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.

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.

CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Wk 2

     We still talked a lot about blogs this week but we also started a more in depth analysis of Wikipedia and Wikis in general.  So here is Wikipedia in a nutshell for me: Wikipedia is a good resource for information - no doubt.  The information is as accurate as you might find almost anywhere else.  I can get past the oddball additions that some people make to entries that don't seem to contribute any value to the post.  I can get past people adding things in sometimes inappropriate places in the entry ruining the organizational logic of the entry.  What I can't get past (and all of my teachers feel the same way) is exactly what I stated above: it's almost as accurate and credible as other sources.  Teachers will never get over the fact that wikipedia entries are formed by anyone and that you could write anything and as long enough people agree with it or it can't be refuted it will stay part of the definition.  Here is a video of Stephen Colbert as he explains his word of the day...WIKIALITY.  If you're familiar with Colbert you'll understand that he is being sarcastic but you still get that thought in the back of your mind that there is the possibility of an inaccuracy like that happening in Wikipedia because of the way it is setup.  I would ideally like to convince my teachers to at least allow students to use Wikipedia to gather info and potential sources by looking at citations from contributors but I can't, in good conscience, recommend Wikipedia as a cite-able source.
     Last week I started a blog concerning our potential implementation of iPads in the middle school next year.  I opened it up to our current 6th and 7th graders and I posed a specific topic starter question.  The idea is to get additional feedback from the students themselves so that we can add that to our justification of this 1:1 initiative.  Students are required to respond to my question(s) every 2 weeks.  I went over examples of thoughtful responses and tried to model a few more responses that showed a higher level of thinking than just saying "I think iPads would be cool".  While I am happy to have the students blogging, I haven't really tapped into the full potential of using blogging.  The best thing about blogging in education is the collaboration aspect and I haven't really fostered that in this situation.  I could've gotten these same responses by having them fill out a Google form every two weeks.  Two days ago, however, a student responded to another student's post.  THAT is what I'm looking for!!  I will wait and see what happens as the responses keep coming in but I'd like to do something with a topic that is maybe easier for students to start responding to each other.
     Twitter...ugh.  We had to sign up for a Twitter account.  I signed up for one and that is pretty much as far as I got.  I hate the whole concept of Twitter and I still have yet to see it's value in education.  It is way too overbearing for me.  I remember the feeling I had when we did the Posterous pic-a-day thing where it just hung over my head each day.  Well, Twitter is even worse which is why I never started using it in the first place.  I suppose the idea here is to follow someone who does useful Twitter posts.  I honestly have enough Google calendar reminders, apps running, etc in my life where I don't want to see my devices bombarded with Twitter updates or people posting - useful or not.  And if you're not willing to have immediate Twitter updates given to you, which I'm not, then it is not going to be of any use to you.  I picture the profile of the person who can use Twitter the most effectively as this: single, no kids, frequents coffee shops or bistros, is always looking for something to do, has lots of extra spare time.  That is the opposite of where I'm at right now.  Gotta suck it up to do this paper though so send me a Tweet!!

CEDO 535 - Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools - Wk 1

     First week of a new class...Facilitating Collaboration using Web Tools.  This class looks to get more in depth about using Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts in an educational setting.  This first week we specifically explored Blogging.  We were asked to read the first 3 chapters of our book "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms" by Will  Richardson.  The first chapter was an eye opener for several reasons...mostly from the perspective of how much blogs are used in society already and how powerful their impact has been.  It  provided lots of evidence of how blogs have infiltrated politics, journalism, and business.  I took notes to use when I talk to my staff about incorporating blogging into their classrooms.  The second chapter full of examples of the role that blogs can play in education.  Again, a good way for me to justify my teachers using them as part of their classroom assignments.  The third chapter brought to my attention the strategy of "starting small".  I have always perceived setting up blogging with the students as a daunting task because of trying to create individual accounts, giving students email addresses, and then trying to administer and censor the blogs.  The book suggested starting by explaining blogging and its advantages and then modeling appropriate responses.  When students seem to grasp that the book suggests starting with a classroom blog.  I thought that was a great idea because it is an excellent warm-up for students and it doesn't require very much micro-management on the teacher's part.
     The other assignment we had was to review several blogging creation sites and provide a write-up of our thoughts.  I reviewed Edmodo, WordPress, and Blogger.  Edmodo wasn't really a blogging site but I still enjoyed looking at it closer.  It is essentially a student management system but I liked that you could open some communication lines with their built in message board a la Facebook.  I already use a comment section on my Google Site that I use for my classroom website so I can accomplish that communication without making students log in to a SMS.  I liked how Edmodo allowed you to connect to other teachers and there were a few cool features like creating badges for assignments.  WordPress and Blogger are both great blogging creation sites that are easy to use for beginners and feature some advanced options to satisfy expert bloggers.  I think I'll probably try WordPress when we introduce blogging to our middle school students since I don't have to deal with students having Google accounts.  My middle school students have email addresses through Gaggle.net but not Google accounts...yet.

CEDO 530 - Digital Storytelling Week 5

Well this last week of class included creating a rubric, finishing our Pecha Kuchas, and a group assignment evaluating some gadgets.

I like rubrics a lot and have started using them more lately.  It just takes a bit of time to create the good ones.  That is part of the advantage, though.  Creating a good rubric for a project or assignment means sitting down and spending time internalizing what the project is meant to be doing.  You are essentially analyzing the worth of your assignment.  When creating rubrics I find myself either adding or subtracting components of a project after the deeper analysis.  Rubrics are great for eliminating any obscurity as far as what is required of students and it helps guide you in the grading process as well.

Pecha Kucha was still a painful assignment for me.  I thought it would get better once I was done with the storyboard but it was still a struggle.  Timing was still an issue.  My fluency and smooth talking was just not there.  You know how people say "you have a face for radio"?  Well, I "have a voice for blogging", haha.  I did like my picture selections and think they really added to the presentation but the rest of the Pecha Kucha was very hard to piece together.  I wouldn't choose this method for a presentation - it just doesn't cater to my strengths.  I'm glad I was exposed to it, though.

Overall, I liked the texts for this class and I have a strong feeling I will reference them again.  Especially the sections of Presentation Zen where they provide and display examples of good presentation techniques.  I'm happy that I got a chance to experiment with Animoto and I absolutely loved using VoiceThread.  I am currently planning a collaborative lesson with another teacher using VoiceThread - can't wait to use it with the students.  Posterous was neat but I'm taking a break from it right now...I have a few ideas for future use but the picture a day looming over my head forced me into some pretty lame pictures just so I could have something posted.  With the freedom to take pictures in the moment I think it will be much more effective.  I just looked back to see if I missed anything and I wanted mention the quotes research we did.  I actually used a quote in my Pecha Kucha and look forward to adding more to presentations.  Fun class.

Digital Storytelling CEDO 530 - Week 4

     I again enjoyed reading the next set of chapters from both of our texts.  Presentation Zen had some really good caveats.  I particularly enjoyed the idea of "making them want more" which naturally tied into the idea of finishing a little early (don't go over your allotted time).  It is probably easier said than done but I'd love to have the audience looking at the clock noticing that it's a little early and thinking "wait, that's it?  I want to know more about...".  The hard part would be conveying the important aspects of your message while building up to an exciting conclusion where the audience feels like there should be more.
     I also enjoyed looking through the examples of slide shows and images.  When I revamped my original PPT presentation I was reluctant to stray from my style of plain white background because I thought there should be a  repeated theme to the presentation concerning style.  After viewing some examples I saw that alternating dark backgrounds with lighter backgrounds did not adversely effect the presentation and even added a little variety.
     The Digitales chapters that we read this week made me realize that there is a lot of technical skill that goes into creating a powerful presentation.  You almost need to have graphic design skills, web design skills, or something similar to really be able to cover the whole gamut of creating an earth-shattering presentation.
     Now to the brutally honest part of this blog.  I am having a heck of a time with the story-boarding for the Pecha Kucha.  Perhaps it just doesn't fit with how I'm used to organizing a presentation but it just seems extremely redundant.  If I was doing this the old fashioned way by taking physical boards or post-its and planning this out by hand in an effort to "step away from the technology" I could maybe give it a little validity.  Sitting down at the computer and creating a storyboard electronically, only to repeat the process in another electronic format once we get done with it just doesn't make sense to me.  It is not allowing me to enjoy the Pecha Kucha itself.  Can't wait until I'm done with that...ugh.
     The Prezi assignment will be fun...once I get to it.

Digital Storytelling CEDO 530 - Week 3

     I have to admit that the first thing I had to skip through to try was Animoto.  I had seen a few other people's finished products and they were really sharp looking so I was eager to try it.  The assignment actually allowed me to justify setting aside the time for me to try it.  As I expected, it was very easy to do and the results were very rewarding.  I was impressed by the ability to flip pictures around and the option to upload your own music files.  I ended up using one of their music selection but having the option to upload your own music was nice.  It was easy to adjust the layout, order, and timing of the pictures.  The only knock on it was that I thought there would be more video styles available for free.  I'd say about 50% of the styles needed the paid subscription in order to be used.  That is a very minor issue considering all of the other excellent features.
     I enjoyed doing some more reading in our 2 books for this class, Presentation Zen and DigiTales.  I'm getting a better grasp of the whole process of both giving more effective presentations and delivering good stories.  What I'm also learning is that there is quite a bit of planning, organizing, and time-consuming work that goes on behind the scenes for both.
     In DigiTales we were introduced to the 7 step process of planning out a good digital story.  I mentioned that I was a little intimidated by the scripting the written narrative step and then the subsequent recording of the voice for the story.  You're writing things down verbatim and trying to make it seem natural yet you are later reading from a script.  I think I mentioned in a forum that I would likely use the script as a guide and just practice it enough times where no two deliveries were the same yet it felt somewhat spontaneous.
     My last insight is regarding the old slideshow that we had to revamp.  I had a pretty good time transforming it using the Presentation Zen principles but man did it take a LONG TIME.  I think looking for pictures/photos took the longest time for me.  I would get a vision for a slide and then I was very picky when searching for a picture to complete the vision.  Some pictures were too low quality and got pixelated when trying to re-size them.  Some pictures didn't have the transparent background I was looking for.  Some pictures needed to be cropped or edited in a graphics program before I was satisfied to put them into my presentation.  I think I went back and changed my slide design like 3 or 4 times after not being satisfied that it had a steady flow.  All of it was very gratifying when you find that "perfect picture" or achieve the "perfect spacing" but all of it was very time-consuming.  I'm guessing with practice that the process would move along quicker but there are often time constraints involved that would make these dreamy presentations hard to accomplish.  I can't even begin to imagine how long it took to create that "Thirst" presentation that we saw as an example.