Topics #3 & #4

TOPIC #3
Poll Everywhere

I have not used Poll Everywhere in class but was exposed to it in a technology workshop. It obviously will be come more and more useful as more students have cell phones with unlimited texting. Since you only get one vote per cell phone/computer students could not share cell phones with each other to vote. Since it does allow for other methods it would allow for students who don't have cell phones to vote. I made a quick survey about one of my colleagues. Of course the real key as to whether this gets used in class is how the teacher is using the poll - does the teacher want to survey the students over the course of a day or two or does the teacher want to survey the students in class and provide immediate feedback/have a discussion about the question/s. It will all depend on ease of use.

This jogged my mind into something else I've been wanting to look into which is often mentioned on Twitter - QR Codes. Steven Anderson (who has some great technology things) has let up a Livebinder on QR Codes in Education http://livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=51894. I really need to investigate QR codes

Hot Potatoes
I downloaded Hot Potatoes and checked out the formats for doing quizzes. It looks like a really nice program. I couldn't figure out how to get the quiz to be posted on the internet - it was late at night and I will need to go back and check it out. I am wondering if it records student scores somewhere like making a quiz on Google Forms does?

TOPIC #4
Story Jumper
This is certainly a fun program and easy to use. The characters are somewhat "youngish" for junior high level students doing a history project. I tried it out and made a one page book about Bigfoot. I really like how it actually looks like it is turning the pages. As always - sometimes the amount of time students spend with these fun and creative web 2.0 programs takes away from the time that they are using analyzing history so I always caution students - "This isn't a technology class and if you find yourself spending too much time with all of the fun gadgets, you may want to find a program that will not distract you."

Topics #1 and #2

Prezentit http://prezentit.com/

I looked at Prezentit and wanted to see how it was different from Powerpoint other than being an online program so I asked the question and was taken to several links: Kwiki/Prezentit and Purdue Wiki I have used the online presentation program Zoho with my students the past few years. It is easy for students to use. I've never had students collaborate on it but they can. I don't know if it's like Google docs though where you invite people to collaborate on your project. Toward the end of the school year, a student showed me Google Docs Presentation. I use Google Docs but was not aware that there was a Presentation part to it. I should have had students use that (or Zoho) because they were making collaborative presentation and had to put their slides together (from Powerpoint) in the end. I thanked the student and told him how silly I was to have the students using Powerpoint. To summarize - I would put Prezentit in the same category as Zoho or Google Docs Presentation. I do like that Prezentit has a feature that allows for students to comment on a presentation. (See second link above).

JayCut

I again wanted to see how JayCut compared to Imovie and Moviemaker. We have had to use Zamzar to convert files on Imovie so it would be nice if students did not have to convert files. Another huge plus is that JayCut can be worked on anywhere and the student is not tied to one computer. The link above explains some of the troubles that JayCut has when editing. I plan to have a student in summer school who as used Imovie extensively compare JayCut to IMovie to see what the pros and cons are.

Cloud Canvas

Cloud Canvas appears to have some great features in terms of a drawing tool/photo editing program. Once nice thing is that it integrates with Google Docs: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/07/cloud-canvas-edit-and-create-images.html. Teaching 8th graders, I was a little concerned by the section on the side which is called Deviant Art which has some statement about the mature content of some of the pictures. I do not usually use drawing programs in class however I am interesting in finding out how it compares with Adobe Photoshop. One blogger states that Cloud Canvas has a long ways to go before it will replace Adobe Photoshop:

Splashup

I again am interested in how Splashup compares to Photoshop. We use Adobe Photoshop in conjunction with QuarkXpress when students are creating our oral history books and they have to gray-scale the pictures. It would certainly be very helpful if Splashup will work with QuarkXpress.

Who Needs Photoshop When You Can Have Splashup

Splashup vs. Photosho