Category: Websites

eduCanon

4/1/2014

eduCanon is an amazing website that can help you transform a dull video into an interactive lesson. As some of you know, I'm currently working on my capstone project for my M.S. in Instructional Design & Technology with Andrea, the library coordinator. We've been making videos about the library databases, but they seemed a bit dry. Luckily, I stumbled upon eduCanon, a free website that helps you take a video (either yours or another video from YouTube or what have you) and you can embed questions throughout the video. For your editing purposes, it will leave a little question mark at the stop where you added the question so that you can space your questions out and ensure that your learners are engaging with the content regularly. You can also leave feedback for each answer, so if a learner responds incorrectly, s/he will learn from her/his mistake. Here's the EBSCO tutorial, transformed by eduCanon:

Now if we had created a course and asked you to take this lesson, you wouldn't be able to skip through it. We would also be able to see your answers, but since this is going to be a resource for the whole school, it wouldn't be practical to set it up that way. (That would be waaaay too many accounts to keep track of!) Nonetheless, this video is better than the original 8:45 YouTube video because it will engage the learner and ensure they don't tune out the video. The eduCanon video breaks the content into smaller chunks and periodically checks students' understanding. I'm a fan and I've only just begun! Check it out and see how it can help you flip your classroom or help struggling students (or bored, unmotivated students) view content in a new way.
Cheers,
Lesley
(p.s. Wouldn't it be great to challenge your students to use this kind of tool for a class project? Oh, the possibilities....)

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Professor Word

3/15/2014

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We're all trying to help our students expand their vocabularies, right? I've done the bookmarks, word walls, flashcards, quizzes, and blah, blah, blah. Some methods work better with some students than others, but I think I have found a tool that will work even better because it can be directly related to the SAT (something my students will take in the future and something the high achievers are already thinking about). ProfessorWord is a website that allows you to install the program on your toolbar (mind you, you will need to ensure your toolbar is visible) and it will highlight words that are used on the SAT and ACT exams. It will also allow you to highlight unfamiliar words and it will define them right there for you, so there's no need to open another app or tab to search for a dictionary. I've only begun using ProfessorWord, but I'm sold! I've begun encouraging my students to use it and I am looking forward to ProfessorWord's future plans to include personal vocabulary lists (which won't be as easy to lose as those bookmarks I've been assigning). Below is their YouTube video that will explain just how easy it is to use. If you teach high schoolers, this is something you and your should start using today.
Cheers,
Lesley

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Blossoming through Blogging

9/29/2013

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Well, it was an intense class, but almost all of my students should have their Weebly blogs up and ready to go. (I chose Weebly because I like how easy it is to add pictures and videos and other media that would make their posts more interesting.) Tomorrow I will have to review some of the requirements (some of them forgot to use tags and some haven't given me their links yet!), but I am just about ready to start connecting with others. Do you want to see what it looks like? Here's the Weebly site I'm using to make it easier for me to keep track of and for others to use:

The Connected English 9 Class: Blossoming Through Blogging

Why did I feel the need to make a website that connects it all together? Because I plan to connect with other English classes (and this way I only have to send one site!). I hope to be able to touch base with Amber, last year's 8th grade English teacher, and have her students comment and interact with my students' blogs. I may even use my Facebook and Twitter connections to find others who are interested, so that my students have a bigger audience and their writing will become more meaningful to them. In the past, I have been the only one reading my students' writing and that is a tragedy. I've seen some great pieces in my years of teaching and now the hope is that some of that writing can reach others. We'll see if this works out the way I hope it will. For now, that's my plan and feel free to have your students check out what my students are reading. :-)
Cheers,
Lesley

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Diigo (social bookmarking)

9/16/2013

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The other day I was talking with Adriana A. and she was lamenting the loss of an important website. How many of you have been there? Or you've bookmarked a site at school only to come home and realize that you can't find it and you wished you had e-mailed the address to yourself? These are frustrating situations that you can avoid if you use a social bookmarking site. Now there are many options, but the one I use (and therefore know the most about) is Diigo. I have only been using it for a little over a year or so and I don't really use it socially, but that is an option. Personally, I use it to help me organize information and important websites that I could use in class. Organization is quite easy, too, because you can create lists (which I have shared with you on this site, too) and tags, so for example, I can bookmark a vocabulary site that I want to use in class under my "English (General)" list and then use tags like "vocab, vocab game, learning" and what not to help me find it quickly. But really, that is just the basics of Diigo. And telling you isn't as effective as showing you, right? So please watch the video below if you feel like social bookmarking is for you. They highlight some of the best features of Diigo and it's very easy to follow along.

So I hope you are all now well informed about social bookmarking and Diigo. If you join, find me at https://www.diigo.com/user/johnsonlesleya Maybe we can figure out the social aspect together. Happy web browsing!

Cheers,

Lesley

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eduCanon

Professor Word

Blossoming through Blogging

Diigo (social bookmarking)

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