This week I have been focusing on the exploration phase for my final vision. The initial work that I had put into my final vision project led me to a bit of a wall, in that I could not continue to develop my final vision until I had some answers. When I considered how I could support the inquiry process with the use of technology tools, I realized that although I had some initial thoughts, my main goal when I started this class was to learn about new technology tools. I wanted to become sufficient with some new tools so that I could teach these tools to my students and allow them to explore and find new ways to express their learning. So this week, I decided to teach Padlet to a group of grade 2 and 3 students. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, I was worried about it not working for a large group of students, I worried if it would work properly, if it would be too hard for them to navigate and if the classroom teacher would think I was crazy for trying this with such young students. I suppose these are some of the thoughts I have when trying new things… doubt!
I did a very clear demonstration to the whole class and kept the initial exploration stage very simple. I wanted to ensure that the kids had an easy start so that they didn’t get discouraged. By the end of twenty minutes in the computer lab, all of the kids had successfully posted on to their group wall and were asking questions galore! They wanted to know how to change the background, how to add a picture, a video and even if they could try to make their own wall at home. It was a definite success and it went to show that these kids really are engaged by technology.
After the success with Padlet, I realized that it was time for me to do some exploration on my own. I wanted to know what else was out there, and how I could teach more tech tools to my students. After a good two hours of browsing, trying, creating, and troubleshooting, I felt like I had mixed success. Some mind map tools that were very successful for me included: Text 2 Mind Map and bubbl.us. These tools were easy to use, easy to navigate and I created mind maps, downloaded them and posted them to my final vision padlet within ten minutes. These tools would definitely be something that I could easily teach to elementary students.
My personal Text 2 Mind Map, created in just 5 minutes. Very easy to use.
Created with bubbl.us. Simple to use and quick to learn.
However, I also browsed many other tech tools that were not equally successful. The main challenges that I had were that they were not targeted towards children and even though they were easy to navigate, they were not kid friendly in terms of content. Some of these programs also cost money to use, or you could have free access but only for a limited amount of content. Some of these programs that were unsuccessful were Glogster, Scoopit and infogr.am. On my final vision padlet, I have reviewed and discussed some of the benefits of these programs. Here is my inital draft after the initial exploration I have done.
I hit a bit of a road block after the success with the mind map software. Many of the platforms I tried either required you to pay money to use their service or they were too complicated to use with children ages 7-12. Some of the technology tools I tried included:
Inforgr.am: This program helps you to design infographics and charts on a bright clear poster. This would be an excellent way for students to express their learning, but it seems like it would be more appropriate for middle or high school students.
Glogster: I have heard of this used in schools so I was interested in trying it out. It also requires a fee of approximately $40 per year for a single classroom use, so I wasn’t able to play around with it.
ScoopIt: This technology tool is similar to Pinterest in that it allows you to “Scoop” articles, pictures and videos from the web and then add it to your page that is based on a particular topic. Although this is a great teaching resource, it is not targetted towards kids and would therefore not be a great fit for supporting inquiry with young students.
My next focus for my vision project will be to focus in on kid friendly tech tools that I can explore further, keeping in mind my goal of supporting the inquiry process through the use of technology. If anyone has any in mind, please feel free to share by commenting on my blog. I will also be talking to fellow teacher librarians this week to focus in on exploring some final technology tools before I complete my final vision project and reflection. All in all, the time spent exploring has been very valuable and has forced me to critically evaluate these resources and consider if they could be valuable with elementary school learners.
Good work here! Your exploration with the critical lens of what might work for my goals was a useful exercise. Finding the most appropriate way to teach the skills and experiences to your students is valuable time and will help with your final vision and inquiry demonstration. A few tools to explore might involve students using some of the applications available to them on the Ubuntu desktops at school, like Impress (Presentation Software in Libre Office), or even Google Earth! It might be valuable to look into the district ELGG option, which is an in-house social network where students can practice some social networking, without having to worry about all the FOIPPA stuff. But we can talk more on tuesday!
Great post and reflection, Melissa. I can really empathize with you. There are s o many tools out there, but figuring out which ones are the best for you and your students can be a real challenge. I don’t know if these suggestions will help you, but I’ll put them out there anyway. Mindmeister is an add-on for Google Drive and it easily creates mind maps from bullet point lists. If your school or district has Inspirations it is a great tool as well.
Thanks Leslie and Aaron, I will definitely look into those suggestions!