The K12 Online presentation, “If All My Classes Did This”, really opened my eyes to how technology can be implemented in the classroom. Wendy Wolfe, a teacher from Minneapolis talked about and gave examples of how programs such as ToonDoo, Comic Creator, Gliffy, Zoho and G-cast could be used in the classroom.
ToonDoo is website where students can create their own cartoons, with unique characters and neat backgrounds. Once these cartoons are created you can email them to friends, make power points presentations or make them public to the world. I thought this was a great idea to implement in a visual arts classroom. Graphic arts and design are very common and this website allows students to explore and create this type of art. Students could also illustrate books they are reading in their English classes.
Gliffy was the next resource I found really cool. You can create your own account and do numerous things with it. I loved the idea of creating flow charts. The example during the presentation was of a flow chart that showed the events leading up to a historical event. What a great idea for a history teacher! With this program you can also create floor plans. Once again interior design is another form of art that could now be explored in a visual arts classroom. Fun!
Next we were introduced to Zoho. On there you can create easy power point presentations that you students could use for public speaking or any other presentation. You can also find other things such as spread sheets and writing programs.
G-cast was the last resource to be discussed, which is similar to a pod cast. Students could create radio broadcasts and record their interviews. I could also use this as a personal teaching tool. It would be easy to record my lessons, to prevent me from repeating the project details over again.
All of these internet resources sound fun, appropriate and educational. It also showed me how technology can be used in a visual arts classroom.
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Another site you might also want to check out as an alternate to toondoo, is toonlet.com.
toonlet is a comic-strip blogging site, but places a stronger emphasis on custom character creation. The site has a powerful character tool where you can build up your own characters from parts, and then change their expressions to create a library of moods.
Once you have some characters and moods built, you can be publishing your comics in minutes. Or, if you’re lazy, just use the toonlet default character to get up and running even more quickly.
We hope you’ll give toonlet a spin. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the site so far!
Thanks
-Craig (from toonlet)
http://toonlet.com
Take the Toonlet Tour:
http://toonlet.com/archive?i=3928
All those sites seems really easy to integrate into any subject area!I”m going to check them out!! Thanks!
I am so glad you found the presentation interesting. The past couple of years in the classroom have really been fun as I add in tools like those shared in the presentation. You might also find the “electric slide” presentation interesting (http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=171). They explore two web-based presentation creators, Spresent and Splashcast (the second video doesn’t seem to work, but the audio does). Students really like the Spresent.
It is fun to explore new tools and see how students respond!
Best –
Wendy