I was lucky to be placed in the group learning about Blendspace for this assignment. I had never heard of Blendspace, but was fascinated by the abilities. In the sense of "Organizing Your Online Life" it was meant for teachers, or anyone curious of learning from multiple angles. An elevated Google search on an educational platform would be my best description. I chose to learn about it from a teacher's perspective and leave the student on the receiving end, rather than inclusion since my fall field assignment is limited in technology tools.
Navigation on the Blendspace.com website was very user friendly. Logging in was already linked to Google email accounts; no additional usernames and passwords to create. As you develop your canvas which your topic of interest changes can be made with ease. When looking for math games the YouTube sites were endless, Google sites and images were plentiful for use and decoration, my Google Drive pages were easily accessible if necessary to include the focus assignment.
When I asked a few friends that are teachers if they were familiar with Blendspace.com most were not. One used it for brainstorming, which is what I think I will do. Those without knowledge of it asked for the share page to be sent to them. Blendspace offers a way to integrate tech into the classroom directly and indirectly with its options. I am very thankful to add it to my bag of tricks and happy to share with others.
My first sharing experience was in class with Anthony and Liz who are both very knowledgeable in their subjects. It was very exciting to see their eyes light up when the results displayed for their own first topic of choice!
Rachel, it seems like you really enjoyed learning about Blendspace and I am happy to hear that it is something you will be thinking of using in the future. I especially like how you described this tool as "an elevated Google search on an educational platform." I think this description fits Blendspace very well!
ReplyDeleteI really like how you don't need to create a special account for this site and I think this is a feature that will appeal to many people, including me. I have way too many accounts and passwords as it is!
You mention that you will probably use the site as a brainstorming tool. Does this mean you aren't as interested in using it to create lessons to give your students? Why or why not?
The school I will be student teaching at has limited tech tools, so brainstorming will be the most effective use at this time.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel, I also explored Blendspace and found it to be very interesting and plan to use it in my classroom. It will be interesting for you to do your student teaching in a school that has limited tools. Maybe you can use some parts of this program and find a way to use that in your classroom.
ReplyDeleteRachel, thank you for presenting to Liz and I about Blendspace. I find it really amazing that you can view other professional Blendspaces for viable examples. Further, I love how you can place many different websites and online articles on to the Blendspace to make a big, hugely tech, lesson plan. I hope I can use Blendspace to mix it up in the classroom.
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