Document Camera

As part of my new position I am working with teachers to use new technology equipment.  One of the pieces of equipment that we are using is a Document Camera.  We have purchased the Avermedia CP130 (image below).  It has a lot of useful features when using the USB connection to your computer that if it was just hooked up to the TV or projector you would be missing out on.

When you hook up the Document Camera to the computer it has its own software that enables you to use it for many different purposes.
Camera - You can take a picture of anything you put under the camera.  It would be a good way to save lecture notes, or even save an image of a student's work, especially a poem.  It would make it easy for you to upload to a webpage as well.
Video Camera - You can record a video of what is under the camera as well.  When your students are giving a presentation, record the presentation so you can grade it later if need be.  You could also turn it towards you and record yourself giving a lecture, or record your students working on projects in the classroom.
Network - Say you have a student who has done a wonderful project and you want to share it with your staff AS IT HAPPENS.  As long as other teachers have the software they can network to the presentation in your classroom.  Talk about Collaborative teaching!
Drawing - The software also comes with drawing tools.  You can underline, write, highlight, etc., key parts from text in your class.  Think of it as a 21st Centuty Overhead Projector.  No more cleaner.  Once you make your marks, you could take an image of those as well using the camera features.  You can also type on top of images as well.  It also includes transperant boxes and circles that would allow you to highlight a particular text or picture from your textbook.
Playback - You could record your lesson, and then make it available for a substitute to play it the next day for your students.  It would be a great way to ensure your students won't have questions about an assignment because you covered it already.  You could also playback students presentation from previous classes to show students how you want a project done.
Other Features - You can print directly from the screen.  You can import images to the screen from the Internet that you have saved (Be a great way to highlight information from a map, chart, or graph).

Teachers in my school have used the Document Camera to take what used to be individual assignments and turn them into class assignments, creating more discussion, interaction, and maintaining student's attention.  I highly reccommend the purchasing of a Document Camera for your teachers or departments.  You can get the Avermedia CP130 for just under $400.  There are other options, but I would check to make sure they have a software package, otherwise you are missing out on all a Document Camera can do.

AverVision Document Cameras

Document Cameras in the Classroom

Tim Bedley Article - Classroom Uses for the Document Camera

Jeopardy Labs

Most of us have seen and probably used the Power Point Presentation templates that are the Jeopardy review game.  Most of us have probably also ran into problems with them (Links from slide to slide don't always work) or don't have the time to sort through all those slides to add the answers and questions.
Well, now there is a new way to get Jeopardy for your classroom.  Jeopardy Labs has created the Jeopardy game online.  Once you have created your game it gives you a link to a website which you then open in your classroom and play with your students.  You can add up to 10 teams and adjust their points based on their answer.  So it gives you complete control over the review.

If you don't feel like making a game, then browse through the ones that have already been created and see if there is one that applies to your curriculum.  One problem you will see is that there are quite a few that are unfinished.  So, even though they are on there, it will be tough for you to find any that you can use.

There are no fees, no registration, and no Power Point involved.  Everything is on the website.  It is very user friendly.  If you create one, or find one that is useful, please come back and comment on this post to share it with other teachers.  Be sure to include what content it covers.

Blabberize

So, I came across this site surfing the web. Found it kind of funny. Then I thought, "how could this be used in the classroom?"  Well there are multiple options.  You could do short biographies of a famous person.  It would be like your students speaking as a famous president or inventor.  Your students could load their own picture and read a poem.  If you have students studying animals, find a picture of an animal and talk as if you were that animal, sharing information about it.  Really you could use any image of anything or anyone you are studying.

I think it would be a memorable way to share information.  It would keep your students entertained as well as attentive to the presentation.  It would have to be worked on some where in silence so there is not background noise, but it would be a great addition to a homework assignment or any project over someone famous.  Of course your students would need Internet access.

Here is one I created.  Looks like I am talking out of the corner of my mouth.  I also could have made the mouth opening bigger which would have been more entertaining.  Go ahead and laugh...I did!

One Page Websites

Many students do not use the same software at home that we use at school, especially those from lower income districts.  Now the technology has expanded making it easier for teachers to convert files from Word Perfect, or Works, or whatever program the students are using.  There is however another options.  Two websites that I discovered give your students the ability to create a one page webpage.  Students could type their paper using these webpages and then just simply write down the link on a sheet of paper and bring it into class.

Just Paste It and Axess.im give students the ability to title the webpage and then share it with you.  It would then also make it easier for you to share on your own website or blog.  Each site allows you to easily upload pictures as well as links.  You can also embed Youtube videos via HTML or directly (depending on which one students use).  Both are very simple to use and offer most of the Text Formatting you will see in an average Word program.  Just Paste It automatically saves your work every 3 minutes, so if the browser crashes, the data will not be lost.

Be careful though.  You want to make sure that the students work is not plagarized and that if you post it, other students do not use it without permission, so you might have to createa a password for your webpage and then give people access to it that way.  Also know that anything posted to these websites becomes the property of the developers, royalty free.

Just some things to keep in mind, but for simple assignments, this would/could be a solution to your problem.

Edublog Awards

The time has come again for the Edublog Awards.  I am new to this whole Edublog experience, but I thought I would share the previous winners of 2008 so that you could view their blogs.  You can also view back to 2004.  Got to wonder if any blogs from 2004 are still up and running with all the changes to the Internet and Technology Integration.

You can nominate a blog for a multitude of different categories.

My Nominations for The 2009 Edublog Awards are:

Best teacher blog - Social Studies Central
Best Resource Sharing Blog - Free Technology For Teachers
Best educational use of a social networking service: Classroom 2.0
Best educational wiki - Moving Forward
Lifetime Achievement - Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod


Personally, I am new to the game.  I am sure there are a lot of other Edubloggers out there that I have not visited, but these are the ones that I have feeds to, so they are ones that I watch and keep up with.

Thanks.  Visit all the great Edubloggers out there and show your support.  They work hard to share information with all of us.