What I Learned

So, I took a few minutes this morning to watch a couple of the K12 Conference videos, and now I would like to share some info and reflect on what I have learned…

The first presentation I watched is Travel Through Space and Time by Silvia Tolisano.  I didn’t really take any notes on this one.  The teachers involved in the planning and implementing of the “project” Silvia discusses did an outstanding job, and you might get some ideas how you can plan an implement a similar project of your own.

I also watched Cell Phones as Classroom Learning Tools by Lisa Kolb.  I honestly didn’t go in to this presentation with very high expectations.  I thought there might be some gimmicky type things involved in the presentation, but there are actually some great examples and lots of good resources highlighted.  The presentation is a little long (almost an hour and 15 minutes), but you can always skip through parts if they do not interest you.

Here are some of the resources mentioned in the presentation if you want to give them a peek.

Using Cell Phones for Pocasting

• Gabcast (this one is blocked at my school)
• Gcast – I have used this resource before and it works well.
• Hipcast (Not free)
• Evoca

These sites allow you to create an account and set it up so you can record your podcast via your cell phone (or home phone) and then publish it directly to your blog.

Cell Phones for Audio Conferencing

• FreeConferencePro
• Talkshoe

These sites allow you to conduct an audio conference with multiple users at once.

Cell Phones for Mobile Notes

• Jott
• Braincast
• MindJot

Using the above sites you can create an account and then send yourself (or someone else) a written note via e-mail or text message.

Private Numbers and Voicemail (both of these are blocked in my district)

• PrivatePhone 
• Jangl

The sites above allow you to create a private phone number and voicemail you can manage via the web.  This is a great way to give your parents and students a contact number without giving them your personal phone number.

The presentation also discusses ways to create and use ringtones, cell phone backgrounds and texting.  There are some good examples of how to integrate these resources into your classroom.  Give it a look… you might just learn something new.