Fall activities

The end is near!

Not really, but the completion of EDES 501 is almost here, and as much as I have enjoyed the course, I am REALLY looking forward to the break. With Christmas in the air, and my daughter excited about Santa Claus, Christmas cookies, and so on, I have found it difficult to focus this past week.

Highlights of EDES 501 include all of the wonderful new tools and ideas that I have been exposed to over the course of the semester. I have had much luck incorporating many of them into my personal and professional life. Here's a quick list of how I am using some of the tools I have learned about.

1. I am creating a blog to post my weekly updates to, so that parents can find out what we are doing in class.
   
2. I have introduced blogging to my grade 11 English class, and they will use this to journal while we are doing a novel study.


3. I am following blogs for professional development. See my bloglines at the side.
   
4. I have set up an RSS feed with Bloglines so that I can follow certain blogs, sites, etc. This is going to make my life much easier with regards to the journaling blogs that my English students are writing.
   
5. I have created a wiki which I am using to post my class assignments and useful links for these assignments.


6. I download podcasts to listen to while I am working in the kitchen. The one that I am really hooked on right now is Women of Web 2.0 - thanks Joanne!
   
7. I had my English 11's read and record Macbeth using Audacity. I originally wanted them to create a podcast, but I had to abort that mission due to technological difficulties.
   
8. I have introduced VoiceThread to my S.S. 9 students and they are creating their own VoiceThreads. I also intend to continue to use it on a personal level for family and friends so that they can watch my daughter's progression through toddlerhood.
   
9. I use YouTube videos to enhance my lessons, or just to make my daughter smile.
   
   

If I would have read the above list just 3 short months ago, I would have laughed out loud and said that I wouldn't possibly be able to do all of those things because I didn't have a clue what any of these things were. Because of that, I am fairly proud of myself for learning about these new Web 2.0 tools, and for introducing my students to them. I am excited that teachers on staff are becoming curious about what I am talking about and doing, and that my students are engaged and excited about what they are learning in my classes. I am much more confident when it comes to using technology, and along with all of the web tools I have discovered, I have learned how to insert hyperlinks, embed videos, voicethreads and pictures (I still haven't figured out how to embed a podcast, but maybe the holidays will provide me with the desire and some time to do this), and I can comfortably skim/read information off of a screen rather than printing everything out.

Lowlights are that there never seemed to be enough time to really explore some of the web tools we learned about in depth, or to follow many of the links that others posted on their blogs or mentioned in their discussions. There were often times when I felt it would have been nice to have 2 weeks for each topic (podcasting in particular because I found it to be the most difficult and time consuming); the drawback to this being that we would not have had as much exposure to web 2.0.

As discussed in my previous post, I am definitely taking a grassroots approach to getting staff on board with learning about, and incorporating, these new tools, and I will continue to do so. I really believe that these tools will make a difference in students' learning, and they definitely make me excited about what I am teaching. I will try to advocate for more computers and computer access in the school, and I hope to have some input in the use of technology in our school.

As for my learning, I will continue to follow some of the blogs on my Bloglines, and as a result, I think that I will naturally learn about some of the new web tools that are available. Not only that, but I will be taking another course with Joanne next semester, and I am certain that she will encourage me to bend my mind a little further. I anticipate that this blog will have a rest for a while as I concentrate on my school blog, and take some time to relax over the holidays.

I am ever so grateful to all of the other people in this course. At times when it felt like I couldn't possibly do any more exploration, follow any more links, or find any more time to do course work, I knew that there were others who were feeling the same way, and also trying to juggle work, family and school. I appreciate all of the hard work that everyone put into posting their blogs and finding interesting and helpful links, and I hope that their blogs remain out there for me to refer to in the future. These are extremely useful resources, filled with hours of research, and it would be a shame to lose them. The discussion sections of the course have also been filled with information, and suggestions which I hope to have some time to explore and implement over the holidays. Of particular interest is the discussion around how to stay organized in a web 2.0 environment. I will definitely be copying some of these suggestions to a folder on my computer!

So, I think that's it for me. I plan on celebrating the completion of EDES 501, and I hope you do too!

The future with VoiceThread

I am going to be approaching this week's topic of "What's next?" from the perspective of a classroom teacher rather than a teacher librarian, so my take on how to introduce a tool to staff may differ from what t-l's might do.

I have already begun the process of introducing VoiceThread to my students and the teachers in my department areas. I am absolutely thrilled with it and its possibilities. I have just started a project with my students who are using it as a means to present their findings on a First Nations tribe in North America; if you are interested, you can check the project out here. My students are very receptive to it, and I am really looking forward to seeing their finished projects on Thursday. As for introducing the staff to this great collaborative tool, the process began a few weeks ago with me talking to the social studies department head one Friday after school and showing him my first voicethread. He, in turn, was quite interested in it and went home and played with it all weekend. On Monday morning he came to me bubbling over with enthusiasm for it, saying that he wanted to introduce it at the next department meeting on the following Thursday. Of course I was thrilled to have someone else interested in a web 2.0 tool, because so far I've been the only one in both of my departments to even know what these are, and to be honest, at times this has been frustrating because I have no one to bounce lesson ideas off of, or to share queries or concerns with.

The S.S. department meeting went without a hitch and the other members were excited about it, but without the opportunity or time to practice and use it, I didn't think that too many of them were going to integrate it into their teaching unless they had some encouragement and help from me.

I recently saw the opportunity to use voicethread in my Social Studies 9 class, so I recruited my department head, and we spent an afternoon together working out the logistics/details. When I booked computer lab time, I went one step further and invited him, as well as another member of our department to participate in the lab blocks. This was partly a selfish move on my part in that not only did I have a couple of extra bodies to help students set up their voicethreads, but I also figured it would cement their learning and interest in this tool. I was right, because not only is my department head now hooked, but so is the other teacher, and she has had an opportunity to see it in action without having to go through the frustrations of figuring out how to use it all on her own. She was going to go home this weekend with the intention of playing with it, and teaching her son how to use it. So I think that the S.S. deptartment is well on its way.

Further to this, once students have finished their voicethreads, I am going to divide my classes into thirds and each group will invite either the vice principal, the grade 9 counsellor or the learning resource teacher to view and comment on their voicethreads. I forewarned these 3 people already on Friday, so hopefully they will play with voicethread over the weekend, but if not, then I will help them with it once the projects are completed on Thursday. In doing this, I hope to introduce people outside of my teaching areas to voicethread. Maybe one of them, or better yet, all three will also see its potential.

As for the English department, at our last meeting I brought up the idea that we should be looking at different Web 2.0 tools which we could use in our classes. I volunteered to share what I have learned, and I am optimistic that others will have some things that they can talk about as well. It was agreed upon that at our next English department pro-d day in February we would all try to come with some technological knowledge to share. Of course I have volunteered to demonstrate voicethread.

After reading the above personal anecdotes about how I am trying to introduce staff members at my school to voicethread, it should be quite clear to you how enthralled I am with this tool, but I am not the only one. The Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies lists Voicethread as one of their top 25 tools that "every Learning Professional should have in their Toolbox," and it is 23rd on their Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 page. When I checked out the Voicethread 4 Education wiki this week, I learned that Women of Web 2.0 hosted a discussion on November 25 about how voicethread is being used in the classroom. Unfortunately I missed the discussion, and it is not yet posted on their EdTechTalk page, but maybe by the time I post this, it will be there. I am REALLY looking forward to hearing this podcast!!! A helpful resource I found that outlines a step-by-step process for teachers to sign up for voicethread can be found at the Langwitches blog, and I emailed it to the S.S. department head which he will hopefully forward to the rest of the department. I think the main hurdle that some teachers will have to overcome is the intial set up, and this blog helps to simplify this process.

What's the reality of voicethread being successfully integrated into my school?

Pretty good as long as I keep introducing new members of staff to voicethread and its truly collaborative possibilities. I have begun small, but I am hoping that there will be a ripple effect that takes place amongst staff. So far the English and social studies departments have had or will have some exposure. By introducing the VP, counsellor and learning resource teacher to voicethread, they may choose to take it further and share it with other administrators, counsellors, or perhaps other department heads at our school. This may occur naturally because two of them are currently being introduced to voicethread, and I am hoping they will share their knowledge with the others. However, the biggest barrier is ensuring that teachers have enough time to try it out and play with it. I will be able to ensure that this happens in February at the English dept. pro-d, but I will have to be creative to find time for the other S.S. dept. members to get their opportunity to play. Maybe this just means that I need to continue to invite people into my classroom as I am using it with my students. It would be possible for me to offer to do a presentation at a school-based pro-d day so that staff members in all areas have a chance to see this technology in action, but we don't have one of those until May, which right now feels like a long time away. I also think the more exposure students have to voicethread, the more likely they are to use it to support their learning, and they may choose to do a science presentation using this tool which will automatically encourage teachers to at least explore it, even if they aren't using it for lessons.

This is just the beginning, and my school has a long way to go before we are Web 2.0 knowledgeable and friendly, but I have started the process of introducing both students and teachers to some of the great tools available. As a classroom teacher, it is harder to approach large groups of staff unless they are in the departments that I teach in, but I am excited about these tools, and I don't want to be the only one in the school using them. I want other people to be as excited about integrating Web 2.0 tools into the classroom as I am!

Blogs - the "new" pro-d?

"[W]e need to resort to personal recommendation, trusting one individual’s ideas, suggestions or advice because we’ve ‘known’ them online over a long period of time. The longevity of my relationship with some fellow professionals who keep blogs has given me more successful learning opportunities as a teacher than attending some ‘5* status’ conferences." Ewan MacIntosh


Since last January, my professional development has consisted of me working on course work in order to attain a Masters degree in librarianship. This has been a much needed awakening for my brain, and although at times I feel somewhat like Sisyphus, I am enjoying the journey on which I have embarked.

At the beginning of September, I really didn't understand or know what a blog was, nor did I realize that blogs are an amazing resource for professional development. Blogs allow some of the "edublogging greats" to maintain continual communication with bloggers/educators around the world. The ideas and thoughts, as well as explorations of bloggers are easily shared and expanded upon by the blogging community. This is an amazing resource for educators which seems to be largely untapped because many do not know that this collaborative tool and community even exists. Granted, I am generalizing based on my personal experience in talking to teachers in my school, as well as several other schools throughout the province, but I don't think that I am far off the mark. The few times I forwarded blog links which I thought would be of interest to certain staff members, the response I often received was "What am I supposed to do with this link?"

The opportunity to explore this world that I knew nothing about has allowed for an invigorating and thought provoking experience, and I will continue to embrace it once this course is over. It is inevitable that over time, the blogs that I have been following in Bloglines will likely change and the number will increase as I find others that I want to add. But this is a natural evolution as I progress and learn about different educational and technological topics.

In a blog from 2006, Richardson comments on what he read on Karl Fisch's blog: "The latest post on Karl’s blog is a really interesting explanation of a staff development program with real vision, and how blogs have become pretty central to the way he and his teachers reflect on their practice and create community around common goals which were to 'improve teacher and student use of technology, to achieve curricular goals, to help transform our school to a more student-centered, constructivist approach, and to prepare our students to succeed in the 21st century.'” I would have liked to have read more about this process, but unfortunately, I couldn't go that far back in Karl's posts. But this is enough to demonstrate that blogs and blogging can be used effectively as a means of pro-d by a school community.

Not only do blogs provide a means of personal professional development, but they also provide suggestions for promoting professional development. A recent suggestion can be found at the Ideas and Thoughts blog where Dean Shareski tells of how he created a great learning experience for teachers by organizing a time for some of them to get together to view some of the K12 online conference sessions. Shareski creates a meaningful pro-d experience with minimal cost, compared to going to a conference and having to pay hundreds of dollars. This is an excellent idea that I am going to share with my social studies department.

I recently listened to Ewan MacIntosh's podcast which he presented at the 2006 K12 Online Conference. Accompanying the podcast is a blog entitled "Professional Development . . . with fries" and in this MacIntosh explains how "[a]fter a year of promoting the use of social media for professional development [the Modern Foreign Language Educators] now have a burgeoning community of modern linguists and other teaching professionals connecting to each other and sharing their ideas, thoughts, complaints and congrats through complex social networks." What a great accomplishment to have achieved this after only one year.

An interesting video presentation on blogging for professional development, directed mainly at librarians, by John Dupuis can be found here. Dupuis talks about blogging as a means of opening doors and starting conversations, which I believe can allow for some of the most meaningful professional development.

Blogging allows educators to ingest new ideas, as well as contribute to conversations by commenting on blogs. Due to the discussion topic this past week about "finding your voice in the edublogosphere," It was pointed out how important it is to comment on people's blogs in a thoughtful, and meaningful way. This allows for dialogue to occur from many different perspectives, much like going to a conference and conversing with the other members, but perhaps the best part is that the dialogue can be ongoing.

Not only do educators benefit from writing posts and following blogs, but the students also benefit. The vast array of ideas and discussions that are floating around the edublogsphere can only result in more authentic learning environments for students. Opportunities for, and methods of the use of web tools in the classroom are frequently presented. Possibilities for educators to collaborate on student-based projects are more likely to occur, and teachers can share and use lesson ideas and suggestions.

Blogs and blogging for professional development really exemplify the collaborative aspect of the read/write web, and I hope to expose my colleagues to this form of cost-free, ongoing pro-d.

RSS - helping me stay sane!

"Tools like RSS feeds are moving the information experience from “mass media” (few producers of information communicating with a large number of consumers) to “personal media” (many producers of information communicating with a more individualized group of consumers)." Doug Johnson

At the beginning of September, as suggested by Joanne, I signed up with an RSS feed; little did I know how efficient this would be because, "you can read more content from more sources in less time" (Richardson, 76, Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms). At the time, I didn't have a clue what RSS was, or how it could make my life easier, so I began my quest for "RSS knowledge" by reading Richardson's chp. "RSS:The New Killer App for Educators" and of course viewing, what has become a standby for me, Lee Lefever's RSS in Plain English video. What I learned is that instead of me going to find all of the blogs that I need/want to follow in order to see if there is a new post, RSS tells me every time there is new content on the blog. Not only does it tell me that there is something new, but I can actually read that information directly through my feed reader! Marvelous!

As mentioned in my September post, it was Richardson's "tried and true" book that helped me focus in on Bloglines, which has worked amazingly well for me! I check my Bloglines once or twice a week, and I can immediately see when someone has added a blog post, whether it be someone in EDES 501, or one of the other blogs I am trying to follow. However, as of late, I have been thinking about how I can use Bloglines to streamline my following of all of the different places I am creating on the web. I added a feed to my Classroom 2.0 Ning as well as a feed to my voicethread, but I am not sure if that will work the way I want it to. I also added Women of Web 2.0 podcasts - this way, I won't have to check my bookmarks to see if there is a new podcast which is what I have been doing up until now. I feel like my RSS feed is really helping to keep me organized in what seems, at times, to be web 2.0 overload.

I recently checked out Google reader, which is also popular with people using RSS (according to Richardson's blog, he has switched over to this reader as well). I even signed up with it, but at the moment I am comfortable using Bloglines, and to be honest I don't want to mess with something that is working well for me (Unlike Blogger which didn't save this post the first time I tried to post it this morning )-: ). Also, being a minimalist, I prefer the simple straightforward layout of Bloglines versus the busier layout of Google Reader. However, there are many people who have done comparisons of both, and some of the most recent can be found at Library Stuff, ReadWriteWeb, and Pleasure and Pain: Measuring the impact of new technology on human experience, (this blog does the most thorough analysis of both) and after having read these, there is considerable evidence that suggests that Google reader is the RSS of choice.

Why do I like Bloglines?

• I was able to set this up without too much difficulty at a time when I was quite clueless about how to set anything up on the web.
• I can have different folders in order to group the blogs that I am following.
• I was able to add a "subscribe to Bloglines" button to my favorites. This way all I have to do is click on this when I find a blog or site that I would like to add.
• I am able to show my Bloglines feeds on my blog, and, once again, I was able to accomplish this without too much difficulty.
• I can "clip" certain parts of a blog to review later.

How can RSS be used by teachers?

• They can easily and quickly follow students' blogs, which is what I intend to do when my students set their blogs up in December.
• They can use this as a means of professional development by easily following other educator's blogs.
• They can use it to stay on top of current information about topics that are being studied in class. This can be particularly useful for science and social studies teachers.

By Students?

• They can set up a feed reader to help them stay on top of current events.
• They can collect "topic-specific research that . . . [could] assist[] them with research or further study" (Richardson, 81).

I think the key to making RSS work for me is to ensure that I am following a manageable number of feeds, and for the moment, all of these are tied to education; however, several out-of-the-classroom uses can be found at 34 Ways to Use RSS, and 14 "OTHER" Ways to Use RSS.

Social networking - It's not just for students

"People nowadays like to be together not in the old-fashioned way of, say, mingling on the piazza of an Italian Renaissance city, but, instead, huddled together in traffic jams, bus queues, on escalators and so on. It’s a new kind of togetherness which may seem totally alien, but it’s the togetherness of modern technology." - J.G. (James Graham) Ballard

The exploration of social networking sites is the one assignment for EDES 501 that I have been dreading the most. I am one of those (possibly few) people who doesn't want everyone in the world to be able to make contact with me, or know everything about me. I don't want to share information about me, my job or my family on the web; I'd rather share it with people whom I know, or am connecting with by choice, such as people in this course. I don't want my high school students to add me as a "friend" to their social networking sites, and to be honest, the thought of it seems a little odd. I also don't need/want old acquaintances to connect with me through a social networking site just to say that they have one more "friend." If they really need to get a hold of me because they want to visit/reminisce, then they can call my parents to find out where I am. Furthermore, articles such as Faceless no more: Social networking comes with a price, found in the Globe and Mail, Sept. 12, 2008, make me feel very uneasy about putting too much personal information out on the internet. So, for these reasons, I swore that I would never join a social networking site such as Facebook or MySpace, and I procrastinated all fall about becoming a member of one of these sites. (By the way, this didn't help with my negative feelings about this topic (-; )
However, now comes the time when I have to re-evaluate what little I know of these sites. I began my search by checking in with Lee Lefever at Social Networking in Plain English. He manages to simplify the concept, and make it appear beneficial for all involved.

Having done this, I decided that if I was going to join a social networking site, it would be to my advantage if I could find a site that would be useful to me and what I am doing now. So I began my search by finding out what was "out there." Using the keywords "social networking sites" brought up a site called Social Networking God: 350+ Social Networking Sites - who knew that there were soooo many??? I scrolled through these, but there wasn't anything very appealing. So I decided to narrow down my search by adding "educational" to "social networking sites." This is when I stumbled upon the Social Networks in Education wiki which is an extensive list of sites, and Ning in Education. As I was checking out Ning in Education, I discovered its "sister" site Classroom 2.0 - this looked very appealing to me, and I decided to join this Ning because I could connect with people and learn more about Web 2.0 tools being used in classrooms. According to Wikipedia, "[t]he unique feature of Ning is that anyone can create their own custom social network for a particular topic or need, catering to specific audiences." Perfect - this is exactly what I needed!

I created my profile page to reflect me, (I chose a profile that reminds me of summer) and I proceeded to invite my classmates from EDES 501 who had included their email addresses in their profiles, as well as a couple of colleagues from school whom I thought might be interested in exploring and learning about web 2.0 tools. I then joined the Digiskills group and the Free & Open Source Software group - both of these groups' names sounded daunting, but once I explored their spaces, they seemed accessible to me.

What are the positives about joining a social networking site?

For Me Personally:

So far, I am happy that I have joined this Ning, as it doesn't require a great deal of personal information about me, and I am able to connect with people from around the world who have similar interests. I have spent enough time exploring it, that I have managed to figure out how to manoeuver my way through it, and not only that, but I spent hours following links located in a discussion about what web 2.0 tools others are using in the classroom, and how they are using them. This has led me to discover many more great sites such as teacherstv, yackpack, authorSTREAM, Bubbl.us, Quizlet and Gabcast to mention only a few.

For Colleagues:

"Social networking in education opens doors to an unprecedented array of learning opportunities in an environment where educators often feel freer to express themselves, share their ideas and be catalysts for change." PBS Teachers - Learning.now blog

A Ning is a great way for teachers within a district who are teaching the same courses, or who have similar interests to communicate and share ideas. It allows for professional development without having to organize a time and place for people to meet. It could also provide support and opportunities for teachers who are isolated due to geographical reasons to collaborate with other teachers or classes. An example of this could be found in the Digiskills group that I joined, where a U.S. based teacher put out a request for anyone interested in doing some type of collaborative voicethread project with students at his school. There were 5 people who indicated interest, one of whom was from Australia. What a great opportunity for both teachers and students!

For Students:

"Depending on the role of school in their lives, youth leverage these structures for educational purposes - asking questions about homework, sharing links and resources, and even in some cases asking their teachers for information outside of the classroom. SNSs do not make youth engage educationally; they allow educationally-motivated youth with a structure to engage educationally." Apophenia: The Economist Debate on Social "Networking"

Online Social Networking And Education: Study Reports On New Generations Social And Creative Interconnected Lifestyles is an interesting look at an online study conducted by Grunwald Associates LLC in cooperation with the National School Boards Association. Although the information in this study is American-based, I believe that the numbers are similar for Canadian students as well. This study shows that over 96% of students use social networking sites and "[a]lmost 60 percent of students who use social networking talk about education topics online and, surprisingly, more than 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork."Most students have had exposure to using social networking sites in their personal lives, but perhaps it's time for educators to tap into these sites as a form of connecting students with others in education. I think that it would be great for students who are studying a second (third, fourth) language to be in contact with others who speak it fluently. But there are other collaborative possiblities as well where classes from opposite ends of the earth could connect and share their learning experience, or perhaps an English class could connect with an author whose work is being studied in class. I think it is a matter of looking beyond Facebook and Myspace and creating a Ning for students to use.

What are possible negatives of joining a social networking site?

Of course there are issues of personal safety that need to be considered when joining a social networking site. CNN recently published Social networking sites dos and don'ts which relates more to what career people, or those looking for jobs should/shouldn't be putting on their sites, but much of this list can apply directly to our high school students. It is important for students to realize that they are leaving their technological footprint which is almost impossible to erase. They might not want to be associated with certain activities or people when they are applying for scholarships or jobs.

So, despite the fact that I was opposed to social networking, I was quite limited in my knowledge of how these sites could work, and I am glad that I have explored this topic further.

A fairy-princess' Hallowe'en

10 reasons why I LOVE VoiceThread!

1. It is not necessary to download VoiceThread onto your computer which allows easy access for students at school, and it means that it is accessible anywhere at anytime.

2. It provides a creative avenue for students/people to present their work/ideas!

3. As a teaching/learning tool, It's a thousand times better than powerpoint because it is interactive, allowing others to comment on students' work, as well as contribute their own ideas.

4. It does not require people to have a microphone or webcam, as they can comment using the keyboard.

5. The author can moderate the comments that are made in order to avoid any personal or inappropriate comments.

6. It is user friendly!!! There are tutorials which are very straightforward and easy to understand.

7. It can be used with still pictures, video or text, which are all easy to download from places on the web or one's computer.

8. One VoiceThread can have multiple identities, which is great for teachers.

9. One can "doodle" on the picture to emphasize or point something out.

10. K-12 educators can apply for a free VoiceThread Pro account by signing in, clicking the Create tab - 'Go Pro' – ‘K-12 classroom educators’. If one isn't an educator, it is still FREE, but the options are somewhat limited.

For the above listed reasons, and probably others that I haven't thought of yet, Voicethread has become my new favourite web tool!

My brain has been buzzing with all of the possibilities for using VoiceThread in both my personal and professional life. In my personal life, it will allow me to EASILY and QUICKLY document and share interesting events, successes or journeys that we are experiencing. After creating A fairy-princess' Hallowe'en, I immediately added all of the addresses from my address book onto my profile, and I invited everyone who would want to know what's happening in my daughter's life to view it. This is great for my family because we are so spread out around the world. Unfortunately, the only one who can't view it is grandma who is stuck with dial-up, but at least she can see these little "documentaries" when she goes to visit someone who has high-speed.

As for in the classroom, there are endless possibilities - I only wish I would have known about this two weeks ago when we were working on poetry anthologies in English 11. There are a lot of good ideas about how to use VoiceThread in the classroom, and below I have included a few links of interest.

Voicethread Examples in Education
Digitally Speaking Wiki / Voicethread
Voicethread 4 Education

Another idea that I think is great and could be easily done in an elementary or middle school classroom is to create a digital scrapbook - sort of like a yearbook, but with pictures only relating to one classroom. I think this would be a great way of creating a classroom community by allowing all students to participate in the contribution and creation of the scrapbook.

"Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual." Arthur Koestler

Quick, quick! Come see my Wiki!

"Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail but when I look at the subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself."
Alexander Graham Bell - Inventor (1847-1922)

So what is a wiki? Well according to one of the world's largest wikis, Wikipedia, it is "a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language.[1][2]" Although not a difficult concept to grasp, the most straightforward description of a wiki can be found at Wikis in Plain English.

Clearly there are many benefits to using such a user-friendly collaborative tool, but the main one is the idea that "many hands [or heads] make light work." According to 7 Things You Should Know About Wikis, The Wiki Way states that "[a]llowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site...encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users." I think the most important thing to note is that it allows people, (in my case teachers) who are not "techies," to create and use a free tool with students that will make their work easier.

I created my jessicamartens wiki using PBwiki, as it was quite straightforward, and seemed to be one that is commonly used. In case you're confused, I go by my maiden name at school and once I am finished this course, I will take out the reference to my married name.

When I began checking out wiki sites, I started with PBwiki, and went on to Wikispaces as well as Wetpaint. I found Wetpaint to be far more involved than I was prepared to get, so I decided to save that for another day. In the end, the deciding factor was the name - Peanut Butter Wiki - I like peanut butter, so right now, when I don't have time to weigh all of the pros and cons, this seemed the obvious choice.

I began by setting up my frontpage, and then I personalized my wiki by changing the colour. I couldn't think of a logo, other than my school logo, and I thought that for the purpose of this course, I would leave that out for now. This was easy, but then I had to think about how I was going to use this tool with my classes. At the moment, the most logical step for me is to use it as a message board, where I post the projects that my classes will be working on. This is a good starting point because then students and parents can access the projects from anywhere. Also, I took an idea from Joyce Valenza's Springfield Township High School Virtual Library, and I am using the wiki as a pathfinder, which students can use to help them begin their research. I spent A LOT of time finding useful links, and I am hoping that students will contribute some links as well.

I realize, that there are many other ways that wikis can be used, but I am hoping that if I start with this, then other Social Studies 9 and English 11 teachers might contribute as well. I think that teachers and students can really benefit from the use of wikis when students are working on group projects. A wiki allows all group members access to the project at all times which would help to avoid the problems that arise when a group member is away, and s/he has all of the work on his personal drive.

What I appreciate about PB wiki is that so far, I have received daily emails from them with a new aspect of setting up my wiki. I have only really skimmed these messages, but it is nice to know that there is support available. I also found the pbwikimanual which I referred to several times while I was setting up my wiki; however, in all honesty, everything seemed quite straightforward, which makes me wonder if I am just becoming more knowledgeable and less fearful, or if wikis are designed to be that user-friendly. Also, I really like the fact that as a teacher, I can invite my students, and other people that I choose to edit and view my wiki, and I can trace who has edited it. This prevents students and others from abusing the ability to contribute information.

The one thing that I had a lot of difficulty with is that it seems I can't edit my wiki at school - everytime that I try, it crashes, and I can't save my edits. This is rather inconvenient, as I would like to be able to access it there, and I would like students to be able to edit it. I will have to investigate further as to what is causing this glitch.

I think that this is another tool that I can add to my toolbox of Web 2.0 tools that can easily be used with students and staff. In fact, a couple of other teachers and I are going to plan a fieldtrip to see a performance of Macbeth, and I am going to suggest that we use a wiki to list and check off the tasks that need to be completed in order to make this work.

A library is a library is a virtual library

"The only true equalisers in the world are books; the only treasure-house open to all comers is a library; the only wealth which will not decay is knowledge; the only jewel which you can carry beyond the grave is wisdom." J. A. Langford

Although Langford is referring to a library filled with books, he couldn't have possibly known what was to come with the arrival of new technologies. He would not have been able to envision the benefits or the possibilities of virtual school libraries for students and educators. According to digital library federation in the USA as quoted on the Library and Information Science wiki, virtual libraries, also known as digital libraries, "are organizations that provide the resources, including the specialized staff, to select, structure, offer intellectual access to, interpret, distribute, preserve the integrity of, and ensure the persistence over time of collections of digital works so that they are readily and economically available for use by a defined community or set of communities." There are many other definitions available, but this seem to encompass all aspects of what a virtual library is.
Here begins my exploration of virtual (also known as digital) school libraries. This is the first time since the beginning of the course that I have had an inkling about the blog topic for the week. But to be honest, I had not yet explored virtual school libraries as a teaching or learning resource. What I discovered was that there was yet again another valuable option that I hadn't fully investigated.
Before I began my exploration of several different virtual school libraries, I wanted to know what some of the advantages and disadvantages of this library format would be. The advantages seem to vastly outnumber the disadvantages:

According Virtual Libraries Supporting Student Learning, some of the advantages of virtual libraries are that they:

• allow for instant access to a wide variety of resources which couldn't possibly be available in "physical collections"
• are available anytime and anywhere
• provide opportunities for learning that might not occur in a regular school library
• contain information that is current, and can be easily updated (which is almost impossible when working with print material)
• are "organized and managed to increase productivity and efficiency of the user"
• make audio and video resources available, which can benefit people who are visually and hearing impaired (as well as engage the students of the 21st Century many of whom are visual and oral learners)
• more importantly, provide the opportunity to "build a different type of library collection in [which] student created art, photography, oral histories, local histories, and local survey data" can be housed.

Disadvantages of virtual libraries seem to have more to do with how the students use the information. Many of the initial concerns about access and the skills to manouveur through a VL don't seem to be an issue any longer as computers and the Internet are used in almost every household. One of the main concerns is that students have difficulty "making effective choices when confronted with multiple databases" (Gunn) and as a result struggle with deciding which information is relevant.

As with many of the teaching and learning options available through the Web, I think that the virtual library is another one of those unexplored opportunities due to the fact that teachers aren't aware of the possibilities. It would be beneficial to have some professional development in which educators could investigate the many different virtual school libraries. With this in mind, I began my investigation.

I began by visiting Joyce Valenza's virtual library, and I was immediately drawn in by her daughter's amazing artistic depiction of Springfield Township High School Virtual Library! The site is so visually appealing, and easy to navigate through that afterwards I was continually comparing other virtual libraries to it. There are many online lessons and activities that can be used by any teacher or student, such as What's the Fuss About the Thesis? or any of the many teacher resources found under Links for Teachers. Something new that I learned about on this site is pathfinders which resemble Joanne's trailfires in their function, as they help to direct students' research. It seems that originally these were pages that listed links for students to access, but Valenza is in the process of converting these to wikis so that others can add sites to the pathfinder. From what I understand of wikis, and am realizing about the collaboration aspect of Web 2.0, it makes sense to allow visitors to the site the opportunity to contribute their knowledge for the "greater good." However, in using wikis, there is the potential for some people to link sites that are not necessarily appropriate, or that aren't applicable. I tend to think that this wouldn't happen, but to ensure that it doesn't, the librarian probably needs to be more diligent in checking the pathfinders, whereas before this wouldn't have been an issue.
The next Virtual library that I visited was Bessie Chin Library at Redwood High School. After looking at Springfield's VL, I found this site to be very visually unappealing due to the "busyness" of it. In particular the announcement feed running along the top which was a constant distraction to me. However, despite this, there are some useful handouts one of them being the Website Evaluation Rubric. There are many links for students to follow, but the design is much simpler in that it doesn't expand on information in content areas (Social Studies, English, Science, etc.) as widely as some of the other VL's that I visited.

I then explored the 3 other VL's that Joanne listed, but because these were elementary oriented, I did feel a little out of my element. I began with Grandview Elementary Library Blog, which has a beautiful home page. It is colourful, clearly laid out, and straightforward for parents and teachers to use. I don't think students would use this often, as it seems to be a K - 3 school, and the level of writing is adult oriented. But what it does do is provide parents with some useful tips, such as what they can be doing before, during and after reading a story, as well as encourages them to visit the grade level links so that they can know what projects students are working on in class. There are many interesting powerpoints, links and podcasts that can be followed in the Reader's Theater, Poetry and Story Telling areas. The one tool that I found useful for all levels, and one that I will bookmark, is the link to the Digital Pencil. This tool provides links to the Commoncraft "In Plain Engish" series, the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's 7 Things You Should Know About... series, as well as several inspiration videos, etc.

I proceeded to investigate Parkcrest Elementary School Library and McLurg Elementary School sites, both of which were also clearly laid out and informative, although I didn't find them as colourful or attractive as the Grandview site.

Upon investigating these sites, the one thing that became clear is that they all have great security in that a visitor has to have a student name and password to access many of the links, in particular the ones where student work is shown. Also, the VL's would not want to allow everyone access to their databases.



I also followed the link for other examples, and came to School Library Websites Wiki where I proceeded to investigate many of the high school links because these would be useful for me, and I would have a better understanding of what information students and teachers would find useful. What I found is that these were all American based, and although bits and pieces were useful to me, I wanted to find something Canadian, and I lucked out and found Esquimalt High School Virtual Library a relatively "local" school. I really liked this site because it was clearly laid out with the intro page highlighting and linking to some social issues such as Climate Change and a great powerpoint on Millenium Development Goals. This is a useful VL for someone teaching or learning the B.C. Curriculum. Another plus, is that it is one of the few sites that links to a variety of podcasts which would be of interest to both teachers and students.

Further exploration led to South Carleton High School Virtual Library located in Ontario. Although more simplistic than the Esquimalt example, it does have many useful links for students to follow. In particular, it links to the Ottawa Public Library, Carleton University Library, University of Ottawa Library, and Algonquin College Library. This is likely only useful for students who can access information from these places using logins and passwords from the librarian. Another great site is the Calgary Board of Education site - I like the way it had the libraries divided into 3 different levels and it is very visually appealing - in the same style as Springfield Township's VL.

So . . . What would my Virtual School Library look like:

If I could find someone with Emily Valenza's artistic abilities, I would definitely want my library to resemble the Springfield Township and Calgary Board of Education sites. Because I believe that a library should be a colourful and inviting place to be, I feel that a VL should do the same. I want to draw students in so that they are excited about whatever the topic is they are studying. I would try to include the following besides the obvious information about library hours, where to find information, and so on:

• pathfinders that are wikis because of the collaboration aspect
• highlight a social issue that students and/or teachers are interested in
• links to podcasts, photo sharing sites, graphic organizer sites
• links to databases and newspapers
• if possible, links to the public library, as well as the local university or college libraries

My goal would be to make the VL one of the sites that students and teachers would automatically visit when they are about to embark on research or class work.

Podcasting with limited success!

I had a great time creating this podcast featuring my daughter's recitation of a couple of nursery rhymes that she recently learned. However, there were numerous steps that I needed to follow, which I would not have been able to do without Podcasting for Teachers & Students by Tony Vincent. Listed below are the relatively easy, straightforward steps that I followed:
1) Download Audacity - a program which allows one to record and edit audio
2) Practice, and "pump up" my daughter's enthusiasm about talking into the computer - a fairly easy task, as it is still relatively novel for her.
3) Record her nursery rhymes
4) Edit the file to get rid of some of the "dead air" - I could have deleted her comment about having to "concentrate," but I thought it was cute.
5) Add some sound effects using SoundSnap - I found a great "water" sound, as well as a turkey gobbling. Then I had to find and add a "burp" otherwise the rhyme doesn't make sense, and my daughter doesn't include one.
6) Export file to my desktop
7) Download Levelator - a program which "levels out the volume"
8) Add identifying tags in iTunes
9) Create artwork using Piknik - this was a fun and allowed my creative side to come out. I could see myself spending a lot of time doing this
10) Add artwork to my podcast
11) Save the file to my desktop
Up to this point the steps were fairly easy, although some more time consuming than others, but this is where I hit a stumbling block. I wanted to have my podcast accessible on my blog. I spent several hours trying to figure this out and have now decided to attach a link for fear that I won't be able to accomplish this today.
I hope that you enjoy Jes' Podcast! I know that it makes me smile when I hear it, but I am slightly biased.

Podcasting

"Podcasting will shift much of our time away from an old medium where we wait for what we might want to hear to a new medium where we choose what we want to hear, when we want to hear it, and how we want to give everybody else the option to listen to it." Doc Searls of IT Garage as quoted from the article "Podcasting 101 for K - 12 Librarians" found in Computers in Libraries v26.

Podcasting in Plain English refers to podcasts as "Personal On Demand Casting," which is a clever phrase that makes sense to me, although it is not the origin of the word podcasting according to Wikipedia.

I love Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe but very seldom am I close to a radio on Sunday afternoons at 1:00 pm in order to listen to this great program. Not only that, but I would love to have my English students listen to Stuart telling one of his humorous stories about Dave and Morley and their "real-life" antics. Well, through podcasts, I now have this ability, and I am THRILLED!!!

For the past few days, I have been reading about and listening to podcasts, as well as searching for different podcasting sites. What I have discovered amazes me and terrifies my husband . . . I could spend literally every minute of my day listening to presentations, music, and discussions through podcasts!

I love listening to the radio, particularly the CBC, as I am working in the kitchen, which is where I spend a lot of my time. In fact, the radio is the only way that I can stay informed because I am one of the few people in the world who doesn't watch TV. And, of course, I have some radio programs that are favourites such as Vinyl Cafe, Hot Air, and Sounds like Canada (which sadly no longer exists as of September). But what I have discovered through learning about podcasting, is that I can actually listen to most of my favourite shows, or specific episodes that I want to hear whenever and where ever (once I get an ipod) I want to. AMAZING!!! The question that I kept asking myself this past week is why didn't I explore this sooner. Granted, I don't have an ipod, and I just assumed that I would need one in order to be able to listen to podcasts, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

I now have our laptop plugged into the kitchen, and I find myself searching for something to listen to as I wash dishes or make lunches. I had no idea that there were so many podcasts of personal and professional interest available on the Web. This has truly opened up a new world for me. I have even gone so far as to ask for an ipod for Christmas from my family, so that I can download podcasts to listen to when I go for long drives, or when I finally manage to find time to go walking again.

I have to admit that most of the podcasts that I listened to the past few days have been for personal pleasure, but I also spent some time looking at podcasts that could be used in teaching, and I came across a few sites that were quite useful: Podcasting in Education, is a helpful site that explains what podcasting is and how it can be used in the classroom; The Education Podcast Network, which is provided by David Warlick and The Landmark Project, is designed to bring together podcasts for teachers and students, and Education World has several articles on podcasting. Of course there were many more to choose from, but I found that these could be useful for teachers and students. Furthermore, I was even able to listen to a podcast about Podcasting in the Classroom.

My head has been spinning with the possibilites for podcasting in my classroom. In the next few weeks my grade 11 students will be studying Macbeth, and I plan to divide students into groups, and have each group create a podcast for one of the scenes that we will be reading. I think that this will be a great way for them to work with podcasting, as well as allow them to collaborate and be creative through the editing process. I can also see this being beneficial for me and my colleagues, as it allows us to access and listen to educational materials when we have time. We can also incorporate podcasts into our teaching to support our auditory learners, as well as to encourage other students to develop critical listening skills. Clearly there are many more ways to use podcasting in the classroom, but I am going to start with Macbeth in hopes of getting my students excited about studying Shakespeare.

Bookmarking - Personal or Social?

"You have to solve a problem that people actually have," Schachter says [about the creation of del.cio.us]. "But it's not always a problem that they know they have, so that's tricky" Technology Review.

Joshua Schachter the creator of the original del.icio.us probably didn't realize the impact his bookmarking system would have on the Internet when he originally launched it in 2003. Not only is it a social bookmarking system, but its use of tags is also making it an invaluable resource for many.

I was one of those people that didn't know I had a problem, until about two weeks ago, when suddenly everything changed.

Let me preface this by saying that I have three computers that I consistently work on - two at school and one at home, and I have the same list of favorites on all of the computers. The way that I achieved this was to always email myself the sites that I had bookmarked, so I could access them at either location. (Right now, I can almost see all of you in cyberspace shaking your heads and laughing at me.) Only now do I realize what a waste of time this was.

The slow destruction of my old system began at the end of August when I started EDES 501, and started to visit and revisit what feels like hundreds of sites on the Internet. I happily bookmarked many of the sites that I had been visiting - some for future reference, others because I needed to investigate them further. As per usual, I emailed myself all of the site URL's that I had bookmarked, but I was beginning to have an inkling that this was not the best scenario..

Suddenly, two weekends ago, my semi-organized world came to a screeching halt! I (somewhat) merrily went into school to work on photosharing sites; however, the entire network was down, which meant that I couldn't access anything. My frustration escalated, as I realized that I was unable to work at home that day because my husband and daughter were housebound due to the rainy weather (Anyone with young children will understand why working at home wasn't an option for me). Suddenly, I could feel panic setting in as I realized that I would need to
a) find a computer to use and
b) waste precious time by having to find all of my bookmarks over again.

Fortunately, I was able to use a computer at my husband's school, but I spent (wasted) a lot of time trying to find all of the sites that I had bookmarked. This is when I thought to myself that there must be a better way to make this work. With all of these great web tools, I should be able to access my bookmarks from anywhere in the world.

In keeping with the inquiry topic for this week, I embarked on a journey of trying to stay organized in an electronic Web 2.0 environment. But the first thing I needed to figure out was what this tool might be called. Fortunately, it didn't take too long to figure out, so I then began reading Solomon and Schrum's section on social bookmarking in Web 2.0 - new tools, new schools. They note that "traditional bookmarking is an exercise in frustration because students use different computers each time they work[,]" and even if they could work at the same workstation, it is possible that someone may have erased the information. Frustration was what I was feeling , so I knew that I was on the right track.

Then I went on to read Richardson's detailed description on social bookmarking. He talks about both Furl.net and del.icio.us (Note that this spelling is no longer used); his favorite being Furl.net. In general, I have found that Richardson's favourite tools are also the ones that I tend to gravitate towards because they are the most straightforward. However, since the first edition of his book's printing, Delicious has undergone some significant changes to make it have similar features, as well as a few more than Furl.net.

Social bookmarking in Plain English comments that "social bookmarking sites take a world of chaos and make it orderly." Due to the fact that it is becoming more common to work from different spaces such as one's laptop, personal computer, computer at work, and possibly a hand held device such as a Blackberry, it is necessary to be able to quickly and easily access one's bookmarks. This is just one more step to staying organized in a Web 2.0 world.

I went on to explore both Furl.net and Delicious, and found Delicious to be more user-friendly than Furl.net. What I found particularly useful was that Delicious was able to import all of my "favorites" directly from my computer into my account. This was not an option on Furl.net, and it saved me a lot of time. I then proceeded to "tag" or label everything, as I originally had everything in folders in my personal bookmarks. I was pleased with how easily this was accomplished. I was definitely hooked, and I feel very relieved that I can now access the information that I need from anywhere in the world. In fact, the minute that I get onto a new computer, I install the Delicious Internet Explorer add-ons, so that they are at the ready.

So what are the implications for teachers and students?

"[A]lthough del.icio.us didn't need lots of users to be useful, once it had lots of users, it became valuable in an entirely new way. Almost accidentally, it became an excellent tool for making sense of the Web" Technology Review. For me and my colleagues, social bookmarking can be a great organizational tool, but I also learned that it can be a great resource to share information about a particular topic with each other, with students or others in cyberspace. By making my bookmarks "public," and using common tags I enable others who are looking for similar topics to access them. The beauty of social bookmarking is that it "allows like-minded individuals to find one another and create new communities of users that continue to influence the ongoing evolution of folksonomies and common tags for resources" Educause.

The one thing that became obvious to me this last week was that teachers on my staff are not aware of social bookmarking and the many advantages found through tagging. As I spoke to my colleagues, I was the only one who was exploring it. When I expanded my search to include my students, they also didn't know what I was talking about. Clearly my job in the coming weeks and months is to espouse the benefits of social bookmarking sites and encourage colleagues and students to sign-up and try one out! I think they might be amazed by the vast amounts of "organized" information that they will have at their fingertips.

Some final thoughts on videosharing

Below is my first so called attempt at videosharing. I realize that it is not a true video, but we don't have a webcam, so I have to make due with what is available. I used Windows Movie Maker to create a video using still pictures. For a first-time user, it was quite easy to create my "masterpiece." The only difficulty that I had was choosing suitable music - that took much longer than creating the video! Once I was finished creating my video, I had to decide where I would upload the video. I didn't think that it was appropriate for Teachertube, so I decided to use Youtube. The process was fairly easy once I signed up, and the only real difficulty I had was actually trying to figure out how to get it to show up on my blog, rather than hyperlinking it as I have done with the past videos that I have viewed.

So what can videosharing add to teaching and learning?

Besides what I have mentioned in a previous blog about teachers using videos to enhance lessons, and students using them as means of presenting knowledge, there are other benefits as well. As some teachers (me included) are just figuring out, our students are teaching themselves how to use many of the web tools that are available. But the important thing to think about is that they don't necessarily think of this as learning, rather they are thinking about it as a necessary means of social networking. They don't realize that they are infact analyzing, manipulating and synthesizing information, as well as collaborating with others and creating amazing products.

Further to this, Young makes an interesting observation in "The Chronical of Higher Education" when he states that "Web video opens a new form of public intellectualism to scholars looking to participate in an increasingly visual culture" (January 25, 2008). Video sharing sites allow people to seek out information. People tend to educate themselves on topics of personal interest, and because the videos are short bits of information, most not longer than 5 minutes, they are effective in maintaining people's attention spans and providing them with the desired knowledge.

What really made an impact on me is Michael Wesch's comments that "Web video offers a new way for scholars to communicate,. . ., noting that he wrote a scholarly article about the same ideas he put in his video, but that the article might be read by only a small number of scholars." (Young, 2008) That would be ashame, as the information that he presents in An anthropological introduction to Youtube helps to explain the impact that Youtube has had, and will continue to have, on society.

Finally, because our youth are so visually inclined and stimulated, educators need to be encouraged to use web media within the classroom in order to maintain students' interest. I know that I will now make a conscious effort to scan Youtube and Teachertube for interesting tidbits to enrich the learning environment in my classroom.

My attempt at videosharing

Teachertube - An interesting resource!

This morning I have had the opportunity to explore Teachertube, and I was quite impressed by what I saw. I like the idea that I don't have to wade through all of the videosharing files on Youtube to find something relevant and appropriate for my Social Studies or English classroom.

To begin my exploration, I decided to do a search on the French revolution, as that is what we will be studying in the coming weeks in S.S. 9. So I started by looking at the options on Youtube, and found many of the videos contained inappropriate content, and were more of a satire of the revolution, but there was The French Revolution Rap - JC which appears to be a presentation created by a student for a teacher or class. I thought it was quite a clever video, and although some of it is difficult to understand, I might consider showing it to my class just for fun. I then went to Teachertube and found a few listings for the French revolution - many of which were obviously student produced projects for a teacher: Reign of Terror & Jack and Jill - French Revolution . Up to this point, I had only thought of videosharing sites as an option for me to present videos to students about certain topics, but clearly I was not thinking about how students could use it to submit a project to me! This seems like a great way of using videosharing, and the possibilities are endless.

I thought about what students would have to do, or have access to, in order to be able to do this, and it seems likely that many would have the means at home. The only stumbling block that I encountered was that in order for students to sign up to upload videos to Teachertube, they must be at least 18 years old, whereas on Youtube students only need to be 13 years old. I can understand the age limit of 13, as I would think that there numerous legal issues for schools surrounding the posting of student videos. However, I don't quite understand the age limit of 18 on Teachertube. As an educator, I would prefer that if my students were to upload a video in order to share it with other students and teachers, they be allowed to use Teachertube because I think it might be a "safer" environment with more purposeful viewers.

I spent some time exploring Teachertube for personal interest, and found Did You Know?2.0 and Pay Attention (I notice that someone in class already posted this on the interesting weblinks in WebCT) videos which could be used as clip for a staff meeting or department meeting to lead into a discussion about using technology in the classroom. These clips could be quite effective in that they are not too long, and provide fascinating pieces of information. Further to this, I was surprised to find an interesting video clip called Do We Really Need Teacher-Librarians? I was fortunate enough to stumble across this in the Groups section under EDES 501 - I guess that's us!

Youtube - Initial Thoughts

I started watching Michael Wesch's presentation An anthropological introduction to Youtube, (Please notice that I finally figured out how to link sites to my blog, using words rather than just the web address - there's always something to figure out! (-: ) on Tuesday morning, but was unable to finish it until today (more about that later). I thoroughly enjoyed his presentation, and found it captivating because he used so many Youtube clips to support his discussion. The concepts he spoke about were amazing, and entirely new to me, but they became obvious once he presented and discussed them.

I then went on to watch his presentation Web 2.0 . . . The Machine is Us/ing Us. This is when I realized that, if I wanted to, I could spend days watching videos on my computer. Not only am I able to watch videos to support my learning in EDES 501, but I could use them to enhance my teaching. Although I have been aware of Youtube, and its potential to be quite useful in my classroom, I haven't actually explored or used it yet. The first reason being that up until this year, I didn't have the technology available to me in my classroom to do this; however, as of the end of last June, I can now hook up an LCD projector to my computer and show videos. This is pretty exciting for me, but this leads to my second reason for not yet having explored Youtube or Teachertube - I just can't seem to find the time!

Fortunately for me, and for my students, I will be exploring videosharing and thinking about where I can go with it over the next few weeks. However, one problem that did come up for me, and I would not have thought about this before, is that last night when I tried to access Wesch's presentation in order to finish watching it, I was unable to. There was a message saying that the video was unavailable for viewing at this time. I am uncertain why this occurred, but this could be a problem (and a big surprise) if I did select a video for viewing with my class. I will have to investigate further as to whether or not these can be saved somehow.

Some "ah-ha" moments

I feel like some things are starting to come together for me with regards to EDES 501. Even though I still feel completely overwhelmed by all of the information that I am reading and learning about, I finally figured out what I need to do to meet the requirements of the course. It was slightly stressful last week when I realized a little too late that I was supposed to create an inquiry question for further discussion. However, now I have reread everything, and laid it all out on a calendar - this will help to keep the visual learner in me organized.

One aspect of setting up my blog that confused me was how to customize my blog. I was viewing all of these great blogs from class members and couldn't figure out how they made this work for them. However, as I was playing around the other day, I discovered the "add accessories" section - now I can be just like everyone else! I also figured out how to add blog addresses to my blog. I decided to add only professional development blogs, rather than my class member's blogs because I already have their blogs linked to bloglines.

I have been thinking about Flickr and wondering where exactly all the pictures are stored. Is there going to come a time when Flickr won't be able to continue storing my pictures because I will have used up my personal storage space? I don't quite understand the finer points of how all of the information is kept on the Internet, and likely this is why I am wondering about these things.

I still haven't set up my Facebook account, but I will work on this in the coming days. There is so much out there to explore that sometimes it feels like a black hole. I find myself exploring one thing, and then going off in several different directions because it is so easy to do with all of the hyperlinks, etc. This must be how many of our students have become so knowledgeable about the Web and what it has to offer.

July 2008 #2

July 2008 #2
Originally uploaded by jessicanikula

Using Picnik, I was able to rotate the photo so that the sand dollar is the right way up, and I was able to adjust the colour setting so that they seem to be clearer.

To photo share, or not to share? That is the question.

Photosharing is the topic of the week, and it has been on my mind and at my fingertips for the last few days. Not having ever used a photo sharing site, I took it upon myself to check out a few different ones: http://www.flickr.com/, http://picasa.google.com/ and http://photobucket.com/ were the lucky few. My theory was that I could probably handle looking at three different options, but after that, they would all become muddled together.

The Exploration:
Each site offered many of the same options: uploading 100 MB of pics; allowing family and friends to view pictures; editing of pictures, and organizing photos. My journey began by looking at Flickr because that was the photo sharing site that was mentioned in Richardson's book, as well as in Joanne's outline. This was fairly straightforward, as all I needed to do was create a google account. This site had a handy tour that I could take, and while I was taking the tour, I noticed that there were many other projects that could be created on Flickr; two of the most appealing were MOO "tiny, wonderful photo calling cards" and Blurb "bookstore quality books, by you". I can definitely see a lot of potential for these with my English and Social Studies classes, but more about that later.

Next I went on to explore Picasa 3. This site had a very informative video entitled "See what's new in Picasa 3". After the video I was leaning heavily towards using Picasa, but once I entered the site, I found it to be much more advanced than I needed it to be. This site seems to be designed for the more "professional" photographer, who wants to take the time to edit, and adjust photos to perfection. Unfortunately at this stage in my life, this isn't for me, so I decided that Picasa wasn't going to be my choice this time around. Further to this, I wondered about its usefulness with students.

Finally I checked out Photobucket. I was immediately turned off by this site because of the "busyness" of it. I was also concerned by the example photos that are on the first page before you login to Photobucket - one of which is entitled "sexy" and showed some fairly provocative pictures. This would definitely NOT be an option for me, and probably most teachers because even though the potential for students to find inappropriate pictures is always there, it isn't quite so easily accessible.

By Process of Elimination . . .
Flickr became the photo sharing site of choice. This meant that I needed to start playing around with some of my pics. This was incredibly easy, as the "upload" feature immediately connected to all of my pictures on my hard drive. I decided to choose some recent pictures that I had taken while we were at the beach. Then I had to make some decisions about whether or not these would be public photos, or whether they were private. I decided the pictures that didn't include my daughter in them would be public, and the rest were private. Despite the fact that many other people have posted pics of their children, I am still quite cautious.

I proceeded to play around with the pics, and I even posted two of my favourites to my blog. This was also quite easy to do, and made me think about the possibilities available to my English students.

Possibilities Galore:
I didn't really begin to see the possibilities of photo sharing in the classroom until I stopped thinking about how this was going to be great for me and my family. I was quite excited by the fact that I would be able to upload pictures that my both my brothers, one in Fort McMurray the other in Germany, could easily access!

However then I started to think about what this could mean for my students. For my English students there are endless possibilities to use photos to enhance their writing and poetry portfolios - Richardson talks about "Jakes, . . . [who] decided to create an imaged version of the poem 'Chicago' . . . by linking Flickr photos to the more tagable words in the poem." What a great idea! I can see students using this to help them get the creative juices flowing when they are writing. Not only that, I could annotate a picture with notes, which could be useful when doing a novel study and trying to map out the setting.

As for my Social Studies students, I could see how I could use Flickr to create a slide show of places that we will talk about throughout the year, and the mapping function sounds interesting, but I thought that there might be more. So I checked out some web sites and here are just a few that that have some good ideas:

http://www.teachinghacks.com/wiki/index.php?title=Photo_Sharing_in_Education

http://www.teachinghacks.com/files//100ideasWeb2educators.pdf

http://thinkingmachine.pbwiki.com/Think+Photo+Sharing+with+Flickr

What's next:
First of all, I need to become comfortable with Flickr and its possibilites, which I anticipate will be fairly easy, as I am excited about using it. Also, I need to look at what I am going to be teaching, and then start small. I have to come up with a lesson that will only take one period, which is 80 mins., where I can introduce Flickr, and then require students to create a product - perhaps a slide show, that they can share with the class.

Final thoughts:
As I am discovering, there are so many great opportunities available through Web. 2.0 tools to enhance one's teaching, and I am excited about trying to incorporate some of these. The only thing that I keep wondering about is how to access computer time. When I read Richardson's, and Solomon and Schrum's books, I feel excited, yet somewhat discouraged and frustrated that I don't have daily or even weekly access to computers. I feel like we, as educators, are disservicing our students by not having more occassions for them to explore these powerful teaching and learning tools.