Module 6 - Mind Mapping and Glogster

Today Scott introduced us to Mind Mapping - through Bubbl Us - however it didn't work! We then googled "Mindmeister" and had a play with this mind mapping program. I can really see the educational value of this. I will need to spend a fair amount of time "playing" with Mindmeister before introducing it to the class.

GLOGSTER!!! Brilliant. I can already see possibilities for my Year 4 class using this program next term. Our topic is "Co-operating Communities." Would love to see the students prepare a glogster on their local area and neighbouring suburbs. Should be able to use a variety of technologies in this unit. Thanks Scott for offering to come out to help in the classroom with GLOGSTER. I will definitely take you up on this offer.

Thanks again Scott for coming so early to our school and working with the staff. I am finding working with you and our staff a much better way of learning than doing the Web 2.0 Course on my own. We have so many opportunities to ask you questions and share our learning (and questions) with other staff members. The support is invaluable to me.      

Modue 4

Today Scott introduced us to Module 4 - Flickr and Youtube. We learnt how to search for a photo in Flickr, how to save it and how to add it to our blog. I also learnt what size photos were best to download for different purposes i.e. small photos for blogs, square photos for podcasts and large photos for  powerpoint presentations.

Flickr appears to have a greater number of usable images for class activities. The only drawback I see is that when searching for a particular image, you may have to type in a number of key words as people may tag their pictures in an obscure way.   

Flickr would also be a fantastic resoure to use in the classroom because unlike Google images, Flickr photos would be almost always be appropriate for the students to browse and use - no rude photos!

I have used Youtube before in the classroom and it is brilliant. I did learn today that I am not allowed to save youtubes to my hard drive. Thanks Scott!!!      

Panicking

I'm struggling at the moment to spend time on practising all the skills I have learnt in the Web 2.0 course. Is there anyone else out there that feels the same? Will have to learn to give dedicated time to this course.  

Module 3

Today we commenced Module 3 of the Web 2.0 Course. We learnt about Google Docs. It sounded fantastic. It would be great to work on shared documents at home. I can see the benefits of this application when working with colleagues.

I can also see the limitations when working with students. Scott did tell us that only children 13yrs and older can have a gmail account, therefore, I would not feel comfortable working with primary school children on Google Docs.

I am going to have to spend many hours investigating this application. I am learning so much!!! Its mind blowing!!!

Thanks Scott for your patience and shaing your expertise.     

module 1 and 2

Today nine members of our staff commenced our Web 2.0 Course together with Scott H leading us. He clearly and patiently steered us through module 1 and 2. We created a gmail acount, learnt how to customise our gmail page and learnt how to blog. There was so much for me to remember but practise will make perfect. I really appreciate the support of my staff and Scott. Thank you.