Wading the Web2 - Recently Updated Pages

web2.0 tools list

Grace_Kat — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:25:33 CDT

best-web-2.0-applications-for-education Here are lists of web2.0 applications that are on your handout. If you have discovered a new tool, please check if it's allowed/blocked and then add it to the appropriate table below.

To do a webfilter check, you must be logged into the intranet. Go to My Applications tab. Click Administration then Web Filter Check. Type in the url, click submit and the results will show up. You may also request to have a site unblocked here.

Visit the Authentic ICT wiki for ideas to

match web-based tools to a variety of Key Learning Areas or

matching the KLA to a variety of web-based tools.

"The trick is to find the few that suit you and best meet the learning needs of your class. My other suggestion is that you start out by focusing on just one tool at a time when you're just starting out. " Kirstin Anderson

Web 2.0 applications

Avatar makers
Blogs
Bookmarks online
Comic creator
Digital stories
Graphic organisers / Mind maps
image sharing online
mixed media sharing
podcasting
Research tools
screen capture
Slide presentations online
Timeline generator
video conferencing
Video sharing online
Web page creator
Wikis

Click on the logos to visit the site.

Avatar makers
Sites where you create an online representation of yourself to use instead of your photograph.

allowed for both students and teachers

blocked for students and allowed teachers

Blogs
Blogs are web logs or journals about anything. Educators blogs are places which document the author’s reflections on teaching and their own learning. Readers can comment on the authors posts. The comments section is where the connection between people sharing knowledge takes place.

allowed for both students and teachers

Blogger is Google blog site. One problem with this one is that there are arrows on the top left and right which takes readers to the next author’s blog. If you use this with students, who is to know the content of the next blog?

Edublogs has no ads and is based on wordpress.

blocked for students and allowed teachers
www.coveritlive.com/
www.tumblr.com

Bookmarks/RSS aggregators
Bookmarks: Access your home favourites online while you are work, or create n online bookmark webpage for your stage where you can add appropriate websites for students to use for a particular term

RSS feed reader/aggregator: If you enjoy reading a lot of blogs and websites by certain authors it may take you a long time to visit their page each day JUST TO SEE if they have written something new. If you collect the link to their website and paste it in one of the apps below, you will be notified whenever these authors have made updates and you can read the updates in the reader.

allowed for both students and teachers

social bookmarking
http://diigo.com/

Pageflakes has a pretty interface but it can take longer to load compared to the others.

Google reader is an RSS site.

Diigo is a social bookmarking app which means you can create a group based on similar interests and all members send links to the group to be shared by all.

blocked for students and allowed teachers
http://del.icio.us/ is another social bookmarking site where users share bookmarks they collect with their 'friends'

Comic Creator
Sites where you can create comics, share and embed on blogs, wikis

allowed for both students and teachers

blocked for students and allowed teachers
http://www.pixton.com/home
http://comiqs.com/

Digital stories

Many online tools can be used for digital stories from comics (see above), podcasts and video-sharing sites (below), to story generators to slideshows and video-sharing software. Many can be embeded into your blog when completed.

allowed for both students and teachers

Is an online book creating site. The pages flip over like a real book. You can print the book once it's made but you cannot embed into your blog.
Here you can read and create your own myths and legends. Characters and backgrounds are provided for students to choose.
Plotbot is an online scriptwriting application.You can write your script with as many or as few people as you want—there's nothing to install, it's free, and it's easy to use!
The Newspaper Clipping Generator
To download your newspaper, use the link at the bottom of the generated image. You can use the images as you wish ie. put them on your own website or blog. Please note, that direct linking to the newspaper clippings doesn't work; the images are deleted after a short time span.
Use LetterPop to create eye-popping newsletters, actionable presentations, irresistible invitations, beautiful product features, sizzling event summaries, informative club updates, lovely picture collages etc
Big Universe is a storywriting site. Students write stories straight onto the site and read others' stories – My request to have this site unblocked was granted.
Slide presentations allowed for both students and teachers
Photoshow has music you can add to your slide presentation. To embed this into edublogs, go to the widgetbox website and use the widget box there.

.
Voicethreads allow viewers to comment on on the slides’ images and/or author’s audio discussion using text, audio or video. Annotations to images may also be made using the drawing feature.

You can upload powerpoint presentations online on these host sites. From these sites, a presentation may be embedded into your blog or wiki.

slide presentations - blocked for students and allowed teachers
http://www.slideshare.net/ http://mashable.com/
http://animoto.com/
Smilebox is an online tool but you have to download it onto your computer and install it. Choose from designs, add photos and videos to make cards, scrapbooks, slideshows or postcards.

digital stories - blocked for students and allowed teachers
http://www.digitalstoryteller.org/
http://www.primaryaccess.org/ http://www.flip.com/ scrapbooking

Graphic organisers / Mind maps
allowed for both students and teachers

http://designing.flexiblelearning.net.au/index.htm
www.mind42.com/ collaborative mind-mapping in your browser
www.bubbl.us/

blocked for students and allowed teachers
http://www.exploratree.org.uk/

Image sharing online
Upload photos to these image sites to share with family, friends and co-workers. Images may be made public or private. If you wish to embed an image into a blog it must be made public. Also please think carefully about copyright. Web2.0 is about sharing knowledge and content – have a look at creativecommons.com where you can choose an alternative way to share your creations apart from (c) .

allowed for both students and teachers

http://flickr.com
http://picasa.google.com.au/
http://sharingstation.com/
www.smilebox.com/

blocked for students and allowed teachers
http://photobucket.com/

Mixed Media Sharing

allowed for both students and teachers

www.oosah.com/

Podcasting
allowed for both students and teachers

http://crowdabout.us/
www.vitalpodcasts.com/index.cfm

blocked for students and allowed teachers
https://www.podomatic.com/path/login

Research tools
Clip snippets, save notes highlight the web and annotate static webpages as if they are textbooks and you’re holding a highlighter.

allowed for both students and teachers

www.google.com/notebook/
www.diigo.com/

The only thing I probably don’t like about annotating the web is that some readers are annoyed at having people’s annotations pop-up at them while they are reading.

blocked for students and allowed teachers
http://fleck.com/ annotate a web page

screencapture
allowed for both students and teachers

www.jingproject.com/

blocked for students and allowed teachers
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/utipu/

Timeline generator
allowed for both students and teachers

www.xtimeline.com/
http://teachers.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timeline/

blocked for students and allowed teachers

http://timelinegenerator.com/

video conferencing

www.elluminate.com/
http://flashmeeting,open.ac.uk/home.html
http;//webmeeting.dimdim.com/portal/

Video sharing online
As with image sharing these may be embedded and shared using creative commons.

allowed for both students and teachers

http://viewdo.com/
www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/meandmymovie/
www.nextvista.org/ for viewing ed films
www.abc.net.au/rollercoaster/rollermache/default.htm
http://sharingstation.com/ for teachers
www.teachers.tv/ for viewing educational films

blocked for students and allowed teachers
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.teachertube.com/
http://animoto.com/

Web page creator

allowed for both students and teachers

http://pages.google.com/

Google have now got a wiki so people can collaborate on content for a website – don’t know if it’s allowed or blocked – I’ll check later

Alternatively, bogs and wikis may be used as web pages for a class.

blocked for students and allowed teachers

Wikis
Wikis are websites where members add, edit and collaborate on content.

allowed for both students and teachers

www.seedwiki.com/
http://sites.google.com

I couldn’t find seedwiki’s terms and conditions page so I wouldn’t advise using this.

blocked for students and allowed teachers
http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
http://www.wetpaint.com/category/Education
http://pbwiki.com/education.wiki

More...

Larry Ferlazzo's Best web2.0 applications for education

Langwitches Best web2.0 applications for primary school

The Web2.0 Directory below lists many other web2.0 tools

How-To

Grace_Kat — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:30:02 CDT

From this page you can access links or embeded videos or screencasts on how to perform certain web2.0 tasks.

Click a link below or go to a sub-page from the left navigation bar.

Please add any how-tos you have found on the web

start pages/ online bookmarking

start a class blog

join edublogs
log-in and dashboard
select your blog design and add widgets to the sidebar
writing a post

RSS Aggregator ~ Google Reader

embed a photobucket presentation in edublogs

Digital Storytelling

voicethread

Podcasting

SiS wiki workshop - beginners

Links to how-to posts

team8-2 How-To PagesThere are instructions for using wikispaces: For example, how to: sign-up for wikispaces; embedding powerpoints, adding widgets, tables, music etc

Start a class blog

Grace_Kat — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:10:07 CDT

Here's an introductory video about the general purpose and use of blogs.

Internet Safety

It is important that students know how to keep safe while online. here are some links to posts about student internet safety.
(More will be added at a later time)
Keeping studentscybersafe

Blog posts about blogging

Classroom Management, Moderation and Protection by Al Upton. This post also includes some internet safety procedures e.g. comment moderation.

I haven't written about how I began 3GK's blog but seeing as I came upon this great post by Anne Mirtschin, I had to leave the link here for those interested.

Another blog post by Anne Mirtschin on the Features of a good quality studentblog….

Using Blogs and Wikis in Education shared by Bookjewel

Commenting on blogs
Tips For Writing Commenting Guides & Guidelines by Sue Waters

Blog Roll

Grace_Kat — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:02:01 CDT

(this page is still under construction)

There are many educational blogs out there. Bloggers usually have a blogroll on the right navigation bar of their blog which shows other educational bloggers they read. Here is a blog roll for further reading.

If you click on a bloggers archive you will see their previous posts.

On a blog, topics are categorised in two ways: category and tags. The category is the main theme being discussed and the tags are the key words/elements within that category.

There is a comprehensive list of bloggers from whom to learn, on this wiki. Check it out.

David Warlick's 2c Worth

Vicki Davis - high school teacher in Atlanta, Georgia.
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com

Andrew Churches NZ
blog: Educational Origami http://edorigami.edublogs.org/
wiki: see the wiki page

Mike Uleau
teacher tech website: http://sites.google.com/site/muleau/?pli=1
blog: tech2.0teach http://techtwoteach.edublogs.org/

SiS Wiki workshop

Grace_Kat — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:29:30 CDT

A wiki is a website where anyone can edit any part of the content at any time. That makes all users published co-authors and editors. A wiki is a collaborative construction of knowledge.

The SiS wiki is useful because it allows students

to keep in touch with Lee when he is not in school. Just type in a question in "Questions for Lee" page and he will answer, as he receives email notification for this page.
to view what other classes are doing
to comment and ask questions of their peers in other classes (threads section)
students can add content at the same time (collaborate)

The SiS wiki is a private wiki. No one outside those we invite may enter. Those who have been invited can be registered as

Anonymous
Registered
Writer
Moderator
Administrator all staff
Creator Georgia

All the users have different permissions. Only Anonymous and Registered users can’t edit.
Students under 13 are not allowed to use wetpaint wikis. My students work under my login while I supervise.

Accepting Invitations to wetpaint

When a person invites you to join weptaint, you receive this in your email. The invitation will say something like,
"Join me on Scientist in Schools @ HPPS". Click on "ACCEPT INVITATION". You will be directed to register by filling out a form, with these fields:

username - enter no spaces
Password
Email Address
First Name
Last Name
DOB

After joining, you are sent an email. Wetpaint asks you to confirm your registration by clicking the link provided.

Wetpaint wiki has a very good help and faq section.

2009 Calendar

Grace_Kat — Sat, 02 May 2009 04:40:23 CDT

May 2009

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

June 2009

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

July 2009

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
			1	2	3	4 Independance Day (U.S.)
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

August 2009

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

September 2009

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

October 2009

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31 Halloween

November 2009

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26 Thanksgiving (U.S.)	27	28
29	30

December 2009

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25 Christmas Day	26
27	28	29	30	31

Workshop Calendar

Grace_Kat — Sat, 02 May 2009 04:37:25 CDT

Click here to go to the 2009 Calendar or click it on the left,

Workshop 1: Wednesday 30th July 2008. Creating an online bookmarks page using pageflakes.

[July] [2008]

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24Workshop 1 pageflakes bookmarks - POSTPONED	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

August 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7 3:10 - 4:00 pageflakes	8	9
10	11 drop-in Monday	12	13	14	15	16
17	18 drop-in Monday	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

Workshop 2: Wednesday 3rd September 2008. Create a student blog with edublogs.

September 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
	1 Labor Day	2	3 Create a class blog with edublogs	4	5	6
7	8	9 3-4pm drop-in for help on pageflakes/ blogs	10 3-4pm drop-in or help on pageflakes / blogs	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

January 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
		1 New Year's Day	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21 Martin Luther King Jr. Day	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

February 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14 Valentine's Day	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29

March 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15 St. Patrick's Day
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

April 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

May 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26 Memorial Day	27	28	29	30	31

June 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

July 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30 Creating an online bookmarks page using pageflakes.	31

August 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7 3:10 - 4:00 pageflakes	8	9
10	11 drop-in Mondays	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

September 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
	1 Labor Day	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

October 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13 Columbus Day	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31 Halloween

November 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11 Veteran's Day	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27 Thanksgiving Day	28	29
30

December 2008

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25 Christmas Day	26	27
28	29	30	31

Professional Learning Networks

Grace_Kat — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:39:39 CDT

If you are interested in finding out about how people learn online, check here for links and information.

Twitter
Plurk

Ning

Classroom2.0 ning

One of the teachers in my plurk PLN asked "What does being in a PLN mean to you?"
She created this wordle from our responses. The large words indicate answers that were given more frequently by all of us.

Copyright and Creative Commons

Grace_Kat — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:47:09 CDT

When using the internet for research and downloading images to use for projects or blogs, it is important for students to take note of the license.

The links below are from Australian websites.

Many materials on the net are copyright. The (Australian) National Copyright Guidelines govern how these materials may be used. The page regarding schools and copyright has a lot of information.

TaLe, click on Sites to See, scroll down to Copyright for Teachers. There are many links to resources about creative commons and copyright for Australian teachers here.

CLI also have a list of online bookmarks about this on del.icio.us.

Internet safety

Grace_Kat — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:25:59 CST

Please add examples of online safety rules and procedures and blog/wiki agreements.

Example from the Reading Connection project.

Australian Institute of Family Studies - Internet Safety
Includes a list of sites covering safety issues and guidelines for parents of children and young people in using the Internet.

Wading Web2 Home

Grace_Kat — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:42:19 CST

Welcome to the HP Staff wiki. This is our space to wade the web - learn about web2.0 tools by exploring, asking questions and sharing our knowledge.

Things you can do to contribute:

add a page
post a question via the threads section
edit your own or someone else's text
write how-to perform an action using a chosen application
add a link, image, video
change the order of pages
etc

Look at the navigation bar to the left of this screen to access our other pages.

You may find help on Wetpaint's FAQ (frequently asked questions) section.

If you have a question it is important to type it into a thread so others can reply (and then we can all learn about it too).

image by gk/ To see another web2 app logo image go to
Go2Web2.0

World Mosaic

Movie-making

Grace_Kat — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:41:27 CST

Under construction:

Making films does not have to be a daunting task . Recently the flip video camera became available which allows users to film with the click of one button! I don't think you can buy it from the site if you live in Australia. ITmadeSimple distributes these in Australia.

Here is a great presentation, by Tom Barrett, on using the flip video camera in class.

Digital Storytelling

Grace_Kat — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:29:42 CST

There are many online software applications that allow you to create digital stories: from comic sites to video-sharing sites. Some are online story-makers and others use uploaded images and stories that your students have created offline. See some of those that the DET have allowed for student use.

It is also possible to upload student powerpoint presentations to an application called slideshare and then use the embed code to embed it into your class blog.

For tips on how to use digital storytelling in the classroom see

Jon Orech's work.
Tom Barrett's post.

I found this presentation on the Connected Classrooms wiki

Copyright
When creating digital stories it is important to use images and audio files that have a creative commons license. All files used that have not been created by the students need to be attributed to its source whether it is a cc image on flickr or any free music site. It is not legal to copy photos from google's images or using a music CD that you have bought.

If possible, have students take photos or draw pictures and use the music freely available in podcasting software.

Story Telling Plans

Create a story map (see Jason Ohler's book, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom) and his website for techniques and procedures for planning digital stories. Ohler recommends looking at Brett Dillingham's Visual Portrait of the Story (VPS) and for other great storytelling materials. The basic VPS below is one Jason Ohler has adapted.

steps
1. write the story
2. develop the script
3. create a storyboard of the script: includes an image or sketch of the scene, camera angle and audio types for each shot
(shoot film here)
4. edit
5. publish

Pam Shoemaker, WLCS Technology Integration Coordinator, has quite a few resources which may be used with students to explain their digital storytelling project procedure and requirements.

film-making tips
video in the classroom

creating your own digital-music - software
SonyAcidXPress: Windows (free download. We have this on our school network)

online creative-commons or free music
listen to and download music for free
podsafe audio
incompetech
royalty-free music
soundzabound - royalty-free for schools

online, downloadable sound_effects
soungle
media college
free sound effects
free sound-effects and loops

View this slideshow by Jennifer Dorman on Digital Storytelling

and this one by Susie Vesper which gives examples using voicethread with students for writing, maths etc.

Visit Langwitches' blog to download pdf instructions on how to use a variety of online tools with which to create digital stories.

videos on Web2.0

Grace_Kat — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:58:04 CST

Mike Wesch ~Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

This is an overview of Web 2.0 Using an application called Flowgram

.

Voicethread

Grace_Kat — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:56:46 CDT

Voicethread is a digital storytelling website which is one of a kind. You can upload images for the story and then add audio, text or video comments for it. Other people who view your story may also add comments. (there is a setting to moderate comments).

There are many examples of voicethreads on the website which you may add as favourites on the site once you join.

Here is an example of a voicethread 3GK did in term 3 2008 titled "Migration Tales".

You may also use the pen feature to annotate the images you upload.

There are two different types of voicethread accounts you could have. First you must join the public voicethread and once you have done that you may join the educator's section of voicethread. (A class account costs $10.00 and the school will reimburse you.) edvoicethread is only for educators so you can be sure the voicethread your students create are only viewed by other educators and students around the globe.

Watch the introductory video "What is a Voicethread?" below

There are tutorial videos for every other feature of voicethread from how to set up your headphones and microphone to how you add your students as identities, how to annotate and comment. Visit the webiste to view them.

There is a list of other voicethread tutorials on the Reading Connection Project. These tutorials include: how to join, use and embed a voicethread into your class blog.

Instructions for joining

Visit Langwitches' Post to see the instructions for joining voicethread and then edvoicethread.

Ideas for student's use of voicethreads:

explain how to solve a problem in maths using the doodle or annotation feature as a pen.
narrate a story.
going through instructions
explaining scientific investigation
visual literacy discussions
use images which inspire imagery as a prelude to writing
phonics
character profiles
book reviews

add as many more activities here as you think of them to benefit others.

Classroom Uses of Voicethread

Visit @keamac's (Kirstin Anderson) wiki for excellent ideas for classroom uses, class examples, tips and how-tos for using voicethread. Especially take a look at Kirstin's voicethread example which I have embeded below.

Content for Class Blogs

Grace_Kat — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:56:57 CDT

Blogs are Web sites but there is a difference between a blog and a Web site. A website is static. That means, the author types the content and there is no option for the reader to either add to the content nor to add ideas via a comments section. Web sites are stand-alone sites.

Blogs are a good way for students to reflect on their learning or to create their own content from the knowledge they've acquired.

Blogs are conversations between the author and their readers. Students can link to other student blogs from around the world and begin a conversation. In order to do this you could visit other class blogs and leave comments on interesting or relevant posts. When leaving a comment, the student could type the url for their own class blog so their visit may likewise be returned.

For ideas on content visit these posts on the Langwitches blog
Changes in Classroom Blogs of our Elementary School

Creating a Learning Community with your Elementary School Blog

Podcasting

Grace_Kat — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:57:06 CDT

The term podcast came from iPod (the mp3 player onto which the first podcasts were made to be played) + broadcast (either radio-type shows or tv-type shows).

Podcasts are handy in that the listener has the convenience of listening/watching the show at a time and place of their choosing - using a computer or a portable mp3 player.

A podcast is an audio or video file that is "distinguished from other digital-media formats by its ability to be subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added." wikipedia

Aggregator Software for receiving podcasts

When you subscribe to a podcast show, they will automatically appear in your podcast aggregator when you open it:
iTunes
Juice
ziepod

Educational podcasts to add to your aggregator
for Teachers
Connect Learning David Warlick
EdTech Crew Darrel Branson and Tony Richards
On Deck Jeff Utecht
EdTechTalk Teachers are Talking - Lisa Parisi and Cheryl Lykowski

Student-made
Allanah's Appleby Showcase Nelson, New Zealand
CDS NEWS U.S.A
PodKids Australia
iSchool Victoria, Australia

Watch this video about podcasting by Lee Lefever.

To produce a podcast you'll need

(Audacity and LAME are installed on the school's network but here's where to download from the net onto your home computer)

Download Audacity software
optional downloads on which you'll find theLAME MP3 Encoder

Audacity's manual

headphones/microphone
a computer
internet access
a great script

The audio demonstrated in these videos is music but the procedure is the same as if you were recording and editing speech.

Audacity How to record

Audacity How to Edit

Audacity Saving an MP3

and here are some more videos by Pam Shoemaker, (Walled Lake Consolidated Schools Technology Integration Coordinator.)

Podcast Hosting Sites

After you have finished your mp3 it's time to upload it to a podcast hosting site in order for others to subscribe.

Create, share and find podcasts. There is a helpful FAQ section too.

Publish and subscribe to podcasts

More Web pages about podcasting

Podcasting Panopoly at "Around the Corner"-MGuhlin.net

RSS READER: Google Reader

Grace_Kat — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:59:54 CDT

RSS readers aggregate news stories and blogs posts in one place so you don't have to go to all your favourite websites to check if they have been updated. Updated posts show up in bold.

This video might help explain what an RSS reader does.

Creating a Google Account is a great idea as Google has many other applications you could use for yourself or with your class. The easiest way to create a google account is to sign up for Google's email account called gmail.

To add feeds to your Google reader.

When you are on a website or blog you'd like to subscribe to, copy its url or right-click the RSS button and select copy link location.

In Google Reader, click the +Add Subscription button and a space to paste the url or feed shows up.

Click Add.

If the orange RSS button doesn't appear, try one of these buttons instead

Sometimes on a blog, there is an option to subscribe to comments.To continue the conversations on blogs, you may want to also subscribe to the comments as well as the posts.

Sort your subscriptions into folders.

If you have subscribed to many feeds, you might think about sorting them into folders.

At the top of your feed window is a box marked "Feed Settings". When you are looking at a feed from a website, you can add a New Folder or select an exisiting folder into which to place the subscription to locate it easily next time.

Blog Themes & Widgets

Grace_Kat — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:27:28 CDT

Blog Themes

In your dashboard, click the 'Design' tab then click Themes.

Scroll down to view available themes and click on the one you like.

It will show up at the top instead of the default one.

Blog Widgets

While you are still in the Design tab, click 'Widgets'.

The widgets are the objects that you see in blog sidebars. Usually the sidebar has links to other pages on the blog that you have made static or they can be links to other class blogs (blog roll).

The picture below shows the type of widgets you can add with a short explanation of each.

On the left is a list of the widgets with a link "Add" beside each.

As you can see I am using 7 widgets in my sidebar 1. Look on the right side and you will see the blue rectangular widgets under "Current Widgets".

On your dashboard, there may be no current widgets on sidebar 1.

Some blog themes have 2 sidebars and some have 1 sidebar. This example shows you how to add widgets to a blog theme with two sidebars.

Decide which widgets you would like to appear on the left sidebar and which you'd like to appear on the right sidebar. There will be widgets that you don't want to use as well.

When you have decided, click the "Add" link beside each of the widgets you have chosen.

I have three "Text" widgets here. You can paste the html embed codes in these so certain pictures appear in this area.
In one text widget I have pasted the code for the stat counter which tells my students how many people have visited their blog.

Another Text widget box contains the embed code for a clustr map.

The clustr map shows the students where our visitors live. Go to Sue Water's post to find out how to add a clustr map to your blog.

The other text widget is one from voki. It is a talking avatar.

To get these widgets you must go to each site and join. They are free. (However the voki widget is only for those over the age of 13.)

sidebar2

To add widgets to sidebar 2,

click the down arrow beside "sidebar1"
select "sidebar 2"
click "'Show".

Click "Add" beside the widgets you would like to appear here.

widgets

I like the Meta widget because it allows the students to easily login to the dashboard from the blog.

The Links widget allows you to add the url of other class blogs so your students can quickly access them.

The Avatar widget will add your uploaded avatar.

The Tags widget acts like an index, almost like a search feature, to help you quickly locate a previous post. These words appear here when the author adds tags to each post. The tags are all the key words used in that individual post.

Categories are also added to each post. The category for the post would be the most general tag which covers the main topic of the post.

embeding flash, video and audio

Grace_Kat — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:46:03 CDT

In edublogs, embeding a flash object or video requires you to paste the embed code into the posts' HTML tab and then Publishing it straight away so it is a good idea to have the content written and ready before you paste in the code.

Sue Waters has a couple of posts on how to do this on The Edublogger blog. The first post talks about embeding flash objects eg voicethread, slideshows etc. The second post talks about how to embed video.

I took my instructions of how to embed a PhotoBucket slideshow from Sue's post.

	Is an online book creating site. The pages flip over like a real book. You can print the book once it's made but you cannot embed into your blog.
	Here you can read and create your own myths and legends. Characters and backgrounds are provided for students to choose.
	Plotbot is an online scriptwriting application.You can write your script with as many or as few people as you want—there's nothing to install, it's free, and it's easy to use!
	The Newspaper Clipping Generator To download your newspaper, use the link at the bottom of the generated image. You can use the images as you wish ie. put them on your own website or blog. Please note, that direct linking to the newspaper clippings doesn't work; the images are deleted after a short time span.
	Use LetterPop to create eye-popping newsletters, actionable presentations, irresistible invitations, beautiful product features, sizzling event summaries, informative club updates, lovely picture collages etc
	Big Universe is a storywriting site. Students write stories straight onto the site and read others' stories – My request to have this site unblocked was granted.
Slide presentations allowed for both students and teachers
	Photoshow has music you can add to your slide presentation. To embed this into edublogs, go to the widgetbox website and use the widget box there.
	.
	Voicethreads allow viewers to comment on on the slides’ images and/or author’s audio discussion using text, audio or video. Annotations to images may also be made using the drawing feature.