Glogster is a social network that allows users to create free interactive posters, or glogs. The glog, short for graphical blog, is an interactive multimedia image. It looks like a poster, but readers can interact with the content. Glogster provides an environment to design interactive posters. The user inserts text, images, photos, audio, videos, special effects and other elements into their glogs to generate a multimedia online creation [1. Glogster Wikipedia].
Getting Started with Glogster
As with most Web 2.0 teaching tools, it is relatively simple to set up a Glogster account for your students. Getting started is safe, private, and user-friendly. Teachers can sign up at the Glogster Edu site. After completing the registration steps, you will receive an email with your nickname, password and login link. From here you can add students to your account.Teachers can register up to 50 student accounts. All 50 may be added during the initial registration, or accounts can be added later to bring the total number of accounts to 50. After entering in the number of student accounts you need, you will receive randomly generated nicknames and passwords in your message box and email. You can change your students’ passwords before you distribute them to your students, or give your students the randomly generated passwords and instruct them to change their passwords under Account Settings.... Fairly simple stuff [2. Glogster FAQ].
Using Glogster
Glogster is incredibly easy to use. The following Glogster Turorial by Traci Blazosky provides a very effective guide as to how you and your class can start creating Glogs. For those visual learners amongst us, this Youtube video will get you started in 90 seconds.
Why use Glogster in the Classroom?
Glogster has become enormously popular in recent times. It is fast developing as a major tool for students to demonstrate their learning in a creative manner. In the classroom, Glogster gives the students the opportunity to increase digital literacy and enhance their learning experiences by:
Enjoy a fun Learning experience
Demonstrate mastery of technology tools
collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding
use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings
use technology tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and acces
tapping into learners’ interests, offering appropriate challenges, and increasing motivation
Glogster can be used by teachers and students. Due to its simplicity, even young students can create awesome presentations. I recently used Glogster with my Y5 Maths group. There task was to create a Glog on a famous Greek Mathematician. Some of them enjoyed it so much they started creating their own Glogs as extra HW! With assistance, I feel that you could have even the youngest primary students using this tool.
What can Glogster be used for in the Classroom?
Glogster can be used for any curriculum area. Students can create a Glog to display any new knowledge or learning. Completed glogs can be embedded into your school VLE or Class wiki. The following are different examples for different subject areas.
Demonstrate Learning/ Understanding in various areas.
Create a GLOG showing Real World Maths
Create a GLOG on Famous Mathematicians
Science:
Glog on Body Systems
Interactive Solar System Glog
Explain Forces
Energy Glogs
History:
Famous people, time or era
Timeline of events
Arguments for and against
Specific Information on historical Episode.
Art:
Famous Artist/Period
Comparison of work/ paintings
Detailed analysis of paintings
The list here could go on indefinintely. What is clear is that Glogster can be used in all areas of the curriculum and create some outstanding results. Here are some examples:
In summary, Glogster is a very easy to use tool which will allow students to your students a creative to way to express themselves and demonstrate their learning. As I have witnessed, they will enjoy using it.
Essay Definition can vary widely depending on the Person DefiningEssay definition can be different depending on the source. The narrowest definition of essay is “a short piece of writing on a particular subject”, as appearing in Oxford Dictionary. Most common form of essay is written in prose. In practice, essays are regarded as short pieces of writing, though there are some exceptions like John Locke’s” An essay concerning human understanding”. In its broadest sense, definition of essay…See More
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