Saturday, January 22, 2011
Ask a Scientist
Well, unfortunately, I have not received an answer back from the Ask a Scientist website. I have a feeling that this outcome will probably be common for most of us. However, if this website did actually respond back with answers, I would use it in my classroom for sure. Each week I would have a different student generate a question to ask based on what we were discussing in class. It would be their responsibility to submit the question and then report back to the class the answer. I would have them present it in a presentation of some sort. I would probably let students make that choice. I would also require them to expand a bit more on the subject, maybe giving another example, or explaining how it relates to their everyday lives. Students would also be responsible to explain how the answer helped them gain a better understanding of the content. Each student would be required to do at least one Ask a Scientist mini project throughout the year. I think it would be a great opportunity for students to use technology to inquiry about concepts they are learning about or that they are interested in. By participating in this activity, students would be developing the 21st century skills that they need to be successful in the classroom and throughout their lives.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Evaluating Web 2.0 Presentation Tools
Evaluating Web 2.0 Presentation Tools
The two presentation tools that I choose to investigate were Prezentit and Prezi. Both presentation tools were pretty good and easy to use. I will start with Prezentit. The idea of Prezentit is a great. Basically you can create presentations, just like Power Point. However, the presentations are all on line and you can have more than one person working on the presentation at the same time. This is a great idea for people that are collaborating on projects. They can work together without having to leave their own homes or work places. The software was easy to use and it is free. It does have limited abilities. There are not background templates and styles like there are in Power Point. They make it very easy to add pictures, files, and video to the presentations and anyone can view them because they are available online through any web browser so it is very functional. This is basically an easy version of Power Point that has better accessibility for its users and viewers of the presentations. There is not a manual or any training materials as of yet. I had a hard time trying to figure out how to get the presentation to work and there was nowhere to find the help I needed. I did not find that it does anything special to make a presentation more engaging. However, it is a neat tool for students that are working together on a project at school and can work together either at school or from home without having to physically be together. If you choose to work on your project for this class with a partner, this would be a good presentation tool for you to use, especially if you are not in the same geographic area.
The second presentation tool that I looked at was Prezi and I absolutely love it. Not only does it create presentations that are lively and engaging, it is super easy to use, and there is tons of support and accessibility to training materials, including videos and other presentations that you can look at for ideas or edit for your own use. There is a small fee to use the site, but if you are an educator and you use your professional email address, the subscription is free. Your Prezi presentation can be published and you can invite others to view or edit your Prezi. This feature enables you to again collaborate with others on a project. You can also add the Prezi to your blog if you wish. For the purposes of our endangered species project, this is an excellent presentation tool that can help you to create an engaging presentation. This is the tool that I will be using on my project. I created a Prezi for a presentation that I did for my principal of the benefits of using a Smart board in the classroom. I did a presentation on one of the Smart boards in our school showing ideas of using a Smart board in the science classroom and then finished with a Prezi to close the presentation. I put a link to it below if you are interested in seeing how a prezi presentation looks. My presentation worked and I was one of the teachers that will be receiving a Smart board in their classroom. It should be there when I get back from winter break!
https://prezi.com/secure/b7f001533ae0599c57434642ce8de030a6c139f6/
The two presentation tools that I choose to investigate were Prezentit and Prezi. Both presentation tools were pretty good and easy to use. I will start with Prezentit. The idea of Prezentit is a great. Basically you can create presentations, just like Power Point. However, the presentations are all on line and you can have more than one person working on the presentation at the same time. This is a great idea for people that are collaborating on projects. They can work together without having to leave their own homes or work places. The software was easy to use and it is free. It does have limited abilities. There are not background templates and styles like there are in Power Point. They make it very easy to add pictures, files, and video to the presentations and anyone can view them because they are available online through any web browser so it is very functional. This is basically an easy version of Power Point that has better accessibility for its users and viewers of the presentations. There is not a manual or any training materials as of yet. I had a hard time trying to figure out how to get the presentation to work and there was nowhere to find the help I needed. I did not find that it does anything special to make a presentation more engaging. However, it is a neat tool for students that are working together on a project at school and can work together either at school or from home without having to physically be together. If you choose to work on your project for this class with a partner, this would be a good presentation tool for you to use, especially if you are not in the same geographic area.
The second presentation tool that I looked at was Prezi and I absolutely love it. Not only does it create presentations that are lively and engaging, it is super easy to use, and there is tons of support and accessibility to training materials, including videos and other presentations that you can look at for ideas or edit for your own use. There is a small fee to use the site, but if you are an educator and you use your professional email address, the subscription is free. Your Prezi presentation can be published and you can invite others to view or edit your Prezi. This feature enables you to again collaborate with others on a project. You can also add the Prezi to your blog if you wish. For the purposes of our endangered species project, this is an excellent presentation tool that can help you to create an engaging presentation. This is the tool that I will be using on my project. I created a Prezi for a presentation that I did for my principal of the benefits of using a Smart board in the classroom. I did a presentation on one of the Smart boards in our school showing ideas of using a Smart board in the science classroom and then finished with a Prezi to close the presentation. I put a link to it below if you are interested in seeing how a prezi presentation looks. My presentation worked and I was one of the teachers that will be receiving a Smart board in their classroom. It should be there when I get back from winter break!
https://prezi.com/secure/b7f001533ae0599c57434642ce8de030a6c139f6/
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