Over the past few months, I have blogged about several useful technological tools that anyone in the education field can find good use for. Some of these resources caught my attention a lot more than others. I was especially excited about the opportunity to create comics using ToonDoo. This tool offers teachers and students endless opportunities to create various types of comics; vocabulary reviews, creating interesting characters, interesting story lines, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and so much more. I absolutely love the freedom the students have to make this comic their own with various characters, backgrounds, and accessories (add-ons) to choose from.
I also enjoyed learning how to create a screencast. Screencast-O-Matic was relatively easy to use as long as Java was updated. I love that this tool allows teachers to show students how to do certain things on a step-by-step basis. Teachers can then upload this screencast or video to YouTube, to a blog, or to a personal or educational website. This enables students to access important information (and instructions) for their home if they need the extra help or reminder. I feel like students can also use this resource if their teachers teach them how to use this beforehand. (Or, they can create a screencast on how to create a screencast? Ha! Isn't that something?!) Students can create screencasts to show progress of projects or to teach students how to do something. Sometimes students understand each other a bit more and this tool allows for that information to be shared easily.
Infographics are a great way to emphasize the importance of certain topics. However, I can't decide how I feel about infographics 100% of the time. Don't get me wrong; I love how beautiful, creative, and colorful completed infographics can be. The trouble with creating an infographic is that students (and teachers) may have trouble distinguishing exactly what information they should display on their infographic and what information should be omitted. No two minds are exactly alike. Therefore, what one person deems important may seem irrelevant to someone else.
The tool that I am least fond of is creating a Vine. I have never been a big fan of vines personally, so I am probably being biased. I think too little time is allotted, so information isn't always illustrated in a practical manner. Time flies by and so does the clip. I am sure, however, that students would love to create vines in order to show comprehension, to dramatize scenes from a play or novel, etc.
All good points! And now you have some apps and sites to help your colleagues and for you to become a great resource for your colleagues and students!
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