A Calm, Relaxing Journey? A Look at a Wiki

Easy sailing! That’s what I thought when I saw wikis as our topic. Out of the jungle chaos of the last few weeks, I emerged to see the bright blue sky and calm water’s edge. This week was like a relaxing float down the river.

Reflections on the process of learning about the tool:
Of all the Web 2.0 tools we have been exploring, I know the most about wikis. My first thoughts were, “Finally, something I don’t have to spend hours building background knowledge on before I begin the task.” I was beginning to feel like I was in over my head in taking this course. I started my wiki adventure by reading Web 2.0 for Schools (Davies & Merchant, 2009) and then realized that I wasn’t as informed as I thought I was. My vision of a wiki was limited to classroom wikis. I never equated Wikipedia to a wiki. I have rarely used Wikipedia and didn’t think much about how it came to be. I took it as an online encyclopedia and have used it a couple of times to Google technology terms. From my reading I soon discovered that it was much more than a stagnate online encyclopedia. Imagine even I could publish something on it! My entry could be read, expanded upon or edited by anyone else. That was certainly a surprise to me! Even my students could add something to this wiki. I found myself thinking about our previous group discussion when we talked about trusting sites, critical reading, objectivity and accuracy. What had I so blindly believed when I read Wikipedia? Was the information I read credible? Then as I read on in our text books, I felt I had nothing to dread. Watching a short video by Richardson also gave me more information about Wikipedia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx0LiFmB7IQ It seems to be a very well managed site. I looked into creating an account then decided not to; I couldn’t think of anything to publish. It is exciting to know that my students or I could publish on Wikipedia if we wanted to.
As I stated earlier I do have some experience with wikis. I attended a one day workshop on wetpaint.com at our division office in May. There I began preliminary steps in setting up a classroom wiki for my Kindergarten class. It was a very slow, step by step process and I didn’t get far. I was very excited about the prospect of the online communication it would give me with parents. Then our school division decided that it would no longer endorse wetpaint.com because of the advertising. They were afraid that students would see inappropriate material. I didn’t do anything else with my wiki after that. For this course assignment, I couldn’t decide how I would show my interaction with wikis. I added some comments on our division Kindergarten teacher wiki, but realized as a secured site I wouldn’t have any proof of my contributions. Then I started a wiki on pbworks.com but felt that it lacked appeal. So I went back to my original wiki and played there for awhile. Since I want to make this wiki useful and not just for the course I went back to pbworks. As I played around with adding content to my new wiki, I felt empowered. I knew what I was doing. There were a couple of things though, that I didn’t know how to do so I emailed our division technology coordinator and she sent me a training video she made. Watching it answered the questions I had on importing photos. After spending quite a bit of time on designing my wiki, I still feel like it’s a basic outline. It will take me more than a week to put it all together.

Discussion of the tool in terms of my own personal learning:
When I decided to build my own wiki, I searched out many Kindergarten wikis to get ideas. I actually added some information to a couple of them and bookmarked them to Delicious. I will be able to follow along and comment on these wikis. I can learn lots from these other Kindergarten teachers. While I was manipulating the tools with pbworks wiki, I felt like I was consolidating my learning from various projects both for this course and at school. Adding links and documents seemed to just come naturally. I knew what I was doing, so my own personal learning must be increasing.
My thirteen year old son is enjoying learning about what I am doing in this class. He looks forward to the end of the week so that I can share with him my new found technology knowledge. After explaining to him about wikis, he couldn’t believe that he could put something on Wikipedia and watch what happens to it. I feel like I am giving him a heads up in technology as he is not learning these things in school yet.
As for being a part of a social group, next summer my cousins and I, who live all over western Canada, are planning a family reunion. They all laughed at me because I was the last one to join Facebook and I am the oldest cousin. Well, I have a surprise for them! I am going to make a family reunion wiki. They will love it! It will help us to plan and be more organized for the event in Manitoba. We can add photos and comments afterwards. Having the preliminary planning all done and recorded on a wiki will enable us to be ahead of the game for the next reunion.

Discussion of the tool in terms of teaching and learning:
I’m using the wiki that I created for this assignment, as a tool for increasing communication with parents in my class. At the moment I have included information that they would find useful. I will be able to link some podcasts for parents to listen to as well. As more parents start to use the wiki and learn to trust it, they will want me to add pictures of their children to it. I feel that right now my wiki is lacking visuals. My wiki can also be used as Hargadon (2009) suggested as a communication tool for parents who have children that are absent due to illness. They will be able to keep up with class happenings. Unfortunately my Kindergarten students are too young to collaborate on a wiki by themselves.
There is another teacher in my school who is creating a classroom wiki. He has been asking me questions all week. I have been able to help him, by giving him ideas on how to use his wiki as a collaboration tool with his grade three/four class. I agree with Lamb & Johnson (2009), that, “Wiki projects help young people shift from being consumers of the Internet to creators on the Web. Open-editing wiki tools engage students in exciting collaborative learning experiences that promote reading, writing, and high level thinking across content areas and grade levels.” In helping my colleagues use wikis for classroom collaboration, I am helping students become better thinkers and learners. As Dukic (2007) states, “learning is not only acquiring new knowledge but also developing students’ attitudes and skills that will keep them open to new learning experience beyond the boundaries of school and formal education.” Wikis will help students become more active 21st century learners.
I can be a valuable resource for the teachers in my school as the benefits of using wikis catch on. I belong to a division wide Kindergarten wiki. It has fallen by the wayside for most of us. I want to begin contributing to it on a regular basis now as I see the importance of it. I will try to convince others to do so as well. There are many other benefits to using a wiki in schools. These include: making meetings more efficient, collaboration on important documents and curriculum, enhancing professional development, and portals for lessons (Nielsen, 2009). Some drawbacks to using wikis include: policies that prohibit student pictures on the web, time to learn and update a wiki, others defacing a classroom wiki, and reluctance to learn new technology. For me, using wikis will enhance my teaching and my students’ learning.


References:

Davis, J., & Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0 for Schools Learning and Social Participation. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Dukic, D. (2007). Wikis in school libraries. International Association of School Librarianship. Selected Papers from the Annual Conference,1-9. Retrieved September 24, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals.

Hargadon, S. (October, 2009). Web Site in a Rush. School Library Journal, 55(10), 16. Retrieved October 20, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx0LiFmB7IQ

Lamb, A., & Johnson, L.. (April, 2009). Wikis and Collaborative Inquiry. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 25(8), 48-51. Retrieved October 19, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals.

Nielsen, L. (August 2009). Eight ways to use: school wikis. Technology & Learning, 30, 1. p.32(2). Retrieved October 20, 2009, from Computer Database via Gale:http://find.galegroup.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/gtx/start.do?prodId=CDB

Podcasting – A Continuing Technological Quest

I stumbled into quicksand and barely made it out! That’s how I felt when I started my podcasting journey. I was confidently strolling along with a trailfire and text book as my guide. Suddenly it wasn’t enough. I felt alone. I became disoriented and panicked. I went deeper and deeper into abyss. As I staggered around I lost sense of coherence and into the quicksand I sank. The more I struggled, the deeper and deeper I went until I felt I would never get out!

Reflections on the process of learning about the tool:

My first experience with podcasting was when we had to listen to the initial podcast for this course. I actually didn’t know what podcasting was until I looked it up on wikipedia. I should have known this was going to be a nightmare for me. From my first encounter of trying to open the introductory podcast to embedding my own, on my blog, I struggled. This has been the most frustrating I have felt in this course and probably with technology in a long time. One of the things that bothered me was that I felt like I was just within reach of getting where I needed to be but was unable to grasp the connection. I could see the problem but didn’t know how to fix it. Just like being trapped in quicksand, the more you struggle the deeper you go; you can see the vine hanging that could save you, but it’s just beyond your fingertips.
I first followed the trailfire and enjoyed listening to the podcasts, especially the ones made by the students on the Educating Alice Blog. I was a little disappointed that the trailfire didn’t include steps on making your own podcast. Then I read Richardson’s (2009) book and it seemed very straight forward. Just download a couple of programs and then copy and paste into my blog. I decided that I would use Audacity because that was what Richardson suggested. I was hoping that I could get this done quickly so that I would have more time to do extra reading. That didn’t happen.
I downloaded the newest version of Audacity and then downloaded Lame. After buying a microphone I plugged it in and started to record my podcast. I could see it recording but could not hear it. Recording several trials and playing around with the microphone and speakers fixed that problem. I had the wrong microphone option selected. Then it was time to save it as an mp3 file. I didn’t have this option on my version of Audacity.

I could listen to it but I couldn’t export it. I read the Audacity tutorial many times. It all came back to having an mp3 file. I watched http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrPGMjZORCM a tutorial on Audacity and two others. I followed these step by step. I also went through the Lame wiki tutorials, http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=Lame_Installation again. One suggestion was that maybe Audacity couldn’t find the right connection to Lame. After hours of getting nowhere I decided to remove both programs from my computer and start again. This time I downloaded an older version of Audacity and low and behold it had a save as mp3 option. After making my podcast again, I saved it to itunes. My next problem was to store it on an internet server. I started with OurMedia.org but ran into problems there with it trying to find my itunes file. Then I remembered a suggested site by Annabelle, http://www.slideshare.net/Paty.Savage/how-to-embed-a-podcast-into-a-blogger , so I used it and tried archive.org. Again I ran into difficulty because when it browsed my itunes it would take all my podcasts not just the one. Feeling close to defeat, with my phone beside me ready to call my instructor, I decided to copy my mp3 file to my desktop. It would give archive only one choice to copy. It worked! Embedding my podcast into my blog was relatively easy compare to everything else. There was nothing as satisfying as reaching that vine and feeling myself come free of the quicksand.

Discussion of the tool in terms of my own personal learning:

In my September introduction, I called my initial post, “My Learning Curve Can Only Go Up.” This week’s investigation into podcasting was a straight uphill climb. But the view from the top was breathtaking. Not only have I discovered that my family and I can make podcasts but there are some very valuable podcasts out there that I can learn from. I will be subscribing to a couple different ones that I can listen to on a regular basis. I will be able to download them to my mp3 player and listen as I drive, clean my house or have a cup of tea. I am looking forward to listening to people talk about some of the things I enjoy, such as scrapbooking, photography and early literacy. There are so many to choose from but I have not decided on any from the ones I have listened to. The video podcasts will also be very beneficial to help me learn new things.
As soon as I got the microphone working and did a test podcast, I called my children to hear it. They both tried it. I think they were hooked instantly but I wouldn’t let them make any to broadcast because I was still trying to get my own to work. Now that I know how to do it I will be teaching them and they will have endless ideas on what to do. Next week is their uncle’s birthday. We are going to make a podcast for him so he can get our birthday wishes in Manitoba. I was thinking we would make regular family podcasts to link into Facebook. I haven’t had a chance to try that but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. There is a link option. It would be like a Dudar Family What’s Going On for the Week Radio Program. Our families would love it. They all live far away and hearing our voices and updating them on our weekly happenings would bring us all closer together. If I can’t link it to Facebook then I would let them know how to listen to it on archive.org. Maybe I could convince some other family members to make podcasts too. I’m not sure exactly how Skype works but it will be something I will be looking at in the future. Hopefully I can use my podcasting skills to connect family members that way.
Most of the podcasters that I listened to also had blogs. If I like their podcast I am sure I will enjoy their blog. This would be another way to open up some social groups for me pertaining to some of my interests.

Discussion of the tool in terms of teaching and learning:

I will be using podcasting in my teaching. I work with Early Literacy students and we always do some reader’s theatre to share with other classes. We will now put them into a podcast that can be shared at any time with students and parents. The students can have other family and friends listen at any time too. This will also work with my music class. We could have a regular recording time once a month and parents would have something to look forward too. My Kindergarten class could talk about concepts they have learned. As Kerstetter (2009) states, “recording classroom activities is a way to share with parents and administrators the positive outcomes and hard work involved in every class. Showcasing a "student of the week" or "class of the week" can be one method of sharing with the school community some of the wonderful things that happen in your classroom every day.” I will also be able to integrate listening to podcasts into my classroom in various subjects. We could listen to music and science podcasts. One such video podcast is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhF7Has5LOw which I will be showing for my next grade two science unit. As a school leader, I have convinced the grade three teacher to have her class make a radio type podcast on global citizenship. They are also researching other podcasts to help them to understand issues in other countries. I had her listen to the video podcast on grade three science to show her what can be done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akyWTHjaiVc. Once I have a few podcasts completed I will share these with my colleagues at a staff meeting and show them how easy it is to do. Teachers of older students can make podcasts explaining concepts or missed lessons. I also belong to a Kindergarten Action Group that encompasses all of our division’s Kindergarten teachers. I will have them listen to the podcasts and help anyone who wants to try it. No trial and error for them! There are many benefits to using a Web 2.0 tool like podcasting in school. The recorded message can be listened to over and over by various groups, children are motivated to use technology, they are expanding their social networking, and for me personally the best reason to use podcasting is because I can! Podcasting is not covered in our privacy policy as long as I do not use video. One downfall to podcasting is that it will be more difficult to teach the younger students how to podcast. The second is time. I know I will have a difficult time being able to do all the projects that I want to do. Starting small will be the key. I am glad I survived the quicksand as podcasting is one of the tools that I will continue to use after this course is over.

References:

http://medinger.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/in-the-classroom-kid-podcasts-of-good-masters-sweet-ladies/

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=Lame_Installation

http://www.slideshare.net/Paty.Savage/how-to-embed-a-podcast-into-a-blogger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akyWTHjaiVc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhF7Has5LOw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrPGMjZORCM

Kerstetter, K. (2009). Educational Applications of Podcasting in the Music Classroom. Music Educators Journal, 95(4), 23-26. Retrieved October 17, 2009 from http://search.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca

Richardson, W., (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. United States: Corwin.

Social Bookmarking - A New Adventure

Overhead the canopy of the jungle is lush, its vastness seems to go on forever. Even though the canopy blocks out some of the sun’s rays I can still see the path that leads me through this mystifying land. This week’s journey continues down the jungle trail that I procured last week. This time social bookmarking is my technological adversary. But just like I will find my way out of the jungle I will conquer another Web 2.0 tool. My confidence continues to grow even though I wonder where I will travel on this journey.

Reflections of the process of learning about the tool:

Last May I sat in a school professional development session about Smartboards. We were asked by the instructor if we had a Delicious account. I did not know what that was. After a very brief and confusing five minute lecture (it was all mumble jumble to me), I followed her instructions to set up the account. I put in my personal information and a password and was able to register for Delicious. I felt very relieved that the process was easy! When she told us to add Learn Alberta to our bookmarks I was unable to do so, as the internet went down in our school. I never went back to add it to my account because I didn’t see any importance in doing it. I thought Delicious was just a fancy favorites section like on my computer. I did not see how it would benefit me. By the time that day was over I had a splitting headache as I usually get when I spend a fast paced day learning technology. I often ask myself why the tech trainers go so fast for us technologically impaired people that our heads spin. So I never looked at the account again until we had to explore social bookmarking in this course.
I followed this week’s Trailfire and watched Social Bookmarking in Plain English. The Plain English videos are becoming my favorite way to understand how to use Web 2.0 tools. I found watching the video and reading Will Richardson’s book to be the most helpful for me to understand what social bookmarking was about. I realized that I misunderstood the social aspect of using a site like Delicious. When Will Richardson (2009) states, “what these services do that’s social is take all of the entries that are tagged the same way and connect them, and then connect all of the people who posted those links in the first place” (p.890), I recognized the value this could have for me. I added the Delicious button to my computer which took a little bit of time but I could figure it out without being frustrated. Then I started adding sites to my Delicious account. I liked having the tags come up under each new entry as it helped me to be consistent in the tags I used. I felt comfortable in leaving my bookmarked sites public. Now, I just need to remember to add every site I want to keep to Delicious. I still sometimes forget it is there.

Discussion of the tool in terms of my own personal learning:

Using a social bookmarking site like Delicious will have an impact on me personally both as a learner and as part of a social group. I will be able to connect with others that share some of my hobbies. In the past I have searched scrapbooking sites but have never tried to connect with others via the internet with the same passion. I will be able to find more valuable sights that others use as we collectively search. Hopefully I will engage in social networking about scrapbooking. I will be able to do this through Delicious. I am enjoying learning about the Web 2.0 tools but find that I lack the time at the moment to delve deeper into the social aspect of these tools.
As for me as a parent, I have shown my son how to use Delicious. He loves it because he uses different computers at school, has access to two computers at home and also uses his Ipod Touch. He is now bookmarking his favorite sites and I feel that I have made his life easier. He showed some of his friends how to use it too. They had a project on the environment in science and were able to share some sights they found. My daughter will get the lesson next.

Discussion of the tool in terms of teaching and learning:

I have learned that “Social bookmarking sites provide a means for individuals to save their bookmarks and share them with a community of others. The advantage in using social bookmarking sites is the human collaboration involved in the searching framework” (McGraw Hill Companies,2009). It will make searching for sites for research or school activities much easier. The tags will help to led me to other sites that I may not have found by just googling them. I may even start to network with others that have tagged similar sites as me but I have not gone that far into social bookmarking yet. I can see myself connecting with other Kindergarten teachers who use technology daily in their classrooms. I showed my colleagues the Lee Kolbert Youtube video,Social Bookmarking -Delicious Part Two. Not one teacher I showed this video to had used their Delicious account since signing up last May. Like me, they hadn’t understood what it was about. So far, three teachers have started using their Delicious account and are quite excited about it. I am trying to teach them that social bookmarking “ can provide the resources to facilitate a scholarly approach to teaching where teachers concerned with developing research – based practices can collectively assemble, annotate, recommend, and share scholarly resources such as books, journal articles, websites, and contacts” (Greenhow, 2009). Together we could share resources to enhance our teaching. I feel that if I teach and support the teachers of older students they will use it with their classes.
I am not using Delicious in my classroom for social networking with my Kindergarten class as the entire concept is above their capabilities.
The pros for using social bookmarking in schools would be that students and teachers could collaborate on teaching, researching, or having discussions on line. They would be able to find others that have similar interests or could use sites that have already been bookmarked and tagged for their topic. Teachers could use Diigo and actually make comments on the sites that their students could follow as they read the sites they needed to. The negative aspects of using social bookmarking for my students are that they are too little. For older students you could end up with sites being added that are not appropriate to what they are supposed to be studying. All in all using social bookmarking sites for educational purposes would benefit teachers and students alike.


References:

Greenhow, Christine. (2009). Tapping the Wealth of Social Networks for Professional Development. Retrieved September 28, 2009, from Learning and Leading with Technology vol:36 iss:8 pg:10-11 http://web.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.

Kolbert,Lee.(2008). Social Bookmarking -Delicious Part Two. Retrieved September 27,2009 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P-S9msNbR0

McGraw Hill Companies. (2009). How to Article - Social Bookmarking. Retrieved September 28, 2009, from Teaching Today http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/social-bookmarking

Richardson, W., (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. United States: Corwin.

The Journey into YouTube and TeacherTube

As my journey into the world of web 2.0 tools began, I felt like I was abandoned in the middle of the jungle. Not knowing where I was or where I was going there seemed to be obstacles everywhere I turned. I felt like I was going in circles with everything looking the same. I would follow link after link and see no end in sight. And then, I started to read and follow the trailfires and slowly I could see a path emerging for me to follow. I’m still in the jungle but feel that I’m slowly finding my way and understanding more. Will I ever make my way out and feel like I have the knowledge to use web 2.0 tools effectively? Where will my journey take me next?


Reflections on the process of learning about the tool:

My previous experience with YouTube has been,”Mom, come and see this.” Which means one of my children called me to view the latest music video or Hannah Montana TV episode. At school, I’ve watched a couple of technology videos downloaded by our administrators to show us at meetings. I also watched Susan Boyle sing her heart out and shock the audience. Other than those few occurrences I have never used Youtube myself.
When I first read Will Richardson’s section on YouTube I wasn’t excited about learning about this tool as he mainly talked about students producing their own videos and we are not allowed to do this at our school. I didn’t want to produce my own video to share with the world and don’t have the equipment to do so. I felt this week was going to be a waste of time for me both educationally and personally. While following the Trailfire that was set out for us I began to understand some of YouTube’s merits. I enjoyed watching how the videos were made to showcase library activities. I started to feel excited by thinking up ideas on how we could exhibit events at our school. Only to feel disappointment when I though of our privacy policy. I started to question our division’s web policy and I actually talked about it with our technology representative at school. Then I read Julia Davis and Guy Merchant’s explanation of YouTube and my outlook changed. I felt empowered by the fact that I could use YouTube in my lessons while respecting our school rules. I started to explore the site, searching topics that I am teaching right now. I found the site easy to navigate, but it definitely took time to sort through and find exactly what you want. I will be using YouTube and TeacherTube to enhance my lessons.

Discussion of the tool in terms of my own personal learning:

As far as videosharing is concerned I am far behind the times. I feel that I need to spend more time exploring YouTube and try to put a video on the website. I am not ready to do so for a couple of reasons. One, being that I don’t have any up to date video equipment but when I get some, I will use the tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKduR9oymlk) to help me. The other reason is that I am not comfortable enough with this technology to share my videos with the world. In terms of me as a parent, beginning to understand YouTube has been beneficial, as my daughter loves viewing YouTube. At this time she only looks at videos that interest her but what happens when she starts to explore more and comes across material that is unsuitable for her? Now that I have become more familiar with this site I see the importance of teaching my children to “keep safe personal information, keep away from Internet strangers, and keep telling adults about everything they see on the Internet. (Panter, 2009). Sooner or later they will wander across things they should not see. I want them to know what to do when it happens.
No one in my family uses YouTube to publish videos. At this time I am not prepared to convince them otherwise. As I continue to learn more I know that I will try to make a video that doesn’t really identify my family that I can upload and share with other family members. I just tried to upload a sample video I made on Animoto a few months ago to YouTube but this can not be done, so I put it on Facebook instead.
For me, YouTube is not really a two way social participation tool yet. I enjoy reading and contemplating the comments which I have never done until this week.

Discussion of the tool in terms of teaching and learning:

YouTube and TeacherTube definitely have a place in the school even when you can not produce your own videos. I found it easy to search for videos that I could use in my grade 2 science class. Some of the pros to using these videos included seeing my students eager to see what I was going to show them. (http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=6647&title=Room_11_Building_Boats) They were very motivated to get started in collecting their own boat building materials and wanted to build right away. These samples gave them a visual to work from that I could not have explained. (http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=94701&title=BOAT_RACES) We then discussed the video and how their boat design needed to float. Everyone was so excited to build the fastest boat so they could race theirs like in the video. Using TeacherTube and YouTube videos helps to cover more multiple intelligences and engage more learners. As Everhart(2009) states, “ YouTube is a great way to add interest, depth, and student ownership to elementary science”. Also I had two students away that day and was able to show them the video when they came back, while everyone else was working on their boat. This caused minimal distraction and everyone was able to work at their own pace. Some of the disadvantages were that I did not embed my video the first time and then had a problem with my Smartboard. I couldn’t show the video the first time I planned to. You need to have it embedded in your lesson. Of course the biggest obstacle right now for full YouTube use in our school is the policy prohibiting students to be in the video. I was thinking maybe we could video something without their faces on it, but I still need special permission to make the video. I am sharing my lessons with staff members. I have also been emailing my principal with a link to every Technology and 21st Century Learner video I have come across. She is sharing one of them at a Parent Council Meeting. I am already searching for videos for my Kindergarten class to watch and have found (http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=1261&title=Farmer_Brown__The_fastest_farmer_in_the_world) to help us discuss farms. And what about all the professional development videos such as one I shared with a new teacher on differentiated instruction? The list could go on and on and on.

References:
Davis,J. , & Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0 for Schools Learning and Social Participation. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Everhart, Jerry. "YouTube in the science classroom: tips on incorporating this popular video file-sharing website into your science lessons." Science and Children. 2009. Retrieved September 23, 2009 from accessmylibrary: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-202014708/youtube-science-classroom-tips.html

Panter, S. “Teaching Elementary Kids to be Safe on the Internet.” Library Media Connection. 2009. Retrieved September 23, 2009 from http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=40101671&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site


Richardson, W., (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. United States: Corwin.

Photosharing - The Journey Continues

Reflections on the process of learning about photosharing:

Every week I spend reading and exploring the required web 2.0 tool I feel a kind of apprehension and excitement. This was true for this week’s tool, photosharing. I assumed that it meant that I share my photos with the world. I never had the desire to share my photos with people I did not know. After watching the video, Photosharing in Plain English, (http://www.commoncraft.com/photosharing) I began to understand there is so much more to this tool. While reading Will Richardson’s book, I decided to explore Flickr. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to join Flickr and follow all the directions. I still have an underlying fear of having my children’s faces on the web. I chose to upload some photos where my family is not in the pictures. I did make these pictures public which is a big step for me.

Discussion of photosharing in terms of my own personal learning:

I am beginning to realize, I am underestimating the impact web 2.0 tools could have on my life. My photos of my children are my most prized possessions. I would hate to lose them. In discovering Flickr’s many attributes the most appealing to me as a parent is the back up feature. I would never have to worry about my photos again. I could upload all my photos and choose which ones are family viewed and which ones could be made public. I could easily share entire holiday photo collections with family and friends who I have persuaded to use Flickr.
After uploading some of my photos I began to explore other people’s work. I got caught up in looking at their albums. The breathtaking photography made me want to do more with scenery, because most of my photos over the last thirteen years have been about my kids and telling their life story. As the fall colors immerge, I am going to take my camera out and try to capture some of Nature’s beauty.
I could learn more about photography by viewing and engaging in comments. I would enjoy the social participation that this would give me. Given more time, I can easily see myself becoming an active member of the public photosharing world.

Discussion of photosharing in terms of teaching and learning:

The good old days of collecting pictures from calendars and postcards to use as discussion prompts and picture collections are long gone. Flickr can be integrated into the classroom at any level to do this and so much more. In my Kindergarten class we have started talking about the seasons and were able to use Flickr and the smartboard to make a Venn diagram comparing Fall with other seasons. The students loved all the pictures and were impressed by the slideshow I showed them in the end. I will share this activity with my Kindergarten Action Group at our divisional meeting. I know some of the more technological keeners will try to expand on what I share. In my grade one fine arts class I have planned to integrate Flickr photos into our discussion of line. After exploring photos we will comment on some of them. I am also going to have my students take photos depicting line and we will upload them and follow the comments. The photosharing social implications for this activity will only compound as we continue to add photos for other art elements. Sharing these lessons with my school colleagues will encourage some of them to try Flickr. For some I will need to show them how using Flickr as a public site will help their students become better 21st century learners. They will need to change their way of thinking to embrace this Web 2.0 tool as I am starting to. I agree with Wesley Fryer, “the possibilities of open content in a school setting are truly exciting. But to embrace this concept requires a whole other mind-set on the part of educators.” I know my feelings have certainly changed this week. Again I ask myself, where will this technological journey lead me over the next few days?


Fryer, Wesley. (2006). "In praise of open content.(TECHNOLOGY Up CLOSE)." School Library Journal.. Retrieved September 17, 2009 from accessmylibrary: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-28776234_ITM

Richardson, W., (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. United States: Corwin.

Introductory Blog

A month ago I didn’t even know that the course Web 2.0 for Teaching and Learning existed. I had thought about completing my fifth year of University for a while and on a whim decided I would finish it this year. Now I am up to my hair line in blogs, twitters and passwords and surprisingly enjoying it. I wasn’t sure how University would fit into my schedule being a full time working mother of two. I have always thrived on pressure and pushing myself to go the extra mile whenever I work on something. And I know learning and using Web tools will be no different.

I did not belong to any social networking sites. In fact I had no desire to belong to Facebook or to Twitter. I had very little knowledge of blogging. I don’t even know if that’s the correct term to use. I never email people for pleasure. And I just, let my thirteen year old son have an email account. Why, some of you who are cringing in your seats may ask? To some I must seem old fashioned. I have never really spent any time playing on the internet. I can make a great word document, power point, Smartboard lesson, or a DVD to commemorate the end of the school year. Truly I thought I was doing okay when it came to technology. Boy, have I got a lot to learn!

Web 2.0 for Teaching and Learning has opened my eyes and mind and exposed me to a whole new world that I didn’t know was out there. Yes, I’m still scared to put my name and picture on Facebook and on my blog. I really didn’t want to say where I lived. But I have. I’m okay with it too. It’s about stretching myself as a learner and going out of my comfort zone to learn new things. Isn’t this what we ask of the students we teach each day?

I think about how far I’ve come in a week. What will I know, by this time next week? At the end of the course? I want to explore each of the web tools and hopefully use them in my life, both personally and professionally.
I ask myself:
How will this technological journey assist me to be a better mom, teacher or friend?
How will I incorporate my new knowledge into my teaching and personal life?
What knowledge have I gained that I can share with my colleagues?
How will I expand on what I have learned?

Each week as I reflect on these ideas I invite you to share your own personal journeys and comment on mine.