ED 527 Module 5 Blog Posting

Wiki:  Educators are using wikis in a variety of ways such as a means of communicating course content (Robyler & Doering, 2013). The following wiki is a good example of this usage:

http://highschoolbiologywiki.wikispaces.com/

I really like Mrs. Geist’s biology wiki.  It includes course content, activities, and a classroom blog. The wiki contains a lot of good information in a very organized manner.  I would definitely like to model my wiki similarly.

Podcasts:  Podcasts can be a useful tool in education especially given their ability to be “shared over the Internet for playback on the computer or personal media devices” (Robyler & Doering, 2013, p.224).  Here are two good examples of biology podcasts:

http://biopodcasts.blogspot.com/p/concept-2-cell.html

The above podcast is about cell parts and functions.  The video illustrations are great for studying/reviewing the concept.  This site even contains quizzes at the end of each podcast and a how to guide for making video podcasts.

http://craigbioscreencasts.blogspot.com/

The above podcast shows how a high school teacher might use podcasts in the classroom.  The teacher uses his podcasts for students who were absent or for those needing extra help or clarification on a topic.

Social Bookmarking Site:  Websites such as delicious allow users to organize their favorite websites much like a favorites or bookmarks file (Robyler & Doering, 2013).  The neat feature of these online organizers is that they can be accessed anywhere and can be shared with others (Robyler & Doering, 2013).

https://delicious.com/#rachelanne1

I have started following Rachel Marshall on Delicious (see above link).  Her science and educational websites are great for students and teachers alike.  I also like the way she has the sites tagged which makes them easy to find.

Widgets:  I embedded two widgets that use HTML which is the “internet standard for how web pages are formatted and displayed” (Robyler & Doering, 2013, p.249).  On the right hand side of my blog, you will see both widgets. 
The first widget is a news feed of science articles written for young people.  These would be great for bell ringer type activities or to show students real world applications of science. 
The second widget is an interactive periodic table which is an excellent reference tool for students. It would be much easier for students to use this periodic table instead of the usual one found in the back of textbooks. 

Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2013).  Integrating educational technology into teaching (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.