Technology in the classroom

Here are my thoughts on the technology we used in this class. An how ALL of it can be used in my class in conjunction with the MLTI.

Moodle:At first I found the moodle to be very overwhelming. I was confused of where to find information and the overload of information and links that were available through this resource. Once I became familiar with the tool, it was pretty simple to follow. I like how you can add lots of resoources and post comments directly to submitted work. In my class, I think that this tool would be great for parents to see the grades and responses. I think it's a resource you have to pay for, so I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I would set each one of my students up with an account. The forums are a great tool for discussion among the class, after guidelines for respectful posts have been established among the class.

Voice Thread: I really liked this tool. I thought it was great how you could post video and audio comments and then respond to other people. I particulary was interested in the drawing cabilities. As one of the "genres" that my students learned about during their mutli-genre projects was picture to text. I think this tool would be great for all students to post their different views of the same picture. The voice thread would be a wonderful tool to use among the whole school on the same topic or to communicate with a different school as well.

Blogs: I loved being able to see what other people wrote and the comments that posts initiated. This would be a great way to record current events and book reviews. You can post videos, podcasts, and links to other resources. It's also a great tool to hold students accountable for researching "professional bloggers" that are interesting to them/content relevant.

Google Docs: This is a great tool for collaboration. Lab reports could be easily done, shared, and edited through this. Students could also submit their work through this and I could edit it easily without going through many sessions of paper and pencil revisions.

Skype: We just skimmed the surface of the capabilities SKYPE has. This is a great tool for students to converse with people near and far. You can share documents through SKYPE and have conversations with experts on specific subjects. I've also thought about setting up a mentoring program with my students and college students. This would be a great way for my students to ask for help and discuss with their partner.