Anne-Marie Gordon posted on LM_NET about two new tools recently and agreed to share her information with you today.
A question (on LM_NET) about web 2.0 tools reminded me that I wanted to share a couple of web 2.0 discoveries. Both make interactive media that be embedded into an existing website, but if you don’t maintain a website, you can simply share the link to the pages your students make. Both tools need no web-making experience.
I’ve seen VoiceThread mentioned a couple times on LM_Net, but if you haven’t looked at it yet, and you like interactive media, take a look. They have a free-to-everybody version, but they’ve recently introduced a K-12 network that costs a one-time $10 fee. The link is http://ed.voicethread.com. It essentially makes a slideshow, but a very jazzy one–you can use images, audio, video, or text. There’s a social component, because you can have students comment on one another’s work. It’s very easy to use. Here’s a VoiceThread some of my third graders made about a traditional Japanese craft:
http://ed.voicethread.com/#u16209.b55184.i297972
The second site is a free web-based tool called Glogster, at www.glogster.com. It’s a website that lets you make what’s essentially an online poster, which can include still images, sound, video clips, text, and hyperlinks. The beauty of it is that I can design a
fun-looking page, without having to know any code at all, and them I can just copy and paste the HTML it generates onto my website, blog, or wiki, and the page I designed is embedded in my web–no "next blog" kind of link that could potentially lead my young students to stuff more appropriate for high schoolers or adults.
Here’s a page for kindergarteners: http://squareone.pbwiki.com/MamaGoose
Here’s a page for a teacher inservice: http://squareone.pbwiki.com/Code2Go
Have fun!
Anne-Marie Gordon
agordon@livoniacsd.org
Library Media Specialist
National Board Certified Teacher
Livonia Primary School, Livonia, NY
Website: http://classrooms.livoniacsd.org/agordon
Resources wiki: http://squareone.pbwiki.com
Recent Comments