The "Webbies": Recognizing the Ups and Downs of the Journey

photo © 2009 Veronica | more info (via: Wylio)
 Hello and welcome to Miss Nielsen’s “Webby” awards!  This week I will be discussing the highlights (and lowlights) of my journey through the land of Web 2.0 over the past couple of months.  It has been, at times, a long and arduous trip, but looking back on my exploration I can safely say that I have learned A LOT about web 2.0 tools and their application to me both in my personal life and in the classroom.  Of course, I could not have made it alone, this journey has been made a little easier with the support of my fellow travellers (full disclosure: some were people, some were bottles of red wine).  So, to my classmates, professor and local liquor store employees I must extend a warm thank you.  Without further adieu, here are my picks for the inaugural edition of the "Webbies":

photo © 2009 c__ | more info (via: Wylio)

Most Likely to Succeed

Throughout this journey I have tried to stay as connected to the real-world of the classroom as possible.  One of the most important aspects of this course for me was the fact that it required me to take the time to fully explore and use these technologies, a crucial element of the process that most teachers do not have the luxury of experiencing.  Surprisingly, when I reflect upon the tool that is most likely to stick with me beyond the course, blogging comes to mind.  I know that I will continue to use blogging in some capacity in the future.  I would like to continue to blog in a professional manner about tools and my learning as I progress through my masters program and I will definitely explore blogging for my classroom and with my students when I return to teaching in the fall.  Some honourable mentions in this category include my newfound Diigo account for the convenience and organization it offers me no matter what computer I am working on and my Google Reader, which has become my best friend this term (but, more on that later).  

Least Likely to Succeed

Conversely, there are some tools that I do not see having immediate impact on my teaching.  While I loved learning about using social networking in the schools, Facebook is not a tool I will use in my teaching in the near future.  I am slightly torn on the concept since I think it makes sense to leverage a tool that students are already using, but I just can't get over the blurry private/public line that emerges when you invite students into the mix.  I loved exploring Edmodo, I thought it was a great tool that I will share with the junior high teachers at my school, but I wonder if it would be just another thing to keep track of.

Most Powerful Teaching Moment

Hands down, the best teaching experience I had during this process was the afternoon I spent doing some "guerrilla" podcasting with a group of grade sevens.  It was unbelievable to see (and hear) what came out of a mere two and a half hours of class time on a Friday afternoon.  In this time we went through the process of introducing the concept of podcasting, listening to some examples, brainstorming ideas, recording segments and putting it all together into a finished product just as the bell rang.  We had an afternoon together full of laughs and I think the students felt empowered to have me work alongside them with their ideas rather than fulfill a traditional teacher role.  It made me smile when the homeroom teacher of this class informed me that the host of this particular example was normally a fairly quiet, reserved member of his class:

In this introductory afternoon, we mostly focused on the process and skills required for podcasting (such as getting the hang of Aviary's Myna audio editor) but there are so many ways I can see podcasting as a valuable classroom tool to meet and enhance curriculum objectives.  Students could create podcasts on a variety of purposes such as broadcasting school/classroom news, planning and recording debates, audio tours, character profiles for literature, virtual field trips and interviews are just a few ideas that come to mind.  It also represents a relatively safe way to represent students on the Internet without images or video; voices only (with pseudonyms) will assist in obtaining the green-light from even the most squeamish administration or parents.  Podcasting is definitely a tool I will utilize when I make my return to the classroom next fall.  

Most Frustrating Roadblock

The first tool I explored in this journey was the photo sharing site Flickr.  I enjoyed learning about the tool and was amazed at the massive amounts of Creative Commons licensed content on the site for students to use in the wide variety of school projects they complete these days that contain photos.  I was excited about the tool and talked to a few teacher friends about the potential of the site.  One friend of mine that teaches for a large school board in the area was excited about it as well and wanted to have her grade three students use images from the site for a research project she was planning.  She was dismayed to find that the site was blocked in her school and asked her principal about it.  He also saw the value in such a tool and sent an inquiry into the tech department for the district to ask why.  This is the correspondence that ensued (names have been changed):

Hi James, 

Any chance we can get www.flickr.com (sign in) link unblocked?  We are trying to upload pictures to this site that we would like to link from our school's website.  We would also like to access the vast amount of Creative Commons licensed content on the site.

Thanks

John

Hi John, 

The login for this site, is a yahoo login for groups also, groups that subscribe to gambling, occult, pornography etc. Opening this up proposes a serious risk can you suggest an alternative site.

The login site also was compramized last year and credentials stolen, can you suggest another way to share photos.

Thanks,

James

That was it, end of conversation.  Just like that, the site was deemed inappropriate with no consideration to its potential.  This is a story that is being played out, again and again, in districts everywhere over a wide variety of tools and sites.  I think this push and pull between teachers wishing to use various web 2.0 technologies in their classroom and district red-tape is going to continue to escalate as we move forward.  One of the best quotes I came across during my journey on this issue comes from Danah Boyd:

“All too often we blame the technology for problematic human behaviours. We fail to recognize that technology makes them more visible but the human behaviours are rooted in larger issues. In turn, we treat the symptoms rather than the disease. The solution is not to bandaid the problems by taking away or limiting the technologies, but to make the world a better place from the inside out.” 

 Will Richardson (2010) adds to the discussion:

"The other alternative, of course, is to teach students the skills they need to navigate the darker side of the Web safely and effectively.... My students and I spent a good deal of time talking about how responsible use meant not just refraining from actively seeking out these inappropriate sites, but also reacting appropriately when they were happened upon." (p.12-13)

And, William Kist (2010): 

"So, whether due to scripted curricula that leave no room for new media or whether due to schools' fears of new media or educators' lack of knowledge, many students are left to do their networking after school, often without adult supervision." (p.6)

As 21st century educators it is our job to prepare students for success in the future (even if we're not sure what that will be yet).  A big part of this is teaching our students how to be responsible digital citizens and to use critical thinking skills to evaluate and discern good or appropriate sites from others, something they cannot practice in overly sheltered environments.

Most Confusing Dilemma

When I think about using these tools in my teaching, I am a little worried about overload.  I love the idea of maintaining a classroom blog, perhaps even extending it to individual student blogs for my primary students (in time).  I also love the idea of a class wiki to invite collaboration and am intrigued by the possibility of using Edmodo.  I would love to broadcast podcasts and use tools such as Voicethread to share with potential audiences.  What I have not quite sorted out however, is exactly what I'm going to do.  Do I maintain a class wiki AND blog?  Do I branch out and have students blog individually or keep it all together?  I wonder about how all this technology will be received by the parents.  Will it be too much, too fast?  Too much for them (and me) to keep up with?  Too confusing?  Unfortunately, there are no easy answers or "how-to" videos on YouTube to guide me in this dilemma.  I suppose the only solution is to take a deep breath and recognize that these are things that will build in time, slowly scaffolding each tool into practice with lots of communication with colleagues, students and parents throughout the process.  

Most Likely to be Shared With (and Appreciated by) Colleagues

When I return to the classroom next fall I know that I will be looked upon by administration to share my knowledge with my colleagues.  My excitement for this is high, right now my brain is buzzing with the potential of all these tools and the powerful learning experiences and connections that can take place when implementing them.  But... then I remember what it is like to be in the middle of a school year with all sorts of things thrown at you from every direction: new curriculum, Individual Program Plans, Christmas concert, parent-teacher interviews, behaviour issues, extra-curricular clubs and sports to run (and the list goes on and on and on).  Suddenly, the fresh-faced colleague returning from her year-leave at university with all these "amazing ideas" comes in and shows you a million confusing things that just sound like more work.  For this reason, I think it will be important to choose very carefully which tools I will share and the pace in which I share them.  I think a good place to start would be in sharing some of the presentation tools I explored as a part of this class and some I had worked with on my own prior to this term.  Tools such as Animoto, Voicethread, Glogster and Storybird allow students to create very impressive, powerful products that students love to create and can be shared immediately with parents with high-impact.  They also have the potential to be seamlessly integrated into projects that teachers may already have planned for their students.  At my school students complete at least one independent study each year in which they create a product of their choice.  Teaching students to use these tools would give them more options when it comes to the products so we are not seeing Powerpoints or posters again and again.  Then, if teachers want to know how to share their successes with these projects I can show them how to start a class blog or wiki, and then, if they want to know how to aggregate the feeds from all their class blogs, I can show them that, and then if they want to know how to..... Anyway, you get the picture: baby steps with lots of support to help ensure that my colleagues begin (or continue to) bring some elements of these technologies into their teaching.  

(As I was reviewing the final draft of this blog post, this interesting link popped up on my Twitter: 10 tips for starting a technology revolution in your school - a perfect example of how Twitter is bringing relevant information to my fingertips! - see below).

Most Surprising Tool

My exploration of Twitter was by far the most surprising to me throughout the process.  Before this course I had absolutely no idea of the potential that Twitter holds for creating and extending professional learning networks.  I had this preconception of this tool to be a trivial waste of time.  I will continue to use Twitter after the course, and I hope to extend my role beyond that of a lurker; I will work towards adding to the conversation to give those that have chosen to follow me something of value!  

Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

My Google Reader, hands down, wins this award.  When I was required to set this up in September I had no idea how much of an impact this would make on my life.  My Google Reader has become my "personal assistant" throughout this journey and I will ABSOLUTELY continue to use it to bring the Web to me.  The ability to log on and view my "Daily Me" has been a key method in avoiding information overload!

photo © 2008 mollypop | more info (via: Wylio)
Packing up and going home... as this course draws to a close I wonder about how I will continue to stay connected to research and information about Web 2.0 tools.  Through our class discussion boards I have "met" other educators who, like me, are passionate about finding a place for these tools in our schools, libraries and classrooms.  I'm sure that, in one way or another, we will continue to stay connected and I know that I can turn to them with questions I may have as I continue my journey without the training wheels.  My Google Reader brings me new insights, information and tools to my fingertips each day and Twitter provides a wealth of links, bursts of information and a network of helpful, like-minded educators at my beck and call.  As this post (and class!) comes to an end I reflect upon some final findings:

In the Networked Student, a vision of a truly connected, 21st century learner is presented.  To me, this is the type of learner I would like to be a part of creating, and this would begin with using web 2.0 tools collectively and collaboratively even in the primary grades.

This video also addresses the important question of the changing role of the teacher in true 21st century learning environments.  The teacher...

• teaches him how to build this network and take advantage of learning opportunities
• offers guidance and models how to communicate properly on the web
• teaches him how to differentiate between good information
• helps him organize the mounds of information he comes across

If the teacher acts effectively in this newly defined role, he or she will be helping to develop in their students "the skills he will need to solve the worlds problems – to maintain his learning network and use it to navigate his future and creatively solve the world's problems".  To me, this is a powerful revelation. These skills would go a long way towards preparing our students for their future, even if we're not sure what jobs will exist by then.  

At the beginning of my journey one of the main things I was concerned about was how to effectively integrate new technologies into the classroom; not simply using them because they are new and flashy, but ensuring that they are grounded in knowledge of good pedagogy and best teaching practices.  It is critical that we collaborate and plan activities that incorporate these technologies that do not simply repackage traditional learning activities.

photo © 2009 Lloyd Morgan | more info (via: Wylio)
When I began this journey, I felt as though I was looking up on a gigantic, nearly insurmountable staircase.  The amazing amount of discovery and learning I have experienced over the past couple of months has done a lot to make that staircase seem a lot less steep and scary.  I feel that this is truly only the beginning of my true journey, but now I feel that I can enjoy the scenery a little more as I go.  

Putting it all out there... a newbie bloggers journey

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.”

-Greg Anderson

First Impressions

Blogging - The act of writing a blog which is short for web log. It's a user generated website written as a diary or journal. Subjects for blogging include commentary on politics or current events, recipes, or anything of interest to the 'blogger'

Before this course and it's mandatory weekly blog assignment 'blogging' was self-defined in my head as "a process for intelligent, creative people with worthwhile ideas to use to share with interested audiences."  Putting myself in that category was out of the question.  I've never considered myself to be a strong writer and I have always been fairly average in all my endeavours and personality traits; I'm not particularly funny, creative or intelligent.  Consequently, the idea of blogging and putting myself out there was petrifying.  Fears and questions swirled in my head:

• What will I write about? (technically, this question had an easy resolution due to assigned topics each week)
• Who will read? (anybody other than my professor or colleagues?)
• What will people think of me? (will I be thought of as intelligent? witty? knowledgable? a rookie? inspiring? annoying? promising?)

Of course, with this blog there is also the fact that it is graded every week looming over my head as well, making me watch every word even further.  All of these factors led to some severe writer's block.  After all, in the real world my personality has always been more of an introspective "thinker".  In my university classes I will more often listen rather than speak up.  Why?  I believe for some of the same fears and concerns I experienced when preparing to blog.  Once something is said, it's out there for challenge and criticism by others, and, often, the ideas formed in my head do not translate well to my mouth for intelligent response.  This is where blogging intensifies this effect: once your ideas are posted in black and white on the web, that's it, it's out there in the web archives forever!  It's open to comment and criticism from not just a handful of fellow classmates but to a potential worldwide audience of people much more savvy with these topics.  

Bringing it Home

Before beginning my discussion on the basic process I followed to get started with blogging I think it is necessary to have a quick discussion about RSS.  RSS is a concept that I had no idea about before beginning this course.  Sure, I had seen the orange button on many sites, but never knew what to do with it.  This video helps explain the basics:

Will Richardson (2010) calls RSS the "new killer app for educators" (p. 71).  RSS gives you and your students the ability to "read more content from more sources in less time" (p.72).  The ability to bring the materials that interest you on the web to you is the power of Really Simple Syndication.  Using my Google account I was able to quickly set up a feed aggregator in Google Reader.  By simply pasting the URL of my favourite blogs into the "add a subscription" button, I made certain any updates would show up in one place.  My "Daily Me" now waits for me every time I log on to my laptop.  I make sure to spend ten minutes out of my day to skim the contents of my Reader for new and interesting posts.  I can star them for later or click to follow to the site if my interest is piqued.  I have also created some folders in my Reader.  I have a folder for personal or hobby reading and one that contains only the updates from my fellow classmate's blogs.  That way, if I only have two minutes to check my Reader, I can ignore the personal reading and focus right on the essentials.  

RSS has helped minimize my overwhelmed feelings towards the massive amount of information that is out there.  My Google Reader ensures that if something interesting or groundbreaking in my areas of interest is happening out there, chances are, I'll know about it.  

Upon the encouragement of my professor, I began my journey into blogging by searching out a few blogs of interest to follow.  I was encouraged as I read through the amazing ideas and insights of these educators making a difference in the world of educational technology.  By following their blogs for the last few months (and correspondingly; many of the same people on Twitter as well) I feel as though I have come to know their viewpoints and personalities.  A very small sample of the blogs that I have really connected to include:

• Lee Kolbert's GeekyMomma's Blog - I enjoy Lee's blog for a couple of reasons.  First, it is clear her posts are grounded in the real-world, day-to-day happenings of the classroom, something that it is somewhat rare in this genre.   The confessions laid out in her post entitled "I'm Not Who You Think I Am" had me laughing out loud in recognition and agreement.  And that's another thing: she's funny with a purpose, a good balance of thought-provoking ideas and humour that I can connect with.  

• Will Richarson's Weblogg-ed - It is not surprising that the creator of our base textbook for this course extends his ideas on the web.  Richardson provides thoughtful musings and intelligent discussion on a variety of topics surrounding the Read/Write web.  One post I found rather encouraging is one where Richardson (a guru in my eyes and the eyes of many) echoes many of the same self-conscious feelings I have about blogging.  He discusses the angst he still experiences when pressing publish but adds in this encouraging quote: "one thing I do know is that when I write with a humility of not knowing I get a lot more learning in return."  This is to become my new mantra I think!

• Bill Ferritier's The Tempered Radical - Ferritier's wiki Digitally Speaking has become an invaluable wealth of resources for me throughout this course, so it is no surprise that his blog is another source of good ideas.  [Side note, I was so intrigued with his ideas and practical suggestions for integrating web 2.0 tools in the classroom I recently purchased a copy of Teaching the iGeneration (and it is awesome too!)].

Another source of excellent reading came to my attention when I stumbled upon the Edublog's awards site.  A collection of winners (and shortlisted nominees) for categories including best individual blog, most influential blog post and best teacher blog provided endless amounts of new and interesting content to check out.  And, there's always Edublog's list of elementary/primary blogs.

The actual act of starting my blog was a remarkably simple process.  By clicking my way to Blogger, inputting a few bits of information to create a profile and a page name and I was ready to post my ideas for all to see.  Creating posts in Blogger is remarkably easy, the text editor has many of the same features as the word processing software on my computer.  A couple of times I have had minor issues with formatting: occasionally font sizes and types went wonky and sometimes spaces appear where they shouldn't, but these are minor, cosmetic issues.  Embedding a large variety of multimedia projects using html code is seamless on Blogger and images and video upload perfectly.  Throughout the term, I have made some gains towards finding my blogging voice, but thinking of a clever "hook" and weaving it throughout my post is something that continues to be a struggle.  I look towards blogging after this course and I do think I will.  In some ways, I think it will be easier and less forced than my current assignments are.  I also think it will be less threatening to post shorter bits of information and thoughts or reflections that pop into my head after a lesson in my classroom or using a new tool without having to be graded on the whole affair.  However, one downside to this would be the collapse of my current readership - my classmates and professor are unlikely to continue reading when it is not required.  I think I will look ahead to blogging for more personal reasons at first; my blog will be a "parking lot" for my ideas, reflections, projects and new things I find interesting.  Perhaps it may evolve into something else that people may actually wish to read, but until then, I think it is important for me to keep up the practice.

Bringing it to School

Now that I have been blogging for a while this week it was time to start thinking about how I can use blogging for my classroom and with my students.  There is an endless amount of examples and information on the web about this subject so my task this week was to explore what is out there, reflect on my trials and errors and consider how to integrate the practices of blogging with my students.

First of all, before considering actually getting the students blogging, I wanted to consider the ways in which keeping a classroom blog would benefit my classroom.  George Couros is an innovative principal at a school in Stony Plain, Alberta.  He maintains an excellent blog entitled The Principal of Change.  In a recent post he shared a compiled list of ideas for teachers wishing to connect with students and families through blogging.  Categories for the many responses include student discussion, home-school connections and celebrating classroom successes.  The end of the document contains an impressive list of   classroom blog examples and collections of links.  It is a great place to get started when thinking about blogging for your classroom.

Dean Shareski, a Digital Learning Consultant for a school board in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan recently wrote a post on his Ideas and Thoughts blog about the importance of teacher blogging as a form of reflective practice.  He makes an interesting point regarding teachers that blog in the following quote:

"There’s a natural transparency that emerges. The teachers who blog as professionals in this reflective manner in my district invite anyone to look into their classrooms and you can get a picture of what happens on a daily basis. This goes a long way in addressing accountability concerns."

Teaching can be a truly thankless job.  Traditionally, what happens inside the classroom and school walls is not often brought to the attention of stakeholders (unless, of course, it receives negative feedback).  I see blogging from your classroom as an opportunity to promote yourself and the amazing things your students are doing within those walls.  Inviting parents to comment on content you post and continually updating them on the events of their child's day goes a long way towards establishing open lines of communication.  It is also an amazing way to share resources with other interested teachers.  For the past six years I have taught in a school where there was only one class of each grade.  I longed for the collaboration that came from the "grade group" learning communities my friends at other schools had.  I found myself searching the internet for resources more and more often.  I now see blogging as a way to give back - to put my great ideas and successes out there for others to use and adapt.

The benefits of blogging do not end with the teacher as author.  Getting your students writing blogs can open up a whole world of experience for them.  To me, the magic of student's using a blog to publish their writing lies in the authentic audience it provides.  Students are no longer simply writing in a scribbler for the teacher's opinion, but for a potential global audience.  The following video features Kathy Cassidy, an inspiring educator from Moosejaw, Saskatchewan that is incorporating many new technoloied to create a powerful learning environment for her grade one students.  I must note that in another video featuring an interview with Cassidy, she describes herself as "not a technologically person"!

What I like about this video and the peek inside Cassidy's classroom is the fact that the technology seems to be integrated seamlessly into pedagogically sound teaching practices.  Technology is the tool that facilitates these amazing connections and activities, yet the focus remains on the skills of good writing and interaction.  Cassidy's classroom blog contains posts that highlight happenings and projects in the classroom and each student has a simple blog that is linked off of this page.  Student blogs are simple, just what you would expect from a grade one child.  They blog about what they will be for Halloween or even embed an image they have created that shows a pattern in 4 different ways.  Students are connected to some other classes that blog across the world and have time on the computers when they are encouraged to read and respond to the other student bloggers.  

Lee Kolbert (GeekyMomma) is also using blogging in a similar way with her students.  She maintains a class blog site that contains links to individual student blogs.  The site that she uses, Kidblog, is worth a look from teachers looking for a more closed, kid-friendly atmosphere for their students to blog:

Setting up a class is free, easy and the privacy settings for who can view or comment on blogs are modifiable.  

All of these amazing examples are great but I know that I can't just leap in with both feet and get my students blogging tomorrow.  Important preparation and groundwork will be required to make sure that blogging is a platform for quality writing and not just a novelty to be quickly overrun with poorly thought-out posts and uninteresting comments.  There are many resources out there with advice and tips for getting started.  See the following for more information:

• Ferritier's teacher checklist for blogging projects and teacher tip sheet for blogging projects
• Anne Davis' issues and traits to consider before beginning to blog with your students
• Kim Cofino's "blogging is elementary" series of lessons

Also, it is important to consider the skills students are building when blogging.  A quick glance at the Alberta Language Arts curriculum shows many areas where blogging can be a useful tool to meet objectives.  The NCTE document on twenty-first century literacies also contains a couple of areas where blogging can be a a perfect tool for facilitating these skills: "twenty-first century readers and writers need to be able to build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally and design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes."

Ferritier and Garry (2010, p. 56-61) offer some excellent suggestions for beginning to blog with your students, some of which really stuck out to me

1.) Post all content on one classroom blog - This may be an excellent way to get started and manage the content you and your students produce.

2.) Encourage students to become regular readers of others' blogs - It is critical that students learn that blogging are "interactive forums for continuing conversation" that require two-way participation (p. 57). According to Ferritier & Garry this serves three important purposes: (i.) students who read blogs will see models of writing that can be used as exemplars for their own work; (ii.) students are likely to be exposed to ideas for topics they may wish to explore in their own blog posts; and (iii.) reading blogs connects students to potential audiences for their own blogs.

3.) Promote student blog entries to parents and colleagues - Receiving feedback and facilitating the open, two-way conversation that is possible on a blog are critical elements of the process.  To me, promoting your students' blog writing has benefits on both ends.  Students will be motivated by comments from parents, friends, their principal or other teachers and those people will also be happy (and probably impressed!) with the peek inside your classroom.

4.) Teach students to comment on entries written by others - Overall, this is one of the most important elements of the whole process.  Students need to be directly instructed on how to make constructive comments that extend and deepen the discussion.  Ferritier and Garry's reproducible is a thoughtful, step-by-step way to get students thinking about what make a good comment:

Leaving Good Blog Comments


There are a lot of other excellent resources out there to get students writing good comments.  Anne Davis says this: 

"Some of our best classroom discussions emerge from comments. We share together. We talk about ones that make us soar, ones that make us pause and rethink and we just enjoy sharing those delightful morsels of learning that occur. You can construct lessons around them You get a chance to foster higher level thinking on the blogs.”

 

Anne encourages students to use starters such as the following when responding to fellow bloggers:

• This makes me think of...
• I was reminded of...
• I discovered that...
• Your writing made me think that...

Before blogging officially begins, you may consider doing an activity such as this powerful "paper blogging" lesson.  Students learn about effective commenting as they create a poster-board "blog" entry.  Other students are encouraged to read and thoughtfully respond on a good, old-fashioned post-it note.  The document "The art and aspirations of commenters" created by McTeach is a good resource to share with your students during an activity such as this.  

5.) Remind students to respond to comments - A key to encouraging visitors to come back is responding to comments - this is a two-way process, remember!

With these considerations in mind and some hard work at the beginning, I believe blogging with your students can be an amazing undertaking.  I look forward to returning to the classroom and trying it out! 

Packing up and Moving on

As I near the end of my journey I look back on my experiences with blogging throughout this course.  While it was not a comfortable thing for me to do; it has been a very rewarding endeavour.  I look forward to seeing where my future blogging experiences will take me.  

"Writing stops; blogging continues.  Writing is inside; blogging is outside.  Writing is monologue; blogging is conversation.  Writing is thesis; blogging is synthesis"

-Richardson, 2010 p. 30

References

Ferritier, W.M. & Garry, A. (2010). Teaching the iGeneration: 5 easy ways to introduce essential skills with web 2.0 tools.  Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Richardson, W. (2010).  Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Tweet, tweet, tweedley-deet: Twitter for Educators

He rocks in the tree tops all day long

Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song

All the little birdies on Jaybird Street

Love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet

Ever since joining Twitter in September I have been humming this tune in my head as I sort though the growing number of tweets coming through my Tweetdeck.  Before this course, I had only conceived of Twitter as a vehicle for celebrities to further satisfy their need for constant attention, and, conversely, the people who are fascinated by these details.  After my exploration of Twitter over the past couple of months and my research this week I have come to view Twitter as an extraordinarily powerful tool for connections and collaboration. 

First Impressions

At it's conception, Twitter received it's name based on the two definitions of the word: (1) "a short burst of inconsequential information," and (2) "chirps from birds" (Wikipedia).  Creator Jack Dorsey had the idea to create an SMS based web service that would allow users to communicate with a network of followers.  

Blueprint Sketch by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey (c/o Wikimedia commons)

The very first tweet was sent out by Dorsey on March 21, 2006: "just setting up my twtter".  Ever since, the community of twitter users (the "twitterverse") has grown exponentially.  At this time, there are approximately 750 tweets sent each second! But what are people tweeting about?  Pear Analytics conducted a study of 200 tweets over a two-week period and found that people were tweeting about the following:

Wikimedia

After spending a couple of months learning about Twitter and following (and occasionally adding to) the conversation, I can safely say that most of the tweets I have read fall into the categories of news, pass-along value and conversation.  The absence of what would be categorized as "pointless babble" in my twitter stream is partially due to the unique ability to choose whom you follow and categorize and filter incoming tweets (more on this later).  This is yet another way the Read/Write web and applications like Twitter help bring useful information, connections and opportunities for collaboration to your fingertips.  

Bringing it Home: Getting Started with Twitter

Signing up for a Twitter account is easy.  After going to www.twitter.com, choosing a username and a password, I was on!  How exciting!  Quickly, however, my initial excitement dissolved when I realized that nothing was happening.  This is because one of Twitter's defining features is that it is a platform where the user selects other users to "follow".  So, I needed to find some people to follow.  My professor had given a list of educators and interesting people to follow, so, I was able to add them easily by clicking on the "find people" tab.  By entering their user name and clicking "follow", I had added their tweets to my feed.  Another helpful feature in the "find people" section of the site is the suggestions that Twitter offers.  Based on users you have already selected to follow, Twitter will offer suggestions on others you may be interested.  You can also search based on interests and friends.  Another useful way to find users to follow is to watch your stream for "retweets".  Retweets happen when users simply pass along another's tweet.  If you find something interesting on a retweet, you may consider following the originator.  While I was searching for users to follow, a link to this very useful list of Canadian educators who tweet.  Now my Twitter stream was starting to look a little more interesting!  

Finding people to follow is the easy part, getting people to follow you is a little more tricky.  Of course, many of my classmates began to follow me and I found that some users that I chose to follow reciprocated the action.  I didn't explore promoting myself further as, truth be told, I was not sending out many worthwhile tweets to add to the conversation.  My role so far has been that of a Twitter "lurker".  

After finding so many inspiring educators to follow, there was now a flurry of activity in my Twitter account.  I was inundated with tweets containing information and links to interesting articles, blog posts and photos.  In fact, I quickly became overwhelmed with the amount of information I was receiving.  After some discussion in my course eclass board, I discovered Tweetdeck.  Tweetdeck is a third-party software application that helps organize your tweets.  The beauty of Tweetdeck lies in it's column-based interface:

Tweetdeck contains one column where the tweets from all of your "friends" compile.  Using the "plus sign" near the top of the page you can add columns to further filter your tweets by subject.  Users of Twitter often use "hashtags" to help their tweets reach their intended audience.  Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and data to your tweets.  The hashtag for our course is #EDES 544, so if I send out a tweet that I think will be particularly useful to members of my course, I would add that tag to the end of it.  This will ensure that my tweet does not get lost in my classmate's newsfeeds.  Some other hashtags that may be interesting to follow for educators include #edchat, #edreform and #cpchat (for more interesting hashtags see Will Ferritier's post on his blog, The Tempered Radical).  In Tweetdeck, not only can you create columns for relevant hashtags, you can also create columns for particular keywords and single users if you wish.  Now, I can easily prioritize the tweets I read and make sure that I am getting the most out of my own personal corner of the Twitterverse.  

Bringing it to School

After getting the basics of Twitter down and following the conversation for a while I started to think about how I could use Twitter in my professional life.  To me, the first and most obvious use of Twitter is for professional learning.  After selecting Canadian educators to follow I quickly realized that the links and content that they were sharing was good stuff!  I got lost for hours following links, reading blog posts and even bravely retweeting some neat things I had come across.  The potential for connections and collaboration is huge.  Educator Nancy White hosts a wiki where users can share ways in which Twitter has facilitated collaboration.  Some key categories of examples posted on the wiki include the dissemination of publications and materials, high speed tech support, fostering professional connections, informal research and global participation and presence in professional development.  

Twitter hold huge potential for professional development for educators.  Teacher and edchat moderator Steven Anderson highlights this usefulness: "in the past, professional development was formal and rigid. You go to these events scheduled by the district because this is what they think you need. With social
networking allowing teachers to connect one-to-one and one-to- many, they have the professional development they really desire.” (Davis, 2010).  Twitter has also been used as a backchannel for discussions and questions during workshops, conferences and presentations.  Steven Johnson describes the effect this creates: 

"Injecting Twitter into that conversation fundamentally changed the rules of engagement. It added a second layer of discussion and brought a wider audience into what would have been a private exchange. And it gave the event an afterlife on the Web. Yes, it was built entirely out of 140-character messages, but the sum total of those tweets added up to something truly substantive, like a suspension bridge made of pebbles." (Time Magazine, 2009)

 

Next, I turned my attention to how I could use a tool like Twitter in my elementary classroom.  Initially, I saw this as secondary to the professional collaboration that takes place on Twitter, but I found some encouraging examples that have helped open my mind to the possibility.  With older students Twitter may serve as a forum for "backchanneling" during a presentation or lecture and a place to broadcast school happenings to parents and the community.  With assistance and guidance from an open-minded teacher, even younger students are getting involved with Twitter.  In an inspiring article teacher Jeff Kurtz describes how he is using Twitter in his grade one classroom to stay connected with parents.  He begins the school year by modelling how to write a tweet as a whole-class learning activity during transitions, where a discussion about knowledge gained occurs.  Kurtz loves the 140 character limit.   Students can see the counter going down as the tweet is typed and it “provides a real and powerful way, and need, to teach word choice, ideas, and punctuation” After writing about 50 tweets as a class, students began trying it on their own, writing them in a notebook and revising and editing to make it appropriate to share: “my class is becoming quite adept at adapting the original message to fit within the Twitter parameters. They discuss, debate, listen, and work together, often with great passion, as they explain and defend points of view.“  Kurtz's class sends out approximately 4-5 tweets per day and parents enjoy the brief window into their child’s day and “the brief nature of the tweet makes it easy to read and move on”.  The class is even able to share photos with Twitpic and audio recordings with Chirbit.  A brief look at Room 302's Twitter stream:

Kurtz's ideas about using Twitter are inspiring.  Sending real-time updates from the students themselves seems much more authentic than the "canned" newsletters I send home each month.  Coming from teaching in a school with a heavily involved parent population I can see this as being a well-received innovation.  

As with most good social networking tools, Twitter may be banned in some school districts and its use in the classroom may be met with some resistance by stakeholders.  You must also be 13 or older to sign up for a Twitter account, so this may be limiting.  One alternative is Twiducate.  Twiducate is a “walled garden” community created by teachers. It allows for closed-group discussion, collaboration between students, sharing of assignments and parent communication.  It may be worth exploring if any of the above issues exist in your district.

Packing up and Moving on

A brief video I made (using Xtranormal) that introduces the idea of Twitter for educators:





Going back to how Twitter received it's name I am confused as to why Dorsey would have named his idea after a word that is defined as "a short burst of inconsequential information".  It seems that, in the hands of responsible professionals, the information passed along on Twitter is anything but.

One final note of encouragement for educators considering getting started with Twitter comes from Will Richardson.  His (140 character or less) lesson on getting started with Twitter:

"Think about Twitter for yourself first.  It's a great place to connect and learn with other who share your passions." 

(p. 89 Blogs, wikis, podcast and other powerful web tools for educators")

Next stop... Blogging in the classroom


References:

Davis, .R. (2010). Social networking goes to school.  The Education Digest, 11, 14-19.  Retrieved from www.eddigest.com.

Beyond Passing Notes: Social Networking in the Classroom

On October 1, 2010 The Social Network was released into movie theatres around the world.  In less than a month, the blockbuster had grossed over $132 million (Wikipedia).  This film, about the rise of the most popular website of all time Facebook, received critical acclaim and has even generated Oscar buzz.

Not bad for a movie about a site not many had heard about until a couple of years ago!

First Impressions

Some Facebook stats (Wikipedia):

• Facebook has been intermittently blocked by some countries such as Syria, Pakistan, China, Vietnam and North Korea (not to mention thousand of workplaces and school districts around the world!)
• In December, 2009 the New Oxford American Dictionary declared their word of the year to be the verb "unfriend”
• As of July 2010, Facebook had 500 million active users (that comes out to about 1 in 14 of the world’s population)
• The fastest growing section of the population joining Facebook are women over 55 (Inside Facebook)

With statistics such as these, it’s hard to ignore the societal and cultural implications that social networking has on our lives and the lives of our students.  Facebook has become a tool for people to connect with old classmates, update friends and family on life changes and a place to post photos and videos for comment.  It is a part of our world and pervades television shows and advertising on a daily basis.  Our students are using Facebook, no doubt about it, so the question becomes how do we, as educators, leverage the power of this tool for our purposes?

Bringing it Home

I have been using Facebook for a couple of years now.  I check it daily to see what my friends are posting and updating.  I enjoy the ability to share photos and send messages, and I even throw out the odd status update (“off to Cabo!” or “Happy Friday everyone!”) but I do try to be responsible with what appears on my page.  I keep my privacy settings to the highest limits and, as a steadfast rule, do not “friend” students or their parents.  I do not update the world on what I am doing every minute of every day and I rarely post photos or videos of friends, family or myself.   I see Facebook as a personal tool and do not see myself ever using it for professional purposes (in the classroom or out).   It is for these reasons I approached this week’s blog post with trepidation: after all, how am I supposed to write a post about social networking in the classroom if I truly don’t see myself using it in this way?

And then, something wonderful happened: I discovered Edmodo.  Edmodo is the wannabe technologically with-it teacher’s new best friend.  According to the site, Edmodo is “a private social platform for students and teachers to share ideas, files, events and assignments.”  The look of Edmodo is a lot like Facebook and it has some amazing features (more on this later).  Signing up and getting started with Edmodo is easy, in a few clicks you are ready to start collaborating and communicating with your students on a whole new level.

After choosing a username and password the first thing I needed to do is set up a group.  I decided to create a mock group for my class members of EDES 544:

After creating my group I then received a unique access code that I can share with only the students I wish to.  This way you could set up multiple groups for different classes taught (or professional learning networks) and easily keep everything straight:

Next, I wanted to play around a little bit with the basic functions of the site.  I sent out an “announcement”:

I added a poll for students to view and respond to when they logged on:

And I easily added an assignment.  You can type the assignment in and upload a file for more details or even a rubric:

Another handy feature of Edmodo is that everything you upload as you are using it (links, documents, etc.)  goes into a “personal filing cabinet” in your account.  This would make it even easier to use for a second year around, if you are teaching the same subjects of course.

After going through this process I was curious to see how a student would experience my EDES 544 Edmodo group, so I created a dummy student account to check it out:

Pretty cool!!  Edmodo also has many more features that I have yet to explore.  There is an RSS feed that would allow you to aggregate blog posts you wish to share with your students, a calendar and even mobile phone updates!  Students (or their parents) could receive a text when you post a new assignment, grade or due date. 

Edmodo would also lend itself beautifully to professional development opportunities and learning networks.  Groups can be created around content and subject areas and even personal interests such as a book club.  As a teacher who enjoys using Facebook in my personal life, I think I would find using Edmodo quite motivating.

Bringing it to School

After thinking about Facebook and discovering Edmodo, it seems that this week I am exploring a loaded dilemma:

Facebook in the classroom: to do it, or not to do it?  That is the question.

The educational technology community is abuzz with this debate.  During my research I came across countless debates, blog posts and podcasts that included viewpoints ranging from “no way” to “go for it”.   Will Richardson in his book Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for educators on the debate:

“Whatever the challenges that prevent us from making social networking a part of our curriculum, they should not stop us from being able to talk about Facebook or to share our own experiences there in appropriate ways so kids at an early age have some context about for what the expectations and roles are that await them there.” (p. 134)

In one of his blog posts he makes his stance more clear: “Teach. Facebook. Now.”  Doug Johnson adds to the discussion by saying:

 “As others have said, I think that it is important for teachers and administrators to have Facebook accounts so they understand the technology and its implications. And, eventually, I think schools will come to leverage social media technology in many of their instructional and collaborative processes.”

But, Doug makes an important distinction by clarifying that it is within “walled garden” environments that social networking will be most feasible in our schools: “we will begin to see more and more social networking features grafted onto learning management systems and other software already in use in schools.”  To me, this is where sites such as Edmodo will help bridge the gap between the using social networking sites for personal use and help ensure that the the private and public worlds of teachers and students remain separate.  

However, despite the benefits of using these tools in the classroom, educators are facing some strong resistance from stakeholders regarding Facebook (and the like) in the classroom.  The site is blocked in many districts and some teachers and parents see then as "nothing more than forums for hurtful behaviours like gossiping and cyber-bullying" and "worry about the time spent staring at digital profiles, convinced that our students are losing the social skills necessary for interacting in face-to-face environments." (Ferritier & Garry, 2010, p. 122).

There are a couple of reasons why it is becoming so important to teach students responsible behaviour in online environments (especially social networking sites).  "The persistent, searchable and replicable nature of digital conversations held publicly in front of invisible audiences means that social gaffes can be especially costly for today's teens" (Ferritier & Garry, 2010, p.124).  We need to be teaching our students that whatever they put out on the Internet today can impact major aspects of their life down the road.  

Packing Up and Moving On

The bottom line is this: our students are using Facebook and social networking sites daily, even hourly.  As responsible, “with-it” educators we should be tapping into the power of these sites, as well as teaching students how to use them properly.  Teaching kids to be responsible citizens in their digital world is becoming more and more important (and urgent) in society today.  

Next stop: Twitter....

References:

Ferritier, W.M. & Garry, A. (2010). Teaching the iGeneration: 5 easy ways to introduce essential skills with web 2.0 tools.  Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.