Week 8: May I Present . . .

Sick of PowerPoint? Yes, there are other presentation tools out there. To see how many just take a look (right) at the array of Web 2.0 tools tagged with the word presentation. Some require a download, so you and students could use them on your personal devices, but not on school computers. Others live entirely online--nothing to download.

For this week's post I'll feature two options and one resource you might not we aware of.

Google Documents has a presentation tool. (I know I said no more Google last week, but I can't help it.) It works pretty much just like an older version of PowerPoint. Its main virtue is that it's collaborative; something that PowerPoint definitely is not. Several people can view and edit the same presentation (up to 10 people can edit at the same time). Imagine that! Instead of your students saving their PowerPoints to the public drive or passing around a jump dirve, their team project can live online--they can access it from home and school! Another benefit is that when they share it with you, you can see the revision history. Did someone say they did all the work? Well, why not just take a look. NOTE: To use Google Presentations, you need a Google Account. To have a Google Account, you must be over 13*. Another NOTE: If you want to learn more about using the collaborative nature of Google Docs, make sure you attend the Summer Conference--we'll definitely have some classes.

And now for something entirely different! Prezi! You've got to see this one to believe it. (Here's the link to the Prezi pictured to the left.) It's a zooming, non-linear presentation editor. Unfortunately, Prezi restricts its use to those over 18*, so it's off bounds for most of our students. Nonethless, I can imagine some of you using it in place of PowerPoint for some of your own presentations. When I first started playing with Prezi last year (or was it the year before?) I faced a steep learning curve because I was so used to the linear format of PowerPoint. Nonetheless, I loved the idea. So much more interesting than a traditional powerpoint--watch the 1-minute video at their site to get the idea.

Finally, do you know about Slideshare? Slideshare is a presentation hosting site. Folks from all over upload and share presentations they've made. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Yes, someone probably already has made a presentation about your topic. I like browsing to see what's  available for my own learning, for examples of good (lots of images/little text) and (unfortunately) bad (few images/lots of text) presentation examples, and for slideshows I might be able to use myself.

Bonus: One more thing (sorry): Do you know about Pecha Kucha? Pecha Kucha is a presentation format devised in Tokyo in 2003. Presenters get 20 slides and 20 seconds to talk for each slide. The slides are forwarded automatically while the presenter speaks. Pecha Kucha Nights are held all over the world now. Maybe there's a Pecha Kucha Day coming to a classroom near you? Let me know, I'd love to come.

This week's assignment (choose one of the following):

1. Investigate Google Presentation, Prezi, or one of the other web 2.0 presentation tools. What do you think? Report back here.
2. Check out Slideshare's collection of presentations. Here's the link to their education section. What did you find? What could you contribute?

*I mentioned age requirements twice in this post. Why? Because we need to make sure we're aware of the age requirements sites have AND that we're having students comply with them. It's not okay to tell students to lie about their age in order to use a site. You can find age requirements in a site's Terms of Use. (Yes, you should be reading the Terms of Use--especially if you're using the site with students.)

Week 7: Can't Get Enough of Google

So, last week I asked you to submit some information using an embedded survey-like tool. (Thanks, by the way.) That tool was actually a Google Form which works with Google spreadsheets to help you collect information in a VERY EASY way. I embedded that form into the blog post, but I could have just as easily shared a link (like I did when I invited staff to submit session proposals for the summer conference). So, like I said, it's easy to create a form, but the best part is that as folks submit their information, that information is sent directly to a spreadsheet. You need a Google Account to create a form, but anyone can fill one out. Oh, and did I mention it's easy? Need convincing?

Here's a little video showing just how easy creating a form is.

Using Google Forms from 10Tech on Vimeo.

Anyone who has the link to your form can submit answers--respondents don't need a Google Account, so yes, using this with students of any age would be easy. Just post the link on your SWIFT site. You could probably even embed the code into your SWIFT site--I just haven't tried that yet. (If the words "embed code" just freaked you out, don't worry--no one expects you to do this.)

If Google Docs are new to you, you might want to learn a little more about them here.

So, for this week's assignment, two options (choose one or do both for extra credit*):

1. Give Google Forms a test run. Try it out and make one. Even if you only share it with your significant other, collect some responses. Come back here and tell us about your experience. OR
2. Can you imagine using Google Forms in your classroom/professional role? If so, how?

*No, there's not really any extra credit. :) But if it will help, I will put a star by your name in the "grade book."
Finally, I'll try not feature Google again next week. It's hard though, there are just so many cool things.

Week 6: Mid-term--How's it going?

Well, we're at the halfway point. How is it going?

For this week's assignment, I'm asking you to do three things:

1. Provide a little bit of information about your experience so far by answering these questions:
2. Revisit the previous two blog posts (find access to the archived posts in the lower right corner hand of this page), and read through folks' comments. Find at least one thing to comment on and "reply" to that comment by clicking "reply" and leaving an insight, answer, or suggestion to that comment. One of the benefits of blogging is the conversation it allows for. Imagine if we had done this class via email. I could have sent you each week's post in an email and you could have responded to me with a reply to that email. However, notice how much richer it is to see and respond to each other's thinking using the blog instead.

3. Leave a comment to this post with your "mid-term" reflection. Anything you want to share is fine, but here a few questions you might want to consider: How is this set up working for you? How does learning this way stack up next to more traditional ways of learning? Have you learned anything about the way you learn that might impact how you teach? Any suggestions for the second half of the class? Remember--commenting on someone else's post counts. And, of course, thank you for your feedback!

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bybri/2604493952/

Week 5: What a View!

Have you checked out Google Street View yet? You should because Google Street View has probably already checked out you! You’d be surprised where you and your class can go. Reading a book set in Iowa? Might as well “drive” down Temple Ave. in Shell Rock so that students can get a glimpse of the vast terrain. Or maybe “drive” by the Guggenheim on 5th Ave. in New York City. It’s easy—just visit Google Maps, plug in an address or just zoom in on an area you wish to “visit.” Look for the little yellow guy and drag him over to one of the street views that are available in that area (available streets will be highlighted in blue).

This week, tell us how you might use Google Street View in your classroom. Be creative! It’s not just a mapping tool. When I looked at my house using Street View, I was able to use clues (evidence) in the view to determine the day and time (well, I narrowed it down to a 4-hour period) they must have driven down my street.

OR

If there isn't a way you could use Street View, visit the Google for Educators page or the Google blog (side note: it's really amazing what Google offers beyond search) to to learn about some of the other great resources Google offers that might be useful to you and your students. Let us know what you find and how you might use it.

Week 4: Seek and Ye Shall Find (a Threaded Discussion Add-on for Your Blog)

Many of you are already using the discussion feature of your SWIFT site to host online discussions with students. Some teachers use it as homework prior to an in-class discussion and some as a way to extend lessons beyond the school day. If you want to learn more about using the discussion feature of SWIFT, see page nine of the SWIFT User Guide. One of the limitations of the SWIFT discussion feature, however, is that the discussions aren’t threaded. This means that as students post comments, the comments simply appear in chronological order, making it difficult for a student (or the teacher) to respond to a particular comment that may have appeared early on in the discussion. Threaded discussions allow people to respond to particular comments; they allow the conversation to branch off into different directions.

Unfortunately, Blogger (the tool we’re using for this class/blog) also doesn’t offer threaded discussions, making it difficult for me (or you) to reply directly to someone’s comment. However, a solution has been found! I have uploaded a third party application that will now allow for threaded commenting from this point forward on the blog. Yippee! You’ll notice when you comment this week that the interface looks a little different—but fear not, all you’ll need to do is type in your name and email address when you post your comment. (And, if you see someone else’s comment you’d like to comment on, go ahead—that can count as your comment.)

So this week’s lesson has two themes (see below). Chose one to comment on this week (each theme has two prompts to choose from).

Theme 1: Using online discussions (SWIFT or other tool) with students

a. If you have experience with online discussions, what tips do you have to share? What have been the benefits?

OR

b. What might be some ways you could incorporate online discussions into your class? If you’re new to this tool, what questions do you have for those who already use it?

Theme 2: If you believe it should be possible, it probably is—all you have to do is look.
(Back story: I knew Blogger didn’t offer threaded discussions, but I figured that I’m not the only person who wished it did, so I Googled “adding threaded discussion to Blogger.” That led me to a blog post about third party applications I could add to the blog to increase interactivity. That’s where I learned about Intense Debate—the application I’m using to provide threaded discussion for our class on this blog. Within 15 minutes I had followed the step-by-step directions for editing the blog template, copied and inserted the HTML, and—voila!—we had threaded comments on the blog. Did I really know what I was doing? No. I don’t know HTML. I don’t know how to edit a blog’s internal template. But I do know how to search for an answer to a question/challenge I have AND I know how to follow directions. That’s all it took.)

I offer this as evidence that there is a solution out there for most of our challenges if we look and are willing to invest in a little risk taking. If I had seen this issue as a problem, I might have just begrudgingly accepted my plight (no threaded commenting) and would not have investigated further. However, I felt comfortable taking matters into my own hands and did some self-directed learning—something I think we (and our students) are going to be expected to do more and more of in this new digital world. In my role, I am confronted by this reality day after day, yet every time I am amazed and delighted. What about you?

a. Share a time you went online with a question/challenge and “taught” yourself how to do something new.

OR

b. Do it now . . . what’s a question/challenge you have in your class right now? Go online and look for your solution. How did it go?