Wikispaces

Hi Alison,

I checked out wikispaces and created a wiki on this site. I have made wikis before, just a couple really, and used zoho. I think zoho is easy to use and straightforward unfortunately they charge you to have more than two wikis...which I know I've already mentioned...but I still think that's dumb.

Anyway, wikispaces is pretty good. I tried another wiki site out called tiddlywiki.com and thought I would find my way around that but it was confusing and frustrating to use and I gave up. I don't have much technical patience. If I can't find my way around a site, whatever it may be, in no more than 20 minutes then I'm a gonner and on to the next available option. I worked on wikispaces yesterday for an hour and the site was really slow and then finally shut down on me. That wasn't too cool. Anyway I created something very simple about visual search engines and I'll include the address at the bottom of this post.

As far as using wikis in my classroom, I have several ideas that I would like to explore. The most prominent idea though is that of an ethics battle in science. EVERY year there is some ethical issue that comes up in the news that we talk about in class. The discussion could last forever if I let it but obviously can't. I could post the discussion on the wiki and encourage my students to use it (with a little point incentive of course...) and see how that conversation evolves. I would be very interested in the results of the activity and I think it would ge a good mind opener to my students.

Other ideas involve conversations about human use of the environment, a disease research project done in pairs where the information required is posted on a specific page of the wiki and then presented in class, and perhaps even using the wiki for casual and respectful conversation about a topic of interest that we cover in a day.

I have to say here that thinking this through and writing it up makes me so excited to get back to the classroom!

Anyway, here is the address for the wikispaces site:

http://visualsearchengines.wikispaces.com

I don't know if you remember or not, I just remembered in fact, that I do have a disease wiki on zoho that I kept and plan on using in the classroom as soon as I can. Here is the address for that if you are interested.

http://classroomdisease.zoho.wiki.com

One last thing, when it comes time for me to try out wikis in the classroom, I will likely pay for a zoho account because so far, zoho has been the most user friendly.

Week 3

I checked out a different web-based office suite besides zoho and google docs because I have used both of those and thought I should explore something else. I found one called ThinkFree Online and I made a ppt, spreadsheet and word doc on that host. I included the links down below and sent you an invitation to be a collaborator as instructed in the assignment.

I didn't care for this web-based office too much. It was slow and who likes to wait around?? I have used zoho quite a bit and really like that one. Although I am disappointed to find that zoho is now charging for its wikis. You can only have two wikis for free and have to pay for anything else. I don't know for sure but wouldn't be surprised to find that you are only given a certain amount of space for any of the apps and have to pay above and beyond that. Are they all like that? I don't even know but I hope not.

I can see the value in having your information on the web for accessibility purposes. I don't however mind carrying a zip drive around with my stuff on it so I'll most likely be sticking to that until these suites are as fast and as good as the microsoft office package that I've been using for years and love :)

I use Zoho for a recipe wiki and I have the other wiki on diseases on there that I created in my last class with you Alison. I don't want either one of them erased and I don't want to pay for zoho so I'll have to use another wiki provider if I need it. The word processing, spreadsheet and ppt options are good on zoho even though they have some slight limitations, funky little editing issues and other minor irritations. I like all the different apps that Zoho offers even though I don't use many of them regularly. I have played around with the notebook, planner and chat a bit and found them easy to use.

Should I create another word, excel and ppt on a different web-based office like zoho or google docs?

Web-based office suite (Thinkfree Online)

Powerpoint link
http://member.thinkfree.com/myoffice/show.se?f=96832986e2967c0645dd4c71d74f98eb

Excel Spreadsheet link
http://member.thinkfree.com/myoffice/show.se?f=a7cfcf99d670058068316f75a595c1c1

Word Document link
http://member.thinkfree.com/myoffice/show.se?f=a7cfcf99d6700580518bbecf9828d4b4

Link for 10 most underhyped webapps, that I thought was interesting
http://www.bspcn.com/2008/01/10/top-10-underhyped-webapps/

CNN Article

Hi Alison,
I just came across this news article about search engines on CNN this evening and thought I would share it. I'm going to check out all the search engines it recommends and see what they offer.
Michelle

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/12/future.search.engine/index.html

CC

Creative Commons is something that I am learning to pay attention to as I have taken my Masters courses. I understand that it's important that I am aware of the copyright laws and that I abide by them and teach my students to abide by those as well. Before I started this degree I never paid attention to copyright and didn't know a thing about it.
To teach my students about CC I would do the following:

I would plan to teach this lesson in a computer lab where students could access the following videos. After each video clip students are to record what they understood and anything they found confusing.

Video #1

Video #2

Video #3

After the video opener to the lesson we would discuss what the students watched, what they understood and what they didn't understand. Following the viewing of the videos they would be directed to the creative commons site and instructed to fill out a worksheet that outlines the different levels of creative commons (Attribution, Attribution Share Alike, Attribution No Derivatives, Attribution Non Commercial, Attribution Non Commerical Share Alike.

As homework, they are to create a piece of work and bring it to class to display and they will choose and explain their level of creative commons. They will also be assigned to check out flickr's creative commons area and http://animalphotos.info/a/ for a list of animal pictures that are free to use under the creative commons law for class projects.

It is expected that any projects using a piece of artwork (in whatever form it may be) will be used properly under the creative commons laws addressed in class.

Visual Search Engines

Visual Search Engines are becoming more and more common it seems. I haven't used them much because I am stuck in the google rut. I'm so used to using Google that it doesn't occur to me to try something new out. I can see some benefits to these search engines that I think my students will enjoy. The search results are "blended" or you could say layered because they provide text resources, video resources, even twitter resources and they are presented in a picture format which has greater interest appeal I think. If a student is trying to find a website they have visited before they will be more successful using a visual search like Searchme where they can see the webpage as they flip through the results.

Visual search sites that offer information in different formats will create a more thorough research experience and can help a student create a better project perhaps.

Other visual searches like touchgraph are very visual and I'm sure would appeal to a certain group of visual people/students. I do not care for touchgraph however, because the minute I see that cluster map loaded with multiple circles and lines I want to close the site. It is too much for my eye. It seems confusing and overwhelming to me and I don't even want to attempt to straighten the mess out. However, when I do attempt I can see that the cluster map has divided the information into different groups which is nice and helpful, but I still don't like it.

Overall, I admit I like Google the best. It's a nice linear list and it seems very clear and easy to use. Like I mentioned earlier I am stuch in that rut. I did like using searchme and redzee and I would be willing to add them to my list of search engines to use. I don't see the visual search engines taking over just yet but they are slowly creeping up on us.

Here are a couple good wedsites I found while I was taking a look at these search engines. You know how it is, one thing leads to another and the next thing you know you are swimming in a wealth of knowledge and you wish you could take it all in.

http://www.geocities.com/vance_stevens/searchen.htm

http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/usia/home.html

Alison, do you use any visual search engines with your class?

Ideas for Classroom Uses of Blogs

Using a blog in my classroom is something I really want to try and make work. My ideas for using it are simple at this point but hopefully will develop with some research. I have a personal blog where I post information and pictures about my family to share with other family members across the U.S. An extension of this idea for the classroom would be to create a classroom blog with pictures that follow our activities in the classroom. I think this would be popular with both the students and parents. The students are going to love to get on there to see pictures of themselves and the parents are going to feel more informed and involved by viewing the blog. I've thought about extending the activity just a bit and having a student write a post about an activity or concept in class. I suppose I would send the student home with the write up as a homework assignment and require that it is proofread and polished before it can be submitted. The post would have the student's name on it of course, and maybe that will be an exciting thing to participate in!? I guess we'll see.

Other ideas that I found on the web:
1. Post classroom reading assignments and enhance these reads with weblinks that enhance the information and add interest. Maybe this will be more successful than a textbook.
2. Blogs are interactive. Students can comment, ask questions, etc. I must say here that experience is my teacher on this point. How much time will I be able to devote to interacting on the blog with my students in addition to the full time teaching position and full time family position? Actually doing this will help me know.
3. Promotes ESL participation. This sounds right. Computers are a great motivator and an ESL student may feel more comfortable in front of a computer on their time frame accomplishing an assignment.
4. Electronic Agenda - keep due dates, test dates, assignments posted on the blog and students can access them anywhere. This sounds extremely valuable!!
5. Allows a student to work from home if the focus in the classroom just isn't there. This may be very appealing to some students. This sounds good but I can see that this could turn into a double edged sword because if students are coming to class with the mindset that they don't need to pay attention in class because they can just go home and do everything off the blog then you've created a management nightmare. I think this is probably a fine line to walk.
6. Participation on the blog is not directly in front of peers so it takes away some of the pressure for those students who are nervous or shy about standing out in front of others. Plus, this participation is likely to become more extensive on the blog than it would in the classroom, therefore students can learn more from one another.

Free Technology for Teachers (hosted by Richard Byrne)

Oh my, I have so much to say about this blog. I checked this one out because of the title and I am so glad I did. Richard posts technology tools for the classroom that are useful and free. I loved it. For example, he just put up a post leading us to a website that puts the weeks news into a rap song. He has the current weeks news up on a youtube video so you can see a sample. The rap is clever and intriguing. I think the students would love this.
He also posted the following things that I went through: GIS in the classroom (a detailed description of his use of the website and why/how he thinks this would be helpful in a classroom), Podictionary (a site that features one word a day, its spelling, grammar, and history), KMLFactbook (a site that allows you to input data and it maps the data sets around the world, Richard talks about how this has been useful to him and recommends it), and Creative Commons (a slideshow and youtube video that discusses the different aspects of creative commons and how a student can successfully follow copyright rules).

This blog is a wealth of knowledge. I am finding that the best way to use the web is with each other. The blogging platform is such a valuable tool because it puts us in touch with bits and pieces of information that we can really use to enhance our teaching and personal lives.

The Innovative Educator (hosted by Lisa Neilsen)

I took a look at the last 5 posts on this blog to see what current trends she is talking about. She discusses the importance of ensuring our schools are preparing students to succeed in the 21st century by teaching them digital literacy on the web as well as modeling that behavior. I thought some of the points she made were really quite fascinating. For example, she feels that teachers have an obligation to be a facebook role model, in other words teachers should be using facebook and that they should model responsible behavior on facebook but using common sense and not posting inappropriate information about themselves. This idea really caught my attention because I've never heard this approach before. I can't decide if I agree with it or not. I agree with part of it and that is that you should never put information on the web that you would not be comfortable showing the world, including future employers, family members, etc. As far as teachers having a responsiblity to be a "facebook role model" I don't think that is necessary.

Lisa also makes a point about not being able to navigate yourself through the digital world, such as not being able to interact with others online, is being seen more and more as a weakness. I agree. I think being digitally illiterate is becoming more and more of a handicap to a person and will continue to get worse. I would dare say it's as bad as not being able to read. Technology is a huge influence in our lives and will continue to become more so. People have got to adapt to survive! (a little biology thrown in there...)

Explanation of Web 2.0 and its Value in Education

Through my coursework at Regis I have used many of the web 2.0 applications and really come to enjoy it. Web 2.0 puts us in touch with each other across the world. It truly adds meaning to the phrase that "two minds are better than one". All the different people in the world who share their talents and strengths on the web are able to do so because of the interactivity of web 2.0. It facilitates communication between us, it connects us, it strengthens us and makes us more complete as a species. We are able to learn and gain from others insights and abilities making us stronger and more aware of each other. I think it helps all of us to see the world outside our realm of familiarity and allows us to experience interactions that we may not have otherwise right in our living rooms.
The value of web 2.0 in the classroom is enormous. Through web 2.0 we can share lessons, best practices and points of interest with each other as teachers. We can use the many tools on web 2.0 to teach and expand our students minds as well as create and build tolerance of others even though we may not ever meet them face to face. It helps to make the teaching and learning experience more complete because it can put you in touch with effective materials and ideas that you may never have thought to use or do in your classroom.