Communication


 * Today’s students are communicating daily with peers through wireless devices and social networking sites. While students may be very successful at conversing within their own social circles, we must also educate students on how to effectively communicate within a professional setting. As you explore the following tools, think about those that will help your students improve their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. **

** Blogs: **
According to a report from the **Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project**, “in 2006, 28% of teens ages 12-17 and young adults ages 18-29 were bloggers, but by 2009 the numbers had dropped to 14% of teens and 15% of young adults.” The report discusses how the decline may be attributed towards “youth exchanging ‘macro-blogging’ for microblogging with status updates.” Although blogging may be on the decline within teen social circles, the ‘macro-blogging’ style can still be useful in helping students develop a professional writing tone. Whether students are communicating about what is occurring in the classroom, a fictional character, what they did over the fall/winter/summer breaks, or what future careers are of interest to them, blogging is an engaging activity in which students can hone their writing skills.

The following resources are just a few samples that might help you understand how to best use blogging in the classroom:


 * **Blogger** - one example of a free blog site. It takes only a few minutes to set up a page and have it published. Click here to see a sample blog.
 * **Blogger Buster ** - a one-stop resource for Blogger tips, tricks, templates, tutorials, helpful services, and the latest Blogger news.
 * **Kidblog ** - designed for elementary and middle school teachers who want to provide each student with an individual blog. Set up you class with no student email addresses
 * **Edublogs** - create and manage student and teacher blogs, quickly customize designs, and include videos, photos, and podcasts.
 * **21Classes** - create a virtual classroom with blogs. Designed for teachers, students, classrooms, and school-wide intranet.
 * **WordPress** - create free blog accounts to use anywhere anytime.
 * **Collaborize Classroom** - a free, collaborative education platform for teachers and students.

Resources for Using Blogs:

 * 1) **How to Start a Blog** - if you’ve never blogged with students, this tip sheet is a great reference material.
 * 2) **Teaching with Blogs** - this strategy guide provides tips on how to use blogs in the classroom and sample lessons that including blogging.
 * 3) **Rubric for Blogging ** - a rubric for evaluating student blogging
 * 4) **Education Blogs by Discipline** - a comprehensive list of blogs by subject area and grade level

**Wikispaces:**
The free, easy way to get your classroom online. Post class schedules and goals, announcements for parents, and showcases of student work on your own classroom wikispace. Use wikispaces as a digital portfolio of student-created videos; as a place for students to share notes on each unit of study in their courses; as an alternative to textbooks by posting notes, videos, activities, resources. > > media type="youtube" key="GXId8tu_d04?feature=player_embedded" height="255" width="450" >
 * 1) **[|Wikispaces]**- free, private, secure space for teachers, students, and parents to share information.
 * 2) [[file:Tips for Using Wikispaces.pdf]]- a guide to creating an account and developing a wiki.
 * 3) **Help Wiki **- a wiki designed to teach how to use wikispaces.
 * 4) Look at these **6 [|Video Tours]**available for Wikispaces.
 * Introduction
 * Personalize Your Wiki
 * Files and Pictures
 * Embed Widgets
 * Permissions
 * Send Invitations
 * 1) [[file:Wikispaces SideBar Navigation.pdf]]- tutorial on how to create a customized sidebar navigation to include wiki pages and external links on the sidebar
 * 2) **Education Wikis** - a wiki explaining how to use wikispaces in education.
 * 3) **Wikis in a K-12 Classroom** - a list of ideas for using wikis to engage students or help them collaborate on group projects.
 * 4) **Projects** - events is a Wikispace feature that allows you to schedule due dates for projects. Watch the video for scheduling due dates for projects.

** Creating Websites and Webpages for Education: **

 * 1) **Wix** is a free service for creating and hosting beautiful websites. Wix recently announced that their templates and the websites you build with them are now available in HTML5. That means that sites created in Wix are visible on all devices including iPads.
 * 2) **Whatfolio** is a free service for creating online displays of your digital works. Whatfolio is essentially a homepage to show off what you have created or what you can do. Whatfolio pages are highly customizable for a variety of purposes.
 * 3) **Weebly for Education** is a good resource because it includes features built specifically for education. It offers bulk creation of student accounts which teachers can manage and moderate. Students can create their own websites and blogs using the accounts that you create for them.
 * 4) **Webs** is a free website platform that can include videos, calendars, polls, a wide variety of third party widgets, templates, and layouts.
 * 5) **Web Node** is a simple way to build a website. It has a user friendly interface for dragging and dropping and changing the look and feel of your website. It is a good tool for students to use to present and share their work with a wider audience. First, Web Node does not put any advertising on your website. And second, the user interface is intuitive enough for first-time users to navigate on their own.
 * 6) **School Rack** is a free service for teachers to build and host their own classroom websites. It offers students and parents free accounts to communicate with teachers. Once your students and parents have activated their accounts, you can directly message individuals or send messages to groups that you have created.

Making Webpages Cleaner:

 * Readability** - turns any web page into a clean view for reading now or later on your computer, smartphone, or tablet.

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** Multimedia/Videos: **
 According to a 2009 study by **Nielson**, YouTube was ranked as the most popular source for online videos for U.S. teens. However, many educators have switched to creating, uploading, and viewing videos on **Vimeo**, **SchoolTube** and **Jing** due to district-wide blocks of YouTube. Whether students are communicating in foreign languages, critiquing a product or sharing their knowledge about a topic, multimedia and videos are sure to keep students engaged while communicating. As you are thinking about how to leverage this tool, take a moment to review the following resources: > ===Vialogue Tutorial=== > media type="youtube" key="aX8oFxFGGAg" height="315" width="560" >
 * 1) **[|How can you use YouTube videos in school?]** - this is a Verizon Thinkfinity Community post that provides ideas and a discussion about what to do if YouTube is blocked in your school.
 * 2) **Inserting YouTube Videos into Word **- way around a YouTube block in your school.
 * 3) **Vimeo 101** - this webpage covers the basics on how to select the right camera, shoot, and edit videos.
 * 4) **Storyboarding Basics** - provides several video tutorials that stress the importance of creating blueprints. It also provides a sample storyboard template and a concept board for a Wendy’s commercial that easily shows the real-world application for this project.
 * 5) **[|Wallwisher.com]** - a site for building a wall of notes for announcements, post-its, and more.
 * 6) **Voki**- uses semi-customizable characters and backgrounds and includes lesson ideas for using Vokis. Users can record (or type) 1 minute worth of audio. See the official **[|Voki blog]** for ways to use Voki in your classroom.
 * 7) **VoiceThread** - a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.(Example: **Welcome to Web 2.0 Tools Course**) If you want to embed your VoiceThread within a site, watch the tutorial to learn the process. **[|Embedding a VoiceThread Video]**
 * 8) **Vialogue** - an online video with a group discussion feature; a video dialogue.
 * 1) **Animoto**- enhances your digital classroom with this video tool for creating videos and presentations. Animoto Plus is free for educators who want to use this video creator in their classrooms. It takes just minutes to create a video which can bring your lessons to life. See an example of a video made using Animoto - Cayo Island (Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico).
 * 2) **Flixtime** - allows you to make a free, 60 second video using your own video, digital stills, and music. This could be used to create a quick digital story that includes text, transitions, and music and can be shared with others.
 * 3) **[|Domo Animate]** - an easy to use animation tool where students can plan, create, and publish their own cartoons. Note: use caution when playing publicly uploaded animations

Domonation Tutorial: Domo Slideshow
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** Video Conferencing: **

 * Skype** is one of the more popular free tools used for video conferencing. The following article, **Educators Move Beyond the Hype Over Skype**, provides ideas for how video conferencing can be used across the curriculum.