1. Using technology in the
classroom - level 2
Canterbury, 29.8.2012 - 11.8.2012

2. Day 1: Google Docs, Diigo, free digital photos
Google docs
● an important and easy to use online tool when editing and sharing
documents, presentations etc.
● can be used in the classroom and as a way to share and edit docs
among colleagues
● everyone with a gmail account can access and use google docs

3. Diigo
● saving and storing bookmarks/links online
● you can use tags and notes to make your bookmarks more
organized
● you can highlight certain passages or important information on a
web page
● you can share your bookmarks with your colleagues/students by
creating a group

4. Free digital photos
● there are several web sites that offer free photos
● we avoid copyright infringement
● the most useful web sites below:

5. Day 2: Jing
● screen capture & screen recording
● great for taking screenshots and making online videos, voice-overs
(tutorials, video feedback for students)
● videos can then be uploaded to screencast and shared with others
(videos can also be embedded in a blog or a wiki)
● the video format is .swf so you need a special player (Real player)
● Jing also allows you to easily add text, arrows or highlight
sections of your screen capture. This is a great feature for
teachers wanting to add notes on top of images or text, for
students

6. Day 3: cyber safety, avatars, wiki
Cyber safety
● cyberbullying is a big problem nowadays, so we have to educate
our pupils about the issue
● one useful tool is the Disney online safe surfing game, which
teaches the pupils different ways of how to protect themselves
online
● when presenting yourself online it is important to use avatars
instead of real photos
● 'me on the web' is a valuable tool developed by Google which
alerts you every time something about you is posted on the web
● it is of the utmost importance to always use a secure password

7. Avatars
● www.clayyouself.com
A great web site for making avatars you
can then use for your online identitiy.
● www.pixlr.com
Using this tool you can edit photos, pictures online or you can
download the application and use it on your computer, mac or
PC.

8. Day 4: Wikis
● a platform that promotes collaborative work (an online classroom)
● allows its users to add, modify, or delete its content via a web
browser
● a user can insert documents, pdfs, pictures/photos
● you can also embed a video and use various widgets (a small
application that can be installed and executed within a web page
- widgets often take the form of on-screen device, i.e. clocks,
event countdowns, calendars...)
● we can reduce plagiarism by protecting your wiki using creative
commons
● it's user friendly and self-explanatory

9. pros & cons - wikis
PROS
● free software, easy to create an account
● we access to wiki/materials after the class ends
● promotes creativity, collaborative work and includes multimedia
● easy to share information
● previous versions of a page can be recovered

10. cons
● poor IT skills can create problems
● can possibly be time consuming for the teacher to set up
● If relying on free wiki software, the company could discontinue
the service or start charging
● plagiarism and copyright issues
● assessment

11. Day 5: Digital storytelling
People learn better with words and pictures. Some examples of web
pages where you can make your digital stories:
● www.littlebirdtales.com
● www.demogoanimate.com
● www.educreations.com
● www.animoto.com

12. How to use these tools effectively?
3D Effect
● define your objectives
● do a research for the audio option
● do not use a heavy on-screen text
● ensure that your content is interesting

13. Day 6: Webquests, linoit
● pupils are given a task/a theme and then they do their research
on the web
● a good web page for creating webquests is zunal.com
● linoit is a platform for notes and photo sharing

14. Day 7: Podcast, Wordle, Tagul, Voxopop
● Podcast: A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an
episodic series of audio files subscribed to and downloaded
through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or
mobile device.
● Voxopop: In voxopop you can record audio messages to express
your ideas or ask questions and then people can record their own
messages to respond to you.
● Wordle & Tagul: Wordle is a toy
for generating “word clouds”
from text that you provide.
The clouds give greater prominence
to words that appear
more frequently in the source text.