Class Jump

I recently met up with an old friend who is a high school English teacher. We got to talking about using technology in the classroom and she informed me of a great website she uses called ClassJump. ClassJump is a place where teachers can create a website for free. It is very simple to set up and use. One advantage of this site is that teachers can manage multiple classes on one site. ClassJump allows teachers to:

• post homework
• upload documents to share with the class
• post an upcoming event to their calendar
• post articles of interest and links to resources
• receive documents uploaded by students
• start a class message board
• create photo albums

One thing I like about ClassJump is that teachers can join groups of teachers with similar curriculums. There, the teachers can share ideas and resources with each other.

I also like the idea of being able to post pictures. I think this would be a fun way to showcase previous class projects or activities.

While I was browsing through the site I was amazed at how many schools use ClassJump. I even discovered that my old high school uses ClassJump. I was able to browse through each teacher's web page and see how each utilized their site.

ClassJump is an amazing tool for teachers. It is easy to see how useful it is for both teachers and students. I will use this once I am a teacher.

Powerpoint and Google Docs Presentation

I recently learned how to use PowerPoint in my Educational Technology class. This is a great program that I can see myself using as a different way to display information to my students. I love all of the features of PowerPoint. I like that you can use different animations on each slide. You can also place pictures or videos or sound bites on the slides. There are so many possibilities with PowerPoint. I think that teachers could keep their students more engaged with using a PowerPoint presentation over just using a overhead projector to display transparencies, or simply reading the information out of a text book.
I also learned how to design a presentation in Google Docs. The nice thing about Google Docs is that you can upload your exsiting PowerPoint or create a new presentation. You can then invite anyone you want to view (or even edit if you wish) your side show. While I like the idea of having my presentation online for anyone I want to view, I prefer PowerPoint over using Google Docs. One reason is because Google Docs does not let you link pages within your presentation, making it a lot easier to navigate within a slide show. I also Like all the different formatting options available in PowerPoint.
Creating presentations in both PowerPoint and in Google Docs was a lot of fun. I learned so much that I did not know. I am very excited to be able to use presentations in the future in my classroom.