Quizilla

A student of mine contacted me the other day and asked if he could use Quizilla to complete a compare and contrast assignment by making a quiz. It seems like a really interesting method for a student to demonstrate a higher level of thinking so I said "go for it" before I even looked at the site. When I pulled up the site the next day, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it offered 5 ways to create:

• quizzes
• stories
• polls
• poems
• lyrics

Any of those creative options could be used to demonstrate learning so feel free to make and publish your own story as a replacement for any lesson.

You can create a poll and publish it, if its interesting people will take your poll and you could share the results as part of your assignment.

Writing poetry or lyrics for a song takes a special talent, but if you have that talent feel free to use it to demonstrate your understanding of the topic.

Student Sample

Advanced Search Using Google

Here is a five minute video walking you through 3 tips on how to complete research in your courses using Google. I recommend you open up this link and follow along as you watch the video below.

Video Essays using Youtube

There is a really easy way to make video essays using Youtube. When I say video essay, what I'm referring to is most commonly known as a Video Log (vlog). You have seen these on Youtube before, they usually consist of one person sitting in front of a webcam talking. Well, have you ever considered doing that for an assignment? For those of you who have my course, you have already seen one of these this year.

Lets say you have an assignment for a course that requires you to write a paragraph, or 3 paragraphs, or the dreaded 5 paragraph essay. Well, if you get one of those for my course, feel free to replace it with a video essay.

Here is how:

1. Go to Youtube
2. Create an account if you do not have one.
3. Click Upload
4. Fill out the necessary information
5. Click Quick Capture
6. Make sure your audio and video on your webcam is working properly
7. Record


A couple hints:

1. Write out a script - I'm not saying write a long script, but make an outline or jot down key words to help you focus. We would hate to hear you ramble on for 5 minutes with no clear direction.

2. Make sure you address all the requirements of the assignment - If the assignment says it should be 3 parapgraphs, I would like roughly 15 sentences in your Video Essay.

3. Make sure your video and audio is clear before submitting

See below for a video essay about this blog entry

What do you Feel Like Working With?

There is a cool new directory out that allows you to look up Web 2.0 tools by category. Lets say you want to do a Presentation. Just got to Go2Web2.0.net and at the top of the page select the 'select tag' dropdown menu and choose a tag (keyword).






If you feel like doing a presentation but don't want to do a Powerpoint then select 'presentation' from the menu and see what your choices are. You can pick any of them you like and create your presentation. Or, choose something else. You can create documents, wikis, blogs, etc..... Explore, be creative.

Google Sites

Google Sites acts like a cross between a wiki and a website. Its as easy to use as a wiki but has a more professional look, like a webpage. Check out this student created Sites page to see for yourself.

In Sites you can upload videos and pictures, create new pages for each additional topic, customize the look of the page, and store a lot of information. Its pretty much like having your own website, but comes free with your Google account and is easy to create.

You can use Google Sites in lots of ways for my class:

• Store your assignments on the Site, giving each of them their own page and then submitting the URL to me for a grade each time you add to the site
• Create a single assignment on Sites and turn that in for a grade
• Use it to store research that you are collecting for different topics in class
• Do work for multiple courses each with their own page
  
• Use it as a starting page for your school life where you keep everything organized

To find Sites, go to your Google Account and look at the top bar:

Slideoo, Another Cool Flickr Slideshow Tool

If you have a set of photos that you want to post on your blog or website, but you want a horizontal slideshow player separate from the standard Flickr Slideshow, check out Slideoo.

Fun Quiz Tool

Take the quiz for fun and see how you do. Use this blog and common sense and you will ACE it.

Do You Like Comics and Cartoons?

There is a fun Web 2.0 site called Toondoo which allows you to create comics or cartoons and share them with others. If you like to draw, use graphics, or simply like comics, why don't you try using this site for my course. Create a comicstrip and tie it to the ideas behind any of the assignments in my course and you can complete that instead of typing out your answers in a word doc. What do you think, sound like a deal?

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Basic Ideas Behind Photo Sharing