 diigo with emphasis on how diigo allows you to highlight and save portions of a webpage and how to set up groups. It is 9 minutes long, but worthy of your time after you have had a chance to get comfortable with the two sites independently.
Are you collecting lots of usernames and passwords for all your tools? Try hard to use the same information as much as possible. You may want to keep a record close by. What about a Google Docs so that you can access the information from any computer?
You have used a wiki if you have ever been to Wikipedia, the best know wiki on the web!
It is a webpage with special formatting that allows you to collaborate with others while sharing and storing information. You may have already used the SBISD 21st Century Learner Wiki on some of the other assignments and not realized you were in a wiki! Maybe you have had occasion to use the SBISD Curriculum Wiki for other technology learning adventures?
Here is a CommonCraft video that explains what a wiki is.
Oftentimes, you will encounter wikis on the web that look very informal, seem outdated and are abandoned. That it because they were originally meant to be temporary working spaces.
But as with many things on the web, wikis have become more "permanent!" In education, they are very useful for groups of teachers sharing and storing information and great places for students to work together, whether they are across the classroom, the district, the country or the world! Take a look here for classroom ideas for wikis.
Look on the side bar of this blog to see a list of wikis that will show you how wikis can be used. You will notice that there are several wiki sources available for you to use. PBWorks (formerly known as PBWiki) and Wikispaces. They both have free wikis for k-12 audiences and each has it own stong points. Check them out!
Goggle also has a wiki piece called Google Sites.
See if there would be any advantages to using this resource over the other free wiki sources mentioned above.
Here are several tutorials from Atomic Learning that will help you with ideas for a wiki and how to set one up.
For your Tool #6 Assignment:
IN YOUR BLOG post, discuss how students might use wikis to aid in their learning. Did any of the sample wikis you viewed give you any particular ideas for using a wiki in your classroom for students. How about for and your team or department?
Congratulations! You are more than half-way to filling up your toolbox!
Here is an overview of what digital storytelling is using a similar format to the Common Craft videos.
By creating digital stories, students have to locate resources, synthesize information, and pull many things like words, images and even music together to create the final product.
For the purposes of this exercise, you may choose to use PhotoStory on the Dell or I-Movie on the MacBook to create a sample. If you are receiving MacBooks and have not ever made an I-movie, it is highly advised that you create one during this learning session!
Here are some resources about digital storytelling:
Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling
Digital Storytelling Finds Its Way into the Classroom
The Elements of Digital Storytelling
A book review made in PhotoStory.
A second grade group project made in PhotoStory.
For your Tool #7 Assignment:
1. Create a PhotoStory or I-Movie.
These resources are already loaded on to your district-issued computers.
The sample can be something you might use in class, a sample a student might create, or something for you personally.
I-Movie tutorial help. More iMovie help. PhotoStory help. More PhotoStory help. Atomic Learning PhotoStory tutorials (district password required)
2. Include pictures, music, and text and/or voice-over in your digital story.
Each resource has music contained within it, but here are some copy-right friendly free music sources: Incompetech, FreePlayMusic, Soundzabound
You should not use music from CDs you have without getting permission...all that music is copy-right protected!
3. Upload the finished product to your blog. If it is a PhotoStory, be sure you saved it as a 