RWLD #5 - Due June 9 - Student-Centric Learning

The World is at Your Door.

The power of technology in education has little to do with the whiz-bang gadgetry. It has to do with the opportunities that are available when you use those gadgets to accomplish learning tasks that expand a student's opportunities.  It might include new forms of observation (Time-lapsed photography, underwater webcams.) It might include different forms of communication with other learners (Skyping around the world, meeting in Second Life.) 

Readings

Read pages 89-143 in Disrupting Class. 

Read the Power of Social Interaction Technologies in Teacher Education (.pdf) This is a paper presented at the National Educational Computing Conference, 2009 in Washington, D.C. It does a good job of reviewing the literature about using social networking in education. The description of the research is scant but the lit review is good.

Doings 

Building Your Blog

Your blog is your form of expression. It is you. Question is . . .  is anybody listening?  You have received a great following from your classmates. They have been commenting on your ideas. In some cases they are validating what you have said and other cases involve asking questions that challenge and expand your thinking. Here are some additions for your blog that will help you track your followers.

RSS Subscription - Video on Adding a Subscription Link Gadget to your blog.  This will allow your readers to subscribe to your blog using RSS so that they don't have to go to your blog every time.  It will be brought to them using RSS.

Wondering about RSS?

Read What the Heck IS RSS?
Watch RSS in Plain English

Beginning Your iGoogle/Personal Learning Network

The iGoogle Online Tutorial Part 1 - a 9-minute introduction to setting up your iGoogle account. Watch this and then set up your iGoogle account.  Use this video to begin creating your own iGoogle page.

The Networked Student -  a video that tells a true story about how a student used a Personal Learning Network (PLN) to develop a network of resources for his learning.

How I Built My Personal Learning Network (PLN) - Art Titzel, 8th grade American Cultures teacher, explains how he created and maintains his PLN.

Begin Creating Your Own PLN - a short video that describes how you can create a tab on your iGoogle page completely dedicated to your classmates' blogs.This process can be used to create an RSS link to other blogs and resources throughout the web.

More for Your Blog

Clustr Map - It is also possible to follow who in the world is visiting your blog.  Don't think that your ideas matter to others in the world? They do. Notice the Clustr Map in the upper right corner of our RWLD blog. The blog hasn't been publicized anywhere (yet) but we have a couple of dots signifying that visitors from outside Iowa have looked at the blog.  They will probably visit your blog as well. The Clustr Map will keep you posted about the traffic coming to your blog.  Here is a quick video showing you how to add a Clustr Map to your Blogger Blog.

Discussion
I am SOOO impressed with the discussion threads that I have read for the discussion #2 topic. Many of you truly took the readings to heart and were devising innovative ways to use these new tools in your own educational situation.

Now, you have the opportunity to read what the other groups discussed. I have opened up the discussion so that you SHOULD be able to see everyone else's discussions.

Read through at least 2 of these threads and finish with a final posting where you relate what you and your group discussed with the discussion thread that you just read. Think about varying perspectives. How can they apply to your situation?

Please have this completed before you arrive in class on Monday morning.

How's It Going? Survey
We have been at this for about 5 weeks. Now it is time for some feedback. Please complete this survey so that you can share what works.

Photo: flickr.com/sophiacreek

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