11.01.07

Essential Learning Functions

Posted in future paradigms, web2.0 at 3:02 pm by sbetts

I am always searching for something to support what I intrinsically know - technology is a necessary tool essential to learning today. Comments on these:

 

Here’s an overview of eight essential— and enduring—learning functions to guide your project planning.

1. Ubiquity

Although ubiquity is not a learning function per se, it is an overarching and desirable quality of tools that support project-based learning. Anytime- anywhere access to information, Web-based productivity tools, and multiple communications options are especially suited to project-based learning.

Examples: portable computing devices, mobile phones, wireless Internet, Web-based mail and instant messaging, portable productivity with Web 2.0 applications

2. Deep Learning

Go beyond “filtered” information where meaning is made by others and help students find and make sense of “raw” information on the Web. Higher-order thinking is engaged when students have to analyze primary sources and digitized artifacts. They take learning deeper when they are asked to navigate, sort, organize, analyze, and make graphical representations in order to learn and express learning. Learners can interpret and make visual displays of the data they mine or collect with Web-based tools such as spreadsheets, relational data-bases, and chart and graph creators.

Examples: digitized versions of primary sources such as the American Memories Project (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem), or rich databases of real-time data, such as Worldometers (http://www.worldometers.info), with tickers continually updating data about world population, carbon emissions, hunger, and more

3. Making Things Visible and Discussable

A picture is worth a thousand words, and making thoughts and ideas visible and sharable is the first step in getting the conversation going. Digital tools help students conceptualize with mind maps; see things that are too big or too small or too fast or too slow for the naked eye; examine history through digital artifacts; express ideas through photography and multimedia; and conceptualize with graphical representations, modeling, animation and digital art.

Examples: Google Earth and other Web-based mapping sites, Web cams, photo-sharing sites, visual manipulatives, and modeling software

4. Expressing Ourselves, Sharing Ideas,Building Community

As the World Wide Web evolves from an information medium into a social medium, opportunities for expression continue to grow. Students using MySpace and instant messaging are accustomed to these forms of personal interaction. Imagine thparallels in school and ways students can use the Web to express their ideas and build society around shared interests.

Examples: class Web sites, blogs, wikis, and virtual worlds such as Second Life; tagging Web content and sharing tags with others

5. Collaboration

Tools abound that help us learn and teach together. Use exchange services to find experts or fellow learners. Use shared Web applications to plan and write together. Plan virtual experiences that allow learners to “meet” across distances. Use survey tools to take the pulse of the community.

Examples: wikis, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, podcasts and webinars, voice-over Internet protocol services (e.g., Skype), survey tools

6. Research

Internet research puts information literacy to the test. Quality directories, search engines with filtering, a variety of bookmark tagging tools, and citation engines help students make sense of and organize what they need from the ever-expanding Web.

Examples: ASK for Kids (http://www.askforkids.com), social bookmarking (e.g., Del.icio.us, http://www.del.icio.us.com), Citation Machine (http://citationmachine.net)

7. Project Management

Projects require students to manage time, work, sources, feedback from others, drafts, and products. A simple folder on the district server or a workspace in the school’s learning management system may suffice, but consider Web-based homepages or desktops that give students a space to work and associated tools (calendars, to-do lists) to help them plan and organize. They can get to their homepage from anywhere at any time.

Examples: Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com), Protopage (http://www.protopage.com), Google IG (http://www.google.com/ig)

8. Reflection and Iteration

Deep learning happens when you examine your ideas from all sides and from other points of view. Reconsidering and reshaping ideas to bring them to high polish is the difference between yeoman and masterful work. Tools that support reflection and iterative development give learners the opportunity to shape and revise their work, and expose it to the critical feedback of others.

Examples: blogs (http://www.blogger.com, http://www.livejournal.com, many other free blog services) and wikis (http://www.wikispaces.com)

This is an excerpt from Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss in their upcom-ing book Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age, to be published by ISTE in November 2007

09.12.07

Trying out Live Writer

Posted in web2.0 at 2:07 pm by sbetts

This is my first attempt at posting using the new Windows Live Writer. I know, not open source, but worth a try since I also have some Windows machines around. And it is a free download as a licensed Windows user. We will see how it goes.From Windows Live Betas

I must say it works very nicely - now to see if it publishes.

YES - worked like a charm.
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05.22.07

from video to Internet Tv

Posted in future paradigms, video, web2.0 at 9:30 am by sbetts

I have been playing around with video and voice blogging on my personal site using flash videos and mp3 recordings, and I have been following postings to TeacherTube by educators around the globe. How can this get any better? How about your own internet TV channel?

Operator11 and MITV (Make Internet TV) are two ways. You can produce your own video and turn it into subscribable (RSS) media with a few clicks. I really like MITV as it takes you step by step through the internet / video process. At the end of the post I will embed their intro video for you to get an idea of their philosophy.

They also have an active WIKI open to anyone to join - if you turn into a real junkie:

  • The MITV Wiki is a library of information about publishing video on the internet.
  • This site is a supplement to the Make Internet TV video producer’s guide, which is the best starting point for most topics.

How about a weekly show about your classroom? or a student project a week? this has great potential. Here is the intro video from the MITV site:

Make Internet TV: Introduction



03.31.07

What to use?

Posted in Blogs, OpenSource, web2.0 at 10:40 am by sbetts

What to use? I have been asked several times when to use what - although there is no clear answer, here are some tips:
*Blogs* - Blogs are ongoing individual postings with the ability to take comments from readers. This is a great way to journal, reflect or get input.

*WIKIs* - are online editable pages available to anyone given permission. Usually you can attach files to wiki pages and there is a comment page connected. This is good for collaboration. It does not fit the journal model as well as it does a portfolio / archive model. Of course, it is also great for multiple editors of a single document.

*Forums* - threaded discussions. Can be used for the same as above. They individualize each posting, but in a threaded manner unlike blogs
which are sequential.

*Social networks* - combine all or some of the above with many added features. If you are ready to launch your students into the cybersphere
of learning, this is the way to go. I like Ning - but it still does not have a wiki module although the blog and forums are great.

*Course Management Systems* - also combines the above features and adds the ability to quiz etc. It is an online class. My favorite is Moodle
(at the moment). Students are part of a class and can use the forums, wikis, as well as complete assignments. I do not like the blogging
feature presently being used.

There are hybrids of all the above - and more appear each day. The key is to know what your goals are for each project.
Is it your students first adventure into online learning? do you simply want journals? do you wish to attach artifacts? do you want to actually hold your class online with assessment and all? do you want to use these in a more social atmosphere? Do you have the ability to pay for a service or to host it “in house”?






Turbo Tagger

03.21.07

Now it’s MY space

Posted in future paradigms, web2.0 at 2:11 pm by sbetts

from eSchoolnews.com

Lawmakers who voted for a bill to force schools and libraries receiving federal funds to block access to MySpace and other social-networking web sites on their computers are among those who have created personal profiles on a special section of MySpace dedicated to the 2008 presidential election. The apparent contradiction points to the difficulty faced by lawmakers and educators as they try to protect children and teens from the dangers lurking in cyberspace–and it underscores the problems that can occur when lawmakers, many of whom have a limited understanding of internet issues, seek to legislate behavior in the Information Age.
————
Just struck me as interesting - when it benefits me……….

If DOPA was firmly in place, these would all be blocked in libraries. How do we protect our children and yet be able to use these new communication tools?

03.07.07

Their Space

Posted in future paradigms, web2.0 at 4:14 pm by sbetts

The report is published by Demos, a think tank that advises the current UK administration.

I first read about it from a blog posting by Terry Freedman, author of Coming of Age.

It is worth a read - it talks about childrens’ higher skills in these social areas, the issues with government, teachers and change.

Their Space: Education for a digital generation draws on qualitative research with children and polling of parents to counter the myths obscuring the true value of digital media.

Approaching technology from the perspective of children, it tells positive stories about how they use online space to build relationships and create original content. It argues that the skills children are developing through these activities, such as creativity, communication and collaboration, are those that will enable them to succeed in a globally networked, knowledge-driven economy.

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03.02.07

Habbo

Posted in future paradigms, web2.0 at 1:10 pm by sbetts

http://www.habbo.com/

Second Life drops to the younger teen set. Here is a new 3D virtual area where I see many of our students beginning to spend time. I like the fact that they have a Parents’ Guide and many links and references to “how to stay safe”. I do believe these V3D worlds are the Web 3.0 onset.

02.27.07

Trends via NMC

Posted in future paradigms, web2.0 at 4:23 pm by sbetts

Just read a post by Judy O’Connell on her Hey Jude blog stating that the New Media Consortium has the Technologies on the Horizon report out. So off I went to their wiki.

This 32 page report (download) is a good read for those of us working to prepare the next generations. It describes 6 areas of emerging technologies that will influence higher education (and via the domino theory, us also). It reviews key trends in the practice of teaching, learning and creativity and ranks those considered most important.

The Six areas:

  1. User-Created Content
  2. Social Networking
  3. Virtual Worlds
  4. The New Scholarship and Emerging Forms of Publication
  5. Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming

Now that makes you think - I recommend it as bedtime reading.
Sharon

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01.19.07

Finally that synch I need

Posted in future paradigms, web2.0 at 3:11 pm by sbetts

Ok, only the photo portion is released, but SharpCast looks to be the application I’ve been dreaming of.  Seamless integration with your desktop - at least in Windows.  Sync documents, music & videos everywhere and without pain.

I don’t know how many hours I have spent working with single files and ftp sites - this is what I have been waiting for.  If you are a linux user, you can upload through their website instead of downloading the desktop software.  If there are other such apps out there, I haven’t browsed by them.

01.02.07

How did you spend your time?

Posted in web2.0 at 1:45 pm by sbetts

I did spend some family time this break - and managed to make some resolutions which I hope to meet in 2007. But, much of my noodling on the machine was due to a link of Web 2.0 tools that was posted by the WOW2 gals.

You may want to check them out - but only if you have a lot of time….. Go2Web20
Sharon

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