I have been searching for a tool that students could use to summarize their math discoveries after a math unit. I have used educational voicethreads in the past which, but because of bandwidth and sound issues, the projects usually did not turn out as well as I would have liked.
While I was searching I came across a tool called Glogster. Glogster seems to be a kind of online poster making application that allows users to make a large poster with images, audio, video, and styish text effects. One of the best parts I have seen so far is Glogster provides an educational version to use with students.
On the GlogsterEdu homepage there are six examples of educational projects that students have made.
I might give this tool a try at the end of our "Looking for Pythagoras" unit to help my students summarize what they have discovered. I could see students making short videos on the ways to prove the Pythagorean Theorem and then creating a glog to package their findings all together.
If I do try this project, I will post about my experience good or bad.
Glogster in Education
Creating a 7-12 Learing Network Using Ning
We have been looking for a protected way to host video (like youtube),host images (like flickr), and to publish student blogs (like edublogs) that is not always publicly accessible and can be moderated. I have spent countless hours trying figuring out how to build a social learning network that would include all these features in one place.
Good thing mother nature gave me two snow days in a row! I think I found the solution and it might turn out to be
FREE!
Ning, the site that lets anyone build a custom social network, allows educators to apply for advertising free networks for use with students 13 to 18 years old.
I went ahead and built a network which took about fifteen minutes to create. Now comes the hard part...decisions on what features to include in the site and what moderation will need to take place.
Questions that still need to be answered:
1) Do we allow anyone to create groups like Facebook? If not, do administators need no set up class specific or club specific groups, or do we disable groups and stick with Moodle for group meeting places.
2) How do we manage video and image moderation? Do we need to moderate before the content is live, or can we moderate as needed since the network is password protected?
3) What training is going to be needed for teachers and for students before we allow them into the network? Who is going to do the training?
Stay tuned to see how we tackle these questions before we go live.
