Engagement Activity 4: Creating a Glogster
Create an interactive online scrapbook in Glogster.
This tutorial will take you through the steps to create your own Glogster account.There is a web page option here
Create a Glogster presentation and embed it in your Blog or wiki. What do you think are the learning benefits?
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvC47fUANLk)
I had never heard of Glogster before engaging with the learning activities for Week 5. At first I thought it was like an electronic scrapbooking tool but after learning how to use it I realised that it is more like an electronic poster.
I did have trouble creating an account in the correct Glogster site. At first I created an account in edu.glogster.com but when it indicated that this account would last for only 31 days I realised that I had gone to the wrong site and that in fact I should have logged into glogster.com. The site is a bit tricky because when you type in glogster.com as the URL the bulk of the page refers to edu.glogster.com (see screen capture below in Figure 1) and you have to click over to the right in the pink circle to access glogster.com which is where you can get a free account that doesn't expire in 31 days. So my first thought was that if I am to use this site for teaching purposes then I need to ensure that the students can work their way to glogster.com page. My assumption is that they deliberately created the site that way to encourage (or trick) people to pay for their Glogsters. This change to the home page must be fairly recent as Wendy's technical manual does not have the same home page pictured.
Figure 1: Glogster.com home page
After manouvering successfully to the correct site I managed to create an account. The instructions were relatively straightforward. Wendy's advice in the Technical Manual was to use a blank template to create a Glogster but I ignored that advice and used the Flypaper template. In the end it had too many features on the and I had to delete some but I think it was good to start with a template that had some interesting features. I created a Glogster of using iPads in schools. It is embedded below. Once I worked out how to use the editor to upload images and videos it was a relatively straightforward process to upload videos and photos and to put a frame around them and add a label to indicate their sources. I was impressed with how easy it was to change the orientation of the items and move them around the page to fit everything in an aesthetically pleasing manner. I was very pleased with my efforts because it is an easy way to present several items on a topic in a way that is visually appealing and would encourage someone to explore the contents of the Glogster. I think this tool will be a very useful addition to my digital toolbox.
http://www.glogster.com/joluck/ipads-in-education-glog-by-joluck/g-6krk71glvqhmr92kp7qssa0
Glogster will work on the iPad see: http://www.techchef4u.com/?tag=glogster-edu
The following is critical reflection of using Glogster in teaching materials.
Pluses
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Minuses
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Interesting/Implications
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Free tool is available. Though as discussed above you need to make sure you are on the glogster.com site to create a free account that will last longer than a month.
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It was a bit difficult to work out how to do the editing. The editor uses icons but it is not always clear what the icons mean.
The Glogster site has changed since Wendy wrote her manual. |
Incorporation of many multi media forms ie, images, videos, quotes, links to web pages, wikis, etc. Limited only by your imagination.
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Fairly easy to create and edit the Glogster. Students could use it to present materials or assessments in a manner that is accessible from anywhere with an Internet connection.
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Needs Internet access to use it.
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Informal learning is happening when they engage with Glogster and learn how to use it. The skills they develop are transferable to other technologies.
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Supports multi-sensory learning.
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Teacher needs to scaffold the tasks so that the students are guided in their learning.
| It is an simple way to present complex material in an interesting manner. Encourages you to explore the page and see what gems are embedded. |
The student has total control of their Glogster.
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Students who do not know what they are doing could accidentally delete their work.
| The Glogster site has examples of Glogsters that you can use or adapt - with due attribution. |
Available for others to view (external to the group) and from anywhere in the world. But can also set to private if you want to keep the Glogsters viewable to the students in the classroom.
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Doesn't support collaborative learning on its own. Could be used as tool to link to/from another technology.
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Ability to add multimedia to the Glogster. Can upload your own material, use Glogster.com's resources or other sites for sharing eg YouTube.
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Resources for teaching and learning using Glogster:
There are many resources available to assist teachers with ideas on how to use Glogsters in the classroom. Here are some interesing sites:
http://edu.glogster.com/download/glogster-edu-educator-resource-library.pdf
http://techspecjf.edu.glogster.com/cyberbully/
http://raccooncity.edu.glogster.com/getting-to-know-glogster/
http://mjm3md.edu.glogster.com/what-a-21st-century-learner-looks-like-to-me/
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/dyck/dyck037.shtml
Wendy has also suggested:
http://b-7bobcats.wikispaces.com/09-10 explore the creative ways of creating a Glog.
http://edu.glogster.com/what-is-glogster-edu/ a range of learning benefits in using glogs
Michael Gorman's Blog.
Examples of Education Glogs, and some ideas for using them are available on this site.
http://edu.glogster.com/what-is-glogster-edu/ a range of learning benefits in using glogs
Michael Gorman's Blog.
Examples of Education Glogs, and some ideas for using them are available on this site.
Reflection on using Glogster in eLearning
Using Glogster as a virtual or e-poster in the classroom would be a great innovation. It could be used by me as a teacher to inspire the students to explore topics or I could ask students to research a topic and then present their findings using Glogster. The educational site http://edu.glogster.com does have the capability to create class lists which would enable the teacher to monitor the class work but still retain privacy through a secure, safe, virtual classroom.
It would be ease to become completely absorbed using Glogster there are so many aspects you can change to put your stamp on it: fonts, backgrounds, multimedia, moving things on angles, speech bubbles, animated signs and much more. I think that students would love to create their assesment materials in it and create easy to read and follow displays of information. It is a fun learning experience and a novel way to express creativity by adding audiovisual media to traditionally text-oriented subjects. Students would be able to work in teams and collaboration with classmates. The features of the software increases the students' motivation to be independently creative
I think that myself and my students would probably work with Glogsters in the following ways:
- In the classroom to present material on a topic.
- For the students to report back on an activity for example an excursion.
- Display students work on open days or days when parents/grandparents are invited to the clasroom.
- Students creating a glogster to introduce the class to their hobbies/family etc.
Pedagogy of teaching with Glogster
Glogsters are a tool that would encourage engagement and multi-faceted learning (Visual, Aural and kinesthetic) among the students. There are many applications for the use of Glogsters in my teaching areas of Mathematics and Technology. For mathematics there are these examples:
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