Riddle Me This

“Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?”

The evolution of life takes on many changes as one transforms throughout existence. The Internet is also going through changes as we interact with it. Are we creating that change through our actions? Through the use of Web 2.0 tools, we can participate in our life changes of the transforming web. Follow my guiding light on these travels of my life changing Web 2.0 journey.

Highlights

There certainly were many highlights along the way in this course. You see, I'm a chocoholic and my 'biggest chocolate bar in the world' has been the RSS (Really Scrumptious Seduction). If there were one thing to make my whole life easier - it's been the RSS feeds. It used to take me hours to gather information in what now takes a fraction of the time. And I'm getting more information that I was previously - I just think it's so cool!

When we were first introduced to RSS - near the end of the course - I thought, why weren't we introduced to this sooner - it's so valuable? It makes everything online quicker, easier, more efficient, as the feeds come to you. Why have we not been exposed to it in other courses? I haven't mastered it, but I can certainly see how I am able to utilize it on several counts. I can access research, be up-to-date on what the experts are saying, be informed on what's happening on the Nings, get my news fix, follow blogs, apply it to my personal development, use it at school to assist colleagues and students, for professional development, to share, collaborate, the list is endless. It's become my new best friend.

RSS helps me to be organized, so I've suddenly become a speed-reader - I've always wanted to read faster. Here's my RSS overview. In a review on libraries and RSS, Rightly Sore Subscribers, we learn that, "libraries are currently a large disseminator of RSS knowledge they have the potential to lead the way for all RSS users". That is indeed what I intend to do - lead the way.

There are a couple other highlights I'd like to take you through. My next choice is
social bookmarking. The tool I've come to appreciate is delicious. It is an awesome tool. It allows for added notes and organization through tags. I can share this with my staff, my students, conducting research, using it for reference; it will make collecting and sharing so much more efficient. It's very specialized for your needs.

My third gem is the wiki. We have had a tight time constraint in the course and yet I somehow managed to create two wikis that I can put to use. The Wiki In Training tutorial is directed towards my students, and the DMS Staff Training applies to my staff. It also has the potential for further district/conference development. Wikis are easy to get info online in an organized, easy to follow fashion. I just need to work on the collaborative aspect.

There have been so many opportunities in this course that some other mentions need to be made. I appreciated working with the blog during this course as it afforded me to feel more comfortable in its application. Thanks for the push. With virtual libraries, they offer great resources that I've incorporated some on my school blog. The multimedia sharing with VoiceThreads are so inspiring. Imagine the world wide connections that are possible. I predict this will develop more as we work towards the next level of web interactions.

Speaking of connections, the Internet has long been the source for social interaction. Social networking is so much more than keeping up with friends. We can make such strong connections with experts. My only previous similar example was a Listserve; the world just got that much smaller. It's great to know what's going on and be able to be part of those conversations and share in the global consciousness it affords. As Richardson says on his Weblogg-ed blog from, Networks Not Tools, "It’s about creating connections, intellectual connections".

With the Twitter component, I just don't see the value in it; I have to agree with Doug Johnson and say that too much fluff got in the way of the juicy goods to make it worth my while. I'm not a youngster like Mack Male where he is one with it. One thing I do find useful though, is learning to truncate URL's - a great invention:)

Photos anyone? The value in sharing photos is priceless. Creative commons is a great teaching tool. As Joyce Valenza posts it in Creative Commons: for happier image searching, "Creative Commons demonstrates respect for intellectual property while recognizing a more open information landscape, the desire of content creators to share, and the need of content users to build on prior knowledge".

There was one tool I struggled with (I struggled with the process - see below) and that was podcasting. I don't know why I just couldn't get it. I can record, I can hear it, something gets lost in the final transferring - maybe one day I'll have success.

These tools cannot really be separated and used on their own but rather are used in conjunction with one another. The interactiveness allows for the connectedness of bringing these and us together.

Reflecting on the Whole Process

I had been soooo looking forward to this course. When we started out - I absolutely hated it. There was too much information, too much to absorb, no time to try things out - I was about to drop out but the pressure that I needed this course had me hang on. I hope our marks can be altered for the mastery of what we've learned and not too strictly based on our poor beginning grades it seems we all received. The course applies current trends that are so valuable to know and we can now practise these skills.

Other than the highlighted tools I've mentioned, some other concepts are firmly rooted in my new online existence. I am thoroughly enjoying my Google Reader. I have surprised myself with following 48 feeds - wow, I hadn't counted them before - it sounds like a lot but I seem to be managing it ok. I've taken Richardson's suggestion of making it a habit of checking first thing in the morning to see what's come in. I'm still amazed at how well it works:)

I have to say I had been reluctant to create accounts online - not wanting junk mail, viruses, computer crashing etc. Now after completing this course, I have signed up for 25 Web 2.0 accounts. Some of these include programs to work with new tools - blogs, wikis, photosharing, RSS feeds, social bookmarking sites, professional networking sites, multimedia sharing sites and the list goes on.

In my eleven years of post secondary courses, this has been the most grueling. They say you only get out what you put in - well let me say I'm looking forward to getting some sleep after this course - I wonder if I'm operating on sleep deprivation. I've had many all nighters just trying to get assignment in on time. And it's not that I slack off either - I'm at it all day, all night and many into the nights too. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, it just that there has been so much to do, so much to experience, so much to get actively engaged in, that there just aren't enough hours in the day. Wow, I've survived and have loved the wealth of knowledge I've come away with. I have a clear picture of how I can implement Web 2.0 technology in my school, district and beyond.

If I compare this past six weeks to a lifetime of living - where would I be in the Web 2.0 timeline? Let's see, I started out in infancy, next we worked through so many aspects of applicable tools, that would be the childhood years, I feel I have been taken to my teenage years. That means that my eyes have been opened and there is so much more to do. I still have a lifetime of experiences to explore, share, and collaborate on. I'm still in the growing stage and excited to be on my way.

I wonder if we had more time, in this course, would there have been greater collaboration using the tools in class. I felt we were constantly struggling to keep up and therefore didn't really have the time for anything extra. I created a couple of wikis and asked for collaboration, but it didn't happen. Joanne, suggested having the discussions on our blogs as well - I could see it working if there was a list of discussion topics on the sidebar that linked elsewhere; it would seem disjointed to be attached to our posts, as we would lose the flow.

Over this stressful course and as much as I have probably complained to my husband, I have taken more away from this course than any other in my many years of education. That says something right there. Thank you for offering it. I can see why there are three sessions running at a time and that future courses are full. Is it by word of mouth that people see the value in such a timely course? - You betcha.

Class Connections

I met some friends along the way because it wasn't just about the tools. The class discussions allowed us to have a voice. We learned so much from our colleagues who were going through the same process. Working through our colleagues' blogs, allowed us to gather some great ideas. Niki your background really allows your blog to stand out. Norene, I cherished reading your work as your voice resonated well with me. Have you ever thought about publishing? Tammy's blog post on RSS reminded us to include at least 5 professional blogs. I have enjoyed following the writings of: Weblogg-ed, NeverEnding Search, and Blue Skunk Blog, just to name a few.

I'd like to add some other observations or highlights from our great hard-working group. I can't believe Dawn - she was our Energizer bunny. Dawn did you ever sleep? I was lucky to get about 4-5 hours a night and you were always a step ahead - with posts, suggestions, links, how did you do it? You amaze me:) I was grateful for Kelly's background with some of the Web 2.0 tools in that she could take us to the next level - it was like seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Tammy, I see that you have grown tremendously - you have really blossomed in this Web 2.0 world. Thanks for being with me here on the island - there is a connectedness knowing someone is close. I hadn't realized the importance of proximity until Mack Male suggested looking at local connections. I could go on as you all did a fabulous job under the tight timelines.

Future Plans

How do we take the 50 year old school, and adapt it to current Web 2.0 technology? Richardson has a suggestion in his latest post on "Willing to be Disturbed", he states the change "takes a plan that’s developed collaboratively..., one that is constantly worked and reworked and adjusted in the process, one that makes that long-term investment [of] time well spent instead of time spinning wheels." He continues with what types of actions are needed "global and collaborative and transparent". I propose to start to make these changes happen at my school. My pragmatic approach offers background, application and support over the long haul. My infectious optimistic attitude will warrant our success.

On the workfront, I've created a few things with my new found Web 2.0 tools that I can apply at school. My Wiki In Training can be used with my students to teach them how to create a wiki; the process works through a wiki. I have also created the DMS Staff Development wiki that I've offered to everyone in the class. I'll be able to implement that right away when school goes back as well as perhaps present it for some district pro-d or an upcoming provincial conference. Another tool I've started is a Library blogs for my school library. I will be updating it regularly with school related information, resource links, etc. (I'm quite excited about what I can do with it).

Here is something on my to do list - I'm going to adapt the California School Library Association's tutorial on The 23 Things. It's a step-by-step process to adopt technology into the education system. I will collaborate this with my wiki for staff development to provide a workshop series. Two things to focus on are playing with the tools and offering support. Having the opportunity for teachers to choose to be involved, assists with that first step coming with an open attitude towards making changes with technology.

As you can tell, there were many more upsides than the frustration with the course. Time was against us - that was the only problem. The choices of tools were excellent and we were provided with practical applications. It certainly was a well-rounded package. I'm glad it was short because it sure was intense. Can I go get some sleep now? I know -soon.

I feel that we have been presented with a wealth of knowledge this summer and I am so excited to be sharing these tools with my staff and students. This course has been so enriching.

Here's a YouTube depiction on the future of Web 2.0



These societal changes are happening in our Web 2.0 world. Our collective knowledge is emerging, and the use of these new tools allows us to contribute to the changes. Let's all join in on this transformation of how we educate all interested parties.

Did you think about how that creature from the beginning of this post? How was it able to change? You can change to with the use of these tools to assist in allowing others to change too. This life-long process is yours to be involved in. Let's take the plunge, go out with the surf and bring back some converts to surf in the Web 2.0 world we live in.

Sources

California School Library Association. (2007, Feb). The 23 Things. School Library Learning 2.0. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/mo9bzf

Richardson, Will. (2009, Aug). Willing to be Disturbed. Weblogg-ed. Retrieved from
http://tinyurl.com/mecx8b

Richardson, Will. (2007, Dec). Networks not Tools. Weblogg-ed. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/lh6pxu

Valenza, Joyce. (2009, Mar). Creative Commons: for happier image searching. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/bda484

Blackburn, Gemma and Waker, Mary. (2008, Nov). Rightly Sore Subscribers: Where Libraries Are Going Wrong with RSS. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/kmw5b9

What's that Smell?

Take a deep breath - do you smell that? - a fresh cut lawn, the fragrant flowers in bloom, it's a beautiful day. There's freshness in the air, it must be from the light rain we had last night. It's a pretty idyllic picture. We are fortunate to live in a society where this is the norm. There is an abundance of absolute quality around us. And it's not just in the physical sense; it's in virtual space too.

Just as the grass continues to grow, the Internet also continues to expand - but at a much quicker pace. We can't possibly sit back and hope that the technological advancements of the Internet are going to fade - we need to be pro-active - even if it does seem like we're late bloomers. It's better to get started and be part of the game, than to stick our head in the ground and pretend it's not happening. Even the web is changing from the way we know it. In Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, he talks about a shift in the way we think about the Web. It is no longer a distributor of information but an interactive web also known as the Read/Write Web (p.129).

He suggests that currently there are ten shifts in online technological developments. First, the open-source-type classroom allows for education to happen at any time. Then, accessibility can occur with many teachers so learning can take place 24/7 allowing for connections with primary sources like authors, historians and researchers. Following that is the continuation of gaining knowledge - knowledge is not finite. How we teach takes on a different perspective, as we learn from discovery and conversation, not strictly from lecture. Then there's the part of the exploration to know where to find reliable sources. Now we have to be critical readers of the information that is presented - filtering for quality. What do we do with all this information? We can use the Web as the collection base; that way it is accessible wherever there is an Internet connection. Also, we need to make retention memorable through a multimedia approach. It's about understanding, creating, communicating and sharing with the large audience of the digital world. And lastly, it's about contributing and collaborating with others; the strength in numbers is phenomenal (pp.129-136). This change from passive gatherers to active searchers should be addressed to educators so they can contribute to the information continuum with our youth.

How will I apply this new developing technology with my staff? I will divide it into two segments - one for my staff/district development and one for my students. I will approach my new principal with the proposal to have a place at each staff meeting to implement a topic of Web 2.0 technology. I'm pretty confident it will be a go ahead because I already have a place on the agenda for the library - it will now become technology.

Before I continue, let me put you in the right frame of mind. You have been called to a staff meeting. The room is full of 85 colleagues at your school. Your previous principal was the technology expert in the school and he has since moved on. The technology role will now fall onto your shoulders - are you up for the challenge?

I am and I'm excited about it too:) I attend every monthly staff meeting and will suggest to my new administrator, that I present a Tech Tip segment at the meetings. The overview of the topics at the beginning of the year will guide the staff in the direction of where we will go. I will include: video clips, hand-on examples to try out and offer support for staff to work through the trial and error process. I will also suggest online interactions to assist in collaborating with others. I will be able to share what I have learned, open up the dialogue for collaboration, and offer opportunities to practise and share these new technologies with staff and students.

How can I engage my staff to try this new Web 2.0 world? Wait a minute; they're not going to know what Web 2.0 is. A brief overview from Wikipedia. Web 2.0, states that it is the second generation of web development and web design that facilitates information sharing and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Some examples include social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies (tags).

Now, I need to engage my audience - I've got it - a pop quiz. I'm going to put 10 terms up for you to match with definitions to see what you know about the online world of teens today. By posting this quiz for the staff to answer these quick questions, it will show what they know about the digital age. The quiz comes from Michele Gorman from an article called Do You Speak Digital? Understanding today's teens is a lot of work - but it's worth it. There are 10 questions to match up with the following terms: spawn, avatar, skin, YouTube, blog, mod, IM, wiki, PSP, and mashup. Don't worry, we'll go over the answers.

Now that I have their attention, I'll bring their thoughts back to the articles I emailed/posted online in the staff memo. (Note: In advance of the staff meeting, I will provide on-line, copies of articles for them to have a look at. They may or may not read the articles before the staff meeting, so I'll highlight some key ideas from the articles for them at the meeting).

In the article Footprints in the Digital Age by Richardson, "a recent National School Boards Association survey (2007) announced that upward of 80 percent of young people who are online are networking and that 70 percent of them are regularly discussing education-related topics." The article continues, our students are doing all sorts of things online that we are not teaching them about. "By and large, they do all this creating, publishing, and learning on their own, outside school, because when they enter the classroom", the lights are turned off. That's a pretty strong statement that needs addressing.

This becomes the challenge, "figuring out how to help students create, navigate, and grow [with] the powerful, individualized networks of learning that bloom on the Web and helping them do this effectively, ethically, and safely"(Richardson, 2009). What I would like to do is offer some opportunities to the staff and students around technology to assist in the understanding the Web 2.0 world we live in.

Have a look at this short YouTube video Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch



I know, you're asking yourself How am I going to apply this in my already jam packed full courses? This sounds great in theory but I wanted to share some examples of effective practise actually working in schools. I went to NeverEnding Search by Valenza to search out some answers. On her blog, Help me? Share effective practice in school library sites, she asked for input from schools who participate in Web 2.0 to showcase their capabilities at a conference. These are some samples showing their concepts.

Upper School Library
Barb Jansen writes - The assignment pages have links for the students after the
instruction is done. The teachers introduce the topic and task and the librarian teaches and reviewing any skills the students need to access and use the info sources and communicate their results. I also assess any of the products resulting from my instruction such as bibliographies, notes, web evaluations, presentations (the teacher assesses the content). The assignment pages (wikis and webpages) offer rubrics, examples, and anything else students my need for further reference.

Walkerton Middle School
Gina Webster writes - We focus on integrating media and technology across the
curriculum. From the media site you can access our collaboration wikis, which we use as a planning tool when we develop interdisciplinary units with teacher teams.
The Book Nook Blog link houses book review blog entries written by students and staff members at our school. We've also been focusing on using digital storytelling/podcasting, problem based learning, and blogging as products to promote research and critical content reading skills.

PA Young Adult Readers Choice
This blog was created using the multimedia program Shelfari.
From this blog was a wiki link titled PA Young Adult This document was produced using a spreadsheet from Google Doc - yet another amazing tool to utilize.

These are just a few examples of collaboration at work. As you can see there are multiple Web 2.0 uses in place ranging from wikis, blogs, multimedia sharing, community spreadsheets, podcasts and videos. I can only hope to instill a desire for my staff to climb onboard and try some of these exciting opportunities using technology.

In the article posted on Richardson's blog weblogg-ed called The Shifts, he talks about making changes in education to better equip our students for the on-line world they are growing up in. As teachers, we want to be able to teach our students to "acquire expertise, act ethically, display creativity, respect diversity, and synthesize and make sense of information". This is not a 'fix them in this year' concept - it takes time, but the shift needs to start happening now. By the way, I have his book Blogs, Wiki, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, to lend out. It's straight forward, easy to read, understandable and applicable.

Here's a short video compelling us to take action. This clip is from Richardson's Etech presentation from 2007 from Columbus, Ohio.



This is how I foresee our staff development taking place. At the first staff meeting of the year, I will provide an overview with background information. At subsequent staff meetings, I will give a short presentation to provide an overview of each of the topics. There will be the ten staff meetings throughout the year. I will present the topic of the month to address the technology approaches in our school. Support will be offered through once a week update sessions held after school. I will offer pro-d during the week after school - Wed or Thurs depending on what works best for staff, about the related topic. These sessions will allow for questions to be answered, practice to take place, and examples to be shared.

Here's an overview of what the year-long Tech Tip sessions will look like. The topics will cover: Web searches, blogs, photosharing including plagiarism and creative commons copyright, videosharing, social bookmarking, virtual libraries, wikis, multimedia sharing, social networking sites, and RSS.

How will I deliver these mini sessions at the staff meeting? Using a constructivist approach, I'll include a hands-on approach. By practicing what I teach, I'll use a wiki of course. Here's the link to the wiki. As the wiki is under development, it allows for an interactive approach. (More detail to follow).

Here's my challenge to the staff - take one of these ideas, concepts, tools and work with it - in the class, at home, or with your students. If you can apply at least one of these Web 2.0 tools, my goal will be accomplished. If you take these tools and apply them to the life-long learning we all strive to be a part of - then your empowerment will be the reward. I encourage you to take a part in this new technological entity that we work with everyday.

Tech Tip Sessions

The background and overview have been presented to the staff already at the first staff meeting of the year. During each staff meeting thereafter will be an overview of the Web 2.0 technology that will be the focus for the month. These overviews will provide some background information, ie blog post, video, etc and continue with the appropriate wiki page to access to share the process to follow for the topic. In the next couple of days after the staff meeting, I will provide the Tech Tip sessions. Once a week for the remainder of the month, I will provide a support session. This is what the regular Tech Tip sessions will look like.

Format
- background information - article, blog, video, etc.
- Wiki page with links presented.
- Hands-on activity
- Q & A and collaboration

Are you ready to Blog?

Here's the session on blogs.

The research backs our digital youth today. In a three year collaborative Digital Youth Research project, the summary showed how "social network and video-sharing sites, online games, and gadgets such as iPods and mobile phones are now fixtures of youth culture". I know that doesn't come as a surprise, as we see these devices at school everyday. What we didn't know is that "the digital world is creating new opportunities for youth to grapple with social norms, explore interests, develop technical skills, and experiment with new forms of self-expression." These avenues are providing social outlets, self-directed learning and independence. Key findings are that friends, interests, and peer based self-directed learning is happening online. Therefore, as educators, we should facilitate our youth by engaging them in this digital media in an educational venue. By being able to relate to them, make connections, share something new with them, it will only deepen their learning experiences. Here's the summary of the project. Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Research.

How can we begin this age of transformation in the world of the Internet to connect with our students and their digital existence? I'd like to start with blogs. It's easily implemented and can be used collaboratively by teacher and students. It's part of the
wiki I created for the DMS Staff Development.

Blogs - How you teach about blogs without having a blog as an example? You can't, so I created a school library blog to work through with the staff at our training sessions. It's part of the DMS Staff Development wiki (follow link on sidebar under Wikis-I can't seem to get the link to work in this window:(), but if you're interested in seeing the initial stages of the blog - here's the blog. Please have a look.

On the wiki, please work through the intro, articles, video clips, and the initial examples before beginning your own blog. Refer to the many examples for ideas too.

Once this initial tutorial is conducted, there will be multiple follow up sessions provided for the month. I will suggest that any blogs that are created be made available for collaboration with others so the true interactive web can be experienced. The remaining sessions are listed below and will follow a similar format.

Other Tech Tip Sessions

These sessions are under construction, but some general information is provided in case you wanted to get a grasp of what the concepts are. Please have a look.

Web searches

Photosharing

Videosharing

Social bookmarking

Wikis

Multimedia sharing

Social networking

RSS

Still not sure where to start? I will make suggestions for different teachers. There are many options for each discipline. Whether you teach: humanities - character development, Languages - practice sections, Grade 7 classes - all subjects can have a link, Math - with links to 'help' sections, Science - labs on YouTube, or the School Newsletter created online, there are plenty of opportunities to try blogs out. In case you've made it this far without choosing any links, give this one a try. It's directly related to our middle school situation and it has many links to specific examples that can be viewed, commented on and added to Online Teacher Resource. What are you waiting for - come on in and get your feet wet.

Our students live in the digital world. How much time do you think they spend online? We need to join in to make connections with our students. It is one step towards closing the digital divide. It will become as easy as checking your e-mail at the beginning of the day. Staff Memos come to us online, attendance is done online - why not have our students participate in class activities online - I think you might be surprised how easy it can be. It can save marking time because you are responding to your students online. Your students can learn from one another - you know how important that is for them. Parents will love the interaction they can watch - they won't necessarily be able to comment - you set it up how you want it.

This is a multifaceted approach. The parents have access because these tools are web based. I will present sessions within the district. The teachers have exposure with students. The connection of this transition with the students is two-fold; it's with the teachers and also through me in the library. I will also share these Web 2.0 experiences with the students. I can do this with both the students in my classes as well as the whole school body as I can teach mini lessons throughout the year. The student approach will be similar to the staff sessions, granted they will have more guided hands-on opportunities than the teachers.

Student Front

One of my teaching blocks consists of teaching grade sevens computers which runs over an eight week period of time. My intro will start with an overview of some of the things we'll be covering. Followed by the teaching pedagogy. I will briefly go over what the topics are and cover what the tools look like. The sessions will include the following topics: Web searches, blogs - create a class blog to contribute to, photosharing - from the web as we can't download anything from the Internet at school, plagiarism and creative commons copyright will also be discussed, videosharing - animoto, smilebox, etc and use back doors to access YouTube, social bookmarking - I'll focus on delicious, virtual libraries - drawing attention to some that are available, wikis - background and share examples let students explore - create wikis in small groups and see how far they take it, time permitting, and lastly with RSS, this tool will be something they can use forever - I can't say enough about how great it is.. The student classroom program will have a similar look and feel, although it will be geared for student collaboration.

Implications for Teaching and Learning with Adults

I have experienced incorporating a number of web 2.0 tools in this one contribution. I have used: wiki, blog delicious, RSS, and video sharing together in this creation. I am no expert, but I have enjoyed the possibilities. There are a lot of examples of uses, multiple purposes, and tremendous opportunities to explore at everyone's comfort level. With the ease of setting up blogs, wiki, and adding links, etc., I am confident we will have more technology abounding in our school this coming year. But that's not to say it will not be an easy task.

As Richardson states in Blogs, Wiki, Podcasts, "most curriculum is taught from a textbook with a few added resources copied from various sources thrown in." He continues with "there were newspapers and magazines, and there were books in the school...library", but students are not willing to put the time in to search put that information.(p.131). This is my school exactly - so as you can see I have a steep hill to climb. One day, I had a teacher come to me and say 'why are the students always drawn to the computers instead of looking through the books in the library?' The students are the digital natives and we need to join their request to have more technology available at their fingertips. With this teacher seeing the effect computers have on students, I might suggest he be my first convert.

As the technology guide in the school, I will encourage all staff who have created blogs, to allow me to link to them on the school's website, actually, it's a blog, so we can create links quite easily. This will allow us to showcase our work and parents will be able to access to the great things we are doing in our school. I will also suggest that I link these blogs to the library blog as direct curricular connections. It about open communication as it shows the students the value of having an online voice.

Now that the introduction has been conducted, and the first session on blogging has been experienced, we can continue through the wiki onto other Web 2.0 tools. Remember that this is not a finite approach. Each component builds upon another. We work through the tools, revamp them, share them, collaborate on them, learn from them and apply them with our students. These are wonderful times ahead of us - don't be shy - jump right in - you might find that you like it and that it's fun:)

Sources

Boyd, Danah. et all. (2008, Nov). Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Research. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/lwhp6o

Byrne, Richard. (2009, Aug). Lesson plans for teaching Web search strategies http://tinyurl.com/qxsdj7

Gorman, Michele. Do You Speak Digital? Understanding today's teens is a lot of work - but it's worth it. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/m7nkz3

Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, Wiki, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Corwin Press, California.

Richardson, Will. (2009, Apr).The Shifts. Retrieved from
http://weblogg-ed.com/category/the-shifts/

Richardson, Will. (2008, November). Footprints in the Digital Age. Educational Leadership, Vol 66 (3). Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/nuyc5m

Valenza, Joyce. (2008, July). Help me? Share effective practice in school library sites. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1370029537.html#comments

Off to the Moon I Go

Picture yourself all suited up in your space survival suit. You have your oxygen, your pockets are full of supplies, food, etc., and you know the procedures to follow to be safe in outer space. You are on your way to explore the greatest thing possible. Exploring the world, the depths of cyberspace that is. Are you feeling prepared? There is no turning back now. The world is yours to explore, participate in, gather samples, share results, and teach others of your findings. That's a fairly heavy weight on your shoulders - but I have confidence you can do it. Let get to it. (Photo-Courtesy Dave Cross)


Cyber Exploration in Three Parts - Blogs, Pro-D, RSS

A very brief description of blogs is that the name stems from 'weblog' and the entries are posted in reverse chronological order. They can be used to stay in touch with parents, students, and staff as a communication tool. Blogs can also be used as a learning tool as collaboration can occur with the addition of posted comments. There will be two provisions of blogs applied here - one will have the focus of a classroom and the other the school library. This will be followed by the application of professional development and continue with the relevance of RSS. In these last two discussions, both will consider the classroom perspective as well the use for teachers.

Blogs in the Classroom

The access to information out there is phenomenal. I can only just barely touch the surface in this post. By offering places to direct your attention, I hope to assist in sending you in the right direction. In referring to 50 Useful Blogging Tools for Teachers by Teaching Tips.com, there is a huge gambit of information to draw from. Some of the topics range from: who to publish with, tools for teachers, general tools for assistance, a section on Internet safety, and getting students involved. With these guidelines as tools, it sets the foundation from where to begin.

Once the initial blog has been set up, some specific examples on how to incorporate them into the curriculum are offered next. On John Norton's blog, Middle School Diaries, he lists a number of Middle School Blogs to refer to. All subject areas are covered from humanities, languages, math, etc. Some great ideas are presented that can be adapted to suit your particular needs. I know these are just a couple of places to start, but it's getting started that's important here.

Blogs in the Library

As a central location in a school, a blog is the perfect avenue to dispense information. In Schwartz's, Blogs for Libraries, he suggests there are 6 reasons to have a library blog. These concepts include: writing a blog keeps you current, blogs are advocacy tools, blogs build community, your library is unique, do it for you, and it's easy - no excuses. I like the value in doing it for yourself because you know you want to - you don't need any other reason than it's the right thing to do for value sake. It is beneficial for you to keep track of resources, share happenings and connect with others. Use the tools shared to make your work go faster. One possible solution is 20 Simple Productivity Tools for Bloggers by Barb Dybwad. The keyboard shortcuts are a quick and easy time saving measure. Make that blog enticing by adding visuals. Suggestions galore are offered at 26 Places to Find Free Multimedia for Your Blog. One of the items covered is the creative commons aspect of available uses of images, which is a gem to find.

As with anything, there are ups and downs to using any specific application. The following ideas are offered from Educause's 7 things you should know about blogs. The ups of blogs include: reflecting about classes, staying current with events, conducting research, disseminating information, attaching RSS feeds, sharing and collaborating with students and staff, and offering discussion forums. The downs include: they have opinion based content, information is not verified, posts can be deleted, and frequency of posting can be time consuming. Can blogs be used for professional development? You bet they can.

Pro-D

There are multiple opportunities available in cyberspace, we just have to tap into them. Whether these are for personal, professional growth or for staff development, there are plenty prospects to follow. Here are a few suggestions although I know there are many more possibilities.

In researching this, I came across some free online courses to assist with continuing professional development. This information is from iLibrarian and is sourced from BestCollegesOnline.com with the compilation by Sarah Russel. It offers 50 Excellent Open Courses for Techie Librarians. Some of the options include: information and research, technology and education. Yes this is controversial because if we teach online, we will no longer have the need for school buildings - yet with the funding shortages do we have a choice? You have to do what works best for your situation.

When offering suggestions for staff pro-d, here's a list of links passed along from Cool Cat on a site called Making Teachers Nerdy titled Educational Blogs You Should Be Investigating. The site breaks the subject matter into grade specific areas. Food for though is always welcome as one idea can grow into another.

As I focus on the middle school venue, I found some sources that I could apply. I looked to John Norton for assistance. What, free webinars? Sign me up. I was informed by Middle Web of Free Webinars from Middle School Portal where sessions will take place on Elluminate over the course of the school year. We just had a fabulous session with Mack Male, so I am sold on this approach. These sessions allow us to stay connected, share and learn over the long haul, as they are on-going. I could put on mini sessions during the year to those interested in the school and district. Great concept - I'm glad I found it or rather it found me - on to RSS.

RSS

Have you ever tracked a parcel through a courier or Canada Post online? Then you've used an RSS feed. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) collects information from computer to computer and sends it to an aggregator or feed collector. This data is then sent to one place as a time saving measure for you. In a Power Point from Edna.edu.au, RSS for Schools An Introduction, it offers a visual representation of RSS through an introduction, history as well as examples. Although I read a number of articles around the topic of RSS - they really said the same thing. "RSS makes it easy to quickly scan condensed ...structured information with...dated topic materials" published online (Wu & Li, 2007). This gift is something I wish I had discovered long ago. It is the future coming to us.

How can one use this free service? One of Web 2.0's gurus addresses it quite nicely. Will Richardson's ABC's of RSS, lists 4 main reasons for using RSS feeds: to collect student blogs, for specific topic research, to target searching and for bookmarking. No that's succinct. There are others who also have valuable thoughts.

Here are some specific examples of how to incorporate RSS feeds into your classroom. In Traci Gardner's, RSS: Bringing What's New to You, she offers some practical ideas. These include: follow a favourite author, follow news headlines, subscribe to author's blogs and see if there are any new books coming out, set up homework blogs to hand work in, use Amazon for specific topics ie teen fiction to get a list of new books on favourite topics and authors, use the public library for writing activities where students write to each other's blogs, have a class blog students can submit to, research projects can direct the searches on recent articles, and professionally you join associations or groups. And these are just a few of the possibilities out there. Whether it's directly used in the classroom or for background knowledge, RSS had a lot to offer.

Other than in the class, how can educators use this service? Linda Joseph suggests in E-News Updates that there are a number of magazines worthy of subscribing to. A few suggestions are: education Week, Edutopia and From Now On..., etc. I will also add Time and Mcleans to the list. In Quentin D'Souza's RSS Ideas for Educators, this 35 page document offers tons of suggestions. Some I have picked out include: community building with sharing learning objects, pro-d with audio and video capabilities, productivity tools with collaborating on documents, research tools with searching newsgroups, and loads of other extras including accessing classified. This is a great resource to refer to.

As educators we seem to always be behind the times when it comes to technology. It seems nothing has changed if you follow this recent article from August 6, 2009 from the Guardian posted by Stephen's Lighthouse - The article by Richard Wray and Sam Jones is called It's SO over: cool cyberkids abandon social networking sites. In the article, as the adults join these social networking sites, the youth 15-24 yr olds are dropping out. If it is cool for the adults - it's not cool for us anymore, the teens claim. There was a drop in usage to only 50%. Twitter was cited as being fazing out with this younger set. A very interesting audio feed - have a listen. The theory is that the future seems to be heading towards more online video and audio use. For us today, RSS is known to provide current up-to-date events. How would this information have been realized before RSS feeds? It certainly wouldn't be as immediate.

What might be some of the pros and cons of using RSS? Some of the benefits of RSS include: omitting spam because email addresses are not required and therefore advertising doesn't get sent either - that in itself is awesome:) When you want current information, updates on topics, or see new posts to blogs or websites - they come directly to you. We used to think Google had all the latest information - that now seems outdated when you consider RSS feeds.

The downside sees to be in the initial set up. There really is tons of information out there - so where do you go? Some time is required to set up which feeds you request, but once that is done initially (of course it will change over time), you can sit back and let the information come to you. You need to be careful in what you subscribe to because you can easily be overwhelmed with the information coming in.

Here's an example of finding some interesting statistics but they are not really applicable to my specific situation. In an Aug 7, 2009 post by Stephen Abram, he offers some informative statistics in Online Trends. My focus is geared toward youth, so the adult statistics are not as applicable but nevertheless the graph is quite interesting for you visual learners - check it out.

Let the RSS Cyber Exploration Begin

I need an aggregator and a reader to bring my RSS feeds to one location for timely updates. With 21 choices of web based options to choose from RSS Publish your Feed in 8 easy steps. I'll look into this in more detail as time permits. I found a great Creative Commons visual from Flickr on RSS Diagram from Travelin' Librarian and incorporated it into my blog. Visuals, audio, and videos are great additions anytime they can be used - they are strong contributors to the learning scheme.

Overall, RSS has been a very beneficial, time saving tool to use to have the latest developments 'magically' presented - cool:) By incorporating RSS feeds into blogs and wikis, using them for professional development in sharing and collaborating, and keeping up to date personally, it has added a huge importance to our lives. Having worked through this exercise, I am so excited. I feel like the world has just opened up to new levels not explored before. I feel fortunate to have been part of this journey and look forward to travelling beyond into the next dimension. The sky is the limit.

Sources

Cold, S. Jeff. (2006, January). Using Really Simple Syndication (RSS) to Enhance Student Research. ACM SIGITE Newsletter, Vol. 3(1). Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/m7p4bo

Joseph, Linda C. (2007, July). E-News Updates. MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, 14(4), 21-24. Retrieved August 7, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1323966231). http://tinyurl.com/ntgmq9

Wu, Wendy and Li, Jie. (2007, Spring). RSS Made Easy: A Basic Guide for Librarians. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, Vol 26(1). Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/ktuwkq