Here are links to my top 3 Bloggers:
1) Vickie Davis http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
Vickie has the most inspiring stories! Her views and recommendations are always top-notch, up to date and relevant. She is dynamic and encouraging. She can be counted on to find the best information available on the web.
2) Sue Waters http://theedublogger.com/
Sue is the BEST at showing all of us "digital immigrants" how to utilize technology in education. Her guest blogger Kathleen McGeady's information for students about Creative Commons and use of images is wonderful. Sue's tips on how to set up a classroom blog are posted as well as plain language about personal learning networks which helped me finally"get it".
3) Doug Johnson http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/
Doug is a writer whose motto is "Leaving readers confused at a higher level since 2005." His humor, insight into technology and education, and superior teaching abilities have been a real asset to me. His latest post gives numerous (uncomfortable) social networking scenarios for us to read and discuss with students.
*Honorable mention to David Andrade's blog http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/
This science teacher has links to numerous excellent sites, such as this interactive Periodic Table of the Elements.
So with their expertise (and the expertise of those they follow) I have chosen these five Web 2.0 sites to review. In order to limit the length of this blog entry, I'll just explain each part of the rubric for the first two sites then list the others.
Kerpoof
This site is intended for younger students to utilize in order to create pictures, movies, stories, etc. Teachers are able to set up classroom accounts so students can interact with others by sending messages, commenting and reviewing their art. Since this is a Disney-sponsored site, it is very safe and age appropriate. The parents submit their email and must approve the use by their child. The information given to parents is very thorough and explains how they fulfill all COPPA regulations. There were virtually no links to inappropriate content and posted comments and creations are clearly checked for safety. There is no cost to use this site. There is a membership for additional added benefits, but a teacher is able to set up a classroom account with no cost. There is no learning curve involved to utilize this site. It is clean, easy to understand, and free of advertisements. Students are encouraged to collaborate with others. The final product can be saved to the computer desktop, saved in the actual Kerpoof site, and is given a web link for further publishing options. Educational purposes abound! The student is able to use tools to create an original story, artwork, movie, etc. They are able to be creative and use teacher input to fulfill any given number of state standards. They have the ability to use higher-order thinking skills, although discussion with a teacher in order to gain the most benefit would be helpful. For example, they may review another student's artwork, but would gain more with a teacher guiding the criteria for review, or discussing in-depth what made it stand out. The name is somewhat easy to remember and the site is obviously educational, especially under the "arts" category. Students must sign up individually, but can be associated with a class or school account. Here is a link to my rubric assessment of Kerpoof! Final score was 26/28.
Glogster Edu- A wonderful resource for teachers and students! Creators make their own interactive posters. As a teacher, I have used it to make my own "learning tour" for students to learn about innovation. I added links to videos in Discovery Education, sticky notes of writing assignments, a website to visit, and more. My Glogster blog post (7/26/10) explains all the details. I could just as easily assign a student to make their own poster to show understanding of a concept. It is mostly age appropriate with some potential risks. The Edu site is considerably safer than the Glogster stand alone. Although the basic poster-making site is free, there are annoying advertisements to encourage the premium (pay) site. It is fairly easy to navigate, with just a bit of clutter. Both teachers and students could collaborate with others, and final products are given a web link for access. Creators get to decide how it is utilized. This site encourages use of higher-order thinking skills, especially when working with partners or in teams with a teacher-directed guide of expectations. Registration is required. Score: 24/28
More of the Wondeful Web 2.0:
SchoolTube
Ning
Wikispaces
In addition, here are some great Web 1.0 sites our families may enjoy:
Family Fun
This site is perfect for our homeschool students, grades K-8. There were craft projects, links to historical information, science activities, creative endeavors, learning games, recipes, etc. Since this is a Disney-sponsored site, it is very safe and age appropriate. There were virtually no links to inappropriate content and posted comments are clearly checked for safety. The site is free. There were quite a few ads, however, but they were clearly labeled and site navigation couldn't have been any easier or more intuitive. I loved how the projects allowed for feedback and showed a 1- 5 star rating based on prior feedback. Students could post images and comments about projects they had made as well. Although there really was not a lot of the higher-order thinking skills being utilized, a good parent-teacher would use this site as a springboard to do further investigating or analyzing. The name is easy to remember and no registration is required.
This awesome site has math tutorials for ALL grades and all math concepts. Our Kindergartners can learn about patterns, our 8th graders about algebra. This is a safe site and very easy to use. I clicked on Grade 4, topic "finding the median". I was given lots of helpful instruction. There was a written description of how to do it, a YouTube video of a teacher teaching the concept, some practice questions, and more. This same sort of scenario was presented in all grades and is an excellent resource for our parents and students.
*This is the site, however, that I felt I should contact the developers. I had an issue with the fact that once in a while the advertisements were not clearly labeled as such. A student could easily think it is a lesson and waste time looking at it. They had a "feedback" section that I used, but have not heard back from them yet.
Another great site was Noodle Tools.
This was a bit different than the other sites. It simply helps you choose the best search based on your information needs. This site has earned 7 awards, has no ads and is continuously updated (last time was 8/30/10). I am not convinced, however, that it is 100% safe for students as it basically lists links they follow on their own. I searched for "Reputable Health Information". They listed three different sites to view, all with a good description. I chose KidsHealth.org, which I had never seen, but now LOVE! This site has sections for parents, teens and kids. Just what our school needed to help with Jr. high health resources.
A third useful site I spent a lot of time with was Class Brain. Apparently, many schools (except ours..yet) use this site as a resource for state reports. Well..that is one small piece of this neat Web 2.0 powerhouse. There are actually 17 major areas, with topics listed by subject, grade, Biographies, State reports, games, teens, parents/teachers, etc. Our families would use this site quite a bit, although monitoring would need to be in place. If you want to do a state report on New York, there are 51 links to NY information! Of course, some of the links were no longer valid, but the idea of students finding their own information on the web is helpful.The advertisements were small, but I was annoyed at a pop-up each time I visited. I also had a bit of trouble trying to navigate. I could not see how to get out of the teen section back to the home page. Lost in teen section! Horror of horrors! Overall, a worthwhile site:
The final site I analyzed was Amphi.
This site's goal is to show parents and teachers all the wonderful reading sites available for students. It is basically just a page of links listed under topics such as "Comprehension and Fluency" or "Spelling and Grammar." There is a short description of each link's content. I was unable to figure out who the developer was in order to tell him/her that many links were no longer valid. However, there are some jewels in these lists. For example, StarFall is a site our school uses to help teach Kinder-1st graders how to read. There are letter/sound games, blending exercises and short stories to read (Karaoke style!). The link to Learning Planet paid off as well. However, Fluency through Fables took me to a site that seemed to just list numerous products for sale. As an educator, some time would need to be spent checking out all these sites. I'd rather just find out from EdTech leaders which sites they recommend. On this site, there was no interaction, no way of knowing which sites were more worthy or valid.
This was a very valuable assignment, and I have learned quite a bit. I personally thought MY rubric fitted my situation ( K-8 homeschool; primarily parents as teachers) better than the aggregate rubric until I realized that the sites I originally looked at were Web 1.0 sites, not Web 2.0 sites. As the instructor ever so patiently pointed out, Web 2.0 sites are for students to USE, interact with and create within. I was looking at sites that primarily give information without interaction. As a result, in the end, I came across a number of excellent Web 1.0 sites as well as super-cool web 2.0 sites. I look forward to utilizing the information to help my students become more effective learners.
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