Twitter
The value of Twitter for helping you and your colleagues stay informed of the latest trends, ideas, resources, and Web 2.0 integration tools has increased tremendously in the past year.
A Web 2.0 tool is available for exploiting the every growing information on Twitter to remove barriers and allow you to collaborate with other science and math teachers. This new online tool is paper.li – a source of daily Twitter newsletters in education.
This web site offers hundreds of newsletters which provide a summary of ideas, tips, and resources other educators are tweeting about in the previous 24 hours. The daily newsletters are based on hash tags educators to organize their information in categories for you and other teachers.
Web 2.0 Daily Newsletters
The following are a selection of paper.li daily newsletters which are of prime interest for science and math teachers of all levels.
- edtech Daily – provides a summary and links to articles and blog posts which concern the integration of technology in teaching and learning. This newspaper also provides a summary of posts under the #edchat hash tag in which teachers discuss issues, share tips, and resources regarding technology integration.
- elemchat Daily – a summary and links to article and blog posts concerning issues, tips, ideas, and resources for elementary teachers.
- mathchat Daily – a summary of discussions, articles, and blog posts regarding teaching and learning math.
- scichat Daily – a summary of discussions, articles, and blog posts regarding teaching and learning science.
- teachingscienceandmath – summary of tips, resources, discussions, and blog posts regarding teaching and learning science and math, along with technology integration.
- education Daily – provides a summary and links to articles and blog posts concerning current education trends and issues.
- edtech Daily – provides a summary and links to articles and blog posts which concern the integration of technology in teaching and learning. This newspaper also provides a summary of posts under the #edchat hash tag in which teachers discuss issues, share tips, and resources regarding technology integration.
Each daily newspaper provides an “alert me” button which allows you to enter your e-mail address to receive an a message informing you the newspaper was just updated with the latest news, stories, blogs, and discussions related to its topic in the last 24 hours.
These daily Twitter newsletters are ideal for every teacher who wants to take advantage of this powerful Web 2.0 tool and do not have the time to scan through all the tweets of the people you are following.
This is the second part of a three part series focusing on tips and tricks for podcasting.
Now for more tricks and tips for podcasts – recording and posting.
Recording Podcasts: Software Programs
There are two primary software programs for teachers and students to use in recording podcasts, which are Audacity and GarageBand.
Audacity – is a free downloadable program used for PCs and Macs.
Audacity is a multi-track recording software program. This means you can record or import various sections of audio and have them overlap or play at the same time. You can move tracks around to have them start and stop at specific times.
Audacity has six tools, although you will find most podcasts only require the use of the Selection and Timeshift tools when recording and editing.
One drawback with Audacity, unlike GarageBand, is the need to import all music and sound effects from other sources. See the royalty free music section below for good resources.
LAME – after downloading Audacity, you will also need to download a free copy of LAME for exporting podcast recordings as MP3 files to your website, wiki, hosting service, or iTunes.
Use the following instructions to help with downloading and installing Audacity or LAME if you have any difficulties.
GarageBand – comes installed on all new Macs. The third part of this podcast series focuses tips and tricks for using GarageBand for making podcasts.
Royalty Free Music
One issue which causes problems when creating podcasts is using royalty free music or sound effects to avoid copyright violations. The simple solution here is to not use music or sounds; however, there are many occasions where the addition of music or sound effects enhance a podcast.
Copyright violations typically do not begin with teachers; however, students are a different matter.
Students will want to use their favorite music sound tracks and are often oblivious to copyright laws.
Teachers need to insist all music and sound tracks come from GarageBand or the following royalty and copyright free web resources when using Audacity:
- Incompetech.com – music tracks
- Partners in Rhyme.com – music tracks and sound effects
Posting Podcasts for Student Use
There are a few of options for making podcasts available for students. An important consideration for these options is all material must be royalty and copyright free.
Class Website, Blog, or Wiki – this is a good option for most teachers. Students and even parents can access the podcasts. Although this is the easiest method, there is no way to keep track of how many times a specific podcast was downloaded.
iTunes – allows free uploading and downloading of podcasts. Students can subscribe to iTunes (in reality many students are already subscribing) and have broadcasts automatically downloaded to their computers, iPad, or iPhone.
Once they are downloaded they can listen or transfer it to their iPod. Subscribing is a great idea because it eliminates the need to check the iTunes website or class website, blog, or wiki to see if new broadcasts were posted.
Each time a specific podcast is downloaded it is recorded, offering teachers with a method of determining the usefulness or a specific podcast.
Hosting Services – sometimes teachers find both Audacity and GarageBand are not options for them. The following are user freely podcasting services which allow you to record a podcast, post it for others to download or listen, and also provide a means for embedding a link to the podcast on your class website, blog, or wiki.
- PodBean.com – Free 100 MB Storage and $4.95 a Month 150 MB Storage
- AvMYpodCast.com – Free Trial and $4.95 a Month 250 MB Storage
Next Post – Tips and Tricks for Podcasting – Part 3
Additional Resources
Tips and Tricks for Podcasting (Part 1)
How to Integrate Podcasting into Science and Math Classes
Podcasting in Science and Math Classes
Wiki pages are always a work in progress. The wiki is like a dynamic online science classroom which continually grows and changes.
Applications for the use of Wikis in science classrooms is only limited by the creativeness of the teacher in support science teaching and student earning.
Teaching Strategies with Wikis
The following are examples of how teachers can use wikis in science classes:
- Simulations and Animations – these can be used by students during investigations or review. One example: pH Scale
- Interactive White Board – screen shots from class discussions on topic for students to review later.
- Podcasts – both audio and video podcasts for students to use for review or use during investigations. One example: Physical Science
- Wordles – post a teacher or student created Wordle of a specific chapter, unit, or investigation. One example: Nature of Science
- Resources – providing links to Delicious or Digg resources for students to read or use in science projects.
- Images – a set of Flickr images for use when teaching specific concepts, a picture is always worth a thousand words. One example: Marine Biology
- Projects – a copy of current science projects for students (and parents) to read and review, along with the project rubric. One example: Investigating Earthquakes
- Class Notes – post an overview of daily lessons for students who missed class and review. One example: Density Power Point (works well with Google Docs and VoiceThread)
- Lab Report – a copy of your standard lab investigation report.
- Science Fair – guidelines are provided for the school’s science fair. One example: Science Fair
- Science Safety Rules – include a copy of student safety contract, lab safety rules, and internet use contract (if required by school).
Learning Strategies with Wikis
Wikis promote learning network by creating a community of experts. The following are examples of students can use wikis in science class:
- Glossary of Scientific Terms – Example: students develop an interactive glossary for defining physical science terms throughout the entire school year.
- Taxonomy – a student developed identification, naming, and classification of living things during their life science or biology course. Example: students develop the taxonomy of specific plants using definitions and images.
- Investigations – student groups report on experimental designs and submit investigation reports to their teacher. Example: students collaborate in the investigation of the mystery, why honey bees are are disappearing.
- Visual Arts – students groups can collaborate in research to find web-based resources which describe scientific processes using works of art. Example: students upload images or animals, plants, or nature of science.
- Science Newsletter – students can create a class science newsletter for sharing with other science classes and parents.
Advantages of a Wiki
These are some of the advantages of a wiki:
- Wikis allow for open editing, whereas web pages are limited editing (specific program on specific computer).
- Multiple users can edit a wiki.
- Privacy levels allow control of users.
- Notifications and display of all changes allow monitoring of all edits.
- Uses simple text language instead of html as in web pages.
Many science teachers who used web pages to support their classes have switched to wikis, because of all these advantages.
