ULearn11 - learning, discovering, trying it out for myself.

So I have just spent three days at ULearn11 in Rotorua and had information overload!!!  And this is my first ever blog!!  So here it goes!!

Before I went, I wanted to find out about blogging and wikispaces, more freeware and internet based applications, and e-portfolios.  I want to try these all out in my class!!

The first breakout I went to was hosted by Dorothy Burt and her daughters Ashleigh and Georgie.  It was about blogging.  These are three of the most important things I got out of it:

·       congratulate, thoughtful, helpful = comment.

·       screen shots of things like Mathletics certificates on individual blogs.

·       videos, pictures, stories, poems, posting reflection or stating what they are looking forward to in the next term, class/school events, book reviews/podcasting.

The next breakout I wnt to was about websites for learning.  Some of the websites I am keen to try out from this are:

·       fotobabble  www.fotobabble.com  you can use images and kids record sound based on that image.

·       Telescopic Text  http://www.telescopictext.org/  - this shows the kids writing/thinking process, shows their editing.  Can get a login and it is important to log in to save it and go back to it.

·       The Awesome Highlighter  -  you can create a website, great for research for projects http://theawesomehighlighter.com

·       Cue Prompter   http://www.prompter.com/  great for if you are videoing something – just like a news reader!!

·       Popplot   www.popplet.com  -  brainstorming tool, write, draw, add photos or videos.

·       Custrmaps   http://www.clustrmaps.com  shows when someone visits your blog where they are from.

·       Animoto   http://www.animoto.com  low level thinking for creating movies, but great for teachers in a hurry.  Good for posting photos on your blog.

·       Scratch   http://scratch.mit.com  download it to make games, you can then upload it.  You can download other people’s games and change them.

·       Kerpoof   http://www.kerpoof.com  the next step in gamemaking.

I met Kitty from Taharoa at this breakout and she showed me some other cool websites I also want to check out"

PicLits  http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx

My StoryMaker  http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/embed.cfm

Picture Book Maker  http://www.artisancam.org.uk/flashapps/picturebookmaker/

www.webook.com/911writersblock  -  to overcome writers block and use headphones

http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm - instant poetry forms

Xtranormal  http://www.xtranormal.com  makes movies

P22 Music Text Composition Generator   http://www.p22.com/musicfont/ converts any text into a musical composition.  Displayed in musical notation and generated as a midi file.

Later that day I went to a breakout about wikispaces.  Another inspiring tool to try out.  And these websites were recommended:

·       VoiceThread – used to capture children talking about their strategies.  www.voicethread.com

·       Audioboo  http://audioboo.fm/  another web based tool to record audio of kids talking about their maths strategies.

·       Wallwisher (online brainstorming tool)  http://www.wallwisher.com/

·       Vimeo & Photobucket http://vimeo.com/ http://photobucket.com/

Today I went to a breakout about self-directed learning. 

What does it involve?

-         self-management:  establishes clear goals; thoroughly gathers information; persistently stays with a task; uses a systematic approach to problem solving, organisational planning, and decision-making.

-         self-monitoring:  self-reflection; self-evaluation; process of reflecting on one’s own thinking patterns, plans, decisions, and actions.

-         self-modification:  feedback ….revises strategies and strives to maximise his/her effectiveness based on feedback.

And lastly I went to a breakout about more freeware and internet based solutions.  I'm keen to try these ones out:

·       Jing – a tool used to capture a short movie of your screen or a portion of it and save as a flash movie file http://www.jingproject.com/

·       Mindnode  -  a mind mapping program; is text based and can be exported as a PDF; no faffing about with logins, just goes http://www.mindnode.com/

·       Worditout  http://www.worditout.com/  you have a bit more control over it than Wordle.

·       Tagxedo  http://www.tagxedo.com/  you have even more control than Wordle or Worditout.  It can be exported!!!

·       Story Creator  http://myths.e2bn.org/story_creator/  good for reluctant writers

·       PicLits  http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx  has pictures and it has words down the bottom that you drag and drop to create sentences.  For reluctant writers.

·       SlideShare  http://www.slideshare.net/  good place to find out about things – lots of good stuff about maths and writing for kids.

·       Tutpup  http://www.tutpup.com/  maths, spelling, algebra…. games

·       Awesome Screenshot - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/awesome-screenshot-capture-/  and then you can write on it!!  It can grab more than what you can see.

And that is my first time.  Better see what it looks like now.  Melulater!!