Complex Blogging

In his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Will Richardson discusses the levels of blogging - from posting but not blogging to complex blogging. Richardson defines complex blogging as " extended analysis and synthesis over a longer period of time that builds on previous posts, links, and comments" (Richardson, 2009, 31). He distinctly define the posting of assignments, links, and journaling without analysis and synthesis as posting rather than true blogging (Richardson, 2009).

Getting elementary students to the point where they can post work that analyzes and synthesizes information will take modeling and scaffolding from the teacher. The teacher will need to provide the students with prompts and questions that promote critical thinking and go beyond the journaling or describing of events and material (Richardson, 2009).

I believe this is where the strict guidelines and expectations advocated by Rick Ferdig will become important. Students will need to know that you expect more than just journaling or summarizing. This can be expressed through the modeling of evaluating blog entries using a rubric that places value on analysis, synthesis, hyperlinks, discussion, and thoughtful arguments.

With well designed prompts and assignments that have clearly stated expectations and guidelines, I believe elementary students can create blogs that analyze and synthesize information over an extended period of time.

You can find more of Will Richardson's thoughts on his blog: Weblogg-ed. He also shares his thoughts and ideas on Twitter.

References:

Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. California: Corwin Press.

Model Classroom Blogging

In an article for Learning and Leading with Technology Anne Davis discusses how teachers should first model blogging for their students before asking them to begin their own blogs. This can be done by creating a classroom or teacher blog. This is one suggestion that has been left out of many of the blogging in the classroom articles and resources I have found. Anne Davis suggests this as a first step to:

• Familiarize students with blogging
• Create an atmosphere where the student feels safe sharing and discussing their thoughts and ideas
• Provide students with examples of good blog entries and practices
• Start the discussion and lessons on blogging and internet safety

I think this is an important and valuable idea for incorporating blogging into the classroom. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, a classroom or teacher blog can serve as the hub for students blogs. Teachers can continue to use this blog throughout the year to communicate with the stakeholders in their classroom and provide prompts or other springboard entries for their students blogs.

At the end of the article she lists resources educators can access to find out more information about blogging in the classroom. The resource I found to be the most useful was one from a poster presentation Anne Davis and Ewa McGrail gave on the lessons learned from blogging in the elementary and university classroom. The presentation gives a list of blogs from elementary classrooms, both by teachers and students. I also found the information about how to start blogging in the classroom useful. She goes over safety issues and how to introduce blogs to students.

Anne Davis also keeps a blog that can be found here. She has written some interesting entries on blogging and pedagogy, such as this one. She has also given presentations and started a wiki on the subject of Blogs and Pedagogy.

References:

Davis, Anne. (2008). A vision for classroom blogging.(BLOGGERS Cafe). Learning and Leading with Technology, 17(1). Retrieved April 19, 2009 from Academic OneFile.

Davis, Anne and McGrail Ewa. (2007). Lessons learned from blogging with elementary and university students. Retrieved April 19, 2009 from http://neccposter2007.googlepages.com/home.

Reading and Writing with Blogs

"Perhaps that most significant instructional potential of blogs is student engagement." (Bull and Kajder, 2003, 35)

Glen Bull and Sarah Kajder wrote an article for Leading and Learning with Technology that explores how blogging can be used to scaffold struggling readers and writers. While the article is aimed towards blogging with struggling students, the benefits and activities discussed can be applied to any students in any classroom.

The article argues that by providing a multi-genre, multimedia workspace blogs can engage students in writing in ways that paper and pens cannot (Bull and Kajder, 2003). The article lists that following benefits of blogging:

• Economy - blog entries must be written well to be concise and readable by the viewer.
• Archiving - the archiving of the blog entries allows students and viewers to see the progression of thought and progress
• Feedback - viewers provide feedback for student work; the audience is authentic and, thus, motivates the students
• Multimedia - students can post various types of work to blogs - text, links, photos, digital stories, music, artwork - the possibilities are endless
• Immediacy - the publishing of the entry is immediate and the students see the outcome of their work
• Active Participation- not only is the student participating on their blog but they can also leave comments on their peers' blogs and participate in the larger blogging community (Bull and Kajder, 2003)

In addition to listing the benefits of blogging, the article goes on to discuss potential uses for blogs in the classroom. While it discuss many different activities that span many subjects, the activities that interested me the most were:

• Exploding Sentences - students revise sentences from previous posts (theirs and their classmates) and add rich descriptive words and details. I think this is a great writing activity that helps teach vocabulary and complex sentence structure.
• Literature Circle Discussions - takes the in class literature circle discussions and continues them in the blogsaphere. This activity would give students more time to discuss books and their characters. It would also allow for the potential for literature circle to span beyond the classroom to include multiple classes at multiple schools.
• Photoblogs - students writing captions for photographs. This would be a great way to incorporate art and photography in the language arts classroom. In addtion, it lets students practice summarizing and capturing thoughts into concise sentences.

While I though this article gave some great benefits and ideas for blogging in the classroom, I would have liked links to examples of the activities being used in the classroom. This would have given me a better idea of the acticity and a person to connect with to ask questions and find out more information on specific activities.

References:

Bull, G. and Kajder, S. (2003). Scaffolding for struggling students: Reading and writing with blogs. Leading and Learning with Technology, 31(2). Retrieved from http://itlab.coe.wayne.edu/jalshaibani/docs/reading%20writing%20blogs.pdf

Blogging Tips Video

Classroom Blogging

I recently found a blog called Blogging in the Classroom by Lorna Costantini. The blog focuses on using web 20 tools in the classroom. The website includes a nice page on Blogging for Beginners, that defines many of the key terms and provides links to other introduction to blogging resources. The website appears to be a nice place to look for resources for specific topics and ideas concerning blogging in the classroom, although the topics seem to range far beyond blogging to include many web 2.0 tools.

I will be adding this website to my bookmarks and hopefully will be able to use its resources in the future.

Blogging for Conversations

In an article titled Blogs are Not the Enemy, Jeff Utecht writes

"Blogs are not about writing, they are about a conversation." (2007, 7)

Blogs are not a new way to keep journals; they are a new way to have conversations about ideas, thoughts, reflections, and analysis (Utecht, 2007). Simple transferring current assignments and projects to a blog does not necessarily enhance or add value to the assignment. In order to take advantage of the benefits of blogs, teachers needs to give their students time to read, respond, and reflection on their blogs and their classmates' blogs (Utecht, 2007). The blogs needs to be brought back into the classroom through conversations and discussions - whether through comments online or class discussions.

I think this directly goes back to analyzing web 2.0 technologies and the two questions Judi Harris encourages educators to ask themselves before implementing new technologies into the classroom:

1. Does the tool enable us to do something we couldn't do before?
2. Does the tool enable us to do something we could do before, but better?

As educators we need to stop and think what the blog is allowing us to to that we couldn't do before or how it is enabling us to do it better.

References:

Harris, Judi. (1998). Harris, Judi. (1998). Wetware: Why Use Activities Structures. Retrieved March 5, 2009 from http://virtual-architecture.wm.edu/Foundation/wetware.html

Utecht, J. (2007, April 20). Blogs are not the enemy. Posted to www.techlearning.com

Sound Pedagogy & Blogging

I am going to narrow my focus a bit towards blogging in the classroom, as an example of web 2.0 tools, and good teaching practices. I think this will allow me to focus more in depth on one tool and explore its implementation in the classroom. I believe the things I learn through this will be transferable to other web 2.0 tools, such as podcasting, wikis, and whatever they come up with tomorrow.

Richard Ferdig, in an article for the British Journal of Educational Technology, argues good technological innovations from a pedagogy standpoint should:

1. contain authentic and challenging academic content
2. provide users with a sense of ownership
3. provide opportunities for active participation, interaction, and collaboration
4. create learning communities that allow for new teachers-student relationship, where the teacher moves to a supporting, guiding role
5. provide for the creation of an artifact that represents the learning
6. provide for publication of the artifact, reflection of the creator, and feedback from others (Ferdig, 2006)

I think that blogging in the classroom can meet all six of these pedagogy components.

1. While blogging does not inherently have authentic and challenging academic content, the assignment and blogger adds this component. The teacher, by assigning higher-order, engaging problems or discussion starters, drives the student to create authentic and challenging academic content.
2. A blog is a student's own personal space to work through their thoughts and ideas. They can choose the background, the colors, the fonts, the gadgets and customizable features to make their blog reflect who they are. They are also the main contributor to the blog, letting it take on content and a tone that reflects them as students.
3. Blog are a perfect venue for collaboration and interaction. By commenting on other blogs, they are interacting with their peers and those from around the world. Collaboration is possible through the sharing of information, linking, and comments.
   
4. A blog provides an opportunity for the teacher to step aside and let the student take control of the learning. By having their own space to share their thoughts and ideas, a student can control the direction of learning. It is a great way to differentiate learning; each student can explore the portions of the topic that interest them most.
5. The blog entries are the artifact; the entries are not restricted to text only - they can be videos, slide shows, pictures, text, graphics, or a combination of multimedia.
6. The blog entry is published on the blog. By publishing their work on the internet they are increasing the size of their audience compared to presenting their work to their teacher and classmates. Feedback can take the form of comments or responses to entries in other blogs.
   

References:

Ferdig, R.E. (2006). Assessing technologies for teaching and learning: Understanding the importance of technological-pedagogical content knowledge. British Journal of Educational Technology, 37(5), 749-760. Retrieved from the EBSCO Host database.

Web 2.0 & You

I found this YouTube video by Micheal Wesch at Kansas State University title Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us. Dr. Welsch is a professor at KSU, studying the impact effect of social media and digital technology on the global culture. The video is a little off topic of web 2.0 and authentic audiences, but it is a nice 5 minute look into how a change in code language enabled web 2.0 tools and technologies to interface and connect together.



The following ideas that stuck out to me from the video:

• How because form is separate from content in XML, content from one tool easily transfer to another tool (think RSS feeds of blogs or attaching Flickr photos to Google Maps)
• All the connections I make on the web each day (tagging photos in Flickr that cause them to appear in Google Image searches, linking articles and videos to my blog, commenting on user forums and leaving links to more information, booking marking webpages in Delicious and Diigo and sharing them with my network)

I read a few of his articles (they are listed on the About Us page). While they were very interesting and thought provoking, they are off topic as well. So I won't go into detail here, but I did bookmark them for future use.

Web 2.0 ≠ Collaboration

I have been discussing web 2.0 and authentic audiences. One of the ways web 2.0 tools create authentic audiences in through collaboration. This could be collaboration with peers, sisters schools, online communities, and such.

A classmate of mine recently pointed me in the direction of a blog entry by Jon Orech that points out that web 2.0 tools ≠ collaboration. They can, but the same pedagogy that would be applied in an classroom collaboration project must be applied in the online collaboration project. He goes on to explore how Johnson and Johnsons' twelve types of positive interdependence can be applied in the online world and stating that at least three must be present for the success of the cooperative learning. Then he explains how individual accountability can be taken in online collaboration.

I have had many classes that incorporated cooperative learning, however, I did not know what Johnson and Johnsons' twelve positive interdependence were. While I had a hard time finding the 12 types of positive interdependence, I did find a site on cooperative learning by Johnson and Johnson. (I was able to find 9 of them here. I think all 12 can be found in the book Cooperation in the Classroom by Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec. Unfortunately, it is not available on Google Books).

Positive Interdependence establishes that:

(a) "each group member's efforts are required and indispensable for group success and

(b) each group member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his or her resources and/or role and task responsibilities" (Johnson and Johnson, nd, 6)

I think setting up positive interdependence for online collaboration projects would be no harder than setting up positive interdependence for face-to-face collaboration projects. There would be added difficulty if working with another classroom. The teachers would had to agree upon the positive interdependence and goals of the project; however, if both teachers weren't working together towards the same goals I think the project would fail anyways.

After reading how Orech proposes to deal with individual accountability in the entry, I think it might be easier than in a face-to-face project. He does address general practices, such as making groups small and assigning roles, but then he goes on to talk about techniques that are unique to web 2.0 tools and online collaboration. The abilities the web 2.0 tools give us to trace history and authorship can help teachers determine individual contribution. If I can go in at any time and see who contributed what to the group, I don't have to guess or assume whose fingerprints are on which part of the project.

This blog entry is another example of why research-proven pedagogy practices still need to be used with advances in technology and web 2.0 tools.

References:

Johnson, D. and Johnson, R. (n.d.). Cooperative Learning. Retrieved March 29, 2009 from http://www.co-operation.org/pages/cl.html#interdependence

Orech, John. (2009, March 29). Guest Blog: Tech Forum Speaker Jon Orech on Collaboration. Message posted to http://www.techlearning.com

Blogging in the Classroom

(Note: Sometimes you read a really good article and can't wait to use it in your work. Then your eyes wonder up to the author and suddenly panic hits. You are going to have to quote the author back to the author. That is what happened in this case. I hope I understood the authors' points correctly and do not butcher their work upon reflection.)

Blogging is another web 2.0 tool that can be used in the classroom to create authentic audiences for students' work. There are many blogging services out there, for more information about individual services visit the Teach Web 2.0 wiki or this blog entry.

When students construct knowledge they need an authentic place to present or publish this knowledge (Ferdig and Trammell, 2004). Blogs are a venue that can provide a place to publish and present work - and not just written work but also videos, slide shows, podcast and other multimedia presentations. The blog can also offer the opportunity to work through concepts and knowledge by posting reflections and analysis coupled with the opportunity to revise and adapt their work (Ferdig and Trammell, 2004). The blog becomes the student's own personal space to explore their ideas.

Through comments and hyperlinks viewers can provide feedback, constructive criticism, different perspectives, and more information to the blogger, thus enriching the learning experience (Ferdig and Trammell, 2004). Teachers can take an active role in attracting audiences to their students' blogs by linking to them, sharing them with peers and colleagues and tweeting about them on Twitter. It is these authentic audiences that lead students to think more critically, write more, and write better (Ferdig and Trammell, 2004).

The article suggests that teachers should "provide a set of strict rules for blogging such as frequency, length of posts, number of hyperlinks and staying on topic" (Ferdig and Trammell, 2004, 14). I, humbly, disagree. When strict guidelines are set, I think the student would begin to write more for the teacher and the grade rather than for the analyzing, reflection, and learning. I would prefer set up clear expectations with my students and grade them based on a rubric, like the one found here. When using a rubric as grading tool, I think it is important to show students examples of excellent, good, and poor work.

I do agree, however, that time must spent discussing with students what is and is not appropriate for blog posting. In addition, students should be made aware that once something is out there it can never be totally erased - even with editing and deletion (Ferdig and Trammell, 2004). A demonstration of the Wayback Machine would be a great resource for this discussion. Along with this message, a discussion of internet safety should take place.

References:

Ferdig, R. E. and Trammell, K. D. (2004). Content delivery in the 'blogosphere'. T H E Journal (Technological Horizons in Education), 31.7(Feb 2004). Retrieved March 30, 2009 from Academia OneFile database.

Open the Doors

So far I have been focusing on the benefits of authentic audiences for the student. A recent blog article by The Technorate Teacher opened by eyes to another set of benefits created by authentic audiences - benefits for me, the teacher.

By opening up my students' work to a greater audience, I am opening up my teaching practices, thoughts, ideas, and resources to a greater audience. Just as my students would not want to showcase a poor, hastily done project, I don't want to showcase poor teaching practices, hastily drawn-up lessons, and the such. By knowing that my students' work will be put out there, I will spend more time making sure my lessons high quality, effective learning experiences that are tied to standards and research.

While I would like dream that everyone would tell me I am a wonderful teacher, through this audience I can receive feedback that will help me better my practices. It is an evaluation that parents, peer teachers, colleagues, mentors, other educations, and even your students can participate in.

I love how on Twitter teachers are always tweeting about projects their students are completing and inviting fellow teachers to come share their thoughts. Some of the edublogs I learn the most from are those that blog about their experiences in the class - both the good and the bad - and ask for feedback and suggestions. These teachers are using web 2.0 resources to help improve themselves everyday - talk about continuous improvement and life long learning!

NETS

NETS (or the National Education Technology Standards) addresses the expectations of technology in the classroom. There are standards for students, teachers, administrators, and technology coordinators.

I am going to start by focusing the standards for students, which "help students prepare to work, live, and contribute to the social and civic fabric of their communities" (NETS, 2007). I wanted to explore if and how these standards related to use of technology for creating authentic audiences for student work. Remember the idea is not that the audience is passive, but rather one that interacts with the student, provides feedback, and share resources and ideas. For me, the second standard is the one that focuses on the skills and ideas related to creating these authentic audiences.

Here is the standard, taken from the NETS website:

2.	Communication and Collaboration
	Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
	a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures. d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems. (NETS, 2007)

The use of web 2.0 tools to help facilitate authentic audiences supports this communication and collaboration standards. By focusing on using the web 2.0 tools to build collaboration and communication between my students and the classroom stakeholders, other classrooms, peers, experts, and the community I am fulfilling this NETS standards (not to mention most likely fulfilling the other 5 standards).

References:
International Society for Technology in Education. (2007). NETS for Students. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007.htm

Writing & Authentic Audiences

In researching the effects authentic audiences have on students, I found a paper written back when I was in middle school by Gayle Allen and Ann Thompson on the effects of computer assisted collaboration on writing (Allen & Thompson, 1994). Back then the computer assisted collaboration was emailing students papers to mentor college students and the college students emailing back their comments. While it is not the Google Docs, Adobe Buzzword, or wikis of today, it was collaborative and did provide students with an audience beyond their teacher.

The study compared the students in the experimental group, those that sent their work via email to the college students, to students in the control group, those who papers were read and commented on only by their teachers (Allen & Thompson, 1994). The report found that students in the experimental group wrote more and received higher markers than those in the control group (Allen & Thompson, 1994). When the results were looked at by gender, the study found that men in the experimental group preform significantly better the control group when comparing the holistic writing scores (Allen & Thompson, 1994). There was no statistical difference in the holistic writing score for females between the control and experimental groups (Allen & Thompson, 1994). However, the study found that females who previously did not utilize the computer in the classroom where comfortable with computer when it was introduced in a supportive, learning environment(Allen & Thompson, 1994).

The paper concludes with the thoughts that the collaborative writing environment can enrich the classroom writing environment and promote writing as a social interaction and cognitive process (Allen & Thompson, 1994).

While the tools may have evolve, this study shows that authentic audiences positively effect students' writing. I would like to think that this would transfer across subject matters and disciplines. I will continue to look for more research on the subject (in fact, I have a few tweeters helping me look for research right now).

References:

Allen, G. and Thompson, A. (1994). Proceedings from The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (New Orleans, LA, April 4-8, 1994): Analysis of the Effect of Networking on Computer-Assisted Collaborative Writing in a Fifth Grade Classroom. Retrieved March 22, 2009 from ERIC database.

Podcasting

Mr. Williamson's Science Blog introduced me to student created podcasts. I started thinking about all the amazing opportunities that podcasting could bring the classroom. I started my research on podcasting over at the Teach Web 2.0 wiki. I learned about the basics from the CommonCraft Vodcast on podcasting.

Next I tried my hand at podcasting. I started by creating an audio tour for the museum my husband and I would be visiting that weekend. The first step was researching the museum and artifacts on display. Next I selected the ones most interesting to me and did additional research on piece. I choose Garage Band to create my audio track, recording the information I had prepared through my research. It was easy to add tracks and images to audio recording. Finally, I published the track iTunes and had create my first podcast. It was so simple I have created half a dozen since for upcoming attractions we will be visiting.

Now that I knew how to create a podcast, the step was learning about ways to incorporate podcasting into the curriculum. This past weekend Classroom 2.0 LIVE hosted a webinar on Podcasting featuring Kevin Honeycutt. This isn't one of their better webinars; skip the first 30 minutes and then dive in. Kevin makes the point that "writing is a social media". Writing is to be read, but in most of our classrooms no one is reading our students' work. Podcasting can change this. The researching, writing, and editing process stays the same, but the end product is published to share with an authentic audience. The audience can be a sister classroom(s), parents, peers, other teachers, friends - the list is endless. The authentic audience creates a higher stake for the students - there is added motivation to write and succeed.

The webinar also discusses ways to effectively set-up podcasting in the classroom, saftey issues, and resouces for creating and publishing podcasts.

I can't wait to find ways to incorporate this into my classroom!

Have your students create podcasts in your class?

What tools did your students use to create the podcasts?

How did you publish the podcasts?

References:

Honeycutt, Keven. (2009, March 21). Podcasting. Classroom 2.0 LIVE Podcast. Podcast retrived from http://live.classroom20.com/1/post/2009/03/podcasting-podstock-and-ning-special-guest-kevin-honeycutt.html

Twitter

When I discussed what defines a web 2.0, I referenced a series of benchmarks. Two of the benchmarks for a web 2.0 tool are continuous improvement and ability to interface with other tools. Twitter definitely meets these benchmarks as it continues to evolve based on the user.

After a few months of use, I have caught on to the basics of tweeting, retweeting, replying, and direct messaging. I knew about the '#', but I didn't really know how to use it effectively or all of its capabilities. (If you don't know what the '#' is, head over to Read Write Web blog for a great explanation.)

Through reading the Read Write Web blog entry on new Twitter features, I learned how to search for items of interest using Twitter Search or #hastags and the '#' tag. I (finally) figured out how to find out what all the '#' tags meant using Tagulus. Now if I want to know about the buzz from a conference or the thoughts a new headline, I can search through Tagulus for the '#' tag that corresponds to the information I am looking for on Twitter. I can also make-up my own '#' tags and share their purpose with other Tweeters.

Just think, you could have your own '#' tag for each class you teach and tweet out homework, insteresting links, or facilitate converstions between your students.

I have also updated the Teach Web 2.0 wiki with all this great new information.

Artsonia

Students create artwork and projects in class all the time. Wouldn't it be great if they could share their work with their parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends? Artsonia allows them to do just that. Self described as "the world's largest kid's art museum", it provides an online space to showcase student's work.

I analyzed the tool by completing a SWOT analysis over at the Teach Web 2.o wiki. According to Alexa.com, 77,000+ people visit the site everyday. Talk about increasing the audience for your students' work! Now it must be noted that Artsonia does make money off of selling students' artwork on customized keepsakes; however, it does gives 15% of the proceeds to back to the school.

Teachers can open an account for their school or classroom and upload student artwork to the gallery. The gallery can then be arranged by project or class. Students' artwork is identified by their first name and number - never a last name. Online portfolios are created for each student, allowing them to see the growth in their work over the year(s). Viewers can browse through the museum by looking for schools, students, grade levels, and mediums. Viewers are allowed to make comments on students' work, but only after the comments have been approved by the parent via email.

This looks like a great tool that will be easy to incorporate into my classroom. While the uploading of artwork will take some time, I think the benefits are worth it.

Are you using Artsonia or a similar tool to showcase student work?

VoiceThread

Today I was able to watch a webinar from Classroom 2.0 on VoiceThread. I was introduced to VoiceThread in another class but have not had an opportunity to use it yet. VoiceThread is web 2.0 tool that allows the user to combine images, text, and video to create a multimedia slide show. Once the presentation has been created other users can doodle on the slides and leave video, audio, and text comments.

The webinar explained what VoiceThread is and how to use it. It also gives you tips on how to use it in the classroom. One of the best tips from the webinar on encouraging collaboration is to ask a question in the VoiceThread for the commentators to answer. Also, you don't allows have to create the VoiceThread. Another way to check learning is to search VoiceThreads for a slide show on material you are currently teaching and have your students comment and add to the VoiceThreads.

After listening to the webinar, I spent sometime on the VoiceThread website exploring the types of slides shows there are out there. I found a great VoiceThread on the 50 States. It was a collaborative VoiceThread in which students in each state left facts about their state as audio, video, or text comments. I also found a VoiceThread book review and report done by elementary students - just think you could have international reading groups!

I think I could use VoiceThread in my classroom as an alternative assessment. Students could receive feedback on their work from their classmates, parents, and teachers. This is definitely a tool that will help me increase the authentic audiences for students' work.

Great VoiceThread resources:

• VoiceThread SWOT Anlysis
• VoiceThread Ning
• VoiceThread for Education Wiki
• List of classrooms looking for collaborators using VoiceThread

Are you using VoiceThread in your classroom? How?

Wearable Sixth Sense Device

Wonder where technology is going? Watch this TED video.



WOW!

Thoughts?

References:

Maes, Patty. (2009). Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry: Unveiling the "Sixth Sense." game-changing wearable tech. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

Transforming the Classroom Conversations

I learned about a series of webcasts titled Innovation in Education through Tweeter @ncara. The first installment of the series is three conversations, featuring Alan November and his book Web Literacy for Educators, on "transforming education to meet the needs of the 21st century learner" (Promethean Planet). The first installment consists of three 15 minute webcasts titled Empowering Students with Technology, Reinventing Schools, and A New Literacy.

I listened to the first one because I though the theme of Empowering Students with Technology went right along with what I have been exploring. The webcast started with the discussion of why technology was not taking off in schools. Alan November presented data obtained through surveys conducted at his seminars and conferences. Principals blame a lack of funding and superintendents cite a lack of training, while technology directors and teachers point to a lack of vision (November and Magana, 2009). I found this interesting and it really hit home with me when Alan November said, "you can have technology all day long, but unless there is a compelling vision that adds value all the technology in the world will not help you" (2009). The data also showed that the stakeholders mostly agreed the people responsible for changing the implementation of technology in the classroom was the school leaders (November and Magana, 2009).

Who are the school leaders?

I want to be one of these leaders. This is what I need to strive for in incorporating web 2.0 tools into my classroom - setting a vision for what I want the outcome to be.

I encourage to go an listen to the webcasts yourself. I listen to the first two and will be back when the third one is released.

How will you lead?

Stay tuned to the webcasts; future sessions will feature Marc Prensky, Ron Clark, Dr. Debra Pickering, Dr. Grant Wiggins, and Dr. Robert Marzano.

References:

November, A. and Magana, S . (2009). Empowering Students with Technology. Retrieved March 11, 2009 from http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=nav.16956

Promethean Planet. Retrieved March 11, 2009 from http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=nav.16956

Authentic Audiences

One of the most important reasons I want to work on incorporating web 2.0 tools into my classroom is to give my students authentic audiences for their work.



I watched the above video in a graduate course on photography and visual literacy. It really made me step back and think about how so few people really evaluate and response to a student's work through their K-12 education.

What web 2.0 tools do you use to increase your students' authentic audiences?

How do you use web 2.0 tools to increase your students' authentic audiences?

References:

Bachenheimer, Barry. (n.d.) 42. Retrieved March 9, 2009 from http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=a6fc5fa5e433d4fca865

Twitter

One of the challenges with educational technology is staying on top of all the resources, information, and possibilities out there. In addition to using Google Reader and RSS feeds to keep track of a couple educational technology blogs, I use Twitter to stay on top of the buzz out there.

As described by Evan Williams, the CEO of Odeo (the parent company of Twitter), Twitter is “incredible resource to find out what’s happening among any topic or event while it’s going on” (2009). The following video explains where the idea for Twitter came from, how it has evolved, and where it might go in the future.



For more information about Twitter in the classroom visit the Teach Web 2.0 wiki and view the SWOT analysis. And don't forget to add your thoughts and opinions - the wiki is only as useful as we make it. Included in the entry are many Twitter accessories that perform a variety of functions.

Multiple times a day I log onto Twitter and see what is buzzing in the educational technology world. Throughout the day I find articles, ideas, resources, questions, conversations, and new web 2.0 tools through those I follow on Twitter. I love how an educator can share a problem or pose an idea and get instantaneous response from educators around the country.

While I have yet to find effective ways for students to use Twitter in the classroom, it is a great resource for me to find real time information and resources. I started using Twitter to build my personal learning network by adding my name to the Twitter for Teachers wiki. It has given me the names of educators that I can connect with to share ideas, resources, and thoughts. Here is another great list of Edutweeters; the list is divided into categories and gives a tweeter's Twitter name and what kinds of topics they tweet about.

Just after I posted this entry, I found a webinar from last weekend titled Twitter for Teachers. I guess it is appropriate that I found out about the webinar through a Tweet of a fellow teacher. Rodd Lucier gave a slideshare presentation on what Twitter is and how to use it. The presentation is a basic introduction; however, it does a good job of explaining Twitter Search and the '#' tag. I learned how to have larger discussions using the '#' tag and Twitter Search. This feature is particularly useful for conversing with a larger group of people, such as conference participants (Lucier, 2009).

He agrees that one of the best things about Twitter is that you cannot only gather resources from those you follow but also ask for resources from those that follow you (Lucier, 2009). He does comment that one way to use Twitter in the classroom is to connect students with mentors and experts (Lucier,2009). He suggests Twitter can be used a classroom management tool, in that it is possible to Tweet out homework assignments, classroom events, and other relevant information (Lucier, 2009). It would be a wonderful tool for parents and students who might have missed school or needed clarification on an assignment.

Why is the Fail Whale Smiling?

View more presentations from Rodd Lucier. (tags: twitterforteachers lucier)

Rodd Lucier created a wiki site for an ebook: Twitter for Teachers. It is an online book that teachers can add their thoughts, ideas, and experiences to share with other teachers. The ebook covers a variety of topics from safety concerns, copyright and plagarism issues, use in the classroom, collaboration with other educators, and building your personal learning network via Twitter.

For a deep look into Twitter in the classroom visit Tom Barrett's Blog entry titled Twitter - A Teaching and Learning Tool.

How to you use Twitter in the classroom?

Want to Tweet with me on Twitter? Find me here. Where can I find you?

References:

Barrett, Tom. (2008, March 29). Twitter - A Teaching and Learning Tool. Message posted to http://tbarrett.edublogs.org

Lucier, Rodd. (2009). Twitter for Teachers. Retrieved March 9, 2009 from http://live.classroom20.com/1/post/2009/03/twitter-for-teachers-special-guest-rodd-lucier1.html

Phillips, Courtney. (n.d.). Top 100 Edu Tweeters. Retrieved March 10, 2009 from http://www.onlinedegreeworld.com/blog/2009/top-100-edu-tweeters/

Twitter for Teachers. (n.d). Retrieved March 9, 2009 from http://twitterforteachers.wetpaint.com/

Williams, Evan. (2009). How Twitter's spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses. Retrieved March 9, 2009 from http://www.ted.com/talks/evan_williams_on_listening_to_twitter_users.html

Analysis of Web 2.0 Tools

Before web 2.0 tools can be integrated into the classroom and curriculum, they have to be evaluated. Fancy graphics, web hype, and cool features don't necessarily make the best web 2.0 tool.

I subscribe to the RSS feed of many educational technology blog that review web resources, however the best method I have found was introduced to me through my graduate course work. Wendy Drexler started a wiki titled Teach Web 2.0 to review Web 2.0 tools. The wiki uses a SWOT analysis to evaluate the tools. It is a tool that I access daily to add my thoughts and opinions to and read those of others.

If you are researching a web 2.0 tool, I encourage you to visit the Teach Web 2.0 wiki to see what others have said. If the tool is not on the wiki yet, go and ahead add it to help you analyze the tool and share your knowledge with others. The wiki is web 2.0 tool doing what web 2.0 tools do best - "harnessing collective intelligence" (O'Rielly, 2006).

In addition to considering the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a web 2.0 tool, I think it is important to consider the two following questions:

1. Does the tool enable us to do something we couldn't do before?
2. Does the tool enable us to do something we could do before, but better?
   

These questions are based on the questions Judi Harris encourages us to consider when implementing any technology into the classroom or curriculum (1998). I think the answers to these two questions help me see where a web 2.0 tool might be most effectively integrated into the the classroom.

How do you evaluate web 2.0 tools?

Note: I added the websites I subscribe to that regularly review new web 2.0 tools to the blog roll in the sidebar. Do you have any other great sources for web 2.0 tools?


References:

Harris, Judi. (1998). Harris, Judi. (1998). Wetware: Why Use Activities Structures. Retrieved March 5, 2009 from http://virtual-architecture.wm.edu/Foundation/wetware.html

O'Reilly, Tim. (2006). Web 2.0 Compact Definition: Trying Again. Retrieved March 6, 2009 from http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/12/web-20-compact.html

Teach Web 2.0. (nd). Retrieved March 6, 2009 from Teach Web 2.0 Wiki: http://teachweb2.wikispaces.com/

What is Web 2.0?

Before I can start discussing Web 2.0 tools and their integration into the classroom, I think it is important to reflect and discuss what defines a Web 2.0 tool.

This starts with the term Web 2.0 and where it originated. The term Web 2.0 was coined at a brainstorming session between O'Reilly Media and MediaLive International (O'Reilly, 2005). O'Reilly defines the term as:

"harnessing collective intelligence" (2006).

According to O'Reilly, there are a few basics which all Web 2.0 applications or tools have in common. These basics include:

• The Web is the platform
• Collaboration
• Data and Content Driven
• Continuous Improvement
• Simplicity in Programming
• Available on more than just the PC
  
• Rich, Interactive User Experience (O'Reilly, 2005)

Not all programs will meet all seven of these benchmarks, but the more they meet and the better they meet them will help one to decide if the program is really Web 2.0. Not all of the benchmarks are easily judgable by the average user. For me, this mean asking myself a series of questions when I encounter a new program:

• Ease of Use: What kind of account set-up is necessary? Does it require downloads or plug-ins that require updating? Is it free or is there a fee to use it? Does it interface with programs I am already using? Is it user friendly?
  
• Collaboration: Can I publish my work to the web? Can I see what others have done? Can I comment and/or receive comments on my work? Can I network with other users?
• Data & Content: Where is the data/content coming from? Can I change it? Can others change it? Can we share and combine our data/content? Where is my data/content stored?
  
• Continuous Improvement: Is is getting better? Is the program in beta? What are the future plans?
• Availability: Can I use it on a Mac and a PC? Does it have a mobile version? Does it have widget/gadget versions?
  

After reflecting on these questions to determine if the program meets the benchmarks for Web 2.0, I need to decide it if is a tool. Dictionary.com defines tool as something that can be "used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose". So, I add one more set of questions to the list:

• Purpose: What does it help me do? How does it help me do this?
  

Once I have reflected on these questions, I make a determination if what I am looking at is really a Web 2.0 tool. Just because it is not a Web 2.0 tool, doesn't mean it is an inferior tool or resource - it just is not what I am exploring here.

Web 2.0 tools do much more than just access the Internet and information. They change the user from being a mere onlooker to being a contributing member of the community. They thrive on the input and collaboration of their users. They are accessible from any computer in the world, by any user. They are constantly changing and adapting to keep up with the users' demands and needs.

What is your definition for a Web 2.0 tool?

References:

Dictionary.com (nd). Tool. Retrieved March 5, 2009 from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tool?qsrc=2888

O'Reilly, Tim. (2005). What is Web 2.0?. Retrieved March 5, 2009 from http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html?page=1

O'Reilly, Tim. (2006). Web 2.0 Compact Definition: Trying Again. Retrieved March 6, 2009 from http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/12/web-20-compact.html

Logging In

Welcome to "Tinkering with Technology", my space to discover, explore, and discuss web 2.0 tools and how to integrate them into the classroom and curriculum.

I am a graduate student at the University of Florida, pursuing a educational specialist degree in educational technology. Through out my course work I have taken a special interest in web 2.0 tools and student created content. I hope to be able deepen my understanding of these tools and how to use them in the classroom through this blog, while continuing to find new resources and ideas.

Part of discovering, exploring, and discussion web 2.0 tools and their integration into the classroom is building my personal learning network. Therefore, you can also find me in these places on the web:

• Twitter
• Apple Learning Exchange
  
• Flickr
• Del.icio.us
• Diigo
  

I always welcome your thoughts and comments and look forward to the sharing resources and information. Let the conversations begin!