I've been writing a book review blog for the high school library off and on since 2008 using Edublogs.org. I really liked the site and found it simple to use; all in all, an easy way to share reviews of the new books I bought for the library.
About a year ago, Edublogs started inserting inline content link ads into all free blogs--without warning. True, they mentioned in the fine print that they might some day need to start advertising, and, true, these companies do need to be able to make a profit. The problem was they market themselves exclusively to the education world and they made this advertising change without warning. Now here's the problem with web 2.0 in education. Things change at the drop of the hat with technology, and when you're putting your work (or your students' work) in the hands of an outside company, they can suddenly do things with it that you don't want them to.
Last year, I became an Edublogs supporter to keep my blog ad-free. But now that it is time to renew, I've decided to migrate my blog over to Blogger. Is there any guarantee Blogger won't start using ads in the future. No. But that's the price I have to be willing to pay to use web 2.0 technologies. So in the very near future, my posts will become book reviews (since I want to keep the name I used on Edublogs...which was Edublogs). Sorry for any confusion this may cause. Just call it a teachable moment!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Virtual Worlds, Augmented Reality, Social Networks, New Revenue Models, and Free Stuff
I knew about Second Life before this session, but I wasn't yet convinced it was in our near future in the K-12 classroom.
OK. So now I'm convinced. Now I just have to figure out how it will happen. Check out Bill Sams' presentation and see if he convinces you: http://www.slideshare.net/samsw12/e-tech-10-rev-3.
samsw@ohio.edu
OK. So now I'm convinced. Now I just have to figure out how it will happen. Check out Bill Sams' presentation and see if he convinces you: http://www.slideshare.net/samsw12/e-tech-10-rev-3.
samsw@ohio.edu
Collaborating Across the Atlantic
I'm here at the Ohio eTech Conference and I thought I'd blog my notes for this session on global collaboration, as that would illustrate another use for blogs and another way to think about notetaking.
The speaker is Kim Lord, 8th grade science teacher from Bellbrook Middle School, and her collaborator is Tony Breen from Plockton High School in Scotland. The two met at Space Camp at NASA.
She introduced the project by showing their introductory videos--each school put together a video to introduce themselves--showed the local sites, interests, sports, stuff they do for fun. A cool assignment in and of itself, but much more interesting when done with such authentic purpose.
They used Skype to do live chats and IM with the class in Scotland. They also use it for file sharing since it can handle the size of video files and the like. Parents were asked to sign a permission slip before the project began.
There is a slight delay that takes a little getting used to. They suggested getting a usb extension cable so you can move your webcam around easily.They live chat about 2x a month--her morning students with his afternoon students (5 hour difference)
She described some examples of assignments they did:
Social Networking
http://weareteachers.com/
Microgrants available--you get $200 and a flip camera. You have to find sign up but it helps you find teachers to collaborate with.
http://digitalwish.com/
Deep discount on flip cameras (limit 4)
The speaker is Kim Lord, 8th grade science teacher from Bellbrook Middle School, and her collaborator is Tony Breen from Plockton High School in Scotland. The two met at Space Camp at NASA.
She introduced the project by showing their introductory videos--each school put together a video to introduce themselves--showed the local sites, interests, sports, stuff they do for fun. A cool assignment in and of itself, but much more interesting when done with such authentic purpose.
They used Skype to do live chats and IM with the class in Scotland. They also use it for file sharing since it can handle the size of video files and the like. Parents were asked to sign a permission slip before the project began.
There is a slight delay that takes a little getting used to. They suggested getting a usb extension cable so you can move your webcam around easily.They live chat about 2x a month--her morning students with his afternoon students (5 hour difference)
She described some examples of assignments they did:
- monthly discussions comparing and contrasting local geography and earth science.
- sundial experiments and creation of Excel spreadsheets/tables of the data; they could observe that the sun mid-winter was at different spots at different longitudes.
- discussing differences in weather--Scotland is usually milder in winter but they had their coldest winter on record--real life data for the discussion of ocean currents and weather parents
- several students volunteered to read Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (teaming with Language Arts teacher) and they had a cross-Atlantic discussion.
- Cultural discussions--sports, entertainment, music, pranks, etc.
Social Networking
http://weareteachers.com/
Microgrants available--you get $200 and a flip camera. You have to find sign up but it helps you find teachers to collaborate with.
http://digitalwish.com/
Deep discount on flip cameras (limit 4)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
On cognitive dissonance
As we have embarked on the 21st Century Skills online course, I am reminded of the concept of cognitive dissonance, that "itchy" feeling you get when your beliefs and actions don't quite match up. Adult learners are prone to cognitive dissonance; indeed, it is often what drives us to seek knowledge. We hear that technology is changing. We witness how it changes our students and ourselves--the way we think, communicate, seek answers, create.... We are aware that the old methods of teaching do not embrace these ways of thinking and doing. And, wanting to be teachers of excellence, teachers who really make a difference, we see the gap between what we do and what we know, and we seek to eliminate the gap, in this case by taking an online course.
That doesn't mean closing the gap is painless. When you are a teacher, your self-image is all wrapped up in your expertise--you expect yourself to have all the answers. It is deeply frustrating to thrust yourself into the role of beginner again, to not neccessarily master something the first time your try it. We beat ourselves up for struggling, even though we would never have the same unreasonable expectations of our students.
So as you navigate through these first few assignments, posting to blogs, creating a screencast, and experimenting with Google Docs, remind yourself that it is o.k. to feel frustrated. Coach yourself to let go of the need to "get it" the first time you try. Instead, try to picture yourself as the perfect student--the one who persists in the face of adversity, pushes through a challenge, and keeps an open mind. And don't struggle in silence! There's no shame in asking for a boost, either technical or emotional. Share your challenges and victories with your colleagues, seek advice, question your teachers. And be proud of yourself for becoming the chief learner of your classroom!
That doesn't mean closing the gap is painless. When you are a teacher, your self-image is all wrapped up in your expertise--you expect yourself to have all the answers. It is deeply frustrating to thrust yourself into the role of beginner again, to not neccessarily master something the first time your try it. We beat ourselves up for struggling, even though we would never have the same unreasonable expectations of our students.
So as you navigate through these first few assignments, posting to blogs, creating a screencast, and experimenting with Google Docs, remind yourself that it is o.k. to feel frustrated. Coach yourself to let go of the need to "get it" the first time you try. Instead, try to picture yourself as the perfect student--the one who persists in the face of adversity, pushes through a challenge, and keeps an open mind. And don't struggle in silence! There's no shame in asking for a boost, either technical or emotional. Share your challenges and victories with your colleagues, seek advice, question your teachers. And be proud of yourself for becoming the chief learner of your classroom!
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