In honor of my mother (who loves The Sound of Music) and in the spirit of Julie Andrews, here are some of my favorite things from OL101:
1. FlipGrid. I don't know why, but I just like this more than VoiceThread. Maybe it's the bright colors that make me happy and the fact that you can take your own selfie rather than having the video freeze when you're making an awkward face. (I don't know about anyone else, but my videos always seem to freeze when I look like I'm in mid-sneeze.) I also have soooo many ideas about how you can use the different timing settings for different assignments.
2. Screencast-o-matic. I'm still not good at speaking while clicking around on a website, but I love this tool so much. Again, I've had tons of ideas of how I can help students in my own classroom, and I also had tons of ideas of how I could use it from the academic support side. There are so many useful applications, and it was really easy to share. At least, I'm assuming people could access mine and that it was easy to share.
3. New moodle. I never had huge problems with the old moodle, but there are some delightful changes in new moodle. I love the different colors for different tools (i.e. link, PDF, forum). I am super happy to have the due date and the number of submissions right on the assignments page rather than having to enter the assignment. And I'm really happy that the editing button is colored and easier to see, as is the reminder to unhide the course.
4. Articles and instructions. When it comes to technology, I'm a "follow the steps" kind of girl, so I'm keeping all the step-by-step instructions that Rick gave us. I'm also saving a lot of the articles, since they provide really helpful "checklists," even if they weren't in checklist format.
5. Sharing ideas. I have truly appreciated people opening up their classes, reflecting on their experiences, and sharing how they used the different tools. It helped me to think more creatively about my own classroom set-up and how tools could be used in new and different ways. It has been a privilege to be classmates with all of you!
Thanks for sharing your favorites, Lauren. I use screencasts all the time for teaching things and often just to show people how to do something rather than trying to explain things via email or on the phone. I'm also more impressed with the new Moodle than I thought I would be. I really like the options for replying on the discussion forums and the way the dashboard works.
ReplyDeleteRick: Thank you for all your help in this course and for your willingness to share examples from your own classroom. It's great to hear all the different ways you've used these tools.
DeleteI also really like the new moodle dashboard, and my current students said they really like it, too. They also LOVE that you can remind yourself about assignments and that the color coding helps remind them of deadlines as well.
Lauren - I think that I need to play with Screencast-O-Matic more, I just didn't connect with it like others in this class did and I feel that maybe I didn't give it enough time or energy.
ReplyDelete-I also agree on the new Moodle, I think I MAY just be able to like Moodle for once. :)
-I would LOVE to continue to share ideas with everyone and anyone, so please continue to reach out with a new idea you have found or want to share and I will do the same. This can only make us all better professors!
Shari: Maybe you didn't connect with Screencast-O-Matic as much because it wasn't as relevant to your course. Or maybe you just need to see some other ways that people used it. EdPuzzle was the biggest mystery to me, but Janna and I were trying to figure things out, and she was finally able to share hers with me. It was AMAZING, and now I want to try again because I have a better idea of how this can be used based on how she used it.
DeleteLOL Maybe you can say that you didn't like old moodle, but you like new moodle. :)
YAY for continued sharing! Thanks for offering continued collaboration and friendship.
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DeleteI'm still in the dark with EdPuzzle -- just didn't have time to really figure it out, sadly. It's on my list of things to still explore when this is done!
DeleteI would love to find a way to do Screencast with a touchscreen where I can draw with a stylus instead of the mouse... maybe later this summer.
DeleteSo, Lauren, if I lose the articles I'll come find you!