Video Conferencing Web Based Tools

This week upon exploring a few different video conferencing sites, I realized that there can be so many differences in features to ultimately the same web based tool. Here are a few of the different features offered from several video conferencing tools:

Name	Features
Skype	Skype to Skype calls, group calls, caller id, forward calls, one to one video and group video, Instant message, text message, voice message, screen and contact sharing
Adobe Connect Now	Easily accessible (already downloaded on most computers), up to 1500 attendees, URL specific, screen sharing, whiteboard, and file sharing
Tiny Chat	Online video chat community, informal, video and instant messaging
Meeting Burner	1000 attendees, instant screen sharing, PC and MAC compatible, and choice to instantly change presenters
Go To Meeting	Face to face conferencing with remote customers and prospects, live demos and collaboration on documents in real time, web conferencing, PC, MAC, Smartphone, and tablet compatible
Yugma	Up to 500 attendees, desktop sharing (view only), annotation and white boarding tools, meeting recording and playback
Webex	Can be used from most devices and platforms, screen sharing, small meetings or global meetings

After playing around on these sites, I found that personally I enjoy Skype the best. I am the most familiar with Skype so I may be partial, but I also really love the fact that this tool is free. Many of the other video conferencing tools I explored offered a free trial, but after that trial was over they were asking for between 30-100 dollars per month to keep your account open. Some didn't allow a certain number of meetings to be scheduled if you didn't have a particular plan. Another huge issue I saw was that the more attendees you needed the more you had to pay. I can see why this would happen especially if big time businesses were using these tools but I don't think you should have to pay more for having more people involved. Money aside, there are ultimately the same necessary tools provided by Skype that most of the other sites offered. The only tool that it is missing is the choice to share files and edit in real time, using the screen as a whiteboard and being able to instantly save the edits. However, I guess it truly depends on what you were going to use video conferencing for as to which site I would choose. For everyday talking and lecturing, Skype seems to be the easiest to use and the one that most people are familiar with. If you are looking for a more professional tool to use with clients or partners, or to hold international meetings and edit work, then I would say Go to Meeting would be a better choice for you. 

Web 2.0 Article

The Web 2.0 article brought up a lot of important points to consider when comparing Web 2.0 to the earlier stages of the Worldwide Web. I agree with the author that the label of Web 2.0 is a lot less important than the concept of it. The concept of Web 2.0 is fascinating to me. The fact that the idea that people had in the 1960's of linking people together actually happened and is present in our everyday lives now blows my mind.

I really enjoyed reading about the different concepts of Web 2.0. Because I use it so frequently, I never really took a moment to step back and look at all of it's components individually. I liked how the author laid out the differences in styles of websites with Web 2.0. For example, the idea that webpages are looked at like books. And that blogs aren't particularly webpages, but rather posts to the same webpage. Wikis are described as a stream for conversation, which is ultimately the greatest function to date of Web 2.0 in my opinion. It is hard to think of anything that goes better together than communication and learning. The two being tied together is key to successful learning experiences. The openness of Web 2.0 allows for a webpage to go from being "book-like" to a two way access webpage. 

Having the ability to have two way access is essential, especially when it comes to higher education. I can hardly imagine furthering my schooling with Web 2.0, and I can say that I feel spoiled in that regard. School sites are perfect for interactive learning through Web 2.0 because it allows for groups of students to share ideas, as well as professors or even entire classes. Not only is it engaging and interactive for groups of students, but it is widely used as an ease of access to administrative websites. If I logged onto my school's homepage now almost every link that followed would have the option to "contact us" or even chat live in some cases allowing the student to have full access to multiple people on campus at any given time. All this would be impossible without Web 2.0, so yes, I do believe that Web 2.0 is considered a new wave of innovation for teaching and learning. How could it not be?

Web Based Tools

This week I had the pleasure of exploring Web based Tools. The only one that I was familiar with was Wordle, so that was exciting! Voicethread was a tool that I could completely see myself using. I love the freeness of the app and how easy it was to use! It would be perfect for online classes because it allows you to have the ability to rewatch the lesson over again if you wanted to. Being able to use the cursor and draw is important as well because it allows for a certain kind of guidance during instruction. Here is my short videothread describing a brochure I had recently created.
https://voicethread.com/new/share/6208153/

Animoto was so fun as well! I love how it made me feel like I was making a movie. Talk about making learning fun and engaging! I would use Animoto in my classroom to introduce new topics and to get my students excited to learn and explore what was coming next. It would also be a great tool to use to summarize units and use as a fun study guide. You could add relevant music and show clips and pictures of what were key aspects of the unit, This would help visual learners to categorize and sort which information was important. Here is my Animoto I created to help be begin celebrating my birthday which is coming up!
https://animoto.com/play/t0LEg7g4KRMX0tTH3n54Bg

Lastly is Wordle. Another great visual learning tool to show key words! Again I used my birthday as the theme. Enjoy!

Microsoft Access

Before completing the tutorial, Microsoft Access was completely foreign to me. It seems to be a great tool to help stay organized and manage information. I can see why so many small businesses would use it to keep track of clients, money, etc. Being an educator, I was playing around in Access and trying to figure out how I would be able to use it for my students or in my classroom.

Access has the option to sort through information through any query that you select. Therefore, Access seems that it would be a great tool to use for grading or keeping track of assessments. Rather than going through your entire list of students and highlighting who you still need to assess or write a goal for, you can query the information and it will make a nice neat list for you. You could also use it to keep track of students assignments, who has turned it in and who's you are still waiting on. As I continue to learn what Access has to offer I will explore how to filter it into the classroom and post more about my findings.

Tech Tools

The tool that I found to be most interesting was the choice to "Connect with other classrooms". I have never used ePals or even heard of it before, but looking into it I find it to be an extremely useful tool for education. You are giving your students the option to not only connect with other students within your school, but also within your community, state, country, or worldwide. This is incredible! I remember being in school and asking my peers what they were learning in their classrooms with their teachers, We would bounce ideas off of each other, compare and contrast how our teachers were presenting the information to us, etc. By allowing your class the option to connect with other classrooms you are allowing the learners to share all different kinds of learning experiences, giving them a plethora of choices to decide how they learn best.

Now lets think bigger. Bigger than just class to class, but rather school to school. ePals can be a great tool for pen-palling. You can connect your learners to other learners within the community, or across the country. ePals allows learners to even connect with students on the other side of the world. How cool would it be to have been able to chat with someone your age, learning what you are learning, thousands of miles away? Being able to differentiate how education varies across countries and cultures is an incredible learning experience that can be given to students with ePals. Exploring this Tech Tool has shown me how incredible and connected we can be as learners as well as educators.

Web Based Tools

I just want to start off by saying I had no idea how many web based tools there were...AMAZING!

The first web based tool that I explored was Voki. Voki is an exciting way to have each of your students create an avatar to speak for them. An avatar is not only fun for the students but it is a nice way to keep them from being distracted by what they are doing or look like and focus on the content of what they are saying, not to mention the privacy. Voki is a fun and creative way for students to express what they are learning. It helps the students want to participate and allows them to have evidence of their comprehension of the task at hand. The only downfall is that the avatar can only talk for 60 seconds. However, this is a good way to help teach students time management as well as summarizing rather than rambling their sentences.

Kidblog was another really exciting web based tool that I found. Recently becoming a blogger myself, I was intrigued to discover how a child would be able to benefit from writing and reflecting as I have been. Kidblog is for students from Kindergarten all the way up to high school seniors. It is nice to have a writing trail for your class to go back and see how much they have grown throughout the school year. It is also a great use of evidence for the teacher and parents! A pro would be that this tool can be accessed from anywhere at anytime. This is helpful for students to foster relationships with each other and rely on one another regarding questions or findings withing their learning experience. It is also a nice way for a class to read what other students there age are thinking and writing. The only concern I have would be to make sure that the kids are not using shorthand like they would in a text message but rather using a correct use of grammar and language.

Classdojo was the third web based tool I explored. Being able to have a behavior chart at the palm of your hand is very convenient. In my personal experience, I know how hard it is to create a behavior chart and then have to find the time to fill it in once the student with said behavior is having an "episode". The ease of the tool was what originally drew me to looking into it. It is also a great way to show parents what is happening and when in the classroom regarding their child. I liked that it could also be used for positives, such as helping to keep a child on the right track or show them how well they are doing. Classdojo is a nice tool to use to see if there is a trigger for a behavior or a specific time of day that it occurs by keeping track of the time for you.

Typing adventure brought me back to my childhood. When we first got a computer installed in my living room (yes, I remember a time without computers in my home...how bizarre!) the first game I remember playing was a typing game. Typing adventure is a wonderful tool to help students with multiple areas such as: fine motor skills, letter recognition, and of course typing. You start with your fingers on the 8 key letters on the keyboard and guide your avatar towards a treasure, how exciting! It is a fun and engaging tool to use with younger students who haven't had much access to keyboards, which lets face it with tablets and phones becoming so popular keyboard typing is a skill that may not be a child's strong suit immediately.

Last but certainly not least I discovered Trendsmap. Trendsmap is an incredible tool that keeps real time of what people all over the world are tweeting and hashtaging. This is a very useful tool in the classroom when talking about other cultures as well what is happening in the world around us and how it is affecting the people in the area. It is a way to feel connected to people on the other side of the globe and become interested and involved in world affairs.

Web based tools are definitely something that should be incorporated into every classroom for the benefit of both the students and the teachers. Their possibilities seem endless and they are definitely a way to help students become interested and engaged in hands on learning.

Microsoft Excel

Honestly, Excel has always been the Microsoft application that I have tended to avoid. When I think about Excel all I remember is inputting formulas from a math class in high school. However upon being guided through the tutorial, Excel isn't quite as "scary" as I remember it to be.

Excel can be used in many ways that Word can, however it has the option to (as I mentioned earlier) insert formulas. This is so beneficial to education in particular because it can help teachers save time when it comes to grading. Many educators use Excel spreadsheets as a grade book, and now I understand why. Why would you complete each individual math problem by hand and risk making a mistake when Excel will do it for you with the click of the mouse?

When reading the assignment to make a crossword puzzle, I wondered why I had never thought to use Excel to do so before. It seemed like an obvious use of the application, yet I had never done it. That is when I became interested in how many other uses of Excel I had been ignoring, mainly because I thought I didn't understand it or that it was "too complicated". 

After looking into Excel and finally opening it again after (I confess) years, I realized how user friendly it really is and that using it was as natural for me as Microsoft Word. The difference being that you are given the option to use Excel for more different tasks or calculations. I am excited about my new found interest for Excel and hope to continue to play around with it and see what else I have been missing out on for quite some time now.