Scriblink

Well, I have to admit it, I am not as psyched about the Scriblink as I was the Etherpad. Yes, Scriblink has some great features. As the site says, you can upload images, print, save, or email drawings and work, transfer files to others without using email, and they have a video-conferencing feature. They have recently added a another feature - math symbols and functions are now available. I am going to have to ask Julie if she noticed that when she visited the site. I think Scriblink may be useful to students when they have to use images and want to make drawings for presentations and class projects. I am thinking it might be more useful to me in Biology than Geochemistry, but I will have to do some thinking on that and discuss it with Mary.

Etherpad

I just visited Etherpad - what a cool "tool". Working together with colleagues in real time - like Googledocs - only better! This tool could be used very effectively for educational purposes when assigning group projects and collaborations between students. It seems like Etherpad would really streamline their effort and time. I love the "simultaneous edit" feature as well as the color-coded text feature for participants in a project. Etherpad would be great for brainstorming sessions, meetings, compilation of agendas for meetings (like Googledocs), drafting and editing of student team member work, as well as task assignment and sharing of ideas and decisions when students are working on a project. I went to the part of the website entitled "How Are You Using Etherpad?" where I got some of the above ideas or got confirmation that people were indeed using Etherpad in those ways. Also, eople are using Etherpad with Skype (how cool is that?), using it for feedback on presentations, as a virtual "Post-It" note, and instructors/teachers have even posted examples of how they use Etherpad as a collaborative tool in the classroom - some with elementary school students. I noticed several posts on the Etherpad site where people said they liked Etherpad even better than Googledocs because of unique features like the color-coding and simultaneous editing. I am definitely learning that these internet tools are not "stand-alone" (i.e., the Etherpad/Skype example).

Surviving the Screencast

The title is a little harsh, screencasting was pretty straight forward thanks to the tutelage of one Miss Emily. Save for an initial mic issue which Emily subsequently solved, the screencasts are going off without a hitch so far. I say "so far" because I have a whole series of them planned, eight total, and the students and I have finished three as of Friday, 12/11/09.

Here's what's going on... I teach a series of equations during second quarter in Geochemistry that have to do with Pascal's Principle (hydraulics) as well as the gas laws - Boyle's, Charles', and Gay-Lussac's Laws - which involve the behavior of gases during temperature, pressure, and volume changes. This year a number of students were absent during some of the instruction for these laws and equations. I found that either students were not coming in for extra help to catch up after school and I had to reteach the equations to students who did come in for help which takes quite a bit of time. Some students who were present during instruction also required one-on-one time with me to review the laws. So my idea for the webcast was to record with Smart Recorder myself and some of the seniors in Geochem (I got the idea from Jennifer - thanks!) solving these problems on Smart Notebook. The seniors were eager to make a webcast that allows them to be part of "virtual MHS" for a long time to come, so I really did not have a difficult time convincing them to participate. I put together four Pascal's Principle problems, two Boyle's Law problems, and one each of Charles' and Gay-Lussac's Laws problems. The students chose which problem they wanted to solve for the screencast. I prepared a general script for them to follow and they were given a copy of the problem to review. (Each student had already solved the problem they chose in past homework assignments.) Each screencast took about five minutes to "perform" and save to the district webcast folder. As it turns out, one student was ill and another out of town, so I had to step in to do two screencasts - and I am glad for the experience.

The screencasts can be found in the public folder - MHS - Science - Dierker or http://webcast.mariemontschools.org/. I have shared this experience with my some of my science department colleagues in case they would like to have their own students visit the webcasts or do something similar themselves.

I believe this series of screencasts will be an invaluable tool for students in the future for make-up. review, and study purposes.