Glogster

No instructional technology blog would be complete without so much as a mention of Glogster.

Glogster has been one of the most functional and, at times, most challenging tools that I've used as a Technology Teacher this year. First, and foremost, let me clarify that I'm a Technology Teacher at an Elementary School. Earlier in the school year, I had six classes of 4th grade students researching various Social Studies based facts on our state, in order to find information to include on their Glogster page. Their end product was to create a Glogster page showcasing:

•  6 history facts with dates and descriptions
•  a brief biography on one historic figure from the state
•  5 of the state symbols
•  the 3 regions of the state, and 2 cities in each region

[In hindsight the project would have been significantly more effective had the quantity of information been reduced, specifically in the areas of history and state symbols. Also, a classroom teacher would likely be able to have students complete this project in a more time-effective manner, as they spend more time with their students, whereas most technology teachers see each class only once per week at best, for a mere 45 minutes (not factoring in the time that it takes for the computers to log on). ]

After completing the research, students were then paired up in order to create a collaborative environment in which to complete their final project. This aspect worked out very well overall, but I must say that in order to complete the pairings successfully, one must first be able to identify which students are familiar with the Glogster program, and are apt to catch on to technology tools with relative ease, so as to best pair the students on a high-low scale in terms of ability to use technology tools effectively. This is one of the best parts in creating a Unit Plan centered on authentic assessments, because it supports ISTE's NETS-S, Standard 2 on Communication and Collaboration:

• 2A:  "Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media"
• 2D:  "Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems"

Another huge time saver when using Glogster is to create usernames and passwords for students prior to allowing them access to their Glogster page. While this process takes anywhere from one to three hours depending on the size of the class (in my case, it took around 2 hours to create 85 accounts and write down each pair's log in information), it is definitely worth the investment as it saves a great deal of time on the side of the students, by allowing them to simply retrieve their log in card at the beginning of each class without having to remember a strange combination of letters for their username (e.g. sfj19tok). When changing the usernames, creating something as simple as the partners' names (e.g. BobTom), is basic enough, and it aids in students' ability to "remember", which is on Bloom's Revised Taxonomy at the lowest level of the pyramid.  

With Glogster, students are able to select graphics (including animations) and text boxes for inputting their information. The double-edged sword here is that students' options are unlimited in the creative aspect, and at times, students have had a challenging time negotiating which option to use ranging from the background of their Glog to the text boxes used for the information. The good news here is that students can change the background as often as they'd like. The bad news is that if they're choosing a new text box, then they would either need to copy and paste their information from the old box to the new box, or they'd need to type everything all over again. For the sake of time, I prefer the copy and paste option. 

If students are completing a project using research via Internet sites, then it is our duty as professionals to ensure that they are citing their sources properly. Throughout my graduate school experience, I had always used either EasyBib, or the option located on my library's homepage or EasyBib. However, for elementary students, I happened to have tripped on a website that has proven to be significantly more functional, and one that I wish I had known about while in graduate school as the site has a free APA option, whereas the APA option on EasyBib comes with a price. The site that I would suggest for students is:  http://www.bibme.org/. This site allows students to keep and download a running tabulation of their sources, while appropriately citing their sources through a simple copy and paste of the website into the citation generator. Of course, before using this site, I would suggest that one teach the importance of citing sources, so that students understand the need for this additional step.

When students wish to find and upload images and videos for use on their Glogster page, it is important to have a mini-lesson dedicated to the downloading of pictures onto a computer and then the uploading of said picture onto the Glogster page. This process also goes for the incorporation of sound and video. The following site is one that I've used for this and many other classroom projects:  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/

One of the greatest features of the Glogster EDU site is the ability to interact electronically with the class, and the ease at which students can interact with one another. When students are "stuck" on how to do something, they can send a message to the teacher or post the question on the message board, this is great, because it allows more time for the facilitation of student learning and creating, and less time on direct instruction.

There's also this really neat function that enables you to create student portfolios using the classroom management function of the Glogster page.

Specs:

Glogster EDU    vs.     Glogster.com

Glogster EDU:

• costs at least $29.95 per year
• allows the teacher to have control over usernames and passwords
• allows the teacher to see each student's progress                

 Glogster.com:

• is free
• requires an email address in order to register
• offers no classroom management options

Pricing:

• Teacher Light (50 accounts)  =  $29.95/year
• Teacher Premium (200 accounts)  =  $99/year
• School Premium (up to 2500 accounts)  =  $2/account/year
• District Premium (at least 2500 accounts)  =  starting at $4875/year 

*One last thing worth mentioning:
Currently, Glogster EDU is hosting a contest for K-12 students to see who can create the best Glogs in relation to Earth Day. Below is a link to tell you more about the specs. Cash and prizes are among the several awards for this contest:
http://edu.glogster.com/contest/Go-Green-Initiative-Earth-Day-Contest

Voki (for teachers AND students)

Voki.com is by far one of the best Web 2.0 tools that I've used in the classroom. Not only does it serve as a great presentation tool for introducing a lesson or providing instructions, it also serves as a wonderfully creative tool, allowing students to create their own talking character to share information that they've learned in class. Recently, I've had the second grade classes conduct a research project on bats. When the whole class completed their research, I then had them log on to Voki to create a talking bat character in order to share their knowledge on bats with the rest of the class. Currently, I'm having 1st grade classes complete a similar activity where they work in groups of 2 to 4 students to create a Voki character that talks about what they have learned about different animal groups. The students LOVE this tool, and quite honestly, the only problem that I've noticed is how hard it is for them to log on to the Voki website.

Update: Voki Classroom has updated their website, so that the students' usernames are drastically shortened to 5 characters. The passwords remain the same, which is fine as the passwords were never really part of the problem.

How it works...

When you get to the website you will click where it says "Create".
From there, you can begin customizing your character. There is no one correct way to go about designing your character. You can start with the voice and work your way back if you like. The following steps are simply the ones that I have my students follow.

Customize Your Character

1. Click on the manikin head to choose from one of several character genres:
• holiday
• digimon
• dogs
• cats
• classic
• toons
• anime
• animals
• edgy
• oddballs
• randoms
• VIP
• politics
2. Next, click on the hair to change the hairstyle for your Voki character
3. Then, click on the lips to change the way the lips look for your Voki character
4. Click on the mustache to change the style of your Voki character's mustache (*note: every Voki character is different, therefore, not all design options will be available for all characters)
5. When you click on "Clothing", you're given the opportunity to change the clothing that your character wears, including its outfit and hat or headgear.
6. By clicking on "Bling", you can add jewelry, glasses (and sunglasses), and other objects to your character. 

Colors and Tweaks

Located just below your Voki character, you'll find a toolbar that allows you to edit the color and size of several of your character's features, including its: mouth, nose, body, height and weight. This tool allows you to toggle back and forth between "color" and "tweak" with relative ease.

Backgrounds

The background tool allows you to change the background for your character. You can choose from a variety of preselected backgrounds, or upload your very own. The following list provides an overview of the many genres of backgrounds offered:

• holidays
• obscure
• sports
• indoors
• nightlife
• city views
• outdoors
• travel
• nature
• animated

Players

The player option in the bottom right-hand corner enables you to change the border that encases your Voki character. By clicking on the "player" option, you're given the following colors to choose from:

• Black
• Bright Blue
• Red
• Fuschia
• Forest Green
• Silver
• Burgundy
• Brown
• Blue

Voice

I tend to have students create the voice only after they complete the visually creative portion of their Voki character. However, you can actually have them create the voice first if you choose.

There are three different ways to go about recording the voice. 

1. Type to Text:  this feature allows you to type in what you would like the Voki character to say. The accent/language options are quite extensive
• Arabic
• Basque
• Catalian
• Chinese
• Czech
• Danish
• Dutch
• English
• Esperanto
• Finnish
• French
• Galician
• German
• Greek
• Hindi
• Hungarian
• Icelandic
• Indonesian
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Norwegian
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Romanian
• Spanish
• Swedish
• Thai
• Turkish
• *In addition to choosing the accent/language of the Voki character, you are also able to choose the voice for it, as there are options for male and female voices in each language.
2. Record by Phone
• This option gives you the ability to call a number provided to you from the website in order to record your voice onto the Voki character remotely.
3. Record with a Microphone
4. Upload an Audio File
• This enables you to upload a prerecorded file to have the Voki character speak it. 

When you're done creating the Voki character, you simply click "Publish", at which time you'll be provided a link that can be used for publishing your Voki character to your website.

Voki in the Classroom

Voki is a fun tool for classroom presentation use. It only costs $29.95 for one full year, and with that you get 200 student accounts. The usernames can be changed at any time, however, the passwords are simple and pre-formulated. This is definitely one of the best, creative, Web 2.0 tools for an elementary school setting. 

SpicyNodes

Spicy Nodes is an online tool that allows students and educators to plot a road map presentation that magnifies a current destination while maintaining a background display of each previous and future topic to be revealed in the presentation. One could use SpicyNodes as a simplified version of Microsoft Powerpoint, or as a substitute for Prezi presentations.

SpicyNodes Tutorial


Below is a list of pros, cons and neutrals for using SpicyNodes:

Pros:

• Allows viewer to see a glimpse of each upcoming frame.
• Very simplistic design, thereby allowing students to focus on simple statements for content, as opposed to the many features that Microsoft PowerPoint offers.
• Ability to integrate media (youTube videos, music, images) into presentation.

Cons:

• The frames are never fullscreen, thereby making it challenging for visually-impaired individuals to see the information clearly.
• The fact that future and previous frames can be seen at once tends to be slightly distracting for the users whose attention fades rather quickly.

Pricing
Individual:       FREE


Organization:  $24/month

• more options for visual styles
• enables 25,000 views per month
• SpicyNodes logo can be hid

Enterprise:      $149/month

• enables up to 250,000 views per month

My two cents...
While SpicyNodes does present a nice, visual way to go about presenting information, the one thing that it does not offer is ample ease in setting up the presentation. I say this because there is a large amount of expanding and collapsing that takes place in order to create and order each "slide". One can however insert images with relative ease. Thus, I found that overall this website is best used for presentations that only supply basic information, as well as presentations that are very media heavy.