Technology Tool 3

http://www.learnoutloud.com

A great resource that contains over 30,000 educational audio and video books; learn out loud would be a great resource for underprivileged schools.  Although, not all books are free, one could easily find what one needs with just a click away.

This website will be most essential to those have limited access to literature resources that are not readily available at their respective schools.  Most schools here in the FSM – elementary and high schools alike – are like that and in most cases, they have insufficient reading materials and are mostly using outdated basal materials that are either missing pages or have become irrelevant in content.

This website offers free and affordable audio and video books in an array of genres that all disciplines can utilize; disciplines ranging from Science, Math, language arts, and many more.  This is  indeed a great resource and I would recommend it to anyone who’s looking for reading materials online especially for ELL teachers. 

Technology Tool 2

https://www.rcampus.com/index.cfm

 Looking for a virtual classroom where you can interact, grade and monitor your students participation and performance from anywhere in this world?  Rcampus is indeed the ideal website to be.  Rcampus is an effective platform for teachers who are considering to online teaching.  There are a great deal of platforms out there, however Rcampus is more effective and user friendly.  Some websites takes a great deal of effort and time to have your courses set up, while Rcampus walks you through each step you have to take in order to set up your virtual course online. 

Being a user friendly website, it gives you more flexibility in setting your class up the way you prefer.  Sometimes, most websites just have you registered and leave you to figure out how and where to go.  Rcampus takes your hand and walks you through everything, providing a help pop up box whenever you need more guidance.

In addition to being user friendly, it contains features where you can attach files, post comments/announcements and be able to track who visits your courses.  I love everything about this tool.  Further exploration of this website will show you how you can upload quizzes and tests with rubrics you use specifically to assess activities you uploaded onto your courses. 

One thing I like about this tool is that it gives you full access to all features.  Other tools on the other hand would require payment for full access.  I was able to notify my students who are enrolled and have made the first assignment once Spring 2013 unfold. 

I am still exploring this great tool and I am surprised at the number of things I can do using this tool for my initial online learning setup.

Technology Tools 1

www.blogger.com

            I have always wanted to have my students interact online.  I’ve tried countless of times to set it up online, but with no a due, I always ended up failing at the end.  I have heard people talk about blogs and blogging but never took interest in doing my own exploration in the concept.  However, ever since I started exploring this great online tool, I have come to learn that blogspot.com is exactly what I’ve been looking for.

            One of the many great features of blogspot.com is the discussion boards.  The discussion board allows both teacher and students to interact virtually without having to meet in class face to face.  Like most students in this region, FSM students are mostly too reluctant to speak in class.  This tool will enable my students to open up without worrying about speaking and making mistakes in front of the entire class.

            In my reading classes, students are assessed on their reflections of what they read in class and sometimes outside of class.  This resourceful tool would offer a gateway for those who dread speaking in class.  Like all classes, my classes require 100% participation from everyone and almost all the time, I am disappointed of how high I raised the bar for them.  This would be a great tool to utilize in my reading classes and I hope this will get them talking.