BP11_118_Media Asset 1_Flickr

BP10_118_Web 2.0_Responding to Peers' Posts

Sunday, November 8, 2009

BP7_2009112_researching_and_blogging_about_web_2.0_tools_ post_1

MERLOThttp://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm

Merlot is putting education innovations into practice! Find peer reviewed online teaching and learning materials. Also at this site you are able to share advice and expertise about education with expert colleagues. You can also upload your own course material ideas for comment and feedback! They have discipline communities by subject area, which also makes this site very convenient.

According to John Whitmer (2009), the Director of California Virtual Campus, for California community colleges and other institutions of higher education across the country, administrators are being asked to do more with less, more than ever. Teachers and administrators are often facing increasing student demand to help people improve their position in this in this economic climate, or recover from layoff, but are receiving less resources.

Merlot also has a huge annual conference and if you cannot make it to the actual conference, they offer it online as well.

Some universities have seen the power of this annual conference and have actually started to bring students to the conference. University of Michigan (U of M) Professor Wong (2009) was able to bring students to the conference in 2009 due to a grant. U of M added students to the mix and remixed the team to focus on the deployment of good learning objects in gateway undergraduate courses on campus. They selected graduate students with tech savvy and domain expertise in these courses, and they became our key and fearless collaborators on the team. Through this teamwork, the cross-disciplinary MERLOT community of practice on campus has grown in 2009 to include chemistry, English and composition, foreign languages, mathematics, medicine, nursing education, physics, psychology, teacher education, and statistics.

I am planning to attend the 2010 Merlot Conference!

References

Whitmer, J. (2009). I’m looking forward to getting energized by MERLOT’s Creative and Collaborative Community. Retrieved November 7, 2009 from http://merlotconf.wordpress.com

Wong, V. (2009). MERLOT conference 2009 – San Jose: A team always wins – students as key collaborators. Retrieved November 7, 2009 from http://merlotconf.wordpress.com/tag/michigan/

BP9_118_Web 2.0_snapgrades

Here is yet another web 2.0 application that I am currently using in my school. Snapgrades is an online gradebook with a slue of other functions and features ideal for any educator, student, or parent. While this is not a free application, it is quite affordable for any school.

The Way It Works:

Teachers set up tabs representing their classes. Within each tab (class) the teacher will then set up all his or her students. Then begins the fun part! One can add all assignments, tests/quizzes, projects, and any other category for grading. For instance, my students' grades are derived from work within the following categories:

• Interactive Notebooks
• Major Projects
• Tests/Quizzes
• Class Discussions/Accountable Talk
• Blogs

Teachers keep track of all assignments completed and the grades received for each one. Teachers can also post information memos, and notes, for students, their parents, other staff members. Behavioral annecdotals can also be maintained here with teachers collaborating together from different classes monitoring student behavior and socio-emotional development and growth.

Parents and students are given passwords as well so they can become aware of the information available based on student progress. While their access is somewhat limited, they are still able to communicate with teachers via snapgrades. There are links to email accounts and web pages that parents and students can use to connect and communicate with teachers.

Overall, snapgrades serves not only as an online gradebook, but also as a portal for educators to communicate and monitor student growth. It is very much a web 2.0 application for them even though for parents and students, it isn't as flexible since their interaction is limited to viewership and communicating via email links.

BP8_118_Web 2.0_eChalk

Echalk is a site that I currently use in my school as a portal for communication with parents, colleagues, students, and the community. It is a collaborative web 2.0 site with multiple functions from posting assignments to setting up blogs, gradebooks, a communication tool (email), and setting up professional groups to share information in. It serves as the school's website providing access to loads of information and work existing in the school building. It shares a very similar structure to iGoogle but is more restrictive in its functions. The benefit is that all members receive email accounts from the same database. For instance at my school; The Renaissance Leadership Academy, we are all first initial.last name@rlascholars (jcruz@rlascholars.com).

Each teacher has his or her own page where he or she will post messages, discussion boards, assignments, class calendar, links to relevant sites, highlights of student work, etc. Each member sets up his or her page with the widgets and functions he or she deems necessary for his/her class. Administrators also communicate with the staff and parents via this portal by setting up groups where information is disseminated. Pages, messages, and groups can be set private just to be viewed by the select members or public for the world at large to benefit from.

This site has been developed specifically for educators, students, and parents to ensure that communication and collaboration is continuous. Parents, educators, and students can post information pertaining to the school community and projects occurring within the school. The community at large can be informed on what is occurring within the school.

Links can also be included. Echalk is ever-changing and therefore, while currently it does not provide the function to subscribe to RSS feeds, I am confident that it will in the very near future.

BP7_118_Web 2.0_WiZiQ

There is a lot of potential with a site such as WiZiQ. Both teachers and students can collaborate on many levels.

Teachers can host online classes which can be shared with students in offline classes. This would be ideal for children who are going to experience an extended absence so they may be able to keep up with the work. In addition, teachers can create, post, and generate old tests to distribute amongst students.

Students can request for online classes. They can view their teacher's lessons or can view other teachers' lessons on the same concept. This will provide them with opportunities to gain exposure to the content in multiple ways, thus increasing the possibilities of differentiated instruction. Students can highlight favorite classes and even subscribe to an RSS feed thus, constantly obtaining access to lessons from teachers they enjoy.

Setting up an account is very easy; however, setting up your profile will take a bit longer. The good thing is that you don't need to set it up right away; however, a thorough profile is highly recommended.

BP6_118_Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking has become a rapidly-growing phenomenon in the world of education in recent years. It is being explored and used by teachers, librarians, and students as a means of saving and sharing bookmarks within a community that has a common interest, research topic, goal. Essentially social bookmarking has taken research to the next level. As opposed to conducting a google search; something that many students have become accustomed to, and retrieving hundreds upon hundreds of hits, social bookmarking allows people to retrieve links to sites that others in their community find valuable and appropriate. (teachingtoday.glencoe.com)

There are many social bookmarking applications available today with Delicious being the most popular. This means there is a greater community of people tagging pages, thus making searches more specific and results more appropriate and valuable. Other popular social bookmarking tools; however, are Stumble Upon, Furl, uLinkx, Conntea, Scuttle, Socialbookmarkit, Newsvine, Pixrat, Squidoo, ma.gnolia, and Diigo. (alltipsandtricks.com)

Teachers can use this digital tool to help organize and manage their classes' use of research based sites. They can also use this tool to encourage collaboration amongst students within the school and even nationally or globally. Given the fact that some bookmarking sites provide the function of subscribing to news feeds, students can also gather news on current events keeping themselves informed on issues of the world around them. (teachingtoday.glencoe.com)

Teachers can also use social bookmarking to continue to cultivate their craft by sharing sites, and collaborating with other educators within their school or even districts. They can collaborate together by using specific tags to bookmark sites of interest and appropriateness. (Richardson, W. )

References

McGraw hill education. (2007, Fall). Social bookmarking. Retrieved November 8, 2009, from

teachingtoday website: http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/social-

bookmarking

Richardson, W. (2007, March 1). Taming the beast: Social bookmarking. Retrieved November 8, 2009,

from School Library Journal's website: www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6420397.html

Simonne. (2009, June). Top 10 social bookmarking tools for educators. Retrieved November 8, 2009,

from all tips and tricks' website: www.alltipsandtricks.com/top-10-social-bookmarking-tools-for-

educators

BP5_118_Flickr Lesson Idea

Web 2.0 tools in the classroom are becoming a common practice more and more everyday. There are teachers out there that have really mastered the art of teaching with technology. One such example of this is found on the Cool Cat Teacher Blog (www.coolcatteacher.blogpost.com) where a plethora of wonderful suggestions and lesson ideas incorporating technology in the instruction, processing, and assessing stages of teaching are shared.

One idea posted that I would love to modify for my class is about identifying math in places not normally seen. Students are to use photos from flickr and identify the mathematics in the photo i.e. right angles, acute angles, etc. The photos are to be tagged and explanations of the math posted for each photo.

While, I don't teach mathematics, I could modify this for my social studies class. I intend on using this idea to teach the themes of geography. Students will use flickr to identify 10 photos that represent the themes of geography (2 photos per theme: Location, Place, Region, Human/Environment Interaction, and Movement). Both photos must be of vastly different places in the world still focusing on the theme (i.e. for the theme of movement: New York City - subway, Desert in Egypt - Caravans with camels). Students will need to also add tags that explain how these two, while vastly different still speak to the theme of movement.

BP4_2009112_Web 2.0 Tools

With the rapid advancement of technology, there is an abundance of Web 2.0 applications that can be used in the classroom today. One such application to focus on is ListThings. ListThings is an eco-friendly application where one can upload messages, to do lists, and other notes or reminders that need to be placed on a stationery setting.

The way I would use ListThings in my classroom is to have students make to-do lists on a daily basis to demonstrate how they are organizing themselves, and thus understand the value of organization. We are currently running an advisory program at my school and this is the place where ListThings can thrive. Students will begin getting familiar with ListThings by first developing a list of 5 things they like about themselves, 5 things they wish they could change, and 5 things they aim to avoid. Students can share their lists with other classmates becoming familiar with them and in turn learning more about themselves.

Starting with a very personal activity allows the student to learn the application's functions while eliminating the stress and fear of the unknown factor. Once the students are comfortable with the application, they will be redirected to use this feature as an organizational tool. Tabs will be set up on top under the following headings:

School-Academic School-Sport/The Arts Personal Interests/Other

Students will have to create post-its for each category in an attempt to organize their school and personal lives so that they can be more successful in their day-to-day responsibilities.

Through the use of this tool I am aiming to develop independent life-long learners who are able to track their own understanding and are able to prioritize and set goals. Students can even share their lists with peers and ask for suggestions on how to deal, how to complete... how to be most efficient... while at the same time minimizing their carbon footprint!

BP3_20009111_Educational_Feeds

(flickr.com/photos/ dutchopensource/2969844423/)

Edutopia - This site has a plethora of information regarding instruction, engagement, pedagogy, and the 21st century student. It is a critical tool for my own professional growth.

Marc Prensky - Coining the terms digital immigrants and digital natives, Marc Prensky has a great deal of information regarding children (learners) of the 21st century and the technologies they use to communicate/learn.

Ken Robinson - Ken Robinson has many inspirational and insightful viewpoints on education and what we can do to ensure our

students are prepared for the world they are growing into.

DesignSix - Peace Seekers - This site was created by me and a group of other professional educators looking for ways to educate our students on the issue of cyber bullying using the Discussion instructional design theory. Students collaborate on the DesignSix ning site which is a PLE in action.

My Digital Education Space - This blog will allow me to keep abreast of the newest innovative technological uses in the classroom, success stories and pitfalls.

BP2_2009111_Educational_Uses_Blogs

(www.flickr.com/photos/ cambodia4kidsorg/267060150/)

In the past I have used blogs as an educational tool with my middle school students. Normally I would post an open-ended question for my students to respond to. At times I would attach an article for students to read and respond to . Their blogging activity would be graded on four components:

1. Actually answering the posted question
2. Using at least one resource to support opinion (text, class discussions, etc)
3. Using academic language in their posts
4. Responding to another individual's post

Using blogs as an academic tool has proven to be very useful on a number of levels. Shy students tend to become more involved when they don't feel the pressures of time constraints and speaking in front of their classmates. I have also found that students with learning delays have also benefited from the use of blogs because they also have the luxury of time which allows them to process the assignment, work through their sources, type up their responses and edit.

Others that have used blogging in the classroom have also shared the successes of this tool in the classroom. Colleen.blogspot.com states that using blogs as a portal to hold online book clubs is a creative and successful method of use.

Techlearning.com speaks to the advantage of using blogs because it extends the class time by becoming a gateway of communication while outside the classroom. Blogging allows teachers and students to continue discussions and instruction after class hours; thus giving everyone a greater chance to contribute versus the limited time periods set aside in the classroom.

BP1_2009111_iGoogle_ScreenShots