Tiny Bubbles

Yesterday’s tool, Mindmeister, catered to the mind mapping capabilities of older students.  Today I bring your Bubbl.us.  Bubbl.us is geared toward our sub-high school students.  This easy to use tool allows students to brainstorm quickly, easily and in five easy steps.

• Step 1: Push the button – There is a START button on the home page to help you begin the brainstorming process.
• Step 2: Fill in the essentials – This is where you sign up for your account but this is optional.  Signing up for an account allows users to connect with other users. 
• Step 3: Start with a central thought. 
• Press ENTER to continue that thought OR
• Press TAB to begin a new set of thought bubbles.
• Step 4: Save your work.  Always remind students to save their work because technology is great but you never know when the PC will freak out.
• Step 5: Share with others.  This is essential for content collaboration.  Yay for cooperative learning!!!

Enjoy today’s screenflow that give you more detail to make your map pop:

Technorati Tags: bubbl.us,collaboration,mind map

How the heck did you do that?

I believe in learning by doing especially when it comes to performing computer tasks. One of the most beneficial tutorials online are those that offer recordings of users navigating websites, using features in MS Office, etc.  As both a Mac and PC user I found this issue frustrating when my Mac and the Screenflow program are not around.  I am not interesting in spending more money on Camtasia to have this feature on my PC so what is a girl to do?  A girl is to sign up for Jing right away.
I must let you know that Jing and Camtasia are from the same tech gurus.  The major difference is the ability to make polished videos with Camtasia while Jing is very basic.  The upside is that you will get your point across easily.  Here are a few ways to use Jing according to their website:

• Collaborate on a design project
  
• Share a snapshot of a document
  
• Narrate your vacation photos
  
• Capture that pesky bug in action

• Show Dad how to use iTunes
  
• Comment on students' homework
  
• Post tidbits on Twitter or Facebook

Additionally you can share your video instantly via e-mail, IM, Twitter, blogs, etc.With the addition of Lync on school campuses this is especially good news.  Here is a sample of a web snapshot to start the wheels turning in your noggin.

A picture truly paints a thousand words.  Why not lessen the confusion when adding technology to lesson and use Jing.  Your students will thank you.
READER RESPONSE:  How will you use Jing?

Teacher Training Videos

I am returning to high school.  Again.  This school year will find me at a new school with bigger kids and a larger staff.  I am excited to move from middle to high school but there is great sadness in leaving my Rams Family. 

One of the things I am proudest of is helping teacher integrate technology into their curriculum.  As I depart Rams Territory I have found several teachers trying to get in their last minute tech questions.  Despite my willingness to help there will be times when my former co-workers cannot reach me. Don't fret because there are an abundance of tools to answer your questions.  The great thing about the internet is that if you have an idea there is a 99.9% chance that someone else has thought of the same thing.  Aside from the thought they have probably made a video tutorial about the idea.  To think that you thought YouTube was only for cute kitten videos. Nope, folks, there is SO MUCH MORE! 

Are you unsure about Go Animate?  Check YouTube.  How about Glogster, Moodle, podcasting, online quizzes, etc.?  Folks, it's all there.  Now, if you wish to find something specifically geared toward teachers then I invite you to use TTV.  Here you will not find talking heads but screencasts.  I personally adore screencast videos because you can watch how to do everything step by step on your computer.  This is the best type of tutorial for the tech savvy and tech shy. 

 

As John Dewey said, “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” Technology has changed the teaching game.  Therefore, seasoned teachers, you must change with the times. Use TTV to find one new technology tool to integrate into your class weekly. Imagine what you will teacher yourself and others by May. Contact me or continue to read the blog for ideas.  Whatever you do pledge to be super.  Our students deserve that much.

BP7_Commercial

I created a commercial for www.freescreencast.com.  The technology department in our county blocks YouTube on school campuses. This is unfortunate because the educational content on YouTube outweighs the content on Discovery Streaming, TeacherTube, etc.  My solution is to convince teachers to download Free Screencast and utilize it at home.  This will allow teachers to showcase YouTube videos at school.  I tried it when I went on campus today and it works like a charm.

***My iMovie video measured exactly 1 minute.  For some reason the Blogger upload added a second.  Can anyone tell me why this happened?

I researched this Web 2.0 tool during a previous assignment but covered another site.  I'm happy to have the opportunity to provide this post in hopes of sharing it with other educators experiencing the same problems.

**All photos are courtesy of Flickr.
**All videos are courtesy of YouTube.