Category Archives: Web 2.0 Tools

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Finer Points of Web 2.0 (Live Blog NCETC)

November 26, 2007.

Attending Workshop the session is on the Finer Points of Web 2.0 by David Warlick.

Next to me is Carrie Willamson and Julie Williams.
Topics to discuss are: Podcasting, wikis, Virtual Reality, Blogs, Social Networking Virtual Learning, Social Networking
Handouts at: http://handouts.davidwarlick.com

Wiki Notes: http://web2atncetc.wikispaces.com/

Tools: Twitter and Ajax Chat Open-Source Ajax Chat that we can install on a server.

Podcasting: Audacity, Castblaster [ Garageband or Ubercaster (Mac Only)]

Sounds Effects: Partners in Rhyme is a good Royalty free sound effects.

For more on podcasting notes: see http://web2atncetc.wikispaces.com/podcasting as I became the note taker for podcasting.

Wikis:
The two best free sources are: wikispaces or pbwiki. Both are free and can be password protected.

Example of wikis from David
Have a scribe post notes of the day from class

Work with colleagues to brainstorm ideas.

Virtual Reality/ Multi User Virtual Environment – Teen Second Life
How does information storage change when you can organize Suriawang Daptop is David in Second Life

Edu Island is for educators in Second Life. Discovery Education Network has an island as does ISTE.

Common Craft does a great job on showing what a wiki is and how it is useful.

Blogs:
Software: epals.com, gaggle.net, imbee.com, and 21classes.com

Tools: Clustrmaps.com – get tracking on your blog Technorati.com tracks blogs and ranks them by number of folks who link to the blog.

Aggregators for RSS: Bloglines or Google Reader. The following 2 sites are more then an aggregator and can be used as a starting page for your browser. NetVibes.com, PageFlakes.com Most of these tools can be embedded into a Moodle course or blog.

Social Media:

Flickr/creativecommons for photos that are able to be used in schools.

Flickr.com/photos/tags/map to get photographs that were tagged as maps

Tagging:

Blogpulse: This will allow you to bring in via RSS any blog entry that has been written with the tags

Hitchhikr.com is a list of conferences that will be happening or in one month or so forth.

Virtual Learning and Social Networks:
Facebook.com
Mahara.org – Open Source eportfolio and social networks

Information Literacy
4 E’s based on the 3 R’s
The ability to expose the truth, can you employ the information, writing becomes can you express it completely so your communication contains all forms of communication. The last E is ethics on the use of technology and information. Ethics should be taught starting in grades one and continued along the entire course of school.

School in 5 Years: Or where we need to be in “Warlick’s World”
Every child has a computer under their arm
The computer will look a lot like a touch sensitive device about the size of a monitor, keyboards will be in the classrooms
There will be LCDs and SMARTboards
The walls will be SMART so electronic paper will be on the walls so digital content will be on the wall and called up by the teacher (8 to 10 years)
Every teacher has 3 or 4 hours of Professional Planning Time each day – to be a 21st Century Teacher, teachers must have this time to stay up to date
Students can be online using their personal learning network 4 hours a day and with their instructor taking place the other 3 or 4 hours of the normal school day
Libraries became not just a place for the consumption but a place to work the information. Sort of a Kinko’s for Kids. Students work with the information to filter it, add to it, or in other ways massage it.
Textbooks are no longer needed – embedded and digital. Discussion boards could be embedded inside of the textbook or as a learning platform in itself.
Virtual Learning is huge and teachers could be in cubicles and not in a classroom.
Pedagogy is dead as it works on developing strategies to teach about a limited amount of content.
We have about 5 years to determine what kind of questions do we ask when students have Google in their pocket? They should have Google in their pocket.

Chat transcripts

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Technology Task Forces Proposal #3

The 3rd proposal is probably the less stressful of any proposed. It really just supports the continued investment in the tools and classrooms needed to teach in the 21st Century.

21st Century Teaching Infrastructure:
During the summer of 2007, DA began addressing some of the infrastructure needs with the installation of ceiling mounted LCD Projectors, SMARTboards, VOIP phone system and other upgrades to servers, wireless, and network security.

1. Continue outfitting classrooms with the tools of the 21st century: LCD Projectors, sound systems, recording systems and other tools as needed. Funding for curriculum specific needs will be addressed within the Curriculum Enhancement Program (formerly CIP).

2. Increase the network to accommodate present needs and the perceived needs as we bring in student laptops. Power will need to be addressed to insure we have enough places for charging to occur. Bandwidth will need to be increased so no bottlenecks slow down the learning process. In addition, DA should use its purchasing power to work with Internet Service Providers to make sure that all community members have reliable and high speed access to resources.

3. The New Durham Academy Portal must continue to aggregate the information pertinent to the different constituents within Durham Academy. Calendars, files and other resources must be accessed at one location and “pushed” to other areas to eliminate the inefficiency present in the current system.

4. Continued support of classroom digital tools so as teachers reshape their classroom, they can be assured the tools will not disappear due to lack of funding or oversight. While change is persistent with technology, upgrades should take the place of obsolescence due to lack of funding or support.

5. The position of Academic Director of Digital Learning will be added. This person is a curriculum integration specialist and not a technical person who knows how digital instruments work but not how students learn. Each division will also need a Digital Learning Coordinator to facilitate the best practices.

Where will all of this lead Durham Academy? The Technology Task Force believes it will lead us into a student centered and more authentic learning environment. Of course there will be challenges just like there was when the pen was introduced to schools and teachers swore it would be the end of writing as there was no friction.

It is our hope that the tension between teachers who believe in the traditional role of a school will be willing to take a step into the future that we are teaching our students today to prosper within.

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South Florida University Lit2Go

iTunes U is growing by leaps and bounds. MacWorld did an article in October called iPod Study Buddy. I have already written about Raybook and how I think they can help to create content for the small screen. iTunes U is mostly thought of as higher education but that is changing. Janice Adams from Apple told me about how the University of South Florida’s College of Education has recorded and made available Literature to Go for students and teachers across the world to use.

To get there, Open iTunes – Click on iTunes Store – Look for University of South Florida – College of Education on iTunes. You will then see Lit2Go as well as many other resources. The stories are listed by grade level. What a great assignment for students to load up their iPod with Literature!

Sflit2Go

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Constitution Class

Adam Curry was discussing the need to know more about the Constitution as we get closer to the election. Would this video be helpful to all students no matter if they could not vote? Michael Badnarik was a candidate for President in 2004 under the Libertarian Party Banner. His Constitution Class is needed knowledge for all Americans.

While I am not endorsing a particular political ideal, I do think the video can be useful for learning.

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Starting From Scratch Presentation

I listened to Ben Wilkoff ‘s presentation at the K12 Online Conference on “Starting From Scratch: Framing Change for All Stakeholders” He does an incredible job of laying out the framework needed to have institutional change happen. If you are at all interested in learning what can be done with the new tools, check out this presentation. It can be downloaded for an iPod, played online or even downloaded with just audio. This is a must listen.

He identifies 6 key components for Authentic Learning
It needs to be:
1. Contextual
2. Connected
3. Collaborative
4. Change-Directed
5. Conversational
6. Continous

A screencast for framing change for students

A podcast on Discourse about Discourse

His blog

His supporting documents are invaluable.

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Tech Task Force Planning, Analysis and Shared Values

The Technology Task Force held seven face to face meetings and virtual meetings via DAILE Moodle, visited 8 schools across the country, attended 3 International Conferences on Educational Technology, Science Education, and Laptops in schools, and worked with the white paper submitted by Durham Academies Technology Advisory Committee that spent a year working on research regarding student laptops.

Our recommendations are as follows.

  • Expand and support a digital learning and communication environment accessible anytime, anywhere
  • Set expectations and provide ample professional development opportunities and support
  • Expand and support the physical infrastructure for a student laptop learning environment to begin in sixth and ninth grade

Planning
Our Task Force met seven times face to face during the 2006 – 2007 academic year along with virtual meetings conducted via DAILE Moodle. The original twenty members identified areas of interest to research early in the year and spent time gathering data to share with the group. In conjunction with the work of the Task Force, Liz and Karl were also on the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) that undertook a study of the feasibility of a one to one laptop initiative. The two studies provided data that blended together well. The TAC visited eight schools from around the country in person as well as conducted many virtual visits.

Analysis
As the task force obtained data, we shared it within the discussion forums so we could make sure that all members could express their view. The TAC also shared data gathered by site visits which was shared via a laptop study white paper submitted in August of 2007. The task force incorporated the TAC white paper into its recommendations since many of the questions or topics were ones the task force focused on as well.

Shared Values

• Technology must be used to support other Task Force Recommendations as it supports our entire learning environment

• Learning environments are changing with the advances in technology and global pressures

• Change is handled best when presented with a corresponding amount of trust and support

• Technology is advancing in ways not seen before with negative consequences for industries who do not keep pace

Some of the Schools we Visited
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School of the Future in Philadelphia

Picture 5
The Urban School in San Francisco

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Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia
Picture 1

Saint Agnes and Saint Dominic School in Memphis
Picture 2
Berkeley Prep in Tampa
Picture 3
Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga

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Saint Mary’s in Raleigh
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Greensboro Day School

Picture 4
Cary Academy

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Student Writing with Moodle

Why do students need to use digital tools or as Alan November calls them, Student Containers. While the conversations are within the “walled garden” of the DAILE Moodle, it is clear to see that students are willing to read books and suggest books to fellow classmates. The following exchange is by sixth grade boys in Mrs. Williamson’s class discussing books to read. The topic of the post was the book Bud Not Buddy
Bud Not Buddy
by Tom G. – Monday, 8 October 2007, 04:39 PM
I am reading “Bud Not Buddy.” It is a great book and I can’t wait to finish it. If you started to read it you would enjoy immensly.

Re: Bud Not Buddy
by Cameron E. – Monday, 8 October 2007, 08:48 PM
Whats it about?
Re: Bud Not Buddy
by Ryan P. – Wednesday, 10 October 2007, 07:57 PM
I read it, it’s really good

Re: Bud Not Buddy
by Tom G. – Thursday, 18 October 2007, 09:37 AM
Bud Not Buddy is about a boy who is in an orphanage and he is going to find his father. Or who he thinks is his father
Re: Bud Not Buddy
by Trey H. – Thursday, 18 October 2007, 09:39 AM
are the chapters really long and if so are they easy to get through
Re: Bud Not Buddy
by Tom G. – Thursday, 18 October 2007, 09:41 AM
Some chapters are long but is a book you won’t want to put down. It is a newbery award

Mrs. Williamson’s thoughts: “The writing isn’t perfect. The editing isn’t perfect. But they are discussing literature! They are sharing information about a book they enjoyed. It got them writing…and about literature! I have rules about posting in a forum, and it all has to be school appropriate, or they will lose moodle privileges for a week. I have not had anyone violate this rule as of yet. SO COOL!”

I think this is how we fill student containers with appropriate content and uses instead of banning the containers.

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Can Small Screens Help Learners?

I had the opportunity to sit down with Mark Williams from Modality Learning and discuss a product his company has been working on called Raybook.
Now the tag line for Modality is “Making Small Screens Smarter”. The concept is simple enough, work with publishers to adapt their content to a small screen much like iTunes has adapted music to an mp3 player. We know where we are now with the iPod and other players. I know of schools, Durham Academy included that has purchased iPods with the Belkin Tune Talk to record podcasts for publishing on the Internet. We hoped to perhaps create audio books by having a parent narrate a book we own or even work with Audible to load content onto the iPods. Both of these methods could work, but the issue was one was just an input device for recording while the other had the issue of getting just the right content onto the device.

Now comes Raybook with titles from Brain Quest, CliffNotes, and other publishers. Now we have content that we can download onto the device that is appropriate for young learners. Doesn’t every student need to learn the multiplication tables, spelling of life time words, geography facts, math facts, history facts to only mention a few. What would happen if the fact learning was done with an iPod while coming to school, at a friends house, or at a center in the classroom? Imagine that the teacher could have the student take a quiz using the same questions from the iPod content. This is possible and could be done if Modality Learning keeps working on their products. I hope to have the LS Digikids test their products to see if we should work with the company.

In the interest of full disclosure Mark Williams is a parent and husband of a colleague and students here at Durham Academy. In addition, the company is just down the street right here in Durham so this is a no brainer as far as I am concerned.

To find out how Raybook works, check out how it works. It reminds me of Look Up Above ” Is it a plane, is it a bird… No it is super learning….

Ok, so I am not a marketing genius but I think this is a company and product to watch as schools purchase these little devices or students purchase them and bring them to school. What if instead of banning them, we added content to it?

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Alan November at Learning 2.0

Wesley Freyer was one of quite a few presenters at the Learning 2.0 conference at the Concordia International School Shanghai, Pudong 201206, Shanghai held in September of this year. Wesley podcasted one of Alan’s sessions called: Creating globally connected, rigorous and highly motivated assignments. This podcast is worth listening to as it is 1 hour and 10 minutes long. I have listened to it twice already as I am scribing some of the topics so I can write about them here. I would love for all teachers to hear this podcast as I think it will challenge us to think in new ways.

As a co-chair of the Technology Task Force at Durham Academy that is charged with developing a 5-year plan for technology, it is the thinking and writing of many of the folks who presented at this conference that have influenced my suggestions. While I have not heard Alan speak in person, I do want to attend his November Learning Series of workshops someday. Wesley, Jamie McKenzie and Will Richardson are folks who I have had the pleasure of hearing in person. All are dynamic and would be great folks to have come to Durham Academy to help us map our future and our current as well. David Warlick would also be good and he is in Raleigh. However, it is Alan that interests me the most as he is a speaker who has consistently pushed me in my thinking and challenged me in ways that I both dislike and know I need to grow. The sign of a great teacher.

Topics he brings up in this podcast that are of critical importance are:

Grammar of the Internet: The information today is too much! Most of it is messy or as Alan states: Misleading, Overwhelming and Ill conceived. Alan affirms that teachers are great at putting together well conceived information. The trouble today is that our students have access to growing amounts of ill conceived information so we must teach them how to organize it. We need to teach them the syntax, grammar and punctuation. Check out his Grammar of the Internet to learn more. Take the Quiz and then work on the follow-up activities.

Legacy and Publishing for a Global Audience: “Students from 3rd grade on should be taught the rigors and discipline of writing an encyclopedia article”. In addition, they should publish it in wikipedia or other online wiki resource. Good news is that some of our students are already doing this with in our DAILE Moodle. 5th graders have worked on a CSI wiki while 3 7th grade students have worked on creating a metric wiki for their Science class. The Pitot House is an example of an elementary classes work. Our students need to be writing in wikis so hats off to those teachers who are starting to do this skill. In fact, I will wager that in the future, students will use wikis more then they will use application based word-processing software. Not much of a statement, when you realize that most already are doing it, just not in school.

Problem Solving Process: Schools should have a set of problem solving process that is known by all learners and is used across the curriculum. What is ours? Is it Big 6?

Give it a listen and see if you are motivated to seek change. You can listen to it on the web or in iTunes

I liked his comment: “Teachers do not need to know how to podcast, they need to know WHEN to podcast”.