30 Day Challenge

Wrapping Up the Challenge

2011-12-16T11:04:00.001-06:00

A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS

First off, we want to thank everyone who participated in the challenge. When we developed this idea, we hoped that we would be able to share some great tools, but also build a community of practice from which all of us could learn. To say that our hopes were fulfilled would be an understatement.

Not only did we have an opportunity to share and discuss 30 great tools, we learned about even more tools and creative ways to implement them from the lively discussion on the blog. We also heard many stories about how the participants were sharing the learning with others in the corporation. As of this posting we have 127 members of the blog. 76 people posted to the blog. 26 people finished the challenge and were entered to win the iPad 2.

Beyond that, we know that the impact of the challenge extended far outside of the EVSC. As of today, we've had over 11,600 hits on the blog from 32 different countries from 6 continents. Also, developers from some of the web tools we've featured have made contact and expressed thanks for the ideas we've shared for using their tools in the classroom. Also, other bloggers have linked to the blog and have shared the challenge with their audiences.

We're thrilled that this challenge has had such an impact on our members and on the profession as a whole. What's even better is that the ideas you've shared will live beyond the initial 30 days and will serve as an ongoing resource for others who are trying to imagine how to enhance learning with new tools. The posts alone are a good introduction, but the real value is the thoughtful commentary of a committed professional learning community. How cool is that?

AND THE WINNER IS...

On Tuesday, December 13th many of the participants gathered to meet in person, share ideas and to, of course, witness the drawing for the iPad 2.

The winner was Melissa Mayer, a 4th-grade teacher at

Vogel Elementary School! Congratulations!

Those who were able to attend the drawing were also given the opportunity to win other prizes, so that no one left without a new tool to use in their classroom. We hope that this event, like the challenge itself will continue to fuel our collective imaginations and help us to design engaging lessons for our students.

LOOKING AHEAD
So what's next? We don't want this to be the end of our collaboration. The ICATS have plans to continue to use this site for future 30-Day Challenges, but even before that, we encourage you to share when you have new ideas for using these tools, by commenting to the appropriate post. We also encourage you to share the challenge with your colleagues, so that they can bring these great tools to their classrooms as well.

Our next 30-Day Challenge will begin in the spring. It will have a different focus, but will rely on the same need for professional collaboration. You can begin preparing for the next challenge by creating a Twitter account if don't already have one. Don't worry if you aren't familiar with Twitter, we will have special sessions during After the Bell where you can get hands on training. In the meantime, if you are looking for someone to follow in Twitter, you can begin with us: @twilhelmus, @mrg_3, @jjgleim. You can also search for #evscnetwork and follow the resources that get shared there.

If you have a Twitter account already, feel free to share it here as well.

We wish everyone a happy holiday season and a well-deserved rest.

With gratitude,

The ICATS

Day 30- TED.com

2011-12-07T04:00:00.001-06:00

While strictly-speaking this site is not very Web 2.0 in terms of its interactivity, TED Talks is certainly a highly useful site for educators. Based on the mission of curating "ideas worth spreading," the creators of the TED universe have provided a deep well of content-learning and inspiration from leaders across the world.

Exploration of this world begins with TED.com, but you can also find TED videos on YouTube, via the TED app, and through the TED podcasts. Also, a quick Google search will show that educators have curated lists of great TED videos in nearly every subject area (see below for some examples).

If you are looking for new ideas to spark your imagination or challenge your beliefs, TED is a great place to visit, and since there are new videos being added every day (thanks to annual conferences and TEDx events), there are always new ideas to explore.

The interactivity comes from responding to the videos through the TED community, by sharing the videos with colleagues and students, embedding the videos (which are not blocked by our firewalls) in your own blogs and websites, and ultimately attending, participating in, or even hosting a TEDx event (dare we dream?).

For now, we'll start small and stick to exploring the resource. Here are just a few of my favorite TED Talks:

Here are some other links that might guide your exploration as well:

8 Great TED Talks about the Future of Education and Teaching
Teaching With TED
TED ED Brain Trust
My Love Affair with TED
15 TED Talks for Teachers to Watch
Why Schools Need to Use TED Talks
Top 10 TED Talks for Music Education
25 Awe-Inspiring Science Talks on TED
15 Best TED Talks for History Buffs
20 Incredible TED Talks for Math Geeks
TEDxNYED
TEDxYouthDay

Your Assignment:

As your final assignment for the first-ever EVSC 30-Day Web 2.0 Challenge, we would like you to explore TED.com, identify a video that you could use in your classroom or in your professional practice, and describe how you would use that video to drive learning. Please share the title and speaker in your response so that the rest of us can find the video to which you refer in your response.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the challenge this semester. Whether you completed every part or not, we hope that you will join us next Tuesday, December 13th at 3:00 at the TIC for a celebration for those who participated, and for the drawing of the winner of the iPad 2! If you want to make sure that all of your submissions have been accounted for, here is the link:

30-Day Challenge Tally Sheet

Day 29 - Soapbox

2011-12-06T04:00:00.166-06:00

Imagine if each of your students came with a confusion barometer during class instruction. It's possible. This is just one feature that comes in your tool kit with Soapbox, a backchannel tool (more on that in a minute).

When your students are on a SoapBox that you create, they have a status at all times of either "I am getting it" or "I am confused". If at any point during class they become confused, or need you to slow down, they can indicate so by switching their status to "I am confused". You will see a graph with the number of confused students in real time. The individual student's status is completely anonymous to you and the other students. As the teacher, you can see how many students are confused, just not which exact students.

Wondering what a backchannel is? Backchannels are conversations that take place concurrently with a lecture or presentation, and there are many tools that allow you to create one. SoapBox's "About" explains it best:

[Backchannels] improve interaction between a speaker and an audience. Soapbox provides a platform for audience member input, while letting speakers facilitate discussion, organize feedback, and gauge audience sentiment -- all in real time. With SoapBox, speakers are able to transform traditional lectures into lasting conversations by integrating audience thoughts and opinions, without any interruption.

The confusion barometer is just one of the features of SoapBox and it could be shut-off if you prefer. Other features include polls, discussion boards, and socially ranked question and answer. You are encouraged to watch this quick 2 minute video overview for details.

Highlighted in the video:

web-based, so no downloads
no student log-ins; students remain anonymous (note there is a profanity filter)
lists four core features and how each works

Let's say you decide to try out this tool with your students. Here are the basics to post once you have a SoapBox to share:

I have created a SoapBox as a way for you to participate in class today. Even after class it will remain open, so if I don't get a question answered or if you think of something later, you can always go back and check to see if it's been answered or add something new.
Please go to http://gosoapbox.com/
In the "Join a SoapBox" text box, type in the title (you provide) and click "Join."
Once you're in, you'll see any polls or discussion for class and a "How to use Soapbox" button that will take you to a Quick Start Guide.
Do a brief, here's how we will use this demo (You'll get the feel for it once you take the next step.)

So, pretend YOU are the student. We have created a SoapBox for today! Please join "30 Day Challenge" and explore the student side of things. Keep in mind your responses will be anonymous. In the classroom, you can ask students to include their names if you are using this tool as a means for crediting student participation or if they want you to follow up with them individually.

How do you get started? It's simple. Since this tool is in beta, you have to "Take a tour and sign up..." which consists of clicking a button, scrolling down the page and entering your email address. Once you hit Request Access, a screen pops up announcing they will get back to you with more instructions. Within minutes you get an email and it's all straightforward from there.

Your assignment:
Where in your instruction do you need to facilitate constructive interaction? Here's the tool to do that. How might you use it? Keep in mind, Soapbox is a tool as are the earlier 28 highlighted in this challenge. Any tool is only to be as effective as the individual who is using it. As an alternative post to how or when you might see using this tool in your classroom, you can share some tips you think would be important to maximize the effectiveness of introducing a backchannel to your students.

Day 28 - Class Dojo

2011-12-05T04:00:00.169-06:00

Class Dojo will not apply to every participant in the 30 Day Challenge as it is specifically designed for the classroom teacher, but I encourage you to be open-minded about the possible applications for this classroom management tool, which was introduced in beta early this fall, caught the attention of educators from the UK to the US, and garnered top prize in NBC News' Education Nation Innovation Challenge. Later in this post, I will share an invitation for you to start your own class(es) with Class Dojo.

On the most rudimentary level, Class Dojo is a real-time, digital star chart for student behavior. Yet with some thought and planning, leaders can use it for much more. Based on game mechanics like leveling up, badges, unlocking achievements, avatars and leaderboards, Class Dojo's notifications, when projected on a whiteboard, can keep students aware of their achievement, recognize the correct choices they made, and reinforce their understanding of the behaviors, skills or activities necessary to succeed in class. Take a look at the main features:

1. Personalization You can tailor the rewards to promote the learning environment you want, rewarding things like excellent questions, great insight, creativity and collaboration. Add and remove any number of positive or negative behaviors you want to track. You can also build out both groups but display your choice of both or just one when working with the class. All you have to do is adjust your class settings. There are optional award sounds too-- positive behaviors are associated with a bell and negative have a little buzz.

Don't like the little monsters? You can have students create their own avatar image or use photographs which they share with you so that you can upload them. There is a cost associated with personalizing, but you can get that waived by inviting a friend to register (even if they don’t accept, you get the bonus feature).

2. Mobility You can be anywhere in your classroom and enter data using a netbook, iPhone, or iPad (will you be the lucky winner?). No need to be tied down to your desk or to precord points on paper that will have to deciphered, entered and analyzed at the end of the day.

3. Analytics The site analyzes class or individual progress overall (such as earning more positive than negative) as well as each type of behavior (24% of positive points awarded for correctly answering questions) helping teachers and administrators understand what is actually happening inside their classrooms in a data-driven way.

Under “Report Cards” you have the option to add notes (not seen by students) at any point in time, which is particularly helpful when wanting to follow-up to a particular event. You can even opt to keep the note private or share the note with parents or other teachers.

4. Parent Communication Circumstances often make it difficult for teachers to provide parents with as much feedback as we would like. With Class Dojo you can email each parent how their child did in class that day or at the end of a time period. You also have the option to print out the reports.

5. Rewards is one of the upcoming features, but in the meantime, many teachers have built in their own system. One simple idea is to start off the entire class with the same avatar monster image and then allow students to personalize or choose their favorite monster avatar once they've met a goal.

Here is your personal invitation to join Class Dojo. If you want to learn more about this tool check out these blogs:

Just last week Class Dojo was featured on The App Planet.
I really appreciated this blogger's honesty about being put off by the tool at first glance.
Here is a timely post on one teacher's use The sounds of silence/Early Christmas miracle?
Visit Mind/Shift: How we will learn. to read more about the award Class Dojo received.

So, what if you decide it's worth your time to create an account? Once you're logged in there are tutorials to walk you through setting up your classes. The developers include a demo class where you can try your hand at awarding points and even go in and change settings.

On the lower right corner of the screen there is a Help & feedback button. Not only can you get quick answers, but these guys listen to user suggestions! This is the cool thing about tools in beta, several changes have been made to Class Dojo in response to user feedback:

You can award the whole class or a small group an award in one step using the new Give Awards option.
You can resize the avatars so that your students are all visible on one screen without scrolling up and down.
You can control notification sounds and which notifications are visible
You can enter student names in any order and the site will alphabetize them for you. You can sort by either first or last name.

Your assignment: Think outside of the box. Clearly you could use this tool as a classroom management tool, but imagine a specific use for this gamified leaderboard to be used with learners/attendees. No credit for using it in the obvious ways spelled out in today's post; although, you can build on ideas shared in the linked blogs.

Day 27- LinoIt!

2011-12-02T04:00:00.005-06:00

Today's challenge is LinoIt, a fantastic collaborative, organizational, and brainstorming tool. What I like about this tool is that it is simple, versatile and interactive. LinoIts can be embedded in blogs and websites or shared via URL. Also, LinoIt does not require a student login to participate. Finally, LinoIt can also be used on the iPad using the LinoIt App.

The basic idea is that each LinoIt canvas you create can be populated with customizable virtual sticky notes upon which users include written content. Additionally, users can post pictures, video and other files to the canvas.

Here is a short video that gives a basic tour:

If you decide that you need a deeper tour, here is a link to a series of screencasts that can step you through all of the ins and outs.

Here are a couple of other links with ideas for using LinoIt in the classroom:

Free Tech 4 Teachers- LinoIt
Using LinoIt for Class Discussions
Student Collaboration with LinoIt
Practical LinoIt in the Classroom
Online Gallery Walk Using LinoIt

Today, rather than posting to the blog in the traditional sense, your task is to share how you think LinoIt could be used in your professional practice and/or classroom by adding your thoughts to the LinoIt below. NOTE: It is important that you include your name on your contribution so that we can give you credit for today's challenge:

HOVER OVER THE TITLE TO REVEAL STICKIES.

Here is the link to the Full Board so you can see what you are doing! Sorry!

Web 2.0 Challenge-LinoIt

Day 26 - WordSift

2011-12-01T04:00:00.000-06:00

WordSift is a useful tool that allows users to easily sift through text and quickly identify key words. Simply cut and paste any text (65 K limit) into the WordSift textbox. Within seconds, WordSift will create a word cloud based on the fifty most frequent words that appear in the text. The word cloud displayed is not static. WordSift allows users to sort the words in the cloud via common to rare, rare to common, A to Z, and Z to A.

Select any word in the cloud, and WordSift will display a visual thesaurus and provide a Google search for images and videos.

Here's a video tutorial to get you started.

No need to sign up or register. Just go to http://www.wordsift.com/ to get started. Your word cloud is just copy and paste clicks away.

Your assignment: Take a tour. Experiment by creating your own word cloud. How do you think this site would impact student engagement?

Day 25 - Wordle

2011-11-30T04:00:00.001-06:00

Wordle is a simple word cloud generator that can turn any text into a word cloud. Word cloud generators use the words from any text and sort them from most commonly used terms to the least commonly used terms. Then the words are mixed up with the most common words appearing larger that the rest. The result is a word cloud such as the one below, which is a Wordle of the NETS for Teachers.

Wordle of the NETS for Students:

Here is a blog that lists other word cloud generators such as Tagxedo, ABCya, and Tagul. Take a look at the following screencast on how to make a simple wordle to use in your classroom.

Note: Wordle uses a Java Applet to run. Wordle creator Jonathan Feinberg recommends using Mozilla or Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer as your browser when utilizing Wordle.

Your Assignment:

The usefulness of word clouds are, like any tool, based on how you use them. Please share how you might use this tool in your classroom.

Day 24 - ToonDoo

2011-11-29T04:00:00.173-06:00

Visiting the "About us" page for today's tool, I learned that, "ToonDoo was the happy result of a brainstorming session that was aimed at creating a new way of expression for those who do not have the talent to draw." Okay, that may be a bit harsh, but in reality there are those of us who benefit from having galleries of clipart at our disposal--especially when we've been asked to create a comic strip! With ToonDoo, the user just clicks and characters, scenary, even props can be dragged into frames and brought to life with written words.Yes, it's that easy!

ToonDoo offers two services when you go to sign up, and while one is promoted for educators, I suggest you select the FREE public individual user account. Once you have registered (there are fields requesting the standard username, password and email), you will arrive at a busy window as seen below.

There are two options for creating a ToonDoo, which are noted on the screencast. It doesn't really matter which route you go. "Create" will open a new browser window, while using the "Toons" drop-down menu and selecting "Create Toon" will keep you working in the same window.

You will need to select your template for the cartoon. There are 15 options ranging from 1-4 frames in vertical or horizontal layouts. (I will note that if you intend to use comics in a book later that you will want to stick with the horizontal layout.) Depending on your selection, the next window may vary slightly, but essentially you are taken to your editing menu. Allow a minute or two for it to load this first time; subsequent visits won't take as long. The video below walks you through the basics and introduces you to the TraitR tool that allows you to create your own characters for the comic.

A bit of cautionary advise: depending on traffic and the complexity of your creation, it may take several minutes to process your ToonDoo when it comes time to save. As long as you complete all the steps, it's okay to close the browser. Once the processing is complete, you will get an email from the ToonDude letting you know that the new toon is in your library. Toons can be shared in multiple ways. On a most basic level, you can download your creations as a png.

The ToonDoo site has a WordPress Blog with resources for teachers. You can access it here. There is also a wiki full of resources although you have to be selective. Another school district put together a comprehensive SlideShare of the editing tools which you can see here. Keep in mind that there are social aspects to ToonDoo as well. Commenting and sharing are possible and open a whole new realm of possible applications.

Using this tool you can also create books. The Book Maker allows you to combine the individual comics you have created into one strip. Below is a basic example. If you notice I used the ICATS logo in one comic. I uploaded that using the ImagineR tool. Check out the book, which is where you'll find today's assignment:

michellegreen

A Sample Book by michellegreen | Make your own at www.toondoo.com

It is important to note that while the site claims to be for students of any age, their Privacy policy clearly states that it is not intended for users under 13 years old without "verified parental consent." You may want to investigate similar free tools on your own: Pixton, Make Beliefs Comics, and Read Write Think's Comic Creator.

Day 23 - Xtranormal

2011-11-28T04:00:00.008-06:00

Watch the video below for information about Xtranormal.

Click the Sign Up link located in the upper right corner of the site.

Fill in the account information and complete the caption box as accurately as possible. Finish with selecting the button that says Create Account. Next, you will be greeted by a screen that indicates that your registration was successful. To create a video, continue by clicking the link CONTINUE TO MOVIE MAKER.

Creating a movie is simple. Select a character and a background for your movie. Select the Story tab to open the menu to begin your character's dialog. Type the text for your movie and drag and drop icons (red bracket area) onto the text to change camera angels, create character movements, gestures, pauses, etc.

The website allows you to preview and save your project prior to publishing your movie. Once you select publish, the website will provide you with a share link address and also an embed code.

Your assignment for today: Create an Xtranormal account. Post two specific ways you could use Xtranormal in your classroom.

Note* The Xtranormal site is restricted for users 13 and older.

We have a guest blogger today

2011-11-23T04:01:00.039-06:00

Today's tool is being introduced by a middle school student who participates in her school's student tech team. I met her last month and we chatted about what got her involved in the group. She shared her general interest in learning new things and specifically creating music with family. I suggested she check out Ujam. A couple of weeks later I heard how she and her brother took a spelling list and turned it into a song. Of course she was proud that her brother aced his test as a result. Naturally, we think your students will get something of value out of today's tool.

Day 22 - Ujam

2011-11-23T04:00:00.067-06:00

I am honored to be able to blog as part of the 30 Day Challenge. Ujam is a phenomenal tool that is easy to use. The Ujam.com website allows teachers or students to make their own music and not have to worry about copyright issues. You could use the music you make to put in a presentation or to just have fun and create "study-songs". I will show you how.

1) Once you create a profile, you will see a button that says "Go Jam". Click the button.

2) When the "Go Jam" button is pressed this is what your screen will look like.

If you want vocals, click "record vocals or instrument". To upload a file from your computer click, "upload audio file". To do just instruments click "rejam song template".

3) Once you have clicked your choice and have started making your song or adding instruments, you can change the chords used for that certain tune. To learn more about how Ujam works, you can watch the video.

Your Assignment: In what ways can see yourself or your students using Ujam?

Day 21 - Fotobabble

2011-11-22T04:00:00.003-06:00

Fotobabble.com is a tool that adds a voice tag to individual photographs. With fotobabble you can choose a picture from your photo library , your Facebook account or directly from the web using the images direct URL. Adding your voice is as easy as pressing the record button. In just a few seconds you get a narrated fotobabble to share with the world or a smaller audience if that is what you choose. Let's take a look at how it works.

In order to create "babbles" you need to create an online account. If you have a facebook account, you can easily set fotobabble up to use your facebook login so that you do not need to remember another login. Take a look at this screencast to see how to create a babble.

Below is the babble that was created in the tutorial. I used the embed code given to me and pasted it into the blog.

Features:

up to 60 second recordings
JPG, PNG, and GIF image support
mp3, flv, and wav audio format support
images larger than 2MB are resized by server fotobabble before upload
one-click share to facebook and twitter
iPhone app

Coming soon...

slideshow feature
multiple voice recordings on the same picture
text comments
ratings
Blackberry, Android and other mobile device support

Here are a couple of Q & A's from the site that may be helpful:

Q. What is that message box that pops up that says "Allow", "Deny"?
A. Fotobabble uses Adobe Flash to perform the recording of your voice from your microphone. Flash has a built in security feature that asks for your permission before accessing your microphone. To record your voice click "Allow".

Q. Can I stop that "Allow", "Deny" box from always coming up when I want to record?
A. You can stop this message box from coming up every time by right-clicking (or ctrl-click on Mac), selecting "Settings". On the screen that says "Allow www.fotobabble.com to access your camera and microphone" check "Allow" and "Remember". Then click Close.

Your Assignment:

Comment on how you could use this to enhance the learning of your students. Do you see this as a presentation tool? Would it be most useful as a teacher creation tool or a student creation tool? Please give examples of possible uses.

Day 20- Voki

2011-11-21T04:00:00.003-06:00

Here is a special treat for Day 20. Click on the play button below:

You can create your own Voki account at Voki.com

There are lots of different Voki avatars to choose from. Each Voki can be customized in terms of appearance, background, player theme, and voice. You can record your own voice or choose from several different digitized voices that can speak in different languages and accents.

Once you generate your Voki, you can embed it in any digital environment by copying and pasting the HTML code. Even better, there are buttons that allow you to automatically embed your Voki in many of the most popular digital worlds, including blogs, websites, and social media sites.

Here's a tutorial to help you get started:

I also recommend that you spend some time exploring the Learn Tab inside of Voki.com

Voki has also recently created a pay service that allows teachers to manage student Vokis online with lots of additional functionality:

Even better, though, Voki has a free lesson plan database that you can search for ideas related to Voki in the classroom. This database is available to anyone without the pay service, so I encourage you to explore and share your ideas as well.

Your Assignment: Create a Voki, explore the Voki resources, and report back with your ideas about how you could use Voki in your classroom or professional practice.

Day 19- Issuu

2011-11-18T07:31:00.003-06:00

Today's challenge is issuu.

Would you like an EASY way to turn a document into a beautiful online flip style book?

If so, issuu is the free service for you. The process is hassle-free; just select any document on your computer and upload it to issuu.

Get started by opening an account with issuu. http://issuu.com/explore

Select create account located in the upper right corner of the website. Enter all of your information. You must select the box at the bottom of the form to accept the terms of service.

Upload a document to issuu by selecting Upload in the upper right corner. Select the blue Browse button to locate the document on your computer. Note: Document size is limited to 500 pages and 100mb per publication. Issuu supports PDF, DOC, PPT, ODT, WPD, SXW, RTF, ODP, and SXI file formats. Documents must be single-page layouts.

Fill out the General info portion of the page and select the blue Upload file.

Once converted, your book will appear on a shelf in My Library. To find your library, select the blue triangle icon next to your username in the upper right corner of the website. Select My Library from the drop down menu. Sharing your publication is as simple as selecting the share button and typing recipients' email addresses into the box (red arrows). Issuu provides you with an embed code if you would like to post your publication to any website, blog, or wiki and a direct link address to your publication. The direct link is located at the bottom of the share screen (blue arrow).

Issuu would be a great application to publish class newsletters, newspapers, or student work in a stylish format.

Your assignment: On the blog share your thoughts about how issuu can be used in your classroom.

Happy publishing!

Day 18 - Capzles

2011-11-17T04:00:00.288-06:00

Capzles: a storytelling tool (similar to Photo Story 3 and the like) disguised as a timeline (not unlike Xtimeline and TimeToast) with a built in blog. And if that weren't enough, Capzles' storylines have the potential to be collaborative in that viewers can comment on "Moments" in the "Capzle" or on the storyline as a whole.

Before we proceed, let's cover some Capzles specific terminology:
Capzles the container that holds the storyline. You can title it, tag and categorize it, add a description, fill it with content, and personalize its design.
Moments the content in the Capzle: documents, photos, videos, blog entries or audio files that are uploaded to the Capzle. You can also add titles, descriptions, tags, date/time, privacy settings and location to each item. Moments appear as a thumbnail image on the timeline.
Stack a collection of moments that are "stacked" by event or theme. The first item in a stack is the thumbnail image on the timeline. Each item can have specific information attached to it just as you do for moments. By clicking on a stack in the storyline you open the set for individual viewing. This provides potential for using Capzle as a digital portfolio for multiple projects.

There are a number of ways you can share
a finished Capzle with others. The most
basic being using a link. When you are finished,
the share icon highlights the compatible social media
options as well as indicates that you can embed
a storyline like the one at the top of this post
or send an email to recipients.

The Create tab is where the magic happens--once you open this tab you notice an intuitive menu on the left side of the screen.

Files formats that can be uploaded into a Capzle:
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDFs for documents
JPG, GIF, PNG, BIT files for images (make sure these are oriented correctly before uploading)
MP3 files for background music or audio

MP4, AVI, MOV files for videos

Note: There is a button the claims you can
"Watch a video tutorial" but it doesn't work,
so I've included a video later in this post.

Once you join the site you can build your profile. This is where your current projects and recent activity are listed. Here you can also store favorite Capzles and Moments, keep a list of friends and communicate with said friends. All of this is located under the My Stuff tab. Imagine you create a Capzle as a digital textbook for a unit. You can always go back to it and edit at anytime. The same is true if you are using the tool for a digital portfolio. When you have new content, just go to My Stuff, select My Capzles and you're ready to edit. Flip roles, and as a teacher who has assigned his students Capzles for portfolios, you can favorite each student's Capzle so that when you go to My Stuff you can see all their work on a convenient list.

Some standout details:

The built in blog ranks high on my list of impressive features.

You know we only include free tools in this challenge so that's a given, but Capzles also offers unlimited timelines!

Students could share their work on their favorite social media tools. Does your school have a FaceBook page yet? If so, what a great opportunity for publicly displaying student work!

There's an app for that!

Trying to imagine what's possible with this tool?
Kelly Tenkely, "iLearn Technology" blogger and educator, shares how she integrated Capzles into a science unit. Amy Oelschlager, blogger of "Confessions of a Nerdy Teacher", used Tenkely's screencast tutorial to get started with the tool and shares two of her favorite Capzles found in the site's archive. You might check out the Explore tab yourself and look at the existing categories.

Your assignment: Share how you could use Capzles in your work. Try to be specific as I've shared general ideas in this post.

Day 17- SlideRocket

2011-11-16T04:00:00.003-06:00

Today's challenge is an amazing online presentation tool called SlideRocket:

There are a lot of reasons why we like SlideRocket. First, it is collaborative, so multiple people can work on the presentation. Second, it includes lots of interactive features that create a more engaging presentation experience. Third it is hosted online, so your presentation can be shared in all kinds of ways. Finally, SlideRocket is a powerful tool that is completely free to you and your students via Google Apps for Education.

So, you and your students can access this free education version of the software, using your EVSC Google IDs.

To access SlideRocket, choose the drop-down menu titled "More" on your Google Docs home page.

Then, click on the link titled "SlideRocket." This will open the SlideRocket interface.

Once you open SlideRocket, you will be invited to explore an interactive demo and video. I encourage you to "take the tour."

Here are some links related to using SlideRocket in the classroom:

Enriching Learning in Any Subject with SlideRocket
Making a Video with SlideRocket and Jing
SlideRocket YouTube Channel
SlideRocket Slide Design Guide

Also, SlideRocket has created a Player App for the iPad so you can show your amazing SlideRocket presentations directly from the iPad that you may win by participating in this challenge.

Your assignment: Explore the SlideRocket program. Take the tour. Try creating a SlideRocket for your next bellringer or mini-lesson. Then, share your experiences. What did you like about the tool? What is missing? How does SlideRocket compare to other presentation tools you've found? If you've used SlideRocket before, share a link to a SlideRocket you've created. Most importantly, how do you imagine this might impact your professional practice?

Day 16 - Little Bird Tales

2011-11-15T04:00:00.006-06:00

Your Assignment: Go through the Prezi above to learn about today's tool. Little Bird Tales is just one of many digital storytelling tools. Consider the different skills you are teaching within your content. How could you integrate a resource like Little Bird Tales?

Additional resources for setting up a FREE teacher account are included in the following PDF.

http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103316617238-5/teacher_feature.pdf

15 days down, 15 days to go.

2011-11-14T13:18:00.004-06:00

Congratulations to those of you who have put forth the determination to live up to the challenge and made the halfway point! With 6,000 pageviews from more than a dozen countries, we feel that this has been a very worthwhile experiment. Kudos to our blog posters who have put some amazing new tools in our hands, and many thanks to our readers who have made some great contributions as well. In imagining this project, we really felt that the posted comments about classroom application would be a powerful component for teachers who visit long after the challenge is over.

Today is also a landmark because the coveted prize has arrived on my desk. In a few short weeks, one of our EVSC teachers will win the iPad 2 that I hold in my hands! Because there is much at stake and because your comments are valuable to us, I want to take this opportunity to clarify what we are looking for.

The answer is ‘practical application.’ From this point forward, new comments will be judged strictly on whether or not they provide an idea for how you might use the tool with your students. If they don’t, they don’t get you in the drawing. And notice that I said ‘might.’ We certainly don’t expect that you would put each of these tools into practice in a few weeks and report on their use. All we ask is that you think about how you might use it, and share those ideas with us. Learn on!t! s into practice in a few weeks and report on their use. All we ask is that you think about how you might use it, and share those ideas with us. Learn on!

Day 15 - Prezi

2011-11-14T04:00:00.010-06:00

Congratulations and way to go! Welcome to Day 15!

Prezi.com

"Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and slides. The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas and the connections between them. The result: visually captivating presentations that lead your audience down a path of discovery." prezi.com/about

At Prezi.com/learn there are a few quick tutorials to get you started. The Prezi people pride themselves on making the software intuitive and easy to use with simple, yet powerful tools.

There is even a feature that will help you convert any Powerpoint or Keynote presentation into a editable Prezi.

Click here for a Sample Prezi.

Opt for the Free "Edu Enjoy" subscription!

Prezi, like many other web 2.0 tools, offers its software as a free "Public" version in addition to its two tiered subscriptions ("Enjoy" and "Pro") that are paid annually. For first time users, you may subscribe directly to the Edu Enjoy subscription for free. For those of you that have already created a Public account, you can upgrade for free to the Edu Enjoy subscription! Edu Enjoy gives you 400mb of additional storage over the Public account in addition to premium support. With Edu Enjoy you can also make your Prezi's private and share them only with whom you choose.

iPad Friendly!

As an added bonus, Prezi also has a free "Prezi Viewer" app in the iTunes Store made for the iPad.

Your Assignment:

1. On Prezi.com... create an account if you don't already have one and make a Prezi.

2. On the Blog...share your thoughts about how Prezi can be used in the classroom.

Optional: Share a link to your Prezi for others to see/use.

Day 14 - LiveBinders

2011-11-10T04:00:00.280-06:00

By prallin

When I was in the classroom, I kept binders for every unit I taught. Bulging, tattered remnants of those resources fill cardboard boxes in my garage. Fortunately there is no need for reality TV intervention. I've started weeding out things and eventually will free up space so we can use the exercise equipment they currently surround. Best of all, with today's tool the need to buy 4" binders in bulk no longer exists. LiveBinders, a free web 2.0 tool, provides a way to organize your collection of resources (websites, PDFs, videos, etc.), tag what you've created, store and present on "the cloud." And the neat thing, your teaching neighbor can borrow a binder and you never have to worry about not getting it back!

In an effort to hit as many features as possible, I decided to bullet what I've found useful the last two years as a LiveBinder user:

The site is full of screencasts and video tutorials to get you started on curating content.
You can rearrange materials easily in a logical order using tabs and subtabs.
It is easy to update your existing binders.
You can personalize the appearance of your binders.
Using the Edit Menu you can insert text. I find this really useful and you can see it at work in this binder. (You just have to accept my nerdiness when you see the binder.)
You can comment and rate other users' binders (on a side note, this is a practice we need to be more deliberate about in our 2.0 world).
Your binders can be private or public. It's one of the decisions you make when you first create a binder, but you can always go back and change the setting.
You can search by public binders, by author, or by the Education category. Use the search box on the upper right corner of the page. If you want to test out searching by author, I recommend entering "steven.anderson". His "shelf" will come up. I learned about QR Codes using one of his resources.
After you search binders and find one you L*O*V*E, you can copy it to your bookshelf and edit it to fit your needs provided the author made it copyable (I always do). So those of you who wanted more resources on Skype such as how to find partner classrooms, check out this binder. Even if you decide not to copy it, you can add it to your shelf (see the bottom left hand corner of the screen for options).
When you are ready to share your LiveBinder, you have options. Send a link by email, tweet it out, like it on Facebook, or present it using the Presentation button which opens a nice clean browser. Remember those QR codes I learned about using a LiveBinder? I created some this summer for the LiveBinders I used at the eLearning conference. It was an easy, paperless way to share the resources.
Another option for sharing is to embed your bookshelf or a selected binder into your website or blog. The exception to this feature is WordPress blogs, but it works great with Blogger, Google Sites and Weebly. The embedded LiveBinder below was created by the LiveBinder Team for new and returning users who want to learn how to maximize the potential of this tool.

LiveBinders Tips and Tricks
LiveBinders can serve as a bookmarking tool if you add a LiveBinder It toolbar to your browser (I tried this but went back to Diigo for my primary bookmarking). I found this most useful when I was researching for a unit that I knew I would be sharing out.
You can collaborate with others on a binder, but there are some limitations to this feature.
The LiveBinders support team actually answers your help requests (and in a timely manner).
One feature that I should point out is that you can automatically fill a binder using a Google search. Personally I have not found that useful; however, I could see some teachable moments being generated.
One of the newest features is that users can build multiple shelves. Imagine having a shelf where you and your colleagues can share materials, a shelf just for your students and one for their families....

You're sure to find more ideas sifting through the Cybrary Man's cyber catalog of Educational Web Sites. He offers a page devoted to LiveBinders. I found what students have curated using the tool very inspiring.

It seems I'm always recommending blogs, and today is not any different. Tuesdays with Karen recently shared her excitement about LiveBinders by connecting it to TrapperKeepers of days gone by.

For those of you who use Twitter, the LiveBinder ladies Tina and Barbara are very responsive. They love to learn how educators are using the tool and will promote your binder. You can also go to twitter.com/search to follow the conversation.

Get Started with LiveBinders:
1. Click the Sign Up link to get this window.
2. Create a username and password
3. Enter your email address (you can opt out of getting mail but they need this in case you forget your username and/or password--hey, it happens!)
4. Check out the User Agreements and then click the Sign Up button.

Your Assignment:
Once you have opened an account and explored the featured binders, take a look at your classroom or office shelves, file cabinet or perhaps your digital bookmarks and envision how you could reorganize the material using a LiveBinder. Share how you could use this tool or better yet, create a LiveBinder and share it.

Day 13 - Diigo

2011-11-09T04:00:00.061-06:00

So, in the spirit of open disclosure, I was not excited about yesterday's topic and struggled with how to bring relevance to a tool that I'm not crazy about. Don't get me wrong, there's value in having a convenient way to locate copyright free images, sounds, etc. but Search Creative Commons did not get me excited...at least not in the same way I am about today's tool. Diigo (Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff), pronounced DEE-go, offers a number of functions for users to annotate and share favorite web resources.

Diigo V5: Collect and Highlight, Then Remember! from diigobuzz on Vimeo.

As you see in the introductory video, Diigo started out as a basic online bookmarking tool and has evolved into one of education's most valuable tools for collaborative research. Last week I was fortunate to meet and learn from Bill Ferriter, blogger and co-author of Teaching the iGeneration. His book includes a chapter on "Managing Information in the 21^st Century" with an informative section on "Social Bookmarking as a Research Tool." The publisher, Solution Tree, offers online reproducibles that I urge you to check out.

Maybe you’re not quite ready to dive into Diigo with your students. That’s okay. I primarily use Diigo for creating lists in my library and for learning (I joined a group with a shared interest so every morning I get a digest of their bookmarks). Get your feet wet by creating an account in Diigo and joining the EVSC eLearning group, where you can add a favorite resource or piece of content. If you download the Diigo toolbar, practice annotating with sticky notes, the highlighter and comments.

This LiveBinder from last summer's eLearning Conference poster session Diggin' Diggo offers further support. Three tabs make up the binder: My 21st Century Bookcase (an overview of the tool and its features), Build Your Own Library (this section will show you how to request an educator account and create groups), and Collaborating in Class (a collection of resources from the educator perspective).

Diggin' Diigo

Ready to open a Diigo account? It takes just a couple of steps when you use the option below and select Google.

A new window will open. Click "Allow" and complete the verification.

Your Assignment: Diigo is not the only social bookmarking tool out there (it just happens to be this ICATS' favorite). Are you currently using another tool? If so, share what features you appreciate in that option (I have friends who swear by Delicious). If you are a current Diigo user, what tips would you share with new members? If you are still relying on your browser's Bookmarks and Favorites, which are tied to your machine, create an account and test out the possibilities of being on the cloud and able to access your resources from anywhere! What potential do you see for this tool in your classroom or work setting?

Day 12 - Search Creative Commons

2011-11-08T04:00:00.228-06:00

Image licensed under Creative Commons by Will Lio

I loved this image depicting Kapor's metaphor for information overload when I first saw it at the start of the one-to-one program in the high schools. Over the last two years, I’ve seen it appear in numerous blogs and presentation; most often without attribution to the creator. If you’re a researcher, writer or creative person of any kind, you’ll know how time consuming it is to track down permission to use the images, music, etc. you want to include in your work. So often we opt to skip that step, justifying that we're just using it for school or that others before us have copied and reused it. Once we find ourselves forming that habit, it is difficult to change our behavior. Yet, when our students consume images, sounds and other information we believe they need to cite their sources when representing another’s work or idea as their own. How do we align our beliefs with our habits? One solution is to create original visual and audio elements, and yet this is not always possible. In that case, the next time you or your students are searching for a creative work to include in your product, use advanced searches that filter out content by copyright privileges. While most search engines have advanced settings, Creative Commons offers a search tool that makes this quite convenient.

Your search for images, videos, or audio clips can be refined by usage rights and by media host using http://search.creativecommons.org/. This tool offers you the choice of ten different media hosts including Europeana (media), Flickr (images), Fotomedia (image), Google (web), Google Images (images), Jamendo (music), Open Clip Art Library (images), SpinXpress (media), Wikimedia Commons (media) and YouTube (video).

Step 1 Start a Creative Commons Search
There are two ways to access the Creative Commons Search. First, go directly to http://search.creativecommons.org/ by typing the URL into your web browser. Your other option is to go to the website creativecommons.org and then click on the “Find CC-licensed works” button under the Explore section.

Step 2 Enter your search term
Enter keywords for your search in the field at the top of the page.

Step 3 Check the appropriate filters for your search
To filter material based on the type of use you want to make, go to the box at the top right hand side of the search query field. This gives you two options “use for commercial purposes” and “modify, adapt or build upon.” You can select one, both or none of the boxes. Checking both boxes will restrict your finds to those that are under a No Derivative Works license and can be used for commercial use, whereas if you don’t select either of the boxes you will get materials under all of the Creative Common licenses. For most classroom searches you would only need to check the second filter.

At this point it might be useful to sort out some of the jargon. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. Creative Commons licenses divide content into categories, allowing people to use content as long as they agree to the terms. There are four license terms, which are listed below, but you can find these paired together to create a set of options. For obvious reasons, you will not find a work licensed as No Derivatives and Share-alike.

Attribution (by) – the original author/creator must be credited.
Non-Commercial (nc) - the work must not be used for commercial purposes.
No Derivatives (nd) – the work must not be modified.
Share-alike (sa) – any derivative works must be licensed under the same Creative Commons license.

When I found my "information hydrant" image,
this is what I learned about its license.

Step 4 Choose the right type of material
You can further restrict the type of content you are looking for by selecting the media host. The Creative Commons Search Portal gives you access to ten different search engines and each has its own tab on the main page. Clicking on your choice will pull up the search terms you entered in step 2. By selecting Google, you can search multiple types of material.

Your Assignment:
Share how you can promote and/or model digital citizenship and responsibility for ethical use of digital information including respect for copyright, intellectual property and the appropriate documentation of sources. You don't have to go to the extremes that eLearning coach, Julie Randolph took on Halloween. She arrived at Lincoln School clad as a pirate to reinforce her lesson on copyright laws. She shared this site created by eighth graders in Kansas http://www.wix.com/mrssmoke/le-arrgh-teen-anti-piracy

Other resources worthy of your time:
Sue Waters of Edublogs shared this Teaching Students about Creative Commons and Appropriate Use of Images

I highly recommend checking out this wiki: Teaching about Creative Commons

Richard Byrne’s blog “Free Technology for Teachers” offers this post Six Resources for Learning about Fair Use

Day 11 - Boolify

2011-11-07T04:00:00.009-06:00

Welcome Back!

Today's Challenge assignment is on Boolify!

"Librarians, teachers and parents have told us how hard it is for students to understand web searching. Boolify helps students bridge that gap by visualizing the process and letting students interact with the abstract concept behind the search process in a tangible and hands-on way."

- boolify.org/about

Boolify is a K-12 audience search tool which helps train people on the use of the Boolean Search Operators "and", "not" & "or" for standard internet searches. Boolify combines these search operators with a visual jigsaw puzzle approach. By adding and taking away puzzle pieces that represent search words and each of these operators, the students can visually see the effect that they have on the results of a particular web search.

Take a look at the following video.

As an added benefit, since Boolify is intended for K-12 audiences it runs on strict filters to help restrict inappropriate websites.

There are a couple of lessons on the website that are available in Google Docs. These lessons are straight forward and basic, but are good at showing the basic functions of the tool.

Boolify has been promoted by several sites and blogs, here are a few:

Note: Boolify recently underwent a couple of changes listed below.

1. Boolify now uses the search engine Bing instead of Google.

2. The number of results is no longer listed for the search.

For more info on the changes click here.

Your assignment:

1. Navigate to Boolify.org

2. Press all the buttons and try it out. No sign-ins, no accounts, no downloads...

3. Comment on your take-aways...

Day 10--Symbaloo

2011-11-04T04:00:00.027-05:00

Do you like things organized in a visual manner? Do you like things color-coded? WOW! Do I have the tool for you! Introducing Symbaloo!

Symbaloo is a Greek verb that stands for "assembling." Using this Web 2.0 tool, you can bring together favorite websites, bookmarks, and commonly used applications. You can color code your tiles, arrange them any way you like, and link your Symbaloo page to other Symbaloo pages. If you are really feeling creative, you can even change the background image to match your theme or mood.

The box in the middle allows you to do a Google search, check Facebook news feed, the weather, and latest

videos on YouTube. Many other widgets are available in a tab at the top.

Once you register with Symbaloo, you have the ability to search other webmixes and link them directly to your page. Make sure you register with an EDU account to receive maximum educator links. With this account, you will be given a tab with EDU teacher links, Ed Tech links, & RSS feeds to common educator sites.

Each tile is a link that is a visual representation of the website/tool/application. For a visual learner like myself, I am in love with this type of visual organization. Symbaloo makes a great homepage with ease of navigating and organizing your favorite sites. This allows easy access to your favorites. You can group things together and decide where all the tiles will fit on your gride.

It would help students keep their bookmarks and projects all together --just a few clicks away.

There are mutterings that Symbaloo is going to integrate with Google Maps, a contact manager, a live TV guide, and a screen-sharing app.

Symbaloo is a free web-based application and is safe for students to use.

Resources:

How to build webmix

Symbaloo LiveBinder

YouTube video tutorials

An 11 year old's take on Symbaloo (VERY cute!)

Educator Testimonials:

SymbalooLove

Make it work

Testimonial

Your assignment:

Take a tour! Click a few tabs! Try to move stuff around. Play with every button and tab you see. Now, what could you and your students do with this tool? How would it help your visual learners? How could it organize and simplify the web for some of your special education students? How could it make your life easier as a teacher to have all your links in one spot? Could you see this as a viable tool for students to use as an engaging place to keep their thoughts and search finds in one place? Comment below about how this tool might transform the internet homepage and your students' learning.

Day 9 - Audacity

2011-11-03T04:00:00.019-05:00

For today's challenge we are going to explore a tool that is not a web-based tool. Audacity is a free, open source software program that turns your computer into a sound recorder. With Audacity you can easily record, import audio, edit, add effects, and create MP3 sound files. As a music teacher I benefited greatly from using this tool but the uses for Audacity outside of the music classroom are just as rich. Audacity can be used to create podcasts by students and teachers. Teachers in many different disciplines have found uses for this great tool (see the uses of Audacity below). Just think of the possibilities as a student creates an MP3 sound file which can be a great stand alone project or one that can be used with a movie or photostory project. This tool allows you to create professional quality audio projects quickly and without a lot of hassle.

Here is the basic layout of the Audacity User Interface:

Check out this tutorial with some basics to get you started creating your project:

Here is a tutorial explaining how to turn your Audacity project into an MP3 file:

Please note that you only have to do the LAME plug-in set up once!

Some Great Uses of Audacity in the Classroom:

Click Here for a written tutorial of how to use Audacity

Having trouble finding LAME on student netbooks? Watch this video

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Download Audacity and begin making some basic voice recordings to understand how it works.
Try exporting to an MP3. See video above for exporting issues.
Think of a project you could create using Audacity.
If you have used Audacity in the past, share your experiences and ideas.

Day 8 - Jing

2011-11-02T04:00:00.010-05:00

Welcome to Day 8 of the 30 - Day Challenge!

Today we will take a look at "Jing"!

Jing incorporates tools that enable content sharing and collaboration through screencasts and screenshots of all or part of your computer desktop. While using Jing you can easily annotate your screenshots and save them or upload them to flickr, twitter, or facebook with a simple click!

Screencasting is very simple with the on screen capture tools. Specifying exactly what you want to show (full screen or any part thereof) can be controlled easily. With a 5 minute limit on Jing screencasts, all the videos remain short and concise. Screencasts can also be saved to the computer or uploaded to screencast.com. Jing will also give you an embed code so that the video can be placed directly into other webpages or sites like this blog.

Take a look at this overview video and see for yourself how easy using Jing can be.

"Jing Pro" does offer a few more useful features, but lets take a look at the free version and get acquainted. The great part here of course is that Jing (free version) is already preloaded on all the student netbooks!

There are many quick tutorials on the Jing website that may be helpful to you as well!

Here is some more information on educator testimonials on the uses of Jing at their school.

Your Assignment:

Click on the following link: www.techsmith.com/jing/

1. Download the free version of Jing.

2. Create a screencast.com account, you will be prompted for this after you download Jing. (This is required so that you can store your screenshots/screencasts on the cloud and create links to them.)

3. Capture a screenshot and test out the annotation tools or try making a short screencast.

4. Copy the screenshot/screencast to your computer or upload to screencast.com.

5. Share how you feel Jing could best be used in the classroom and around school.

Optional... If you would like,...paste a link to your screenshot/screencast as a comment to this blog post

In addition to Jing, there are other great screencasting tools available such as screencastomatic.com and Camtasia for example. You may substitute a Jing screencast with that of another program if you wish, but please provide a link to your screencast as well as information about the program you used.

Enjoy!

Day 7- Dropbox

2011-11-01T04:00:00.003-05:00

Today's challenge is Dropbox. Dropbox is an organizational tool that allows you to store and access your files on multiple computers and Internet-ready devices. You can also share files with others using Dropbox.

If you want to set up a Dropbox account, use this link: http://db.tt/I3w5MJZo

WARNING: You can only have one Dropbox account per computer profile, but you can always access additional accounts via Dropbox.com, so if you share a computer with someone, make sure that you are using profiles, or only one of you will be able to use the desktop feature.

You can download Dropbox for your computer or as an app for your iDevice or Smartphone.

Here are some links to get you started using Dropbox in the classroom:

How to Set Up an Electronic Dropbox for Your Classroom
Dropbox LiveBinder
The Complete Dropbox for Educators
Top Tips for Dropbox in Education
Using Dropbox and DropItToMe
4 Uses of Dropbox for Teachers and Administrators
Send Email Attachments to Your Dropbox
Send YouTube Videos to Your Dropbox
Request and Collect Files Via Dropbox

Your Assignment: Explore the resources above and share your thoughts about how a tool like Dropbox could be beneficial to you as an educator. How might this be useful in the classroom, as a professional development tool, or as a communication/collaboration tool with other stakeholders? If you already use Dropbox in your professional practice, what tricks and or lessons have you learned that could help others?

Day 6 - 'Boo'gle Apps

2011-10-31T04:30:00.021-05:00

Happy Halloween!

The theme for the week's Web 2.0 Challenges is Productivity Tools and today we're starting things off with Google Apps. (Sorry if the title for the post threw you off!)

Google Apps is a suite of communication and collaboration tools developed by Google that are accessible through any computer's web browser via the Internet. Google Apps is a type of computing where everything done in the web browser lives and breathes in the cloud... and Google was doing this before the term Cloud Computing became popular. There are tons of apps available in the suite including the one we're using right now (Blogger), but for this post we are going to focus on the five main apps in the suite which are Gmail, Calendar, Google Docs, Groups, and Sites.

GETTING STARTED

Here are some jumping off points to get you logged into the Google Apps suite.

Create an Account (for anyone that doesn't have an account)
EVSC Google Apps Login (All EVSC teachers and Grades 6-12 students have an evsck12.com account)
Gmail Login (if you are a Google Apps for Education user, you will need to use your full email address to login)

GOTTA LOVE THE GOOGLE APPS!
There are so many things that I could point to that Google Apps makes simple for people to do, but I will leave that for you all to discuss in the comments section below. I am going to highlight one of the things that I love most about Google Apps and that is on how easy it is to share and collaborate with others in Google Docs.

How many times have you created a document on your computer and then needed someone to look it over and possibly add to the document? Many times, right? So, here's what you end up doing... you spend time working on the document and then email the document as an attachment to one of your colleagues. Now the waiting game begins. Now you spend time waiting for them to email it back to you. And then when you get the email back with their edits and additions applied to the file, you save the new file to your computer, give it a different file name because you don't want to overwrite the first version of the file just in case you later decide to go with the first instead of the second version. Are you lost yet? Just imagine how crazy this would sound if you had done this with five people! (which some of you have probably done at some point in your career)

Google Docs makes this process easy.

Share a Google Doc with up to 200 simultaneous viewers and editors, 50 of which can be editing the document at the same time. 200 people looking at the same document sounds extreme, but it's good to know the limitations.
Sharing is simple and you can do it while you're working on the document or from your Docs list. Simply push the Share button at the top of your screen and start typing in the names of people you want to share. You can set their rights to Editor, Comments Only, or View Only. Google Docs will even send them an email letting them know the document is being shared to them. It's that easy!
Are you worried about people accidentally deleting information? Google Docs has Revision History so you can always restore the document to a previous date and time.
As you're editing a document, you are able to see a list of individuals who are viewing/editing the document at that moment. The user list also has a chat feature so you can communicate live while you work.
Did you create a document, spreadsheet, or presentation using another program? No problem. Upload it to Google Docs and then share it.
Do you want to share the information in a doc on a web page? No problem. Google Docs can help you to share a web link with users and even allow you to embed the doc in another website so as the document changes, the website stays up to date.

What Software is on the Netbook? - http://www.evscicats.com/elearning/netbook-programs.html

RESOURCES

Google Tools Class - Online class that teaches you the basics of Google Apps. Have option at the end to receive certificate for completing the PD.
Flubaroo - An assessment tool that you can use with Spreadsheets - very useful when you have kids fill out a survey form.
Google Apps Education Training Center
Google Apps Learning Center for Users
Google Apps Tips and Tricks
Quick Reference Sheets
User Help Center

VIDEO TUTORIALS

YOUR CHALLENGE:
Explore the possibilities of using Google Apps at your school. What impact might this tool make on your classroom? with the school as a whole? with the school corporation? with the community? Do you presently use Google Apps at school and if so, can you share your experience with us?

CHECK THIS OUT!!!

30 Day Web 2.0 Challenge Tally Spreadsheet - this is a Google Doc spreadsheet we are using to track everyone's progress through the Challenge.

Day 5- Skype

2011-10-28T04:00:00.000-05:00

Today's challenge is to explore the Internet telephone and video calling service, Skype. Strictly speaking, Skype isn't a Web 2.0 tool since it involves a download, but many of its applications blur the line between program and web tool. Regardless, we may not have jet-packs or human cloning like the science fiction writers promised, but we can enjoy the benefits of collaborating face-to-face even when separated across distance today.

GETTING SET UP
Skype is easy to download and install. The following links will get you started:

Create an Account
Download the Software
How-To Videos on YouTube

WHY WE LIKE SKYPE

The great thing about Skype is that it allows you to send your expertise and experience to other Skype users anywhere in the world, or to invite others from across the globe to share their expertise with your classroom without the inconveniences of travel, hotel stays, or long-distance phone bills. You can collaborate with a classroom in Turkey, or invite a professor from Harvard to speak with your class. The best part is that many people are happy to share what they know via Skype because it is easy and convenient. All you have to do is ask.

RESOURCES

Here are a few Skype directories that can help get you started:

Skype an Author Network
Skype in Schools Directory
EduBlogger: Skype Other Classrooms
Skype for Educators Directory
Collaborators Wanted

You can join the Skype for Educators Directory here.

Finally, here are a few resources for getting started with Skype in your classroom:

50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom
Cool Cat Teacher: Using Skype in the Classroom
The Complete Educator's Guide To Using Skype

CHALLENGE

Your Assignment: Explore the possibilities of Skype in the classroom. How do you imagine using Skype to enhance your professional practice? If you use Skype, share your thoughts about Skype as a classroom or professional tool. Have you used Skype with students? If so, what did you learn from the experience?

Day 4 - VoiceThread

2011-10-27T04:00:00.145-05:00

Welcome back! Have you picked up on the theme of this week’s challenges? Each tool focuses on communication and collaboration. The deliberate grouping of tools aligns with National Educational Technology Standards called the NETS for students. There are also NETS for teachers, administrators and coaches, which are published by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Your blog comments are touching on most all of the five teacher standards and the fifth standard, Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership, is really at play. We are thrilled that so many educators have committed to participating in this learning community and we are enjoying your reflections as we explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning. So on to today’s challenge!

VoiceThread engages students in discussions in a non-traditional way and became a favorite resource after colleague Matt Etienne asked me to check it out. I saw the full potential of this tool when fellow coach, Richard Roll, shared how he and others were using VoiceThreads at Glenwood Leadership Academy. Since then I’ve used it as a student and must say it’s a powerful means for sharing peer reviews.

What is VoiceThread exactly?

It is a web application that allows you to use different types of media to create an interactive slideshow. You can use pictures, videos, documents, or even presentations to build the VoiceThread but the real magic happens when you and your students record audio or text comments that respond to each slide. You can even draw right on the slide to demonstrate your ideas. The collaboration doesn't have to stop in your classroom either. VoiceThreads can be private and yet selectively shared for cross-collaboration.

Get Started by Opening an Account:

Go to VoiceThread.com and Click Sign in or Register on the upper right of the screen.
When the new page loads, click Register on the left. Enter all your information.
When finished, click the Products tab and go to K12.
Then click Single Educator.
Scroll down to the chart showing the VT Educator option. You can see all the free upgrades that you get with this distinction. Click Apply at the bottom. Fill out the requested information. (Within 24 hours you should get a message confirming it was processed.)

Once you create an account in VoiceThread you have access to a complete library of very well done tutorials including the comprehensive Introduction to VoiceThread. If you don’t have a lot of time, one tutorial that a classroom teacher may be interested in is “Comment Moderation!” which demonstrates how to preview a comment before allowing it to be visible on the thread. There are also tons of teacher created resources on the web. I use Diigo, a social bookmarking tool, for saving webpages that I find useful. Here is my list of resources on VoiceThread that you can refer to for more ideas and information.

I’ve created a very basic VoiceThread for you to test out. (Notice I embedded it below; it was super easy to do!) I encourage you to get in there and try it out!

Step 1: Click Comment, which will prompt you to log into VoiceThread. Once you've done that you'll see your "Identity" in the lower left corner.

Step 2: To add a text comment to the first slide, click Type and begin typing in the comment box. When you are finished hit Save. Your identifier will pop up next to the slide when complete. You can preview it or move on. If you want to add a recorded comment you can do that too.

Step 3: If you are not automatically forwarded to the next slide, you can click the arrow on the right. Here's your chance to try out the Doodle Tool. Click Type which will bring up a color wheel.

Click on the color of your choice and you can begin creating your jack o' latern. Hit save when you're done. Click on the center of the palette to keep the drawing from fading out.

Your assignment:
Identify an assignment or activity that you ask students to complete that could be transformed by introducing a VoiceThread instead. How do you think the change could impact student engagement? What support would you or your students need to get started? Share what you're thinking in a comment.

Day 3 - Weebly

2011-10-26T04:37:00.003-05:00

Weebly's website says it all:

- "The easiest way to create a website. Free. Powerful. Professional."

How to get to Weebly

Starting a Weebly is really easy!

First, login to your EVSC Google Apps account. (Visitors from other corporations - Go to your Google Apps Portal and login)
Next, click Weebly from More on the Google menu at the top.

You can also go to http://www.weebly.com.

CLICK HERE to see the key features for choosing a Weebly over the competition.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT
1. While at Weebly.com...
(Choose one of the bulleted options to explore)

Visit the ICATS Weebly Sample Website at http://evscicats.weebly.com. There are videos on the site to walk you through how each page was created. Feel free to interact with the website - post to the blog and forum, submit a form, download a file, play a video, and check out the pictures.

Create a Weebly of your own.

2. Back on this Blog, share your thoughts and opinions on the classroom application of this Web 2.0 tool.

3. If you created a Weebly site, please share the URL with us.

A Note About Comments To The Blog:

2011-10-25T10:20:00.021-05:00

Thank you for the great responses we have had to the blog!

In order to streamline the data collection for the 30-Day Challenge we ask that you post comments to the blog using your Full First and Last Name. Several people have posted under multiple accounts that are very difficult to track.

Thank You in advance and Keep Blogging!

Here is a screencast that shows how to change the display name in your profile.

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Day 2 - Bubbl.us

2011-10-25T04:00:00.071-05:00

“Organizing is what you do before you do something,
so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”

A.A. Milne

Graphic organizers support learning from brainstorming ideas to presenting findings and all phases in between. These visual tools help learners in two essential ways: (1) processing information in chunks and (2) looking for connections between ideas. While some uses simply draw on reviewing concepts and demonstrating understanding, there are higher level uses that require students to analyze and create. There is really no debate around the effectiveness of graphic organizers and you may already have students creating them using paper and pencil. With technology comes a whole array of free web 2.0 tools that allow users to convert messy collections into meaningful displays that can be developed collaboratively, shared virtually or saved and inserted into another piece of work (and if absolutely necessary…printed out). Today’s challenge will focus on bubbl.us

Bubbl.us includes a very well done Help section that can be accessed on the upper right of the screen. My favorite resource "Editing" is under "Features by Topic." There you get all the tricks for adding style to your bubbles. After five years of development, the designers have done significant work to meet the users' needs. Bubbl.us is Flash based so it is not compatible with the iPads. The site works well with most web browsers, while I tend to favor Mozilla Firefox. This is a free tool so don't be surprised that there is a restriction to owning three sheets at a time. I haven't found this to be a problem, but it's good to keep in mind for your students.

Your Assignment:

Do some investigating. You can get started without even creating an account. Test out some of the features of bubbl.us and see if you aren't inclined to create an account so that you can save your sheets. Perhaps you know of another free online brainstorming tool and can share your recommendation. If you choose to do this for your post today, make sure you include the URL or link to the website and what features you like and why.

We look forward to reading your comments on how you can integrate a graphic organizer activity into your instruction. How do you envision seeing students working with a tool like bubbl.us? Will they collaborate or work independently? You might share how you would get students started with a new tool like bubbl.us.

Need more to get your gears rotating? Rather than reinventing resources, I did a quick search of the web and pulled some of the best models and screencasts for you to draw inspiration from:

http://www.ashleysiegel.com/portfolio/BubblusHow-ToGuide.pdf This handout made for students covers the basics for creating a Bubbl.us account, creating a concept map, and sharing that map with others. It does include visuals from an older version of the tool.

Here's one teacher's success story with bubbl.us http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/649749:Topic:7014

Wikis are a terrific tool for assembling information to benefit the collective whole and Teach Web 2.0 is one of my favorites. Visit http://teachweb2.wikispaces.com/bubbl.us for a great collection of resources including a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threat (SWOT) Analysis of bubbl.us.

Day 1- Blogger/Blogging in the Classroom

2011-10-24T07:46:00.002-05:00

Welcome!

Kudos to all of you who are embarking on this challenge with us. Today, in an attempt to get everyone on the same (web)page, our challenge is the blog tool Blogger. If you are unfamiliar with what a blog is, here is a quick video to get you up to speed:

Blogger is the blogging website with which this 30 Day Challenge was created, and it is a great site for getting started with blogging in the classroom.

Setting Up

Before we jump into some of the possible applications of Blogger in the classroom, the first part of today's challenge is to learn three basic tasks related to participating in a discussion on a Blogger blog.

First, we need to set up our online profile:

Next, we need to subscribe to the blog as a member of this online community:

Finally, we need to post a comment to the blog post to participate in the discussion:

Exploring Blogger for the Classroom

We chose Blogger as a featured communication tool for three reasons. First, there are many blogs that can enhance your own professional learning.While not all of these were created in Blogger, you will see that many bloggers use the familiar Blogger template. Click the link below for a short list of some of our favorite blogs to follow:

Some of our favorite blogs to follow

Second, Blogger is an excellent host for building a blog to use in your classroom. Blogs can be used to extend the classroom in many ways:

11 advantages of using a blog for teaching

View more presentations from Frank Calberg Services

20 Reasons Why Students Should Blog
33 Ways to Use Blogs in Your Classroom

Here are some examples of teacher blogs from our corporation (past and current):

The Sweater Vest Blog (2008-2009)
Mr. Flake's Science Class (Current)
Mrs. Esparza's Math Classroom (Current)
Mr. Bennet's Blog (Current)
Jammin' With the Jets (Current)

Third, inviting students to blog is an excellent way to develop student voice and to give students an authentic audience for their work. The link below has some great examples of student blogging in the classroom:

The EduBlogger- Check Out Class Blogs!

If you are interested in exploring blogging in the classroom, we recommend the following resources to get you started:

EVSC ICATS- Resources for Bloggers
Great Blogging Advice from Vicki Davis (Cool Cat Teacher)

Finally, here are some resources related to getting started with Blogger itself:

The Essentials of Using Blogger to Publish Your Blog
Blogger Help YouTube Channel
Blogger Features

The Challenge

Throughout the 30 Day Web 2.0 Challenge, your task will be to share your experiences and ideas about the various web tools we highlight. While there is no specific length requirement for your comments, we hope that you will keep in mind the opportunity that we all have to learn from one another's reflections. It's a good practice to read the other comments and then add to or enhance the conversation with your own perspective.

Your Assignment: Comment to this Post with your own ideas about how Blogger/ blogging could have an impact on your professional practice, or share your experience/ advice related to using this tool. Also, if you have a classroom blog, we'd love to know about it. Please share the URL.

Welcome to The Challenge

2011-10-05T14:14:00.030-05:00

The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) Innovation, Curriculum, and Technology Specialists (ICATS) are excited to announce the first in a series of 30 Day Challenges. Starting next week (Monday, October 24th) you are invited to complete the Web 2.0 Challenge which will run through Monday, December 12th.

Each school day, we will introduce a new resource compete with tutorials and tips. The challenge is for you to explore the shared tool and post a reflection about how you could use it to enhance student learning. Not every tool will be new to you, so participants are welcome to share what they've learned from using the tool in the classroom.

The ICATS are excited to provide this challenge because we believe the participants will create and learn from an amazing community of practice. While the intrinsic value of participation is great, we have to admit there is some significant extrinsic motivation as well. EVSC participants who post responses to all thirty challenges will be entered into a drawing for an iPad 2 that will be given away at the end of the Tuesday, December 13th's After the Bell session at the Technology and Innovation Center (TIC).

Non-EVSC educators are welcome to join the challenge but will not be eligible to enter the drawing.

The first 30 Day Challenge will explore Web 2.0 Tools related to communication, collaboration, productivity, creativity and innovation. If you know how to join the blog, please do so now. If not, no worries. Our first challenge will include how to join a blog as well as how to post comments.

If you have any questions, please email the ICATS or leave a post here.

Thank you and we are looking forward to learning with you!