team of 6 international students to devise a computing program for a school for disadvantaged children in Ho Chi Minh City as part of the SEALNet Project Vietnam 2008 (http://www.sealnetonline.org/projects/project_vietnam_2008, http://sealnetpv08.wordpress.com/).
As the project was nearing its end, I came across a fund from http://www.isif.asia. My team was so excited to work on the proposal and we are now discussing the first draft.
You can find out more about what we intend to do in the attached files.
Basically it's about introducing Edubuntu, an educational version of Ubuntu Linux, to the classroom, and all the wealth of educational web 2.0 tools, such as google search, gmail, google docs/ spreadsheets, blogging, social networking, RSS, etc. to the disadvantaged children here in Ho Chi Minh City.
I''ve viewed several slideshows about e-learning 2.0 and done some research on it. The idea is simply fascinating.
However, some questions are in my mind now and I do need your advice.
- Is it justified enough to introduce Linux to an environment in which most if its inhabitants are using MS Windows, is it the most possible preparation for these disadvantaged kids to get a job in the future?
- The conventional way of technology education is all about Windows/Winword/Excel/Access. As a beneficiary of such education myself, I find little use in it. I believe all the wonders of 2.0 will make a difference in the life of these children. I think it's more about helping them to become self-sufficient and independent young self-learners. However, what are the job prospects for these children when at the moment almost all companies are still using MS Office and the workspace is mostly about one way communication?
- How can the project help the children classify the vast amount of information they may gather from the internet.
- Is language a real barrier to teaching the kids tools such as wikis, twitter, etc? If you have had experience teaching non-native English speaking kids, plz share with me. Is there any good 2.0 site that offers language teaching to children?
- To what extent will this project's impact, if it gets approved, have on the welfare of those children in the next 5 or 10 years?
I'm not an educator, but bringing web 2.0 technology to education has always been in my mind since last year when I first started my voluntary computing class at the 15 May school, a partner SEALNet.
Any suggestions are highly appreciated.
Thanks and regards,…
s for me as a teacher in Israel is the possibility to set up Blogger blogs for Hebrew, this automatically translates some of the interface, thus making Blogger much more accessible to the Hebrew language user. Blogger templates unfortunately don't include RTL (I have created some on http://rtltemplates.blogspot.com)
I find wordpress and edublogs a bit confusing to set up, so many options to think about. However the option of adding 'regular Pages' is one that is missing on Blogger. I do find Edublogs quite slow loading and of course they have no easy way to set up for Hebrew. There is a partly translated version of Wordpress for Hebrew, http://he.wordpress.org, hopefully they will finish the translation.
21classes.com has now removed ads from blogs, making it an excellent platform for classroom blogs. Although again there are so many options that I find it quite a daunting task just to set up. From a language point of view, the template can be edited so that the front end of the blog renders RTL , however that is really beside the point as the interface is still in English.
I haven't tried ClassBlogmeister as there is no way to set it up even partially for Hebrew.
I'm also thinking that with a few tweaks one could set up Ning as a classroom blogging system, if anyone is interested I have completed translation of Ning to Hebrew.
There is apparently also a very simple Hebrew Blogging system for teachers and their students - I haven't tried it but if anyone is interested it is part of the Orianit set up, is called Mashal and an example can be found here.…
pecific software program each month and built projects around that. You can see a few of the projects (sorry the Lorax video isn't working but Teacher Tube changed their embed code & I haven't fixed it on this site yet) and if you scroll down you can see a month by month breakdown of what I did here: http://stmartinsschool.org/computers/2007-08showcase.html
This year, I am using a wiki with all of my grades for assignments, etc. and a blog (which needs updating) to keep the parents informed as to what we have done. I have a Google Doc that I use for my organization for the year though for some reason I forgot all about it for Quarter 3.
I haven't started really planning for next year but will most likely redo some of what worked this year and add additional projects & activities based on the needs of the students and the amount of input I can get from the teachers. I do plan to add back some basic instruction in Microsoft Office products that I feel was missing this year in some cases. In order for them to effectively complete the assignments, I need to make sure they understand how to use the programs involved.
You might want to check out the Elementary Tech Teachers Ning - lots of good ideas over there. In fact Ann who's wiki you linked is a member there.…
setting. In the ILC I have very few students and the peer to peer teaching and collaboration opportunities, especially those from advanced students, are few and far between. As I review and learn more about technology for classroom use I feel that things like google docs will allow those opportunities to develop for my students. In doing this I will be able to continue to address behavioral needs while giving students the opportunity to work with peers on projects from different settings. This will definitely enhance their learning.
On the other hand, I have also taught in larger settings and have had to develop methods to accommodate and modify for my special education students without calling attention to them. I have found success in using different versions of the same assignments for all students while making sure that certain students get a modified version to scaffold their learning, while advanced students get an enhanced version to provide the needed challenge. Another idea I have used is to have a menu board where students can select from a number of items to achieve a total number of points for a given assignment or assessment. Sometimes allowing total freedom of choice while other times making them choose an item from each category to show mastery of specific skills. Students enjoy the choice since they are all different and the choice allows them to pick tasks that best fit their comfort zones and learning styles.
I would love to hear any other ways people are using technology in the classroom to accommodate, modify and enhance learning for all students in any settings.…
(The whole presentation was recorded for streaming and should be available soon. I would recommend everyone see it when ready, I'll put the link in when I get it. My summary is below.)
This past year, I tried to incorporate many web 2.0 opportunities in my lessons. I have the challenge of my district blocking and/or preventing student work to be published online. I, however,…
needed an efficient way to disperse assignments, class activities, projects, etc. This is where giving every student an email address helped immensely. I also brought in typing programs. My students are generally poor and therefore have no access to computers outside of school. Classroom 2.0 was a great help in getting those websites to me (see my blog for all the addresses www.teachingsuccesseswithells.blogspot.com).
I also spend a lot of time screening workable websites. Many of these sites I have saved on my own website (which I am updating this summer) at www.ellteacherpros.com. I have included this website in the emails I send out. I also pass this out at conferences so teachers can share it with parents who do have access.
I also use www.filamentality.com for projects. All the sites are active and ready to go so kids do not waste time trying to retype (often incorrectly) websites..
Google Docs fascinates me and so I am trying to use that also. Being a total novice, I am stumbling here and there, but I will be allowed to visit a teacher within my district who has been using it for 2 years. I look forward to this one since I won't have much paper to wade through anymore and more importantly, I will get kids more energized about writing:)
Next year, I will be doing epals through People to People International at http://www.ptpi.org/programs/SchoolClass.aspx.
Wow, there is so much you can do:) Again, congratulations!
Denise
www.ellteacherpros.com
www.teachingsuccesseswithells.blogspot.com…