Technology Standards for EDU Beeclip

EDU Beeclip allows students to be creative while displaying their understanding of an assigned topic.  The standards that are met are collaboration, digital citizenship, enhanced learning and expression.  The students work together to create a final project that describes one topic.  Each page then reflects a different student's work.  They also have to be careful when using the equipment and tools.  EDU Beeclip enhances their learning because they are able to use a vast amount of media to describe the topic and are able to express themselves be designing their pages as they choose.  Then they can have a classmate edit their work to check that it meets the objective.  When the book is put together the students can reflect on what they have learned and then assess that the goal was accomplished.

Bee clip examples

Above you will find the feature that allows students to have other students or teacher edit their work.  This is an effective way to get feedback and reflect on the assignment.

In the free account, each class is allowed 3 projects.  Their scrapbook pages can be put together into each project and reflects the main idea.  In this case, I created one on organisms in a food chain.

I have also created an example page three types of organisms; herbivores, omnivores and carnivores.  There are many options for how the students can set up the page and design it how they would like.

After the pages are completed they can be downloaded on to your computer then uploaded where you would like.  I was looking in the tutorial part of the website and it says that the scrapbooks can be embedded into blogs and other sites but it does not give directions how and there isn't a html code that can be copied to embed.  Since it's a new site maybe they haven't worked out all of the kinks yet.

EDU Beeclip

EDU Beeclip is a platform for student work that requires pictures, videos and text.  It's a fairly new tool (as of 5/31/12) so I only found one video that explains how to use EDU Beeclip but there was also information posted on blogs and wikis.    There are a few version of Beeclip.  The general Beeclip is for individual users who want to make virtual scrapbooks.  EDU Beeclip can be used for classes.  The free version allows for 3 projects and 30 students.  The students can also edit each other's work through the tool.  It is password protected so only the teachers and students can view the work.  Students can pull pictures from Google, videos from You Tube or use any of their own clips and pictures for their scrapbooks.




A few blogs on BeeClip:
larryferlazzo.edublogs.org
cyber-kap.blogspot.com

Popplet and Technology Standards

Popplet is a great way to present information and organize ideas in an engaging and visual way.  The standards that Popplet covers involve digital citizenship, enhance learning, collaboration, and expression.  Students will take proper care of the equipment while working on collaborative projects and assignments.  They also have to be mindful of others while working together.  It is also important the students understand that they keep their passwords secret and do not post their work publicly.  Popplet can also enhance student learning.  Students already use thinking maps to organize their ideas, but this tool takes it to the next level.  They can include pictures, drawing and videos to make it more visual and easier to understand.  The students can work together using the collaborator icon.  They can each be at the link at the same time while working on the Popplet.  The students are also able to be more expressive of their thoughts and ideas.  They can describe, assess or reflect on their learning using Popplet in a creative and engaging way.  

Popplet Examples

I created a few examples in Popplet.  The first would be like a bubble map to describe a character, in this case it's describing me.

You can insert pictures from Flikr, videos from you tube, draw or write in the Popplet and upload files from your computer into the Popplet.

This next example is a food chain which my fourth graders create in class.  This would be similar to a flow map showing sequencing.  The first Popplet is a food chain song from you tube.

Students can also work on their Popplets together.  There is a collaboration icon to connect the students by sending the link through email.  This would be a good feature in a distance learning class if you are working on a project with a partner that can't meet face to face.

I like that you can share the Popplets with others using Facebook, Twitter, etc but you don't have control over who views them.  I think sharing the link with the collaborator icon would be safer for students.  Blogger wasn't one of the options so I was not able to embed the Popplet into my post.  If students are handing this in as a project or assignment, students could just add their teacher's school email as a collaborator.  The teacher just has to make sure not to change the Popplet since it is still able to be edited.    The teacher can then choose presentation mode to view the Popplet.

Popplet

I have used a few different tools to create presentation but I came across Popplet, and I like this tool because it focuses more on the visual aspect of presentations.  It's great for organizing ideas and mind mapping.  It also resembles Thinking Maps which is one of our school districts initiatives to use.

 

 Here's a quick introduction on how to use Popplet.



 

 Popplet can also be easily used as an app on a tablet.

Edmodo and Technology Standards

Edmodo reflects many technology standards when used in a classroom.  This tool is also very useful for distance learning courses.  It can be used as the platform for the course and then addition tools and resources that are used can be shared using Edmodo.  Edmodo helps students to collaborate while learning.  They can do this in group projects, discussion and sharing of ideas.  It also enhances learning because students are constantly using different tools and resources to reflect, describe and assess what was learned.