Action Resaerch Blog on iwewb

igoogle homepage

ETC igoogle screenshot

file:///Users/cs/Desktop/Screen%20shot%202009-10-26%20at%207.26.05%20PM.png

ETC page shows different projects for the class taken in October, 2009.

BP#13_200910_#3persuasive_video#2

This web site, AskForAnswer is a great new resource for teachers and students.

Check it out!

BP#12_200910_@_persuasive_video#1

I loved the freedom that igoogle web sites gives the teacher and will provide for students. Google isn't a search engine it's a verb, and now it's such an easy website to build with so many different options,--I hate to be disloyal to iweb--but I think I like it better with all it's versatility and that it is free.

BP#12_200910_@_persuasive_video#1

file:///Users/cs/Desktop/igooglevideo.m4v

BP#!!_20091018_Comment_on_other_work

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2009

BP13_2009103_Web_20_Tools_Jamglue.com

Another music mixer site is www.Jamglue.com. This site looks to be completely free, has a lot of riffs and tracks to use, and students could upload their own tracks. Full Sail University uses this site for advertisement, too, so it must be good!

The tutorial is very user friendly. As soon as the first mixing page opens, a guided tutorial starts. It's good because it instructs learners to stop and restart the tutorial in order for the learner to do what was being demonstrated or explained. I was successfully creating tracks through the tutorial, and that usually requires a Digital Native to help me navigate through the jargon! The site is also intuitive; but, with the tutorial, the stress is completely managed to easy use. I like the array of sounds available for use and that users can add to the library.

I don't see the collaborative use just like Indabamusic.com, but tracks can be created, shared and used by others.

I think this could be a useful tool as a first step into the world of creating music online. Then, for the more savvy users, Indabamusic could be their next step.

BP14_2009103_Web 2.0 Comment to another blog

Sunday, October 18, 2009

BP14_2009103_Web 2.0 Comment to another blog

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2009

BP10_2009102_Flickr

Flatbobby

When I discovered this activity, I’m not certain which rush came first, being excited about the potential project or impressed by the simplicity of the idea. Flatbobby (http://flatbobby.blogspot.com/) combines two web 2.0 tools, blogger.com and flickr.com.

Flatbobby is reminiscent of “Where’s Waldo?” in that there is a character, Flatbobby, who is found in a variety of scenes and places. The genius and twist of the project is made possible by the interactive nature of web 2.0 tools. Flatbobby, originally mailed from place to place and host to host can now be “cloned” or printed and posed for pictures complete with stories of adventures and comments from around the globe. The pictures are posted on flickr.com by Flatbobby’s hosts and are collectively brought together into a blogger account so that everyone can see, share, and comment on the travels and adventures of Flatbobby. Did I mention this project was done by a K-8 student?

Popscreen.com

This is an amazing and relatively new web 2.0 tool that allows the user to bookmark online video, viral video and to be able to collect and share them across the web. KillerStartups.com gave this site a high rating as it is very interactive with other social networking sites. I chose this site because it probably isn't something that I would "go-to" as a first choice for a classroom of high school or college students, but I would go with it after they had learned other social networking technologies. I could also see used outside of the classroom between family and friends as they kept in touch with each other. Media has grown through the web and hand held devices to be a lot more about entertainment and a lot less about the news. Opinion pieces and editorials delivered through all media assets abound. And, why not? People are looking for a way to connect that isn't confrontational. It's best to keep it llight and therefore news and entertainment have gotten all mixed up. Popscreen appeals to this type of user, but as stated, I think it could be used for more serious purposes other than "have you see the latest?" It is after all in the final analysis a cultural commentary of our times, our tastes and ideals. I would use it primarily as a bookmarking service as students would be able to collect videos and use them for class projects through screensaver and other tools. I think it would be a worthwhile bookmarking service to subscribe and it's free!
Below is a screenshot of the website.

Dropico.com

This new sight tutorial shows the potential to work between twitter, facebook, and flickr to create an amazing social networking product. I chose Dropico because I can see it being used in the private sector as well as in the classroom environment. My interests lie beyond the classroom. I am thinking of ways to engage seniors in technology to write memoirs and stay connected with their families. Seniors can suffer from loneliness and depression due to shrinking horizons and capabilities. Technology turns the corner and can take seniors down a different path, just as it has done for other digital immigrants. This web site is easy to use and allows many creative applications. The ones I chose included ideas for storytelling with digital photos or photos that have been added to a digital library, a way to write and blog with family members or to use as the platform for writing memoirs and stosries--whether for seniors or kids, or any age in between.

Edu20.org

I was so excited when I found this open source for teaching online. If a teacher wanted to teach online but didn't know how to get started, this is a one-stop shop! Users are can be either a student or a teacher. If you see yourself as an online teacher in the future, such as myself, this is a positive way to get started without having to re-invent the wheel. This site is free to join and takes just a couple of minutes to sign up. You can teach as many classes as you want. It has all the resources and organization tools--libraries and data bases--up and ready to access for student learning and assessments. The website itself couldn't be more user friendly. I an looking forward to the time when I am ready to click the join button--when I have my curriculum ideas set and ready to go. View the YouTube tutorial below and enjoy this wonderful resources!

Flickr and Lesson Plan

October 15, 2009

Flickr is a photo web service started in 2004 that has become very successful as an archival site used both personally and professionally. Flickr goes further than other such web services and offers extensive social bookmarking capabilities that ?tag? or cross-reference all uploads so that they can easily be accessed through tagging services such as del.icio.us.com. Flickr is a yahoo service and serves millions of people.

As a web 2.0 tool, this site definitely has educational uses. One of the best uses is for teaching language. Looking through the many possible sites when googling for lesson plans, yielded plans that dealt mostly with teaching language in some fashion: ESL, foreign or in the regular English classroom. Being a former literacy teacher, I could easily see the advantages of doing a Flickr search and finding pictures I could use for any number of lesson plans and certainly think it is applicable to any grade level, K-college. Flickr, once learned, is an easy, safe way to bring visual literacy into the classroom, and I could see it going way beyond just English. Having pictures would add spice and variety (remember brain based learning and the need for novelty?) to any content area.

I also see Flickr is an opportunity for the teacher to look at visual images and expand their own imaginations about what they could do with them. I saw Flickr as a perfect web tool to teach media literacy.
How simple to use for advertising and news and what?s real and what isn?t! It can offer a real compliment to YouTube and other viewer-friendly informational sites. The lesson plan that I chose to print out was from http://esl.about.com/od/converationlessonplans/a/l_flickr.htm, which outlined a lesson for ESL students but could also be used in a ?regular? English classroom. Looking at the lesson plan made me think not only of media literacy instruction, but expanding visual literacy in the classroom through learning body language for writing skills and also social skills lessons for counselors working with pullout groups. I could see its use outside of the classroom in the adult ed world, such as teaching seniors writing lessons on descriptive writing through using the same techniques if they wanted to write their memoirs for instance, as well as the benefits to seniors of learning web 2.0 tools. The use of the Flickr service offers opportunities both in and out of the traditional classroom.

tom mcnamee post

BP6_2009102_Web2.0_Review_epals

I have been looking for a website in which my students can communicate with other students, whether that be another city, state or country. The obvious issue is safety; I needed a site that I wouldn’t have to monitor 24/7. The site epals.com fit my needs.

The site is designed with the classroom in mind. It is divided into content sections as well as having areas in which you can search for the type of connection you want to make. It is very interesting to search through the classroom descriptions and read about classrooms around the world.

I would use this site as a means to improve my students’ communications skills. By leveraging blogs and forums, I would be able to get students to really take audience into consideration. My action research project is actually on this very topic, and I will most likely use this application in some form to further my findings.

Using social networks to improve writing is crucial, especially for students whose first language is not English. One tool that the epals site uses is the ability to translate languages. Currently, the site can translate in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean and Spanish. What’s nice is that students will also be improving their foreign language skills at the same time, so the site lends itself with cross-curriculum lessons.

Ultimately, the site’s greatest attribute is the fact that it can connect students to other students and make their voices relevant. Too often, students are mandated to simply write to the teacher and then receive limited feedback (of which is mostly negative). By allowing students the opportunity to participate in a social networking community like this it gives students validation that others support their ideas. It also gives them feedback from a source other than the teacher and is something different and fun. Whenever a lesson can be viewed as unique in students’ eyes, they will more than often, try harder because it isn’t the same old thing.

Visit epals at: http://www.epals.com/

The video below is a brief introduction to the website.

epals

FSO student said...

Thanks for the great post on this website. Authentic audience is a great way to address the complaints of students feeling that they shouldn't have to do so much writing as many view practice as busy, meaningless work. Having an audience that will monitor what you say and the quality of your work is a 21st century peer review of sorts. Epal is definitely a site that can be used for that purpose. Further, our group project last month was around building communities using the internet--establishing collaborative academic relationships to solve real world problems. This site, though not previously noted, would have been a great place as a teacher to start the lesson design and plans.
On a lighter note, I used to teach audience to my 6th graders by having them write a letter to their parents, a friend, teacher, principal, president explaining what they did to their babysitter. It was light hearted and the students enjoyed learning the concept of audience with this little introductory exercise. Thanks for your post.

October 11, 2009 5:11 PM

2.0 tools in English classroom

BG#1_20091011_2.0_tools_in_classroom

Technology can get crazy because there is so much of it, and it is ever-expanding. Although I love the social bookmarking and sharing, I think that for a teacher just beginning to really integrate technology into a classroom that some of the basics are the best. Get those mastered, really understand and know what the terminologies are, and then move onto more sophisticated and novel applications. I would choose as my three applications: blogging, podcasting, and igoogle. All of these applications can be used with any browser on any system--PC or Mac. Therefore, it cuts across the technology divide in that is present in the classroom.

Blogging:

Blogging can be tailored with Blogspot.com to include groups that are private and can be monitored pretty easily by the teacher. That said, there are quite a few new blog sites out that are designed strictly for educational blogging such as those on http://techlearning.com/blog/.

But as a beginner, I'm willing to stick to the blog selected for us in this course. I will apply this in the following way in my classroom:

1. Students will go from journaling/written responses to literature in their composition books to journaling online. They will be required to post to other students blog systematically.

2. Students will have an opportunity to blog a topic they would like to research with another student from another classroom (or country).

3. As students learn more 2.0 tools, they will be allowed to embed media assets in their blogs.

Podcasting:

1. There are so many apps available for podcasting that I think a whole semester in just about any content area could be taught with just this tool. Again starting with the basics, I would start with the history of radio and relate what radio used to do to what podcasting does now.

2. Using available apps, students can set up a podcast as an audio file first, with assessments ranging from practicing fluency to actually acting out a story on line ( old radio).

3. Students would create in group a podcast showing learning by creating tutorials and/or discussions around books they've read.

4. Students can learn to create video podcasting using the above criteria once they have mastered audio podcasting.

5. Students will learn how to use other web 2.0 tools, RSS feeds and readers as part of the final process.

iGoogle:

With such a suite of applications, this one is hard to ignore. Students would be able to use the igoogle email account, web site and gadgets from the beginning of the school year.

Learning would be:

1. Personal web pages, management, self-reliance, ownership, 21st century learning skills that students can use across content areas.

2. Ability to post to multiple sites such as Facebook which interacts with many more sites; sites to add in igoogle feel close to infinite.

3. Ability to establish a Personal Learning Environment and further explore web 2.0.

Social Bookmarking for Educational Purposes

Social bookmarking is a phenomenon that began in 2003 and has slowly made its way into the minds and hearts of educators. ?Social bookmarking is the habit or practice of saving bookmarks to a web site and ?tagging? them with keywords. Social bookmarking sites are a popular way to store, classify, share and search links? (http://wiki.classroom2.0.com/Social+Bookmarking, 2009). Social bookmarking uses a ?Web-based service instead of your browser to save and organize bookmarks.

file:///Users/cs/Desktop/Screen%20shot%202009-10-11%20at%206.50.57%20PM.png

(http://www.education_world.com/a_tech.sites/sites080.shtml).
Social bookmarking has clear advantages some overt and some covert?in other words some are obvious and some are ?discoverables.? Without researching, the most obvious advantage is in the time saving that comes with shared learning and not re-inventing the wheel like a hamster and being on the never-ending treadmill of constantly looking for new sources. Social bookmarking provides resources beyond the beleaguered media specialist in the building to finding resources from around the world. And the discoverable here is the ability to make virtual friends that can last well beyond the initial sharing and multiply learning through this type of connection. ?Unintended learning [occurs] through the discovery of resources and information shared by others through bookmarks? (http://www.teachinghacks.com/wiki/index.php?title=Social_bookmarking_tools).
?When you add a website to your social bookmarks, you assign it tags? (http://web2tutorial.wikispaces.com/social_bookmarks) which are single keywords created by the user to identify and categorize a website for later use that make
Educational Uses for Social Bookmarking
sense of the user?not the browser. Multiple tags (keywords) can be assigned to one website. There is no limit to tags per site, and multi tags allow the user to have any site cross-referenced in as many places as they think it would help. The resultant efficiency and efficacy for learning is obvious.
Although social bookmarking allows for the educator to tag and instantly organize, then share, any website on the internet, these bookmarking websites are unfiltered. Therefore, it is not a good idea to teach younger students to use it. ?This service is easy to use and free, buy because there is no filter, it?s more appropriate for educators than students? (http://www.education_world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml). However, teachers can use bookmarking for group work that allows the student to bookmark during a lecture and review/share later. Another idea is for students to bookmark a lesson prior to a lecture?pre-reading?and share with the group. Teachers can avoid some problems of the unfiltered sites through monitoring computer use at school and also require to be included on the student?s share list.
Therefore, the advantage to the educator is for personal use. Bookmarking and sharing sites enable the user to magnify the potential of viable resources. The time-benefit potential is enormous. Teachers using websites such as del.icio.us.com will find more ways to integrate it into the classroom, understanding but it?s limitations and its capacity for real world, interactive research.




References
Links to Classroom 2.0 Social Network Discussions (2009). Retrieved October 6,
2009 from classroom 2dot0 Web site: http://wiki.classroom 20.com/Social+
Bookmarking
Sites to See: Social Bookmarking (2009). Retrieved October 6, 2009 from Education
World technology in the classroom
http://www.education_world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml
Social bookmarking (2009), Retrieved October 6, 2009 from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking
Social bookmarking tools: What is social bookmarking (2009). Retrieved October 6,
2009 from web site http://www.teachinghacks.com/wiki/index.php?title=Social_
bookmarking_tools
Social bookmarking is a phenomenon that began in 2003 and has slowly made its way into the minds and hearts of educators. ?Social bookmarking is the habit or practice of saving bookmarks to a web site and ?tagging? them with keywords. Social bookmarking sites are a popular way to store, classify, share and search links? (http://wiki.classroom2.0.com/Social+Bookmarking, 2009). Social bookmarking uses a ?Web-based service instead of your browser to save and organize bookmarks? (http://www.education_world.com/a_tech.sites/sites080.shtml).
Social bookmarking has clear advantages some overt and some covert?in other words some are obvious and some are ?discoverables.? Without researching, the most obvious advantage is in the time saving that comes with shared learning and not re-inventing the wheel like a hamster and being on the never-ending treadmill of constantly looking for new sources. Social bookmarking provides resources beyond the beleaguered media specialist in the building to finding resources from around the world. And the discoverable here is the ability to make virtual friends that can last well beyond the initial sharing and multiply learning through this type of connection. ?Unintended learning [occurs] through the discovery of resources and information shared by others through bookmarks? (http://www.teachinghacks.com/wiki/index.php?title=Social_bookmarking_tools).
?When you add a website to your social bookmarks, you assign it tags? (http://web2tutorial.wikispaces.com/social_bookmarks) which are single keywords created by the user to identify and categorize a website for later use that make
Educational Uses for Social Bookmarking
sense of the user?not the browser. Multiple tags (keywords) can be assigned to one website. There is no limit to tags per site, and multi tags allow the user to have any site cross-referenced in as many places as they think it would help. The resultant efficiency and efficacy for learning is obvious.
Although social bookmarking allows for the educator to tag and instantly organize, then share, any website on the internet, these bookmarking websites are unfiltered. Therefore, it is not a good idea to teach younger students to use it. ?This service is easy to use and free, buy because there is no filter, it?s more appropriate for educators than students? (http://www.education_world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml). However, teachers can use bookmarking for group work that allows the student to bookmark during a lecture and review/share later. Another idea is for students to bookmark a lesson prior to a lecture?pre-reading?and share with the group. Teachers can avoid some problems of the unfiltered sites through monitoring computer use at school and also require to be included on the student?s share list.
Therefore, the advantage to the educator is for personal use. Bookmarking and sharing sites enable the user to magnify the potential of viable resources. The time-benefit potential is enormous. Teachers using websites such as del.icio.us.com will find more ways to integrate it into the classroom, understanding but it?s limitations and its capacity for real world, interactive research.




References
Links to Classroom 2.0 Social Network Discussions (2009). Retrieved October 6,
2009 from classroom 2dot0 Web site: http://wiki.classroom 20.com/Social+
Bookmarking
Sites to See: Social Bookmarking (2009). Retrieved October 6, 2009 from Education
World technology in the classroom
http://www.education_world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml
Social bookmarking (2009), Retrieved October 6, 2009 from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking
Social bookmarking tools: What is social bookmarking (2009). Retrieved October 6,
2009 from web site http://www.teachinghacks.com/wiki/index.php?title=Social_
bookmarking_tools

Anti-teaching

The articles/videos provided are inspiring and scary. They highlight the reasoning behind the paradigm shift we are trying to achieve in our classrooms as a result of taking the EMDT program.
The good news is that we have the net and can openly discuss, without personal incrimination, that students are disinterested in learning. The discussion is becoming prevalent and parents are in as much despair in many cases as teachers. It is interesting that money and politics don't seem to be entering into the discussion. It isn't about those "causes of problems" for a change--it's about the curriculum and the teaching methods that are outdated and have been, for at least a quarter of a century, very far behind the learning curve of the students. Now the back room grumblings of all involved are now in the classroom, the dining room, and the school boardrooms. What to do-what to do--what to do?
Virtual Learning environments with the CMS can provide high hopes as the next bridge to a new and brighter horizon. There is the brain-based motivational strategy of novelty, the interactivity of 2.0 complete with the need of connectivity through social networking. Students are much more involved in their curriculum and the the PLE, a new and exciting instructional design has been added--the student being the interactive learner-the teacher being the guide, not just the disseminator of information.
And, is technology in and of itself, enough? For right now, it is a huge step. Once all classroom environments are wired, who knows? My guess is not. My guess is that students still need to get up and move around in the K-12 environment. My guess is they need acting and art and music to keep their minds and hearts in balance. My guess is that if you saturate students with any method--no matter how novel--they will eventually tire of it--because we're not just talking about learning environments and teaching protocol, we're talking about human nature. If I had a perfect school, it would be in-door/outdoor and every room would have the arts incorporated into the working day. There would be not only the one wonderful class design that Wesch described, but there would be many of the physical environments as outlined in the brain based learning and multiple intelligences would be applied in all lesson planning, as would the Socratic method and other critical thinking questioning techniques.
Planned Learning Environments (PLE) has a wonderful future, but as pointed out, there are still too many flaws, and it certainly would have to be greatly amended and/or taught in small segments to students younger than high school. I have some problems with the concept of PLE insofar as if it is the sole way that students would learn in all of their courses, it might create a situation where once again, the student is creating a virtual reality that doesn't necessary translate into the real world. However, many of the 21st century learning skills such as self-reliance, responsibility, critical thinking are certainly necessary to complete the task. PLE has an exciting future along with CMS and web 2.0 We're all on the cutting edge, which means we're ahead of the curve, but we haven't completely refined the curve, or gotten around to the other side yet.

Educational uses for blogs

As stated in FSO's dashboard link, "Through blogging, students can improve writing skills, learn from each other, add information, and become more confident in their knowledge. Students learn to write responsibly" (Solomon & Schrum, 2007). Bingo! I'm totally committed. Trying to work with students and get them motivated to write better is my Action Research. I can see the excitement in the student's eyes when they are asked to blog. I can see the excitement when the kids have to write the script, but are more focused on performing it. I can see the excitement when the kids draw cartoons and then learn to make them into graphic short stories. The trick is to have them practice their writing without calling it writing. And perform it! If kids are responsible to each other in front of everyone else--they will do their darnedest to do a great job. Blogging is the future and it is now. The sooner we get our students online in the blogosphere, the better!