I didn't get a lot of time to check the FETC virtual conference last week, but I did get a chance to go to the blogging area and see what educators were talking about. One of the topics that caught my eye was the idea of having online clubs. There's a school in Florida that has found more members are getting involved by having clubs online instead of face to face: "We currently have 10 online student clubs. Some have over 150 members, some meet weekly, some monthly. Students love the flexibility of time and we get many traditional school students that can't participate at their school due to time constraints." I find this idea to very interesting!
Some of the ways these online clubs are meeting are through Elluminate, blogs, wikis, Nings, Blackboard, and Moodle. Elluminate can be fully moderated and supervised; blogs and wikis also can be set up to be moderated before posting, as can the Ning. Some of their activities include club happenings, book discussions, and a virtual health club.
I've toyed with the idea of having a student video club, where I would teach students how to make all of kinds of videos and movies and eventually doing something with a school video contest. I think it would be awfully hard to pull off entirely online, but it might be a good way to get more students involved because they could make their movies and just upload them on their own time.
The original poster, who I neglected to get a name for, said they would be interested in collaborating, comparing notes, or sharing ideas can be contacted at http://www.flvs.net/areas/studentservices/clubs/Pages/default.aspx.
What are your thoughts about online clubs? Would this be something you would do at your school?
I saw another post on John Kuglin's session where he talked about clouds and the free tools available with Google (the docs, apps, calendar, Google Earth, etc.) What I didn't realize is that Google gives free 1 gig online storage for students. What a great way to get projects from home to school and back, to the library, or to a friend's house! Apparently, he also talked about Schoolfusion, which is what my school district uses, and the importance of teachers needing websites. I, too, think this is important so that students have a way to go back and see what was done in class if they need extra support. With the use of electronic files, a scanner, or an interactive white board, teachers can save their lessons from the day and then upload to their site for those students or for students who were out sick. It's also a great way for teachers and parents to have ongoing communication as parents know what is going on in class by seeing announcements, projects, worksheets, calendars, class notes, or study guides and being able to send email or post messages on a blog or a message board when they have questions.
Does your school have something similar to Schoolfusion or do you use a website with your classes? What are ways you like to use it?
Some of the ways these online clubs are meeting are through Elluminate, blogs, wikis, Nings, Blackboard, and Moodle. Elluminate can be fully moderated and supervised; blogs and wikis also can be set up to be moderated before posting, as can the Ning. Some of their activities include club happenings, book discussions, and a virtual health club.
I've toyed with the idea of having a student video club, where I would teach students how to make all of kinds of videos and movies and eventually doing something with a school video contest. I think it would be awfully hard to pull off entirely online, but it might be a good way to get more students involved because they could make their movies and just upload them on their own time.
The original poster, who I neglected to get a name for, said they would be interested in collaborating, comparing notes, or sharing ideas can be contacted at http://www.flvs.net/areas/studentservices/clubs/Pages/default.aspx.
What are your thoughts about online clubs? Would this be something you would do at your school?
I saw another post on John Kuglin's session where he talked about clouds and the free tools available with Google (the docs, apps, calendar, Google Earth, etc.) What I didn't realize is that Google gives free 1 gig online storage for students. What a great way to get projects from home to school and back, to the library, or to a friend's house! Apparently, he also talked about Schoolfusion, which is what my school district uses, and the importance of teachers needing websites. I, too, think this is important so that students have a way to go back and see what was done in class if they need extra support. With the use of electronic files, a scanner, or an interactive white board, teachers can save their lessons from the day and then upload to their site for those students or for students who were out sick. It's also a great way for teachers and parents to have ongoing communication as parents know what is going on in class by seeing announcements, projects, worksheets, calendars, class notes, or study guides and being able to send email or post messages on a blog or a message board when they have questions.
Does your school have something similar to Schoolfusion or do you use a website with your classes? What are ways you like to use it?
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