Glogster allows students, and teachers, to create digital posters full of mixed-media images and sounds specific to a certain topic.  I believe that these digital poster projects are more engaging than clicking through a Power Point presentation looking at images,  hearing an audio clip and trying to piece them all together.  These compressed, compiled images and sounds are so visually appealing to students.

Not only can students be assigned a Glogster project on any topic relating to their course content, but teachers can use these digital posters to present new information to students.  By using such an appealing and interactive approach to introducing material that may not traditionally grab students’ attention, the information is more likely to be processed, or at least attempted.

Realizing that Glogster is public, and anyone can see it, I understand the importance of protecting the students’ interests and monitoring their actions while on the site.  The first step is making the students aware of their personal responsibilities while using Glogster.  Students need to know what is expected and acceptable.  In addition to this, the caregivers responsible for the students should be aware that their student is working on this site for academic purposes.  This will allow those in charge of the students at home to know what is expected of the students while using this public application.  Lastly, students’ work must be monitored by the teacher, the administration, and the caregivers.  While I do not expect the principal to sit down and look at every student’s Glogster projects, it will be there, as set up by the teacher.  By connecting to each students’ Glogster, the teacher can monitor any activity on that particular Glogster account.  This will guide students to keep the account made for them in class strictly academic.  The account names and passwords will be available for the administration and caregivers at any time.

I was most impressed that a principal is so hands on.  His vision to allow his students to become active participants on the global field is fantastic! He made technology a medium to be embraced, not something to be used sparingly and cautiously.

As a future teacher, it is important to know that my students will most likely be technologically savvy.  The likelihood of them knowing more of the programs available than I do is great.  I hope that I can learn from them, and embrace Dr. Tyson’s passion in order to help my students and myself to become productive contributors to the global community.

I am still working with Scratch.  It seems like a very hands-on approach to teaching certain lessons, but until I have worked with it more I can not fully know all that it can do. I did like that there is a link to the Scratch site for teachers, Scratched.  There they have resources for teachers including 10 already designed lesson plans using Scratch. 

Voki was a little creepy.  I could see using it on a classroom blog, perhaps leaving students information about the upcoming assignments or about questions that were addressed during class.  I can see this being useful in small doses.  I would not consider reading anything long using the Voki.  I think it would be a bit tedious to sit down and update the voice more than once a week at most.

Museum Boxes seem to be more appropriate for things such as discussions on certain texts, or even literary periods.  It is a visual way to get students involved with the topic being studied, while allowing them to interact with the lesson on different levels.  The fact that audio, visual, and textual information can be inserted into each cube within the box, can be beneficial for students who learn in different ways.  Each box could be a resource to monitor the students’ understanding of the material, as well as a way for the teacher to present the information in a unique way which can reach learners of different styles. 

Another aspect of the Museum Boxes website that I really liked was that there was a section devoted to helping teachers set up classroom and individual accounts.  With so many sites that seem useful in the classroom, the issues of how do I, as a teacher, monitor this and keep the students on track and safe while working within this site often occur.  The helpful information provided to teachers on this Museum Box website helps put these issues to rest by offering tools to help teachers navigate through the concerns before they happen.

Gabcast seems so fitting in today’s society.  How often is it that we find a person who does not  have their cell phone within reach? RARE! The benefit of being able to record and post podcasts to a classroom (or personal) blog from your  cell phone can be a very handy tool for teachers.  As future teachers, we will be busy.  While the idea of using podcasts and blogs is a beneficial resource, for a unique way to present material, as well as being a tool for students who might miss an important lesson(because life happens to high school students too) it surly would be difficult to always find the time to sit down and create the resources.  Having the ability to record your podcasts and post them where you need them by phone, allows teachers, and students should they be required to use this tool, to create products without being confined to the computer.  By avoiding this restriction, you are free to post from an emergency trip you may have to take, from your car when stuck in traffic, from a sporting event if your team is already losing and you know you’ll never get your car out of the parking lot.  No longer is it required that you be at a place with a charged computer, internet access, and a microphone.  GENIUS if you ask me.

I found it interesting that the students looking at the Slim Jim website expressed their skepticism towards the use of “hip” language when used by someone not from their generation.  While ad executives spend hours trying to find just the right word, one that will be recognized by teens, they are almost shooting themselves in the foot because it creates an air of hypocrisy since the teens know the developers of the site do not speak that way.

I also found it interesting that the issue of stereotypes if often brought up and noted.  While it is often a subconscious realization, we often are able to know when a stereotype is being portrayed.  Getting students to see that the Slim-Jim website is presented in a manner featuring stunts similar to Jackass (a show generally enjoyed more publicly by males) is a great way to get students to recognize that this is an attempt to target the male, teenage audience.  In the same manner, the fact that by clicking on the Spicy Nacho link on the Doritos website takes you to the image of a Latina teenager participating in graffiti allows students to notice and analyze particular stereotypes.  While these images are most probably not used to be discriminatory, they are still embracing a stereotype which prohibits acceptance and equality.

I believe that the use of the team projects, as outlined in the article, allow for students to learn through teaching.  This is a skill that is often taught to us as pre-service teachers.  It is easier for most people to grasp a concept if they are able to teach it to a peer, and more so if they know they will be required to . I see the value in this idea of having the students lead their peers through their lessons, ideas, and thought processes just as valuable for college students as it is for secondary students.

I really liked the discussion about the 2004 tsumnami.  The fact that it described how the first post was made 9 hours after the wave hit, and its rapid evolution to include more details, photos, lists, and observations really shows just how quickly this resource can be used to spread breaking news to a global community.

The idea that everyone can monitor what everyone else is writing is something that I find interesting.  During my search for a Wikipedia entry to edit, I looked up my mother’s high school.  We noticed that someone had created an account with a “Bart Simpson-esque” screen-name to change the Alma mater of the school.  We looked at the history, saw that the lyrics had been changed to represent a rival high school’s colors, and that the post was quickly corrected by someone else (less than 5 hours later).  I was actually able to show my mom the difference and explain to her how, as the book puts it, the community becomes “watchdogs” for those who wish to post incorrect information.

I have used a Wikispace in another class as a group meeting place.  I really think as a classroom tool, a Wikispace is a great tool.  Teachers are able to monitor all activity, see which students are (or are not) participating, what is being contributed.  As long as the students are given the understanding of how the Wiki can be a great way of doing collaborative work with their peers, or even students across the country, or world, the tool can be extremely creative.  I think the ball falls into the court of the teacher, to properly educate both the students and they parents on what the Wikis are and how they are to be used.  What a great and unique way to include technology into a classroom.  It also can decrease the time you have to sacrifice of in-class group time, allowing more teaching time.

From personal experience with a collaborative Wikispace page, that often times page setup and navigation can create a problem.  If this is addressed when the Wiki is introduced, the “ease” of the Wiki (which is the whole purpose of using a Wiki) will be much more obtainable.

The edit I made to a Wikipedia page is located here.

It was a small edit, but a grammatical one.

 Wikipedia allows you to quickly find a topic of interest for research.  The most notable thing I noticed about Wikipedia is it has many more cultural references.  My group looked up “nematocyst” and Wikipedia offered examples of creatures which have nematocysts on them. It addresses a reference to a creature first introduced in a Sherlock Holmes adventure.  With Wikipedia it is also easier to find the sources where the contributors got their information, as well as the history of where the information is coming from and discussions about the given findings. 

With the use of Britannica.com I was able to find more scientific information on the topic.  The topic is presented in a much cleaner manner on this website.  I found the Britannica.com information much easier to read and process because I was not trying to eliminate all of the hyper-links within the text, trying to lead me to other sites.  The pop-ups on the page, however, were extremely annoying. 

The Encyclopedia itself was very cut and dry. Very scientific, very boring.  It provided the exact information needed and not much else.  I suppose that is to be expected from the encyclopedia.