Module 3: Diigo 3
Student: Neena W. Patterson
EDUC 8847 (Module 3 Assignment)

(Pre-Training)
Name of the site: Wordle
URL: http://www.wordle.net
Brief description of what it does: You can generate word clouds from text of important concepts as a pre-training activity.
Brief explanation why it's better than others: Simple to create word clouds using this site

Name of the site: Teacher Tube
URL: http://www.teachertube.com
Brief description of what it does: videos that encourage learners to take ownership of their learning
Brief explanation why it's better than others: many step-by-step tutorials to instruct the educator how to use the SMARTboard

(Graphic Organizers)
Name of the site: Bubbl.us
URL: https://bubbl.us
Brief description of what it does: Learners may create their own graphic organizer
Brief explanation why it's better than others: "Brainstorming made simple" is their logo. Simple to use and it's free. Nice tool to help you organize your thoughts and save as a jpeg.

Name of the site: The Brain
URL: http://www.thebrain.com
Brief description of what it does: Free mind mapping software that has a 10-minute tutorial to teach you the basics of this program. "Think faster and work smarter" is their logo.
Brief explanation why it's better than others: Simplicity, free to use, and provides easy publishing and synchronization capabilities.

(Presentations)
Name of the site: Animoto
URL: http://animoto.com
Brief description of what it does: Allows you to add 30 second video's of any topic to your presentation free of charge. You may add voices, photos, video clips, and music.
Brief explanation why it's better than others: Animoto syncs with many social websites like Facebook and YouTube.

Name of the site: GoAnimate
URL: http://goanimate.com
Brief description of what it does: Allows you to make videos for free. "Fastest, easiest way to make a video" is their logo. User can create an animated lesson for the class.
Brief explanation why it's better than others: Free to use or you may choose to upgrade for a fee. The site includes a quick video maker and a full featured video maker.

(Authentic Assessment Activities)
Name of the site: Rubrics 4 Teachers
URL: http://www.rubrics4teacers.com
Brief description of what it does: this site has rubrics for various topics that you can use, or can be used to guide you when making your own rubric for assessment. There
Brief explanation why it's better than others: The home site is Teacher Planet; made for teachers and created by teachers - a complete guide for educational rubrics/assessment


Name of the site: Rubistar
URL: http://www-1.rubistar4teachers.net
Brief description of what it does: Allows you to crate different rubrics
Brief explanation why it's better than others: Site has hundreds of different rubrics to use, or you may use the rubric tool makers as a guide if you prefer to make your own

I have chosen to develop a multimedia workshop on the topic of "How to use the SmartBoard" for a group of nursing educators at a rural university. Recently, the nursing chair at the university submitted a request for a SmartBoard to be placed in each of the nursing lecture halls. None of the current nursing staff have ever used this type of technology. The web sites that I have chosen include artifacts for active learning. I have identified the active engagement of each website as focusing on behavioral or cognitive activity. Mayer (2009) stated that multimedia is a tool to enhance learning and I have identified which website uses technology- centered or learner-centered multimedia design.

Multimedia Artifacts Websites:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4964345_use-smart-board-classroom.html
This website presents step by step how to use a SmartBoard in the classroom. The active engagement focuses on behavioral activity because the learner is able to follow the instructions as they read them on the screen. The learner may follow the steps to turn on the SmartBoard, align and orient, use SmartBoard pens to write notes, and to save the notes with screen capture. This is a technology-centered approach to learning. The learner would be cognitively active while listening to the narrator, and behaviorally active while following the tutorial instructions (Mayer, 2009).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwla836jz4g&feature=related
This website offers a complete SmartBoard tutorial. The active engagement focuses on cognitive activity because the learner is listening to the narrator describe and demonstrate how to work the technology as he moves from screen to screen in the video. The learner does not interact with the instructor and this tutorial uses a technology-centered approach to learning. The tutorial is not interactive. The learner would be cognitively active as they were listening and trying to make sense of the presentation (Mayer, 2009).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U05WeXPGlk
This website presents several educators demonstrating how "easy" the SmartBoard is to use. The different narrators are demonstrating different things that the Board can do and how they engage students in the learning process. The active engagement focuses on cognitive activity because the learner is listening while the material is being presented. This tutorial is not interactive. This is technology-centered multimedia design. The learner would be cognitively active, using prior knowledge to make sense of the presentation (Mayer, 2009).

Reference:

Mayer, R. E. (2009) Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.