login username and password for their Glogster EDU Nickname and password so they don’t need to remember another login. From classroom experience - make sure their Caps Lock is off when they register!
Saving time
Time is one of the most valuable commodities in the classroom. Glogster has SO MANY choices – there are 13 categories with multiple pages and color options just to design the background Wall! And of course students want to see every possible choice which will eat up your lab time very quickly. So I limit what students may choose from – they have 3 minutes to choose a background from one category (NOT the See all category!). They always have the option of changing the background from ANY category IF they finish their project before the deadline.
file!). To save an AudioBoo, add .mp3 to the end of the URL. This will open your file in Windows Media Player. Right click on the top task bar (next to Media Guide is a good place) and select File > Save As. In Glogster, upload as an audio file, choose a player and Publish to hear. Magical!
Submit to the teacher
When choosing a text box style, again, I give them a time limit and a category limit. They need to locate ONE text box style that they like to use for the whole project. Once they have the first text box sized, copy and paste some of their report into the box, change the font, font color, etc. and then clone that text box so all text boxes contain the same formatting. They have the option to change the background color of each text box if they wish. Since they already have all their text written, it’s a simple matter of copying and pasting their work into their Glog.
Note: If students have a lot of text, they should use ‘stickers’ and not ‘titles’. Avoid using the scroll bar – they might have to break up a paragraph between two stickers – just split the sentences and keep the stickers near each other for easier reading.
Having all images pre-URL’ed and in one folder will also save students time as they can upload all pictures at once (although it will take a bit of upload time) and then resize and move to create a pleasing balance.
As an alternative to a lot of text boxes, have students record themselves reading a paragraph of their work and uploading as an audio file! You can set up a classroom account at http://
audioboo.com for students to use (make sure each file is saved with the 1st
name of the student so you know the creator of the MACULJOURNAL |
Once Glogs are finished, you’ll have to collect them in some way. Since all EDU glogs are private, you need to gather either the URL or embed code from each student, depending on what you want to do with their Glogs. I’ve found that the easiest way to do this is to set up a Google Docs Form for students to access and submit their name, their Glog URL and/or their Glog embed code. Once they click the Submit button, I have their Glog information. I can now click the link to view their work and I can embed their Glogs into the classroom wiki or blog page for parents to access.
For the Future
Be sure to save examples of Glogs to share with next year’s students. And don’t save just the stellar ones – showing a Glog or two that has too much tiny text, too many animated stickers, or an unbalanced page will make more of an impression on students.
I’m sure you can come up with zillions of ways of using Glogster across the curriculum. Interestingly, once you introduce Glogster to students (and a great way to do this would be to create a whole-class Glog together) it’s such an intuitive resource that students will easily produce amazing online posters. If you haven’t already, give it a try!
Marilyn Western is the 2008 MACUL Teacher of the Year, a former member of the MACUL Board of Directors, a Discovery Educator Network (DEN) scholar, and a Mt. Pleasant Public Schools 5th/6th grade computer lab teacher. Outside of the classroom, she has worked as the 1998-99 MDE Technology Using Educator on Loan, a MI Champions course designer and instructor, a technology trainer for Clare Gladwin RESD, Gratiot Isabella RESD and Bay Arenac ISD, a national presenter for the Bureau of Education & Research, and a district Tech Guru. She can be reached via mwestern@
edzone.net.
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