ComicLife | comiclife.com
As the name suggests, ComicLife is a software program that
produces comics from user photos. It is
offered as a 30-day trial, after which the cost to register and continue is
$30; not bad for big name software package these days. It provides for a variety of caption bubbles,
easy drag-and-drop of photos, and a lot of templates. The program can be used in the classroom to
summarize a topic from teacher to student, vice versa, or student to student. For example, a 5th grade World History class
might use ComicLife to make a summary of the explorations of Ponce de
Leon. In each frame of the comic,
character dialogue can indicate when, where, why, and with whom expeditions
were conducted. Major events would also
be depicted. The storytelling aspect of
ComicLife would allow students to consider the expeditions from multiple points
of view. The storytelling aspect of
education is a bit lacking today, with such emphasis on standardized testing,
ComicLife would offer an alternative form of assessment and improve student
ability to tell stories. Stories are
global cognition exercises in which facts must be tied together in an
interesting way. The artistic aspect of
ComicLife enhances the creativity factor as well. All in all the program looks to be an
engaging way to explore and report on just about any concept.
iSpeech | ispeech.org
iSpeech is a text-to-speech (TTS) and advanced speech
recognition (ASR) application. Once
downloaded and installed, it can turn any text into speech, freeing users for
other tasks or offering assistive technology for the seeing impaired or for LD
students with oral support accommodations.
Because it also has speech recognition, it can be used to make
transcripts, record interviews for student projects, and supplement audio
journaling to name just a few of the many possibilities. For students who like to record their ideas
orally for projects and papers, iSpeech would be quite useful. Imagine taking a mobile device to the library
and speaking titles and bibliographical information into it for later reference
in text form, or—instead of typing in quoted passages from a book for a
research project, reading it into the mobile device and having it for the paper
later. This used to require borrowing
the book, or typing a copy of relevant passages on site, or using a copy
machine. True, students can (and do)
take pictures of such passages, but with ASR the typed version is ready to
go. These two technologies, TTS and ASR,
have been around for a while but they’ve been unreliable. The latest versions have far fewer bugs, and
the mobile option makes the technology so much more convenient than ever
before. Teachers need to be ready for
the inclusion of mobile devices, at least in the form of tablet computers as
programs like this one become more and more transportable.
VoiceThread & VoiceThread for Education | voicethread.com,
voicethread4education.wikispaces.com
VoiceThread is part of a burgeoning cloud collaboration
market. It allows multiple users to upload
documents, presentations, and media for collaboration, but also allows
real-time spoken and text conversation between multiple users over the
cloud. Since it is in the cloud, it
consumes much less local storage and is accessible through any internet capable
device including mobile data devices (for which there is a mobile app). VoiceThread automatically integrates with LTI
(learning tools interoperability) learning management systems such as Angel,
BlackBoard, and Moodle. It offers
automatic user feed updates as well as analytics that allow teachers to see how
many users have visited, when, and whom specifically. This is obviously helpful for attendance and
grading, but also for reflective teaching, wherein factors like the popularity
of an activity and the time of day students access material outside of
scheduled collaborations would provide insight.
The technology can be used to conduct brainstorming sessions, review
artwork, watch and peer critique a recorded group presentation, or peer edit a
paper.
Voicethreads can be recorded and exported into popular media
formats for sharing with others and/or for embedding in websites. This sharing aspect is where Voicethread4education.wikispaces.com
comes in. With the wiki option, teachers
from all over the world can share their voice-threads. Once shared, people outside the original
collaboration can comment and compare notes.
If I might coin a term, this kind of multi-level collaboration could be
referred to as “exponential collaboration.” Voicethreads-4-education wiki provides ideas and support for use in the conventional and virtual classrooms.
Storybird | storybird.com/teachers
Storybird is one of the most creative, teacher-friendly online applications in the flood of interactive online teaching tools. It's a program that allows students to easily make digital books. The layout is intuitive, and the artwork is spectacular. Teachers can create classes without student email accounts, an important feature for teachers of younger students and students whose only email contact with teachers occurs through a closed LMS account. Once books are created, they can be shared via all the normal social media routes. Interestingly, the books can be monetized so that parents, families, and other interested parties can buy them online as a fundraiser for the school. What an awesome reward for work well done.
Storybird is another program that encourages storytelling. Students can use the images to generate stories or they can tell a story and choose images to support it. Students can also import their own images, which makes the medium appropriate for all ages. Many of the images are more suitable for children's books, but there are also more sophisticated images that would work for older students and adults. If the image offerings were limited in any way, users could find their own public domain images. For monetized books, users would need to be careful not to use copyrighted images.
While the books generated by Storybird are mostly fictional, there is certainly no reason to limit students to fictional writing. The program is flexible enough to use for non-fictional materials as well. Students can use Storybird individually or in groups. Teachers can open access to all students for peer editing and collaboration. Storybird is a boon for every student and adult that has wanted to produce digital books, but have been held back by an inability to illustrate. The program has just about thought of everything; and to top it all off, Storybird is affordable. A pro account is only $69/year--offering the whole gamut of available features. If your needs are modest, it gets cheaper for lower tier accounts, with the cheapest being free!
Scribblar | scribblar.com
Scribblar is an online whiteboard collaboration program. It allows teachers and student groups to work together on material in real-time, with chat and multiple editors. It will upload images, on which can be added graphics, freehand drawing, and text. Scribblar offers a free demo, but for an ongoing account there is a monthly fee. Monthly fees range from $9-$49 depending on how many rooms and users the administrator wants. Scribblar paid versions look pretty stable, which is a concern for teachers looking to support their classes online or who want to run a stand-alone internet class. Aside from features, functionality is paramount. Setting up and maintaining rooms must be easy or they're more trouble than they're worth. The last thing an online teacher needs is to plan a collaboration and then spend half of it addressing technical access issues. Like any technology, teachers need to test it and evaluate before they go live. Multiple free or inexpensive online whiteboard options are available HERE.
Xtranormal | xtranormal.com
Xtranormal is a 3-D video maker that is as simple as 1-2-3-4. Choose a background, choose characters, type in text for each character, and choose voices. This technology, like some we've discussed earlier in this edition of TeachTech, makes the creative process accessible to the average person. The quality is not exactly Pixar, but if a teacher wants to engage students in a storytelling through a visual medium, Xtranormal might be the way to do it. Tools like this allow teachers to use multiple assessment strategies. What if instead of filling out the review questions at the end of a textbook chapter, students created a 3-D video; and imagine that it only takes around a half-hour. It's NOT a replacement of good old fashioned reading, writing, and arithmetic, but it's a nice change-up to keep the students' creative juices flowing.
A basic Xtranormal account is free, but charges a la cart for characters and sets. These are included in the educator and professional accounts, priced $10/month and $50/month respectively. Since users can share their videos, you could imagine that some of the videos are a little salty. However, the educator account filters all but those appropriate for kids. The educator account provides a teacher dashboard that lets teachers manage student accounts.
The potential downsides are twofold. First, the voices and animation are a bit jumpy and are definitely computer synthesized. You can record your own voice, but syncing could be a challenge. If you're not worried about the artificiality of it, there should be no problem. Second, this technology runs the risk of over-reliance. Students' creative impulses should not be co-opted by this or that software. Sometimes a good live play or a collaborative video in the real world is a better option. Videos are useful for conveying information and planning, but videos lose some of their educational value if the students aren't up and moving, being spontaneous. They need to use their voices and hear each others' voices. The real world is a better alternative, but as long as technology such as Xtranormal is used moderately, it should generally support creativity.
Virtual Manipulatives | nlvm.usu.edu
The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives has provided a java-based set of manipulatives interactives for grades K-12. I thought I would not like this approach, because--let's face it--how manipulative can manipulatives be in the virtual world? Well, it's not exactly stacking blocks, but it does provide such a variety of manipulative approaches and math games that for SUPPLEMENTAL purposes, it could become a go to site for Math lessons. For teachers looking to shift gears in class to break up monotony and get students thinking in another way, NLVM is perfect.
Again, moderation is called for in this approach. It would be a shame to see kindergarteners never actually handle the real block manipulatives. There's something about the motor-intellectual connection that manipulatives provide in the real world that reinforces whole-body learning. Variety is also key to keeping students engages, though, and NLVM provides a bunch of alternative operations.
What's even more impressive about NLVM is that it offers simple manipulative approaches to the basic math operations in the younger grades all the way up to the thousands place. Imagine trying to line up that many manipulatives in the real world! It also offers simple games in specific operations in the higher grades. There are sets of activities/manipulatives in algebra and geometry in the higher grades, for example. It can be run online and also can be downloaded. I would recommend that it be used via projector and smart board--that is, that it mostly be used as a teacher-led activity. It could be used at home for homework but it does not come ready made with the teacher administration tools that allow teachers to check progress, scores, attendance, etc.
An Experience With Power Point
Power Point, by today's standards, is old technology. Today, Prezi is starting to garner more attention than Power Point, because the animations are quite a bit more organic and slick. However, the old standby is still effective if used for the right purpose.
Teachers, heed my words! Power Points is largely ineffective when used to present an outline of notes. Stop doing this! On the other hand, Power Point is highly useful for putting up a diagram, artwork, architecture, photos of geographically significant sites, historical photos, or space photos (to name a few). In other words, it works well to display visuals to be discussed. Power Point is a discussion tool, not an outlining program intended to replace a whiteboard.
I don't claim to be a Power Point master, but I'll provide an example of a Power Point that has worked well for me the last couple of years. This Power Point was made for junior and senior level Theory of Knowledge class. The class uses a diagram to communicate the epistemology of the International Baccalaureate's TOK approach:
The assignment was to examine the diagram, put it into narrative form, consider the alternative diagrams provided by IB, and then revise one of them or come up with one of the students own diagrams. The activity was followed by a brief set of observations made by the class (last slide). This last slide was added after discussion, the next day, as a means of summarizing the take-aways from our discussion.
The best elements of the presentation are the diagrams and the side-by-side comparisons. The simplicity of the slides was helpful to the students. There wasn't a lot of text, but mostly images for the students to think about, discuss in small groups, and then bring back to whole-class discussion. The follow-up slide was useful for capturing where the classes thoughts had gone in discussion. Students remained engaged throughout the discussion, partially because the images provided a framework and springboard for discussion.
There was one minor drawback to the presentation: namely, that it was up on the screen too long and the lesson was too dependent on long term use of the screen. The better option, it would seem, is to begin and end each phase of the activity with the corresponding slide, but to turn the screen off while the students are working and let them work off of images provided in the lessons domain of our learning management system. This way, the groups turn to each other and that flow is not disrupted. Once enough time has passed with the images and we're ready to draw together in discussion, then the screen can go up again for discussion.
The Power Point can be extended by having the students send their revised versions, produced electronically in Word or Draw, and adding them to subsequent slides for follow up. I like doing this part on the real whiteboard, though, as it gets the students up and drawing. The real whiteboard also allows us to interact and revise on the fly with the group at the board.
My advice, as a teacher who's used Power Point ever since it first appeared on the educational landscape, is to moderate the use of Power Point so as to avoid two pitfalls: (1) making PP an outlining backdrop to lengthy lectures, and (2) using PP as the primary tool for student presentations. Both are disengaging to students and teachers. Moreover, the latter approach stifles presentation skills. Students have become overly reliant on PP for presentations, seemingly thinking that the medium replaces authentic knowledge and memory of the concepts presented. With the right mentoring--coaching students on brevity and simplicity, and on the fact that PP is a visual AID, not the heart of the presentation--students can learn and retain good presentation habits.
Storybird | storybird.com/teachers
Storybird is one of the most creative, teacher-friendly online applications in the flood of interactive online teaching tools. It's a program that allows students to easily make digital books. The layout is intuitive, and the artwork is spectacular. Teachers can create classes without student email accounts, an important feature for teachers of younger students and students whose only email contact with teachers occurs through a closed LMS account. Once books are created, they can be shared via all the normal social media routes. Interestingly, the books can be monetized so that parents, families, and other interested parties can buy them online as a fundraiser for the school. What an awesome reward for work well done.
Storybird is another program that encourages storytelling. Students can use the images to generate stories or they can tell a story and choose images to support it. Students can also import their own images, which makes the medium appropriate for all ages. Many of the images are more suitable for children's books, but there are also more sophisticated images that would work for older students and adults. If the image offerings were limited in any way, users could find their own public domain images. For monetized books, users would need to be careful not to use copyrighted images.
While the books generated by Storybird are mostly fictional, there is certainly no reason to limit students to fictional writing. The program is flexible enough to use for non-fictional materials as well. Students can use Storybird individually or in groups. Teachers can open access to all students for peer editing and collaboration. Storybird is a boon for every student and adult that has wanted to produce digital books, but have been held back by an inability to illustrate. The program has just about thought of everything; and to top it all off, Storybird is affordable. A pro account is only $69/year--offering the whole gamut of available features. If your needs are modest, it gets cheaper for lower tier accounts, with the cheapest being free!
Scribblar | scribblar.com
Scribblar is an online whiteboard collaboration program. It allows teachers and student groups to work together on material in real-time, with chat and multiple editors. It will upload images, on which can be added graphics, freehand drawing, and text. Scribblar offers a free demo, but for an ongoing account there is a monthly fee. Monthly fees range from $9-$49 depending on how many rooms and users the administrator wants. Scribblar paid versions look pretty stable, which is a concern for teachers looking to support their classes online or who want to run a stand-alone internet class. Aside from features, functionality is paramount. Setting up and maintaining rooms must be easy or they're more trouble than they're worth. The last thing an online teacher needs is to plan a collaboration and then spend half of it addressing technical access issues. Like any technology, teachers need to test it and evaluate before they go live. Multiple free or inexpensive online whiteboard options are available HERE.
Xtranormal | xtranormal.com
Xtranormal is a 3-D video maker that is as simple as 1-2-3-4. Choose a background, choose characters, type in text for each character, and choose voices. This technology, like some we've discussed earlier in this edition of TeachTech, makes the creative process accessible to the average person. The quality is not exactly Pixar, but if a teacher wants to engage students in a storytelling through a visual medium, Xtranormal might be the way to do it. Tools like this allow teachers to use multiple assessment strategies. What if instead of filling out the review questions at the end of a textbook chapter, students created a 3-D video; and imagine that it only takes around a half-hour. It's NOT a replacement of good old fashioned reading, writing, and arithmetic, but it's a nice change-up to keep the students' creative juices flowing.
A basic Xtranormal account is free, but charges a la cart for characters and sets. These are included in the educator and professional accounts, priced $10/month and $50/month respectively. Since users can share their videos, you could imagine that some of the videos are a little salty. However, the educator account filters all but those appropriate for kids. The educator account provides a teacher dashboard that lets teachers manage student accounts.
The potential downsides are twofold. First, the voices and animation are a bit jumpy and are definitely computer synthesized. You can record your own voice, but syncing could be a challenge. If you're not worried about the artificiality of it, there should be no problem. Second, this technology runs the risk of over-reliance. Students' creative impulses should not be co-opted by this or that software. Sometimes a good live play or a collaborative video in the real world is a better option. Videos are useful for conveying information and planning, but videos lose some of their educational value if the students aren't up and moving, being spontaneous. They need to use their voices and hear each others' voices. The real world is a better alternative, but as long as technology such as Xtranormal is used moderately, it should generally support creativity.
Virtual Manipulatives | nlvm.usu.edu
The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives has provided a java-based set of manipulatives interactives for grades K-12. I thought I would not like this approach, because--let's face it--how manipulative can manipulatives be in the virtual world? Well, it's not exactly stacking blocks, but it does provide such a variety of manipulative approaches and math games that for SUPPLEMENTAL purposes, it could become a go to site for Math lessons. For teachers looking to shift gears in class to break up monotony and get students thinking in another way, NLVM is perfect.
Again, moderation is called for in this approach. It would be a shame to see kindergarteners never actually handle the real block manipulatives. There's something about the motor-intellectual connection that manipulatives provide in the real world that reinforces whole-body learning. Variety is also key to keeping students engages, though, and NLVM provides a bunch of alternative operations.
What's even more impressive about NLVM is that it offers simple manipulative approaches to the basic math operations in the younger grades all the way up to the thousands place. Imagine trying to line up that many manipulatives in the real world! It also offers simple games in specific operations in the higher grades. There are sets of activities/manipulatives in algebra and geometry in the higher grades, for example. It can be run online and also can be downloaded. I would recommend that it be used via projector and smart board--that is, that it mostly be used as a teacher-led activity. It could be used at home for homework but it does not come ready made with the teacher administration tools that allow teachers to check progress, scores, attendance, etc.
An Experience With Power Point
Power Point, by today's standards, is old technology. Today, Prezi is starting to garner more attention than Power Point, because the animations are quite a bit more organic and slick. However, the old standby is still effective if used for the right purpose.
Teachers, heed my words! Power Points is largely ineffective when used to present an outline of notes. Stop doing this! On the other hand, Power Point is highly useful for putting up a diagram, artwork, architecture, photos of geographically significant sites, historical photos, or space photos (to name a few). In other words, it works well to display visuals to be discussed. Power Point is a discussion tool, not an outlining program intended to replace a whiteboard.
I don't claim to be a Power Point master, but I'll provide an example of a Power Point that has worked well for me the last couple of years. This Power Point was made for junior and senior level Theory of Knowledge class. The class uses a diagram to communicate the epistemology of the International Baccalaureate's TOK approach:
The best elements of the presentation are the diagrams and the side-by-side comparisons. The simplicity of the slides was helpful to the students. There wasn't a lot of text, but mostly images for the students to think about, discuss in small groups, and then bring back to whole-class discussion. The follow-up slide was useful for capturing where the classes thoughts had gone in discussion. Students remained engaged throughout the discussion, partially because the images provided a framework and springboard for discussion.
There was one minor drawback to the presentation: namely, that it was up on the screen too long and the lesson was too dependent on long term use of the screen. The better option, it would seem, is to begin and end each phase of the activity with the corresponding slide, but to turn the screen off while the students are working and let them work off of images provided in the lessons domain of our learning management system. This way, the groups turn to each other and that flow is not disrupted. Once enough time has passed with the images and we're ready to draw together in discussion, then the screen can go up again for discussion.
The Power Point can be extended by having the students send their revised versions, produced electronically in Word or Draw, and adding them to subsequent slides for follow up. I like doing this part on the real whiteboard, though, as it gets the students up and drawing. The real whiteboard also allows us to interact and revise on the fly with the group at the board.
My advice, as a teacher who's used Power Point ever since it first appeared on the educational landscape, is to moderate the use of Power Point so as to avoid two pitfalls: (1) making PP an outlining backdrop to lengthy lectures, and (2) using PP as the primary tool for student presentations. Both are disengaging to students and teachers. Moreover, the latter approach stifles presentation skills. Students have become overly reliant on PP for presentations, seemingly thinking that the medium replaces authentic knowledge and memory of the concepts presented. With the right mentoring--coaching students on brevity and simplicity, and on the fact that PP is a visual AID, not the heart of the presentation--students can learn and retain good presentation habits.
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