Web Tool #6: Prezi

“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” - Mark Twain

Mark Twain's quote reminded me of the nuances of speeches and presentations. Prezi is a popular Web 2.0 tool that allows users to create visually appealing, zoom in, zoom out, canvas-style presentations. It has “wow” factor that PowerPoint lost a few years back and, furthermore, because it is a cloud application, one’s presentations are available on any computer. In his post about the advantages of using Prezi, marketing blogger KC Claveria (2011) notes that Prezi excels at allowing the presenter to make connections without forcing the presentation into a linear format. Now that I have viewed several Prezis and seen its power to capture audience attention, I would like to familiarize myself with it so I can use it both for lesson presentations and also for student projects.

REFERENCES:

Claveria, K. (2011, August 15). Four reasons why you should use Prezi for your next presentation [Web log post). Retrieved from http://kcclaveria.com/2011/08/4-reasons-why-you-should-use-prezi-for-your-next-presentation/.

Web Tools #5: Evernote & Diigo

Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. --A.A. Milne

Organizing material in the age of information is a learning process that requires some management tools. Wurman reports that “a weekly edition of The New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime in seventeenth-century England” (as cited in Berger & Trexler, 2010, p. 70). Berger and Trexler discuss the problem of information overload, stating that it occurs when a person is unable to locate and make use of the information that one needs (p. 71). Here is where a social bookmarking tool like Diigo, or an archiving tool like Evernote become very useful. They both are tools that I have started to use at home and at school and this blog post on the Unquiet Librarian (Hamilton, 2010) confirms they are both being used regularly by students.

I plan to start my two week focus on Evernote and Diigo with a compare and contrast of the two tools for both personal and school-based use. In the second week, I will focus more closely on Evernote, as it is the tool I have used less, by using the various options within Evernote to do an inspirational project, such as developing a notebook of future travel dreams. I have purposely chosen a fun project here to see how students could use the program to be creative.

References

Berger, P., & Trexler, S. (2010). Choosing web 2.0 tools for learning and teaching in a digital world. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Hamilton, B. (2010, August 6). Students give Evernote and Diigo the thumbs up [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/students-give-evernote-and-diigo-the-thumbs-up/

Web Tool #4: Jing

When the student is ready, the master appears. --Buddhist Proverb

Because of my new teaching post in an online school, Jing seems like an obvious tool to include in my inquiry project. My thoughts were confirmed when I read an article in Education Digest, in which Craig Reeder (2010) outlines seven elements of creating a successful online course, one of which is using visual media, such as screencasting “to compensate for the lack of face-time in regular class sessions” (p. 25). I determined that I would embed Jing screencasts in my Moodle courses to how students how to set up relevant web tools. Imagine my delight today, when I found blog posts by Graham Whisen (2010) and Shelly Blake-Plock (2010) explaining how they are using Jing for student assessment. I anticipate Jing will become an indispensable tool for me as an online teacher.

References

Blake-Plock, S. (2010, March 4). Using Jing to assess online student writing [web log post]. Retrieved from http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2010/03/using-jing-to-assess-online-student.html

Reeder, C. (2010, January). Keys to creating a successful online course for do-it-yourselfers. The Education Digest, 75(5), 24-27. Retrieved October 2, 2011, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1938715321)

Whisen, Graham. (2010, August 14). Student assessment using video feedback [web log post]. Retrieved from ( http://ideaconnect.edublogs.org/2010/08/14/student-assessment-using-video-feedback/

Web Tool #3: Goodreads

The more you read, the more you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go. --Dr. Seuss

Because of my love for fiction, using this tool to catalogue and discuss books is an exciting opportunity. However, I’m also an English teacher and a librarian-in-waiting, so when I discovered I could create classroom groups, I was really intrigued!

With some looking around, I discovered several blogs, such as this one (Roberts, 2011), from teachers who are trying out Good Reads in the classroom.

REFERENCES

Roberts, Jennifer (2011, March 28). Goodreads in the classroom [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://whatdoyouteach.blogspot.com/2011/03/goodreads-in-classroom.html

Thebuss25. (2010, February 3). Goodreads.com: a how to (part one) [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/user/thebuss25#p/u/8/xKi5jknIdq4