Pinterest

Pinterest

I discovered Pinterest a few months ago though a friend and was instanly addicted. After making personal boards and pinning like crazy I started thinking about the possible educational purposes of Pinterest. Here in the Language Centre we have a drive on the computers with files and links that teachers and students can use in class. However, this drive seems somewhat unorganized so it is hard to find what you are looking for. Since most people are quite visual it would be nice to organize using pictures and that is exactly what Pinterest does. Since we also want to start working more digitally Pinterest seems like the perfect source or platform for students and teachers to find and store links in a visually attractive way.

What is pinterest?

Have a look at the video below to get an idea.  

So... Pinterest is an online pinboard to which you can pin an image from a website. The image should represent the website because when you click on the image you get directed to the website. This is a visual way to 'remember' websites and to easily find them, even after a while. Some images are not pinned with the purpose of wanting to go to the website 'behind' it, they are simply pinned because they are funny, like this one:

So you can pin images from websites that you know and want to save, but you can also 'repin' images from others. You can also browse through a certain catagory of pins, for example 'Food&Drink' where you can find all sorts of recipies. You can get to the website 'behind' the picture by clicking on it, it will then enlarge, when you click on it again pinterest will take you to the website.
 

Example:
Normally, if you have found a recipe online and you'd like to save it you would use 'favourites' or even write the webadress down. After a while you have so many favourites that you cannot rememeber which was which. Now, if you 'pin' all of these websites on a board (or several boards) you would have a visual overview of the websites you want to save by seeing an overview of the pictures on the websites (you choose a picture for each website that you want to pin which represents what you want to remember from that website).

How do you get from a pin to a website?

This is my personal pinterest page:

This is my board 'sweet'where I keep all of my recipies for sweet things.

What if I'd like to make the cinnabons from the picture on the top right hand side? I will click on the picture so it enlarges

Now you have several possibilities but let's just take the easy route : click on the picture again and pinterest takes you to the website.
 

Now, I can make these cinnabons using the recipe on the website.

This is the core of pinterest : saving images which represent which website is behind them so you have a visual overview of website you'd like to save.
 

What are the pro's and cons of Pinterest?

Pro's

• Pins can be found easily through the use of pictures instead of writing to indicate a website.\
• Several boards can be made so you can organize your pins.
• Visually attractive
• It's fun
• You can follow everyone, you don't have to ask for permission (as with facebook). So you can follow anyone who has the same interests as you, resulting in finding pins you would otherwise never have found.
• You can collaborate with others by creating a board together. This results in creating a shared database where you can share knowledge and resources that is always accessible.
• You don't need an account to use the pins on pinterest (only to make boards and add pins). You can visit any account,board or pin you like using an url or the search option. This means that students can access the talencentre pinterest account without having to make an account resulting in more autonomy and independence for the student.
• Pinterest speaks to young people because they are used to working with images rather than with text.
• You can make 'secret' boards. This makes it possible for you to keep certain information away from your students.

Cons:

• There is no way of making a board within a board resulting in having to make a lot of boards to organize your pins. This makes it difficult to organise and keeping a clear overview at the same time.
• After a while you probably have a lot of pins and have been browsing Pinterest for quite some time (yes it is addicitive!). This means that you might come across a pin that you might have or might not have pinned before. Pinterest does not tell you wether you have pinned an image (or website) before. This means that you might end up with a lot of the same pins. The same goed for collaborative boards where two or more people might pin the same website or similar websites which could become confusing for students.
• Speaks to boys more than girls

How do I use pinterest during my lessons? 

1. Preparation: I use pinterest for inspiration : it contains a lot of lesson plans, ideas or materials that I can use.
2. During the lesson : When I am in a classroom that has a smartboard or tv I open pinterest and give my students a tour of the talencentrum account so that they know where to find information. Also, when I am in a room with a smartboard I can open the websites I use for workshops and use the smartboard at the same time.
3. During the lesson: Some students need more attention/instruction than others. Students who work independently can use pinterest as an extra source for when they have questions, before they ask their question to their teacher, who is busy giving extra instruction or personal speaking assignments.
4. After the lesson: Students can access the pinterest page from anywhere which means that they can work independently, even at home.
5. Or, see graphic below:

How do you create an account?

Watch the video below for specific instructions:

 

 

How to pin from a website.

 

How to follow people.

 

How to repin on pinterest.

 

How to install the 'pin-it' button?

Click on the following link for written instructions  :http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/ 

 

Prezi presentations

Let's talk about Prezi, the website that changed the way I thought about using IT in my lessons! A teacher at Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden introduced me to it and I have not used Powerpoint since..

What is Prezi?

Prezi is an online application that allows you to make presentations that are dynamic and visually attractive. Prezi describes itself as a communication tool to help you organise, present and share your ideas. Right, so what does that even mean??? Basically, Powerpoint 2.0!

According to the About section of the website, 'Prezi is a virutal whiteboard that transforms presentations from monologues into conversations: enabling people to see, understand, and remember ideas'.

You can register with an e-mail account and it is free! Prezi also offers an educational version which provides you with more storage than you would have with a regular free account. This educational version also gives you the option to keep your Prezis private (the Prezis you create in the regular free account are public). If you want  an educational account you have to use your school e-mail address to register. 

Prezis can be added to, linked to, and shared via Facebook and Twitter. You do not need an account to view the presentations, so students have access to your presentations anytime, anywhere. 

You can finish a basic Prezi in about 10 minutes, but the many features will probably cause you to spend more time making sure your Prezi is perfect! 

Prezi: pros and cons 

Prezi has many pros, but there are some cons... I've put them together for you in.. A Prezi! The arrows allow you to click through it. There are to other options: play automatically and Full Screen.

How can teachers and students use Prezi?

1. Use Prezi to present subjects, just like you would use Powerpoint. 
2. Create elaborate Venn diagrams, timelines, or other options to get your point across. 
3. Zoom in on images to make details more clear. 
4. Highlight important information.
5. Show that some ideas go together or flow into each other. 
6. Tell a story or discuss a process. 
7. Make a digital portfolio. 

So what do you think? Are you ready to get started? Good, that means it is time forrrrrr *drum roll*

The step by step guide to your first Prezi! 

1. Go to www.prezi.com and click 'Sign up' in the top right corner of your screen.

You will get to a page where you can choose your license. I chose to continue with the educational license for teachers and students. This option is a bit hidden, but you can find it under the 'Enjoy' option. Do you see the orange hat? That's where you want to go...

In the next screen we will choose the free option 'Enjoy Edu', which is written in green.

2. Sign up with your e-mail address and click continue. Make sure to use your school e-mail account.
Tip: this e-mail address will also be your username, so you may want to write it down somewhere.

3. After this, Prezi will ask for some information about your school: the name of your school, location, country, and school website. You also need to check a box to confirm that you are an active teacher or student. You can find this box below the blue 'continue' button. Strange place to hide it, but yeah..

Click Continue to, well, continue...

4. You will now receive an e-mail with a link to verify your account. Go to you inbox and click the link in the e-mail. If the link doesn't work you can copy-paste it into your search bar and press enter.

5. This is where your personal information comes in. You need to enter your first and last name and then pick a password, which you have to enter twice. Also check the box to accept the terms and conditions.

6. That's it! You now have an account and Prezi will send you to your home screen. As you can see we now have 0 Prezis... Sad times..

You may notice a couple of things in this screen: Your Prezis is written in a bold font for example, because it is the screen you are in now. Next to it, you can see a tab called Learn. This is where you can find tutorials, Frequently Asked Questions and support. I've read somewhere that the Prezi helpdesk is very quick: they fixed a broken Prezi in less than 3 hours after receiving the e-mail. It might be a good idea to check out a video and then experiment with a presentation. There is a lot of information in the videos and I like to think that it is clever to do something with that information right away..

You will find the Explore tab next to Learn. This is where you get access to millions of Prezis from other people and I suggest you take a look at them sooner or later because you are allowed to copy them. They will show up on your home screen so you can easily find them back if you want to. And let's be honest: why do work and create a Prezi to go with it when other people actually have that part covered?

7. Now, let's go back to Your Prezis and click on the blue button that says '+ new Prezi'. A pop-up appears: choose a title for your Prezi and, if you want to, a description. Continue by clicking 'Create new Prezi'.

Edit: Prezi has changed a bit and will now send you to the templates right away. You can enter a name for your Prezi after working on it. To do this, click Exit. You will go to view mode and you can click the pencil next to your Prezi's name (which probably will be Untitled Prezi or something along those lines).

8. We're now in the Template screen. I've decided to go with a template because it has the same options as a blank page. Choose your template and click 'Choose' in the right bottom corner of your screen.

9. Prezi has now come up with a basic outline for your presentation. On the left side of your screen you will see the order of the slides. You can click these slides and work on your presentation, which is exactly what I did in the previous Prezi and in the one I will show you later on. All I did was edit the text a bit. You can do this by clicking on the text and then either type right away or choose 'Edit text'. You will also get the possibility to delete the text.

But there is more.. I'll show you in the next Prezi..

10. If you want to start from scratch and create your own Prezi, the most important thing to remember is the path: the order in which your slides will be shown. You can work on this any time you want by clicking 'edit path'. If you want to add a new slide, you have two options:

• You create a new frame, which will be added to your path automatically;
• You click Edit Path and then click on the text, image or video you want to include.

I've made an experimental video for you to watch, but the sound quality is horrible. Sorry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-iJcc4G6s8

If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section or e-mail me at l.brouwer2@fcroc.nl!