Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Show me what I have learned about Web 2.0

World wide web

Evolving applications

Bombarding me with so much new information

2 many choices

. (pointing) me into the "right" direction

0 (zer0) tolerance for narrow-mindedness because it's just going to keep on developing with or without me & you...



A not so long time ago,...

Before I started this course, I was mainly and Web 1.0/(read-only) user with the exception of Facebook. Soon enough I was knee deep no more accurately "hip deep" in Web 2.0/ (read-write ideology. What changed? "Internet users [can] publish information online almost as easily as they can read online, and they have tremendous potential for learning" (Rosen). Personally, I think to say that Web 2.0 allows users to "publish information online" is an understatement. What we CAN actually publish is A LOT such as " blogs (personal publishing), wikis (collaborative publishing), real simple syndication (RSS), content aggregators, streaming video (YouTube), file sharing, podcasting, and social networking (MySpace)"(Mills). So, you didn't make it on Canadian Idol or So You Think You Can Dance Canada, etc. It's not the end of the world! You can still do what you love to do and share with people all around the world with YouTube. The same can be done with writing. There are very few limitations. Also, the statement that Web 2.0 allows users to "have tremendous potential for learning" is absolutely correct. "With Web 2.0, the focus is not on software, but on practices such as sharing thoughts and information through self-publishing and harnessing the collective intelligence of all users to generate information and solve problems. These technologies are creating huge changes in how educators and students receive and respond to information" (Mills).

I think the key here is "receive and respond to information". We have been using textbooks, tests, essays, reports on paper far too long. Paper is quite limiting actually. There are only a few ways to express your ideas 1. write it down 2. draw it 3. use it as a prop... anything else I'm missing? But you get my drift don't you? With Web 2.0, students can make videos, make voice recordings, create collages, write, share, edit, get feedback from everywhere, etc. And there are more new applications being conjured up as we "speak". Wait that's not the best part yet... at least my students, enjoy using the computer to do their work. I get moans and groans when I ask them to write an in-class essay. However, when I transfer the essay format to the computer, I get less moans and groans. I also found my students writing performances improved not just because of spell check and grammar check. I haven't quite pin pointed the real cause for this. It could be as simple as font recognition. Most of what our students read is typed and so, sometimes if they come across a word that they question the spelling, perhaps it's clearer to see it in the form they first learned it in? Another reason could also be the legibility of the writing. I know many of my students can't read their own writing, so, how can I? ( Though I personally don't like this argument very much....) Or perhaps it's the fact that we gloss over errors as simple typos and not as misspelled words? (I know this is how online provincial exam markers are trained to do.) Even though I'm an English teacher, I would almost go as far as perhaps some rubrics focus too much on the conventions of the English language and not on the "bigger" picture. How useful is learning how to spell thousands of words correctly when in their future everything will be typed and spell checked will be automatically used? Shouldn't we spend more time on how to express what they are feeling, thinking, learning, etc. instead? Especially since there is no "idea check", "opinion check", etc. Anyhoo, this is just one aspect of expression through writing. The point is there are so many more options available with the Web 2.0 tools today and in the future.


I personally like working with technology. I think the funniest things would be how I was considered to be on the higher end of my old school's staff as being technologically able. But once this course started rolling, I was intimidated by how much there was out there that I didn't know! Living in China, is like living in a bubble. The "Great Firewall" of China can be very frustrating. How so? Well, China highly censors everything before allowing it in the country. Be it books, news, information, anything and everything. Occaisionally, there would be several days that we can't access our hotmail accounts. For the last few months before I left for summer vacation, we could not use YouTube because it was blocked. Many blog sites are blocked such as Blogger, Wordpress, etc. My husband is writing his last entry before we return in anticipation that it will still be blocked. The official Twitter update after several searches: "Sites currently blocked in China inc. YouTube, Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, Flickr, Tumblr, technorati, Picasa web albums, Scribd" posted by tvnewswatch 1 day ago.... Wow, and that was only 140 characters, if this tweet was allowed more... ... This is my reality of using Web 2.0 in China. For a long time Wikipedia was blocked as well until an agreement was made that no information about Tibet or Tiananmen Square would be allowed in China. (http://www.techdigest.tv/2008/04/china_allows_ac.html) I really do hope when I get settled in the new place and get internet access again, that I will be able to find loopholes in the Firewall and be able to use many of the Web2.0 tools we have used in this course. I'm so thankful that I did this course in the summer term when I am in Canada! I'm not so sure what would have happened if I had to do this course in China! I do wonder though how much longer China will be able to keep all this information out of their citizens' reach. With the rapidfire-like information transfering all over the web, one day the Firewall maybe broken, or new programs that aren't blocked yet will get messages across. How will they deal with the aftermath? Will the citizens even believe the information? There is a new generation of youth that study abroad - many from our international schools. This generation is exposed to everything when they study in Canada, USA, Europe, Australia, etc. Perhaps the truths will come out when they return to China with their new knowledge from living in uncensored countries. And perhaps when the new reigns take over, the Great Firewall of China will also be torn down.


Security of Web 2.0

Back in 2007, the first Web 2.0 worm was created which forced MySpace.com to temporarily shut down because this worm allowed Kamkar (the creator) to control the the browser of any one who visited the site. This bug didn't threaten the users' computers but their data online was jeopardized (Albro). This was a big struggle of mine throughout the course. How our data would be used, passed on, stored, etc. As time went on, every new app we had to sign up for more or less asked for the same information. I felt like it was routine and it wasn't any new information that I was putting out there. I also became more comfortable with posting videos and podcasts that I made when I knew the purpose of making it was to be posted for an audience. I don't feel like I've sold my life information online. Though I am very careful not to post too much details about certain events on apps like Facebook. Unfortunately, not all my colleagues and friends have learned about the Facebook Etiquettes! A few days before the wedding, one colleague sent a wall message to another colleague about the date, time, locations of the wedding. So, the entire details of my wedding was posted on their Facebook walls and the newsfeed. My husband and I saw this on the newsfeed and were not impressed! I addressed them individually about the issues of privacy on Facebook etc. My husband and I do not have students on our Facebook, however, they might have students on theirs who can access that information. Luckily, we didn't experience any wedding crashers. I still feel that this is still an issue. Sure, we know what Facebook does with our information, but others don't and sometimes they give that information out unknowingly.

In the not so distant future...

I would like to keep up with the Web 2.0 apps that I am able to access while in China for the school year. I would like to create a new small goal for my personal ProD, which is every week I will try out one of the new apps that my RSS feed Free Technology for Teachers posts and blog about my experience using that tool. I think this will help me stumble upon new great discoveries for the library and the classroom. I will continue to follow some Twitter Tweets from Library 2.o, YALSA, Library Journal, ebooklibrary, etc on my iGoogle - hopefully there's a flaw in the firewall of China. Otherwise, I still have the RSS feeds from Google reader and I can access those that are not on official blog sites to stay current with what happening in the Web 2.o world. I will continue to use Facebook carefully, since all my colleagues from the old campus are avid users of Facebook, so we can keep in touch.

Resources:

Web 2.0: A New Generation of Learners and Education. By: Rosen, Dina; Nelson, Charles. Computers in the Schools, 2008, Vol. 25 Issue 3/4, p211-225


The Next Wave Now: Web 2.0. By: Mills, Lane B.. Education Digest, Dec2007, Vol. 73 Issue 4, p4-5


Is Web 2.0 Safe? PC World Edited by:Albro, Edward N. and Robert McMillan, Jul2007, Vol. 25 Issue 7, p18-20, 3p

Project Wiki

"One of the great challenges of the knowledge management field is sharing tacit knowledge in a way that passes it along to others or even converts it into something like explicit knowledge" (Sheehy)

A wiki what?
-wikis are a collaborative writing space that is created and edited by a community of users
-wikis are presented as an almost blank canvas where content is added online
-wiki users are responsible for the wiki’s creation, direction, and maintenance over time
-wikis have very simple formatting rules to eliminate the need for HTML or other technical know-how, allowing a variety of users to contribute
-wikis often use many internal links to allow the user to move from one wiki page to another
(Saxton)

Why do I need to learn about the wiki?
-teachers are generally isolated from colleagues, working in a separate classroom with separate students teaching separate lessons, often totally unaware of what any other teacher is doing translation: as teachers we do our own thing in our classrooms
-ironically, all the teachers—not just the pockets of collaborators— are working toward the same goal; but they work essentially separately from one another
translation: whether we like it or not, we strive for the same outcome even if we do our own thing in the classroom (Sheehy)

Why the wiki and not another techy thingy?
-the online aspect of the wikis allow teachers to work anytime they liked and even synchronously on the site (if they were working on separate pages)
translation: wikis are flexible, it's available when you are ready to use it
-wikis provide an informal and customizable environment, with discussion boards attached to each wiki page and the style and content of the wiki left up to the whim of the creators—characteristics that extended the possibilities of conversation and left open the possible uses teachers might develop for the site
translation: wikis will be whatever you want it be, you are in control (Sheehy)

Are you a wiki believer yet?
Many experts say we learn best in our youth. Why is that? We tend to get "stuck" in our own ways. That's how I learned it and I'm sticking to it. If it ain't broke "why fix it"? It's difficult to introduce new ideas to those with this mentality. Sure, it isn't broken, but it can be better, more efficient, more meaningful. Isn't that what we're supposed to do as educators? Not be a broken record, but to find the best possible method to convey this knowledge to our students for them to understand?

Change, change, change; change is good...

Times are a'changing and so should we. As teachers, it's not necessarily true anymore for us to "know the right answer". We are facilitators of knowledge. There is so much knowledge out there in the World Wide Web and the world is constantly changing and developing that it is fully possible that we don't know everything! So, we need to teach our students how to find the information they need. And to make sure it is the "accurate" information. How to critically think and analyze what they read. What better way to do this than to have them create wiki pages in groups? Let them demonstrate their learning of the materials and have hands on experience in the online collaboration phenomenon.

Fine, you've got my attention, but make it quick, I'm a busy person.

Fair enough, but I just want to emphasize that wikis are super user-friendly. If you know how to use MS Word. You can use a wiki.

Preface

Sheryl will continue her development in the wiki she started earlier.

Part One

First, watch this video about wikis from common craft.

Then, I would encourage the staff to "play" with the wiki that I created for my English class . Their homework would be to think about how we could integrate wikis in our school community. (All of this would take about 10-20 mins and this could be done from their own computer anywhere!)

Part Two

Discuss the possible integrations of wikis in the school community and discuss the benefits of using it as a new tool.

Possible ideas:

ProD: Our school has long term goals, such as how to integrate more writing across the curriculum or our most recent initiative is how to incorporate oral skills for all disciplines. Now the new school I am going to is a great starting ground since we are starting from ground zero. There will be one teacher for each subject and we only have 2 grades. One ESL program and BC Grade 10 program. Wiki pages will be great for each "department" to share what they want to do, what they are doing, what isn't working, etc regarding the oral development. Other teachers from other disciplines can browse and look through the other pages to see what they are doing in common or give suggestions on how to modify what they are doing for the other subjects, etc. The discussion option will facilitate in this as well as the pages. This great because everything will be on one page and there will not be "lost" reflections, notes, etc. Everyone can see everything and it is not for evaluative purposes. It is purely to help develop the oral language initiative.

Science and Social Studies 10. After teachers are comfortable with using a wiki. They can use it as a summary tool. SC 10 and SS 10 are cumulative courses. Students can be placed in groups and collaborate to review each chapter or concept and be responsible to create a wiki page for it.

Follow-up, expectations

Teachers would be expected to contribute to the wiki for the school's long term goals. But it is optional for whether or not they wish to use it in their classroom as well. Every school year each department needs to make goals about how they will achieve the long term goal and report what was or wasn't successful by the end of the year. By putting all this information in a wiki allows all the information to be available in one place.

Obstacles

It will definitely be hard to convince teachers to use wikis at first, but like I had mentioned before, it is a brand new school and no standards have been set yet. So, it's an excellent time to bring in uses such as the wiki. I think the key is to keep it simple. Don't make it seem like it's something huge and different that will change their life. Keeping a positive, upbeat, encouraging, and supportive attitude will have people more willing to open up. A tool, that will make life easier is what everyone wants, not a tool that adds more work ontop of their already busy lives and transitions in a new country!

I think the biggest obstacle isn't the resistance from the staff, but whether or not we can access wikis in China. (I will be going in depth about this in my final reflection blog.) However for now, many sites are blocked by the firewall that China has put up to filter out a lot of information from their citizens. It is quite frustrating for us. There are ways around it like proxy servers, however, these are not always the safest because your computer becomes vulnerable for other people to hack into. There isn't a whole lot we can do around this unless we create a similar concept like the wiki but put it on our school local server.

If we can use wikis in China, I would recommend wikispaces to my colleagues because they support using it in the K-12 classroom and make it safe for educators to use. Plus they are giving it away for free. Read more about it here.

Resources:
The Wiki as Knowledge Repository: Using a Wiki in a Community of Practice to Strengthen K-12 Education. By: Sheehy, Geoffrey. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, Nov2008, Vol. 52 Issue 6, p55-60

Information Tools: Using Blogs, RSS, and Wikis As Professional Resources. By: Saxton, Beth. Young Adult Library Services, Winter2008, Vol. 6 Issue 2, p27-29

Collaborative Learning the Wiki Way. By: Engstrom, Mary E.; Jewett, Dusty. TechTrends:
Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, v49 n6 p12-16 Nov-Dec 2005

RSS

15 minutes left to my lunch break... what should I do? Ah... I'll check out some movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
10 minutes left to my lunch break... come on... why is the internet connection so slow?
5 minutes left... finally! What?!? All that for nothing? There's no new reviews since I last checked! What a waste of time!
0 minutes left... back to the grind...

(Fact: Network internet connections can lag and be this slow... no joke!)

Tired of downloading a website that hasn't been updated?

Well, RSS will solve your problems! RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary". There are different RSS reader applications out there to help organize which sites have been updated for you to read, such as Google Reader and Bloglines. Many web browser like Internet Explorer 8 and Mozilla Firefox have RSS feed features as well. Here is a great video by Common Craft about how to use Google Reader - RSS in Plain English.

Here are a few more:
• Amphetadesk (www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/)
• NewsGator (www.newsgator.com/)
• NewsisFree (www.newsisfree.com/)
• NetNewsWire (http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/)

RSS Feed Friendly Sites Search Engines
2RSS (http://www.2rss.com/)
Feedroll (http://www.feedroll.com/)
Moreover (http://www.moreover.com/)

To be honest, learning to use Google Reader wasn't the hard part. It was trying to decide which sites were worth putting on the Google Reader. Which blogs were still be updated regularly by the blogger, which sites were useful and I would want that information brought to me at my fingertips? I soon learned that it is possible to have over 50 feeds, but it gets to be a bit much since I couldn't just browse through all of them in one sitting. I also felt that when I did log into my Google reader, I should read through all the feeds to get back at zero unread feeds kinda like checking my email. Learning it the hard way, I realized that the beauty of the reader is that you can come back to it any time and it keeps a record of all those you didn't get to, so, I didn't have to go back to zero unread feeds. It was too time consuming to read them all or if I wasn't in the mood to check that site out, I would skim it, but nothing was absorbed from viewing the page. The lesson learned here is your unread feeds won't go anywhere, but they will keep piling up until you read it!


Feeds for Professional Development
Here are the top 3 blogs that I follow via RSS:
1. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ - this is a great blog. As teachers we like free educational applications and this website collects many different kinds of online tools we can use. This site is updated frequently with a brief summary of the new tool being introduced. There's a wide variety of applications found from Forvo "audio wiki" for pronunciation to math and science websites to college planning sites.

2. http://heyjude.wordpress.com/ - this blog posts some interesting topics that really make you think and question about educational practices such as this video link below about Teaching Naked- Without Powerpoint or a presentation by JoAnne Witt (Australia) - Scaffolding students to an academic standard of information literacy



3. http://itsnotallflowersandsausages.blogspot.com/ - this blog is much lighter than the two above. I like the voice of the blogger. She reminds of Becky from the Shopaholic series, but Mimi is a teacher who loves to organize. I read this blog for entertainment and to relate to some of her thoughts and experiences since I'm a teacher too. Sometimes it's just nice to read about other people's thoughts, routines, practices, quirks, etc.

Advantages of RSS feeds

1. There are neither advertisements nor spam in RSS feeds.
2. RSS saves time. (For example, I have been able to cut down my reading time from 4 hours to 30 minutes per day, while reading three times as much content.)
3. RSS can be used to deliver content to your patrons and customers.
4. If you provide an RSS feed for your Web site, it is likely to boost the number of people reading your content, enabling a higher return on investment.
5. Aggregators are inexpensive, and setup should require less than 10 minutes.
(RSS. By: Cohen, Steven M.. Computers in Libraries, Feb2004, Vol. 24 Issue 2, p28-28)

Disadvantages of RSS feeds
1. Not every site has an RSS feed.
2. With ease of use comes the potential for information overload. Aggregators can become unruly, quickly.
3. If you download one aggregator at work and one at home, it is difficult to synchronize content between the two. (This is why I believe that Web-based aggregators will be more popular in the future.)
4. RSS content is not being used to its potential. While some feeds can be customized now, more need to be available in the future.) RSS. By: Cohen, Steven M.. Computers in Libraries, Feb2004, Vol. 24 Issue 2, p28-28)

Implications for me and my students?
I personally will continue to use Google reader because I like how a summary of all the new posts are summarized or glimpsed at in the summary page. I like the idea of having something of interest to me readily available for me to read when I have the time. I feel like this is an easy way to keep up-to-date with what is availabe on the WWW as well as updates as to how I can see the the newest, baddest online applications. It's a great way for librarians, and teachers to keep track of trends, Web 2.0 tools, updates, etc. Many of us who are not connected tend to "fall behind" with the current trends. With RSS, it finds and summarizes for you! Otherwise, how else would I find out about great apps like Wordle or sites like SmartBean for parents to stay updated about education. It's also very cool when some of the sites you follow are mentioned in other blogger's links. It's a big world out there, but with Web 2.0, the world doesn't seem so big afterall.

I find it a little harder to use RSS readers with elementary students. I think this is better for highschool students. This could be useful for long term research projects based on current news and subjects online. I would even encourage my senior students to practice using RSS readers to keep track of the sites with their interests since in reality our students will probably do more online reading than actually taking out a book from the library. So, it would be advantageous to introduce the idea of RSS to my students.


Resources:
Information Tools: Using Blogs, RSS, and Wikis As Professional Resources. By: Saxton, Beth. Young Adult Library Services, Winter2008, Vol. 6 Issue 2, p27-29

RSS. By: Cohen, Steven M.. Computers in Libraries, Feb2004, Vol. 24 Issue 2, p28-28,

Using RSS to Create New Services. By: Fichter, Darlene. Online, Jul/Aug2004, Vol. 28 Issue 4, p52-55

MicroBlogging

"...xo xo gossip girl"
If you're a fan of the tv show "gossip girl", you'll know that the plot and conflicts in this show keeps developing by having the latest rumours posted by gossip girl which within seconds reaches every student's cellphone via SMS text messaging.

Twitter is one app that provides microblogging. "To clarify, microblogging is the posting of short messages (usually 140 characters or less) similar to text or instant messaging, except that you are publishing to the Web. In fact, microblog updates are often sent via text message, the idea being that you can broadcast your thoughts or activities from anywhere so your friends can know exactly what you're doing at all times" (Microblogging: It's Not Just Twitter. By: Hargadon, Steve. School Library Journal, Feb2009, Vol. 55 Issue 2, p15-15).

I, unfortunately, was not able to get the full experience of Twitter since I am only visiting in Canada for 6 weeks and do not have a plan nor a phone that enables me to get Twitter messages directly on my phone. Sure, I feel left in the dark. However, one weekend I was hanging out with my ol' girlfriends and one of them had an apple iphone. She was addicted to Twitter. She was so ecstactic to learn that I was on Twitter. Whenever she a had a free moment, her eyes were glued onto her phone or the login page of Twitter.

The experience isn't as exciting when it's just 10 tweets every 3 minutes on my igoogle homepage. I also see Mack's point when he suggested that you add local people to follow because the information becomes more relevant to your daily life. I personally find it a little irritating how quickly information passes on Twitter. Yes, sure you can do a search, but how can you search for what you didn't know you missed? I guess this is when it's handy for someone to retweet the information you've missed. However, even Mack mentioned how Twitter isn't the best application to look for archived information.

I personally don't like the vibe of Twitter. It almost feels like a mass of disorganized information or it portrays the impatience of people who post over 50 tweets a day. How many of us actually have 50 original and interesting ideas to post throughout an average day? I would much rather read the information on a blog instead of random finds being tweeted at all hours. If some people spend hours each day responding to email, how will they find the time to check all of these tweets that get sent to their phones or reply to them? Sure they are short, but it still takes time to read and reply. And some things just can't be said in 140 characters and some things you just don't need to know about the other person...

The bigger picture...
"[O]rganizations have now begun to use Twitter as a communications medium" (Twitter FOR Libraries (and Librarians). By: Milstein, Sarah. Computers in Libraries, May2009, Vol. 29 Issue 5, p17-18). Sure, there's a time and place for everything. If you have followers as in patrons, customers, future customers, why wouldn't take advantage of this audience to promote new features of products and merchandise? I also see the advantage of instant news updates for something that is happening especially if you are an eyewitness (Male, Aug 5, 2009).

Implications of this tool in the school
The school that I am at does not allow students to have a cellphone in their possession at anytime. I personally feel that using Twitter will tempt the students to use the cellphone function since it's pretty cool and up-to-date! I also worry and see the potential of public humiliation or peer pressure or even bullying with the ease and wide broadcasting of Twitter. I think this is limited so far because you can not just send a message to a certain group, but when this function is available, there maybe social issues that will arise amongst teenagers.

Another issue I am concerned about is the language used on Twitter. I have been using chat programs for over 10 years. I understand that lingos will develop to accommodate the program you use. And with the limit of 140 characters, even more code words will need to be developed. For example, "Tweets contain abbreviations, such as "intl" for "international," "ppl" for "people," "&" for "and," and "b4" for "before." This is borrowed from text messaging, so it's quite normal for those who communicate by texting" (The Art of Twittering. By: Ojala, Marydee. Information Today, Apr2008, Vol. 25 Issue 4, p26-26). This is fine in the Twitter world, however, what if we start finding this in our students formal writing? Or due to the short/informal forms that they see so often, they are unsure of the formal spelling or use of the words? I know this is very possible with my ESL & EFL learners. This also brings up a new nettiquette we need to teach our students. We need to make it clear when it is appropriate to use the abbreviated lingo and when it is not. From my personal experience, some of my friends throughout university didn't differentiate her language in an email between friends and between professors, which was an issue for her.

Now, I don't want to seem all negative here! As Milstein mentions there are some positive uses of Twitter in the library as well. "For example, a library could share all kinds of news that patrons want. Short messages can tell people about events such as readings, lectures, and book sales; newly available resources; or changes in the building hours. One message a day or one a week could share a tip on finding or accessing information online or in the building. Twitter posts can link to interesting news stories about literacy or about libraries. When appropriate, the posts can link to a library's own website and blog for more in-depth information" (Twitter FOR Libraries (and Librarians). By: Milstein, Sarah. Computers in Libraries, May2009, Vol. 29 Issue 5, p17-18).

As you can see, I have mixed feelings about Twitter. So, in the end, I think I wouldn't use Twitter in the classroom, but I would probably use it for library updates, and announcements. I would probably add a Twitter link onto the virtual library page as well.

Social Networking

"Look at me, me! I want everyone to see, see!"
There has been much news lately about how some social networks like Facebook don't respect the privacy of their users. But what about the positive aspects of Facebook, Myspace, Ning, etc?

When I first signed up on Facebook about 3 years ago, I spent hours on it. I was very reluctant at first to sign up, but all my colleagues signed up and learned about what was happening in their old friends, new friends, and families' lives. I remember clearly that I was warned that the initial set up would take a few hours. In fact, it took a few days. There was so much detail you could put on there. What profile picture should I use? What status? What's my personal motto? Favourite movie? etc. I was so excited, and I felt that I should be as detailed as possible to inform those that I lost contact with make up for all that has been missed in the past few years.

I'll admit I was suckered into the idea of finding as many friends as possible. But only people I knew from school, work, etc - not random strangers. I would spend lots of time reading over my long lost friends' profiles and writing on their wall to see what they were up to now, etc. All I have to say is that I was glad to have signed up during my 1 week holiday, so, I had this much time available to indulge in this online experience. I also loved the movie trivia that came out, which kept track of your points and knowledge about movies. I was also addicted to the "Where I've been applications" or "Scrabulous", which are considered to be some of the most popular applictions on Facebook (Facebook Apps: Deeper Social Networking. By: Baumann, Michael. Information Today, May2008, Vol. 25 Issue 5). I really had no complaints, except for how many minutes or hours in some cases that disappeared when on Facebook.

I found this to be a great online tool to catch up with old friends and distant family members. However, I felt that this was just that... a social thing. So, I was a bit reluctant in see how social networking could be used educationally. Once I signed up for the Teacher Librarian Network on Ning, I realized how powerful social networking can be, if you sign up to the professionally oriented sites. So, many professionals with different ranges of experience all on one site. How quickly comments would be posed on the forums whenever you had a question. Cool ideas to help with reading that I have not heard of before like the Battle of the Books. Many teacher librarians contributing book lists of what they had used or modifications they have done with their schools. The butterflies in my stomache about being alone in the library this fall starting to fade a bit. I'm not actually alone because of social networks like the Teacher Librarian Network. So many professionals willing to share and help each other.

How does social networking shape us?
All of these social networks appeared so quickly in the last few years that there still isn't enough research about "how we use them, for what purposes, and in what settings, and investigate how they may be shaping the ways we think, work, and communicate" (Tapping the Wealth of Social Networks for Professional Development. By: Greenhow, Christine. Learning & Leading with Technology, v36 n8 p10-11 Jun-Jul 2009). I think this is very important to learn about because our students will be affected the most and that will predict how things may change in the future. For example, I think we need to becareful here because I have seen a lot of "Facebook stalking" in the positive light. When a user adds enough information about themselves, you can read about them through their wall discussions with others or even through the newsfeed, and the communication can become very single sided. I'm not sure about others, but I found myself using the internet as a preferred form of communication, whether it be chat, email, etc. because I am afraid to speak out in case I make a mistake. If I can see what I am typing well, I am able to edit until what I want communicated comes out in the best possible way. I found posting things online to be lower risk and I felt the freedom to express my opinions. However, what does this mean for those in the future who are just as shy as I am? What if online communication becomes the norm? What does this mean for those who are also introverted? What form of communication will they use then?

Benefits of social networks
in general...
There's no doubt that "such technologies [social networks] available over the Internet enable extensive forms of collaboration that may have transformative consequences for the economy and for society( Greenhow)." Yochai Benkler, a Harvard Law professor, "argues that through emerging forms of online participation, we can not only publicize our opinions, and so have a hand in shaping our democratic culture, but also become more critical, self-reflective, and collectively intelligent" (Greenhow).

in the school setting...
"Social networking tools, such as Facebook, Classroom 2.0, Ning, and Twitter, can be used to garner collective emotional support and recognition for one’s creative practices" as well as "function as social learning resources and spaces for new literacy practices" (Greenhow). Most importantly, "[m]any students felt ... peer validation and appreciation encouraged them to be
even more creative, clever, and articulate in their online self-presentation" when they received feedback in the form of comments, tags, inviting friends to view, etc (Greenhow). I can see the validity in this statement or else why would so many teens continue posting their work online?
In fact, the same article states how this works for teachers as well. "Broadcasting the anecdotal evidence you are gathering from classroom teaching to a private or semi-private
network can not only help teachers reflect on their practice to trouble shoot and improve it, but also can help teachers garner recognition for their good work. And, of course, with recognition may come more opportunities for professional development." Many great teachers go on unnoticed and this is a great forum to encourage each other and help our profession to stay healthy and stay current.

In "Facebook Training Wheels" by Jennifer Demski (T H E Journal, Apr2009, Vol. 36 Issue 4, p24-28), she suggests that we need to start educating our students about online etiquettes starting as young as grade 3 - perhaps start by educating them how important passwords words are to protect your privacy. The reason is to prepare them for what is to come when they enter highschool and about how they can preserve their online reputations. She makes a really good point that if college students and professions are having a hard time with the boundaries of their public and personla lives on the internet how is a middle school student going to grasp this idea and make good judgements about their online presence? Demski also states how many students learn by the example of peers and so, when they watch other peers produce something and posts, they are more likely in return to try the same thing.

Implictions of social networks for my classroom
As I have mentioned before, I personally found Facebook easy to use. I think social networks would be very power form of literacy for my EFL students. It's a great way to get them chatting with past graduates who are now studying abroad. Graduates of mine can share their past and current experiences with my new students. The goal of almost every student of mine is to study abroad. And to get a taste of what it is actually like from someone who has a similar background as you, well, those conversations can be invaluable. Or for students to make friends with native English speaking peers would be beneficial to their literacy development and it would be more enjoyable than writing on a predetermined journal topic or 2-3 sentences of a daily reading log. The hope is of course, the students will want to log onto their English social network and chat, post, comment, etc. with their friends in English and perhaps spend hours like I did on there at their own will, while improving their English of course!

Social Multimedia

I'm a producer?!?
Check out my first Animoto video!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIBLiMt-Hkc

What's with the cheese?
Sorry! It was very cheesy, wasn't it! It's because I'm getting married this Saturday, August 1st... so, I'm in that daydreamy mode right now. Most cheeses are pretty easy to slice. So was Animoto. I just got these engagement pics a few days ago from the photographer, so, I had to reduce the size of the pictures to ensure faster upload. I don't own any photo software so, I used Gimp, which is a free open source photo editor. I found this Animoto to be easier than Flickr when it came to reordering the pictures and adding text. I thought it was great that Animoto offerred a selection of music to choose from. I love the different edits they make for you each time with the same pictures even! I found the product to be better than what my skills would allow me in Moviemaker. However, because I was only using the free option I was limited to 30 seconds and I couldn't edit parts of the songs I wanted. But I'm not complaining. I am sending the link of this video to everyone. It was so fun to see what I "produced".

VoiceThread
Unlike Animoto which is an entertainment tool my mind, I think VoiceThread is more of an academic tool. I like the flexibility of adding a video, pictures, or documents onto VoiceThread anyone or those you invite can doodle on it or add comments in various ways (voice, phone, text, webcam). I think of this tool as a whiteboard plus skype. This is great for explaining concepts. Sometimes you just want to point something out because the other party is just not understanding or not seeing what you want them to see. I also like how this is not done via realtime and so, it can be opened up later and participation is still possible despite time zones or busy schdules, etc. There are so many 1 minute clips that VoiceThread offers, that it is easy to use this tool.

One teacher created a novel study project using VoiceThread and noticed that it was important to practice using Web 2.0 tools formally in the classroom. "Although the students were comfortable creating online content, they struggled to create content with an academic focus and tone appropriate for an academic task. The informality was particularly a problem when they recorded the narrative. The same studnts who regularly engaged in formal class presentations in other media struggled to record scholary presentations in VoiceThread." (A PRE-READING VOICETHREAD: Death Comes for the Archbishop. By: Bomar, Shannon. Knowledge Quest, Mar/Apr2009, Vol. 37 Issue 4, p26-27) This goes back to our group 1 discussion question#3 about whether or not it is important for students to use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. As this teacher pointed out, it is necessary because these students need to practice this transition as they reach the career world and they have to write emails, memos, make presentations - they can't just use the informal tone they are used to from leisure participation of online applications.

So what does Social Multimedia mean for students and Teachers?
-"Animoto will create a wave of excitement among most middle and high school students who enjoy incorporating digital photography into a high-tech video production."

-"For teachers and librarians who are looking to introduce instructional units, showcase ideas, or frame concepts with a musical element, Animoto will easily allow even the "technologically-challenged" to create high-tech productions that will amaze."
(ANIMOTO. By: Brisco, Shonda. School Library Journal, Jul2008, Vol. 54 Issue 7, p64-64)

-VoiceThread adds a new twist to visual presentations like Powerpoint as well as allowing students to work asynchronously on projects and at home

I think applications like Animoto and VoiceThread are the future. It doesn't have just one purpose like posting and watching videos or only producing podcasts. It's a mixture of many things. Social multimedia tools make "the work" more fun. For example, when working on a poster for a presentation and colouring or cutting pasting paper is not as fun as listening to music and selecting which one fits your slideshow.

As McPherson states, "[o]ne of the many challenges faced by teacher-librarians wanting to develop their student's new and multiple information literacies, is the process of locating engaging, cost effective, intuitive learning technologies." (Mashing Literacy. By: McPherson, Keith. Teacher Librarian, Jun2008, Vol. 35 Issue 5, p73-75) By golly, our choices are endless now!

Implications for the classroom and library
I feel like every week we learn a new tool and many of the class activities can be modified for each tool. I think I've been looking at this question incorrectly. It's not so much what kind of activities could you come up with for this tool, but it's more like which online skill do I want my students to focus on next with this next activity or project. I've come to this idea because VoiceThread and Animoto is a complex tool yet so easy to use! In some ways easier than others! I mean you can post videos on Youtube, but you can't make one on there. With Animoto, I would use it for activities about visuals, tone and mood. The music function is quite powerful in explaining what the pictures are portraying. With VoiceThread, I would use it to emphasize on how powerful communication is since there are so many forms to communicate your opinion with VoiceThread including the doodling tool.

Wikis

What I know is What You know
Working together to share knowledge has never been easier. Wikis allow anyone or only members or certain people you allow to edit and add to your pages. You can also set the viewer settings on your pages to be public, private, etc.

Please forgive my wickiedness...
The most common wiki would be Wikipedia. It's a wonderful wealth of knowledge. So many experts maintain the pages as well as contribute to it. I'd have I was wrong with what I was teaching my students about Wikipedia this past year. As you already know, I was only training to be a teacher-librarian this year. I was teaching my English 12 class about which online resources are reliable sources. A veteran English 12 teacher of 15 years advised me to make sure that I tell my students that Wikipedia is not a legitimate resource because in the past she has edited the pages with wrong information to prove a point to her students about how it is not reliable because anyone can edit the information. She said it took about 2-3 weeks before someone found that information. With her experience so much greater than mine and it was only my first year of teaching English 12, I passed on this information to my students.

Now that I have learned more about Wikipedia, I would have to change my mind about it. I think it is a reliable source. I think the key is... the information was corrected in the end. Plus there are so many wiki entries that not every page will have an error. Even then, our students should be using more than one source to confirm the information they are retrieving. So, I think it's a great place to start for students to gain background knowledge of their research topics. I also like the language level used on the sites and I think my students enjoy it as well because it's user friendly and my ESL/EFL students can understand it.

My Wiki: http://mapleleaflibraryskills.wikispaces.com/

Picking which wiki to use was quite simple with the help of wikimatrix which compares many different wikis' services. I picked the one that offered the most for K-12 Educators. I like the idea of being able to create 100 new wiki users for my students.

A Wiki? So what? I've seen it all before!
When I was going through my wiki tutorials, I had my doubts... How is this different from a blog? I am adding information on this page, adding links, etc... I guess the key was other could edit this page. Then I asked myself how is this different from Google Docs? Google Docs allows you to share pages with users as well. Perhaps it's the idea that it can be public? As I worked more with the pages, I realized that the navigation and how every page is connected to the main page is what makes wikis great. The layout is simple and similar to a blog. So, it was easy to navigate through the options, select my settings etc. I did have troubles with the navigation bar. I created a page for "Common Online Research Skills" at first. Then I created a second page called "What's a Research Paper?" I wanted the second page I created to be first in the navigation bar but it didn't give me a lot of options to move it around, so, I deleted the first page so that the second page could be first.

I do have one issue with online text editors and typing... I don't like how the formatting and editing online often is wrong or it lags. So, I found it easier to create my page from MS Word first and then paste it into the wiki page. Perhaps this is cheating and obvious not possible when you are editing a page that already exists, but presentation is important. I think a clear and simple look invites a reader to continue reading and they are not having troubles with following with the information because it's clustered or unaligned, etc.

Wiki Uses
Many teachers have used wikis in different forms:

Example#1: creating wiki pages about grammar conventions, so students are responsible for their own learning. (The Grammatically Correct Wiki. By: Bomar, Shannon. Knowledge Quest, Mar/Apr2009, Vol. 37 Issue 4, p51-51)

Example#2: "Wiki forums can be used for group work, writing, fact-checking, and proofreading" "[A]nd the use of wikis to teach critical faculties, such as how different views on issues can arrive on a consensus." (Wiki man. By: Norrington, Alison; Manning, Stephen. Times Educational Supplement, 3/30/2007 Issue 4730, special section p58-59)

Example#3: Use wikis to collaborate ideas and experience learning in a community for news writing as well as revisions.
(News writing using wiki: impacts on learning experience of student journalists. By: Ma, Will W. K.; Yuen, Allan H. K.. Educational Media International, Dec2008, Vol. 45 Issue 4, p295-309)

What's the GCD (greatest common denomenator)?
"[T]hat the core principle of wikis is collaboration. Once you start, you will wonder how you ever lived without one. (A Wiki for Classroom Writing. By: Morgan, Brian; Smith, Richard D.. Reading Teacher, Sep2008, Vol. 62 Issue 1, p80-82)

I would have to agree that collaboration is the key. This past year I have been very keen on peer editing with my grade 12s. It's quite the puzzle that my student get 90 - 100% correct on grammar skills exercises; however, when it comes to their writing it is littered with grammar errors that they were able to correct on a worksheet. So, I recreated my peer editing checklists to look like a grammar worksheet and my student work through each step when they are peer editing and I found this very successful. However, now that our provincial exams are e-exams, we often write on the computer for practice and students trade laptops to edit work and often students have different version of Word programs etc. which then half the time students are learning how to use the different function keys. Plus, there is a lot of email to me so, I can review the edits. This is a wonderful solution becuase everything is already here!

I also think wikis are a great place for students to collect the information and record their links on here. When students peer edit their work, then can click on the links and know exactly what and where the student author got their source from. Student editors can also comment on whether or not they agree that it is a reliable source to use in their paper or perhaps even suggest other ones to use.

I chose my wiki to be about Library skills because I think this is a great way to collaborate about these skills. My students have zero prior training about libraries and research skills. I don't think it's effective for only me to post information about these skills. I think it would be more effective for students who actually understand what their peers have most difficulties with abou these skills to put it in terms of student understanding. Other teachers may also notice or discover some helpful writing tips or techniques that can be added to the pages for sharing ideas and nothing will be lost because it's all collected on one page. Instead of random email messages or post-its everywhere.

Warning
"It is recommended that instructors provide highly supportive learning experiences to teach students how to use wikis and how to work collaboratively when implementing wikis to maximize the benefits of this emerging tool. " (Building a Networked Environment in Wikis: The Evolving Phases of Collaborative Learning in a Wikibook Project. By: Lin, Hong; Kelsey, Kathleen D.. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2009, Vol. 40 Issue 2, p145-169).

Like everything else, we would have to scaffold our students about what collaboration is, waht does it look like, how to do it, etc. before they try it. And even then, additional lessons about working together may need to be strengthened. We might even have to teach them to respect different perspectives and only edit what is necessary not because you disagree or don't like something. Any other tips about how to teach online collaboration?