Kay Teehan

In a world full of information, it can be overwhelming for students as well as adults. This book explores strategies and tools that will facilitate focus, analyzation, synthesis, and utilization of information that is accurate, timely and unbias.

This text provides different varieties of tried-and-true wikis that will help any educator accomplish the multitude of teaching tasks imperative to their students' success. Wikis can be one of the most effective learning tools for today's teachers—if they're used correctly and appropriately. In many cases, educators have not been using this powerful Web 2.0-based tool to its complete potential. In today's demanding, fast-paced education environment, educators need to take full advantage of the technology resources at their disposal to keep pace with tech-savvy students and meet assessment standards. In Wikis: The Educator's Power Tool, the author shares her vast knowledge to unlock the capabilities of wikis for every educator. Educational wiki use can be categorized into three major types: the library wiki, the reciprocal wiki, and student-produced wiki. This book gives real examples of all three uses, as well as straightforward instructions on how to set up, dress up, and lock down a wiki for optimal practicality, attractiveness, ease of use, and security. Student and content-specific examples are included.

Digital Storytelling is a tool that was created to integrate the newest technology in the classroom. It has proven to be a powerful tool indeed. It is said that the reason for its power lies with the type of students we teach each day in our schools. Students today are multi-taskers, creative, and visual learners. They have grown up in a world of multimedia and respond to audio-visual in positive ways. Given the opportunity to tell their stories using digital storytelling models, they are transformed into self-motivated information consumers. Our job, as educators, becomes one of utilizing their natural gravitation to technology to fit our purposes of teaching state and national standards.