Thing # 11.5

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I think tools Wordle & Wordsift are excellent for use in the classroom and have lots of ideas. I did not spend near enough time with Glogster. I found an example online (if I can find the link later, I'll add it later) from a guy in Canada. It is terrific. I need to explore Glogster some more.

Skype is a fantastic tool that I think has great uses in the classroom! I am so excited about the possibilities. I have made several contacts with teachers in the US, Canada and India so far and am planning classroom Skyping activities with teachers. And, I love the Flip camera. Creating video was way easier than it has ever been before.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? Keeps me exploring and learning.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? No, I already knew I was going to learn a lot.

Hi!

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I think now that some of us need to spend more time with some of these tools and go a bit more indepth. I would like to to an 11.5 things for Google Apps... I think Google uses are near endless...

Thing #11

I have a big concern about teaching digital citizenship to our students. Students can learn and create easily using Web 2.0 tools for a real-world and varied audience. With that "power" comes a responsibility, one for the student and the teacher as well. We need to make sure that our students know how to find and verify accurate resources, how to be a responsible author and collaborator by responding fairly and interacting with all people respectfully, and how to stay safe by not divulging too much information about self and peers.

All of this takes time and knowledge that teachers are just learning themselves. Most of us haven't participated in a global community and yet we need to help our students do so. Do we have the tools ourselves?

I think teaching digital citizenship will take more than a lesson or two. I plan to take the district AUP and tie some mini-lessons to the bullet statements. Then, I think I will use a variety of resources to illustrate the different points and encourage discussion among the students so we will have a common language and vision for what each looks like.

There are a number of resources available, but we need to help find the time and organize the resources for our teachers.

Thing #10

OK. I finally bit the bullet and entered Second Life. I have spent the majority of my time this morning on Help Island learning how to get around and exploring a bit. I finally figured out how to go to ISTE Island. That is where I am now. I found a part of TCEA and am now in some space that has some information about NCCE's Convention in March.

I keep getting logged out for some reason. I must either click some that that overloads the system or I keep losing my connection on my wireless.

One person came up to me. we were in a "chat" or conversation one of the times I lost connectivity and then when I can back, the person was gone. Some of the people are pretty scary looking. However, I am still alive! I have played a bit with changing my appearance. that is not as easy as it looks. My skirt is a different color, but I couldn't get my hair color to change.

I will try some more later tonight.

Thing #9.5

Xtranormal

Have you seen this? I thought it was so much fun and can see it being used in classrooms that I just had to share!


http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090727113400171

Thing #9

I like these slide show tools. I think 280 slides is really cool! However, I just used Google Presentations and created a similar test show. It worked as well, saves in Google docs and uses the same tools I use for other documents. So, I think I would encourage students and teachers to stick with Google. It is truly becoming the Microsoft Office of Web 2.0!

Now, I guess you would have to invite others to share your slide show, so there is some merit to using authorSTREAM or Slideshare where the public can search and find your "stuff." I think it would also be advantageous to improve the quality of the work - since it is for a real audience. Their work would be "out there" for anyone in the world to view. Maybe we should encourage teachers and students to work in Google presentations and then publish in Slideshare. Wonder if that would work? It isn't PP... Will test it!

Thing #8

Unfortunately, I have been playing with some of these tools at work and the new filter is causing havok for me. I have used Jing Project in the past and LOVE it. For some reason, I kept getting an error message when I tried to use it yesterday. So, I uninstalled and when I try to reinstall I am blocked from downloading it. So, I have submitted an unblock request and hope to get that opened back up shortly.

In its absence, I attempted to download some of the other tools you had shared with the same results! However, freescreencasting was open. I downloaded it and voila! It works. The interface is not as impressive as Jing, but it worked. I have to convert it from a flash file to an avi in zamzar - zamzar is such a great service! Here is my 1st attempt:

Notice all the broken links in iTunes. Guess that is our new filter as well! ;-)

Thing #7

I watched the video and read (OK, skimmed through parts) of the Fair Use document. It was really helpful although still not cut and dry (as Fair Use will never be)! I do think it is a helpful resource. We need to be diligent in helping students remember to practice them (and ourselves as well)!

I had NO idea that Hula was free. I looked through some of its content and watched a few things at home last night. Blinkx was new to me also.

I chose to look for content on volcanoes. I found a terrific 50 minute video divided into chapters in the Nature portion of the PBS website and started watching it. I then searched blinkx for more volcano videos. I found a bunch but was not able to view them here at work. I couldn't cut and paste the video from PBS into my blog although it looks like I could have shared it a number of other ways. Facebook was an option. I could have purchased the video from iTunes or purchased a dvd. I will have to play around with Blinkx tonight and see. The NeoK12 site looked promising as well. I found some more volcano footage but it wouldn't load (the filter again). I will tray that one again from home and see what I can do. Here is the link to the PBS one.
http://www.pbs.org/video/video/1133372360/program/979358043

Thing #6

After watching students text one another on their cell phones before school each morning, I became convinced that they would be able to use an iPod Touch in the classroom without the issues that people my age feel there are. I have had a "Touch" for a few months now. I have become a big fan of some of the games like Word Warp, Brain Thaw, PopMath lite and more. I think kids will play them as well. I also use it to check the weather and I use the calculator. I also use it to check some websites often. It is fairly easy. You can have up to 8 pages open at one time, so the pages I check frequently I keep those "stored" and just refresh when I reconnect. If you want to read a page and don't have wireless at home, you can open it and it will be there later. It is easy to enlarge and flip the page to read. However, I must admit that I don't like to use it for extensive reading of webpages. It really helps that Google has an app so the page is the correct width. It is also easy to record on the Touch. I can see students podcasting on it quite easily. I wish the Touch had a camera. That would really be a useful tool. I hear it is coming on the next version.

I would also recommend Tony Vincent's site - Learning in Hand. He has been using Palms in the classroom for years and has info and ideas for iPod Touch also.

As for Wikipedia, I must admit that I use it frequently. I have often thought about contributing but never has. Yes, the information on what it is not, is interesting.

Thing #5

I have been an sporadic user of Facebook for a while now. I really got into it last fall when I used it as a tool to find people whose Christmas cards were returned because they had moved. I was able to find two old friends through their children who were on Facebook. That was kind of cool. I also caught up with some of my old students from years ago. In fact, I have been emailing with one of them fairly regularly which has been great. I must admit I am not a huge fan of the layout of Facebook and I don't know as much as I might, but I know enough to have it work for me. There are a number of people at work who farm on Facebook. I have ne idea what that is and think I better not look to find out. I don't want to get hooked on it just yet!

As for Twitter... I have tried on several different ocassions to use Twitter. I think it doesn't really work for me because I have to use it on my laptop. Therefore, the short tweets aren't as compeling as I'm not trying to kill time on the 3G network while I'm cooking dinner, doing laundry or waiting for an airplane. Also, I have been challenged to find people I'm interested in tweeting. I am following a terrific technology educator and I don't even find his tweets worthwhile. So, I am still in the developing stage.

As for use in the classroom, I love the whole notion of social networking. I have found that some young people don't like the idea of teachers/parents invading their world. And, since I'm not particularly fond of the layout of Facebook, I am just more inclined to us ning, edmodo, etc. I'm still working on reasons to use Twitter over some other tools.

I really like the whole backchannel concept. I think the blog post about it was good. I have seen it used a couple of times and plan to encourage teachers to use in their classrooms. I think it could be successful if used during video conferencing, guest speakers, and even during some class presentations - by fellow teachers and students.

Thing #4

Well, I made a video yesterday for this project using a Flip camera. It was the first time I had used a Flip! I had heard a lot about them - especially from Marianne - but never had the opportunity. In about 15 minutes I opened the box, installed the batteries, shot the video and upload it to Teacher Tube. It was SO easy, and that is my first experience with a video being easy (never been on the Mac side)! I abosultely LOVE the fact that there is no cable to have to keep up with. Anyway, Teacher Tube has not yet approved my video, so here is a link to an older one that I made last year.

http://www.teachertube.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=78095&title=Test

Here is the actual video from yesterday.

Having your lessons on Teacher Tube is a great way to share. I supposed students could also go there but I would just post then on my ning, district podcast site or blog. I thing your students would be more apt to go get them there. However, I do think you could develop a good network of like minded teachers on Teacher Tube.

Again, for student created work I would also post to the ning or district pod cast site. Students might also chose to post their work on Facebook or My Space. Yes, I know about School tube but must admit I had never visited until today.

Thing #3

Today, I played with Skype on both my laptop and my iPod touch. While I am not able to video conference (hope to try that tomorrow if I can get Skype loaded at home tonight on a MacBook), I had fun using the Chat feature. I think we will recommend for chatting that students use Skype. It was easy to invite friends and easy to use. I think they will like it.

I also liked the link to the 50 ways to use Skype in the classroom blog. I also tried to visit some of the links off of the page but they are currently blocked (that new filter system is really causing havoc today). However, I feel certain in a few weeks it will be open and I can learn more. I cannot wait to use it with teachers in classrooms!

Thing(s) #2

This post is really forcing me to learn a few more skills! Having already played in Wordle (and shared it with some teachers here as I think it could be a great tool for summarization on any topic), I chose to play with Wordsift. Here is that sample.


Then, I went for the poster-making Glogster! I still need to explore it a bit more but was anxious to embed my "Glog!" Of course, it appears that I need further instruction since my poster is only part of the "Glog!"


I think a student might need to think ahead a bit about turning in an online poster (as I think it requires at bit more thought to turn in anything electronically at this point being that they don't have email accounts or a district online space) but it is nothing monumental. I like Gogster in that it offers a variety of formats and is really easy. Could several kids work on the same poster, or is it individual. I need to research it a bit more.

I love VoiceThread and see a lot of use for teachers and students. However, since there is an associated cost, it might be a challenge to implement.

WOW! Animoto! I must admit I had never taken the time to make one. It is very easy! Can't believe it took me so long. I am going to make another using my own music, but for this one I chose one of theirs. That made it easy although I sould have preferred a patriotic song given the topic. I also like the way it is short. Kids (and sometimes adults as well) have a tendency to make things too long. I like the fact that they are short and sweet. Kids would need to be selective!

Take a peak at my creation!

And finally, my Bookr! Again, a DC theme! This time, I used the pictures of others! It was really simple as well. I think kids would enjoy using this. I would create a class Flickr account so we could use our own pictures!

Summer 2009 - 11.5 more things - Activity #1

WOW! Connectivism! I don't think in all my online journeys that I have heard that phrase before! I really like it. And boy, was that student connected or what! I wish I were as focused as he!

I think we all have a long way to grow to get to here, but I certainly think it is something we can work towards and attain! Since I embarked on 23 things last year, I have become much more connected and see the value for me and for our students! I have actually joined several social networks, asked questions and posted comments. I participate in webinars (love 'em) and more!

The teacher is truely a facilitator in this example. She helps the student learn information management skills, evaluation skills and communication skills. And, they are all on a need to know which makes it so much more powerful!

Yes, the librarian can assume a role in the process for the student! Accessing and validating websites, using the school's database, were a few right at the beginning. When you think about the role a librarian has always played - helping one find the information needed - then it is natural for a librarian to continue in the role. The places to find information have expanded!