Online social networking (google groups) and their uses in education

    Everyone is using online social media and networking in today’s society. Teachers have recently been incorporating social media and networking into their curriculum. Social media and networking inspires students to share their work socially. This approach could be done through Google docs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Blogs are also effectively used in the classroom for daily class reflections for the students. Some teachers like to use Google Hangouts. If the teacher is unable to meet face to face with her students, Google Hangouts can be a great way to see who is there and check-in. Some teachers create a social classroom on Edmodo. This is a social website that teachers can post assignments, quizzes, and/or tests on. Students receive feedback from the teacher on everything.

Digital movies and their uses in education

                Digital stories can be used to create movies. They always are narratives turned into multimedia material. Digital stories can contain picture, audio, music, and text. They always tell a story and present inspirational messages. There are seven elements: (1) point of view (main point of story); (2) a dramatic question (key question that engages the audience); (3) emotional content (issues in the story the audience can relate to);(4) the gift of your voice; (5) the power of the soundtrack (music that correctly expresses the story); (6) economy (use just enough content to let the audience know what is going on); and (7) pacing (rhythm of the story).

                Digital stories implement a world of opportunities for students. It combines content learning with 21^st century media. By using this form of media, it could help engage the students’ interests more effectively and increase comprehension of content. This approach utilizes technology as a means for students to show and understand what they have just learned. Digital stories may also be used as a great review for students. Students tend to be more detailed with assignments that had a digital story as an aide.

Web Tools Reflection

      Web tools use students’ knowledge of what they already know and create new data based off of it. Web tools support project-based learning. A blog is a type of web tool. Blogs let people share ideas or reflections with others. A blog is basically a web page. Blogs can be used by teachers to carry out communication with students’ parents about something class related. Another web tool is the Read/Write application, or wikis. Wikis allow communication and alliance with members of a wiki society. You can edit, change, post, or delete any data in wikis. Podcasts are used to make and issue multimedia to anyone who can access audio files through the internet. Some teachers use podcasts as a review for the students.