Best Ideas for Teaching with Technology: A Practical Guide for Teachers, by Teachers

312 Pages·2008·10.91 MB·English

by  Justin Reich, Thomas Daccord

Best Ideas for
Teaching with
Technology
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Best Ideas for
Teaching with
Technology
A Practical Guide for Teachers, by Teachers
Justin Reich and Thomas Daccord
W I T H A F O R E W O R D B Y A L A N N O V E M B E R
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2008 by M.E. Sharpe
Published 2015 by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprin tof the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa busi ness
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persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwi se,
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Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience a nd
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reich, Justin, 1977-
Best ideas for teaching with technology : a practical guide for teachers, by teachers
/ Justin Reich, Thomas Daccord.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7656-2131-3 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7656-2132-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Computer-assisted instruction. 2. Educational technology. 3. Internet
in education. I. Daccord, Thomas. II. Title.
LB1028.3.R437 2008
371.33'4—dc22 2007052922
ISBN 13: 9780765621320 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 9780765621313 (hbk)
Contents
Foreword by Alan November .........................................................................................xi
Introduction ..................................................................................................................xiii
1. Lectures: Enhancing Teaching and Learning with Multimedia ........................3
Introduction ..............................................................................................................3
Multimedia Presentations with Images, Video, and Audio ......................................4
Prepared Presentations with PowerPoint, Impress, and Keynote .......................4
Making and Editing PowerPoint Presentations ..................................................7
PowerPoint as an Activity: Engaging Students with Presentations ..................15
Searching for Images, Audio, and Video: How to Find All That Good
Stuff in the First Place ........................................................................................16
Searching for Images with Google Image Search .............................................17
Searching for Audio and Video with AltaVista ..................................................18
Searching for Audio and Video with Google .....................................................19
Ten Ideas for Teaching with Multimedia ...........................................................20
Using Video in the Classroom ................................................................................22
Bookmarking .....................................................................................................23
BrowserPoint: Simple Web Site Presentations with Tabbed Browsing .................23
Creating BrowserPoint Presentations ...............................................................24
Advanced BrowserPoint ....................................................................................25
Examples in BrowserPoint ................................................................................26
Projectors: Sharing Your Screen with the Classroom ............................................27
Getting Started with Projectors ........................................................................27
The Natives Are Restless: Dealing with Native Resolutions .............................28
Should You Buy Your Own Projector? ...............................................................29
Getting Data into Your Classroom .........................................................................29
Lugging the Lappy ............................................................................................29
Thumb Drives ....................................................................................................29
Portable Music Players as Hard Drives ...........................................................30
Online Storage and Saving ...............................................................................31
Final Thoughts .......................................................................................................32
2. Discussion and Communication ..........................................................................33
Introduction ............................................................................................................33
Creative Uses of Email ...........................................................................................33
Using Email to “Jump Start” a Class: Daily Warm-up ....................................33
Reaching Outside the Classroom: Emails to Authors and Other Professionals ......35
Writing Letters to the Editor and Submitting Editorials ...................................36
Using Email to Connect Your Students to the World: ePals ..............................37
V
vi Contents
Educational Uses of Blogging................................................................................38
Breaking Down the blog....................................................................................39
Best Practices in Educational Blogging ...........................................................39
Ten Things to Do With Your Class Blog ............................................................40
Setting Up a Blog ..............................................................................................41
Blog Types: Single Class Blog, a Blog for Each Student, or Both? ..................43
Examples from Real Classroom Blogs ..............................................................43
Advanced Features in Blogger ..........................................................................46
Blogging Logistics . . . Blogistics? ....................................................................47
Blog Protocol and Privacy Issues .....................................................................48
Blogging and RSS..............................................................................................48
Collecting and Reading RSS Feeds with Bloglines ...........................................49
Select Examples of Blogging Activities for the Classroom ...............................50
Edublogging Assessment ...................................................................................56
Other Blogging Resources ................................................................................56
Chatting ..................................................................................................................56
Sample Assignment for a First In-Class Chat ...................................................57
A Sample Chatting Exercise on the Bhagavad-Gita .........................................57
Basic Guidelines for Chat Groups ....................................................................58
Starting a Chat Room with Chatzy: ..................................................................58
Bringing the World into Your Room: Skype and iChat ..........................................60
Skype .................................................................................................................61
iChat ..................................................................................................................61
Some Hints for Better Calls and Videoconferences ..........................................62
Final Thoughts .......................................................................................................62
3. Note Taking and Organization ............................................................................63
Introduction ............................................................................................................63
Beyond the Trapper Keeper: Keeping Students Organized Online ........................64
Find a Place to Save .........................................................................................64
Online Student Portfolios: A System for Saving ................................................64
Taking Notes with Computers ................................................................................67
Software Tools for Taking Notes ............................................................................69
Using Word Processors for Taking Notes: Microsoft Word, Apple’s
Appleworks, or Open Office Writing .............................................................69
Nonlinear Note-Taking with Graphic Organizers .............................................72
The Future of Note Taking: Tablet PCs in the Classroom .....................................80
Tracking Class Participation ..................................................................................81
Class Scribe: Sharing Class Notes Created by One Student ..................................82
Taking One for the Team: Collaborative Note Taking ...........................................83
Final Thoughts .......................................................................................................84
4. Guided Inquiry .....................................................................................................85
Introduction ............................................................................................................85
Online Scavenger Hunts .........................................................................................85
Examples of Web Site Scavenger Hunts ............................................................86
Designing Online Scavenger Hunts ..................................................................87
Contents vii
More Design Tips ..............................................................................................88
Finding and Editing Scavenger Hunts from the Web ........................................89
Assessment for Scavenger Hunts ......................................................................89
Virtual Tours ...........................................................................................................90
WebQuests..............................................................................................................93
Finding WebQuests ............................................................................................94
Evaluating WebQuests.......................................................................................96
Modifying WebQuests ........................................................................................97
Creating WebQuests in the QuestGarden ..........................................................98
Creating WebQuests in a Word Processor .........................................................99
Final Thoughts on WebQuests .........................................................................100
Google Earth ........................................................................................................100
Three Steps to Getting Started with Google Earth..........................................101
Three More Steps to Using Google Earth Tools .............................................102
Google Earth Hacks ........................................................................................103
Google Earth in the Classroom.......................................................................103
Editing a Google Earth File ............................................................................105
Select Web Sites for Guided-Inquiry Activities ...................................................106
Two Tools for Creating Guided-Inquiry Activities ..........................................106
Ten Outstanding Guided-Inquiry Web Sites in the Humanities .......................107
Final Thoughts .....................................................................................................109
5. Open Research .....................................................................................................110
Introduction ..........................................................................................................110
“Why Johnny Can’t Search”: Searching with Key Terms....................................110
Helping You and Your Students Evaluate Web Sites ........................................112
Citing Web Sites ..............................................................................................115
Research Journals ...........................................................................................117
Google: For Better or Worse, the Number One Student Research Tool ..............118
“Active” Google Searches ..............................................................................119
“Proactive” Google Searches .........................................................................122
Search Directories ................................................................................................124
Library Catalogues ...............................................................................................126
Grokker Visual Searching ....................................................................................129
Five Online Collections ........................................................................................131
LexisNexis .......................................................................................................131
Thomson Gale Powersearch (formerly known as Infotrac) ............................133
EBSCOHost Research Databases ...................................................................136
ABC-CLIO .......................................................................................................137
ProQuest Databases .......................................................................................138
Final Thoughts .....................................................................................................140
6. Homework ...........................................................................................................141
Introduction ..........................................................................................................141
Equity and Access ................................................................................................141
By the Numbers ...............................................................................................142
A Thumbs-Up to Making Computer Work Portable ........................................143
viii Contents
Assigning Online and Computer Homework .......................................................143
Online Homework Templates ..........................................................................143
Long-Term Assignments ..................................................................................145
Rotating Responsibility ...................................................................................145
What to Do for Homework? .................................................................................146
Reading ...........................................................................................................146
Watching and Listening ...................................................................................148
Researching .....................................................................................................150
Writing ............................................................................................................150
Playing ............................................................................................................151
Collaborating ..................................................................................................153
Examples of Short-Term Online Assignments in the Humanities .......................154
Final Thoughts .....................................................................................................166
7. Writing ................................................................................................................167
Introduction ..........................................................................................................167
Standard Formatting .............................................................................................168
Pre-Writing and Brainstorming ............................................................................168
Inspiration and FreeMind ...............................................................................168
Inspiration .......................................................................................................169
FreeMind: A Free Alternative to Inspiration ..................................................171
From Pre-Writing to Polishing: Best Practices for Writing with Word
Processors.........................................................................................................173
Pre-writing with Word Processors ..................................................................174
Improving Writing Before Typing a Single Word: Setting Word’s
Grammar Preferences .................................................................................175
Working with Word’s Spell-Check Tool ...........................................................177
Improving Writing with Word Count ...............................................................178
Improving Writing with the Find Command ...................................................179
Saving Files .....................................................................................................180
Peer Editing with Word Processors .................................................................180
Beyond the Essay: Using Word Processors to Devise New Assessments ............187
Editing with a Twist .........................................................................................187
Writing Newspapers or Magazines .................................................................188
Merry-Go-Round Tales ...................................................................................190
Writing to Others: Letters to the Editor, Editorials, and Communicating
with Other Real People ...............................................................................191
Writing Collaboratively with Wikis .....................................................................191
Why Wiki? .......................................................................................................191
Anatomy of a Wiki ...........................................................................................192
Four Wiki Examples ........................................................................................192
Your First Wiki Project ....................................................................................195
Final Thoughts .....................................................................................................199
8. Student Presentations ........................................................................................200
Introduction ..........................................................................................................200
Student PowerPoint Presentations........................................................................200
Contents ix
Teaching PowerPoint .......................................................................................201
PowerPoint Design Hints for Students ............................................................202
Using Narration to Create Stand-Alone PowerPoint Presentations ...............203
Recording and Editing Audio for Podcasting ......................................................205
Podcasting Defined .........................................................................................205
Podcasting in Education .................................................................................206
Podcasting Project Example: “A Day in the Life of a Hobo” Radio Project ........207
Planning a Podcasting Activity .......................................................................208
Recording Audio into a VoiceThread ..............................................................209
Recording Audio onto an iPod ........................................................................211
Editing Audio on Apple’s GarageBand2 .........................................................211
Editing Sounds on PC Computers with Audacity ............................................214
Sharing Your Sound Files ................................................................................217
Publishing Your Podcast with Odeo ................................................................218
Mobile Podcasting...........................................................................................221
Screencasting .......................................................................................................221
Capturing a Video Recording of Your Screen with Screencast-o-Matic ..........223
Building Simple Web Sites with Google Page Creator .......................................225
Ten Ideas for Student Web Site Projects ..........................................................225
Getting Started with Google Page Creator .....................................................225
Final Thoughts .....................................................................................................228
9. Assessment and Grading ...................................................................................230
Introduction ..........................................................................................................230
Online Tests and Quizzes .....................................................................................230
Finding Online Tests and Quizzes ...................................................................231
Creating Your Own Online Test and Quizzes with Quia .................................231
Sample Online Tests and Quizzes ....................................................................236
Giving Tests in an Online Environment ...............................................................236
Designing Online Assessments with Templates ...............................................238
Electronic Commenting and Grading ..................................................................239
Receiving Assignments ....................................................................................239
The Basics: Bold, Color, Parentheses, and Highlighting ................................239
Useful Editing Features in Microsoft Word for Grading: AutoCorrect
and Track Changes ......................................................................................240
Online Rubrics: Finding Them, Designing Them, and Grading with Them........245
Creating Rubrics with Rubistar ......................................................................247
Electronic Gradebooks .........................................................................................249
An Easy Grade Pro Tutorial in Ten Steps .......................................................250
The New Frontiers of Online Plagiarism .............................................................254
Paper Mills ......................................................................................................254
Copying and Stealing from Friends and Classmates ......................................255
Sloppy Research Habits ..................................................................................255
Preventing Plagiarism ....................................................................................256
Detecting Plagiarism ......................................................................................257
Getting Started with Turnitin.com ...................................................................260
Final Thoughts .....................................................................................................262