Try Wordle out for yourself. It is as easy to use as it is fun.
Wordle is a toy for generating
“word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds
give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently
in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different
fonts, layouts, and color schemes.
The images you create with Wordle are yours
to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them
to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.
Wordle is a neat and fun tool for teachers to use in various ways in their classrooms. For example, concepts can be typed in and as a concept is repeated, the word enlarges. One of my schools used it to determine which words to use in their vision statement. The result became a beautiful work of art.
Denise, this is my favorite site that I use most often. It allows you to convert files for free. I use it for downloading online videos and saving them to PowerPoint presentations. My screen name for Diigolet is cprice143.
Carol
One professor's experience using Poll Everywhere, including feedback from a student. Great for adult learning, and likely high school students would benefit as well.
"This technology tool is ideal for project-based learning, cross curricular projects in middle school teams, and thematic units. One advantage of Wikis in collaborative projects is that they are online."
alignment with iowa core has to be extremely important
Tailors instruction to meet the different needs of students, including different learning styles, different interests and backgrounds, and students with special needs or whom are language learners (SREB C.7, Varvel V.H, ITS 4.c)
I think that's what makes this form of learning so powerful. It allows to not only to provide extra support to those who need it, but also extension and enrichment for students who are ready to step it up. This naturally lends itself to differentiation.
Has experienced online learning from the perspective of a student (SREB F.1, Varvel II.E)
For myself this is also very important. I know what it is like to take an online course and this can help guide me in making decisions about content and tools used.
This struck me because I think that it is essential for us to network with each other to enhance instruction. With the tools and resources that are available to us, it is very easy to collaborate for professional growth.
Maintains an online social presence that is available, approachable, positive, interactive, and sincere
I can see this as being a challenge, because of how easy it is to be misunderstood online. It is essential to make sure that you are approachable and positive, but making sure you come through that way can be tough.
Because of the lack of face-to-face interaction, an online teacher would have to get used to constantly answering questions and troubleshooting through email and forums. This could be difficult at first.
Utilizes a course evaluation and student feedback data to improve the course (Varvel VI.F)
I agree. I find that an evaluation at the end of a course can be very helpful. Teachers can always benefit from honest feedback.
Creates a learning community that encourages collaboration and interaction, including student-teacher, student-student, and student-content (SREB D.2, Varvel VII.B, ITS 6.a)
Many similarities between the two but a real trick to accomplish in the online world. And the instructor needs to be aware of how to "read" people in the online participant world.
Designs the structure of the course and the presentation of the content to best enhance student learning, including using unit/lesson overviews and reviews, using patterns in lesson sequencing, and using appropriate visual web design techniques
This will be important to assist learners in their progress through the course. Without good structure/content/techniques, the online instruction will likely be boring, inadequate and inaccesible.
• Continuously uses data to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of instructional strategies (SREB J.7, ITS 1.c)
We have designed our science tests to be organized by learning targets from the Iowa Core and use our PLC teams to evaluate the scores on each target to modify instruction. Online instruction can also be set up by learning targets and the learning of those targets can be assessed and modify instruction.
• Continuously uses data to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of instructional strategies (SREB J.7, ITS 1.c)
• Understands student motivation and uses techniques to engage students (Varvel V.D, ITS 4.d)
As educators we usually love our content because it is our chosen field. We have to continue to find ways to get students engaged in the topic. The same holds true for online education.
• Assists students with technology used in the course (Varvel III.C)
I think this is what keeps teachers from using the technology. They are afraid the student will know more than they do. Which at times may be the case, but that only shows that we never stop learning. With that said, I do agree that instructors need to be competant in order to have a positive teaching experience.
Knows the content of the subject to be taught and understands how to teach the content to students
Today's students are very adept at searching for and obtaining volumes of information. What separates a good course from the wealth of online content IS a teacher that knows how to teach students. Without knowledgeable and qualified teachers behind the online course, it probably won't be worth the effort, money or time of the student.
Communicates with students effectively and consistently
Good communication is ALWAYS important be it in the classroom or online.
Designs the structure of the course and the presentation of the content to best
enhance student learning, including using unit/lesson overviews and reviews,
using patterns in lesson sequencing, and using appropriate visual web design
techniques
I think that designing on-line learning is so much more difficult than live teaching. I know what I am doing in the classroom and I scaffold and plan, but on-line seems to require planning. Sometimes I am simply too abstract-random for this to work for me.
I don't know how anyone could try and teach on-line if they hadn't experienced it themselves. I have learned so much about providing information on-line to students simply by being in classes. In fact, I took the moodle class because the last class I took used it and it was so much easier than a web-site.
I agree, it is so important to experience the online learning from the perspective of a student. I have found that many online tools may be easy to implement but can have a bit of a learning curve when it comes to using it as a student. Its good to get some of the "kinks" worked out or at least be prepared for possible problems to eliminate the frustration if something doesn't go quite right.
We have started giving tests with each section being a learning target based on the Iowa Core. We score each section separately then we use the data to see which targets the students struggle with and discuss new instructional strategies with our PLC team.
Love how this site is organized! It lists web 2.0 sites for teachers, but formats it to show how the tools support standards and learning outcomes, especially 21st Century skills.
This is an article with lots of additional resources and examples with many good points on how to begin to develop skills for teaching online. Some great points!