Tonight's LTT class had us attending a few mini workshops related to technology and learning. As always, there never seems to be enough time to do these things! The first one I attended was presented by Collin Midwood about using the smartboard. Yes its true that I've been dabbling with the smartboard this year but after this presentation I realized just how true that really was. There were so many features that I was not aware of. Granted some of them may not have been in the 9.5 version that I currently have, but I'm guessing that there was still a lot that I was missing. I will definitely have to check out the screen capture feature ... this looks a lot like what I'm doing with JING. I wonder if there is an advantage to creating my own wmv files and hosting them, or sticking with JING and having them hosted on screencast's site. Guess I'll need to do a test run in both and compare the output. The interactive templates that he demonstrated were so cool! I've been looking for something like this - I've tried creating them - but the ones he showed looked so much nicer and the feedback students get is just what I need. My head was spinning around how I could try some of these out right away ! Having the students get the chance to manipulate and play either in class or at home is very appealing. One of my beliefs about learning is that one must be an active participant and this would be a fun way for students to get active. Now my only challenge is that I have to wait until tomorrow to get the ID code off the side of the board so I can download the new software! Probably just as well, because if I was able to do it tonight I'd probably have a very short sleep and teaching tomorrow would be a challenge. The other piece of info that Collin shared that was news to me was that the passcode that I will end up getting can be shared with anyone in the district ...even my students. Wouldn't it be cool to create a project where a group could make use of the technology! Even without getting my hands on the software tonight I think my mind is going to be racing anyways :)
The second session was with David Brear on Second Life. Since I have zero experience with this it was rather eye opening just how much can go on in this virtual world. It sounds like one could spend lots of time in there .... once you have mastered walking :) Who has time? Not many teachers I know! Could I make use of this for educational purposes? My first reaction to it is that its just an online game .... though David did discuss educational places you could go. Sounds like something fun to check out but I think I'll hold off until the summer when I have a little bit less on my plate. Gives me some time to think of a really cool name too!
This was another great evening of LTT - I love being able to walk away with something that I see myself trying to make use of in my classroom right away.
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Glad you found the sessions so useful. It is fun to be able to make that connection to your classroom so quickly, isn't it.
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