I have recently been contacted by a friend who made an app for classroom purposes, called ClassVantage. I was intregued.
I must say that I have been exposed to different kinds of classroom organizational tools. Edmodo for example or class dojo.
I have tried to use Twitter to connect with the educational community, as well as LinkedIn, and Pinterest. I have to say that I have had limited success with these tools.
Edmodo does not seem very user friendly to me, although I must admit I have not used Classdojo.com
On the other hand the TDSB has an online network called AW 3.0 (academic workspace), though which you can create classroom forums and online blogs such as this one, and discussion spaces. It is not as developed as D2L, but I used it with high efficiency last year, if only for its novelty. The students were struggling with writing on paper so i gave them the option of writing online. It was highly effective. They can also post from home and check the site regularly for updates.
I like the idea of going paperless, and I think that with tools like these it may well yet happen.
Andrew, our board is also going through some changes right now (HWDSB). We have recently changed our email system to Microsoft 365 (which has caused a little bit of chaos) and we now have a HUB that all board members can go to to use Google Drive, D2L, and to create a blog. It's also easier to share with students on here rather than Google Drive because this has your students' names already uploaded and you don't have to enter in 30 names. I am in the same boat and a lot of this blogging and Twitter stuff is still very new to me but I think once we get going and comfortable, there will be many benefits and it will make things a lot easier!
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of going paperless is a great concept. I remember when I was in high school we always had stacks of paper information that many times would go misplaced. Through my placement this year, I was able to go back to my old high school and teach with one of my old teachers. He showed me a D2L site that had been designed for the school. He told me that this was the first year that it has been implemented but it is helping students keep track of their assignments and stay in contact with their teachers
ReplyDeleteUsing online technology more has been a good thing in my classroom. I think the students enjoy it more, and it's so much easier to bring the marking home without having to lug 20 pounds of paper around!
ReplyDelete