Web 2.0 in Education

Recently I started following Encyclopedia Britannica's Blog. I didn't realize that this encyclopedia founding father had gotten on board with this web 2.0 tool. I enjoyed reading a variety of archived blog posts, but stumbled across this one regarding the Web 2.0 movement in education. Steve Hargadon wrote this interesting article that put a spin on Web 2.0 as being a big "part" of the future of education instead of Web 2.0 definitively being the "future" in itself.

He provides his own simplified definition of Web 2.0 specific to education as the use of the Internet as a two way medium where content is not only consumed but created. Hargadon goes on to list and explain important educational benefits of Web 2.0. He cited: engagement, authenticity, participation, openness and access to information, collaboration, creativity, passionate interest and personal expression, discussion, Asynchronous contributions, proactivity, and critical thinking. These benefits are specifically related to those standards that are expected of 21st century learners.

A specific quote that I particularly appreciate is in reference to fears of teachers and the fact that just because these tools are available doesn't mean that students will acquire all of the positive skills that are waiting within.

"... it helps to remember that most of the character traits of Web 2.0 mentioned above are significantly enhanced, if not dependent on, devoted adults helping to mentor and guide students. Having ready access to information does not make one a scholar, but it is scholars that we must help to create."

Wisconsin Fast Plant Model Video Podcast

This is a sample video podcast that my students created in science class to demonstrate their understanding of the Wisconsin Fast Plant's parts.

This video is also posted to Teachertube.

Rip-Mix

I began reading Wil Richardson's Blog entry called "Reading to Find: Rip-Mix Classrooms" and found myself following a path similar to what Richardson was describing.  Initially I thought Richardson's focus was on a tendency that a lot of us might be guilty of; reading on the web and getting carried away by a link flow and stumbling onto something that really interests us.   Specifically, reading on the web and becoming interested in a link and following it away from the original article before finishing reading it in it's entirety. Instead his intent was to show evidence that this method of web reading can be a good thing.  What followed was Richardson's account of his trail to finding the Rip-Mix Classrooms group and a few quick comments regarding their goal.  As I read Richardson's blog I was tempted to following many of the hyperlinks that he inserted throughout the article.  I held off these urges in direct contrast to the reading method he was promoting and finished reading the entire article.  After reading I followed the link to learn more about the Rip-Mix classrooms.  The people in this group collaborate and share recordings and notes on lectures for various courses with peers.  There is an obvious benefit for the majority and overall education of those involved.  However,  the major concern I can see professors would have with this practice is the sharing of exams, tests, and quizzes.  The group members encourage participants to contribute past assessments.  I am sure many professors recycle these and would not be thrilled with this idea.

Audio Podcast

I created this podcast using Garageband. I uploaded it to the hosting service called Gcast.


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I am curious to see if/how this works out.

My intention was to create a weekly update podcast that communicates important information regarding classroom activities to parents and students. I also submitted my podcast to iTunes.

"My Pyramid" Audio and Video Podcasts

As part of our 3rd grade Health Curriculum we utilize the MyPyramid.gov website and resources. I began subscribing to the video podcasts offered by the site. Initially I thought the podcasts might be beneficial for my students, but after viewing a few episodes I realized that they were designed for adult/teacher audiences. One episode in particular that I enjoyed was related to easy ways to get more active. The host interviewed a variety of people and one tip in particular that I liked was to park farther away from the entrance to stores. This simple step helps burn more calories and can add in a few extra minutes of exercise. I will continue to subscribe to these podcast episodes. I am considering the having my students create video podcasts to jigsaw teach the content from one of our health units.

Have a Minute?

This week I started subscribing to a podcast through iTunes called "The Princeton Review Vocabulary Minute". This podcast broadcasts a new episode every day. The podcast itself lasts only one minute and teaches four vocabulary words through easy going and sometimes silly lyrics. Each episode is rated for the appropriate grade level, but I believe each song can be appreciated by most grades above 3rd or 4th. Many students claim that music is their life and can cite lyric upon lyric from their favorite artist, but have trouble remembering vocabulary and word meanings given by their teacher. Although these songs are definitely not performed by popular artists they still have the ability to get stuck in your head. I recommend that you check these out for yourself, even if they are not appropriate for your students.

Editing a Wikipedia Article

I decided to check out the information on Wikipedia regarding my hometown of Bellevue, PA. After browsing the information listed there I realized that one section was lacking. There is a section dedicated to Notable Residents of Bellevue. Now I know that Bellevue is not exactly celebrity city but because I've lived in this borough my entire life I knew that there had been more Notable Residents than four. I actually believe that I could add a lot to the list, but chose to add one individual who is a positive force in the communities. This man visits many schools in the Pittsburgh area and lends his meteorologist expertise and great personality to making learning about weather fun! I am referring to none other than KDKA's Weather Man, Dennis Bowman. Check out Bellevue's Page on Wikipedia and pay special attention to the last entry under Notable Residents.

Special Thanks to Laura Ann for finding the great Wikipedia Editing How-To!

Top 10 Uses for Smartboards According to SMARTboard Lessons 148

I found this podcast (SMARTboards Lessons by Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger) and subscribed immediately.  I have access to an Airliner in my classroom and have used it a variety of times, but am always searching for new ways to implement it into classroom activities.  

An Airliner is similar to a smart board in that it makes whatever you are projecting interactive.  It takes a little more practice to get used to because you use a wireless slate to interact with your screen (instead of touching and drawing directly on a SMARTboard).  

The actual episode that I listened to is a compilation of their Top 10 Uses for SMARTboards in the classroom.  What better place to start listening.    One obvious use was as an attention grabber.  It is a no brainer that any kind of cool newer technology will ring the students' bell.  However Ben and Joan were quick to follow that use with the idea of not using the technology as the main focus of the lesson.  This reminds me of the saying we hear and read all the time, "technology integration is not using technology just for technology's sake."  Instead these podcasters suggest that the SMARTboard itself should become "transparent" during the lesson.  It should be a tool that the students become comfortable and familiar with so that the real learning can take place.    The SMARTboard should become a peripheral rather than the focus of any lesson.

Another great suggestion is that you can use the technology to annotate whatever it might be you are teaching right now.  You can write directly over whatever is already being presented.  This allows teachers to show their thinking out loud and really gives you the opportunity to model your thinking.  This is also suggested for annotating student thought and ideas.  Students can contribute to the lessons and share their thinking.

Here is a slide show that the authors posted to their website.  It includes all of the 10 suggestions for use. 

Top 10 Ways To Use Your Smart Board

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: iwb interactivewhiteboard)

Bloglines Magic?

After watching the video, "RSS in Plain English", I was excited to get started with my own RSS aggregator. There are a variety of news websites in particular that I wish I had more time to visit. A few people made comments in last week's chat about not having the time they wanted to browse news and information sites that interest them. I think this is a popular feeling for people who do not utilize an RSS aggregator. I chose to try Bloglines because it sounded relatively simple to get started with. When I was first getting started, I wasn't sure exactly how to get subscribed to the specific feeds I was interested in. I tried to copy and paste the url for the RSS feed, but was having difficulty getting the aggregator to recognize new feeds from those sites. Instead, I stumbled onto a very easy solution. Bloglines offers a "Bloglines Subscription Button" that can be added easily to your browser bookmark bar. For Safari all I had to do was drag and drop the button onto my bookmarks menu. From there, any time I visited a site with an available RSS feed all I had to do was click on the Sub with Bloglines button and it was automatically added to my bloglines feeds menu. Having access to all of my favorite news and magazine articles in one location definitely allows me to at least get an idea of what the new information out there is all about. It does cut down on travel time (getting to and finding new information) but the aggregator still doesn't magically create additional time to read the more in depth articles. At the least you can catch a glimpse of hot news.

My bottom line on RSS aggregators: Wonderful tool that keeps you informed about new content being posted to your favorite sites, but has no solution for the magic needed to create more time to read those articles! Subscribing to and getting interesting feeds delivered to you is certainly addictive.

The best things about using the Bloglines tool and RSS feeds in general this week was the ability to be very specific as to the content you are subscribing to. I love that ESPN and even the Pittsburgh Penguins have specific feeds that you can subscribe to. You don't have to get all the headlines from the entire sports world. It is possible to just get feeds regarding your favorite teams or even feeds that are only photo galleries.

Week 2 Online Chat Thoughts/Comments

Week 2 (November 3) Recorded Chat Session
Thoughts and Comments

(1. Housekeeping)
James Beeghley: Ok, I updated the Assignments section of the course to match the course syllabus

My understanding of the assignments for each week is as follows:

Blogging Assignment – Read, watch, or listen to some form of article, podcast, online conference, or other blog then post an original reflection regarding that item on our own blog or post our reflection in the form of a meaningful comment on that actual item wherever it may be.

Then check out some of our classmates’ reflections and post comments or thoughts on what they said.

Finally post the Urls linking to all of these comments, which we have made, on the appropriate week on the Blackboard discussion board.

All of this work is to compensate for the hours required of the course that would otherwise be completed in a traditional class meeting or in an online chat for 4 hours.

Weekly Assignments - Reading – Read the required chapters in the text and be prepared to discuss the appropriate content during the online chat sessions on Monday night. Other – Complete any other assigned projects/assignments during the week before 5:00 on Monday night. For example: Using an RSS aggregator to track a variety of RSS feeds and writing a reflection about them on our blog as instructed. Area of possible confusion – You are always required to complete the regular blogging assignments, however there may be additional reflections being posted on your blog necessary to complete any additional weekly assignments.

(2. Blogs)
James Beeghley: "A blog, therefore, is and has always been more than the online equivalent of a personal journal. Though consisting of regular (and often dated) updates, the blog adds to the form of the diary by incorporating the best features of hypertext: the capacity to link to new and useful resources.

I agree with this statement regarding what a blog is. In the most simplistic version a blog could be an online personal journal. But using blogs in that sense is severely lacking the use of so many features that are not only convenient, helpful, and revealing, but also easy to master. It is really amazing how complex and professional a blog can appear. It seems like only yesterday that if you navigated to a page that had that kind of appearance, content, hyper-abilities, and collaboration, you would be on a professional or techno-elite page. The blogging services make it so simple and fast to create online spaces that can really be a personal reflection and can be as complex as you wish.

The reasons for the use of blogs in education are many. One of my favorites is the ability to instantly be published. Along with that is the ability to share or spread your thoughts and ideas freely, immediately, and in a format that can be accessed from almost anywhere. The ability to receive feedback on your work from any audience is also a valuable reason. Especially for student work, it can be a wake up call to students that anyone (peers in particular) could read their work, not just their teacher.

James Beeghley: Blogs offer students, faculty, staff, and others a high level of autonomy while creating a new opportunity for interaction with peers. Blogs provide a forum for discussion that goes beyond coursework to include culture, politics, and other areas of personal exploration. Students often learn as much from each other as from instructors or textbooks, and blogs offer another mechanism for peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and acquisition.

I strongly agree with the idea that students learn a large amount from each other. Through observation, discussion, and collaboration in the physical world students learn and pick up on so much from a very young age. I feel socializing and interaction is a great learning experience and lends the same kinds of benefits to the Web 2.0 format. However, I wish that students were able to develop and acquire word processing skills (or web type) consistently and along with their verbal and hand writing skills. This would facilitate greater use of the Web technologies in the classroom. I find my greatest hang-up with implementing blogs, wikis, and other like tools to be student speed of typing. Often times I think of opportunities where a blog would be an ideal format, but in reality the actual time needed for the physical process of contributing seems to negate the benefit of the activity.

Week 1 Online Chat Thoughts/Comments

Week 1 (October 27) Recorded Chat Session Thoughts and Comments James Beeghley: Please take a moment to introduce yourself. My name is Peter May. I teach 3rd grade Language Arts, Science, Math, and Social Studies at Edgeworth Elementary in the Quaker Valley School District. I have been teaching at Edgeworth since I graduated from Gannon University in 2004. At Quaker Valley I coach the Freshman Boys Basketball team and the Elementary FIRST Lego and Robotics team. This is the fourth course I have taken towards a M.Ed. in Technology at Waynesburg. I missed the first 2 online chat sessions and am completing these reflections to make up for the participation. James Beeghley: so, what is Web 2.0? My understanding of Web 2.0 is that it is a movement for using technologies that may have already existed in new ways. It really doesn’t refer to any new technology or products, but to the way in which existing software and the web as a whole are utilized. It’s referring to using the web as a platform for dynamic communication and collaboration. Jim listed four basic application of technology that make up Web 2.0: Social networking, wikis, folksonomis, and blogs. James Beeghley: What would be an example of social networking? Some social networking examples that came to mind immediately were the popular free services of Myspace and Facebook. I don’t use these because of the reasons some other students cited. There isn’t a great way to control the content that can appear on your “personal” site. In the past I created a Myspace account due to peer pressure from old high school and college buddies who wanted to stay in touch. I never customized my account or added personal information. However, new and old friends were quick to post a variety of questionable content. I quickly realized it wasn’t the best idea for these comments, images, and videos to be broadcast on the Internet for anyone to see. I understand that people say even if you delete your account, it is not really gone. I understand that the content is still stored somewhere, but if your account itself is deleted or at the least inactive I have a hard time believing that other users could view it. Someone referred to a Myspace for businesses. I did a quick search and found a product that was supposed to be released in April of 2007. It is called Appspace. Here is a quick blurb I found regarding its aim: AppSpace, which allows businesses to create customer-facing portals on demand, will be available in limited release beginning in April. The software, the latest in Salesforce.com's rapid software-as-a-service roll-out strategy, allows companies to engage their customers by sharing documents with them or soliciting feedback through forums. AppSpace customers will also be able to add and share other on-demand enterprise applications with their customers. Not sure if this product has ever really gotten off the ground. The only articles I can find about it are talking about its release in the Spring of 2007. James Beeghley: so what is a wiki To clarify or comment on a question raised in this portion of the chat… “I thought the difference between a blog and a wiki was the number of authors? A blog is essentially created and maintained by 1 author and a wiki is collaborative?” I think Laura Ann is on the right track with this comment. However both a wiki and a blog lend themselves to collaboration. A wiki has many authors and any content on it can be edited or added to by those authors (assuming it is public). A blog on the other hand is created and maintained by one author, but can be added to in the form of comments stemming from the original authors thought’s or posts. I think that a successful blog or wiki must be collaborative in that multiple perspectives and ideas are shared. This idea reminds me of a popular “teacher” poster “None of us is as smart as all of us.” Just as we collaborate in the classroom through open discussions, brainstorming, KWLW activities, and coming to a genuine collective understanding, these activities can also be done in the web 2.0 world. James Beeghley: So, you can collaborate and edit informaiton. Lots of cool wikis out there. What about folksonomy? I am a fan of cloud tags especially. I appreciate the visual representation of tags in folksonomy. I use Del.icio.us to bookmark and share resources with my colleagues and try my best to tag my bookmarks appropriately with language that they would be apt to use. I think the big idea with folksonomy is that content is collectively classified by users with common sense keywords as opposed to using a specific predetermined vocabulary or other system of classification.

Old Media

I decided to check out Wil 's Blog, and one of his most recent posts caught my interest (Mourning Old Media...).  In this blog entry Wil discussed the transformation of "old" Media into new "digital" media.  He referred to some methods of editing and publishing that really can make someone feel old.  For example the old fashioned ditto machines and copy-editing using an old green pen.  He talked about gathering a variety of print newspapers so his students could find worthwhile articles or stories.  

Although I wasn't instructing students and using those materials as teaching tools like Wil, I can still remember my teachers using them.  His post really does make you see just how far the world of media has come in not that long of a time period.  I decided to think about the topic of editing and sharing student work.  For some (most, myself included) students the traditional writing process of drafting, editing, rewriting and publishing can be torture. The physical act of rewriting your own words multiple times was enough to make you forget all about your topic or passion for your work.  The collaboration capabilities of modern word processing application, like Microsoft Word, can almost eliminate the hand cramps and paper pencil task of creating any type of writing.  Students can now accomplish the lion's share of typing once and save their work along with changes easily.  For collaboration, students can add comments or keep track of changes to a document then choose whether or not to include them in their final work.  Document files can be shared between teacher and student via the internet or a web server's drop box, then edited and returned to the student.  If a student's typing skills are on par the entire writing process can be cut down significantly in terms of time.  

Publishing work is also exponentially easier and can reach an almost unimaginable audience in no time.  Email, websites, blogs, podcasts, electronic newsletters, and other forms of communication can get a document out and about before paper copies can be picked up from a printer!

Wil goes on to make reference to a quote from an article in the NY Times by David Carr.  The quote asked you to think about where you were reading the article (paper format or some digital method).  It made the point clear that if you actually had a physical copy in hand you were a part of the minority!  

The final idea that I wanted to highlight is that of the decline in actual trusted print news sources.  It is scary to think that even Eric Schmidt the Chief Executive of Google stated he worried,  "that if the great brands of journalism — the trusted news sources readers have relied on — were to vanish, then the Web itself would quickly become a “cesspool” of useless information." 

It is more important now than ever that we prepare our students to be critical readers and load them with the skills they need to distinguish between good information sources and bad.