It never ends! Cameroid Now

Again a new tool! It never ends -- each day I find something new and exciting! Now it is Cameroid! If you have a webcam you can create pictures and avatars right in your browser. It is so easy to use! See mine and get inspired like I did when I visited my twitter network and read the post of Chris Smith (Shumblerguru in twitter).

Why They Tube?

I was browsing on the Ning site and found this video "Why We Tube?"

Interesting and thought-provoking. Share what you think about this.

I am a member of Classroom 2.0 network

Visit the site and join in too!

View my page on Classroom 2.0

Do not Forget Gifted

Ning is a wonderful social networking space. One can find professional groups in any field of pedagogical knowledge. I belong to Web 2.0 group, Classroom 2.0 and today I learned about Gifted Education 2.0. These students sometimes are ignored or forgotten in the traditional classroom. Visit and join the network of talented teachers.

Plurking is Distractive and Inspiring

I was checking the plurks in the afternoon for a change betweeen reading and grading and found an interesting post about a new Web 2.0 service 280 Slides that is web-based (no downloads needed) and allows you creating PPT on the Internet and for the Internet! I can spend a lot of time exploring the plurks and the thing that educators share in their postings... When I find something like this I am inspired to try it right away. My Literacy and Technology students can use this service for their final projects! Check it out and leave a comment!

Professional Network is Growing with Web 2.0

I am excited to share the news. I was approached by WiZiQ company to conduct a series of lectures on the topics of my expertise: methods of effective teaching and shifting paradigm, e-teaching. I am in the process of designing a list and scheduling the lectures for the global community. When I looked through already posted lectures, I learned that there would be a very promising lecture tonight, at 7:00PM, delivered by Mari Aaeron Walker "7 Places Teachers Can Turn Your Expertise Into CA$H Online." You need to sign in and launch a FREE public session. I highly recommend to do it. The interface of WiZiQ is gthe same as Elluminate, but FREE! No down;loads requires. It is web-based beta.

Storytelluing with Web 2.0 Tools

I tried different tools to create digital stories. One of the tools is VoiceThread:




Another is a Photostory3 program, or Animoto

Welcome to the (R)evolution. Just created

Unbelievable! A new site has been just created for Teachers and English learners based on the Second Life concept and environment. The designers of this site give away free classroom space in Second Life, named "launchrooms" where teachers can hold group meetings and lessons. It means with this site teachers can get closer to the world of digital natives, they will create their own avatars, arrange a space for their meetings, and will use the virtual equitpment. What is also neat is this space is connected to the Caroline LMS (Learning management system similar to Moodle with the same functions - it will allow to arrange meetings, post assignments, create activities outside the real classroom, etc.). Cant's wait to try it out. Read the article "Do you speak SLEnglish?" and explore it yourself!

Plurknovella Experiment

Plurkers are really interesting and knowledgeable people. One of the plurkers, metaweb, shared his website and the tool "Wordle." Think how you can use it in your classroom, teaching different content areas. I read about many ideas that plurkers shared... Here is my WORDLE:

Creative Wordle

I cannot stop thinking --- this tool can be used for Word game, concept formation, sentence building out of the vocabulary of the current topic that is taught... Here is my second wordly for Literacy and Technology class. The task is to choose the words and phrases for the quotes we discussed in class and build sentences about "Learning to create."

Lively Google Experience

When I was plurking today I found out that the participants of the edublogers conference meet in Google Lively Group rooms. What a fascinating experience! It uses Second life interface! Look! It is me in the room:

Plurknovella Experiment

Plurkers are really interesting and knowledgeable people. One of the plurkers, metaweb, shared his website and the tool "Wordle." Think how you can use it in your classroom, teaching different content areas. I read about many ideas that plurkers shared... Here is my WORDLE:

TeacherTube Adventure

I was getting ready for my Literacy and Technology class, selecting sites, videos, and on one of the blogs I was sent to listen to this song. I found it absolutely adorable, interactive and educating. Enjoy it yourself and visit the TeacherTube site to sign up!

A Great Blog Editor Tool

For those who use Firefox I would recommend to install the add-on extension ScribeFire. ScribeFire is an extension of Firefox ®; it enables users to easily drag and drop formatted text from the Web into their blog(s). After you have install it to your Firefox browser,it will appear on the bottom of your screen and when you are browsing through the readings, sites and assigned taks, you will be able to write your blog entries with a click of the button! Make your blogging fast and fun!

My Plurk Widget!

What an exciting tool, Plurk! More fun than twitter! I can even send messages in Russian! or German! Here is my widget - a brief image of what Plurk is all about.

Plurk.com

Class Badges with Flickr

I find this amusing to create badges for classes and blogs with the pictures of my students. It brings personality to my classes.Flickr provides this opportunity.

TinyPic or Flickr Or Photobucket

Amazing! A new day brings a new tool or a new service! I was plurking and found this new service Tinypic.It is similar to Flickr or photobucket, but of course has some new features. It allows uploading videos. I will explore it more and report later in more details.

A competitor to Twitter: PLURK

My son, Boris, has just sent me an invitation to a new Web 2.0 tool similar to Twitter, it is called Plurk.I immediately registered and started exploring the service. With 140 characters, with a unique feature -- time line -- you share/respond your feelings, favorite video, etc. You can follow some people or be followed by the fans of yours. Some users say that they get the responses to questions faster than on Twitter. I need more time to paly with it. I sent the invitations to my students. Let's see what will happen.

The Future of Education

I came across with this video-lecture of Michel Wesch, the author of several You Tube videos, like "Machine Using Us," About Weg 2.0, ""etc. This lecture is very powerful and controversial, it raises issues of the new skills, students, new learning and teaching environments, about the information in the media environment and challenges for us regarding the ways of creating the new classroom settings that involve the new media and tools that encourage active learning, active participation. I would like my students to view this video and reflect on it. I am proud to say that the tools the author mentioned in the video I know and use in my classroom when I teaching different courses in the educational program when training future teaches.

Digital Learning Experience Attributes

While preparing for my Summer II Literacy and Technology Class I found a very interesting and powerful article about Digital Students, their learning styles posted by an experienced award-winning blogger, Anastasia Goodstein.

In her article Learning Styles 2.0: Digital, Social and Always on, she emphasizes the following attributes of digital learning and learners:

• Interactive. Students expect to pick and use various types of media and create a personalized “mash-up” of content. Students also use social media as a way to express their identity and creativity through creation of user-generated content.
• Student-Centered; Authentic;
• Collaborative.Collaborative work and peer feedback supports motivation by giving
  students a sense of active involvement within the learning community.
• On-Demand. Course content should be made available "on-demand" so the learner can view course materials when, where, and how (PC, mobile or handheld device) they
  want to view the content.
  

These trends in online and lifelong learning are being fueled by changes in the characteristics of student learners and the ways in which they use new technologies to exchange information. One thing is clear: the convergence of social software technologies and a generation of web-savvy learners are rapidly changing the face of education.

In light of these socio-cultural changes, educators need to “keep abreast of change” and embrace digital learning styles through curriculum design which integrates the authentic ways that students use social media to collaborate and interact with peers as a means to achieve short and long term learning goals.