Module 6

Bubbl.us is absolutely fantastic especially with regard to concept mapping and organizing a unit of work e.g. HSIE and Science. Bubbl.us is also great for doing differentiation i.e Williams model, especially when pretesting for older students. I can also see the value of using Bubbl.us when brainstorming what younger students know in the classroom.It is very user friendly and a great resource. This Glog was great fun to make and I can't wait to use Glogster in the classroom. This would be a great assessment tool e.g as a post test at the end of a unit. It could also be an option students could use to review or respond to a book etc. They could also upload their posters to their blogs (like I did) for other students to comment on. It allows the students to reflect on their learning and at the same time be creative and have fun! It would be suitable to use across all curriculum areas as shown by the examples e.g Science, HSIE, English.
I am already starting to set up my edu accounts for my classroom. Also after watching the video I did not find creating a Glog difficult and I am sure the children will manage it.

Module 5

The Three Little Pigs



I am already very familiar with using digital story telling in my classroom e.g. MACs - Keynote, Garage Band, iMovie. Unfortunately I can't upload any of the student's productions because of privacy issues. However, digital story telling is great to give meaning to the children's writing/drawings and most importantly an audience.It was good to revise the difference between Podcasts (audio) and Vodcasts (video).
The advantages of Pod/Vodcasts are that you can watch them anytime you want and you are not restricted to program time e.g TV.There is no longer a dependence on traditional media and they are easy to make. You can also use subscriptions through itunes to update and download your favourite podcasts automatically. I have uploaded a couple of cute videos you might like to watch!

Module 4

toys
Originally uploaded by sandra.curnow

It is wonderful what you can do in Flickr!
I downloaded this photo from Creative Commons and edited it with Picnik (I added the borders and the bubble effect).

Imagine what the children would do with these effects in the classroom! I then uploaded the photo and created a post by using a link to my blog. This was so easy!. I also used the Flickr gadget on my blog to display my recent photostreams and my friends can also use the Flickr link to view my sets.
A set is a grouping of photos and videos that you can organize around a certain theme, such as Whistler 2009. It is very similar to organising your events on the Mac computers. You can use them to highlight your favorite photos and videos, or make an album that is only pictures of your class, or of photos and videos you've taken with a particular camera.
When you upload a photo or video to Flickr, you need to choose between two types of Content Filters- Safety Level and Content Type. For example, if you want to upload a screenshot of a web page, you can, but you need to flag it as a screenshot.Putting your content into these categories means that everyone can then apply filters to searches they do to make sure they're seeing what they want to see.
SafeSearch is a feature that allows you to control what turns up in your searches on Flickr. For example,when you are browsing around if you come across a photo that's outside your SafeSearch, you won't see the image.
Tags are like keywords or labels that you add to a photo to make it easier to find later.
Creative Commons licenses are a sure way of understanding copyright issues. In my favourite websites, I have also made a couple of links regarding internet safety for parents, teachers and children

Module 3

Module 3




I see the benefits of using Google documents in several ways;
* To create and edit documents while collaborating in real-time with peers/teachers/others
* To create group or individual reports
* To publish group/ individual book/information reports
* To maintain a regular journal
* To save work without wasting paper, e-mails
* Storing information on the web which can be accessed any time
* Sharing and tracking information especially with Google Analytics

Once again I have tried to devise a way I could use this practically in my classroom by uploading a doc to this blog. I am not quite sure if the tracking information is working appropriately (I have to review the information on atomic learning.....maybe again and again!) but I can see enormous value in improving young children's literacy skills, just by completing the doc.
Atomic learning has been absolutely fantastic to use in helping me complete this module. I must admit I have tended to really on mainly youtube in the past.

Module 2

Module 2

As you can tell I have created my blog from an infants perspective. I want to make this journey as practical as I can, to experiment how I can use blogs in the classroom. I am still having fun playing with all the Gadgets. Most of my children are visual learners and therefore it is best to make my blog as simple and as attractive as possible. I still find organising my blog a little overwhelming and how I will use all of these web 2 tools in the classroom a bit confusing. However, these are my first attempts and I have never been a web 2 user before!

When creating this blog, I found that these kind of questions were really useful.QUESTIONS: What is the blogging landscape that your blog lives in? Where does your blog fit in? Do you know what your voice is? What can you bring to your blog that no one else can? What kind of personality does your writing project? How can you make your entire blog congruent to that personality and voice? Where can you find content that is uniquely reflective of your own experiences?

Reflective Journal

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Module 1
Hi everyone! I have been very slow in getting started but after finishing this first Module, I am getting on a roll. Setting up an iGoogle account was very easy and I really enjoyed personalizing it. I found adding Gadgets good fun and making up my own fabulous (as you can tell from above). I have to say - I can't wait to play with them some more.
I am obviously a kinder teacher and I am really starting to see the benefits of Web 2 even for children at this stage. As a classroom teacher I see the benefits of iGoogle as;

• Gather great educational Gadgets for your presentations
• Customize content by grade level, subject area, season
• Quickly access websites by using Google Bookmarks
• Provide easy access to text, photographs, audio, video
• Access your iGoogle homepage in any computer by signing in with your Gmail account and password