Educational Technology and Literacy Adventures

During class on Monday 2/19, we got to learn and use a new tool called VoiceThread .  VoiceThread is a tool that allows you to record your voice over a variety of media (photos, video, etc). It also has a video option that allows you record video from your webcam and place it in the presentation. Pictures can also be included in this manner. The whole process of combining media from multiple sources is pretty seamless and all tools you need to make a presentation are in one browser window. The only negative, in my opinion, is that in order to view a VoiceThread you must make an account. So if you were to have students viewing a VoiceThread you made, they would have to make an account beforehand. This weekend I made a VoiceThread that teaches modes of natural selection that I will assign as homework in my AP Biology class this week. I did this by uploading a PowerPoint (VoiceThread takes the slides and makes each their own picture) and commenting on each slide to further explain e...

This week our reading for class focused on using digital images in literacy instruction. In their book Bridging Technology and Literacy: Developing Digital Reading and Writing Practices in Grades K -6, Hutchison and Colwell argue that using digital images in literacy instruction can help support literacy goals and images can be used by students to convey understanding and main ideas of a reading Two digital tools that can support this are Thinglink and Doodle Buddy . ThingLink is an online platform that can be used for making interactive images. ThingLink is a well-known platform for making interactive images, videos for educational channels, web, social, and advertising. Using ThingLink, students can turn their own images or images they find online into an interactive graphic. by creating“hot spots” on specific parts of an image that turn that part of the image into a multimedia launcher that can open video, audio or website links with just the click of a mouse Doodle Buddy is an i...

In our EDU584 class on January 29th, 2018, we watched videos that showed classroom teachers using technology in their literacy instruction. I decided to watch a video showing how an elementary school teacher used Google Docs in her classroom because I also sometimes use Google Docs in my classroom. In the video, students were learning how to use Google Docs while also learning how to make an existing story more exciting using literary devices (descriptive adjectives, metaphors/similes, powerful verbs). The teachers shared the story with their students via Google Docs. The students then made changes in order to make the story more exciting and shared the document with their peers so they could view the changes they made. The teacher then displayed some of the students' stories and explained how Google Docs could be used to give them comments on their work in real time. In this video, students were learning both a literacy skill (making a story exciting) and how to use a digital tool...