One focal point in today's videos that I will remember is that creating learning that is meaningful and significant to students will make students come alive in the learning process. For me this means talking with their regular classroom teachers a little more, but mostly, it means just thinking outside the box of traditional computer lessons. I love the idea of students doing screen casts to teach other students what they have learned; or making podcasts about something they have experienced or are interested in. These are lessons I would never have thought of before this class.
I remember my excitement when I first learned about Jing and its ability to make cropped screen shots. I thought the video capture was great, but could not image the logistics of using it. Now I can see how to save and embed in a Wiki. (Unfortunately, I also found that embeding in Ppt 7 is way too difficult for even the teacher to do.) I never would have thought of students using Jing, but now I think students making how-to's to share would be a "meaningful" addition to a project.
Although my students have made Google Earth tours, I find that there is always something new to learn about the tool. Today I learned that with a little bit of HTML, you can add a picture to the info bubble. I am officially getting at the point of Web 2.0 overload. Perfect timing. Time to start planning some web 2.0 lessons. Lots of choices, but some are jumping out and saying "pick me".
It's funny, I think Google Earth is just about the coolest thing I've ever seen but can't think of a single way I would use it. It is just amazing what you can do with it that we couldn't do just 10 years ago. It's almost scary to think where it will be in another 10 years.
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