Digital Bulletin Boards

Digital bulletin boards appear to fit the changing needs of our 21^st Century students. Today most students want information to be available 24/7 and digital bulletin boards are another way that teachers can extend the school day beyond the traditional classroom. Because of WallWisher’s limitation of characters I would probably create walls for: homework, inspirational quotes, class reminders, brief discussions, or FAQs. (Teachers might even create digital bulletins for parents.) High school students are often capable of great ideas and discussion; here is simply another venue for communication (and collective intelligence). 

Safer Driving Bulletin Board

Texting while driving increases the risk of an accident 23.2 times over unimpaired driving.

Each year before the prom season begins I take a few days and focus on the dangers of texting while driving. This year’s digital bulletin board encourages students to “pledge” not to text and drive.

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/saferdriving

Web 2.0 - Learning 24/7

Web 2.0 tools allow for learning well beyond the school day.

There is much that teachers may do to enrich the educational lives of students. Currently, the majority of students have access to the Internet well beyond the school day. Access may include an increasing number of e-readers, smart phones, tablets, laptops, etc. Today’s students are no longer tethered to their classrooms or living rooms. Even without an omnipresent Internet connection, the capabilities offered by these devices offer students options for learning. Students may utilize “downtime” while waiting for school to begin, review, supplement, learn new material, or make up classwork from a day’s absence.

The first link below tells of an Arizona school district which places an Internet router on a school bus. The second link takes you to the Khan Academy website which contains a wealth of free learning resources and materials. 

Arizona School District adds Wi-Fi to school bus:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html

Khan Academy: A free world-class education for anyone anywhere:

http://www.khanacademy.org/about

Social Bookmarking - Diigo

Diigo is a social bookmarking website which allows users to “travel” with their favorite bookmarks as well as share them with others. I have set up Diigo so that students in my classes have easy access to websites referenced in class. I’m also saving links for a professional page which I’ll probably set to private after our exercise. This should offer convenience as students often study well beyond the school day.

Account link:

http://www.diigo.com/user/williamsdiigo

Instructional Media - VoiceThread

It all starts with a well-tuned guitar.

A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that allows people to navigate slides and to learn at their own pace.

In this project I explain how to tune an acoustic guitar. 

(Created using Audacity and GIMP.)

How to Tune an Acoustic Guitar 

Digital Media - Video

Here’s my first attempt at working with real “video”.

It shows the difficulty a city dog has adjusting to the country. (Created using MovieMaker, Audacity, and a Flip video camera.)

Podcasts

He never thought there would be so many listening options.

While today’s students may prefer multi-media presentations, I believe that podcasts have a place in education. Podcasts may be constructed quickly with readily available and often inexpensive technology. Podcasts provide learners with opportunities to review, rewind, and continue studying at their own pace and time. As learning tools, podcasts may be “recycled” for classroom use, or shared with others on a wider scale.

The following podcast is about technology; specifically, technological predictions gone wrong, the current state of technology, and a brief assignment for my young students.

Link:  Technology Predictions Gone Wrong

(Created using Audacity software)

Social Media

 

This video highlights the variety of social media available to learners (or not). Enjoy!

(Made with MovieMaker and Audacity.)