The KnowledgeFarmer by Jim Farmer - EDM 613 Blog: October 2010

Sunday, October 24, 2010

PE6_Moodle

Now that my Moodle courses are created I have been playing with the different features that I think will be most useful when the classes actually take place.

Tests:

Groups (Forums):

I have also been watching the Lynda.com videos on customizing the setup as well as the grading features. I am a little overwhelmed at everything that needs to be done but I am also liking how simple it is to do in Moodle. The adventure continues...

PE5_Moodle

The continuing saga of my Moodle adventure. As I watched the video tutorials on Lynda.com I found out that our Moodle server needed to be updated. Luckily this was an easy process, just like most of the steps in using Moodle.

Now that we are upto speed with the latest version I continued on with the course creation and setup.

Our Moodle server is just using one of the standard templates so far. This is something that I hope to upgrade as I learn more and become more adept at customizing it to fit our needs.

I was able to create a course very easily.

I can see this turning into something that I will enjoy using. I love that I can create, design, and then implement and teach the courses as well.

PE4_Moodle

For my practical experience I choose to delve into Moodle. I have used Moodle in the past as a student for brief courses. I am going to be using it in the near future in my school district to teach multiple courses across skill levels and content areas.

My first step was to watch some tutorials:

Lynda.com to the rescue.

I have watched quite a few of the over 8 hours of videos. They have been very helpful.

This gave me a good overview of setting up and starting a course, which is where I am in the process. Fortunately Moodle is very easy to use but having these videos makes it even easier to get through all the options in more efficient manner.

FV_Persuasive Video

My final video:

Sunday, October 17, 2010

PE3_Google Docs

While looking into forms in Google Docs I found the templates feature. This was something I was familiar with from using Google Sites but I was not aware that it had been implemented in Docs.

A quick search for needs assessment found multiple useful templates.

The templates are helpful because they give you a starting point to work from, especially when working with the Forms feature, which I am still learning to master. You can sort the templates by document type, language, and content area.

While searching around the help sections of Google Docs I came across the help forums which is a discussion area that has expert users answering questions.

PE2_Google Docs

For the next segment on Google Docs I thought I would take an in depth look at Forms.

This is an area that I see many uses for myself in my Action Research as well as helping my teachers to create simple forms to quizes that can be automatically graded. I have not used forms much yet, but I am planning on creating some surveys for my AR project. I like the simplicity of creating the surveys and the variety of templates that are available.

This was a sample survey I created to test out the types of questions and also to see how the templates looked as well.

Data is becoming more and more important in teaching and I see Google Forms playing a very important role in helping to simplify the data gathering process for the teachers and students that I work with.

PE1_Google Docs

I choose to go more in depth into Google Docs because I see great potential for it in my school system. We are using Google Apps for Education in my district and we are in the very early adoption stage.

I have been using Google docs for some time but only for basic word processing and spreadsheet use. I would like to become more familiar with all it has to offer, especially because I can see the value in having documents in the cloud. There are great advantages to having collaborative editing features in a simple to use format. Instead of having 5 copies of the same document with one person responsible for figuring out where all the edits need to go from 5 different version, those same 5 people can now edit one document at the same time. As long as they have an Internet connection and a Google account, they can now work on that same document regardless of location or time.

Google Docs has lots of potential for teachers and students, especially in our connected, collaborative world.

BP12_VoiceThread

My VoiceThread "infomercial":

BP11_Comments

Follow this link to my comments on Kris Newton's blog.

BP10_Comments

Follow this link to my comments on Michael Wood's blog.

BP9_Web 2.0 Tools

VoiceThread

From the VoiceThread site:

"A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too."

Simple to setup an account and even easier to create your first thread. What I like most about VoiceThread is the collaborative aspects of sharing your work with others and allowing them to leave comments.

Here is a sample VoiceThread that I created:

Resources for educators:
1. VoiceThread for Education wiki
2. Diigo group with tons of VoiceThread links

Sunday, October 10, 2010

W2_Reading

I picked 4 articles that concentrated on Web 2.0 in staff development.

BP8_Netvibes

This is a great resource for anyone to organize their web experience. My Netvibes video:

BP7_Comments

Follow this link to my comments on Annie Woodle’s creative blog.

BP6_Comments

Follow this link to my comments on Thanh Kirby’s awesome blog.

BP5_Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

Netvibes
I have mentioned Netvibes before in this blog but I thought it was absolutely worth going over in some more detail. The easiest way to describe Netvibes is to compare it to iGoogle. This web 2.0 tool allows you to gather blogs, sites, notes, calendars, and so much more. You can customize and organize all of your information into private and public pages.

Private page with tabs at the top that I have used to organize all of my internet resources. From here I can check email, organize my day, check the weather, read tons of blogs, check Twitter and Facebook, and much much more.

Public page that I choose to share with anyone. You can turn any of your private tabs into public pages with a click of the mouse. I have put a sticky note on this page to welcome and explain what each tab has to offer my visitors.

This is the reader view in Netvibes. For those of us that have used Google Reader or any of a number of RSS readers, it will look very familiar. All of the blogs you subscribe to are listed in date order. The tabs are now on the left side instead of across the top.

Netvibes could not be easier to setup and customize. There are extensions and tools for most browsers so you can add blogs, websites, and gadgets with a click. One of the main reasons I have stuck with Netvibes over the years is because of it's layout and interface is much more professional looking and feeling than most other portal sites I have used. It has also kept up with the many advances with web 2.0 tools. The large green button at the top of the site, "add content", allows you to browse through content and tools that you can add to any of your tabs. As a teacher and trainer, I really enjoy the ease of sharing information and gathering resources for my students and teachers into such an elegant interface. Simple, powerful, and collaborative is what Netvibes means to me.

Some helpful Netvibes resources:
1. Netvibes Academy videos - helpful tutorials
2. Setup your account - great overview video on setting up your page
3. Netvibes Courses - become a master of your pages

Monday, October 4, 2010

BP4_Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

In searching through the Web2.0 tools on Go2Web20 I could not find anything that I would want to share. The tools didn't not jump out at me. I did a quick search on Diigo and found this great article:

In reading through the list of tools I came across Freerice. It is a simple, powerful web 2.0 game that allows students to challenge themselves in vocabulary games. The greatest part of Freerice is that for every correct answer 10 grains of rice get donated to the World Food Programme. I had introduced Freerice a while back to some teachers and students and when I saw it in the Classroom 2.0 article I thought it was worth sharing with everyone on here. The students and teachers I shared it with absolutely loved it and really enjoyed the competition aspect of it and most importantly they really loved the fact that they were helping to fead hungry families around the world.

Using the site is very easy. Just go to Freerice.com and start the vocabulary game. No signup required. If you want to compete against others you can signup and the site will keep track of your points and rice donations. This was a great way for me to get kids to learn vocabulary words and also teach them about the World Food Programme and how they were helping to make a difference in the lives of children around the world.

I played for a while and was able to get 80 questions in a row and donate 800 grains of rice. If you try it out leave a comment and tell me how many grains you donated.