My Various Uses of Technology for Education
Technology is an invaluable tool in education, but it is necessary to remember that it is only a tool. Technology must always be secondary to the pedagogy; it must serve the teaching goal. Below find an assortment of technologies that I have used in the course of my teaching. They are organized by the tool or website. In some cases they are embedded here, in some cases they are links to the website. Note that some of these examples are repeated on the coursework and technology page. Click on the name below to jump directly to that tool.
Animoto
Use Animoto to create beautiful slide shows with various transitions, set to music. The one on the left, or here, is from a trip to China; the one on the right, or here, is artwork by 8th graders.
Sliderocket - Unfortunately as of 1/1/14 Sliderocket is no longer available.
Sliderocket might be defined simply as Powerpoint online, the advantage being you don't need to take your file with you, you can show it anytime and place you have Internet access, embed it in other sites, and you can easily collaborate in the creation. The lefthand presentation, or here, is a talk about simplified Chinese characters; the one on the right, or here, is an elevator pitch for using creativity in teaching and learning. Note that if you are viewing this on an iPad, the slides will not automatically advance.
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Voicethread
Voicethread allows you to post an image, text, or even a video and then record on it, and allows students to record on it as well. It is ideal for collecting students' thoughts in one place. Foreign language teachers can use it to teach a phrase, teach specific vocabulary, give examples of how to express something, have students describe a picture or scene, respond to oral prompts, practice pronunciation, use for listening practice or as a listening assessment, or as speaking practice or an oral assessment. Students can also create their own. Any teacher might use it for asynchronous discussion or feedback. See an example below or here.
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Prezi
Prezi is a different approach to presentations; rather than being arranged linearly, Prezi is a broad canvas that you can move around as you please, zooming in and out as you go. Below, or here, is a straightforward Prezi - no audio or video.
Present.me
Present.me allows you to upload your Powerpoint, and then make a video of yourself explaining the slides. Below, or here, is a discussion of phonetic elements in Chinese characters.
GoAnimate
GoAnimate is a wonderful tool for creating simple animations. All the tools you need are right there. Below, or here, is an animation for location, accompanied by the expressions in Chinese.
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Wikis and Other Websites
Wikis are one of the simplest, most flexible tools online. I use Wikispaces but there are many others. A wiki is a website with an edit button. You can use them to create class websites, post materials online, and even build courses. More importantly, you can also have other people - colleagues and students - update wikis. Below is a list of wikis that I have created for various purposes. Some are still works in progress.
My first ePortfolio
https://sites.google.com/site/jamesrolledigitalportfolio/ The blog created for the MAET courses http://rollej.edublogs.org/ A catchall for my teaching materials http://jrteachingstuff.wikispaces.com/ A collection of signs from China http://chinesesigns.wikispaces.com/ A collection of links related to learning Chinese http://chineselanguagelearninglinks.wikispaces.com/ A reference for the study of Chinese http://xuehanyu.wikispaces.com/ An online pre-beginning Chinese course http://chinesebasics.wikispaces.com/ A collection of materials related to Chinese culture http://teachingchineseculture.wikispaces.com/ A site to accompany a textbook written with a colleague to use the movie Mulan to learn Chinese http://mulan.wikispaces.com/ Videos for learning Chinese http://hanyuvideos.wikispaces.com/ A site to help teachers who want to integrate technology into their teaching of Chinese http://chinesetechworkshops.wikispaces.com/ A place for teaches who use the textbook Integrated Chinese to share materials http://onlinechinesetextbook.wikispaces.com/ |
My current school wikis
AIANEdTech.wikispaces.com AIANK5Tech.wikispaces.com AIANePortfolios.wikispaces.com These are websites for others to make use of and are continually being updated: Educational Technology http://edtechjr.wikispaces.com/ Professional Development https://sites.google.com/site/advprofdev/ These are wikis created for specific schools and classes.
Groton http://grotonchinese.wikispaces.com/ HKIS http://hkismsl.wikispaces.com/ Brearley http://brearleychinese.wikispaces.com/ Fieldston http://fieldstonchinese.wikispaces.com/ |
Online Books
Wobook creates an online book from a PDF file. The one on the left, or here, is about Chinese radicals. The one on the right, or here, is about phonetic elements in Chinese characters.
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Google Forms
Forms are a flexible and efficient way to get information into one place. They are easy to set up and can be emailed or embedded. The results appear neatly in a Google spreadsheet. Below are several examples. Scroll to see the entire form.
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Image Creation and Manipulation
As the world looks to images for information and entertainment, as our students increasingly become visual learners, as their attention is grabbed by images rather than text, it behooves us to be able to create and manipulate images, such as infographics. Below are three I created: the one on the left about my MAET I created using Piktochart; the one on the top right about technology integration I created using Gliffy, and the one below I created using Adobe Photoshop, and theone below that I created using Easel.ly. Click on any one to see a larger image.
Videos
Videos are everywhere, and they are so easy to produce today. I normally use a Flip video camera and iMovie. There are also increasing numbers of online tools to enhance videos. Below left, or here, is a video I created for a Chinese lesson; I then went a step further and used Zentation on the right, or here.
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