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.
Standard Podcast [7:56m]:
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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?
Posted by Aaron Smith on April 3rd, 2008 filed in
Podcast,
Questions
I’ve been inspired … maybe.
(By the way, This is cross-posted from Academic Aesthetic. Teachers 2.0 is a much larger community, as evidenced in more than one significant way, and I really want to hear people’s feedback. You can comment here or there, although to be honest more people might read your response if you post it here.)
-=-=-=-=-
Ok, on to the heart of today’s episode. In the past I’ve expressed mixed feelings about high stakes standardized testing. I feel that our goal as educators should be to prepare students to be successful in the “real world,” and that teaching to the test (which seems to be an inevitable outcome of this kind of assessment) does not do this - especially if and when the test itself is not assessing skills that will be required in the real world.
People in the U.S. reading this now may immediately think of NCLB, but I was teaching before that legislation passed I recall high stakes assessment being disproportionately emphasized back then, too.
Now in the past every time I expressed this opinion, I added that while I dislike tests like this I feel I can’t complain too much because it’s difficult to think of another way to compare schools from year to year across a district, county, or nation without some sort of one-size-fits-all non-subjective bar with which we can measure student achievement.
But the other day, I put two and two together. What’s our goal again? To prepare students for the real world. So how should we assess them? How about by looking at how they perform in the real world, or at least in response to real world situations.
What if, instead of subjecting our students to tests that stress out everyone involved, we created some form of rubric to evaluate how they do after they stop calling themselves students? The rubric could include things like salary, job satisfaction, and any one of a number of variables that we apply to ourselves when we ask ourselves if we think we’ve been successful.
Of course if we adopted this system there would still be some problems. True assessment would not be able to be measured until they were no longer our students, thus keeping us from correcting discrepancies that a well written standardized test may have caught. Maybe a combination of the two? I don’t know.
I’m not saying this is the perfect solution. I’m not even saying I’ve thought this completely through yet, but it is something I’ve been mulling over, and I’d love to hear your opinion on the whole thing. What have I overlooked? Why would or wouldn’t this type of assessment be a good idea? If it was your job to create the real life rubric, what would be the core variables worth measuring?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Academic Aesthetic 156 [6:12m]:
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Posted by Aaron Smith on March 30th, 2008 filed in
Site News
When this guy says we should upgrade, I usually upgrade.
And he’s right, it’s interesting. They did change the interface around a lot, but I think it’s for the best.
Posted by LindaH on March 29th, 2008 filed in
Questions
When I create or select resources to use as teaching aids I often look for things that I consider “child-friendly” or “visually appealing”. This often means sites or presentations that are bright and colourful, maybe use cartoons and striking visual images. When I make a screen cast I usually add a voice over and think that seeing my mouse move, or being able to zoom in on one area will help the learner. I just might be wrong! I found this set of very clear pictorial tutorials. They are in black and white, task based and very easy to follow. I liked them instantly. I decided to have a look at the reasoning behind their approach and found that it was research based. They started off designing tutorials for people with special needs and then were surprised to find that other people found them easier to use too.
In Pictures Approach to Computer Learning
# The simpler, the better.
Tutorials should be as simple as possible. Multimedia animations may look nifty, but they can be hard to follow. Thats why these tutorials use static screenshots.
# Black-and-white is better than color.
Color screenshots can create a “kaleidoscope” effect that makes it difficult to focus. Black-and-white doesnt. That’s why these tutorials use black-and-white screenshots.
# Tasks are more important than features.
Most computer learning aids concentrate on features—the things a program can do. But most people care about tasks—the things they want to do. That’s why these tutorials focus on common tasks.
So maybe these are things to keep in mind when we are designing or choosing materials for students. What do you think?
