Web 2.0 Technologies - Awesome Resource

Hi Everyone,

Check out this page: http://teachweb2.wikispaces.com/Artsonia for a list of Web 2.0 Tools.

Voki - Week 4 Activity

Success at last. You can see my Voki in the top right corner of my blog! It took longer than expected to create. This is because I had created a voice recording on my iPhone to use for my Voki but getting it from the iPhone to the Voki was a whole other kettle of fish (pun intended here, you may laugh :P If you don't get it, never mind haha).

For starters, a voice recording on a iPhone is a M4A file. I know, you are probably thinking what is that, so was I. Anyway, long story short, you need an MP3 file to add to a Voki. Here's how to convert it, head to this site: http://www.nch.com.au/switch/mp3.html?gclid=CJW2ha3anqoCFcYNHAod4Dp25Q and download the 'Switch MP3 Converter Software'. It is a sinch to use.

Voki's in education, I can see their purpose and I can also foresee their terrible overuse. Kids may get distracted by the novelty of it all, and lose focus in the task at hand as well as the negative of only having 60 seconds however I think the benefits in this case outweigh the negative. They are a wonderful tool for which you can lend your voice or audio too. They are user friendly, visually exciting, and can distract the child from what may have seen as an instruction, to see it more as an exciting cue to learn.

I was also interested in Oddball, Voki's creator and they have any novel technologies available on their website http://www.oddcast.com. Many however require a webcam.

Picnik - Week 4 Activity

Above are the before and after photos from using the online editing software Piknik.

I believe this tool could be a valuable resource for students as it will give them a creative license to edit their images. In today's society, creative ability is valued, as you need to stick out from the crowd.

 It's fast, there is no sign up fees, and most importanty it is VERY user friendly. Anybody can use it!

Tag Galaxy - Week 4 Activity

What a fascinating image search device. You type in a 'tag' or several 'tags' and Tag Galaxy will select a domain of images that contain these tags. Have a look at my screenshot below. I used the tags Garden + Macro + Flower + Pink + Nature and it has selected 10,431 images that contain those features. This could be a really great tool for students to use, to narrow down on those long strenuous google image searches looking for the perfect picture. Tag Galaxy does it all for you. Another plus is that it finds images from Flickr, images that are available for creative commons.

Flickr - Week 4 Activity

Flickr is a great website, hosting many creative common images that the public can use, particularly useful for educators. Below are two images I have taken off Flickr.

Flickr: key lime pie yumyum

Flikr: Ryk Neethling

Mobaphoto - Week 4 Activity

This is a photo I took, resized using the free easy-to-use software, Mobaphoto

This is a PrintScreen of a picture gallery that you can also create using Mobaphoto. The pictures can also operate in a slideshow. You do however have to have the photos saved on your drive for this feature to work.

Week 3 - Dangers & Benefits of Using Blogs in Schools

The following is a PMI Analysis on the dangers and benefits of using blogs in schools;

Positive

• Posting of resources, lessons and homework
• Keeping parents up-to-date on class happenings
• Sharing of schoolwork with peers, parents and the community
• Students' can collaborate on projects and get feedback from others
• Students' can keep a reflective journal
• Students' can use a blog for assignment construction (i.e. post a new blog entry when new information is found, or complete their assignment in sections (per blog posting for example), similar to the style that is being conducted for FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning.
• Can be password protected to ensure privacy
• Provides a platform for higher order thinking using critical analysis tools such as SWOT, de Bono's Six Thinking Hats & PMI

Minus

• If not password protected, there is a risk of privacy breaches
• If a student or teacher has used third party material, and it is uploaded without adding password protectoin and restricting access to teachers, students and parents, they are breaching 'Fair' use copyright laws.
• Potential for cyber bullying

Interesting

• EduBlogs provide a blogging platform purely for education. http://edublogs.org/why-edublogs/ - Have a look at this video for more information.

Resources:

Copyright Advisory Group. (2008). Smartcopying: the official guide to copyright issues for Australian schools and TAFE. Retrieved from http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/1

Edublogs. (2011). Edublogs. Retrieved from http://edublogs.org/

infinite thinking. (n.d.). Blogger ® in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.infinitethinkingmachine.org/stuff/Blogger.pdf