Data Visualization

After exploring seiveral tools from Karl Gude's Wiki Data Visualization page I was pleasantly surprised to discover numerous visual (and audio) tools that are free and very easy to use. As I was exploring various tools, I was paying close attention to usability. I hope to implement some of these tools into my classroom for students to use. I "tinkered" with so many of them and I was fortunate to discover that of the ones I delved deeper into, I found them to be student friendly and very easy to use.

I tried AudioBoo. AudioBoo is a mobile and web platform that allows you to record and share audio. I found that not only is it free and easy to use, but it was also usable via cell phone which is a tool that most high school students possess. It is available for iPhone and Android phones. Because I hope to encourage students to record pod-casts as an assignment, I am happy to have found a tool that brings students closer to doing this task. I also tried Glogster. Glogster is an amazing tool that offers users the ability to create virtual collages. Users are able to incorporate images, video and animation as well as be creative with numerous layout options. Glogster virtual collages can also be interactive. Glogster is free for educators and up to ten students. More than ten student require a fee. Another tool I used from Gude's Wiki page was Strip Generator. Strip Generator is a free site that requires no registration where users can create comic strips. It is extremely easy to use and offers a variety of pre-made characters, props, etc... So there are some limits to its use. However its user-friendliness compensates for much of that. I envision students summarizing a scene from a piece of literature we have read in my English class or creating dialogue in Spanish for various units in my Spanish class. Depending on the goal or objective, these comic strips can be made in very little time. The following cartoon is one I created in about fifteen minutes, where I poke fun at my very long Mexican name on the first day of school.
This visualization is actually a true one. I am representing the first day of school when I share my very long ethnic name to my students. In the end they all end up calling me "Mrs. G".

I overall realized that there are so many tools available for educators to teach with; deliver content. And so many of the same tools for students to express learned content.  That has to be my "ah-ha" moment; students and educators using the same tools for different purposes.