Holly Nowlin

In my education class, I learned within the past two weeks how to create my own website. We had to create a webquest through our website and teach a lesson through it. We were supposed to create a webquest providing students with a task to complete with all the components on the website. I used google sites to create my website and it ended up being very fun! It was hard for me to get the hang of setting up a website, but once you figure out the software, it becomes very useful.

          This would be great to use in my classroom for a day that maybe class was cancelled and I could send them this instead of a packet of worksheets. It is visual and it is online. A student will be more interested if there are pictures and sites to visit to help them do a project. Our webquest also had a rubric attached which helps the student to see what exactly needs to be completed for them to get the full amount of points. I even added a video into mine to help my students learn the Scientific Method. You can create any kind of website you want to for your students, in or outside of the classroom. My webquest is the link below. Click it to check out how to become a scientist.

This week for our assignment we had to create a movie on our computer and upload it to youtube. I had only previously used Windows Live Movie Maker once before and it turned out well. This time I really learned a lot of the tricks to making your movie look awesome. I added a cover title page and credits at the end. I also added captions throughout the movie to help out those visual learners who may not have heard everything. My video was on a science experiment about candles and how they create CO2. My link to my first youtube post is at the bottom of this page.

                Movies are a great way to get the class involved. If you do not have enough time to do an experiment, you as the teacher can do it at home and lapse it to show what is going on. This way the students are not missing out on knowledge and can still see it visually. Videos can be used to teach a subject or a particular content you are trying to get across. You can be very creative in your videos when using them for teaching. It also helps build a network online for people to see videos you have posted and use them, comment on them, leave tips, likes, etc. Teaching can be as fun as you want to make it. 

I did a project on PowerPoint on Mitosis. We had the option to make a quiz, lesson, tutorial, report, autobiography, etc. I chose to do my PowerPoint project on Mitosis. It was an interactive way to have my students navigate through the slides and read, learn, and complete tasks all about Mitosis. I had hyperlinks that led to videos describing the process of Mitosis and links to web pages that were quizzes or detailed descriptions of each stage. I also used a lot of visual aid to help students see as they learn. I also used transitions and animations to help the students navigate through it.

Pinterest is a tool that has you develop pins to show the world or even other teachers around the world your ideas for the classroom. It is a great place to find ideas if you are becoming very stuck on what to do for a lesson plan or even if your point is not being reached to your students. Sometimes as teachers we think that all students learn the same way but actually, all students learn differently and are motivated by different things. For this assignment, we had to create 4 boards and pin different items to each board. I love repining and found networks of teachers with awesome ideas. I also created some field trips that would definitely help students who learn visually and maybe even spike the interest of others.

Pinterest could be used in the classroom in many ways. I could use pinterest to find ideas when I am stuck on creating an activity, lesson, or lab. I could also create my own ideas and show them to other teachers. I can also use pinterest to put deadlines up for myself or students, or even quotes to motivate me as a teacher or my students. Pinterest can be used in many ways in the classroom. Below is a link to my pinterest that I created for Biology students, grades 9-12.

Google Drive is a great tool for creating spreadsheets for class assignments, grades, creating quizzes, and more. I really like how it is conveniently on your phone or computer wherever you go. I also, liked how you can take an excel spreadsheet and they will form a graph for you to show a visual on how grades are looking in your classroom. For this assignment we created two spreadsheets showing grades for assignments, final grades, and a class graph to show the ups and downs for particular assignments. As a teacher this would be a very helpful tool to help me see how my classroom is doing on certain content and for particular assignments. We also had to use Google Drive to create a quiz on the Forms. The handy themes made it look very intriguing to me and made the quiz almost fun. Especially as a science teacher, I loved the video and picture add-in for quizzes. Having a visual in a quiz can really help a student learn in a way other kids don’t.

                In my own classroom I could use Google Drive to create unique, interactive, online quizzes or set up a grading system where it does all the work for me by formulas. I really enjoyed this project and love the easy access. Google Drive is definitely a tool I would recommend to any teacher who is sick of punching numbers and creating quizzes in word documents. This is a new generation, let’s move on to simpler ways. Below are links to my Forms and Spreadsheets I created.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VGykFwajMa96iB2tEqkME8c85suLkiO-xS50rFNEIi4/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1XaRIz_Bcw1S_nG164Z4v61HXWdyoyPGYugw4lzxGGaY/edit?usp=sharing

Webspiration is a website for students or teachers where you can create diagrams about the content. I did my assignment on the process of Mitosis. They give you the ability to communicate with your teacher or students via chat on the website. They also give you the ability to chat with other teachers about their work and your personal work and get tips or feedback about students. Webspiration can let you make the diagram as simple or complex as you want with pictures and hyperlinks or just plain old definitions. You can make Webspiration into a lesson or a visual for a particular concept.

I would use Webspiration for concept building or brainstorming. In the classroom it is always helpful for students to see anything visually appealing because it helps them understand concepts and remember it. Some students learn auditory too so there needs to be balance. I could add definitions or phrases to help those students as well as have pictures or videos. The hyperlinks can help guide me into another way of explaining the topic or even taking it a step further. I could have students try to figure out the concept by putting clues on my diagram which could make for a unique class activity. Webspiration can be used it good ways. I like how the template can switch to an outline in the click of a button which could be useful for students taking notes. Try Webspiration and see if you would implement it into your classroom.

Glogster is an interactive tool to make a lesson visually appealing. For this project I had to embed videos and websites into a Glog on a certain subject for my specific content area. I had to add pictures and videos that made my lesson appealing and enhanced the students’ interest in the content. I did mine on the water cycle and I had flashcards, websites, experiments, songs, and visuals all describing the water cycle. This really did catch my interest when I started seeing some finished projects by other people. I believe students would take a liking for interactive and visual learning. All students learn in different ways and glogster combines it all together and lets you decorate it at the same time.

I would use glogster in my classroom to set up lessons. I think it would be really cool to have it set up in a way where it was a web quest with different videos and activities to do online and the students could use the interactive website to quest during class. A glogster would be much more appealing to students than a worksheet and gets them more familiar with the internet. Education is gradually turning to more and more technology and we have to adjust and adapt to that. This is a great way to let students learn to be independent in their learning and visually have a lesson explained to them. They can also get practice in creative ways. My glogster on the water cycle for middle school students is linked below. Check it out!

For our latest assignment, we learned all about Symbaloo and what it is. Symbaloo is a technology website that puts all of your resources, websites, etc. in the same place. It makes everything quick, easy, and organized for whatever you are doing during or after teaching. You can plan lessons and post them on Symbaloo or even put websites, blogs, and videos to help lead a classroom. It is a lot simpler to put all of your websites in the same place instead of having to pull them from so many different online locations.

I would use Symbaloo in my classroom by planning my lessons and having backup activities or lessons on there. If there was ever extra time at the end of class, I could have webquests, worksheets, or articles ready and easy to get to, to take advantage of every second of class time. I could post my lessons on Symbaloo so that I can teach them all from the same website. I can also change, edit, or write about how the lesson went in a blog and add that on there as well. Basically, you can put anything you need for your classroom on Symbaloo and use it in many different ways to make your classroom the best learning environment possible. Posted below is my Symbaloo specifically for Biology Education Majors.

For my education technology class, we had to go to www.voki.com and create a Voki avatar. Since this is an online class, it was really neat to find a creative way to introduce ourselves to the classroom and see what people are studying or involved in at school. The Voki avatars allow you to speak into the computer and upload your actual voice to the avatar. The avatar then moves its’ lips as it speaks your words. It was nice to be able to speak something instead or writing and reading posts. This is also a great way to hear the actual classrooms tone and voices and get to know them a little bit better.

            In my classroom I would consider using Voki, especially for online teaching. It is a fun way to get to know the classroom and get students used to new sites and navigating the internet, and simply following instructions. Bringing new things to the table when you are a teacher always helps keep the attention of students. I could use Voki for students to give reports on how they liked or disliked assignments. I also thought about maybe using it as a way to connect with the teachers and give ideas, suggestions, questions, or again responses. As a teacher I could be very creative with how I had my students use the avatars. 

Below is my personal Voki, check it out for yourself!

I am in an Education Technology class at Ashland University. This is an online class teaching us great tools to use in the classroom. 

We are required to write a blog about each of our module activities and discuss what we liked or didn’t like about it and how we could use it in our own classroom someday. This is my first time blogging; although I am new to blogging, it is very useful in seeing how your students are enjoying each project or assignment. Getting a feel for different online tools is very beneficial for me personally because I struggle with technology and whether I like it or not, education is gradually moving over to using more and more technology in the classroom.