Tweet! I'm ready for Twitter!

Umm.. tweet?... tweet…tweet!  Anyone listening?   I have to admit I’m afraid of all birds, so already the thought of Twitter gets me feeling a tad anxious. 

Reflections on the process of learning about Twitter

            Twitter is a social media tool that allows you to send out messages to your followers in 140 characters or less.  Essentially, these messages or 'tweets' answer the question, "What are you doing?" or "What's happening?"   It allows people following you to get instantaneous updates from you.  I signed up for Twitter early in September and quickly started following many individuals (some that were suggested and some that were of my own interest).  I soon started receiving tweets from people that I’d never heard of before (i.e. Stephen Abram) and people that I’ve been watching for years (i.e. Suze Orman).

         Signing up was relatively easy, as was finding people to ‘follow’.  However, what I found to be difficult was actually reading the tweets.  I’d check in every couple days and scroll through.  I'd follow some of the links within the tweets to start developing a sense of what is 'tweet-worthy.'  To be honest many of the messages were not what I was expecting.  Most were of quite ‘shallow’ and left me wondering why I’m following them. 

         Sending a tweet for the first time was odd… what to say?   I sent out a tweet letting everyone know that I was heading to Lister Hall to a concert.  A friend’s brother was playing at ‘Lister Fest.”  Now, if I had friends or acquaintances living at Lister, then they would know I was attending and to look out for me.

            Personally, I think there’s some overlap here with Facebook.  Both allow you to keep track of your friends and what they’re up to.  Also, they both allow you to share your ‘status.’  You could either ‘tweet’ or update your status on Facebook that you’re going for coffee with Oprah.  However, after listening to Mack Male’s session, I’ve realized that with Twitter you can ‘get away with’ tweeting often throughout the day, but if you were to do the same on Facebook (i.e. post status updates) frequently, then people would become irritated because you would be ‘clogging up’ the live feed.

         To get a different experience with Twitter, I logged onto the site using my iPhone.  Instead of seeing an array of tweets from all of the people I’m following, I saw that the entire screen was filled with tweets from one person: mastermaq.  Some of his ‘tweets’ were absolutely useless, including one saying: “Trying to think of the last game I played.. ah yes.  Worms on my iPod touch.”  Okay… good to know?  Maybe?  However, he somewhat redeems himself by sending out a tweet saying, “SelfChecker is working with local school authorities. Interesting way for students to write a test and get immediate feedback.”

         Reflecting on this new iPhone experience, I’m led to think that it just wasn’t enough.  It was basically just viewing the site, but with my phone. So, I decided link my phone directly with Twitter. I registered with Twitter by texting “start” to 21212.  This allowed me to easily tweet by just texting my tweet to 21212.  However, I still wasn't receiving tweets through instant message.  I'd need to log onto the site to do that, which I guess is better than receiving text messages every few minutes for every single tweet.

         Just when I thought I was quite well versed on Twitter, I listened to Mack Males’s Elluminate session.  It really helped me to gain a new understanding some aspects of Twitter including:  hash tags (i.e. ‘#YEG’) which help categorize your tweets, and ‘bit.ly’ which shortens a web address so that it doesn’t take up much of your 140 characters.  If you see a hashtag and don’t know what it means, you can check at wthashtag.org

         In terms of learning about social media tools such as Twitter Male (2009) suggests a social media boot camp, but he keys in on experience; trying it out and getting to know it.

Discussion of Twitter in terms of my own personal learning

            I think I may continue to utilize Twitter.  I enjoy being ‘the first to know’ and I think this tool will enable me to do this.  By following CBC News, I have been able to stay up to date with news and current affairs.

         My friends are split on Twitter.  About a third are against it and unwilling to even sign up.  Another third have signed up, only to either deactivate their account or not utilize.  And the last third?  They’re all about it.  A friend of mine who is a photographer uses it to ‘get rid of steam.’  His clients, friends and acquaintances are all on Facebook, which he uses to promote his business, but for Twitter it’s a different story. He uses it to vent about sessions, which is not, I believe, how most businesses use it, but that’s how he utilizes it.

         Twitter has me conjuring up images of Scrooge: tweets of past, present, and future.  Many celebrities like to tweet in the past (ie. went for a run in central park earlier today.  Gosh, I love this city!).  This allows them to not be mobbed by people who have received their tweets.  I actually don't like when they do this because it doesn't answer the questions, "What are you doing?" but rather "What did you do?"  It provides a less voyeuristic experience because it doesn't allow you to know what your favourite celbrity is actually currently doing. This brings me to ‘present’ tweeters.  People who do this include twitterers who are at a conference, a part of an event, or people just generally connected and wanting others to be aware of what they're up to.  I think this is what many tweets are like.  For me, I’ve been falling into the category of future tweeter.  I’ve been ‘tweeting’ mostly about what I’m going to do.  That is, until I signed gained access through my phone.  Now, I'm sending out more current tweets (ie.  Waiting in an outside lineup to see 'New Moon"  Worth the cold?)

Discussion of Twitter in terms of teaching & learning

            I would venture to guess that Twitter is going to be used in educational settings more and more over the coming years, especially by teachers, secretaries, and administrators.

Hearst Elementary School in Washington, DC has been using Twitter to stay connected with parents.  Tweets of events in the school are sent out throughout the week.  The school also uses tweets to notify parents and guardians of “unscheduled notices regarding delays or closings.”  I think this is much more efficient, especially on the school end of things.  Having to do a ‘call-out’ would take quite a bit of time.  However, would all parents receive these tweets?

A high school Language Arts class at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota is using social media including Twitter within their class.

I think this could be powerful.  As students are working on a project, they could send out tweets concerning an issue they're having with the project.  People who know how to help them can respond, whereas other students could disregard the tweets.

Walker (2009) suggests many great benefits for educators to use Twitter in Schools, including the idea that “Twitter can be like a virtual staffroom where teachers can access in seconds a stream of links, ideas, and resources from a hand-picked selection of global professionals.” This is great because you’re not limited to the people who you work with or who are in your local community. 

Walker (2009) also explains that we can get instant feedback on the ideas that we share; it’s almost like using it as a sounding board to check in to see if we’re on the right track. People could tweet or message back with tips or encouragement. 

Also, if I wasn't able to attend  PD session, speech or workshop, I could still partake in a sense by receiving tweets from people who are there partaking.  This would be beneficial because I could not only 'read their thoughts' but I could also see the 'content' through various perspectives (i.e. the cautious optimist, the pessimist, etc.)

One con, which Male (2009) points out is that Twitter is “not a really good platform for coming back and seeing what you wrote a month ago or a year ago.” It’s more of a “real time platform.” For a record that you can look back to, he suggests a blog.

Another con, which I believe is annoying is that people who are at a conference, workshop or meeting who should be paying attention to a speaker are actually tweeting. Now, some probably wait until break time, but I could see this becoming more and more of an issue unless norms are established. However the sharing at breaks can be powerful, Mack (2009) points out, especially is you have this “powerful networking capacity with them all the time (i.e. their network of twitterers).

References:

Hearst Elementary School http://www.hearstdc.org/tech-1/twittercom

Male, Mack. (2009). Elluminate session

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. 2nd Ed. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Walker, Laura. (2009) Nine reasons to Twitter in Schools.

Social Networking - Join in on the good times!

Congratulations! Friends couldn’t make me do it. Family couldn’t make me do it. Co-workers?..nope. Classmates?…noper. Students? Definitely not. But, this class did it! After years of hearing about how great it is and being harassed to join, I have finally joined Facebook! (and Ning.com!)

Reflections on the process of learning about Social Networking

I’ll admit, that I like to be first, especially when it comes to media and pop culture. The first to discover the latest ‘hot’ musician… However when Facebook popped up, I resisted, and one by one basically every friend took the plunge. Why did I not hop on the train you may ask? Well, I think part of it was that I was afraid that I would become addicted. Friends told me of countless hours spent ‘facebooking.’ This prospect frightened me. Another reason I resisted was that I wanted to keep my private life private and I didn't want to 'mix' friends.  Lastly, I didn't want to join because I was afraid of those awkward offline conversations (i.e. "Hey Tyson!  Why didn't you accept my friend request?")  Now that I am a member, those worries have subsided, although I do get the occasional email 'begging' to be added.

I resisted for the first couple weeks of September and then went for it… joined Facebook, along with Ning. For Facebook though, I decided that I was only going to add people that I saw/talked to on a regular basis. My goal was not going to be to ‘get as many friends as I could.’ I had to become okay with the theory that less is more. 
 

Going through this week’s Trailfire also helped expand my view of what social networking sites are. It’s funny.. until I read Stephen Abram’s article, entitled, “Scaffolding the New Social Literacies” I had never thought of Club Penguin as a social networking site.  But, I guess it is.. just a different form: a game.  
 

Discussion of Social Networking in terms of my own personal learning
 

Learning about social networking made me really think about my digital footprint (AKA: the track I leave that can be searched on Google). Joining a “Britney Spears Fan” social network on Ning will help me talk with other fans, but it will also reveal to the world that I’m a huge fan just by doing a quick search on the internet. This is just a hypothetical situation of course, but it illustrates that we really need to think about what we want ‘out there’ about ourselves.  Now, we can adjust privacy settings, which I think Facebook excels at, but I found with Ning that this was very difficult.   
 

Stephen Abram reveals that “both Facebook and MySpace restrict their social networking sites to people over the age of 14.” This is hard for me to believe as about a handful of former students who range in age from 10 to 12 have sent me friend invitations on Facebook. Did they lie about their age? Probably. Did I accept? Nope. Do I know other teachers that have added students and communicate with them regularly? Yes.

I have to admit that being a part of Facebook has brought me closer to some friends (the ones on my friends list) and has driven me further away from others (the ones that I rejected or who lay in limbo). Participating in Facebook has allowed me to learn of events that I may not have heard of and that I’m now able to participate in; and I know who else will be there! I like how it allows me to express my wity and fun side.  

I feel though, that Facebook has replaced e-mail in some ways. I noticed this phenomenon when most of my friends initially signed up for Facebook. Much to my relief, there were less "forwards" because people were sharing with one another on Facebook. 
 

Baloun (2007) reveals that “the real question for a social networking site is how many active users the site has, and how much the site has become an integral part of those users’ lives.” He then reveals that two-thirds of Facebook users visit the site at least once a day. This shows how powerful the site is. For me, I now visit this site more than once per day, but I can happily report, that I'm not endlessly 'facebooking.'  I think this could be possibly because the 'hype' about it has calmed down a bit, and now people are using it more as a tool and have realized that spending hours on it is not productive. 
 

Discussion of Social Networking in terms of teaching & learning

Over the last few years, social networking sites such as 'MySpace' have received a lot of 'bad press.'  There were stories of abductions and abuse, which caused many parents and schools to ban these sites.  Davies & Merchant (2007) reveals that most school boards from around the world have banned social networking sites in their districts due to safety concerns. I think this could be partly due to ignorance. I’m sure not many superintendents and people in ‘authority’ know the true power of social networking sites and how they can be private, and in turn safe. 
 

Being a member of the social network called, “Ning in Education” has allowed me to learn from educators from around the world. I could see into their schools and school districts and how they’re using social networking tools. For example, reading Scott Habeeb’s blog I learned about how his school district in Virginia is incorporating and ‘handling’ social networking. They decided that they would not block any social networking sites for teachers and they would trust them as professionals to use them appropriately. For students, they decided that they best social networking site to use with students would be Ning. 
 

For students, social networking sites can be powerful tools. It can be away for them to meet and discuss with other students who may have similar interests, challenges and goals. Del Conte (2007) reveals that Social Networking can be used by students “to find mentors or perform research.” I would see this more for students in junior high, high school, and in college and university. 
 

For teachers, social networking sites can be extremely helpful. It can take a job that is somewhat isolating, and turn it into a social experience by being members of networks. We can share ideas, challenges, and questions. We can discuss, and commiserate with other teachers from around the world, but also inspire one another.

One big pro of social networking sites is that key information is backed up for you: your friends’ contact info and your pictures. The big con here though is that sometimes relationships, both plutonic and romantic, end and do you really want this person to still be on your list, to still see what you’re up to. Personally speaking I would say no. I haven’t been put into this situation just yet, but I could see it happening. I think I haven’t had to deal with it yet, partially because I was very selective when choosing who I would be ‘Facebook friends’ with. 
 

One big pro for students using a class Ning set up by their teacher is the collaborative aspect that is possible. Students can post links, pictures, blogs, etc. to show their learning and help with others’ learning. Abrams (2007) also suggests that setting up a specific chat time (i.e. 6-7PM) will make the teacher available to students beyond the classroom. Now initially, my thoughts lead me to think ‘more time’ and ‘more commitment.’ However, it is a short amount of time set up, and it could be incredibly powerful. Students can ask questions about upcoming tests, for example. 
 

This would also allow students to be available to one another throughout the evening and weekend. Students could post and or discuss a difficulty they are having with the content of a course they’re taking. 
 

Another con of social networking would be ‘the business’ aspect of it. “It is important to remember that many providers have commercial interests at heart,” warns Davies and Merchant (2007). Students can be exposed to advertising, or market researchers could be recording their preferences (Davies & Merchant, 2007).
 

After learning about a class Ning, it has me thinking that it sounds very similar to a class wiki: the collaborative aspect, the private classroom space online, and the powerfulness of it to engage students of today and tomorrow. 
 

References:

Abram, Stephen. (2007). Scaffolding the New Social Literacies.

Baloun, Karel M. (2007). Inside Facebook: Life Work and Visions of Greatness.

Victoria: Trafford Publishing.

Davies, M., & Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0 for schools. New York: Peter Lang.

Del Conte, Natali. The Best Social Network Sites for Students

http://www.wired.com/software/webservices/news/2007/08/student_networks

Habeeb, Scottt. (2009). Guidelines for using Ning in a school setting

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. 2nd Ed. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Animoto my photos

Tired of the same old… same old?  Looking for something new and exciting to try out with your students?  Well, hang on and let me show you...

This is Animoto..

Reflections on the process of learning about Animoto

I’ll admit that this week’s topic has left me once again wondering where I’ve been over that last few years and why I have not heard of these tools.  Now, I have heard of Animoto, but only just recently.  A classmate of mine used it for a wrap up project for a class I took this past summer. 

I was disappointed to learn that with Animoto you can only create 30 second videos (including 12 pictures) for free. For longer videos in ‘low res’ it costs 3 bucks and high res is more. You can sign up for an educator account.    This gives you all access for 6 months of use absolutely free! After that, it's $45 per year. The nice thing about the educator account is you can share the registration link with your students and they can sign up and get the same all access!

Learning how to use Animoto was pretty painless for the most part: sign up was easy, and getting started with creating was a sinch.  However, I ran into a big of a snag while working on my first project.  I had just finished uploading my 11^th slide when I accidentally clicked where I shouldn’t have and wound up loosing ten slides!  I ended up having to re-upload them, which was a bit of a pain.  Other than that the process was fairly smooth. 

This first project focused on my younger brother, Trent and his wife and child. Their anniversary is coming up, so I may email it off to them.    

Next, I delved into the photos from my cell phone camera.  For this one, I experimented with including video, text and effects, such as ‘spotlight.’

Discussion of multimedia sharing sites in terms of my own personal learning

I had a blast using Animoto.  It’s definitely a multimedia tool that I’ll use again in the future for personal use as well as with my students.    

When I was exposed to it the first time, a classmate was using it to showcase learning her learning over the term.  It was a great way to celebrate the learning in a fun appealing way.  It was very effective and powerful.  My poem was okay too.

Discussion of multimedia sharing sites in terms of teaching & learning

I can imagine tones of possibilities for Animoto for teaching and learning.  I think children would love to use a tool such as this, for any number of projects.  Valenza (2008) suggests using the "tool for any projects for which we'd formerly create a collage."   She describes the creation process as "the gathering of multiple pieces to create new context."

I think this tool would help us to enable children to become critical thinkers.  While I was creating mine, I really had to question which images would really help communicate the message I was trying to convey. I also had to consider what song would contribute to the video and compliment the images well.

One of the drawbacks currently would be the speed of our lab computers.  I could see this being a somewhat painful process.  For me to log onto a computer in the lab and log into my Outlook email takes almost a full five minutes!  So, using this tool, could be a tad frustrating for kids.   Even with my Mac and a variety of decent internet connections, it still seemed to freeze, even after it had been loaded.

Another issue to consider is copyright issues.  Students may not want to use the music that is available on the site, but rather a current popular song.  If they illegally download it and use it in their presentation are we condoning this piracy.  When I was working on my projects, I found that I could only access songs that I had not paid for.  Not sure why that is.

Another slight concern would be privacy.  My brother and his wife didn't consent for their photos to be used in such a manner and posted online.  But, lo and behold, here they are.  But, I guess in the classroom, we would have final say as to what is 'published.'

So, I'm curious... what program do you think will be used less often because of this tool?

References:

Valenza, Joyce. (2008). Announcing: Animoto for education. School Library Journal http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1560024356.html.

Wiki'd

Head down, full speed ahead is sometimes a great way to approach something new. That’s the approach I took to learning about wikis. It now seems somewhat appropriate, having learned that ‘wiki’ is actually derived from ‘wiki-wiki” a Hawaiian phrase meaning ‘quick.’ (Richardson, 2006, pp. 59). Appropriate, as well because I've learned that ideas sprout up quickly.

Reflections on the process of learning about Wikis

I have to admit, I’m fairly confident heading into this week’s blog entry, as the topic is a tool I’m pretty confident with: wikis! Over the past few years, Wikipedia has become a go-to site for many us (and our students) for learning quickly about a topic we want or need to know about. When I first started visiting it, I didn’t understand the collaborative aspect of the site. However, I was warned of this aspect by some friends.

Instead of starting with the “Wiki Trailfire” I started to dive right in, as if I was an expert already. So, I created a wiki for my class to discuss the novels I’m using for our “Grand Conversations” literature study. I drafted a permission letter for my students’ parents/guardians, and forwarded it to my principal (who was very excited about it), who sent it to ‘headquarters’ to be run by our FOIP and records manager. She was very helpful and assisted me in being thorough and clear throughout the letter.

Then I went through the “Wiki Trailfire” and visited some different wikis to learn about the possibilities of what we can do with wikis. The example of the camping trip (Wikis in Plain English) really struck a cord with me. I’m sure we’ve all been in that situation with endless emails back and forth about what to bring, and then when we do arrive, we’re missing key items, or have some items doubl or tripled up (what are we going to do with three clothes lines?)

Discussion of Wikis in terms of my own personal learning

I’ve used wikis tones in the past to learn new things. Well, that’s kind of a lie. I’ve used one wiki mainly to learn new things. Yep, you guessed it: Wikipedia. I just find the site so great for a quick little check in. For example, when you need to know what the local delicacies are in central Brazil, or what the flag of Croatia looks like.

However, that being said, I’ve only been on the consuming side of wikipedia. I’ve never added or edited content, until now that is.

For my class wiki, I have to admit, it’s been pretty exciting to see my students latch on to it and participate to no end. There have been hundreds of posts in only a few weeks. I started with initial discussion questions for each novel. Students began to join and respond to my initial posts. Then, without my encouragement, they started a new category and discussion for a book we’re using for a read-aloud.

Discussion of Wikis in terms of teaching & learning

My brain is whirling with possibilities and images. What will my class look like a year from now? A class blog, with a link to our class wiki? It makes me a bit sad that my position is finished at the end of October and that I won’t be able to explore this further.

For teaching, this has been a phenomenal tool for literature study, as I’ve mentioned above. We still have discussions at school, but this allows for even more thoughtful responses, and allows my students who are incredibly shy to find their voice and contribute their ideas to our discussions. That’s been one of the most powerful things I’ve witnessed.

I enjoy the whole ‘free labour’ aspect of wikis. Other people are doing work and I am able to use it to learn and/or teach. For example, lessons are being uploaded to http//:teacherslounge.editme.com (Richardson, 2006, pp.69). Another wiki, called “The Teacher’s Desk,” which I found at wetpaint.com contains great lessons as well at all levels. There’s also an area for discussion, but it has not been utilized.

Another great aspect for teaching and learning is it’s “up-to-date-ness” (Davies & Merchant, 2009, pp.93). Sites, such as Wikipedia are constantly being updated. It sure beats some of the out of date textbooks and books we have in our schools. Also, if there’s an error, or a vandal, it’s usually fixed within a few hours (Richardson, 2006, pp.61). There’s also a ‘revert’ function on most wikis, where you can undo a past user’s actions.

One concern would be the privacy issue. However, I set mine up to be private, so that only the students can log-in. Now, I do realize privacy can still be an issue, but I asked students not to post any identifying information (ie. full name, address, etc). These guidelines were also outlined in the letter to parents/guardians. I did ask them to create a user name that’s either their first name or something close to it, so that they would be easily identifiable to myself and their classmates.

Another concern I had was that students could post something inappropriate, or embarrassing, either intentionally or ignorantly. I had to set up expectation, and also trust that they would act appropriately within the confines of the wiki. Richardson (2006) points out that, “Wiki projects in schools have worked best when the teacher loosens the reins a bit and lets students manage the content of the site” (Richardson, pp. 65). So there is an element of trust in this context. One student did make a comment where he was critical of a character’s name. He, in a sense, was making fun of the name and was not in essence contributing to our efforts to thoughtfully discuss these books. Instead of me talking to him about it in school, or posting my thoughts on it, another student stepped up and politely pointed out that it wasn’t really a valid or thought-provoking comment.

Another concern for me about starting a class wiki was a worry that this would hinder my quest for a work/life balance. I worried that I’d need to check in a few times per night and moderate and monitor the discussions. However, as I mentioned previously that’s not the case. Students are moderating themselves. And, they are also posing their own questions/discussion threads. That being said, I do check in at least once a day and see how the discussions are going. Every couple days, I also throw in my own 2 cents to let them know I’m reading their posts and that I’m interested in the literature as well.

With these concerns in mind, the benefits far outweigh them. Richardson (2006) points out some of the skills students are learning by using a wiki: “Students are not only learning how to publish content; they are also learning how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance and more” (Richardson, pp.65). If this doesn’t sound like preparing our students for the future, I’m not sure what does.

In conclusion, I think wikis are a powerful tool to utilize. I look forward to using them to accomplish different purposes and to grow, collaborate and learn with my colleagues, as well as my students.

References:

Davies, M., & Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0 for schools. New York: Peter Lang.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. 2nd Ed. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Podcasting? Fantastic!

When you hear word podcast, visions of fishing rods striving to catch peas may pop into your mind. Well, you’re not even close. Think more radio broadcast, but recorded and made available for your listening pleasure (and viewing pleasure in the case of videoblogging and screencasting).

Reflections on the process of learning about Podcasting

I can tell that podcasting is a fairly new concept, as my Microsoft Word program is underlining the word! However, it seems like they have been around for awhile. I’m fairly comfortable with podcasts, but more on the side of ‘consuming/utilizing’ them and not so much with creating them. I subscribe to several podcasts from CBC, which are delivered to my ITunes podcast library weekly.

Now I’ve stepped to the other side of the fence and I’ve realized that creating them is not a difficult process. For creating mine, I chose to use GarageBand on my Mac, which was a fairly easy. Basically, all I had to do was hit record and go for it. However before hitting record, I planned out what I was going to say: short intro: reading of Halloween by Jerry Seinfeld and then short closing. I was hoping for a ‘one take’ process. However, I messed up on a line, and thought I’d need to start from the beginning. But, I just stopped recording, backed up to the end of the last ‘perfect’ sentence and then hit record again. After listening to the track, I was happy to hear that it was seamless. Can you tell where the seam is?

After recording it, I needed to export it into MP3 format, as it was still in GarageBand’s format. I then uploaded the file onto box.net so that I could link to it from my blog.

Discussion of Podcasting in terms of my own personal learning

I’ve used podcasts in the past to expand my own knowledge. To improve my French language skills, I’ve downloaded podcasts from “French Pod Class,” “Coffee Break French,” “One Thing a Day in French,” and lastly, “La Semaine Verte.” I would then listen to them either on my laptop, or on my IPod Shuffle. I could practice my French while on a long solo car ride, or while running, or doing mindless work.

I’ve also used podcasts to learn more about topics that interest me, such as investing (Good ole’ Suze Orman). I’ve also used podcasts to stay on top of current events and news. I find this especially helpful while traveling and don't have access to a TV. I would download the hourly or six o’clock news from CBC's website.

They can also be entertaining, such as “Definitely Not the Opera,” which is a mix of music, personal stories and discussion of current relevant pop-culture topics (ie. Social networking).

I can also use podcasts to learn about emerging technologies and how to incorporate them into my classroom practice. There are tonnes available at Dr. King's site, "Podcasts for teachers." Here, they have podcasts on everything from Twitter to help with podcasting.

Discussion of Podcasting in terms of teaching & learning

I have not utilized podcasts very much in my classroom as of now. However, I see the possibilities for utilizing podcasts in the elementary school context are pretty limitless. My class and I listened to an interview with our favourite author, Trenton Lee Stewart.

I have used it in the University context as well: I used a podcast from CBC’s “Definitely Not the Opera” during a presentation to teach my classmates about dialects.

As my discussion group and I mentioned during the week, podcasts can be used to bridge the gap from school to home. Podcasts of new French vocabulary can be posted on a class website and then can be downloaded to be utilized at home. This is especially useful to parents who are not fluent in French.

Podcasts can also be used to promote reading. When students present a ‘book talk’ at school we can record it and turn it into a podcast, which can be accessed later for students who may be interested in the same book.

Braun (2007) suggests recording public speakers, performances, and interviews. (pp. 15). This allows students to revisit the event, or for people who could not attend to experience it.

Richardson (2009) suggests that, “Social studies teachers could have their students do oral histories or interviews or reenactments of historical events” (pp. 117). He also suggests that, “Science teachers could have students narrate labs or dissections or experiments to record their progress” (Richardson, 2009, pp.117). I think that these suggestions would definitely enhance student learning, partially I think because it would increase the motivation of the students.

As far as cons go, I couldn't think of or track down many of them. One would be the whole privacy aspect, once again, which always is a concern. For example, if we're posting students' names and podcasts on our school's or class' site it could be a cause for concern. Another con would arise when we want students to utilize our podcasts at home. It "requires them to have access to the technology at the time they want to interact with the material; unlike a written lecture, which they can.. review at their leisure. (Neidorf, Robin., (2006), pp. 106). In other words: if a student doesn't have a computer, or access to the internet, this poses a challenge.

So, in conclusion, podcasting, I believe, will continue to be used as a device to educate and to learn. More and more, I think teachers will begin to incorporate them more and more into not only teaching, but also for student projects, and for class websites.

Works Cited

Braun, Linda W. (2007). Listen Up! Podcasting for Schools and Libraries. Information Today: Medford, New Jersey.

Neidord, Robin. (2006). Teach Beyond Your Reach. Library of Congress: Medford, New Jersey.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. 2nd Ed. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Delicious Social Bookmarking

Brilliant! How have I not heard of this before? What rock have I been living under?

"What a benefit it would be if one could see all the bookmarks that had been created by other, like-minded users" (Eastment, 2008, pp.217).

This is delicious!

Reflections on the process of learning about Social Bookmarking

Out of the many different social bookmarking sites, I decided to go with ‘Delicious’ as it seemed to be the fairly popular and fairly user friendly. You don’t even need to enter your e-mail address! How great is that?

I found the “Social Bookmarking” trailfire helpful to wrap my mind around this tool, especially the YouTube video. The possibilities of various uses personally and professionally began to swim in my mind.

Once I was signed up, I chose to import my bookmarks from my computer. However, I ended up deleting them all, as I ran into a few issues. One being that some of my bookmarks are to sites that no long exist (ie. an expired property listing for a huge loft downtown with exposed brick). Also, when I imported my bookmarks, all of the sites that Firefox and Mac include were also listed. So, I wound up with a ton of sites, and none of them were ‘tagged.’ The last issue was that some of bookmarks were sites that I didn’t want anyone to know I had bookmarked (ie. Miley Cyrus’s Official fan site). Hence, the cleanse! (Which, by the way, was a complicated process. I had to delete them ten at a time! Unless there’s an option I’ve missed). Now, I do know that you can ‘private’ some bookmarks, but I didn’t feel like sorting through the hundreds. Once I was free of everything, I began to bookmark once more, making sure to tag accurately.

Discussion of Social Bookmarking in terms of my own personal learning

Have you every started googling a topic you're interested in and soon become off on a tangent, surfing from useful to useless to mediocre sites. Well, with Delicious, I can simply type in a key word and I can come up with sites that others have checked out and decided were important/useful enough to bookmark! As Richardson (2000) puts it, we can "tap into the work of others to support our own learning" (pp.101)

When I'm interested in a certain topic, Delicious will help me to investigate the topic and keep me updated as to the latest writings on this topic. It's as if someone else is doing the googling/work/research for us!

I was curious about the potential drawbacks or weak points of social bookmarking. One negative point in using this is that it “means storing data in yet another location that you have to maintain and update.” (Bryant, 2005, pp.2). Another potential pitfall would be “inconsistent or otherwise poor use of tags" (Bryant, 2005, pp.2) Bryant uses the example of someone bookmarking a site on the breed of dog known as greyhound. If someone only tagged it with ‘greyhound’ and not ‘greyhound’ and ‘dog’ then there is going to be a mix up in terms of categories. One final potential pitfall is that the bookmarks “reflect the values of the community of users [and] there is a risk of presenting a skewed view of the value of any particular topic” (Bryant, 2005, pp.2)

I think this is would be a phenomenal tool to utilize while traveling, especially on extended trips where you don’t have access to your personal computer. For example, if you were backpacking across Europe and stopped in at an internet café, you could log into the social bookmarking site and see all of your links. You can cut down on your time spent online because everything you need will be a simple click away, and plus, you’ll have a reminder of what needs to be taken care of (ie. a payment, a pending reservation, etc).

Discussion of Social Bookmarking in terms of teaching & learning

The possibility to incorporate Social bookmarking into my teaching to help student learning is almost limitless. As mentioned in the YouTube clip, "Social Bookmarking in plain English" a teacher could collect sites associated with a unit of study (ie. Multiplication). This process will be made easier because of bookmarking other teachers have already done. Then, as the students progress through the unit they can access these sites to aide their learning.

When working from home, I often find sites that I would like to visit or would like my students to visit at school. I often email them to myself, or try to find them again by using google, which can be a bit of a pain. With Delicious, now I can just bookmark it at home and easily access it at school and share it.

The options for collaboration with teachers in your school, the district, the city and the entire world are endless. Our world is truly becoming global and well do they say it takes a village..

Works Cited

Bryant, T. (2005) 7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking. www.educause.edu/eli

Eastment, Diana. (2008). ELT Journal Advance Access. pp.217-219

Richardson, W., (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. 2nd Ed. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA. pp. 89-98.