:What no one knows yet…

 6-B-2 Podcast Differences

I really enjoy the challenge of podcasting. For now, my preference is to keep my podcasts brief and focused.  I like the challenge of condensing my thoughts into quick discernable bursts. Perhaps this is a by-product of our sound-byte society, or the influence of Dan Schmit and his Podcast: The Sixty Second Lecture.

I think the benefits of podcasts are there for the educational taking. I see podcasts reinforcing content and pedagogy. I subscribe to several organizations that use podcasts regularly. One coming to mind is The Gilder-Lehrman Institute. About twice a month, I receive podcasts containing lectures and presentations by historians.  Another educator using podcasts is Eric Langhorst, at his site Speaking of History you’ll see he uses podcasts to supplement his lessons and provide note reviews for his students.

Podcasting would delivers a stronger message than email, because the well directed spoken word can bring tone, rate, inflection, cadence, and subtle ques the written word lacks.

I have taken to podcasting, so far like the results.

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  6-A-1 Flickr PossibilitiesAs I scanned through the images on Flickr, I was struck by the variety of stunning photos. I think I would us the images to awaken enthusiasm for my lessons. This could be a single image posted to spark interest. It could be one picture with a loose connection to the objective for the day, and the assignment for the students would be to make a connection to the content. This would be a great way to start a lesson for visual and abstract learners. Additionally, a collection of teacher selected images could be used to focus the attention. By selecting more directed and topic specific photos, I could focus students on a specific aspect of the lesson using multiple images. Visual learners would relish in the vibrant photos on Flickr.

One image that stood out for me, is the picture of the lunch menu at a sushi restaurant. The specials board lists The Hillary Roll , The Obama Roll, and The McCain Roll. This would be a fun and interesting way to begin talking about the presidential primary in Pennsylvania. As April 22^nd approaches, we will be starting political parties and the political campaigns in my classes (good timing, heh). I, also appreciated the variety of politically oriented pictures on Flickr.

 lisatozzi (2008, March 8). more sushi and politics, lisatozzi’s photostream. Retrieved April 10, 2008, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisatozzi/2318049835/

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Web 2.0 Futurama: Discussion Review Podcast

 I must say the reactions to the week five discussion topic are as varied as the comments on Steve Hargadon’s initial post. I know replying to my post was a requirement, but your thoughtful responses and personal insights gave me a lot to think about.

Sarah Lovelidge framed the argument as the idealism of Hargadon vs. the pessimism of O’Hagan.

On the pessimism side, each of us identified road blocks to this new world of education. Sherri described a lack of funding and a focus on test scores. Joan described where she worked as “not a collaborative environment”. It wasn’t hard to identify other common obstacles: lack of money for the hardware, software, and bandwidth; either short sighted administrators or lack of administrative buy-in; and all were concerned about professional training to properly use this technology in meaningful ways in the curriculum to improve student learning. Sachiko said, “What I need is a support to implement technology in the curriculum. I would like to have a person to go to discuss what I vision in my lesson plan and how can it be done.” Chris felt, although his efforts were supported philosophically, they were not supported in a material sense.

On the idealism side, almost all admitted there would be change. Jonna said, “As a result of Web 2.0, I see education changing dramatically”. Whether you saw the change happening as a revolution or an evolution, everyone described how they envisioned education changing as a result of Web 2.0. Terri described the “slow ponderous change”, while Mindy describes the revolution as “more teachers learn about Web 2.0 tools and express the desire to integrate them into their classes, they will demand that their districts reconsider their stands against them or reluctance to use them.” The rate of change certainly is debatable. Susan has hopes for her students, “we might really get to see education become equitable! How I wish for the students I worked with in a high poverty, low achieving area to have what the students just down the street have!” Chris shares her hope, he has just applied for an Instructional Improvement Grant; although he is not sure what to buy.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.

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Wikis in My Classroom and Beyond: Podcast 

 5-D-1 – Wikis in My Classroom and Beyond….I must say I’m very impressed with wikis as a collaborative tool. The ability to construct and weave text into a shared structure seems pretty powerful when applied as a tool in the classroom.

I see two possibilities for the use of wikis in my classroom. One involves student to student collaboration (much like we did in class), and the other involves students and those outside the walls of our classroom. Both would have challenges and possibilities.

That being said I already have several possible uses for wikis.

In one case, I could use a wiki in developing a fundraising plan for a scholarship given each year. With the help of some teachers in the district, each building did a fundraiser in the fall of 2007. There was some measure of success. However, the project seemed disjointed and haphazard. I believe I could use wikis to develop a plan from teachers and students. Using a wiki might help build consensus, and ultimately support for the fundraiser.

In the second case, I could use a wiki to create a dialogue between my students and members of the community. The Fairview Community Classroom is a space for a mixture of history and biography. My plan is for students to get a better understanding of the history around them, and tap some of the resources in the community. In this case, everyone involved would be a student and a teacher.

When reflecting on some of the learning I observed in creating our class wiki on RSS in Education; I felt the power of consensus, and working towards a common goal. These skills cannot be underestimated.

Now that I have been won over by the potential for wikis, I need to get others to collaborate. One obstacle is the puzzled looks from people when I talk about wikis. My peers, who I have tremendous respect for, are not yet familiar with wikis and how they work. I believe if I can incorporate wiki use in my personal and professional life, I can influence others to discover this tool.

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Blogical Discussion Week 5 – BOCE

Steve Hargadon’s post Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education  is a “flat book” (I’m not certain Tom Friedman would approve of that term J) analysis of technological convergence for education. Hargadon’s post, by his own admission, is a “remixing” of the ideas of John Seely Brown and an article he wrote for  Educause Magazine, called “Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0″  The post is a mixture of Brown and Hargadon’s thoughts.

Hargadon identifies ten trends he views to be of particular importance in education and learning. I will list and briefly summarize them:

• 1. A New Publishing Revolution – People, not experts, are creating the new content of the web. Blogs, wikis, podcasting, video/photo-sharing, social networking are changing how and why content is created.
• 2. A Tidal Wave of Information – Fewer than 1% of wikipedia users actually contribute to it. Imagine if 10% or 20% contribute? We must figure out what information to give our time and attention to when we are engulfed by it.
• 3. Everything is Becoming Participative – Amazon’s customer use of feedback empowers and connects readers and the Kindle may ROCK the reading world.
• 4. The New Pro-sumers. The word “pro-sumer” is a combination of the words “producer” and “consumer”.
• 5. The Age of the Collaborator – The era of trusted authority is giving away to an era of transparent and collaborative scholarship
• 6. An Explosion of Innovation – The combination of increased ability to work on specialized topics from around the globe and the diversity of collaborators because of the web, should lead to an incredible amount of innovation.
• 7. The World Gets Even Flatter and Faster – Even if that world is spiky or wrinkled, its still getting pretty darn flat.
• 8. Social Learning Moves Toward Center Stage – Learning will depend on the ability of individuals to connect to social groups, because more learning happens in the study group than in the lecture hall.
• 9. The Long Trail – Technology of the web will make “differentiated instruction” a reality that both parents and students will demand.
• 10. Social Networking Really (Opens Up the Party) – If MySpace were a country, it would be the third most populous in the world. Social networking has tremendous potential for education.

I found the Hargadon post to be fascinating. He even goes on to give advice for educators who want to incorporate Web 2.0.

Prompting further thought was a comment on the post by James O’Hagan. O’Hagan sees obstacles to Hargadon’s going-to-change-the-world post. O’Hagan’s response reflected a “Yeah, but….” outlining the reluctance of institutional education to change. For O’Hagan, this change isn’t coming any time soon.

ISSUE: As we are in the process of learning the tools of Web 2.0, you can think of this in terms of your own practice: What are the obstacles you foresee in implementing these tools in your classroom? Does your work environment support change? How can you overcome these obstacles? You may choose to generalize your thoughts: What are the obstacles to innovation in institutional education? Will there be a change in education as a result of Web 2.0? Will it be an evolution or a revolution?

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 The concept of social bookmarking is new to me and carries powerful implications for me professionally. Social bookmarking can be used as a tool for my students to use in their learning, for me to use as their facilitator, and for my own long-term professional development.

I can envision using social bookmarking extensively in my future high school current events class. As the facilitator in the room, I might develop a series of on-going tags students could use as a reference source, while having students add bookmarks of their own. I envision the course content developing as a collaborative project involving me, the students, and any outside resources willing to contribute something meaningful. Truly, a current events class does not come with a textbook. Hence, the opportunity for a non-linear collaborative curriculum is exciting. Students and I could filter through information and identify common areas of interest via tags. Indeed, the act of tagging an article is an act of evaluation and comprehension. A class based on what students are interested in and researched by students. Constructivist learning driven and led by students.

Perhaps the above scenario is a bit utopian or even Montessori-like, but the possibility in our corner of small town America is exciting. Equally exciting is Open PD. I’ve only recently become aware of this professional development movement. The concept is invigorating. As this course progresses, I will work to develop my del.icio.us, pageflakes, and google reader to reflect the on-going development of my professional practice.

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 After a lot of frustration (computer problems, network problems, among others) I was finally able to establish an account on del.icio.us and subscribe to the BOCE class feed. As I was reading through the different items my classmates posted, the power of social bookmarking hit me. This ability to share information through tags is terrific. I can now understand why it is used to sort through the mass of information on the web.

The use of del.icio.us would change the nature of the information in my class. The relationship of teacher to student information would be turned upside-down. In the traditional classroom, the teacher is the researcher, editor, and sometimes producer of information. The information is then delivered to the students. Social bookmarking, as I presently conceive it in the classroom, would have the students conduct the research and determine what information they felt would be important for class consideration; then collectively (teacher and students) would determine the usefulness of the information to classroom understanding. Perhaps, the students use tags to accumulate information for independent learning and research. As the modules progress, I’ll be looking for and considering new ways for del.icio.us use in the classroom.

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 This is the link to my pageflakes page. I am attempting to make each aggregator unique and complimentary. This is taking some time as it is an on-going process. I have focused my pageflakes currently on podcasting.

http://www.pageflakes.com/jbrinling/

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 4-B-2 Learning via RSS

RSS is tool I am familiar with, but am considering in a new way. I use RSS to incorporate MSNBC and CNN video from nightly broadcasts. I incorporate the video into lessons on a semi regular basis in my social studies classes. The use of RSS is teacher driven and directed. RSS is used exclusively by me, and topics and information shared with the students are my choice. Although I had personally used RSS for news articles and news videos, until 4-B-2 I had not considered the use of RSS by students.

As I am thinking more about my job change, the use of RSS becomes a more valuable tool for my future students and for my continued professional development.

The use of RSS in my future high school classroom will take a different form. In utilizing Web 2.0 in the classroom, an RSS almost becomes necessary. It saves times by bringing new information to the reader, rather than going out and searching for it. In the classroom, I could select a series of “anchor” blogs and topics. These would be blogs and sites we all have delivered; then allow the students to find their own content appropriate sites to personalize their own learning. This will be particularly useful in a course on current events I will be teaching in the spring of 2009.

Furthermore, I see the use of my google.reader as tool to stay current on topics and best practices. I can identify areas of interest and find others with common interests. I enjoy looking at the notes and personal observations from conferences and meetings regarding the use of Web 2.0 in education. The Open PD idea is something I want to explore further.

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 Today’s learning exercise (3-D-1 for those in my BOCE class) took me farther into the uses of podcasting. I learned about the various tools, some free, used to create and edit podcasts. I explored exemplary podcasts, and came up with a few ideas of my own.

In looking for information about podcasting, I ran across KidCast. This series by Dan Schmit at http://www.intelligenic.com/ has really struck a cord with me. Schmit understands the urgency of civic education and the role podcasting in schools can play in open dialogue. See his podcast on Kidcast 47 – Ethical Dilemmas, Civil Discourse and Citizenship. My comment follows.

I came back to YouthRadio. The youthradio podcasts demonstrate the power of podcasting and student blogging. Their podcast “Many Voices for Darfur” opened the door for classroom uses of podcasting. Contrary to common (mis)understanding, social studies does not reside in the memorization and regurgitation of facts and dates. The meaning in social studies occurs in students understanding their relevance in society. The “Many Voices for Darfur” demonstrates these students understand they are a part of this world, and recognize they have a voice in its future. We can see Web 2.0 helping these students learn how to be effective citizens. My comment follows.

The above leads me to a larger topic. There is something inherently democratic about the web. Both Web 2.0 and democracy are about empowering the individual. Web 2.0 decentralizes experience to the most local level, while simultaneously contributing that experience to the multitude of ideas and views from around the world. For me, these tools and the social studies seem to be a natural fit. I am pursuing the use of technology in my classes not because I am hooked on the gadgetry, but because I think it is the right way for individual students to learn about and express their understanding of the world.

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