RWLD #6 - Due Monday, June 14 - RSS, PLN and Google Apps

Monday:

This is our first day of the on-campus portion of our course.  Today we will begin with the basics like registering your computer, etc.

We will then explore RSS and Personal Learning Networks (PLN).

Prensky, M. (2005) Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner
Read this article and leave your own insightful comment.

The Networked Student - a 5-minute video about Connectivism and Personal Learning Networks.

Getting Started with iGoogle tutorial (.pdf) - Printed

An important part of your PLN is your Twittersphere. So we hope to use Twitter before lunch. You SHOULD have TweetDeck downloaded to your computer before Monday.

Getting Started with Twitter-TweetDeck tutorial (.pdf) - Printed

In the afternoon, we will explore a way to share research through social bookmarking and then have a visit from a teacher who has made a big difference in the world with PLNs, Vicki Davis.

Personal Learning Networks are Virtual Lockers for Schoolkids
Vicki Davis explains how she uses PLNs in her classroom






Social Bookmarking
Social Bookmarking is a system for sharing your discoveries in an organized manner. The Social Bookmarking tool is a huge database containing lots of personal databases. When you bookmark your sites and then assign tags to them (e.g., Web2.0, videos, socialbookmarking), it is reflected in the Master Database. This means that when people search for a specific tag (e.g., Web2.0) they will search all of the entries in all of the personal databases. 


You need to learn about this in Plain English:
Social Bookmarking in Plain English (3:30) - Uses the Del.icio.us tool.   We will learn Diigo.

Diigo is a bookmarking tool that can be shared with groups.
Diigo: Highlight and Share the Web - Social Bookmarking - 4 minute video intro

Getting Started with Diigo tutorial (.pdf) - Printed 

Collaborative Research Project

Finally, we will explore how you can work collaboratively, using Google Docs.

• Google Docs in Plain English - 3-minute overview of Google Docs.
• Writing a Love Letter Using Google Docs - This is how Google Docs SHOULD be used.
• Using Forms in Google Docs - 2-minute video overview of using and creating Google Forms. 

Google Docs Tutorials

• Getting Started with Google Docs tutorial (.pdf) - Printed
• Getting Started with Google Forms tutorial (.pdf) - Printed
• Google Presentations (TeacherTube video) - Try learning this software piece through watching a video.  What is your preferred form of learning?

We will engage in a Collaborative Research Project in class.  This will provide you with an opportunity to use a variety of tools including: Google Docs, Google Forms, Google Presenter, Google Spreadsheet, Twitter, Jing and wiki.

Sounds like a Ton of Work but this is how we will lay the groundwork for the upcoming week.

Optionals:

The Machine is Us/ing Us
A 4:34 video taking us on a tour of what and how the Web is changing who and what and where we are.

The Gen-Y guide to Web2.0@Work
Sacha Chua's presentation on Slideshare about how her network helped her get a job with IBM. (2 minutes silent presentation)

Want More Traffic on Your Blog? 
You should be proud of the blogs you have been writing. Your classmates have been commenting about your work as well as other admirers like . . . me. Now you can share your gems of ideas with the world through Google. The Web-bots might find your blogs eventually, but you can nurture it along by signing up with Google. This will direct them towards your blog.  It is not difficult.  Just follow this video and set of instructions I have created.

Signing Up Your Blog with Google

1. Go to Google.com
2. Click on the Business Solutions link in the middle of the page.
3. Next Page – click on the WebMaster Central link
4. Click on the Sign in to WebMaster Tools (You need to have a Google Account for this.  I assume that since you have a blogger account, you have a google account.  Just enter you name and password for blogger when they ask.
5. Next page – Click on the Add a site button in the middle of the page.
6. Add the URL for your blog site.
7. Click the Continue button.
8. You need to copy some HTML code into your blog.  So copy the Meta tag in the middle of the page.
9. Then open your blog.
10. Click on Customize.
11. Click on Edit HTML
12. You will find something that says in the code.  Paste the Meta tag into the code right after the
13. Click on Save Template
14. Now you just need to wait to see what happens when Google sends out a WebBot to look at your blog.

photos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA; http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/wikis/

RWLD #3 - Due May 25 - Innovating Change

Innovating change is a difficult thing to do in status quo institutions today. Whether that institution is education, business, or government, creating change can be difficult and sometimes perilous.

Why do we need change? Not for the sake of change, but for the sake of advancement. In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy quoted George Bernard Shaw as saying:

Some men see things as they are and ask "Why?"  

I dream things that never were and ask "Why Not?"

That is what we as educators and custodians of our schools' futures must repeat daily. We must find ways that we can look ahead and "teach to our students' futures, not our pasts." (Pink, 2009)

VoiceThread - Ever look for a way that you can have learners virtually gather around a video or document and then discuss it?  VoiceThread will allow you to be able to do this. 

Your assignment (should you decide to accept it) is to:
1) Go to VoiceThread and sign up for an account.
2) Go to the VoiceThread discussion site that is linked right here. 
3) Click on my photo on the left so that you can hear the instructions.
4) Watch the video, Learning to Change-Changing to Learn.
5) Comment on the video using the prompts below.  You can comment through audio, video, text.  Whatever you want.
    a)  Your comment should include your ideas about what is said in the video about education.  
    b) Integrate what you have read so far in our class.
    c) React to what at least one of your classmates has commented so far. If you are the first commentor, you can make a general statement that addresses the World's perspective on this topic.

Learn more about VoiceThread through watching this video and this blog posting on MPB Reflections

Blogging
Blogging is the tool that has done a great deal to democratize information and communication. No longer do we need to have our own printing press to share our ideas with others. It is as easy as 1-2-3 (see Blogger) to hang out your publishing shingle and get into the business of writing for the public.


Let's see what a blog is and what it can be:

• Blogging in Plain English
• How to Create Your Own Subject or Classroom Blog
• Creating a Blog for Your Business

Before you can blog, you need to know what composes a blog. You need to have background in reading blogs in your area of interest. You need to see how postings are usually more interesting if they have been well researched and provide a variety of links that will help the reader explore further into the topic.

Working with blogs during this course will involve Reading, Commenting, and Writing/Creating.

Reading

1. Read ALL of your classmates' blogs ALL of the time.  It is important to keep up on what they are saying. It will also give them a reason to write. Blogging has little meaning if no one is reading it. Besides, it will mean that someone will be reading yours as well.

You will find links to your classmates' blogs in the right-hand column of this RWLD.  See them over there?

2. Follow at least 4 of these professional blogs over the rest of the semester.

• Dr. Z Reflects (Leigh Zeitz) - Explores ideas, gadgets and opportunities for using technology to support learning.
• Social Media in Learning (Jane Hart) - Deals with both business and K-12 learning.
• Cool Cat Teacher Blog (Vicki Davis) - Ranked #1 education blog. Written by a high school business teacher with an amazing global perspective.
• 2 Cents Worth (David Warlick) - Leader in using Web 2.0 tools in education.
• Dangerously Irrelevant (Scott McLeod) - Technology, Leadership and the Future of Education 
• ClifNotes (Clif Mims) - Wide variety of ideas and reflections. Explore his whole website to find a wonderful collection of ingenuity.
• Langwitches Blog (Silvia Tolisano) - Elementary school teacher with a global vision. Avid user of Skpe.
• Angela Maiers' Blog - K-12 ideas and experiences. Good blog for classroom teachers and those who want to know about integrating Web 2.0 into the classroom. 

3. Read at least 2 blogs in a personal area of interest.  Use the Google Blog Search (blogsearch.google.com) to find someone who writes about what you enjoy. This search will provide you with postings, but usually the blogs that hold the postings are in your area of interest.

Commenting 

Commenting is important if you are going to be an involved part of the Blogosphere. Your comments give a blogger an indication that someone is reading her/his work. That gives a sense of mission. Interestingly enough, bloggers will often respond to your comments either directly or in an future posting.

Writing/Creating 

Writing is the key to it all. This is where you can share your ideas with with world. It is where you have to confront your thoughts. I once had a professor (Dr. David Moursund) who told me that he didn't know how he felt about a topic until he had written about it. Writing makes you organize your ideas so that you can express them in a clear and cogent manner.

1. First thing you must do is create a blog. We use Google's Blogger as the standard because it is quick and easy, but you can use whichever blog you would like. Just remember that it needs to be accessible to the world.

2. Now that you have the easel, it is time for you to share your ideas.  Here are a few suggestions for this week:

• Comment on your experience with using Adobe Connect last Monday.
• Comment on using VoiceThread and how you see that it can affect learning.
• Integrate your ideas about our readings and specifics about what changes you want to see.

Here are some hints for making effective postings:

• Begin with an active title.  Something that is interesting.
• Include an image or photo of some sort.  You can find a wealth of photos you can use (as long as you cite them as I have done below) at Flickr/CreativeCommons  (www.flickr.com/creativecommons)
• Always include at least 2 links to something relevant on the web. Your postings must have depth and that is more than can be captured on the single page.  Writing is post can be a small research project that will provide readers a deeper understanding of the topic.
• End your postings with questions to elicit responses from your readers.

So how do you see yourself using blogs in your future teaching/training careers?

Z

photo: flickr.com/roland

RWLD #1 - Due May 11 - The Basics

Begin by completing the ILS questionnaire below and then entering your personal information into the following surveys.

Surveys to Complete:

• Index of Learning Styles (ILS) Questionnaire
  Learn which learning styles are your strengths. PRINT your results.
• Learning Styles Survey using the information you just learned from the ILS Questionnaire.
• Technical Skills Survey I will use this information to begin to create groups.

Watch these videos. They will hopefully provide some interesting perspectives on emerging technology throughout the ages.

• Introducing Le Book - depicts the process that a support person might have used when books were first introduced.
• Web 2.0 . . . The Machine is Us/ing Us - How has/is life changing in the digital age. Prof. Wesch explains this in this video. Learn what Prof. Wesch is learning about the digital age at Kansas State University.
• The Sixth Sense - Dr. Pattie Maes shares her research into creating a wearable device that "enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data." This video is on the TED website. These are short presentations by some of the greatest minds in the world. You will enjoy exploring the TED Talks website. It will definitely replace the time you spend watching TV.

Remember to read pages 1 - 44 in the Disrupting Class book.

photo:flickr.com/GypsyFae