Recent site activity

Week 16: Google Presentations

Welcome to Week 16 of the Web 2.0 Wednesday Challenge. 

I am excited about this challenge for a number of reasons.

1. The idea for this challenge is what is called a "Mashup"  We will be using more than one Web 2.0 tool together.

2.This project can,  (if many participate), show the power of collaboration and hopefully spark ideas of how you could do similar projects in your classroom, across, grade levels, etc.

3. This is a project that can be done with students.  In fact, the project will be greatly enhanced if students participate.

4. As always, the actual steps of the challenge will not take very long.  Your time will be spent using your creative juices more than learning a new application.

Your challenge will be to add a slide to our collaborative Google Presentation "Snow in Six Words".

Google Presentations:

Google Presentations is one of the helpful Google Docs tools.  These tools are free to use and very convenient because you can access them anywhere you have internet access.  Google Docs are great for collaboration because they are set up in a way that it is easy to invite collaborators to your document.  So far, we have used Google Documents and Google Forms.  Google Presentations is a slimmed down version of PowerPoint.  If you know how to create a PowerPoint slide, you can do this. The advantage to using Google Presentations is, again, the ease of sharing and collaborating with others.  You can also easily post your projects on blogs, wikis and web pages including our school site.  Another fun feature of Google Presentations is that you can invite people to view your published presentation and people viewing can participate in a conversation about the the slides and presentation. 

Flickr:

At the beginning of the break, I sent out an e-mail asking people to share their snow photos online at Flickr and tag them with mvsnowchallenge.  A few of you have done so, and all of you are welcome to add your photos at anytime.  Check out the Week 9 challenge for more specifics about signing up and using Flickr. If you have already registered for Flickr, you can upload your snow photos and tag them with MVSnowChallenge.  They will then show up in a search for that tag.  (Make sure that you you list the photos as public.) You can also join the MVSD group and add your snow photos there.  Be sure to still tag them as mvsnowchallenge.  Even if you don't have snow photos to add, you can use the collection of snow photos that has been shared so far to complete this project. If you really want to use your photo, but don't want to sign up for Flickr, that is fine too.

Note to my PLN:  If you are not in the Mount Vernon school district  and would like to participate in this challenge, please use this presentation.  Would be fun to share the power of my PLN with my colleagues here in Mount Vernon.

Resources and Ideas:






PLN Snow in Six Words



For Mount Vernon Staff and Students:
  1. Sign in or register for Google Docs.  (You can register with our school Google Application in order to easily share docs across the district.)  If you already have a GoogleDocs account, e-mail me at mthornburgh@mv.k12.wa.us and I will invite you to edit the presentation. 
  2. Once you have access or are invited, open the "Snow in Six Words" presentation.
  3. Add a new slide by clicking the + button at the top left. The easiest template for this project would be the caption template.
  4. Choose a photo from our shared snow photos at Flickr.com MVSnowChallenge Search or add your own photo. You may copy the photo onto your computer by right clicking and saving as. Or you can copy the URL of the photo in Flickr and use that when inserting a photo.  To insert a photo, click on the picture icon at the top.  It gives you the option of browsing for a photo on your computer or inserting a URL address of a picture online.
  5. You can adjust the size of the photo by clcking on the corner and dragging to the size you want.
  6. Write a six word sentence describing the snow, the photo or your experience in the snow. 
  7. Be sure to site your photo as either your own, or one from the Flickr group and share your name. 
  8. Hit save.  Your slide is now a part of our essay.  
  9. Feel free to involve your students or family in this project. (Students could create using your account, or you could copy and paste their work and add it to the presentation.)
Thinking, this sounds like a fun idea, but too much for you to tackle on your own?  Have a great photo, but are unsure of how to post it?  Have a great six word snow sentence, but don't want to do the technical stuff?  Find someone to partner with.  Ask your students.  Call or e-mail me.  Let's collaborate and create a great project!

I'm going to slow down on the challenges and only do 2 a month so as not to overwhelm.  So you have a whole month to share in this project. I will be drawing a name on February 4th.