ICT - Class 11 - 26 September 2014

Rita tested our memory with a short quiz! 

1. Do you use Delicious? - Yesssssss
2. What Google extensions do you use? - Delicious, LastPass, Dropbox, Google Dictionary, Awesome Screenshot, Padlet, and the recently added to my account Ginger (another Google extension) which looks after my grammar!!
3. How do you save a mail from Gmail into your hard drive? - Print - Cancel - Right click - Save as...
4. Do you remember the SAMR paradigm shift by Rubén Puentedura? - Nope (shame on me) - Homework: Look it up! (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition).
5. Google Hangouts? - We hanged out with Rita's friend from Portugal, Teresa.

IMAGES

The safest way to source images for your blog is to either:

• use Creative Commons images.
• use free public domain images.
• use your own photos or use images you’ve created.

Remember: You can use ANY picture database (Google Images, Flickr, etc.) and look for images that have free license.

Ideas for my site / blog to work on images:

• Instagram
• Padlet 
• Thinglink
• WeVideo 
• Wordle
• Bubbler (add speech bubbles to images)
• Voicethread
• Bookr (create book images)
• Fodey (animated text image)
• Szoter (load your picture, take a screenshot or capture an image, then annotate, add text,and save to disk)
• Freemake (slideshow with photos and music) - good option instead of WeVideo.
• Shapecollage (make a collage, give it a shape!)
• Picisto (photo collages and vision boards)
• Muzy (combine photos w/ text to make great-looking images)
• Mosaic maker (make mosaid or collage)
• PicCollage (Use photos, stickers, frames, and text to create collages)
• Flickriver (simple Flickr search tool that creates an endless webpage of Flickr images based around either a search term or whatever it finds interesting on the particular day you visit the site)
• Fotobabble (talking photos)
• Speechable (add speech bubbles to photos)
• Webresizer (photo editor)
• Fotor (online photo editor)
• Morfo (turn a photo of your friend's face into a talking, dancing, crazy 3D character)
• Jing

ICT - Class 10 - 12 September 2014

Some things to bear in mind (Source: The Power of Storytelling in the Classroom)

• stories are a way of passing down cultural beliefs, traditions, and history.
• stories help us to organize and store information.
• they go straight to the heart.
• they produce a sense of joy in language and words.
• they're the best presents teachers can give to their students - they belong to the students forever.
• storytelling isn't story reading

Some Moviemaking and Storytelling tools:

• WeVideo: wonderful Google App! Create really professional videos!
• Voicethread: combines pictures, documents, or videos with recorded audio.
• Animoto: (NOT FREE) 
• Speechable: add speech bubbles to photos.
• Fotobabble: create talking photos - similar to Voicethread?
• Toondoo: create comic strips / toons or characters / books.
• ReadWriteThink: Comic creator (but very few options / pictures).
• MakeBeliefsComix: create comics (lots of options - but can be printed or emailed).
• Bubblr: create comics using real photos from Flickr (photonovels) - then add speech bubbles.
• Toonlet: create characters for avatars / comics with loooooots of options.
• Comic Master: create graphic novels - much more complete (dialogues, captions, backgrounds, special effects, etc)
• Sock Puppets: create lip-synch puppets (with your own voice) and controlled their movements with your fingers (only IPAD or IPHONE)
• Zooburst: create augmented reality 3D pop-up books.
• Storyjumper: create a story, and add a book cover (for a price) - it also has a classroom editions that helps teachers manage their students' stories (Free).
• Blabberize: use a real picture and "blabberize" it - make it talk!
• My Storymaker: choose characters and create stories on the way - add sentences (it creates them for you or you can make them). When you finish, you can print it.
• Glogster: EDUGlogster (NOT FREE anymore)
• Voki: create speaking avatars 
• Picture Book Maker: create a story book (crayon-drawn like) 
• Storybird: use pre-created images to create a story
• Voxopop: create oral discussion boards.
• GoAnimate: beautiful tool (thanks Gabi for showing it to me) that helps you creat animated stories.

More Apps for telling Stories on your Mobile Devices

• Write About This! Prompts (journaling and writing prompts - needs ITUNES)
• FriendStrip ComicCreator (design a comic book - ANDROID)
• Toontastic for StoryTelling (create high quality cartoons)
• Publish Stories on iPads (write your own storybook)
• Slideshows with ShadowPuppet (record narrated slideshows)
• Colorful iPad DrawingTool (illustrate a story)
• Toontastic Jr. ShrekMovie Maker (retells a story)
• Scribble My Story (write your own storybook)
• Tell a Tale on iPads (writing prompts)
• Inspiration Lite forMind Mapping(brainstorm ideas)
• Pirate Scribblebeard's Treasure (draw pictures for a storybook)
• Graphic Organizers:Idea Sketch (plan a story)
• Sock Puppets
• Comics Head. (IPAD)

ICT - Class 9 - 4 September 2014

Today, we dealt with Google+ and Google Hangouts. The possibilities are endless!

While having an online lesson with (up to 9) students using Hangouts, you can share documents such as a test, pictures to trigger a discussion, make notes or drawings on the screen to back up your class, share a video, and even remote control somebody else's computer!
We had fun playing (like kids) with Hangouts! I shared my coconut pie recipe with the group, they added some comments, Ale shared a lovely video of one of her dogs, and we took some photos.

Google + looks much safer than Facebook, as you can choose WHO sees WHAT. It also seems to be much more professional and academic.

Tour Builder helps you build a field tour, guide you around the world, and even explore inside a museum! It's a Google Earth experiment.

Also, I've started a Google Site where I'm planning to store the ICT projects I do with my "Kids" courses at La Salle. Online Kids' Portfolio. It's my first real site so I'm still trying out some things. So far, I've managed to create subpages for every student - I'll need to manage the permissions later. Baby steps...