Report 2 for Collaborative Technology Tools class.

1. Megan Peetz

2. Books and Articles

3. 1. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other
Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (2nd
Edition)
 Provides information about blogs, wikis, podcasts,
social bookmarking sites, podcasts and RSS feeds.
 Not only does this book describe these collaborative
web tools, it provides examples and screenshots of
each.
 It also clarified some misconceptions that I had,
especially about blogs and wikis.

4. My Wikipedia Hesitancies
 I have always been extremely hesitant about Wikipedia’s
accuracy due to some false information posted about our school.
 This changed with this quote from the book: “…there are vastly
more editors that want to make it right than those who want to
make it wrong. So when mistakes occur or vandals strike, the
collaborative efforts of the group set it straight, usually very
quickly (p. 56).”
 Another example that made me believe more in Wikipedia is
that a University of Buffalo professor intentionally made 13
mistakes on a post, all of which were corrected within hours.
 This section made me rethink my ideas on whether or not my
students should be able to use this as a resource and what topics
it may be appropriate for.

5. My Favorite Resource
 As previously mentioned, Richardson provides a
number of specific examples for each resource.
 After reading the chapter on blogs, I tried out the
“Good Educator Weblogs” listed, and found this great
resource: http://heyjude.wordpress.com/ by Judy
O’Connell.
 My favorite page on this site is called “Student Tools-
Let Them Fly” which provides a number of student
friendly sites for collaboration.
 This is a webpage I already have saved on my favorites
to use in the future.

8. Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and
Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (2nd ed).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

9. 2. Gaga for Google in the Twenty-First
Century Advanced Placement Classroom
 This article gave a summary of different Google tools
that can be used in classrooms.
 Although good descriptions of the tools were given,
there were no examples or specific ideas on how to use
these tools for collaboration.
 On the next slide you will find the four tools that I feel
are the most useful for collaboration.

10. Tools Described That I Find the Most
Useful for Collaboration from This
Article
Tool Collaboration Uses
 Google Groups
 Google Docs
 Gtalk
 Google Sites
 Discussion amongst students
and their peers by posting
thought/information on a site
 A site where students could
work collaboratively on a
document or PowerPoint
 A chat system built into gmail
for students to discuss topics
 A website where members
can post and share
information with others.

11. Adams, D.C. (2008). Gaga for Google in the Twenty-First
Century Advanced Placement Language Classroom.
The Clearing House, 82, 96-100.

12. 3. Key Emerging Technologies for
Elementary and Secondary Education
 “It [technology] gives students a public voice and a
means to reach beyond the classroom for interaction
and collaboration.” (Johnson, Levine, Smith & Keene,
2010)
 Technology to watch for within the next year: Cloud
Computing and Collaborative Environments
 Technology to watch in a few years: Game-Based
Learning and Mobiles
 Technology to watch in the future: Augmented Reality
and Flexible Displays

13. Descriptions of These Technologies
The focus for all of these is: COLLABORATION
 Cloud Computing: communication and data storage software for
collaborative work.
 Collaborative Environments: in the classroom and out to provide
students the opportunity to interact with others.
 Game-Based Learning: educational games for students to play
individually or in groups.
 Mobiles: using technologies to bridge the gap between what students
learn in school and what they can learn out of school.
 Augmented Reality (AR): combining the use of GPS and videos to
provide “a portable tool for discovery-based learning” (Johnson,
Levine, Smith & Haywood, 2010)
 Flexible Displays: using more physically interactive technologies such
as touch screens.

14. Johnson, L.F., Levine, A., Smith, R.S., & Haywood, K.
(2010). Key Emerging Technologies for Elementary and
Secondary Education. Education Digest: 2010 Horizon
Report: K-12 Edition (36-40).

15. 4. ‘Seeing’ the learning community: An
exploration of the development of a resource for
monitoring online student networking
 This study focused on how social networking affects
learning performance on high and low performing
students.
 It also looked at how social networks can be used in
educational settings.

16. Findings
 “All of the above [information/results] implies that
academic teachers should be seeking to ensure that their
students’ network density is maximized. In a learning
context, all students can benefit from access to multiple
advising networks, through active engagement in a
collaborative social learning environment.” (Dawson, 2010)
 The study also found that high performing students mainly
socialized with other high performing students and low
performing students socialized with other low performing
students.
 Both high and low performing students continued to
perform the same.

17. My Implications
 Pairing up high and low performing students, or creating
groups where they interact could improve the performance
of both groups of students.
 High performing students could help low performing
students achieve a higher success rate by tutoring and
working with them.
 Teaching often helps people learn more so by assisting in
teaching the materials, high performing students can
better understand and comprehend the material.
 Encouraging these students and providing opportunities
for them to work together will be beneficial for them both.

18.  Dawson, S. ‘Seeing’ the Learning Community: An
Exploration of the Development of a Resource for
Mentoring Online Student Networking: British Journal
of Educational Technology Vol. 41 no. 5 (736-752).

20. Edmodo
 Used in my Spanish III class for student collaboration
 Students were posed with a discussion topic every week to
respond to and also had to respond to others responses.
 Students came up with topics they wanted to talk about on this
site
 Students are enjoying the interaction with each other and being
able to use their language to discuss what they want to talk
about, rather than centered around the book’s set vocabulary.
 Students came to class weekly wanting to discuss more in depth
about their peers’ responses and often commented on more
responses than required.
 I shared this with my administration and they asked me to
present to the staff what I was doing with this for a positive way
for students to build relationships!

21. Google Sites
 I created a site for my classes
 http://sites.google.com/site/mspeetzspanish
 Students and parents have commented on how easy it is
to use and the increase in the time they’ve spent
studying due to the links to the book
 This site is MUCH more user friendly than my previous
site both for myself and my students.

22. Google Docs
 Used with my co-workers to create common assessments
and rubrics for each level of Spanish.
 By inviting all members of the Spanish department to join
all levels (1-3), teachers were able to see what was being
done in levels they do not currently teach yet still be able to
provide input.
 We have been able to work collaboratively to create
documents and make necessary changes. As a department,
we have decided to continue using this tool in the future
because of how easy it is for us to work together without
having to all be there at the same time.

23. Glogster
 I taught my department two weeks ago in our TLT time
(our 40 minute Wednesday meetings).
 They enjoyed the possibilities it created and one
teacher used it with her class for a project – the
students enjoyed it as well.

24. Diigo
 I set up bookmarks and will continue to use this in the
future to keep track of sites that I find useful.
 I like this site much better than Delicious because of
the way it is set up – it is very easy to follow!
 I use a lot of different websites with my students and
this will provide a place for me to share useful websites
with them and keep them organized as well.

26. To do…
 Find a webinar that fits into my schedule about
collaborative technology.
 Look at podcasts (I started to watch 2 but neither of
them were what I had hoped they would be).
 Continue to work on embedding.