Welcome!

Welcome to "Blogs: Beyond Journaling" at FSI 2008. Today we'll discuss and practice using blogs (and lots of other Web 2.0 tools) in your class. When used in combination, these robust, free tools can replace any LMS. Not ready to go that far? Get your feet wet by using these tools for group projects, course overviews, or online office hours.

Embedding Video -- A Vision of Students Today

Replacing the discussion board

By creating a private blog and making each student an author, a blog can replace a discussion board for a course, private office hours, or group projects.

Interactive Online Maps - Frappr!

Frappr! Maps allow you and your students a unique (and simple) method to visualize one another. Anyone can add their name, photo and message directly on a Web page, blog, or course site embedded with Frappr!--no account creation is required. As the owner, you can find information on where and how frequently your students visit the map.

In online learning, Frappr! Maps could be used for:

• Icebreaker - have your students enter their locations, pictures, and short introduction to help them get to know one another.

• Use the map to create a visualization of your course material. Even better, have your students work collaboratively to create this learning resource for the class!
  --> Have your students build a map of the works or theories they are studying. Load book covers, works of art, pictures, event names, significant dates.
  --> Use the map to mark the locations of specific battles, peace treaties, etc. You could load photos of the individuals involved and enter specific dates or names.
  

According to Frappr.com, they are "the fourth largest map service behind Mapquest, Yahoo! Maps and Google Maps".

Podcasting -- Audacity

Record your audio and convert it to MP3 using Audacity -- a free sound recording and editing tool. Put it on a server, and then link to it from your blog.

Podomatic provides free online creation and hosting of up to 250 MB.

The Freesound Project
Part of Creative Commons allows use of sounds for podcasting for education.

Tool Factory Podcasting provides a great $99 "enhanced" podcasting tool for windows.