Thing #23

How has my thinking changed over the summer? I'm always interested in technology, but I'm not always comfortable making time to just play around with it. Other matters seem to be more pressing, especially since I'm not currently teaching. But there are so many useful resources available via Web 2.0, both for personal and professional use, and I'm thankful I've had the opportunity to learn more about a number of them. And I'll continue to use a number of the sites, as well! It's a whole new world! I've realized I shouldn't really divide different technology resources into "teaching tools" and "personal tools", they are "life tools".

In some ways though, a course like this is frustrating. To see what education should be and could be, but isn't, is heartbreaking. Especially as a parent about to send her oldest to school this year, I pray that his teachers will be open to what technology has to offer. I also yearn for reform for our educational system at the bureaucratic levels. A teacher can be passionate about technology and change, but she still has standardized tests looming in the background and administrators to answer to.

Someday, when and if I do return to the classroom, I will have the confidence to implement more technology in my lessons and assignments simply because I have the knowledge to do so. I'll keep checking back with the ISD and other courses offered both online and in the area to stay up-to-date with Web 2.0.

This last video I watched for Thing #23 had a number of statements included with which I agreed whole-heartedly. I've always believed that education needs to be more about teaching HOW to find information that simply being able to regurgitate it. We need to teach students about the process of learning. Web 2.0 assists in this. I loved the one statement made toward the end...something to the effect of this is the death of education, but the dawn of learning. YES!

Thing #22

I was glad to learn about TeacherTube and SchoolTube as alternatives to YouTube. All three have potential as teaching tools if one has the time to sort through to find a valuable clip. It's good for students to see "real world" examples of whatever the lesson might be about as well as use a technology familiar to them. In my case, I taught speech communications classes, so using some clips on overcoming public speaking fears or showing positive speaking examples would have been a nice complement to our class discussions. Again, I'm currently not teaching, but my husband is a teacher and is allowed to use YouTube clips in his classroom to complement his curriculum. He mentioned, though, that he always views the entire clip before showing it to students to make sure ALL the content is appropriate and applicable. We've actually used YouTube at home with my son who loves watching the Magic School Bus episodes. The downside is that each episode is divided into three sections, but he's just excited to watch it!

Thing #21

I've heard a lot about Twitter in the last few months but had never explored it for myself. I tend to be a very private person, and even on Facebook, I don't often update my status. I realize, however, that people are living their lives more and more publicly today, so Twitter is a great spot for people to share their life with others. As far as using the services Twitter offers, it's a succinct way to keep in touch with family and friends all at once; it's a great platform for students to ask each other and the teacher questions about content, books, and projects; and it's a great way to keep your co-workers or classmates up-to-date on your part of the group project. I don't have the phone capabilities, although I'm sure people who wait and/or travel during the day enjoy the connection. As far as connecting with a Personal Learning Network, don't sites like Ning have a similar feature? Wouldn't it be easier to go to one site for brief updates as well as other resources rather than click back and forth between Twitter and your PLN? Maybe I'm missing something, but I like to keep things a simple as possible, which in this case would mean to keep it all in one location.

Thing #20

My username for del.icio.us is daviesvj.

Del.icio.us social bookmarking is great for personal use, but I realize there's great potential for its use in education. I have to admit that I feel my creative juices are running low when it comes to classroom use for technology since I'm not currently in a classroom. I can see a site like this being used by teachers to share online resources with one another. When I was teaching, we were often writing down or e-mailing our fellow teachers sites that were good finds. How much easier to simply bookmark it!?! I also believe teachers could use this with assignments...an easy way for students to find a site or sites to do web-based assignments, research, practice specific skills, or interact with peers. I think it could enhance productivity tremendously, but I'd need to spend more time playing with the site and talking with others to begin to think of more creative uses for social bookmarking, as I'm sure they exist!

Thing #19

LOVE IT!!! I can't wait to get started with social bookmarking, even if primarily for selfish reasons. So often I've been away from my home computer wanting to get to one of my bookmarked sites, but I have no idea how to find it on someone else's computer. So being able to relocating and still access the same bookmarked sites is a huge plus for social bookmarking! Is it a great way to organize resources? You bet! So many times on site fits multiple uses and categories, but you can only bookmark it one way. Later, you may not recall the way you first categorized it, so you spend wasted time searching for something you've already saved. Grr. I also appreciate the advantage that your find can be shared with friends and colleagues. It may also simplify creating bibliographies for students.

The downside to this fabulous tool is that we don't all think alike so we won't tag alike. As in my previous statement, sometime we ourselves don't remember in which category we first bookmarked a site. Fortunately, social bookmarking allows for multiple tags. Yea!

Thing #18

Ning might take a while to get used to for someone like me. There's so much going on that it's hard to know where to start, but I suppose as you learn more about what you're needs and goals are, the easier it becomes to navigate the sites.

Opportunities for a PLN like Ning:

• -Book discussions: As a language arts teacher I LOVE the idea of kids interacting over a book online! All students have an equal opportunity to share, whether they like to dominate a conversation or need time to think and process before responding.
  
• -School connections: A great way for teachers within a team or building to connect, problem-solve, and interact. Of course face-to-face meetings are preferred, but in today's chaotic school day this might be an answer!
• -Cultivating ideas: If you have an idea for your classroom using technology but aren't sure how to go about implementing it, toss the idea out on the PLN and get feedback from those who may have done something similar...find out what works and what doesn't!
• -Having questions answered: Again, if you're running stuck or aren't sure what to do with a project, etc. throw out a question on a forum or blog and wait for the wisdom to come forth!
• -Students could post their work: I found one entry a student had written, excited about this method of interaction for her class.

Problems with a PLN like Ning:

• -Losing/avoiding face-to-fact interaction: In particular with colleagues you may see on a daily basis.
• -Non-use, limited use, or negative use by colleagues: If a building decides to use a PLN to stay in touch, etc. there will likely be teachers who refuse to participate or turn the platform into a complaining session.
• -Reuse?: One forum I read had a question posted by a teacher wishing to reuse the PLN he set up last year for students, but wanted to eliminate them and add new students to the list. He wasn't sure if there was a way to do this and no one had answered his question yet.
• -Difficult to monitor: Immature students could take advantage the freedom of a PLN.
• -Student spelling: We all know students "write" differently on technology tools, and the slang shows up in formal writing as well. I read postings by students who thought this was a gr8 way 2 share r work. That scares me.