Wow, a fantastic 11.5 adventure completed! I learned so much during this summer journey and will take many great ideas back to the classroom. Some of my favorites were Video Resources, Screen Capture, Sharing, and Digital Citizenship (Things 7, 8, 9, and 11).
I was surprised at my reaction to Thing 11 -- Digital Citizenship. This is an interesting and significant learning opportunity that will stay with students long after they forget how to diagram a sentence or divide fractions. By taking our role as "guides" seriously, we can help students to *become* life-long learners -- questioning, evaluating, and preparing for the working world. There have been situations where jobs or projects were lost, due to ignorance of responsible digital citizenship. Just as we help students to learn subject matter, to prepare effective resumes, and to interview well, we should be guiding them to interact well with this Web 2.0 World.
I cannot think of one change I would make to the 11.5 experience. Lots of fun and play! Thanks so much for the opportunity, and I look forward to seeing what is around the corner at Library2Play 3!
May the Force be with you!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
11.5 Things - 11 (Digital Citizenship)
Digital Citizenship is the all-encompassing, consistent theme that should be behind all of our 2.0 tools. Teachers are aware that students are so computer-savvy (often more comfortable with technology than the teacher!) Also, technology exists today that was not addressed in typical teacher education programs.
Although students are comfortable with computers and technology, they do not automatically become responsible digital citizens without guidance. CoolCat Teacher sums up the dilemma by stating, "It is a process and cannot just be taught by one teacher one time and expect retention." We ALL need to help students from K-12 and beyond. We are actually preparing students to interact in the working world with the tools that they learn in school... not just math, science, and grammar... but also technology!
How do we model and teach students to be responsible digital citizens? CoolCat Teacher posts a nice graphic showing the four major parts to digital citizenship (Literacy, Safety, Learning Strategies, and Etiquette).
In a way, our students are preparing to receive their Technology Driver's License, just as they eventually receive their driver's license for a car. Here's a great lesson, with scenarios, question/answer discussion questions, and a unique way to present digital citizenship to students. Reactions to the scenarios could lead to several needed lessons and great dialogue.
Five points that I would mention to students as part of Library Orientation to prepare for our journey to become good digital citizens would be:
1. Read carefully and with your brain turned on. Be good detectives; can you trust what you find?
2. Think about etiquette and manners. How you treat others (in person, in e-mail, or with cell phones) has a big effect.
3. You wouldn't steal from a person or a store. Don't steal software, songs, or quotes, either.
4. We don't leave our doors wide open for people to take our possessions. Be smart about your personal information, too. Passwords and details about your life are private.
5. If you are not sure, don't do it. Librarians and teachers are your guides. Technology is developing every day; remember.... we didn't even HAVE computers when I was your age. ;-) Please share your experiences with me, and I'll share mine with you. Together we will become responsible digital citizens.
Sharing these five points, along with the Techology Driver's License lesson , will be a great introduction to digital citizenship. Then, the key will be to spend some time throughout the year in the classroom and library reinforcing good practices and answering questions.
May the Force be with you!
Although students are comfortable with computers and technology, they do not automatically become responsible digital citizens without guidance. CoolCat Teacher sums up the dilemma by stating, "It is a process and cannot just be taught by one teacher one time and expect retention." We ALL need to help students from K-12 and beyond. We are actually preparing students to interact in the working world with the tools that they learn in school... not just math, science, and grammar... but also technology!
How do we model and teach students to be responsible digital citizens? CoolCat Teacher posts a nice graphic showing the four major parts to digital citizenship (Literacy, Safety, Learning Strategies, and Etiquette).
In a way, our students are preparing to receive their Technology Driver's License, just as they eventually receive their driver's license for a car. Here's a great lesson, with scenarios, question/answer discussion questions, and a unique way to present digital citizenship to students. Reactions to the scenarios could lead to several needed lessons and great dialogue.
Five points that I would mention to students as part of Library Orientation to prepare for our journey to become good digital citizens would be:
1. Read carefully and with your brain turned on. Be good detectives; can you trust what you find?
2. Think about etiquette and manners. How you treat others (in person, in e-mail, or with cell phones) has a big effect.
3. You wouldn't steal from a person or a store. Don't steal software, songs, or quotes, either.
4. We don't leave our doors wide open for people to take our possessions. Be smart about your personal information, too. Passwords and details about your life are private.
5. If you are not sure, don't do it. Librarians and teachers are your guides. Technology is developing every day; remember.... we didn't even HAVE computers when I was your age. ;-) Please share your experiences with me, and I'll share mine with you. Together we will become responsible digital citizens.
Sharing these five points, along with the Techology Driver's License lesson , will be a great introduction to digital citizenship. Then, the key will be to spend some time throughout the year in the classroom and library reinforcing good practices and answering questions.
May the Force be with you!
11.5 Things - 10 (Virtual Worlds)
This Thing was interesting and new to me! I have heard of SimCity and other software simulation worlds, but I had never heard of Second Life. CoolCat Teacher posts some valuable points to keep in mind regarding joining Second Life. My kids and I had an interesting discussion about professors and teachers using Second Life for instructional purposes. I think it would definitely be appealing to some students. For other students, changing appearance might be a distractor to focusing on the lesson (seems like real life to me, at times). ;-)
Second Life can be as complicated or indepth as you would like it to be. One can spend hours just adjusting and changing appearance. The worlds are resident-built, and an avatar can walk, fly, or teleport to another location. The possibilities are only limited by players' imaginations.
All in all, the message is clear.... the times are a changin'! In order to keep up with the interesting ways students learn online, we have to be ready to modify our teaching styles to include virtual learning environments (such as Moodle), backchanneling, and other tools. That's why the 23 Things and the 11.5 Things (and Library2Play 3!) are so important -- to keep us learning and growing, along with our students.
May the Force be with you!
Second Life can be as complicated or indepth as you would like it to be. One can spend hours just adjusting and changing appearance. The worlds are resident-built, and an avatar can walk, fly, or teleport to another location. The possibilities are only limited by players' imaginations.
All in all, the message is clear.... the times are a changin'! In order to keep up with the interesting ways students learn online, we have to be ready to modify our teaching styles to include virtual learning environments (such as Moodle), backchanneling, and other tools. That's why the 23 Things and the 11.5 Things (and Library2Play 3!) are so important -- to keep us learning and growing, along with our students.
May the Force be with you!
11.5 Things - 9 (Sharing)
What a useful Thing! These tools are immediately applicable in the classroom and point to the evolution of presentations. The Educause article on Next Generation Presentation Tools summarizes the evolution nicely, "Presentations become less an end in themselves and more a compilation of insights, snapshots, or interpretations of data that can be used multiple times in different ways."
If we are to make ALL of learning interactive and multi-sensory, audiences should be able to view presentations, follow links, and collaborate in discussions regarding those presentations. No more passive audience, falling asleep during PowerPoint behavior!
Tools such as Slide Share and Slide Boom are so easy to use! Slide Share enables users to easily embed and also notifies the creator when someone has accessed his/her presentation. So, if the presentation creator decides to share, he/she can also receive feedback on how much the presentation is being downloaded, etc. Slide Boom has the option of uploading the presentation as "PowerPoint like" or "video like." Both have the presentation transcript available for viewing, which is very nice. Both are limited unless the user upgrades to the "Pro" status (i.e., subscription). Finally, both have search features for presentations and group/recommended features to find great presentations published by others.
I look forward to using these in the classroom! This would be a whole different way to share with students and enable many to create and share presentations from home. I especially want to play with 280 Slides -- a great way to create a presentation without software download. It would be interesting and fun to have students to each create a presentation and then embed those presentations in one master blog for viewing by parents and other schools.
May the Force be with you!
If we are to make ALL of learning interactive and multi-sensory, audiences should be able to view presentations, follow links, and collaborate in discussions regarding those presentations. No more passive audience, falling asleep during PowerPoint behavior!
Tools such as Slide Share and Slide Boom are so easy to use! Slide Share enables users to easily embed and also notifies the creator when someone has accessed his/her presentation. So, if the presentation creator decides to share, he/she can also receive feedback on how much the presentation is being downloaded, etc. Slide Boom has the option of uploading the presentation as "PowerPoint like" or "video like." Both have the presentation transcript available for viewing, which is very nice. Both are limited unless the user upgrades to the "Pro" status (i.e., subscription). Finally, both have search features for presentations and group/recommended features to find great presentations published by others.
I look forward to using these in the classroom! This would be a whole different way to share with students and enable many to create and share presentations from home. I especially want to play with 280 Slides -- a great way to create a presentation without software download. It would be interesting and fun to have students to each create a presentation and then embed those presentations in one master blog for viewing by parents and other schools.
May the Force be with you!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
11.5 Things - 8 (Screen Capture)
Well, I think this is the best thing since sliced bread! Really ;-)
I accidentally discovered this after completing 23 Things (See my 3/9/10 Post) and am happy to revisit it. It was interesting to try several different screen capture packages.
GoView does look fun and easy; however, I was never able to successfully download the screen recorder. It would do a little dance, like "I'm thinking about this." Then, it would just stop, and I would press download again.
CamStudio also looks good. It provides the ability to
Screencast-O-Matic Screen Capture
May the Force be with you!
I accidentally discovered this after completing 23 Things (See my 3/9/10 Post) and am happy to revisit it. It was interesting to try several different screen capture packages.
GoView does look fun and easy; however, I was never able to successfully download the screen recorder. It would do a little dance, like "I'm thinking about this." Then, it would just stop, and I would press download again.
CamStudio also looks good. It provides the ability to
- change the cursor;
- identify shortcut keys to record, pause, stop, etc.; and
- have different views (button, compact, normal)
CamStudio Screen Capture
When I tried to assign shortcuts to record and pause, it would never work successfully. It also took much longer to post to this blog than Screencast-O-Matic. Both were saved as .avi files. However, I will play with CamStudio a bit more and see if things improve. I haven't given up on it yet!
The winner of the "I LOVE THIS" award is...... (drum roll, please......) Screencast-o-Matic! Easy (and quick) to use, great shots, and cursor halo (to emphasize to audience where to click). Give it a try ;-)
Screencast-O-Matic Screen Capture
May the Force be with you!
Friday, July 2, 2010
11.5 Things - 7 (Video Resources)
While I frequently use United Streaming in the classroom, I had never heard of Hulu or some of these other resources! I'm excited to be exposed to them and will definitely make use of them.
First, the fair use video was applicable and user friendly. We do have to be respectful of code guidelines in providing great resources for the classroom. Either abusing code regulations or entirely avoiding resources is counterproductive to the learning environment.
Second, Hulu provides so many resources! It was interesting.... my daughter was immediately familiar with Hulu, so it has caught on at the college level. We just need to utilize it more at public school level. Here is a beautiful video of filmmaker Mal Wolfe's field trips to seven spectacular locations, including the Amazon River and the Namib Desert.
PBS Video offers some fantastic videos on everything from U.S. Presidents, Science, and Technology, to Arts & Literature. However, to play the video, you must purchase the DVD or the video from iTunes (at $1.89 each).
Joyce Valenza's list of video sources led me to Have Fun with History, which will be a great help next year! It has all kinds of goodies on the subject of American History.
Finally, I checked out the NeoK12 Site mentioned on Valenza's site. I saw several very interesting time lapse videos -- of arctic seasons, volcano erupting, seedlings growing, and the Northern Lights. Check this one out!
All in all, this is a super Thing to know and keep around for reference!! It's easy to think video resources are limited to United Streaming, but there's so much out there. I will enjoy finding more video sites this summer for use next school year.
May the Force be with you!
First, the fair use video was applicable and user friendly. We do have to be respectful of code guidelines in providing great resources for the classroom. Either abusing code regulations or entirely avoiding resources is counterproductive to the learning environment.
Second, Hulu provides so many resources! It was interesting.... my daughter was immediately familiar with Hulu, so it has caught on at the college level. We just need to utilize it more at public school level. Here is a beautiful video of filmmaker Mal Wolfe's field trips to seven spectacular locations, including the Amazon River and the Namib Desert.
PBS Video offers some fantastic videos on everything from U.S. Presidents, Science, and Technology, to Arts & Literature. However, to play the video, you must purchase the DVD or the video from iTunes (at $1.89 each).
Joyce Valenza's list of video sources led me to Have Fun with History, which will be a great help next year! It has all kinds of goodies on the subject of American History.
Finally, I checked out the NeoK12 Site mentioned on Valenza's site. I saw several very interesting time lapse videos -- of arctic seasons, volcano erupting, seedlings growing, and the Northern Lights. Check this one out!
One year in two minutes
More Time Lapse videos and other Fun Videos at NeoK12.com
All in all, this is a super Thing to know and keep around for reference!! It's easy to think video resources are limited to United Streaming, but there's so much out there. I will enjoy finding more video sites this summer for use next school year.
May the Force be with you!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
11.5 Things - 6 (iTouch Apps)
What a great toy (hmmm I mean... tool)!
The iTouch has so much capability, and playing with one made me want to HAVE one ;-)
I really enjoyed looking at Chris Webb's Space, looking at educational apps. I appreciate how he even breaks the apps down by subject, to make selection easier. AppStoreApps has a nice site, with educational apps reviewed daily, as well.
Here's my favorite so far: UTechTips has an easy-to-navigate site of educational apps. I will be adding this one to Delicious for future reference! Ok.. just 2 more: Wes Fryer's and Lucy Gray's lists are fantastic. I think I could easily get lost (in a good way) in just the educational apps category! So many apps are free, and the ones that cost.... are very inexpensive.
Download Apps:
To download apps, I would just use iTunes (already on my computer) and follow these directions or video directions.
Uses in Library by Multiple Students:
Students could use the iTouch in the Library for
1. scavenger hunts
2. assembling bookcart for teachers to use for particular unit
3. reading books, digital articles, and newspapers
4. research -- one student could be the "notetaker," one could be the "grammar/spell checker," and one could be the "book searcher."
There are many other uses for the iTouch in the library, and many have been listed for use in the classroom, too! Spending the time finding and downloading educational apps would be time well invested in student excitement and productivity.
May the Force be with you!
The iTouch has so much capability, and playing with one made me want to HAVE one ;-)
I really enjoyed looking at Chris Webb's Space, looking at educational apps. I appreciate how he even breaks the apps down by subject, to make selection easier. AppStoreApps has a nice site, with educational apps reviewed daily, as well.
Here's my favorite so far: UTechTips has an easy-to-navigate site of educational apps. I will be adding this one to Delicious for future reference! Ok.. just 2 more: Wes Fryer's and Lucy Gray's lists are fantastic. I think I could easily get lost (in a good way) in just the educational apps category! So many apps are free, and the ones that cost.... are very inexpensive.
Download Apps:
To download apps, I would just use iTunes (already on my computer) and follow these directions or video directions.
Uses in Library by Multiple Students:
Students could use the iTouch in the Library for
1. scavenger hunts
2. assembling bookcart for teachers to use for particular unit
3. reading books, digital articles, and newspapers
4. research -- one student could be the "notetaker," one could be the "grammar/spell checker," and one could be the "book searcher."
There are many other uses for the iTouch in the library, and many have been listed for use in the classroom, too! Spending the time finding and downloading educational apps would be time well invested in student excitement and productivity.
May the Force be with you!
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