Posted by williamupp on August 31st, 2009 filed in
Uncategorized
April 1. Should be a day of mirth and merriment, but for the Public School District System Admin, April Fools Day brings lots of work and worry. Normally, I spend this day (or more accurately, the week before the day) checking systems to make sure that all Anti-Virus and system updates have been performed. But this year, I got to add the Conficker worm to my day of worry. I have been sitting all day, waiting to see if something would happen. I am confident that my systems are all protected from this worm, but to be safe, I banned all USB key drives from the school today, and have been building a stand alone computer to do nothing but scan drives for problems. And I have watched and waited.
I have been watching network traffic, looking for anything out of the ordinary. I have been online, seeing if Net traffic was bogging down anywhere. And I have been reading news and tech reports to see if anyone is noticing anything weird. So far, nothing. That, of course, does not mean that nothing will happen, or happen in the future, but for now, Conficker is appearing to be a no show, and perhaps a big April Fool on us all. I am not convinced of the latter. I am thinking that somehow, somewhere, this will rear its head and perform some little show, but I am afraid that it may be a show that is without volume, so as to go virtually unnoticed, and we as Internet users won’t know it happened until we try to take money out of the ATM, and find a balance of 0.
If nothing else, this episode allowed me to accomplish some tasks that I normally do not get to do during the course of my teaching day. I did get my office/storage area cleaned up, and got some testing of other servers done. I guess I should be thankful to Conficker for giving me that opportunity. But I can’t. Stupid virus writers and their dumb viruses. I hope they choke on their keyboards!
Thanks for reading.
Posted by Karen on August 31st, 2009 filed in
Uncategorized
Teachers who are interested in implementing technology in the classroom and in their own personal lives can find plenty of free resources online. Here is a list of my favorite resources along with a few new web apps that I have just begun to explore.
- Schmoop – Schmoop is a great new site that is becoming very popular among teachers. The beta site dedicates itself to making reading and writing more fun for both students and teachers.
- ClassMarker – Teachers can create professional looking online quizzes on this website. The quizzes can be taken and graded online.
- LectureTools – This site can be used to create student-friendly slide presentations and lectures. Other interesting features include the ability to check class attendance and encourage electronic questions during a lecture.
- SlideShare – Many teachers use SlideShare to upload and share presentations online. SlideShare can also be used to create private webinars.
- Eduslide – This open source package can be used to deliver online courses in your school. Courses can be made public or kept private.
- Google Apps Education Edition – The Education Edition of Google Apps is a free suite of products specifically designed for schools and universities who want to improve communication and collaboration. The suite includes free email, messaging, calendars, shared documents, and more.
- Engrade – Engrade is a suite of web-based tools that can be used to manage your classroom online. More than 50,000 teachers use this free suite to communicate with students and parents.
- Remember The Milk – This free web app wasn’t specifically designed for teachers, but it is definitely one of the best ways to manage tasks online.
- Go2Web20.net – This site is a well-organized directory of free web apps and other web 2.0 tools.
- The Clever Sheep – This teacher podcast focuses on sharing web 2.0 technologies and e-learning tools. New podcasts are posted each week. Most last less than ten minutes from beginning to end.
- TILT – TILT (Teachers Improving Learning with Technology) is a vidcast that broadcasts technology tips for teachers from other teachers.
- TeacherTube – Known as YouTube for Teachers, TeacherTube is a wonderful place to share instructional videos with others educators.
- TeAchnology – This online teacher resource offers access to thousands of free lesson plans, printable worksheets, classroom games, downloads, and teaching tips.
- The Educator’s Reference Desk – An excellent reference site for teachers, The Educator’s Reference Desk offers lesson plans, links to more than 3,000 education resources, and answers to hundreds of frequently asked questions.
- NCATE -The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education is a great place for teachers to learn more about online events, teacher certification, and campus-based education programs.
- Online Education Degree – OnlineEducationDegree.com offers information about beginning a teaching career and earning an education degree online.
- Edublogs – This blog host makes it easy for teachers and students to begin a blog. Edublogs come with a generous amount of free upload space and many other nifty features.
- Wetpaint – Nearly 2,000 educators use Wetpaint to create free educational wikis that can be used in the classroom.
- Teacher Lingo – Teacher Lingo is an online community for teachers who want to connect through blogs and forums. The site also offers a place to share lesson plans and thoughts on education.
- TeachStreet – This social networking site is designed to bring students and teachers together. Teachers can post a profile, connect with other teachers, and recruit students for classes.
Posted by Aaron Smith on September 22nd, 2008 filed in
How 2(.0)
Hello and welcome to How 2(.0) – your guide to Web 2.0 and how it can work for you, the teacher. Today we’ll be continuing with part 2 of our 4 part series on building a PLN, or Personal Learning Network.
Or Professional Learning Network.
Whatever.
Before we begin, I must apologize for making part 2 an audio (& text)-only version. I’ve just recently started up my school’s Art Club AND enrolled in a class myself, so not adding in all those pictures is going to save me a few hours that I can then spend writing a critical response to two articles on the legal and ethical issues surrounding a well thought out inclusion program.
But that’s a subject for an entirely different podcast. Let’s get started.
This episode is once again brought to you by the Discovery Educator Network, Teachers 2.0, and … um … me.
In episode 1 we covered what a PLN is and why it’s useful, but didn’t mention a thing about how to build one online. Well this installment is here to fill in that gap, starting with finding interesting people to follow!
The first thing we need is something to keep track of our PLN. There are a lot of services with this feature built in, though I’ll be saving some of these for episode 4. Let’s start off with a good RSS aggregator.
Now it’s called an “RSS Aggregator” because: 1) It sounds fancy and 2) It takes less time to say than “That one website or program that checks other websites for me and lets me know when they’ve updated so I don’t have to waste all my time visiting all of these websites every day.” Although granted, that’s a pretty good description.
There are a few downloadable programs that do this, but I’d recommend going with a web based aggregator because they’re just as easy, just as free, and, oh yeah, you don’t need admin rights to get them to work on your school-supplied computer. The my personal favorite is Bloglines.com, though Google has one called Google Reader that works equally well.
It’s fairly straightforward to create an account through either service, though Bloglines takes just a little more time because it takes you through a few screens where it recommends sites to which you might wish to subscribe.
It’s important to note that everything I’m talking about is free. “Subscribing” simply means that you want your Aggregator to check that site for changes every now and then, but it shouldn’t cost you a dime.
Once your account is set up it’s time to add some useful educational websites. There are thousands to choose from, but fortunately I know a few really good ones we should start with.
Open a new window in your web browser (we’ll be coming back to your aggregator very soon) and head over to Digital Passports. This a great blog by the talented Steve Dembo, a former Kindergarten teacher and current employee of the Discovery Educator Network. Oh yeah, and he’s a Dad. Combine all this with the fact that he’s a geek (it’s true, I’ve seen him dressed as a Jedi Knight) and he’s the perfect person to try out all kinds of new and wonderful educational websites and let you know what’s cool about them.
So since he’s so cool, why don’t we add him to our PLN?
Look over on the left hand side of his blog and you’ll see a section labeled “Subscribe.” At the time I’m making this there’s two ways to do so – email and RSS. Now email subscriptions are all well and good, but not every site will have that option so let’s go with the more universal RSS option.
Right click (or hold down the “Control” key and click, if you’re on a Mac) on the “Via RSS” link and select the option that lets you copy that link. It’ll say “Copy link location” or something similar to that, depending on which browser you’re using.
Got it? Good. Now go back to the window that has your aggregator and look for a link that says “Add” (if you’re using Bloglines) or a link that says “Add subscription) if you’re using Google Reader. Bloglines will ask you a few extra options before you finish subscribing, but you’re essentially done. Now as you look on the left hand side of your window you’ll see “Digital Passports” (the name of Steve’s blog) in bold text – that means Steve’s written some new things that you haven’t read. Click on that and his last 10 or so blog posts should appear in the right column of your window, ready for you to read. If you decide that one of his posts is so interesting you’re just going to have to revisit it again you can click the “Keep New” box in Bloglines or the star in Google Reader.
There, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?
I also recommend you repeat this process by subscribing to:
weblogg-ed.com
teachers20.com
blog.mrmeyer.com
teachingforthefuture.com
and academicaesthetic.com
(Yes, that last one was totally a shameless plug for my own site. I admit it.)
I subscribe to a lot more people than just this, but I think this short list is enough to get you started.
As time goes by and these authors continue to update, they may point you in the direction of some of the blogs they like. If you check them out and like them too, you might want to add them as well.
Conversely, if you find that one of the blogs you’ve been subscribing to just isn’t useful to you, you might wish to unsubscribe. (Even if it’s mine. Don’t worry, I won’t cry … much.) This is actually very important because otherwise you’ll find yourself subscribing to hundreds of blogs and completely overwhelmed by the number of unread posts that show up every day.
All set? Well congratulations, you now have a one-way PLN! Stay tuned for part 3, where I’ll talk about how to give back to your Personal Learning Network!
Or Professional Learning Network.
Whatever.
Posted by Aaron Smith on August 20th, 2008 filed in
How 2(.0),
Podcast,
Video,
Web 2.0
It is my great pleasure to introduce a new series of mine: How 2(.0). Essentially it all started with this little posting which led to this wiki page.
Long story short, How 2(.0) is about introducing this whole “Web 2.0″ concept that’s been going around for a while now, explaining how it works, and showing how it can be useful for educators.
First up is a four-parter on P.L.N.s, also known as Personal (or Professional) Learning Networks. Part I gives the definition, while II through IV will cover the more nitty-gritty details.
In any case, I hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know.
Posted by Aaron Smith on July 15th, 2008 filed in
Podcast,
Web 2.0
Wow, I haven’t posted here since May! Good thing I never wanted this to be about me, right?
This entry was first posted on AcademicAesthetic.com, but I feel it’s appropriate for here as well.
-=-=-=-
The following was written back in June, but I’ve been sitting on it until now because I wanted to be able to take a step back and look at my writing first before posting.
One would think that sleeping until noon would be one of life’s simple pleasures afforded to teachers during the summer months. While I’ve nothing against prolonged inspection of the backs of my eyelids, I’m still dragging myself out of bed at 5:30 AM at least three days a week to help my wife get ready for dialysis.
I won’t go into any great detail on her medical condition here (that’s a subject for a different podcast), but it does leave me with several hours of alone time while she goes through the procedure. On days when I drive her to the dialysis center, gas prices are high enough for it to not make sense for me to drive home and back – making my period of solitude also one where I lack any ability to contact the internet. (UPDATE: I’ve since purchased a BlackBerry Curve, so now my addiction to the internet has reached the next level.)
Now granted, I’ve been incredibly lax in posting things on this site. I could go through lots of excuses, but the one I think I’ll stick with is that it’s a lot harder for me to do one of these entries when I’m not online, even though I feel most inspired when I can’t get online.
Usually when I’m writing out my scripts I’ll have three or four tabs open for reference purposes. Either I’m responding to someone else’s blog post, or linking to another site that further explains a concept, or even looking for just the right picture to insert into the entry. I can’t do any of these things without the internet at my fingertips.
But here I am in my car, in just such a situation. I can do whatever I want, so long as I only use the software and files in my little magic box. Cloud computing? Ha! That’s no good to me here.
This very much reminds me of a job interview I went to a few weeks ago. The position was for teaching technology to students and teachers in a Pre-K through 5th grade school, something that on the surface is really right up my alley. Still, I went in with more questions for them than they had for me.
And everything I encountered made it look like a dream job come true. The school was fairly new, so there weren’t any old computers on the verge of breaking down. The computer lab, the ceiling mounted LCD projectors in every class, the three (THREE!) mobile labs that teachers actively fought over, the school-wide wi-fi, everything about it looked awesome.
Everything, until near the end of my visit when I started asking about wikis, blogs, and podcasts.
Oh, they don’t do those.
In fact, anything that remotely resembles a blog or wiki is actively blocked. The school administration was very forward thinking, but the district had adopted a “walled garden” approach that would have prevented me from visiting even my own website from school.
Contrast this with my current employer, which isn’t throwing as much cash into tech programs but is actively encouraging teachers to use resources available to them on the internet – including workshops on blogging, podcasting, and wikiing.
“Wikiing?” Is that a word? Nevermind.
Long story short(er), I’m not pursuing the job. I only went to the interview because it sprung up at the last moment, and I felt I needed to dust the cobwebs off of the old portfolio. With the way technology is advancing, and the skills that I see successful people using right now, I feel I could do more to prepare kids for the real world with a lab of salvaged computers running linux and my current employer’s filtering policy than all the high tech gadgetry in the world but no way to use it properly.
Because while the tech is cool, it’s really not about the tech. It’s about communication. It’s about collaboration.
And it’s about teaching students how to use these things responsibly, because locking kids in their rooms for fear that they’ll go to the mall and something scary will happen will not prepare them for when they finally move out and go there themselves. Instead, we should take them there, hold their hands at first, and show them how to react in that environment.
Anything else is a disservice to the generation that will be running our nursing homes when we retire.
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Posted by jackdrolet on June 27th, 2008 filed in
Uncategorized
I’ve just begun using Google Docs in an upper level ESL writing class. I have one document for each student that the two of us share. I ask them to do all their writing assignments in it and I enter my feedback below each one (no printing, no e-mailing attachments). I’ll make another post towards the end of the semester to summarize how things went, but so far so good. Here’s what I like about it:
I feel like I can maintain ownership of my own feedback. I’ve always spent so long making comments on student papers and it may be that half of the time those comments are never even be read. I still can’t force students to read everything, but I can refer back to previous comments on earlier assignments, and identify patterns.
Another advantage to Google Docs is that it’s easy for the teacher to be involved in the entire writing process and not just the final product. The teacher can view the doc before it’s finished, and even check back on earlier versions of the document to get an idea of how the paper was built up. When using the computer lab, the teacher can sit at a desk and pop in and out of different students’ writing and type up comments, in some cases saving a little time by copying and pasting notes that apply to more than one person.
Finally, I hope that it works to facilitate a good working relationship with students. It really allows for a lot of direct and individual communication without putting the onus on the student to schedule an appointment or send a question in an e-mail.
One last perk – the teacher can make a spreadsheet for each student and allow them to view their grades throughout the entire semester.
While a lot of these objectives can be achieved in a variety of other ways, it seems that Google Docs just offers a convenient method for doing so.
Posted by joelheffner on June 22nd, 2008 filed in
Uncategorized
Teachers should become movie producers! Producers find the script, hire the director and actors and check to see that everything runs smoothly. Teachers can either write the script or have students write it, find a student to be the director (and help him or her along the way), audition the potential student actors, and so on. Students love to “act things out” even if they are reluctant to get started. In the past, I’ve made scripts that were supposed to be a motivation for a lesson that should have lasted about three to five minutes. The sometimes go for half the period because after the first group of “actors” goes over the script (in front of the class) the other students want a “turn” at it. Incidentally, while they though they were killing time and having fun, they were really learning what I wanted them to know at the same time. If you really like the idea, you can video tape it and put it on your Web site (with parental permission, of course) for the whole world to see!
Here’s one that my students always liked. It’s about the Zenger Trial for seditious libel in the New York Colony.
Judge Delancey
Andrew Hamilton, Defense Lawyer
John Peter Zenger, Editor of the New York Weekly Journal
Attorney General Richard Bradley
Foreman
Juror #2
Juror #3
Juror #4
Juror #5
Governor William Cosby
Reporter
Another Reporter
Act I [At the trial]
Judge: Mr. Hamilton, do you have any witnesses for the defense?
Hamilton: Yes, Your Honor, the defense calls John Peter Zenger.
Judge: [Looking at the jury] Remember, members of the juror, you job is very simple. You must decide if Mr. Zenger’s newspaper is responsible for writing things that criticize the governor and this colony. That is your only job!
Zenger is now on the witness stand.]
Hamilton: What is your job?
Zenger: Newspaper publisher.
Hamilton: Did your newspaper publish information that criticized the government of New York?
Zenger: Yes.
Judge: Members of the jury. This trial does not need to continue. The defendant has just admitted his crime and must be convicted of this terrible crime.
Hamilton: Mr. Zenger, are the things that your newspaper said about the Governor and Colony of New York True?
Attorney General: I object, Your Honor. The truth has nothing to do with this case!
Judge: Objections Sustained. You are perfectly right, Mr. Attorney General. Truth is NOT a defense to libel!
Hamilton: Again, Mr. Zenger, was what you said true?
Zenger: Absolutely.
Judge: [Turning to the jury] Even though the statements made by Zenger are true, that is not a defense in the colony of New York. Your only question is whether or not Mr. Zenger’s newspaper made the criticism.
Hamilton: [Turning to the jury] We think not. The truth should always be a defense in a free society.
Hamilton: No more questions.
Judge: Mr. Attorney General, do you have any questions for this witness?
Attorney General: Just one, your honor. Did your newspaper criticize the governor and government of the great Colony of New York?
Zenger: Yes
Attorney General: No more questions. The verdict is obvious.
Judge: I agree. Members of the jury. You may now decide this case. You have only one clear choice. The defendant admitted to being guilty. Make your decision now.
Act II [Jurors are deliberating about the case]
Foreman: Let’s look at this case carefully. First, do we all agree that Zenger’s newspaper criticized the governor, who we know deserves a lot of criticism?
[All other members of the jury say yes.]
Foreman: Now, do we find Zenger guilty of a crime?
Juror #2: The judge said that we have to find him guilty, didn’t he?
Juror #3: However, Mr. Hamilton said that we should consider the truth, even though the judge said to ignore the truth.
Juror #4: The governor won’t be happy if we vote against him.
Juror #5: Who cares? He’s no good anyway. He doesn’t deserve to be a leader.
Juror #2: But the judge said that we can’t think about that.
Juror #3: I say that we do consider it. We are honorable people who are living under a tyrant.
Foreman: It’s time to vote. How many of you think that Zenger is guilty?
[All jurors vote for NOT GUILTY]
Act III [Interview with the Governor and Hamilton]
Reporter: Governor, what is your reaction to the verdict?
Governor: This is the worst day in the history of Great Britain. British law is clear and the jury has ignored it.
Another Reporter: [Standing back in the crowd] Don’t you think that the truth is a valid defense?
Governor: Who said that? You are a fool and should be sent to jail! The truth does not matter in the law. No one can criticize me or the colony of New York ever, for any reason at all!
Reporter: [Speaking to Hamilton] Mr. Hamilton, were you afraid to come here from Philadelphia to participate in this case?
Hamilton: No, I believed in the cause and it was worth the risk. Now I can go home knowing that colonists in New York believe in the truth.
Governor: Go back to Philadelphia before we put you in jail and disbar you like we did to the others!
[This post originally appeared at www.mrheffner.com.]
Posted by williamupp on May 5th, 2008 filed in
Open Source
(This is a copy of my post at Open Source in Public Eductaion-I hope that it is ok with everyone!)
(It is. ^_^ – Admin Aaron)
I have watched with great enthusiasm the debate that has raged for the last couple of years over whether to use the open source Open Office or the closed source Microsoft Office in a learning environment. The argument for Open Office is that it is free software, and that it promotes openness in technology. The argument for MS Office is that this is what is used in the “real world” and we need to train our students to be ready to succeed in that world. Well, here is my two cents on this convoluted topic.
I have personally and professionally used Open Office for many years. Since switching to Linux about 10 years ago, I feel that supporting open source software is essential in keeping with the spirit of open source. When I started teaching 8 years ago, I inherited classes that were learning MS Office, and a school system that was totally closed source in nature. One thing I have learned as a teacher is to do things simply. Since MS Office was the software of choice for my classes, as well as the productivity of the district, I decided to keep it.
I am not a firm believer in training high school students for the real world, but to help them learn in order to be an asset to the real world. To that end, I teach MS Office, but also teach Open Source alternatives. I expose my students to alternatives to everything they do, so that they can make informed decisions. If they choose MS Office, then great! If they choose Open Office, then great! My job is complete no matter which they choose.
The debate should not be one versus the other, but how one can supplement the other.
Thanks for reading!!
Posted by Aaron Smith on May 3rd, 2008 filed in
Podcast,
Site News,
Web 2.0
Teachers 2.0 podcast for Saturday, May 3rd, 2008. In this episode I’ll be encouraging others to make their own Teachers 2.0 podcasts, introducing the new Teachers 2.0 wiki and my pitch for forming teacher communities in online social environments, with a focus on video games.
Hello and welcome to one of our irregularly recorded podcasts! And when I say “our” instead of “my,” I mean it.
Allow me to explain. Teachers 2.0 is a group that consists of educators who want to learn and/or help others learn more about technology and how it can be used in educational ways. This naturally is best done through two way communication, as someone who knows a lot about a topic might not intuitively guess what others feel are pertinent questions.
That’s why we have a Twitter account and a Ning site, and that’s why anyone can register to be an author on the Teachers 2.0 blog. Your first post will be moderated, but that’s just a necessary evil to keep out the spammers. After that posting is approved, anything you publish will go “live” right way.
And that includes podcasts! If you’re writing a new post and scroll down you’ll see a box labeled “Podcasting.” If your podcast is hosted on another server all you have to do is copy and paste the link to the file right in there. If you want it hosted on our server, well, we can do that too. Click on the music note above your post and you’ll be able to upload an mp3 file so long as it isn’t more than 7 MB. Then copy and paste the link to that file into the podcasting box that I described before.
Next item of business, we have a new wiki at Teachers20.wikispaces.com. This is an all purpose wiki to hold anything Teachers 2.0 members might feel is important. I envision tutorials, event planning, and more taking place at that address.
Which brings me to my third and final topic for this episode: Teacher communities in online social environments. I’m referring here to things like Facebook and other social networking environments where people can get together and form their own little cliques of like-minded individuals. Among these, Second Life is becoming much more popular. It’s a virtual world with really no objectives that you haven’t made for yourself, and that has made this game-that-isn’t-a-game quite popular with digital citizens everywhere – both immigrants and natives.
I remember a while back when educators first started exploring Second Life and wondering how it could be used as a learning environment. Big names in the edublogosphere like Steve Dembo, Kathy Schrock, and David Warlick, just to name a few, created their own digital likenesses (known as “avatars”) and started experimenting in a media that was in a sense an entire world.
I formed my own opinions on Second Life a while back, and while I’m still not convinced it’s the best place to bring your students on a virtual field trip, I do see its uses.
I myself gravitated away from Second Life to an online world that most definitely is a game – World of Warcraft. What I gave up in the way of infinite customization and the ability to play for free as long as I wanted I made up for in some achievable goals and quite a lot of stress relief. There’s been some research done that analyzes the different kinds of mindsets that enjoy different types of games, but what’s important to this conversation I think is that there are different mindsets that prefer different environments.
Facebook is not for everyone. Neither is Second Life, World of Warcraft, or even Twitter. (MySpace shouldn’t be for anyone, but I am horribly, horribly biased against it from a strictly aesthetic perspective.) But I do think that while not every teacher should be using all of these, most teachers should be using at least one of them.
Here’s why:
- It can be and often is loads of fun.
- It’s another way to have some social interaction.
- There are opportunities for learning experiences. Already there are people half my age capturing video from these worlds and remixing it to create some really fantastic stuff. Some people are even making a living doing just that now.
- One of the biggest gaps in education is the generational one between the teachers and the students. My kids are still shocked when I can name all of the ninja turtles. I’m not proposing we use Second Life or Warcraft to interact directly with our students, but I think it will help us understand them a little bit more if we know the types of environments they’re using themselves.
- It’s another way to have a virtual teacher’s lounge. When I refered to this category I called it “Teacher” communities instead of “Teaching” communities for a reason. Just like in a real teacher’s lounge, talking shop and talking about other things are both acceptable.
At least, those are my thoughts on the mater. If you have additional thoughts or questions you can add them as comments to this post or write a whole new one yourself! (Remember what I said at the beginning of this episode?)
And if you’re interested in forming a group like I just described, why not head over to that wiki I mentioned before also? I think it would be fun to play some games and unwind with other educators after school every now and then, don’t you?
Teachers 2.0 Podcast: Podcasts, a Wiki, and Teacher Communities [8:00m]:
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Posted by jackdrolet on April 18th, 2008 filed in
Questions,
Web 2.0
As an ESL teacher, my primary objective is simply to foster communication. Many web 2.0 sites, such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, VoiceThreads, Mindmeister, and countless more, have great potential to facilitate meaningful communication when integrated with the classroom. However, undertaking course objectives on the world wide web is like taking a class outside. It may be nice for a change, but it’s too distracting to actually get much done. Even more importantly, students have a right to privacy and it’s unethical to force students to publish their work on the internet where anyone can see.
What I hope is that these great sites that manage user generated content soon allow for small groups of users to form private webspace. Teachers could set up a Twitter page or a VoiceThreads account for a group of students who are automatically linked to each other. This may even make it easy for classes to make contacts and start up conversations with other groups of learners in other parts of the world.
I know that with most web 2.0 applications, there are certain choices the user can make for privacy. It would be possible to put a video on YouTube and make it viewable to only the other students in a class, for example. However, when orchestrating multiple accounts, usernames, and passwords for a group of students, there’s always going to be some who fall through the cracks. I hope that in the near future, many of these sites create applications with teachers and student privacy in mind.
Does anyone know of any good sites that allow for groups of users to be easily created? I suppose Blogger is one example that is appropriate because it’s pretty easy to set up a single blog with multiple authors. Any others?
