The Twitter-verse keeps talking about QR Codes. I had heard of them. I knew they existed, but using them for educational purposes had never occurred to me. Then I started following links that discussed some of the amazing ways to use these codes in an educational setting such as http://k20center.publishpath.com/Default.aspx?shortcut=schools-use-qr-codes-to-embed-learning. I am thinking of posting a few of these codes around the school next year and see what happens. On my Droid, the Google Goggles App takes you right where I intended. If you are an iPhone person apparently they have an app called i-nigma. Walking down the hall a student will see this little box and wonder... random pieces of educational information embedded in QR codes - the mystery of what's behind the code will entice students to find out. Engaging students natural curiousity could have some wonderful random effects in the building. We could even create a bit of a "treasure" hunt around the building. I am looking forward to trying this out when the school year begins.
Have you ever seen those teaching videos where the screen moves as the author talks and explains how to do something? Well I wondered how they did this and I discovered Jing. It is a free program that lets you capture whatever is happening on your computer screen while you narrate. When you upload it to share, it goes to its hosting site screencast.com. From screencast.com you can share whatever you have created in a number of ways. I used this method for the quick intro video on the opening screen of my blog. My first real attempt at capturing and narrating is the following rough screencast I put together. With Twitter I feel that I am constantly learning and being inspired in my profession. I have discovered that some of my best Twitter learning moments come from principals, even though I am not one, and I started following a number of these educational leaders. One of my favorites to follow is @ToddWhitaker. I appreciate his positive outlook and forward-thinking point of view. With that in mind I decided to buy one of his books to read for the summer (he has written a plethora). I "tweeted" him for his recommendation as to which book to read and he recommended "What Great Teachers Do Differently." The book arrived in the mail last week, and this week I read a tweet that lead me to a group of other professionals reading the same book and getting ready to engage in an online summer book club. This will enhance the professional development quality of reading the book for me and increase the chances of direct application in my classroom. Feel free to join the discussion at http://wwfsummerbookstudy.weebly.com/index.html
Add your answer to my question... if you could only add one new tech tool to your classroom, what would it be? Let's see how many answers I can get. RT for me :)
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