September 19 - Communication Technologies

Yackpack, Vyew, Gabcast, Voicethread. All different ways of communicating with students and having them communicate with each other. When we played around with YackPack in class, it was kind of tricky. It wasn't easy to get the program to work when you wanted to talk to more than one person and what worked on one group didn't work in another. At one point Wendy, Angie, and I were able to all talk and hear each other, but we could never figure out how we did it, nor could we do it again once it stopped working. I found myself a couple times in a group by myself, unable to talk to anyone no matter what I tried. I did not find YackPack user-friendly at all.

I do like the Voicethread as a way of creating digital stories or incorporating voice into presentations without having to be present to give the presetation. It seems like it might be a good way to do online reviews or lessons for students who are absent or working from home. If you can voicethread the lesson and notes, then they can read what you say in the lecture as well as hear it with the notes in front of them. I might have to try that out, or at least suggest it to some of our teachers who use powerpoint a lot.

I'm looking forward to trying Gabcast either on this blog or on the one I use at school. Sometimes just hearing the teacher's voice is more helpful for students. Also, I like the way the model website Koppenhaver had listed used the Gabcast as a way to include an interview on the blog. That'd be a great way for students to create digital scrapbooks or presentations and include an interview where you're actually hearing the inflection of the person's voice, not just reading what they say on paper. It would certainly make the interview and presentation more lively.

I don't really understand how Vyew works. I know it is for presentations and I can see its use for reinforcing student learning while they are at home, but I'm not sure how it really works. I will definately have to play around with it quite a bit before I'll be ready to use it with students.