Pre-Training

1. Arkansas Ideas: Blogs
2.http://lms-1.aetn.org/scripts/student/courses_view.asp
3.This website allows educators to participate in an online training that starts by giving the teacher an introduction to blogs, allows them to actively examine blogs, learn the common terms used in blogging, discuss safety and security issues of blogs, examine popular blog hosts and features, and how to effectively integrate blogs into your curriculum and daily lessons.
4.I consider this site to be extremely effective when training for the introduction of the blog portion of Gaggle so they will have a full understanding of blogging. It does a through coverage of this topic and breaks it down so even the non-tech savvy teachers can understand.

Pre-Training
1. Arkansas Ideas: Communicating On The Web
2.http://lms-1.aetn.org/scripts/student/courses_view.asp
3.This interactive training allows educators to explore communicating through chat rooms, social networking and discussion boards. All of these learning tools are part of Gaggle which is the learning program that is being introduced to teachers for integrating into their classroom.
4.This site is beneficial to the teachers because it allows them to see examples of how chat rooms can be used as a learning tool within the classroom as well as how creating a social networking site can really draw the students in and help them become more actively involved in the lessons. These are all tools that will be utilized once Gaggle has been introduced.

Graphic Organizer

1. Mindomo
2.http://www.mindomo.com/
3.The graphic organizer website helps me unblock my thinking by allowing me to organize fragments of knowledge and later access it for analyzing and structuring.
4.I found this graphic organizer to be beneficial in that it allows you to work offline and offers 10 options for exporting.

Graphic Organizer

1.Text 2 MindMap
2.http://www.text2mindmap.com/
3.This graphic organizer allows me to simply create an outline of my thoughts then with the click of a button-it puts the information in a mind map format. It takes a structured list of words or sentences, interprets it, and draws a mind map of them.
4.After maneuvering around this site, I found it to be extremely simple to use, there were no downloads required (which is a plus in a lot of districts) and it was pretty accurate at the interpretations of words/phrases.

Presentation

1.Slide Rocket
2.http://www.sliderocket.com/
3.This presentation software allows you to import PowerPoint presentations so you aren't forced to recreate things you have already done. It also supports a large number of tools such as tables, charts, pictures, audio and video clips, animations, shapes and effects which include eye catching themes and layouts. You can create an "Asset Library" where you can intelligently manage slides and presentations-having quick access whenever needed. You can print your presentation to either a printer or save it in a PDF file format. Finally, you are able to publish a public URL for sharing your presentations online or you can embed them to your website.
4.I found this presentation site to be better due to the fact that is allows you to still use PowerPoint put then you can make it much more attractive and do things PowerPoint doesn't always allow. It appears to be user friendly and offers a free version, which is a winner in its self!

Presentation

1. Zoho Show
2.https://show.zoho.com/login.do
3.This is another free online PowerPoint presentation tool that helps you prepare and share your presentation from anywhere. It provides a list of features which include pre-built themes, clip-arts, drag-and-drop which makes your application very easy to use. It also comes with a built in chat facility which allows you to see who else is online modifying documents.
4.I love this site because it is compatible with Gaggle-which is being introduced to our teachers/students. Another great feature is the fact that all the changes are saved directly and provide safe storing for all your documents behind a firewall.

Authentic Assessment Activity

1.Authentic Assessment Toolbox
2.http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/
3.This site offers a "how to" text on creating authentic tasks, rubrics, and standards for measuring in improving student learning. It walks you through step by step the areas that are needed and how to create this type of assessment.
4.I love how easy it is to maneuver around this site and the step by step tutorial that is offered. This would be an extremely easy site for my fellow teachers and a great tool.

Authentic Assessment Activity

1.Discovery Education
2.http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html
3.This site offers a wide variety of rubrics that can be used for various assessments in your classroom without you having to recreate the wheel. It also offers a variety of links to graphic organizers that can be great tools in the classroom.
4.I love the large selection of links that can be used. It is a very simple site for teachers to access, view the documents and utilize within their classroom to assess their students.

Work in Progress Wiki:

http://mutimediatechnologytofacilitatelearningcollinsbworkinprogress.wikispaces.com/

Presentation Wiki:

http://mutimediatechnologytofacilitatelearningcollinsb.wikispaces.com/

My multimedia project will focus on training teachers on how to utilize gaggle in their classroom and how to involve their students in the learning process using this amazing learning tool that are offered within gaggle. Gaggle includes learning tools that are of interest to our younger learners and can make learning active and fun.

Website 1: www.gaggle.net

Jeff Peterson, Gaggle's founder, was a firm believer that email was a powerful tool for staying connected with friends and colleagues, and played an important role in the success of businesses. Because schools can be seen as a business, he felt the need to bring the power of communications to schools to actively engage and motivate the students. He knew that student safety was a primary concern for schools in allowing for the use of email, blogs, social networking and viewing of videos. So in 1998, he created a system that filters messages, blogs, social network posting and videos, and allows global control and access for teachers and administrators.
Many people questioned how Jeff came up with the name "Gaggle." Gaggle is the name for a large group of geese and according to Jeff, "Our goal was to give teachers an easy way to watch over their gaggle of students, hence the name Gaggle." (The Gaggler, 2006)

Gaggle offers a variety of learning tools that can be incorporated within the everyday classroom, which will allow the students to become actively involved in their learning. Gaggle offers popular tools for communication and collaboration, all within safe, filtered, and controlled environments. Gaggle's collection of tools include Digital Lockers, Message Boards, Chat Rooms, Blogs, Profile Pages, Homework Drop Boxes, Calendars, a Social Wall, Gaggle Tube, Zoho Docs and filtered texting.

Jeff's vision of student-centric schools using the latest cutting-edge technology to inspire creativity in today's students remains the driving force in Gaggle's continuing story.
Mayer stated that meaningful learning depends "on the cognitive activity of the learner during learning rather than on the learner's behavioral activity during the learning" (pg 1). This particular website is accomplishing learner-centered learning by, "using the technology to help human cognition" (Mayer 2009).

Website 2: https://www.gaggle.net/training-videos/watchvideo.php?v=NTI2MDAyNjg3

This video allows for my colleagues to see how they can use gaggle within their classroom. This shows the teachers how to set up their home page, digital lockers, message boards, chat rooms, blogs, homework drop boxes, calendars, a social wall, gaggle tube and zoho docs. After the teachers watch this tutorial they have more of an understanding at how much easier gaggle will make their job with less papers being physically handed to them. The teachers will see how active the learning environment will be when the teachers incorporate gaggle within their classroom and curriculum.

Mayer mentioned "the design of multimedia technology to promote human cognition." (2009) Gaggle is an example of designing multimedia to promote active learning among our students. When our students become active learners in the classroom, they are able to apply that learning to their daily lives and see more relevance in the standard being learned which reduces the famous question, "Why do I need to know this OR How will I use this in my life?"

Website 3: http://cybersmartcurriculum.org/

This website includes a video which has students telling how much time they spend on the Internet daily. If my colleagues are able to hear, from actual students, how much time they spend using cutting-edge technology then they will be able to see that is the best way to reach the students sitting in our classroom. It also includes some information about the curriculum that is being offered within the site. This website is supported and part of Gaggle. This website also includes the resources that teachers will be able to navigate through and see how useful this can be within their classroom. As a teacher of the 21st century, we have to stop expecting our students to "check their technology at the door" but instead allow them to "incorporate it in the classroom."

Mayer (2009) states that dual channels should be broken down into two distinct modes: verbal and visual. He also states that the human mind can only pay attention to a few things at one time which is known as limited capacity. This website gives curriculums that can be integrated into the teachers curriculum that doesn't overwhelm our learners with too much multimedia which would "cloud" their learning ability.

References:

Cybersmart. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2011, from CyberSmart: www.cybersmartcurriculum.org.

Gaggle (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2011, from Gaggle: www.gaggle.net.

Gaggle. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2011, from Gaggle:
https://www.gaggle.net/training-videos/watchvideo.php?v=NTI2MDAyNjg3.

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