13.1: Web 2.0: New Literacies and the Big Shift

13.1: Web 2.0: New Literacies and the Big Shift

As Bob Dylan once warbled, “The times, they are a changin’,” and nothing could be changing faster than the role of technology in education today.  Students and pedagogy today are far different than when I first started out in education over 30 years ago.  Students have changed; society has changed; governmental attitudes towards education has changed; and, as such, teachers and how we teach mustchange!  

Students today are consumers of technology.  For good or bad, technology is always inches away.  Parents battle to balance “screen time” with “quality screen time” and may not know the difference.  Additionally, in many instances they may not understand what teachers are trying to do with educational technology in schools as “That’s not how I did it when I was in school” rears it ugly head (think new math).

Just as technology has evolved and has permeated every aspect of our lives, so must teaching evolve. The teacher must be more than a lecturer.  The teacher must be a collaborator, facilitator, and consumer of the same technologies that the students have immersed themselves in.  Students have become global collaborators, that use various media to consume and construct knowledge on their own terms. These new tools have changed us and redefined how we communicate to each other.  As such, the teacher must embrace them as well.  Richardson talked about 10 “Big Shifts” in education. These shifts are fundamental in understanding and evolving in to a teacher that is effective in teaching the 21^stCentury skills.  The days of having an 8:30 a.m. class are coming to an end.  Education is becoming a 24/7 process.  Students expect that they can get a hold of their teacher (via text/email/etc.) at almost any time and from any place.  Global collaboration has become the norm.  Students share many parts of their lives and learning now via Instagram, Flickr, Twitter, and a number of ever-changing apps – the world now sees it, not just the class.  

There will be speed bumps along the way.  Like most new initiatives – at least to us old-timers-  just when you think you mastered one aspect of educational technology integration and the New Literacies, it is passé and students, teachers, administrator, and the government are on to something else.  But as educators we must be flexible and meet the students ‘where they are’ and they are technology consumers, learners, researchers, and evaluators.  

We need to use what they use, rethink the role of teacher as a co-collaborator, and even learn FROMthe students.  One such example is something that I will implement soon: “Free App Friday.”  Every Friday one student signs up to give a mini lesson on an app that is free or under 99-cents.  That app must be helpful in their educational process (i.e.: no games).  It could be something as simple as how to set a reminder on your phone to a new app for mental sharpness and recall (e.g.: Elevate, Luminosity).  The student gets a few extra credit points, practices presentations skills, and the class gets a lesson in a new, and hopefully useful, app.

In short, technology is a tool that is best used by those trained to use the tool.  Employed well, we can expect to engage students and develop life long learners that will succeed in the jobs of the future.

12.2: Web 2.0: Prezi-The Cool Tool That Stood Out to Me

Web 2.0: 12.2: Prezi: The Cool Tool That Stood Out to Me

Of all the educational technology tools that were presented in module 12, the one I really liked the most and has the most promise for my style of teaching is Prezi. Prezi is an interactive presentation editor that is wholly on-line.  They are can be accessed anywhere and are fast and easy to use.  You can pick from a variety of formats to present your information on, depending on what you are trying to convey.  

Unlike PowerPoints what I really like MOST about Prezi’s is that they are NOT linear!  Most learning in my class is not linear to begin with.  We, as a class, make decisions all the time as to which direction we wish to go as a class, as long as we stay on topic, I’m good with it.  If we are talking theme, then I can jump around as needed in the Theme Prezi to focus on the discussion at hand.  I can zoom in on sections or link to an outside source (either on my computer or on the web)!  Although PowerPoints can do some of this, Prezi’s take it to a whole new level!

Additionally, teachers and students alike can search for other Prezi’s on the same or similar topics depending on what is needed.  Students can even collaborate – although it is not as smooth as I would like –with one another!  If you find a Prezi you like, it is easy to duplicate them as long as they are not ‘locked’ down, and you can revise, edit, and make it your own.

What Prezi’s Get Right:

·      They are easy and fun to do: Students get engaged in their own educational presentation right off the bat!

·      Student generated material: students have to think about what they are generating. It engages them.

·      Prezi’s are thought provoking: Will my audience understand what I am trying to get across? Is this accurate? How can I tell? What would I change?

·      Collaborative Approach: Although it is not smooth, students can collaborate on a Prezi.  Developing a Prezi, students can change the sections to reflect newer and better information and to reflect, interact, and collaborate with students within the classroom, or across the world, although they MIGHT have to share one user name and password (I don’t care for that though).   

·      Global Access: Students can search, read and change Prezi’s from virtually anyplace they have internet access and they are not restricted to school hours.  This is especially good if the student is sick!

Common Core State Standards Met (CCSS): 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7: "Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos or maps) with other information in print and digital texts."

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7: "Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words."

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1: "Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively."

In addition to the above, this lesson would satisfy several CCSS regarding research and presentation skills!

ISTE Standard met: Empowered Learner, Digital Citizen, Knowledge Constructor, Creative Communicator and Global Collaborator

Web 2.0: Video Podacasts

I am a big believer in the power of the video podcast.  One of the ways I use video podcasts in class is with CCSS communication and presentation skills.

I used my son as my student to do a “book teaser” of summer reading for the 7th graders.  The book was Refugee and I let him use notes taped to the back of the book - a trick I use with my students when we have done this in class before.  They are fast and easy to do in iMovie, and can be done in small to medium sized groups.  Students tend to be more focused in on the content that their peers have come up with, and all enjoy presenting the teasers for the raising grade.

I post to YouTube in a playlist all students can get to, as students tend to have universal access to it already, and in our school it can be linked to the students’ Google account.  Some stduents get really creative, and others (like my own son), tend to be more minimalist – just getting comfortable with the technology.

Here is a direct link to the video podcast. 

Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/JAR9dg4EiRU

ISTE Standards: Knowledge Constructor, Empowered Learner, Digital Citizen, Innovative Designer, Creative Communicator, and Creative Communicator

Link to Video Podcast: https://youtu.be/JAR9dg4EiRU

10.2: Web 2.0: Photo Sharing: Flickr (or, Instagram, if you like)

Web 2.0: Photo Sharing: Flickr (or Instagram, if you like)

Flickr.  I’ve had students use it innumerable times.  Photo Sharing.  That’s it, I though – so??  What’s the big deal?

I saw it being used by my students, but never really understood what it could be used for in the classroom – until now.  I always saw it as merely a way to present pictures to others using an app.  Once I had set up my Flickr account and dug into what it could really do, my mind was blown!

I immediately made an album for my Social Studies class that I occasionally teach: “Ancient Civilizations, Rome and Greece.”  Yearly, I would bring in artifacts from those time periods to share with my students - pictures on Flickr:  https://flic.kr/s/aHsmjHvL5r.  I have many thousands invested in them as they are the real deal.  Students tend to drop, mishandle, and on occasion, break them as they are quite curious as to what they are and want to inspect them more closely.  Flickr strengthens and takes this lesson to the next level by providing students with a means of seeing this artifact close-up as well as zooming in to see details they would normally have to handle the artifact to see.  If absent, students can continue to be part of the class and see what we see and gather information.

But this is only the beginning.  The two things I really liked were tagging and annotating!  Each picture was given several tags to sort them better – by year, topic, or civilization.  Additionally, each artifact was annotated so students can actually see detailed information on them!  By utilizing Flickr, I can bring the hardiest of the artifacts in without worrying about them being broken, and supply annotated, tagged pictures for the frailest artifacts. 

And then there is more!  Students can become authentic researchers!! I can have students go out and find pictures of artifacts on the web, and put them in the album and expand the library of pictures for a time period with the requisite information, tags, and annotations.  Shared learning and presenting to the class.

Much like a Wiki, I envision Photo Sharing as a way for students to research information, and construct their own knowledge base by investigating what they have interest in, and sharing what they have learned with others.

Link to Photo Share Site on Flickr:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmjHvL5r

ISTE Standard Met:

Empowered Learner, Digital Citizen, Knowledge Constructor, Creative Communicator and Global Collaborator

Common Core State Standards Met (CCSS):

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7: "Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos or maps) with other information in print and digital texts."

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7: "Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words."

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1: "Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively."

In addition to the above, this lesson would satisfy several CCSS regarding research and presentation skills!

9.2 Web 2.0: Social Bookmarking

Web 2.0: Social Bookmarking

I have developed and used many web sites over the years to hold many of the bookmarks for my classes. Whether it is a bookmark for a Quizlet, or a Google Doc, a random web page for bookmarks or a Doc has been my standard for years.  I can say though that Diigo (https://www.diigo.com/) is going to be a game changer for me.  Being able to actively tag and annotate bookmarks is HUGE!  Sure there are other things you can do the bookmarks, but the tagging and annotations for the students is huge!  Students can get through more material faster by weeding out pages that were bookmarked that don’t relate to what they need for the topic or subtopic they are learning.  Additionally, since the bookmarks are public, others can see, use them, and add to there own.  I can, in turn, see theirs and add theirs to mine; Social Bookmarking and social sharing! The ease in which Diigo let’s you do it was amazingly simple and efficient!  

If you have read any of my past blogs, you’ll notice I tend to give all sides of a technology tool; the good, the bad, and the ways they could be used better.  In this case I can only find the good uses I’ve talked about!

For Example:

·      Bookmarks are tagged and annotated: ease of weeding out what you don’t need is great!

·      Addresses and covers CCSS for digital research.

·      Addresses CCSS regarding valid and reliable sites.  

·      Students have a ‘jumping off point’ from my bookmarks, and can then develop and add to their own!

·      Global Access: Students can read, and evaluate from virtually anyplace they have internet access and are not restricted to school hours.

·      Collaborative Approach: Given a topic or discussion point, students can use the bookmarks from each other to look more deeply into a topic or section and reflect, interact, and collaborate with students within the classroom or across the world!   

My Diigo Bookmarks:

https://www.diigo.com/user/godzilla1960

ISTE Standard met: Knowledge Constructor, Digital Citizen, Creative Communicator and Global Collaborator

Web 2.0: RSSs - A Long Walk to Make a Short Trip!

Web 2.0: RSSs

Getting my RSS feed on to my blog was a very cumbersome ordeal that took over 13 hours to achieve the simplest of feeds. After watching the videos on what a RSS was and reading how to do it, I decided to use Netvibes (https://www.netvibes.com/en). Setting up the account was free for 14 days and easy to do.  Getting my Netvibes dashboard RSS to be shared on my blog was an ordeal that I failed at time after time even though it looked like it should work with Blogger.  After having my wife and 13 year-old child give it a try, I finally gave up and decided to try a different site.  This time I set up an account with Feedly (https://feedly.com/i/my).  Again, it was easy to create an account and put together my feed; getting it to work with my Blogger account, however, was yet another issue similar to the first try.  I figured it was user error (it usually is), and tried a third site that was recommended by our text book: google.com/reader.  Unfortunately, Google no longer supports a reader, so I was back to square 1.  Ultimately, I got one to ‘take,’ (Inside Schools – Education Next), but have never quite figured out why the RSS feeds I put together would not work, but the premed ones did.

I see great potential in using RSSs in the support of CCSS and ISTE standards.  In fact, it seems intuitive that a teacher would use them. The teacher gets to decide on a number of news and information that goes on a classroom feed that students can choose from.  The teacher can use and discuss, real primary sources that are reliable.  Discuss and teach about fact vs opinion, and other topics ingrained in the CCSS.  For example:

I can think of one unit I could use an RSS for – the Unit on WWII while we read the book Night.  In the 8^thgrade it is customary for our students to do an interdisciplinary unit on WWII and the Holocaust before the 8^thgrade travels to Washington, DC and visit the many monuments and museums.  Nightis a deep read for most 8th graders; the subject matter and detail that Elie Wiesel goes into as he recalls the brutality of his stay at Auschwitzcan be overwhelming for even the toughest of students.  However, it has been our experience that most students are lacking in even the most basic understanding that what went on during that war.  In fact, many of the boys I have had got most of their knowledge on WWII from video games set in that time period! Pushing valid and reliable pieces out covers state standards regarding fact vs opinion, reading primary sources, informed discussion, and more.  

As usual, teachers need to guide students at this level through what they are doing, but in the end, once students are comfortable with, and understand the limitations to, RSSs, students will be able to develop and use their own RSSs to find and construct their own informational feeds as they grow.

ISTE Standard met: Empowered Learner, Digital Citizen, Knowledge Constructor

Web 2.0: Wiki's and Classrooms: The Good and Not So Good

Web 2.0: Wikipedia and Wikis

I have used Wikis, like Wikipedia and teacher made ones, many times both in and out of the classroom environment.  And like most MS ELA teachers, I have typically steered my students away form using them as a primary source.  Like most everything else in technology (and Star Wars), I have found them to have both a “light side” and a” dark side”. 

The “Light Side” of Wikis and Wikipedia

·      Student generated material: students have to think about what they are putting on the Wiki. It engages them.

·      Wikis can be thought provoking: Is this accurate? How can I tell? What would I change?

·      Collaborative Approach: Researching a topic, students can change the entry to reflect current thinking or newer information and to reflect, interact, and collaborate with students within the classroom, or across the world!  

·      Flexibility: Wikis can be as big or small as you need. A small one for an individual class or something as worldwide as Wikipedia!  You can tailor it to meet your needs.

·      Informational and Collaborative Push and Pull of Information:  Make and post information, research, thoughts and notes from a variety of people, regarding books, backgrounds and sources.

·      Global Access: Students can read and post from virtually anyplace they have internet access and they are not restricted to school hours.  This is especially good if the student is sick!

The “Dark Side”

·      If you don’t have experience building a Wiki for your classroom, it can be a time-consuming and cumbersome adventure.  Time seems to always be the enemy of teachers and investing that many hours with the hope for dubious educational returns will frighten many teachers. 

·      Anyone and Students can post anything – as in anything, and it may not be true!  Take for example this entry by Arthur Butz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Butz).  Professor Butz is a professor of engineering at a prominent college, but also a Holocaust denier.  Students would YEARLY find this entry on Wikipedia and cite it as a fact – as evidence that the Holocaust never happened!  Regardless of all the evidence to the contrary, Mr. Butz’s entry garnered the most attention in class and on our blogs, erroneous information as it is.  It wasn’t until 2017 that Amazon at least acknowledge that his book on the subject was untrue and took it, and similar books, off their web site for sale.

·      Also like blogs, the number of student responses could become overwhelming in larger classrooms. For example, I had 134 total students last year; at 20 or so responses a piece, that’s a lot of grading!

Wiki Mindfulness

There are ways teachers can combat “The Dark Side” of Wikis:

·      TRUST that the Wiki you are building will be worth it.  Look and think “down the road” to the educational dividends that you will get when you meet your students where they are – digital citizens!

·      I have seen the benefits building and maintaining a classroom Wiki and have no qualms putting in the time, but would suggest doing it over the summer where you can do it at a more leisurely pace.

·      To combat possible incorrect entries, teachers must moderate everything that goes on the Wiki in a timely fashion, as well as give feedback and make corrections.

·      I am a BIG fan of making the Wiki and other collaborative web based projects a closed group; i.e.: make the group private.  This is primarily for the younger students as they are just learning to discern correct information form incorrect information and many may not know how to make sense out of information that is just blatantly inaccurate (e.g.: the Arthur Butz Wiki entry about the Holocaust never happening; or understanding primary sources, etc.)

·      Participants must have a valid email or use their real names so the teacher knows who is whom! No nicknames or anonymity allowed.

Link to Wiki:

http://ritzenthaler.pbworks.com/w/page/126891878/Night%20by%20E%20Wiesel%202018

ISTE Standards Met: Empowered Learner, Digital Citizen, Knowledge Constructor,  Creative Communicator and Global Collaborator