Scriblink and Etherpad

I've played with Scriblink and Etherpad and liked both of them. Etherpad reminds me a lot of Google Docs, but there are several features that I like better. First of all, Etherpad automatically assigns a color to each author, which would eliminate a step required to do this in Google Docs. Also, I LOVE the option to watch the changes in real time. This would be such a great tool to determine exactly how much each student contributes to a group assignment. It seems more user-friendly than Google Docs as well. The options to save directly to a Word a document are very easy to find, for example. I'm not sure if Google Docs has an unlimited undo button, but I really like this option in Etherpad. I feel this is necessary when junior high students collaborate. I may use this next year for the Our Town project (rather than using Google Docs). Scriblink is a lot of fun, and I imagine math teachers love this tool. I like Etherpad better for language arts, but I still see opportunities to use this for reading and writing. For example, it would be a fun way for students to create a web as a pre-writing activity or a Venn-diagram to compare concepts. Again, I like how easy it is to use. I think students would like the fast email option and toolbar. I truly don't see many limitations with either Etherpad or Scriblink; however, I have found that it is often difficult to assign group projects/assignments. Making sure that one student does not dominate the group or not work at all is always a challenge. Even with this great technology, making sure that each student contributes equally is not easy. One idea that I definitely love, though, is using it to sign up for projects, presentations, etc. I will probably use this next year as a tool for students to sign up for a book talk date.

Technology Issues

Well, I am starting to feel some frustration with technology. I found the time to sit down and work on my assignments today, but I can't get into Moodle. It won't load from the Mariemont page. This experience taught me a lesson, though. As I continue to assign more activities online, my students have more and more issues accessing websites, remembering passwords, etc. I feel their pain today. I am proud of myself, though, because I realized that I could still access the list of blogs by logging into Google Docs. So, here I am. I won't be able to check out the Scriblink and Etherpad assignment (which is what I planned to do), but I will be able to spend some time checking out other blogs. Anyhow, this experience raises some questions. How can we hold students responsible for completing online assignments when problems may be beyond their control? Is this fair to students without Internet access? What is the best way for students to keep track of all of their passwords? This last point has been particularly frustrating for me lately. I asked my students to create a Voki (speaking avatar) and post it to my wiki space. This required two separate passwords, which I do not have access to, for each student. I spent three bells troubleshooting on Wednesday, which doesn't seem like an effective use of classroom time. I want to use technology, but half of the students couldn't complete this assignment. I am off to see if I can access Moodle.

Playing with Google Docs...

http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AdN3OFjXzn0bZGY4c3ZrcWhfMGdxYzgyaGZ3&hl=en

Google Docs

Well, I am using Google Docs for the seventh grade Our Town project. You know something works when students who are absent collaborate with students in class. I couldn't believe it! Not one, but two students decided to work on the assignment from home, so they didn't miss anything their groups added to the project. The students are working in groups to create a one act play, and Google Docs is perfect for this assignment. Last year they shared the Word document through email, and it was messy. Google Docs allows me to keep track of their progress. Because each student writes in a different font, I can also track how much each student contributes. I often ask students to create Power Point presentations in groups to demonstrate their understanding. I will definitely ask them to use Google Docs for this in the future. I thought Google Docs was just Word, so I'm excited to learn that there is more to it. I do have one complaint, though. I don't like the formatting in Google Docs. It is much more difficult to deal with spacing and indenting than it is in Word. For example, students struggled to format their works consulted correctly because of this. I'm playing around with the Power Point ideas in Google Docs, so I will post it when I'm finished. It's nothing that I will use for class. I just want to see how it works.

Idea for Project

I always want my students to have a real audience for their writing. I have considered ways to do this online in the past. For example, I thought students could post writing on my website; however, this made me nervous. Who could see the writing? How could I make it the students' responsibility to publish (rather than my own)? Plus, I want the students to have the opportunity to receive feedback from their peers about this writing. Still, I wonder how I will monitor this feedback. I would love to create a poetry blog for my students. It would be awesome if they could record themselves reading the poems as well. I'd like the blog to be an online text for students to not only publish poetry, but also learn elements of poetry. For example, as we discuss figurative language, I could ask students to find metaphors within students' writing. They could demonstrate this understanding by posting comments on the blog. This may be my final project for this course.

First Class

I am learning how to create a blog.