tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472432724125679862024-03-13T14:42:59.359-07:00Jackie's Thoughts on Web 2.0Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-88566826447056446212010-04-18T14:56:00.000-07:002010-04-18T15:01:31.135-07:00A Vision of 21st Century LearningWhen my classmates in EDES 545 and I first started this final project, I never really anticipated what a valuable learning experience it was going to be or how effectively we would work together to exemplify what it means to be a 21st century learner. The idea of working collaboratively was born from a simple Skype call and the rest of the class embraced the idea with enthusiasm. I believe that everyone was willing to take the risk and try something innovative, only because we had already established a safe and supportive camaraderie throughout the course of the semester. There was, and still is, a strong basis of trust, mutual respect, positive support, enthusiasm and encouragement from all of my classmates and also from our instructor, Joanne. She gave us her trust and the freedom to explore, create and learn and without that we never would have been successful.<br /><br />In creating this Voicethread, it amazes me to see how many of the 21st century skills and characteristics we embodied. The seven of us have never met face to face, and yet we have created an incredibly strong network through the use of skype, the Web CT discussion board, email, elluminate sessions, instant messaging, twitter, the wiki and this voicethread. Any time someone needed help or had a question, there was immediate support through one of these means of communicating. The group was playful and fun to talk with, bounce ideas off of and for the first time in my life, I thoroughly enjoyed doing group work this semester. Every day that we worked on this project, I eagerly checked the voicethread first thing in the morning and periodically throughout the day to see how it was changing and evolving. It was fun and exciting to see the images and ideas presented around them take shape. The suggestion of using Henry Jenkin’s article with which to build our ideas around was inspirational, and the means through which we appropriated the article and added photos, comments, web & video links to create something new was one of the first experiences I’ve had with creating something transformative. Everyone in the group exhibited utmost respect for intellectual property, being careful to chose creative commons photos or creating their own images.<br /><br />The clearest concept that was exemplified in this project however, was that of collective intelligence. The idea that Ruth presented that discovery is a social process hit the proverbial nail on the head. As everyone in our class worked together on the wiki and the voicethread, real insights were made that likely never would have been otherwise if we were working alone. In this regard, the concept of synergy truly shone through. The whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts!<br /><br />This project wasn’t without challenges for me or my group however. Multitasking on several final papers and projects at once left me, and I suspect a few other group members, feeling somewhat concerned that we would have enough time to complete our vision of what 21st century learning should look like, with the amount of content and connected reflection process that we felt it deserved. I, for one, had enough difficulty learning how to focus on each concept and how to divide my attention between the ideas without losing my ability to concentrate….all the ideas that were being presented were just so connected, it was difficult to know at times which comment to apply to which slide. <br /><br />Ruth jokingly mentioned in an email earlier this week that Henry Jenkins just added one more concept to the list and who would take it on at such a late phase? That concept is evolving creation. As I look at what we’ve created in this voicethread, and I listen to my class mates’ reflections my thoughts are still connecting to other’s ideas, and building on what I’ve learned. I think this Voicethread could continue to grow and evolve indefinitely. I feel that as a teacher I am still evolving and changing, and more than ever I am truly a student who has so much learning ahead of me. This has been my biggest shift in thinking this year, and I’ve got to thank Joanne and my class mates for this small epiphany. When I started my leave of absence this year to start my masters, I felt like I was learning in isolation. It wasn’t just because I was living in relative geographic isolation, but mainly because all of my past learning experiences have emphasized individual achievement. Now, after taking the time to build my Personal learning network and making connections to people that have the same interests and passions, I feel that I have a supportive community behind me as I continue my learning. I now understand what Will Richardson meant when he stated that “learning in this environment is about being able to construct, develop, sustain and participate in global networks that render time and place less and less relevant” (Richardson, 2009. p.8)<br /><br />Will Richardson also said that “we need to make these connections in our own practice first so we can thoroughly understand the pedagogical implications for the classroom.” (2009. p. 8) In Doug Johnson’s blog post on connected teaching, he also suggests that “teachers do their own learning first” and “that they should see themselves as learners in the classroom alongside of their students.” (Johnson, 2010). To me, this idea has created a whole shift in thinking about how I want to teach and interact with my students next year. I have to admit that prior to my learning this year, some of the tech tools that I’ve tried to use in the classroom have simply taken the work that student’s do on paper, and digitized it. I wasn’t giving them the opportunity to share their work with a global audience or giving them the chance to network or participate in the construction of collective cognition. When I think of what Joanne has so transparently modeled for us this year, I now KNOW what it is that I need to do to improve my own practice and to encourage my other colleagues to do. We need to show our students as transparently as possible what it is that we would like to see from them. Joanne was a perfect guide in our learning journey, as was always present in our networks through whichever means we felt the most comfortable communicating with her –whether that was twitter, Facebook, web CT, email, or by phone. As Mark mentioned in the Voicethread, we as teachers, need to be present not only physically in our students’ lives but also in their online networks. I believe Will Richardson is right when he says that we need to help our students understand and prepare for creating their own Personal Learning Networks. By demonstrating to our students that we are life-long learners as well as teachers, we can show them in a transparent way how “to be literate at developing their own connections around the world to be life-long learners in the truest sense” (Richardson, 2007).<br /><br />Thank you to Joanne, Ruth, Dawn, Natasha, Cynthia, Shirley and Mark for everything you’ve taught me and for being such an important part of my own journey. <br /><br /><br /><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEyNzE2Mjc4NTg2NTYmcHQ9MTI3MTYyNzg2OTAwMCZwPTIwNjQyMSZkPWI5NTg*OTYmZz*yJm89ZTNjNWQ4ZjdmMGY4/NDljYThiNmI1NjkwYTQ*N2U5OTImb2Y9MA==.gif" /><object width="380" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=958496"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=958496" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="380" height="360"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />References<br /><br />Johnson, Doug. (March 30, 2010) Connected teaching. Weblogg-ed. Retrieved from http://weblogged-com/<br /><br />Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks: CA, CorwinUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-42460121410240778172010-04-11T12:48:00.000-07:002010-04-11T13:00:27.952-07:00Technology IntegrationThere is no question that “integrating technology into the curriculum is a priority in most schools today” (Starr, 2009). For many teachers the system itself is mandating change by making use of new software for electronic attendance and report cards. Although some teachers may be uncomfortable with technology, I strongly agree that “educators must rise to the challenge of closing the digital divide in education” by teaching students how to “manipulate various forms of new media with a high level of comfort and skill” (Mullen, 2008). This can be a huge challenge for some teachers who lack the experience or skills to use new technology themselves. In addition, many teachers can attest that they feel they are inundated with too many daily demands placed on them by their students, parents, administrators and departmental colleagues, as illustrated in the video below:<br /><br /><object width="380" height="285"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ged6hKZOTqw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ged6hKZOTqw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="285"></embed></object><br /> <br />This humorous “rant” reminded me of and article titled "All Aboard!" which stated that implementing 21st century skills instruction will be successful "only when those skills are seen as relevant to the pressing agendas that coexist in schools" (Carpenter & Carpenter, 2009). For teachers who have been around for a long time, and seen many different agendas and trends in education come and go it's easy to understand their reluctance to embrace something new. So “how can [technology] be seen as part of the solution instead of another nagging problem?” (Carpenter & Carpenter, 2009). Quite simply, teachers need to see how technology and new tools can “help make teaching and learning more meaningful and fun” as well as more effective and easier, instead of being just "one more thing" that is expected of them from administration? (George Lucas, 2010). <br /><br />“Most educational experts agree that technology should be integrated, not as a separate subject or as a once-in-a-while project, but as a tool to promote and extend student learning on a daily basis” (Starr, 2009). For effective technology integration to be achieved its use should support curricular goals as well as the four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts (George Lucas, 2010). Teachers should also recognize that it is still crucial to focus on the curriculum and pedagogy, not the computer skill or technological tools being used (Norris, n.d.). <br /><br />Teachers need to continue to focus on designing authentic learning tasks and guided inquiry projects that meet curricular goals, but also extend the learning outside the classroom with the use of new technology. Teachers should focus on creating assignments and projects that (Johnson, 2004):<br />-are relevant to the student's life<br />-answer real questions<br />-are hands-on<br />-allow the learner to reflect, revisit, revise and improve<br />-are authentically assessed, and<br />-are shared with people who care and respond.<br /><br />There are a multitude of new Web 2.0 tools that can help achieve these authentic learning experiences in all subjects and grade levels. They are relatively easy to learn and lots of fun to use! Some of my favourites that are now a part of my daily routine are:<br /><br />1. <a href="http://earth.google.com/">Google Earth</a> and <a href="http://maps.google.com/">Google Maps</a> – As a science teacher, the applications to Google Earth, such as Google Earthquake which show real-time data is indispensable!<br /><br />2. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/">YouTube</a> & <a href="http://www.schooltube.com/">School Tube</a> – There are a multitude of video clips that can quickly and easily enhance ANY lesson.<br /><br />3. <a href="http://docs.google.com/">Google Docs</a> – Easily allow students to collaborate and share material as they are working on group projects.<br /><br />4. <a href="http://www.google.com/reader/">Google Reader </a>(RSS)- Helps students to not only create their own, specialized ‘virtual’ newspaper of sites and blogs that they like to read daily, but can also be used to search for information 24/7 and organize a multitude of information.<br /><br />5. <a href="http://delicious.com/">Del.icio.us</a> & <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a> – Are excellent social bookmarking sites that can help both students and teachers find the information they are looking for, but also share pertinent sites quickly.<br /><br />6. <a href="http://www.wikispaces.com/">Wikispaces</a> & <a href="http://pbworks.com/">Pbworks</a> – Are wiki sites that are easy to set up and can be used for online collaboration projects with students. <br /><br />7. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a> – An amazing photo sharing site that makes it fun to take class photos of the activities we are working on. Many of the images that are available to students are a part of the Creative Commons and can also be used in student projects.<br /><br />Teachers also need to take the pressure off themselves to be the ‘expert’ in the classroom and accept that it is ok, and even encouraged, that they “own their own learning first [and] that they see themselves as learners in the classroom alongside of their students”, particularly when it come to learning new technology and information literacy skills (Johnson, 2010). When students are in the computer lab, teachers should support them with content area and facilitate students working together in a collaborative fashion to help each other with the technology (Norris, n.d.). It will become obvious fairly quickly which students are experts and can assist their classmates (and teachers!) with the hardware and software they are learning (Norris, n.d.).<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn”</span><span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span><br />- John Cotton Dana<br /><br />References<br /><br />Carpenter, David. Carpenter, Margaret. (Dec/Jan 2008-09). All Aboard! Learning & Leading with Technology. p. 18-21.<br /><br />George Lucas Educational Foundation. (2010). Core Concepts: Technology Integration. Edutopia.org. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/tech-integration<br /><br /><br />Johnson, Doug. (March 30, 2010). Connected Teaching. Weblogg-ed. Retrieved from: http://weblogg-ed.com/<br /><br />Johnson, Doug. (March 2004). Plagarism- Proofing Assignments. Doug Johnson. Retrieved from: http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/plagarism-proofing-assignments.html<br /><br />Mullen, Rebecca. (Nov/Dec 2008). Avoiding the Digital Abyss: Getting Started in the Classroom with YouTube, Digital Stories, and Blogs. The Clearing House (82) 2. p. 66-69.<br /><br />Starr, Linda. (August 11, 2009). Technology Integration Made Easy. Education World. Retrieved from: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech146.shtmlUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-75788882817366854252010-04-04T17:07:00.000-07:002010-04-07T11:56:24.083-07:00Teachers are Students & Learners TooWhen I was back in Squamish for a visit last week, and I kept bumping into former students at the gas station, the grocery store, the local coffee shop and the post office. It is always so heartwarming to be greeted with a smile and “hey Ms. H, where have you been lately?” When I tell them that I took the year off teaching to become a student again, the typical response is “Cool! What are you studying?” My quick answer is usually along the lines of “Doing my masters in library studies” but truthfully, the real answer is much more complex than that. I have taken so many interesting and challenging courses this year that have given me increased knowledge and many new skills in the field of teacher-librarianship, but the most rewarding part of becoming a student again has been learning how to build my own personal learning network (PLN) through the use of new technologies. I now know that “lifelong learning is now possible in ways [I] never imagined” (Guhlin, 2009). <br /><br />PLNs are learning opportunities that provide a way to move from professional development as a special event, such as a workshop or a once a year conference to “a continuous flow of learning” (Guhlin, 2009). There are many ways to develop a PLN, and many interactive and collaborative tools to use including twitter, nings, social networks, blogs, and social bookmarking sites like Diigo. A PLN becomes a “dedicated learning environment [which] is unique to each individual” and its efficacy depends on how much or how little you chose to share and learn from other individuals in your PLN (Kapuler, 2009). “What makes PLNs so great is that they are different for everybody but their goals are usually the same. That goal is to learn and share knowledge and to find a passion and follow it to the best of your ability” (Kapuler, 2009). This year I have been working on my graduate studies in relative geographic isolation, but I have found an incredible network of people who are passionate about Web 2.0 technology, teaching and libraries with whom I can engage in ongoing discussions and share resources with in an online, global environment. “Technology allows us to reach out and build communities based on resonance and commonality” and I have been very fortunate to find people that I can connect with, and who will continue to support my learning while I am both a student and a teacher (Tchcruiser, 2009). As teacher-librarian at my school, I often felt like I was working in isolation and didn’t have any colleagues to collaborate with regularly. I now feel that I have a supportive community of colleagues with whom I can ask questions and receive timely answers, discuss topics of interest with and who will help me stay aware of educational trends.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S7kqTHX1YWI/AAAAAAAAAXc/IzDSNCyRSZE/s1600/building+a+PLN+diagram+Sue+Waters+Blog.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 191px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S7kqTHX1YWI/AAAAAAAAAXc/IzDSNCyRSZE/s200/building+a+PLN+diagram+Sue+Waters+Blog.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456438931420963170" /></a><br />Building a PLN diagram. Sue waters.<br /><br />I have been inspired to build my PLN and continue my professional development because it perfectly fit my learning needs this year. But I wonder how can I inspire and help my other colleagues build their own PLNs and become more comfortable using new strategies and technologies in their own classrooms? It has been shown that “technology infusion without professional development wrapped around it just doesn’t work, and can backfire” (Ketterer, 2008, p. 11). There are many methods and models upon which to design Educational Technology Professional Development (ETPD) and I highly recommend the “One Size Doesn’t Fit All” series of articles by Judi Harris, which not only details 20 different models to design professional development sessions, but also discusses which types of models suit various learning styles and how to assess if the training is effective. A variety of models should be used and the professional development sessions will be most effective if they “align with participating teachers’ professional learning needs, interests and contextual realities” (Harris, 2008, p.19). For teachers to ‘buy into’ furthering their own professional development and using new forms of technology, I truly believe that they need to see how it can benefit their own teaching practice. The national Staff Development Council (NSDC) has concluded that for effective professional development to occur for teachers it should (Harris, 2008, p.21):<br />• be conducted in school settings<br />• be linked to school wide efforts<br />• be concrete<br />• be planned and offered by teachers<br />• be differentiated according to teacher’s differing needs and interests<br />• address goals and contain learning activities that are chosen by teachers<br />• emphasize demonstrations, trials of new tools and techniques and provide opportunities for participants to both receive and give feedback<br />• be ongoing over time<br />• provide ongoing assistance and support<br /><br />To initiate, encourage and support other teachers in this type of peer-to peer network, and provide mentorship, Gagliolo (2008, p.39) suggests the following steps:<br />1. Plan collaboratively with a focus on student learning<br />2. Create a network of support by holding regular meetings and short training sessions<br />3. Create professional development opportunities led by teacher coaches<br />4. co-teach in the classroom to provide extra support when implementing new ideas or technology<br />5. Observe classroom learning with constructive feedback<br />6. Celebrate success by sharing at staff meetings or posting on the school website<br /><br />Most importantly, one of my colleagues pointed out this week, that before we begin “our quest to move into a more integrated technology-supported professional development model we first need to have a clear sense of what we are about and why” (Jorgenson, 2010). This reflective and collaborative values clarification is a vital step that is often missing in our staff professional development endeavors and sometimes in our personal professional development as well (Jorgenson, 2010). The goals need to be made transparent, conscious and explicit for all participants at the beginning of the professional development program (Harris, 2008). <br /><br />Clear goal-setting that addresses how technology with benefit student needs, proper professional development that is differentiated to meet teacher needs, as well as ongoing collaboration and assistance from peers and mentors is essential to making technology integration part of teachers’ professional development. I believe Will Richardson is right when he says that we need to help our students understand and prepare for creating their own Personal Learning Networks. By demonstrating to our students that we are life-long learners as well as teachers, we can show them in a transparent way how “to be literate at developing their own connections around the world to be life-long learners in the truest sense” (Richardson, 2007).<br /> <br /><br />References<br />Gagliolo, Camilla (Sept/Oct 2008). Help Teachers Mentor One Another. Learning & Leading with Technology. p.39<br /><br />Guhlin, Miguel. (August 19, 2009). Light the Flame: PLNs in Schools. Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org. Retrieved from: http://www.mguhlin.org/2009/08/light-flame-plns-in-schools.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mguhlin+(Around+the+Corner+-+MGuhlin.net)<br /><br />Harris, Judi. (February 2008). One Size Doesn’t Fit All (Part 1). Learning & Leading with Technology. p. 18-23.<br /><br />Jorgensen, Shirley. (March 31, 2010). Information Tech for Learning: Technology Professional Development Discussion Question One [Msg 7]. Message Posted to: https://vista4.srv.ualberta.ca/webct/urw/lc5122011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct<br /><br />Kapuler, David. (November 23, 2009). Special Guest Post: Personal Learning Networks. The Unquiet Librarian. Retrieved from: http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/special-guest-post-personal-learning-networks-by-david-kapuler/<br /><br />Ketterer, Kimberly. (June/July 2008). A Professional Development Menu. Learning & Leading with Technology. p.11.<br /><br />Richardson, Will. (December 7, 2007). The Future. YouTube. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lylamGQ6YUQ&feature=related <br /><br />Tchcruiser. (December 5, 2009). Final Reflection eci831-09. YouTube. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8xiDVgFwkU<br /><br />Waters, Sue. PLN Yourself Wiki. Retrieved on April 2, 2010 from: http://suewaters.wikispaces.com/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-20327279028037965552010-03-28T14:28:00.000-07:002010-03-28T19:22:30.326-07:00Privacy mattersI grew up just outside the small village of Wellesley, that only had a population of 500 inhabitants (give or take). Everyone in town knew who I was, and privacy did not exist – especially with the party phone lines. As a result, there is very little difference between my personal and social identities. What you see, is what you get. I feel that this is pretty important when working in a profession that keeps us constantly in the public eye, and teachers are often held to a higher standard of behaviour than the general public whether we are on or off the job. “School districts expect teachers to set a ‘moral’ example” both in person and online in both our personal and professional lives (Johnson, 2008). After several years of traveling the world and attending large Universities that allowed me to blend into the anonymity of larger crowds, I chose to settle in a small town with a similar feel to the one I grew up in. I’ve come to discover that I like knowing the cashier at my grocery store personally and appreciate seeing my students or their parents on the trails mountain biking or sailing with them during weekend races. It may not always be convenient to run into my students while sun tanning at the lake, or enjoying a bonfire with my friends at the river, but I still feel that I don’t have to live separate public and private lives. As Palfrey and Gasser note, digital natives also do not separate their personal and social identities “because these forms of identity exist simultaneously and are so closely linked to one another, Digital Natives almost never distinguish between the online and offline versions of themselves” (2008, p. 20). However, the difference that exists between me and my students is the ability to “recognize the risks associated with online activities [and] the knowledge and tools to mitigate those risks” particularly when it comes to privacy. (<a href="http://www.priv.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2008/res_080604_e.cfm">Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada</a>).<br /><br />According to the office of the privacy commissioner of Canada, “about half of Canadian youth say they never read privacy policies on websites they visit and the majority believes that if a website has a privacy policy, the information they provide will not be shared with anyone else”. There is also plenty of other evidence that also suggests “that no one…reads privacy policies or does much to adjust the default settings for online services” ( Palfrey & Gasser, 2008, p. 57). This false sense of security needs to be addressed with students especially when popular networking sites like Facebook change their default settings to openly share all information, as they did in December, making it even harder for people to protect their privacy. Only 35% of the population went out of their way to change their settings, meaning 65% made their material public, probably without even realizing it (Boyd, 2010). I would wager that many of my students are unaware that once information we post about ourselves is part of a public domain, it can be viewed by virtually anyone, and can be shared widely and without our being totally aware of who has access to it and can also be retrieved even after it’s been modified or removed (Stoddart, 2007).<br /><br />“In many ways our privacy is diminishing, but many people’s relative lack of concern for it may have more to do with a lack of experience in life than a real change in values” (Litwin, 2006). Danah Boyd also supports this notion saying “there is a large myth out there that young people don't care about privacy, and I think that that really needs to be dispelled” (2010). Young people DO care about privacy, but they need more knowledge and education about how social networking sites collect their personal data and use it as a valuable commodity (Stoddart, 2007). “Today’s social sites are a goldmine of information for marketing companies, or political interest groups, and potential employers” and everything that you enter about yourself forms the basis for how people view your “employability, your work ethic, and your other preferences, all without your knowledge or consent, or without even being asked” (Stoddart, 2007). An education based approach is needed to discuss this very important issue, and show students how to set and maintain their privacy settings on the sites they use. It is also critical to encourage them to “think ahead to gauge the consequences of the data they are leaving behind” or the digital footprint that is being formed and teach them how to get unwanted information removed from search engines (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008, p. 53). It is also important that parents and teachers model smart behaviour in their own online contexts and share these with the young adults in their lives.<br /><br />Here are some very helpful videos that you could use in the classroom to help achieve this: <br /><object width="325" height="244"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X7gWEgHeXcA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X7gWEgHeXcA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="244"></embed></object><br /><br />How to set privacy settings:<br /><object width="325" height="244"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pWk8uGdUEkQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pWk8uGdUEkQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="244"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />I , for one, have happily traded some of my own personal privacy to live and teach in small community that enriches my life with a variety of diversified and rich relationships. I suspect that my students also feel the same way about their online relationships, and hopefully they can be taught to maintain their personal identities with integrity, privacy and safety both in the physical and digital world. <br /> <br />References<br /><br />Boyd, Danah. (February 24, 2010). Millennials, media and information. Pew Research Center Publications. Retrieved from: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1516/millennials-panel-two-millennials-medi<br /><br />Johnson, Doug. (June/July 2008). Lighting Lamps. Learning and Leading with Technology. Retrieved from: http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume_35_2007_2008_/JuneJulyNo8/L_L_June_July_2008.htm<br /><br /><br />Litwin, Rory. (May 22, 2006). The central problem of library 2.0: Privacy. Library juice blog. Retrieved from: http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=68<br /><br />Palfrey, John., & Gasser, Urs. (2008) Born digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives. New York, NY: Basic Books.<br /><br />Stoddart, Jennifer. (November 7, 2007) “Privacy and Social Networks”. Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7gWEgHeXcAUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-74685627145668463732010-02-27T19:15:00.000-08:002010-02-28T09:41:16.633-08:00Motivation for change<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S4ngJuaf4NI/AAAAAAAAAWs/5k70JoZ5klc/s1600-h/spring+olympics+pic.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S4ngJuaf4NI/AAAAAAAAAWs/5k70JoZ5klc/s200/spring+olympics+pic.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443128082336571602" /></a><br />I just got back to Vancouver in time to enjoy the last few days of the Olympics. As I wandered around Robson street I couldn’t help but enjoy the warmth of the sun and the beauty of the cherry blossoms on the trees downtown. Spring has definitely arrived early this year. Despite the warm weather conditions and lack of fresh snow, the winter Olympics have managed to carry on successfully. As the old adage goes “Where there is a will…there is a way”. I saw this first hand at the end of January, when Cypress mountain closed to the public and began building the course for the moguls event and snowboard cross course using straw bales and transporting in snow via helicopters from neighbouring mountain tops. The time, expense and commitment to alter mother natures’ own plan has been phenomenal. The International Organizing Committee (IOC) for the Vancouver Olympics has shown us first hand what great things can be achieved when government, organizers, volunteers, trainers and athletes are all determined and motivated to achieve a common goal. I spent a great deal of time last night (while watching the women’s curling final) musing over what changes would have to take place in our education system to get administrators, teachers, librarians, parents and students all motivated to work toward the common goal of integrating technology into our schools effectively. <br /><br />The digital divide that currently exists in our education system is not only about those with limited access to computers and information and communication technologies (ICT) but is about the unequal acquisition of related skills to use that technology effectively (Wikipedia). It is a complex issue that has many structural, cultural and social influences that impact it, including: income, education, geography, gender, age, disability and aboriginal status (Looker & Thiessen, 2003). The unfortunate nature of these influences is that “many of these divisions overlap, so that some groups are doubly or triply disadvantaged” (Looker & Thiessen, 2003). According to the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) blog post entitled “Web 2.0 in Schools: Our Digital Divides are Showing”, the contributing factors to the digital divide in schools can be amalgamated into four broader categories: access, skill, policy and motivation. <br /><br />Quite simply, without access to computers, adequate software and ample Internet connections, our students will be unable to participate fully as digital citizens. However, as funding to public education continues to be cut, “administrators report that they are increasingly unable to meet the budget strain to maintain adequate computer facilities” and upgrade hardware (Couture, as cited in Looker & Thiessen, 2003). We need continued government and administrative financial support to make information technology purchases and upgrades a priority in schools.<br /><br />Secondly, “providing schools with technology is not sufficient to close the digital divide. Teachers must receive the appropriate training in order to use technology effectively and to increase student learning (Wikipedia). Teachers need adequate time and training to acquire pedagogies for teaching information literacy skills such as locating and evaluating digital information and using collaborative Web 2.0 tools effectively. Without proper skills, intellectual access to information will continue to widen the digital divide between students.<br /><br />A third inequality exists in the policies that schools adopt with respect to restricting and filtering websites that block access to Web 2.0 tools. Although I believe that all policy makers have the same intent to protect our children in the online environment, there needs to be equality in filtering policies so that all students have the ability to access Google Docs and other programs that can be effective collaborative learning tools (Nelson, 2009).<br /><br />Perhaps the largest factor that is interconnected with access, skills and policy is motivation. As my colleague <a href="http://edumakated.blogspot.com/">Mark</a> mentioned during our class discussion this week motivation “fundamentally influences all of the others” (Harewood, 2010). Motivation and perceived needs is what determines which restrictions policy makers put on students’ access to particular websites. It also drives government and administrative mandates for funding and providing technological equipment needed to schools. Motivation also plays an integral role in a teacher’s own professional development to gain the skills and pedagogy to effectively teach their students the skills they need. The motivation of parents also directly impacts whether their children have computer access at home. Finally, a student’s motivation will greatly determine whether they embrace information and communication technology and demonstrate responsible digital citizenship. Without motivation from all stakeholders, none of the other barriers that contribute to the digital divide can be overcome.<br /><br />How I can motivate my administration, my colleagues and my students to recognize the importance of information technology and adopt its use so that it becomes infused in the curriculum is perhaps the biggest challenge I have as a librarian. Starting the discussion on the contributing factors to the digital divide is only the necessary first step. Some of the suggestions made by Jan Gahala in her article “Promoting Technology Use in Schools” that I would like to try are:<br />1. Request time from administrators for teachers to partake in ongoing professional development. This could take the form of paid release time for independent practice or classroom-embedded mentoring.<br />2. Advocate for adequate tech support.<br />3. Recognize teacher successes with technology and share these stories with all staff members during meetings.<br />4. At faculty meetings, share ideas for using technology within different content areas.<br />5. Continue to design collaborative projects for students with authentic uses of technology for real-world application in the classroom.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S4oh-rET0BI/AAAAAAAAAW4/gzoFpf1agqE/s1600-h/olympic+rings.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 143px; height: 69px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S4oh-rET0BI/AAAAAAAAAW4/gzoFpf1agqE/s200/olympic+rings.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443200460227072018" /></a><br />When people are motivated they have the ability to overcome tremendous obstacles and achieve great things. Nothing could illustrate that better than Olympic athletes like <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Brian+McKeever+first+Winter+Olympic+Paralympic+athlete+sees+dream+come+true/2474656/story.html">Brian McKeever</a>, <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergames/Terry+medals+Canadian+skater+Joannie+Rochette+Slovenian+skier+Petra+Majdic/2622803/story.html">Petra Majdic or Joannie Rochette</a>. Despite the difficulties and problems they have endured and have persevered to not only become successful, but inspirational. They have shown us all that the seemingly impossible is yet possible. I still believe that this can hold true for narrowing the digital divide that exists in our schools today.<br /><br /><br />References<br />American Association of School Librarians. (October 30, 2008). Web 2.0 in Schools: Our Digital Divides are Showing. Retrieved from: http://www.aasl.ala.org/aaslblog/?m=200810<br /><br />Gahala, Jan. (October 2001.) Critical Issue: Promoting Technology Use in Schools. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Retrieved from: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te200.htm<br /><br />Harewood, Mark. (February 21, 2010). Information Tech for Learning: Digital Divide Discussion Question One [Msg 24]. Message Posted to: https://vista4.srv.ualberta.ca/webct/urw/lc5122011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct<br /><br />Looker, Diane. Thiessen, Victor. (June 2003). The Digital Divide in Canadian Schools: Factors affecting student access to and use of information technology. Research Data Centres Program.<br /><br />Nelson, Cathy. (December 30, 2009). Educational Inequality: more than just race or funding. TechnoTuesday blog. Retrieved from: http://blog.cathyjonelson.com/?p=1078.<br /><br />Wikipedia (n.d) Digital Divide. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide<br /><br />Image Credit<br />Olympic Rings Retrieved from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olympic_Rings.svgUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-39918490258145279242010-02-17T13:19:00.000-08:002010-02-17T15:46:39.058-08:00Filters: A Matter of Trust<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S3xeDkS9HmI/AAAAAAAAAWk/pLF4bg2mAZY/s1600-h/P7191346.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S3xeDkS9HmI/AAAAAAAAAWk/pLF4bg2mAZY/s200/P7191346.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439325865332514402" /></a><br />As I get older I start to appreciate my mom a whole lot more and wonder if I would ever have the same strength to accomplish what she did. My father died when my twin sister and I were only 3 years old, leaving her to raise 3 children on her own in a very isolated country cabin. I sent my mom a Valentine’s Day card this year to let her know I love her but I also felt compelled to express how thankful I was for her constant love, support and trust. Instead of clinging to us, as some mothers might when faced with such a dear loss, she raised us to be inquisitive and adventuresome. She allowed us the freedom to explore (“<span style="font-style:italic;">I’ll send you a postcard from every country I visit!”</span>) and trusted us to set our own boundaries (<span style="font-style:italic;">“I’ll be home by midnight”</span>), and learn from our own mistakes (<span style="font-style:italic;">“oops…I won’t do THAT again!”</span>), knowing that we could come to her for help or assistance if needed (<span style="font-style:italic;">“mom, we dared Jen to lick the mailbox and now she can’t get her tongue off”</span>).Her implicit trust allowed for reciprocal honesty and a lack of fear that there would ever be unwarranted repercussions for mistakes and accidents, as long as we acted responsibly. She managed to find that delicate balance between protection and trust in our abilities. This is something that I think all parents juggle with. As a teacher, I also feel that most educators feel the need to create a safe, learning environment and protect our students’ safety. But I often wonder if we aren’t being too overprotective and create an atmosphere that limits creativity and inquiry, and impinges on intellectual freedom, especially when it comes to online, internet filters. <br /><br />Almost all schools across Canada and the US have some form of content-filtering system in place. “In many cases, schools have cranked up their filters so high that students searching for an innocuous but easily misunderstood term can’t get anywhere” (Villano). This can be extremely frustrating for both students and teachers. For students, my concern goes beyond being blocked to valid information during research projects on topics like the Canadian beaver or breast cancer. When students are blocked by sites that they regularly access outside of school, it starts to create a “digital disconnect” and further supports the sentiment that “real-learning takes place at home” (Bell). It also sends the clear message to students that we don’t trust them to make the right decisions or stay safe online.<br /><br />Many teachers are also frustrated by filtering. Again, my concern here goes past the obvious point that blocking sites is infringing on intellectual freedom. I am more concerned about the message that is being sent to educators that tech personnel (who haven’t necessarily studied education) have more right to judge which interactive sites are educational or not. To many teachers, it becomes a question of professional respect that they are not trusted to judge and make choices about the sites they’d like to access in their classrooms. Of course teachers can request to have sites unblocked. However, from my discussions with other colleagues, this can often be an onerous and time-consuming task, that requires administration to step in on our behalves. The end result, as pointed out by Cathy Nelson is complacency by many educators to accept the status quo, even if they don’t agree with the decisions being made.<br /><br />I support Villano’s opinion that “filters are well-intentioned, but inadequate”. The fact is, many teens can still get around a standard filter and “surmount the protective wall constructed by school staff to keep them safe” buy using anonymous proxies (Losinski). This information is readily shared on Facebook sites that are devoted to sharing strategies for getting around school filters (Warlick). Not only does this waste valuable instructional time, but is a constant source of frustration for tech personnel. It also erodes the trust between teachers, students and administration. Again, I have to agree with Villano that this is not a dispute about whether or not we need to protect kids, but “whether or not mandated internet filters are the best way to achieve those safeguards” (Villano). <br /><br />The best long term solution that I have seen proposed is “shifting the emphasis from policing the way students use the internet to educating them about using it more safely” (Villano). How will this impact my teaching in the short term? I will continue to teach my students some of the topics suggested by David Warlick including: digital citizenship, how to safeguard personal information, reporting and ignoring advances from strangers, how to handle cyber-bullying, and being courteous in online communication. I will also follow Buffy Hamilton’s advice and continue to educate my administration and tech personnel about the sites I want unblocked and show how they will improve student engagement and achievement. Most importantly, I need to remind my administration that students need guided instruction and opportunities to learn how to use social media thoughtfully and wisely (Hamilton). We need to give our students as many opportunities as possible to think for themselves, apply what they know and develop good judgment.<br /><br />My mom is not only one of the greatest people I know, she was also a fantastic teacher for over 30 years. In my own classroom I often think about what makes for a successful student. The answer is often comprised of what my mother gave to me and my sisters – honesty, open dialogue, freedom to explore and many opportunities to build trust by allowing us to think for ourselves and show good judgment. I think we should be enabling our students to do the same.<br /><br />References<br /><br />Bell, Mary Ann. (Sept/Oct. 2008). I’m Mad and I’m Not Gonna Take it Anymore! Multimedia & Internet@Schools. p. 37-39.<br /><br />Hamilton, Buffy. (December 10, 2009). Fighting the Filter. The Unquiet Librarian Blog. Retrieved from: http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/fighting-the-filter/<br /><br />Losinski, Robert. (March 2007). Patrolling Web 2.0. T.H.E Journal. 34 (3), p. 50.<br /><br />Nelson, Cathy. (October 17, 2009). Filters? A Problem of Complacency? Techno Tuesday Blog. Retrieved from: http://blog.cathyjonelson.com/?p=954<br /><br />Villano, Matt. (May 2008). What Are We Protecting Them From? T.H.E. Journal. 35 (5), p. 48.<br /><br />Warlick, David. (July 11, 2009). Filters Work. 2Cents Worth Blog. Retrieved from: http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?p=1794Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-67750599611515296032010-02-06T18:54:00.001-08:002010-02-07T10:56:04.495-08:00Teaching "Digital Natives"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S28MrA_2vsI/AAAAAAAAAWc/Xb6drQhZkwA/s1600-h/embryo+cell+phone.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 198px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S28MrA_2vsI/AAAAAAAAAWc/Xb6drQhZkwA/s200/embryo+cell+phone.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435577208401215170" /></a><br />There is no question that students today are different than they were 10 years ago. As any classroom teacher can attest, it is rare to find paper notes on the floor of the classroom at the end of the day. Instead, it has become commonplace to witness students text-messaging the person sitting next to them, their friend in the class down the hall or perhaps the boyfriend in the other high school across town. Prensky has termed these learners “Digital Natives” in reference to the fact that they are the first generation born and raised in a completely digital world. Many of my students have never seen a rotary dial phone and give me absolutely horrified looks when I tell them I grew up with a black and white TV without cable or a remote. To them, the concept of life without the internet is alien. In turn, they share many characteristics that also seem foreign to me. They spend more than double the time with technology than they do reading books, and are more comfortable sending texts or instant messages than emailing or calling on the phone (Palfrey & Gasser). They routinely multi-task, are constantly connected and have many real and virtual friends- some of whom they've never met in person (Palfrey & Gasser). <br />But I often wonder - are these ‘Digital Natives’ that fundamentally different from me, and do they actually learn differently than I did when I was their age? If so, what are the best ways to engage and teach ‘Digital Natives’? What are some of the barriers that teachers are facing when teaching their students today, and how do we overcome them?<br /><br />In Danah Boyd’s presentation on “Teenagers who are living and learning with Social Media”, she states that teens have the same basic interests as previous generations. Hanging out with friends, flirting, gossiping and joking around are the underlying dynamics of teen culture and this has not changed from generation to generation. What has changed is the advent of new technologies that change the methods and visibility of their socializing. Teens would still prefer to hand out with their friends in person, but if their class schedules don’t match or they lack mobility, it has become advantageous to meet and chat online instead (Boyd). Naturally, the online socializing that students do outside the classroom has implications on the social environment in the school. But does their use of technology actually change the way that these students learn?<br /><br />Some, like Prensky would suggest that “today’s students have not changed incrementally, [but] a big discontinuity has taken place”. So much so, that their brains’ thinking patterns have actually changed. Whether or not digital learning has actually changed the brains’ processes has yet to be established. However, there are many psychologists, neuroscientists and educational theorists trying to determine how learning in a digital environment compares to ‘traditional’ learning and whether Digital Natives absorb and retain information the same way (Palfrey & Gasser). Even if we are unable to ascertain if the brain itself is changing in the digital world, we need to accept that the mode of socializing and learning is changing. “In order for schools to adapt to the habits of Digital Natives and how they are processing information, educators need to accept that the mode of learning is changing rapidly in a digital age. Before answering the questions about how precisely to use technology in schools, we must understand these changes." (Palfrey & Gasser). Once this is better understood, we can overcome the first barrier to teaching Digital Natives and it will become easier to adapt educational pedagogies. <br /><br />The second barrier to teaching Digital Natives exists in the digital divide that is forming, not only in availability of funding for new technologies in schools, but also in providing the necessary tech literacy skills. Funding to provide new technology to schools varies so widely between the provinces and the disparity between schools even within the same district can also be surprisingly different. Secondly, very little professional development has taken place for teachers to become comfortable with new technologies. Many administrators are installing smart boards and projectors in classrooms without giving the teachers any support in how to actually use them effectively in their teaching. As a result, many teachers find them to be 'gadgets' instead of tools that can actually help them and their students. This is resulting in a second type of digital divide that is forming between students who have been taught critical thinking skills and information literacy and those who have not. We cannot assume that all Digital Natives are tech-savvy just because they have access to technology and grew up with exposure to it. This barrier can only be resolved with adequate funding and adequate professional development for teachers in all schools, in all provinces.<br /><br />A third barrier that exists in teaching Digital Natives is labeling them as such. On one hand, “labels in education may facilitate understanding in generalized conversations providing all participants understand the terms” (Harewood). In labeling this group as ‘Digital Natives' it forces current educators to examine the way in which they communicate and learn. By labeling a group as ‘Digital’, it could serve as a blatant and useful reminder to teachers that we are indeed dealing with a different ‘model’ of student and that as a result, teaching methods need to evolve as well. On the other hand, I feel that this label is more harmful than beneficial. The pitfall of labeling any group is the assumptions that ALL students this age become plagued with. One of the myths identified in Christine Greenhow's article "Who Are Today's Learners?” was that every digital native student is extremely techno-savvy. It has been shown that this assumption is not necessarily true. Danah Boyd agrees, saying that by labeling our students as ‘Digital Natives’ “we project a lot of assumptions onto them that they must be experts because they’re using technology all the time”. As educators, we can’t assume that they are inherently better with technology, just because they’ve been exposed to it all their lives. As adults and educators, we simply have far more information, experience and sociality behind us than our students, and we also “have a critical thinking around technology that [our students] don’t necessarily have” (Boyd). Our role as educators is to help empower our students “to do what they’re already doing and make sense of it in a broader world” (Boyd). If we continue to label our students as ‘Digital Natives’ and ourselves as “Digital Immigrants, we overemphasize the differences between groups, and in the process exaggerate the divides that exist between us. “The more that we assume it’s ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘digital natives’ and ‘digital immigrants’, the more we create these generational divides that cost us every day.” (Boyd.)<br /><br />So what can we do to overcome these barriers and teach our students better? First and foremost, we need to forget any assumptions that we may have about our students’ being tech-savvy just because they’ve grown up surrounded by technology and the internet. Second, we should be providing the scaffolding to help young people develop critical thinking and information literacy skills with technology (Boyd). Finally, as commented on NetFamilyNews Blog we should also recognize that “it’s new technology but the same old concepts of ethics and responsibility” apply (Collier). We need to teach our students safe online behaviour and emphasis the importance of creating an online identity that reflects who they truly are and leave positive digital footprints (Palfrey & Gasser).<br /><br /><br />References<br /><br />Boyd, Danah. (May 12, 2009).Living and Learning with Social Media. YouTube. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmoc9F6fceQ<br /><br />Collier, Anne. (December 3, 2009). Not Just Digital Natives & Immigrants! NetFamilyNews.org. Retrieved from:http://www.netfamilynews.org/2009/12/not-just-digital-natives-immigrants.html<br /><br />Greenhow, Christine. (September/October 2008). Who Are Today’s Learners? Learning & Leading with Technology. 36 (4), 10-11.<br /><br />Harewood, Mark. (February 1, 2010). Information Tech for Learning: Digital Natives Discussion Question One [Msg 2]. Message Posted to: https://vista4.srv.ualberta.ca/webct/urw/lc5122011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct<br /><br />Palfrey, John. Gasser, Urs. (2008). Digital Natives. New York, NY: Basic Books.<br /><br />Prensky, Marc. (October 2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon. 9 (5), 1-6.<br /><br />Image Credit:<br />Fetus talking on cell phone. Retrieved from: http://francisanderson.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/gyj_bor_rou_sha.jpgUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-4872830755831564192010-01-31T10:47:00.001-08:002010-02-01T10:47:56.916-08:00No 'Standard' Definition of "Standards"?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S2Z-X6k38gI/AAAAAAAAAWE/lE3W_25OPuA/s1600-h/beef.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 144px; height: 124px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S2Z-X6k38gI/AAAAAAAAAWE/lE3W_25OPuA/s200/beef.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433168949795090946" /></a><br />There is no ‘standard’ definition of “standards”. How ironic is that? In fact, according to <a href="http://www.dictionary.com">http://www.dictionary.com</a>, there are 22 definitions of what ‘standard’ means ranging from “a grade of beef immediately below good” to “ a long candlestick used in church” to “a flag indicating the presence of a sovereign or public official” to “a distinct petal on certain flowers that is longer than the rest”. Imagine how confused or frustrated a person would be if one goes into a store to buy a spiritual candle and ends up with beef. Now, I’m being a bit silly here, because most logical people would assume that it means one of the top definitions listed, being either “something considered by an authority or by general consent as a basis of comparison” or “a rule or principle that is used as a basis for judgment”. However, I can forever hear my mother’s voice in the back of my mind saying “to assume something makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’”. The simple fact is that when it comes to school standards and expectations of what our student should know and be able to do upon graduation, we can’t assume that they’ve learned what we well-intentioned teachers have set out to teach them. We have to be able to assess, and evaluate, fairly and comprehensively whether or not they have the skills, ability and know-how to be successful in the 21st century. To do that effectively we need national, provincial or district wide standards that outline the skills, resources, tools and support that students, teachers and administration need to effectively integrate technology into the curriculum, as well as measurable performance indicators for all stakeholders.<br /><br />Many school districts across Canada now expect that technology and information literacy will be included in all aspects of curricula and it is often included as part of the learning outcomes. However, there are very few explicit instructions in terms of instructional time or assessment for them in most school districts in Canada. It is being assumed that they are ‘embedded’ as part of existing practice, when that is not necessarily the case. “This type of assumption is akin to one in which classroom teachers and school administrators assume that we are preparing students to be successful in a 21st century world because we are already living in it" (Zmuda & Harada, 2008, p. 84). There has been more of a focus on purchasing equipment and knowing how to use the new technology than on the integration of those technologies in classroom instruction for differentiated learning. As a colleague of mine reflected this week, “students need librarians who are information specialists to support them as they become self directed learners”(MacIsaac, 2010). I found this to be another poignant reminder that it's not enough to simply keep buying new resources and technology, but taking the time to train teachers and librarians on the best ways to integrate and use them to their fullest potential. <br /><br />The second assumption that I want to refute loudly is that: standards = standardized testing. Standards and standardized tests simply ARE not and I sincerely hope (here in Canada) they DO not become synonymous. I truly believe that standards can be extremely positive because without a "clarity of focus, school leaders will continue to lament the lack of collaboration among staff, the minimal effectiveness of staff-development resources, and the impotency of school improvement efforts" (Zmuda & Harada, 2008 p. 4). However, "while there has been a significant push in the past decade toward a guaranteed and viable curriculum that is standards-based and measured by performance tasks, many students still experience coverage-driven, time-compressed units measured by short answer, multiple choice, and recall-based prompts that are taught via lectures and disconnected activities. Students deserve learning experiences that are rigorous and relevant" (Zmuda & Harada, 2008, p. 4).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S2aALLIzuvI/AAAAAAAAAWU/lFyNtLtOwn0/s1600-h/standardized+tests+cartoon.gif"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 242px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S2aALLIzuvI/AAAAAAAAAWU/lFyNtLtOwn0/s320/standardized+tests+cartoon.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433170929925733106" /></a><br /><br />What we need to provide for our students today, are authentic inquiry based tasks that are meaningful and relevant to real-life situations. The technology and Web 2.0 tools that we introduce and use with our students should develop the skills that all students should have to be successful in the 21st century. According to the American Association of School Librarians (AASL, 2007) all students should be able to: <br />1. Inquire, think critically and gain knowledge<br />2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge and create new knowledge<br />3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of society<br />4. Pursue personal growth<br /><br />“School libraries are essential to the development of [these] learning skills” and it’s important that every school can provide equitable physical and intellectual access to the resources and tools required for learning (AASL, 2007). Until our administrators, governments and communities recognize the important role of technology and expertise that teacher-librarians offer, and invest in technology and programs that will improve teaching and learning opportunities with technology, it is unlikely that students will be given the best possible chances to learn the skills that are so essential for being successful in the 21st century. It is one thing to invest in the necessary equipment and quite another to learn how to use them to their full potential.<br /><br />How will this impact my teaching in the library? I will be using the book Achieving Information Literacy: Standards for School Library Programs in Canada, along with the <a href="http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETS">ISTE’s National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) </a> and the <a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards.cfm">AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner</a> to guide my use of technology. I will also be revising our library handbook’s scope and sequence for all grades to incorporate the technology skills that are outlined in our province’s curriculum guidelines for each subject and strive to create meaningful inquiry projects that utilize a variety of Web 2.0 tools to enhance their learning experiences.<br /><br /><br />References<br /><br />American Association of School Librarians. (2007). Standards for the 21st Century Learner. Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards.cfm<br /><br />Asselin, Marlene. Branch, Jennifer. Oberg, Dianne. (2003) Achieving Information Literacy: Standards for School Library Programs in Canada. The Canadian School Library Association and the Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada. Ottawa.<br /><br />MacIsaac, Dawn. (January 25, 2010). Information Tech for Learning: Standards Discussion Question Two [Msg 2]. Message Posted to: https://vista4.srv.ualberta.ca/webct/urw/lc5122011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct<br /><br />Zmuda, A., & Harada, V. H. (2008). Librarians as learning specialists: Meeting the learning imperative for the 21st century. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.<br /> <br /><br />Image credits<br />Beef Image. Retrieved from: http://keetsa.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/ground-beef-recalled-ecoli-concerns-in-new-jersey-topps-meat-plant.bmp<br /><br />Standardized test results cartoon. Retrieved from: http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mchumor.com/00images/1784_education_cartoon.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.mchumor.com/education_standards_toons.html&usg=__sKZDbCTZpwQFemr-p6deXHhQ6GM=&h=435&w=330&sz=50&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=xb8_OauocVshdM:&tbnh=126&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Deducational%2Bstandards%2Bcartoons%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DGUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-82813183442311461992010-01-23T16:36:00.000-08:002010-01-23T16:55:23.239-08:00Learning in the 21st Century: Flinstones or Jetsons?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S1uXVSLzHGI/AAAAAAAAAVk/aSqB8S4YOzw/s1600-h/jetson+video+call+pic.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 125px; height: 92px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S1uXVSLzHGI/AAAAAAAAAVk/aSqB8S4YOzw/s200/jetson+video+call+pic.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430100167639637090" /></a><br />If anyone had told me 20 years ago, that I would be sitting on a plane one day with my laptop computer and conversing with my friends on a video call or socializing on a networking site called Facebook while 30, 000 feet in the air, I would have scoffed and told them to keep watching “the Jetsons”. I never would have believed that I would actually find myself here, in seat 10A on an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Seattle participating in online discussions with my classmates from across Canada on the University of Alberta’s eclass system. It is mind boggling to see the technological changes that have take place in my life over the last few years. The advent of digital cameras, cell phones, and laptops with multifunctional capacities to video conference and surf the web are just to name a few. My students think I’m from the Stone Age when I tell them that I grew up with a black and white TV (with no remote) and I get only blank stares when I mention the words “rotary dial phone”. These are truly digital natives I think to myself. It is indisputable that technology has emerged, become omnipresent and is creating a new environment, not only for ourselves, but for our children and students as well.<br /><br />In the new Kaiser Foundation report, daily media use among teenagers is up dramatically from only 5 years ago. It has been calculated that they now spend an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes a day using media – more if you take into consideration that most of that time is spent multi-tasking and using more than one device at a time (Richardson). As Will Richardson said in his Blog a few days ago “Anyway you slice [it], kids are immersed in media, and that immersion is having a huge effect on the way they see the world and the way they learn”.<br /><br />Sadly, the learning that I experienced as a student myself in classroom settings was not always relevant, timely, or applicable to real-life. Prior to starting my masters and taking courses online, it was always text book-based and I was often bored; as I’m sure many students still are today. The times in my life that I felt I was learning- deeply and completely, have involved real-life problem solving situations or being put in a position where my life or health was at stake. The scenarios differ widely from performing a killer whale necropsy to discover why the animal died to taking safety courses in sailing, scuba diving, avalanche awareness or rock-climbing. The common thread however is that these lessons involved hands-on, personal inquiry questions that were engaging and applicable to real life situations and the learning that occurred was much more profound as a result. So how do we create these “just-in-time”, “just-for-me” learning situations that Joyce Valenza refers to? And what are the skills, knowledge and expertise that our students will need to be successful in the 21st century? <br /><br />The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has been a leading advocacy organization for infusing 21st century skills into education and is comprised of educators, community groups and business leaders. They promote the following skills, knowledge and expertise as being necessary for students to succeed in work and life (Johnson):<br /><br />1.Core subjects and 21st century themes such as: language arts, mathematics, <br />science, global awareness and financial literacy<br />2.Learning and innovation skills such as: creativity and critical thinking and problem solving<br />3.Information, media and technology skills<br />4.Life and career skills such as initiative and self-direction.<br /> <br />Based on this, I can envision a school that would involve other learners that had similar interests and learning objectives from other schools and countries. It would certainly involve the sharing of background knowledge from multicultural perspectives and the sharing and synthesis of new ideas and the celebration of new discoveries. It would be presented in a collaborative fashion for anyone and everyone who was interested to appreciate or critique. The resources and technological tools that the learners would use would be those that would aid in their communication, collaboration and networking. It would involve changing our current way of thinking and teaching to create a community system instead of a classroom system. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“It’s hard to think of a century in which it wasn’t important to think critically as well as be analytical, creative and collaborative. Imagine a prehistoric group on a hunt for food that did not employ this kind of approach. You’d have to imagine it, because society would not last” (Manthey).</span><br /><br />As educators, it is paramount that we find ways to infuse these skills into all aspects of the curriculum and combine them with the available and engaging Web 2.0 tools. By “integrating 21st century skills deliberately and systematically into the teaching of core subjects appears to empower educators to make learning relevant and to help students be successful” (Trilling, as cited in Weis). In doing so, we have the opportunity to make the giant leap from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. As Will Richardson says “We may not feel comfortable in a world filled with technology. But our kids don’t have a choice. And if we’re going to fulfill our roles as teachers in our kids lives, neither do we.”<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S1uYh-lAwgI/AAAAAAAAAV0/w4wj1kEf7bQ/s1600-h/jetsons+and+flintstones+compare+drawings.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 221px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S1uYh-lAwgI/AAAAAAAAAV0/w4wj1kEf7bQ/s320/jetsons+and+flintstones+compare+drawings.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430101485226607106" /></a><br /><br />What kind of educator would you rather be? Fred and Wilma Flintstone or George and Jane Jetson?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">References</span><br /><br />Johnson, Paige (September 2009). The 21st Century Skills Movement. Educational Leadership. Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/sept09/vol67/num01/The_21st_Century_Skills_Movement.aspx<br /><br />Manthey, George. (November/December 2009). The Knowledge vs. Skills Debate: A False Dichotomy? Leadership. Retrieved from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HUL/is_2_39/ai_n42790497/?tag=content;col1<br /><br />Richardson, Will. (January 21, 2009). No Choice. Weblogg-ed. Retrieved from: http://weblogg-ed.com/2010/no-choice/<br /><br />Valenza, Joyce. (2010). You Know You’re a 21st Century Librarian If…Wiki. Retrieved from:http://informationfluency.wikispaces.com/You+know+you%27re+a+21st+century+librarian+if+.+.+.<br /><br />Weis, Charles. (November/December 2009). Innovative Paths to Improve Learning. Leadership. Retrieved from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HUL/is_2_39/ai_n42790495/<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Image Credits.</span><br />Jane Jetson Making a Video Call Image. Retrieved from: http://www.decorateyourspace.net/designstrategies/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/jetsons1.jpg<br /><br />Flintstones and Jetsons Image. Retrieved from: http://www.alexross.com/TW1137-Space-Age-Meets-Ston.jpgUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-69219289464248551222010-01-17T10:05:00.000-08:002010-01-19T19:39:57.515-08:00A New Digital Divide<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S1Ox2JGds4I/AAAAAAAAAVM/neCftA6Xvr8/s1600-h/P3231356.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S1Ox2JGds4I/AAAAAAAAAVM/neCftA6Xvr8/s200/P3231356.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427877519625663362" /></a><br />For the last 10 days I have been on a rock climbing trip in North Central Mexico. El Potrero Chico is a series of Limestone Mountains that grace the relatively small town of Hidalgo. It is not a tourist destination but a typical town and the only businesses are a cement factory located prominently in the town centre and the various campgrounds and small restaurants that cater to climbers a few kilometers outside town limits. It seems as though the internet access here is as reliable as hot water…intermittent at best. I can usually pick up a wireless connection at our campground when the weather is good. However, it has been rather cold and rainy the past few days and I had to venture into town to find something more reliable. I spent part of yesterday working at the sole internet “café” (and I use that term very loosely). It is an unmarked, unpainted cement building that has 10 computer terminals for a town of 30,000 people. (Only 6 of the terminals actually worked.) Fortunately for me, the Policia picked me up as I was hitch-hiking into town and delivered me to the front steps otherwise it is unlikely that I would have found it. As the afternoon school session let out around 5:30pm a few high school students dressed in their red uniforms arrived to work on their homework. Six students shared the only 3 open computers and were working diligently as I left for dinner. Never before have I been so cognizant of the economic and technological divide between Canada and Mexico. The disparity between our countries still boggles my mind in this day and age. At home, I get frustrated by only having one smart board in my entire school, when the reality for most Mexican students is having no computers or internet access until they reach high school. It made me think of some of the articles I read this week, particularly one entitled “Things that Keep us Up at Night” by Joyce Valenza and Doug Johnson. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S1Z6jAmZBbI/AAAAAAAAAVc/lOeK0maNYWM/s1600-h/P1200212.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S1Z6jAmZBbI/AAAAAAAAAVc/lOeK0maNYWM/s200/P1200212.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428661142716745138" /></a><br /><br />In this article, Valenza and Johnson state, <br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“We have no textbook for what 21st century school library practice looks like”. So how do we ensure that all learners have access to new tools and resources? Not only that, but how do we ensure that all learners are taught the necessary skills to navigate this world? This may present a “new digital divide” that is no longer about access to computers but is about whether students “can appreciate, understand, and create quality information”.<br /></span><br />In Canada, most students are fortunate enough to have easy access to computers and the internet. I am becoming increasingly concerned however, that they are not receiving proper instruction on how to navigate the Web 2.0 world and building the proper communication skills that they will need to work and be successful in the 21st century. Many of the other articles I’ve read lately show that despite their avid use of computers and technology many students are not as proficient as was previously thought with these ‘new literacy’ skills such as using search engines effectively, reading websites, selecting hyperlinks and comparing information across sources (Asselin & Doiron, Todd). For me, a shift is occurring from advocating for more and better resources to promoting their use more effectively. “It’s not about learning to use the software, it’s about the skills our students will carry with them that these tools and others like them allow. It’s about our students expressing themselves clearly, beautifully and skillfully” (Foote). If we can guide and teach our students to do that throughout their lives, then in my opinion, we have achieved our goal as educators.<br /><br /> A colleague of mine questioned me this week why I would start my Master’s in Education in Teacher-Librarianship when my position has been reduced dramatically to one hour a day and my budget has become so dismal it’s practically nonexistent. To be honest, I sometimes do get frustrated that I don’t have enough time in a day to do my job as effectively as I would like. However, I am strongly reminded this week that my school is more fortunate than others in that we have easy access to computers and a welcoming, warm environment that is rich in print and digital resources, with a caring Library Assistant and part-time Librarian. Not all schools in Canada are that fortunate and certainly not in Mexico or other parts of the World. I am also privileged to work with an encouraging, supportive and collaborative staff that consistently model life-long learning and strive to inspire their students. I am grateful for what I have, but I believe it has become an integral part of our jobs as Teacher-Librarians to promote what we have to offer and strive to continually improve our practice and make our current education system better to meet the changing needs of our students. It is becoming clearer that "today’s students are no longer the people our education system was designed to teach." (Prensky, 2001 as cited in Asselin & Doiron). And it is a call to action that Teacher –Librarians should take a leadership role in advocating for and promoting changes in our own practice that respond to particular needs within our own schools. <br /><br />For me, that means concentrating on closing this new “digital divide” that is forming. What does it mean for you?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S1O0Yr4fQQI/AAAAAAAAAVU/aZ75H6c5uVg/s1600-h/P3221317.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/S1O0Yr4fQQI/AAAAAAAAAVU/aZ75H6c5uVg/s200/P3221317.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427880312101093634" /></a><br /> <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">References</span><br />Asselin, Marlene. Doiron, Ray. (July, 2008). Towards a Transformative Pedagogy for School Libraries 2.0.e School Libraries Worldwide. Vol 14. Iss 2. Retrieved from http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/<br /><br />Foote, Carolyn. (November 30, 2009). What are We Really Fighting For? Not So Distant Future blog. Retrieved from: http://futura.edublogs.org/2009/11/30/what-are-we-really-fighting-for/<br /><br />Todd, Ross J. (July, 2008). Youth and their Virtual Networked Words: Research Findings and Implications for School Libraries. School Libraries Worldwide. Vol 14. Iss2. Retrieved from: http://asselindoiron.pbworks.com/SLW+14:2+Todd<br /><br />Valenza, Joyce. Johnson, Doug. (October 1, 2009) Things That Keep Us Up at Night. School Library Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6699357.htmlUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-24334054632583471122009-12-06T09:17:00.000-08:002009-12-08T21:39:21.577-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/Sxvnbu3RidI/AAAAAAAAAU4/xoWzxZW8tmI/s1600-h/snowman-with-deers.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/Sxvnbu3RidI/AAAAAAAAAU4/xoWzxZW8tmI/s200/snowman-with-deers.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412173840838134226" /></a><br /><br />I woke up to a wonderful surprise on Monday morning. The icy cold rain that had been pounding on my roof when I went to bed at midnight, had magically transformed the scene outside my window into a winter wonderland when I awoke the next morning. It reminded me of the gingerbread houses I used to make each Christmas with my sisters. We would always get carried away at the end and coat the entire thing with an overly generous helping of icing. My car was so buried under snow that it was just a blob of frosting, next to similar looking blobs of white. The roads were still unplowed and I couldn’t see any footprints where the sidewalk must be. A big smile spread across my face and I got as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. The lure of all this beautiful whiteness was too strong - I decided to bundle up and walk the two blocks to the bakery for my morning tea and a treat. I tromped through the snow, and was shocked to see that when I reached the main street, the population of Jasper had grown overnight from 3,000 inhabitants to 3,007. There, on the main corners and spread strategically up the street were 7 round, gigantic, happy looking snowman with benevolent smiles made out of pinecones. I looked up and down the block. It was devoid of any other people…or elk. It was just me and the snowmen! I grinned for a second time that morning. I was alone in my magical winter wonderland, but I also had some wonderful company to enjoy the brisk, sunny morning. <br /><br />I keep thinking back on that particular morning, as I reflect this week on what my semester has been like, and it seems to be a fitting image. I made some big changes in my life this fall. Most notably, was taking a leave of absence from teaching and moving 2, 000 km away from my friends and community to reside in a remote town in Northern Alberta. The change in pace and lifestyle has been quite dramatic. Instead of spending each day with hundreds of fun, lively, and NOISY, teenagers, I have been working in my quiet kitchen each day with my computer set up in front of the window that looks out onto Whistlers Mountain. I was unsure of what learning in an online environment would be like and anticipated that this year was going to be quite lonely for me. In some ways it has been – but not quite like I expected. I found that my peers were not unlike the cute snowmen that popped up unexpectedly. I found that through building an online, personal learning network, I am able to make connections with people who have similar interests and topics that they want to learn about. As Will Richardson pointed out in an interview, “it no longer matters where we are in physical space. What matters is that we can find and connect in some way and begin conversations about thing we really want to learn about.” (YouTube). Essentially, we create our own spaces and learning environments and find our own ‘teachers’ to engage in conversations with that involve the topics that we are interested in and passionate about. I have found this to be particularly true this year, and my learning has become much more individualized, relying on the articles and blogs I choose to read and the contacts I have made through online discussions. I must say that at the beginning of this course, it was quite intimidating not to have an instructor giving step-by-step instructions on how to utilize the tools, or a list of articles to use for our research. We did however, have two excellent books as resources and the trailfires that Joanne provided for each new Web tool to get us started were invaluable! For me, this course really did exemplify self-guided, inquiry based learning. Looking back, I feel like I fumbled my way around for a bit, mainly using the online library at U of A to access most of my articles. However, as the concept of a PLN became much clearer, I started to use and reference more current articles and blogs that were having existing relevant conversations on our chosen topics and tools. <br /><br />It was also a bit intimidating to just “jump” right into the course and start “playing” with the tools to learn about them. Although I do have a tendency to be the kind of person who ignores the instruction booklet and tries to assemble their item instantaneously, I also am the type of person who gets frustrated easily, and doesn’t find technology intuitive. (I usually end up searching grudgingly through the mess to find the instruction booklet.) Will Richardson acknowledges in his book that there is a wide gap between teachers that were not surrounded by technology growing up and their students who have been born digital natives. I anticipated that I was likely going to ‘screw up’ multiple times with the Web 2.0 tools we were being asked to experiment with, and I was pleasantly surprised that it went much smoother than I expected. (Whew!) Which goes to support Richardson’s claim that the tools we’ve learned about in this course have a good chance of closing this gap because “they are relatively easy for anyone to employ in the classroom” (Richardson, p 7.) So how am I going to apply what I’ve learned? Well the first step for me is to remember the few frustrations that I did encounter (why can I not find my podcast in my online archives anymore?) and empathize with my own students and colleagues as they go through their own learning process with the tools I introduce them to. These moments of frustration, that can sometimes be all too time consuming, may also be a critical point for teachers new to these tools as to whether or not they will continue to use them in their classrooms. It is incredibly important for me to remember the supportive and helpful role that my own classmates and online community played when I asked or looked for advice and his is a role I will need to embrace when helping my colleagues that are trying to incorporate technology into their classrooms.<br /><br />The amount of information that I’ve learned in a mere few months is quite surprising to me. When I look back to September, the only Web 2.0 tools that I’d used previously were the social networking tools Facebook and Twitter. One was very successful for me and the other was not initially. I feel both happy and proud that I’ve at least learned the basics of these Web 2.0 tools and feel relatively comfortable instructing my colleagues on how to use them. The personal highlights of this course were playing with the tools Animoto, Voicethread and Picassa because all three have helped me to organize my photos and find fun ways to archive them so that they will not be lost, should my computer crash and burn like it did last winter. The other personal highlight was being able to organize and simplify all my bookmarks, websites and research methods by utilizing social bookmarking and my RSS reader. I am amazed at how much more efficient I am now, and it feels great to accomplish more each day in a shorter amount of time. However, I did find the pace of this course to be quite challenging, especially while taking other courses. The last 14 weeks have gone by incredibly fast. As soon as I felt I’d learned the basics of one new ‘tool’, it was time to start learning about another. I do wish that I’d had a bit more time to just ‘play’ with each tool, but on the other hand, it did give us a realistic view of how our own students will view and cope with the ‘information overload’ that the internet can sometimes bring on. <br /><br />I am incredibly thankful to my classmates for the invigorating conversations that we had in our online discussions. All of them brought such unique and interesting viewpoints with them and raised some very fascinating questions as well. The range of topics that we covered was far greater than the initial five questions we had to answer and I was sometimes surprised by where they would sometimes meander. Katherine, I particularly appreciated you playing ‘devil’s advocate’ in these discussions, keeping them lively and motivating us to push the boundaries further. Bruce, your wealth of knowledge and timely insights were also valued greatly. Corey, your sense of humour always shone through and I knew that when your name popped up on the discussion board, a smile was sure to follow. Pam, your warmth, sincerity and support was also evident and well respected. It was also interesting to follow your blogs and read the different perspectives that everyone had on the same topics. It was neat to see how much everyone’s personalities have shown through in their blogs, despite the fact that we all felt we were struggling to find our own personal ‘voices’ throughout the semester. Your blogs have shown me how effective this type of writing can be at “facilitating reflection and metacognitive analysis” and developing “connective writing” skills that Will Richardson emphasizes all students should be able to do to be successful in the future (p. 27 & 28). It is through reading your blogs and the online discussions we’ve had, that I feel I have learned and progressed the most. You have all pushed me to consider how to keep students (and ourselves) safe in an online format. The importance of being critical of reliability, credibility and authenticity of the sources we read has also been emphasized for me. Most importantly, these postings and discussions have reminded me to be mindful of how personal relationships are built and maintained online and how this affects our communication skills both online and in person. Thank you all.<br /> <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/SxvoearK4WI/AAAAAAAAAVA/EHECwVDlpZc/s1600-h/goodluck.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 156px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/SxvoearK4WI/AAAAAAAAAVA/EHECwVDlpZc/s200/goodluck.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412174986469892450" /></a><br /><br />Where do I go from here? <br />Since it is going to be quite some time before I am back in the classroom and library, I feel my journey is still a personal one. I plan on using this blog to continue to find and build my own ‘community’ and Personal Learning Network over the next few months. However, I am already excited at the prospect of introducing my students and colleagues to the some of the new Web 2.0 tools that will help create collaborative learning opportunities. I saw this video called “A Vision of K-12 Students Today” (Nesbitt) early on in the semester, and it is one that I have kept thinking about throughout the semester. How can I use the new tools that I’ve learned about to give the students I teach today the social learning and communication skills they want and are going to need in the future?<br /><br /><br /><object width="325" height="244"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_A-ZVCjfWf8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_A-ZVCjfWf8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="244"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />One of the first things I will be doing in my science classroom when I return to teaching is creating a class blog to replace my old webpage. Currently I have photos, class notes, homework assignments, marks and missing tasks sheets, study guides for chapter tests and the provincial exam as well as links to sites which complement the curriculum. However, every time I want to make a change to my webpage the tech teacher has to upload my changes for me, as he has control over the school website. It is a frustrating and sometimes very slow process. Creating and maintaining my own blog has shown me how simple and effective it could be to create my own class portal. I would include the same information that I always have, but now would have the ability to communicate information about the class more easily and also archive course materials. If I set up an RSS feed, it could also notify parents and students when new information about the class is posted. Giving students a chance to create their own weblog is also something I would like to try. Having an “online filing cabinet” as Will Richardson calls it ensures that students work is always organized in once place and never gets misplaced (p. 22). This also gives students the ability to look back and reflect at what they’ve learned over the course of a semester, and also gives their peers and teacher the ability to give feedback on their work (Richardson). Having their own blogs also allows students the ability to create spaces where they can collaborate with others online, not only with their classmates, but with the rest of the world as well.<br /><br />In the library, I would also like to create a blog that would help promote some of the special events and programs that are being offered. The blog could also be used to increase communication with the students by posting new book reviews or award lists or by creating a book discussion area to make recommendations to other readers (Fichter). Having an RSS feed could also be helpful to highlight new materials and provide community information. I also look forward to teaching students the benefits of using RSS aggregates for information retrieval when researching topics and how easily they can share it with their classmates, either by sharing in their readers or using a social bookmarking tool like Del.icio.us. <br /><br />These are just some of the many ideas that I have spinning around inside my head like the snowflakes swirling about outside my window. What I have learned most of all through this course is that once shown the many ways that we can improve teaching and learning by using technology in a social, collaborative fashion, we can never look at our students the same way. Like snowflakes they are each unique, and they will build their own social learning networks, with or without our help. I think we have a responsibility to teach them how to do this safely and knowledgeably. As for my own personal learning network, I can only hope that it continues to grow and flourish, long after the snowmen have melted. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">References<br /></span><br />Fichter, Darlene. (Nov/Dec 2003). Why and How to Use Blogs to Promote Your Library’s Services. Marketing Library Services. Retrieved from: http://www.infotoday.com/mls/nov03/fichter.shtml<br />Nesbitt, B.J. (November 28, 2007). A Vision of K-12 Students Today. YouTube. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8&feature=related<br /> <br />Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press<br /> <br />Richardson, Will. (December 7, 2007). Personal Learning Networks. YouTube. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mghGV37TeK8&feature=related<br /><br />Image Credits:<br />Snowman Picture Retrieved from: http://www.kewlwallpapers.com/images/wmwallpapers/Sparrow-Deer-Christmas-Snowman-1.jpeg<br /><br />Road Sign Retrieved from: http://www.guzer.com/pictures/good_luck_sign.jpgUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-28425565390611769042009-11-28T12:21:00.000-08:002009-11-30T09:15:56.461-08:00RSS & BlogsAfter a long semester of either teaching, or being a student (as is the case this year) I always anticipate and look forward to my Christmas holidays. I especially cherish the first few days of “down time” where I can cozy up, relax and read for pleasure. My ideal day would be to laze in the couch that faces the front window, with its spectacular view of the snow-capped mountains, wearing my down booties, drinking endless cups of tea and have my dog fetch whatever magazine, newspaper or book I so desire. The only unfortunate thing with this image is I don’t have a dog. I do however, have RSS!<br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Reflection on the process of learning about the tool</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"> <span style="font-weight:bold;">RSS</span></span><br />“RSS” stands for really simple syndication and is a web-based aggregator that collects many different blog or website feeds and stores them in one place for me to read at my convenience. Instead of visiting my favourite websites and blogs each day, the content that is new is delivered to me instead. Kind of like having a well-trained dog bring you all your reading material at your every whim and waiting patiently for you (minus the slobber and drool). Since I already had a Google account for email and my blog site, I decided to use Google Reader as my aggregate. It was incredibly simple to set up. Since I already had an account, all I had to do was add my subscriptions. I did this in the third week of classes this semester, as I hadn’t yet learned the wonders of adding them through Del.icio.us and tagging. Instead, I added my 10 subscriptions that we were required to follow by using the “Add Subscription” link and typing in the names of the blogs. It was as easy as clicking the “follow” button when they appeared. Later on, when I started to choose my own sites and blogs to follow, I often just used the RSS icon <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/SxP9XZe9sHI/AAAAAAAAAUw/DJ0eU36x1Tw/s1600/rss+symbol.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 30px; height: 30px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/SxP9XZe9sHI/AAAAAAAAAUw/DJ0eU36x1Tw/s200/rss+symbol.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409946155821674610" /></a> that was on my favourite website to add it to my list of subscriptions. In the beginning, I added the daily newspapers that I like to read, then my favourite magazines and finally, more educational sites to build my personal learning network. I am now up to 30 subscriptions, and am at the point where I now need to make some folders to organize them into “news”, “education”, and ‘climbing’ categories. <br /><br />My biggest challenge with this tool was working it into my daily routine. At first, I would check it randomly throughout the day, usually after I’d checked my email account. Now I am in the routine of checking it mid-morning (around 10 am) when I’m taking a tea break and again later in the evening before bed (around 10 pm). I hadn’t noticed this until I looked at the ‘trends’ page and saw my habits clearly displayed in the bright orange bar graph (another neat feature). I also realized that I haven’t ever checked it on a Monday (which I consider my ‘day off’ schoolwork). I am a creature of habit more than I realized! The other feature that I really like is when I log into my home page, it displays the new feeds that I haven’t read yet, so it’s easy to ‘skim’ through them all by scrolling down the expanded view, stopping to read the ones of interest and starring, tagging or emailing them to friends. If I don’t get through all my articles in a given day, it will remember where I left off the next time I log in. It only takes about 20 minutes everyday to read through my customized personal newspaper that Will Richardson refers to as “The Daily Me”. In the last 2 months I’ve read over 540 articles, showing that one of the best benefits of using this tool is being able to read more content from more sources in less time than it would normally take (Richardson 2009). <br /><a href="http://easycaptures.com/1850019023"><br /><img src="http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/433/thumbs/1850019023_b.jpg" border="0"/></a><br /><br/><a href="http://easycaptures.com/1850019023">View at EasyCaptures.com</a><br /><br />I tried another neat feature of Google reader this week and that was doing a Google news search for any items mentioned on the CN rail strike. As this strike will heavily affect the town that I live in, I was interested in reading differing viewpoints on what was being published, without having to subscribe to or search every website for all the newspapers across the country. It was remarkable to have up to date information delivered to my reader without actually having to do any work. I have used the email functionality of Google reader to share some of these articles with him, but the one thing I have not yet used my reader for is sharing with a wider audience. Until now I have kept it as my own personalized information aggregate, but I do appreciate that sharing the posts that I find most interesting will help develop a broader personal learning network. This is what I hope to work on in the future.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Blogs</span></span><br />This blog was started as a requirement for my Web 2.0 course that I am taking as part of my masters program at the University of Alberta. Similar to RSS, I chose to use Blogger since I already had a Google account set up. Each week we’ve been asked to use and experiment with a new Web 2.0 tool, research it and reflect on it’s use in our personal and professional lives. The last 14 weeks have gone by incredibly fast for me. As soon as I felt I’d learnt the basics of one new ‘tool’, it was time to start learning about another. I feel like I had barely enough time to ‘play’ with each tool, read and research their purpose and process the new information before writing about them in my reflections. Luckily, I got to use Blogger every week to post these reflections. <br /><br /> It has taken me the full semester to feel like I know the intricacies of Blogger and at this stage I am much quicker at editing and embedding different types of media. Over the course of this semester I have build a “home base” on this blog with links to all my personal Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picassa, YouTube, podcasts, voicethread and Del.icio.us sites and some of the Blogs and sites I’m following with RSS. Through this blog site I have now interconnected all of these tools. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/SxLLo3pwX2I/AAAAAAAAAUo/yBJybHZb03c/s1600/building+a+PLN+diagram+Sue+Waters+Blog.jpg"><img style="float:centre; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 191px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/SxLLo3pwX2I/AAAAAAAAAUo/yBJybHZb03c/s200/building+a+PLN+diagram+Sue+Waters+Blog.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409610005419679586" /></a><br /> <br />Diagram: Building a PLN. Sue Waters <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />RSS and Blogging as tools for my own personal learning</span><br />I absolutely love my Google reader. It allows me to stay up to date and discover new information and it simplifies my reading experience at the same time. I love that it brings the content I want to read directly to me and that each morning when I log into it I know it will only be filled with information that interests me (because I subscribed to it). There won’t be any advertising or spam to go along with it – just new content. It allows me to read more content from more sources in far less time than it would normally take me. I simply wouldn’t be able to process as many articles and new items of information as efficiently any other way. I like the ability to tailor my personalized subscriptions so much (ok, I know this could be perceived as lazy) that I actually convinced the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) to add an RSS link to their Mountain Conditions Report two weeks ago so that I could also have that information in my reader each morning. So far I’m their only subscriber, but I suspect that as more skiers, climbers, mountaineers and people who venture out into the backcountry find out about the beauty of RSS feeds this will quickly change. Frankly, I couldn’t think of a better use for RSS than spreading critical safety information that changes throughout the day. I’ve also used the Google News search function to collect information on the current CN strike, from a variety of sources, and it has completely revolutionized the way I look at researching now. It has given me an incredibly powerful tool that will search 24/7 in addition to the other information retrieval strategies I typically use. More importantly however, is the ability that Google reader has to recommend articles to your friends and share them instantly on your public page. When used in conjunction with a personal blog, it has an enormous capacity to build a personalized learning network that is catered to your interests and the ideas that you are passionate about.<br /><br />My blog has undergone many changes since the start of the semester, and I think it’s going to continue to evolve until I can find a core purpose that I chose to build my posts around and with which I start to build my own personal learning network, or sense of community. When I started this course, I saw the purpose of the blog as being a ‘home base’ from which I could learn about Web 2.0 tools that are new to me and reflect on how I might use them personally and as a teacher and librarian. I thought it would be extremely helpful to document my learning of these tools, so that I would have a reference to look at, should I forget how to implement them when I go back to teaching next year. As we get nearer to the end of this course, I now see the purpose of my blog shifting from a ‘home base’ from which to experiment with new Web 2.0 tools to becoming a means with which I can build a personal learning network. However, I can see that there are some steps that I still need to take in order to attract more people to my blog and build a sense of community. <br /><br />In developing my blog and trying to find my own ‘voice’ I have tried to follow Rowse’s advice and interject as many personal characteristics as I can by using my own name, sharing personal stories, pictures, videos and using examples from my own life whenever possible. However, it still feels and sounds like my blog posts are far too summative when I write about my ideas and reflections every week after reading the articles and researching other viewpoints. Right now, when I read what I've written, I can see that I haven’t asked enough questions or left space open for discussions to ensue. Part of this is due to having a structured format to follow and knowing that it will be assessed each week for grades. I know now that I need to ask more questions and show that I value readers’ opinions and hopefully draw them into the conversation by asking them to reflect on what I’ve written. My goal is to build a bigger, more interactive and productive comments section as my blog continues to evolve and become a part of the ‘bigger’ conversations that are taking place on the web. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />RSS and Blogging as tools for teaching and learning </span><br />RSS can be a powerful and flexible tool for reading and sorting information while blogging can be a very effective tool for writing and expressing one’s thoughts.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">RSS</span></span><br />For educators RSS feeds can simply help making teaching better. If your students are using blogs, you can collect them in your aggregator. This makes it much easier and more effective to scan the posts to make sure the content is appropriate and make comments (Richardson 2009). You could also provide student Weblog feeds to parents, counselors or whoever else is interested in that student’s work (Richardson 2009). It would also be very convenient for teachers to set up a homework blog with an RSS feeds that students could subscribe to so there are no more excuses “I didn’t get the assignment” (Gardner). Another way that teachers can utilize aggregators is to teach students how read in the digital environment and find content that is relevant and useful for them (Parry, as cited in Richardson 2009). Finally it could be used for “reputation monitoring” to make sure that you are aware of what is being said about you in the digital world (Johnson).<br /><br />For students, RSS feeds will completely change the manner in which they gather information and sort it for its relevance. They can use aggregators to subscribe to news sources for current events or use search feeds to look for information on specific topics. For example, if they search using Google News for any information on “H1N1” it will bring any news about that virus to the aggregator as soon as it’s published. As Richardson comments it will be “like doing research 24/7, only the RSS feed does all the work” (2009). <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Blogs</span></span><br />For educators, writing a blog keeps you current. Posting regularly to a blog encourages you to actively engage in the process of information seeking and current awareness (Schwartz). They can also be an extremely valuable method of developing a community in which to engage in meaningful conversations with others that share the same interests. The can also be a great advocacy tool for exposing issues that are important to teachers and be an effective means of expressing your ideas (Schwartz). <br /><br />For Librarians and libraries, blogs and RSS feeds can be a very effective marketing and communication tool. They can be used in a variety of ways as suggested by Fichter. First, they can be used to promote library events and programs. Second, they can support the users by giving updates or alerts about new books, CDs or DVDs that have been added to the collection. They could also be used to communicate with the community by posting new book reviews or award lists or by creating a book discussion area to make recommendations to other readers. Blogs and RSS feeds could also be used to support the community by giving information on local events or by streaming important news and information to the community. Blogs could also be used to build new ties with community members by offering blog posts in another language or promoting a newsletter for a specific group of members (Fichter).<br /><br />Blogs have become a highly effective way to help students become better writers (Jackson). Research has shown that students write more and in greater detail and also take greater care with spelling, grammar and punctuation when they are writing to an authentic audience over the internet (Jackson). Blogs also allow students to share their ideas with a larger community, receive feedback and engage in discussions about their work. Blogs are also a means to collect and archive student work, which they can easily retrieve and use as a means to show personal learning and growth. <br /><br />Perhaps the most important aspect of RSS and Blogging is the ability for people to create their own Personal Learning Networks. As Will Richardson pointed out in an interview, “it no longer matters where we are in physical space. What matters is that we can find and connect in some way and begin conversations about thing we really want to learn about.” (PLN,YouTube). Essentially, we create our own spaces and learning environments and find our own ‘teachers’ to engage in conversations with that involve the topics that we are interested in and passionate about. I have found this to be particularly true this year, as I am studying in an online format in a fairly remote location. I am also on a leave of absence from my school district this year, and my professional contact with my colleagues is very minimal. I have found that my professional learning has become much more individual and relies solely on the contacts I make through my online discussions.<br /><br /> As an educator, I believe Will Richardson is right when he says that we need to help our students understand and prepare for creating their own Personal Learning Networks. Students need to be taught to read in an online, digital environment and be literate in the uses of hypertext and connected reading and writing environments (Richardson, The Future). Students today need “to be literate at developing their own connections around the world to be life-long learners in the truest sense” (Richardson, The Future). As David Warlick says “This is magical. We are able to not only access flows of information, but actually redirect it, re-combine it, further working the information to make it more valuable and to improve our own capabilities.” There is no doubt in my mind that using RSS feeds and blogs in this manner is how students and teachers alike are going to be learning in the 21st century. See if you agree with me after watching the short video below which summarizes some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime (Wesch). <br /><br /><br /><object width="325" height="244"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dGCJ46vyR9o&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dGCJ46vyR9o&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="244"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">References </span><br />Fichter, Darlene. (Nov/Dec 2003). Why and How to Use Blogs to Promote Your Library’s Services. Marketing Library Services. Retrieved from: http://www.infotoday.com/mls/nov03/fichter.shtml<br /><br />Gardner, Traci. (June 10, 2008). RSS: Bringing What’s New to You. NCTE Inbox Blog. Retrieved from: http://ncteinbox.blogspot.com/2008/06/rss-bringing-whats-new-to-you.html<br /><br />Jackson, Lorrie. (November 13, 2008). Blogging? It’s Elementary My Dear Watson!. Education World. Retrieved from: http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml<br /><br />Johnson, Doug. (August 27, 2008). Don’t Underestimate the Importance of the Aggregator. Blue Skunk Blog. Retrieved from: http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2008/8/27/dont-underestimate-the-importance-of-the-aggregator.html<br /><br /> Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press<br /> <br />Richardson, Will. (December 7, 2007). Personal Learning Networks. YouTube. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mghGV37TeK8&feature=related<br /><br />Richardson, Will. (December 7, 2007). The Future. YouTube. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lylamGQ6YUQ&feature=related<br /><br />Rowse, Darren. (October 28, 2009). The Power of Being Personal on Your Blog. Problogger. Retrieved from: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/10/28/the-power-of-being-personal-on-your-blog/<br /><br />Schwartz, Greg. (October 8, 2007). Blogs for Libraries. Webjunction. Retrieved from: http://www.webjunction.org/social-software/articles/content/430713<br /><br />Warlick, David. (June 25, 2009). Gathering the Conversation at NECC. 2 Cents Worth Blog. Retrieved from: http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?m=200906<br /><br />Waters, Sue. PLN Yourself Wiki. Retrieved on November 24, 2009 from: http://suewaters.wikispaces.com/<br /> <br />Wesch, Michael. (October 12, 2007). A Vision of Students Today. Youtube. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9oUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-19111393491260949072009-11-21T17:42:00.000-08:002009-11-22T08:56:28.732-08:00Tweet Tweet: A Twittering AssignmentWhat is Twitter? It is a free social networking and microblogging service that allows users to send messages called ‘tweets’ that are up to 140 characters in length (Wikipedia). That is the ‘dictionary definition’, but the best description I’ve heard about Twitter was by Charlene Kingston we she said: <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">“Twitter [is] like a huge cocktail party. It’s like walking through a large party and eavesdropping on conversations as you walk past people. You invited these people to attend your party for a specific reason. However one they arrive, they are free to talk about anything on their mind”</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Reflection on the process of learning about the tool</span><br />I got invited to my first Twitter ‘party’ almost a year and a half ago. A friend of mine, who was instrumental in getting me to join Facebook, also invited me to join Twitter. <br />Well, I can agree with the sentiment “The one thing you can say for certain about twitter is that it makes a terrible first impression” (Johnson). When I finally arrived at the ‘party’ is was a lonely, frustrating experience. It was like showing up to the opening of a new club that is hyped as being ‘all the rage’ but when you get there, it’s obvious you don’t know the dress code, none of the music is familiar, no one will converse with me and I can’t even find the bathroom. I felt like I was literally ‘dancing with myself’. I simply didn’t ‘get’ what this was about and decided to leave, feeling like a party-pooper. <br /><br />Over a year later, I was re-invited back to the club to attend another ‘twitter party’ when I started this course on Web 2.0. After my first experience, I was reluctant to try again, but signed in once again in September (after forgetting my old name and password) and started sending the odd tweet. I still felt like I was standing in the middle of an unfamiliar room randomly babbling inane comments to myself, hoping someone would hear me and respond back. Since we were required to add a dozen or so people, I did so as soon as possible, but felt a little strange following people I didn’t know and ‘lurking’ in on their conversations. The random, short 140 character messages seemed very cryptic with their abbreviations and symbols and I had a hard time understanding what was being said. It felt like there was a radio playing in the background that I wasn’t quite tuned into. <br /><br />The conversations started getting clearer and the party started to liven up a bit once I listened to Mack Male’s illuminate session from this past summer at U of A and I followed Joanne’s trailfire with its extremely helpful hints on how to get started with Twitter. The symbols stated to make sense (# is a hashtag that helps to categorize messages, RT stands for ‘retweet’, @username allows messages to be sent directly to another user). I also learned how to maximize the 140 character limit by shortening URL codes using the services tinyurl, bit.ly and tr.im. <br /><br />I realized that if I wanted to have more fun at this party, I was going to need to invite more people and try to entice others to follow me as well. I tried to update my settings page, by adding a photo of myself. The first three photos I tried were all too large, even when I attempted to resize them. I got very frustrated and decided to just change the design of my background instead. On Mack Male’s advice, I also decided to check out <a href="http://www.twitterlocal.net">http://www.twitterlocal.net</a> to find out if anyone in my tiny town (population 3, 000) were also on twitter. I got frustrated again when I realized I didn’t have the Adobe AIR version 1.5 to support it and simply didn’t have the patience to download yet another program. Instead, I tried a quicker approach of searching using the hashtag #Jasper to see what was being said around town. Sadly, it was all advertisements from local hotels. (I’m not sure what I expected really, there is only 1 main road through town, and elk walk about freely downtown – it’s not exactly a thriving metropolis!). Since none of my personal friends (other than the initial person who invited me to join) is using Twitter currently, I tried twitter’s ‘yellow pages directory’ <a href="http://twellow.com">http://twellow.com</a> next to look for people with common interests. I found 444 people who listed rock climbing as their favourite activity and started following a few. I also checked out the <a href="http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/">Twitter4Teachers Wiki</a> that Joyce Valenza recommended, which was created to help educators find other educators that teach in the same content area. I found a few interesting people to follow there as well. <br /><br />The busier the party started to get, the more overwhelmed I started to feel about the hundreds of messages I was receiving. It was “like being at a party and hearing every conversation talking place”, exactly as Steve Hargadon described. I needed help organizing these messages into something that was manageable for me to follow, and I was finding the Twitter website very inefficient. I decided to download “<a href="http://www.ejecutive.co.uk/projects/twitterlicious">Twitterlicious</a>” which is a much smaller pop up screen that hides in the system tray when it’s not needed. It also displays the status of the messages, so I know which tweets are new and which ones I’ve missed. <br /><br />I am now just starting to feel like this party could turn out to be very interesting! I also am starting to feel like my tweets are progressing from inane babble and useless updates on my daily routine to more purposeful messages with pass-along value. I still feel like I need to work on my social etiquette and personal ‘style’ and continue to build my lists of people I follow and who are also following me.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Twitter as a tool for my own personal learning</span><br />When I first started using Twitter, I just didn’t ‘get’ it. It appeared to be senseless babble in an overcrowded room and I couldn’t understand how to make sense of it all. With all of the tools that have been introduced to us this semester, Twitter is the one that I have struggled with the most. It may have something to do with my first negative experience, but it could just be that I am currently very happy using the social networking tools that I currently use (mostly Facebook) and didn’t see the need for adding more conversations into my life. However, as Charles Arthur points out “As with any other social network, [it is] whatever you make of it”. Have spent more time using Twitter and reading about it, I can now understand and see its incredible potential for spreading “as it happens” news, asking questions of colleagues and peers, following people or topics you’re interested in, passing on interesting things to read, observations about life or linking it to advertise my new blog posts.<br /><br />I’ve come to realize that the quality of Twitter experience depends entirely on who I follow and what my personal goal is in using this social networking tool. In the beginning, I only added friends that I knew, figuring it was a simple social networking tool that would allow me to talk with friends and family. Then I began to follow people in the entertainment industry, and comedians to get my daily laugh. Once I realized how incredibly useful it can be to find current news and information, I added several media outlets as well like NY Times, Life and the Huffington Post to get my daily news fix. Finally, I have added several educational journals and experts in the field of technology and education to keep me updated on the trending information in the field of education. It’s incredibly interesting and helpful to hear the latest ideas and conversations that are happening in this field. I’ve tried to keep the list of people I follow fairly broad in variety, but manageable in number so I still have enough time to read the posts and respond. Currently, I have more people I’m following than followers, so I’m listening more than speaking right now and not fully utilizing the whole resource to the best of its (and my) ability. As Phil Bradley comments “Twitter is a resource to encourage discourse, to share ideas back and forth”. To become a more active participant is one of my goals over the next few months. <br /><br />The other unique ability that Twitter offers that is a great benefit over the other social networks is that it can be accessed on a mobile phone or other devices, making it computer or web free. I have not yet explored this option yet, as my cell phone is exceptionally old, but my boyfriend purchased a new phone yesterday, and I can’t wait to try!<br /> <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Twitter as a tool for teaching and learning </span><br />Although Twitter is currently blocked at our school, I can see the potential for its use in the classroom. I would encourage many of my science students to follow current news stories and real-time updates of space exploration with NASA’s astronauts or participate in events like NASA's Space Station crew tweetup that occurred on October 21, 2009 (Wikipedia). To connect with NASA on social networking sites try this link: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/connect/index.html">http://tiny.cc/tRcWR</a> . Social studies teachers could use it to follow current events and “as it happens” news items like the 2008 Mumbai attacks, or Public Health Department updates on H1N1 flu. Language teachers could use it as a hands-on activity for students to practice succinct writing (without abbreviations!) and converse in a second language. It could also be used as an alternative means for students to communicate their ideas and opinions. <br /><br />Dr. Monica Rankin, a history Professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, has her students ‘tweeting’ in class as a means of expressing their views and opinions. It is a large class of 90 students, and this has been a very productive means of sharing a lot of information very quickly. The restriction of 140 characters forces the students to focus their messages on a central point that the teaching assistants collect, and respond to at a later time. The other benefits noted by the students are that this collection of comments can be used as a study guide later and they can follow the conversation remotely if they are not physically in class that day (YouTube).<br /><br /><object width="360" height="240"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6WPVWDkF7U8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6WPVWDkF7U8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="360" height="240"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />As a teacher, there are many ways that I could see Twitter benefiting my practice. It allows for many open conversations and could be treated as a ‘virtual staffroom’ where teachers can access in seconds a stream of links, ideas, opinions, and resources from a hand-picked selection of global professionals (Walker). It could also allow me to get information on conferences, or even ‘attend’ them remotely (College@Home). Twitter could also be a great brainstorming tool since it is ideal for sharing ideas and getting instant feedback. You can gather a huge range of ideas and constructive criticism very quickly (Walker). Using Twitter could also help me stay on top of the latest technologies as well as the latest news and best practices from other professional in the field of education. Finally, I could also see using it as a means of reflecting on my own teaching practice. “Teachers on Twitter share these reflections and both support and challenge each other” (Walker). <br /><br />As a librarian, there is a multitude of ways that I could use Twitter to promote what is happening in the library. It could be used to produce updates on newsletters, reviews on new books, information on author visits, winners of contests, post updates on fundraising activities or update the calendar of events (Scott). It could also be used to highlight general information about opening and closing times, give information on staff, link to images of the library, share best practices with other libraries, take feeds from BBC, CNN or other news alerting services or raise awareness of new resources the library has to offer (Bradley). The possibilities are seemingly endless.<br /><br />Having tried Twitter for the second time this semester, I am starting to realize the potential it has in my personal and professional life. I not only recommend its use, but am starting to advocate for my friends and colleagues to use it as well. However, as Phil Bradley comments “the usual Web 2.0 caveat remains in force – if you don’t see a value in it, don’t use it, and come back in 6 months to try again”. I’m certainly glad that I did come back to enjoy the party.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">References </span><br /><br />Bradley, Phil. (January 29, 2009). Using Twitter in Libraries. Retrieved from: http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil-bradleys-weblog/2009/01/using-twitter-in-libraries.html<br /><br />College@Home. (May 27, 2008). Twitter for Librarians: The Ultimate Guide. Retrieved from: http://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2008/05/27/twitter-for-librarians-the-ultimate-guide/<br /><br />Hargadon, Steve. (February 2009). Microblogging: It’s Not Just Twitter. School Library Journal. Vol. 55 Iss. 2 page 15. Rerieved from: http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/pqdweb?did=1639656541&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientId=12301&RQT=309&VName=PQD<br /><br />Johnson, Steven. (June 5, 2009). How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live. Time. Retreived from: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604-000.htm<br /><br />Kingston, Charlene. (April 2009). Twitter for Beginners. Crow Communications Ebook. Retrieved from: http://www.crowinfodesign.com/downloads/twitter.pdf<br /><br />Male, Mack D. (March 9, 2009). Twitter 101. Retrieved from: http://bolg.mastermaq.ca/2009/03/09/twitter-101/<br /><br />Scott, Jeff. (April 29, 2007). Twitter Update or How I was Able to Exploit the <br />Latest Social Networking Site Without Really Trying. Gather No Dust: Libraries, Management & Technology. Retrieved from: http://gathernodust.blogspot.com/2007/04/twitter-update-or-how-i-was-able-to.html<br /><br />YouTube. (May 2, 2009). The Twitter Experiment – UT Dallas. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WPVWDkF7U8<br /><br />Valenza, Joyce. (March 1, 2009). Meet Mr. Tweet and More on Applying the App. School Library Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1940041394.html<br /><br />Walker, Laura. (April 16, 2009). Nine Reasons to Twitter in Schools. Tech & Learning. Retrieved from: http://www.techlearning.com/article/17340Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-84875245146862955832009-11-15T18:35:00.000-08:002009-11-15T18:41:08.893-08:00A Social Networking AssignmentThe best costume I saw this year at Halloween was, hands down, a Facebook page. Yup, it wasn’t that fancy to look at, but it was a lot of fun for everyone at the party. A young man was dressed in laminated white Bristol board sheets, with a hole cut out for his head, where one’s profile picture is normally found. Underneath was his hometown, his birth date and his status (single, of course). He had included photos of his friends below that and had reserved the right side of the page as his ‘wall’. He keep updating his ‘status’ as the evening went on with a whiteboard marker that was hanging by a string, and partygoers were having fun writing messages all over his ‘wall’ with it as well. The costume kept changing and evolving all evening. Periodically, he would reach into the costume and pull out a stuffed sheep, or other miscellaneous item to throw at someone, or walk around ‘poking’ people. It was by far the best costume at the party, not because it was elaborate or aesthetically pleasing to look at, but because it was interactive and had, by the end of the evening, reached everyone in the room. He had very effectively created a large group of new friends and acquaintances by the end of the evening and that is the true purpose of social networking.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Reflection on the process of learning about the tool</span><br />I have long been an avid user of Facebook since I signed up 2 ½ years ago in June 2007. I was invited by two friends via email to join, and did so, not really understanding what Facebook was all about or what I was getting into. The idea of being able to ‘chat’ informally and the ability to post pictures easily were the two deciding factors in joining this social network. Over the past few years, I have slowly gone through various stages and emotions with this particular tool. In the beginning, I readily accepted any and all ‘friend requests’ that I got. However, my daily updates became so ridiculously long, I had to do some serious ‘culling’ a year ago. Honestly, I had no interest in keeping in touch with old grade school friends that I hadn’t talked to in 20 years, let alone be aware of every time they frequently updated their status with “I’m going to pour another cup of coffee” or “I have to change a diaper”. The old school pictures that they posted were a giggle at first, but I can easily do without those reminders of my ‘awkward’ years. I have tried to limit my number of friends to those people who are most important in my life and whom I would happily meet for a cup of coffee given the opportunity. I have also tried to limit the number of applications that I have on Facebook, since I went through a phase early on that I fondly refer to as the ‘crackbook’ phase. When I was playing ‘scrabulous’, I became so addicted that I suspect my real-life friends were about to stage an intervention. I am now at the stage where I check it once a day, along with my email. I think I have found a happy (and healthier!) balance. <br /><br />The other social networking that I was introduced to last year was the “Ning”. It is also an online social network platform, but it’s different from Facebook in that it gives members the ability to customize the features to meet the needs of a specific group of people (Gardner). The teachers in my school district (Sea to Sky) started a Ning (<a href="http://seatoskytl.ning.com/">http://seatoskytl.ning.com/</a>) to provide better opportunities for us to discuss issues, and share resources. I have created my profile page, shared photos and taken part in a few discussions, but I must admit that I haven’t yet used it to its full potential, as I took a leave of absence shortly after joining to begin my Masters. The other Ning that I just joined this semester is Joyce Valenza’s Teacher Librarian Ning (<a href="http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/">http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/</a>) which looks like an amazing place to share resources, read interesting and informative blogs, converse about ideas in the discussion forum, and keep updated on relevant events taking place. I just joined the group for High School Teacher-Librarians that was started by Joyce Valenza herself, and am excited to be a part of and learn from this knowledgeable community of colleagues over the next few months. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Social Networking as a tool for my own personal learning</span><br />Using Facebook and Nings as a platform to connect with friends and colleagues, has been incredibly useful and helpful to me both personally and professionally. In fact, Facebook has now replaced email as my preferred method of communication with friends and family members. I like the ‘Live News Feed’ that makes it easy for me to see what my friends are doing at a glance, and the reminders that I get to keep me informed of friends’ birthdays and upcoming events. I have used the ‘groups’ function on several occasions to plan and invite students and community members to fundraising events for our school and on a smaller scale, plan birthday parties and potluck dinners. It has given me the ability to easily share photos, videos and embed other interesting links as well as view my friends’ and to learn from their interests and musical tastes. <br /><br />The two Nings that I have joined have helped me professionally as well. As the sole librarian at our school, with limited time allotted for my position, I was really feeling like I was working in isolation and didn’t have any colleagues to collaborate with regularly. These two social network ‘Nings’ have now given me a community to connect with. There are over 3, 800 members in Valenza’s Ning, and 45 different ‘groups’ to join, representing various interests such as: advocacy, Web 2.0 in the library world, visiting authors and promoting Young Adult literacy in schools. There are 319 members in the ‘High School’ group that I’ve signed up for, and so far some of the topics being talked about on the discussion forum include: discipline, online reviews, data tracking, organizational structure, support for new Teacher-Librarians and “Battle of the Books” competitions. I now have a huge support network of colleagues with whom I can ask questions, discuss topics of interest and share resources with. What a wonderful feeling that is! <br /><br />In one of our group discussions, earlier in this course, we talked about teachers, the public’s perception of our profession and our public online ‘personas’. Through that discussion, I came to realize that we work in a profession that keeps us constantly in the public eye, and are often held to a higher standard of behaviour than the general public whether we are on or off the job. One thing that became apparent to me in our discussion is that since I don’t yet have a family or children to protect, I may be a little less reserved than some of my colleagues about what I post on social networking sites. I am also not in a position of administrative authority and don’t need to make disciplinary decisions that may be controversial or contentious to the general public. I also live and work in a very small town and it is unavoidable running into students and/or parents frequently and most often, at inconvenient times and it is difficult to avoid public scrutiny. Living where I do, I actually don’t feel like there is a big difference between my public and private lives. However, this discussion was a lesson, and ‘reminder’ to me to always remember to think critically about what we add to ‘personalize’ our spaces and whether or not it will be interpreted in the same manner as we intended when we placed it there, knowing that once added, it is part of the public domain.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Social Networking as a tool for teaching and learning</span><br />As terrific as social networking sites are for professional development for teachers, there are quite a few challenges presented by social networking sites, which have prompted many schools to block them. In addition to them being an, addictive ‘time suck’ as I found it to be on ‘scrabulous’, more serious issues have arisen. Cyberbullying of other students and of teachers has been the most high profile of the problems (Kuehn). In his article Renegotiating School Boundaries in the Age of Social Networking Kuehn summarizes the dilemma that is facing school administrators and officials when it comes to these social networking sites:<br /><br />“The world of online social networking has developed so rapidly that conventions and boundaries have not evolved quickly enough to help everyone, but especially students and teachers, find the zone that provides both comfort and self-protection. School officials have a difficult time, in the new communications environment, knowing what tools they have to deal with conflicts that arise from social networking.”<br /><br />As a result, many school boards have simply blocked all social sites. However, Stephen Abram makes a good point when he states that the “schools that block social sites rather than taking advantage of a teachable moment are missing something”. Doug Johnson agrees with this sentiment, stating in his ‘Blue Skunk Blog’ that “schools DO need to teach safety and privacy with all social networking tools. If we don’t, who will?” He has a very valid point here. Blocking Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites is not going to stop students from using them on their own time. WHEN they use them is not as crucial as HOW they use them, as this will have an impact on the school environment and students’ relationships regardless of when they access these sites. This is especially true if they are using it as a means to ruin a peer’s reputation or for cyberbullying. These events will undoubtedly affect the school regardless if they are posted from home. Teaching students how to be safe, respectful, and using good ‘ol fashioned manners in a contemporary format is extremely important. I would encourage every teacher to show the following humorous YouTube video called Facebook manners and you! <br /><br /><object width="325" height="245"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iROYzrm5SBM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iROYzrm5SBM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="245"></embed></object> <br /><br />The other serious security concern that I have with using Social Networks in the school environment is the manner that data is collected and shared about you, often without your knowledge. It is a bit daunting to know that the information we post about ourselves is part of a public domain that can be viewed by virtually anyone, is shared widely and without our being totally aware of who has access to it and can be retrieved even after it’s been modified or removed (Stoddart). However, I think that this presents another “teachable moment” with students about safety and respect. I believe it’s critically important to make them more aware of what happens to the information that they ‘put out there’ for the world to see. Here is another video, developed by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada that I would recommend teachers show their students as well regarding this issue.<br /><br /><object width="325" height="244"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X7gWEgHeXcA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X7gWEgHeXcA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="244"></embed></object><br /><br />As much as I love using Facebook, I became more aware of security and personal image issues related to using online social networks in our profession when I received my TC magazine from the BC College of Teachers last winter. In it was an article called ‘Facebook 101’ advising teachers and administrators to avoid using social networking sites. I was quite offended by this pronouncement not only because I felt that it undermined my professional autonomy to make my own qualified decisions regulating what I post, but I felt its blanket statement was not educationally sound. In Kyröläinen’s master’s thesis, he found the “existence of [a] sense of community in the Web environment, that it is not that far from the sense of community in real social environments”. When I had a discussion last year with one of my classes on why I would not add them as ‘Facebook friends’, it became apparent that many of them just wanted to see pictures of my twin sister and family members and I was more than happy to share selected photos with them. This made me realize the importance for students to be connected to their teachers as well as their peers whether it’s part of a virtual or real community. I truly believe that having a personal connection and building relationships with my students helps me be a much more effective teacher.<br /><br />I agree wholeheartedly with Kuehn’s standpoint that there are too many educational benefits to using social networking sites and other web spaces to ignore or abandon them. Instead a “balance is key” (Kuehn). But what is that balance? For me the “Ning’s the thing” (Gardner). It allows for the same formation of an online, social network, but can be closely monitored by the teacher. Unlike Facebook, it allows for better control and management by the teacher. As Gardner outlined in her blog, Nings have the following safety features:<br />The teacher has the control to<br />• setup the Ning as private and open only to invited members;<br />• approve people before they join;<br />• approve all photos or videos before they are posted;<br />• delete any inappropriate groups or discussions<br />• ban members if necessary<br />• reverse any decisions with a simple click<br /> <br />So what are the potential uses and benefits of a school-developed Ning? Some of the ideas that are suggested by (Gardner) are:<br />• Set up discussion forums on literature circles or peer writing groups<br />• Create groups based on student interests like book clubs, mountain biking clubs or chess clubs etc.<br />• Use it as an upload alternative for podcasts, videos or photos<br />• Set up online journals or reading logs<br />• Post information for students and their families in a shared space<br /><br />As contentious as social networking sites can be in the school environment, I think it’s important to teach our students how to use them safely, respectfully and for their intended purpose of communicating ideas and making connections with others. As Lee Lefever commented in his Common Craft video (http://www.commoncraft.com/video-social-networking “networks get things done”. It allows you to see the connections network that is hidden in the real world. It is a new means to find jobs, new friends and even partners. As for the fellow in the Facebook costume? His was the ultimate in socially interactive costumes. He not only made a whole new group of friends and acquaintances- his status was no longer ‘single’ by the end of the evening! Mission accomplished.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />References </span><br />BC College of Teachers. (2007). “Facebook 101.” TC Magazine. Retrieved from<br />http://www.bcct.ca/documents/tc/2007/tcmagazine_winter_2007.pdf<br /><br />Kuehn, Larry. “Renegotiating School Boundaries in the Age of Social Networking.” Our Schools / Ourselves. Retrieved from <br />http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/Our_Schools_Ourselve/5_Kuehn_renegotiating_school_boundaries.pdf<br /><br />Kyröläinen, Satu Suvikki. (2001) Sense of Community in Web Environments. Master’s Thesis. Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki. Retrieved from <br />https://oa.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/3691/senseofc.pdf?sequence=2<br /><br />Lefever, Lee. Social Networking in Plain English. Common Craft. Retrieved from: http://www.commoncraft.com/video-social-networking<br /><br />Stoddart, Jennifer. (2007) “Privacy and Social Networks”. Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7gWEgHeXcA<br /><br />Gardner, Traci. (September 3, 2008). Social Networking: The Ning’s the Thing. National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Inbox Blog. Retrieved from:<br />http://ncteinbox.blogspot.com/2008/09/social-networking-ning-thing.htmlUnknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-28367291503886022572009-10-31T19:50:00.000-07:002009-11-01T18:45:47.508-08:00A Multimedia AssignmentIn my past blog on photosharing, I commented that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Well, this week, I found out how to add the words to the photos in two very fun, and easy multimedia websites: Animoto and Voicethreads.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Reflection on the process of learning about the tool</span><br />I came into the assignment this week with no prior knowledge on how to use multimedia websites to create presentations. I was having so much fun learning about and playing with Animoto and Voicethreads this week that I got so distracted with making new videos and slideshows that I barely left enough time to blog about my experience with these fantastic new tools! I started with Animoto and found it the fastest and easiest application for Web 2.0 that we’ve used yet. Within 15 minutes, I had created my first video. It took four easy steps. First, I signed up for a basic free account that allows me to make an unlimited number of 30 second videos. Second, with a single click of a button, I uploaded 12 of my favourite snapshots from my own album. It was easy to arrange them in the order I wanted to view them by clicking and dragging them into place. Third, I chose music from the vast number of copyright free choices in their program and with a final click, the program ‘mashed’ them together to produce a professional looking video. It only took a mere 5 minutes to receive my completed video. I was delighted with the finished product and chose not only to embed it in my blog, but also email greeting card copies to my family members. The only difficulty I had with copying the HTML code and embedding it my blog, was that it was too wide to fit properly. This was easily remedied by typing over the width in the HTML code to “400” and the height to “300”. There were also plenty of options to embed it in Twitter, Facebook , or send it to an iphone. I also played with the ‘remix button’ to see some of the variations that were available. It was amazing to me that no two videos were alike.<br /><br />I was also curious about Animoto’s educational website, so I tried to sign up for an account there as well. It was a bit more rigorous, as I had to include information about my school, and wait while they checked my credentials. I still have not yet heard back from them whether or not I’ve been approved. The benefit of this type of account is that it allows educators and their students to make full length videos free of charge. There is the other option of buying an all access pass for $30 per year for full length videos and professional quality DVDs. Professionals can also sign up for a license for commercial use for only $249 per year. A small price, I think for the amazing product that is produced so quickly and easily.<br /><br />I also tried using voice thread, and this proved to take a little longer to produce the desired product. It was easy to sign up, and start an account, and load my first photo but I didn’t find the recording step to be intuitive. I had to watch a video tutorial to figure out how to add participants and their photos. I also had some difficulty emailing the photo directly to my family members for commenting. Instead, I copied a link and used that in an email to direct them to the photo. My mom had some trouble with her microphone, and since she is still on dial-up, I couldn’t talk her through the process over the phone. Instead she chose to write her memories of that particular day were and add it as a comment instead. It would be nice to have her voice recorded for prosperity however, so I will have to spend some time with her in person, working through the microphone technicalities. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Multimedia as a tool for my own personal learning</span><br />I am sick to death of powerpoint presentations. I am tired of using them, and I am bored of viewing them. If I never saw another clipart picture again, I would be a happy woman! I am incredibly excited to learn that there are newer, easier, more interactive and FUN methods of presenting information. I have only been using Animoto and Voicethread for a week, but I have already become addicted to Animoto. As soon as I was finished my first video, I quickly made my niece, Ruth a get well card. She had an emergency appendectomy at 1:00 am Friday morning and was feeling lousy that she didn’t get to carve her pumpkin and was going to miss trick-or-treating all together. With her video, I chose to combine photos from my own files with pictures from Animoto’s extensive collection and also to write some text on some of the slides. She absolutely loved it! Next, I made my step dad a birthday video. Then I called my mom and requested some of my childhood photos so I could experiment some more. I now have new ways to lecture, present information, send messages to loved ones or create unique event invitations. <br /><br />I am also excited about the possibilities that voice thread has to offer, although I still feel that I need to spend more time learning the intricacies of the program before teaching it to my own students. I really like the idea of being able to annotate family pictures or home videos with personal messages. My mother is an only child and with the death of my grandparents, I have become only too aware that she is the sole proprietor of my family’s history. There have been several recent occasions where she has been brought to tears by looking at a photograph because she no longer has the ability to find out the story behind it. We also have several old family recipes written in my great grandmother’s thin, shaky cursive writing that we can no longer read, and would love to have her explain to us personally. With Voicethread, we now have the ability to document feelings, reflections and personal history to accompany our family ‘treasures’ so that they may be passed on to future generations. I can think of no other tool that is more valuable for sharing information.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Multimedia as a tool for teaching and learning </span><br />In our 21st century society which has become much quicker paced, media-saturated, and digital, it has been proposed that a “new literacy is required, one more broadly defined than the ability to read and write." (Jones-Kavalier and Flannigan). This idea of a new literacy includes the ability to interpret media (text, sound, images), to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments ( Jones-Kavalier and Flannigan). It is also the ability to use these skills in a collaborative fashion to synthesize the information, reflect and formulate our own ideas. One of the many challenges faced by teachers who want to develop their student's new and multiple information literacies, is the process of locating engaging, cost effective, intuitive learning technologies (McPherson). Animoto and Voicethread are two examples of free online applications that allow students to easily communicate and express themselves using audio and visual media together. <br /><br />Animoto is a very easy intuitive program to use, and will quickly engage any learner in it’s unique and fun approach to communicating visuals. Its straightforward approach and its ability to create a one-of-a-kind product with minimum or no frustrations will easily encourage users to return again and again. However, as much fun as Animoto can be to present work, it doesn’t become interactive or useful in collaborative learning until it is shared with others on a blog, or social utilities like Youtube or Facebook. I feel that Sprankle is right in his opinion that Voicethread is one of the better tools to bring “creativity, innovation, communication, and collaboration with a global audience into your classroom”. The real power of the tool comes from allowing other people to comment on the content within the voicethread. Comments can be typed, recorded by voice or video, uploaded as audio, or even recorded by phone and you can even draw on the slides to illustrate a point (Sprankle). The other benefit that voicethreads offer is the ability to post student work which “allows for reflection and conversation that can transcend the limitations of the classroom” (Sprankle). Students or parents can add to a discussion from home, and other teachers and students from around the world can also join in. This allows the participants to engage in discussion and explore course material more deeply while practicing critical thinking (Voicethread).<br /><br />As a teacher, I like the idea of being able to post student work to share with a larger audience, but I also like having the option of moderating the comments or controlling the settings to be public, private or only shared among peers within a class, and this is allowed by voicethreads. I also like how voicethreads can be downloaded as a QuickTime movie which also allows for easy archiving. <br /><br />So what are some of the best uses for students? The ideas are almost limitless, but I particularly like these suggestions found in Voicethread’s own library:<br />• Create a portfolio of work with annotated presentations or explanations of the work they have done.<br />• In English and language arts, students can present stories they have read or written, have asynchronous conversations about books, share poetry and writing combined with their artwork or photos or document a ‘day in their lives’. <br />• In a foreign language class, it could be used to introduce vocabulary, images or text and engage students in oral practice of the language.<br />• In a math class, it could be used to demonstrate knowledge (like a geometry lesson or measurement and ratio) or it could be used to get students to work together to develop problem solving strategies. <br />• In a science class, voicethreads could be used to explain diagrams (like water or nutrient cycles) or as a walk-through a virtual dissection.<br />• In a social studies class, students could examine historical photos and comment or read and share historical letters. <br />• In a visual or performing arts class, student artwork could be combined with words, visuals or music. <br /><br />There are also many ways in which teachers can benefit from using voicethreads. The first use that comes to mind is to engage in conversation with colleagues and use for reflective practice. It could also be used for professional development presentations or while introducing new technology for education. Teachers could also develop instructional videos, tutorials or give a dynamic lecture. This format engages students in an interactive environment better than any ‘downloadable’ (i.e. podcast or videocast) lecture can. It could also be used to improve communication with parents by creating newsletters or putting together a presentation of a field trip so parents could ‘come along’ with their children (Sprankle).<br /><br />In my opinion, Animoto and Voicethreads are an excellent way to incorporate new digital and visual literacy skills in multimedia presentations which will help to prepare students for multimodal communication in future work and social environments. At the same time, they provide a fun way to create a culture of participation and collaboration in the classroom and perhaps with a larger audience.<br /><br /><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEyNTcxMDI4Njc*NjgmcHQ9MTI1NzEwMjg4MjU5MyZwPTIwNjQyMSZkPWI3MDY1NzImZz*yJm89ZTNjNWQ4ZjdmMGY4NDljYThiNmI1NjkwYTQ*N2U5OTImb2Y9MA==.gif" /><object width="400" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=706572"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=706572" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://wanimoto.clearspring.com/o/46928cc51133af17/4aecf945715f6029/46928cc51133af17/826e6181/-cpid/cf27433cef85e3a8/-EMH/220/-EMW/400/widget.js"></script><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />References</span><br />Jones-Kavalier, Barbara R. Flannigan, Suzanne L. (2006). Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century. Educause Quarterly. Vol. 29, No. 2. <br />Retrieved from: http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/ConnectingtheDigitalDotsLitera/157395<br /><br />McPherson, Keith. (June 2009). Mashing Literacy. Teacher Librarian. Vol 35, Iss. 5 Retrieved from: <br />http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/pqdweb?did=1502965521&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=12301&RQT=309&VName=PQD<br /><br />Sprankle, Bob. (October 2009). Voicethread. Urbana. Vol 15, Iss. 1 Retrieved from: http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/pqdweb?did=1884218111&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientId=12301&RQT=309&VName=PQD<br /><br />Voicethread Digital Library. Retrieved from: http://voicethread.com/library/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-80339177028549206782009-10-25T21:09:00.000-07:002009-10-26T09:44:34.139-07:00A Wiki AssignmentThis week I decided to create a Wiki for the Don Ross Secondary School Outdoor Leadership class’ annual fundraiser. This Winter Gala is the major fundraising event for this class of 26 students who spend their entire semester outdoors; cross country and downhill skiing, learning about avalanches, snowshoeing, building snow caves, orienteering, rock climbing, kayaking the sunshine coast, and hiking the Juan de Fuca trail. Most importantly though, they learn about becoming leaders in their school and community and raising environmental awareness for the amazing area in which we live. This is the seventh year of this special teacher designed program and it would not be possible without a successful fundraising effort. In the past, the has generally raised around $7000.00 to cover the cost of the trips, guides and equipment incurred in the courses. The winter gala fundraiser is generally organized by a committee of parents and the two lead teachers of the program. It involves several months of careful planning and a virtual avalanche of email communication in addition to the face-to-face meetings. I am hoping that by creating this wiki, I can improve the communication and organization for the event planners and contribute in some small way to this amazing endeavor since I am on a leave of absence and unable to be on the organizing committee this year. <br /><br />The Wiki can be found at https://donrosssecondarywintergala.wikispaces.com/<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Reflection on the process of learning about the tool</span><br />The word ‘wiki’ is a short form of the Hawaiian wiki-wiki, which means ‘quick’ and I found out this week just how quick and easy it is to design and edit a wiki website (Richardson). Once again, I found Will Richardson’s book and excellent place to start learning about wikis. Upon his recommendation, I went to wikispaces found at http://tinyurl.com/293h9a and signed up for my own site simply by giving a username, password and email address. I choose a wikiname (no spaces allowed) and I was set up quicker than you can say ‘wiki-wiki’! I like how the opening page of wikispaces has a very comprehensive tutorial of how wikis work. I must admit that I didn’t finish the entire tutorial however, because I was anxious to just get started and try it out. With a click of the ‘edit’ button, I wrote a quick introduction on the home page (which I’m sure one of the teachers of the program will edit and alter soon). The only thing that I was unsure of at first was that after I hit the ‘edit’ button, my computer had a rather long pause before allowing me to write. I wish the response time was a little ‘wikkier”. I found that it was incredibly easy to add pages and sub pages. All I had to do was type the page name “Advertising”, highlight it with my cursor and click on the link icon on the toolbar. When the dialogue box popped up, it was already in the ‘Link Text’ and ‘New Page Name’ spaces. As soon as I clicked ‘OK’, the new page was produced. I easily organized the wiki site with various pages for advertising, ticket sales, sponsors, concession, entertainment line-up, set up and take down duties, as well as a list of committee members. When I set up the wiki, I had an option of whether or not I wanted the site to be protected or open, and I have chosen protected for now, so that only the invited members of the committee can made changes. Inviting them was incredibly simple as well; all I had to do was click on ‘Manage Wiki’ and ‘Invite People’ and type in their email addresses. I was planning to embed a calendar from Google calendars, but have not yet heard back from the teachers on specifics for meeting dates and a general outline for when specific duties had to be done. I am hoping that in time, the other teachers will also be inspired to add photos of the students in the program, as well as advertise the sponsor logos. The beauty of the wiki is that it is ever evolving as the planning progresses. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Wikis as a tool for my own personal learning</span><br />I tend to use Wikipedia a fair amount for my own personal use whether it is to find the actor in a certain movie, look up a new sailing term or find out the most recommended varnish for refinishing my furniture. Already this week I’ve used wikirecipes to find a chicken pot pie recipe, wikiquotes to find a quote from a movie I’d watched and wikiquestions to figure out how to install the block heater on my car. Wikis are unquestionably a fantastic online resource for looking up these random bits of information. However, even though I’ve found it useful personally, I still had this nagging distrust in the site as an educator. It’s hard to get past the bias that it is ‘unreliable’ because so many different people are contributing to this wealth of information and yet, I have no idea of their credentials. After reading a few articles this week, I am starting to change my mind and realize the impact and important role that wikis can serve. It was encouraging to me that wikis are starting to be critiqued by scholars and their positive endorsements are heartening. I read the article mentioned by Will Richardson called “Grading Wikipedia” and in it, several Colorado scholars were asked to review entries on several topics and rate them. Four out of five agreed that Wikipedia entries are “accurate informative, comprehensive and a great resource for students” (Booth, 2007). The fifth scholar found some details to be “inaccurate by omission” (Booth, 2007). I am starting to become less skeptical about Wikipedia, but I still believe that it should be used as a starting point for research and that the hyperlinks listed in the references should always be evaluated and critiqued carefully. <br /><br />An interesting thought occurred to me as I was setting up the Winter Gala wiki, and that was although I am an avid user of the wiki for personal reasons, I have never contributed to one before. The whole concept that wikis and Wikipedia in particular are there for “the collaborative construction of knowledge and truth that the new interactive Web facilitates” had escaped me until now (Richardson p.57). The main rationale and principle behind the Web 2.0 technologies is to collaborate and contribute - whether that is to a class or a much larger, global audience. I readily share ideas and collaborate with my colleagues, but why I have never collaborated on a larger scale before? Why have I only been a passive recipient of this type of information? This has made me think back to the blog I wrote on social bookmarking. At the time I was exploring that Web 2.0 tool, I was also starting to wonder if my students not only communicate differently than I do, but actually think differently too? If this is the case,then communicating in an online format is like any other skill – it needs to be practiced and developed to become inherent and effective. I am still not at that stage yet with my blogging, as it is not yet incorporated in my daily life. I am interested to see if the wiki will be an easier platform in which I can collaborate and communicate.I am hopeful that as this course progresses and my comfort level with these tools increases over time, I will have fewer, and hopefully no, hesitations to contribute my own knowledge and information to various wiki sites. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Using Wikis as a tool for teaching and learning</span><br />As teachers we all know too well that students eagerly use Wikipedia when starting their research on the computer. As the old adage goes ‘if they are going to be doing it anyways, we might as well teach them the proper and safe way to do it’. Why not use Wikipedia itself as a means to teach students to critically evaluate websites? By getting them to check the hyperlinked references at the end of each page, it not only encourages them to research further, but also allows them to gather information, compare accounts, gain more background information and evaluate the site critically (Davies and Merchant, p. 92). It can also be used to teach students the concepts of community collaboration, and respect for other people’s ideas (Richardson). Most importantly, it can help teach collaboration and negotiation skills and allow students to teach each other and share what they know with a larger audience (Richardson, p. 60). The possibilities for class wikis are almost endless and FUN. Students could create their own virtual textbook. As they progress through the year, small groups could be responsible for updating the wiki on a weekly basis with the topics they’ve been learning and add relevant links, photos or presentations (Hudson). Students could also explore Omnictionary or another book-related wiki and then be challenged to create a wiki for the book they are currently reading in class (Hudson). They could add information about the characters as they develop, or add biographical information about the author. Foreign language teachers could also use wikis as a way to organize vocabulary words by theme or unit of study. That way kids have quick and easy access to an online dictionary customized just for their class. They could also use their wiki to link to places where the language is prevalent (Hudson). Socials classes could also use wikis to follow current events since they allow immediate publication of events as they occur (Davies and Merchant, p. 91).<br /><br />For teachers, the use of wikis can be very creative, but also very functional. Wikis could easily create a portal for lesson planning and sharing to occur, as demonstrated by sites like wikibooks (Richardson, p. 63). Wikis for teachers could also decrease disruptions of instructional time by posting daily staff notes on a school wiki instead of putting them in daily announcements over the public address system (Nielsen). Another potential benefit of a teacher used wiki could be to make meetings more efficient. All team meetings and planning can be coordinated right on the wiki, giving staff and administration an opportunity to see what is happening in other departments around the school. This wiki could also incorporate discussion boards for conversations to take place outside the meetings (Nielsen). Wikis could also be used to enhance professional development, by putting up any important materials being use in seminars to one wiki site. Again, discussion boards could also be used to elicit feedback and keep the conversations going afterwards (Nielsen). <br /><br />In the library, wikis can be a useful way to manage knowledge. When I started at my school as the librarian, no information had been previously documented on the use of the computer system, the department routines, standard operating procedures, or the organization and collection policies. There was also no anecdotal information of best practices from the previous librarian. I simply had to start from scratch and it was incredibly frustrating. Over the years, I have documented everything that I do in my role as librarian and the binder of information has become rather large. Since I am on a leave of absence this year, I passed on what I affectionately call the “library bible” to my successor. I can now see that a much more efficient way to share this information and knowledge would have been to create a library wiki. This way, the teacher librarian this year could also add her own knowledge to the framework that is already there. As noted in the article “Wikis in the Workplace”, having a wiki to manage knowledge of this type “can help improve efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of information use within the organization” (Kille, 2006). In addition to our school library, having a wiki or knowledge management system that is similar could “help libraries remain competitive in an era of constant change by facilitating the rapid transfer of knowledge” (Kille, 2006). Once again, the benefits of creating a collaborative system of sharing information and knowledge cannot be denied.<br /><br />Although the use of wikis for class projects may present some challenges for evaluating work done in a collaborative fashion, I still see the potential uses for wikis as being truly astonishing. I am curious to see how the Winter Gala wiki I created this week evolves and changes as the event is being planned.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />References</span><br /><br />Davies, Julia. Merchant, Guy. (2009) Web 2.0 for Schools: Learning and Social Participation. New York, NY: Peter Lang<br /><br />Hudson, Hannah Trierweiler. (Sept/Oct. 2009) How to Teach With Wikis. Instructor. Vol 119, Iss 2 Retrieved from: http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/pqdweb?did=1873816451&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=12301&RQT=309&VName=PQD<br /><br />Kille, Angela (March 2006). Wikis in the Workplace: How Wikis Can Help Manage Library Reference Services. Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal. Vol 16, Iss 1. Retrieved from: http://libres.curtin.edu.au/libres16n1/<br /><br />Nielsen, Lisa. (July 2009). Eight Ways to Use School Wikis. Tech & Learning. Retrieved from: http://www.techlearning.com/article/22064<br /><br />Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press<a href="https://donrosssecondarywintergala.wikispaces.com/"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-60186371209680940812009-10-16T21:00:00.000-07:002009-10-18T19:44:45.306-07:00Podcasting AssignmentSince I watch the movie “Walk the Line” earlier this week, I’ve had the Johnny Cash song ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ stuck in my head. <br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">I hear</span> <span style="font-weight:bold;">the train a comin'<br />It's rolling round the bend<br />And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when..</span> </span><br /><br />My climbing partner laughed at me on Friday when it started to rain in the middle of our ice climb and cold, wet and miserable, I started to sing it as loud as I could. It seemed only appropriate that we could hear the ubiquitous echoes of trains down in the valley below us. He agreed to bail on the climb and come back to the house for a warm drink and be interviewed by me instead for my podcasting assignment.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Reflection on the process of learning about the tool</span><br />I was extremely glad that I read Will Richardson’s section of “Getting started with Podcasting” in his book before attempting to podcast myself. I started out by taking his advice and downloading the open-source program Audacity. It was free, and very easy to record with. I then downloaded Audacity’s MP3 encoder (Lame V3.98.2) to translate my files into MP3s. This step took a little bit longer than down loading the Audacity program. (Due to software patents, Audacity cannot distribute the MP3 coding software themselves.) This multi-step process was explained quite well on the website, but I found that I had to keep my browser open to follow the instructions exactly. The tricky part occurred when I exported my first ‘test’ recording as an MP3 file. Audacity prompted me for the location of my “lame-enc.dll” file and if I did not have the browser still open with the instructions, I likely never would have found were it was located on my C: drive. This finally allowed me to export my recordings as MP3 files to be used on other sites or archived. <br /><br />Once I had the initial set-up complete it was full steam ahead! I had a lot of fun recording and playing with the audio-editing program in Audacity. I will admit that I did end up using the ‘Help’ menu a fair amount as none of the shortcut ‘tool’ keys had symbols that I recognized. I imagine that it would be a fairly intuitive program to use, if one had any prior knowledge of ‘GarageBand’ or other music-making and mixing programs. I chose to import music from http://www.freeplaymusic.com and was thoroughly impressed with the selection of free music that was available. It was categorized by topic and mood which made it easy to find a piece that suited the interview I wanted to enhance. It was actually fun to experiment with lining up the various tracks and interview ‘takes’ and fading in music at the end. It is by no means a ‘professional’ recording, but that is what makes it feel authentic and is the charm of this type of recording I think. <br /><br />What slowed me down to a virtual stop was figuring out how to post my recording to my blogger account as it does not have any automatic support for ‘enclosures’ like MP3 files. <br />Thankfully, I picked up speed again when my classmate Annabelle Pendry suggested a slide share presentation outlining what to do. I followed the prompts and opened an account on www.archive.org. This allowed me to save my audiofiles, and get an html code that I could then copy and embed in my blog. Voila! I had arrived at the destination! The only difficulty with this step was that it worked well only when the archive screen was open. Once it was closed, I could no longer log in and find my own archived material, no matter how hard I tried. (I guess the moral here is to get off at the right station, since there’s no turning around the train.)<br /><br />Since I am such a big fan and regular user of Skype, I also decided to follow another track to see if I could record a conversation from Skype and then podcast it. I had already downloaded and installed the software for both Skype and PowerGramo, so it was easy to experiment with. I just had to dial up my friends and record; then transfer the file to Audacity, edit it, and export it as an MP3. The process was virtually the same. The only catch for me, was that the basic (free) version of PowerGramo only allows Skype to Skype calls, and if you want to call or conference with a landline, you have to pay for the upgraded ‘professional’ version. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Podcasting as a tool for my own personal learning</span><br />Since I discovered the website TEDtalks, I have been a podcasts enthusiast. I love being able to download any of the various shows to my ipod and listen to them while driving or working out. Researchers have found that "part of the appeal of podcasts is that users can listen to these audio files whenever they want, wherever they want, as often as they want and on the device of their choice" (DeVoe, p. 78). Besides the ability and ease of multitasking while listening, there is something more personal and appealing to me to listen to someone’s voice present an idea or a conversation for debate than reading about it. All week in our class discussions about how to personalize our little spaces on the web, my group has been questioning and reflecting on how to develop our own ‘voice’ or authenticating our sites through our writing styles. I can now see how effective the use of embedded podcasts can be as well, and I look forward to hearing my classmates’ voices for the first time this week.<br /> <br />There has also been a lot of concern about whether or not communicating online is an authentic means of forming relationships and it has been noted that the “existence of [a] sense of community in the Web environment, that it is not that far from the sense of community in real social environments”( Kyröläinen). However, many people in the class discussion felt that there needs to be a healthy balance between ‘online’ relationships and ‘real’ relationships. To me, using podcasting or Skype (especially with video) is a much better means of enhancing communication and online relationships and can actually assist with real relationships when separated by distance. I have used Skype so frequently over the past 4 years that I have purchased a Belkin Skype phone (about the size of a cell phone) that I use more than my actual cell phone. My entire family lives on the East Coast and in Ontario and this has been the best way for me to maintain communication in between yearly visits. It is fun to take photographs and record my nephews singing “Happy Birthday” to me. (I suppose I could always podcast these back to them later, when they are older.) I have also had personal relationships that never would have ‘left the station’ so to speak, if it were not for the ability to see each other and talk over Skype while separated for long periods of time. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Podcasting as a tool for teaching and learning</span><br />I was ‘derailed’ this spring for several months when I injured myself rock climbing. I was on crutches and unable to return to the classroom for the last two months of the school year. This caused an incredible amount of disruption and frustration for my students who had to deal with and adapt to a number of different substitute teachers. I only wish I had read the article “Injured educator teaches her students via 'Webinar'” while I was stuck on my couch! In that particular article, a teacher taught her class from home while recovering from knee surgery. Her students really “liked the idea of connecting with [their] regular teacher from home instead of relying on a substitute and felt that if their teacher was “unable to be in the classroom, a teleconference [was] the next best thing” (White). I wish that I knew then what I do now, and could have podcasted some key lessons for them that proved to be so frustrating. It would have also served a good purpose for reviewing before the provincial exam, and hopefully would have avoided the additional stress and aggravation that they felt in my absence. At the very least, it might have served to lessen the transitional disturbance between myself and the substitute teachers if they heard from me personally why I was away, and that I did indeed miss them!<br /><br />In the library, there are several possible applications for podcasts that could also change the way we communicate. There have been some “early developments by public libraries which are starting to use podcasts to advertise library news, market services to library patrons and develop audio books” (Berk et al). Podcasting could also be very relevant in school libraries to ‘host’ book talks with authors via Skype, alleviating the cost and travel inconveniences for author visits. Student reviews of books and recommendations could also be recorded and archived to help other students choose reading materials.<br /><br />In the classroom, the possibility for engaging students and appealing to different learning styles, especially the auditory learner, is seemingly endless. Researchers have commented that when “teamed with other support material such as print or online guides and face to face classes it can be a valuable addition to the learning process” (Berk et al). However, to appreciate the true value of podcasting as a classroom activity, we have to move away from the common definition of podcasting as a means of speaking our minds or ‘lecturing’ and “consider it as a way for a student to express creativity and share it with others” instead (Criswell). The real power of podcasting as a tool for teaching and learning is that allows students to create material or contribute ideas to a larger audience or store it for future audiences to use (Richardson p. 113). Some of the possibilities for student participation as noted by Richardson include; Language teachers could record and publish daily practice lessons to aid in acquisition of a new language; Social studies teacher could have students do oral histories, reenactments of historical events or interviews (as I’ve done in my podcast embedded below); Science teachers could have students narrate and record observations for lab experiments or dissections which could be too messy to write down; Music teachers could record recitals or concerts or showcase music solos that cannot fit in a major concert (Richardson, p. 114) <br /><br /> We should also consider these additional creative ways that Criswell suggests using podcasting to enhance student learning in the classroom:<br />• as remedial assistance for special needs students <br />• as makeup work assistance for absent students <br />• as a way to provide validation for grades <br />• as a visual/audible way to share a student's progress at conferences<br />• as an incredible public relations tool.<br />In my opinion, the simplicity of equipment needed for digital recording, the low cost involved, the immediacy of producing results and the fun involved make podcasting one of the most powerful classroom tools that we have considered to date in this course.<br /><br />Podcast:<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="350" height="24" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.0.5.swf" w3c="true" flashvars='config={"key":"#$b6eb72a0f2f1e29f3d4","playlist":[{"url":"http://www.archive.org/download/ATrainConductorsJob_675/ATrainConductorsJob.mp3","autoPlay":false}],"clip":{"autoPlay":true},"canvas":{"backgroundColor":"0x000000","backgroundGradient":"none"},"plugins":{"audio":{"url":"http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.audio-3.0.3-dev.swf"},"controls":{"playlist":false,"fullscreen":false,"gloss":"high","backgroundColor":"0x000000","backgroundGradient":"medium","sliderColor":"0x777777","progressColor":"0x777777","timeColor":"0xeeeeee","durationColor":"0x01DAFF","buttonColor":"0x333333","buttonOverColor":"0x505050"}},"contextMenu":[{"Item ATrainConductorsJob_675 at archive.org":"function()"},"-","Flowplayer 3.0.5"]}'> </embed><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />References</span><br /><br />Berk, Jaya. Olsen, Sonja. Atkinson, Jody. Comerford, Joanne. Innovation in a podshell: bringing information literacy into the world of podcasting. The Electronic Library. Oxford: 2007. Vol. 25, Iss. 4; pg. 409<br />Retrieved from http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/pqdweb?did=1360295081&sid=6&Fmt=3&clientId=12301&RQT=309&VName=PQD<br /><br />Criswel, Chad. The Value of Podcasting. Teaching Music. Reston: Oct 2008. Vol. 16, Iss. 2; pg. 26, 2 pgs<br />Retrieved from http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/pqdweb?did=1578482531&sid=6&Fmt=3&clientId=12301&RQT=309&VName=PQD <br /><br />DeVoe, K. (2006). Innovations affecting us - podcasting, coursecasting, and the library. Against the Grain. Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 78-79, 85.<br /><br />How to embed a podcast into a Blogger. (n.d.). Slideshare [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/Paty.Savage/how-to-embed-a-podcast-into-a-blogger<br /><br />Kyröläinen, Satu Suvikki. (2001) Sense of Community in Web Environments. Master’s Thesis. Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki. Retrieved from <br />https://oa.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/3691/senseofc.pdf?sequence=2<br /><br />Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press<br /><br />Rumpler, A. (2007). Podcasting in Library Research: A discussion of three projects developed using new audio technologies. International Association of School Librarianship. Selected Papers from the Annual Conference. Retrieved from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1563504601).<br /><br />White, Davin. Injured educator teaches her GW students via 'Webinar'. Saturday Gazette-Mail. October 18, 2008. Retrieved from: http://wvgazette.com/News/200810170678Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-14934808593638151442009-10-06T09:57:00.000-07:002009-10-06T09:58:45.993-07:00A Social Bookmarking AssignmentI am writing this as I fly from New Brunswick to Ontario to visit my family for 3 days. The sun is setting above a spectacular layer of puffy clouds that stretches as far as the eye can see. There are millions of them out there, merging with and layering on top of each other ….Suddenly, all I can picture in my head are words floating around in the clouds like the tag clouds that have been in my sights all this week while learning about and experimenting with social book marking in an attempt to organize and make sense of the hundreds of websites I navigate every week. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Reflection on the process of learning about the tool</span><br />Although there are many different types of social bookmarking sites out there to try, I decided to use Del.icio.us this week for several reasons. First, it was the site that pioneered tagging and coined the term ‘social bookmarking’. Second, since social bookmarking, like any other social networking web tool relies on the size of its community and participation for its success, I chose to go with the largest one out there. Setting up a page on Del.licio.us was remarkably easy. I didn’t even need to use an email address to register. I followed the clear and easy to read prompts and was able to import my 191 bookmarks within a few minutes. What I was a bit disgruntled with at first (but now love since I’ve seen how easy and quick it is to use) is that it changed the look and settings of my firefox toolbar to include the Delicious tag buttons. I was happy that all my imported bookmarks were saved as private by default, even though it took me a bit of time to sort through and change the settings of approximately half of them to public. Admittedly, it probably would have gone quicker if I had discovered the ‘bulk edit’ button sooner! Now that I have used the quick tag buttons, I have discovered that these are saved as public by default. What I am still not very happy about is that there is no option to only share a bookmark with specific people in my network, but I can see how this could be circumnavigated by using a very unusual ‘tag’ word. The biggest thing that I learned this week is that the most important part of using this method of organization is all in the tag. “Finding and connecting to relevant information is not done through the search; it’s done through the tag” (Richardson p. 96). This is taking me a little bit of getting used to. The first day I tried it, I gave up in frustration, feeling like a grumpy little Eeyore with a black cloud about my head (yes, with tags words swirling in it). I have become so accustomed to my own antiquated method of using folders and sub-folders; I really have to adjust to this new way of thinking and searching. I feel like I still have a lot to learn about and try in Delicious, and I am interested to see how I will feel about this tool later on in the semester after I’d had a better opportunity to build my network of people to share with. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Social bookmarking as a tool for my own personal learning</span><br />As I started to ‘tag away’ I found it really interesting to see just how eclectic my tastes and interests are. I had never given much thought to the variety of sites that I visit everyday and the tangents that I go off on when browsing the internet. This tool has certainly made me much more aware of this aspect. When I look at my ‘tag cloud’ that is posted on this blog, I can see a drawback to this tag-based system. As hard as I tried to use similar keywords, I still pluralized some of them accidentally and made a few spelling errors. Since there is no standard set of keywords, social bookmarking relies on a folksonomy, which is not a controlled vocabulary (Wikipedia). Besides making spelling errors, users could potentially use tags that have more than one meaning and further add a confusing element. <br /><br />Despite this particular drawback and my own personal struggle with using a new system of organization, I am looking forward to building up my network to connect to others that share similar interests and hobbies. Rock climbing has long been one of my passions, and it will be fun to find others with which to share new route information and newly discovered areas to explore in. I also love to cook and bake, and am eager to find others to share recipes and helpful websites with.<br /><br />It may be a coincidence that this tool was introduced to our class in the same week that we were asked to reflect on how we’re managing to stay organized in the Web 2.0 environment – but I doubt it! While reflecting on that question, and experimenting with social bookmarking, I started to wonder how this is changing the way we interact and communicate with others. I can also see that it may be changing the way we store and find information in general. By tagging information, resources, photos, videos etc., it “may become less important to know and remember where information was found and more important to know how to retrieve it”. (Educause Learning Initiative). This has lead me to question this week ‘Do my students not only communicate differently than I do, but actually think differently too?’ If this is the case, will I be able to change, adapt and evolve my own thinking too over time? Perhaps communicating in an online format is like any other skill – it needs to be practiced and developed to become inherent and effective. I am hoping that I become more comfortable with social bookmarking and the ‘tagging’ system over time.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Social bookmarking as a tool for teaching and learning</span><br />What intrigues me the most about social bookmarking sites are the possibilities that they hold to improve collaboration with colleagues, sharing of resources, and enhancing my teaching practice. As Richardson comments in School Library Journal it better “enables us to share our treasure with others”. I have often team taught my science classes with other teachers and we have always had to store our information, notes and presentations on a central laptop which we then wheeled on a cart from room to room as needed. I am happy that I now have a quicker, more efficient method of sharing valuable websites and information with colleagues. I am also excited that my bookmarks can now be utilized from any computer or workstation in the school or when traveling. I also feel more secure knowing that I can download and save all of my bookmarks for security, or easily transfer from one service to another if I find it better suits my needs later on (McGraw-Hill Ryerson).<br /><br />I am also excited about the possibilities that social bookmarking has to help students organize themselves and work collaboratively with their peers and a bigger community.<br />Many of the teenagers that I teach in junior high really struggle with the transition of having several courses with different teachers and organizing themselves in general. Teaching students to use social bookmarking can provide them with an overall system or framework in which to organize themselves, but still allows them the flexibility to personalize their sites and form their own networks. Where I see bookmarking becoming invaluable to students is the collaboration and sharing of websites when researching for projects. If the time is taken to properly teach students how to critically evaluate websites when researching it could also mean that they will be more diligent about utilizing and sharing sites of higher quality. (DesRoches) It also has the potential for helping students find links to current events by subscribing to news feeds on a particular subject of interest (McGraw-Hill Ryerson).<br /><br />In the library, there are several possible applications for social bookmarking that will dramatically change how we research and communicate. Using tailor made social bookmarks for a specific class research project can simplify the distribution of reference lists, bibliographies and resources between students or collaborative groups (Educause Learning Initiative). Teachers and students could also tag interesting reviews to recommend books and DVDs that be purchased for the library, or possibly used in book clubs (DesRoches). Some community libraries, like the Thunder Bay Public Library and the Nashville Public Library now have tag clouds rolled onto their websites so patrons can find information on any number of topics just by clicking on a tag. Researchers have noted that this has been better for patrons than traditional pathfinders and subject guides because it “lowers [the] barriers for participation”. (Rethlefsen)<br /><br />After getting a ‘taste’ of Del.icio.us social bookmarking this week and seeing the benefits that it will offer both my students and myself personally and professionally, I am definitely going to go back for a second helping.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">References</span><br /><br />Educause Learning Initiative. (May 2005) 7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking. Retrieved October 4, 2009 from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7001.pdf<br /><br />Desroches, Donna. (January 2007) All Together Now. School Library Journal from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6403269.html<br /><br />McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Social Bookmarking. Retrieved October 4, 2009 from http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/hoetoarticles/social-bookmarking.<br /><br />Rethlefsen, Melissa. (June 2007). Tags help make Libraries Del.icio.us. Library Journal from http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/pqdweb?did=1335174171&sid=4&Fmt=3&clientId=12301&RQT=309&VName=PQD<br /><br />Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press<br /><br />Social Boomarking. Retrieved October 4, 2009 from http://wikipedia.org/wiki/social_bookmarkingUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-65633376109848380742009-09-27T15:09:00.000-07:002009-09-27T17:31:53.803-07:00“Seeing is Believing”: A Video-sharing Assignment<span style="font-weight: bold;">Reflection on the process of learning about the tool<span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><br /><br />I am spending the next two weeks visiting my boyfriend’s family on the East coast of New Brunswick. Their house is located on the St. Croix river just a few kilometers from the Bay of Fundy. I have always heard about the extraordinary tides that are the largest in the world, but until I actually saw it with my own eyes, I found it difficult to really understand how amazing they really are. Yesterday, as we floated in our canoe looking at the astonishing array of fall colours along the bank, I couldn’t help but think about the other incidents in my life that left me speechless in their unique beauty; the rare sighting of Haley’s comet when I was a child; the exceptional and eerie beauty of the dancing and colourful Aurora Borealis; or the power of the Niagara Falls. There is no oral or written description that can describe the wonder of these phenomena as clearly as seeing it for oneself. That is the simple fact that makes video images such a powerful tool. Seeing is believing. <br /><br />This is the premise behind YouTube, which was developed in 2005 by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, after a mutual friend, who had missed out on a dinner party, denied that it had ever taken place. They came up with the idea of posting videos for him to view to prove that the party had indeed happened without him (Wikipedia). I have long been a user of YouTube, but had never tried to post my own video before. The video that I chose to post was another rare instance that I was lucky enough to catch on my camera. I am an avid ice climber, and last December, when the temperatures dipped uncharacteristically low, I went out to Shannon Falls to see if the waterfall had frozen enough to climb it. What I saw that day is something that I will likely never see again – fast flowing water freezing before my eyes. This is a video I’ve shared with many friends and used in my classroom when taking about change of state<br /><br />I am happy to say that the process for opening an account on YouTube and uploading my first video was as easy as floating in a canoe on a calm lake. It took less than 5 minutes to upload the video and approximately 10 minutes for the processing to take place so that it could be viewed by anyone. The straightforwardness and ease of this process was astonishing. There was no template to set up, or personal space being created. The video was simply ‘put out there’ for the masses to find. No wonder an “impressive 10 hours worth of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute”! (Davies and Merchant, p. 53) <br /><br />I also played around on Teachertube.com for the first time. I was unaware that a special site geared towards educators even existed until I read about it this week in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Richardson). What I liked about this site was that it not only provided a space for video-sharing, but it was also organized to share audio, photos, blogs and documents. It had less of a ‘marketplace’ feel and the homepage had a cleaner layout (with no advertising), providing easy links for teachers to follow updates on twitter, RSS feeds, daily emails or Facebook. However, I did have some difficulties on this site finding relevant videos. It became easier once I used a specific ‘channel’ for high school, but it simply doesn’t have the plenitude of videos that are available on YouTube. Hopefully, as this site becomes more known, it will attract more users that will in turn, upload more videos to be shared. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video- sharing as a tool for my own personal learning<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><br />I must admit that for the two months this spring I was on crutches and couch-bound, I spent an inordinate amount of time ‘surfing’ the internet and watching YouTube. It was a lonely and frustrating period of healing and I didn’t have a TV, so watching videos on YouTube provided good entertainment for me as well as providing a social connection to the outside world. I like that the clips are short, often humorous and put up there by REAL people. It is like being able to watch “America’s Funniest Home Videos” anytime I choose. <br /><br />Besides providing entertainment and a social connection, I have used many instructional “How To” videos on YouTube to learn how to sand floors or rewire my kitchen outlets for new appliances. I also regularly watch Avalanche Bulletins in the winter to stay informed on snow conditions in the mountains where I plan on skiing and ice-climbing. <br /><br />Having seen how easy it is to upload a video, I am now far more likely to post videos of my ‘adventures’ so that family and friends can view them. I do have a few concerns about safety and would take care not to use my real surname, or mention the location that I live in. I would also be careful to get permission from anyone else featured in the video. Until I feel more comfortable with the masses viewing my video footage, I’m more likely to choose the option not to have it viewed by the general public but only by a list of friends or post it on my Facebook page rather than Youtube. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video-sharing as a tool for teaching and learning<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><br />In their book Web 2.0 for schools, Davies and Merchant acknowledge that video-sharing websites “can be very useful for an educator, [but] its purpose is not to serve that community” (p.56). It is meant to be an open community that caters to a very diverse audience of all ages worldwide. The community is in control and determines what is popular on the site. YouTube does not view videos before they are posted online and it relies on users to flag the material as inappropriate (Wikipedia). This can be a cause for concern for educators. Despite their ‘copyright tips page’ and ‘community guidelines’ it has been noted that “there are still many unauthorized clips from television shows, films and music videos” (Wikipedia). What kind of message does it send out to our students when we are asking them to create authentic work and not plagiarize other peoples’ ideas, but they can easily see videos and music on YouTube that violates copyright? In its terms of service, YouTube also forbids the uploading of material that is likely to be considered inappropriate, but many schools, including my own, “have blocked access to YouTube due to students uploading videos of buying behavior, school fights, racist behavior and other inappropriate content” (Wikipedia) <br /><br />Many school boards have effectively dammed the flow of ideas and possibilities that this video-sharing website could offer by blocking it altogether, and I think that this is a real shame. It is possible to portage around this obstruction and still access the content by posting a video into another web page outside the site (like a blog or class wiki). By doing this, a teacher can provide students the opportunity to discuss the video privately, as a class, and also surround it with other related materials on that subject (Davies and Merchant p.55). Another option that is less likely to be blocked is using SchoolTube or TeacherTube as a forum to post student work. <br /><br />Personally, I find it far more satisfying and interesting to kayak down a class 4 river, than drift on a blow-up rubber air mattress on a flat lake. The difference being, one requires skill and proper instruction and the other requires no effort or learning opportunity. If children are going to go swimming, shouldn’t we teach them the skills they are going to need to avoid the riptides, currents, eddies and other dangers that are inherently found in water? In my opinion, the same holds true for students using the internet and in particular YouTube. I agree with the opinion that “as young people are accessing these sites anyway, we need to give them the critical skills to negotiate the spaces carefully” (Davis and Merchant p.68). This is an opportunity for learning that I feel too many administrators have shied away from, for it is cheaper and easier to post a “NO SWIMMING” sign than it is to provide proper swimming lessons and a trained lifeguard to monitor the activity. <br /><br />In doing so, a powerful waterfall of possibilities has been shut down. Think of the engaging learning opportunities that video-sharing could generate from the following stream of classroom project ideas:<br />• Digital Storytelling (of novels or personal life stories)<br />• Learning objectives (like safety rules for chemistry labs or geometry tutorials)<br />• Promotions (for school or community events)<br />• Public Service Announcements (that give students the opportunity to share their knowledge of social issues like anti-smoking campaigns) <br />• Reenactments (of historical events)<br />• Documentaries (of social issues)<br /><br />The possible uses within the library are also varied and include:<br />• Storehouse for instructional videos or tutorials to teach students (like how to use a library catalog, how to request a journal article, how to use library tools like the microfiche machine, or how to use archives and public records)<br />• Library welcome and orientation video<br />• Using the RSS feed to notify patrons of new content<br /><br />My plan as an educator is to provide a safe video-sharing experience for my students. I will likely let them ‘wade in’ by introducing them to SchoolTube (or TeacherTube) or selected videos that I’ve downloaded from YouTube. However, I feel strongly that my students should be able to swim on their own by the time they are done high school and will try to teach them the skills that they need to navigate a site like YouTube properly and critically and swim with their eyes wide open. <br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />References</span><br /><br />Accredited Degrees Blog (June 18, 2008). 100 Awesome Youtube Vids for Librarians. Retrieved September 25, 2009 from http://www.accrediteddldegrees.com/2008/100-awesome-youtube-vids-for-librarians/<br /><br />Davies, Julia. Merchant, Guy. (2009) Web 2.0 for Schools: Learning and Social Participation. New York, NY: Peter Lang <br /><br />Lamb, Annette. Johnson, Larry. (2007). Video and the Web, Part 2: Sharing and Social Networking. Teacher Librarian. Seattle, WA. Vol 35(2)p. 55-60.<br /><br />Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press<br /><br />Webb, Paula. (June 2007). YouTube and Libraries. Retrieved September 25, 2009 from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/crlnews/2007/jun/youtube.cfm<br /><br />Youtube. Retrieved September 25, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz7OTgD75TFt2H6W6aUTx8tRpRXv7MdGkOktFuMetbB4VGTTPjTbz0wJn66P1i6UQh_UBLzqZpv1xwIAjbISA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-20599525672761077402009-09-20T22:22:00.000-07:002009-09-20T22:32:56.008-07:00Photosharing Assignment<span style="font-weight:bold;">Reflection on the process of learning about the tool</span><br /><br />My colleagues laughingly refer to me as the “Organizational Queen” at our school. (I have to wonder if it is due to the handouts that are colour-coded with each chapter, the daily table of contents, or the date stamps on each lab assignment?) Oh, if only they could see my closet full of outdoor gear…or my photo collection for that matter! This week’s assignment to explore and experiment with various photo sharing programs had me cursing my lackadaisical attitude towards organizing my photos from the last 4 years. I literally have thousands of photos that I’ve simply downloaded off my camera and dumped into one big folder. From a personal perspective, I finally got the kick-in-the-pants I needed to arrange and exhibit some of them. It was a daunting task and it took FAR longer than I anticipated viewing, sorting, evaluating, editing and posting a sampling to this blog. However, it was not as arduous as I anticipated due to the amazing programs that are out there to use. <br /><br />I started by looking at the class’ trail fire on photo-sharing and by reading the suggested chapters in Web 2.0 for Schools (Davies & Merchant), and Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson. I found that I learned the most however, by just diving in and experimenting with two different photo sharing programs. I started with Flickr since it was highly recommended in our readings this week. My single complaint with using Flickr is that I had to sign up for a Yahoo account to access it, bringing my number of (personal, work and school) email accounts to a grand total of six. (Does this not seem a little excessive to anyone else but me?) I then proceeded to try Picassa 3 since I already have a Google account registered. The two things that I really liked about Picassa was that the program automatically amalgamated every single photo and video that I had stored on my computer into the program, and arranged it according to date. This made it much quicker for me to choose which photos to upload since they were not pre-organized into folders. The physical time it took to upload the photos was also quicker on Picassa, though they were both fairly fast. I found both programs were relatively easy to use, but navigating Flickr was a bit more intuitive to me and the help section had a layout that was far more instructional and helpful than Picassa. I also feel that Flickr offers better security features, giving 19 settings to choose from, whereas Picassa only gave 3. It wasn’t until my photos were posted that I really started to have fun with the programs, investigating applications like Mappr, trip planning, annotating images and tagging them with keywords. I still have a lot of “playing” and learning to do with both programs before I decide which one to use personally and at work.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Photo- sharing as a tool for my own personal learning </span> <br /><br />I am extremely excited about the potential communication possibilities that photo-sharing has in store for me. I am the only member of my family living on the West coast, and only get to visit my family in Ontario once a year. Photo-sharing has some obvious advantages for me to keep in touch and literally see how quickly my niece and nephews are growing. I also like to travel a great deal, and being able to organize and exhibit photos for my family and travel companions to view quickly is a huge benefit. Using fun applications to map where photos were taken and adding annotations to explain them also makes it more entertaining and informative for the viewers as well as interactive if they choose to leave comments.<br /><br />I wish I had made the discovery earlier about the photo-sharing programs’ ability to store and back-up images! I could have completely avoided the emotional “mini melt-down” I had last year when my computer literally got fried by a power surge in my science lab and I lost all the images I hadn’t gotten around to backing up. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Photo-sharing as a tool for teaching and learning</span><br /><br />From a professional viewpoint, one of the greatest benefits that I can see from photo-sharing applications is a greater sense of community that this would bring to the students. I would love to incorporate more photos of my students and their work on our school website for them and their friends and family to view. As Richardson says in his book, “What better way to celebrate the good work that students do every day than by putting it online for all (or some) to see?” (p. 100). <br /><br />I also strongly believe that using photo-sharing websites to view photos from all over the world would help students feel more engaged in their learning. In the book Guided Inquiry, Learning in the 21st Century it was noted that students have deeper personal learning when “the curriculum and the student’s world [are] closely aligned” (Kulthau, p.26). When students are given the opportunity to make connections to the “outside” or “real” world, they will become more emotionally involved and connected to what they are learning. Rather than simply reading a textbook about invasive species, a science class could view photos of the flora or fauna and use the Google Map application to view where they originated.<br /><br /> It has also been recognized for some time that “children learn through all their senses” (Kulthau, p.27) and that “technology has broadened the scope and variety of resources available for learning” (Kulthau, p.27). Having a greater variety of resources that are a combination of print and visual, like the photo-sharing applications, allows students to utilize various learning styles. I can envision the variety of projects students could create in an Art class using collages or slideshows or the digital storytelling that could take place in an English class when students post comments or have written conversations about different images they see.<br /><br />If a picture is worth a thousand words, and the uses and applications for photo-sharing are as broad as they first appear, this could potentially be one of the most useful and powerful tools we could implement in schools. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />References </span><br /><br />Davies, Julia. Merchant, Guy. (2009) Web 2.0 for Schools: Learning and Social Participation. New York, NY: Peter Lang<br /><br />Kuhlthau, Carol. Maniotes, Leslie. Caspari, Ann. (2007). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited<br /><br />Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin PressUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-34911908340925575042009-09-13T19:00:00.000-07:002009-09-13T20:45:39.214-07:00Introductory Blog<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/Sq243GOxZ8I/AAAAAAAAADU/zDWLml0x0mE/s1600-h/P8260299.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/Sq243GOxZ8I/AAAAAAAAADU/zDWLml0x0mE/s200/P8260299.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381160386482497474" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/Sq242UkZE4I/AAAAAAAAADM/UBagpRWcFhY/s1600-h/P7080829.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/Sq242UkZE4I/AAAAAAAAADM/UBagpRWcFhY/s200/P7080829.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381160373151404930" /></a><br />I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with technology. You know the teacher that ALWAYS seems to jam the copier in the middle of the morning rush? Or who always seems to put the printer offline? Yup…that would be me! I get annoyed and frustrated when it makes me feel inept or takes inordinate amounts of time to fix. I also get irked quite easily when cells phones go off in class or a student is text-messaging instead of reading during “Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading” time. (I think the most number of phones that I’ve confiscated during a single class is somewhere around seven). This attitude probably stems from my upbringing in the midst of Amish country in southwestern Ontario. I’m not Mennonite myself, but my parents built a log cabin on a rural gravel road and were the only house on our entire concession which had electricity until just recently. I did not watch TV growing up, had a rotary phone and enjoyed a very quiet and naïve upbringing. <br /><br />On the other hand, I LOVE the communication possibilities and learning opportunities that new technology can present! I have many friends worldwide that I can correspond with daily on social networking sites like Facebook. I have the ability to maintain long distance relationships with my boyfriend, family, and friends on Skype for free. I can post pictures for anyone to view and also see photos of my rapidly growing niece & nephews. I also get excited about using new probe ware and motion sensors in the science lab, playing with “Google Earthquake” applications on the web with students and occupying time with my friend’s new “Kindle”.<br /><br />When I went home this summer to visit my family, I took two pictures that sums up the juxtaposition that I feel about technology. The first is a traditional horse and buggy driving down our road (which is a far more common sight than cars). The second image is of an Amish farm that has no electrical lines, but a modern windmill instead. The second image really made me pause and think. Use of technology has become unavoidable in today’s society…it’s that simple. <span style="font-weight:bold;">What</span> forms of technology we use, <span style="font-weight:bold;">how</span> we use them and for what <span style="font-weight:bold;">purpose</span> have become the new ideologies that we must question and evaluate. <br /><br />As a teacher, I am not yet as comfortable with computers and the internet as my students are. I got my first email account in 1995 – which is the same year that most of my students were born! (This goes to show that they have been accessing the internet for almost as long as I have.) If I am going to help teach these young adults to become lifelong learners and help prepare them for an ever-changing workplace, I need to improve my own teaching practice and comfort level with new forms of technology. If the students are going to continue to bring i-phones and i-pods to class (and they will, no matter how many times I confiscate them) then perhaps they should be learning how to pod cast and exhibit social responsibility when using social networking sites. I am really looking forward to my Web 2.0 course. My goal is to become as adept as I can be with the internets’ possible applications for education, reflect on how they can be used as effective instructional and learning tools and implement as much as possible in my own teaching practice. <br /><br />Wish me luck!<br /><br />PS. My mom finally has internet access…but it is dial-up!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-647243272412567986.post-72022095461682994472009-09-10T23:38:00.000-07:002009-09-13T19:00:28.758-07:00Ready to "set sail" on the new blog!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/Sqn0X0na1GI/AAAAAAAAACI/HWQLiPvnCw8/s1600-h/P6091425.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_trU7kfW4Rdg/Sqn0X0na1GI/AAAAAAAAACI/HWQLiPvnCw8/s200/P6091425.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380099919968916578" border="0" /></a><br />Hi Everyone :)<br />I've set up this blog as a requirement for my Web 2.0 course that I'm taking this fall from the University of Alberta as part of my master's program in Education. In it, I will be experimenting with various applications of technology that is new to me and reflecting on how it can be applied in the classroom. This is my first blogging experience so please feel free to post your comments and suggestions!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0