Posts
It's a world of hopes and a world of fears.
There's so much that we share, that it's time we're aware,
It's a small world after all."
I really enjoy playing with technology, so I was excited to sign up for EDES 501 (544): Exploration of Web. 2.0 for Teaching and Learning. I was mostly excited to meet the objectives of demonstrating my proficiency with new technologies and developing an understanding of ew and emerging 2.0 technologies. I was also quite anxious about how much time would be absorbed by this course and whether it would overwhelm me at a time when there was a great deal happening in my professional life. I've experienced the laughter and tears, hopes and fears of the famous Disney tune over the course of the semester. I've learned many new things and deepened my understanding of things I was somewhat familiar with, but the best thing I've come to realize, is that the world is much smaller, thanks to web-based technologies and that by connecting with others who are interested in the same topics, I can enhance my learning and professional practice. There's so much out there, it's challenging to stay afloat when other issues are pulling at you. The tides of change on the small world are shifting rapidly right now and so this course has been as much about navigation, as it has been about the sea of Web 2.0
Trenches and Wave-surfing in a Small World
The ocean trench of this course for me was realizing that my own perceived level of capability was not nearly as high as I believed it to be. While I was familiar with many of the tools we were asked to explore and become proficient with, I hadn't explored them in depth or with great regularity. Pushing myself to go deeper with a tool was sometimes a real headache, because I knew that my colleages and students were so far behind me that trying to encourage their use of these tools was not something I would be doing any time in the immediate future. (I'm still trying to encourage most of them to open up their email more regularly.) Despite this, it's been a good experience to become a better blogger, tweeter and user of multimedia tools, particularly when envisioning how these tools can be used to deepen student learning, because my own learning has involved more analysis, and synthesis.
Times that I've felt like I'm riding the crest of a wave have been the times when I've worked with a new tool that is fun (Vuvox) or coming to a strong realization that my writing can improve in new ways - particularly blogging. Internalizing Will Richardson's list of blog uses (Richardson, 2006) challenged my writing process for the better. Reading "The five elements of a perfect blog post" re-affirmed Richardson and all the blogs I had read throughout the course. These are experiences I'll return to and work more with in the coming months, personally and professionally. Blogging, in particular, has drawn me in - both in reading my Google Reader feed every day and writing for professional discussion purposes. I know this is something I will keep up, particular around the passionate discussions of education reform.
Small World Tools for Sharing
Tools that I'll be encouraging my colleagues to use more are tools that will benefit them in their own professional/personal growth and a couple of simple tools to make student work easier and paper-free.
Blogs and Aggregators
Having Google Reader set up to give me RSS feeds of the blogs I follow has been an incredible help professionally in keeping me up to speed on broad education issues and technology discussions. I know this can help my colleagues - particularly the colleagues who aren't familiar with aggregators. Blogging has been a challenge, but has made me a better writer and better learner. Blogging is a tool that will benefit my colleagues and our students because of the higher level thinking that happens when the the standards for posts are high and writers begin to think about how to share with the audience in a way that is unique, entertaining and thoughtful.
In terms of links to professional tools and discussion, Twitter may be one of the best of the web's tools. It has grown significantly in the education community and for good reason. The use of hashtags, ease of use across several platforms and streaming make this tool a "here-and-now" means of professional development and discussion. For my colleagues, support tools like Tweetdeck or Twicca will allow them to organize the various streams of information in a way that can make "tweeting" manageable. Until our school district allows use of personal devices in classrooms, students will have to wait for use of Twitter, though.
Evernote & Diigo
To ensure students have opportunities to share pages and links, both Evernote and Diigo will be easy to demonstrate and get quick "buy-in" thanks to ease of use. Both of these tools work well on the Linux OS, and on both Apple and Windows, so users across all operating systems should be happy. Because our school is currently dealing with significant budget cuts, any tools that move us towards using less paper (the most significant cost in our budget), the better it is for all departments seeking to purchase technology.
Glogster and Voicethread
Both Glogster and Voicethread have a significant "cool" factor that appeals to young adults. Glogster has immense visual appeal with the various bubble tools and stickers. For the teachers who like to assign poster projects at my school, this has become popular as a paper-free version that is easy to present and email. The down-side is difficulty in presenting to the school community, but great Glogs embedded in the school web-page could become the new bulletin board of the 21st Century.
Voicethread's cool factor comes from the ability to record voice in a variety of ways to go along with images. Voicethread's ability to combine visual images and voice, while being somewhat easier to use than podcasting, makes it a winner for many teachers and students. It is particularly nice to have a simple tool that can be used at home for independent use, as many students at the secondary level are required to do. Podcasting may require skills and tools that are beyond younger users, particularly when trying to find someplace to upload recordings to that can be easily accessed by Linux servers.
Follett's Destiny "Quest"
Follett's Destiny library automation software has set high standards for excellence in service, database building and ease of use. I'm fortunate to work in a district that has used Follett's products for many years, but the newest version of Destiny incorporates a social networking tool called Quest which uses the school database to allow students to "friend" each other in order to discuss and share reading lists, rank and review books. Much like Shelfari and Library Thing, users can create their own usernames and passwords (which can be changed by the system supervisor, if necessary) and create "shelves" of materials that have been, are currently or will be read (or viewed or listened to). Patrons can review and rate materials, as well as put items on hold. Top ten lists are generated and students can also see what new materials have arrived in the system. Patrons can also change their backgrounds, add images and generally personalize their work space. While Quest is proprietary and private, it takes the place of Shelfari and Library Thing in a safer way for school communities, and gives students skills that will allow them to move to similar web-based tools when they are ready.
Navigating to future destinations
Because my school is particularly focused on technology over the next three years, using various tools and staying abreast of developing trends will be an on-going job. This course has inspired me to look at a means of ensuring that students are acquiring information literacy and technology skills in a more direct method. I'll be creating a proposal for a pilot project and course for the 2011/2012 school year that will use tablets (either iPad or Android) to use blogging and the Inquiry Method as a means of completing independent research projects. Because course proposals for the coming school year need to be presented to administration by mid-January, my time-line for write-up and research will be very short. Equally challenging will be finding a sponsor to provide tablet technology for students to use in the project. It has been rumoured that Apple has approached our district to see if a pilot project with iPads would be possible, but barring that, the new Android tablets will be available in the spring and would be equally interesting to use, considering our district is one of only four school districts in B.C. to use Linux as its primary operating system. Of greatest interest to me is how tablets and blogging would benefit the inquiry process, particularly the new BC Teacher Librarians' process called "Points of Inquiry."
Learning from each other in a Small World
Fellow students who have been particularly inspiring and given me much food for thought this semester have been Lissa Bonnell Davies and Kristie Oxley. Lissa's humour and love of science fiction have kept me chuckling, while admiring her ability to be "on top" of her work and posting regularly. One of her posts that really kept me thinking was about learning and using technology. "So the question to ask is "how can we effectively incorporate inquiry and technology within our given parameters". I think of the the " nudging toward inquiry" article we read in the summer, and I think therein lies our answer. When we use baby steps with inquiry and with technology, we can help teachers and students." (Discussion, Nov. 8) My own impulse is to leap into something and learn from the leaping. I realized Lissa's baby-steps would probably be more successful, both from a time-management issue and to ensure that those taking steps along with me would be somewhat reassured.
Kristie Oxley's blog and comments this semester have been impressive, but her blog post on social networking inspired me with it's overall connection to the TV show Bewitched (one of my childhood favourites). I aspire to be able to write with such great icons and metaphors. It was Kristie's post about the book The Landry News that got me thinking about public persona in a slightly different way. Kristie wrote, "Anyway, I loved the message, or at least my interpretation of the message: let the teacher be a teacher in the class and don't spoil the illusion by intruding into the rest of the teacher's life." (Discussion, Oct. 28) As a former elementary teacher, I could completely understand the sentiment. I had recently experienced the somewhat jarring experience of having secondary students so comfortable with me as a person that they called me by my first name (outside of a school setting). It took me a while to realize that these students were gently teasing me and even asked if this was OK with me. Once I realized that I hadn't lost their respect, and that during school I would still be "Mrs.", I was fine with it. They had seen me with my daughter and husband - as a mom and wife, and I had acted like a mom for them while we were far from home. My on-line persona is much like that. Students at the secondary level are probably far more comfortable than we are with differentiating roles and for them, respect is something they are generous with when they feel respected themselves.
As the Small World Turns
The connections made during this course will hopefully continue thanks to the blogs we've started and our tweets. I've learned a great deal and the world will keep turning and learning and sharing. The goal will be to stay afloat and keep paddling!
