1. 10 Best Uses of the Internet Shea Dunn IDT 7064, M51 11/1/11
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3. Electronic databases give students access to information beyond what is physically in the library. http://tntel.tnsos.org Technology type: online databases
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5. Students and teachers can share and add information and keep group information in one place. http://pbworks.com/ Technology type: Wiki
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8. Presentation tool that uses frames and zooming instead of slides Technology type: multimedia presentation http://www.prezi.com
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10. Like Facebook but created to be a secure place for students to share text, video, audio, and events under teacher supervision http://www.edmodo.com/ Technology type: Social Networking
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12. Add variety to lessons by including short video clips pertaining to the lesson http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com Technology Type: Streaming Video
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14. Take notes online, organize them, search them, and access them anywhere http://evernote.com/ Technology Type: Productivity Application
22. Students can post teacher-moderated comments http://tweentribune.com Technology Type: Website, Online Commenting
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24. Teachers can find and create WebQuests that combine real world tasks, collaboration, and guided research http://zunal.com Technology Type: WebQuest
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Notes de l'éditeur
My name is Shea Dunn I am an English teacher and future school library media specialist I will be sharing what I believe to be the 10 best uses of the internet and tools that teachers can integrate into their classrooms
Internet research allows students much more access then they would have if they were depending solely on the resources housed in the school One tool for Tennessee residents is the Tennessee Electronic Library It gives students access to a collection of online databases Students have access to journal articles, newspaper articles, and other resources including World Book Online.
Collaboration is another use of the internet. Teaching students to collaborate online is a very important workplace readiness skill, and it also helps keep students organized during group projects because they all have their materials in one place. One wiki tool that I like is PBWorks. PBWorks does have a classroom option where the teacher can register students without email addresses. The students can add and edit text and the teacher can see who contributes what. The picture is a screen shot of a wiki using this tool.
Creative Publishing and Presenting is another use of the internet. Asking students to demonstrate their learning by creating multimedia products keeps them engaged and stretches their skills. It is a good alternative to the traditional essay which is important but not the only product that students should be asked to create. Using multimedia effectively is a skill that students will probably need for their future classes and careers. One tool that I like to use is Animoto. Animoto allows students to create videos combining images, audio, and text. I have included a link to a sample video from the Animoto website. Animoto does have an educator account option.
I couldn't choose just one publishing and presenting tool. I also wanted to discuss Prezi. Prezi goes beyond traditional multimedia slide show software by using non-linear sequencing, zooming, and frames. It is a little more challenging to use, but the results are worth it. The students can really be creative when making a presentation on Prezi.
Social networking is a very important part of students life, and as educators we want to tap into that. Unfortunately, many of the social networks that students use at home are not secure enough for school purposes.That's where edmodo comes in. It allows the teacher to set up a safe space for students to share video, pictures, audio, and events with each other. Teachers can also share with the students and with other teachers. Parents can also be a part of the class edmodo.
Integrating multimedia into lessons is an important part of lesson design because it helps add variety, keep the students engaged, and learn the material better. A resource for multimedia that I like to use is Discovery education streaming. This is a good place to get educational images and video clips. They provide full length videos, but I prefer to use the shorter video clips that they provide. This is a subscription service.
While students in K12 classrooms might not be to the point where they are taking class notes on laptops, notetaking is a part of online research and assignments, so it is good to have an online notetaking application. Many of my students have a hard time keeping up with papers, so having everything online helps them to stay organized. Evernote is an online notetaking application where you can take notes categorize them, and search for them later. Evernote also allows you to take a picture of text, save it to evernote, and search for it as well. The screen shot is of my evernote account so you can see the layout.
Online assessments can be a good change of pace for students, and it is beneficial because it gives them instant feedback rather than having to wait on the teacher to grade the test. Hot Potatoes is a program that allows you to create an assessment for your students with custom questions, answers, and feedback.
As 21 st Century teachers, there is no need for us to be chained to our textbook. The internet is a great place for teachers to get creative and student-centered lesson plans. One resource for lesson plans is Thinkfinity. Thinkfinity allows you to search for lesson plans based on subject, grade level, and standard.
Another way to break away from the textbook is to use the internet to provide students with supplementary readings that will be more interesting to them. I like to use the Tween Tribune and Teen Tribune because it provides relevant and accessible news stories for the students and allows them to post teacher moderated comments to stories. This teaches the students how to appropriately use an online news site which is a real world skill.
My final use for the internet is WebQuests. WebQuests combine a real world task with collaboration and guided internet research, and if it is done well, it can be a really powerful educational experience for the student. Zunal is a free WebQuest library and creation tool. You can search for user created webquests or create your own using their templates.
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