Prezi

Prezi is a great presentation tool. You can have access to it via the website that you can find right here. Prezi is a great alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint. There are different creative designs and animations that you can use. This website is useful for people who want to create an original, creative and dynamic presentation. Here is a quick video about how to get started with Prezi:

As the video shows it, Prezi is really simple to understand and easy to use. I think even the people who are not used to integrate technologies in their presentations would be able to use Prezi. What is really cool about Prezi is the wide variety of templates offered. You also have the option to create your own template, but personnaly I prefer to use the ones provided because it saves a lot of time. There are a whole lot of different templates, I think everyone can find the one he/she wants. Prezi has a free version, where you can have 100 Mo to stock your presentations. However, this option does not allow to keep your Prezis only for you, everyome can see them. If you want to keep your presentations private, you can chose the « Enjoy » option, but you have to pay $10 per month to have 40 Go to stock your presentations, to keep them private and to add a personalized avatar to your profile. Finally, there is the « Pro » option, where you have unlimited number of Prezis to create and an access without internet. This can be useful but personally I would not pay $20 per month to have access to Prezi when I don’t have an internet connection. I think the free version works just fine.

According to Edward Mendelson, there is one annoyance with Prezi. He said that he would have prefered if he could have changed the size of the graphic elements. Personnaly, I don’t think I would mind because if the size of a graphic element doesn’t fit, I would only change the template to find one that fits better for what I want to do. Overall, I did not find anything bad about Prezi. I think it is so much more interesting to look at than a regular PowerPoint presentation.

Now, for classroom uses with Prezi, Ed Tech Co-Op proposed a very practical situation where Prezi could be used: « An English teacher can project a passage on a screen and use Prezi’s zooming capabilities to focus in on one word, with the definition written underneath in a font that only becomes visible as the size of the word increases. » More generally, I think both teachers and students could benefit from the use Prezi in the classroom. First, teachers could use Prezi to explain a project. With Prezi, it is easy to illustrate a topic with all the links. The teacher could begin by the big picture of the project and then go into the more detailed aspects of the project. They could also use it to structure their class and do a little schedule of the day or the period. For the students, I think this is so much more interesting and interactive to watch and it keeps their attention, for a little bit longer at least. Students could also easily use Prezi for oral presentations instead of using PowerPoint. It is really easy to use so I don’t think students would have problems with it. Additionally, because of the fact that the Prezi presentations are saved directly on the website, no more problem with the students forgetting their USB device on the presentation day. They would not have any excuse not to do their presentation.

Finally, I think Prezi is a very good presentation tool and I will definitely use it when I will be a teacher because I thinks it adds an interactive aspect to a presentation.

Using Google Docs in the Classroom

Google Docs is an awesome collaborative tool. It is also pretty easy to use it. Google Docs is one of the features offered in Google Drive. Basically, it is useful for creating, editing, sharing and uploading documents. It works with word documents, excel and even power point. To use Google Docs, you need a gmail account, the Google email system. Once you created your account, you can receive messages and work on Google Docs. The first thing you have to do to begin is to go on Google Drive and to click on the big red CREATE button. This button will allow you to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. In this article, I concentrate only on Google Docs, so this is where you have to click to create a word document. After this, you can name your document and write what you want to in it. The features are pretty much the same as in microsoft word, so users are most of the time already familiar with it. When you finished working on your document, you can share it with other people simply by entering their gmail address in the required area. All the modifications are saved automatically in Google Drive. No more worries about losing your work as there are frequent updates of it. If your computer closes due to whatever reason, your work will still be there where you left it. I think this is a very strong point of Google Docs. When you start with Google Docs, there are small text bubbles that comes up on your screen to explain the different features. If you are not familiar with Google Drive, here is a little tutorial explained with images:

Overall, I think this tool is very good. I only found one bad side to it. Google Docs requires a web access. If you don’t have a web connection, you cannot work on your documents. With Microsoft Word, even if you don’t have access to internet, you can still edit your documents. Other than that, as Greg Ross said in his review, Google Docs is a very solid alternative to Microsoft Word and Excel and you can import and export most filetypes. I totally agree with this, and I would add that the possibility to share your documents and cooperate with others within it is worth using Google Docs, especially in a classroom context.  Finally, I think that the fact that the information is saved on Google Drive is very useful. You don’t have to save your work on a USB key anymore as it is saved in the program. If you are someone who often forget his/her material (like a USB key), this tool is for you!

Now, let’s think about how a teacher could use this wonderful tool in a classroom context. EducatorsTechnology came up with a list of very cool situations when you can use Google Docs in the classroom:
– Google Docs can be used to promote group collaboration and creativity by having students record their group projects
– Teachers can use Google Docs to keep track of grades, attendance, or any other data using Spreadsheet
– Students use Google Docs to collaborate on writing assignments
– Teachers can facilitate writing as a process by encouraging students to write in real time and also by providing help and insight to them using the comments feature
– They can also use Spreadsheets to create quizzes and tests online.
– Teachers can use it to create presentations to share with students . They can also encourage collaborative presentation skills by asking students to work together on a shared presentation before presenting it to the class
– Teachers can use it to maintain, update and share lessons over time in a single document
– It is great for professional development. Teachers, for instance, can collaborate on a document with fellow teachers and use the chat functionality to discuss and exchange views on lesson plans, activities and many more.
– Using Spreadsheets teachers can organize cumulative project data in a single sheet accessible to any collaborator at any time
– Teachers and students can use it to gather research information, ask for opinions

These are all very good uses of Google Docs in the classroom. As a future ESL teacher, I think I would use this tool mostly to have the students collaborate together to write texts, brainstorming, creating presentations, etc. I remember that I always hated to write texts in groups. Since I discovered Google Drive last September, writing texts in teams is definitely easier. Everyone can modify the text at the same time. We don’t need to do our part of the work separately anymore and put it all together once everyone is done (resulting in a text without cohesion and links between the different paragraphs). Finally, I have a very good opinion of Google Docs and it is sure that I will use it as a student, but I will also integrate it in my teaching when the time will come.

Storybird

Storybird is a very fun website  where you can create your own stories. All you have to do is create an account. You can create a specfic account for teachers. In a classroom situation, the teacher only have to tell his/her students to create an account too and then he/she can add them to the virtual class. There are three kind of stories you can create with storybird. First, there is the longform book. This kind of story is on one single page and is separated in chapters. This one is useful for longer stories. Second, there is is the picture book. As the name tells it, pictures are a big part of these kind of stories. You can write a few lines also, but certainly not a paragraph like in the longform book. Finally, there is also the poem form, which is on only one page too. There is a wordbank on the sides of the image you chose and you can select the ones you want to put in your poem. For the images, they are divided into themes. When you find characters that you would like for your story, you just have to click on them and there you go, you can begin to create your story/poem. Overall, the website is very simple to understand and you don’t need youtube tutorials to figure out how it works. An other great aspect of storybird is that you can invite someone to collaborate to your story. In a classroom context, it would be a great idea to have students collaborate in teams to a story. As Jason Tomaszewski mentionned in his article, « all of the StoryBirds are nicely illustrated and beautiful to look at ». I totally agree with this point. All the themes available are very well done.

However, there are some negative points to storybird. First, you can’t print your story unless you pay it. You can’t also save it on your computer as a PDF. Maybe it would be more useful for teachers to be able to print their story in their class, especially if they don’t have access to technologies such as smartboards. Also, I think the kind of stories we can do on storybird are a little bit limited in the sense that you cannot upload your own pictures. Also, in the poem category, the wordbank is also limited. You have to pick the words that are in the wordbank and you cannot add new ones. You don’t get to chose what your poem will be about. Also, I don’t think this tool can be integrated in high school classes. « Storybird is a great tool to create original stories and it is very interesting for ESL students, especially at the elementary level », as stated by SandraLaine on her blog.

In elementary classrooms, storybird can be used in multiple ways. The teacher can create a story and integrate different grammar rules or vocabulary that he/she wants his/her students to learn. It is a great way to put grammar into context and it is way more interesting for the students. Also, students can create a story in teams or alone, for example to tell an event that happened to them or whatever. When their story is created, they can share it with their classmates. It helps them practice their communication competency and their writing competency too. With storybord, I think teachers can make learning English very interesting for the students. They won’t even realize that they are learning!

Personally, I would definitely use storybird with elementary students. I think it is a very easy tool, which is a plus for me because I’m not particularly good with technology.

TeacherKit

TeacherKit is a classroom management app for teachers. It is available on the Apple store, on Windows store and recently, you can download it on Play Store. It is free but you can also pay to upgrade the app, but I think it not necessary because the free version is quite complete. TeacherKit has many different options. First, you have to enter your students’ information to begin. You can enter their name, a picture, their email and skype address. There is a little message icon under the student’s profile and when you want to communicate with this student, all you have to do is click on the icon and you can send a message that way. Also, when you created your class, you can put your activities on the schedule provided. You can also take the attendances and there are also stats related to this, so you can see for each day in the week what was the average of students who were absent. There is also a very useful tool which is the seating plan (see the picture below). The teacher can easily remember the names at the beginning of the year and they can even make seat changes. Another useful aspect of TeacherKit is that you can grade students on their behaviour. For example, you can say that a student « homework done on time », « good progress », etc. If the student did not behave very well, you can note it in only a few seconds. Finally, there is also the grade book where you can enter all your students’ grades. According to Profs Abroad, « the grade book function is far superior and more user friendly than any other grading platform available at this time. Not only will TeacherKit keep your records, but you can export them and print them with a few taps. » Overall, TeacherKit is a great app to follow students’ progress.

In an ESL classroom context, a teacher could use TeacherKit as a classroom manager. This is a good way to stay organized and keep all the important information that you need as a teacher in only one location.

According to Let’s Practice Geometry, « Teacher Kit is another Must Have App for the teacher’s Ipad. » It is true that it is very well constructed and easy to use. The features available are very useful and interesting. However, I think the app is not enough interactive for the students. In other words, only the teacher can use it. It is like a teacher’s personal file about students. The teacher do not share it with his/her students and that is why I think there is a lack of interaction. To make it more interactive, I think the people who made the app should have added a feature where students could log on the app to update their profile and see their grades and behaviours. Personnally, I think the app is interesting but because of the interactive factor that is missing, I don’t think I would use it for my classroom. However, the simple and easy to understand interface is surely a strong point to this app.

Idea Sketch

Idea Sketch is a mindmapping app for iPhones and iPads. It is very simple, I think everyone could easily figure out how it works. All you have to do is click on the screen and your new bubble appear. You can chose its colour, its size and what you want to write in it. You can add pictures, documents or links in the bubbles also. If you want to create a bubble linked to the one you already created, you only have to click on it and move your finger on the screen to where you want your second bubble to be. Here is a screenshot of Idea Sketch.

Moreover, if you click on the button at the top right corner, you can see your mindmap in an outline form like on the following image:

This app could be very useful for high school students when they work for example on tasks like summarizing a chapter of a book. It can help them to understand it better and to remember it. It can also help them to study for an exam, in English or in another school subject. It helps synthesize the information and to understand it properly. It coulps be applicable too for elementary students. The teacher could write the new words the students learned in an activity and relate them to a theme, for example. That way, the students could have a kind of lexicon filled with new words.

According to AppoLearning, Idea Sketch is a very good app for the classroom overall.They think the strongest points are the educational objectives, the clear and simple instructions and the safety and privacy of this app. Mark Wilson explained in his blog that when your mindmap is created, you can save in in your camera roll and then easily transfer it to your computer. However, the weaknesses are that it is not so unique because there are tons of mindmapping apps. Also, it does not adapt to the kids’ level as much as it should. I totally agree with this last point because the activities teachers can do in elementary school with this app are quite limited. However, at high school level, I think this is a great tool.

Personnally, I enjoyed working with Idea Sketch. However, I don’t think it is the best app for mindmapping. I currently use very often Popplet and I think it offers me more options. Moreover, Idea Sketch is available only with Apple devices (iPhone and iPads), so I think this is a negative side to this app. Finally, you have to pay $4,99 if you want the complete version. On the free version, you can do only one map. If teachers would like to use this app for their classroom, they would have to pay to have the full version so the students could do as many mindmaps as they want. I don’t think I will use this app in my classroom because I think there are better ones out there, but I have to say that it is very easy to use and it can make the job.

Kahoot!

Last Saturday, Frebruary 21st was the Speak on Campus at Laval University. It is a day where experts in ESL teaching come at the university to give conferences about very interesting subjects. ICTs are involved a lot more in teaching these days and we had two conferences about different teaching ICTs. That is why I decided to make an article about one of them. The tool I decided to write about is names Kahoot!. It is a quiz making tool, like in my last article, but I would say that Kahoot! is even easier to understand than QuizEgg, which was already very easy.

First of all, Kahoot! is totally free so that is a strenght of this website. You don’t have to pay to have additional features as they are already available for every user. What you have to do to create a quiz is very simple. You just have to create an account, it does not take more than two minutes. After that, you can begin right away. You just have to follow the steps to create your first quiz, it is very well indicated. However, you can only make multiple choice answers type of question. This could be one of the negative aspects about Kahoot!. Once your quiz is created, the website give you a game-pin code. All the students have to do to take your quiz is to go on a computer or their smart phone and go to the following web page: http://www.kahoot.it. When they are on the website, all they have to do is enter the game-pin and a nickname and they can start the quiz. What is very cool about Kahoot is that all the students have to answer simultaneously and Kahoot creates a top 5 with the ones who have the highest scores. After each question, it is also possible to see what percentage of students chose each answer. So this is very good because it encourages competition between students. It will probably encourage them to participate because they will want to be better than their peers. Also, there is a fun little music while students answer the questions so it makes the quiz fun and very interactive. 

Now, how can Kahoot be useful for an ESL classroom? Mr. Joe Gorthy says that Kahoot can easily be used by teachers to conduct fun, interactive review games. For example, I think it would be a great idea to do irregular verbs competitions with Kahoot. We all know that learning irregular verbs is not always very fun, but if the students know that there will be a competition after, they will be more motivated because they will want to win. Students could also create their own quizzes with Kahoot to show their understanding. As Christie Thomas says, the students can also benefit from creating their own kahoots as a means of review. Students who truly understand topics should be able to craft meaningful wrong answers, too.

Finally, I think that Kahoot is a great interactive learning tool and I will certainly give it a try with my future students.

QuizEgg

QuizEgg is a very useful tool for teachers. The main purpose of QuizEgg is to allow teachers to create online quizzes. It is really simple to use and to understand. There is also so much more things you can do other than quizzes with QuizEgg. First, there are many types of questions that teachers can use t create their quizzes. They are not stuck with the multiple choice answers. They can create true or false questions, fill in the blank, word lists, matching, ordering, and even essay questions. With a total of eight different types of questions, the teacher has a lot of choices to create a complete quizz.

With QuizEgg, the teacher can choose a lot of things about his/her quiz. For example, he/she can decide to randomize the order of the questions so that no student will do the same question at the same time. The teacher can also chose the moment when the answers will be shown to the student (all the answers at the end of the quiz, or after each question), and the teacher can even decide whether students can take the quiz again or not. Another very useful tool is that there is a file attachment option. The teacher can include an image or a word document or whatever he wants to the quiz. When the quiz is created, students can have access to it via a web address. It is very simple and even young elementary students can easily understand. The major reason why QuizEgg is so good is the fact that the quizzes are automatically corrected and a report of all the students’ grades is created. It allows the teacher to save a lot of time because if he had done the quizz in the traditionnal way (on a sheet of paper), he would have been obliged to take time to go over all the quizzes and correct them.

The only negative side is that QuizEgg is not free. You have to subscribe and you have a free 30 days trial, but after this period, you have to pay $50 per months to continue to use it. But considering all the other positive sides of QuizEgg, maybe the $50 is worth it!

I decided to give QuizEgg a try. I created a quiz and I must say that it is really easy to do. I definitely consider using it when I will be a teacher. I created a question for almost each type of question available and there is only the essay question that the teacher has to revise after, so there can be a little bit of correction, but still, the biggest part of the quiz is correct automatically by QuizEgg. I think it is a very useful tool for teachers and it can easily be integrated in a classroom routine.

According to Dawn Chastain, QuizEgg’s purpose is to help educators efficiently bring technology into the classroom. There are plenty of ways to use QuizEgg in an ESL classroom. For example, it could be great to have the students read a book and then after to test their comprehension by creating a quiz about the book. Also a teacher could create a quiz about a grammar rule the students just saw. Quizzes are really good ways to know if students understood what has been taught. Also, with the development question, the teacher could ask a practice exam question to help students with their final exam at the end of the year, as they always have to produce a text.

Finally, I think QuizEgg is a great tool to know what the students understood and what they did not. As a future ESL teacher, I think I could easily use it in my classroom because it is simple and I think it is stimulating for the students because it is a new way to integrate ICTs in the classroom,

If you want to take a try to the quiz I created, here is the link: SampleQuiz. However, you will have to subscribe if you want to take the quiz, but no credit card number is required.

To register to QuizEgg, click here: QuizEgg

Haiku Learning

Haiku Learning is a teaching tool that allows teachers to create a virtual classroom via a website. It claims to be really easy to understand and to have a lot of useful functions.

I didn’t know Haiku Learning one week ago, so to figure out what exactly it was about, I visited their website. My first impression was that it seemed a very useful tool for a classroom. I decided to try it so I created a website on Haiku Learning to see how well it worked. On the same website, a teachers can create as many classes as they want. All the students have a nickname and they can log on the classroom website. Teachers can do a lot of things on the course portal. For example, they can take the attendances, they can enter all their students’ grades, they can post assignments, reminders, videos, images, etc. The students can post comments under the teachers’ posts also. Teachers and students can also link their google drive account with the class website and then work on google drive directly from the portal. These functions are the only ones I tried, but there is a world of possibilities  with Haiku Learning. Here is a screen capture of the classroom page I created. I inserted a video.

Reviews

Because I did not experiment Haiku Learning as much as if I was a teacher working with this system for a little while, I went on a forum with users’ review. Overall, they were very flattering for Haiku Learning. The strenghts of Haiku Learning are definitely its ease of use, the google interaction, and the customer service. According to EducationDive, « Haiku additionally has a prestigious roster of schools using its software ». There are of course some small improvements that could be done, for example the integration of internal messages between teachers and students, but also between the students. Seeing the reviews from teachers, we can say that Haiku Learning is a very good website and that the teachers like to use it because it is simple.

Haiku Learning is also a very good learning tool for the students. By logging into the portal, they can have access to everything they need, for example their assignments, the calendar, and some helpful messages from the teacher. It can be very stimulating for them because they grew up with technology and they know a lot about it, so it is a great idea to integrate it to their learning.

It would be really easy to use Haiku learning in an ESL classroom. Because of the system’s multiple functions, the teacher can use to keep track with his/her students. For example, even if the teacher does not see the class everyday, he can easily remember where they were at during the classes by logging on the class’ page. For an intensive English context, where the teacher sees his/her students everyday, Haiku Learning would be equally useful.

Finally, Haiku Learning is a great learning management system that is easy to use. However, if I had to chose a platform to use in my class, this would not be my first choice. The fact that the students and the teacher can’t send messages to each other is a big weakness in my opinion. Also, Haiku Learning is quite simple to use, but there are some platforms that are easier to use and that offers the same features and the option to send messages to the students aditionnaly. This is why I think Haiku Learning is great, but not fantastic.

Integration of a website or an educational content management system into teaching practices.

Technologies are more and more present in our life. It is especially true when it comes to kids’ and the teenagers’ life. They literally grew up with technology. Information communication and technology (ICT) have begun to be integrated in schools and in teaching for a few years now. Sometimes, teachers use a website or a portal to communicate information with the students. Not every teacher is good with these ressources and they often do not want to use it. There are many strenghts to the ICTs, but there are also some weaknesses. 

Strenghts of integrating a website or portal into teaching practices

• Students have access to their teacher whenever they want

 If they have a question concerning homework, they can easily ask it to the teacher right away, even if it is the            weekend. They don’t have to wait until Monday anymore.

• It facilitates the communication between parents and teachers

As Jay Cooper said, it is sometimes hard to get informations about what is happening in school from students. Using a website or a portal, it is easier for the teacher to communicate informations to the parents about the students’ grades, behaviors, or any other business.

• It can be very motivating for students

Students know how to use technologies and it’s part of their life. Using a website at school or a portal helps them to gain valuable knowledge in computers, as Rusmini Ku Ahmad explained in his blog. Students are always more motivated when it comes to something they know and they like.

For an ESL classroom context, where the teacher don’t see the same class everyday, a platform or website can be particularly useful. For example, it allows the teachers to easily contact his/her students if theire is an important message to communicate befor next class.

Weaknesses of integrating a website or portal into teaching practices

• Students have access to their teacher whenever they want

This argument can be found in both strenght and weaknesses of integrating a website or portal into teaching practices. It can be a weakness for the teachers because they work a lot all week long and sometimes, it is normal that they want to get their minds off their students during the weekend.

• Some portals and websites can be difficult to understand for the teacher

Some teachers are not very used to technologies and they can consider having a portal or a website is more like supplementary work, not a useful tool. Because of their lack of knowledge in the field of technologies, some teachers can find even the easiest web portal difficult to understand.

Classroom uses

In an ESL classroom, a website or an educational content management system can be as useful as in a regular class. There are plenty of platforms that a teacher can use with different features. For example, some platforms allow to take attendances, to grade the students, to post the homeworks, etc. All these options are really interesting because it allows to follow the students’ progress and to react immediately if there is a problem with his grades and/or behaviour.

My opinion

Considering the strenghts and weaknesses of integrating a website or a portal into teaching practices, I think it is a good thing. Personnally, I experienced it five times during high school and Cegep. The first portal was Edu-Groupe, in high school and we used it only to have access to the corrected versions of our exercises in mathematics and sciences. I can say that I rarely went on it, so it was not really helpful. Later on, I experienced Col Net in Cegep. It was a portal where we could have access to all our grades and we could send and receive messages from our teachers or collegues. This portal was quite good, but there were sometimes problems with it when there were too many students logged on it, for exemple before the exam week. For this aspect, it was really not useful, but for the rest, this portal was excellent. I also experienced Moodle in Cegep in my mathematics course. The teacher could easily give us our homework on it and we never had any problem with it. Finally, this year in university, I discovered google drive. This is a website where we can upload documents and share them with our peers and teachers for example, and they can give us feedback on our work. They can modify the document whenever they want and I will see their corrections. It is also very helpful when we do a team assignment because everyone can see the teammates’ work. Google drive is a very good platform and I have nothing bad to say about it.

In conclusion, I think using the right website or portal can be a very powerful tool in teaching practices. The key for the teacher is to search for the right one that will be perfect for what he wants to do. If it is used properly, it can do miracles!

My first post

This is my first post!