Personal Learning Plan

Video Creations to Demonstrate Learning

I used Camtasia Studio to create a how-to-tutorial for creating and sharing documents in Google Drive. It was simple however I think using screen casting tools is an excellent way for students to show their knowledge. Also, they get to create, publish and hear themselves. As far as Google goes, I use it for almost everything I do. Google drive is amazing for creating files you can access from anywhere there is Internet. In addition you can share and collaborate with multiple people at the same time not matter where they are as long as they have Internet access. This is only the surface scratcher as there are hundreds of apps you can add to your drive as well as scripts (programs) you can run to maximize Drive's potential. Blogger is another Google tool that supports a number of good teaching and learning practices. You can use it for reflection of work or concepts. We know that students learn when they meaningfully reflect. It can be used for metacognition as well. In addition it can be used as a e-porftolio and a next-level diagnostic tool. Students can create and embed anything in a blog. Finally it allows students to have an audience whether it be other students or someone else that can provide feedback. This has the potential to take learning to new heights.

Digital Story Telling with Little Bird Tales

• Click to view my tale.
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For over a year now I have been wanting to do this and but I have not found the time. I chose to use Little Bird Tales, a free online story telling tool. I knew I had to actually make a presentation to get a feel for it. I can say that I found it really fun and enjoyable to create my own story. It was also amazingly simple to use. I can upload photos to my story, create galleries to use for later, and I could also create drawings. On the bottom of each page I was able to type my story, although this could be done in the drawing section as well. Three Little Bird Tales seemed to have several limitations. One of them was that I was unable to record sound and put my voice in there. If I was going to recommend digital story telling tools to teachers, I would definitely want this as an added feature. However, the free version of Little Bird Tales could do many things and may meet the needs of many. Putting myself in the shoes of a student I think this is and has been a powerful tool for learning. I have worked with several teachers that use digital storytelling in their classes and I have seen its use and ability to force students to explain hard concepts in their own words using images and relationships and metaphors. I look forward to using this with my students.

Twitter - Taking Education Beyond the Classroom

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The Web Past to Present

Make your own mind maps with Mindomo.

It is incredible to think how far and fast the World Wide Web and technologies have evolved in the last ten years.  Eight years ago I was still using floppy disks.   They were amazing at the time.  Even up until four years ago as a technology teacher it was impossible to count on being connected to give students a global learning perspective by using the World Wide Web where I was teaching.    The web has gone from information centered to collaborative to socially constructed.  With information so easily accessible how do we need to change the way we teach and learn?  How can we keep up with these changes?  Where do we go from here?    If we are teaching/learning what will be outdated in a few years, what should we be teaching and learning?