When searching for a Web2.0 tool to use for my class summary, I came across edcanvas.com. I found it to be very easy to use. You can add pictures, videos, and files to a canvas. Files can be attached from your hard drive, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Since exploring last week, 2 new features have been added. You can now attach websites that are saved in your bookmarks or websites you have visited that are saved in your browsing history. While creating the canvas for the class summary, I found that you can also create text only slides. Edcanvas also has an audio feature but I haven't explored that yet. When the canvas is complete and ready to be viewed, users click through it as a slide show. It is very similar to Facebook photo albums where you can add comments and likes. Files can be downloaded from the canvas. Edcanvas can be shared with others, but only the creator of the canvas can edit it. When Matt and I were creating the class summary, it would have been helpful if both of us could edit at the same time, but that was not the case.
I am still in the process of creating my own canvas to use with students, but I explored some of the featured canvases. One of the featured canvases that I found interesting is about reviewing the parts of speech. This person attached Schoolhouse Rock videos from YouTube. After viewing all the videos, students complete a worksheet showing what they learned from the video. I like the idea of this canvas, but will not use it with my students. Some of the videos have been blocked by YouTube. I also can't view YouTube videos easily at school. My students would not be able to view these videos because they don't have a way to block the filters.
I will post my example when I finish it. Very excited about a new tool!
Cheryl, I know you've said above that you are going to post an example tomorrow so I'll definitely be back to look it over. This looks like a really helpful tool for students to use on collaborative projects. I suppose the only way for that to happen would be a shared password since only the canvas author can edit it. Still I think it has a very clear interface and it seems very student friendly. I'd like to put my students to work making class summaries that can be posted online for students who were absent. I'll be interested to see what you do with it and thanks for sharing it with the class. So many web 2.0 tools are out there I may never have stumbled across it on my own.
ReplyDeleteMy example is posted. What I came up with is something that I made for the students to use. I haven't come up with an idea of how my students could use it to create something. That's something to think about though!
DeleteJulie, I just saw your comment on our class summary and I wanted to make sure you saw my response. There is a way to link to the first slide in the canvas. Open up the canvas to view it and just use that link. If you look at my other post about Edcanvas, I linked to the first slide in my canvas for that example. Hope this helps!
DeleteI had never seen this tool before and I really liked exploring it after I saw the class summary. This provides students with a lot of freedom to create really cool projects with. I think students would enjoy creating slideshows and most are already familiar with PowerPoint, so I could see them having no trouble using the tools within the site. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this technology. After seeing it in the class summary, I understand it a little bit better. This would be good to use for students who don't have access to powerpoint at home and are creating a presentation for class. This would also be a good review format to use... I'm just thinking about Midterm review and how this would work perfectly. Could you post a website link in there too? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteI created an example that I'm going to have my students use this week. It is very similar to powerpoint. I think that's a good idea to use this instead of powerpoint. My example is a review of geometry concepts. You can link to websites and it loads right where pictures and videos load. There's an option to post websites that are in your bookmarks or recent history. Those are new options that were not there last week when I created the class summary. Have fun playing with it!
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