Magistra’s Musings Education Blog

The Workshop

Today, I had the unique opportunity to participate in a workshop happening in San Antonio at NECC 2008 even though I am not there. I responded to a tweet earlier in June about being a virtual member of Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay’s workshop on Flat Classrooms. And I had forgotten about it, until yesterday when Vicki emailed me to remind me to be there this morning. I love the power of the Internet that allows us to volunteer for projects happening somewhere besides where we are physically. I thought I knew lots about online and collaborative projects, but participating in one “live” was more than I ever expected. My eyes are now wider open to flat classroom projects than before!

So today, we were in the workshop together via Ustream. First, we learned about their projects including Flat Classroom, The Horizon Project and Digiteen. They led the NECC participants in a simulation of setting up a flat classroom project with roles and responsibilities. Then we started talking about the tools and using the tools of worldwide collaboration. And all the while the virtual workshoppers could see and hear what was going on in San Antonio and add to the chat in Ustream. We went into Ning to meet each other first. We made introductions on Ning using the Comment Wall application. See my Ning page here.

Then, we went to the class wikispace to collaborate with our team members on the tasks we had been assigned. Prior to the session, Vicki and Julie had assigned all of us to teams using colors. Give it up for the Green Team!

Derek Olson—6^th Grade teacher from Minnesota

Nancy Pratt—Technology and Instructional Specialist from Arizona

Julian—from ISTE

Laurie Fowler—Professional Developer from Alabama

Here is my team’s page on Uploading.

We ran into a few glitches at first. We had 2 pages for the Green team and had folks editing on both pages. Then we discovered this and moved the content all to the “official” page that Vicki and Julie had set up for us. It was really neat to see Nancy figure out that she was working on a different page than the rest of the Green Team. And with the magic and wonder of wikis, I was able to go and pick up the stuff she had put on the other Green page and copy it into our “official” page. She saw me doing this and commented on how cool that was. And then Derek and I were on the same page and had a wiki war. (A wiki war is when two (or more) people are trying to upload and edit a wiki page at the same time.) So one of us had to get out of the editing mode so the other could get into it. And the cool thing was that the history tab in the Wiki helped us make sure we got all the stuff we were trying to put up simultaneously. The three hours literally flew by and all of a sudden it was time to stop. L But we have these cool spaces and relationships started so hopefully we can continue to explore and experiment in these online places.

Stuff I learned about Wikispaces during this workshop

Although I have used wikispaces for over a year, I learned lots of stuff today that I didn’t know. Here is a little of what I learned:

1. · [[toc]] will make an automatic table of contents
2. · How to use history, discussion, and notify me tabs
3. · The importance of tagging wikis
4. · That wikispaces will let you set up templates
5. · Can embed live stream into wiki using embed code
6. · Can lock page so only administrator can change stuff
7. · Using a tag like turnin so I will know when student work is ready to be graded

Reflections on the Workshop

At first, I was unable to get into the chat but I could hear and see Ustream of the session in San Antonio, but I was very frustrated because I didn’t want to be a lurker, I wanted to be able to talk to others in the chat room. After I tried to log in using the Ustream account I had, I ended up making a new account so I could get into today’s chat. Also, during this time, Vicki was sending me IMs over GTalk to try and get me in. Very cool how we can use all the tools and keep going through our toolboxes when a tool doesn’t work for us.

While the “real” class was doing the simulation in San Antonio, those of us online started playing with the wiki at Vicki’s suggestion. My first edit was just changing the title but before long I was changing stuff and adding links and adding to what others had put on the page. I was an editing maniac before the rest of the Green Team even got on the Wiki! It was very engaging and really drew me in. I hope that I can use similar strategies to engage teachers in using wikis when I do professional development sessions on them. I think the key is to get right in and start playing because with the history tab you really can’t screw it up too badly.

Another reflection is that with the Ustream audio running in the background of my computer, I really felt like I was there in San Antonio with the rest of the class. I was working on my computer and adding to the wiki but I could hear what others were saying (at least those closest to the microphone!). And, I even heard someone play a video that I had just uploaded to the Green Team wiki over the Ustream. The connectivity that high speed internet and easy video and audio streaming tools allow us is mind boggling.

And at the end when NECC folks were coming up and giving their reflection on video, I saw Kim Vance from Cincinnati come up and talk and I realized that she is in my Influencer Online Book group that we are doing with Scott McLeod from CASTLE in Iowa. What a small world!

Open Eyes, Use Content and Collaboration to Build Community

This workshop really opened my eyes to the collaboration that the web 2.0 tools can encourage. And it reminded me, too, that it is about the content and the collaboration, NOT about the tools. The relationships we encourage students to make with one another and students around the globe are much more important than which tools they choose to communicate that message. Thanks to Vicki and Julie for including us “non-resident” NECC folks in this session! It was a very valuable learning experience.

After being out of town and out of touch for several days, it was fun to turn on my computer and see all the tweets I had missed. One in particular that caught my eye was from Will Richardson about Wordle. This site lets you play with tags or text to create a word picture. It is very cool. Check out mine

Writing a blog post about a book on blogging, it’s kind of like in Sophie’s World where she is philosophizing about philosophy in a created world of literature.  Okay, so it is somewhat circular, but maybe all knowledge is.

I ordered this book in preparation for my FETC 2008 presentation, Using Web 2.0 Tools for Classroom Learning.   And I loved reading it so much that I finished it in two days and I wrote in the book and took notes.  (Taking notes in books even when I own them is a new skill for me so I still celebrate it!) 

Overview:

This book explores the history of the web and blogging as well as how we use technology in education.  The chapter on the blogosphere was also helpful; it clarified some terms and concepts for me that I thought I knew but needed more information on. RSS is explained well and gives readers a clear example of what it is. 

I have quoted some parts I really liked and that made me think.  And I added my ideas after the quotes.

·         Page 26 “J. Allard . . . calls today’s children are the ReMix generation” This was eye opening for me because we have moved beyond Digital Natives into this world of creating personalized online environments and making the information work for us individually. And that my learning or work environment DOES NOT have to look like yours or anyone’s to be effective for me.

·         Page 26 “In addition, learners at these conferences are becoming teachers.  Professional development is becoming a conversation.”

So it makes it hard to have a one-shot program be a conversation, huh? This concept should make all educators realize that ongoing professional development is the only way to continue the conversation about teaching and learning.

·         Page 32 “moving from an education system defined by its limits, to an education system defined by its lack of limits.”  For me, this is huge.  I still see so many small-minded people who want to limit access to students in schools.  Many of these limits are placed on teachers and students by parents and administrators out of fear for safety and fear of legal ramifications.  I can still get excited about learning new things because I have an education system of life-long learning instilled in me.  But many of our students are bored at school because they have to obey the school rules that limit the kinds of activities that engage them outside of education like blogging, wikis, texting, social networking, etc.

·         Page 35 “The teacher is no longer the sole holder of knowledge and wisdom.”
 Amen, brother!  I heartily agree with this.  Until some teachers can let go of their need to be the “smartest” person in the room, we will continue to have classrooms that are very small in terms of knowledge.  Teachers need to understand that with knowledge and information growing at the exponential rates of the 21^st century, no one can possess it all.  I am much more comfortable saying I don’t know but let’s Google it to find out more than giving a student the brush off because I don’t know the answer.

·         Page 37 “In the same way that the web might be thought of as a global library, the blogosphere is a global conversation.”  This struck home with me because I realized that if blogging is a conversation then I must begin contributing to the conversation as a producer rather than just consuming it on Google Reader.  Soooo, I have begun to blog on my Blogger and Edublog sites with a vengeance in 2008.

This book also contains great screenshots of blog pages with very detailed explanations of all the parts of a blog which is great for newbies to the blogosphere.  David Warlick also takes the time to explain WHY to have a blog in addition to HOW to set one up in different locations.  I think his information on why to blog and specific ideas on how to use blogging with students is valuable to all teachers who are venturing into the world of School 2.0.

David also explains how teachers can use wikis, message boards, and social bookmarking sites in the classroom.  Again, he provides detailed explanations of how to set up these tools and suggestions for classroom use.

Finally, my Google reader account grew substantially after reading this book.  I subscribed to many of the blogs David listed on pages 124-125, but I was pleased to note that I was already reading some of his recommended blogs.  And on pages 180-181, David includes a list of Notable Education Bloggers from Dr. Scott McLeod of CASTLE and the Dangerously Irrelevant blog.

I would definitely recommend this book to teachers who are already using Web 2.0 tools and to newbies who need a good, solid introduction to these innovative tools.  Classroom Blogging 2^nd Edition is available from Amazon.

Over the holidays, I really figured out how to subscribe to podcasts using iTunes and have added way too many to my list. It was neat to be able to choose stuff about my favorite authors, religion, technology, and other topics of interest to me. But I was still clearly in the FOG of all that is podcasts until today!

I downloaded the Women of the Web 2.0 December 18, 2007, podcast to my iPod this morning before my walk. Now I understand the power of podcasting in discussing relevant issues in technology and education. While I got my fresh air and exercise, I also got fresh ideas about technology from people who are passionate about it.

The episode of the podcast had Jon Pederson and his wife Jessica as guests. In addition, they had several other women from around the US and Canada talking via Skype and chat in a conversation about technology. Very cool! It began with WOWs of the week and I am interested in them, but I can’t remember them so I will have to go to the chat archive to find the web addresses of what the WOWs were. One thing that I already knew about was that you can share your Google Reader faves with other folks in Google mail and/or Google talk. I was able to share a post with Katie that will be relevant to our book, but it was a month ago so I am not sure how I did it. I will go back and look at it.

Jon is the person who got Twitter on the map at NECC 2007 at the Bloggers’ Café. I missed this so I didn’t get what Twitter was all about so I signed up for my account today when I got home and I still don’t quite get it. I am going to email my more tech savvy friends and see if they twitter and figure out how to follow them etc. I really didn’t get the whole points thing that Jon and Jessica were talking about, but I’ll figure it out.

Also, there was discussion on how to deal with administrators and IT folks who, as soon as a new and innovative technology appears, believe it is their job to block it from our students for safety (read liability) issues. Several of the folks in the podcast discussed their frustration with administrators who don’t want to open their networks to anything that they don’t understand or that they cannot control. Jon made a good point that the BEST place for kids to learn what to do and what not to do on the Web and in Cyberspace is at school in a somewhat protected and guided environment rather than having them out there on their own in Cyberspace without any guidance. I agree wholeheartedly.

I was very interested in the discussion of whiteboard presentations at NECC 2008 which was apparently shot down by the ISTE powers that be. I think having a forum to teach and learn in 20 minute segments in a public forum is a great idea. My attention span is about that so it would be more productive for me to be exposed to 3 different tools/sites/ideas in an hour than just one. But maybe that is just me. I want to find a way to bring this idea to the Alabama Educational Technology Conference if I can. Hmmm, need to think about that.

Right as I was ending my walk, they changed topics to Scrabulous and World of Warcraft which are games I think. If these tech girls and guys like this, then maybe I need to look at them too. Do I have time to play games or is this really field research?

So finally, I finished my walk before I finished the podcast episode so I am sure there is more good info to be found. Can’t wait til my next walk now that I can see clearly why I need to listen to podcasts on a regular basis! If I don’t, I might miss something!

PS I also posted this on my other blog, Fresh Fowlers.