Thursday, November 29, 2007

Speaking of Web 2.0...

Holly sent me a link to Classroom 2.0 yesterday. Classroom 2.0 is a social networking site for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education. If you are looking for ways to implement various Internet tools in your classroom, this would be a good first stop. There are many teachers who have written about their own experiences so there is no need to start from scratch.

Speaking of scratch... "Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web." So far I've only used Scratch as a reward activity as it is easy for students to learn on their own by following a simple tutorial. Despite it's simplicity, Scratch can teach "important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design."

For those of you teaching more "academic" subjects here are a few composition related links (I've been team teaching a composition class this year). Google for Educators created a lesson plan to Teach Collaborative Revision with Google Docs. I haven't been brave enough to sign my students up with a Google account so that they may work with Google Docs but I can still use the ideas in this plan by combining tools like Moodle, Word and email using Gaggle.

Another valuable composition resource is the Purdue Online Writing Lab. I have mostly used the resume workshop during my career unit, however the site covers topics from creative writing to grammar and has a section specifically for grade 7-12 teachers and students.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Web 2.0

Although I feel I know quite a bit about the web, I had no idea what the term web 2.0 was so I looked it up. The following link proved to be very useful in helping me understand that what we are trying to do in this class and opportunity is a web 2.0 experience. I feel that the idea of collaborating with peers using the web such as this is an excellent resource that has limitless possibilities for ideas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Welcome, moodlebots!

This blog has been created for the use of the moodlebots in the Using Moodle for Blended Instruction project at the Regional Educational Technology Assistance (RETA) program. We welcome your contribution to our moodleverse!