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What needs to change in education

BP16_20091115_EducationalUsesofBlogs

After completing several other assignments, I have found many different uses for blogging in the classroom.

First of all, I would like to start a weekly blog of the high points of our classroom. Students would have access to help create the blog either in the classroom, through a group writing process, or online by adding comments to the blog. As the year progressed and students understood what makes a good blog post and get better at typing, it could be used with students as a daily motivator-having classroom reporters daily add to our blog. At times throughout the year, I would then use the Web 2.0 tool that Megan shared with us, Zinepal (zinepal.com) and print out the blogs to create our own "zine" that the students would be able to keep and also have a class copy to share with future classes.

Also, blogging lends itself to be a very nice portal to "sloppy copy writing." What I mean by this is that students who are proficient at typing (or those that aren't so proficient but want to do it) would be able to type up their "sloppy copy" or rough draft of any writing that we are completing in class and have other students add comments suggesting draft changes and allow me to do so as well and have a great paperless classroom. If I were to do this in a classroom, I would have students type it up in a word processing program and then copy and paste what they wrote into their blog. Then they would be able to make changes easily to their writing and then email the document to me.

Finally, edmodo (edmodo.com), edu2.o (http://www.edu20.org/), and Gaggle email (gaggle.net) all have a "blog like" capability. This would allow the teacher to have one site (or all three if they want) where students could "blog" about what they are learning. In edmodo and edu 2.0, they could start a discussion about the different subjects they are covering in those course management systems and use Gaggle as an online journal allowing students to post what they want and have a little fun.

Blogs have great potential to have students start to write in new and exciting ways and allow a community of writers to be created. By using a blog and a word processing program to create the posts, students have the freedom to write what they want rather than just the bare minimum knowing that changes can be done quickly and painlessly (not having to rewrite the whole piece over 10 times by hand).

BP15_20091115_ReflectiveMedia

A web burglar introduces you to a new Web 2.0 website.

BP14_20091115_Web2.0ToolsComment3

McKinley_Megan_Researching and Blogging about Web 2.0 Tools 3

http://www.zinepal.com/ is this amazing Web 2.0 site where you can turn your blogs into a printable magazine. This is exciting because after this class I could go back and take all the blogs I have written for this class and turn them into a professional looking magazine that I could take along with my on job interviews to show my media background. It would be a great site to use with students as well because you could have them blog on literature as they were reading novels in your English class, and then have them turn all of their blogs into a really exciting magazine as their final projects. This would be a great lesson that would really engage the "whole brain" learning approach, as it involves critical thinking skills, as well as creativity. Students could upload photos or graphics to make their magazines more visually exciting and it would be something they could take away from class and add to their own professional portfolios. I am definitely going to try this site once I am done with this class, so that I could have a paper version of all the hard work I have done in this class. I think students would also get a sense of accomplishment from having their very own magazine to have at the end of my classes. I also think I could use this site in my Journalism class to show students the differences between Newspapers and Magazine layouts. I am really excited to try out this tool both in my own life and in my classes.

Zinepal Solutions Inc. (2008-2009). Zinepal. Now you are the editor. Retrieved November 8, 2009, from http://www.zinepal.com/

BP13_20091115_Web2.0ToolsComment2

BL10_2009112_Reasearching and Blogging about Web 2.0 tools

Google Books This another new site that is great that Google has. Apparently book publishers filed a class action suit against Google for having books available to read on line. Google has come to an agreement with the publishers and now has a site that you can read many books on line or preview them. This is a great opportunity to be able to let your students sample different books and authors without ever leaving the classroom, while under your direction and guidance. This lets the student explore different genres for their pleasure as well as different authors. As we know students are more willing to read and engage with a computer screen than with actual published text. Wish I had this site available when I taught reading. You could even let them read to you to check their fluency on the book because they are in class with you. I can not wait to see if I can use this site at school. Try it out www.books.google.com. Sounds to me that this is better than e-books. I would like to know how many of you have Web 2.0 tools you have available to access at your school sites. If you could post and let me know what city and state you are from I would be very interested to know.

Some how lost my extra post about this site. www.artpad.art.com It is an interactive site where students can engage and play with art skills and when you are done it will show you all of the strokes and things you did to complete the picture. You can paint, splash paint on, etc. You can view the gallery and share your pictures as well.

BP12_20091115_Web2.0ToolsComment1

BP9_2009112_Web 2.0#3

Sketchfu

Today’s education system is made up of students who love math, language, phys ed, music and art. In most cases, wherever a students’ passion falls, they have an outlet available to them that allows them to express their interests. If you love phys ed you can join a sports team, if you love math you can become a mathlete, etc.

Sketchfu is an online application that allows budding artists to express themselves. Providing an online outlet to share their work with others. Not only does this forum allow the students to practice their talents, but they also are able to put their work on display and vulnerable for critique.

This tool could be used in a number of different ways in the classroom. Students could break into groups, and each group be assigned a different story to read. Once the story is read, each member of the group could be in charge of creating a picture that is associated with a part of the story. Groups will have to work together to make sure that all images associated with the story are cohesive, and match the overall theme of the story.

Art teachers could utilize this tool to hold contests on which student can create the most unique and engaging picture.