Tool #6 Web Tools That Promote Discussion

With the time demands to research numerous sites, I've left Rose to do what roses do and I, the earth-based teacher, am responding.

In my investigation of tools to encourage expanded dialogues, I researched what "back-channeling" meant. I also spent a great deal of time learning about Edmodo. I found a very helpful YouTube video that offered a number of ideas for Edmodo: 20 Ways to Use Edmodo / I'd like to use the voice feature to have students take dictation in order to check their punctuation and spelling. It would be cool to use a Voki with my own voice. I also think parents would like seeing my homework posted on Edmodo because I have several students who don't write legibly or who forget to write their homework. When I tried to set up the Edmodo account, I saw that I needed a special password from the district. So I emailed a request for that and moved on.

Next I researched Diigo as a replacement for Edmodo, and I watched two YouTube videos. When registering, I couldn't seem to drag a diigolet up to my Favorites bar. So, I abandoned that effort thinking that I would register with Edmodo later anyway and that's the one I really wanted.

Still intending to complete this tool this weekend, I moved on to Wallwisher. That site was cool! I made a bulletin board with a question supporting our science content. Weathering, Erosion, Deposition Bulletin Board / I uploaded a picture and a video to see how to do that. There's plenty of room for more notes. I'm eager to make another bulletin board to support math content. I'll write, "If the answer is 24, what is the question?" That should spark a flow of responses. Once the extra technology comes to my classroom, I'll make Wallwisher a regular workstation, simply changing the question periodically.

Lastly, I set up a Skype account. I was thinking that I could link up with an author I know in Jakarta, Indonesia and have my students learn about her writing. I also know someone in the Patagonia mountains in Chile. I thought that my students could ask questions about that biome because we will be studying the topic soon.