Erica Yucuis-Diigo

PLN-www.Diigo.com

From this week's assignments, I decided to check out the site Diigo as a PLN.  I had never heard of it, so it was interesting to play around with the site and see all that it had to offer.  It was super easy to use and was very neatly set up which made it simple to find what you wanted to.  Through a search of education technology, I found four groups to join:  Education Technology, Classroom 2.0, TechInEdu, and LearningWithComputers.  Once you click on your group, you are then shown all the posts which consist of topics and then a link to either that resource or article.  I really enjoyed all of the information I learned from joining these groups and from trying out the different resources!

Resource

One resource that I found through the group Classroom 2.0 was a website called EDpuzzle.  Here is the link. 
After you log in as a teacher, you can search any topic your students are studying.  The site uses many different video search engines to look up a variety of videos for you to choose from including National Geographic, YouTube, and Khan Academy.  Then, you are able to edit the video to the length you would like it.  After that, you can add Audio Tracks, Audio Notes, or Quizzes.  I only used the quizzes because I'd rather have my students read than listen to my voice some more, but if you have young kiddos, the audio tracks/notes would be helpful!  You can add a quiz or a question at any time in the video and add as many questions as you would like.  Through the quizzes option, you can add either open ended questions or multiple choice questions. 

Once you have created a lesson, you assign it to your class.  Then, they log on to the site by creating a username and entering in the code that directs them to your lesson.  As a teacher, you see all of the answers they submit.

Check out a lesson I made using EDpuzzle!

Use in my Classroom

I can definitely see myself using this in my classroom.  It would be great as a homework assignment, but that is assuming everyone has a computer at home, which is not the case in my district.  I could also use this as part of our computer lab time as a review from yesterday's lesson or a preview to a lesson we will be doing later that day.  With the variety of videos available, I could see myself using this across subjects, but especially to supplement our Social Studies and Science curriculum.

Depending on what video you use and/or what types of questions you ask this would fall under the 'Remembering' or 'Understanding' level of Bloom's Taxonomy.  With the extended response option, this could fall under the 'Analyzing' or 'Evaluating' level as well. 

This resource falls under the 3rd ISTE standard which is 'Research and Information Fluency.'  The students would use this resource to get information on a topic and check for their understanding of the topic by answering the questions the teacher adds.

Opinion of PLNs

I really enjoy PLNs.  I personally like to use Pinterest to learn different resources/tricks/classroom set ups that other teachers have also used in their classrooms, but will now be using Diigo as well.   I believe PLNs are convenient ways to stay on top of what you should know as an educator.  I appreciate getting advice and learning about new resources from others that are also currently teachers because the teacher perspective is what matters the most for me.  Can what you're telling me actually be used in my classroom tomorrow or next week?  This is a question that comes to mind many times when I am learning about a new resource.  I feel that the teacher will know if it actually works with an entire class and how beneficial the resource is for what you are trying to accomplish with your students.