While writing a request to my district for enhanced network access for my account (ultimately denied!) I had a chance to reflect on my current use of technology in class. Due to a lack of funding for ‘hardware’ , my technology integration has been primarily of a Web 2.0 nature. It reminds me that it is relatively easy to begin to incorporate new tools into teaching – even if your hardware setup is not ideal. So, as a teacher of “Japanese as a foreign language” in a public high school, where am I now?
- Edmodo for online secure class discussions with my students
- Twitter (2 accounts) one for class discussion & one for my PLN
- Edublogs – for my professional “Language Sensei” blog
- Google docs for student forms/ work etc
- iWeb for website – being shifted to another venue….(but I digress)
- YouTube for my class video channel – used for review/flip class work search
- Quizlet for all course vocabulary
- Jing/Audacity for screencasts for lessons
This didn’t happen overnight but in many instances once the ‘set up’ is done all that is required is minimal updating. As usual, I am always scouting for new tools and ideas on Twitter.
By the way…any thoughts on what to replace iWeb with?
Colleen