Connect…Communicate…Collaborate- We Did!!!
The NPAECT theme for meetings for 07/08 is Connect…Communicate…Collaborate. We gathered at IU5 on November 14th for our first meeting of the year, and we did connect and communicate- and, hopefully, we will collaborate in some of the things we discussed as the year progresses.
Following a light dinner and the short business meeting, we looked at some web-based applications that can be used to provide many opportunities to teachers and students to allow them to connect to other students, teachers, homes and beyond the local reach.
PENNCREST School District presented information about web-based applications being used in their schools. Google Apps for Education and VoiceThread were demonstrated and discussed.
Google Apps for Education provides free access to solutions for mail, calendar, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, web-page creation and chat- with more to come. PENNCREST is rolling out the Google Apps access to all students in grades 7-12 this year. Currently there are several classes using these resources.
Students gain many benefits from the use of the Google Apps. PENNCREST was able to create a district owned domain to access apps that are all hosted by Google. Collaboration is built in to all of the applications in the suite. Students can work together in real time on the same document, and share that document with their teachers. Teachers can view a log to see who has worked on the document and what changes have been made. Calendars can be shared as well. Since the applications are web-based, they are accessible and the same from any internet-connected machine. Students no longer have the compatibility issues of creating a document at home and not being able to open it at school. Also, students become familiar with applications that they can acquire for themselves after they graduate.
VoiceThread.com offers a free, simple vehicle to allow students and teachers to create digital stories. A VoiceThread is an online media album that allows people to make comments (moderated), either audio or text, and share them with anyone they wish (privately by invitation, or publicly). A VoiceThread allows an entire group’s story to be told and collected in one place.
In a simple 3 step process, a creator will upload photos, add verbal, typed or hand-drawn comments to each photo, save and share. Once that is done, people with whom the story is shared can visit the web address that is created and can then add comments to any of the photos- these comments can be moderated by the developer of the voicethread as a security. A teacher can have an account and can create an individual identity for each student in the class. By doing that, the teacher can manage the VoiceThread, but each student can add comments as themselves.
Attendees shared ideas for use of these applications and any concerns they had about the availability of the resources at their districts. Several connections were made between districts who were interested in implementing particular programs and districts who have already begun similar activities. All were encouraged to visit this website to access resources from the meeting and to share the information from the meeting with others.
The next meeting will be February 19th at the IU in Edinboro. But, please check back here frequently for updates and additional resources. Please join us as we connect…communicate…collaborate…and share resources and ideas for learning.
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