grade them too.
Blogger
Blogger is more for personal use. You could create your profile, upload picutures and text from your cell phone. Using Blogger, you can post information and receive comments and or feedback and an online group discussion could take place. Blogger is user-friendly that is for students of all ages. I would use Blogger to incorporate technology and to encourage student interaction during cooperative learning.
Learn Out Loud
Learn Out Loud provides a wide variety of topics to choose for audio and video learning. You could browse over 10,000 educational audio books, MP3 downloads, podcasts for your Ipod, DVDs and videos. Learn Out loud provides a section to learn about, this includes: Arts & Entertainment, Biography, Business, Education & Professional, History, Languages, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Self Development, Social Sciences, Sports & Hobbies, Technology and Travel. Learn Out Loud is a fun and motivating site and a good resource for students. I would definitely have my students use this site – it is a great resource.
Imagine Learning
Imagine Learning is an interactive system for English Language Learners (ELL) for the ages of 4 – 7. Imagine learning provides numerous of activities that is fun and easy to develop vocabulary, listening and speaking, phonemic awareness, emergent literacy and school readiness skills. It is modified to accommodate each individual child’s learning styles. I really like this site. It is good to know that these sites are out there to aid us in the classroom with communicating with students and parents who are ELL. This is a great way to incorporate technology and to encourage ELL.
Writely-I only checked Writely out a couple of times, but I already know that it is very useful for writing, editing, publishing and sharing documents online. I see this tool as being very helpful for teachers and students when it comes to communication. Students can post their assignments online and their teacher can read it and add comments for revision! You have to have a gmail account to access Writely.
Imagine Learning- Imagine Learning is a good tool for students. Students can use this tool at home or in the classroom to help them with their assignments. Students can choose their own pace and they make their own decisions when using this tool. This tool is usually used by students and teachers in an ESL class or an English and Reading class for elementary or middle school. I don’t think this tool will be very helpful in my subject field (secondary social studies) unless I have students who are taking ESL classes.
Blogger-Blogger is an excellent tool for communication. Teachers and students can communicate with each other wherever they are in the world! Users can talk about any topic and they can exchange dialogue or comments with each other. They can share pictures with each other also! Blogger is very easy to use.
Learn Out Loud-Learn Out Loud is a very good tool when doing research or to just simply gain more information. Students can look up whatever topic they choose, most of the time, the topic comes with video or audio clips. I’ve used this tool for my presentations. Teachers can also download some audio or video clips and show it to their students, keeping in mind copyright laws. However, my experience is that files take a while to download, especially if you have a dial-up connection. I also had to be very specific on my topic because there are so many options to choose for just one topic!
Hot Potatoes- I’ve never used Hot Potatoes before so I don’t know what to say about it. All I know is that teachers can make quizzes or activities for their students by using this tool. It’s not a free software so I don’t really want to download it.
Writely-I only checked Writely out a couple of times, but I already know that it is very useful for writing, editing, publishing and sharing documents online. I see this tool as being very helpful for teachers and students when it comes to communication. Students can post their assignments online and their teacher can read it and add comments for revision! You have to have a gmail account to access Writely.
Imagine Learning- Imagine Learning is a good tool for students. Students can use this tool at home or in the classroom to help them with their assignments. Students can choose their own pace and they make their own decisions when using this tool. This tool is usually used by students and teachers in an ESL class or an English and Reading class for elementary or middle school. I don’t think this tool will be very helpful in my subject field (secondary social studies) unless I have students who are taking ESL classes.
Blogger-Blogger is an excellent tool for communication. Teachers and students can communicate with each other wherever they are in the world! Users can talk about any topic and they can exchange dialogue or comments with each other. They can share pictures with each other also! Blogger is very easy to use.
Learn Out Loud-Learn Out Loud is a very good tool when doing research or to just simply gain more information. Students can look up whatever topic they choose, most of the time, the topic comes with video or audio clips. I’ve used this tool for my presentations. Teachers can also download some audio or video clips and show it to their students, keeping in mind copyright laws. However, my experience is that files take a while to download, especially if you have a dial-up connection. I also had to be very specific on my topic because there are so many options to choose for just one topic!
Hot Potatoes- I’ve never used Hot Potatoes before so I don’t know what to say about it. All I know is that teachers can make quizzes or activities for their students by using this tool. It’s not a free software so I don’t really want to download it.
Writely-I only checked Writely out a couple of times, but I already know that it is very useful for writing, editing, publishing and sharing documents online. I see this tool as being very helpful for teachers and students when it comes to communication. Students can post their assignments online and their teacher can read it and add comments for revision! You have to have a gmail account to access Writely.
Imagine Learning- Imagine Learning is a good tool for students. Students can use this tool at home or in the classroom to help them with their assignments. Students can choose their own pace and they make their own decisions when using this tool. This tool is usually used by students and teachers in an ESL class or an English and Reading class for elementary or middle school. I don’t think this tool will be very helpful in my subject field (secondary social studies) unless I have students who are taking ESL classes.
Blogger-Blogger is an excellent tool for communication. Teachers and students can communicate with each other wherever they are in the world! Users can talk about any topic and they can exchange dialogue or comments with each other. They can share pictures with each other also! Blogger is very easy to use.
Learn Out Loud-Learn Out Loud is a very good tool when doing research or to just simply gain more information. Students can look up whatever topic they choose, most of the time, the topic comes with video or audio clips. I’ve used this tool for my presentations. Teachers can also download some audio or video clips and show it to their students, keeping in mind copyright laws. However, my experience is that files take a while to download, especially if you have a dial-up connection. I also had to be very specific on my topic because there are so many options to choose for just one topic!
Hot Potatoes- I’ve never used Hot Potatoes before so I don’t know what to say about it. All I know is that teachers can make quizzes or activities for their students by using this tool. It’s not a free software so I don’t really want to download it.
Technology Tools Part #4
Hot Potatoes
I recommend this web site when teachers are having difficulty in creating an assessment sheet for the students. As a future educator I find myself having mental block and creating such learning exercise or quizzes or other assessments can be challenging to critically think of something. Just knowing that there is a utility that can assist me can sure relive the pressure of my brain. This web site needs some updated editing to be user friendly.
Writely
This web site is great to be used in the classroom. To make this utility effective I must give clear and step by step instructions and assessed each time. I find this web site to be user friendly and a great learning tool for ESL learners when it came time to read their work. This allows student to communicate without seeing the facial expression of fellow classmates that may lower their self esteem of wanting to learn. Using this web site is a great way to collaborate.
Learn Out Loud
This is a great search engine tool that can be used to search for a variety of topics. I recommend for teachers to use. But keep in mind hat as a future educator knowing so much is great but when it comes time to share what you know so that others may utilize the knowledge is different. The knowledge you share must
Joshua Cruz
Ed 451-01
Part 2:
Fire fox is a safe internet utility. I find it a little hard to search for things until I was trained by a Professional, I felt more secure and impressed of what I can do now.
Moodle taught me the difficulties in distance learning. I learned how to look up assignments and work with my group members. The only thing I did not like was that my group members could not always or have time to meet on line. But overall, I enjoyed moodle.
Parts 3:
I like “I keep book marks” because it sort out all my links and become more organize. It allowed me to access links anywhere.
Tripod was a fun and interesting site. I really like how it was designed but the only problem it is not a secured site. Anyone can access it and mess around with your hard work. Overall, if it was not for tripod, I would not have passed or receive grades for my work.
Yahoo brief case is something I was not familiar with. I did not use it that much, but my goal after this class is to become more familiar with yahoo brief case.
Part 4:
WRITELY-site allows users to edit, publish and blog documents online.
IMAGINE LEARNING-This program is great for our student’s to use in the classroom and at home. It
BLOGGER-‘This blogger website encourages communication with others to allow for dialogue and feedback on whatever the topic is.
LEARN OUT LOUD-“Learn out loud is a website where users are provided with both an audio and visual learning environment.
HOT POTATOES-“The concept for Hot Potatoes is a very good one as it allows one to create learning exercises or quizzes to reinforce and check student learning, but it is very difficult to complete the exercise.
* All of these are very helpful for students and teachers. Now that I have idea what they are and how to use them, I’m going to use these in the future for school.
* I really enjoyed learning new things about these 5 things. It willhelp me in the near future...Thank you
Joshua Cruz
Ed 451-01
Part 2:
Fire fox is a safe internet utility. I find it a little hard to search for things until I was trained by a Professional, I felt more secure and impressed of what I can do now.
Moodle taught me the difficulties in distance learning. I learned how to look up assignments and work with my group members. The only thing I did not like was that my group members could not always or have time to meet on line. But overall, I enjoyed moodle.
Parts 3:
I like “I keep book marks” because it sort out all my links and become more organize. It allowed me to access links anywhere.
Tripod was a fun and interesting site. I really like how it was designed but the only problem it is not a secured site. Anyone can access it and mess around with your hard work. Overall, if it was not for tripod, I would not have passed or receive grades for my work.
Yahoo brief case is something I was not familiar with. I did not use it that much, but my goal after this class is to become more familiar with yahoo brief case.
Part 4:
WRITELY-site allows users to edit, publish and blog documents online.
IMAGINE LEARNING-This program is great for our student’s to use in the classroom and at home. It
BLOGGER-‘This blogger website encourages communication with others to allow for dialogue and feedback on whatever the topic is.
LEARN OUT LOUD-“Learn out loud is a website where users are provided with both an audio and visual learning environment.
HOT POTATOES-“The concept for Hot Potatoes is a very good one as it allows one to create learning exercises or quizzes to reinforce and check student learning, but it is very difficult to complete the exercise.
* All of these are very helpful for students and teachers. Now that I have idea what they are and how to use them, I’m going to use these in the future for school.
Joshua Cruz
Ed 451-01
Part 2:
Fire fox is a safe internet utility. I find it a little hard to search for things until I was trained by a Professional, I felt more secure and impressed of what I can do now.
Moodle taught me the difficulties in distance learning. I learned how to look up assignments and work with my group members. The only thing I did not like was that my group members could not always or have time to meet on line. But overall, I enjoyed moodle.
Parts 3:
I like “I keep book marks” because it sort out all my links and become more organize. It allowed me to access links anywhere.
Tripod was a fun and interesting site. I really like how it was designed but the only problem it is not a secured site. Anyone can access it and mess around with your hard work. Overall, if it was not for tripod, I would not have passed or receive grades for my work.
Yahoo brief case is something I was not familiar with. I did not use it that much, but my goal after this class is to become more familiar with yahoo brief case.
Part 4:
WRITELY-site allows users to edit, publish and blog documents online.
IMAGINE LEARNING-This program is great for our student’s to use in the classroom and at home. It
BLOGGER-‘This blogger website encourages communication with others to allow for dialogue and feedback on whatever the topic is.
LEARN OUT LOUD-“Learn out loud is a website where users are provided with both an audio and visual learning environment.
HOT POTATOES-“The concept for Hot Potatoes is a very good one as it allows one to create learning exercises or quizzes to reinforce and check student learning, but it is very difficult to complete the exercise.
* All of these are very helpful for students and teachers. Now that I have idea what they are and how to use them, I’m going to use these in the future for school.
Joshua Cruz
Ed 451-01
Part 2:
Fire fox is a safe internet utility. I find it a little hard to search for things until I was trained by a Professional, I felt more secure and impressed of what I can do now.
Moodle taught me the difficulties in distance learning. I learned how to look up assignments and work with my group members. The only thing I did not like was that my group members could not always or have time to meet on line. But overall, I enjoyed moodle.
Parts 3:
I like “I keep book marks” because it sort out all my links and become more organize. It allowed me to access links anywhere.
Tripod was a fun and interesting site. I really like how it was designed but the only problem it is not a secured site. Anyone can access it and mess around with your hard work. Overall, if it was not for tripod, I would not have passed or receive grades for my work.
Yahoo brief case is something I was not familiar with. I did not use it that much, but my goal after this class is to become more familiar with yahoo brief case.
Part 4:
WRITELY-site allows users to edit, publish and blog documents online.
IMAGINE LEARNING-This program is great for our student’s to use in the classroom and at home. It
BLOGGER-‘This blogger website encourages communication with others to allow for dialogue and feedback on whatever the topic is.
LEARN OUT LOUD-“Learn out loud is a website where users are provided with both an audio and visual learning environment.
HOT POTATOES-“The concept for Hot Potatoes is a very good one as it allows one to create learning exercises or quizzes to reinforce and check student learning, but it is very difficult to complete the exercise.
* All of these are very helpful for students and teachers. Now that I have idea what they are and how to use them, I’m going to use these in the future for school.
Blogger: I think this is a good example of what we did in our group in ed-451 class. We all communicated through chatting. I really liked it but the only downfall is not having access to a computer. Overall, it really helps.
Writely
The Writely tool that is found on any GMAIL account was something new to me. When my classmates and I learned how to access this tool, I thought that it was a great way to have group discussions. Although there was not enough time to learn all the features of this tool, I believe that this can and will be useful in a classroom for students to communicate with one another if meeting in person is impossible. With enough practice, this tool can be used as easily as an e-mail account.
Blogger
I am not a big fan of Bloggers. I know that this is the biggest thing on websites like “My Space” and “People from Guam,” and anyone can say just about anything on blogs. I also see that there is no control into what anyone can say on their own personal blogs. On the plus side, blogs are available to the public to make positive or negative comments about them.
Learn Out Loud
I found this website interesting and useful as an educator. It is important for teachers to have resources for all types of students and on Guam; many of these resources are unavailable. Now that I have learned about the website learnoutloud.com I can find resources for students who are visual or auditory learners and the topics are endless.
Technology Tools Part #4
Writely
As a future English Literature educator “Writely” is sure to be a great website in my class rooms. I appreciate how the site allows both teacher and student to edit, publish and blog documents online. Additionally, the teacher can send the student immediate feedback. During our Fall 2006 ED451 Audio Visual class, we were introduced to GMAIL and did an exercise sharing and collaborating documents with each other and all the while our professor had viewing access of our progress. I will definitely use this website in my classrooms in the future. Oh … and did I mention that it is free?!
Imagine Learning
I think that because most schools lack teachers and/or tools necessary to effectively teach children who do not speak English, Imagine Learning seems to be a good program tool to assist both teacher and student achieve their needs in an interactive and fun way.
Blogger
I think that one of the many reasons why Blogger is gaining so much popularity among students is due to features such as: user friendly, easy to use and navigate. Both teachers and students can use this tool where the teacher can post a question of the day and the student can easily publish their thoughts, input and even photos.
Learn Out Loud
I agree with you on this: “Learn Out Loud” mimics many other search engines and that’s all there is to it. Perhaps the only other thing that I can add is that it provides educational information. I was not at all impressed by this one.
Hot Potatoes
Aside from the poor rating Hot Potatoes received, I was not able to access it.
Moodle: It provides a great way to communicate with professors and students. It also allows students to submit assignments quickly. Moodle is excellent for cooperative leaning because it
Firefox: I enjoyed using this convenient website which allows people to open several tabs at once for a faster and better research.
Part #3: iKeepbookmarks, Tripod, and Yahoo Briefcase
iKeepbookmarks: “ikeepbookmarks” is an excellent way to compile and organize the important websites. It will be quicker and easier to access.
Tripod: I like this web site because I was able to learn how to create a web quest and an electronic portfolio. It is also a useful tool to help students compile and present their work.
Yahoo Briefcase: I honestly think it is necessary to subscribe to Yahoo Briefcase because it keeps important documents online which provides a world wide access. It is much easier to access because you don’t need to worry about carrying a flash drive. It another excellent option in saving files.
Writely is an effective tool for:
• Cooperative collaboration between teachers to share ideas and thoughts about their teaching techniques and strategies.
* Teachers can also use this tool with their students to check their students work and give feedback
• Students can also use this effective tool to share ideas about their assignments, research, projects, etc.
Imagine Learning:
• Effective tool for students to utilize, especially students who have English as their second language.
• Give students additional practice to enhance their English comprehension.
Blogger:
Blogger is an effective technology to use to share ideas, thoughts, and strategies, about anything that concerns the user. It can be used by teachers as well as students to have effective discussion about their work, school, assignments, etc.
Learn out loud:
It is a profound tool to use as a reference or a source when doing a research, critique, or a project that deals with history.
Writely is a Website similar to Live Text where teachers and students can use it to compose, edit, and submit works and assignments online. Teachers can grade students’ work as well as give feedbacks. This is a great way of eliminating the huge amounts of papers that teachers and students normally exchange on a daily basis. There will be excuses for lost assignments here!
Blogger is a great tool for students and teachers as well as the community to communicate on the current issues. It would be a great idea for teachers and students to use it to discuss assignments and projects in the classroom. Students can share their ideas with each other and post some questions to the teacher for better comprehension. Parents can also get involved as they view what their students are doing in school and see where they can assist.
Learn Out Loud is excellent for students who are audio or visual learners. This is a tool that teachers can use to modify lessons for those who prefer these learning styles. It’s also great for ESL learners as it helps them learn another language. Students can browse or search the different topics pertaining to their educational needs.
Writely is a Website similar to Live Text where teachers and students can use it to compose, edit, and submit works and assignments online. Teachers can grade students’ work as well as give feedbacks. This is a great way of eliminating the huge amounts of papers that teachers and students normally exchange on a daily basis. There will be excuses for lost assignments here!
Blogger is a great tool for students and teachers as well as the community to communicate on the current issues. It would be a great idea for teachers and students to use it to discuss assignments and projects in the classroom. Students can share their ideas with each other and post some questions to the teacher for better comprehension. Parents can also get involved as they view what their students are doing in school and see where they can assist.
Learn Out Loud is excellent for students who are audio or visual learners. This is a tool that teachers can use to modify lessons for those who prefer these learning styles. It’s also great for ESL learners as it helps them learn another language. Students can browse or search the different topics pertaining to their educational needs.
Writely:
This site allows students to document their work online for free. It further allows for the teacher and students to then edit, publish and comment on the work experiences of the student.
Learn Out Loud:
This site slows for students to stay motivated and interested in their learning experiences through the game-like simulations. I like that the experiences offered for the students are dynamic in the sense that they can use the site to acquire more information on previously learned concepts—it further enhances their learned concepts through further game-like situations and development.
Blogger.com:
This online-forum allows for students and teachers to discuss topics. It also allows for all students to participate and be graded upon it—being that some students are hesitant to speak or even participate in group discussions. I think that this is an excellent site to communication with students and parents in response to teacher-parent communication and feedback.
Post a Comment