Mapping your mind!
I learnt about bubbl.us at the ENDA conference I attended in the Easter Holidays (and I believe it was the only valuable think I received from the course). I thought it was FANTASTIC! I used it during the multimodal project to brainstorm about communities. I skimmed through the video Bubbl.us Basics because I was already familiar with this application. The only thing I really needed to do was to sign up because I was using Bubbl.us without a user name, which means that, while you can still use the application, you cannot save your brainstorm within the site or edit it once you have saved it as an image file. Once I signed up, I also noticed that you can embed the HTML of the application into a blog so that it is automatically updated when you edit it. I made two mind maps. The first shows the application of Web 2.0 in the classroom, which I will attempt to update throughout this course. The second one is a map I whipped up today to create a poster about alternate words to "said" to show a true application of this very useful Web 2.0 tool in the classroom.
I learnt about bubbl.us at the ENDA conference I attended in the Easter Holidays (and I believe it was the only valuable think I received from the course). I thought it was FANTASTIC! I used it during the multimodal project to brainstorm about communities. I skimmed through the video Bubbl.us Basics because I was already familiar with this application. The only thing I really needed to do was to sign up because I was using Bubbl.us without a user name, which means that, while you can still use the application, you cannot save your brainstorm within the site or edit it once you have saved it as an image file. Once I signed up, I also noticed that you can embed the HTML of the application into a blog so that it is automatically updated when you edit it. I made two mind maps. The first shows the application of Web 2.0 in the classroom, which I will attempt to update throughout this course. The second one is a map I whipped up today to create a poster about alternate words to "said" to show a true application of this very useful Web 2.0 tool in the classroom.
The use of Web 2.0 tools to enhance learning
Alternate words to "said"
The next part of this module was to explore Glogster. I had never heard of Glogster before and was quite interested to do some exploring. After watching the video, I signed up and went on a journey to explore the three example pages. When the Shakespearean Parodies page loaded, I immediately thought of a scrapbook page. Scrapbooking is one of my hobbies so I immediately warmed to the idea of Glogster. I thought the author had quite a clever mix of multimedia on the page. Next, I explored the History Chapter Summary. However, I found the elements on that page a bit unrelated. Finally, I had a peek at the Decisions, Decisions page. I thought this was a great way to collate the students' ideas. It reminded me a bit of my Multimodal project.
Creating my own Glogster page was easy. The tools are easy to use and are just like using publisher. I even had an option to post it to this blog! Great! I officially LOVE Glogster! Here is my Glogster page:
Time for the optional challenge on Glogster EDU! After watching the Detailed Tutorial on Glogster EDU, I had the immediate thought to email my team teachers and get all of our students Glogster for their major projects on World Religions.
The uses of both Glogster and Bubbl.us are endless. To start off with, anyone with a SMARTboard should embrace Bubbl.us as a mind-mapping tool. It's time to face the truth teachers - our handwriting on these interactive whiteboards is shocking!
Secondly, Tell your kids to throw out the display folders, forget the cardboard and to save the environment! Glogster is an excellent project tool. Like I said before, our students are 21st Century learners, who are growing up in a world were technology is the norm. Why should we, as teachers, try to stop the growing technological changes in the world? Give the students options rather than limitations and you will be surprised about what they can do!
Have fun mapping your mind!
A
Alfina, for far too long I've been campaigning to have the students go digital with their projects. That started to happen a couple of years ago, but I am tired of PowerPoint, PowerPoint, PowerPoint. There is much more to digital presentation that just PowerPoint and the way in which it is being used. With this course, maybe now, we can get out of the PowerPoint rut and get the children more engaged.
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