ETC BP16_2009103_Media Asset

Edu2.0 is a fantastic online learning management system tool available to educators for free. As we progress further into the 21st century, online learning management systems will become more prevalent and necessary.

Go to http://www.edu20.org/ to create and customize your school on this easy to use site, and join the movement for the future of education.

ETC BP15_2009103_Web2.0_Response to Classmate

@ ThereseLL

Thursday, October 15, 2009

BP11_20091015_WebTools5_Sketchfu

Alright, so I know my last post concerned a web drawing tool for use for the art classroom. Here I am going to blog about a similar, yet at the same time, very different web drawing tool. I am also going to compare and contrast the two tools a bit.

In my last post, I sang the praises of ArtRage2. While that tool is terrific, I found another free online drawing tool that may trump AR2 in some ways.

Sketchfu is an online web tool and service where you may start a drawing immediately, without even signing up for anything. If you want to "publish" your drawing later, you will want to sign up, but all you have to enter is a sign in name, a valid email address, and a password. What you get in exchange is a really cool drawing tool with a built in movie like feature that plays back exactly what you drew, line for line. (Hopefully I will be able to upload my finished pic to my blog as well as the video portion.)

The process of playing back your video after creating a quick little mini art work is the best part of Sketchfu. Besides the ability to create your own drawings, the service also includes features like Browse drawings, Browse people (and you can create a profile), and "Best of Sketchfu,"where the highest rated drawings are posted. That's another neat thing about Sketchfu. You have the ability to publish your creations to the site right away, which allows other viewers to find your work, comment on it, and even rate it!

Other great features include the ability to name your creations, the ability to link directly to other services like Blogger, Facebook and Myspace, direct RSS feeds, ability to email content, and so much more! You can customize the speed of your drawing play in the drawing window.

And if you like to collaborate, you can even allow others to add to your drawing! (Or turn that feature off if you so desire.)

The actual drawing ability is limited, unless you own a drawing tablet (I do not!), so compared to ArtRage2, the drawing is not as smooth. However, you don't feel limited in Sketchfu like you do in AR2, because there are no "extras" dangled in front of you for the small sum of $25. There are no pay options in Sketchfu, making it an awesome deal for the classroom. (No whining from students....why can't I add glitter, Mrs. Lunsford? Answer....because it costs Twenty-five dollars!)

I could see using Sketchfu as a teaching tool, a collaborative tool, or as a "free draw" tool. The only drawback is that the students might want to sign up for the service. I could get around that by having kids only sign in under one school created name. And no posting without my approval. The kids could use naming conventions such as Title_Name, so I could identify the students work under our school sign in.

I'm really excited about this tool! If you are an art teacher, surely check out Sketchfu.com, it is AWESOME and so very, very much fun!

http://sketchfu.com/drawing/388073-eye-yi-yi-

1 comments:

thodkinson said...

Therese,

Great selection of this tool! I actually showed this one to some of my students this past Friday and they thought it was great. I agree that the features are nice, and you offer a good suggestion to work around students having to create an account. Though not an art teacher, I can see the benefits of this being used in an art classroom, or any class that integrates art into their curriculum.

October 18, 2009 8:22 PM

ETC BP14_2009103_Web 2.0_Quizcenter

Save time and trees!

I'm not exactly sure when it started, but I have become a "green" teacher. I have always supported reducing, reusing, and recycling, but as a teacher, it pains me to see how much paper is wasted on a daily basis. Even before I started teaching in a computer lab I would limit printing and copying as much as possible. If I can reduce the size of a document so that I can fit two on a page, I've saved money. Quite simply, I pride myself in my use of electronic documents whenever feasible, and I preach this to my colleagues as well.

At this point, the only time I'll really use a large quantity of paper is for a test. With this in mind, my latest goal has been to find a way to limit or eliminate the use of paper for this task, and move my quizzes and test to an online format. While there are many sites out there that provide resources in this area, one of my favorites is the Quiz Center at DiscoveryEducation.com.

A free service, teachers can create a custom classroom account to create and store quizzes and class rosters. Besides the benefit of reducing paper use, other benefits include flexibility, efficiency, and ease of use. Since the Quiz Center is web-based, students can take quizzes from home, which can be helpful if a student misses class time for any reason. The process is efficient, once the quiz is set up and saved, as results are stored online and can even be emailed to the teacher. The benefit of instant feedback is incredibly important, as students don't have to wait to see results, and thus, they can make instant corrections.

I am looking forward to using online quizzes as much as possible in the near future, and I hope more teachers will too. We can save a lot of trees that way!

Visit http://school.discoveryeducation.com/quizcenter/quizcenter.html for more information.

ETC BP13_2009103_Web 2.0_Classtools

Rarely do I come across a tool that I feel I should share with the entire faculty at my school. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about sharing things with others, but most of what I find is best shared with specific groups or departments, or simply too difficult to figure out for some. Also, because of the barrage of emails that teachers get on a daily basis, I don't like to diminish the significance of those tools that I do share.

Classtools.net is one of those teacher tools that I immediately made a note to share with my colleagues. For one, the simplicity of the site is wonderful - everything you need is right on the home page. Classtools.net provides flash templates (17 of them) that teachers can easily use in their classrooms to supplement their lessons. From Venn diagrams to flash card games, teachers can either save the template to their computer as an HTML file or even embed the tool into their class web page or blog.

Truly, if it wasn't so easy to use, I wouldn't bother sharing. There are over 20 subjects with sample templates from other teachers on the site. There is no cost or account to set up in order to use the templates.

Having just taught a lesson the other day on comparing and contrasting, I would definitely use the Venn diagram tool in a follow up lesson. Also, since I do a lot of cooperative learning, I would use the student selector often. The tools at this site allow low-tech teachers to use high-tech tools, which is what the students of today need.

Give this great tool a try at http://classtools.net/

ETC BP12_2009103_Web 2.0_Edu20

As a teacher that is always searching for the latest and greatest tools to use in my classroom, I often sort through hundreds of resources before I find one that will suit my needs. A few days ago, I discovered a Web 2.0 tool that may just revolutionize how I manage my class.

This year, I am teaching a middle school career education and technology course. I am fortunate to have full use of a computer lab for my course, but I have yet to find my niche as far as utilizing the available technology to manage the class. Enter edu2.0, a completely free, online learning management system. Again, as one who embraces technology for everything it can give, this is exactly what I have been looking for to bring my students into the 21st century and to rethink the way students learn.



Until now, I have had to use separate tools to post assignments and to get students into the new generation of learning. With edu2.0, I can send messages privately to students, customize my school's page to fit my needs, post lessons and quizzes online, and keep my grade book all in one place.

The benefits of this tool will surely aid students as they continue to grow through the rapid advancement of the use of technology in learning. Certainly, my middle-schoolers will be far ahead of their peers in terms of being savvy with learning management systems and web-based schooling.

Check out all edu2.0 has to offer at http://www.edu20.org/

ETC BP11_2009102_Week 2 Reflective Media Asset

The following 60-second video highlights TypingWeb.com, a free Web 2.0 tool that features typing training:

Visit http://www.typingweb.com/ for more information or to sign up.

ETC BP10_2009102_Flickr Lessons

As a reading teacher, I constantly struggle to find ways to teach important concepts such as making inferences, drawing conclusions, and making predictions. As creative as I can be with my lessons, the concepts themselves remain a challenge for the students. Though environmental factors and socioeconomic status may play a part in the academic shortfalls, there is certainly more that I can do to encourage growth.

There is no doubt in my mind that even the lowest of my readers can still achieve success on the X Box 360 or PSP they have at home. Though I would like to blame the video game industry for making print media insignificant, I would rather embrace the available technology and try to create a more engaging environment for my students. In this case, I choose Flickr, the online photo sharing site by Yahoo.

Using Flickr, I envision a lesson focusing on making inferences. To start, students would perform image searches and save their images to Flickr. From there, students would analyze the photos to infer what the setting and situation is. They could then add text to the photos to add dialogue. My goal would be to have students infer who the characters are, where they are, where they came from, what they are doing, and why they are doing it.

Enhancing students' creative thinking skills in this case would be wonderful. Students may be used to using magazine photos and images in text books for this type of activity in the past. Now, though, the addition of technology and the ability to modify photos will increase student interest in the activity. Once engaged, students will be more likely to commit to the task and get something out of it.