I have made numerous presentations on the free technology tools for teachers in the past MECA conferences and have always received very positive comments from the audience. Because of the great success I had in the past, I gave another presentation this year which was somewhat similar with what I presented in previous years. However, my presentation this year focuses on 10 selective essential online tools that I believe are powerful as well as valuable to teachers and students. Below is the presentation I recently delivered at the 2011 MECA Conference on February 8, 2001 in Jackson, Mississippi. Please feel free to make comments or recommend your free online tools. Thanks.
For this blog, Dr. Yuen discussed about his 2010 MECA conference on 10 essential online tools for teaching and learning. Four selection criteria for tools for teaching and learning are 1) free, 2) online application, 3) easy to learn and use, and 4) useful for students and teacher. The 10 online tools presented by Dr. Yuen are:
1. Google Apps
2. Prezi
3. Diigo
4. YouTube
5. Picnik
6. ScreenToaster
7. Dropbox
8. Photopeach
9. Glogster
10. Mindmesiter
I am familiar with the majority of these online tools, though the last three on the list are new to me. I currently use many of these tools (e.g., Dropbox, YouTube, and Prezi) as tools for teaching. In addition, I have incorporated several of the above tools (e.g., ScreenToaster, Google Docs, and Picnik) into student projects. It is my experience that some students have a longer learning curve than another. They need more help to learn and understand how these tools work. However, majority of my students have positive experience using these tools in their project. Personally, I believe these tools are not only great for teaching and learning but also great in working environment. As a teacher, we need to make sure that students learn how to transfer what they have experience in classroom to their work.
Regarding the last three on the list are new to me, I believe that they are valuable tools for teaching and learning as well. Actually, I already have planned to integrate Glogster into student projects. Glogster would be a great tool for creating a storyboard for my product development class. Even though I am not familiar Mindmesiter, I am customary to mind-mapping concept. I usually use Dabbleboard.com for creating mind-mapping. I just need time to explore Mindmesiter.
With so many different tools out there, it is nice to see a set of criteria to select ten “essential” tools to keep in mind. Most wouldn’t argue against the four criteria (free, online, easy to use, and useful). Let’s face it, some of the tools we encounter either serve no educational purpose or are difficult to use. Some of these, Google Apps, Prezi (my favorite!), Dropbox, Picnik, YouTube, and Diigo are growing in popularity by both educators and students. I’m not familiar with the rest listed, but I did explore them a bit. Of those, I was most drawn to Photopeach. This may be because I’m not very fond of SlideShare and Photopeach seems to be an alternative. At the end of the day, we can use every tool out there, so it’s nice to have a concise list that meets the most essential criteria.