Monday, December 19, 2011

Scribd

A great web tool that allows you to save, view, and share documents is Scribd. Try it out: Scribd Website. I like to use this site to upload and share my notes, papers, or stories. The easy access to my papers allows me to project my text to my SMART board, Promethean board, or Mimio with the simple click of a link. This is also great for sending documents and sharing documents for students with 1:1 laptop.

Bring animation to the classroom!

A lot of people have probably heard about Xtranormal, a fun program used to create animations and stories. A lot of you probably have not heard as much about Go Animate or Voki. I believe these programs are more user friendly and more suited for education. These tools can be used to teach material, act out important concepts and information, or to grab students' attention. Go Animate is a story creator that has a lot to offer. You can pick characters, scenes, voices, and motions to portray content. The following link is an example of one of my Go Animate creations I used to get students excited about the Caspian Sea region: Mr. D Go Animate example. Voki works much like Go Animate except that there are not as many options. Voki is basically a stationary scene that allows the character in it to talk and provide information. You can change the background and character type, but you can not create stories. The following link is an example of one of my Voki creations: Mr. D Voki example.

Vuvox

Here is something new that a lot of people do not know about. Try Vuvox, an interactive and motion based tool that you can use for explaining, presenting, or talking about material in class. It moves in a belt type fashion, perfect for presenting material in chronological order or in a story based format. In the following example, I created one that went along with the class reading on Russian culture: Mr. D Vuvox example.

Mr. Tom the Cat

Yeah sure, Tom the Cat is a fun app that a lot of people enjoy, but can you use it for teaching? Yes you can! Tom the Cat is an app found on both Apple and Android formats that provide people with constant entertainment. The basis for this app is for Tom the Cat to repeat whatever you say in a fun voice with entertaining animation. You can say whatever you want to Tom and he will repeat exactly what you say in his voice with fun enthusiasm. You can choose to record this process and post the videos on You Tube or convert them to a file. As a teacher, I have found a lot of entertainment using this for class. I can use it for a lot of things, one example would be how I read some of the classroom text or notes to Tom and record him saying them. I then embed the recording into a webpage or presentation tool and have Tom repeat these readings to the students. This works great for summarizing readings or important information. The video above is an example I created about transportation.

Tired of Powerpoint?

For those of you out there who have about had it with Powerpoint or who really want to try something else, there are alternatives out there. Powerpoint has its place in education, this is true, but why not try something new and fun. There are several Web. 2.0 replacements for Powerpoint out there. These programs give you a fresh new way of presenting and teaching material to students. Rather than just going through slides you can instead inspire the students with interactive pictures, maps, and videos with Glogster Edu. This web tool allows the teacher to use an interactive poster platform to move through the information and create interactive discussions and activities with the students. The following link is an example of one of my Glogster creations: Mr. D Glogster Example.  Another fun presentation tool is Prezi. This is a zooming tool that allows you to jump around an open canvas of information. In the canvas you can put links, pictures, videos, and text. The following link is an example of one of my Prezi creations: Mr. D Prezi Example.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Blabberize

If you want to add a little extra fun to your history lesson or social studies lesson, why not try having important historical characters teach the kids? You can do this with Blabberize. This tool is a fun and easy way to manipulate any photograph and make it talk. Simply upload a photo, make adjustments for the mouth to move, and record audio for the voice. It is simple and fun! Link to Blabberize: http://blabberize.com/