7 Days to a Better EduBlog - Day 1_Blog Layout and Design

Today's lesson covers web design and layout guidelines that support readability and usability of your blog.
Decide on a goal for your blog and review the guidelines to determine which ones apply to your blog.
Day 1

7 Days to a Better EduBlog - Why am I taking this mini-course?

I am dusting off my blog...again! I will be participating in a mini-course called 7 Days to a Better EduBlog

I am a Technology Support Specialist in my school division. Yes, I have blogged before with limited success and sustainability. I am ready to try again!

I definitely like the idea of a blog to communicate ICT ideas to the SHSD staff and encourage sharing and reflection. 

I have been reading blogs for several years (my RSS feeder is out of control!) and appreciate the confidence, knowledge, ability to reflect and the writing skills of EduBloggers like David Warlick, Will Richardson, Darren Kuropatwa or Dean Shareski .... just to name a few. I feel quite inferior, so my first hope will be to find my voice. I will focus my edublog on ICT integration ideas for K-12 classrooms.

I am planning to use a wiki to store content: how to use some Web 2.0 tools, advice on ICT integration and file sharing, and use a Diigo account to share URLs to support my EduBlog.

I would like some ideas to make the appearance of my blog more attractive and useful for my teachers.

I think my previous attempts at blogging failed because I didn't receive many responses from readers. Let's give it another try!

I hope that this course will help me take the first step to maintaining and writing an effective EduBlog.

 

Earth Day

Earth Day is in April, this is an early post to help you prepare your students to be ecologically minded citizens. Your students might enjoy the Planet Green Game. As you travel around town you are faced with challenges to reduced energy use at your home and at school. Planet Green Game is a well-done interactive game that introduces students to concepts of reducing our energy consumption by making simple changes in our daily lives

A Conference with Something for Everyone

The K12 Online Conference begins tomorrow. Beginning keynote is being delivered by David Warlick and will be released at midnight (my time) October 8. The K12 conference is delivered as downloadable digital video over the internet. There are 40 sessions available to anyone wanting to "Play with Boundaries" The conference has four strands, Classroom 2.0, New Tools, Professional Learning Networks, Obstacles to Opportunity.

Using PowerPoint for Animation

I am teaching a 2D Animation class over the IITV system which connects the school in our division. I am using Moodle and depending heavily on Bridgit and Skype. This allows the students to work at the computers in lab. My class includes students from two schools, 13 students. My course delivery is a work in progress that will be described on this blog.
We are starting a new topic in 2D involving animation and Powerpoint. We will be looking at many types of simple animation, so each topic is about 3 classes. There are four animation examples in this video from TILT.

First Things First: Technology Successes in the Primary Grades

Learning Word –she teaches them the tools of Word that they need to use
Inserting Clip Art

Writers Workshop –highlighter – edit other students work, they can show that they have made changes

Spelling Word Art

Templates – could be used in centers – more guided – save as document template, they will then have to save and make their changes, put it on the desktop

Internet

What to include in your web quest
Introduction
Tasks
Resources
Process
Evaluation
Conclusion
Use links to appropriate sites, your choice

Find ISTE upload and look up this presentation for PowerPoint

http://Webtech.cherokee.k12.ga.us/bascomb-es/anywalker/

Reading log – active database – printed in Access – student is to read a book every night and record it into the database.

Classroom Connections

PowerPoint

My Grade 2 Reflections – Teacher, Friends, Favorite Subject, Favorite Event
Templates
PowerPoint Slides
Interactive Games
Math Facts & Sight Word Practice
Jeopardy Games
Group Project Presentations
Transitioning – cloze sentences, answers come in later

Microsoft Publisher
Invitations to Parties
Picture Story Prompts – give them a picture, they write a story
Mother’s Day Cards

Storybook Weaver
Write your own stories and illustrations
Landforms
Space

Inspiration
Webs for Stories
Web for books – students can fill in the characters, setting

Kid Pix
Pictures to go with stories
Diagrams
Compound Words

Type to Learn

KidWorks
Write the stories and Kidworks will read it back to you.

Video Streaming
Download video and have the students respond to the video, make template that they will have to fill out.

MovieMaker
Take lots of pictures and put on website
Does technology increase student writing scores and attitudes?
PowerPoint presentation is on the ISTE website – type in Any Walker

Using Wikis in the Classroom

Presented by Adam Frey - Wikispaces and Vicki Davis - CoolCatTeacher Wiki

It is hard not to be impressed by Vicki's enthusiasm and effective use of wikis. She has developed two successful wiki projects - The Flat Classroom and The Horizon Project.

A wiki is a web page with an edit button
Blog - stream of journal entries
Wiki – collection of collaborative information
Faster,faster in HawaiianWikispaces has just added multiple editng

To add new page – put them in workspace surrounded with brackets

Widget – meebo

Why Wikis

• Free
• Runs on older computers
• Runs on slower internet
• Easy
• Technology – enables cooperative learning

Coolcatteacher.wikispaces.com

Use wikis – jigsaw, think pair share

Lesson summaries

Notes collaboration

Cooperative learning

Westwood.wikispaces.com/work+ex+5

Introductory & Exploratory projects

What’s a wiki – google it – to have it become their knowledge

Wikis are for facts

Blogs are for opinion

Photobucket is not searchable – great for students

Rewards – Vicki has an awards wiki – Award winning wikis

Classroom organization

Master Wikis

Small edits

Communicate

Use the history

Discuss

Refresh before writing

***doesn’t allow copying off the internet**

Students have editing names. Every student is responsible for their uses name.

Classroom Considerations

Making student accounts

Private vs public

Structure vs free form

Installation options

Moodle has a wiki option

Educationalwikis.wikispaces.com – teachers share examples

100,000 wikis free wikis for teachers

http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=38

Look at Wikis

Horizon Project Students

http://horizonproject.wikispaces.com

Look at rubric for this project

Training materials on the wiki

Educational Ning

Classroom run as wikicentric class

Clustrmaps

You can’t join Horizon Spaces – only experts can edit on this site – students that mastered the skills in Flat classroom

The Effective Web 2.0 Classroom – Coming of age 2.0

The Engaged Teacher

What is?

• Evoca
• Elluminate
• Ning
• IM
• Skype
• Twitter
• Wiki
• E-Mail
• Wikipedia
• Meebo
• Second Life
• Facebook
• Flickr
• Youtube
• Teachertube
• Google Video

Look at her wiki for more

Coolest Things to Embed

• Meebo
• Slideshare.net
• Youtube, teachertube,photobucket
• Odeo
• Toondoo.com
• www.airset.com
• delicious tags
• http://del.icio.us
• www.dr2ooo.com/tools/maps
• www1.meebo.com/rooms
• www.bubbl.us – like Kidspiration and can be embedded in your wiki
• voicethread.com
• edubloggercon.wikispaces.com
• www.librarything.com
• netvibes
• pageflakes
• www.slurl.com – embeds coordinates from SL, creates the URL, paste in the wiki

Have students create a creative commons license

Allow you to connect students all over the world in a new way.

Wiki on social networking

Flat Classroom Project – Used wikis as primary tool

Video Questions

What social networking skills do you use?

From the Bloggers Café

David Warlick’s Handout

http://tinyurl.com/2223v2

http://neoworx.com

A school that wikis together stays together.

RSS – have edits delivered to you