Week 13

This week I learned about many things.  I attended a few online workshops, the the http://k12onlineconference.org website.  Some of the videos I really liked, and some, not so much.  I find that videos that give specifics, like what programs are used, are much more useful to me than videos that push the general ideas, like "learning via play."   I realize these are great ideas, I just don't need 15 minutes to get the idea.  My favorite workshop, "Computer Based Math" did a great job of questioning our school math curriculum's focus on computation, with many students not knowing (or being required) to know why certain formulas apply to certain problems.  I found the "When learning Becomes an Event" video to have some valuable ideas.  I like his idea of involving community members, and using the money they donated to motivate the students, as they knew that people would be viewing their work.

I also spent quite a bit of the day listening to the Isafe modules.  To be honest, I didn't think I would learn much, but I found the opposite to be true.   I never thought about the steps an online predator would take to engender trust with a victim.  Also, many of the reminders about how to keep personal information personal, were appreciated as well.  The frustrating part about trying to identify a victim is that almost all teens have declining grades, become withdrawn, and get irritable easily.  I guess we have our work cut out for us.

Week 12:

Idea One:
I got an idea when doing the readings on podcasting  (which I found very interesting)  the idea was this:  The readings shared many of the ways in which podcasting is a great tool, from the ability to learn and share a new language, to being able to listen in portable media players.  However, in one of the stories, an undergraduate is using her portable media player to re-listen to a podcast she thought she had missed a detail in.  That got me thinking:  Why not have the podcasts automatically transcribed, so if you miss something, you don't have to search for information in an audio file?  This idea made me wonder if it was commonplace, or if there are currently tools to use to accomplish automatic podcast transcription.  After searching the nets, I think I have found an idea that is taking shape in theory and technology, but is likely a few years off.  I found some subscription services that will do it for you for a price, and some search engine's that were attempting to accomplish it, but no free services for the end user.  I'm guessing five years will change this.  I look forward to a time when I can choose to have text read to me, and to have audio transcribed for me, according to my taste or environment.

#2: Right to Copy?
This article re-enforced the importance of creating a whole policy about school copyright.  Administrators, Educators and students all need to be educated.  Policies have to be drawn.  Punishment for violation have to be standardized.  This week really had educated me on how I need to help with this function at school.  However, to be honest, this is not one of the aspects of the job that I look forward to.

Week 11

This week I learned about using Google in the classroom.  I happen to use Google's array of tools in the classroom, but I found many of the ideas to integrate more skills into one assignment.  For example, one of the sample lessons had students researching using multiple Google tools, like docs, places, maps, and more, to build a multi-media project, even incorporating creative writing.

I also learned about creating custom Google searches, a topic I feel I need to explore further.  I believe many more digital experiences will be customized in the future, including our search algorithms.  I liked how there were examples of how creating custom searches could assist students who were in grade school, and showed how a curated list of sites could build their early search skills.  Also, I really liked the idea of limiting the search results to articles that were written in language the students would understand.  I wonder if this could be automated, by having algorithms to identify the level of writing in search results.  Or, the process could also be assisted by tags, or by mapping which users are using a source, to determine it's vocabulary or syntax sophistication by application of user histories.

The Berger reading on using digital mapping was great.  I will definitely use some of the ideas, like making a "virtual trip"  and exploring the many layers of Google Earth.  I love how images and Wikipedia articles can be geo-tagged.  Even Buffalo has many Wikipedia tags when the Wikipedia layer is turned on.

Week 10

The first major idea I took away from this week's readings was from the http://checkitoutonetime.blogspot.com/2009/12/different-ways-to-use-blog-and-wiki.html article.  This article included an idea about aggregating student responses to questions on a blog, so the teacher or reader could see all the different reactions to a reading all in one place.  I like that idea, the ability to quickly see multiple viewpoints.

Also dabbled for awhile at budtheteacher's growing wiki.  I love how this wiki includes acceptable use policies, to use for students who are going to be blogging or posting online.  I have to admit, I will be taking them to my boss, as we currently have students posting online, with no acceptable use policies, which now seems imprudent.

I also enjoyed the "Avoiding The Five Most Common Mistakes In Using Blogs With Students" article.  The article even gave me ideas for all of my lesson plans.  When the author speaks of "Illusive grading practices"  I think this applies to all writing.  If we are to be grading the students, there must be clear definitions of what is expected.  I think I will prefer to keep my student's blog posts more reflective, to avoid the hassle of applying formal writing rules, in favor of candid responses.

Kinda odd how classes sometimes make you see the wisdom of your teacher's choices.  :)

week 9:

Week Nine was wiki week.  the readings exposed me to many things, including wikimatrix, a great tool to discern which wiki creator is best suited to your needs.  I have to admit that my knowledge of wikis is very limited.  Before creating the wiki for this class, the only exposure I had to editing or creating wikis was adding a comma to a Wikipedia article.
  I still have reservations about using wikis, mostly due to my own ignorance.  Although there are some limitations to wikis in general.  I assume that the choice of wetpaint for the class wiki was due to it being free and having some good features.  However, I noticed when editing the wiki that simulataneous editing wasn't possible.
   I know that I won't feel comfortable until I have further experience with wikis.  To get this experience, i plan to create a wiki for my extended family's Adirondack vacation, with discussion forums and news pages.  Hopefully it will free us of the horrible email listserve that we currently employ.

week eight

This week was all about choosing appropriate technological tools for classroom instruction.  The readings focused on giving specific tools and technologies for specific lessons.  I learned about how using technology needs to be balanced with the appropriate pedagogical approach.  Also, the teacher, and how they teach, needs to be considered when planning a lesson to collaborate on.

 I learned about wikis, mostly firsthand.  Our assignment required us to create a wiki page and use Google Docs to share our thoughts about websites.  Our group had some struggles that I really take away as learning experiences.

 When collaborating online, communication is key.  Also imperative is having distinct duties for each group member.  When I collaborate online again, I will seek to make a single group member the communications hub, so all ideas and decisions flow through one person.  I think the material being studied and analyzed for this week's assignment wasn't the real lesson.  I think how we organized, communicated and treated each other was the true lesson.   I look forward to creating similar lessons, where students need to create order from chaos.  I will find it interesting to see which students take leadership roles, which students communicate well, and which students are flexible and able to focus on the task at hand.

Week 7:

This week I learned a lot about C3 issues.  From the video and readings, I took away a greater appreciation for the complexity of the issue.  On one hand we have parents, schools, and society at large trying to prevent exposure of young people to bullying and the dangers of the internet.  On the other hand, we have young people, supercharged geniuses, trying to find themselves, often trying to find what we educators and parents are trying to hide them from.
  I learned about some research that highlighted how most teens are actually savvy enough to not respond to typical online predator situations.  I learned about policies that seek to continue teaching social norms and hope that teens can then "behave" online.  I now have great resouce, onguardonline.gov, that will provide me with some structure when I teach online safety to my students.  Also, the AASL page on anti-bullying resources will come in handy as well.

All of this information is starting to really add up.  I'm thinking about changing the format of this blog, and using it more as a storage point for all the links, for I suppose the wetpaint will eventually go away.  Or does it stick around?  Hmmm...