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a note to readers the purposed of this document is to simply introduce you to a variety of tools that you can incorporate into your life as a teacher and leader as the title suggests this is by no means an exhaustive list of web 2.0 tools i recommend you try a few out and quickly you will notice similarities in how they function making it easier to move from one tool to the next while technology cannot substitute for sound practice we need to ask ourselves how these tools will impact learners like our students many of us learn best by doing and there is no better time than right now to start using technology in our practice yours in teaching charlie page 2[close]
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table of contents twenty-first century learning website builders social networking giving life to presentations communication collaboration blogging videos animation podcasts webinars sharing our learning just for fun useful links references 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 25 page 3[close]
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21 century learning the term 21st century attached to other words like learning students teaching or classrooms has become for some educators just another fad term being tossed around schools and professional development workshops whether you agree with the term or not the reality is that our students learning needs and the classrooms in which they spend much of their days don t always align we continue to talk about technology integration in our lessons when our students are part of world that has never been without computers we don t think of integrating pencil or book use into our lessons since they are just a few of the many tools we use to learn with computers and technology should not be any different unfortunately for us we remember the days before computers were in our schools and our comforts lie in that time whether we like it or not technology computers and the internet are here to stay and our students need to see us becoming familiar with a world that they have always been a part of no matter which website you visit or scholarly article that you read on this topic technology is part of it they may not all share the same parts as the diagram on the next page or the wording of bc s education plan but a key piece to each is digital literacy we cannot expect our students to become digitally literate and technologically savvy consumers and creators of information if their teachers do not model it for them in some way many teachers won t consider moving towards these ideas until they see their leaders model them first our students are not demanding perfection from us they just want us to give it a shot page 4 st[close]
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while a quick google search for 21st century learner results in a large number of images and charts breaking down this generic term this diagram comes from alberta education as part of their inspiring action on education plan many of the tools in this booklet help meet the needs of learners described in this diagram this diagram is explained further on their website the government of british columbia has come up with a plan to move their students and teachers into the 21st century although they do not include a diagram in the document much of what they are suggesting in this plan works with the diagram from alberta education page 5[close]
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why should i build my own website the majority of parents and students likely have access to the internet and email and are looking to technology as a way of being involved in classroom happenings many website builders teachers and parents who believe it is important for teachers to maintain a website feel that it would improve home and school communication as it would allow for up to date information about what is happening at school and in the classroom in addition a website can supply visitors with supplemental activities and resources parents can use to extend classroom learning outside of class time unal 2008 in a survey unal 2008 to parents and teachers regarding the content of a teacher website both parties agreed the website should include a information about the teacher including email address and pictures information about the course or class including notes homework assignments help pages and student work samples and resources for parents including the school calendar important dates forms taking a teacher or classroom website even further might include student contributions as they will then encourage parents to visit the site to show off their work building a website on weebly is unlike anything you ve ever experienced our drag drop website builder makes it dead simple to create a powerful professional website without any technical skills required over 6 million people and small businesses have joined weebly to build their online presence content elements like text photos maps and videos are added to your website by simply dragging dropping them into place text is edited just like in a word processor building your website is done in real time right from within your web browser from weebly.com page 6[close]
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single-click page creation customizable look and feel dozens of pre-built templates settings for accessing and sharing information from http www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html wix is a do-it-yourself website builder a free online tool that lets you create and customize your own websites built with a powerful user-friendly interface wix gives you total control over your web design without knowing the first thing about fancy coding or programming explore what others have made using wix or jump right in and create your own browse our collection of beautiful free website templates you ll find loads of stunning designs ready to be customized click edit on any template enter our easy website builder and start working drag drop to quickly customize your site change the colors images icons text and just about everything else upload your own content or use some of wix free website design elements found inside the website builder images animation clip art icons widgets and more are yours to use the moment you sign up promote a business showcase your art set up an online shop or just test out new ideas wix has everything you need to build a fully-personalized high-quality website no downloads no experience required just free easy and beautiful web design from wix.com page 7[close]
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why should i use social networking mumblings in some staff rooms might blame social networking for the plight of social networking today s children but the reality is that students and parents are using social networking to communicate on a daily basis perhaps tapping in to this will create that connection to community that schools crave mcintosh and utecht say that social networks are a compelling platform through which to engage school communities if not the youngsters themselves certainly their parents and wider families 2012 pg 174 rather than simply posting information on a school or district website using social networking brings the information to the parents a platform like facebook meets parents students and other community members in a space where they already spend time mcintosh utecht 2012 it is no longer acceptable for schools to exist in just one isolated place it must exist in many spaces simultaneously mcintosh utecht 2012 pg 179 twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations at the heart of twitter are small bursts of information called tweets each tweet is 140 characters in length but don t let the small size fool you you can share a lot with a little space connected to each tweet is a rich details pane that provides additional information deeper context and embedded media you can tell your story within your tweet or you can think of a tweet as the headline and use the details pane to tell the rest with photos videos and other media content from http twitter.com/about page 8[close]
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edmodo provides a safe and easy way for your class to connect and collaborate share content and access homework grades and school notices our goal is to help educators harness the power of social media to customize the classroom for each and every learner edmodo promotes anytime anyplace learning functionally it allows teachers to post messages discuss classroom topics assign and grade class work share content and materials and network and exchange ideas with their peers but in reality it is so much more from http about.edmodo.com subdomain=www users can create profiles with photos lists of personal interests contact information and other personal information users can communicate with friends and other users through private or public messages and a chat feature they can also create and join interest groups and like pages called fan pages until april 19 2010 some of which are maintained by organizations as a means of advertising to allay concerns about privacy facebook enables users to choose their own privacy settings and choose who can see specific parts of their profile the web site is free to users and generates revenue from advertising such as banner ads facebook requires a user s name and profile picture if applicable to be accessible by everyone users can control who sees other information they have shared as well as who can find them in searches through their privacy settings from http en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook page 9[close]
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why should i give life to my presentations giving life to presentations not only will your audience members appreciate avoiding yet another powerpoint presentation cofino and jakes argue that learning institutions should consciously and creatively explore instructional methodologies and learning environments that promote the development of visual literacy skills to ensure that students can effectively navigate the twenty-first century media landscape 2012 pg 157 glogster and prezi are just two programs that allow users to manipulate a variety of text into an interesting format advocates of 21 st century learning believe that understanding how to decode images how to navigate multimedia and how to create in these forms has expanded our interpretation of what it means to be literate cofino jakes 2012 pg 155 this makes it critical then to give students the opportunity to use a variety of text to communicate their ideas and understanding and programs like these allow this to happen 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 from http prezi.com/about page 10[close]
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glogster is a online poster maker where users can put images audio text and video on to their virtual poster and share with the entire glogster community or just close family and friends it is up to the user glogster is a revolutionary way of expressing your moods feelings and ideas creating a glog lets you express all those things you can t put in words choose a background throw in some graphics from our galleries add text your own videos photos and music and there you go a glogmasterpiece from http www.glogster.com/faq ahead originated out of frustration with the shortcomings of current tools for online collaboration and publishing as they don t support rich media and facilitate visual creative processes very well with ahead we set out to develop the first tool on the market that makes it fast natural and fun to publish and work with visual concepts together online from http ahead.com view/lilaspaces/main/welcome?scene=what is ahead page 11[close]
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collaboration communication why should i consider these tools for communication and or collaboration not only are communication and collaboration key to many 21st century frameworks dede 2010 they are essential to the teaching profession as well richard and rebecca dufour have been long-time proponents of teacher collaboration through their model of professional learning communities plc although technology alone is unable to convert a traditional school into a plc it can be a source of support for teachers who want to transform how they work the dufour s maintain that the combination of agreed-upon standards and increased access to technology means teachers who are not in the same building or even the same state could nevertheless work interdependently to achieve common goals for their students teachers interested in working in collaborative teams can look to many websites and professional organizations that facilitate collaboration 2010 pg 87 technology is allowing teachers to step out of the isolation of their classrooms and into the collaboration on an online community teachers who have connected online have coined the term professional learning network pln and twitter is one place that allows educators to connect collaborate and communicate with like-minded professionals skype is a free download that allows users to make computer to computer calls using webcams and microphones users can choose to chat with our without video feed download skype it s quick easy and free add contacts friends family colleagues search for them or add them instantly if you know their skype name make a free skype call choose a contact and click the call button from http www.skype.com/intl/en-us/features/allfeatures/skype-to-skype-calls page 12[close]
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twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations at the heart of twitter are small bursts of information called tweets each tweet is 140 characters in length but don t let the small size fool you you can share a lot with a little space connected to each tweet is a rich details pane that provides additional information deeper context and embedded media you can tell your story within your tweet or you can think of a tweet as the headline and use the details pane to tell the rest with photos videos and other media content from http twitter.com/about create and share your work online upload your files from your desktop it s easy to get started and it s free access anywhere edit and view your docs from any computer or smart phone share your work real-time collaboration means work gets done more quickly from http bit.ly/t9m0pk page 13[close]
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why should i blog a blog is simply an online journal according to hokanson and long individuals and groups are drawn to blogs for the following reasons they are simple to set up edit and publish no computer langague is needed topics can be as formal or personal as deemed appropriate by the writer recent entries posts are easily located as blogs are published in reverse chronological order there are easy ways to subscribe comments from an audience are a standard part of the process thus creating two-way conversations 2012 pg 4 the great thing about blogs is that it is a great tool for both teachers as professionals and for students because it is web based it allows students and teachers alike to make connections and have conversations with people from around the world hokanson long 2012 blogging we created blogger to give you an easy way to share your thoughts about current events what s going on in your life or anything else you d care to discuss with the world we ve developed a host of features to make blogging as simple and effective as possible from http www.blogger.com/features page 14[close]
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edublogs can do a lot and it would be impossible to list everything in one place to help you get introduced to all of the different features we ve created this quick overview edublogs are safe and reliable blogs can be completely private or open to the public since we only host education related content edublogs are allowed by most school filters where other blogging platforms are not student friendly it is as simple to add to and update a blog as it is to send an email teachers can easily create and manage as many student blogs as needed rich with features a few of the most popular features include discussion tools video embedding facebook and twitter integration and calendars customizable with over 100 different themes which allow for control of colors images and layout research-based engage students in their learning and enhance instruction through collaboration student portfolios and endless classroom uses from http edublogs.org/why-edublogs you can get a blog started in less time than it takes you to read this sentence all you need is an email address you ll get your own wordpress.com address like you.wordpress.com you can switch to a custom address later if you d like a selection of great free and customizable designs for your blog we call them themes 3 gigabytes of file storage that s about 2,500 pictures and all the other great features listed here you can blog as much as you want for free your blog can be public to the world or private for just your friends from http en.wordpress.com/features page 15[close]
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