The web 2.o tool that I have been looking into this week is Eduslide. It is a tool that I would possibly use in my Action Research project. Eduslide offers a place to create a learning environment. Within this learning environment I would be able to customize my course with its many features.
Please view this video on the use of Engrade a web 2.0 tool.
With so many different web 2.0 tools available to us where should we begin? I began by walking to the classroom next door and asked if she used any cool web 2.0 tools. She immediately said Engrade was a tool that she started using recently and that she was very pleased with it's performance and accessibility. It has always been a challenge to try and keep up with students’ grades and inform hundreds of parents of their child's progress. With Engrade as you enter the grades the parents are updated as long as they take the time to log in and view their child's grade. Also Engrade will allow the parents to view assignments and any comments that have been posted.
Engrade is only as good as the data that is entered into it. Like most grading programs, entering the data that will take the longest. Having the ability to give parents the option to follow along with their child's progress is powerful. Parents are a critical component in each student's education. Engrade is just the tool to help in that process. Grades are calculated instantly as they are entered. Assignments can be available to students who are absent. Communication is created in an environment that is focused on the academic success of the student. Colleagues can interact via Engrade and provide support for one another. Engrade is free and they provide support to aide you in the use of this great tool.
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The following is what I noticed about blogs and research relating to what I viewed on Internet. “Blogs” or “blogging” have been around for about a decade and the use of blogs can extend from children posting comments to each other, to businesses and professionals sharing ideas and keeping up with the latest improvements in their field of work or study. In the field of education the use of blogs have been useful for the purpose of interacting with students and parents, connecting with other classes across the world, research and sharing ideas with other professionals.
With this vast source of information, professionals can use blogs to help them to be at the top of their game, while also providing others with same information that will save them the time of having to reinvent the wheel when it comes to researching similar topics. Information that is shared via a blog relating to research and finding new sources should be taken at face value and should only be considered as reliable if the source is credible.
Blogs that allow comments keep an ongoing dialogue between those of similar interests. In research, those interests could reveal articles, books and other sites that would be helpful for the particular topic. The ability to see comments posted would also allow the critique of such resources and possibly pinpoint key ideas.
As I am new to blogging, all of this is very overwhelming. I am excited about the possibilities and it is my hope to grow in this area. Blogs can be a very helpful tool in the area of research as well as a tool that can be used for the classroom itself. Blogs can help me to grow professionally and will also aide in the way that I conduct research. As I was researching teacher-centered classrooms vs. student-centered classrooms, I came across the above blog post, which could help me with my research.
