k12online conference

The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning.

The conference has a schedule full of inspiring presentations; I could sit at my computer for hours and collect ideas. Hmmmm...I have been sitting at my computer for hours collecting ideas. I must will myself to move away from the screen and create my own picture of how these possibilities could be used in my classroom. The presentations have provided websites to turn to, questions to consider, models to work with, and connections with like-minded colleagues. There is no doubt that my students will be motivated by working with web 2.0 tools. I need to accept that I will not create extravagant lessons overnight and begin with a little step in the digital direction.

Cool Tools 4 Schools I.

Google has an office suite with word documents, spreadsheets, and slide presentations - Google Docs - which can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection and web browser. (Gmail account required, which is a free service.) Files can be created online or uploaded. Here's the cool: files can be shared with multiple users who you name as viewers (read-only) or collaborators (invitation to edit). Multiple people can view the document and make changes at the same time. There's an on-screen chat window for spreadsheets. Document revisions show who changed what, and when.

Note: When collaborators make frequent revisions, the tracking process gets cumbersome. Having participants highlight their changes will help readers locate the changes for consideration.

Watch a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA
Take a tour:http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html

k12online conference

Image source: http://flickr.com/photos/capecodcyclist/105521304/

The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone. The 2007 conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries”. ~ http://www.k12onlineconference.org/


The first keynote address, by Clarence Fisher (classroom teacher, Manitoba, Canada), outlined four factors of "Classroom 2.0" - a term used to name a teaching style which, by embedding technology into the curriculum, changes the possibilities in the classroom. The first factor, and the key, is pedagogy. The tools of the Read/Write Web are transforming our relationship to our subject matter. He stresses that access to the world wide web is changing how we teach. It is a movement away from memorization and repetition of predifined content toward the learner becoming discoverer and creator. The second factor is the use of tools that promote collaboration. The theme of collaboration is receiving much positive attention in the modern schoolhouse. The tools of the Read/Write web call for authors to share in the creation of messages and presentations (wikis and googledocs are prime examples). Factor three is the change in relationship to information. Digital tools require students to be creators and questioners of information. He notes that such activity will take place between the students and people from all around the world (speaking to the conference theme - Playing with Boundries). Being a good thinker is an important lesson in the 2.0 Classroom. We need to be "prosumers" vs. consumers. Finally, curriculum was addressed. Fisher encourages teachers to look into their curriculum and ask, "What is it that is important in there?" Meaning, we need to prioritize.

Fisher suggests redefining what happens in school by thinking of the classroom as a "studio," a place where many creators work under the guidance of a master. A place where energy and enthusiasm are high and participants are actively engaged in an activity they enjoy.

"Playing with Buttons"

"This is my generation. This is what we do."
~23 year old, laughing at a pair of 50-somethings trying to work a new remote control, as he took the remote out of their fumbling hands and smoothly programmed the DVR to record the Red Sox game.

Using the buttons, something that takes a level of courage for a baby boomer, is second nature for the members of generation X. When we were children our buttons were attached to colorful scraps of fabric. This generation has been playing with electronic buttons since they've been old enough to reach for them. On/Off. Off/On. Change the volume. Change the channel. The two year old is having a ball while the adults are creatively looking for ways to disenable the power... TV, telephone, noisy toys, games, dishwasher, key fobs, microwave, computer key board...This is where I'm heading with this:

I had a day notable for its technological advancements. It began with attending an international conference - online - and ended with watching the Red Sox in High Def. These events were exciting, stimulating, and overwhelming. The remote control will take me weeks to figure out as will the content and implications of the many digital tools to which I am being introduced through the online conference (address below). With their cell phones, im's, ipods, and blogs, today's youth are effortlessly crossing boundries - classroom, school, state, nation, age, socio-economic, religion... From home to 'Philawarepragacago,' they are "playing with boundries." For me, with my brand new computer mic, user names and passwords, I'm in the middle of a whirlwind. I will myself to click on the buttons; I hold my breath to see if my computer reacts as I intended and I feel as if I am braking through boundries chip by bloody chip.



http://www.k12onlineconference.org/

Wikis in Education

I have to quick write this assignment about wikis so my mind can move on. It is getting very full with thoughts of blogs and online conferences and googledocs and voicethreads and...there is so much to focus on, so much to pay attention to - mind boggling. This is a challenge of the "age of information" and the students I see are having trouble paying attention. And I am paying attention to this. (More on this later.)

In coming up with classroom ideas for using wikis, their most exciting feature is the one that I tussle with the most - collaborative writing. I am attached to the thoughts I create and express in my writing. So while I am excited about the collaborative possibilities of wiki, what inspiration, at the same time I fear losing a piece of writing I liked or having someone change what I liked. Is there a control issue here as well (type A personality, sanguine/choleric)?

I am stimulated by some fabulous examples of wikis being used in education (read: k12online07.wikispaces.com, Blogmeister.pbwiki.com, studentblogwikitools.wikispaces.com, releasethehounds.wikispaces.com). I still am putting thought into the choice of wiki vs. blog to suit the task. And much will depend on characterizing the task. [Note use of the term 'characterizing' vs. defining (Payne, GoodThinking, Connectivism, 10/11/07).]

RSS and beyond

Referring back to Friday's entry...
Which was completed to fulfill an assignment for a graduate course...
As was the creation of this blogspot...

Whilst I am dancing around expounding the wonders of RSS, the author of the text through which I came to better understand this technology, is virtually at the same time posting to his blog that he is not using his reader any more. It gets worse, he goes on to write, "blogging is work these days. (Have you noticed?) It’s feeling more like shoveling the manure at Tess’s pony club…it’s got to be done, but there isn’t much joy in it."

If I were a less secure person, I would be devastated. As it is, I'm amused by the coincidence and pondering the indications. And to say more would just be work.

BTW - Thank you Will for your description of flickr (Richardson, 2006)
Thank you dinghyman for the pic found at: www.flickr.com/photos/pnelson/183006974/

Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking is like signing up for an electronic file cabinet - free. When you find a website to which you may want to return, or a page that you'd like to save, you file it in this virtual cabinet. You can annotate your files and organize them via 'tagging.' And, there's a whole warehouse full of file cabinets - all kept unlocked. When you have an interest or need for more information, you can go into anyone else's cabinet, browse their folders and access their links. (Note: The saved pages do not appear, the bookmarked links are accessible.) Businesses, committees, departments....can share files and thus share resources. Combine this with RSS (see google reader) and receive notice when something new is added to a selected file. In his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, Will Richardson portrays this tool as one that is creating a new way of organizing information for the future.

In depth description can be found in the book: Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts (Richardson, 2006)
Social Bookmarking sites include del.icio.us, Furl.net, and Jots.com

Really Simple Syndication (RSS)

Found under "reader" in gmail (google mail).

Here's another brainchild that is changing the way we use the web. At first, I found the incoming messages overwhelming. Shortly, I began to enjoy skipping through the new posts and finding items of great interest, as well as useful tips. I've shared this one with my school principal, librarian, head of guidance for the district, colleagues, boyfriend, best friend, brother and students. I'm having the urge at this very moment to go check my inbox and see what new items are there. So...

Voice Thread

Oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!! I can hardly wait. I opened an account and bookmarked this website before the orientation video was through. My parents' 50th anniversary is coming up and this is a perfect idea. We can also use this at the Preservation Society for octogenarians to record knowledge of the pictures in our archives....then there are the pictures of my adorable niece......oh, students will love it too. I'm elated with the electronic creations that I'm being introduced to on the web. When I was a kid I had a reaccuring dream about photographs which came to life...yeh.

http://voicethread.com/#home

"Connectivism"

A new "ism" for the social studies department to teach?

When new concepts are connected to prior knowledge, one increases the effectiveness of grasping the new concepts. Oh teacher, be mindful that the learner does not make such a tight grasp on a concept that the lesson becomes rigid. A classroom example is the assignment of "defining" terms. At its root, definition means finite, finale, the end, dead. I had an instructor in graduate school who encouraged the use of the word "characterize." This, he said, keeps the concept fluid (actually he was British and used the word plastik). Fluidity enhances learning.

Siemens (http://knowingknowledge.com/), (2006+) states that learning IS making connections. He takes this concept further and describes a type of learning which takes place when a network of knowledge is formed. He calls this 'connectivism.' He writes that the ability to see connections is the core skill for individuals today. Fluidity enhances connectivism by allowing the movement necessary for network forming to take place. Movement also opens the way to forming new capacities. The capacities to learn more, and the connections that enable us to learn, are more important than what is currently known. Siemens and I and my graduate professor agree.

The knowledge available in this Age of Information is vast, complex and moving at a rapid pace. Whereas this can easily overwhelm the individual, a network can share in the receiving and interpretting of information and progress as a team. As a team, the knowledge of one individual becomes the knowledge of another. The sum - greater than the parts - is connective knowledge.

A principle of connectivism is that learning and knowing are constant, on-going processes. "We must learn to dance (engage and interact) with knowledge in order to understand what it is." (Siemens, again) and I agree, again ~ dancingkaren.

What Blogs Are

I originally thought that Blogs were electronic logs, meaning personal journals. I asked several colleagues and students, "What is a Blog?" The majority responded to the effect that, "A Blog is writing a journal on-line." One student replied, "A Blog is a person's on-line journal stating their opinions of things." This idea is closer to the one presented by the author of our course's text. After reading Will Richardson (Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools...2006), I realize that the inception of Blogs was to allow responses to specific material encountered on the 'Read/Write' Web. Going beyond the 'bookmark,' they make it possible for one to write and read reviews on the products of others. Yet the concept of Blog is not this simple. Blog uses go beyond reviews to recording histories, conversing in the present and describing plans and visions for the future. I personally hope to use them as a tool to encourage reluctant readers and writers to grow their language skills.

If the majority of the population believes that blogs are on-line journals, is that not what they will become? I'll answer my own question - no. Because the myriad uses will be discovered and will spread and this tool will evolve. One more complication, Richardson characterizes Wikis as an entirely different tool from the Blog. It seems that a wiki is meant to be a collaborative effort, a group product. As I presently see them being used, I am struggling with the difference between wiki and blog. Why did Jutrecht choose a wiki over a blog as the home page for his on-line course?

BTW blogger.com, I miss my spell check, thesarus, and font formatting.

School 2.0

"School 2.0 is a brainstorming tool designed to help schools, districts and communities develop a common education vision for the future and to explore how that vision can be supported by technology." (http://www.school2-0.org/)

To be inspired by a united vision for helping students is one of public education's greatest challenges. The founders of private schools (such as Steiner and Montessori) had very strong visions and beliefs for education and used these as foundations for their curriculum. People who join such school communities unite with firm and specific impulses. I see no such shared vision in the public school system. Understanding the value of a shared vision; the New England Association of Schools & Colleges accreditation process (among others I'm sure) requires the formulation of a school mission as well as mission-based expectations for student learning. Much focus is placed on all stakeholders sharing in the creation of a school's mission. My high school is in the midst of the re-accreditation process this year. Much energy was spent last year developing our mission; School 2.0 looks like it could have been a major focussing tool for that task.

In the 2.0 site's description, the term "Learning Ecosystem" immediately caught my eye (stemming from my interest in the environment). I'm excited by the idea that our leaders would give weight and validity to the learning that takes place outside the traditional four walls! This is an important aspect of the Learning 2.0 discussion. In New Hampshire such a conversation is taking place (I know it would be good if I could get a link to the NH dept. of ed. here) and the state is moving toward awarding credits for independent study experiences outside of school - overseen by a faculty mentor. The possibilities that this opens for personalization, engagement, and real-life problem solving are far-reaching.

The term Learning Ecosystem also brought to mind the term "Personal Learning Environment" (PLE) which I stumbled across in my new my exploration of the blogging world. (I will do my best to figure out how to add a link to that blog.) This is a concept I would like to explore further. I think it is an example of someone putting to words feelings that nudge at the school teacher's passion.

Opening the Door

I have never blogged before,
I'm looking through the open door,
At myriads of conversation possibilities,
Connections crossing differences, crossing o'r seas.

On my side, I hold my fear,
Of being overwhelmed, of losing something dear;
I take a deep breath and step on through,
Curiosity pulling me toward infinite new views.

Good Thinking

Good - Of quality, genuine, desirable, effective, valid, advantageous, kind, friendly, feeling well or elated
Thinking - Mental activity

I come to "Good Thinking" as a teacher who once thought her job was to teach her students reading, writing and subject area material and who now believes her work is to strengthen her students' capacities (ie. abilities) to learn and to do. Whereas reading and writing still hold great import, I am in the process of comprehending that the larger issue at question is one of communication. And subject area material...well, that has just become a big game of trivial pursuit. Facts memorized short term for tests are long gone once the testing is over and ironically, may become out-dated just as easily. What remains is life before us and the impulse to move forward.

And so I do my best to prepare learners for life's lessons. Each decision needing made is a multiple choice test. The questions are infinite and the possible answers equally mind boggling. To progress we all benefit from good thinking.