BP18_2009123_PeerReviewFlackJ

[Image 1. Purple Hippo Retrieved from Google Images.]
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
BP15_2009123_OneMinuteMessage2
video
Images and screenflow from Educational games, worksheets, and homework help for kids, parents, and teachers-gameclassoom. (2009). Big Purple Hippos, LLC. Retrieved December 12, 2009, from http://www.gameclassroom.com
Posted by Joy at 6:45 PM
3 comments:

Vandy said...

Help in Geometry - yes, what parent wouldn't enjoy this site. You are so right, many parents do not know the information that their child is covering in class. "Wow," your voice gestures added to the presentation. Vandy
December 16, 2009 7:55 PM
Joy said...

My students rotated on the computers for the last two days on the site and it was like kids in a candy store.
December 19, 2009 3:59 AM
Joan M Lourenco said...

Very cool tool. Great find. The best part is your students liked it, too. They'll enjoy exploring and learning, but we won't tell them that part. :) Joan
December 19, 2009 7:03 AM

BP14_2009123_PeerReviewBeckyWard

Response to Becky Ward's Posting - Peer Review

Sunday, December 6, 2009


BP7_2009122_Tool#2(Mutapic-Piocture Generator)

Mutapic is a Web 2.0 tool that I would use in my freshman cornerstone class to help my students create logos for their business cards and resumes. As part of this class, we talk about our students dependable strengths to help create a resume with. Some of you may have attended a dependable strengths training before, but what for those of you that haven't, this is a way to talk about past experiences and achievements and share them with other students. In their stories, they include descriptions of what they did and why they were so proud of these accomplishments. After telling 3-4 stories, the students that were listening tell the story teller attributes and characteristics they noticed they repeated in their stories. This gives each student a list of strengths and positive characteristics that they can list on their resume and they are already armed with stories that they can share with their future employers to use as examples of those strengths and characteristics.
After finding their wonderful strengths and attributes, the students will then create a logo to use on their resumes and business cards that help define them and show their personality. Students can be as dole as they want or as creative as they want when generating their logos. This Web 2.0 tool provides templates to help get students started and to aid in their creativity or lack of.
Posted by beckyward at 7:42 PM
1 comments:

Joan M Lourenco said...
You've taught me two things, one, this is my first experience seeing anything like the Mutapic-Piocture Generator and two, I haven't attended a dependable strengths training, nor have I ever heard of this type training. I am going to look into both. Thanks, Becky!
December 8, 2009 2:39 AM

I did look at both these sites. The dependable strengths site uses this statement, which I love, "Dependable Strengths is based on the premise that every person has some form of excellence deep within him or her. This can be identified and brought to awareness, enabling the person to do their best work and experience their greatest satisfaction and effectiveness in life." I am going to check with my administrator to see if she has ever heard of this program. I may need to get more information from you on the impact it has on your school.




Picture 20.png [Image1. Mutapic]

BP13_2009123_PeerReviewKingKenny's3_Kingdom

Kenny's Post Plus My Response:


SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2009
BP5_2009122_Discovering Web 2.0 Tools
Electronically Archiving Students’ Learning Development.

Objectives:
- Increased Media Literacy Skills
- Practice of Professional Skills
o Cyber Etiquette
o Interpersonal skill development
o Job readiness skill development
o 21st Century Technologies skill development

The following suggestions will allow all Educators to add Director to their resume, as learning environments can easily become one’s very own Multi Media Video Production Studio. Each classroom, across academic disciplines, can now be could be set up to be a pod, video, broadcasting with the group project being a collective news show. Where learners practice and rotate through the different responsibilities of the professional careers of a reporter, writer, researcher, announcer, technical crew, videographer, editor and producer.

Classroom learning environments can create a news show on a unit of study, weekly, and even a daily practice of live broadcasting each morning, afternoon, or evening.

Materials needed:
- Digital Camera
- imovies
- Internet access

Through the practice of experiencing web 2.0 applications one can create a professional learning environment that promotes Career Technical Education where learners have the opportunity to learn with the use of technologies. The following web 2.0 applications both support the classroom activity of producing a News Show.

New web 2.0 Applications:

http://www.funnelbrain.com
Funnel Brain is a web 2.0 application that allows users to electronically create flash cards on a specific topic, as well as search topic and other individuals or groups of learners. Users can use Funnel Brain as a social network to create study groups and the ability to create tests. Funnel Brain is easy to use and applicable to all academic disciplines. Users interested in vocabulary development and content enrichment can use funnel brain to incorporate other media literacy resources that promote language development: www.wordsmith.org and www.dictionay.com

Funnel Brain is a useful application for high school learners who are exploring different professional careers. As users can create electronic flash cards to support vocabulary development related to industry specific vernacular.

http://sprouter.com
Sprouter is a new web 2.0 application that is similar to twitter’s social networking platform and more specific to entrepreneurs interested in networking with other like-minded professionals. Sprouter is an excellent resource to allow high school students the platform to practice professionalism while networking in cyberspace. As learners can create accounts that highlight their Career Technical Education industry research and intended pathways to future employment.

The educational benefits of incorporating new web 2.0 applications provides for:
- Increased student engagement in-group work.
- Student practice with professional skills
- Media Literacy skill development
POSTED BY KINGKENNY3 AT 7:56 PM
1 COMMENTS:

Joan M Lourenco said...
I am quite interested in trying Funnel Brain. It sounds like it would fit perfectly with my curriculum. Media Literacy and cyber etiquette are skills I teach. I can't wait to share with our video productions teacher, but first, I am sending myself an email with a www.funnelbrain.com link to my work site with the hopes it is not blocked at my school. Most of the Web 2.0 tools I tried have been blocked, but I look forward to trying Funnel Brain out. Thanks. ~joan

DECEMBER 9, 2009 8:53 PM

I was able to try Funnel Brain at work and the site was open. I shared this site with the faculty at my school. Thank you!

BP17_2009123_Tool#6Slideshare

[Image 1. Slideshare]

This is an example of a slideshare presentaton:

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009

View more documents from Jane Hart.

SlideShare.net

Slideshare is an easy to use web-based sharing of presentations for your teaching/learning experiences. Often we create PowerPoint slideshows and wondered if we were reinventing the wheel over and over. Probably so, but now, educators can share their slides through Slideshare. It is a free Internet based service and a way to archive presentations. Slideshare was ranked as #20 in the Top Tools for Educators in 2008, and has moved up to #11 this year (25 Tools, 2009).

In slideshare documents can be uploaded and shared. Slideshare accepts PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, Adobe PDF Portfolios and Open Office files. The slideshare concept is similar to the YouTube sharing and collaboration features. Once they are uploaded, they become public. These slides can then be embedded in a blog, shared, or used straight from the slideshare.net website. This alone can be helpful to know you have a backup in case you needed to present at a conference and have forgotten your thumb drive or had trouble opening a file. The slideshare website would be a life-saving backup plan or save a potentially embarrassing moment.

Slideshows can be tagged which allows the user to view by category. Categories listed on the slideshare website include Finance, Business, Education, Tech, Health, Photos, Templates, Automotive, Design, Career, Gadgets, and Entertainment. Slideshow presentations can by sorted by type, such as presentations, documents, slidecasts, and VideoSlides.

Educational uses of slideshare presentations are numerous. Not only can slideshows save production time, but also they can be viewed and used for assigned student responses, which can be done by adding comments. Slideshows can be used for collaboration, discussions, as a supplemental resource for the unit being taught or reviewed. Slideshows can be emailed to students if they missed a class and/or used as a study guide (Slideshare Rules!, 2009).

So what do you need to do to get started? Just go to www.slideshare.net.

References

25 Tools 2009. (2009). Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies. Retrieved December 13, 2009, from http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/index.html

Marcinek, A. (2009). SlideShare rules! - classroom 2.0. Classroom 2.0. Retrieved December 13, 2009, from http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/slideshare-rules

Upload & Share PowerPoint presentations and documents. (2009). Upload & Share PowerPoint presentations and documents. Retrieved December 13, 2009, from http://www.slideshare.net/

BP16_2009123_Tool#5Evernote

[Image 1. Evernote]

Web 2.0 Tool #5 – Evernote: a Web Cipper and Quicknote



Video. Evernote Andrew. www.youtube.com

So what is Evernote? Evernote is a web service program that allows users to collect notes and information. This information is stored for retrieval when needed. The basic service is free, but can be upgraded to premium for approximately $5.00 a month. To get started, you will need an Internet connection and an Evernote account.

Users can click and clip to capture images, save text, photos, copy business cards when at a conference, and anything viewed on the Internet. If you need to remember it, you can click, clip, and store. This stored information can then be accessed, through visual recognition, on your desktop computer, your phone, or on the Web. When you are online, you can copy information into your Evernote account with one click. If you are offline, you can email the photos or text to your Evernote account. These images can be edited, deleted, printed or emailed. Additionally, you can create tags to associate words and ideas to your image and this will help your computer file and keep track of what you need to remember about the image. Have you ever run into an acquaintance while you were out and didn’t have a pencil to write down information? Just take a picture with your cell of the person, tag some notes, upload and have Evernote store the information for you until you are able to process what you need.

So how can this help educators and students? By organizing images, Evernote can reduce stress, for teachers and learners alike, by organizing information through the pictures for future reference. Evernote can help students keep track research, homework, notes, tests, quizzes, and other school-related articles. With Evernote, students can take pictures of their important papers and projects. Just click and then upload the pictures into Evernote to organize the stored information. Teachers can capture pictures of lessons, activities, videos, student projects, paintings and drawings. These can be organized by project or class activity.

Evernote can make the stressful lives of teachers and students a little bit easier. Even if it is just to take a snapshot of an article you really want to read, just click and save the image for when you have time to read.

Do you know of anyone who can’t use more organization in his or her life? I don’t. Check out Evernote to see if your memory can benefit from a snap, click and upload. Save the image and reduce the stress. Let Evernote become your new memory database.

References

Evernote Can Be Used in Educational and Learning Environments. (2009). Information technology at Purdue. Retrieved December 8, 2009, from wiki.itap.purdue.edu/display/Social/How+Evernote+Can+Be+Used+in+Educatioanl+and Learning+Environments

How to Organize Data With Evernote: eHow.com. (2009). eHow: How to do just about everything: How to videos & articles. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from http://www.ehow.com/how_4701908_organize-data-evernote.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

Welcome to your notable world. (2009). Welcome to your notable world: Evernote Corporation. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from http://www.evernote.com

BP12_2009123_Tool#4WatchKnow

[Image 1. WatchKnow]

WatchKnow is my selected Web 2.0 tool of the week. Videos for kids to learn from.

WatchKnow is a collection of short, quality educational and informational videos, categorized according to subject and educational level. WatchKnow was created for teachers, parents, and students. The current count of the collection is at 13, 140 and growing.

Educators are encouraged to collect, create, and share these free video resources that explain every educational topic in any language. The committee’s goal is to offer more than 50,000 videos by the end of 2010. A media review panel reviews all videos before they are added to the WatchKnow.org collection.

WatchKnow combines educational videos from some well-known sites to educators, such as, TeacherTube, YouTube, SchoolTube, eHow, Howcast, Internet Archive, 5min Life Videopedia, Slideboom live presentations, Graspr, Google videos and National Geographic. While the YouTube selections may be blocked for elementary schools at your district, this tool allows viewers optional educational clips from the various other sources. This directory greatly reduces search time for teachers when searching for materials to reach the auditory and visual learners. What a wealth of information in a supplemental format to use as an extension of textbook. Parents can look to WatchKnow to provide a tutorial for homework help or even as a review for their own knowledge.

WatchKnow is a wiki, a new kind of wiki that allows users to drag and drop videos from category to category and can be logged and tracked like most other videos. Users can rate the videos, which is important and helpful when trying to select a video for your students or own children. Another valuable feature for teachers and parents is that these videos can be selected by various search options including an age filter option.

Users can feel confident this site was designed with the experience and expertise of Larry Sanger, who is the executive director of WatchKnow. If this name sounds familiar, Larry Sanger is an American Ph.D. philosopher, co-founder of Wikipedia and founder of Citizendium. Additionally, Mr. Sanger shares tutorial videos on the WatchKnow website for ease of site navigation and features.

I am pleased to direct my colleagues to this site for supplemental materials for their classroom. Budget cuts have limited purchases for many libraries and so WatchKnow couldn't have been released at a better time. I believe educators around the world will appreciate having this free library at their fingertips.

References

Current Site of the Week - Wikipedia co-founder launches YouTube-like web site for children. (n.d.). eSchool News. Retrieved December 12, 2009, from http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/site-of-the-week/current-site-of-the-week/index.cfm? i=61846

WatchKnow - Videos for kids to learn from. Organized. (2009). WatchKnow - Videos for kids to learn from. Organized. Retrieved December 12, 2009, from http://www.watchknow.org

BP11_2009122_OneMinuteMessage1

One Minute Commercial for favorite Web 2.0 Tool.
Delicious - Social Bookmarking
Image created in www.wordle.com

BP10_2009122_PeerReviewMartinezYesi

[Image 1. Youtego.com]


MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2009
BP3_Discovering Web 2.0 Tools



Response Post to Yesi's Whirled - Youtego


Research Web 2.0 Tools beginning with the resource listed below and choose one that is of interest to you in your teaching/learning environment. Learn how to use the tool through the site or tutorials and use it to create an assignment you might use in a learning situation or use it to create some product. Next evaluate what you have done and think about all the possible educational uses. Post a blog at least 250 words long describing how you would use it in your classroom and the educational benefits the tool provides. Be specific and thorough in your discussion.

Well I am an 8th Grade Middle School Science Teacher at a low socioeconomic school. Most of my students are minorities; Hispanic and African-American. I began my search particularly seeking Science related material. Then I stumbled on Youtego. I was immediately captivated by the site and was instantly beaming with ideas for uses and incorporation in my classroom! Basically, Youtego's main concept is self-visualization. Their motto is "recognize yourself to recognize the world around you", (Youtego, 2009). The way this is accomplished is through the use of simple semantics. A basic combination of pictures and words to express one's feelings, ideas, thoughts, etc. It reminded me almost of digital storytelling, which is also another web 2.0 tool I want my students to become more adept in. I would use this tool in my classroom by assigning a topic such as Newton's Laws of Motion and instructing my students to create the Youtego slideshows to depict the concepts and terminology and then present them in either a blog or website. I know that at first it may sound or seem too basic, but it is actually very deep and inspirational at the same time which is the primary reason why I chose this tool. As I mentioned before, a teach a very large population of ELL's, or english language learners. I feel that this tool would be of great benefit to them as well to aid them in their vocabulary skills. With this tool students can incorporate music, pictures and their choice of words to represent the natural world or whatever topic I assign. This tool really appealed to me because this tool will empower my students to become more self expressive through the use of their own pictures and digital technology. This is my third year teaching middle school and I see the hardships kids in this age group experience. Students in this age group love social networking sites such as myspace and facebook and they absolutely LOVE to take pictures, so with this tool they can accomplish both and learn at the same time! Not to mention that they can then share their products as they upload them to blogs, twitter, and facebook. I have a daughter who is in middle school herself and when I introduced the site to her, she was instantly hooked! Youtego is one web 2.0 I plan to utilize in my classroom as soon as possible.

In my search for science related material I also found a very useful site called Yacapaca.com. This site is teacher and student friendly. The best part about this site is that it is FREE! Uses for this site as an educator would primarily be for creating quizzes for students as reviews and at the end of units. I took a practice quiz and I really liked the level of challenge as well as the graphics used. I could also use this tool as extra credit for students who may need additional support or simply use it as an additional resource such as a homework assignment. Eportfolios are another option with Yacapaca. This tool is one that seems more content related and offers a wide variety of subject matter. As a teacher, I am always looking for resources and this one is very manageable.


Image from Yacapac.com, 2009

Although on my campus we are limited on the availability of technology due to some sites being blocked, I do believe that my students will benefit from one if not both of my choices. I enjoyed my search as I found many other tools that I have linked to my teacher website for my home campus.


POSTED BY YESI'S WHIRLED~ AT 6:32 PM
1 COMMENTS:

Joan M Lourenco said...
I think Youtego sounds perfect for your class. I, too, chose a slideshow presentation for my learning environment. I know there are other fancier presentation tools with all the bells and whistles, but PhotoPeach, like yours, was simple and easy to learn, allowed captions and music, and a few more options, but will meet the system requirements as well as student needs. As you mentioned, Youtego will empower your students and that is important.

DECEMBER 4, 2009 8:19 PM

BP9_2009122_FlickrLesson

[Image retrieved on December 3, 2009 from http://www.usmma.edu/AMHP/default.htm]



This Flickr lesson plan [Snapshot in Time] is from American History Maritime and can be used for grades 3-12 and adjusted as needed. Included in this lesson plan are step-by-step instructions to help the teacher set up Flickr accounts for both teachers and students. The one thing I like about this plan is that it reaches multiple intelligences and promotes critical thinking skills.

The summary of this plan is this: “Students will locate, explore, and photograph evidence of maritime activities affecting them and/or their community, write a detailed description about the effect of the activities, and share both photographs and descriptions online.”
http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/pdf/OTW_educators_guide.pdf

Standards from History, Science, ISTE, and 21st century skills are addressed in this lesson plan that works with primary sources, mainly photos that have been shared with Flickr from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. “Maritime activity includes shipping and port-related work, ship and boat building, fishing and fish processing, recreational cruising, and many other water-related enterprises, all of which have far-reaching impacts. The foods we eat, the products we buy, how we travel, and even the words we speak are all affected by maritime commerce, past and present” (Thinkfinity.org, 2009).

Students will identify maritime activities and make the connection as to how these activities have helped to shape the lives and experiences in America.

There are several parts to this lesson plan.

In Part I, the students explore and discuss the On the Water online exhibit.

In Part II, students choose maritime activities that affect their lives and take digital photos.

In Part III, students download the photos from their camera, create a folder, then write a detailed description, which includes the location, of each photo. They then will upload their photos in Flickr. Next, students will search for similar activities in photos not submitted by them. I feel like this lesson plan is one I could work in collaboration with other teachers across the curriculum or with the Power Standards team at my school.

Another lesson plan I could develop for my learning environment is a staff development training session on the tagging of pictures in Flickr. Often times teachers hear about Web 2.0 tools but don’t have the time to sign up for the various accounts. In this training session, they could sign up and learn the importance of tagging.

The learning objectives for the session, in rough chronological order, are:
Participants will know how to sign up and log in to Flickr
Participants will know how to use the Flickr interface to add tags

Participants will be able to reflect on the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of tagging http://capping.slis.ualberta.ca/cap07/SarahPolkinghorne/lessonplan.html

BP8_2009122_Tool#3PhotoPeach

Featuring the Florida Teens Read 2009 Nominations on PhotoPeach




I selected to research PhotoPeach for my third Web 2.0. PhotoPeach is an online slideshow. There are other fancier slideshow Web 2.0 presentations such as animoto, however, after considering my audience, the computers, bandwidth, and the networking system my students and teachers have access to each day, I selected PhotoPeach as the Web 2.0 of choice for my teaching/learning environment. PhotoPeach presentations allows teachers and students to create projects and quiz shows, teach about creating effective presentations, provide a mechanism for students to work collaboratively, provide an alternative for assignments, demonstrate new technology tools and can promote new information and can promote critical thinking skills.

I selected to create a presentation showcasing the books nominated for the 2010 Florida Teens Read since I am in charge of getting a team together for the Battle of the Books competition in April. I am not a techy by any means yet I was able to put a slideshow together on PhotoPeach with ease. This was a plus, to be able to share a multimedia tool that is easy to learn and use.

Creating the online slideshow can be completed with three simple steps. The user has the option of importing photos from a file, Flickr, or the Internet. I was able to import photos in just minutes. I added the captions to each slide and then selected the music from the five sound effects/options offered. I soon had an attractive presentation with music and had options for embedding my presentation into a blog, a MySpace or Facebook account.

One really cool feature of PhotoPeach is the ability to create a quiz with your presentation. The quiz option appears once you are finished editing. To use this tool, first upload your photos or import them from Flickr, or the Internet. You can arrange your photos the way you want them to appear. The next step asks for the quiz title, description, and musical accompaniment. Click finish and your story/slideshow will begin playing. If you need to edit, simply click on the edit wrench in the upper right portion of the presentation.

If you wish to export the story/slideshow, the “public” feature must be selected under owner options. To see a sample and directions for a PhotoPeach Quiz, follow this link: http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2009/09/27/photopeach.quiz .

The slideshow I put together is located on the PhotoPeach website and is named Featuring the Florida Teens Read 2009 Nominations.

References

Hamilton, P. (2009). PhotoPeach Quiz / Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner. Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner. Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2009/09/27/photopeach-quiz

Lardinois, F. (2009). PhotoPeach: Easy to Use, No Frills Photo Slideshow. ReadWriteWeb - Web Apps, Web Technology Trends, Social Networking and Social Media. Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://readwriteweb.com

PhotoPeach - Fresh slideshows to go!. (2007). PhotoPeach - Fresh slideshows to go!. Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://photopeach.com

BP7_2009122_Tool#2Wikis

[Image 1. Wiki]

[Image 2. WebTools4u2use]



After hours of exploring the wonderful Web 2.0 tools provided by the resource links in FSO, I feel the number one Web 2.0 tool best suited for my classroom is a wiki. A wiki is a type of web page and can be open to the public or kept private. If

the user is familiar with a word processor, transferring these skills to a wiki will be a fairly easy process.
Two popular wikis are Wikispaces and PBWiki. Like Google Docs, a wiki has multiple functions

with sharing and learning opportunities. For instance, the link following this sentence leads to an interactive wiki for library media specialists. http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/. This one wiki contains valuable information related to my position. When I found it I quickly shared it with the fellow media specialists in my district. Numerous Web 2.0 tools that can be used in our position on a daily basis are located on this wiki. Webtools4u2use wiki has video-clips, music, blogs, task management tools, drawing, charting and mapping tools, photo and photo-sharing tools, social bookmarking tools, quiz and polling tools, wikis, presentation tools, and links to 21st century skills.

In a classroom, a wiki can be created to be a reference tool the educator would like for their students to have access to, anywhere and anytime they have an active Internet connection. A wiki provides for online creation and collaboration. Wikis in the classroom can be interactive, provide access to PowerPoint presentations, rubrics, worksheets, collaborative projects, homework assignments (parents can view these, too).

Wikis can be compared to a filing cabinet that stores images and files, text, videos, a sharing of information, links, and resources or even a word wall. Wikis transform the webpage into a document so anyone invited in, can coordinate, collaborate, edit and plan. With wikis, files do not have to be sent back and forth and can be used to teach all stages of the writing process.

Internet safety is a concern when working with students. Teachers and parents can feel comfortable knowing wiki pages can be protected for K12 education purposes.

References

Baumbach, D. (2009). webtools4u2use. Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://webtools4u2use.com

Fisher, M. (2009). A Visual Representation of Bloom's Taxonomic Hierarchy with a 21st Century Skills Frame. Visual Blooms.
Retrieved December 3, 2009, from visualblooms.wikispaces.com/

Wetzel, D. (2008, September 19). Using Wiki Technology to Engage Students: Educational Technology Strategies for Creativity and Collaboration | Suite101.com. Teacher Tips/Training | Suite101.com. Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://teachertipstraining.suite101.com/article.cfm/using_wiki_technology_to_engage_students

Wiki. (2009). [Image 1]. Retrieved on December 3, 2009 from http://www.dogpile.com/dogpile/ws/results/Images/wiki/1/417/TopNavigation/Relevance/iq=true/zoom=off/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true

Wikis in the Classroom. (2009). Delaware Center for Educational Technology. Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://www.dcet.k12.de.us/elearning/index.shtml

Woodward, S. (2009). TeacherTube Videos - Wikis in Class 2 - Getting started. Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php? video_id=112245&title=Wikis_in_Class_2___Getting_started

BP5_2009121_SocialBookmarking

[Web 2.0 Diagram].

http://delicious.com/joan_lourenco

Social bookmarking is a way of making the Web work for you or as Wikipedia defines it, it is a method for Internet users to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources (Social Bookmarking, 2009).

Comments posted on the teacherlibrarianwiki stated that it is used “to share bookmarks with teachers when working on collaborative units. Students can go back to bookmarks they have made at home or at school” (Social Bookmarking, 2007).

Using social bookmarks can improve search engine page rankings by saving and categorizing resources/Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). Why is this significant? According to the 7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking podcast located on Educause, social bookmarking provides framework, pushes out specific resources, helps users find relevant resources, actively engages learners and gives them a sense of ownership, and is easier to update and share. Additionally, social networking can move students from passive learners to active readers engaged in discussion. Through social bookmarking, the information on a particular topic continues to grow and is available to the global community. Providing the users select relevant information, the value of the bookmarks will increase (Bayne, 2008).

I noticed that de.licio.us was listed second on the Top 100 Tools for Learning list. One of the comments posted by a user of the de.licio.us bookmarking tool, mentioned this was “Information I can use for presentations, lectures, blogposts and papers. My student’s are used of finding a link to a specific Delicious tag in their ‘required reading’ list. I teach my students to search in Delicious as an alternative to Google” (Top 100 Tools, 2009).

As a teacher librarian, I can automatically see the benefits as I prepare collaborative units. I will share my delicious account with my teachers. Currently I send a resource a week out to the teachers and while they love the information resources, I am often asked, do you remember the site you sent on [e.g.,100 ways to do a book report, a webquest, or the project on cultural studies, etc. ] and I will try to remember which computer I used to send it, my home one or work and where I have it bookmarked. Now I can use delicious and create tags by subject area, enabling me to locate the resource much more efficiently.

References

Bayne, G. (2008, September 16). 7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking. [With Debra Everhart, Eric Kunnen, and Kaye Shelton]. Podcast retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutSocia/156804

Web 2.0 Diagram. (2009). [Image]. Retrieved on December 2, 2009, from http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml? searchterm=social&anyorall=all

Social Bookmarking. (2007). teacherlibrarianwiki. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://teacherlibrarianwiki.pbworks.com/Social%20Bookmarking

Social bookmarking. (2009). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009. (2009, November 15). Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html

BP6_2009121_Anti-teaching

(Figure 1. EdWeek.org}

What are the key components for 21st century schools and “learning beyond the test?”

Tying together the information received this far on brain-based learning, multiple intelligences, Web 2.0 tools, personal learning environments, various videos and articles, along with instructional design, I feel the key components for 21st century schools should be technology enhanced learning opportunities integrated with real-life skills of collaboration, communication, problem-solving and decision-making activities. We know students need to be involved and engaged learners. Educators need to give students project-based learning opportunities so they can apply knowledge and creativity to solve real-world problems. These students and their learning have a direct impact on our future and assigned projects need to help them recognize their own importance and interconnectiveness to society. There are other ways to assess growth than to spend billions of dollars that measure limited achievement in a testing situation contrary to the way our students learn. I am a proponent of personal growth but not of formal high-stakes testing.

So we are asked, are virtual learning environments with course management systems the answer? What about PLEs and Web 2.0 tools? I say no, not entirely. Virtual learning environments (VLE) with course management systems are great places to explore, reflect, learn and share content. Students will need all the tools course management systems (CMS), VLEs, and PLEs can provide to prepare for the work environment. Our students will need communication, collaboration, and technology skills and while VLE’s and PLE’s can provide these tools to enhance and captivate the learner, our students still need to accept responsibility and accountability for all outcomes. As mentioned in the Educause article, 7 things you should know about Personal Learning Environments, if the learner is not prepared for the responsibility that comes with building and managing a PLE (May, 2009), then these students may not be ready for the evolving, engaging, and ongoing decision-making required through a self-directed learning environment. The responsibility and organization skills required of self-directed learning still resides with the learner.

Additionally, we are asked, Is technology itself enough? We have access to so much information through technology. We have wonderful Web 2.0 tools that are a passport to endless learning opportunities. Still, the learner has to be motivated and find significance in their life in order to recognize this educational gold mine and have the desire to want to take charge of their own learning. The “Is technology enough?” question is probably best answered by Michael Wesch in his article “Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance.” He mentions [he lists some Web 2.0 tools] "these are little more than simple parlour tricks. They make up a rather creative and interesting means of learning, but not a reason for learning.”

We can build a framework and provide the tools, but the key component then seems to be finding problem-based technology-enhanced learning activities that construct the desire to further and take charge of one’s own intellectual capacity. This will create relevant life-skills and learning beyond the test.