Re: Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts, and Skypes

techTeacher

Posted on 8/03/09

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On 7/06/09, julia wrote:
> I normally communicate on another chatboard, but I am
> taking an online class this summer utilizing the above
> items. I would like to know how your teachers/students use
> any or all of them. Thanks

Well, most of my teachers don't use any technology in their
classrooms. Some of them have a class webpage on the school's
server based on a lame template created in Word (shudder, I know).

Blogs... All of my students will blog this year (grades 7-12).
I will give them an article or a prompt to blog about and then
require them to make "meaningful" comments on their classmates'
blog entries. I may post a picture or video to blog about. I'm
also going to assign some web2.0 apps for them to evaluate and
blog about. I'm hoping that blogging will create an almost
"underground level" of sorts for my classes, as well a
improving their keyboarding skills and written communication
skills. I plan to use ClassPress this year since it can be
completely private while parents get used to the idea of their
students blogging, then switch to Blogger. I'm springing for it
myself.

Wikis, I just haven't pursued that yet. I understand how it
works - I just haven't taken the time to set up one. I'm a web
designer, so I've created all my classwork myself and have my
own server for my classes. I do need to play with this though
so I can share it with my teachers!

Podcasts.... The high school advanced science teacher used to
create podcasts, but I think it just took too much time and no
one really used them. I'm going to sneak the whole podcast
process in on my kids by using Voki and VoiceThread. We've been
using Audacity for our audio editing software, but this year I
want to try Jokosher. I'm not really sold on podcasts by
themselves in high school work, although they can be very
useful for catching up on missed lectures or for reviewing
lectures. I don't see any of me teachers doing that though.

Skype.... I so hope to use this! For one thing, so students at
home can still participate in class. Also for bringing in guest
speakers, or taking a virtual field trip with another class, or
for sharing anything with another class maybe even in another
country. My oldest daughter is headed off to college and we're
definitely going to use it for that! I can also see it being
useful for me personally in some professional development
settings - interacting with someone who can help me learn
something new or vice versa.

The possibilities are endless!

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