BP9_RILS Links

After I posted my own RILS experience, I took a look at my fellow colleagues blogs to see what they were up to. Many of them had great ideas and positive experiences.

What are they doing?

Take a look at this link to see my comments on Hunter's Blog "Blogged on Phonics". He used an online polling system to "give his students a voice". Really good idea and a great project. 

Use this link to see my comments on David Middlebrook's Blog "Teaching Music Through Technology". David used online music creation and editing tools to allow his students to create, edit and publish their own piece of music. I firmly believe that students learn best by "doing" (hence my own blog title) and Dave's project is such a great example of that.


These are just two examples of the many great projects my fellow classmates created in their quest to improve education and make learning more relevant to our students. 

It's been a long month, but in the end I think we all learned quite a bit. Good job everyone :)

BP8_RILS Publication

The outcome of my Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario.

First, the details:
Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario
Jessica Wunder


Brief Overview:

In this RILS, students will work in groups to use a virtual, interactive program (manipulative) to find solutions to mathematical problems, and explore algebraic concepts in a game like setting. Students must use reasoning, logic and application of previously learned material to solve problems, in a manner that encourages exploration and problem solving through trial and error.

1. Target Audience- College students in a College Algebra course. Students range in age from 18 to 40+, with most students in the mid-20s. Students have a variety of mathematical knowledge and comfort level, but most students have little algebra skills or knowledge beforehand and need remedial work in pre-algebra topics.

2. Materials–
a) Internet capable laptop with working internet connection. (All students should have this, as students have school supplied laptops)
b) Link to website for virtual activity (provided by instructor)
c) Activity worksheet with exploratory questions and prompts
d) Pencil and additional paper as needed to answer the questions and provide answers


3. Objectives– At the end of this scenario, the learner will be able to:
a) Recall previous lessons on the topic used
b) Analyze a scenario and identify mathematical concepts and ideas that are being used or needed
c) Apply laws, rules and ideas of the specific topic (e.g. fractions) to solve given problem
d) Explain processes used to solve either processes they used that worked, or proposed processes based on their exploration
e) Relate specific mathematical concepts used in the activity to real world scenarios


4. Procedure–
a) Instructor will give brief introduction to what the virtual activity is, and guided through a brief tutorial on its purpose and use. This may vary depending on the specific manipulative used, but shouldn’t take more than 5-10 minutes
b) Instructor will give student 10 minutes to explore the manipulative themselves and “play” with features
c) Students will then be put in groups of 2-3 students
d) Each group will be given an activity sheet
e) Students with then be instructed to work in groups to answer the questions on the activity sheet. Students will be given 20 minutes to work together. At this time the instructor will clearly outline what is expected of students: students are to work to find solutions, record those solutions, and eventually present their findings. The instructor should place an emphasis on process, encouraging to students to explain their processes and remind students that will not be penalized for “wrong” answers, so long as they can explain what they did, and if the answer was wrong, what they might do differently next time.
f) The activity sheet will ask students to find solutions to 3 different problems, by working together to accomplish 3 goals (one goal per problem). E.g. using different ratios, get the bike from point A to point B in 5 steps.
g) Students will record their answers, and their process (e.g. how many steps did it take you to get to point B? What ratios did you use? ) on the activity sheet
h) Instructor should be moving through the groups, stopping to see how each group is doing, ask if they have questions, and/or to listen to group dynamics and interaction.
i) Students will submit the activity sheets, one per group, when finished.
j) When complete, students will be asked to submit a paragraph, individually, reflecting on the experience. The format will be free answer, but students must write about the experience, what they learned, and if they felt it helped them.
k) If time allows, groups will be asked to share their results with the class, with an emphasis on process. Students are not expected to get all three answers/questions correct, but encouraged, through instructors instructions and introduction, to explore and share the processes they used to find answers. Each group will present their results for the three questions, with each student presenting a different question.


5. Web 2.0 Tool– Virtual Manipulatives are used for this learning scenario. Virtual manipulatives are interactive, computer based (often web based but not always) manipulatives, often with a focus on math. Virtual Manipulatives encompass a variety of individual websites and tools. There is a National Library of Virtual Manipulatives which can be found at this site: http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html


6. Social Participation/Social Learning– One of the integral processes of the activity is for the students to work in groups, of at least two students. Learners must work together to figure out the processes of the program, and how to solve the problems. In working in groups, students must collaborate and communicate with each other to figure out solutions. Communication and group learning are key processes to the activity. All members of the group must participate, with group participation being part of the assessment. Students are also asked to share their results with the class, which encourages social communication (presentation) skills. Each student must present a question, so that ALL students are participating (see assessment section).

7. Making Connections– Students will use previously learned concepts as a foundation for their understanding of the topic the activity uses. I.e. if the manipulative is based on ratios, students must have and use understanding of fractions to work on the activity for ratios. Students also must engage critical thinking and logic skills. The exploratory nature of the activity provides an opportunity to further refine and “exercise” their current level of critical thinking, deduction, and pattern recognition skills. Further, the virtual manipulatives often use real world scenarios and examples, which help to connect the material and it’s importance to every day situations and thinking.

8. Create/Produce – Students will have an end product of their completed group activity sheet, along with their individual reflection. Students will also present findings to the class, and are therefore creating (and must plan for) a group presentation.


9. Assessment – Students will not be graded on accuracy of answers but participation and content. The following rubric will be used to assess collaboration, effort, content, and participation.

Out of a scale of 10	Exceeds Expectations 8 – 10	Satisfactory 5-7	Not Satisfactory 0
Collaboration/Communication	Engaged with other group members and actively encouraged other members ideas and opinions. Made significant contributions to discussion and ideas.	Engaged with other group members. Contributed to discussion.	Did not engage or interact with other group members. Made no contributions to ideas or discussion of activity.
Content (Reflection)	Produced response with excellent grammar and clear communication of ideas. Reflection was relevant and provided clear insight into students experience, thoughts, and process.	Produced response, in full sentence form for personal reflection. Reflection was relevant and insightful to students experience.	Made little to no response for personal reflection. Personal reflection was not relevant to the activity, class, or topic.
Participation (Group presentation)	Student made presentation on one of the three question.  Presentation was clear and listener could easily follow train of thought and understand the process used.	Student made presentation on one of the three questions.	Student did not present or contribute to group presentation.

10. Reflection –
a) Students are asked to reflect on the process they used to answer the questions and solve the problem, as part of the activity sheet and personal reflection. Through this process they are forced to examine their methods and determine what they might have done differently. Students also share this reflection in their group presentation and personal reflection paragraph

b) Part of the purpose of the student reflection paragraph to help give the instructor insight on the students thought processes during and after the activity. This helps the instructor determine if this activity is perceived as helpful to the students. Instructor also receives indirect feedback and opportunity for reflection as they watch and interaction with students in the group work stage as well as the group presentation.

How did it go?

Reflection and Comments:

As I said in my video, I found the overall project to be successful. I got some great feedback for the activity and am ready to make some revisions to the activity and worksheet.  From here, I know I need to adjust the questions on the worksheet, and make some changes for clarity when I introduce the activity. I'm probably going to run the students through one of the trials with me, having them watch and follow along as I show them on the big screen. I'm also going to remove the group presentation aspect, due to time. I REALLY wanted to keep it, but based on time constraints, we felt the time was better spent allowing them to fully understand and use the manipulative. The feedback and positive response from my coworkers made this an enjoyable experience. We had a great discussion about student engagement and what aspects of the activity would help that, and what aspects needed to be changed. The conversation wound up being an hour long!

 I admit I was worried and nervous about the idea before presenting it to them, but they responded well to it and again, I got some fantastic feedback. I didn't mention it in the video, but this activity was actually a trial run for one of the activities I will be having my students engage in as part of my CBR project. My CBR project revolves around students using virtual manipulatives to reinforce different lecture topics. I already had one activity that had been tested earlier, and was struggling to find another manipulative that i really liked. Through the RILS I was able to find another manipulative and refine the associated activity. So this RILS was successful in more than one aspect! 

To be honest, I've been stressed and a little scared about my CBR. But as a result of the feedback and encouragement I've received from this test trial, I'm a lot more confident about how doing the full project in November. 

I still have a lot of work to do, but I think the final result will be well received by my students. I think they'll learn and have fun while doing it, and isn't that what we're all trying to do?

I do wish I was able to get footage of my coworkers engaging in the activity, but that just wasn't happening, so I had to use stills and stock footage for the video. I hope it isn't too dry, and I really look forward to your comments and insights!

PE5_Virtual Manipulative -Illuminations "Free Ride"

Well, in the end I went with the Illuminations website, "Free Ride" manipulative. 

My RILS is actually a trial for my CBR project. In my CBR, I'm going to have my students engage in activities with the virtual manipulatives, and then answer questions or do a project sheet to show what they've learned. 

I've been trying to figure out which manipulatives to use, and through the RILS I'm able to test some of the ones I've been looking at, to see how well they'll work in an actual situation. 

I really wanted to use manipulatives on subjects my students struggle with. I mentioned this is  my previous blog post, as my students often have troubles with fractions. Many of the fraction activities however seemed too simple, or childlike. 

I really liked the bike one, because it was more than just fractions, but the relationship of fractions and ratios. 

But this also promotes problem solving and analytical thinking. 

Students aren't just asked about ratios, fractions, but asked how they can use them to figure out an optimal route. 

In this virtual manipulative, you can choose from a variety of routes, and have to determine the best ratio of gears to use to get to the designated way points. 

What I think I may do for my students activity, is to give them 3 different routes, or goals to solve. They'll be working in groups, to figure out the optimal ratios to get solve the routes. 

Even if the students don't finish all of the routes, or meet all of the way points, I'm going to ask them to describe and discuss the methods that they used and why. If they were' successful, I want them to think about what they could change in the future and what that result might be. 

I'm more interested in them exploring and thinking than just getting right answers. I'm hoping the non traditional approach will encourage them to explore, rather than trudge through problems that they hate, and maybe aren't even really thinking about. 

So this RILS will let me test these ideas and hopes. Depending on how this works out, I may go on to use this for my CBR, or I may change how I present the activity, or even not use it at all. 

I'm interested to see how this works out.  Will they be able to do this? Will they learn from it? Or will it just be a fun distraction?

Hard for me to know from just what I've done. I mean, I had a lot of fun playing with the program and challenging myself. There's even a "par" feature, if you want to try to accomplish the way point goals in the least amount of pedals. I think personal challenges can be more effective than anything to get a learner to stretch themselves.

For me personally, I enjoyed the program, and I found it challenging, even as an instructor will experience in fractions!

I did not make par :( But it was fun to try

So now, the only thing that I can do is to try it out on others, on my learners, and see how they respond.

Stay tuned to see how this turns out!

PE4_Virtual Manipulatives

For the next few posts, I'll be exploring some virtual manipulative websites for my RILS project.

Virtual manipulatives are, basically, interactive, web or computer based applications that allow for exploration of mathematical concepts. Virtual manipulatives were originally created to model "concrete" math manipulatives such as base ten blocks, algebra tiles, blocks and so on.
As the use progressed, these virtual manipulatives got more detailed and have since expanded beyond their initial repertoire. Now, they are not just used instead of concrete manipulatives but offer ability to allow students to explore spatial aspects, and multiple representations of concepts in a way that is more difficult for concrete manipulatives.


There's a pretty big collection of virtual manipulatives on the internet, ranging in content from basic mathematics (fractions, counting, etc) to algebra, geometry and calculus. Many of them are aimed at students in elementary and middle schools, although there are some for high school and college level students.

439,000 results!

For me, I'm hoping to use a virtual manipulative to get my students, who are learning pre-algebra concepts, to engage in an activity that will help them to think about math differently. Many of them dis like math and find it boring. I'm hoping that by using the virtual manipulative they can explore the concepts they're learning in lecture, in a fun manner. Many of the manipulatives use game or game features to demonstrate ideas and enhance understanding. I think the manipulatives are also useful because they don't require just one specific piece of knowledge. A student or learner has to use and incorporate various types of knowledge when working. There's the spatial aspect, logic, reasoning, problem solving, and of course the specific topic they're working on.


Ok, so I've described my tool and how I'm going to use it. There's only one problem:
Which one??

Virtual manipulatives encompass a broad spectrum of different specific tools. They all use the same basic ideas and methods, but differ in how they present the idea and how they ask the student to explore and demonstrate knowledge. There are some that are very much geared to younger children, some that are more sophisticated.

As simple as fraction circles

or as complicated as probability and chaos analysis

I've spent quite a bit of time combing many sites and educational search engines, finding, looking at, examining and playing with different ones.
As I've said before, they run the gamut from basic counting to calculus. There isn't just one, but _many_.

Seriously, it was kind of exhausting. I would find something that had a good idea, or a good delivery system… but was too childlike for my students.


I'm a fan of using games to teach, so I admit I was often tempted or drawn towards the more game like activities. However, many of those were also geared towards younger students.

Part of the challenge, for me at least, was to find something that age appropriate, but content appropriate.

See, my students are older, college aged. But they're also largely artists and musicians and "Creative" types. Many of them have had negative experiences with math in school before and have a made a point to avoid it at all costs. So, many of them have weak skills in some of the "core" content and foundation materials. Fractions, percentages, decimals, ratios… are areas that a lot of my students struggle with.

SO I want to find material that would help them in these areas, that i thought they needed the most help in. But, again, much of the material is grouped by content in terms of primary school groupings. So because fractions, and decimal work is taught in earlier years, most of the manipulatives I found were geared towards younger students.

BUT! I persevered… and eventually, my late night searching led to me three sites that i thought would help me the most:




First, the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives.

This was the very first site I encountered when doing searches for and researching virtual manipulatives. It's been on my list and radar ever since. In narrowing down my choices, it was an obvious contender. It has content spanning from "basic" number and operations to data analysis and probability, while also spanning the age range from Pre K to high school. There are a lot of good looking tools and ideas here. I've already explored the site extensively, but I've chose a few specific manipulative examples that I want to play with further.

I like the way it shows functions as input and output

Second: Interactivate website
The site contains many activities but there was a few in particular that I thought might be useful. The equivalent fractions activities seem like something that might help my students to better understand the relationship between fractions, in a visual/spatial manner.

Equivalent fractions finder

I'm looking at the equivalent fractions finder and some of the other fraction functions.


Finally, I've also been looking at the Illuminations site. The manipulatives on this one are similar to the Interactivate manipulatives, although there seem to more that are suited for older learners.
I've looked at several, but keep coming back to this one with ratios:

I show cased this on in my OMM post, and so I have a bit more experience with it. It involves a good amount of problem solving and analysis, but it's also fun and challenging. (or at least I think so)


So which one will I use for my project?

Stay tuned to find out!

Looking ahead....peer review groups anyone?

One of the biggest hurdles I've found myself facing in this program is time management. I can have great time management skills when I put my mind to it, and I've accumulated a variety of tools (web2.0 and otherwise) to help me with this endeavor.

But life doesn't always work the way you intend it to, and my work situation is a bit different than others. So between home, family, work, and just life in general, sometimes I find myself working on projects on tighter timeline or schedule than I'd like.


To help stop this, I'm really trying to get in the habit of working ahead. I know this is something we all should be doing anyway and I think many of us, including myself, try to do so. It doesn't always work out (see above paragraph) but again, you try and work with what you have.

So, in the interest of working ahead, and planning ahead, I'm trying to get some stuff done as early as I can.

The point of all of this? (I do have one, I swear) I'm looking now to find and gather some folks for the Literature Review peer review group. We're supposed to have gathered our groups by the end of this week, and then evaluate each others papers next week.

Maybe I'm not working as far ahead as I think I am, maybe everyone else already has their group.

But if you don't have a group and are looking for one, well I am too! Send me a comment or email if you want to be Literature Review buddies. :)

Look forward to hearing from you all! I promise I don't bite!

BP7 OMM

Ok, here's my one minute movie. I actually choose a tool that I hadn't reviewed in my previous web2.0 posts, but was a tool I had been researching, reviewing and looking into for my CBR project.

The tool I chose to review is actually part of a larger category of web2.0 tools called virtual manipulatives. Theyre interactive programs/software used for teaching and reinforcing mathematical lessons.

For this project, and for my CBR I've been looking into the Illuminations website of virtual manipulative tools. You can see the site here: Illuminations

My "commercial" is as much of a commercial for the idea of using virtual manipulatives as it is for the site/tool itself. I created with the idea of using this to pitch my project to administration.

I look forward to your feedback!




Note: The image of the boy with the chalkboard is courtesy of Microsoft Clip Art. The image is royalty free and was retrieved from here:
Microsoft Clip Art Chalkboard Image

PE3_iMovie

First of all…

Ta da! I did it. 

Now after watching all of these tutorials, I was a little overwhelmed. I wanted to try so many things! I loved the beat matching function, where you could set still images to music. I don't really have any videos, but I'm a photographer, so I have A LOT of cool pictures that would be neat to use.  So I was tempted to do that. 

I had a lot of ideas running through  my head, but ultimately I came back to the movie trailer idea, which I mentioned in my first blog post. 

I really thought that was a neat feature, and kept going back to that idea when I was thinking about what to produce. I thought it would be neat to make a trailer for a "movie" based on my photos and influenced by some of my personal writing and fictional stories. 

…This wound up being much more difficult than I thought. We're not really "family photo" type of people in my house, and many of my pictures are "stuck" in film format. I didn't have the time to scan them in, so I had to make due what I had on digital AND try to weave them into some kind of story. I This is what I wound up with. I hope you enjoy watching it. I'd like to try this again, given more time. 

What do you think?


EDIT: I decided I'm really not happy with the quality of the video as blogger displays it. I think they compress the file after it's uploaded. Viddler shows in slightly higher quality, so if you want, you can view the video here at my viddler site. You'll also have a few more features in terms of size as well. It looks pretty nice on my macbook in fullscreen, so I'd like you, my audience, to have a similar experience.

I also would like to state, for clarity's sake, that ALL of the images in that trailer are mine. I am the photographer and editor of all of those pictures. Only the spinning globe logo in the beginning is not mine. 

PE2_iMovie

Editing, Effects, and Audio, Oh my!

Now we're getting to the interesting parts. 

I love the movie trailer options for new projects theme. This was not available in iMovie '09. I'm already thinking I may use that to for my 60 second video. 

On a side note, I really REALLY like and appreciate the way lynda.com breaks up lessons in small chunks that are around 5 minutes. I think the longest lesson was 8 minutes. As a teacher, I understand too well the attention span of most people isn't very long. Research has shown that even when a person is interested, their brain can only handle about 15-20 minutes of information before going into "screensaver mode" (my words. hehe).  As a student, I understand this all too well!

So the smaller chunks of information really help to enhance the assimilation process. I probably retained more information because of this format, than if I had a solid 30min or hour long lecture. 

The precision editor seems a bit strange to me. You can precisely chose where two clips transition but as you cut or add to one clip, you're cutting or adding to the other clip as well. So your overall time doesn't change. That can be helpful, but I can see how it might be frustrating as well. 

I can see this is a feature I'm going to need to play with a bit before I fully understand it. I really need to do things, and sit and "try to break" (as one of my friends calls it) something to really understand it. Note: I don't *really* try to break software/things I'm trying to understand. ;)

Me trying to figure out the precision editor....

Ok, I played with it. I was a little incorrect about how the overall time doesn't change. It CAN change the overall time. The tutorial was kind of…unclear in that part. But I can't blame him, because it's still kind of a strange tool to explain. Now that I've played with it, I get it, but I don't know that I could explain it to another person myself. :D

Watching these videos is making me excited for our filmmaking class that we'll have later in the program. (I may regret this excitement later.) Part of this is because the tutorial videos talk about technical aspects, which rely partly on good storyboarding and planning of a video. It's one thing to know how to crop a shot to zoom in, but it's another to know when to zoom in, or the best place in a scene to use that feature. It was in fact, the cropping and editing tool tutorial that made me think about this. Although I did notice he mentions some tips on planning shots and when using effects. 

The entire "working with effects" section was fascinating, and my favorite part to watch. Just listening about the options of  incorporating photos, side by side, picture in picture, green screen, one step effects, etc gave me so many ideas for future projects. 

Some of my ideas are too complicated or time consuming for this weeks 60 second movie, so I've created a file to store all my plans. 

I may have gone a little nuts exploring the different effects...

I'm so excited about these features!

Now to make my movie!

PE1_iMovie

This post, and the posts following will be documentation, thoughts, and reflections  on my process of learning the ins and outs of iMovie '11.

First of all, I have the say it's nice to be working with iMovie '11 now. In my previous classes and projects, I had iMovie '09. I was able to upgrade my version recently, and through my own exploration and these videos, I've discovered a lot of small, but useful differences and additions. There are lots of little features/differences, that aren't really outstanding or really noticeable, but definitely contribute to ease of user experience.

I liked having the exercise files to work along with. I work by not just watching but by doing. I could use my own files to work along with and do similar things, but its still nice to have the exact same files to prevent errors (file mismatch or such)

Although I had used and felt I was somewhat comfortable with (at least the basics of) imovie, I'm realizing there are many small details I don't know. (For example, the ability to switch the project and event panes. So simple, but useful)

I figured these videos would be helpful, but it's interesting to see just how much the program is capable of. 

I liked the intro to the connectors and how to import from different sources.  I was pretty familiar with the connections already, but I'm impressed they included it. I've seen many tutorial videos (for various things) that assume too much of the viewer. 

The different abilities imovie has to import data is also impressive. The fact that imovie can automatically detect and improve stabilization, and detect the presence of people in a clip so it can make special adjustments for that is pretty amazing. 

I knew that Macs are known for being especially user friendly, but it's not apparent until you really work with the programs.   

Going through the first 4 modules was more of an overview for me, reviewing basic features and actions. I still learned a few tips and tricks though. For example, i knew that you could adjust how the clips would appear in the event window (in seconds), but for some reason I didn't realize that it would change the speed with which you could scan/view the clip. I thought it just changed how many pictures you saw. D'oh! 

5 second interval

1/2 sec interval

                                                                vs.

These would have been helpful to know a  few months ago when using imovie! :)

Part of me wishes we had this assignment in month two, but then I realize that we've had access to lynda.com since month one, and nothing was stopping me from using the tutorials then. 

Live and learn. 

The next sections (Editing, Working with Effects, Working with Audio) seem a bit more in-depth and intensive. While these are the sections I'm most excited to explore, I think I need a break before I tackle these… 

notes to self: iMovie can import  .mov, .mp4, .dv , for other types (wmf, avi)must convert. Quicktime 7 pro is one example of program that can convert many file types. 

BP4_Quizlet

Many of the educational web2.0 tools I had seen, seemed more relevant for the K-12 crowd.  There were lots of engaging activities, manipulatives and platforms, but they were geared for middle or high school. 

The tools that could be used in the higher educational environment were mostly things like blogs, organization platforms, and media tools. These are all great tools, but not right for my environment. 

I needed something that allowed for interactive learning (as opposed to interactivity for entertainment or a platform) and was age and subject appropriate. 

Enter: Quizlet, the online, interactive flashcard tool. 

What I like about quizlet is that it lets you create your own flashcard set, based on whatever criteria you want. So I can set the age and content level to whatever I need.

But quizlet also keeps a database of definitions, so if you create a flashcard for a word, you can use one of their pre-entered definitions, if  it fits your  needs, rather than type it yourself.

It's very versatile, with the user having complete control over what they make, but it's also simple and intuitive to use. I had created my own (small) set of flashcards in 5 minutes!

In addition, you can choose to make your flashcard set public, or even viewable to a certain group. 

You can even set the option to allow discussion about a set.  I can see so many possibilities for this. 

In my environment, teaching math, vocabulary is actually one of the biggest hurdles my students have. Math can be considered an entire language on it's own, and without understanding the vocabulary, you're going to have a difficult time understanding the procedures. Yet, my students make little effort to learn and understand the specific terms for math that are so important. 

I also like the feature that showcases and highlights new, interesting and popular flashcards sets that have been created (and publicly viewable of course). 

New, interesting publicly viewable flash card sets

It's a great way to learn something new or get ideas to create your own set. I found myself immersed for at least an hour, browsing through various flashcard sets on everything from human anatomy and physiology (favorite topics of mine) to art history and greek myths. 

With this program, it would be possible to create an assignment requiring them to create their own flash card set, and then view, analyze and discuss each others vocabulary sets. Created sets could be compared to a master set created by the teacher. 

There are also "game" features to make studying a bit more entertaining. 

Example of a publicly available set with discussion features

Above is the greek myth set.  Notice the discussion feature, where people can discuss the information. In this case someone is pointing out an inconsistency and offering a correction. I can see use similar to wikipedia here.  There's also a "most often missed" and game result windows giving information. 

I  love the sharing, collaborative features.  The features give a creator (instructor) control, while still allowing others to use and interact. 

I can see a lot potential here, both as a teacher and a student.   I have plans to, hopefully one day, create an "anatomy for artists" monthly seminar for our art students here, and maybe even teach it as a class... and this would be so helpful to create my own, easily accessible, interactive study tools. 

Hopefully i'll be able to use this program sooner, in my current environment. I definitely have this on my bookmarks list. 

To my cohort, would this be a useful tool for any of you? How would you use this?

BP6_Link to "Searching for a Science Eye" blog

I really love it when concepts, ideas and real world tools come together. It's really satisfying to work on a project, and connect the ideas from that project with another idea, person, and project.

I've been doing a lot of research into the use of Virtual Worlds and Environments in education, and how these virtual worlds can be used to improve students engagement and understanding of material.
One of the more fascinating ideas I've come across in this research, is using game theory and design to create games, in a virtual environment setting. These games teach students a range of subjects, from science to literature arts, in an immersive, engaging and FUN manner.

So I was really excited and intrigued to read Stephaine Bivins review of the web 2.0 tool Electrocity.

www.electrocity.co.nz

It's a really neat program/tool with resources included to help teachers make the most of it.

Click this link to read more about what I have to say about this program, and my comments to Stephaine.

BP5_Link to Kimber's Expedition in Education blog

While looking through my fellow colleagues posts about web2.0 tools, I came across Kimber's review and exploration of Fontstruct.

www.fontstruct.com

It's use is in it's name: the web based tool allows you to actually *create* (construct) your own font, from scratch. It's quite an interesting idea. The process may seem a little daunting at first, but it's a lot of fun to use and play with. It definitely encourages creativity, and pushes you to explore the boundaries of the application.

While the idea of creating a font may seem inapplicable to education, I found quite a few avenues of learning potential and ideas for use of the creative app.

Use this link to see my comments and discussion on the use of this tool in Kimber's post.

BP2_SimpleDiagrams

I was having a bit of a hard time at first, finding tools that fit my environment. 

I teach college students, but my class has a certain structure, that at this point, I can't really alter. 

I liked the idea of collaborative softwares, but they didn't really fit the structure and format of my class. Students work on their own pace, practicing problems, so not everyone is on the same topic at the same time. 

So I looked, and looked, and had ideas bouncing around my head, but nothing really stuck. Nothing REALLY seemed to meet my needs. 

And then I stumble(d)upon (harhar. Web 2.0 joke. Getit?) Simple Diagrams. 

www.simplediagrams.com Home page

It's simple, but immensely useful. The interface is very easy to use and intuitive. You can move the toolbar around (which is a feature I appreciate) and change the background. (I like the blackboard look personally). 

It's quite an elegant little application I think. 

For free, you download the small application onto your Mac or PC. 

With it, you can make diagrams with lines, symbols, text, and free hand drawing. 

It's not expensive or a huge download which is nice. It would be good for teachers that want to convey hand written diagrams, images or text, but can't afford the fancy e-whiteboards. 

It's also a great for mind mapping, which we've been doing in this program.  Not only is it good for us in the program and as educators, but I can see this as being useful in teaching our students how to mind map. 

I think I'm going to use it for my CBR mind map 

I already played with it for this a little. 

For me, since i use my laptop in the classroom, I like that it allows me to basically have a portable whiteboard. Much of my time is spent one-on-one with students who have questions. 

With this, I can take my laptop over to a student with a question and diagram things I would do in pen and paper. 

So why not use pen and paper? What is the advantage of using the program?

Well, for one, paper is wasteful. We're all trying to be greener, right?  More applicable though, for me, my classroom is highly tech oriented. ALL of my students have school issued laptops, and they use these to do their work in my lab. So I know my students always have their computers. What they don't always have is paper and pencil for scratch work.  I am forever prodding my students to bring and USE paper and pen to do side work. Many of them try to do the problems and math in their head, and when one is tackling a 20 step problem, that doesn't always work well. 

Either from pride, or because they didn't bring it, my students don't write down their thought processes often enough. 

With this, ALL of my students have access to "digital paper". They can draw, type and diagram their processes, and because it's digital and not "analog" they may be more enthusiastic about using this over paper and pen. 

So not only can *I* show them stuff, they can make their own diagrams, and if they are helping each other, show each other their own. 

Another feature I like is that you can save diagrams (with the paid version, which is only $25).

I often find myself repeating certain topics and explanations frequently. With this, if I create a diagram to explain something that works particularly well, I can save it and use it for reference if another student asks about the same problem. 

We have a set of problems in particular that seem to plague my students. The concept is the "Rate x Time = Distance" equation, but the problems are word problems that require different approaches. No problem is exactly the same, and since they aren't using the exact approach every time, my students get stuck. 

This is one of the cases where I encourage them to make diagrams.  I often show them how I use diagrams for the first, and then have them do the second problem on their own.

Now I can save that diagram, and show other students who may have questions on teh same type of problem.

If I feel I need to, I can hook my laptop up to the projector, and project my diagram to show the entire section. We can create diagrams together, and see the results. 

I can definitely see myself using this program in my classroom. It's smaller and less complicated than the smart boards, and every student can use one easily. I'm already coming up with ideas and proposals to start using this with my students. 

What are your thoughts on this program? How would you use it?