Enjoy the video , sharing with you my excitement about social bookmarking.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
BP7_2009102_Web2.0 Evaluation_Google Calendars
Although I would not declare a calendar to be the most useful of all web-based tools for classroom use, it can serve some valuable purposes. For an instructor communicating to students and parents, the calendar can provide all information related to classroom activities. Events are attached to particular dates, with details being linked to the event tile. The calendar can be set for viewing by selected users only (students and parents). Separate calendars can be created for each course or even for each class section, preventing the issue of calendars becoming cluttered with too much inapplicable information.
Teachers can also create separate calendars to share with colleagues and/or administrators. This certainly would prove more useful for teachers with more activities beyond the classroom walls, such as band and chorus leaders, or those sponsoring community service organizations. Department heads or team leaders could also benefit from such a calendar to keep colleagues informed about staff development opportunities, meetings, or other events of interest to all.
Administrators should be grateful to see such a tool come along. How many schools have a "master calendar" that covers an entire wall, enabling administrators to coordinate supervision, transportation, and support? A master calendar that resides online would handle all that information, be viewable to all from remote locations, and even be "programmed" to send notifications prior to events.
A similar function that is mostly not classroom related but certainly important in an educational setting would be for an athletic directors master calendar. Individual head coaches would be responsible for updating changes in their schedules on a master calendar maintained by the athletic director. Making such a calendar available to instructors could prove useful as well, particularly if a particular course or section is populated by a large number of athletes or band members that may be on the same schedule. An instructor could make practical use of athletic schedules to get the best work from their students.
My position as a math teacher in my high school would make the classroom calendar the most useful application for me. I would also like to introduce this concept to my administrators to "test run" as an alternative means for keeping a master calendar.
Teachers can also create separate calendars to share with colleagues and/or administrators. This certainly would prove more useful for teachers with more activities beyond the classroom walls, such as band and chorus leaders, or those sponsoring community service organizations. Department heads or team leaders could also benefit from such a calendar to keep colleagues informed about staff development opportunities, meetings, or other events of interest to all.
Administrators should be grateful to see such a tool come along. How many schools have a "master calendar" that covers an entire wall, enabling administrators to coordinate supervision, transportation, and support? A master calendar that resides online would handle all that information, be viewable to all from remote locations, and even be "programmed" to send notifications prior to events.
A similar function that is mostly not classroom related but certainly important in an educational setting would be for an athletic directors master calendar. Individual head coaches would be responsible for updating changes in their schedules on a master calendar maintained by the athletic director. Making such a calendar available to instructors could prove useful as well, particularly if a particular course or section is populated by a large number of athletes or band members that may be on the same schedule. An instructor could make practical use of athletic schedules to get the best work from their students.
My position as a math teacher in my high school would make the classroom calendar the most useful application for me. I would also like to introduce this concept to my administrators to "test run" as an alternative means for keeping a master calendar.
BP4_2009102_Social bookmarking
Though I had not been introduced to social bookmarking tool before this course, I quickly saw its tremendous value. In the educational setting, professional development and best practices sites can be accumulated for and by all faculty members. Teachers can encourage students to find new sources of information related to current coursework topics and compile them on a single bookmark page to share with other students. Solomon and Schrum (2009) point to the relevance of social bookmarking in the classroom. As students do not typically have personally dedicated computers, social bookmarking sites provide access to stored URLs for retrieval from any computer, at school or elsewhere.
O'Neal (2007) points to the old struggles of transferring a URL from computer to computer (one location to another), and the inconvenience it can cause. He also touts the tagging system of the del.icio.us website, that allows one to utilize the scrutiny and assessment of other users to help avoid endless searches for the most useful website on a given topic. Why spend hours mulling through seemingly infinite Google searches when your delicious page informs that 3 sites are 100 times more popular than all other sites combined? This can be a tremendous time saver.
Gordan-Murnane (2006) emphasizes the folksonomy (or taxonomy) of social bookmarking and its relevance to educational uses. The organization of social bookmarks relies solely on the users and the tags they apply to each site bookmarked. As the network of bookmarks grows, tags establish "connections" between related websites, simply by having similar tags. No thorough study or sorting is required. It simply happens as a result of the growth of the network. Of particular note in her article are sites developed to assist those in academic fields: CiteULike (http://www.citeulike.org/) and Cannotea (htttp://www.cannotea.org/). Both are specifically aimed at academics to share,store, and organize academic papers they are presently reading.
Even while still teaching in a math role in my current position, I anticipate that I can introduce a use for social bookmarking within my faculty. I would certainly expect those that are not too shy of technology to embrace its use in their coursework, particularly those related to research.
O'Neal (2007) points to the old struggles of transferring a URL from computer to computer (one location to another), and the inconvenience it can cause. He also touts the tagging system of the del.icio.us website, that allows one to utilize the scrutiny and assessment of other users to help avoid endless searches for the most useful website on a given topic. Why spend hours mulling through seemingly infinite Google searches when your delicious page informs that 3 sites are 100 times more popular than all other sites combined? This can be a tremendous time saver.
Gordan-Murnane (2006) emphasizes the folksonomy (or taxonomy) of social bookmarking and its relevance to educational uses. The organization of social bookmarks relies solely on the users and the tags they apply to each site bookmarked. As the network of bookmarks grows, tags establish "connections" between related websites, simply by having similar tags. No thorough study or sorting is required. It simply happens as a result of the growth of the network. Of particular note in her article are sites developed to assist those in academic fields: CiteULike (http://www.citeulike.org/) and Cannotea (htttp://www.cannotea.org/). Both are specifically aimed at academics to share,store, and organize academic papers they are presently reading.
Even while still teaching in a math role in my current position, I anticipate that I can introduce a use for social bookmarking within my faculty. I would certainly expect those that are not too shy of technology to embrace its use in their coursework, particularly those related to research.
References
Gordon-Murnane, L. (2006). Social bookmarking, folksonomies, and web2.0 tools. Searcher
14(6), 26-38. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com
O'Neal, C. (2007, April 11). Re: So delicious: a must-use bookmarking tool. Message posted to
http://www.edutopia.org/so-del-icio-us
Solomon, G., and Schrum, L. (2009). Web2.0: new tools, new schools. International Society for
Technology in Education.
BP6_2009102_Web2.0 Evaluation_Educational uses for blogs
The applications of blogs for classroom use are numerous, as are the sources for creating and maintaining them.
Instructors can utilize a blog to post assignments, updates to assignments, and related comments applicable to a particular assignment. Students can access updates in a timely manner, as well as be made aware of any corrections or clarifications without having to return to class. On a more specific note, several courses are suitable for assignments that could require students to offer opinions or interpretations of a reading or video assignment in the form of a blog. Open discussions through use of blogs would eliminate the pressure and fears of speak out in front of peers in a classroom setting. Instructors could offer prompts to accompany an assignment given in class, or request a reflective piece from students after concluding a project or group assignment.
Administrators can make full use of blogs to cut costs and create a more useful platform for disseminating information to an entire staff. No more need for memos and weekly announcements. Any topic of interest can be announced as soon as it comes up. With staff members subscribing to a blog feed, their new announcements will "grab" their attention. A blog post allows for public comments to clarify meaning or confusion about dates that may impact several members of the community. Questions that may not be of public interest would not be posted as a comment to such a blog.
Educators could utilize blogs to keep colleagues and/or administrators informed of class progress, class events or ongoing projects that may impact others outside the classroom (such as students conducting surveys or working outside the classroom unsupervised). Similar feeds could announce events of interest to parents or administrators as an invitation to visit or participate.
The primary limitation to use of blogs is, of course, the fact that some students still don't have aces to some of these tools at home. This does not mean that blogs can not be utilized, but simply limits widespread requirements that an instructor might otherwise be able to implements if all students had acess to the blog at school and at home.
Instructors can utilize a blog to post assignments, updates to assignments, and related comments applicable to a particular assignment. Students can access updates in a timely manner, as well as be made aware of any corrections or clarifications without having to return to class. On a more specific note, several courses are suitable for assignments that could require students to offer opinions or interpretations of a reading or video assignment in the form of a blog. Open discussions through use of blogs would eliminate the pressure and fears of speak out in front of peers in a classroom setting. Instructors could offer prompts to accompany an assignment given in class, or request a reflective piece from students after concluding a project or group assignment.
Administrators can make full use of blogs to cut costs and create a more useful platform for disseminating information to an entire staff. No more need for memos and weekly announcements. Any topic of interest can be announced as soon as it comes up. With staff members subscribing to a blog feed, their new announcements will "grab" their attention. A blog post allows for public comments to clarify meaning or confusion about dates that may impact several members of the community. Questions that may not be of public interest would not be posted as a comment to such a blog.
Educators could utilize blogs to keep colleagues and/or administrators informed of class progress, class events or ongoing projects that may impact others outside the classroom (such as students conducting surveys or working outside the classroom unsupervised). Similar feeds could announce events of interest to parents or administrators as an invitation to visit or participate.
The primary limitation to use of blogs is, of course, the fact that some students still don't have aces to some of these tools at home. This does not mean that blogs can not be utilized, but simply limits widespread requirements that an instructor might otherwise be able to implements if all students had acess to the blog at school and at home.
BP5_2009102_Web2.0 Evaluaton_Desktop Tools
What does the future hold for client-based desktop productivity suites? The end of the story will be interesting indeed. As sites like Google Docs (other options include Zoho and Open Office) incorporate more robust client-based attributes, they become more popular and attract the attention of students and small business alike. Client-based productivity suites, like MS Office, are taking measures to incorporate more web-based applications, to compete with the collaborative and open-source attributes of web-based productivity tools.
Why should this interest students and educators? Until recently, productivity tools had to be purchased individually (or collectively for an institution), and remain resident on individual machines. Collaboration required information to be passed back-and-forth, which is relatively archaic compared to the nature of the technology being utilized. Even after products were complete, the user would have to transfer data to an instructor either electronically or physically via paper or storage device. Online productivity tools allow for synchronous or asynchronous editing by multiple people. This eliminates the "slow-poke" method of passing info back-and-forth in order to collaborate.
Slightly more underrated is the elimination of the need for individuals to invest in personal copies of expensive client-based software. All members of a group or class can access the same web-based software, creating uniformity in application and processing. Why will people continue to pay premium prices for software that is not much different from that which available online free of charge? Web-based applications are still vulnerable to connectivity problems that can impact the internet in a number of ways. Google suffered this reality just last month. Even a 100-minute outage may not seem so bad, but for a business or student depending upon the utilization of that software, the results could be crushing.
Web-based productivity suites ultimately provide a common platform for students, regardless of whether they have the means at home to access it or not. At school or at home, documents can be accessed, updated, and reviewed without the need of a personal copy of a productivity suite. Instructors can easily access final products through sharing capabilities built into the software itself. For most educational purposes (especially the k-12 level) the web-based platforms are already robust enough to satisfy the needs of any student task.
Why should this interest students and educators? Until recently, productivity tools had to be purchased individually (or collectively for an institution), and remain resident on individual machines. Collaboration required information to be passed back-and-forth, which is relatively archaic compared to the nature of the technology being utilized. Even after products were complete, the user would have to transfer data to an instructor either electronically or physically via paper or storage device. Online productivity tools allow for synchronous or asynchronous editing by multiple people. This eliminates the "slow-poke" method of passing info back-and-forth in order to collaborate.
Slightly more underrated is the elimination of the need for individuals to invest in personal copies of expensive client-based software. All members of a group or class can access the same web-based software, creating uniformity in application and processing. Why will people continue to pay premium prices for software that is not much different from that which available online free of charge? Web-based applications are still vulnerable to connectivity problems that can impact the internet in a number of ways. Google suffered this reality just last month. Even a 100-minute outage may not seem so bad, but for a business or student depending upon the utilization of that software, the results could be crushing.
Web-based productivity suites ultimately provide a common platform for students, regardless of whether they have the means at home to access it or not. At school or at home, documents can be accessed, updated, and reviewed without the need of a personal copy of a productivity suite. Instructors can easily access final products through sharing capabilities built into the software itself. For most educational purposes (especially the k-12 level) the web-based platforms are already robust enough to satisfy the needs of any student task.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
BP3_2009101: Anti-Teaching?
Where does an educator turn to create significance in students' education? Students will most certainly find more value in their education if they feel they have a role in shaping it. As Personal Learning Environments (PLE) lend themselves more freely to some subject matters than others, I do not feel they are the universal answer to how education should be structured. Course Management Systems (CMS) have a necessary role if educators are to develop course structure that has any chance to address individual needs of learners.
A CMS can be tailored for any course, providing students an opportunity to progress at their own pace (possibly with limitations). Benchmarks would be necessary to identify students making inadequate progress, allowing the instructor to intervene and determine the cause. Remediation or discipline would then result. Lesson material would be programmed and be able to present requirements to students using several delivery methods, including interactive lessons, followed by instructions or guidelines that would enable students to complete assignments. The instructor would always be available as a source of guidance and information. Assignments would still address a range of skills, and often offer students an option of delivery methods for their final products. The delivery of course information and flexibility in student output would allow educators to infuse ideas from Multiple Intelligences theory as well as Brain-based learning concepts to connect with each and every student, meeting individual needs.
Thoroughness in lesson development would create deliveries that provide differentiation in instructional design as well. In some cases, a direct approach would suffice, giving students sufficient information and guidelines to begin construction on a final product. Other times, a more experiential approach may be appropriate, to insure the learner develops an understanding of a new concept and its impact on a target audience.
I would be very interested in having the opportunity to create such a learning environment. First and foremost, suitable technology would require at least a student/computer ratio of 2:1. A 1:1 ratio would certainly be ideal, allowing freedom for all students to maximize learning opportunities. At the high school level or below, care would be necessary to govern flow of incoming/outgoing materials to ensure the maintenance of a safe educational environment. As more web 2.0 tools are developed with the classroom in mind, these problems are beginning to be handled for the educators (less stress for administrators). An opportunity for students to learn as they feel capable and express themselves in a manner that suits them in a malleable educational structure can only lead to better refinement of the educational process.
A CMS can be tailored for any course, providing students an opportunity to progress at their own pace (possibly with limitations). Benchmarks would be necessary to identify students making inadequate progress, allowing the instructor to intervene and determine the cause. Remediation or discipline would then result. Lesson material would be programmed and be able to present requirements to students using several delivery methods, including interactive lessons, followed by instructions or guidelines that would enable students to complete assignments. The instructor would always be available as a source of guidance and information. Assignments would still address a range of skills, and often offer students an option of delivery methods for their final products. The delivery of course information and flexibility in student output would allow educators to infuse ideas from Multiple Intelligences theory as well as Brain-based learning concepts to connect with each and every student, meeting individual needs.
Thoroughness in lesson development would create deliveries that provide differentiation in instructional design as well. In some cases, a direct approach would suffice, giving students sufficient information and guidelines to begin construction on a final product. Other times, a more experiential approach may be appropriate, to insure the learner develops an understanding of a new concept and its impact on a target audience.
I would be very interested in having the opportunity to create such a learning environment. First and foremost, suitable technology would require at least a student/computer ratio of 2:1. A 1:1 ratio would certainly be ideal, allowing freedom for all students to maximize learning opportunities. At the high school level or below, care would be necessary to govern flow of incoming/outgoing materials to ensure the maintenance of a safe educational environment. As more web 2.0 tools are developed with the classroom in mind, these problems are beginning to be handled for the educators (less stress for administrators). An opportunity for students to learn as they feel capable and express themselves in a manner that suits them in a malleable educational structure can only lead to better refinement of the educational process.
BP2_2009101: My First RSS Feeds
Finding educational sites with information I felt was relevant to my work and my studies AND equipped to be subscribed to proved to be more of a challenge than I had anticipated. In the end, searching for blogs specifically enabled me to select several useful sites to help me keep up to date on trends in education, and technology in education specifically.
1. Edutopia provides a wide range of relevant topics for educators interested in innovations and improving learning opportunities for students.
2. Learning.now, a site sponsored by PBS, serves to keep educator, and parents, informed on the influence of technology on educational services.
3. Successful Teaching is exactly what you would expect. An innovative teacher created a blog post where educators can learn and share strategies and tips for successful teaching experiences.
4. Education Technology Blog serves a purpose all educators are looking for - aiding the end-user in determining which of the myriad of web resources are most useful. Although the site was established by an individual, most of the information is provided by visitors to the blog site.
5. Educause is a nonprofit devoted to exploiting the intelligent use of technology for improving education. As such, information can range from useful web resources, professional development opportunities, or sources of collaborative communities focused on the application of technology in education.
1. Edutopia provides a wide range of relevant topics for educators interested in innovations and improving learning opportunities for students.
2. Learning.now, a site sponsored by PBS, serves to keep educator, and parents, informed on the influence of technology on educational services.
3. Successful Teaching is exactly what you would expect. An innovative teacher created a blog post where educators can learn and share strategies and tips for successful teaching experiences.
4. Education Technology Blog serves a purpose all educators are looking for - aiding the end-user in determining which of the myriad of web resources are most useful. Although the site was established by an individual, most of the information is provided by visitors to the blog site.
5. Educause is a nonprofit devoted to exploiting the intelligent use of technology for improving education. As such, information can range from useful web resources, professional development opportunities, or sources of collaborative communities focused on the application of technology in education.
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