Technology in our classroom

One of our activities relating to the Olympics is to create a scrapbook of highlights. 

If you are 13 years or older, perhaps you would like to use this program called “Scrapblog”. 

Rules still apply though, about finding images that have the correct attribution.  Have a play with this program and upload your scrapblog to a post on your blog.

You might create a sport scrapblog or one about a famous athlete participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Original image:’Project365 Scrapbook’

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64673380@N00/1034662822 
by: Summer

Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

Well we are now in the month of August and beginning our study on China and the Olympic Games.  But this week we have had students presenting their work on sumo wrestling that they have researched throughout this term.  Most decided to present using a powerpoint even after being reminded that this meant:

• the powerpoint was just used in the background as a reminder
• you don’t have lots of words on a slide
• you will have to give a talk in front of your classmates relating to the powerpoint

Students took out extra words, found more diagrams, wrote their notes on cue cards and for their first efforts, did a great job.  Presentation afternoon and out came the video camera -  the battery was not fully charged.

“Can we use our phones?”  Go for it. So we had about four budding camerapersons videoing the events. 

I was so proud of students who got up to present in front of the class for the first time this year; a student with a teacher aide organizing an interview as part of the presentation and another student whose powerpoint was run completely from the Smartboard without any help from me. 

But this is now where I have no idea what to do next.

“Do you know how to download from your phones?”  Cords were brought to school and hopefully tomorrow the talks will be downloaded. 

But readers, what do you suggest we do next?  How can we get these videos or powerpoints on the students’ own blogs?  Firstly, we will need parent permission, then do we use slideshare for the actual powerpoint?  But what about the videos? 

I’m at a seminar at the moment and just learnt about a quick, easy way to give attribution to images. Visit this website which allows you to search for creative commons images.  It also gives you the attribution which you need to include with the image on your blog. You may include it with the photo or add it under the photo.

Original image: ‘Tassie devil’
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30805622@N00/351640307
by: Adam Tibballs

Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial License

Steps to follow:

1. Search for photo by putting in a tag eg sumo or Tasmania or fishing
2. Click on photo you want to use
3. Click on “edit image in-house”
4. Click on “Add attribution” if you want it included with the photo - see my picture on the right
5. Right click and “save picture as”
6. Follow normal instructions to add images to your blog

Be careful, though, when adding the attribution to the photo.  What has gone wrong with mine?

Many students are now taking photos in class and wanting to upload these to their blog.  They have taken part in the marine centre trip, or been to the yo-yo exhibition or have taken a photo of their Hatchet map.

Well here are the steps to follow:

1. Begin a new post and do all the writing first.
2. Decide where you want to put in the photo and whether you want it to be on the left or right of the post or maybe in the centre.
3. Find your photo by clicking on Add media> add an image.
4. Choose files to upload from computer - make sure your image is going to be the right way up as you can’t adjust the direction once the image is uploaded.
5. Copy the link URL.
6. Save all changes and close the upload window.
7. Click on green tree.
8. Paste in the URL you had copied, align your picture and put 5 in vertical and horizontal then insert.
9. Now you click on the photo and adjust the size using the corners.

You have now uploaded a photo from your school computer.

Photo source:  Miss W’s trip to Japan - cleaning sign when shinkansen is being cleaned

If you are 13 or older and have parental permission, then this website is a great place to create your own story books and have them published to the web.  I joined yesterday and have one book on my bookshelf so far. There are backgrounds and clip art to use when writing your story.  Or you can use your own photos but check the terms of use if doing this.

Once you have created your story, you can check the storyboard to see what might need improving, then preview the story before having it published.

Thanks to the blog of Wesley Fryer for his reference to this website.

Photo source: ”Putting your passion into print” by Raymond Yee under  Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Students were asked to mention why they enjoy blogging, how it helps them and to give some hints for teachers new to blogging about to start with their own students.  I did this after a post by Sue Waters in The Edublogger asking for teachers to share their experience in blogging and tips for using with students. 

 I didn’t moderate student comments until today, so no-one could read the previous comments and get some clues about what to write.  I felt it was very interesting to see the words like fun, savvy and people appearing fairly large in the wordle.

Please also read the students’ comments here at http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/2008/06/18/students-what-does-blogging-mean-to-you/

Photo source

Part of being internet savvy is knowing when to acknowledge where you found a photo or information for your blog post.  If you haven’t written it in your own words using your own imagination, then you probably got the idea from another person. 

To keep it legal, you need to say where you got the information from, whether it be another website on the net, a magazine or newspaper you read or a book you borrowed from the library. The thoughts and photos are not yours; they belong to someone else and it is your responsibility to mention them in your blog post.

Sue Waters who writes The Edublogger which you can see in your dashboard, has written a great post about acknowledging photos under Creative Commons.

You need to complete the following for EVERY photo you use (unless it is your own photo)

STEP 1  Find photo with Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.  Right click on photo, go down to properties then copy the Address (URL)

STEP 2  Open your ‘Write Post” page and click insert image into post (green tree )

• paste in image URL
• add description
• add alignment
• put 5 in vertical and horizontal boxes
• now click Insert

STEP 3   Click on image and resize - width about 200 pixels if right aligned.

STEP 4  Now go back to page where original photo is and copy the page URL (at top of page not on photo)

• back to your post  and click on image then click on insert link button (chain)
• paste in the URL
• set target as new window
• now click Insert

Final step  Adding text attribution under photo or bottom of post

Photo by majamom (highlight name then insert link to page URL) licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

If you are unsure how to keep photos legal, then read Sue’s post on the Edublogger as she includes screenshots as well.

Another idea from the blog “Quick Tips”

My first attempt at making a cartoon with Toondoo.

I have just visited the Edublogger written by Sue Waters and she has written a great post about sharing your blogging experience.  She is asking teachers to give hints to new teachers who are just starting blogging.

So can you please share with us:

• Why you blog? How does it benefit you or your work?
• How you use blogging with your students and how it has helped them (if applicable)
• Examples of class and/or student blogs for them to check out
• What are your 3 most important tips for educators, new to blogging, who would like to blog with their students?

Now in our school, we have five new blogger teachers; some blogging for themselves and some beginning class blogs.  What hints would you give them about blogging with students? Think about the questions above and anything else you feel teachers should know when blogging with students.  Either answer here in the comments or write your own post about it and link to both this post and the one Sue Waters wrote.