Blog #7: Wix

Link to the Website: https://www.wix.com/

The tool that I will be sharing with you this week is Wix.  This site is a cloud-based development platform that allows the user to create a professional website.  It can be used to promote a business, showcase your art, set up an online shop, test out new ideas, or in this case it can be used as a classroom website and a way for teachers to communicate with parents and the community.  The site is free to use and all you need to do is sign up for an account.  This site can also be linked to an existing Facebook or Google+ account so you really can get started with the click of a button.  Once you are logged in there are many great preexisting templates to choose from that can meet any of your website creation needs.  Almost anything can easily be customized.  

Here is a short video clip about Wix:

One of the things that I love that I learned from the video is that all of the websites that are created on Wix are automatically compatible for mobile devices so the site really could be accessed from anywhere.  This would be helpful for parents who might want to keep up on what is going on in their child's classroom.  Since many parents have very busy lives, having the extra options for accessibility are very important.  This tool falls under the communication category for communication with parents and in some cases the greater community.

I feel like this site is very easy to use and quite versatile in the content that it could be used for.  I was presented with a plethora of options when I created my site and I liked many of the options that I saw.  I can guarantee that I will use this once I am teaching to communicate with the parents of my students.  It is very important to me that parents feel like they are included in their child's education and that they are always kept up to date regarding what takes place in the classroom.  I love that this is a central way to post about the learning that is taking place in my classroom and reach everyone who cares about the students instead of trying to communicate through individual e-mails.  I also, like this better than a paper newsletter because it allows for feedback from the parents as well.

Here is a screenshot that I took of my site which is still a work in progress:

Reflection #6: Animoto

Link to the Website: https://animoto.com/

The tool that I will be sharing with you this week is Animoto.  Animoto is a website that allows you to create professional quality videos from digital pictures and videos.  They appear in a slide show format and can be synced to music.  Also, there are many different themes and styles available as templates that can be selected to make the creation process fairly simple.  I believe that the site is easy to use for someone who might even only have some basic computer experience.  As for the versatility of the site, although there are many templates and different ways to theme the videos, the overall objective and end goal is very much the same regardless: the production of a video.  This falls under the creativity category.

Here is a video overview of the site:



One of the bummers about this site is accessibility.  When you first sign up you will be eligible for a free trial, but once that runs out the site becomes a paid site.  There are three pricing plans.  The Personal plan is $8 a month, the Professional is $22 a month, and the Business plan is $34 a month.  In the fine print it can be seen that these are just the prices per month when you pay for an entire year at once so the out of pocket expense for the plans becomes  $96, $264, and $408.  If you choose not to pay for the year up front, the monthly subscription price doubles!  Just based on price alone this site is not necessarily friendly to the budget of teachers or students.  I honestly do not know who would make enough videos with this to justify the expense.

I do not know if I would actually use this in my classroom very much.  I could see myself using the site to create videos at the end of the year to celebrate all that my students learned over the year.  If we took any neat field trips, participated in special projects or school events, I might take pictures from those events and create a slide show to show at an end of the year party to celebrate all of the learning and community engagement that took place.  I think the site would be pretty easy for 5th grade students to figure out, but I do not know yet how I would incorporate this site into a lesson.  Any ideas that any of you readers might have would be appreciated.  One of the downsides of the site also is having to spend time gathering the picture and video files to be used in the creation of a video.

Ultimately this was a very fun site to work with and I could see myself using it for personal reasons, but I do not know how practical this site would be for classroom use.  Regardless, here is a video that I made showcasing my time spent at Eastern.  :)

Reflection #5: Stormboard

Link to the Website: https://www.stormboard.com/

The tool that I will be sharing with you this week is Stormboard.  This site allows you to brainstorm, organize, prioritize, and act on the best ideas in the same room or around the world on a real time sticky note whiteboard. You will need to create an account to use the site, but it is very easy to set up because it gives you the option of signing in through your Google account which we all have for this class.  There are two versions of this site, you can either have a free or a paid account.  With a free account you are going to have many options available, but some features such as the ability to add a stack, files, or a sketch will be blocked to you unless you get a paid account.  If you will be using the account all the time, it really would be beneficial to get a paid account which is $5 per month.  Basically Stormboard is a virtual white board where you can place sticky notes with text, pictures, and video.  One of the nice features that I really enjoy is that the sticky notes can be color coded which would allow for greater organization.

This is a collaborative tool in the learning category and once you share your board, people can come in and read your sticky notes and then they are able to leave comments on what you have posted.  People can also go in and vote on ideas.  One of the down sides to this website is that anyone you want to collaborate with also needs to create an account to be able to view your boards, but that is the case with most collaborative sites.  In a lot of ways this site operates similar to RealtimeBoard.

Here is a review that was created about Stormboard that I found helpful when I was learning to use the site:



One of the other neat features of Stormboard is the ability to use templates.  There are dozens and dozens of templates that overlay the board to help provide better organization for thoughts and ideas.  Here are some examples of what Stormboard looks like with templates:

This is another board that I saw that I really liked and I tagged it with Thinglink to talk about how it could be used in the classroom.

I would use this in the classroom with my students.  Assuming that access to a computer is not an issue for my students I would have them add their ideas about things that we have been discussing in class outside of class time.  This would also be a great way for students to collaborate for group projects.  Personally, I could also see me using this as a way to communicate with other members of the Boards that I serve on.

Reflection #4: Quozio

Link To The Website: http://quozio.com/

The tool that I will be sharing with you this week is Quozio.  This site allows you to turn meaningful words into beautiful images and then they can be printed or shared via Facebook, Pintrest, e-mail, etc.  When you go to the website, two boxes will appear.  The first box is where you type in the quote you want to use and the second box is where you type in the name of the person who said the quote.  Then using the text you entered, you will be shown a plethora of images that enhance the quote by changing the font and the background that the text is displayed on.  You can also use the Bookmark feature which lets you create an image simply by highlighting text from a webpage or document. In order to use this feature, you do have to install it. Once you find an image style that you feel best matches the quote, you are able to share it very simply and easily.  There is no need to create an account to be able to use this website.

This is a video that shows you how to use the site:

This website could be used for Information Processing in the Learning phase.  It can be used to visually share inspirational quotes to hang around the classroom.  It could also be used to create a nice way of presenting classroom rules, procedures, and agreements after the class comes up with them at the beginning of the school year.  Students could use it to share a quote with the class that was said by someone they are researching for a biography project.  In this way, it is very versatile.  I will definitely use this to enhance inspirational quotes for my classroom.

Here are a few quotes that I made with the site:

Reflection #3: Bubbl.Us

Link To The Website: https://bubbl.us/

The website that I will be reviewing for this reflection is Bubble.us.  This site is a brainstorming tool that helps you to organize your "thought bubbles" by drawing links between your thoughts and refining your thinking.  This is a fun way to create "mind maps" that you can use to help organize your own thoughts or help communicate to others about what you are thinking.  The site is very easy to log in to and get right to work.  The site for the most part is easy to use.  I ran in to some confusion when I first started to organize my first mind map when I was trying to figure out how to connect bubbles to each other.  Ultimately I was able to figure it out and I was able to organize my thoughts on the SAMR readings and links.  I will include that mind map here as an example.

This website would be used for Information Processing in the Learning category.  It would be a great tool to use as a "pre writing" exercise before students are asked to write a paper or essay.  It would also be a great tool to let students know about when they have a project or they are working on researching something.  This would be a nice way to organize their research as they do it and it would help them to come up with a way to present their information to the class.  This site could be used by both teachers and students to organize their ideas about any subject and so in that way it is very versatile.

I can definitely see myself using this website in my classroom in the future.  I will introduce it to my students as a way that they can organize their thoughts and while I am still in school myself I will use it to help me organize my current research.

Reflection #2: LiveBinders

Link To The Website: http://www.livebinders.com/

The website that I will be reviewing this week is LiveBinders.  This site allows you to organize file and folders into a virtual binder in much the same way that you would keep them in a physical binder.  You are able to organize your work with file tab dividers to make it easy to find everything.  You can then share your binder with anyone you would like to grant viewing permission to and it can be accessed from any device.  The site is very easy to use.  It is free and has a quick sign up process.  Once you are logged in, it automatically has already created "Your First Binder" and double clicking on it allows you to get right to work.  It also has a tab automatically inserted into the binder giving step by step instructions as to how to use the site and this tab can simply be deleted from the front of the binder once you feel comfortable with the site.

This website would be used for Teaching in the Planning phase.  It is a great place to keep lesson plans, to organize all web 2.0 content, to keep portfolios, and document professional development.  I is very versatile in terms of the content and file formats that can be used on it.  Also, not only could be it used for lesson planning, but it could be used for administrative purposes, for packaging information and resources for parents, and to leave lesson plans and instructions for substitutes.

Here is a sample of what Parent Resource Binder might look like:

I could see this being a resource that I would use everyday and something that I could heavily rely upon to stay organized.  I plan on exploring this site more.  I can see me using it now for school and for my extra curricular activities and non profit work.

Reflection #1: Jeopardy Labs

The tool that I will be reviewing this week is Jeopardy Labs.  This tool allows anyone to create a Jeopardy Game template without the use of PowerPoint.  Also, there is no registration or fees associated with the website.  Any game that is created can be played from anywhere in the world.  You can also access templates that have already been created to see if one will meet your needs without having to create one from scratch.  To begin, the website will ask you to create a password that will allow you to access the game you create to view it at a later time or to make changes to it and then it will immediately launch you into the game board.  Everything is very self explanatory and easy to use.  Even students would not have a hard time learning to use this website.  To edit a box, just click inside of it and it will allow you to type in the answer and question into the boxes.  It even reminds you that in Jeopardy, the answer is originally given and the person responding is supposed to come up with the question.  Once all of the boxes have been edited it is easy to access the game again to edit it or to play it.

This website would be used for Teaching and Assessing students.  Ideally, it would be a great way for students to review for a test.  Also, since it is so easy to use, students could even separate into groups and each have a different subject that they create their own Jeopardy board for and then later all of the boards could be viewed and played by the class.  In this way it is moderately versatile because it could be used for every subject and could be used by teacher and student.

I can definitely see myself using this tool in my classroom a few times a year.  I would not want to use it too often because I would always want it to be exciting for my students.

Here is a link to the website:

Jeopardy Labs