Twitter

One of the big sources of a lot of the ideas presented in this site and also of the ideas which I have as an educator have been the result of Twitter.    Twitter brings together educators from across the world to share ideas, thoughts and resources, with new resources being added and discussed daily.     Basically Twitter represents on-demand professional development opportunities available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

I am actually disappointed in myself that I haven’t included Twitter on this site earlier.

Now the one issue people find with using Twitter for educational purposes is that of getting started.    Thankfully there are lots of resources out there that can help.    A few are resources from Twitter on using twitter:

https://twitter.com/mguhlin/status/457111246844989440

The must-have guide to educational Twitter hashtags http://t.co/QKLjgPGVdk

— Edudemic (@Edudemic) June 29, 2014

A Printable List of the Best Education Hashtags [#Infographic] | EdTech Magazine http://t.co/655IqE0u2z via @EdTech_K12

— schink10 (@Marcpayss) January 8, 2015

Twitter Tip: Here is a list of all the Education Twitter chats listed by their daily schedule. Bookmark this https://t.co/uJKaV1xg66 #Edchat

— Tom Whitby (@tomwhitby) November 14, 2014

Also have a look at this posting from @teachertoolkit listing 101 educators on Twitter worth following.   You can view the posting here.

Hopefully the above and the associated resources will help those interested in getting started with Twitter.    Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any additional suggestions for getting started or if you would like to suggest additional resources which might be of use.

Jing

Another recommendation this time from the EdTechTeacher site.   The Mac and Windows based Animation and Video software suggested is called Jing.

Now this is one I personally have not as yet tried however I am going to make an effort too given the positive description provided on the EdTechTeacher site.   If you have a chance to try it before me then please let me know your thoughts and comments.

JellyCam

Another suggestion from @diemerpatrick on twitter.   This time it is an animation tool in the form of JellyCam.   Now JellyCam is specific to either Mac computers or Windows machines so wont run on tablet devices however it is an interesting program.

Basically JellyCam allows teachers (and students) to create an animation using a series of images where the images can be captured using a web cam.   So you can create a 2D or 3D model including characters, etc and then animate it by using Stop Motion techniques.   This means taking a photo, then moving the objects, then taking another photo, then repeating for every frame in the animation.    Think Wallace and Grommit, or Morph (for those of us who remember Morph…..Question is can you remember the children’s TV series he featured in?)

This strikes me as a really interesting bit of software, especially given the inclusion of Onion-Skinning which allows you to see the previous frame when setting up for the next one.   Overall I can see lots of possible fun uses of this software particularly with the students in control.

 

WeVideo

Recently I have been looking for websites to help in developing and editing videos.   Traditionally I used to do this in the likes of Windows MovieMaker and Photostory or in some of the more developed video editing suites however I wanted to find something easy but web based so as to be independent of the device being used.

@diemerpatrick on twitter suggested the use of WeVideo as a solution.   Now have only had a brief play with it however it looks quite good as a suite for editing and putting together short videos.   This can either be done by the teacher in order to produce a resource for use in lessons, or for flipping the class, or by the students in terms of evidencing their learning.

 

PowToon

I recently located an excellent piece of animation software which allows you or your students to create simple yet professional looking animations.    The software in question is called PowToons.

Find an example here of a simple  demonstration video I produced.

With a little time and effort it should be possible to create simple animations which could be used as part of a flipped classroom or just as either starter activities or plenaries.

My thanks go to Francis Higgins (@fjhig) for bringing this software to my attention.

 

Mind mapping

Mind mapping is a very useful method for showing students how different subjects, topics or learning outcomes link together.   This helps in developing students “deeper” learning.

Now a number of Mind Mapping sites and applications exist however are often costly or require a subscription.

Given below are three free (or nearly free) sites:

• Coggle
• Mindmup
• Bubbl.Us (Note: Free creation of up to 3 mind maps only)

In addition to the above if you are using a Windows PC or Laptop you should also consider Freemind, which is an open source Mind Mapping software solution.

Padlet

I have always made considerable use of Post-It notes within my lessons to allow students to gather and organise ideas, thoughts and questions.   Padlet brings a little bit of technology into this long used approach to teaching.    Through Padlet you can create a virtual Post-It board.   Once created you can then share a link with others to then allow them to add to, organise and edit posts as required.

Consider an open ended question leading into a new topic area or a new area for discussion within an existing topic area.   We could create a Padlet board for this question and then share the link with students for them to add their ideas, thoughts and questions as homework ahead of the lesson.    Another approach could be to keep a board for ideas, thoughts and questions which students update during their lesson.   This board can then be used within the plenary to review learning and any areas where students are unclear or have questions.

Wordle

Wordle is a web site that allows you to create word clouds.   This is an excellent way to display a summary of keywords which are due to be covered or have been covered.

They also make for excellent classroom displays.   As the site does not require you to log in or have a username, you can just visit it and create your word cloud right away.

For example the word cloud at the top of this post was created using Wordle and the content of a journal article on the Design of Effective ICT Supported Learning Activities (C. Richards, Language, Learning and Technology Journal, Jan 2005, Vol 9 No 1).

 

 

Rasterbator

An excellent tool I found some years back that now runs on the Web.   Basically the site takes any image and allows you to enlarge it for printing across a number of sheets of paper.   It does this by enlarging the pixel size significantly.

Now this makes for some excellent classroom displays or displays which can be used around the school.    It can also be used to make background displays on which learning materials or student work can be mounted.

Just visit www.rasterbator.net and give it a try.

 

YouTube

Create a video with regards some new content and post it on YouTube.   You can then make the resource available either as a link on your blog site or as a link on a document shared via Google Drive.

One example might be to video yourself working through a maths problem.   You would just use a web cam focussed on a piece of paper on which you are working.   As you work through the problem you would narrate what you are doing so students can follow the steps.

Another option might be to create a powerpoint.   You would then screen capture this as you run through it, narrating what it shows as you go through.   Here is an example of just this where I have created a simple PowerPoint with animations and then recorded my narration over the top: http://youtu.be/GlZmNa0Sjw0

Or here is a slightly more complex video recorded using Camtasia Studio showing Picture in Picture: http://youtu.be/QNlOiwRDRIc

Maybe you could video a science experiment being conducted.

Or video yourself raising some discussion questions for students to discuss or consider prior to their next lesson.

All you need is a Google account in order to make use of YouTube, so if you are already using Google Drive, you can use the same login details to access and use YouTube in order to post videos.   Now you may not feel comfortable making your videos publicly available to all however this isn’t a problem as you can make your videos unlisted.   Unlisted videos are not searchable from within YoutTube.    The only way these videos can be accessed is via the specific URL which YouTube provides when you upload a video.