Module 6

Picasa is a great tool to showcase photos. It is something I am very interested in and can see myself spending hours organising, editing and creating some great photos. Besides Picasa being very easy to use, as it is linked in with Google, it keeps everything in one place.
Only recently the 5/6's at our school were taught about Copyright. It was good to see that they were using the Creative Commons licensed material and understanding why. Picasa gives the students another way to present their work.

A collage of a holiday in Darwin

Module 5

Just recently the students used Bubbl.us to create their own mind map. Everyone was capable of using this tool and like me, found it very easy. The only concern I have is that the creative students enjoy 'drawing' their own mind maps. Therefore I think  Bubbl.us is a bit restrictive. On reading some of the other blogs, the tool exploratree offers many more templates - http://www.exploratree.org.uk/ 

My very simple mind map on the 4 modules I have completed. 

Glogster EDU is a great way to incorporate images, audio, text and video to create an interactive 'poster'. I have had a bit of go at using Glogster and I found that it takes a long time for the content to load. In a classroom situation, this could affect the lesson - timewise and causing frustration.

Prezi is another tool I had not heard of before. I thought the 'Thoughts on using Prezi as a teaching tool' was very informative and showed exactly what Prezi is capable of doing.
http://prezi.com/pbjhhagacuxe/copy-of-thoughts-on-using-prezi-as-a-teaching-tool/
Prezi is similar to a Powerpoint presentation, but through the use of zooming and finding information in obscure places, it will help keep the students engaged.

Module 4

This module exposed me to the huge choice of Digital Storytelling tools. I recently received an iPad and am keen to use it to its fullest potential. I downloaded a Podcast for the first time and my 17 year old daughter is now downloading anything and everything, so I'm going to have to keep an eye on that! Having teenagers at home, both iTunes and YouTube are constantly used. YouTube is a great source for any subject and therefore can easily be used in the classroom. We have used quite a few clips in the classroom. I had a quick look at iTunes U  - there are some great free educational courses that you can download. Both Vimeo and TeacherTube provide great videos to enhance the students learning in the classroom. I really enjoyed using Animoto and was surprised at how quick and easy it was to create a great video. I have included my Animoto video of the Adelaide Zoo. All of these tools will help visual learners, but will also provide a different way to engage students.

Adelaide Zoo

Adelaide Zoo