Training for

Web 2.0 and Software Tools

Please read the descriptions below then go to: http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/D767C76C0AE06516 to
vote for your top three choices for training workshops.
Visit the Butler Tech Integration Wiki for more info on each tool: http://butlertech.wikispaces.com

Kathe Santillo, Instructional Technology Coach

1. Using Wikis

General Info

A wiki is a Web tool that is often used as a collaborative Web page. A wiki can be set up so that it can be edited or added to by many people, or it
can be created and used as a Web page by one individual. A wiki can contain multiple pages, and the creator(s) can edit text, embed documents,
links, images, and multimedia. A teacher can create a wiki, and then have each student add his/her own individual page. Wikis often include
discussion areas, which the creator can choose to enable, if desired. Wikis can be public so they can be viewed by anyone, or they can require an
"invitation" by the creator in order to be viewed, keeping them private. They often include e-mail features as well.

How Can I Use This in My Classroom?

ƒ Students can use information gathered in research to collaboratively create a subject specific Web page.
ƒ Students can use the wiki to engage and discuss different points of view on a selected topic.
ƒ Students/and or teachers can use the wiki to post and respond to questions on a selected topic.
ƒ Students can create and share study materials for everyone to use.
ƒ Teachers can post and discuss lessons and activities throughout the year.
ƒ Each student or group of students can create and add a page to the wiki as a project.
ƒ Teachers can post resources and links to supplement lessons and activities.
ƒ Students can post their lab reports.
ƒ Students in more than one classroom can collaborate without being in the same room.

Examples
http://butlertech.wikispaces.com
http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis
http://my-ecoach.com/online/webresourcelist.php?rlid=4992
http://www.techforteachers.net/wikis-in-the-classroom.html
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-i-use-wikis-what-do-you-do.html

2. Using Blogs

General Info

Shorten from the term "Web log", a blog is a Web page where a person can regularly make entries, such as in a journal or diary. Blogs are
commonly used for commentary, journaling of events, news or information about a specific subject, or personal reflections. Entries most
commonly appear in reverse chronological order, and can contain images, links, or embedded video players. Readers of the blog can also leave
written comments on the blog page, if the blog creator chooses to enable this feature.

How Can I Use This in My Classroom?

• Create a blog which provides additional material on thematic units you study. You can link to supplemental videos, podcasts and websites
to encourage extended learning.
• Create a blog where students list hypotheses before a science experiment. When the experiment is done, the results can be posted and
compared to initial hypotheses.
• Create a blog where students share stories about their favorite holiday or event, or blog about traditions in their family.
• Create a blog which lists creative writing prompts or post visual images. Encourage students to post after selecting a prompt or picture.
Let this evolve so that students begin writing the prompts for other students.
• Create a blog where students post reviews for books they are reading.
• Create a blog where every member of the class posts about a favorite vacation. Embed in a "collaborative Google map" where everyone
"pins" their favorite vacations on one map.
• Create a blog where you list various statements that are facts and opinion. Students can leave comments explaining why each is either a
fact or opinion.
• Create a blog where students create a timelines (use online web ware such as timetoast.com) for events in a novel or story, or for
historical events being studied.
 • Create a blog that displays information and characteristics of various art movements. Post famous art pictures and have students
comment on the prominent characteristics of each. Let students find and post examples of various movements and techniques in art they
find.
• Create a blog where students collect data on science experiments. Use blog to display information gathered from Google spreadsheets.
Students can create/embed graphs and charts explaining relationships of data.
• Create a blog where students respond to particular relevant political cartoons. Ask students to evaluate the real meaning behind the
cartoon and correlate its importance to current events.
• Students can create a blog to showcase individual art projects (using a digital camera and scanner).

Examples

http://schoollibraryblogs.blogspot.com/2006/09/classroom-blogs-examples.html
http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/blogs.shtml
http://millersenglish10.blogspot.com
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/weblogs 
http://futureofmath.misterteacher.com/classroom_blogs.html
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/resources/classroom-blogs

3. Using Glogster.Edu
(http://edu.glogster.com)

General Info

Users can create free online, interactive digital posters called Glogs, which can contain video clips, music, digital photos, Web links, and graphics.
These digital posters can then be viewed during classroom presentations, viewed online by the teacher, or can be embedded in other tools such
as wikis, blogs, or Google maps. The Glogs are housed on an online server, and can be edited and viewed anywhere there is an Internet
connection. Best of all, no art supplies are needed in the classroom!

How Can I Use This in My Classroom?

 • Substitute for traditional paper poster projects.
• Supplement written projects with a visual media Glog poster, such as for biographies, or historical timelines.
• Use in place of oral reports or PowerPoint for class presentations.
• Create a Glog about an individual leader or notable person, and then embed it in a class collaborative Google Map place marker. A
colorful, digital biography will appear when a “visitor” to the map clicks on that place marker.
• Make an easy, yet colorful and expressive Glog and embed it as your blog homepage, or have students design ones to fit the themes of
their blogs. (See a Glog as a wiki homepage at http://butlertech.wikispaces.com)

Examples

http://butlertech.wikispaces.com/Glogster (scroll to the Glogster examples at the bottom of the page)

http://www.glogster.com/edu (Scroll to middle of page)

4. Using Discovery Education Streaming

(http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com)

General Info
Discovery Education Streaming, formerly UnitedStreaming, is a multimedia database housing thousands of full-length educational videos, video
clips, clip art, photographic images, speeches, sound files, encyclopedia articles, historic events, and more. The database includes Teacher Tools,
such as Quiz Builder, Writing Prompt Builder, and Assignment Builder, which enable teachers to create and administer assessment and
assignments online. All Multimedia can be downloaded and saved for future use. Searches can be conducted by keyword, subject area, grade
level, media type, and state curriculum standards.

How Can I Use This in My Classroom?

• Embed videos in PowerPoint and ActivStudio presentations.
• Create writing prompts using DE videos or still images and the Writing Prompt Builder.
• Use the Assignment or Writing Prompt Builder with a video depicting an event, either current or historical. Ask the students to write a
“news story” of their own based on what they viewed in the video clip.
• Used the closed-captioned feature to let struggling readers or ESL students relate visual and audio connections.
• Use the Calendar to highlight historic events that occurred on students’ birthdays.
 • Use video quizzes and the ActivBoard to complete on-demand assessment of comprehension.

Examples
Log into DE Streaming, click on Teacher Center and view the Thematic Focus units, lesson plans, and the Discovery Educators Network for
examples.

5. Using Google Docs

(http://docs.google.com)

General Info
Google Docs is a free online word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation editor that allows you to create, store, share, and collaborate on
documents with others. If you know how to use other word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation programs (like PowerPoint), you can
easily use Google Docs. Instead of emailing files back and forth between collaborators, Google Docs allows people to work on a single version of a
document together online. The chat feature on presentations makes it possible to create a “permeable classroom” by bringing experts into a
lesson to interact with students online. You can also create web-based surveys and self-grading quizzes to collect information from students,
teachers, or parents.

How Can I Use This in My Classroom?

• Students can work on their files from any computer—all they need is an internet connection, which means groups of students can work
collaboratively on documents and slide presentations, even from home.
• Students can publish their papers and presentations on the web for an authentic audience.
• Students can collect scientific data and enter it into one collaborative spreadsheet.
• Students can work collaboratively with students in another classroom, even during a different period.
• Students can house all writing assignments on Google Docs as an electronic portfolio.

Examples
http://www.google.com/educators/p_docs.html
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/business-presentation/the-way-we-use-google-docs-in-office-and-classroom/
 

6. Using Learn 360

(http://www.learn360.com)

General Info
Learn 360 is a subscription-based multimedia database similar to DE Streaming. The subscription is currently being provided by the Midwestern IU
4. The database library includes standards-based videos, video clips, audio, speeches, songs, images, and newsreels. The resources come from
providers such as PBS, Nova, Sunburst, National Geographic, and more. There is also an assignment/quiz creation tool, a classroom blog creation
tool, and teachers can upload and share their documents (including Promethean Flipcharts), podcasts, and media with students and colleagues.

Classroom Application
• Embed videos in PowerPoint and ActivStudio presentations.
• Use the Assignment Creation Tool with a video depicting an event, either current or historical. Ask the students to write a “news story” of
their own based on what they viewed in the video clip.
• Stream or save videos to supplement instructional units.
• Have students create their own media productions using the editable titles.

•
Examples
After you receive login instructions, visit http://www.learn360.com and view teacher resources included with many of the media files.

7. Using Google Maps

(http://maps.google.com)

General Info
Google Maps is a powerful, user-friendly mapping tool available on the Internet. Not only does it provide driving directions and local business
information, but Google Maps also provides terrain maps, satellite imagery, and (in some places) a 360 degree photographic “street view” of the
real world. Using the “My Maps” feature students and teachers can also collaborate to create their own custom maps by adding place markers that
include text, images, Glogs, and video. Custom Google Maps can be shared by copying a web link or embedding the map in a class website, blog,
or wiki. You can use available overlays to show demographics, earthquake occurrences, forest fire occurrences, and much, much, more. You can
also use one of over 1,500 map tools and overlays in the directory.

Classroom Application
• Keep track of the location of class pen pals.
• Embed information and media about plant or animal life in maps of specific habitat areas.
• Have students map out a walking program for exercise, then figure how many calories their program will burn. They can embed the
Google pedometer tool as well.
• Create a virtual field trip and label the sights prior to or in place of a real field trip.
• Have students pre-explore a region prior to beginning a unit of study on that area.
• Keep track of current and past earthquake activity in an area.
• Have students collect and post census data to a specific city or area.
• Have students plot the settings of a novel as they read it.
• View and research the settings of a novel prior to reading it.
• Have students use the measurement tools to find the distance to some place or between two points of interest.

Examples

http://cit.duke.edu/pdf/tools/CITGMapsWkshpHandout.pdf
http://www.littlestregular.com/blog/2007/12/google-maps-and-gettysburg.html
http://rumsey.geogarage.com/
http://maps.google.com/help/maps/mymaps/create.html
http://www.google.com/educators/p_maps.html

8. ActivStudio Refresher and Advanced Skills

General Info
ActivStudio software is the software that accompanies the ActivBoards. The software enables the user to create presentations similar to
PowerPoint (called Flipcharts) but with a level of interaction to enhance teaching and learning. This workshop would benefit those teachers who
have already had some training on ActivStudio software, but would like a refresher on basic skills and training on advanced techniques, such as
bringing an object to front; embedding Web pages, video, and audio; creating containers for self-correcting, interactive answers; linking to Word
documents; adding page notes and links to lesson plans; and more.

Classroom Application
Visit the following sites and locations for integration ideas:
Wireless Network Folder – Classrooms for the Future Department Share Folder – YOUR Department – Resources from K. Santillo.
http://www.prometheanplanet.com

Examples

See Above.

9. Using the ActivSlate with ActivStudio Software

General Info
This workshop is for teachers who will be receiving an ActivSlate in the classroom through the Technology Mini-Grant or other district funding.
The ActivSlate utilizes the ActivStudio software. Together, they can create interactive lessons and activities. The ActivSlate provides additional
ways for students to interact with lessons from their desks, and, if used with an ActivBoard, enables the teacher to move freely around the room
while maintaining control of the board.

Classroom Application
Visit http://www.prometheanplanet.com for more information and lesson ideas.

Examples
See Above.

10. Using Activotes

General Info
The Activote Classroom Response System is a group of devices that enables on-demand assessment, such as polling, prior knowledge, or simple Q
and A, and then displays the results for immediate feedback. Activotes can be used with the ActivBoard or on their own. Response data can be
saved in a spreadsheet for record keeping, and Activotes can be assigned to individual users or used anonymously. This workshop is designed for
teachers who have access to the Activote systems in their buildings.

Classroom Application
• Classroom polling prior to a lesson or unit introduction.
• Simple assessment for comprehension of material.
• Use as game show response devices for lessons created in a game show format.
• True or false responses.
• Mock elections or trials.
• Opinion polls.

Examples
Visit http://www.prometheanplanet.com for integration ideas.