I got the opportunity to utilize different web tools that I can use for my classroom and see what works best for me. Here are 8 of the stand out tools that I used more or tried to get a closer look at. There were some highs, and lows but overall the idea of exposure to tech tools in the classroom has been a great experience and I know I'll be using some of the tool listed in these 8. See something new to you? I have the direct link within my review of each tool and a little video explaining a little more about the tool. The highest rating was 5 start. For me, 5 stars would be eye catching, engaging to an audience and to the user, interactive with the audience and the user, easy access and navigation, and lastly the way it's organized.
Moodle
Moodle
" Moodle "is a tool that I’ve used throughout my undergrad and I’m pretty familiar with it. I think it’s a great resource to connect with students and also promotes going green. It’s easy to access and there have been several different ways that my professors have used moodle to upload documents and send reminders about what was due. The one option that I felt was the best was that it could be turned into a checklist with a check button by each assignment that was due but all done electronically. The organization was great and helped a lot throughout each semester. Some con’s that I could think of when using moodle would be times when it would crash and users are not able to get on, or time when the pages would load a bit more slowly. I’ve had little to no programs with loading pages, but as a student there are times where it is frustrating to get on and try to complete work.
Overall, I would give moodle 5 out of 5 stars. This is mostly because of how easy it is to use and that it is well organized. I like that there are ways we are able to communicate and interact in forums with other students as well as our professors, but I’m curious if moodle may upgrade to using video and chats to add to it. I haven’t explored too much with trying to see if there are chat options in moodle just yet, but I think that it’ll be a top educational tool once it is established and works smoothly.
Chrome
I think I was using internet explorer for the longest time until I was forced to use firefox and chrome about 3 years ago. With " chrome," I see a huge difference in speed when using chrome and it is now my preferred browser to use. I’m still not as knowledgeable about other options available on chrome that I can add or tap into, but what draws me to using it is the speed, simplicity and accessibility of the site. It’s also great when loading videos and not having to wait too long for them to buffer. I don’t use chrome for many different internet tasks and like I mentioned earlier, I’m not very familiar with everything it will allow me to do but I’ve heard that privacy is a con with using this browser. I haven’t encountered any problems with it but then again, I haven’t attempted to put out valuable information for people to try and retrieve.
For this browser, I think I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars mostly because of the privacy issue. I’m can’t say that it is or isn’t safe at all times, but the fact that other people have had privacy issues make me a little more cautious when getting on specific sites and sharing information. In the classroom, I think that using chrome would be best when viewing videos and utilizing the flash player that is already installed in it, or even for games that may require it.
Google Apps
My first experience with google apps was being introduced to my gmail for work and using it as a primary contact for students, colleagues and my administrators. So far, I have had no problems with my gmail and I have finally made a personal account that I may use in the future. It’s very accessible whenever I use it, and it is designed so that I can see everything in my inbox, check my contacts and be able to write an email with everything running in the background. I think that having the smaller window on my laptop as I wrote emails helped me track other emails much better and made me respond to emails sooner.
The next few documents that were introduced to me were google docs and sheets, as well as google drive. I loved the fact I could share documents and work on them at the same time as my group mates and that it was saved on the spot and left in my file folder. There have been several times where I just refuse to close a word document and never come back to it but with google docs, I was comfortable leaving it or accidentally closing out of a page and knowing that my document was saved and could be accessed at a later time. Overall, my experiences with using google apps has been a pleasant one and something that I am excited to try using in my classroom. I’d give it a 5 out of 5 stars especially because of the accessibility and the auto save that happens as I’m working.
Livebinders
The first time using "livebinder" was a bit of an odd experience for me. I’m used to using livetext and didn’t realize that there was another tech tool online that works in a similar way. The thing I liked the most about using livebinders was the organization and being able to create subcategories off of bigger ideas. It was like I was working through an intricate thought bubble that I could organize in ways I saw were related and top it off, I could add resources that lead me straight to the page through this tool. I also thought it was great that I could go back and make changes to it as well. The one thing I wasn’t too crazy about was that it looked very bland. I didn’t do too much exploring with livebinders, but I’m sure that there is probably some options that allow customization that I haven’t seen yet. Plus I would think that the pages look very bland because of the sites that can be added. Color clashing might have been a problem but I wish that if there were options to customize that they would be visible on the page, and that there was some sort of tutorial given when I first began using it.
As much as I enjoyed taking all my ideas and putting them into my subcategories, I think I would rate this tool at a 3.5 out of 5 stars. If the page was a bit more interactive and caught my attention a little more I would raise it one start but the appeal just wasn’t there for me. If anyone is looking for strictly organization and working on a portfolio tool that just gets the job done then I think this is a great tool. The other half star that it didn’t earn from me was mostly the interactive and tutorial aspect of it as well as having some other icons along the page to allow more options. Maybe with more time I’ll get used to using it, but I can see myself using it in classes just to help students organize information.
Livetext
I can remember the first time I had ever been introduced to "livetext" during my undergrad, I was happy that I didn’t have to purchase it at the time but it’s a different story now that it’s required for my program. I simply view it as a way that people can submit assignments, projects or papers and have it seem like they are professionally published. I think I a big stickler for organization when getting things done and it does show great organization of different aspects throughout each tab. There are many things that I can talk about, but just a few highlights that come with using livetext, in my opinion, would include looking at a page or assignment and knowing the status of submission as well as what needs to be submitted and even that there is a side tab that tells you all your uploads. Another thing is that it should you all the courses that you have taken so you are able to go back and take a look at them.
When it came time to use the livetext docs, I thought it was a bit difficult to navigate through and work on. It might have just been the template of the document that made it a bit difficult to work with, but I did a bit of searching trying to get through each page and there was some lag time for me when I tried to click on something and fix it. I think that livetext is a very useful tool despite some delays that I’ve experienced but I think it depends on the purpose that it is serving. For right now, I’m very content with sticking to uploading assignments and seeing what I have and haven’t done yet. I’d give livetext a 4 out of 5 stars. It lost a star because of the lag and difficulty I had with it when using the livetext document. I do believe that its serving its purpose as a place to submit assignments in one area and be able to go back to them easily, and that’s why I rated it a bit high.
Kahoot
I haven’t had a chance to actually use "kahoot" on others, but from what I’ve seen so far and tested myself, it’s a great tool to engage students in many different ways. This is possibly one of the best ways to get students more involved in learning through making it fun and doing it through games online. Rather than having a more teacher centered approach to learning this targets all students at their own pace and allows them to participate. The quick feedback from quizzes and the challenge that each students goes through to try and achieve a higher score from their peers will keep kids on edge. I don’t really think I have any bad things to say about kahoot but I’m sure that there are ways that this site can be upgraded, maybe by adding other types of games or new ways to engage with other students at the same time. I give kahoot a 5 out of 5 stars. It’s free, a great tool for all teachers to tryout and will definitely get students interested in learning.
Visme.co
"Visme" is a tool that allows you to create presentations that will catch the attention of your audience. It has a free option that only allows about 3 presentations and must be purchased after that. The drag and drop options as well as premade slides that you can choose from make it very organized and accessible to move things around and give any presentation a new look in seconds. Having the option to even play videos and or music within the presentation is another way to add depth to specific topics and slides. I definitely enjoyed using visme and might want to use it again over the constantly used powerpoint. The only downside I can come up with regarding visme is that there are so many options, and I have a bit of OCD. When it comes to creating the perfect slides I found myself spending more time on trying to make each slide look perfect and wanted to add more within a short time frame. I don’t think having all these options were a bad thing, but took me a while to finally decide on what I wanted. It’s all about that pizzazz sometimes. I would give visme a 4.5 out of 5 stars because of how eye catching it is and how easy it is to use. The .5 that was taken was because it wasn’t a fully free tool. I’m sure that students would be more engaged looking at a presentation that has music, videos and a cool background to wake them up and get their attention.
Wiggio
My experience with the web tool "wiggio" wasn’t exactly the best. I found it interesting that you could have a video conference amongst several people, with audio, and an interactive whiteboard as well as share documents with those you go into conferences with. I thought it was very organized and liked how it could be easily accessed through emails and even cell phones, but the make of it seemed bland and could probably use an upgrade. I probably didn’t get the best experience from it because of the lack of people I could use it with, and being low of people to try and chat with to see just what wiggio could do. The interactive whiteboard was probably my favorite aspect because I’ve never seen a tool that allows groups to draw on one document. It reminded me of google docs but in a different way that seemed a bit more playful. The problem with having more than one presenter or person working through the interactive board is that they may begin to goof around with the tool and be more focused on playing on the whiteboard than sharing ideas. In a classroom, I think that this would be the hardest thing to monitor and can be tough with larger groups. I wasn’t a big fan of wiggio and I have heard that others have had better experiences with it, but I really thought there were some gaps it needed to fill in to be an attention grabbing tool for web conferencing and groups. I would give wiggio a 1 out of 5 stars and would probably never use the tool again.
Hi:
ReplyDeleteYour excellent writing is severely marred by the capitalization errors for proper nouns, i.e., Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc.
-j-