Zoho Show

Zoho Show is a free web 2.0 technology in which an educator or student can create a slide show. This application is very similar to Microsoft Power Point. As you enter the sight you are given multiple options for the theme of your show. They have jazzy, funky, fantasy, perspective, abstract, and plain backgrounds. After your theme has been selected you can then create your slide show. As you can see there are many tools you can utilize when working with this site. There are shapes you can insert as well as over a hundred clip art images.

With zoho show you can also share and collaborate. You can share your presentation with groups or publish your show to the web. You can also use zoho chat to collaborate on a project with a group. You can hold live chats with the participants who are viewing your presentation. You are able to share your computer's desktop and present live demos.

There were a few things I was unable to do with this application. For example there are no animations. You cannot have a title animate onto the screen. I did see a presentation however that described what updates are coming soon to zoho show. One of the new features is going to be animation support. You will also be able to export your presentation to Microsoft Power Point.

In order to take advantage of this application educators will have to make sure their students are familiar with the use of power point applications. Once you are experienced in a power point application, zoho show should not be hard to use. This application would be a great resource in a social studies classroom. Students could collaborate and share there work. You could have groups work on one project together in this application. Zoho show would also be useful for a teacher to use during a daily lesson. Using an application like zoho show would enhance any lesson if properly utilized. Educators would also be able to collaborate with colleagues from around the country.

In order to use this in the classroom teachers have to be very organized. The teacher has to be a facilitator and make sure this application is being used appropriately. Any time you work with new technologies you have to be aware of how your students are using the applications. You should always closely monitor the work of the students in your classroom. Overall zoho show is a great application that would be a great asset in any classroom.

Instrctuional Strategies

If implemented correctly blogs could be a very useful resource in the classroom. The constructivism model is the instructional strategy that would fit well with using blogs in the classroom. According to the constructivism model, as a teacher, you are encouraging students to discover knowledge on their own, and engaging students in an active dialogue. Within the constructivism model the Project Based Learning approach fits the best when using a blog. The students begin with a problem and then research to develop solutions to the problem. Students could research blogs to discover a solution and then they could use their own blog to defend their own solutions.

Blogging has many benefits to students. It allows students the opportunity to be experts on a subject matter. It also helps increase the students' interest in learning. Students are able to have their ideas heard which can provide much confidence.

The Didactic approach to teaching would not be a good strategy when using blogs. This is a more direct approach to teaching. The teacher is providing all the information through direct lessons. There usually is no time to for students to discover information on their own.

In a social studies classroom there are lots of opportunities to use blogs. You could have student research and answer a weekly question. For example, why are the "Bill of Rights" so important? Why are they needed? and Without them what would happen? There are many more possibilities. But, I would love to use it as a weekly assignment, if my classes were able to have access to computers at school or at home.

Web 2.0 technologies are usually very adaptive in a social studies classroom. I am having a difficult time thinking of a Web 2.0 technology that would not usually be used in a social studies classroom. Blogging, Wiki, and RSS feeders would all great tools to use. There is so much information on the web that is just waiting to be uncovered.

Wikipedia

The Air Zoo is an Aviation Museum in Kalamazoo Michigan. My son and I visit this museum regularly. Currently admission is free until the end of the year. If you get a chance I highly recommend visiting. This is the link to the Air Zoo. On their wiki site there was no mention on admission so here is what I added.

I also just started my very own Wiki page
(Mrs Arend). I currently am not in a teaching position so there is very little on there. I will add more pages as a mock site so that when I am teaching I will be able to make use of the site. Feel free to view and comment as you like.

Computer Based Instruction

Computer based instruction is a useful tool to enhance a lesson in the classroom. There are many different kinds of computer-based instruction. There are many different kinds of computer-based instruction. There are web quests, web pages, and StAIR projects. However, if you want to implement these tools outside the classroom there can be problems to overcome. In the school district in which I worked and live many of the families do not have access to a computer outside of school. Another problem is the computer literacy of your students or "digital immigrants" (Mark Prensky).
In order to get past some of these obstacles one has to make sure the computer based instruction is available or made available to all students. One also has to make sure that the instructional activities are appropriate to the learner. I am a secondary education teacher in History and Social Studies; here are a few webquests which I might use in my classroom.

Look Who's Footing the Bill
This webquest would be used in a Civics or Government classroom. The layout of the webquest is very appealing. There are links to each task in the webquest so as not to overwhelm a student with to much text. Now a student can take each step slowly.

Nicaragua
This webquest is very well written. The educational goals are clearly stated. Every step of the webquest is detailed and easy to comprehend. The draw back to this particular webquest is the amount of time it takes to complete. In school it may be difficult to get your classes into a computer lab to finish this webquest. Another draw back is a few of the link don't work, which makes me think that this webquest was not kept up to date.

There are lots of great computer based instructional activities out there just waiting to be used.