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Overview

Let's explore the following possibilities for integrating technology into the classroom:

• Social Technology
• Participatory Technology
• Collaborative Technology
• Interactive Technology
• Mashups
• Motivating Multimedia In-class Activities

Narrative associated with these activities, go to the High Tech Learning: Social Technologies page.

Social Technology

Download Roleplay. Design your own activity.

Blogging

Go to ecollaborate and post a comment on one of the postings.

Explore some of the following blogs.

• L553 Blog - SLMS Bridging Theory and Practice - example of a college level course activity
• 50 Popular Science Blogs from Nature
• Live Science Blogs
• UThink - Blogs at University of Minnesota
• Blog from a Treo Phone
  • Splashblog - sample eduscapes splashblog
• Blogs by K12 teachers and students
  • Room 208
  • Honors Biology
  • Mrs. C's Senior English
  • PreCalc
  • Sandaig Primary Schools

To create your own blog follow the directions at blogger. University faculty might consider edublogs and students can make blogs at uniblogs.

Learn more about blogging at High Tech Learning: Blogs.

Podcasts

Explore one of the following podcasts. Note that some are blog-based and others are websites. For more ideas, go to Podcasts for Educators and check their subject area links.

• Environmental History
• Geography for Travels
• Havens Center at University of Wisconsin Madison
• In Our Times
• Microbiology
• Poem Present: Readings and Lectures from the University of Chicago
• World Languages - Spanish 201 from Iowa State University
• UCTV University of California
• Podcasts for K12 education
  • Bobby Bucket Show! Bucket of Books!
  • Willow Web
• Projects by College Students
  • Music Education for Children

To create audio files for podcasts, download Audacity (free, cross platform, sound editor).

Learn more about blogging at High Tech Learning: Audio Blogs.

Web Aggregator

Visit the web aggregator, Bloglines (eduscapes) to see how blogs, podcasts, and other web feeds can be organized. Then, go to Bloglines to make your own. You can also use this to make a blog.

Social Networks

Social networks are virtual spaces where people of all ages can make contacts, share information and ideas, and build a sense of community.

Explore Library Thing. Check out Annette Lamb's LibraryThing Profile and Catalog. Explore the groups.

• Library Thing
  • Annette Lamb's LibraryThing Profile and Catalog
  • Groups - SLIS group
• Others
  • All Consuming - similar to LibraryThing
  • EducationBridges
  • Second Life (must download software to use)
• Other websites using Web 2.0 features
  • Pandora
    

Participatory Technology

Explore some of the following examples of participatory websites:
Pearl Harbor Survivor's Project
StoryCorps

Collaborative Technology

Open Wikipedia.
For fun, look up your hometown. Is it accurate?
For information, look up a current topic in the news.
For teaching, look up controversial or obscure topic.

Explore wikis:

• Wikipedia
• Wikimedia
• Wikibooks
• Wikijunior
• Wiktionary
• WikiIndex for more examples and Wikia for topic communities
• Portal/Directory
  • Portal: Food
  • Portal: Rhetoric
  • Portal: Scouting
  • Portal: Trains

Try:

• Bloomingpedia - Bloomington, Indiana
• BizWiki through OSU Library
• Bright Green Living (About)
• Digiwik: The Digitization Wiki
• Frankenstein - notice the links on the lower left to links, letters, and chapters
• Garden Guide Wiki
• IPL's Teen Poetry Wiki
• More Perfect (About)
• Redwall Wiki
• Rhetoric and Composition - open-source textbook
• Second Life Wiki - user guide
• SciFi/Fantasy Wiki
• Social Justice Movements (About)
• StarBase 118
• Studying Societies at JHK - year-long project
• What Does It Mean To Be Australian?
• WikiTravel - a free, up-to-date, reliable world-wide travel guide
• Wiki Classical Dictionary
• A Wiki of Unfortunate Events: Lemony Snicket (About)

Library and Education Wikis

• Blogging Libraries Wiki (About)
• Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki
• School Computing Home Page
• Teacher Librarian Wiki

Do a Google search for your discipline or a topic and the word "wiki" such as "nursing wiki". Check the Nursing wiki.

Visit Kentucky Judical Elections for an example created by a Political Science course.

What could you wiki?

Explore student-produced wikis:
Digital Photography
Historical Movie Theaters in Indiana
Historical Preservation
Hoosier Round Barns
Hoosiers-in-Harmony
Spotlight on Local, Midwestern Artists

To create a wiki, go to Wikispaces (free for educators with edublog; 2GB+).

Learn more at High Tech Learning: Collaborative Web and Wikis.

Other Collaborative Tools

• Google Docs and Spreadsheets

Interactive Technology

Explore examples of interactivity including Approximating Pi, Destination: Modern Art, Making Vaccines, MyPyramid, Pauly Playhouse, Room Planner, and Nobel Prize. What different types of interactivity can you identify?

Explore how tools are incorporated into Flash projects.
Artist's Toolkit
Build Your Own Snowboard
Create a Sculpture
Design a Parachute
The Drake Equation
Forces Lab
Let's Make a Microbe
Loads Lab
Infinite Secrets: Pi
Materials Lab
Nobel Prize
NOVA Interactives
Read Write Think Student Materials
Thumb Piano Tunes

Invention at Play: Cloud Dreamer, Puzzle Blocks, Tinker Ball, Word Play

Go to Flash: Exploration. Browse through the online simulation and games.

Mashups

Combine resources together to create a "big picture" of your topic. Here are some examples:

• Buzz Tracker
• OpenCat

Incorporate resources from some of the following sites:

• First Gov - data, photographs
• Google Earth
• Library of Congress
• National Archives
• Wikipedia

Oatman Massacre

• Berkeley Exhibits
• National Park Service - old data
• Wikipedia - Olive Oatman
  
  

Motivating Multimedia In-Class Activities

PhotoStory

Open PhotoStory. Create a simple project with pictures, text, audio, and music.

Download PhotoStory 3 for Windows to download a non-cost version if you already own Windows. Download PDF directions.

Audio & Visual Resources

Explore online sources for audio and visuals.

Visuals

• DK Clipart
• Pics4Learning - photographs
• Discovery School - clipart
• CalPhotos
• FirstGov Graphics - links to government sources
• Microsoft Clipart
• National Archives Exhibits
• New York Public Library Digital Gallery
• Free Cartoon clipart - very cute, but limited
• Awesome Clipart for Educators - lots of ads
• Classroom Clipart - lots of ads
• Wise Gorilla
• Teacher Tap: Visual Resources
• Public Domain and Copyright-Free Sites
• Clipart.com - subscription-based
• Google Images

Sounds

• FindSounds - search
• Animal Sounds library from SeaWorld
• eNature - search by animal or zipcode
• Global Sound - songs from around the world
  

The Challenges

Problem: Technology problems
Solution: Start small and build

• Two audio recording - Barbara Jordan & Barack Obama - Compare speeches

Problem: Large-scale production
Solution: Find a partner inside or outside the university

• Build a wikitextbook

Problem: Copyright
Solution: Use in your classroom and post on intranet (TEACH act)

• Put citations in Speakernotes for later reference
• Email for permissions
• Take your own photographs
• Use music generators like PhotoStory for Windows

Conclusion

Traditional Classroom (1 dimensional) - lecture with paper or exam

Transformed Classroom (multidimensional) - varied presentation styles with authentic assignments (blogs, wikis, SL, creation)