EdTechWalden

The w3schools introduction to HTML pages serve as pre-training material as they help introduce the topics associated with Web programming. The site serves as a good primer that can be used prior to learning HTML tags and engaging in coding. I prefer this site to others as the navigation is helpful and the layout is concise, but advertisements are present. Considering essential cognitive load, the introductory pages may help students organize their thoughts about Web design and programming in HTML prior to actually beginning the hands-on portion of a programming lesson.

Course description for a multimedia workshop on ELL strategies

This website is about using Tegrity as a pedagogical tool. This is a learning center activity that focuses on learner centered learning.

On page 11 of the 2009 Oracle is an article about teaching with Tegrity. This article also talks about how faculty using Tegrity in-class often utilize the technique of cognitive elaboration.

This is a link to the working wiki for Thomas Eric Harris.

Frobee.com allows users to upload images, arrange them, set transition and timing options, add captions, and save the presentation as a Flash (swf) file for immediate download. The site does not provide hosting of the presentation, but the simplified interface and quick generation of output are outstanding features that help this online tool stand apart from the rest. By using Frobee.com, pictures or diagrams could be sequenced and displayed in a particular sequence to demonstrate a concept that unfolds across time or to demonstrate a specific process and the steps required to reach the end state from the beginning state. This type of media and demonstration could assist learners during essential and generative cognitive load.

Assignment#3 A list of different graphic organizers are divided according to grades and topics.

Teacher vision has many activities at your fingertips that are ready to print out. I use the site to look for various graphic organizers to create handouts for students. It is effective because I do not have to reinvent the wheel and most of the graphic organizers work well with what I teach.

The page provides a variety of example rubrics for technology and Web topics, which is why I like the site over some others offering sample rubrics. Considering essential and generative learning, via the use of well-designed rubrics that mesh with the educational goals of the lesson, students can use the rubric during selection of memories that are relevant to the topics presented in the lesson and can also use the rubric to guide them during the organization and integration of old and new memories / domain knowledge.

The link opens a rather short twenty question quiz about HTML topics. As applicable / relevant, students could use the quiz to determine what they know about HTML prior to studying HTML programming. Likewise, they could use the same quiz after studying HTML programming to determine what they learned and what areas need further review. The quiz could be used as a catalyst for spurring essential cognitive processing by introducing topics that will be considered during a relevant learning experience. By using the quiz in a pre-testing fashion, introducing relevant topics prior to formal training may help students organize their mental learning space in preparation of a more comprehensive learning experience.

The Trackstar site provides an online container for lesson materials that could also be used for pre-training activities. The site may help students select and organize mental representations of course concepts by facilitating the organization of related content.

Trackstar - This site allows the instructor of a course to bookmark sites where participants can browse prior to the beginning of the course. These sites can require participants to complete pre-training activities to lay the foundation to what will be learned in the course.

Voki is a online site that allows the learner to create their own speaking avatar. Once the avatar is created, there is an opportunity to demonstrate generative learning by creating speech for the avatar. The speech can be recorded by one's own voice or done through a text to speech tool. In my project, this will be a way for workshop participants to use generative learning to apply their learning to creating their own project. They will post an avatar on their wiki to entice learners to use it, giving purpose and features that will make the wiki useful to the participant. I chose this site for many reasons. Although it is very simple to use, it requires a high level of creativity that is engaging for learners. The product is high quality and is able to be shared via email and different online environments.

Voki is a great multimedia website that will allow students to create talking avatars depicting themselves or historical figures.  I will use this site in my presentation wiki on infusing mulitmedia in a history class.

This website allows users to design an avatar. A video demonstrating the use of avatars for editing rough drafts show a potential use of this Web 2.0 tool for the K-12 classroom. This video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/embed/ao9KQltMkP0

"Podcasting in the Classroom" - excellent, step instructions and student application video by a classroom teacher, in under 5 minutes, showing free resources available for podcasting.

Movie Maker allows users to turn home movies into feature films of sorts. The user has the ability to add a soundtrack, narration, text, and other graphics to their home movies. This is an effective tool to use for digital storytelling because users have access to turn their words into so much more.

Inspiration is an excelled software program that helps you create graphic organizers. I like this program more than the others because it allows the user to save the file as a PDF or JPEG file. Many of the other resources do not allow for specialized saving.

This website, although is the advertising for the software, has an area for teachers to sign-in. This access has training and tutorials for teachers on how to use the software and how to integrate it into the curriculum. The site provides lesson plans and ideas for teachers as well as a forum and technical support. These programs are concept-mapping or brain-storming programs designed to help students of all ages prepare and organize their thoughts for writing. The program provides both text and visual elements to assist the learner. Purchase of the software is a condition of access to the teacher support and training areas.

This website, although is the advertising for the software, has an area for teachers to sign-in. This access has training and tutorials for teachers on how to use the software and how to integrate it into the curriculum. The site provides lesson plans and ideas for teachers as well as a forum and technical support. These programs are concept-mapping or brain-storming programs designed to help students of all ages prepare and organize their thoughts for writing. The program provides both text and visual elements to assist the learner. Purchase of the software is a condition of access to the teacher support and training areas.

Zoho is a free online tool to create presentations that look like PowerPoint presentations. You can create slides, add graphics, sounds, and videos. I like this resource because it is free, easy to use, and creates great looking presentations that can be shared.

Google Sites can be used for students to create digital electronic portfolios. These portfolios can be used as authentic assessments because the students can display their work, pictures, videos, add narration, and actively show what they learned. I like this site because it is free, easy to use, and there are many online resources that help the students learn how to create them.

"google wonder wheel explained" http://www.googlewonderwheel.com/ The tool is provided by google with all searches. You simply need to click on the wonderwheel tab on the left after completing a google search and your results will be turned in to a graphic organizer allowing for related term searches. This site is the best for students with limited background knowledge that need help finding research terms to be effective. The fact that this is provided free from the most respected search engine in the world wide web makes it head and shoulders above others.

Googles timeline tool is great for putting information into a timeline related to your personal search terms. This is a great jumping off point for graphic organizers related to time. You can develop a generic timeline that shows development of new technologies or news events related to your topic.