The Connected Classroom Project Continues

Week four of the Connected Classroom has passed. We connected with our first video conference in the second week and took delivery of the net books shortly after that. The Kidz were over the moon with excitement at having their own net book. These aren’t dinky little play things. They come with almost a GB of RAM and a 1.6 MHz processor. You can even do video editing with them! The Smart Board is being integrated into daily lesson plans. With Bridgit software the Smart Board will reach across the internet into other Connected Classrooms. The virtual conferencing software program Elluminate is being used for peer to peer student conversations. Its video ability is a great attraction for the students.  With a bit more practice we will integrate Elluminate in a wide range of  educational interactions. We have done some multimedia work too. The Cayoosh Kidz vlog has been updated and new pictures are on Flickr. The students wrote about their summer on the netbooks, saved to their flash drives and then printed the stories in the computer lab. They have created posters, business cards and Wordle art and a host of other digital content. We finished a video on the forest fire above Lillooet this summer and have started planning our first news cast. This is an exciting project!

Getting Student Writing On The Web – Media Type 1

 

Getting student work on the web doesn’t need to be difficult. Using a blog gives you complete control over student content, costs nothing and can be expanded to become a media rich environment.

 

The Written Word

 

The Cayoosh Kidz website www.cayooshkidz.net uses new media as its vehicle, but its core is the written word. Students constantly write scripts, news reports, emails, radio plays, blogs, etc. The awareness of a real audience to share their stories with can unlock the creative process, especially when the audience will be in the hundreds, if not thousands.

 

Blogging

 

Blogging is easy and you have creative control over the site. Set up an account with Blogger, WordPress, or Flickr (depending on what combination of content you want) and you can share student work in minutes. The process is no more challenging than setting up an email account.

 

Blogging, Vlogging and Glogging (not flu symptoms)

 

What is the difference between Vlogging, Blogging and Glogging? Well increasingly very little as the four different media forms (text, image, audio, and video) are merged together on the internet. With a blog host such as Blogger  https://www.blogger.com you can write a story, record sound, attach a video, and link  images from your Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/grade5/ account. Conversely you can accomplish much the same result by starting with Flickr and linking out from it.

 

My best advice about blogging is to try it. And if your first blog doesn’t work out your second one will be better. Our class blog http://pikanews-5.blogspot.com/ may give you some ideas about what you might like to do.

 

Ken