Using Webspiration to show how social tools are useful in education

This is a web-diagram I created to explain how social tools can be useful in education. Each tool, 5 total, has an example that directly relates to how it can be used to assist students and teachers in- and outside the classroom.

Click here to view the web-diagram

Designing Instructional Media

Instructional media is an important tool for presenting information. Many people use PowerPoint to create their instructional media, in the form of a slide show. It is important that the media is easy to read and follow or you will lose your audience. It is not a good idea to have yellow text on a white background- it is hard to see. And it is also not a good idea to have words and sentences that are not aligned- they are hard to follow.

In teaching, instructional media is used all of the time. Most lectures have a supplemental PowerPoint so that students can both listen to the lecture and follow along on the screen. It is also used for visual representation of an idea.

Below, I have an example of a good, easy to read and follow page of text and also a bad, hard to read and follow page of text. As you can probably see, the first page is more appealing and would keep your attention for a longer period of time (which is the goal).

Technology

Technology is quickly growing. This video, used in class, points out some major eye-openers about how technology is going to shape the near, and far, future. It is important to keep up with the new technology since it is changing so often. Some people are scared of the changes that technology is bringing about, but it shouldn't be about being scared, just keeping up with it. Once you lag behind, I think it would be hard to catch up.

Especially in education, where the computers and technology stay updated, it is important to stay updated with them. It will not be uncommon for students to know more about the new technology than the teachers do- it is not uncommon now.

This video basically sates what I have written above. Interviews of parents show that the parents are sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of new technology that has emerged and are trying to keep up with it so that they:

1. Can relate to their children who use this technology, and

2. Stay up-to-date and aren't left out.

On a less serious note, this is a funny video I found on YouTube that relates to new technology.

Blogging

Blogging is kind of like a diary online. You are able to "publish" posts so that others can read them. A blog can be anywhere from your everyday life, to a trip you took across the country, to a music blog where you post your favorite songs of the week. Blogs are an easy way to share information with people and others are allowed to comment on it.

Blogging could be a good tool to use in the classroom. Instead of assigning a writing prompt and asking students to bring their paper to class, the students can post the paper to their own blog. Not only does this save paper but other students can them peer review them easy. Also, the papers are all located in the same spot for easy access.

The video below has a section in it where the creator of the video interviews teachers and asks how they use blogs. The responses they give are also good examples of how to use a blog in the classroom.

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is a way to organize photos in a way that presents them as a story-line, or a short movie that tells a story. These can be made on iMovie, Animoto, PowerPoint, GoAnimate, and others.

Digital storytelling could make for a very good introduction for a lesson. Using a short movie, the students would be interested in how the lesson plays into the storyline. Rather than a plain, boring list of objectives for the lesson, this adds the attention-grabbing elements that students need.

This article tells how digital storytelling is beneficial to students. It mentions that videos can help students with a variety of learning styles by venturing out of the note-taking scheme.

Photoshop

Photoshop is a useful tool if you have a picture and want to add or delete something from it. For example, if you have a photo of a group of friends and accidentally captured a passerby, you can easily delete that person from the photo. Alternatively, if a friend missed out on a trip, you can Photoshop them into the photo, making it look like they were actually there.

You can also add different backgrounds to photos making it look like you were someplace really cool, like the moon :)

Photoshop is a cool tool to use. I don’t think I could use this much in the field of education, though. However, it is a lot of fun to play with. I could see Photoshop being useful for advertisement majors. In Photoshop, it is easy to add and delete components of images, as well as to edit the image itself. This could be a good marketing tool.

I chose this picture because I think it represents a good example of adding a background to a picture. I made this picture in Photoshop and it portrays me on the moon.

Podcasts in Teaching

This is a podcast that I made. As a teacher, I could use this for students who have questions about material. For example, in a math class I would teach a lesson, do some examples/classwork, and assign homework. Every night I would have a time where I would be checking my email and if the students have questions about the homework problems, they should email me.
After my time checking emails, I would create a podcast that answered all of the student's questions. This way, I would not be repeating solutions to the same questions for different students and this could give students a more thorough understanding of the material.

exampleEME - Amanda Sniscak