How to Make Your Distance Learning Classroom PINTERESTing? 10 Ideas for Using PINTEREST

See on Scoop.it - OTLBlog


PINTERESTing... hmm...

See on effectiveonlineteaching.org

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I found this article about Facebook in the classroom to be interesting, so I thought I would pass it along. What do you think? Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments.

Facebook In The Classroom. Seriously.

by K. Walsh on March 27, 2011

Do Popular Social Networking Applications Have A Place In The Classroom? A Growing Number Of Educators Say ‘Yes’.

The post, “100 Ways To Teach With Twitter”, is one of the most consistently viewed article on this site. Similarly, “Facebook As An Instructional Technology Tool”, resulted in the 2nd most trafficked day here in 2010. While Facebook and Twitter are both hugely popular Internet tools, I still find myself a little surprised by the popularity of these posts, considering the academic perspective of this site. Many teachers, even those at online universities, are hesitant to use such popular tools, given their inherent risk of exposing students to inappropriate content.

Of course these are two very different types of tools, but they both have their place in the social networking sphere. Facebook’s place is at the top of the heap (as of this writing it is the second most popular site on the Internet, right behind Google), while Twitter defined the genre of ‘microblogging’ (but much of its use is also in a social networking context).

To read more follow this link: http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/03/facebook-in-the-classroom-seriously/

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SoundCloud.com - A Simple Social Audio Tool

SoundCloud.com is an audio platform that enables anyone to upload, record, promote and share their originally-created sounds across the internet, in a simple, accessible and feature-rich way. From sample to symphony and soundbite to soliloquy, SoundCloud allows sound creators anywhere to instantly record audio on the site or via mobile applications and share them publicly or privately; to embed sound across websites, social networks and blogs and receive feedback from the community.

SoundCloud's open platform also supports a wide range of applications built on the SoundCloud API, enabling everything from mobile voice recording, online mastering, digital distribution to Facebook artist profiles and iPad music making. SoundCloud offers free accounts to amateur creators, with more advanced users able to upgrade to premium accounts for advanced features like statistics, controlled distribution and custom branding.

This web application holds endless possibilities in the arena of online education. I gave SoundCloud a try by recording a mini-lecture for my students about an minimally invasive cardiovascular procedure called Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS).

Check it out:

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/24317110" iframe="true" /]

Here is the image referred to in the recording:

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="316"] Intravascular Ultrasound Image Courtesy of Volcano Corp.[/caption]

Try it yourself at SoundCloud.com .

Wallwisher.com - Online Message Board

A new way to communicate... Wallwisher.com is an interesting, simple online message board tool that could be applied for online education in a variety of ways. The site is easy to use.  To create a wall you can sign in using your Google ID or Open ID so you I don't have to register for yet another site in order to access a simple application. General participants, however, do not have to register at all and are able to provide a nickname when they create a post.

In addition to being used as an introductory icebreaker, it could be used to get a general consensus or comment from the group about any given topic. It could also be used to share a new idea or a brief clinical/field experience. With a little imagination, it could be used to collect thoughts over a period of time as a course progresses.

It could also be used for something as simple as organizing a potluck luncheon. Everyone sign up for something on the Wallwisher wall! It could be used to communicate brief announcements or updates since you can set up an RSS feed. At the end of a course students could post comments or "advice" to share with the next students who take the course.

The administrator can choose the background for the wall and even create a unique link of their choosing to share. According to Wallwisher, creating a wall is the next fastest thing to the speed of light. That seems a bit exaggerated, but it really quick! Once the wall is created, participants simply double-click to share text as well as a link to an image, audio, or video. Users can drag posts to rearrange them however they choose. The major limitations of the site are the 160 character limit per post and the fact that multimedia cannot be uploaded, but instead must be hosted elsewhere and a link provided. With a little creativity, I am confident these limitation can be easily overcome.

In all, I am excited about having this fun, useful tool in my arsenal.

Check it out for yourself at wallwisher.com.