Glogs and Math

I am just finishing up a flipped learning class for recertification.  One of the chapters in the book mentioned glogs so I had to look them up because I've never heard of them.  Glogs are a shortened form of graphical blogs where the readers can interact with the "poster" on the blog.

The graphical poster is digital and can have videos, pictures, sounds, and so much more.  In other words, instead of reading the blog, you are interacting with the graphical interface.

Think about having students create this interactive digital posters to share information on certain topics.  In addition, creating the interactive poster encourages collaboration when students work together and they use higher order thinking skills to organize the information into a presentation.  It is also a valid method for assessment because it allows students to show their learning.

The cool thing is that there are at least two sites on the web where one can both find and make interactive posters for use in glogs.  Both of these sites have a free level and if you want more you can pay.

1.  Glogster is one possibility.  It allows people to insert text,  graphics, images, walls, audio, video, web , 3-D and VR, along with clip art.  They also have a library of over 40,000 blogs in their content library which includes math and templates teachers or students can use to create something new by simply replacing the blanks with the appropriate videos and text as needed.

Students often ask "How do I start?" and these templates give them a place to start.  It is their work, everything from pictures to text to videos but the arrangement is there.  For students who are good at starting with an empty palette, they can begin with a totally blank canvas and build what they see in their mind.

There is a free version for one teacher and up to 30 students that comes with limited editing and 3-D or media content, no access to premium features and no help desk but for free, it comes with enough to work with.

2. Thinglink is another possibility.  Thinglink allows the teacher to create interactive images or create virtual tours.  I've used this to create interactive pictures for my hyperdocs.  I created an interactive picture on slopes.  There are places on the picture that identify zero, undefined, positive and negative slopes within the ride.

The free version is primarily for the teacher to create interactive pictures for the public mode but for a small amount per year, it is possible to upgrade to the premium account.

The premium allows you to have up to 35 students use the account to create their own interactive posters via assignments using collaborative editing, and allows the teacher to grade the work and provide feedback.  I've never used the premium but I know other teachers who love this and have used it.

If you haven't implemented Glogs into your repertoire, give these sites a shot to determine which one is best for you.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.