Flipped Classroom

Some things I've learned about from my pilot class:

1. QR Reader - who knew kids would like these so much!  Free app to be able to download to iPod touch or smart phone
2. Make videos downloadable - put the videos on a flash drive that could be checked out or DVD to have them able to watch at home

Still figuring out how to reach or make students accountable --  

Some ideas:

1. Make a google doc/quiz/feedback form that students would fill out after watching the video
2. Senteo quiz check in

Using Diigo with students

I do have a love of Diigo for my own personal use.  But the last two weeks I have offered student accounts to any students willing to give it a shot.  This is hands-down the most fantastic use of technology for students and for teachers that I have seen!!! As a teacher, you can create free student accounts (that doesn't require student email address).  Also, (and this is the best part) I can check in on all of my students to see their progress.  The bonus for students - it gives them a place to keep track of their resources and it keeps a log of when they accessed their websites, which helps them later to create their easybib.  Also, my students figured out that using the note feature they can even keep their notes on Diigo as well!  Next year, I think I'm going to require all of my students to use this and hope that we can download the diigo toolbar to our school computers!
Overall, two thumbs up from me!

One of my favorites...

I love using Titanpad with classes!  Titanpad allows students to work on the same document at the same time.  It doesn't even require users to have login, which as a teacher I love.  I created an account for myself using my classroom as my source.  Having an account allows me to create as many Titanpads as I want!  Plus I can control the security of them by making them public, but requiring a password that I set.  Then, I share the link and password with my students to allow them to work together on one document.
The only downfall is that there is a chat feature on the side.  My students LOVE using the chat feature to write about ridiculous things.  My creating titanpads for smaller groups, rather than the whole class, it eliminates some of this.  Also, by setting guidelines about what can be chatted about helps as well - give them a purpose to focus their chats on.
Another feature I love is the export feature to a word document.  It makes it super easy to use and save!  They are super fast to set up and in just a few minutes you can be up and running with the document.

Wikis in Action...

So we are off and running with wikis so far!
The students seem to like it and we've had only one override issue, but with the student accounts we can go back and look to see if the student actually posted and then see how it got overridden.  Fantastic!
One student commented that they thought it was like facebook, but for education.  I'm not sure if I completely agree with that, but they have been eager to try and use the wiki.  I think I will continue the use of the wiki for the rest of the year and see how it goes!  I definitely like the option of not having a stack of papers to lug back and for with me and that I can see everything from my laptop!

wikis

So, I'm playing around with implementing wikis in my class for our next unit.  I feel a bit like I'm in uncharted territory.  I ran into several problems the last time I used wikis.  For example, several times students would override others work by being on the same page at the same time.
This time, I received a free educator account and set up student logins and passwords.  Hopefully this way I can try to track changes easier.  I'm also working to create a wikinetwork of pages so not everyone will be working on the same page.  I'm thinking about expanding on this idea of a network to include not only wikisites, but also my blogger, my school's google site, twitter, and perhaps titanpad for student collaboration.
I'm imagining that the google site is the central resource start place.  Students are already used to going to this site.  From there I want the blogger and wikis to work hand-in-hand.  The blogger to be a place to detail class assignments and the wikis to be a place for students to work and collaborate.  The twitter can be a place to give shout-outs for good work and homework reminders.  I really like the titanpad as a source for students to do some collaborative writing in real time.  We'll see how it works together!

ITEC 2010

Here are some goodies I learned about from the ITEC 2010 conference.

Vicki Davis - Keynote speaker's website

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/

http://www.coolcatteacher.com/

http://coolcatteacher.wikispaces.com/

http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/

http://flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com/

Doug Johnson - Keynote speaker

http://doug-johnson.com/

http://dougjohnson.wikispaces.com/

ITEC wiki with handouts from presenters

http://itec-ia.wikispaces.com/

Iowa City Van Allen - Smartboard teachers

http://www.iowa-city.k12.ia.us/Schools/vanallen/SMART_Boards.html

Ning network - social network

http://www.ning.com/

Classroom Tools -a bunch of different idea

http://classtools.net/

Comments4kids - a way to read a comment on other students work

http://comments4kids.wikispaces.com/

http://comments4kids.blogspot.com/

Edumodo - secure, free social learning network

http://www.edmodo.com/

Class Chats - connecting to classrooms around the world

http://classchats.com/

A site to schedule meetings

http://timebridge.com/

Netvibes -create a dashboard about any topic

www.netvibes.com

Leslie Fisher - web 2.0 presentation

http://www.lesliefisher.com/

So COOL!  Real time collaboration!  Everyone is a different color!!!!

http://www.typewith.me/

Web 2.0, Mastercard, and more

https://sites.google.com/a/fairfieldsfuture.org/google-apps-for-teachers-and-students/

Photo peach - create a slide show with text and have a quiz at the end!

Great idea maybe for solar system unit

http://photopeach.com/

Soshiku- a online way for kids to keep track of homework

http://soshiku.com/

ITEC 2009

Below are some great sites I learned about at the 2009 ITEC Conference.

http://www.diigo.com/ - good way to collect information from the web

http://tagcrowd.com/ - creating a word cloud from text

http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/curriculum/tech/digital/storybird.htm

storybird - creating children's books through images

http://www.diigo.com/list/kebets/itec-goodies - Beth's ITEC Goodies List

http://futureofeducation.edublogs.org/2009/07/25/can-this-video-get-teachers-started/ - Video on the future of education

http://www.toondoo.com/ - create comic strips

http://activeweb20.wikispaces.com/personallearningnetworks - Wikispace on Personal Learning Networks

http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools - good collection of storytelling tools online

http://blabberize.com/ - an interesting site to create talking pictures, voices can be recorded to any uploaded pics

http://www.xtranormal.com/ - text to movie program

http://www.go2web20.net/ - Misc Web 2.0 applications

http://prezi.com/fcxvvja0ge7_/top-10-tech-tools/ - Top 10 Tech Tools Prezi