Webtools I will actually use (AKA Final Project)

I have learned about a number of new interesting tools this summer, but most of them are not something I will actually use in classes I teach. This is a disclaimer that I need to add to my final project for the webtools class: what follows is a work of fiction. Most of my students have internet access at home, but not all do. Any tools I use have to be able to be used at school during limited computer lab time. I either give up class time, or stay very late after school so that students can access the lab, under my supervision, after sports practices which end at 5:30pm. It is not going to happen very often.

Version 2 of my proposed use of webtools during the 2009-2010 school year

I would like to use some sort of interactive lab notebooks. So far, I think individual blogs would be more useful in my setting than wikis, but I'm not positive. I lean toward a set of postings that students would make, and then I would just give feedback, but maybe students would like to get feedback from their peers also. I'll keep pondering.

I will require my biology 11 students to make some sort of presentation on a habitat we study on our major field trip. This worked quite well last Spring, and with some modifications to the grading rubric, and with plenty of notice, I think students would prefer to use computers for this presentation. Most of the projects turned in were powerpoints, but with a little encouragement I think other presentation options would be wonderful.

I will make a google earth presentation at the beginning of the school year to the grade eleven class parents, and then at the end of the year during the "Year End Concert". Students, and their parents, love to see pictures taken during the school year. We'll use tools like Picnik to edit pictures to portray our year in math and science.