Group items tagged

Group Members: (Group 4) Belcher, Kaufman, Knowles, Duffy Category: Sharing and rating content on the web. Grade level: Upper elementary, middle school, high school Topic/discipline: All Tutorial information: A "take a tour" link is provided on the homepage that walks you through the five main aspects of digg and then asks you to join. An FAQ link is also provided at the homepage. Possible uses: Teachers and studetents can find web-based information and have an online discussion about the information/content. Students may also communicate with other students from other schools. Basics: Individuals post information or links to information on the web. Other users are able to comment on the information and rate the value of the information through comments. Positives: Very visual, easy to post information, ability to communicate with other students and teacher, exposure to vast amount of information. Negatives: Some information shared at digg.com will be blocked by schools' filters. Students may be distracted by other less relevant posted information.

Group Members: (Group 4) Belcher, Kaufman, Knowles, Duffy Category: Evaluation of student writing samples Grade level: Middle school, high school Topic/discipline: Language arts, social studies, science Tutorial information: A "project overview" link is provided on the homepage that outlines the three main phases of the evaluation process along with important details. Possible uses: Online objective-based evaluation of student writing samples provided by other educators. Basics: Teachers submit student writing samples. Other teachers, students, and professionals read and evaluate the work. EdSteps then will publish continuums ("emerging" to "accomplished" work samples) in different skill areas.The continuums are available online for teachers, students and families to view. Positives: Provides objective-based evaluation and feedback of students' writing. Evaluations provided by a variety of individuals of various ages, specializations, and affiliations. Results are made available online to students and families. Negatives: Time - the evaluation process takes time to provide feedback.

Group 1 (Bulfer, Sennett, Gourley, Carl) Category: Organization Tool Grade level use: 10-12 Topic/discipline: Could be used in all disciplines. Tutorial Information: Tour, About Section, YouTube Videos Possible uses: Take notes in class, calendar, to do list, homework organizer, manage courses, write and save notes, Organize links and contacts, keep a notebook. Basic explanation: Notely gives a student, one place to keep track of all of his or her classes and take notes for each class. It also allows students to interact and post with other students. Positives: Free membership. Helps students get organized efficiently. Negatives: Geared more towards upper level high school and college level students. This program is beneficial for students who are given lap tops, but that is not all schools.

Authors: Ruth Getchius, April Wenzel, Patricia McKane, Tera Hafermann (Group 2) Category: test preparation Discipline: English, Writing, grades 10-12 Tutorial information: Help option in upper right corner offers explanations on how to complete any functions and activities of the program. Each section has a view option, to watch the action done for you. Possible Uses: Students can use this to see exactly how their ACT essay was graded. They can then work on improving for a re-take. Teachers and administrators can search score ranges and use the information to see where most students are achieving and also where the overall weaknesses are. Then, they can adapt their curriculum to strengthen that weaker area. Basics: This site is a collection of all the ACT writing exams. To log on, you must have your school's ACT code. Once inside, you can search for any combination of results to see how the students did on the ACT writing exam. The site shows the exact written exam the student wrote. They are scanned into the webpage. It also shows the comments of the graders to the essay and the English score and the overall ACT composite score. There is some personal information available too, like students names, addresses, and social security numbers. This is why you have to have the school code to access it. Positives: You see the exact essay the student wrote. It is online pretty quickly after the students take the exam. It provides good feedback for students wanting to re-take the ACT. You also have access to the writing prompts, and can then use them for practice prompts in the classroom. Negatives: The comments are fairly vague and similar. More specific feedback would be more helpful to students and teachers alike. Must have access code to enter.

Group 2: Wenzel, Getchius, McKane, & Hafermann Tool Name: Discovery Education URL: http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/ Category: classroom resources, assessments, lesson plans Tags: English, science, math, reading, writing, social studies Grade Level Use: K-12 Topic/discipline: English, math, science, reading, writing, social studies, and technology Tutorial Information: There is a help section in the upper right hand corner of the page as well as a contact us link at the bottom of the page Possible Uses: Teachers can use to create or edit lessons. Teachers can learn how to use media in the classroom as well as use some of the site's media information in creating lessons. Basics: Discovery Education allows teachers to utilize lessons and ideas to create new and improved lessons in the classroom. The site also has games available for classroom use. Positives: The site is easy to navigate and has a lot of useful information. The site also has a parent corner for parents to stay informed. Negatives: The school or teacher using the website must have an access log-in