In The Clouds

Educational Technology Wordle from David Warlicks 2 cents Worth blog.  

Cloud computing has become an important aspect of the educational community.  Economic times have forced schools to look for services that can be provided which bear little cost for the school.  Cloud computing allows for collaboration and sharing of ideas, projects, etc. between users without having to "store" the file on a specific computer.  Storage on "the cloud" means that anyone can have access to the file without having to open an email attachment.  Many everyday tasks can be completed "on the cloud" and many smart phones provide capability of using cloud computing. 

In my particular setting we use Google Docs for many of our teacher collaborations.  We jointly collaborate on a weekly newsletter and use Google Docs for our jr. high team discipline and missing assignments.  Our students use Google Docs for presentations and to share word processing documents.  

Another site that we've used before that is consider "cloud computing" is Kerpoof Studio!  My younger students use it to create pictures, story scenes and even movies.  They love the interactivity and if they create a login, they can use it at home or at school. Kerpoof offers teachers the chance to create a class login and assign students to different classes.  We've been using this for awhile and it has continued to add more features every year! 

Also, we use Museum Box.  Our 5th graders who study the American Revolution can create boxes about different faces of the revolution.  They can then share their box with the rest of the class.  Along with this project, they are also reading novels about the American Revolution. Use of an online tool like Museum Box allows us again to focus on collaboration and cross-curricular technology projects!

Overall, these cloud computing websites have allowed us to continue to encourage our students and staff to collaborate with each other and share their work!  

I don't regularly use bookmarking sites like Diigo or Delicious.  Mostly because I don't have the time to maintain.  I can generally share sites with my students by linking to our school website, which is easier for me and I don't have any filtering issues.  I can certainly see the value in tagging different bookmarks or blog topics and I do use tagging that is done by others.  It saves time when I'm looking for a specific topic, like "web 2.0" or "elementary".  

Many of our students have created word clouds in different classes.  There are teachers who have had their students create class word clouds about what they hope to learn that year.  Our junior high students created word clouds about the school that were used for an Open House and given to prospective students.  Personally, I use word clouds when giving presentations about technology to other teachers.

Event Based Learning Meets Great Technology Integration!

Our junior high science teacher picked out two modules of Event Based Learning for her science classes this year. The 8th graders studied physics, mathematics, design while working through the "Thrill Ride" module. The "Thrill Ride" module is explained as:
Thrill Ride! allows students to explore Newton's Laws of Motion and other basic physical science concepts in the context of amusement parks and roller coasters. A contract to design a ride for a new amusement park provides students with a reason to learn. And as with all Event-Based Science modules, much of the information that students need is provided in the pages of Thrill Ride!. However, more information is needed. Information from the Web about real amusement parks and ride design companies will add to the authenticity of your study.
They studied numerous physics concepts, researched, designed, and ran many different trials of their own "Thrill Ride". There were roller coasters, water rides, ferris wheels, bumper cars, swinging ships, and the ever dangerous, dead-drop ride. Students spent time developing their ride, noting the laws of physics evidenced in each ride. They created safety brochures to give to potential riders and they had to make sure they had put safety features in place for their rides. The most important part of this event based module was their connection to the topic. They will be visiting an amusement park as part of their class trip and they will be expected to take part in many different activities related to their curriculum while they are at the park. They were highly engaged throughout the process and the learning of the physics concepts that took place was amazing!
Not wanting to be left out, the 7th graders were fortunate enough to get to complete the second module purchased "Survive!". From their module:

Survive? allows students to explore concepts related to animals, heredity, diversity, survival of the fittest, and evolution in the context of the discovery of deformed frogs in Minnesota.

In Survive? students play the roles of scientists who have been sent to explore a newly discovered island and report their findings and predictions in the form of a museum exhibit.

They have become scientists who are exploring where frogs were found with deformities and their job is to find out why. They are making use of a class Ning, in which they have assumed the identity of their scientists and are communicating the results of their research to the outside world. They are posting pictures of the animals they are finding and their job will be to create a museum display that will be visited by the rest of the school. As part of their classroom Ning, they will join different groups of scientists looking for answers to the deformed frogs.
The most amazing learning is taking place. Their teacher was concerned that they wouldn't learn the concepts that she wanted science-wise, but they are certainly proving her wrong. They are using terminology that indicates they are learning the desired concepts.
The most difficult part of this interactive learning is how to effectively assess that everyone is doing their part and keeping on track. We've developed a rough rubric that will allow for us to check each part making sure they are all completing the requirements of their task!
As a note, the class Ning is remaining private even though students have created "alternate" identities of their scientists.