How might you use this tool in your personal and professional life?
Sometimes it seems like Google seeks total world domination, but Google Docs is a great product for true collaboration. It streamlines the process and lets even the most casual computer user become a competent user. I think that most work in the future will be team-based, since everyone will be connected to each other and to every possible source of information. But now we are in a transition time and I think that schools are much slower to change than business or individuals. Still, the ability to work together at home and at school using Google Docs should be explored by students and teachers.
What issues come to mind about using this tool with students (ie, they need email addresses to log-in)?
I am concerned with the digital divide; not every student has access to a home computer. It also takes maturity to focus on homework when using the computer (even for me who still sometimes takes a Solitaire break) though I guess students would be multi-tasking. Also there must be a way to keep students accountable for their individual work in a group project without too much effort on the teacher's part. Maybe Google Docs could keep track of when a person signs in and how long they stay on the site. Plus the issue of student e-mail addresses and other privacy/security issues, though I do not think there would be bandwidth issues which is the beauty of the Cloud.
Monday, August 23, 2010
14 Things
What did you join? Why?
I was already a beginner level member of Facebook (less than 30 friends) mostly to stay in touch with relatives and friends that I do not see often. It's a fun way to see what is going on with various people, but again has the potential to use a lot of time. I had one of the best experiences of my life this summer, thanks to FaceBook. My best friend from childhood contacted me and we arranged to meet when I was in Florida this summer. We had not seen in each in close to 40 years and had a 4 hour lunch catching up with each other. It was simply magical.
Has your opinion about social networking changed since working on this Thing?
Not really. I am by nature a private person and so I had already turned off most of the settings that allowed anyone to see my info. The news story about the new superintendent in East or South Windsor was shocking to me; that an adult could be so careless and not realize that FB is not as private as one might think was unbelievable. So that reinforced my caution.
What do you see as the educational possibilities (if any) for social networking?
Social networking could be another way to share information, but I might want to use it for purely personal reasons and use other platforms (like Delicious) for professional purposes. Though I am thinking that younger generations won't make such a distinction, I think it will work for me.
I was already a beginner level member of Facebook (less than 30 friends) mostly to stay in touch with relatives and friends that I do not see often. It's a fun way to see what is going on with various people, but again has the potential to use a lot of time. I had one of the best experiences of my life this summer, thanks to FaceBook. My best friend from childhood contacted me and we arranged to meet when I was in Florida this summer. We had not seen in each in close to 40 years and had a 4 hour lunch catching up with each other. It was simply magical.
Has your opinion about social networking changed since working on this Thing?
Not really. I am by nature a private person and so I had already turned off most of the settings that allowed anyone to see my info. The news story about the new superintendent in East or South Windsor was shocking to me; that an adult could be so careless and not realize that FB is not as private as one might think was unbelievable. So that reinforced my caution.
What do you see as the educational possibilities (if any) for social networking?
Social networking could be another way to share information, but I might want to use it for purely personal reasons and use other platforms (like Delicious) for professional purposes. Though I am thinking that younger generations won't make such a distinction, I think it will work for me.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Thing 13
Where did you create your account - Diigo or Delicious? Why?
I already had a Delicious account from a previous class. I considered Diigo, but I am just not that social yet. I feel that I already spend a lot of time on the computer and I think that Diigo, with its communities and message sending capabilites, would be a big time user. I think that Delicious is all that I can handle right now.
Reflect on how you think social bookmarking can be used in your teaching.
It is a great way for teachers to share websites with each other and with students. I have seen teachers give out web addresses to students to type into their computers with mixed results; one misplaced letter throws everything off. A teacher or a team could have a Delicious account to keep track of all their relevant web sites. Students could also use Delicious instead of My Favorites to have better access to websites. I just worry about middle school students handling the social aspects...
I already had a Delicious account from a previous class. I considered Diigo, but I am just not that social yet. I feel that I already spend a lot of time on the computer and I think that Diigo, with its communities and message sending capabilites, would be a big time user. I think that Delicious is all that I can handle right now.
Reflect on how you think social bookmarking can be used in your teaching.
It is a great way for teachers to share websites with each other and with students. I have seen teachers give out web addresses to students to type into their computers with mixed results; one misplaced letter throws everything off. A teacher or a team could have a Delicious account to keep track of all their relevant web sites. Students could also use Delicious instead of My Favorites to have better access to websites. I just worry about middle school students handling the social aspects...
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Thing 12 post
Is tagging a useful way to organize your digital resources and why?
I think tagging has great potential to be helpful for personal and educational situations. I have many favorite websites at home and at school and I try to keep them organized, but it seems to be a losing battle. Generating useful tags will help people doing keyword searches because the idea is the same. I think that trying to be not too specific and not to general when creating a tag can be learned over time. I do like the hint of seeing what others use for their tags. You don't want to be so unique that no one else follows your thought process.
What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages?
As a librarian, it seems radical to let just anyone create tags...what about the official LOC subject headings? What about looking for 'cars' when the correct subject heading is 'automobiles'? What would Dewey say??? The advantage is that ordinary people can help organize the Internet and not wait for professionals. However, one disadvantage is that taggers could be ignorant or even deceitful, so I wonder if there is anything like an authority file. Or will bad tags self-extinguish since no one else will follow them? But anything that helps to organize the Internet is a good thing.
What is important to think about before assigning tags to bookmarks or other Internet content?
You want to be clear and concise and free from bias or judgement. You also want to be on the border between too general and too specific, but that point can be helped by assigning numerous tags. I wonder if there is a perfect number of tags per site, or a recommended number?
I think tagging has great potential to be helpful for personal and educational situations. I have many favorite websites at home and at school and I try to keep them organized, but it seems to be a losing battle. Generating useful tags will help people doing keyword searches because the idea is the same. I think that trying to be not too specific and not to general when creating a tag can be learned over time. I do like the hint of seeing what others use for their tags. You don't want to be so unique that no one else follows your thought process.
What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages?
As a librarian, it seems radical to let just anyone create tags...what about the official LOC subject headings? What about looking for 'cars' when the correct subject heading is 'automobiles'? What would Dewey say??? The advantage is that ordinary people can help organize the Internet and not wait for professionals. However, one disadvantage is that taggers could be ignorant or even deceitful, so I wonder if there is anything like an authority file. Or will bad tags self-extinguish since no one else will follow them? But anything that helps to organize the Internet is a good thing.
What is important to think about before assigning tags to bookmarks or other Internet content?
You want to be clear and concise and free from bias or judgement. You also want to be on the border between too general and too specific, but that point can be helped by assigning numerous tags. I wonder if there is a perfect number of tags per site, or a recommended number?
Thing 11
Are you getting comfortable with embedding code? All I had to do was cut and paste, so I am quite comfortable. But I don't think I know how to fix it if anything was wrong, so that is one downside.
How can widgets enhance your instructional practices? I mostly think of widgets as cute or fun extras. On my iGoogle homepage, I have the Daily Puppy, which always makes me smile. I liked the PBS examples, but some of the other educational widgets seemed questionable or silly. I really like the creativity that so many people have expressed in making and posting widgets. It would take time to find widgets that are useful without being distractions.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Thing 10 post
What is the value of Twitter?
I don't have a smart phone, so all my tweeting would be done from home and so I think that would be boring. And I am not really that curious about what other people are doing; however I would be a follower of a business or restaurant if it got me free stuff. And for school, it could be interesting to follow an author or a scientist, or arrange for a question and answer session.
Select one of the sites that you explored from The Best of the Web 2008 or Time's 50 Best Websites of 2009. What did you like or dislike about the tool? What were the site’s useful features? Could you see any educational applications for it?
For personal use, I tried Supercook and was very happy to find recipes. It was very easy to use and conected to the actual recipe. I can imagine joining this site and having it keep track of all my ingredients so that I always have new recipes to try. For school, it could be used for a FACS or health class. I also looked at Get High Now which has fascinating audio and visual illusions, plus it explains the brain science behind them. Very very cool, but an unfortunate title that would provoke giggles in middle school. I peeked at World Wide Telescope, but did not want to download the program it needed right now. However, it did appear to have amazing visuals and commentary from teachers and scientists. I bet this could be very valuable in science classes!
I don't have a smart phone, so all my tweeting would be done from home and so I think that would be boring. And I am not really that curious about what other people are doing; however I would be a follower of a business or restaurant if it got me free stuff. And for school, it could be interesting to follow an author or a scientist, or arrange for a question and answer session.
Select one of the sites that you explored from The Best of the Web 2008 or Time's 50 Best Websites of 2009. What did you like or dislike about the tool? What were the site’s useful features? Could you see any educational applications for it?
For personal use, I tried Supercook and was very happy to find recipes. It was very easy to use and conected to the actual recipe. I can imagine joining this site and having it keep track of all my ingredients so that I always have new recipes to try. For school, it could be used for a FACS or health class. I also looked at Get High Now which has fascinating audio and visual illusions, plus it explains the brain science behind them. Very very cool, but an unfortunate title that would provoke giggles in middle school. I peeked at World Wide Telescope, but did not want to download the program it needed right now. However, it did appear to have amazing visuals and commentary from teachers and scientists. I bet this could be very valuable in science classes!
Thing 9 post
It always comes down to theory vs practice for me; I am so excited by the possibilites of Web 2.0 in teaching and learning, from K to college, for finding information, collaborating and creating exciting projects, but how does a school transition to this new world? I would love to have students work together on multimedia projects, sharing the planing, writing, editing, and visual tasks, but how to assess, how to make certain everyone contribures and what to do about students without their own resources are just a few problems that jump out. But maybe all it takes is one teacher and one small pilot project...
I think that most educators feel that they are covered by "fair use" because they operate in an educational, not a commercial, enviroment. We can make sure that sources are always cited (any visual in a PowerPoint, for example, or any background music) and that students learn about Creative Commons. Hopefully once they learn how to protect their own creations, they will be less likely to steal (borrow without attibution) the creative works of others. Or will the 'cut and paste' mentality be such a part of their digital experiences that it will not be seen as wrong? I do not know.
I think that most educators feel that they are covered by "fair use" because they operate in an educational, not a commercial, enviroment. We can make sure that sources are always cited (any visual in a PowerPoint, for example, or any background music) and that students learn about Creative Commons. Hopefully once they learn how to protect their own creations, they will be less likely to steal (borrow without attibution) the creative works of others. Or will the 'cut and paste' mentality be such a part of their digital experiences that it will not be seen as wrong? I do not know.
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