“That there is a crisis in scholarly publishing, few would disagree. But what exactly is the nature of the crisis? For academic librarians it is, among other things, the skyrocketing costs and growing number of many of the must–have journals; or perhaps it is the so–called serial breakdown, which describes a practice by which students turn to Google and the open Web for all their research, neglecting the high–value (and often expensive) publications, mostly serials, that libraries have licensed.”
--from “The Devil You Don’t Know” by Joseph J. Esposito
To this list I might add online databases that are subscribed to by school libraries (such as encyclopedias) that are rarely used by students.
As someone more familiar with high school libraries than a university academic library, I am not so familiar with the reality of the growing costs for must-have journals—though I imagine the numbers are likely astonishing.
However, I am someone who is very familiar with the “so-called serial breakdown” at the high school level: the internet as it is now (and particularly as it was a few years ago) is sometimes compared to the Wild West—a world of “anything goes” governed by few laws…where the wildest and the strongest often rule, and the wisest are left in the shadows. One of the features of the Wild West is that it presents a certain allure; though we have grown accustomed to and fond of our lives today that are defined by social rules, even as adults, we also can’t help but wondering what it might feel like to rob a bank and ride off into the sunset with the loot. Enter into this digital Wild West teenagers, who dive into the world of the web (read: Google) ready to read, believe, copy and paste, and report on the wildest of web information discovered in this digital world.
Though I don’t know exactly whose “fault” it is, or what is to blame, but high-value (and yes, often expensive) publications—whether online or not—are not only not used by my students, but not even known of by the vast majority of them. And the truth is I am not even looking for who or what to blame; what I am looking for is a solution. As a teacher, I do have opportunities to introduce students to my school’s package of high-quality library resources, though I find that I rarely do that. Our teacher-librarian, of course, has more opportunities for such direct instruction, but she is a very busy person as well.
While I don’t want to keep my students out of the Wild West just for the sake of keeping them out of the Wild West, I do want them to be aware of quality: what is quality, and what is not. Throughout this course, a common, recurring topic has been the importance of students having such skills. With ever-greater amounts of easily- and freely-accessible information (that is only growing all the time), it is painfully clear that my students—and most all high school age students, I think—desperately and literally need such skills. Imagine waltzing through the Wild West and not being able to differentiate between the bank robber and the bar tender: “No sir, I didn’t want THAT kind of shot.” That kind of mistake could be fatal. While attributing the novel Of Mice and Men to a certain Mr. Cliff Notes is not quite as serious a crime, in the realm of the high school English teacher, it is nearly as dangerous.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
LMSs: quintessential web 2.0 tools
Learning management systems are perhaps a prime example of a web 2.0 tool: it exists for users to both read and write content within the actual system, and the design and functionality of the system itself is constantly improved via input from users and designers each time the system is used.
LMSs, like other web 2.0 tools, are works in progress: there are plenty of stories of hardship and frustration for students and teachers using LMSs, and there are also plenty of success stories facilitated by LMSs.
LMSs, like other web 2.0 tools, are works in progress: there are plenty of stories of hardship and frustration for students and teachers using LMSs, and there are also plenty of success stories facilitated by LMSs.
Friday, March 19, 2010
LMSs as tools, not revolutions
reflections on Esther Shein's "One-Stop Shopping With Learning Management Systems."
In her online article, “One-Stop Shopping With Learning Management Systems,” Esther Shein quotes Matthew Waymack, a virtual school director in Georgia: "The climate of the classrooms is better," he says, "the attendance of the students and teachers is better, and the overall feeling of being engaged is better." Waymack, of course, is referring to his school’s use of a learning management system, or LMS. Waymack is part of a new group of educators who, ten years ago, seemed to be light years ahead of the educational curve with visions of what online learning could look like. In the year 2000, my thoughts around any kind of non-lecture courses were something like this: “Correspondence courses? Sure: do some readings, do some writings, mail papers back to an instructor via the post. But online courses? Too problematic. Not really happening.”
Now, in the year 2010, I am recalling a decade-old idea of the insurmountable complexities around online learning…for my online learning course—which takes place on an LMS, but also includes key assessment pieces utilizing other online tools.
Waymack’s above quotation catches my eye because I think it embodies the highest ideal that might be represented by online learning: the notion that technology and strictly virtual realms of learning do not take the place of traditional learning scenarios, but that—rather—there is the possibility that with the aid of tools like LMSs, we might simply take moderate steps toward achieving better classroom climates, better attendance, and better overall engagement.
I can’t imagine any teacher—tech-savvy or not—balking at those aims.
In her online article, “One-Stop Shopping With Learning Management Systems,” Esther Shein quotes Matthew Waymack, a virtual school director in Georgia: "The climate of the classrooms is better," he says, "the attendance of the students and teachers is better, and the overall feeling of being engaged is better." Waymack, of course, is referring to his school’s use of a learning management system, or LMS. Waymack is part of a new group of educators who, ten years ago, seemed to be light years ahead of the educational curve with visions of what online learning could look like. In the year 2000, my thoughts around any kind of non-lecture courses were something like this: “Correspondence courses? Sure: do some readings, do some writings, mail papers back to an instructor via the post. But online courses? Too problematic. Not really happening.”
Now, in the year 2010, I am recalling a decade-old idea of the insurmountable complexities around online learning…for my online learning course—which takes place on an LMS, but also includes key assessment pieces utilizing other online tools.
Waymack’s above quotation catches my eye because I think it embodies the highest ideal that might be represented by online learning: the notion that technology and strictly virtual realms of learning do not take the place of traditional learning scenarios, but that—rather—there is the possibility that with the aid of tools like LMSs, we might simply take moderate steps toward achieving better classroom climates, better attendance, and better overall engagement.
I can’t imagine any teacher—tech-savvy or not—balking at those aims.
Podcasts for the classroom (classcasts?)
A selection of valuable-in-the-classroom podcasts for the secondary school English teacher:
GRAMMAR GIRL'S QUICK AND DIRTY TIPS FOR BETTER WRITING
"In under five minutes, you'll get a fun and friendly dose of writing advice. Grammar Girl covers everything from punctuation and grammar to style and voice."
http://grammar.qdnow.beta.libsynpro.com/rss
THE MOTH
"The Moth features people telling true, engaging, funny, touching and eye-opening stories from their lives."
http://feeds.feedburner.com/themothpodcast
NPR's STORYCORPS
"At recording booths across America, everyday people interview one another about their lives. StoryCorps creator Dave Isay showcases these first-person stories in this weekly podcast."
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510200
THIS AMERICAN LIFE
"Official free, weekly podcast of the award-winning radio show 'This American Life.' First-person stories and short fiction pieces that are touching, funny, and surprising."
http://feeds.thisamericanlife.org/talpodcast
WNYC's RADIOLAB
"On Radio Lab, science meets culture and information sounds like music. Each episode of Radio Lab is an investigation -- a patchwork of people, sounds, stories and experiences centered around One Big Idea."
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/index.xml
CNN STUDENT NEWS
"CNN Student News utilizes CNN's worldwide resources to bring each day's top news stories to middle and high school classrooms. The 10-minute, commercial-free program encourages student participation and provides classes with context for understanding current events."
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cnn-student-news-video/id179950332
TED TALKS
"16 great TEDTalks that could turn you into a lifelong TED fan in 18 minutes or less."
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a-taste-of-tedtalks/id333575566
GRAMMAR GIRL'S QUICK AND DIRTY TIPS FOR BETTER WRITING
"In under five minutes, you'll get a fun and friendly dose of writing advice. Grammar Girl covers everything from punctuation and grammar to style and voice."
http://grammar.qdnow.beta.libsynpro.com/rss
THE MOTH
"The Moth features people telling true, engaging, funny, touching and eye-opening stories from their lives."
http://feeds.feedburner.com/themothpodcast
NPR's STORYCORPS
"At recording booths across America, everyday people interview one another about their lives. StoryCorps creator Dave Isay showcases these first-person stories in this weekly podcast."
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510200
THIS AMERICAN LIFE
"Official free, weekly podcast of the award-winning radio show 'This American Life.' First-person stories and short fiction pieces that are touching, funny, and surprising."
http://feeds.thisamericanlife.org/talpodcast
WNYC's RADIOLAB
"On Radio Lab, science meets culture and information sounds like music. Each episode of Radio Lab is an investigation -- a patchwork of people, sounds, stories and experiences centered around One Big Idea."
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/index.xml
CNN STUDENT NEWS
"CNN Student News utilizes CNN's worldwide resources to bring each day's top news stories to middle and high school classrooms. The 10-minute, commercial-free program encourages student participation and provides classes with context for understanding current events."
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cnn-student-news-video/id179950332
TED TALKS
"16 great TEDTalks that could turn you into a lifelong TED fan in 18 minutes or less."
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a-taste-of-tedtalks/id333575566
The mass amateurization of information--and what it means for teachers and students
There is the constant din of online conversation regarding it. Unlike similar conversations in the 1990’s—where the background noise consisted of clanking coffee cups and wooden chairs sliding back from a café table—the predominant sound heard during this conversation is the whir and hum of computers, the clickity-clack of keystrokes, and the click of computer mice. This conversation is not only new, but the way in which it is being discussed is new—a reflection of the fact that wherever we are headed with web 2.0 technology, we are already firmly on the road to our destination: we are not standing at the divergence of two roads in a wood. No—we have already chosen the one that is quickly becoming more traveled by, and that is making all the difference.
The 2008 Edition of “The Horizon Report,” on page six, notes that “The growing use of Web 2.0 and social networking—combined with collective intelligence and mass amateurization—is gradually but inexorably changing the practice of scholarship.” To “the practice of scholarship” I would also add “the practice of life in general.” As a high school teacher today, the way in which students interact amongst themselves, their parents, their school subject content—even the way in which they think—reveals to me that one of the promises of web 2.0 has already become a reality: the experience of finding and using information has switched from an institutional-centered transaction to a user-centered transaction.
A simple example:
At this point in the example it’s important to STOP: of course a huge problem with the above illustration is this: by what standard is the student measuring the legitimacy of the information encountered? This issue gets at the heart of what is for educators perhaps the most difficult aspect of transitioning into a web 2.0 dominated world in the classroom: the successful acquisition of content often becomes of secondary importance, as content around nearly any given topic is ubiquitous today. What becomes of primary importance is instilling in our students a strong skill set in the area of finding information that is quality—tools and methods for effectively judging the quality and legitimacy of information. This skill is not just a vague “need,” but a pressing requirement. Imagine a future wherein the witty and tech-savvy dominate the world of the web—mass marketers with tiny budgets but huge audiences—and unknowing web users report to their grade 3 teachers that “pineapples are a common cash crop in northern Alberta—it says so on the internet.” While this example utilizes the absurd to get the point across, I wish that it was inspired by only fancies of imagination; however, even my grade 12 students have yet to break the habit of, when asked about a source they used for a presentation and where they found it, replying with, “the internet.” I remind them that this is equivalent to saying, “a book,” and that I would love to know which book—or site.
What this all points to for me, as a teacher, is the fact that my focus must change because my students’ focus must change: I wouldn’t send my students out to drive a car if they only knew already how to properly ride a bike, and I won’t send my students out to do online research if all they properly know how to do is use book-based research materials.
The 2008 Edition of “The Horizon Report,” on page six, notes that “The growing use of Web 2.0 and social networking—combined with collective intelligence and mass amateurization—is gradually but inexorably changing the practice of scholarship.” To “the practice of scholarship” I would also add “the practice of life in general.” As a high school teacher today, the way in which students interact amongst themselves, their parents, their school subject content—even the way in which they think—reveals to me that one of the promises of web 2.0 has already become a reality: the experience of finding and using information has switched from an institutional-centered transaction to a user-centered transaction.
A simple example:
No longer must the student skip into the (institution’s) library to use (institution-created and maintained) databases to locate and learn from (institutionally chosen and maintained) information. Now the student perhaps reaches into his or her pocket, pulls out an iPhone, and browses a few websites and blogs to get a feel for a certain topic—a feel that will not be determined only by such iconic sources as Encyclopedia Britannica and “the dictionary,” but a feel that will itself be nuanced by the innumerable points of view published online surrounding the given topic.
At this point in the example it’s important to STOP: of course a huge problem with the above illustration is this: by what standard is the student measuring the legitimacy of the information encountered? This issue gets at the heart of what is for educators perhaps the most difficult aspect of transitioning into a web 2.0 dominated world in the classroom: the successful acquisition of content often becomes of secondary importance, as content around nearly any given topic is ubiquitous today. What becomes of primary importance is instilling in our students a strong skill set in the area of finding information that is quality—tools and methods for effectively judging the quality and legitimacy of information. This skill is not just a vague “need,” but a pressing requirement. Imagine a future wherein the witty and tech-savvy dominate the world of the web—mass marketers with tiny budgets but huge audiences—and unknowing web users report to their grade 3 teachers that “pineapples are a common cash crop in northern Alberta—it says so on the internet.” While this example utilizes the absurd to get the point across, I wish that it was inspired by only fancies of imagination; however, even my grade 12 students have yet to break the habit of, when asked about a source they used for a presentation and where they found it, replying with, “the internet.” I remind them that this is equivalent to saying, “a book,” and that I would love to know which book—or site.
What this all points to for me, as a teacher, is the fact that my focus must change because my students’ focus must change: I wouldn’t send my students out to drive a car if they only knew already how to properly ride a bike, and I won’t send my students out to do online research if all they properly know how to do is use book-based research materials.
Librarian 2.0 manifesto
This video has always cracked me up for a few reasons:
1. The content is fantastic and inspiring.
2. The images are both somehow relevant and somehow irrelevant--and the resulting ambiguity seems to make it more enticing.
3. The back and forth discussion about this video that has developed since its release in itself offers insights into the world of Librarian 2.0 and many of its issues.
1. The content is fantastic and inspiring.
2. The images are both somehow relevant and somehow irrelevant--and the resulting ambiguity seems to make it more enticing.
3. The back and forth discussion about this video that has developed since its release in itself offers insights into the world of Librarian 2.0 and many of its issues.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Youtube-esque video sites
It's one of those debates that seems made for educators, and will likely never be fully resolved without some sort of official legislation from juridical bodies: while we, as teachers, can easily see the benefit of a web tool like Youtube in the classroom, that simple fact does not mean that there are not a host of other issues that surround just how (or if) to use Youtube in schools, foremost among them being: intellectual property/copyright issues with regards to playing videos and privacy issues when it comes to posting videos that include our students. The former issue is more of a philosophical conundrum for our generation--unique to the last ten years in the specific ways that intellectual property must now be considered--that could take an inestimable amount of time to sort itself out. The latter issue falls firmly in the realm of both Freedom of Information and Privacy Act as well as student safety issues. We know already that to take pictures or video of students generally requires some sort of parental consent, and that posting the faces (and perhaps names and locations) of students on Youtube literally broadcasts them to the world.
In his short article, "YouTube in the Classroom," Brad Moon describes his excited daughter coming home from school one day explaining how her class project/presentation is now on the internet. This story does a nice job of illustrating a couple of key tensions surrounding the debate of just how to implement tools like Youtube in education: on the one hand, the young girl is clearly motivated, engaged, and excited to have her work broadcast online--to literally be published and to have her learning viewable (and "commentable"!) by an audience that is bigger than her classmates and teacher. On the other hand, dad was initially shocked and concerned (as are a number of the article's readers who posted their own replies to Moon's article) in a predictable manner--his parental instincts kicked in and he immediately felt like his daughter might now be somehow vulnerable or exposed in a way that she hadn't been before the video was posted.
However, Moon goes on to praise the benefits of tools like Youtube. And, in the end, I continue to feel like that is likely the direction we are headed as educators: the potential benefits of the tools outweigh the potential downsides--and that, further, it is likely that with some general "good sense" web guidelines around wisely posting videos schools and teachers will be able to largely avoid the obvious potential pitfalls surrounding students safety and privacy.
In his short article, "YouTube in the Classroom," Brad Moon describes his excited daughter coming home from school one day explaining how her class project/presentation is now on the internet. This story does a nice job of illustrating a couple of key tensions surrounding the debate of just how to implement tools like Youtube in education: on the one hand, the young girl is clearly motivated, engaged, and excited to have her work broadcast online--to literally be published and to have her learning viewable (and "commentable"!) by an audience that is bigger than her classmates and teacher. On the other hand, dad was initially shocked and concerned (as are a number of the article's readers who posted their own replies to Moon's article) in a predictable manner--his parental instincts kicked in and he immediately felt like his daughter might now be somehow vulnerable or exposed in a way that she hadn't been before the video was posted.
However, Moon goes on to praise the benefits of tools like Youtube. And, in the end, I continue to feel like that is likely the direction we are headed as educators: the potential benefits of the tools outweigh the potential downsides--and that, further, it is likely that with some general "good sense" web guidelines around wisely posting videos schools and teachers will be able to largely avoid the obvious potential pitfalls surrounding students safety and privacy.
Youtube and Vimeo present "Heated River"; plus a bonus Slideshare presentation!
A video from a while back featuring myself and a friend plunging into a local "heated river":
Youtube:
Vimeo:
A special peek at a Slideshare presentation on social networking services:
Youtube:
Vimeo:
Heated River from Aaron Fuller on Vimeo.
A special peek at a Slideshare presentation on social networking services:
Social Networking Services
View more presentations from Aaron Fuller.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Wikis: A Tool in Your Web 2.0 Tool Belt, or: Another Way for Students to Both Interact with Learning and Show Evidence of Learning
Lyndsay Grant’s "'I DON'T CARE DO UR OWN PAGE!' A Case Study of Using Wikis for Collaborative Work in a UK Secondary School" reveals one of the central truths regarding web 2.0 technologies: just like any other tool that has been used in the educational arena, the tool itself won’t do the work of Superman in the classroom, bringing about great heights of educational achievement—wikis don’t result in classroom success simply by assigning students a project that requires them. Rather, wikis exist as a tool that have the potential to enable students to interact and show their learning in new ways, and like any other tool, require upfront instruction in their proper use (to avoid serious injuries—or at least mistakes and frustration).
In the process of working on this wiki project with Theresa Hafeli and Alice Kedves, it became clear to us early that Grant’s article functions largely as a cautionary tale: sometimes, with the allure of new technologies, we throw up our hands and exclaim, “Yes, our savior has arrived!” only to soon realize that—yes, just as we knew before and have been painfully reminded of again—no technology will save us. As a result, then, Grant’s article highlights the importance of three items that are key to education in any context, and uniquely key in the context of teaching with wikis: 1) equipping students with the skills required to succeed, 2) modeling these skills, and 3) applying these skills in ways that will lead to positive social—and learning—interactions. As a secondary school English teacher, it was heartening to condense Grant’s discoveries into these three items, as they are relatable and relevant in my regular teaching life, allowing for easy transference into my practice.
First, the idea that it is important to equip students with the skills necessary to succeed in any task is something of a no-brainer. However, in Grant’s article she explains that she did not explicitly teach such skills before starting the wiki project with her students, and it seems clear to that this issue turned out to be the crux of her experiment. As Johann Larusson and Richard Alterman note in their essay "Wikis to Support the ‘Collaborative’ Part of Collaborative Learning,” wikis do not guarantee that students will either learn or collaborate. In my own teaching life, then, I regard wikis as simply one more medium that students might use as part of class. Just like other mediums already used to show learning in my class—written work, posters, picture essays, PowerPoints, presentations, speeches—wikis offer an opportunity for learning, but not a guarantee. In this way, it has made it much clearer for me to understand what exactly must go into the frontloading of a class before I can expect students to successfully use wikis. This is both an exciting—I’m looking forward to integrating wikis—and a comforting—it’s not unlike other tools I already have students use in my class—thought. Before requiring students to give a PowerPoint presentation, I would explicitly teach to any holes in knowledge or skill areas that students display; the same rule applies for wikis.
Second, the importance of modeling the correct use of any tool or process is absolutely essential to the success of students. It simply makes sense: since elementary school, we’ve seen first hand that learning occurs more effectively when we show rather than tell. Following the “I do, we do, you do” model of instruction, one important thing to do with my students before requiring them to use a wiki is to—using my own computer projected onto my white screen—complete the “I do” part: go step by step through each function that they’ll be required to use. Then we will go to a computer lab (or bring laptops into my classroom) and play with the wiki together, getting the hang of it until all students understand each function (“we do”). Finally, students should be in a place where they can proceed on their own and dive into a project (“you do”). In our research we discovered that many teachers, when faced with the idea of integrating technology into their teaching, do so with the thought that the students already are familiar with all the technology that they are being asked to use, and that, further, the students can learn how to use most technologies faster than adults. Apparently, though, there is some research out there to suggest that this is not true. The truth, in fact, is that kids don’t know everything (surprise, surprise) even when it comes to technology, and that adults tend to be faster learners. This idea likely answers the question posed by Lund Andreas and Ole Smordal in their essay “Is There a Space for the Teacher in a Wiki?”—yes.
Another important step in modeling skills before using a wiki for a project is the social aspect: students need to already be well versed in areas such as involvement in peer editing and giving and receiving feedback. In my own teaching, this is where transference comes in and plays a huge part, as these social learning skills are already explicitly taught and used by students in all my courses; the only difference is that before they’ve been carried out in the realm of pen and paper. Now, with wikis, they are carried out in virtual realms, but the same underlying rules apply: be positive and productive in feedback, give specific and detailed feedback, and take others’ comments seriously. As a teacher, I often find myself saying something like, “Remember last month when we did _______? Well, this (new thing) is just like that except ________....” This same phrase will often be used when introducing wikis into the classroom.
Thirdly, and finally, the importance of actively applying the above skills in ways that will lead to student success is essential. This generally means that the active participation of the teacher throughout the students’ experience with wikis is vital. Whereas before I may have walked around my classroom to listen in on conversations between student groups giving writing feedback to ensure their positive progress, I now need to be involved on the wiki in a similar way: monitoring the back and forth of editing carried out by students, giving both praise and advice myself when and where needed. Research shows that it is not true that, just because students are online and using a wiki to mediate their experience of writing and collaborating, they are fully self sufficient or can be left to their own devices. I suspect that, near the end of the school year after much work on using wikis successfully, an ideal goal for the students and the teacher might be that the students can work self-sufficiently, but it is a long journey that must take place before such genuine self-sufficiency occurs.
A couple of other items as side notes: as teacher, I am always looking for ways to the content and the delivery of the content engaging to students. Wikis do a nice job, in some ways, of achieving this goal, as most of my students are constantly becoming more and more immersed in online, computer-based lives. In this way, wikis allow for interaction that is more relevant, and perhaps more engaging, to the everyday lives of students than pen and paper. Additionally, wikis serve as wonderful archives, naturally forming a story that tracks the progress and changes made by students throughout a project or projects. In this way, wikis have great potential to serves as digital versions of the “learning” or “writing” portfolios that have formerly been compiled and presented in binders.
Throughout the process of creating this wiki, Alice and Theresa were fantastic to work with. The project progressed, I felt, like many distance education group projects do: everyone did a great job of doing quality work and communicating via email, but different geographic locations and life schedules mean that projects don’t move forward as fast as they do with face-to-face learning. This phenomenon in itself has interesting implications in the realm of studying the student use of wikis: what do we learn to commonly expect from online learning as adults that we might teach to and expect from our high school students when they do wiki projects?
In the process of working on this wiki project with Theresa Hafeli and Alice Kedves, it became clear to us early that Grant’s article functions largely as a cautionary tale: sometimes, with the allure of new technologies, we throw up our hands and exclaim, “Yes, our savior has arrived!” only to soon realize that—yes, just as we knew before and have been painfully reminded of again—no technology will save us. As a result, then, Grant’s article highlights the importance of three items that are key to education in any context, and uniquely key in the context of teaching with wikis: 1) equipping students with the skills required to succeed, 2) modeling these skills, and 3) applying these skills in ways that will lead to positive social—and learning—interactions. As a secondary school English teacher, it was heartening to condense Grant’s discoveries into these three items, as they are relatable and relevant in my regular teaching life, allowing for easy transference into my practice.
First, the idea that it is important to equip students with the skills necessary to succeed in any task is something of a no-brainer. However, in Grant’s article she explains that she did not explicitly teach such skills before starting the wiki project with her students, and it seems clear to that this issue turned out to be the crux of her experiment. As Johann Larusson and Richard Alterman note in their essay "Wikis to Support the ‘Collaborative’ Part of Collaborative Learning,” wikis do not guarantee that students will either learn or collaborate. In my own teaching life, then, I regard wikis as simply one more medium that students might use as part of class. Just like other mediums already used to show learning in my class—written work, posters, picture essays, PowerPoints, presentations, speeches—wikis offer an opportunity for learning, but not a guarantee. In this way, it has made it much clearer for me to understand what exactly must go into the frontloading of a class before I can expect students to successfully use wikis. This is both an exciting—I’m looking forward to integrating wikis—and a comforting—it’s not unlike other tools I already have students use in my class—thought. Before requiring students to give a PowerPoint presentation, I would explicitly teach to any holes in knowledge or skill areas that students display; the same rule applies for wikis.
Second, the importance of modeling the correct use of any tool or process is absolutely essential to the success of students. It simply makes sense: since elementary school, we’ve seen first hand that learning occurs more effectively when we show rather than tell. Following the “I do, we do, you do” model of instruction, one important thing to do with my students before requiring them to use a wiki is to—using my own computer projected onto my white screen—complete the “I do” part: go step by step through each function that they’ll be required to use. Then we will go to a computer lab (or bring laptops into my classroom) and play with the wiki together, getting the hang of it until all students understand each function (“we do”). Finally, students should be in a place where they can proceed on their own and dive into a project (“you do”). In our research we discovered that many teachers, when faced with the idea of integrating technology into their teaching, do so with the thought that the students already are familiar with all the technology that they are being asked to use, and that, further, the students can learn how to use most technologies faster than adults. Apparently, though, there is some research out there to suggest that this is not true. The truth, in fact, is that kids don’t know everything (surprise, surprise) even when it comes to technology, and that adults tend to be faster learners. This idea likely answers the question posed by Lund Andreas and Ole Smordal in their essay “Is There a Space for the Teacher in a Wiki?”—yes.
Another important step in modeling skills before using a wiki for a project is the social aspect: students need to already be well versed in areas such as involvement in peer editing and giving and receiving feedback. In my own teaching, this is where transference comes in and plays a huge part, as these social learning skills are already explicitly taught and used by students in all my courses; the only difference is that before they’ve been carried out in the realm of pen and paper. Now, with wikis, they are carried out in virtual realms, but the same underlying rules apply: be positive and productive in feedback, give specific and detailed feedback, and take others’ comments seriously. As a teacher, I often find myself saying something like, “Remember last month when we did _______? Well, this (new thing) is just like that except ________....” This same phrase will often be used when introducing wikis into the classroom.
Thirdly, and finally, the importance of actively applying the above skills in ways that will lead to student success is essential. This generally means that the active participation of the teacher throughout the students’ experience with wikis is vital. Whereas before I may have walked around my classroom to listen in on conversations between student groups giving writing feedback to ensure their positive progress, I now need to be involved on the wiki in a similar way: monitoring the back and forth of editing carried out by students, giving both praise and advice myself when and where needed. Research shows that it is not true that, just because students are online and using a wiki to mediate their experience of writing and collaborating, they are fully self sufficient or can be left to their own devices. I suspect that, near the end of the school year after much work on using wikis successfully, an ideal goal for the students and the teacher might be that the students can work self-sufficiently, but it is a long journey that must take place before such genuine self-sufficiency occurs.
A couple of other items as side notes: as teacher, I am always looking for ways to the content and the delivery of the content engaging to students. Wikis do a nice job, in some ways, of achieving this goal, as most of my students are constantly becoming more and more immersed in online, computer-based lives. In this way, wikis allow for interaction that is more relevant, and perhaps more engaging, to the everyday lives of students than pen and paper. Additionally, wikis serve as wonderful archives, naturally forming a story that tracks the progress and changes made by students throughout a project or projects. In this way, wikis have great potential to serves as digital versions of the “learning” or “writing” portfolios that have formerly been compiled and presented in binders.
Throughout the process of creating this wiki, Alice and Theresa were fantastic to work with. The project progressed, I felt, like many distance education group projects do: everyone did a great job of doing quality work and communicating via email, but different geographic locations and life schedules mean that projects don’t move forward as fast as they do with face-to-face learning. This phenomenon in itself has interesting implications in the realm of studying the student use of wikis: what do we learn to commonly expect from online learning as adults that we might teach to and expect from our high school students when they do wiki projects?
Friday, March 12, 2010
Photosharing
As an educational tool, Picasa—in addition to showing itself to be a wonderful picture organization and display tool—proves itself to be another nice tool for students to present or show their learning. The “photo collage” and the “movie presentation” features both allow for the easy and seamless creation of a visual element that would complement almost any presentation or research project. What used to be the poster bird picture collage, or the hard-worked-for Windows Movie Maker show, now becomes the Picasa-created presentation (show it any way you want to—just the click of a button makes all the difference).
As a library technology, Picasa would certainly be a valuable tool for advertising the library—I haven’t seen an easier way to take simple pictures and create an attractive collage or video. Imagine: collect some great shots of your library, create a collage, and set it as your library computer desktop backgrounds. Print off the same collage on paper and post it wherever you want to (perhaps with your library’s own logo?) for extra library “visibility” around the school. Utilize the “movie presentation” feature to make a quick and easy movie featuring the library and the people who frequent it and present the collage on an easy-to-see computer monitor throughout the day. This could be a once-a-term type of presentation as well as an end-of-year presentation.
As a library technology, Picasa would certainly be a valuable tool for advertising the library—I haven’t seen an easier way to take simple pictures and create an attractive collage or video. Imagine: collect some great shots of your library, create a collage, and set it as your library computer desktop backgrounds. Print off the same collage on paper and post it wherever you want to (perhaps with your library’s own logo?) for extra library “visibility” around the school. Utilize the “movie presentation” feature to make a quick and easy movie featuring the library and the people who frequent it and present the collage on an easy-to-see computer monitor throughout the day. This could be a once-a-term type of presentation as well as an end-of-year presentation.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Livin' la vida Twitter
Twitter is like the town crier: you know it exists, you hear it (and see it) often, but it rarely has anything of substance to say on its own--only mentions of this and that. This is, of course, due to the 140 character limitation--by its very nature it is mostly a tool that says "Hey, here's a morsel of thought about something--now go check it out." Twitter refers; it does not explain.
At the end of the day, Twitter is a "community" that is good to be a part of if one is interested not in being a member of a community that is itself substantive, but a community that constantly refers to content outside of itself. So in this way, as long as you're a person who's interested in having access to and digesting new information, Twitter can be great.
Another important part of enjoying the Twitter experience is only following people or organizations that you're truly interested in being connected to--who would likely post links that you would genuinely enjoy spending time consuming. Otherwise, Twitter simply becomes so much unintelligible online clamor--some kind of scary close cousin to spam mail and internet pop-up ads. Nobody needs that in their lives.
At the end of the day, Twitter is a "community" that is good to be a part of if one is interested not in being a member of a community that is itself substantive, but a community that constantly refers to content outside of itself. So in this way, as long as you're a person who's interested in having access to and digesting new information, Twitter can be great.
Another important part of enjoying the Twitter experience is only following people or organizations that you're truly interested in being connected to--who would likely post links that you would genuinely enjoy spending time consuming. Otherwise, Twitter simply becomes so much unintelligible online clamor--some kind of scary close cousin to spam mail and internet pop-up ads. Nobody needs that in their lives.
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