As I have mentioned at the beginning of the course, I want to improve collaboration in my class. I want them to collaborate online and offline, inside and outside the classroom and more importantly I want them to get used to this type of work as something usual and regular. If my ‘experiment’ succeeds, I will use the tool I have chosen with my other classes as well.
Still blurry, but I can see the lights in the distance.
I have decided to use Edmodo, as something rather new to me, to students and to teachers in Serbia in general. Edmodo promotes collaboration, group work and hopefully PBL and it is a platform which allows for anytime anywhere communication between students. One of the reasons for choosing this platform is an option of sharing files and documents easily. It also reminds me visually of Facebook and my students are already familiar with that social network more than enough, so that could be an advantage. I have already used one of my lessons for introduction and instructions. I have divided my group of 16 students into four groups and assigned the tasks. My project is going to be student-centered as much as possible and the topic is ‘Dances’. I will only give the tips and additional instructions, but they will have to collaborate and rely mostly on themselves as a group and as a class if they want to succeed.
The next phase of the project is going to be done outside of the classroom and it includes online discussion, web search and of course the magic word ‘collaboration.’ Of course, I will be a part of it as I will be monitoring their collaboration.
This week the discussion on Nicenet has been livelier than ever. There have been many interesting suggestions regarding the use of interactive Power Point and many original examples of presentations posted on Wiki and I will probably use at least one interactive presentation during the project.
I have to admit that stepping into the week number 6 has made me a little bit sad, because we are slowly moving towards the end of the course. When I was reading the posts of previous participants who mentioned sadness because of the end of the project, to be honest I thought they were overreacting. However, I think I can understand them much better now.
Oh, I almost forgot. I know you are all very busy, but I invite you all to sing along the song I have posted here and feel free to have a look at other pages, too.
OK! I bow to you! You have done a great deal of work in matters of the other folders you have created as well. My first comment will be about the Eurovision song you uploaded! As a real Eurovision fan, of course I remember this song and the sensation it had created back then. Greece's entry this year is not what I like and to tell you the truth, I don't think we will make it to the final. Anyway! I LOVED "Lane Moje" by Zeliko... He is singing this year as well, no?
ReplyDeleteI see you have started working seriously on your project and I believe planning and dividing students in groups will prove really helpful. I have heard of the tool "Edmondo" but I've never used it so it's time for me to have a look at it now. I, also, agree with you that this week has been really "fruitful" on Nicenet. I haven't done much as I was really worried about how to make the interactive PPT but I will do my "homework" tomorrow! Take care and keep up the great work!
Thank you, Georgia. Well, I when I work I dedicate myself completely to my goals and my goals at the very beginning were: to give my best during the project activities, to give my best at creating a project, and to learn about Oregon and write about Serbia each week. I try not to skip any of those promises, no matter how stressful some of the weeks are, because this kind of a professional development happens once in a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteWow, you are really a fan of Eurovision! You even know a lot about Zeljko! Yes, he is performing this year too, but I don’t like either him or his personality. I don't think we will get into finals either. I have heard Greek song and you are right, you could do it better, but I’m sure you will next time.
Edmodo seems as a great tool and as I discover new options each day I'm getting more and more impressed by it. Don't worry about the interactive PPT, I'm sure you will make it.
Thank you and enjoy the Eurovision Song Contest next week!
Mary:
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of using a social network that looks like FB, and to organize the group on smaller ones, better, I am going to follow your project develop to learn of you.
I’ve one question for you Marja:
All the instruction and tips for your students is on English?
Or sometimes you have to use Serbian?
I ask you this because it is hard for me to think on a project as yours with my students.
I like your spirit!
I’m not sure of what the song says, but I like it, I need to practice more before I decide to sing along in Serbian!
And again thanks for the great info about your BEAUTIFUL Country!
Hi, Marija!
ReplyDeleteI am working on the project that will be in the WebQuest format. I see that you are doing the same. So it will be cosy,I think, to review our projects next week.Will you review my project plan checklist?
I like your process you are working on your project.What kind of web discussion do you plan to have? When I began to work with the project I had one problem that not everybody of my students had Google accounts.First they did their accounts.
And another problem that I only learn myself how to use hyperlinks in my presentation.
But I like doing it very much!
And I also think about the end of our course with regret. I know that there are a lot of things we can speak about.But we'll speak about it later. And now we are together and our teachers and we do the best to have fruitful,useful,pleasant time together.
Have a good time!
Hello and welcome!
ReplyDelete@Poncho Yes, although my students spend a lot of time on the Internet, they do not know much about other websites except Facebook and YouTube and maybe some websites for playing games. If I'm correct, I remember your post on Nicenet where you described the same issue. Hopefully, I will not only use Edmodo for the project, but for introducing useful websites and web tools too.
No, not all my instructions in the lesson are in English. However, I will encourage them to use English only on Edmodo. Btw, I cannot insist on English only during the lessons at any cost, because I do not think some grammar explanations should be done in English only.
Thanks for the compliments, I hope the project works. I'm glad you like my country and please do not hesitate to sing. You may even send me a voicemail using Speakpipe :)
@Svetlana Yes, I will be working on WebQuest and I'm glad that there are more people willing to use this tool during the project. I have already accepted checking one participant's checklist, but I can check yours too unofficially. You've got my e-mail and we are friends on Facebook so you may contact me whenever you wish.
As for the web discussion it will be done on Edmodo. They will not go deep into discussion, because they are still young, but they will have to agree on the links and the resources they plan to use and express their opinions. I find Edmodo very convenient for this type of activity.
I have sent you a message on Nicenet about the hyperlinks the same day you asked me to help you, so please check your inbox and let me know if it helped.
Cheers
Hi Marija,
ReplyDeleteToday I've explored your blog a bit more and found out that it's absolutely incredible! Instead of posting once per week, you write a few posts on different subjects – webskills, Oregon, Serbia and Tech Tips. You say that such a chance comes once in a life time and it's great that you're trying to experience it to the max. I haven't read all your posts yet but I'm sure I'll be back to read many of them in order to learn about your country, the state of our university and, of course, to reveal some tech secrets.
I'm also starting to feel sad that the course will be over soon, I'll miss it and our nice company... Yet we're still here with loads of tasks to accomplish :)
Like you, I want my students to collaborate more and for my project I also decided to choose some collaborative environment. I considered a few but in the end I decided to stick to wikispaces, which I'm already familiar with. I believe that at the end it will be interesting to compare our experiences.
Good luck!
Ruta
Thank you, Ruta! Those kind of comments give me more strength and motivate me to make my blog even better.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for all of us to share our experiences at the end of the course. I am sure wikispaces has some advantages over Edmodo, but I think I am ready for something new, so we will see the outcome :)
Thank you very much once again and wish you all the best
Marija, after I read your post, I decided to get an account in Edmodo. You are right, it looks like Facebook but it has everything a teacher needs. It allows you to create groups, to keep record of students' grades, to upload files, to connect to Google docs, to post announcements....Wow, I'm impressed. I think this is an excellent tool for teachers. Thanks for sharing!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, Sandra. Yes it is a great tool and it looks a bit like Facebook but I'm glad it isn't Facebook :) Although I use Facebook actively in my private life and I also have two Facebook groups (one of them has about 3000 teachers), I don't add my students so I can't communicate with them there. However, what I mind most is that Facebook has become my students' one and only place on the Internet. I will try to make Edmodo a FB substitute, but more serious and educative one, though I miss the 'like' button on Edmodo :)
ReplyDeleteWow impressed it seems you have thought a lot about your project. I wish you the best.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to comment on your PPT. I was very entertained by it. Great job.
Thank you Glenda,I hope everything goes well. And I'm glad you liked the PPT.
ReplyDelete