This document introduces several new web 2.0 tools that can be used for education including Voki, Vocaroo, Tagxedo, 50 Word Stories, Storybird, and Vialogues. It provides a brief description of each tool and examples of curriculum connections. The presenter is a social studies teacher and library science student who encourages educators to explore these technologies to engage students and teach 21st century skills.
1. Voice Tools, Word Clouds, Digital
Voice Threads, Word
Storytelling, and Media Sharing….Oh
Clouds, and Digital
My!
Storytelling….Oh My!
2. What can you expect to
learn?
• New, innovative web 2.0 tools such as:
Voki
Vocaroo
Tagxedo
50 Word Stories
Storybird
Vialogues
*High School Curriculum Connections with each
3. About Me…
• Social Studies
Teacher
• Current Library
Science Student
4. How Can You Use These
Tools?
• Students are plugged
in!
• Teachers want and
need you!
• 21st century thinking
skills require using
technology!
5. Voki
• Talking Avatar
– Able to embed into
PowerPoint
2010, Glogster, webpages
, blogs,etc.
• Curriculum Connections:
– History—students can
become the historical
figure—using first person
– English—online book talk
– Science—Explain the
Scientific Method
6. Vocaroo
• Create audio recordings
• No account needed!
• Can embed, email file, or
download as a
MP3, Ogg, FLAC, or
WAV file
• Curriculum Connections:
*Health—explain digestion
*Geometry—explain a proof
*Art—explain the meaning of
a portrait
7. Tagxedo
• Word Cloud Tool
• Choose from a variety of
shapes, fonts, and
colors!
• Curriculum Connections:
– Health—Functions of
body parts (anatomy)
– Biology—The Human Cell
– Family Living—Steps to a
recipe, etc.
8. 50 Word Stories
• Website is all text
• Provides examples for
students
Curriculum Connections:
– All classes—First Day of
School Ice Breaker!
– History—Summary of
Historical Figure or Event
– English—in lieu of ―THE
ESSAY‖
9. Storybird
• Digital storytelling tool
• Choice of characters and
page set up
• Curriculum connections:
– Biology—life cycles
– History—
biographies, summaries of
events/people
– Algebra—Factoring
– English—endless
possibilities!
10. Vialogues
• Media Sharing Tool
• Curriculum Connections:
– Make videos interactive!
– Videos can become
homework assignments!
– Participation from all
students (no more heads
down during videos!)
11. Questions?
• Feel free to ask
questions about the
tools presented!
12. Links for Tools
• 50 Word Stories—
www.fiftywordstories.com
• Storybird—www.storybird.com
• Tagxedo—www.tagxedo.com
• Vialogues—www.vialogues.com
• Vocaroo—www.vocaroo.com
• Voki—www.voki.com
14. Looking forward…
• Explore technology!
• Familiarize yourself!
• Continue to build on
your knowledge base!
15. Works Cited
• 50 Word Stories—"50-Word Stories." FiftyWordStories.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2012.
<http://fiftywordstories.com/>.
• Overhead Projector Image-- "Petri Dish Chronicles." : Birthing Basics. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug.
2012. <http://petridishchronicles.blogspot.com/2012/05/because-of-momentary-but-huge-lapse-
in.html>.
• Powerpoint Template--"Free PowerPoint Templates." 2000 Free Powerpoint Templates PPT and
Free PowerPoint Backgrounds. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2012. <http://www.fppt.com/>.
• Storybird—"Storybird - Artful Storytelling." Storybird - Artful Storytelling. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug.
2012. <http://www.storybird.com/>.
• Students using Ipads--InArkansas.com." Students Use Arkansas Next, IPads in the Classroom.
N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2012. <http://www.inarkansas.com/27039/students-use-arkansas-next-
ipads-in-the-classroom>.
• Tagxedo--"Tagxedo." Tagxedo. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2012. <http://www.tagxedo.com/Voki—
Voki Home." Voki Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2012. <http://www.voki.com/>.
• Vocaroo—"Vocaroo | Online Voice Recorder." Vocaroo | Online Voice Recorder. N.p., n.d. Web.
05 Aug. 2012. <http://www.vocaroo.com/>.
• Vialogues—"The Start of a Meaningful Conversation." Vialogues : Meaningful Discussions
around Video. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2012. <https://vialogues.com/>.
• Wizard of Oz Picture-- "Bryant Park Blog: Classic Film Reviews: The Wizard of Oz." Bryant Park
Blog: Classic Film Reviews: The Wizard of Oz. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2012.
<http://blog.bryantpark.org/2012/06/classic-film-reviews-wizard-of-oz_29.html>.
Notes de l'éditeur
Good Morning/Good Afternoon! Welcome to Voice Tools, Word Clouds, and Digital Storytelling….Oh My! “Oh my” may be what a lot of you are thinking right now as you think about what the terms (voice tools, word clouds, digital storytelling) mean to you in regards you may feel like you need to sharpen your skills in these areas. By the end of the presentation, hopefully, you can walk away with a better grasp on what new web 2.0 tools are available that can enable teachers and teacher-librarians to integrate more technology into their curriculum using these tools. (1 min)
As to not overload you, we are going to cover six new web 2.0 tools that can be utilized by teachers and librarians alike. First, we’ll discuss the audio tools/voice tools of “Voki” and “Vocaroo.” We will then move into a word cloud program named, “Tagxedo.” Thirdly, we will move to digital storytelling tools called “50 Word Stories” and “Storybird.” Finally, we will look at a video program called, “Vialogues.” I will providing high school curriculum connections as I present each tool to illustrate how the tool could be used in the high school setting. (1 min)
Hi everyone! I am Jennifer Ludford, a social studies teacher, and current Library-Science Student at Old Dominion University. Here I am with one of my colleagues working with a bookmarking tool we used for a digital curation project. I am a wife and mother to three young boys. (30 seconds)
Technology is changing everyday and some of you, including me, may feel a little overwhelmed at times. Blogs, wikis, websites, QR codes, etc., etc, can make your head spin and as school librarians you may find it hard to get a grasp on all the new tools available. I UNDERSTAND that! This is why I am only going to cover six tools in today’s presentation. These are tools you can leave here and use AND get your teachers to use relatively easy! Students today are plugged in via cell phone, Ipod, Ipad, etc., and it is important we harness that energy and excitement into learning across the curriculum. Teachers do not have time on their own to find new tech tools, that is part of our job. Whether they vocalize it or not, they want and need our help. If they haven’t vocalized it, they will once they see the curriculum potentials that can be met in the library and with technology. Finally, we are in a new age, 21st century critical thinking skills require the use of technology. Whether you are from a school that has limited technology or an abundance of technology at the moment, BYOD plans are in the making, in use, or on the horizon and online tech tools are part of the territory. (2 min)
What is Voki? –an online audio tool that allows students/teachers/staff to give a voice to an avatar (online character/cartoon) Voki can be embedded into numerous types of media (PowerPoint 2010, Glogster, webpages, blogs, etc.) providing students and staff with numerous ways their “Voki” and information can be presented. Let’s take a look at a Voki I created for my library science website….Curriculum Connections—History classes—Teachers can assign historical figures to students and using Voki, they can find/design their avatar to look like the historical figure and answer questions/present information in the first person Ex. Thomas Jefferson presenting points of the Declaration of Independence. In English class—teachers can prompt students with a series of questions from a book they are reading and students can create their Vokis to answer the questionsScience—Students can use Vokis to explain their understanding of the Scientific Method, an experiment they completed, etc. (5min)
Here is another voice tool/audio tool that is really easy to use. All you need is a microphone, I used a headset. No account setup is necessary. The file can be embedded, emailed, or downloaded into one of the forms seen here. It is simple and easy to use. Either of the audio tools we’ve discussed, Voki or Vocaroo gives the shy student a medium to express their ideas as well as allowing all students another way to be assessed rather than using pen and paper. Here are a few curriculum examples where Vocaroo could be used. In Health, students could record the digestive process and email the file to their teacher. In Geometry, a student could explain a “proof” and elaborate on why they chose certain theorems. In art class, students could use Vocaroo to explain the symbolism in a painting/history of the painting, etc. Again, we can listen to audio I recorded as I played around with this tool. (3 min)
Moving on to Word Clouds, here is a new tool called Tagxedo. With a show of hands, how many of you are familiar with Wordle? Wordle is a word cloud tool as well, but I like how Tagxedo gives the user more creative options. As you can see here (click to link) students can choose shapes for their word clouds. I used Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech to create a Tagxedo and used a simple voice bubble. However, a ninth grade health student may choose a heart shape to describd the functions of the heart. A Biology student could choose a circular shape to explain parts of a cell. A student in family living/family life may choose another shape, say a square or a fork, to list steps of a recipe, etc. Tagxedo allows a students creativity to show through the types of shapes, colors, font they use. (3 min)
A change of pace here is “50 Word Stories.” “50 Word Stories” is a unique website that teachers can use to spur creativity among their students. It is NOT a program to use, but a site where you can submit your story. If chosen, it can be published on the site. I have given examples of how a few different classes could use “50 Word Stories,” History teachers could ask students to summarize a historical figure in 50 words using the first or third person. English classes could benefit from this tool as well with the teacher asking student to create epitaphs, summaries, etc., for authors and/or scenes from a play/summary of a chapter/book. All classes could use “50 Word Stories” as a way for students to introduce themselves to each other as an icebreaker activity during the first days of school. (3 min)
Now let’s take a look at digital storytelling. There are lots of tools already out there that you may be familiar with such as PhotoStory and Animoto. Here let’s take a look at a new tool called “Storybird.” Storybird allows the user to choose from a gallery of characters to illustrate their story. Pre-made templates are available for use for text and pictures. The great thing about Digital Storytelling tools are they provide endless opportunities for teachers on any level and any subject. The age old poster board project can now be converted to a digital story using programs like Storybird. Examples I’ve provided include the life cycle project in Biology could be made using Storybird. History teachers could have students create a children’s book on an event, just as I did above. Let’s take a look at the link now, I created a very simple summary of the French Revolution. Algebra teachers could have students explain how to factor using storybird. Writing across the curriculum is a goal across all levels and subjects and now digital storytelling tools such as Storybird are making it easier for teachers to implement this critical thinking element into their curriculum if they have struggled before. In saying that, I’m thinking of subjects like Math where “essays” have not been the standard means of measurement, but are now becoming a larger part of assessement. Finally, as for English teachers, the possibilities are endless, students could create poems, short stories, summaries of chapters or books, culminating projects, etc. (5 min)
The last tool that I wanted to show you is Vialogues. Vialogues is a media sharing tool that allows your video to become interactive! Yes, we’ve all used videos in the classroom and no matter how riveting we’ve felt the clip or video to be there is always a kid who puts his/her head down just because you said, “Now, we’re going to watch a clip of video.” This tool ends this problem because it requires students to leave comments about the video, answer/ask questions about the video online. Toss out the paper video guide. The greatest thing about this program is it allows teachers to maximize class time, because video clips could become homework assignments allowing teachers to possibly show more of a clip than normal OR varying clips on a subject. Here is a link to a Vialogues I created for a “Library Rap” video I found that I thought would be fitting for today. (5-6 min)
We’ve covered six great technology tools today. Does anyone have any questions? (Allow time for Q and A). (3-5 min)
Here are links for today’s tools. (30 seconds)
Bookmarking tools are always great to have to save all of your useful links as well as providing yourself with some notes/annotations as to why the link is important. Here is a link to my LiveBinders site which includes all of the links to the programs we’ve seen today. You can also find tutorial pages for some of the tools we’ve seen today to help you embed the tool, etc. Let’s take a look at the actual binder. (3 min)
As you look at the top picture, many of us can remember when the overhead projector was “new” technology whether we were the teachers utilizing it or the students learning from it. Times have changed and Ipads, Promethean Boards, and BYOD plans are the “new” technology. The tools you’ve seen today can be accessed and utilized from these devices and causing students to use their critical thinking skills. Don’t feel as if you have to be an expert in every area of technology and with every tool. I encourage you to explore what is out there, familiarize yourself with a few new programs each school year, which will help you continue to build on your knowledge base. Share this knowledge with teachers in your school and as they find new programs they will share alike. We must remember we are not just librarians, but teacher-librarians. Thank you! (2 min)