Planboard
At first, Planboard seemed new to me but when I read up on it, I realized that it is very similar to Planbook, which I have been using for the past 3 years. I wondered if planboard was free and considered switching from planbook because I pay $12 per year. Surprise Surprise! I was directed to planbook.com - the website that I have been using for the past 3 years. Apparently, planbook and planboard are the same ownership and I’m stuck with the $12 annual fee.
In exploring the uses for Planboard/Planbook, it supports teaching as a lesson planning tool for teachers. It’s online and convenient to access or share with colleagues for collaborative lesson planning. I doubt that as a tool, planbook can directly impact student learning; however, when a teacher is able to organize her lessons and collaborate with colleagues, the diversity of professional knowledge in group lesson planning becomes beneficial to students – indirectly. One major challenge that I noticed was that sharing lesson plans was not seamless and was quite a process when I tried it 2 years ago. Regardless, I’ve been paying the annual fee because it’s a powerful tool for keeping my lesson plan organized. Let’s put it this way: it’s a productivity tool because it makes my work easier and I found the color coding extremely helpful for separating my classes when I taught 3 subjects in one school year.
Present.me
Another tool that seemed unfamiliar was Present.me, based on the name, I knew it had to be a presentation tool but after I read up on its capabilities, I realized that it’s similar to Microsoft officemix. The officemix is an add-on tool to powerpoint, you download it and use it to capture screenshots, record videos and even collect polls/feedback, make comments, quizzes, etc – all on your powerpoint slides; I’m a huge Microsoft fan and as long as Microsoft has a solution, I stay with their version.
Present.me is ideal for presentations as it takes presentations from the “lecture” approach to a more interactive space, and that increases student engagement. My favorite functionality is that tutorials can be recorded and embedded on each presentation slide. These functionalities help diverse learners improve their skills through practice. To manage this tool with students, it is important to set clear objectives and monitor students so that they don’t perceive it as an opportunity to take selfies and record videos that are off topic. Better still, a rubric should address this especially if the rubric is shared with the students prior to using the tool. Diverse learners who are dyslexic and struggle with spelling may use video presentations to showcase their projects or work that they have done. Students who struggle with fine motor skills can also benefit from the video presentation functionality.
Boomwriter
The third tool that I investigated was Boomwriter. This tool is completely new to me. I’ve neither come across its name nor come across its kind of functionality and I must admit that I am impressed with what it does. “Students are presented with the first part of a story and then write what they think should happen next. Students read the anonymous submission of their peers and then vote for a piece they think should be the next part of the story. The winner becomes the official next chapter, and the process continues until the piece is completed” (Solomon & Schrum, p. 261).
As an English teacher of students with learning disabilities, I know how important it is to teach “Predictions” as a critical thinking skill. In addition, the voting option keeps students motivated and engaged with class literature as it allows them to assume the role of an author through participation. Students with Emotional Behavioral Disability (EBD) who struggle with anxiety will be able to share their work anonymously without feeling called out on a public platform. One challenge that I foresee is inappropriate text content. To address this challenge, expectations must be made clear so that students don’t seize the opportunity for cyberbullying or inappropriate content. According to the Best Practices video on https://vimeo.com/55821286, constant monitoring of student online activity is always ideal.
SCREENCAST
I decided not to use jing at all because it needs to be downloaded to a device. In support of web 2.0 – Opensource, free and ONLINE, I decided to take a complete Web 2.0 approach to the screencasting experience by using screen-o-matic; unlike jing, screen-o-matic functions over a browser and still has offline capabilities if the app is downloaded. That being said, my experience with screen-o-matic was positive. I found the website intuitive and easy to use and the tutorials were very helpful; otherwise, I would not have thought about refreshing my page to launch the screencast recorder.
Some ideas for using screencasting in my classroom as a Language Arts teacher would be for immediate feedback and immediate remediation. When students know what they don’t know, I believe that half of their learning problem has been solved. The immediate remedial aspect of using a screencast eliminates a formal remedial to saves both teacher and student a lot of time in the future. In general, it’s a great drill and practice tool for students who need emphasis for mastery of a skill or concept.
References
2016, July 8th. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/55821286
Solomon & Schrum, 2014. Web 2.0 How-To for Educators. 2nd Edition