getting class online… like i have time for that!
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Getting Class Online… Like I have time for that!. How to use free and easy Internet sites to create online classrooms. Benefits of Online Classrooms. Students can get their assignments anywhere they have Internet access: -Absent -Homebound -ISS -AEP. Benefits of Online Classrooms. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Getting Class Online… Like I have time for that!
How to use free and easy Internet sites to create online
classrooms
Benefits of Online Classrooms
Students can get their assignments anywhere they have Internet access:
-Absent
-Homebound
-ISS
-AEP
Benefits of Online Classrooms
Parents can see assignments or even track student performance
-Parent / Teacher conferences
-Parent Involvement
Online classroom ideas
www.pewittcisd.net
www.wikispaces.com
www.globalclassroom.us
www.igoogle.com (Google Docs)
www.gaggle.net
www.pewittcisd.net
Add links on your Pewitt site to your online classroom site(s).
Benefits: built into Pewitt home site, free for us, calendar and other goodies
Drawbacks: harder to use, get into to edit than other kinds of sites
www.wikispaces.com
Add just about any kind of classroom content, anytime, anywhere, quick and easy.
Benefits: fast, free, easy, kids can create their own sites and you can share info through your own “networks”, ad-free if you ask.
Drawbacks: can get really unorganized really fast!
Sample: http://pjhtechapps.wikispaces.com
www.globalclassroom.usReal, online classroom…for free!
Benefits: you post assignments, kids answer by posting their finished assignments; parents can visit to see when and what their kids have done; calendars and other goodies; saved until next year—quick start!
Drawbacks: takes organization; kids can have problems with it at first; takes up class time
Sample: http://beta.globalclassroom.us/course/view.php?id=2327
www.igoogle.com
Share information, create without Microsoft!
Benefits: free, easy once you get it created, kids love it!
Drawbacks: kids have to create their own accounts using email addresses, which they don’t have…necessarily (see www.gaggle.net).
iGoogle
Create community calendars…
Create community documents…
Create community websites
www.gaggle.net
Kids can have their own email accounts at school
Benefits: Students can sign up for iGoogle and other online accounts with their own email addresses
Drawbacks: Free version (which we have) sends lots of ads and spam to kids
So how do I get started with…
www.wikispaces.com
When you get there, sign up on the right, under “Get Started.”
Create a new page.
When you have signed in, you can edit your page.
Editing your wikispace
Highlight text on page, click to change to B=Bold, I=Italic, U=Underline, A=text color…just like Microsoft Word!
Add bullets and text alignment…just like Word!
Highlight text and add hyperlinks
Insert pictures and movies
Be sure to save, and you’ve published your page to the Internet.
www.globalclassroom.us
Free Moodle hosting site. Sign up and create your class.Once you get started, you can use basic web editing to get your class going.Tons of online tutorials here: http://www.moodletutorials.org/Play around with it and learn as you go. Start small and build from there.
Sample site: http://beta.globalclassroom.us/course/view.php?id=2327
www.iGoogle.com
When you sign up for an iGoogle account, you should sign up for a Gmail account, too.
It’s fun to customize your iGoogle homepage! iGoogle accounts come with Google docs…
Google DocsFirst, to add a Google Docs link box to your iGoogle homepage, click the “Add stuff” link at the top right
Search for “google docs” (box on upper right). When you find it (first hit), click the Add Now button.
Google Docs
Google DocsYou, and your students, can create word
processing documents, presentation documents (like PowerPoints), and spreadsheets using Google Docs.
And this is FREE. If kids don’t have Word or PowerPoint at
home, they can use this to do assignments anyway as long as they have Internet.
And these assignments can be saved in Google Docs, online (kinda like email!).
So they can be stored here forever!
Google Docs class portalSo if you create a professional Gmail / iGoogle account and share the password with your students, they can access your posted files, add their own content, and share with peers.Students can add comments to shared documents.Google Docs keeps a trail of changes, so you can revert to an earlier version of any saved document.
sites.google.com
After you have set up your iGoogle account, you can set up an iGoogle website.
http://sites.google.com/
It is very similar to wikispaces.
Google calendar
You can set up your own calendar and you can embed it into any of your other pages!
(By the way, you can also embed TeacherTube videos in your websites, too!)
www.gaggle.net
Please let me know if you need an email list.
All students who are in or ever have been in technology should have Gaggle email addresses.
But if you have a Gmail account…
Email alternativeInstead of using Gaggle, you can use a trick with your Gmail account.
Let the kids use a form of your Gmail email address. Any response will come to your Gmail account, not theirs.
For [email protected], a kid could use [email protected]. Any response will come to teacher’s email inbox, with the +kid…you’ll know who’s responsible.
Contact me!
http://pjhtechapps.net
http://pjhtechapps.wikispaces.com
http://beta.globalclassroom.us/course/view.php?id=2327
Closing thoughts
When you create a site, link it somewhere immediately.Keep your usernames and passwords safe. Don’t use the same password on everything…you might want to give others access someday!Kids don’t need to access (or be able to change) anything as you.Keep your online sites updated so people will want to keep visiting.The kids already communicate online…our online sites can use this to our advantage.