EdTechWalden

This online mind mapping software allows mobile access. Mindmeister allows real-time brainstorming and offline mode. Offline work is synced to online maps when you go back online

* MindMeister is an online mind mapping and brainstorming website used to create multiple kinds of graphic organizers. The template library provides many different kinds of examples that provide curriculum activities for essential or generative learning including prioritizing information, extending understanding of important concepts, project planning, drawing conclusions, making connections to other ideas, and making inferences.
* I found MindMeister to be better than other online graphic organizer websites due to the ease of use, variety of templates available, and it is free to create up to three maps at a time.

o Mindmeister is a mind mapping and online collaboration tool that allows learners to organize their thoughts by creating mind maps. A group of learners can collaborate on a single mind map to come up with a final product, and they can do so in real time. They can add text, graphics, links, notes, etc. to fully develop and present their ideas. In addition, learners can save final product in various formats to embed them in their projects. The interaction learners have with the content to organize it into a visual representation (as supported by Mindmeister) is the perfect example of generative processing or using cognitive processes to make sense of the material (Mayer, 2009). For English Language Learners, this tool allows learners to show what they understand even when they may not have enough English to write a paper on a particular concept/topic. o The site is easy to use and creates a clean and organized product. Some mapping programs can yield such complex products that are very hard to follow. In addition, I enjoy the ability to work offline because teachers and students alike might not always have internet handy. Finally, this is one of the few programs available not only for pc, but also for mobile and tablet.

This site demonstrates how to use the Snipping Tool in Microsoft software to capture images on the screen. This tool is helpful in creating pre-training tutorials where learners discover how to insert media into the computer and download files. This process generates essential learning as participants select tutorials necessary to build prior knowledge of workshop skills. The snipping tool is quick, easily accessible, and produces quality images effortlessly uploaded into a slideshow.

The classroom is a dynamic environment with a huge variety of opportunities for showcasing what has been learned in professional development. Sure, writing a lesson plan or a reflection may indicate how well the participant has benefited from PD course material, but to gain an authentic look into what the students are now capable of doing as a result of the teacher's professional development a web 2.0 tool may be more appropriate. An authentic assessment option is the glog. The glog is a way for educators to share what the students have learned and how the objectives from a PD course have been integrated into daily instruction. Plus, students love the multimedia interface and easy to use tools.

Teachers, improve the future with a new way of teaching! Glogster EDU is a collaborative online learning platform for teachers and students to express their creativity, knowledge, ideas and skills in the classroom. This is an education-safe online environment where teachers can add classes to assign projects using Glogster. Students can use this multimedia tool to explore presentations previously made on a variety of subjects and topics, as well as creating their own glogs.

Glogster allows learners to create an interactive poster, in which they post images, text, music and videos. They can also include links to other websites, including other glogs, to make their project more comprehensive. When used to create a project, this is a deeply learner-centered technology, as it requires a great deal of both behavioral and cognitive activity. Viewing it as part of the workshop will require both kinds of activity as well.

This is the environment where learners will record a demonstration of best instruction practices. This interactive environment allows users to interact in a virtual space. Presentations, lectures, Q and A, interactive polling, and other features take the classroom online. This is the current tool used at my institution. It's relatively inexpensive and integrates perfectly with our LMS, Blackboard. Blackboard purchased Wimba and their largest competitor, Elluminate, so they are working on Gemini as a new product to replace these products.