Antoinette Go's Blog (13)

I've been using blogs with students for almost 10 years now, and the results have been erratic that I stopped doing it. One specific reason was getting students to comment on each other's post, and I had better results using online discussions when I required them to respond to the previous poster and post a question for the next one.

Then I tried Ning last year with the yearbook class, and also introduced it to the high school English teacher. He was happy to have this option,…

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It's amazing that every time we catch up with technology our needs and technology itself grows more complicated.

This is my second year at a Mac school. Some of the resources we have are impressive: MacBooks for every teacher, Smartboards in every classroom, a classroom set of MacBook carts for each floor in the main building, video cameras, microphones, point and shoot cameras, plus four DSLR cameras, and a computer lab with 24 iMacs.

But we also have to deal with limited…

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Wow, I just stumbled on Prezi last night and decided to completely overhaul my 50+ slide PowerPoint presentation for today's teachers conference! When you see it, you just might be tempted especially since there's an education license for students and teachers offering free accounts with 500 MB limit.



I didn't know I needed a product like this, but Prezi was perfect for my presentation needs -- something about teaching with Web 2.0 tools -- because it allows me to zoom in and magnify… Continue

Wow, it has only been a year and a half since I did my Web 2.0 workshop in Pakistan, and I'm already seeing more promising tools worth checking out for my next workshop. This is for the Nigerian International Schools Conference that my school is hosting in Lagos.



Here's the outline, and I would appreciate it if you could recommend websites showcasing actual examples (of student work) of these tools being used in Grade 5-12 classrooms:…



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I can delete albums but not photos, why is that?

Just got tired of looking at my old photos, and want to remove these. I'm now teaching at a Mac school where every classroom has a Smartboard. I want to post photos about these, without cluttering my space with too much photos.

I'd like to thank Oliver, Merle, and Matt for their helpful suggestions and responses to my previous blog! It's so great to be teaching again and have this great resource.



I decided to go with edmodo.com as recommended by Oliver. It was so easy to set up and I was able to test it opening a teacher and student accounts on Firefox and Safari without any problems. Students will probably find it as user-friendly because it resembles Facebook, and it's just as intuitive if not simpler and… Continue

I don't want students to e-mail their assignments, so I'm looking for a site that allows me to not only post homework and share handouts, but also for students to submit/upload files. In the past I've used Edline and Turnitin, which my former school has accounts with; but the disadvantage to this arrangement is I lose access to my lessons and calendar when I leave school. So now I'm trying Google Sites and wikis like Wikispaces and Wetpaint. But I'm still not sure if I really want students to… Continue

I just uploaded my first two screencasts using Camtasia. Both were done using the 2001 version of Camtasia Recorder, because the Camtasia Studio trial version that I just downloaded would not work on my computer. I ended up finishing the second project using Camtasia Recorder, Audacity for the narration, and MovieMaker to insert a video clip because Camtasia did not record the embedded one.



Creating screencasts is a good project for students, because it allows them to design… Continue

I'm so glad I'm taking an online course on Web 2.0 tools. I never realized sites such as Classroom 2.0 offers so many great ideas for using these tools and integrating technology in the classroom.



While doing an assignment on podcasts I learned about the Education Podcast Network. Using Google Reader I subscribed to WIT (We Integrate Technology) and learned more. An interview about Global Explorers led me to their site in Wikispaces, which made an excellent example for my Web 2.0… Continue

I have close to ten Web 2.0 tools to present in 50 minutes. This should be alright if the Internet is fast at school. But it wasn't when I checked yesterday. So here I am, adding more slides with screenshots just in case I won't be able to download fast enough.



Well, this is Plan C. Plan B is to download all the sites before the presentation, and minimize the screen.



The tools I will be presenting, with examples by teachers and students… Continue

I'm doing th Web 2.0 presentation with an elementary computer teacher. But he's going to present first and focus on sample lessons for the elementary teachers. When my turn comes I'll be giving examples for the middle and high school teachers. We met today, and I was disappointed that he had been having problems accessing the PowerPoint and Word files I uploaded to Google Docs -- some problems with Internet speed at school or maybe the firewall and pop-up blockers, who knows.



But we… Continue

With two more days left before my presentation at our school I told my husband I need to prepare the handout tomorrow. He suggested instead that I put my handout online, so teachers can easily click on the links, rather than type the URL themselves.



I said, "What a great idea!"



But now I'm not' sure if I want to post it on my wiki, blog, or create a regular web page. I even considered Google Documents, but realized there are teachers who don't have Gmail… Continue

I need to have my head examined. I got so excited over the Web 2.0 tools we discussed in class and the few more that I stumbled on that I volunteered to conduct a one-hour workshop at my school in two weeks. We just had a week-long virtual school after the terrorist attack on Marriott hotel, and the teachers were wondering if there were other ways to make virtual school more interactive and interesting, especially for elementary students.



So I prepared a list, went through it with… Continue