Virtual Storyboards on Trends in Online Learning

Students' Use of Glogster

Students can utilize posters to present ideas by using the website Glogster. Therefore, a Glogster assists students in using images, videos, audios, texts, and graphics to build an online poster. The Glogster offers users the ability to exhibit their work by using graphics that reflect their interests, choices, and thoughts. Additionally, the Glogster gives students the option to display their thoughts using the desired backgrounds, videos, photographs, links, and text fields. Students use the Glogster to present their work in class, while professors use it to gauge their students' progress (Lightle, 2011).

Benefits of Glogster in Online Classrooms

A Glogster can be used in an online classroom in many ways. Students can use the Glogster to address speaking, written and listening skills. Through the Glogster, the students acquire knowledge about how to improve these skills. The Glogster also helps the students to sharpen these skills. Use of images helps students to foster their visual literacy skills giving them a chance to use the correct images to pass the correct information on their posters. The Glogster uses a format that is usually expressive and engaging. The formats used express typically the ideas of the students and the images tend to engage the viewers in a particular topic. The posters are usually used to persuade the viewers to agree with the ideas.

Improving Creative and Artistic Skills

In a classroom, a Glogster creates an opportunity for students to improve their creative and artistic skills. This ensures that every student is challenged to improve and better their skills. Students use the Glogster to create posters that represent their ideas about different topics (Bustamante, Hurlbut, & Moeller, 2012). The posters, therefore, bring out the main ideas of the students and also provide relevant details that support these ideas. This helps to sharpen the skills of the students making them better researchers. A Glogster brings out the relationship between ideas. Students link ideas and create posters linking the ideas with the relevant information. This, therefore, helps to sharpen the skills of the students giving everyone a chance to improve.

Technology Integration and Privacy

Through the Glogster, students can use technology within the curriculum. The use of technology makes education interesting and fun for students. The use of Glogster in the classroom, therefore, helps the students become more interested in their coursework. The Glogster also help to make the students participate actively in research and classwork. Integrating technology into the curriculum sharpens the minds of the students and makes learning interesting. The use of Glogster is also beneficial in education because it is private and very safe for the students to use. Glogs give students a chance to create individual accounts and use them. The individual accounts provide an opportunity for every student to present their work privately. The privacy also gives the teachers a chance to identify the potential of each student individually and help them improve. Students can use the Glogster to keep their academic records by creating grade glogster. The grade Glogster can, therefore, be used to monitor the performance of each student individually and help teachers to have an easy time identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the students. The Glogster application could also be used by teachers as a visual teaching aid. Teachers use Glogster to monitor the activities of their students as well as creating class lists. The Glogster is useful to the teachers because they ensure that the privacy of the students is maintained therefore the students acquire the confidence to present their work to their teachers without fear of being criticized by other students. Glogs give students a chance to share digital information online. This creates room for students to show off their skills and learn from others. Through creating Glogster, students can sharpen their creative skills and are motivated to improve. It also helps the students to develop their ability to analyze and evaluate online texts, develop the critical reading skills of the students and give students an opportunity to write for authentication. Glogs give the students an opportunity to create a neat and organized graphics work.

Developing Skills and Boosting Confidence

Students, therefore, acquire organizational skills that they continue to use to improve their work. Glogs can also be used to help students acquire problem-solving skills. Each student is challenged by an assignment that they work on and are expected to be successful. They, therefore, work hard to ensure that they handle the assignments the correct way. Through the assignments, the students acquire problem-solving skills and learn new skills. Glogs also require students to have skills in research so that they can provide valid information on their online sites. The extensive research work conducted by the students before they can complete their Glogster gives the students a chance to improve their research skills and helps to improve their confidence. Projects can also be presented using the Glogster. Students, therefore, use the Glogster to show their scientific experiments and research through the projects. This helps to boost their confidence in the classroom giving them a better understanding of the topics (Pape, Sheehan & Worrell, 2012).

References

Bustamante, C., Hurlbut, S., & Moeller, A. K. (2012). Web 2.0 and language learners: Moving from consumers to creators.

Lightle, K. (2011). More than just the technology. Science Scope, 34(9), 6-9.

Pape, L., Sheehan, T., & Worrell, C. (2012). How to Do More with Less: Lessons from Online Learning. Learning & Leading with Technology, 39(6), 18-22.

Link to the Glog: https://edu.glogster.com/glog/blank-horizontal-glog-5a4f4692ddbaa/2maoli3hj4p