Yesterday's class had lots of things that I found would be useful for my student and for my classes. Right now I am re-assessing what I've been doing in the classroom in general and already making notes for what I would like to do differently, and hopefully better, next year. I want to get myself organized so I can start the year off using introducing technology I think is the most useful.
At the beginning of the year, I had them all make Google accounts so that they could use Google docs. Unfortunately, most of them have forgotten their passwords. I really believe Google docs is the way to go for them. The problem is that we have to use so much time to set it up, or in this case, set it up again. But, again, if I spend more time at the beginning of the year doing this, by this time next year it won't be an issue.
I also actually applied for a Diigo educator's account yesterday after reading a forum reply some one had written. Then, after hearing people talk highly of it last night, I am sure that will be another thing I will incorporate along with re-discovering my Delicious account.
Another thing I think would be useful is fur.ly (http://fur.ly) because it allows you to take several websites and create one, really short (but not very memorable) URL. This could be used if you have several websites that you are related that you want your kids to go to. A great use, I think, would be to use it for web quests and making one for all of the sites they need to go to.
Lastly is the issue of online storage. Right now, I don't currently use or teach anything about these. Google docs takes care of the majority of my storage needs.
The one thing I don't like about all of this is that students (and teachers) will have more passwords and IDs to remember. I really wish more places would use the "Open ID" or something that allows you to do more with out having to keep creating more things you need to remember. That being said, putting all of your eggs in one basket could be bad if your master identity is stolen. That being said, that won't stop me from using any of this in my classroom.
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Hi Shawn...oh my gosh I was thinking the samething this evening when I could not for the life of me remember my password for my DropBox account. I wish there was a way to make it easier for everyone to remember passwords without challenging the security too much. I really feel thats why our students are not actively using the accounts created (outside of facebook of course). Well maybe after we finish our degree we can create something that will assist our students in remembering ID's and passwords.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true. I actually had my students create Google Accounts and then had them give me their user IDs and passwords for just that very case.
ReplyDeleteI suppose if student had a computer account at school, you could have them use that user ID (as it probably isn't being used and their student ID number for their password. While not a perfect system it'll help them.
I was going to say have them use the same ID as their FB or MySpace accounts.... but I'm pretty sure some of those may not be school appropriate.