There are so many useful Web 2.0 Tools out there. The question for me is which one(s) do I choose to be the most engaging and meaningful to my students in regards to what I want them to learn? I have found, that, some times the best way to teach and engage students is through, well, comedy and humor.
To me, Blabberize does just that! It provides a nontraditional medium to convey just about whatever you want. I could use this in class for pronunciation practice (to make verb conjugations or new vocabulary more fun…) or to do catch phrases that I want students to use. Over the past almost 10 years of teaching, I have found what my students remember the most usually has humor or some sort of meaningful relation involved. It is not pages of notes or when they do pronunciation drills… It is when they have fun and learn when they do not even realize that they are learning something.
We do many conversations and presentations in Spanish. Blabberize would serve as an alternative meaning that would allow students to select a photo (or more than one) and record themselves having a conversation in Spanish. It could allow them to be silly or incorporate humor in their presentations. It would also allow them to not hide behind their shyness or insecurities about speaking a different language when doing their presentations.
It would also allow them to post their work online. This would enable communication and feedback between different classes. You would not have to be in the classroom the moment the presentation was given in order to experience it and I think that that alone would be great. This could also be used as a stepping-stone to students doing a video project. It would allow them to do the speaking component and then they would just need to record themselves for the latter video project.
Extensive planning is necessary to allow for successful student use. Time needs to be allotted for setting up student accounts and “friending” people to allow for instant sharing or you would need to decide which website you would like students to post their creations or how they would post them. Also, you will need to view all student work in advance before sharing with the class to make certain it is appropriate.
Of course with any new thing, there are challenges. Setting up an account is relatively easy and straightforward. However I will say I was confused at first because I clicked the “get started/create” buttons on the right side of the page and this was actually a link to create a website (ad). The real get started/create button is at the very top of the page. I could see this being confusing at first. Because students can use any picture, reminding them to be mindful of citing their source and making sure they have permission to use their selection would be very helpful. Also I noticed that there is not a “back” button, so if students make a mistake or want to change a picture, they will need to start over. Of course if they have already saved their recording, this is no problem.
Again, I think that Blabberize is a great way to get students to create conversations, etc. with little effort. Best of all – it is fun! And as silly as it may look, I think that it serves as a great medium that will allow for meaningful learning!
To me, Blabberize does just that! It provides a nontraditional medium to convey just about whatever you want. I could use this in class for pronunciation practice (to make verb conjugations or new vocabulary more fun…) or to do catch phrases that I want students to use. Over the past almost 10 years of teaching, I have found what my students remember the most usually has humor or some sort of meaningful relation involved. It is not pages of notes or when they do pronunciation drills… It is when they have fun and learn when they do not even realize that they are learning something.
We do many conversations and presentations in Spanish. Blabberize would serve as an alternative meaning that would allow students to select a photo (or more than one) and record themselves having a conversation in Spanish. It could allow them to be silly or incorporate humor in their presentations. It would also allow them to not hide behind their shyness or insecurities about speaking a different language when doing their presentations.
It would also allow them to post their work online. This would enable communication and feedback between different classes. You would not have to be in the classroom the moment the presentation was given in order to experience it and I think that that alone would be great. This could also be used as a stepping-stone to students doing a video project. It would allow them to do the speaking component and then they would just need to record themselves for the latter video project.
Extensive planning is necessary to allow for successful student use. Time needs to be allotted for setting up student accounts and “friending” people to allow for instant sharing or you would need to decide which website you would like students to post their creations or how they would post them. Also, you will need to view all student work in advance before sharing with the class to make certain it is appropriate.
Of course with any new thing, there are challenges. Setting up an account is relatively easy and straightforward. However I will say I was confused at first because I clicked the “get started/create” buttons on the right side of the page and this was actually a link to create a website (ad). The real get started/create button is at the very top of the page. I could see this being confusing at first. Because students can use any picture, reminding them to be mindful of citing their source and making sure they have permission to use their selection would be very helpful. Also I noticed that there is not a “back” button, so if students make a mistake or want to change a picture, they will need to start over. Of course if they have already saved their recording, this is no problem.
Again, I think that Blabberize is a great way to get students to create conversations, etc. with little effort. Best of all – it is fun! And as silly as it may look, I think that it serves as a great medium that will allow for meaningful learning!