Creativity Tools

The creativity tools that I had come across are Idea Sketch, Storybird, and Glogster.

Idea Sketch lets you easily draw a diagram - mind map, concept map, or flow chart - and convert it to a text outline, and vice versa. You can use Idea Sketch for anything, such as brainstorming new ideas, illustrating concepts, making lists and outlines, planning presentations, creating organizational charts, and more! 

   

Storybird is a fantastic site whose mission is to help students improve their reading, writing, and creative skills. Storybird gathers visually stunning artwork and images from artists and illustrators around world and invites students to turn those images into creative stories.

Additionally, Storyboard offers a number of features that incite student participation and creativity. Students can instantly receive and give feedback regarding their stories, and can even publish them on the site to be shared with thousands of other students.

Badges and rewards are also issued to recognize accomplishments and encourage students to continue to advance their writing and reading skills.

Storybird

 

Glogster EDU is a global education platform that allows students and educators to create interactive online posters that include text, photos, videos, graphics, sounds and much more.

Students and teachers have the opportunity to use Glogster as a vessel for creative thought, critical thinking, and problem solving by using images and other media to initiate student participation.

Students can tap into their inherent innovation and collaboration skills, all while having fun though this easy to use platform.

Glogster

TPACK

Technology Knowledge (TK): Is often referred to digital technologies such as laptops, the Internet, and software applications. The three creativity tools above fall into this category.

Content Knowledge (CK): Is the command of the subject. It may also include knowledge of concepts, theories, conceptual frameworks as well as knowledge about accepted ways of developing knowledge. In order for students to continue using the above creativity tools, they must understand what the tools are about; they must know the tool.

Pedagogical Knowledge (PK): Includes generic knowledge about how students learn, teaching approaches, methods of assessment and knowledge of different theories about learning.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK):

Pedagogical content knowledge is knowledge about how to combine pedagogy and content effectively. This is knowledge about how to make a subject understandable to learners.

Technological Content Knowledge (TCK):

Technological content knowledge refers to knowledge about how technology may be used to provide new ways of teaching content.

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK):

Technological pedagogical knowledge refers to the affordances and constraints of technology as an enabler of different teaching approaches.

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK):

Technological pedagogical content knowledge refers to the knowledge and understanding of the interplay between CK, PK and TK when using technology for teaching and learning. It includes an understanding of the complexity of relationships between students, teachers, content, practices and technologies.

ePortfolios

What is an ePortfolio?

A portfolio is a collection of work developed across varied contexts over time. The portfolio can advance learning by providing students and/or faculty with a way to organize, archive and display pieces of work.

The electronic format allows faculty and other professionals to evaluate student portfolios using technology, which may include the Internet, CD-ROM, video, animation or audio. Electronic portfolios are becoming a popular alternative to traditional paper-based portfolios because they offer practitioners and peers the opportunity to review, communicate and assess portfolios in an asynchronous manner. 

Most people are familiar with student portfolios, however, higher education institutions are starting to create departmental and institutional portfolios as a means for evaluating student learning on a more global level. Institutional portfolios provide a means of assessing the impact of the entire educational experience on student learning. They can be used to drive internal improvement and external accountability. Like student portfolios, they allow for internal improvement and external accountability, but on the level of the whole institution.

ePortfolios are great for: 

• Keeping student work organized and accessible by learning standard, lesson focus or lesson outcomes. 
• Aligning learning outcomes with standards. 
• Allowing student reflection, which builds deeper understanding related to the learning outcomes. 
• Letting students easily share their portfolios via web links with teachers, parents, colleges and employers.

Before you make the leap to this technology, consider its drawbacks:

• Possible procedural problems with implementation.
• Limited access to or reliability of the technology.
• Extra time and effort to create and maintain e-portfolios.
• Extra time and effort to grade portfolios and maintain digital artifacts.

Different Tools for ePortfolios

Before implementing a web-based portfolio system, you should determine the components you want the tool to house, such as grade-level requirements and technology needs, such as the number of pictures, videos and documents required.

Next, create guidelines and/or rubrics that describe the portfolio process and how it will be evaluated. Train students how to use the tool ahead of time so they know how to organize samples of their work correctly.

Here are five free, web-based e-portfolio tools that works well for K-12 students:

1. Digication is free with a subscription through Google Apps for Education. It is easy to use, has customizable templates and supports the creative display of artifacts, such as presentations, photo galleries and reports, with color options, fonts and formats, videos or pictures, and linked documents. Digication offers 200 MB of storage. 
2. Epsilen offers a standard e-portfolio template for life at no cost. With storage up to 72 MB, students can incorporate calendars, wikis, blogs, notes, drop boxes and other interactive tools. A tech-savvy student can finish training and start using Epsilen's e-portfolio in as little as 20 minutes, but this may take longer for those who are less technologically advanced. The company offers face-to-face training, self-paced tutorials and follow-up training for a fee. 
3. Googlio is a good option for students who already have Google and gmail accounts. Google provides step-by-step instructions and offers ready-made templates. This tool is easy to use and supports creative presentation of artifacts, so students can easily share their e-portfolios. 
4. Prezi is similar to an interactive whiteboard that allows students to zoom in and out of the projects they work on. This allows viewers to see how an e-portfolio's content connects. Similar to PowerPoint, Prezi allows students to create a path that the document follows in a pattern when viewed. The tool may take a less tech-savvy student a bit longer to master, but it offers an impressive 500 MB of storage. 
5. WordPress uses a blog format that includes a commenting feature. While creating an e-portfolio, students could also learn how to use a blog with this tool. WordPress offers a 10-step tutorial, examples, templates and 200 MB of storage.

My ePortfolio so far: Schmitt ePortfolio

All about the BLOG

What is a blog?

A blog is a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style. A blog is also defined as a frequently updated online personal journal or diary. It is a place to express yourself to the world. A place to share your thoughts and your passions. Really, it’s anything you want it to be. For our purposes we’ll say that a blog is your own website that you are going to update on an ongoing basis. Blog is a short form for the word weblog and the two words are used interchangeably.

Blog (noun) – a journal or diary that is on the Internet.

Blogger (noun) – a person who keeps a blog – Bloggers are revolutionizing the way news is shared.

Blog (verb) – to write a blog – I am going to blog before breakfast this morning.

Blogging (verb) – the action of writing a blog – Blogging is my way of sharing my passions with the world.

What are some characteristics of blogs?

• A blog has some form of navigation, usually menus
• A blog’s layout contains a header, footer and content.  Usually there is at least one sidebar running beside the content.
• Categories of posts
• That readers can access the archives, previous posts
• That a post can contain text and images, (and often video and other media)
• That posts can contain links to other posts, both within blog and to the entire web
• Should contain a contact page and form
• Should contain an about page

What are the components of a blog?

• The header
• The content area
• The footer
• The sidebar

How did I arrive to Blogger?

Google brought me straight here but I realized that I have used blogger before. This website has great features and I am excited that I remember how to use them.

The following explains the basic differences between a blog and a website:

Website

• Content is static.

• Formal/professional.

• Interactivity does not exist. There is only one-way communication.

• Transactional.

• Communication about products and/or services.

• Almost everyone has a website. In fact, it is almost a requirement in business today.

Blog

• Content is regularly updated.

• Not formal.

• Interactive.

• Informative and educational.

• Interactivity about industry/customer issues.

• Some people have a blog.

Blogging vs Vlogging:

Blogging

Blogging is writing about a specific topic and making that writing public.

Vlogging

Vlogging is speaking about a specific topic in front of a camera and making that video public.

EduBlogs (Educational Blogs)

Features of Educational Blogs

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

Content--What content or learning objectives are you addressing? Considering the verb in the objective/standard and Blooms Revised Taxonomy, what is the desired level of thinking from the objectives/standards? (COMING SOON!)

Pedagogy--What pedagogical stance (or which learning theories or theorists) does this work support? In other words, whose “shoulders” did you stand on? Is the approach based on your own experiences as a learner (i.e. you’d use the technology to teach in ways that you’ve been taught)? Or can you identify a theory or approach to teaching and learning that you’ve encountered in your classes, your interaction with other teachers, your professional development (in-services, conferences, workshops, etc)? (COMING SOON!)

Technology--What affordances did you identify for the technology selected? Justify the match of your pedagogical stance/strategy with the technology affordances and the content objectives/standards. (COMING SOON!)