Social and Collaborative Media

http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=2512069

When I first started with the voicethread tool, It was a bit slow for me. It took me a minute to figure out where things were and then once I got going it was actually fun and I was able to see the benefits in using such tool. It would be great for making presentations to a group of professionals about a certain teaching method. It can also be used as many other tools to make a digital story. So its a great tool and will be added as one of my many options when I need to make a digital story.

Learning Log- iGoogle

Igoogle can be used to collect useful content from across the web and see it all in one place. From current events provided by numerous news providers to local weather and the school’s events calendar, you can select any number of customized items and place them on a page that’s specific to all of your own personal interests. This is the most I have ever explored this tool and I am seeing how useful it can be.

By making igoogle my homepage, in my classroom, I will be able to see the date and time clock, View my class calendar, easily accessed by students, view bookmarks for quick access to my recommended sites for students, Read headlines from a variety of trusted news sources. I can also link to my class Blog with messages to students or families.

I love the gadget feature and I can also use information from gadgets like Quote of the Day or Google News as a trigger for a quick daily class discussion.

The students can get organized and stay that way by easily adding multiple gadgets to their personalized homepage that will help them with their studies and schoolwork. I never thought of using this tool at all even for my personal activities, but now I see how this can be used. I hope to continue to explore it even more.