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!
I, too, had only heard of Wordle before exploring the other Web Tools. I thought Wordle could be used in class as a writing assignment that could have the students pick a couple and write about it... even in math (which is what I teach!).
ReplyDeleteI like that you use the picture of the document as the center of your voice thread. I thought it was a nice way to help students visually see what you are talking about. It was also beneficial to use the pointer to focus in on whatever you are talking about. Probably my favorite thing about voice thread is that it allows students to comment back on the project which increases the interaction between not only the teacher, but the students as well.
I thought your Animoto was both fun/uplifting... and happy early birthday! I also liked your ideas for how you were going to incorporate it into teaching. It is an awesome way to preview a lesson and provide a hook to get the students engaged and ready to learn. A review would also be great because like you said, it makes it more fun then filling in review sheets. It would also be neat to have students create their own because of how easy it is to navigate.