Fall Semester 2010 update - Now blogging in the classroom!

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I am excited to say that I have introduced blogging in my intro to college writing course this fall. I am replacing a journaling assignment with blogging. So far I have had good feedback from my students. They like not having to carry a notebook around since it is one less thing to lose or carry! I like that I don't have to lug around 25 notebooks myself! Grading is a little tricky; I'm able to view posts by author so that I can grade that way, but I am unable to view comments by author. This makes it a little tougher to keep track that everyone made the assigned amount of comments.

I'm using LiveJournal LX which is packaged with Blackboard. I liked the idea that it would be self-contained to the class so that I did not have to deal with privacy issues. There seems to be a problem with entries being double-spaced without a way to reformat them, and after contacting LiveJournal's support it appears Ivy Tech needs to run an upgrade. Hopefully that will get resolved soon!

Being a good digital citizen

https://prezi.com/secure/10e7cc027706bd9b6c8b708f8bac262e725d6e15/

I used a new tool called Prezi to make the above presentation. It's a little different than a PowerPoint as it moves side to side and is more of a canvas than a slide show. It took some trying to get things the way I wanted them, but I am pretty happy with the final product.

This Prezi details how to be a good digital citizen...something that is becoming very important in this modern age!

To use, start on the picture of the cat..click on "more" and then select "autoplay."

Using MS Publisher 2010 to create a newsletter

https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/jkhill/digitalvoicenewsletter.xps

Above is a newsletter I created in MS Publisher 2010 for my Computers in Education class. I've used Publisher before, but not the new version. It has become much easier to use and easier to fine-tune. Very impressed!

Module 4-2 Digital Literacy

http://www.edutopia.org/motivation-final-weeks-school


I read an inspiring blog post by Elena Aguilar entitled "How to stay charged during the final weeks of school." In it, Aguilar sympathizes with teachers at the end of their ropes who are waiting desperately for the final bell to ring. Although she empathizes with the whirlwind of emotions brought on by the end of a semester, she also encourages teachers to take heart and show their students understanding during this difficult time. She reminds educators that this is an opportune time to do all of the projects and assignments they always mean to do at the beginning of the year but never end up having the time.

I like Aguilar's suggestions on spicing up the end of the year and her advice to rest up. As always, "this too shall pass."

Grading with Games

http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-james-gee-video

I found this web video of James Paul Gee to be fascinating. He discusses how video games can be used effectively in education and why. I had never thought about using video games as a learning tool, other than the "Mathblaster" type games we used in primary and secondary school. I can now see use for it in other fields of education.

A goal for myself is to use some sort of gaming technology to aid in remedial English education. I would like to develop a game to help learn basic grammar rules. Stay tuned to my blog for details as I follow this path!

Emerging Technology #2: Storybird

Storybird was something I had never heard about before, but being an English teacher, I thought the word "story" was very promising. I decided to create an account and see what I could do with it.

It turns out that by using Storybird you can create adorable little stories with premade art. This is great by itself, but the REALLY neat part is that you can invite others to join you in your story-telling. I decided to play around with Storybird and then invited my husband to help finish my story.

Another option with Storybird is to just jump into another story that is already running. It is a nice way to relieve a little stress and get the creative juices flowing.

Where will I use this? Well, I think this would be a fun option to utilize to get my students interested in the writing process. My students are not able to do much creatively in my class with their papers, so I think this would be a nice activity to do perhaps as an icebreaker or small project to get them working cooperatively in preparation for peer reviews.

Of course, I also will use it personally because it's just FUN! Have a peek at the small story we created.

http://storybird.com/books/mr-shark-needs-a-snack/?token=w3p43g

Emerging Technology #1: Make Belief Comix

So I can't draw, but I can make comic strips?

Yes, as a matter of fact, I can. I was very surprised that with just a few moves of a mouse that I can make my very own comic strip at http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

Now, there are limitations such as the number of characters and props available, and I don't see an option to color in the characters, but it's a cute and quirky tool. All you need is to provide the dialogue and arrange your storyboard however you would like.

Where could I use this in my English classroom? Well, for one thing, it would be nifty to pop into an otherwise snore-bore PowerPoint presentation. Why simply show sentences and grammatical errors on the projector screen when I could have cute characters with interesting facial expressions "speak" them instead?

The above example is the comic strip I created for my technology class to illustrate how I would describe "digital natives." I had a great time putting it together, but I do wish the website allowed for the file to be saved for easy changing/rearranging later. I had to use Photoshop to rework one of the scenes and change wording. For a free tool, however, I do find it very useful and unique.

Magically Delicious!

Feel free to follow my Delicious links at

http://delicious.com/jenihill

I began using Delicious last semester, and I find it very useful since I often work between two computers. I love the portability of my personal bookmarks in addition to those I need for work and for school. Great tool! Not sure I would have named it "Delicious"...but oh well!

Welcome!

Welcome to my first-ever blog. I am looking forward to learning much as I work to know more about using technology to teach in my field of remedial English education!