I've been reading for several days about the "glogs," and have viewed the ones that have been done by the participants in this course. I'm really love the idea that we are able to document classroom activities, etc. with pictures so easily due to digital cameras, so as a rule I am really into any tool that makes the documentation easier. The glogs are cool, but I am having a hard time seeing the benefit of using them for high school students. I had to reduce all the pictures I wanted to use to a lower resolution, then it took awhile to upload to the site. For me, the time wasn't worth the effort, as opposed to, say, working in powerpoint. But, I see that the benefit of glogging would be the interaction between the students online at home, maybe? For each of these tools I keep thinking -" This is cool, but how would I use it in the classroom to promote learning, understanding, and critical thinking skills?"
To answer my own question, here is how I would use this tool as a classroom assignment. In environmental science we usually do posters about environmental history, focusing on people who have made a difference. Each student chooses a person and finds information about how that viewed the environment, what role he/she played in the development of any environmental legislation, and how that person's actions made a difference for our present day environmental situation. If the students were assigned the same project, but completed it using glogster, there would be several advantages. One, we would not be using poster board! YAY! Two, it would save class time. Now I let the students bring in the posters, then they move around the room taking notes on them. If we used glogster, they could view the posters at home and take notes. Three, there would be an inteactive component that is possible in the class, but not usually seen. I could add to the assignment that the students must make comments about 3 of the classmates glogs. Sometimes students will make useful comments in class, but unless it is a requirement, it does not happen. In addition to these three advantages, they would also be learning a tool on the web.
Okay, I guess I talked myself into trying Glogster!
I was thinking along the same lines, as I teach college students. Funny that we have a similar idea. I do a couple of days on the history of microbiology/molecular bio. The students like the info, but it does drag on. I could assign teams to do events or individuals throughout the course to go along with the content we are covering...I was also thinking they could choose between glogster and a creative commons type video....lots of ideas to flesh out, no?
ReplyDeleteYes, that is interesting! I just don't want the students to spend the majority of their time looking for cool pictures and figuring out what colors look best. (Which unfortunately I tend to do :) I think the creative commons type video is a great idea. The students would still be able to use some creativity but would be required to research some content in order to produce a quality product.
ReplyDeleteKids do the same thing (look for the coolest pictures and play with color schemes) FORever even when they're creating a power point presentation.
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