Change is _______.Our world is changing and the web is changing along with it. Below are a couple of video clips from You Tube. The first one from Colorado educator Karl Fisch helps us get a handle on how the world is changing. The second offers a glimpse into how the web is changing to keep up.
a) good
b) bad
c) inevitable
d) all of the above
This Internet tip is an oldie, but a goodie. I've known about it for a long time but never really made use of it until this week. It really saved me a lot of trouble.There are some great web sites out there for primary kids. One of the best ones out there Starfall, but there are other good ones as well. I know I can trust first graders to double click on Internet Explorer, but I don't want to deal with having them type in a web address. Even asking them go to Favorites and select the correct one, can be a chore. To solve this, I've taken some of the web sites most often used by our primary grades and put them in the Links toolbar. This way the kids just have to open Internet Explorer, click on the correct link in the toolbar, and Viola! they are at the correct web site in no time.
3. Go to a website you want to add to your toolbar.
If it is, and you still don't see the links toolbar, it may be hiding down at the end of your Address Bar.
If so, just go to drag it down below the Address Bar. If it won't move, you may need to unlock the toolbar - Go to VIEW, TOOLBARS, and uncheck LOCK THE TOOLBARS.
...and a new link is added.
5. To make room in the Links Bar for more links, you may want to shorten the name of the link. To do this, right-click on the link and select properties. Click on the General tab and change the name to something shorter.
6. To delete a link from your toolbar, just right-click on the link and select DELETE.
“I thought that this process was very new and different, and at times, very frustrating. But we were able to either leave comments for each other or call each other.” ... “I really liked the idea of the team responsibilities, because that way no one person gets all the load dumped on them.”
“We had to work together to finish this project and it was a little hectic. The hardest part was having to split up the duties evenly so that we all got a grade on it.”
“In the end this was a very good project. It was way better than doing a report. One problem was it was difficult when you could not edit at them same time. This caused some problems but in the end we fixed them. Also at some points it would get very annoying with the page. You would do something and save but it would not keep it. But it was fixed and we finished our project. This was a very good project and we would much rather do this than a whole report by ourselves.”
“This project was very fun for all of us and was a wonderful learning experience, but somewhat difficult. We like the format of the website, but the toolbar was a bit hard. If we could change something about this site it would have to be the pictures, because they were somewhat hard to download. We definitely thought this was 100 times better than a 20 page report!”Many groups experienced frustration with the Wikispaces page editor as things that looked great in the editor did not always look the same once they were saved. We let students know up front that the editor could be a little quirky at times, and that they would need to work together to solve problems. For the most part, members of the group stepped up and were able to solve their own technical problems.
But wait there's more!
Have you heard people talking about "Web 2.0"? The term is getting tossed about quite a bit lately and specific definitions vary. Even Wikipedia is hard-pressed to nail down a single definitive answer as to what it actually means. While I'll leave it up to the experts like David Warlick and others to define it specifically, generally lets just think of Web 2.0 as a 'kicked-up" Internet with a new level of interactivity and collaboration.
In the past, there were two kinds of web users: those who published the information and those who read it. Pretty much anyone could search for and read information on Web pages, but it took a little extra technical skill and know-how to actually produce and post information yourself.
New tools like blogs and wikis have changed that. No longer is the average web user relegated to the role of spectator, but now he/she can also be a contributor. Thanks to these tools, anyone who knows how to browse the web also has the ability to interact with content publishers, add comments and generate their own content as well.
Even the process of searching for news and information has been transformed. Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) web users no longer have to search for news and information of interest to them. They can select certain news sources or web authors and receive new articles and updates as soon as they are posted simply by "subscribing" to it.
Web 2.0 has taken the Internet beyond e-mail and web pages. It uses the the Internet as a platform to run all sorts of interactive and dynamic applications. As a result we now have things like Google Earth, iTunes (podcasting), Flickr, del.icio.us and many others.
In the hands of a skilled teacher, these tools can become a powerful platform for learning. I hope to post info, lesson ideas, and help sheets (or videos) on some of these tools in future posts. Right now I'm exploring classroom applications for wikis using Wikispaces. More to come...TO: School Administrators
"A Christmas Wish from Your Teachers"
It came to pass in those days that there went out a decree that all schools should integrate technology into their curriculum. And everyone purchased Microsoft Office and went online to register. So our teachers also went up from their classrooms and attended technology training, because they had received a substitute teacher and paid in-service time from their administrator. They went to learn Power Point™ and how to make their own classroom blogs. They learned how to find all kinds of Unitedstreaming™ videos and they pledged to use all this knowledge in their teaching.
Several weeks later, the school’s administrator was in his office keeping watch over his fall enrollment lists by night. When lo, the parents of his students appeared before him, and he was terrified.
But the parents said unto him, “Fear not. For we bring you good news of our great joy which overflows because of the accomplishments of our children. And this will be a sign to you. You will go into their classrooms and you will find them learning with technology.”
Then suddenly there was for the administrator, a phone call from the chairman of the school board praising him and saying,
“Glorious things have been happening in our classrooms. Special thanks to you, administrator, on whom our favor rests.”
When the parents had left, the administrator said, “I shall go to these classrooms and see these things that have happened that the parents have told me about.”
So he hurried off and found it was just as the parents had said. Teachers were presenting lessons using these wonderful new technology tools. They were posting homework, class information, and helpful homework links on their own blogs. They also had created online assignments and quizzes.
Students were taught how check the validity of Internet information. They were encouraged to use wikis for writing and editing. Their multimedia reports were filled with colorful pictures, graphics, sounds, and animations. Some even created their own videos!
The administrator was both pleased and amazed by all he had seen, which was just as the parents had told him. He praised the teachers at the next staff meeting, thanking them for their efforts and vowing to give them more time --time to prepare lessons, time to evaluate new web sites and new technologies (like podcasting), and time to meet with other teachers and share ideas.
The teachers treasured up all these things and pondered them in their hearts.
********************
If I had to choose the biggest obstacle that is preventing our teachers from integrating technology, that obstacle would be time.
Teachers that are using technology regularly in their classrooms have paid the price in lost evenings and weekends. They have spent countless hours of their own personal time in front of the computer struggling to create presentations for their classes. They have dealt with the frustrations of trying to get their web pages and blogs to look the way they want them to and have pulled out their hair trying to upload those same pages to the Internet. Old lesson plans have been re-written to enable students to use various technology and multimedia tools in their assignments and projects.
Ask teachers if this was time well spent? The answer would be a resounding “Yes!” Ask them if they would like more time for training and planning, and they would probably look at you as if you had just asked them if they regularly breathe oxygen.
Why is this time so important? Many who are new to technology are afraid to touch it because they don’t want to mess it up or break it. That fear is multiplied if they are told they must use it with their class next week. No one wants to look stupid. It takes time to learn how to use these new technology tools. Teachers need time to explore and experiment. They need a non-threatening environment that allows them to make mistakes and provides time to learn from those mistakes. This environment helps them become comfortable with the technology and feel confident using it in their classroom. This confidence can be cultivated by giving teachers time off for technology training, allowing them to visit other schools where these tools are being used effectively, and providing teachers with additional time each week for planning lessons.
With the support and encouragement of school administration, technology integration can indeed become a reality in your school. Just give your teachers a little extra time and glorious things can happen.
Pictures upload quite easily and I was even able drag and center my pictures within their frames, similar to the way you can using Apple's Pages or iPhoto . When you finish, you just print it out or you can save it for later retrieval by giving them your e-mail address.
This is a test to see if I can post pictures to my blog directly from Picasa. I'm already a fan of Picasa for quick and dirty photo editing. Many of our teachers use it for class pictures (parties, field trips, etc.) and to show slideshows to their class. This is just one more cool feature. (No Honda CR-V's were hurt in the making of this picture.)
