Aug
24
My Fall 2008 Power Apps
August 24, 2008 | Tagged blc08, edublogs, scratch igoogle google ning, voicethread | Leave a Comment
Every Fall I try to pick one or two new tools to pilot with teachers and students. Last year was the Year of Sketchup and Voicethread, which we successfully used with students in a number of grade levels. The year before that we experimented with Edublogs and Garageband for the very first time, and both tools are now practically indispensable in many classrooms. For the Fall of 2008 I will focus on iGoogle, Ning and Scratch. Here’s how we’re planning (so far!) to use these three tools:
- iGoogle – Our tech-savvy Upper School Division Head has made the radical decision to go paperless with her fall teacher “notebook” at our upcoming division retreat. Rather, she has put all of the important parent letters, schedules, meeting agendas, etc. into Google Docs. She will then send each of us an iGoogle tab with the Google Docs gadget front and center. Also on the tab will be a variety of gadgets she wants to highlight as possible teaching tools. Each month she will send us a new tab with new gadgets, always keeping the Docs front and center. As we’ve been playing with this idea, I’ve been creating my own personal tabs to keep track of my favorite new gadgets and an aggregator for my favorite blogs.
- Ning – On the heels of the fabulous Building Learning Communities conference this past July, two of our 7th and 8th grade teachers have decided to set up Ning Learning Communities for their students. One teacher is an English teacher and looks forward to giving each of her students their own blog space through the Ning, and hopes that it will become a safe place for her students to experiment with their writing. A math teacher plans to use his Ning as a place for students to discuss homework, work on group projects together, and to show their step-by-step work somehow. Can’t wait!
- Scratch – My Ed Tech partner-in-crime, Jen Cronan Flinn, and I attended a full-day seminar at MIT this summer and had the opportunity to learn how to use Scratch, the latest educational programming software to come out of the MIT Media Labs (home of Logo.) We are excited to pilot Scratch in several grades, and one of our goals is to come up with ways beyond math to integrate this fantastic program.
My plan is to report back on the successes, failures, tweaks and lessons learned as we roll out this year’s set of “power apps” at MCDS. If you are already using any of these tools and have cautionary tales or inspirational examples to share, I’d love your thoughts and feedback.
