Glogster* is a Web 2.0 application that allows students (and teachers too!) to create their own multimedia glogs (graphic blogs). Most of us probably grew up making posters using makers and a sheet of poster board. If you were lucky, maybe you had some stencils to use for you lettering and some snazzy stickers to decorate it. Glogster has completely changed the way that students create posters. It goes beyond just putting together text and pictures. It is truly a multimedia experience with audio and video as well.
One great Web 2.0 application is Google Drive. It is web-based storage, which means that the files that you store on there are available anyplace where you have Internet access. It also syncs the files between your devices. If you're like me, you have multiple devices. With Google Drive, I can start a project at school and pick up exactly where I left off on my personal laptop. I can even view it from my smartphone or tablet. If it's a group project, I can share it my classmates with ease. I don't have to worry about my hard drive crashing, losing a flash drive, or trying to e-mail an attachment.
Sketchlot is another fun Web 2.0 application. It works like a collaborative whiteboard. Students may share their sketches with their teacher and classmates. Drawing on tablets would be a fun change of pace for students. It's not just for art class either. Sketchlot could be used to draw diagrams and models in other subject areas too. It's totally free and only the teacher has to sign up for an account.
* The PowerPoint presentation contains a short video. It seems to only load correctly in PowerPoint (not in the web browser). It's also available here.
Hi Megan, long-time reader, first time commentor... not really but it felt funny.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to start in reverse...
I really liked Sketchlot the demo was informative and fun. I'll have to ruminate on possible uses for an English class... I can think of uses for my writing. Like Google drive (disclaimer I'm a shill for google, ha!) its seem to be useful, wish I would have thought of it for dropping my power point on. Students wouldn't need to carry drives back & forth, from home to school, no excuses about forgetting work.
Glogster is very cool! Lots of uses in any classroom, any age. maybe we should include it as part of our webquest? Nice power point, like the layout, colors and graphics. You seem to have a very good handle on power point, I envy your skill.