Twitter

I was initially sceptical of twitter but over a short period of time have been converted. I do not have a huge following nor am I following a huge number of people either, but it is slowly building and the resources and professional sharing has been excellent. I need to try and find more time to communicate with those that I do follow as it is quite obvious the more you contribute the more you get back.

If you don't have a Twitter account I recommend you get one!

I just got my IPad2

I guess I'm a bit excited as I just got my IPad 2 the other day and have barely got off of it. I have been downloading apps non stop starting with the pegeeks PE Apps app. This has been excellent as I've been able to use this as a starting point which has so far given me 15 apps that I think will be useful in my classroom/PE classes.

Will Web 2.0 help me improve my students learning?

I've been looking at Web 2.0 tools for about 4 months now and it has really motivated me to try a variety of things even to the point where I have a Twitter account for which I saw no use 2 months ago. I'm also getting an Ipad2 mainly based on the fact that I'm excited about how it might help my teaching and improve student learning. I started this personal blog and have since used blogs with 3 different classes and set up two for 2012 for my year 12 PE class and my Reception and year 1/2 class - both with totally different goals in mind. I'm still learning how to use these effectively with students. I've used tools like Youtube, Screenr, Slideshare, Ask 500 People, Blogger, Edublogs, Voki, Google Docs, Glogster, TubeChop and Twitter. I have also looked at a number of other tools but not used them yet.

The question I have is has my teaching and therefore student learning improved because of my use of these tools and as I get better at using them will it continue to improve? The answer is I don't know! What I do know is it has motivated me to think about how and what I'm teaching in a deeper way. My motivation is high when using these technologies and students seem to engage with them. The key word there being 'seem to engage'. I guess if I'm honest I don't really know if it's a novelty thing or if it will be sustained long term. Am I getting through to the students more effectively than the teacher in a classroom with a lot less integration of Web 2.0 technologies?

To try and answer this question I intend to survey my students before the end of 2011 on there thoughts about Web 2.0 technologies. Hopefully this will help me find out how much it motivates students and therefore increases there willingness to engage in their learning which could lead to the assumption of improved learning.

I guess this picture sums up for me what I hope Web 2.0 will ultimately do for my teaching and my students learning.

The Khan Academy

I had heard of the Khan Academy but had never really known what it was about until I read an article about Salmon Khan. I then went further and viewed his TED talk from March 2011. What an impressive story and even more impressive resource.

The Academy covers mainly maths, science and history. There are lots of teachers out there creating their own screencasts of content relating to the subjects they teach. I hope to create a range of screencasts for my year 12 PE students and put them up on my Youtube account in 2012.

Creating a Screencast using Screenr

This seems like an unreal tool, 5mins of free screencasting per screencast. Add your own images and record your voice over the top in what is an amazingly easy and quick process. Log in by using a Google, Twitter, Facebook or Yahoo account. If you don't have one of these quickly create a Google account by Googling 'create Google account' (will take 5 mins for someone who thinks they have no idea about these things!).

I can see all sorts of applications for using Screenr from junior primary to senior secondary.  Ideas could include:

Can Twitter be a Professional Learning Tool?

If you think Twitter is for people to share when they put the rubbish out think again. Billy Merchant (PE Teacher, New Zealand) talks about how he uses Twitter as a professional development tool and also with his senior PE students.

Blooms and Google Tools

On the website Free Technology for Teachers I found this great tool created by Kathy Schrock which has placed a range of Google Tools alongside Blooms Revised Taxonomy. So if you like using Blooms and enjoy the wide variety of Google Tools out there this could be a useful interactive graphic.

Why Integrate Technology Into The Classroom?

A thought provoking article about education and technology by Jake Glasgow http://www.the21stcenturyteacher.com/ . The article provides a great list of reasons to use technology in the classroom.

I have linked one of the videos from the article which has young people talking about how they use technology.

The one thing amongst others that stood out to me about using technology in the classroom is the fact that regardles if we like it or not technology of the IT variety is only going to continue to grow. It is everywhere, all around us. If we ignore technology in our classrooms we are not allowing our students the opportunity to work and learn in an environment that replicates the real world, be it at home, socially or the workplace. As teachers we have an obligation to prepare students for this world even if we don't see it as our world.