S Specific - I was trying to choose from two different goals for this final post. Goal #1 is to get students blogging in the true sense where they are not just responding to a prompt but exploring a topic beyond the original prompt and using each other's responses as a resource. Goal #2 is to integrate using an RSS reader into my daily or weekly routine so that it may help my professional development. I know that I will achieve the first goal since I already have things in place for it to happen in the next week or two so I will choose to focus on Goal #2: Using the RSS Reader. My goal will be to setup and check Google reader on a weekly basis. If I can manage the weekly monitoring of the RSS reader I may try checking it more frequently.
M Measurable - Proving that I am checking my Google reader is kind of tricky since it is a personal goal and not one that I can show a resulting product as if I were to do something with students. The only thing that I can think of that will keep me honest is if I tell myself that I will forward at least 1-2 articles from the RSS Reader to colleagues on a weekly basis.
A Attainable - Figuring out how to set it up is not the issue. It is already setup in my Google account. I've also found 15-20 good blogs and other informational sources to follow. I even think that making time for it won't really pose a problem. The main deterrent for me right now is remembering to check it. That is why I am going to configure an iGoogle page logged into my account as my home page in my web browsers. I plan on putting the Google Reader feed as part of the iGoogle page so that as soon as I open up my browser I am smacked in the face with it.
R Realistic - I thought about being realistic when I chose the terms of the goal. I was tempted to make the frequency of the goal checking it every day but I figured I would start smaller scale by making myself responsible for checking it on a weekly basis. I thought that was much more realistic and I can always adjust the frequency if I find I need the information more often.
T Timely - Last Friday was the end of the 2nd quarter at my school so I will set the timeline for this to be accomplished for the end of the 3rd quarter which falls on March 28th. That essentially gives me 8 weeks to achieve this goal. After the 8 weeks are up I will evaluate whether I met the requirements of the goal and take it from there.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Week 5
This week we were supposed to finish creating a Google site or Wiki, create an EyeJot and give some thoughts about Web 2.0 tools and their impact on us and explore a Web 2.0 application that we hadn't explored in class.
The Google Site was the easy part for me since I already use a Google site for my classroom website. I put assignments on there, upload important files, provide screen casts, allow students to submit assignments electronically through a form (JotForm), provide links to web resources, and link Google forms for quizzes and surveys. It is essentially just like a Wiki when you think about how Google Sites are setup. All you really need to do is share the site with others and give them editing rights and now you have multiple users all capable of adding content.
The Eyejot was a babbling mess. I had ideas written down but whenever that camera starts recording I turn into a stuttering fool. I hope at least some of it made sense. Web 2.0 EyeJot
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of this week was finding a Web 2.0 app called Pearltrees. It is basically a hybrid of an idea mapper and a social bookmarking site. The collaboration aspect works great as you are allowed to search other people's "pearl trees" for information and web resources.
The Google Site was the easy part for me since I already use a Google site for my classroom website. I put assignments on there, upload important files, provide screen casts, allow students to submit assignments electronically through a form (JotForm), provide links to web resources, and link Google forms for quizzes and surveys. It is essentially just like a Wiki when you think about how Google Sites are setup. All you really need to do is share the site with others and give them editing rights and now you have multiple users all capable of adding content.
The Eyejot was a babbling mess. I had ideas written down but whenever that camera starts recording I turn into a stuttering fool. I hope at least some of it made sense. Web 2.0 EyeJot
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of this week was finding a Web 2.0 app called Pearltrees. It is basically a hybrid of an idea mapper and a social bookmarking site. The collaboration aspect works great as you are allowed to search other people's "pearl trees" for information and web resources.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Wk 4
This week we take a look at Social Bookmarking, Twitter, Screencasting/podcasting, Google Sites and dabbled a little with Google+.
I've said my piece on Twitter in forums, last week's blog, and a paper that was due this week but here it is again: Twitter is good for getting LOTS of links to ideas from people and companies you normally wouldn't have exposure to but it is too invasive and has too many annoying components for me to use it religiously. I'm choosing to go the route of the RSS Reader instead. I think one thing that I have really embraced by being immersed in the stream of information coming from the RSS Reader and Twitter these last 2 weeks is my transformation from strictly a consumer of the information to a collaborative sharer of the information. In my role as tech coordinator (or whatever title they give me next year) I think I've always been a good source of info for my staff but it has normally been up to them to come to me with questions. As I have been receiving all of these great sources of info about various topics I have made it a point to pass it on. That is key.
That leads me to the Social Bookmarking. I had started my Diigo account when learning about it in an earlier class and I have used it off and on as I ran across good sites. I took it a step further at the end of last year and gave each teacher an account, created a Group, and then shared it with them. I then installed the Diigolet or Toolbar on their classroom computers, gave them a training session and away we went. It was fairly slow going at first and some teachers were complaining that they were getting too many email updates when people would save sites to the Group. Yep, complaining about people sharing resources with them without them having to do any of the work!! Anyways, I showed them how to adjust the settings and we kept going. Eventually summer came and the Diigo use died and has been dead ever since. Chapter 6 opened my eyes to the additional uses of Social Bookmarking and how it can intertwine with an RSS Reader. Time to get out the defibrillator and bring social bookmarking back to life.
I already use a Google Site for my classroom website and it has been awesome. Here is the LINK. All of the teachers at my school use Google Sites. I created a template for them to use and we made the switch at the beginning of this school year. It is really easy to use once you become familiar with the menus.
I haven't done any screencasting related to to my classes thus far but I have used Jing Project before. I do use a student management software in my classroom called SynchronEyes by SMART Technologies (now called SMART Sync). It allows me to broadcast my computer screen onto theirs and that is how I teach a LOT of my lessons. It is essentially a walk-through for them in the same sense as a screencast. The big drawback is that it is only available to them while they are sitting there in class. Another negative is that they only get to see it once. If they miss something the first time they risk the possibility of irking the teacher by asking to see it again. (haha - JK) Posting a video screencast on a teacher website could solve both of those problems. They'd have access to it anywhere they have Internet access and they can play it over and over again at their own leisure. I wouldn't want to make screencasts of everything for fear that they would become too reliant on them but it makes sense to have some screencasts for the tougher concepts.
I've said my piece on Twitter in forums, last week's blog, and a paper that was due this week but here it is again: Twitter is good for getting LOTS of links to ideas from people and companies you normally wouldn't have exposure to but it is too invasive and has too many annoying components for me to use it religiously. I'm choosing to go the route of the RSS Reader instead. I think one thing that I have really embraced by being immersed in the stream of information coming from the RSS Reader and Twitter these last 2 weeks is my transformation from strictly a consumer of the information to a collaborative sharer of the information. In my role as tech coordinator (or whatever title they give me next year) I think I've always been a good source of info for my staff but it has normally been up to them to come to me with questions. As I have been receiving all of these great sources of info about various topics I have made it a point to pass it on. That is key.
That leads me to the Social Bookmarking. I had started my Diigo account when learning about it in an earlier class and I have used it off and on as I ran across good sites. I took it a step further at the end of last year and gave each teacher an account, created a Group, and then shared it with them. I then installed the Diigolet or Toolbar on their classroom computers, gave them a training session and away we went. It was fairly slow going at first and some teachers were complaining that they were getting too many email updates when people would save sites to the Group. Yep, complaining about people sharing resources with them without them having to do any of the work!! Anyways, I showed them how to adjust the settings and we kept going. Eventually summer came and the Diigo use died and has been dead ever since. Chapter 6 opened my eyes to the additional uses of Social Bookmarking and how it can intertwine with an RSS Reader. Time to get out the defibrillator and bring social bookmarking back to life.
I already use a Google Site for my classroom website and it has been awesome. Here is the LINK. All of the teachers at my school use Google Sites. I created a template for them to use and we made the switch at the beginning of this school year. It is really easy to use once you become familiar with the menus.
I haven't done any screencasting related to to my classes thus far but I have used Jing Project before. I do use a student management software in my classroom called SynchronEyes by SMART Technologies (now called SMART Sync). It allows me to broadcast my computer screen onto theirs and that is how I teach a LOT of my lessons. It is essentially a walk-through for them in the same sense as a screencast. The big drawback is that it is only available to them while they are sitting there in class. Another negative is that they only get to see it once. If they miss something the first time they risk the possibility of irking the teacher by asking to see it again. (haha - JK) Posting a video screencast on a teacher website could solve both of those problems. They'd have access to it anywhere they have Internet access and they can play it over and over again at their own leisure. I wouldn't want to make screencasts of everything for fear that they would become too reliant on them but it makes sense to have some screencasts for the tougher concepts.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Wk 3
This week we talked about Blogs, but more specifically RSS Readers. I have several ideas for incorporating blogging in the classroom(s) which I talked about in last week's post but combining some of those ideas with the use of an RSS Reader makes them much more powerful. The obvious way to incorporate RSS Readers would be to use them to help monitor multiple information sources effectively. There have been many cool things that I have given up because of how much time they take up. I can't imagine trying to keep up with more than like 5 blogs at a time by trying to remember to visit them every day or even every week. It just isn't feasible and even if you were able to incorporate it into your routine it wouldn't be an effective use of time. By using an RSS Reader you can read more content from more sources in a fraction of the time. By simply scanning or skimming the headlines or first few sentences of each blog you subscribe to, you can quickly determine what might be useful reading. It is like having an electronic personal assistant that presents you with informational choices that you can pick and choose from. You can also mark things as something you'd like to read at a later time.
One idea that I really liked was the concept of having students use an RSS Reader to do research on certain topics. This strategy would direct students to resources that they may never have been exposed to by doing your good ole Google search. If the topic is a current event or recent hot topic then this strategy becomes even more advantageous. Not only will the research be current but the information flow will be ongoing. You wouldn't find that type of research any other way.
The last idea that really stuck with me was the suggestion that a teacher could use an RSS Reader as an effective way to monitor individual student blogs. Up until now I have been racking my brain on how (and who) would be responsible for such a task when we establish individual student blogs. I was planning on making the classroom teacher (Literature teacher, for example) responsible for administering the blogs but I was dreading telling them about the micro-management part. Having the teacher use an RSS Reader to accomplish this will make the teacher hate me a little bit less. I hope.
One idea that I really liked was the concept of having students use an RSS Reader to do research on certain topics. This strategy would direct students to resources that they may never have been exposed to by doing your good ole Google search. If the topic is a current event or recent hot topic then this strategy becomes even more advantageous. Not only will the research be current but the information flow will be ongoing. You wouldn't find that type of research any other way.
The last idea that really stuck with me was the suggestion that a teacher could use an RSS Reader as an effective way to monitor individual student blogs. Up until now I have been racking my brain on how (and who) would be responsible for such a task when we establish individual student blogs. I was planning on making the classroom teacher (Literature teacher, for example) responsible for administering the blogs but I was dreading telling them about the micro-management part. Having the teacher use an RSS Reader to accomplish this will make the teacher hate me a little bit less. I hope.
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