BlendSpace is an online tool for teachers I was fortunate on stumbling upon. With many teachers today trying to integrate technology into the classroom, and make their lessons engaging, this tool could not exist at a better time.
This is an online tool that leverages the huge amount of educational content available online and makes it easy for teachers to create lessons. I especially liked the bar on the right side, where teachers can choose to search for something in a variety of different search engines including YouTube, Google, and Flickr. This makes it so easy for a teacher to find exactly what they need all in one window, without navigating through a myriad of tabs. Blendspace also introduced me to some search engines I was not even aware of, like Guroo. This tool is also perfect for a teacher to see what lessons other teachers have developed for that specific topic, making BlendSpace collaborative. In fact, the account can be upgraded to allow actual teacher collaboration in creating lesson plans, enhancing its versatility further.
Privacy is always something of an issue when minors are involved. However, BlendSpace allows teachers to keep their lessons private, and provide their students with a class code that allows them to add the specific class. This keeps any comments students make on the lessons private, and maintains a safe space for this lesson (similar to a real classroom), away from the cyberbullies.
Overall, BlendSpace is another tool that expands what a teacher can do. Best of all, BlendSpace makes it easy, so give it a shot! What have you got to lose?
Tahani, great post! I couldn't agree more about Blendspace and feel very fortunate that I was able to stumble upon it myself. I wasn't quite sure what the tool was all about after viewing the first page, but after I registered and started using it, "Wow!"! It's so easy to create content quickly that I can absolutely see this being using in the classroom...I wish my high school teachers would have had this option for my classes. You're absolutely right about the right-hand vertical content navigation bar. I primarily have used YouTube for content, but started branching out a bit to add images from Google and also upload my own PowerPoint slide into a lesson. Just as you mentioned, it's also introduced me to other tools to seek out new content as well.
ReplyDeleteDo you plan to use Blendspace in your future classroom? What kind of lesson (in your content area) can you see for your students? I've put together two lessons, one on U.S. government and one on Ancient Greece and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey - I totally get the value for Social Studies - but I can imagine it would be amazing for any discipline.
Good post! One thing which really struck me about your post was your comment about internet security for students, something which I don't think ranks highly enough in people's considerations (and I lump myself firmly in this category), when it comes to dealing with the internet. In light of the security revelations of the last 12-18 months, I know that I have become somewhat more aware of the enormous amount of data that we as internet users provide to all manner of companies as a trade-off for living in the digital realm. With that in mind, I occasionally have reservations about asking students to sign up for things like Blendspace, (not because it is a bad service- far from it, it is awesome!) but simply because the act of signing up for so many services could create a laissez-faire attitude towards the sharing of personal info like email addresses or phone numbers online. That being said, people still need to use the internet, so perhaps signing up for something like Blendspace could be a "teachable moment," allowing teachers to discuss best practices for using the internet.
ReplyDeleteTahani, I liked that you pointed out that Blendspace led you to encounter some other teacher tools that you were not familiar with before. I had the same experience, with Gooru, Educreations and OpenEd. I didn't realize there were so many easily accessible online resources for teachers. Additionally, I like that you brought up the privacy issue. When I was doing my presentation, a fellow student asked me whether there was an option to make lessons private. That was an idea that I had simply taken for granted, and was pleased to find that, yes indeed, it is possible to make lessons private.
ReplyDeleteTahani,
ReplyDeleteYour point about privacy is well taken. You'll find that there is quite a range of attitudes and policies about privacy in the K-12 landscape. While some schools open almost everything up because they believe privacy is essentially gone anyways, others are very strict about what they will allow students and teachers to do with regard to the Web. My advice: find out where your school stands ASAP so you can plan accordingly; in some cases you may even be able to educate some people on the issue because it is a relatively new concept.
Interesting stuff!