Day Sixteen: Diigo

Diigo is a social bookmarking site that enables users to bookmark and tag web pages, organize pictures, documents, audio and screenshots, and it can be accessed via PC, Mac, Android, iPhone and iPad.

If you upload Diigolet, you are able to highlight text, and add sticky notes with comments on each bookmarked web page. You can then share the sites with others by creating a group or you may keep your bookmarks private. This is particularly helpful when working on a research project because all sources can be saved in one location and shared with classmates. 

How to install Diigolet

You can annotate text, ask students questions, have students leave comments, etc.

Source: www.diigo.com/tools

Diigo now has an app for iPad that serves as an all-access digital library. The app is free, but it is new, so they are still adding features (group bookmarking isn't available yet). 

Educator Accounts:If you sign up for an educator account, it’s free and it allows you to set up class groups where students can share sites with classmates. Student email addresses are not required and privacy settings are pre-set so only the teacher and classmates can communicate with them.  It may take a few days to be approved for the teacher console, but it is well worth it.

By setting up a class group, you can provide students with websites that you have already approved, eliminating issues with students using unreliable sources. 

Diigo is also great for storing assignments. If you want students to read an article in the New York Times, for example, you can bookmark it on Diigo and mark areas where you would like them to focus/respond/analyze, etc. Students can share and interact via group sticky notes, highlights and bookmarks. You can also publish a bookmark directly to your class blog.

Once you have an educator account, the Diigo in Education group will send you a daily email of several different bookmarks made by other educators. I have found many interesting articles and resources via these emails.

Articles worth reading:

10 Reasons to use Diigo: The Educational Technology Site

Classroom Collaboration Using Social Bookmarking Service Diigo

How to create your own textbooks-with or without-Apple

Diigo Sign up Tutorial*Note that this tutorial was designed for a district in which Diigo is blocked; this is NOT the case in Middletown.

Diigo educator account:
Sign up now!

Day Three: Voicethread and Capzles-Presentation Tools

Voicethread and Capzles are sites that allow students and teachers to create collaborative multimedia presentations.  Voicethread has a free educator account that allows you to create up to 50 presentations with your students.  These presentations can include videos, images, documents, and audio elements.  Students can comment on other presentations through written responses, voice recordings and/or web cam recordings.  Voicethread also allows you to “draw” on the presentation to point out elements of the image or document.

Learn more about voicethread:

At Voicethread Educator you can compare the different education plans available to you.
There are many tutorials to help you and your students learn how to use it.
Here is a 6th grade Middletown student's voicethread for some inspiration. (It will ask you to sign into your voicethread account to view it..hint)
You can use voicethread as an assessment tool.
You can use it for brainstorming writing ideas and peer editing.
Here are a couple of wikis of just voicethread resources.
Here are 26 interesting ways to use voicethread in the classroom.
There is an entire diigo list just for voicethread!
Of course voicethread itself offers a host of ideas for educators k-12 encompassing all content areas....

Below is a 7th grade Middletown student's voicethread for even more inspiration...

Sign up for Voicethread! 


Feeling inspired yet? Wait there's more, you should also try......

Capzles is a similar multimedia presentation tool that allows you or your students to create a free account. It is much newer than voicethread, and educators are beginning to harness the learning opportunities it has to offer. This site can be used to create a digital story or timeline. It allows collaboration with others while creating your capzles. They can be easily integrated into your curriculum in many different ways. You can create your own capzles for instruction or they can be a tool in a student's 21st century learning belt. Any way you incorporate them, capzles are very user-friendly and now many of our students opt to use this tool instead of traditional paper and pen!



Sign up for Capzles today, so you and your students can begin creating tomorrow!


Learn how to use capzles...

7th Grade Middletown Student Example:

Both voicethread and capzles are available in the itunes apps store and there are plans for them to be available for android devices soon.  Please let us know how you could use either of these tools with your students or if you have tried them before.  Have fun!

Day Two: Wiki

A wiki is a collaborative website that allows its members to share, add, and modify information. This web page provides the owner with the opportunity to create an open, collaborative web page, limit the web page to members needing permission to modify the site, or design a closed web page that presents information to its viewers.

Things to consider when choosing a wiki provider:

• User accounts (so your name is automatically attached to all changes you make).
• Membership options/upgrades available.
• Page history and stored revisions (not all wikis have this, but it can be an important feature-especially with students).
• Document attachments-is this allowed?
• Page edit locking (you don't want two people editing a page at the same time, as one will lose their changes).
• An easy-to-remember syntax.
• Is it user friendly?  Easy to navigate?

Where can you create a wiki?

Wikispaces offers free accounts with many of the features listed above.

Here is a quick video explaining what wikis are and how they can be used in a group.

Sample Wiki
Here is a rubric for editing a wiki.
Here are 30 open wikis every educator should see.
This is a wiki that teaches you how to use a wiki and gives elementary and secondary examples.
The best educational wikis of 2011.



Here is a video tour of the #mathchat (twitter) wiki.



How will you use wikis?

Day One: Blogger

Our first Web 2.0 Tool is Blogger.  This blog was created on blogger so it is only appropriate that we explain how it was created.  Let's watch a video that explains what a blog is before we get into creating one:

How to Start a Blog
Starting a blog is actually surprisingly simple.  If you can type a document, you can blog.  Start by going to www.blogger.com and signing in.  Now, since Blogger is a Google program, your Middletownk12.org account will give you access.  But, if you prefer, you can always register for a personal Gmail account first.  Once you login, it is simply a matter of picking the right title, web address and layout for your blog.  Now let's talk about why and how this can help you in your teaching.

Why Should You Blog?
Reflection--One of the most important reasons to start blogging is for reflection. There are so many things happening in your life that sometimes you need to stop for a second and reflect on what just happened to you.  It may be something a student said in your classroom, it may be a significant interaction with a colleague or it may just be an odd bumper sticker you saw on your drive into work.  Whatever it is, stop and write down your thoughts on it.  Plus you will have it forever, stored in a convenient location to look back on at a later date.
To Connect with People Like You--Blogs are a great way to find people who have similar interests and view points as yourself.  Science teachers can find other science blogs, nature lovers can find nature blogs and foodies can find food blogs.  Websites are the way to find general information on a topic, but blogs allow you to become involved in the experiences of others.
To Have Fun and Be Creative--One of the most important keys to successful blogging is having a passion about your blog's topic, so you can write prolifically about it. Some of the best and most interesting blogs started out as blogs that were written just for fun and to give the blogger a creative outlet.  One of the best parts of blogging is taking an idea and letting it get silly.

How You Can Use Blogging in Your Classroom
Student Blogs--First, every English teacher will tell you that the more you write, the better your writing will become.  The simple act of having students put their thoughts "on paper" will help them when they sit to write that big essay later.  Second, teenagers these days realize their impact goes far beyond their small circle of friends and family as they are developing relationships that stretch worldwide through all types of social media. What better way to get a global perspective on your ideas than to put them in a place where people from all walks of life can view them and respond?  Finally, there is a strong movement to reduce the amount of paper being used in schools, both to help the environment and to reduce school budgets.  When a student completes his/her assignment online, no paper is being copied and no stacks of grading are being carted home by the teacher.  Blogs also give students the opportunity to make their assignments more dynamic.  In science class, when asked to document their observations for a chemical experiment, they can both write down what they see and insert pictures of the reaction right into the data table.

Classroom Blogs--classroom blogs can function just like a normal class website (post handouts, create assignments, update a homework calendar) except they also allow for students to participate in an online discussion.  The teacher can post an article/current event/video for the class to view and rather than using class time to discuss, the teacher can have an ongoing discussion through the comments section of the post.  Here are a pair of Middletown teachers using blogs with their math classes:
Mrs. Ivers' Classroom
Mr. Kerrigan's Classroom

Blogs That Make You Go Hmmmm
Below are links to blogs from educators who are leading the digital reform in schools and represent an unbiased, student-centered approach to education.
Connected Principals--blog for leadership ideas and views on administration
A Principal's Reflection--comments about education from a principal in Northern NJ, coordinator of Edscape2012
Stump the Teacher--middle school language arts/social studies teacher & 2012 IL Teacher of the Year
The Nerdy Teacher--MI based English teacher and educational technology coordinator
The Principal of Change--general comments about education and leadership from administrator in Canada
Blogging About the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom--edtech leader with great links for additional Web Tools
Lyn Hilt: The Principal's Posts--elementary school principal with great views on education
Practical Theory--HS principal, educational speaker, coordinator of EduConPhilly
Cybraryman's blog list--an amazing list of blogs which can sorted by subject area

So, how will you use blogs as learning tools both for yourself and your students?