Imagining the future

Imagining the future

“A librarian is a data hound, a guide, a sherpa and a teacher. The librarian is the interface between reams of data and the untrained but motivated user.”  The library is “a place where people come together to do co-working and coordinate and invent projects worth working on together” (Godin, 2011).

Seth Godin clearly sees the crucial role librarians play as our world and education changes along with the rapid changes in technology. As I look to the future I know that my learning journey will continue. With the daily creation of new and creative Web 2.0 applications, there is always something new to play and learn with. As the meaning of literacy has changed and we now talk about “new literacies,” I will be in a central position as educators guide our students into the 21st century, allowing them to use, understand and create using these new technologies (Kist, 2010; Media Awareness Network, 2010). The above video demonstrates some examples of technology integrated in learning in Singapore.

The future will see my PLN grow as I continue to participate on Twitter and Facebook. My PLN will be integral in keeping current on technology and learning. Facebook will continue to be a central means of keeping in touch with my family and friends. I will hang onto Diigo as a bookmarking tool for myself, but continue to search for something to use with students. Perhaps Jog the Web will be suitable for younger grades, I will assess it as the Grade 3 students complete their research project. I will keep looking, though, for something to use with intermediate students as they need to be able to interact with the platform to add their own links and annotations. I will keep working with Storybird, allowing students create and collaborate on real books. It is my hope that I will have all students from Grades 2 through 6 create a Storybird this year. I have started a blog for one teacher to use with her class, but have not succeeded in getting her students blogging yet. I will continue to work with the teacher and her students to get these blogs up and running. One place to start will be to embed their Storybirds onto their blogs. Next school year, I want to get all of the intermediate students blogging. I would like to give Voki and Voicethread a try with at least one class this school year.

What about my friend, the spider? This blog was a lot of fun and it may in fact continue, though in a slightly different form. I have enjoyed becoming a real blogger and may take it a step further, tweeting about my posts to get the word out there and really join the conversation (Kist, 2010; Richardson, 2010). This will allow me to be a real participant in my PLN rather than just gathering ideas from others. This will also ensure that I am continuing to learn and grow as a professional even if I am not taking courses. I will explore more Web 2.0 applications and try them out with the students at my school.

In the future, I would also like to explore the area of games and gaming in learning, an area in which I have little experience or knowledge but I see great potential. Gaming can present opportunities for individualized learning, communication, collaboration and problem solving in addition to developing a sense of community (Hilton, 2006). Gaming engages students and therefore presents an opportunity for educators as “whenever one plays a game, and whatever game one plays, learning happens constantly” (Prensky, 2002). Libraries and teacher-librarians are in a perfect position to tap into this learning and have a good opportunity to tap into this form of learning (Kist, 2010; Ward-Crixel, 2006). 

Final Word

LIBE 477 has really opened the door wide open for my use of technology, both personally and professionally. My learning and exploration will continue as I share my learning with the students and teachers at my school, enriching their learning experiences as well.

“My alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. It s the letter I use to spell yuzz a ma tuzz. You ll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond Z and start poking around ” (Seuss, 1963).

References

Godin, S. (2011, May 16).  The future of the library [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/05/the-future-of-the-library.html

Hilton, R. (2006). Gaming as an educational tool. Young Consumers, 7(2), 14-19.

Kist, W. (2010). The socially networked classroom: Teaching in the new media age. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

Media Awareness Network. (2010). What is digital literacy and why is it important? Retrieved from http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/corporate/media_kit/digital_literacy_paper_pdf/digitalliteracypaper_part1.pdf

Prensky, M. (2002). What kids learn that’s POSITIVE from playing video games. Retrieved from  http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20What%20Kids%20Learn%20Thats%20POSITIVE%20From%20Playing%20Video%20Games.pdf

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

Seuss, Dr. (1963). Dr. Seuss’s ABC. New York: Beginner Books.

Ward-Crixel, K. (2006). Gaming advocacy. School Library Journal, 53(9), 36.

The end is here!

This is it, my friend, the final post.

Thanks for helping, you mean the most.

The things I have learned from the great big web,

The good, the bad, continue to ebb.

This isn't good-bye but so long for now,

I will see you on the web, somewhere, somehow!

While I continue on my learning journey as a teacher-librarian, I have embraced my inner geek as technology becomes an integral part of the learning process for teachers and students alike. As the definition of “21st century learning” continues to shift and change, I know that I need to be a leader in understanding and adopting new technologies to guide teachers and students along this new educational path (Naslund, 2008; Valenza, 2010). LIBE 477 is therefore, perhaps the most relevant course I have taken thus far at UBC.

The inquiry project for LIBE 477 has been a challenging yet fun journey. I began the journey with great gusto, stumbled around a bit in the middle and finished with a flourish. At the start of this project, I classified myself as an “intermediate” technology user. With the inquiry project, I was hoping to advance my level of technology use and understanding. Specifically, I was looking to:

• try out some Web 2.0 tools I have not used before
• discover some Web 2.0 tools that would be appropriate to use with elementary aged students
• use a Web 2.0 tool with a group students in the library
• better manage online information flow

I have investigated a number of Web 2.0 tools including: Facebook, Twitter/TweetDeck, Diigo, Pinterest, Kidblog, Blogmeister, Voki, Glogster, VoiceThread and Storybird. I have used these tools personally and evaluated them for use with students and teachers at my school. I have been working with students and teachers to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into their learning. I have also developed a better system for managing online information flow.

Where was I and where am I now?

I began this project as an intermediate technology user and have definitely moved forward and advanced my level of technology use and understanding. Although I was comfortable using technology when I started, I was mostly a consumer of this technology. I am now an active participant who is comfortable using social media and online platforms for myself. I am also continually looking for ways to guide teachers and students, allowing them to take advantage and learn with these technologies as well. While the Web 2.0 tools available for online learning will continue to change, I feel I now have a solid foundation to move forward with. Of course, as much as I learn and become comfortable with these technologies, I will always remain a “digital immigrant” (Prensky, 2001). I will therefore never become an “expert” technology user, even though my level understanding and use has progressed immensely.

Some highlights

☆  “the blog”

Part of the inquiry process was the creation of a blog. I saw this blog as a journal of sorts, chronicling my journey in Web 2.0 as I have chronicled things for other library courses. It was not until I received feedback from my instructor that I understood the real task at hand - I was to become a blogger. The blog was not to just keep track of what I was doing and keep my own personal comments on things, I was to create a blog that might actually be interesting to others! After about a week of pondering came the change in my blog; I needed a catchy title and some kind of theme to run through the blog. Titles need to be interesting and so do the first few sentences if people are to read any further. I then went back and revamped my whole blog so that it became the type of blog that I would want to follow. Richardson (2010) says “we (teachers) must become connected and engaged in learning in these new ways if we are to fully understand the pedagogies of using these tools with our students” (p. x). It is through the creation of my own blog that I was able to experience this change. Of course, I could have pushed the experience farther by tweeting my blog posts, but I am not quite there yet. Alas, perhaps the biggest learning experience came from where I least expected it; I did not realize that the blog creating was part of my inquiry!

☆  Facebook

It is kind of ironic that Facebook is one of the tools I chose to investigate for this inquiry project. Facebook, the social media phenomenon that everyone uses - except me! How could I be so technologically adept yet shun Facebook? I think it might be because of the timing of it; Facebook came out in 2004 when I was home with a three year old and a one year old. I was not spending a lot of time in front of the computer, but was hearing the horror stories of photos posted by “friends” and slandering reputations. My administrator husband kept me aware of the problems students were getting into using Facebook. It sounded like your whole life was, well, an open book! Most of my friends embraced Facebook, though I continued to avoid it, even as I begun my foray into online learning and my technology integration skyrocketed.

A huge part Web 2.0 learning involves the social aspect of online applications. Richardson (2010) claims that it is “the conversations, the links, and the networks” that come out of using Web 2.0 tools “that really show us the profound implications for lifelong learning” (p. 9). As of 2011, there were 500,000,000 active Facebook users (Hepburn, 2011). I am now one of those active users. I am will continue to use Facebook to connect with friends, near and far. Sharing day to day events as well as larger moments with friends who I may not talk to each day is enjoyable and social.  As I am sitting by myself on my couch trying to finish my course work, I can still feel a part of the world!

☆   TweetDeck

Using Twitter for the past year, I realize its value in developing my PLN, but have frequently overwhelmed with the amount of information coming in (Pearse, 2011; Smith, 2009). TweetDeck has really improved my use of Twitter. Having columns with different subject/hashtag feeds makes it much easier to keep track of the latest information coming in. During the BCTF annual general meeting, I added a column with the hashtag #bctfagm so I could keep up to date on what was happening and kept it on my opening page. I have since removed that column as the AGM has finished. It is also very convenient that TweetDeck is just a tab away in my Chrome browser and also contains my Facebook feed.

☆   Voki

Although I had seen Vokis in the past, I had never ventured to the website or tried to make one before this inquiry project. I was interested in Voki particularly because of the ability to use it with my students in French or English. It was really easy to use and it is also fun! Because students can record their own voice, without typing or spelling,  Voki can be used in many different ways for various aged students, also allowing for differentiation based on learning styles and abilities (Huebner, 2010). The students love the crazy guy with the pink hair that welcomes them to the library website and are really hoping that they will get to make their own. Right now, I am still working out the logistics of having 24 students talking into their computers at the same time.

☆  Storybird

I think Storybird is my favourite web application that I explored for this inquiry project. I was able to create a free account that can host up to 75 students without email addresses, it is very simple to use, can be used in any language and the results are beautiful. Just this week, I have introduced two classes to Storybird. It was fairly straightforward to get the students going with the platform and they were very excited as they began to create. Some students went home and created numerous stories on their own and I hear feedback from parents about how excited their child was to create their own story. Being able to produce a quality book, published online is very empowering (Richardson, 2011). Storybird also presents the opportunity to collaborate in the creation of books, something we will try once students have mastered the application.

Lowlight

⬇  Social Bookmarking

My exploration into social bookmarking was really frustrating. Although I use Diigo to keep track of things for myself, I really wanted to find something that I could use for students in the library. I was very disappointed to find the settings in the Diigo Educator’s Account inadequate for our needs at an elementary school. The access students had to other individuals and bookmarks was far too “open” for our elementary students. While I suppose this is part of the “social” aspect of social bookmarking, a “closed” social network consisting of only the students would be more appropriate (Kist, 2011).

Pinterest was another disappointment. While I like the visual nature of Pinterest and think this would be particularly useful with students, the copyright issues are downright scary (Shontell, 2012). As a teacher-librarian, teaching students and teachers about fair use and copyright is important (Valenza, 2010). I just do no not see how I can use Pinterest right now.  As the issues surrounding Pinterest and copyright are worked out over the coming months, perhaps I will feel ready to give it another try.

How will I share my new learning?

I am constantly sharing my new learning with others. I send the teachers at my school emails with links to interesting ideas and information. I have my own two sons create their work using Web 2.0 tools and submit them to their teachers; this gives their teachers and the other students a taste of what is out there that is interesting and fun. For example, one son did a Prezi for his presentation on resources while the other submitted a Storybird as his writing. I create things for teachers to show them what can be done. For example, I just created a Jog the Web for the Grade 3 students who will be studying planets in the coming weeks; perhaps this will become the bookmarking platform I am looking for. I created a screencast for the teachers at the school to show them how to sign out library books for themselves if I am not there. The library website I created is full of fun links and tools. I use various Web 2.0 tools to illustrate school events on the website; I have created Animoto videos, a Glogster poster, a Prezi and Voki, to name a few. I have had all the students from Grade 2 up create DoppleMe avatars to use as their image as we venture into using Web 2.0 tools. 

I also share my learning with my friends. I post samples of my children’s work on Facebook. Just last night, I was showing my friends at Book Club how to make a Storybird and we also had a discussion about Facebook use by teenagers. I introduced my mother-in-law to Ge.tt file sharing site so she could send us over some videos.




References

Hepburn, A. (2011, Jan. 18). Facebook statistics, stats & facts for 2011 [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/facebook-statistics-stats-facts-2011/

Heubner, T.A. (2010). Differentiated instruction. Educational Leadership, 67(5), 79-81.

Kist, W. (2010). The socially networked classroom: Teaching in the new media age. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

Naslund, J. (2008). Towards school library 2.0: An introduction to social software tools for teacher librarians. School Libraries Worldwide, 14(2), 55-67.

Pearse, F. (2011, March 7). The power of the PLN [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://principalofthematter.com/?p=149

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

Shontell, A. (2012, Feb. 28). A lawyer who is also a photographer just deleted all her Pinterest boards out of fear. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-copyright-issues-lawyer-2012-2?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=10%20Things%20In%20Tech%20You%20Need%20To%20Know&utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20%28sai%29%3A%2010%20Things%20You%20Need%20To%20Know%20This%20Morning

Smith, K. (2009, May 5). PLN: Your personal learning network made easy [Web log message]. Retrieved from  http://onceateacher.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/pln-your-personal-learning-network-made-easy/

Valenza, J. (2010, October). Manifesto for 21st century school librarians. Voice of Youth Advocates. Retrieved from http://www.voya.com/2010/09/15/tag-team-tech-october-2010

The end is near

Well little spider, the end is near,

Though I will continue to explore the web from here.

Your web is a small one, my dear little friend,

But mine keeps expanding - it never will end.

I have learned so much, yet there is so much more.

My travels continue, I've just opened the door.

I have now finished my Web 2.0 inquiry project. I have learned so much from this process and have morphed from a technology user to a creator. I have achieved some "ah ha" moments that will serve me well as I move forward as a teacher-librarian in the 21st century, working to engage the digital natives (Prensky, 2001) of today.

I have explored numerous Web 2.0 applications, some that I will continue to use on a daily basis, some that I will use with students this week and others that I may not look at again. However, each has provided me with skills to take forward as I continue to explore Web 2.0 personally and professionally.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.

Storybird

A story for me, a story for you,

Storybird is fun, through and through.

Spidey likes it and so do I,

Write a story, no need to be shy.

I think Storybird is my favourite web application from those I have investigated for this course. It is so simple, yet it creates really impressive results. It is such a great resource for students to get them writing.

Over Spring Break, my 8 year old had the task of writing a short story (really a paragraph). He always struggles with generating ideas for his writing, so I got him to try a Storybird instead. By choosing some fun images, he was able to create a story to flow with it. Voila!


George le scientiste fâcher by bjdoyle on Storybird
Of course, one of the advantages of Storybird is that the stories can be created in French, a bonus at my French Immersion School. In fact, here is a page of Storybirds en Français. These would be great for students to read for inspiration.
Erin Klein has some good tips in her blog post A Reflection on Storybird:

• write a Storybird as a class first - this is a great idea and could be done on the SmartBoard
• offer choice - Klein found that the boys more frequently gravitated to Web 2.0 applications that involved multi-media like Glogster or VoiceThread

Storybird is an excellent way to get students involved in digital storytelling and collaboration. It is accessible to young students as long as they have the ability to write. 

As we head back to school after our Spring Break, this is one tool that I will be looking to implement with students soon.

A thread of voices

Conversations in the cloud

Shouts VoiceThread out loud.

So easy and fun,
Students young and old can take it for a run!

VoiceThread is a really neat online application. After uploading some images, students can add their comments/narration using text, voiceover or video. Some of the real power in VoiceThread comes in the ability of students to comment and interact with the VoiceThread; this, of course, is the power of many web applications (Richardson, 2010).

View more PowerPoint from guestf48b0c

The flexibility of VoiceThread allows it to be used with the whole class, in small groups or independently and across all curricular areas (Brunvand & Byrd, 2011). Additionally, "VoiceThread enables teachers to capitalize on student learning strengths and preferred learning modalities by encouraging active participation in the learning process" (Brunvand & Byrd, 2011, p. 33). Brunvand and Byrd (2011) found that VoiceThread allowed at-risk students
and students with disabilities to achieve greater success by focussing on individual strengths.

Luke Rodesiler (2010) suggests the following uses for VoiceThread:

• deconstructing images, advertisements and other print texts
• analyzing moving images
• composing digital stories
• revising and reflecting

The possibilities are really endless. VoiceThread is a fun and easy platform that I am will be using with our Grade 3 students soon!

Brunvand, S. & Byrd, S. (2011). Using VoiceThread to promote learning engagement and success for all students. Teaching Exceptional Children, 43(4), 28-37.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

Rodesiler, L. (2010). Voices in action: The potential of VoiceThread in the media classroom. Screen Education, 59, (72-74).

Glug, glug, glug, glog

Glug, glug, glug, glog

Don't get stuck in a bog.

A poster, dear spider, is so passé.

Try Glogster, I say, it is here to stay!

So what do I think about Glogster? I really enjoy the look of Glogster and the ability to embed multimedia within the glogs. I think it is a great alternative to paper posters that are destined only for the recycling bin.

View more PowerPoint from pinctripod

Jamie Renton, librarian at Harvest Park Middle School, suggests that Glogster allows students to:

• demonstrate mastery of technology tools
• collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding
• use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information
• use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings
• participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners
• use technology tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and access

Glogster can be used to represent learning in all areas of the curriculum and is fun to use. 


Here is an example of an English assignment:  
Here is an example of a science Glog:  


Carroll and Edwards (2012) used Glogster to explore poetry with a reluctant group of 12 and 13 year old boys. 

"The engagement with multimedia to explore this element of poetry was as enjoyable and interesting to the boys as it was to us as teachers. . . Using Glogs has expanded our understanding, added to our teaching practice and given our students the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and understanding to an aspect of poetry they did not value at first." (p. 18).

In my practice as teacher-librarian at an elementary school, I will not be looking to use Glogster in the near future. It is a fairly complex endeavour that would be difficult for the students at my school right now. However, as I am working more and more with the students at my school using Web 2.0 applications, perhaps this year's Grade 1's will be ready for Glogster when they reach Grade 6!

Carroll, J. and Edwards, B. (2012). Boys, ballads and Glogster: Techno-poetry in Year 7. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 20(1), 16-19.

Vokis are fun!

Voki is a very simple platform for creating talking avatars. Voki Classroom has additional features that make it appealing to teachers - no email required for students, lessons can be set to private, teacher management of classes, no ads, etc. Supporting over 25 languages, Voki is a natural fit for my French Immersion school.


Michael Gorman presents 20 Ways to Use Talking Avatars including:

• book talks
• persuasive speech
• testing
• class announcements
• poetry
• news stories
• test review

In Voki for the Classroom, José Picardo points out that:

"teachers quickly realize that Voki allows students to express themselves on the internet in safety and confidently, as their real identities are hidden behind the avatar.  As far as teaching languages is concerned . . . Voki helps my students improve their oral proficiency in the target language"

William Kist (2010) talks about "new literacies" that feature "work in multiple forms of representation" and "places of student engagement in which students report achieving a "flow" state" (p. 8). Using Voki in with students allows them to represent their learning in a very unique way. For many students, this will be a very comfortable way of presenting, rather than having to stand in front of their class themselves. By putting Vokis on websites and blogs, students are actively participating and publishing on the read/write web. Richardson (2010) says that students must be literate in the ways of publishing if they are to truly take advantage of the power of the read/write web (p. 149). Voki is a simple and fun way to have students enter the realm of publishing.


Kist, W. (2010). The socially networked classroom: Teaching in the new media age. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

A blog on a log

The little spider said to me,

What are the student blogs going to be?

When will they start and what will they do?
Will you and the teacher follow through?

Blogs are perhaps one of the easiest yet powerful Web 2.0 tools to engage in. Will Richardson suggests that:

"the true potential of blogs in schools come when students and teachers use them as publishing tools. . . the best way to fully understand the potential of Weblogs as a teaching and learning tool is to become a blogger" (p. 43).

Well, that is exactly what I have done with this blog. By putting myself "out there," I have opened up my writing and thoughts to the world. I think this is very similar to the experience my students would have in that I have had comments from my teacher and other students, but not from the outside world. Although I am not generally one comfortable to share with others in this way, I seem to have an awful lot of posts in my blog. I do like sharing my learning with others - perhaps that is why I am a teacher! This process has convinced me that blogging is something that students should be doing, as young as they can create the simplest posts.





Tom Whitby suggests that "blogging provides a real reason for kids to write.  The realization that an audience of more than one would be reading their work is a real incentive." As learning moves towards a collaborative and interactive experience, blogging plays a central role (Kist, 2010; Richardson, 2010)

So I am convinced! My goal is to get the Grade 3/4 class blogging after Spring Break. I sat down with the teacher a couple of weeks before the break and helped her set up her class blog in KidBlog. The teacher is somewhat uncomfortable about having kids putting things online and is worried about the responses of parents. I wrote a letter of introduction and permission letter to be sent to parents regarding the project that included some links about the value in blogging for kids.

Jenny Luca gives Six Reasons Why Kids Should Know How to Blog:

• creating positive digital footprints
• communicating with digital tools
• transparency for parents and family
• new ways of thinking about web tools
• effective digital citizenship
• pride in their work

20 reasons why students should blog are given by this teacher from Australia.

It is my hope that, with my guidance, this will be a successful and rewarding experience for the students, teacher and parents. By slowly taking steps to easy my school community into participation of the read/write web, we will be preparing our students for their futures.


Kist, W. (2010). The socially networked classroom: teaching in the new media age. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

P, p, p, pin it!

I've heard through my web there's something new on the scene.

It is called Pinterest, but what does this mean?

A pin board online, to make and to share.

Finding others finds from here and from there.

Pinterest is one of the "new kids on the block" when it comes to social bookmarking, but it has become very popular, very quickly. I find Pinterest appealing because it is so visual. By pinning an image from a site you want to bookmark, you organize pins onto boards based on groups you make.

Here is my Pinterest page:

Due to its visual nature, I think that Pinterest is especially useful as a bookmarking system for students. In this video from Edudemic, Lisi Gopin discusses using Pinterest in the classroom.

Some great ideas from the video include:

• having images for writing prompts
• collections of resources to share with students
• collections of books

Additionally, Gopin points out that the built-in interactivity allows students to discuss things directly on the pins; there is a comment space under each pin.

I am liking many of these ideas for integrating Pinterest into the classroom. Additionally, the ideas for using Pinterest in the library abound. In 20 Ways Libraries are Using Pinterest Right Now, there are 20 great ideas including:

• creating book lists
• showing new aquisitions
• research

Additionally, this blog post gives some more ideas for Pinterest for Librarians, though most are for the librarians use as opposed to student use.

Recently, there has been some concern about Pinterest and copyright, which, as a teacher-librarian, rightfully worries me. Because Pinterest simply pins any images on a website, people are taking copyrighted images that do not belong to them. This article is about a lawyer who has deleted all her Pinterest boards because of this issue. Her personal blog gives more legal background regarding this issue.

So, this really complicates things! I like Pinterest and find the visual appeal would be useful for students. However, I can not, as a teacher-librarian be using this site that is known to be breaking copyright, either personally or professionally.

Au revoir, Pinterest! :(

What's in a book . . . mark?

How goes the bookmark, spidey says to me?

Has it keep your place, keeping it safe in the vast web-like sea?

I have found a system, though it is just for me.

For students, I'll search 'till I like what I see.

I have been using Diigo for about a year now to keep track of things on the web. For my inquiry project, I really wanted to take a look at how I might use it in the library to keep track of good sites for students doing various research projects.

Will Richardson (2010) illustrates all kinds of uses for Diigo in the classroom: setting up accounts for the class, tagging them for individual students to follow, annotating comments for them (pp. 95-96). While I can see the merit in this kind of use of Diigo, I think the students at my elementary school are not quite ready for this yet.

My investigation into Diigo Educator left me disappointed. While I was successfully able to create a class and start making bookmarks, the "social" part of the application made me nervous. While many of the "education" formats for Web 2.0 platforms are closed, Diigo seems to allow students more liberty at veering off the site and into something else. While I am definitely pushing the edges of what parents and teachers at my school are comfortable with in terms of working and creating online, I do not think this would work.

Here is a link to the Diigo page for Elementary School Safety. It is a list of resources related to safely implementing EdTech in elementary schools. Quite ironically, students can easily click on the top of the page and get sidetracked into some links that might not be great.

In this Tip of the Day - Using Diigo, J. Bauer suggests some other uses of Diigo such as:

• Have a virtual discussions about a website or article by having every student include a sticky note with their thoughts.
  
• Make notations beside videos to let teachers or students know what sections to watch or to explain if something is unclear.

In this video, an elementary teacher-librarian is interviewed about how she uses Diigo with her students. The collaborative way that the students use Diigo is very impressive, and learning how to tag as well as annotate their bookmarks is a very useful research skill.

While these are some other good ways of using Diigo, I think I will wait to implement them until I am at a secondary school.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

All tweets on deck

Well what about TweetDeck? How did it go?

Was it really useful? How do you know?

TweetDeck is super, it helps me a lot,

I love the columns and never get caught.

When I began this inquiry project, I was already sold on the idea of Twitter. I was using it daily, creating a PLN of educators and finding lots of great information, ideas and food for thought. However, I was finding managing the information flow into my Twitter account overwhelming and did not think I was managing it well. Enter TweetDeck - a way to organize the flow of information and keep it manageable.

A PLN or personal learning network, is like differentiated learning. In Why Teachers Should Try Twitter, William Ferriter describes his path to individualized learning (as an educator) through Twitter. 

For educators who use this tool to build a network of people whose Twitter messages connect to their work, Twitter becomes a constant source of new ideas to explore. (Ferriter, 2010).

 In Nine great reasons why teachers should use Twitter, Laura Knight's reasons are all related to professional growth as a teacher:

• together we're better
• global or local: you choose
• self-awareness and reflective practice
• ideas workshop and sounding board
• newsroom and innovative showcase
• professional development and critical friends
• quality-assured searching
• communicate, communicate, communicate
• getting with the times has never been so easy

Will Richardson (2010) describes Twitter as a "network at my fingertips" for educators (p.86).

So, yes, yes, yes, I am sold on the idea of using Twitter for creating and keeping track of my PLN! I am all over differentiated learning for teachers. I am simply looking for a better way to keep track of it all!

Enter TweetDeck - a platform that allows me to manage the Twitter feeds I follow into columns. I can have columns for various hashtags that I wish to keep track of and can even add my Facebook account into it. Because I am using the Google Chrome add-on of TweetDeck, it shows up as a tab in my web browser which is very convenient. TweetDeck simply enhances my ability to use Twitter and allows me to better take advantage of it.



Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

About face

So, says my friend, the end is in sight,

You need to assess all your work, if you might.

Let's start with Facebook, what do you think?

Will you keep it or is it bound to shrink?

As my Web 2.0 explorations draw to a close, I feel it is necessary to go back and visit each tool, seeing what I have learned and where I will go from here.

Before beginning my inquiry, I did not have a Facebook account. In fact, I actively avoided signing up for Facebook, based on various things I had heard about it - ranging from the time consuming aspect of it to privacy concerns about it.

After investigating the privacy concerns and learning how my personal privacy settings could be set to control who sees what, I am much more comfortable with Facebook. In terms of eating up my time, I do find that it is one more thing that I "need to check" when sitting down at my computer, several times a day - in addition to my two email accounts, Twitter and Google Reader. However, with my Facebook feed going into my TweetDeck, I find I only need to open up Facebook once unless I spot something I want to investigate further.

So, yes, I will continue to use Facebook. Personally, it allows me to connect with friends that I don't necessarily talk to or see very often. It gives me a taste of what is going on in their lives. It is nice to be able to share a photo and have everyone see it and give a comment. It also lets me connect with groups that I am involved with so that I am up to date.

Professionally, Facebook can also be used by teacher-librarians to connect with their personal learning networks. Buffy Hamilton, the Unquiet Librarian suggests using Facebook to connect with likeminded colleagues in Start Social Networking with Libraries and Librarians @ Facebook. She suggests some groups/organizations to "fan" as well as some groups to join to keep up to date on what is happening in the library world. Although I can see the value in this, right now, I am going to keep Facebook a personal foray and keep my PLN connections through Google Reader and Twitter.

Will Richardson (2010) suggests that the "key" to Facebook "for educators is to move beyond the friendship-based connections and really explore the potentials of the networked, interest-based learning that's possible" (p. 132). Facebook "has become an important online space in our kids lives" (p. 133) and, for the most part, no one is teaching them how to navigate it safely. Right now, I am at an elementary school. Since students must be 13 years old to sign up for Facebook, it is not possible to use it as a learning tool. However, I do believe that general discussions around internet safety and digital footprints need to begin in elementary school. In the event that I re-enter the world of secondary school, I can see some direct uses for Facebook in the classroom including creating private groups for discussion (Richardson, 2010) or creating Facebook pages for characters in books or history (What Would Romeo's Facebook Page Look Like). In fact, here are

So, the final word? I will keep using Facebook personally and will look to use it the classroom if I end up in secondary education in the future.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

A day in the internet

Created by: MBAOnline.com

It's storytime!

A Storybird for storytime,

It doesn't always need to rhyme.

So cute and easy, it's lots of fun.

Pick some art and you're on the run.

Storybird is a lovely application to make beautiful online books. Storybird has a collection of art by numerous artists that are grouped together by theme. You choose the art for your book and get the whole themed collection. Then it is drag and drop - choose a piece of art you like and drag it onto the page of the book. You can shift the location - upper, lower, right or left of page. Then you add text and continue along to the next page. It really is easy to use and the beautiful artwork makes the books look professional.

What's Your Storybird: How to use Storybird  

Teachers can get an Education account (which I did), where they can manage classes, put assignments, etc. You can upgrade for other convenient features as follows.

I absolutely love Storybird! It is so easy to use and the results are so impressive and professional looking. I really want to get working with the Grade 2 and 3s on creating some Storybirds after the break - the nice thing is that we can do it in French!

In this blog post at Edutopia, Aviva Dunsigner, describes using Storybird with Grade 1s and 2s working individually, in partners and even using it during math centres while Stephen Davis uses it with his Grade 8 students (New Teacher Boot Camp Week 3 - Using Storybird).


Anne Coward at Educational Technologies for School Leaders suggests these reasons for using Storybird:

• Encourages reluctant readers to read and write
• Opportunities for students to collaborate and share ideas while they create their own story
• Students are easily able to navigate program to create storybook
• Great images and artwork for students that help inspire a story
• Student Work can be easily accessed to grade and review.
• The created project can be easily shared and downloaded so others can provide feedback or edit
• Embed anywhere i.e. class blogs, websites, email for others to see

On this wiki, http://kditzlerteacherresourcepage.wikispaces.com/Storybird, there is an example of an assignment about adjectives using Storybird. Students must choose an art collection and then create a book using adjectives to describe the art. There are also examples of collaboratively created Storybirds between classes in different parts of the country (USA).

Storybirds are an excellent way for students to engage in new literacies (Kist, 2010; Richardson, 2010). The ability to create and collaborate is critical as we move forward in the rapidly changing environment of learning and technology. Storybird allows students to participate in this read/write web, is fun and easy.

Kist, W. (2010). The socially networked classroom: teaching in the new media age. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

The power of Pinterest

Another bird

Another bird, you can't be for real!

Why not arachnids? They will make a good deal!

Storybird is fun, for kids big and small.

With plenty of great pictures, even you'd like it all.

A day in the sun. by jmclarty on Storybird

The goods on Glogster

But how did you do it? What did you do?

It looks so complex, with everything new!

It takes some patience and quite a bit of time,

And to set up a class, takes much more than a dime.

My investigation into Glogster had me initially a bit frustrated. I signed up for an account and was trying to create a Glog, but kept running into errors as I tried to upload a video. The video would not load, so I looked up some further information to see what format the video needed to be in and if I was doing something wrong. Then I realized that I had signed up for the regular Glogster, when I should have signed up for GlogsterEDU.

So, I started over again, this time in GlogsterEDU. But, because I had already created an account using my school email address, I couldn't create another. Ugh!!! I ended up using the library email account to set up the GlogsterEDU account. I then restarted my glog and had no issues uploading the video. Hmm???

Once I had the hang of it, creating my Glog was fairly easy, though time consuming. There are so many choices when it comes to images, graphics and text that it takes a long time to pick the components for the glog. I really like the fact that video, images and sound can all be embedded in the glog. I do think, however, that this is a tool for older students given the complexity of it. I do not think I would try it with elementary students, unless I was working with a small, technically advanced group. I think Glogster is a useful tool for secondary students and great to replace paper posters!

I am a little confused as to the pricing for Glogster as well. I created a "Single Free" account. "Free accounts do not offer any student management features." OK - I see now - I am able to see the tabs for "classes" and "students" but can't actually put anything in there, I just get a pop-up for upgrading my license. If I want students to be managed in classes, the cost is $29.95 for 50 students or $99 for 200 students, for a year. 

So, Glogster is rather costly and complex for elementary aged students. It is something that I may use in the future but can not see myself using it with a class at this point in time.

Oh my glog!

A glog on a blog, how very odd!

Take a look spider, I am sure you will be awed.

A poster, online, with video and more,

Photos, words and links finish the score.

This is the Glogster I made about my school's entry to the BC Green Games. Please feel free to vote for the Mill Bay Elementary team for the "Viewer's Choice" award! Follow the link on the glog!

 

A spider story

Here you go spidey, I made this for you.

A Voicethread, you see, I tried something new.

Pictures and talking, it is so much fun!

You can add comments, I am not the only one.

So here is the ever so simple Voicethread that I made.

How to use your voice

So what can you do with a class and your voice?

Can the students do it? Do they have a choice?

There are many fun thing to create with Voicethread,

Images, videos and comments of what you said.

Since I can't seem to get into Voicethread tonight, I thought I would explore some resources looking at how Voicethread can be used in education. Here are some of the things I came across:

• there is a great wiki called Voicethread 4 Education full of tons of resources
• I really like the ideas in this Google presentation

• some of the good ideas:
• creating one account for the class and different identities for each student; students can they respond/comment on something you have posted
• making up a story to go with pictures
• displaying student art work
• recording reflections
• documenting science 
• the wiki also has pages specific to various grades with other lesson ideas such as:
• creating a class "book" Voicethread with each student's artwork and accompanying comment as a page
• book reviews
• the wiki definitely has many good ideas

Some other things I noted:

• the Voicethreads can take quite a long time to load onto a page and the video/audio comments can also take a while to load; would this be frustrating for students?

I found this good article on Voicethreads at Edutopia: VoiceThread extends the classroom with interactive multimedia albums

Bill Ferriter has a good handout for commenting on Voicethreads on his blog The Tempered Radical in the post Using Voicethread for collaborative thought . . . 

That's it for now. 

Voicethread

A thread for your voice? Just what does that mean?

Is it like a web that shows where you've been?

A Voicethread, my friend, is a new way to show

All that you've learned to share with those you know.

I thought it was time to explore Voicethread and see how it works. One of the aspects that really interests me in terms of using Voicethread in a classroom, is the opportunity for students to present information by talking. This will be easier for some of the younger children who have not yet learned how to write and spell. It is also a benefit for students with various learning difficulties. This also makes it easy to present a project in French!

Hmmm . . . strange, but Voicethread doesn't want to load for me tonight. I only see a blank white page. I wonder if this happens often?

I will write about my experiences and may need to fill in some details later. 

After I signed into Voicethread, I was offered the opportunity to learn how to use it with some videos. However, I prefer to just jump in and play around with an application, discovering it for myself. So that is what I did.

I was able to easily upload some pictures from my computer and change the order of them by dragging them around. I could give the images titles as well. I made an identity for myself and my son (still home sick) but could not figure out how to comment on specific images. This actually took me quite a while to figure out! I watched several different help videos that did not really help and then figured it out by chance. It turns out you just put together all the images, with titles and then publish the Voicethread. You then go through the project and can add comments (voice, written or even drawing on the image) at the photos as you wish. So, it was actually very simple once I got past that small glitch!

If I ever get into Voicethread again, I will post what I did!