Graphic Novels

Hello people in cyberspace- I'm not sure if anyone reads this blog, but it makes me feel better thinking there are people out there with a vested interest in the school library world. He he! For those of you holding your breath for another posting- wait no longer- it is here!!!

I am taking another class through the University of Alberta on Graphic Novels and Comic Books. It is a subject that I admit, I know very little about, but want to know more. It has been a really interesting class so far and the assignments about reading comics aren't bad either!

One of the assignments was to create a virtual seminar for the class. My topic is the exciting world of collection development and policy for graphic novels. Ohhh... Ahhh. I created a wiki and I'm going to share it with my blogging fans.

Click here for the link.

It is a bit dry and it was harder than I thought to find info, but I think I've compiled some good info and it is a start.

Let me know what you think!

Katie

There's a policy for that...

Well, I have taken a bit of a break from blogging for my course. I thought I would continue on with my sharing my thoughts to anyone who is brave enough to read them! The new format will be less formal than previous posts, but I will be speaking from experience and shooting straight from the hip with my posts.

So, this entry is dedicated to the Library Policy and Procedure manual that I have created for my own school library.

Once upon a time (about two and a half years ago to be more exact) several school divisions became one large division. Now there is one huge division, that has many, many schools under its umbrella. This new division doesn't have a library policy- yet!! So, as a little project for myself I decided to make my own policy and procedure manual.

You may ask why I need to have a policy, so I will answer that with the following quote from the American Library Association:

Every school system should have a comprehensive policy on the selection of instructional materials. It should relate to and include all materials; for example, textbooks, library books, periodicals, films, videocassettes, records, audiocassettes, and CDs. The reason should be obvious: haphazard patterns of acquisition will result in waste because some—perhaps many—materials will overlap in content, or will be unrelated to changing patterns of instruction.

A comprehensive policy on the selection of instructional materials also will enable school professionals to rationally explain the school program to the community. And, most important in a crisis, when there are complaints about social studies texts, human development materials in the media center, or fiction in the English class, the use of the “objectionable” item can be explained more easily.

A good policy on the selection of instructional materials will be relevant to your particular system and include basic sections on objectives, responsibility, criteria, procedures for selection, reconsideration of materials, and policies on controversial materials.

I think it answers the question about why very nicely. I also wanted a way to be able to say to people- "yes, this is how I select material, delete material, etc." I have been asked that and now I will be able to refer them to my document. I also thought it would be a great idea to have some kind of procedure in place for challenged material. The previous librarian told me that she has never had anyone challenge material before, but knowing my luck, someone would challenge a book and I would have little or no recourse to fall back on. I do now!

I have "borrowed" heavily from the old document that the "legacy" division had in place. It is still applicable and it seems to make sense.

I've told the powers that be and now a couple of division people have the policy and are looking at it. Hopefully, there will be a division policy soon and I hope that I can help them with it!

That's what I think about library policies (for now!)...

Katie

To Infinity and Beyond...

In the beginning...

When I registered for this class I was not sure what to expect. The title and course description don’t always match the content of the course. I was expecting to read about using search engines, automated computer systems, online sources to help catalogue- things like that. I was pleasantly surprised when I logged on and saw the course outline! Web 2.0 was a term that I had heard being talked about, but I never really paid much attention to. The tools that we would be investigating were, for the most part, things I had heard of, but never really thought of researching to find out how to use them in the school.

I was relieved to see that many of my classmates also had some apprehension about the up-coming assignments and tools and that I wasn’t the only one wondering what exactly a wiki was. I was looking forward to learning some practical applications that I could use in my day-to-day life. Many of my previous classes dealt with evaluating the library, organizing materials, and other concepts that, as a librarian I was comfortable with. I was ready for something that seemed to be a bit more challenging and to have actual skills that I could use; I was ready to leave my comfort zone!

Low Points:

One of the most difficult areas for me, during this course was the amount of time I had to spend reading articles and websites. It is not the readings themselves, but there just seemed to be so much information out there and it was very time consuming to read everything and then decide if and what I could use from the articles or the sites for the discussions and the blog entries. I think more than one person stated in the discussions that they felt a bit overwhelmed. I was used to doing my course work on one or two days of the week- like when I was on-campus as an undergrad. I found that Jenn’s suggestion to look at blogs one day and discussions on another day to be really helpful. I tried to look at the class blogs on Tuesday or Wednesday and the discussions on other days. Once I got into this routine it was more manageable and less daunting for me.

I did have problems with my podcast. That was the only low point for me in terms of the actual tools we were looking at. I did this assignment on my brother’s laptop, which went back to Winnipeg with him the day after I posted my blog. I was visiting my parent’s for winter break in February. The first link that I put on my blog didn’t work and I had to rush around and try and find a different way of getting it out into the ether. Luckily, my mother took me to her work in the evening and we sorted it out. Considering that when I deal with technology, there is usually a major kink or bug I have to work out, only having this hiccup was not too bad.

High Points:

The highlight of the course for me is the experience and confidence that I have gained by using these tools. For the first time since I started teaching, 6 years, ago I am really re-evaluating my instruction, evaluation and delivery of course material for me and my students. I am trying to think of how to incorporate these new tools I have learned into my teaching for next semester. I have found that through this process, I am also re-evaluating the content and assignments that I give. I think it is very easy to get into a routine and want to stay there- especially for teachers. I feel that many of us have the motto, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” I am breaking it and then re-assembling it to be something that has the same core, but a different aesthetic. I think that I have become fired-up and I’m ready for change.

I also feel quite “cool” because when the students are talking about SNS or Flickr, I know what they are talking about and I can interact with them and discuss these tools with some knowledge. I still think that students are the best teachers for me when it comes to technology. They are a wonderful resource and I find when I ask them to help me- they feel quite proud and knowledgeable. To quote Martha Stewart, “it’s a good thing.”

I’ve also “met” some fantastic people through this course and it has been really nice. Cindy and I were put together for the wiki assignment and have been messaging each other since then. We’ve also had a couple of really good Scrabble games going on Facebook! She seems to beat me- quite badly- every time, but there is always the next game! I have enjoyed reading everyone’s blogs. Even though I put the readings under my low points, I found the links that others have found to compliment their postings to be fantastic and I have spent a lot of time reading their links as well.

The End...

In coming to the end of the course I feel very confident and ready to use what I have learned. As I said in one of the last blog posts, I think that I will continue with my blog- maybe not every week- but I am putting it on my new library website for my staff to have a look at and comment on. It is going to be part of my Professional Growth Plan for 2008/09 to keep it up and continue with my own learning.

Good luck to everyone and I hope to be able to work with you again in future classes or to read your blogs in the future.

Watch this space because it will be changing!!

I have a signature on my email that contains the following quote. I would like to sign off with it as I think it sums up how I feel about this course and my educational philosophy:

“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn”- John Cotton Dana

Katie

PD Plan: Blogs

The Web 2.0 tool that I would most like to showcase to my staff would be blogs. I have found that blogs are very simple to create, use, and navigate through to find information on just about any topic in the educational field.

My staff presentation would follow the format below:

1. Introduction to blogs:

1. I would assume that some people will never have seen a blog before and therefore not know what they look like or what they are about. There is really simple and straightforward definitions and examples of blogs on the Wikipedia page.

2. I would also show them this blog and highlight some of the features and talk about how I set up my blog from the beginning. I would also look at some of my previous entries and highlight some of the other tools that compliment a blog (wikis, videos, Voicethread, podcasts, etc.).

3. I would also show some other blog hosting sites and give a few examples. Examples include: Blogger and Word Press,

2. The benefit of teachers using blogs:

• Some teachers will wonder why I am suggesting that they either view or create their own blogs. I have compiled some research that highlights the benefits of blogs for educators.

Reason #1: As Will Richardson writes, “Blogs are powerful communication tools. Blogs are powerful publishing tools. But blogging (the verb) is still much more than that to me. Blogging, as in reading and thinking and reflecting and then writing, is connecting and learning” As a profession that adheres to the dictum that we should all strive to be life-long learners, a blog is a great tool to be able to reflect on what you know and feel and reading or creating a blog allows a teacher to continue to learn.

Reason #2: Chris Lehamnn writes, “It's about putting ideas out there, exploring them, sharing them, and taking part in a larger community. Sometimes, yes, it's just about an announcement or two, but at its best, my blogging helps me think, brings others into my thought process and improves it because of their input and forces me to make sense of my thoughts -- which is why it's so damned hard sometimes.

Blogs make publishing easier, but having something to say is still hard. But if we can model reflective practice, if we can embody the old Socratic ideal that "the unexamined life is not worth living," if we can publicly create communities where thoughtfulness -- truly being full of thought -- then we have accomplished something powerful.”

Reason #3: It’s easy! I am not only advocating that teachers create and maintain their own blogs, I think they should also be reading other teachers’ blogs and commenting or interacting with them and it is so easy! If you can open a Word document, type some text and print it, you can blog. Sometimes the idea of using “new” technological tools can be daunting, but a blog is truly one of the easiest tools to start using. And who knows, maybe in a few months or years, a person will be designing websites or digital video games to use in the classroom!

3. Sharing:

• After doing a number of blogs and researching various Web 2.0 tools, I have complied a list of my own favourite blogs and would show them to my fellow teachers and highlight the kinds of information that is shared through blogs. Teachers would be able to see examples of the types of information they would like to write about in their own blogs.

#1- Cool Cat Teacher: This site was created and is maintained by Vicki Davis a teacher from Georgia, USA. It has a phenomenal amount of information, on just about any topic relating to the teaching profession. I really like the “links of the day” feature and the “Most Valuable Posts” sidebar.

#2 Ubbernoggin : is a great site that is not necessarily for educators, but has lots of good information about technology and the tools that we would need to use in our schools or classrooms.

#3 Borderland: is a blog by Doug Noon who is an elementary teacher and he writes about technology and education in general. It is a truthful and amusing blog by a teacher in the “trenches” of education.

#4 The Fisch Bowl is a blog done by Karl Fisch designed specifically for staff development and to promote the use of technology in the classroom. It has really good information for anyone who is interested in trying to use technology in their teaching.

4. Concerns

• Some teachers will have concerns about privacy issues and legal implications. I would direct them to this website by David Warlick; he suggests that there are three kinds of blogging teachers:

• independent teacher bloggers, whose writing is completely unrelated to their job with your school or district;
• professional teacher bloggers, who write in their capacity as teachers in your school or district; and
• instructional teacher bloggers, who blog as an instructional strategy, usually encouraging their students to blog, too.

Warlick provides descriptions of each type and some interesting advice to follow. Many school divisions have rules or procedures to follow and each teacher should be looking into those to see what is expected and/or discouraged. He also has one excellent quote that applies to everything in life, “don’t be stupid.” I would advise teachers not to put anything they wouldn’t want their principal or superintendent to read. Don’t use students’ names or describe specific situations.

If privacy is the issue, I would advise teachers not to use their real names, reveal their schools’ name or location and don’t use specifics. We do have to realize that what we do can and will be judged, so act accordingly.

Hopefully, by seeing the presentation and looking at a few of the blogs on my list, teachers would be interested and want to learn more. Teaching teachers is sometimes one of the hardest things to do, but even if one of them wanted to blog or use blogs for their own education I think I would feel like I actually encouraged someone's learning and I would feel very satisfied.

Katie

I feel like a Blog...

It is a sign of the times that something so ingrained into the population’s psyche is something that is so young. The birth of the blog (or web log as it was known at first) happened just over 10 years ago. I found it fascinating to read an article- a blog of course- by Rebecca Blood that chronicles the beginnings of blogs and their rise to popularity. I find it very amusing to remember my first experiences with the internet in general and to realize that my first experience in grade 7 with the “new” computers in our lab was about the time that many other people first got their taste. I can even remember when the fax machine was the height of technological sophistication! My how the times have changed- and so quickly!!

Blood’s history of the blog is very interesting to read and it provides a timeline to the popularity of the blogs. She addresses the question of why blogs became so popular and suggests that it is because of the free-form concept- people are able to express their thoughts and opinions- combined with the ease of use. I have certainly found the ease of use a definite plus to my blogging experience. I have found this particular site (blogger.com) to be extremely easy to use and it has taken away that anxiety of many other Web 2.0 tools in that I don’t have to worry about how to use it and if I’m going to be able to figure it out in time.

McGraw-Hill/Glencoe has a very informative website that helps teachers research many of the Web 2.0 tools that we have investigated in this class. Their site on blogs has been particularly interesting and useful. They suggest that blogs are beneficial for students by:
·motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in classrooms
·excellent opportunities for students to read and write.
·effective forums for collaboration and discussion.
·powerful tools to enable scaffolded learning or mentoring to occur.

They go on to suggest some uses in the classroom:

1.Classroom ManagementClass blogs can serve as a portal to foster a community of learners. As they are easy to create and update efficiently, they can be used to inform students of class requirements, post handouts, notices, and homework assignments, or act as a question and answer board.
2.CollaborationBlogs provide a space where teachers and students can work to further develop writing or other skills with the advantage of an instant audience. Teachers can offer instructional tips, and students can practice and benefit from peer review. They also make online mentoring possible. For example, a class of older students can help a class of younger students develop more confidence in their writing skills. Students can also participate in cooperative learning activities that require them to relay research findings, ideas, or suggestions.
3.DiscussionsA class blog opens the opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. With a blog, every person has an equal opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions. Students have time to react to ideas and reflect on learning. Teachers can also bring together a group of knowledgeable individuals for a given unit of study for students to network and conference with on a blog.
4.Student PortfoliosBlogs present, organize, and protect student work as digital portfolios. As older entries are archived, developing skills and progress may be analyzed more conveniently. Additionally, as students realize their efforts will be published, they are typically more motivated to produce better writing. Teachers and peers may conference with a student individually on a developing work, and expert or peer mentoring advice can be easily kept for future reference.

I really liked the idea of using blogs as a way of having an organized discussion with students. Sometimes in the classroom we are inhibited by the time we can spend on a subject or by other factors such as management and size. Blogs would allow for the students who are truly interested in exploring a concept further to be able to extend the discussion at a later time. It would be a great adaptation for students who need to be accelerated or enriched.

I see the use of blogs more beneficial for professional development than for use in the classroom. I can use myself as an example; I have learned so much about Web 2.0 tools in this class by both researching for information for my own blog and by reading and exploring links that I have found on my classmates’ blogs. I have found that sometimes being a teacher can be an isolating experience. Not so much when we need to discuss behaviour problems or school related issues, but more in the actual delivery of material or ideas for changing and improving one’s program. I have mentioned in previous posts that being one of only two high school teacher librarians in a huge school division can be quite daunting. Until last spring I had never even met the other secondary t-l and so I had no one to really share ideas or to ask advice from. It never occurred to me to look on the internet for t-l blogs or wikis to gain some information. I basically used my classmates on my online courses- a big thank you to those who helped me in the beginning! Also, having taught at two rural schools where you are the only teacher teaching each subject is can also be isolating as you don’t have many to bounce ideas off of and I would (and have) recommended to anyone looking for that kind of interaction to look for blogs by other teachers.

In my search for information, I have come across a number of teacher blogs that support professional development. Some are by teachers for teachers in their division or district and some are for everyone. Here is an example of a few:
1) http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/ : a blog by Karl Fisch. From reading it, I believe that he is a leader in his school, maybe by choice or by job description. Some entries really mirror this course. There is a good entry on VoiceThreads he did not too long ago.
2) http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/ : this site is on my side bar and I use it a lot. I have been using it for other things besides this course and I love it! Lots of great information and interesting posts.
3) http://teacherlingo.com/ : this is a site that hosts teacher blogs. It connects teachers in one site to share ideas.
4) http://onf.ca/blogs/hello-teacher : I have signed up for the NFB newsletter and I came across this blog a couple of months ago. It is great to find out information about the films NFB offers and ideas for using them in the classroom.
5) http://borderland.northernattitude.org/ : a blog by teacher Doug Noon. It is very informative and entertaining. I enjoyed the quote he found on Accommodating Student Weirdness! More on Doug Noon later in my blog...
6) http://gwegner.edublogs.org/ : a blog by Aussie teacher Graham Wegner. Fascinating insight
and ideas.

As promised, I would like to share more information that I found on Doug Noon’s blog. He has a “blogging manifesto” that I would like to share:
“Educating people for a democratic society is cultural work. Teachers must become border crossers. We need to be creatively flexible because even if curriculum is standardized, our students are not. Teaching is more than methodology. It begins with understanding, and it depends on personal connections that honor the identities of learners. Conceptual borders are places to make new meanings - to explore different ways of thinking and being, to muck about with difficult questions and to be unafraid of wrong answers.”- Doug Noon
I love that quote- it has really summed up my own ideas about teaching and spoke to me in a way that no other idea about teaching has. I have copied that and printed it out and have it beside my desk at school. So once again, through a blog, I have found information that has affected me personally and professionally- I believe that is the power of blogs.

Conclusions:

There is a reason that I titled my blog “Here’s What I Think...” I had plans to continue using this blog as a professional and personal diary for my own purposes after the class had ended. I thought I would use it as a place to vent and get some frustrations out of the way. I have changed my mind a bit- I probably still vent somewhat- but I have decided to try and keep up the research part of the blog and have it as a tool for my own personal and professional development. What better way to keep on top of the new ideas, tools, methods, etc. of teaching. Maybe someone will stumble across my blog and find it useful- hopefully that will happen, but even if now one reads it, it will still be valuable to me and my professional growth. I also plan on having it attached to my Virtual School Library site and it will be available for my colleagues to view and have a look at. Hopefully some of the entries on Web 2.0 will be useful for them!

The only downside I can see to blogging in general is the time factor. It takes a lot of time to research and create blog entries like these and I’m not entirely sure that I will continue on with the same determination if there is not a mark attached to it. I hope that I will, but I can see that becoming an issue. I think the “time problem” cannot be underestimated in a teacher’s life- in some cases with our teaching days, planning, extra-curricular, families, personal lives, etc. there isn’t a whole lot of time for blogging, but I think that if I (or anyone) can set aside some time to put their thoughts into the ether- it is well worth it!

That’s what I think about blogging...

Katie

Conclusions

I appreciate the benefits that some of the researchers have put forward for the use of Social Networking Sites in schools, but I think the risks outweigh the benefits. I will probably never uses Facebook for any sort of educational purposes. I value my privacy away from school and I don’t want to communicate with my students in this manner. I remember when I first started teaching and my students continually wanted to be my “buddy” on MSN. I have always been very weary of having too much personal contact with students outside of school. Teachers that teach in larger centres may not appreciate this, but I grew up in a community with 1000 people and I taught in two places with similar populations. I ended up doing parent-teacher interviews in the grocery store or on the street corner. If I (or a group of teachers) went to the bar on a Friday or the weekend, you were stared at and the kids would comment on the following Monday. I quickly came to value my privacy when I wasn’t working. I know that other professionals have the same issues, but now that I’m in a larger centre not everyone knows I am a teacher I am more comfortable. I will not have my students as friends on Facebook as there are things on there that I don’t necessarily want my students to see- things (pictures and stories) from university, old boyfriends, etc. that I don’t want to share. I am also very weary of the professionalism of being too close to students and I don’t want to open myself up to any suggestion of impropriety. If students have to email me outside of school, they have to use my official school account. Some teachers are ok with this- I am not, therefore I will never allow my current students to see my profile.

I also cannot watch students 24/7 and the idea of using MySpace or Facebook as a way to complete assignments is not something that appeals to me because of some of the issues that arise between students. Currently our school is experiencing a lot of problems with cell phones, texting and IMing that has been causing issues with bullying and violence. For me to introduce something like a SNS into my classroom would be madness. I know that some teachers do use Facebook for clubs and communication, but I would prefer to use some other way to do this. I have been playing around with Blackboard and I think that I would prefer to use that as an online community for my students.

That's what I think of Social Networking Sites. Now I think that I will go and check my Facebook...
Katie

Cons of SNS

CONS

When I was doing the research for SNS, I came across many, many sites that discussed the dangers and risks of allowing students to use SNS in schools and public library. I think that we all appreciate the risks involved in any online activity that is not monitored, but I chose to highlight some of the more interesting and school appropriate articles that discuss the cons of using Facebook or Myspace in schools.

When I was doing my search, I came across several articles that mentioned a new bill that was being put to the floor in the US Congress to have libraries, schools and any place that has public internet access to ban minors from using these sites. The people who are backing this bill feel it is necessary to protect children from online predators. The bill itself doesn’t surprise me, but when I read a this article further, I was surprised to read that there was already a law in place, signed by President Clinton in 2000, that compels librarians to block any “off colour” sites. The law was appealed in 2003 on the grounds that it was against the First Amendment, but the law was upheld. As far as I’m aware, we do not have anything like this in Canada, but I could be wrong. I think that a law like this is a knee-jerk reaction to technology that scares people and it is a little like using bubble gum to patch a hole in the Hoover Dam! There is always going to be something new and a new way to communicate. Kids are also much more internet savvy that many people would like to believe. I found out about proxy servers from a student who knew how to get around the blocks put in place at our school. They will find a way if they want to and now they are proposing that librarians need to police inventive and motivated students! (Find complete article here)

Most of the sites I came across listed child protection as the main concern. This particularly hits home in Saskatchewan as recently there was a case of a teen being abducted by a man and they were caught in Winnipeg. It was not clear how the girl communicated with the man, but it could have been through Facebook or MySpace. So what can schools do? How do we keep them safe at school without hindering their education? Education World suggests the following:

1. A clear policy with a strong focus on educationally valuable use of the Internet -- no "Internet recess." The policy must be supported by curriculum and professional development, and a clear expectation for teachers that all student use of the Internet should be for high quality, well-planned instructional activities.
2.Student education about online safety and responsible use.
3.Effective technical monitoring.
4.Appropriate consequences. Schools and districts should consider a full review of Internet use management policies and practices. A needs assessment and evaluation of Internet use would provide helpful insight. Safe school personnel must be involved in that process.

Education World also has guidelines for what students can do when they are using the internet and Social Networks:

* Be kind to others. Think how you would feel if someone posted similar things about you.
* Think before you post. Material posted in these communities is public, could damage your reputation, or could be used to harm you. It is not private!
* Take steps to protect yourself and others from bullying and harassment. Report concerns to the Web site and to a trusted adult.
* Report to an adult if someone posts threats of violence or self-harm. Such threats could be real threats. Don't post threats yourself. Someone might take you seriously.
* Develop "stranger danger" detection skills. People online might not be who they seem to be. Develop a safety plan for meeting online friends that is approved by your parent.
* Stop the predators. If you have been contacted by someone you think might be a sexual predator, report it to a trusted adult.

Pros and Cons of SNS

I thought I would try and divide my thoughts on SNS into pros and cons of using this Web 2.0 tool in schools. I found a lot of opinions and ideas about SNS, so it seemed to be a logical way to conquer and divide the information.

PROs:

One of the first sites that I came across was a pdf document called “Teen & Social Networking in School & Public Libraries: A Toolkit for Librarians and Library Workers” written by Young Adult Library Services Association. It is a 10 page document that explains exactly what a Social Networking Site is: “software that enables people to connect, collaborate and form virtual communities via the computer and/or Internet. Social networking web sites are those that provide this opportunity to interact. Sites that allow visitors to send emails, post comments, build web content and/or take part in live chats are all considered to be social networking sites.”

The YALSA suggests that SNS can be used as an area for teens to be able to reflect on their own learning, communicate with teachers (and librarians), to get feedback from educators, parents and peers and also to create a sense of community outside of the physical environment of the school. I do agree that teenagers may feel that this is something they know and feel comfortable with, so it may appeal to them in ways that traditional interaction cannot accomplish.

The YALSA also lists the following benefits for SNS:

Developmental Assets & Social Networking
When schools and libraries help teens use
social networking tools safely and smartly, they
also help teens meet their developmental assets
as defined by the Search Institute. (www.searchinstitute.
org) For example when teens:


Learn how to use blogs, wikis, and My
Space sites within an educational context
they learn about boundaries and
expectations.

Are able to use social networking tools in
learning they have a commitment to
learning.

Have the opportunity to communicate with
peers, experts, authors, etc. via online social
networking they develop social & cultural
competence.

Work with adults and peers on developing
social network sites and teaching how to use
these sites they are empowered.

Have a voice in the future of the school or
the library they gain a sense of personal
identity and value.

See how librarians and teachers use social
networks they are presented with role models.

A study done by Ellison, Steinfeld & Lamp for The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication concentrated on looking at “the relationship between the use of Facebook… and the formation and maintenance of social capital.” The authors found there was a positive outcome for college students who use Facebook in terms of their self-image and esteem. “Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.” And that use of the internet alone did not necessarily help the esteem issues, but the use of Facebook did. The authors also suggest that the use of Facebook may also help other people with their social capital; “In addition to helping student populations, this use of technology could support a variety of populations, including professional researchers, neighborhood and community members, employees of companies, or others who benefit from maintained ties.”

Uses for SNS in Schools

The YALSA provided me with several ideas about how teachers could use SNS in schools and why they could be beneficial:

• A math teacher has students serve as scribes on
  class blogs. Students post notes, visuals, formulas,
  activities and comments related to each day’s lesson.
  They also post reflections about their learning at least
  once before each test. Using the technology in this
  way gives students the chance to process learning
  and as a result better understand the content.
  See http://pc4sw06.blogspot.com/
• A school uses blogging software to publish its
  newspaper. The blog format allows for timely
  publication and the ability to make updates easily.
  This format also allows for comments from readers
  and easy navigation to archived stories. Publication
  costs are minimal (no color print costs!) and there is
  no limit to the length of the paper, allowing for more
  student participation. See
  www.uni.uiuc.edu/gargoyle/
• An author creates a blog as a way to reflect on the reading and writing experience. Teens
  who enjoy the author’s work keep up on what the author is writing and thinking through the blog. The author blog is used as a research source and as a way to communicate with the author about books, reading, and writing.
  See www.sparksflyup.com/weblog.php
• 
  Two biology teachers in different parts of the country are working with students on the topic
  of water quality and ecology. The teachers create a joint wiki for the unit of study. As
  students find information on the topic, they post to the water quality wiki findings,
  observations, and useful resources. Together students build an online resource (their own
  encyclopedia) on the topic.
• A high school student creates a My
  Space site for a British poet she needs
  to study. As she gathers information,
  she enters it into the poet’s My Space
  profile. She uses the blog function to
  post the poems she analyzes. Before
  long, other MySpace authors and poets
  (some real, some not) befriend her
  poet. They comment on what is written
  and lead the student to more
  resources. The student has to adopt
  the persona of her poet and imagine
  what the poet’s responses might
  actually be.

Social Networking Sites

The Web 2.0 tool we are assigned to investigate this week is one of the only tools I feel totally comfortable with using and talking about – personally. Professionally, I have not used any Social Networking Sites in my classroom or school and I found a lot of information that highlighted the pros and cons of using SNS’s in schools.

Personal Experience:

I signed up for Facebook more than a year ago. I started taking notice of it when the school division blocked MySpace and the students started using Facebook. I also saw two different segments on CanadaAM and a CBC program that talked about Facebook as the “new internet craze”. It was thought to be more of a networking site for adults as opposed to MySpace which some felt was more popular with teens. I noticed all of these things in a one week span and I was curious, so I signed up.

I really liked the privacy controls- even though I am aware that there are some issues with privacy- and I liked the whole idea of sharing my life and interests with my friends. It would be easier to keep up-to-date with friends and family with a SNS than with traditional email, MSN, etc. I was never a very reliable letter/email writer and most of my friends aren’t either, so this has been a wonderful tool to keep in contact with everyone. I also loved the fact that I contacted people I hadn’t seen since high school or university. I quickly added many friends and I was able to see what they were doing with their lives.

I like to see photos that my friends put up and I like to share my photos with them as well. There are privacy controls that one must be aware of, but it’s pretty simple and I don’t put anything up that would allow anyone to invade my privacy. I also like “The Wall” and posting messages to the private inbox. Cindy and I organized our whole wiki using Facebook and we continue to communicate that way.

I’m sure that more than one person will complain about the silly requests that people get from their friends to add fun applications; I also find most of them very annoying, but what’s the harm in a little fun? Yes, I have some friends that have so many applications, it takes about 10 minutes to load their profile page and they send me about five requests a day, but it takes about 20-30 seconds to ignore them, so I don’t get too fussed up about them. I take longer to go through my junk mail on email. Some applications can be fun- like Scrabulous. I also like the ability to be able to personalize my profile page with things that I enjoy such as favourite television shows (with quotes and pictures) and other things that interest me. I do find that I have to “clean up” my profile every now and then because I don’t use all of the features. In my busy day, Facebook provides about 10 minutes of fun and I don’t usually have to think too hard- unless I’m playing Scrabulous with Cindy!! I don’t believe that it was ever meant to be a serious tool; it was meant to be a form of communication with entertainment. It is a just a bit of fun!

Voicethread

Using Voicethread

The media sharing site that I chose to investigate was Voicethread. I had a look at the Jumpcut site and at first glance, it appeared to be very similar to YouTube with the added bonus of being able to edit the video using the site. I felt that because of the simiarity to YouTube, I would look at Voicethread instead.

The moment I went onto the Voicethread site, I was intrigued. A site that allows you to both share photos and allow you to record a commentary that goes along with the photo! My immediate thought was that it would be great for personal photos. I must admit I didn’t really start thinking about the educational purposes right away- that came a few days later when I was thinking about my blog.

I found the sign-up process really straight forward and simple. Some sites that require sign-up want to know more information than a passport application! It was easy and I had an account in less than five minutes. I also found the tutorials really informative and I got to see a voicethread in action, which helped when I had to think about how I would use the site, both personally and professionally. My only problem was to figure out the subject of my own voice thread. I had originally thought that I would take some pictures of my dog and my parents’ dogs (I was home for Easter weekend) and do a mini biography for them. When I went to upload the pics, I had a bit of trouble (still don’t know why) and I saw that one could upload from Facebook. I have several pictures of my dog, Paddy, on Facebook and they were already organized in an album dedicated to him, so I thought that would be easier. I connected to my Facebook account and uploaded the pictures without any problems and it was extremely quick. You can also connect with other sites such as Flickr.

The actual process took very little time and the steps are very clear. My biggest problem was being interrupted while I was recording or making mistakes. I always have that problem when I have to record things- I am much better live!

The link to my Voicethread presentation is here. Please let me know if there is a problem with the link. I am not really clear on how to share files without emailing them or adding everyone in the class as my friends. I am crossing my fingers that this will work!

Using Voicethread in the Classroom

As I mentioned earlier, I thought that Voicethread would be an excellent tool to use for personal photos. When I thought about how I would use it in the classroom, I had a bit of trouble. I initially thought it would be an awesome tool for students to create story books or as a tool to help with creative writing. Students could use their own pictures and create a plot with characters to share with their classmates, teachers, parents and others. When I started doing research about using Voicethreads, I came across the wiki called The Connected Classroom that talked about digital story telling. There are links on the site that explains the concept and thinking behind using various tools for oral and digital story telling. It also has many examples of voicethreads and digital stories.

Beyond digital story telling, I was a bit stumped about what I could use Voicethreads for in my own teaching. I thought about using it for history; scanning and uploading historical pictures and adding a commentary. But, using pictures that aren’t your own brings up the copy right issue and I don’t believe it would be good to encourage copyright violation. As I kept on reading various sites, I found a blog by a technology manager in Maine called The TechKnow Blog. He lists the following suggestions for using Voicethread in the classroom:

ev--> In Lower School, classes can use Voicethread with their own class pictures to create a audio/visual newsletter. Especially in the younger grades where students cannot write yet, this would be a great tool for the kids to use in order to better express themselves.

-->In Science classes, students could use Voicethread to document an experiment - a kind of visual lab report.

-->In Math, students could use Voicethread to narrate their way through solving a math problem in order to demonstrate their understanding.

-->In English class, they can put original poems or short stories to pictures.

-->In Art class, Voicethread can be use a tool to reflect on their work.

-->In Foreign Language, kids can create stories or tours using Flickr images and narrate them in their language.

-->In History, they could use use flickr images in a digital narration of a historical event.

I could see myself assigning the kids to do an experiment and have them document it on Voicethread. It would free up some classtime and make it a bit more exciting for kids to find, perform and record their labs. Sometimes ordinary labs and experiments need a bit of spice or something different and this could be it. Each student could do a different experiment and share it with their classmates.

There are also really interesting links on the blog that connect you to sites that deal with using Voicethread in art classes, elementary schools and story telling. I spent a great deal of time looking at this blog and the links. Very interesting reading.

I found a lot of sites and information about using Voicethread in elementary schools. One of the best sites I found was Talkabout Primary MFL blog; I found it had a lot of ideas for the primary grades. I must say that I did have a lot of trouble finding sites with suggestions for the secondary level.

Reflections:

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I found my opinion of this Web 2.0 tool running to the personal side. I have many pictures that I would like to share with my friends and family that live far away. It is a way for me to connect with them in a different way. I used to send pictures to them with typed comments, but I feel that by having my voice recorded, it is in someway a bit more personal and adds a new dimension to media sharing. I am actually going to make a Voicethread presentation of a variety of pictures and send them to my granny in BC. She is in a care home and I have not been able to get out and see her as much as I would like. I have arranged for my uncle to bring his computer to show her and it will be really special I think. I also have a few pictures of different vacations I’ve been on and I would like to create a presentation with commentary for those photos as well. I have big plans!

As for using this tool in my classroom, I’m not entirely convinced that it would be beneficial enough for me to use. In all honesty, I’m not sure that it wouldn’t take too much time to organize a project like this and present them to the class. I don’t see this being as useful to my teaching as other tools that I have used and investigated. I mentioned that I would be able to have students perform their own experiemnts, but I think that the time involved in organizing the experiment, the materials and explaining the process (of both the experiement and Voicethread) would be too time consuming. It is not one of my "Must Use" new tools.

I can see that it would be useful for PD. It would be a good way of sharing information with other teachers. You could take pictures of lessons, have examples of work and have a way of orally explaining what was happening. I think that it could be a good way for teachers to collaborate and exchange ideas.

That's what I think about Voicethread! Katie

P.S. Please forgive any typos, sentence errors, etc. I am writing this post after a lovely turkey dinner with my extended family and I think the chemicals are kicking in! Happy Easter to everyone!

Connection to Learning and Personal Reflection:

After careful consideration, I think that the benefit to learning is more for the teacher than for the student. I could see this being used in a classroom as a teaching tool, but I think that personally I would prefer to use a wiki for professional development.

I think that wikis could be used in a classroom as an on-going project that could span a long period of time, such as a semester or term. Student could be required to add their own research, thoughts, or questions to the class wiki and have it as a way to change up the learning process. Instead of being passive about the learning, they could be active and actually initiate or control the process. I could see this working in a few subjects.

To me the benefit of wikis can be found in the opportunity for professional development and professional collaboration. This is my fifth online course from the University of Alberta and I find that by far, the most beneficial aspect for me is the discussion portion of every course.
When I started my graduate studies, I had only been a TL for one whole school year; before that I had only been a classroom teacher for two years. I was still thinking like an undergraduate in many ways and I was very unsure of myself and what I was doing in the library. I found that my first couple of courses enabled me to ask questions of other teachers and TLs from around the province and country and to compare my practices to other librarians. I found out that I was not way off the mark and most of what I was doing was correct. The confidence that gave me was and is indescribable! I compare the online discussion in our WebCT to wikis. The ability to read, respond and question other professionals in the same area is extremely useful to me. Even though I don’t feel that I need to respond to every post or topic, I do read them all and I learn something new just about every day- I found that responding to questions or topics on the wiki was very similar to the discussion process in the course.

Now that I have a few years under my belt, I feel that I have some useful things to say; things I have learned from my own experiences and things that I have read or discussed in my courses. It is an awesome thing! I know that some of the wikis (and blogs) that I have come across during my research for this particular class will be permanently in my bookmark tool (actually on my del.icio.us account now as well). The potential for collaboration cannot be understated and to people (like myself) who don’t get to do a whole lot of one-on-one collaboration with fellow teacher librarians, I think that this provides the perfect vehicle for just that. I will be spreading the word!

I want to share some interesting information I found on the Boston College website. It addresses the advantages of using wikis in the classroom. I think that one could also apply these benefits to teachers as well. The list of benefits for collaboration learning is:

"Learning from others. Collaborative authoring allows students to learn from one another – both in terms of viewing each other’s content but also by seeing the quality of other students’ work. In a traditional classroom, a student writes a paper, the teacher grades it, and then returns it to the student. Other students rarely have the opportunity to see and therefore learn from the information in that paper. Seeing other students’ work on a continuous basis can cause a student to evaluate his or her own work and see how it compares in quality. The comparison may cause the student to raise his or her work to a higher level.

Developing a higher level of critical thinking. Students can develop critical thinking skills by critiquing other students’ information and learning how to defend their views when critiqued by other students.

Deepening investigative skills. Working collaboratively on one document can encourage a student to do more investigative work. When information is critiqued as incorrect or underdeveloped, the author is encouraged to do additional research to respond to the critiques.

Developing skills for negotiating conflict and facilitating effective teamwork. Professors at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi found that working on a wiki helps co-authors negotiate conflict. In Wiki As a Collaborative Writing Tool, they write that “conflict … is an inherent part of the collaborative process…Wikis provide a means to negotiate conflict and to build upon the positive aspects of conflict. In writing and working collaboratively with wikis, users must create and agree on the structures, forms, and methods that are necessary to accomplish their collaborative task….[The] required negotiation of space can lead to a better understanding of the social processes that underlie any collaborative activity. In these ways, wikis not only build constructive communities of writers, but also accommodate differences among members of these communities, which in turn can allow all voices to contribute to the conversation.”

Building a class community. "

© Boston College 2007

The site has many more benefits, but this entry would be a little long if I included them all! I think that as a profession that likes to encourage life-long learning, wikis could be one of the greatest tools we have to achieve that goal. Everything on this site is directed at students, but it could be applied to teachers or just about any profession.

Conclusion:

I think that wikis have become my favourite Web 2.0 tool- in case you couldn’t tell. It is not really for the teaching aspects, but for my own personal learning and professional growth. I find that speaking with people who are in similar situations and have been there before is one of the best ways for me to learn and grow as both a classroom teacher and a teacher librarian. Long live the Wiki!!

That is what I think about wikis- please excuse the gushing!
Katie

Wiki Madness!

I seem to have Wiki on the brain these days! I’m going to try and do this week’s blog entry in a couple of small parts rather than a large one, as Cindy and I are working away creating our wiki for the class next week. I had one of those moments where my brain seemed to fail me for a few minutes- I said “my brain seems to be full”. No more information please!

I have found that many of the blogs that I have discovered in the course of doing these weekly blog posts also have wikis- like the Cool Cat Teacher Blog. I also found out from the Cool Cat Teacher blog that the term “wiki” is Hawaiian and it means “quickly”. I wasn’t aware that it meant anything at all- I figured it was one of those internet words that just sounds cool. One more thing for the brain! I knew that the term “wiki” has to be related to www.wikipedia.org, but I wasn’t quite sure how- after a little time on Google, I found out!

As with most of my Web 2.0 research, I started- where else?- wikipedia . That site provided me with a very clear definition for the term “wiki”:

“A wiki is software that allows users to easily create, edit, and link pages together. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. These wiki websites are often also referred to as wikis; for example, Wikipedia is one of the best known wikis”.

I have to admit that after looking at a few wikis, I feel they are very similar to blogs- there is a post and people are encouraged to respond. The main difference being that blogs are more of a vehicle for individuals to express their opinions and the readers can leave their feedback, comments or questions to the author. The public can see these comments, but there is not usually a whole lot of interaction. Wikis provide a similar opportunity, but instead of just one person sharing their thoughts and opinions, they encourage many people to contribute and it is more of an actual dialogue between the readers, or contributors.

This past week I have only had the opportunity to respond to group 1’s wiki space- I will go to group 2 after I complete this post- and Cindy and I are still organizing ours, but we have yet to add anything to it. I found the whole process quite easy. The first time I tried to edit the site a little red message popped up and said that Ronda was editing the page and I should try back in 5 minutes. I was wondering how they would do that, as there could be a lot of people trying to edit the same page. I actually waited 10 minutes and I had no problems. Very simple. It was encouraging to see that because I was a little apprehensive about creating our wiki. It seems to work in a very similar way to creating or editing a blog post.

I just wanted to share my initial thoughts on wikis before the weekend got too far away from me. I am going to have a peek at the next group’s page and see if I can’t fit more into this head of mine!

That's what I think of wikis- so far... Katie

P.S. My new library program is great and I think that it accounts for the lack of brain function this week- lots of new things to learn!!

Virtual School Libraries

Starting Out

At the beginning of this course we heard a list of Web 2.0 tools in Joyce Valenza’s podcast. I mentioned that I had heard of all of them, but that was about it. Virtual school libraries were one of those mysterious tools that I had heard about, but didn’t know much about. In my mind I thought they were websites with lists of e-books or maybe even a new, fancy name for an iPAC. I wasn’t really sure. I was pleasantly surprised when I did some investigating and found out exactly what they were!
So, what exactly is a Virtual School Library. I put this term into my Google search engine and I found a number of site, but one seemed to sum up or define it in terms that seemed to make sense to me:

“This information on this site will be useful to teachers, teacher-librarians, administrators, and students as they incorporate information technology into the curriculum in their schools. Tips and guides for search engines and power searching should make your Internet searching more productive. The Computers in Education section deals with some of the current issues in technology integration in the curriculum: plagiarism, intellectual property and copyright, Internet addiction, and girls and computers. You will also find lesson plans for K-12 sites, and local education links. The WebQuest page contains both theory and relevant WebQuest curriculum links. The Virtual School Library was designed for secondary students to be their home reference library.” Holly Gunn- Halifax Regional School Board

I really liked how Gunn summed up all of the information that I had been reading on various sites. Some sites differed- some were more student-oriented and some were for teachers, but they all seemed to have similar qualities. Most of the sites I looked at had tips on using search engines effectively, access to an iPAC, copyright and plagiarism information, citation instructions and information, and access to useful links. Some sites were very plain and to the point, like the Birch Lane website and others were very eye catching and had extra information, like Joyce Valenza’s site. I think that both would be useful to the average student or teacher.

Implications for Teaching

I have found the research for this blog post very useful for not only the assignment, but for my own school library. I am currently entering a period of great change in my library. Starting on Monday, I will be having a whole new LAS installed- the data conversion has taken place and the IT guys are going to be over to install the new system. I think that people think that I am a bit strange because I’m like a kid at Christmas!! I really hate my current system (Library World) and I’m very excited to get my new program (L4U). I was on the committee that helped chose the new program for the whole division, so I also feel very involved and a bit like I have some ownership of this choice. This will be the first time that I will have an iPAC available for students and teachers to use and I’m very excited.
I have also joined forces with one of the Information Processing teachers to design a new library website. We are going to have two sections of IP create a version of the website and I will choose one to have as the official site. I will be in her classroom on Monday or Tuesday to present my information to her students so they can get started. It kills two birds with one stone because I don’t have the time to create a whole site from scratch and the teacher was complaining that the students take so long to come up with an idea or subject for their websites- problem solved.
I did have the whole thing somewhat built in my mind, but after seeing these Virtual School Libraries, I think that I am going to have to sit down tonight and rethink what I want. I am more inclined to create more of a virtual library than just another website. I want to go through many of the examples and see what I would like to include on my site. One site that I really admire is Angela Langadar’s VSL. It appears to have been designed as an assignment for EDES 545 and I have been a classmate of Angela in my last course and admire her input and ideas. I would encourage everyone who is interested in creating their own VSL to have a look at Angela’s site.
Professional Development
The whole idea of a Virtual School Library is wonderful, but it will only take off if teachers buy into the concept and use it. I am currently involved with a group of t-ls from my division who are trying to create a PD presentation for teachers on effective resource-based learning and to provide them with ideas and tools they can use with their students. If I am able to have the VSL ready in time, I would also like to be able to include it with our information and encourage teachers to have their students use it for their research projects. In Janet Murray’s article “Teachers Teach; Teachers Learn” she talks about strategies for PD within the school and I particularly like the idea of becoming a teacher-mentor. She states the qualities needed for a teacher-mentor:

“Effective technology instructors serve as mentors to those they teach. Ideal mentors have very specific characteristics, abilities and personality traits:
They should be peers of those they are training, i.e. classroom teachers or building library/media specialists.
They should be effective teachers, capable of "translating" technical information into language which can be readily understood by novices.
They should be patient tutors able to provide over-the-shoulder training without succumbing to the temptation to take over the keyboard.
They should be available by telephone or fax for followup questions, and promptly responsive to those questions.”

I think that many t-ls would be performing these duties already, without even knowing it. I would like to think that I do all four of those duties both in my t-l role and as a classroom teacher.

VSL could provide teachers with a great tool for learning and provide t-ls with a fantastic opportunity to become a mentor and provide informal PD for teachers who can sometimes be resistant to it.

That's what I think about Virtual School Libraries. Katie

P.S. Here is a link to another great VSL.

Reflections- Take 2

Here is a new link to my podcast- it was brought to my attention that the previous link did not work, so I tried again.

I hope that it works now!

(My mum helped me!)

Katie

Audio Reflections

Here is the link to my podcast. I'm not sure that anyone outside of this class will appreciate this particular podcast!

Enjoy!

That's what I think about podcasting!!
Katie

Do I want to be a Podcaster?

This week's topic for the blog is another Web 2.0 tool that I've never used before- totally new. Even though I had listened to Joyce Valenza's podcast at the beginning of the course, I really didn't know exactly what it was all about.

I started my research by looking up the actual term "podcast". I found the following definition on www.wikipedia.org:" A podcast is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet, often using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term, like "radio", can refer either to the content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster." It confirmed what I thought it was and I was interested to see that it is compared to a radio. It seems like we are going a bit retro! I also found it interesting to see that the actual term was created or introduced by Apple and the iPod- duh?! It's just one of those terms that is used so often, I didn't really stop to think about the origins.

Use for teaching (Before Research):

When I sat down to think about when and where I would use this tool in my own classroom, I couldn't really come up with a scenario. Personally, I am a person who listens to things in the background and picks up pieces here and there. I am also a person who has to see, read or discuss things to really learn them and I feel that the majority of my students are the same way.

I could see podcasts being used for something like online courses or WebCT, but the only thing that I would use it for would be for students to report findings for projects. I could also see myself using this for a tool for students who have a learning disability and need to have my "lectures" recorded.

I did ask ask a couple of my colleagues about this tool and whether they would consider using it in their classes. One of the teachers, who teaches English thought that she might use it for doing things like Reader Theatre. The French teacher was a bit more excited because she felt that she could (and might) use it for oral tests or assignments. It is a very time-consuming process for her and she felt that she could use the MP3 format to have students record and submit their tests and she could evaluate them later and free up more class time for instruction. For either purpose, I'm not sure that they would need to actually have the file on a website- they could just hand it in electronically or email it to her. Some interesting responses that I never thought of!

Without doing more research, this would be one tool, I don't see myself using on a regular basis.

Use for Teaching (After Research):

After looking at a few websites that discuss the use of podcasts in education, I can see there are many more possibilities. Darcy Norman has a blog entry entitled "Podcasting for Education" and he has many suggestions for using this tool- although I do find that many of them would be more useful for post-secondary students Vs. secondary school. A couple of suggestions that caught my eye had to do with interviews and guest speakers- it is suggested that interviews with experts and presentations with guest speakers could be recorded and then put on a site so that the class (and future classes) could be able to access them at any time and go over the information repeatedly. I could see myself wanting to do this in the future.

Another area that I totally over-looked- and I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it- is to use podcasts to create audio files of books!! I came across and article by Kathy Ishizuka in the School Library Journal that outlines using podcasts for this purpose. I think that she is talking more about elementary schools, but I could see this working in a secondary setting as well. Sometimes it is extremely hard to find audio recordings of novels for students with disabilities and this could be an option. I will have to practice my "radio" voice! :)

I would also like to share this website that I came across for anyone who is interested. I came across it when I was researching and it has heaps of links to articles about using podcasts in education. There are too many for me to mention here, but I would suggest that if you are interested in using podcasts in your own program to have a look! Very interesting!

Reflections:

I will try and create my own podcast using my personal reflections as the topic. I am having a little bit of trouble with it, which I will discuss in my next post, but I have to send a shout out to my brother Nick, who is going to help me out! I'm sure I'm in capable hands.

Until next time....

Katie

Sorry...

Sorry, I just realized I forgot to add the link to my del.icio.us account!

Here it is:
http://del.icio.us/Katons

Social Bookmarking Part 2

Using del.icio.us

Well I signed up for a del.icio.us account last week and I have found the basic set up quite easy and user friendly. I was able to install the icons into my web browser and had no problems accessing it. I started using it mainly this weekend. I didn’t have a lot of time during the week to play around with it, but I was able to spend some time on the weekend.

I have been planning a trip, with my cousin, to Britain in 2010. It has been a life-long dream of mine to go and see the sites of Britain. I am a huge history buff and I have been dying to see some of the historical sites. Both my cousin and I are HUGE Jane Austen fans- of both the books and the films, so we also want to see a bit of that. We were speaking on the phone on the weekend and it occurred to me that del.icio.us would be a great tool to use when planning this particular trip! In fact it was one of the suggestions on the help page. We were able to go to various web sites and the ones that were interesting to us we could tag in del.icio.us. I wasn’t able to spend as much time looking at my trip stuff, as I do have other things to get to- like this blog- but I did manage to get four or five good sites on my account.
I was also able to find a couple of teacher-librarian sites through a search on del.icio.us and I tagged a few of those as well.

I must confess that I have not had as much time as I would like to have to look and play around with all of the features, but I plan to in the future. I tried to organize the tags into groups, but I think that I did it wrong- I think that I should have only used one-word tags for my trip website to make it easier. I also have not been able to subscribe to any networks or other accounts. Maybe I will look on my classmates’ blogs and try to subscribe to a few of theirs. My only complaint with this tool is that it does try and help people out with instructions, but it seems a bit complicated and time consuming. I do intend to go back and have a look at the help section and see what I can find out, but all in good time. Maybe I’m just a bit thick to figure this one out!!

Implications for Teaching:

I do see myself using this tool as both a t-l and as a class room teacher. I would like to set up a different account as a teacher though, and have one for strictly personal purposes and professional purposes. I am not comfortable with students having access to my personal spaces on the internet- I never have been- maybe that is just me, but I don’t feel the need to share all of my plans and business with staff and students. I will create an account that staff and students can access and I will place the link on my resource centre website.

I have many sites that I use in my classroom that would help my students with their work. Some of the sites have tutorials, practice assignments and pictures or videos of things that could help them with their understanding of particular concepts. As I’ve said in earlier postings, I usually end up using a projector to show these sites and it would be quite handy to have the students be able to go to a lab or at home and look at these sites.

I would also like to see my students creating their own accounts and tagging their own sites. While I was tagging my sites for my trip, I thought it would be a great assignment for students to create their own accounts that tagged sites they found interesting or helpful and to explain in the tag why they wanted to save the site. I’m not sure if it would work or not, but I would like to find out. I could use social bookmarking sites as a type of learning journal and even devote some time in class for the students to use the internet and find the sites they would like to use. The only con with this idea would be that my students are not terribly self-driven and I can foresee many, many questions of, “is this what you want us to use?” being asked.

In the December 2007 issue of Teacher-Librarian there is an article by David Loertscher (P.14-17) where he discusses the benefits of students constructing their own information spaces on the internet. (Children, teens, and the construction of information spaces). He believes that it is beneficial for students to create their own spaces, but they need us to help them organize these spaces and direct them towards learning. I was struck by the following excerpt: “For years we have built computer systems on the idea that ‘if you build it, they will come.’ Well, they came, but instead of staying, they worked around it because of their needs in social networking. Instead, we propose that: ‘If THEY build it, they will LEARN.’ Learn what? Children and teens will not only learn how to construct a learning space, but in doing so, will surround themselves with tools that will help them learn.” So, maybe instead of creating a collection of sites for my students- they could create their own collection and give it to me. Would they learn more from just reading mine or from creating their own? After being a student again, I don’t think that I would learn as much by reading about Web 2.0 tools as I would actually trying them and using them for myself! I certainly didn’t learn a lot from just reading the help section of del.icio.us. I had to actually use the tool before I found out how it works. I still don’t know how to use it completely, but I’m sure that after using the help page and making a few mistakes, I’m more likely not to forget how to use it and I’ll probably have a better understanding of del.icio.us in the end. I think that my students would gain more from creating their own bookmarks as well.

Reflections:

I am currently reading the course materials on Topic 2- Professional Development and I am struck by some of the readings. As I mentioned in the previous blog, this is the first tool that I had not used at all. I didn’t know anything about it and had to start from scratch. Many teachers that I work with don’t use computers at all and are very intimidated by it. I felt a little intimidated by the tool as well and I couldn’t help thinking that a PD session on Web 2.0 would help teachers. The link to Michigan State University’s Big 10 Ideas has a quote that sums up what I believe about learning new things, such as del.icio.us, etc. They state: “teachers are also learners, and through integration of the Internet into their classroom activities, they can broaden their experiences, connect and benefit from the experiences of other teachers, learn about new ways of teaching, and reflect on their own teaching practice.”

By posting to my blog every week I am finding that I am examining my own teaching techniques and practices in a way that I haven’t done since my undergrad days. I am re-evaluating my program and the way that I present information, create assignments and evaluate students. I think that this revelation has come because of the learning that I have had to do and the information that I am reading in this course. In the past, I have only just related my experiences, but now I find myself reflecting- without being forced to! J

I’ve gotten a bit off topic, but I’m having one of those days (and weeks). That is what professional development should do! It has been great!

That`s what I think about Social Bookarking! Katie

Social Bookmarking Part 1

I'm going to try and split my blog up a bit, so it is not so long. Divide and conquer!

Social bookmarking is a Web 2.0 tool that I have not had any experience with. I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never personally used it, so this is brand new for me. I looked at three sites - del.icio.us, ma.gnolia, and diigo to try and get a feel for what exactly social bookmarking is.

I chose del.icio.us as the site that I am going to use and create an account with. I chose this particular site because of their help section and because it was the original social bookmarking site that actually coined the phrase, "social bookmarking". I started the whole process by using Google.ca to find out information about social bookmarking and what exactly it was. I found the About section of del.icio.us to be very helpful. It explained exactly what social bookmarking was, why I would want to use it, how to use it and examples of how others have used it. There is also a great Help section that has answers and tips on just about every aspect of the site. I like that there is a section on more advanced features- for people who want to do more with this tool. If anyone is leaning towards using del.icio.us I would highly recommend looking at this site. It would even be helpful for anyone wanting to know more about social bookmarking in general.

I am a person who uses my web browser’s bookmarking feature a lot. I have many sites that are either important for my work or that I think would be useful for students and teachers. Of course the limitation for that tool is that it is only good for my computer and unless I speak to the teacher or student, they won’t know about it. This topic is quite timely for me as I am currently in the process of re-doing the website for the resource centre. The previous one was quite dated and many of the links did not work anymore. I am trying to put together a collection of links for staff and students to help them with their work. It would be great to have a link to my del.icio.us account instead and then I can keep the list updated- as I don’t believe I will always have access to the server for the website.

I also found the potential to use these sites as research tools very appealing. I can see the benefit of this as a student myself and a teacher. So often when I am researching and looking at many different sites with so much information it is easy to lose track of what exactly I have read. I am going to try and do some research on a topic- something fun like going on a vacation- and see exactly how it works and if it would be a good tool to use or not.

I’ll report back with my findings in a couple of days! I am actually very excited about trying this new tool out!

Until next time…

Katie

I saw it on YouTube...

Once again I began the research into video sharing sites by reflecting on my own experiences with them- I think that this will be my MO for these blog entries!

General Observations:

I was only really familiar with YouTube for video sharing. I have had an account for a number of years, but I only really used it for my own entertainment. It was about a year ago that I began to see its potential for teaching. It began when the Mentos and Diet Coke craze started; I was in the middle of teaching my chemistry unit and we were discussing catalysts and how they affected the rates of reactions. I had heard about the Mentos and Diet Coke on CanadaAM and that there were many more videos on YouTube. I found out for myself and then set up a digital projector in my class room and we were able to view a number of different people doing this experiment. (Side Note: in case you haven’t seen this, the powder on the Mentos reacts with the Diet Coke and it shoots the coke very high into the air- like a geyser. If you want to see it for yourself, just type the words “Mentos” and “Diet Coke” in the search engine.) After we watched a few of them, we were able to discuss what had happened and we actually went outside and did the experiment ourselves.
I am also going to use YouTube next year when I teach Science 10 because there is an experiment called Liquid Ice, where you take Sodium Acetate and water, boil them up together, and refrigerate. When it comes out of the fridge it is a liquid, but as soon as you touch it, the liquid turns into a solid block of ice. Very cool! One of my students showed me this one and I’m very excited to try it.
I also recently used YouTube for an assignment on Extreme Weather events. My students were asked to research an event and create some kind of presentation for me. Only one group chose to do a video on blizzards. We had been having problems with our server at school and they were afraid that the Assignment In folder would be out of commission, so they suggested that instead of taking a chance, they could just post it on YouTube and I could see it there. It turned out to be a great idea and they did a pretty good job- I don’t think that they are going to win an Oscar anytime soon, but it was a good effort nonetheless. Please feel free to have a look http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEDhWIJTuS4 . I’m not sure about the bloopers; I can’t vouch for the language in it!! We ended up having to use a DVD in the end anyway for the presentation because I didn’t realize that our division had blocked YouTube and we are not supposed to use it anymore- I will discuss what I think on this topic later in this blog! L I do have permission to show this video and it is on YouTube for all to see, but I thought I should cover my bases anyway.
When it came time for me to research video sharing sites, I had trouble finding information on the benefits for education and learning. I may have been looking in the wrong places and soon I will have my classmates’ blogs to read and learn from, but the majority of the sites I found were warnings against using YouTube (that was the site most cited). I did find one site that mentioned other beneficial uses of videos in the class room, but side-steps the issue of video sharing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEDhWIJTuS4 . I like the author’s thoughts about using video as a new “report”. Instead of having students write reports, videos can be a new way of presenting information. I have done many research assignments that use presentations as the final product and I always find that the students who do videos have way more fun doing the assignment and have the best product. The rest of the class is always entertained and they usually remember the information presented in a video rather than an oral report or even a PowerPoint presentation. I also find that the students who know they are doing a video are way more enthusiastic about doing the research, planning the video and creating the finished project! They really love to do the assignment! Shocking!
I went to TeacherTube to have a snoop around- I had never heard of it before this course. What an awesome site!! I signed up immediately. I spoke of using photo sharing sites as a way for teachers to share resources with other teachers in my previous blog, but this may be even better! I know that I will be using this site for gathering information for my own use and I will be telling all of the teachers I can about it. I spent about an hour poking around and I have found a few things for just about every subject. One of the best things is the French content. We have a fully bilingual French teacher in our school and she is always looking for ways of exposing her students to French. There are quite a few videos on the site that are done in French- there was actually a weather report about blizzards in French on there too- what a coincidence! I might have to upload my kids’ report to the site!! I also thought that Mrs. Burkes Perimeter Rap was a hoot! If you have a chance, look at it! URL
I am using YouTube and TeacherTube as my main points of reference because I think they are the most popular and the kids will know about YouTube. I know that I would love to continue using this as a tool in my classroom for demonstrations that I am not always able to perform and as a way for students to showcase their work. I know that I would be really excited to see some of my work in cyberspace- heck I was even excited about this blog- so I know that students would be happy for their work to be recognized as well. I think that YouTube or other similar sites will replace the fridge door or classroom wall as one of the best places to display their work!
One good site that I did find in my search was this blog: http://fabricoffolly.blogspot.com/2006/08/top-20-video-sharing-sites-rated.html . It is a blog that Dan Taylor created that rate 20 video sharing sites. I must confess that I didn’t get a chance to visit them all, but I thought the rating system was very helpful.

Concerns and Questions:

#1- My division blocks YouTube and has a ban on all live streaming sites!! What a pain in the butt! Of course I enlisted my little computer savvy students to help me with this problem, but I’m sure I could get in trouble if caught! I now use a proxy server to view YouTube, but they are getting crafty as blocking the proxy sites as well. I may have to use the information I gather from this class to make a plea. The computer teacher and I have had this discussion many times as YouTube is a huge part of the curriculum for his Computer Production and Technology class. I’m gathering stats and information and I will be making a case in a couple of months. The reasoning for blocking this site (and others ) is that our server can’t handle the bandwidth necessary, harrumph! We are getting a new server in two weeks, so I think I will let the dust settle and then see what I can do!
#2- Appropriate Content: I may be using my account and the site for appropriate things, but sometimes the students are a little less genteel.
#3-Parental Permission: Some parents might not feel comfortable with having their children on the internet. We have to have permission for students to have their picture taken for the yearbook, website etc. I’m not really sure what kind of problem this might become in the future, but it concerns me.

In Conclusion...

I think that these sites are an awesome way to gather information, share information, and to present a final product. I plan on expanding my use of these sites in the future- if I am allowed- and who knows maybe I’ll even start a video blog for my students to use and get information about assignments and discussions they may have missed- then there will be NO excuse for not getting their home work done!!
I do have an account on both YouTube and TeacherTube (Username: Katons8 for both), but I don’t own a video camera, so I am not able to upload any video- maybe I’ll ask for one next Christmas! I have subscribed to a few channels on YouTube, but I’ll have to spend more time on TeacherTube and see what’s out there for me and my school. My account link is: http://www.youtube.com/user/Katons8
That’s what I think about video sharing sites! I can’t wait to read what everyone else thinks!! Katie

P.S. I found a good site about Web 2.0 tools and I’ve added it to my blog roll. It’s called Ubernoggin- Check it out!!