This class has lived up to its fairly straightforward title and has given me tools and ideas that I can immediately start using at school. Well, maybe not immediately, but in a few months when school starts again.
I used some of the presentation programs we discussed early on, and my students loved using them. As we move past classroom tools to things like Google Sites that can be used on a school-wide basis, the questions sort of change. I can picture what will or won't work for my classroom, what my students would understand, and what they would likely react to. But those things aren't true of every teacher's class. What is great for me might be a flop for someone else. Or it might be missing essential tools that I would never think of. This is why conversations between teachers are important. And as schools start to address budget cuts, these conversations are going to become more and more important.
My school currently uses School Fusion, which I don't really like. For creating a simple website where I can post announcements, leave links, and upload files, it works just fine. But as you try to do more, the interface becomes a little less than intuitive. And students seem to have a tough time with the blogs in School Fusion. A few co-workers swear by Edmodo, and seem to get their kids pretty interested. I had pretty good responses from students using Zoho Writer and Diigo to share links to share links and turn in their writing.
Ultimately, there are so many free tools out there that are just as good, if not better than tools that schools need to pay for. I have a feeling it will be a common conversation at my school, and being comfortable with some of the tools we've used in this class, I can help save space on the budget for the things we really need.
"My school currently uses School Fusion, which I don't really like."
ReplyDeleteI purchased ThinqED (formerly SchoolCenter) for our school 4 years ago. At the time, it was the perfect solution for getting everybody up on the web with minimal fuss. But I agree with you. As you try to do more, it becomes less intuitive. And the hard part is translating all of this for the less tech-savvy people in the building. That is why something like Google Apps (or even just Google Sites w/o Apps) works well because you can get a lot of integrated features that people can easily become familiar with.
"Or it might be missing essential tools that I would never think of."
ReplyDeleteAs a music teacher I often can see potential in programs for my discipline that other teachers would not come up with for me. I think some subjects and tools are straight-forward and allow for obvious application but there are other tools that definitely use some creative thinking to use. By working together with our colleagues and pushing the limits of what our software does we can continue to grow in our offerings to students without sacrificing quality and authentic assignments.
Although other teachers can be a great starting point I wonder what our students would come up with if we told them they could use any software they want to complete their projects or assignments. I have a feeling there would be uses and tools that students would think of that teachers haven't considered.
I have also found the plethora of free tools available to be a pleasant surprise. Especially with the new found tightness of budgets it will be nice to go back to school with all of these ideas that won't cost a dime to use. I expect that in schools everywhere these tools will be commonplace because we are all finding out that districts are trying to cut every expense that they can.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with your comment that there are so many tools that are free that our schools could be utilizing. I hope that our district starts to look into some of these options, especially for the middle school students and their higher demand needs. I think that if there was more teacher input, instead of just one person making the decisions, some of the unknown tools could be shared and incorporated to save money.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea that there are FREE TOOLS. I.E. google tools. Who knew I would not really need to buy all that software for my new computer when all I really needed was to go on google! Maybe the school districts should take notice as well!
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