What a ride!

Wow! What a journey this summer Web 2.0 course has been! A whirlwind tour through the infosphere...kind of like one of those 7 countries in 7 days European tours. It's felt like that some days! My passport's been stamped and I'm back at 'home', wondering if it all really happened and what I've truly learned from my experiences. Much like the aftermath of a action-packed holiday, one needs to see the photos again to remember all of the details of the adventure, recapturing the sights, smells, sounds and feelings. That's where I'm at right now. Looking back at the snapshots of the course.

There were good days, where the learning was fun and success came easily. And of course, there were days when things didn't quite go as planned, and success came after some frustration. But overall, I have learned a lot and enjoyed the trip.

Web 2.0 was like a foreign country for me in that I'd heard about, and maybe even sampled some of the 'culture' already from the safety of my own home, but I certainly had not ventured there for the full immersion experience. That's what this course was like. Air-dropped into the jungles of the Web and having to learn the language and customs in order to survive. I was 'disturbed' from my predictable world as I ventured into the Web 2.0 world, where the only certainty is that I will be confused for a time, and that's okay (Wheatley, 2002). Scary, but it really forced me to explore and discover the place. And I did, at least to a certain extent. I'm far from being fully fluent but I'm getting by. Side trips included photosharing with Flickr and Picasa (and many others), multimedia sharing with Animoto and VoiceThread, video sharing and YouTube, blogs, wikis, social networking with Facebook, Twitter, social bookmarking with Delicious and Diigo, podcasting with Audacity and FreePlay Music, blogs, wikis, virtual libraries and RSS feed readers with Google Reader and PageFlakes.

Of course, no trip is complete without the souvenirs or mementoes of the event and I have my own examples of Animoto, VoiceThread (also below), Podcasting, Picasa photo albums, my PageFlakes H1N1 aggregator and my blog as a record of the journey. These things I can share with others (and I already have) to hopefully inspire them to use the tools as well. They are reminders and examples for me to continue learning them and using them. Yes, it was quite the trip.

The best thing about the course was learning how Web 2.0 tools can be incorporated into my teaching. My instructor provided great links to information and examples that inspired my own ideas. My classmates shared their own ideas and plans for using the tools, too. And now that I am not only a blog writer but also a blog/RSS feed follower, I have been learning even more.

My favourite blogs, out of the dozen or so that I am following, have been Blue Skunk, Will Richardson, and School Libraries Worldwide. Blue Skunk provides me with a light look at Web 2.0 tools, sometimes with facts, often with humour, but always making me consider the implications of a tool's use. Will Richardson, is my favourite Web 2.0 tour guide, and his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts has become my personal Lonely (Web 2.0) Planet guidebook. Richardson writes inspiringly about the wonders and the possibilities of Web 2.0, and often has real life people and situations to hold up as great examples for us to follow. I also follow his shared items. School Libraries Worldwide is a bit more scholarly than the other two, but the articles about Library 2.0, tools for libraries and classrooms and reaching our students are informative and insightful, providing me with lifetimes of food for thought!

And it's all helped me to go from being a timid tourist to someone who can lead the way in using these great tools personally and professionally. That's a milestone!


The course may be over, but I feel like my learning and journey into Web 2.0 has really only just begun. Now that I know some of the ins and outs of the place, I can continue to explore, learn and share on my own. And as often as we might say that we'll get back to such-and-such a place one day but never do, I am already booked on continuing Web 2.0 tours with upcoming classes, incorporating new technologies into the research process and a collaborative wiki on number systems around the world. I've seen so many possibilities for using the tools with students and my library, that I have to at least give them all a try! Especially since our students are having such rich internet experiences outside of school.

Web 2.0 has us rethinking the concept of quality education as the nature of 'quality' evolves to adapt to the ever changing social and technological environments. We, as teachers and librarians, must also adapt and change in order to use these tools as efficiently and effectively as possible to facilitate new knowledge and skills (Lackie & Terrio, 2007).

Our students' world and experiences go far beyond our classrooms as they explore the infosphere with Web 2.0 tools. Our libraries need to align with them and be able to provide more user interactive and more Web 2.0 compatible experiences for our patrons (Casey, 2007). Fiehn (2008) agrees that libraries, and their catalogues, need to provide experiences that are comparable to patrons' Web experiences in order to remain viable. Although the catalogue system at our school may not be adaptable to the interfaces of the new technologies, I will certainly supplement it with a blog or a wiki to get information out to our community and to elicit responses and input from it. Maybe a Facebook account will be more 'visible'. I intend to try out weekly podcasts to highlight a new book or two, or a special event as a creative and effective way to promote the library. It would be fantastic if our library catalogue could work as well as Amazon.com in providing users with ratings, professional and customer reviews, content and cover previews, and lists of similar titles (Casey, 2007). By also exploring more of the virtual library worlds, and adopting some of their local customs, I'm sure we can make vast improvements in meeting the digital needs of our students in our own school cultures.

Black (2007) states that "librarians have always been cutting edge and still are on the forefront of implementing and experimenting with Web 2.0 tools. The key is to continue to do so" (p.12). Librarians are expected to be the change agents in schools, as they have been in the past, where technological evolution may have moved at a slightly slower pace (Black, 2007). The Read/Write Web is evolving at blinding speed and we need to keep up as best we can, challenging though that may be. I agree that we must continue to implement and experiment in the Web 2.0 world. That certainly is the key and I don't intend to miss the bus on that one!
The Great Experiment Tour.

Richardson's (2009) Epilogue chronicles the morning activities of Tom, a teacher fully literate and fluent in the language of the Web 2.0 world, who checks his RSS feeds, uploads particularly interesting articles to folders accessible to his students or his colleagues, uploads an assignment for students, downloads an MP3 interview that his students completed and sips his coffee, all in the space of about 45 minutes before his teaching day begins. If I had read this chapter at the beginning of this Web 2.0 course, I would have found it hard to understand and even harder to believe. But now that I've travelled around the infosphere countries these past few weeks, I can easily imagine such a scenario. I can imagine that one day, not too far from now, that could be me. Yes, I have definitely been affected by the whirlwind tour of the Web 2.0 cultures and will probably be looking at that photo album of the trip quite often to keep me in tune with all that I have learned and have yet to learn. Happy trail(fire)s!


VoiceThread



References
Black, E.L. (2007). Web 2.0 and Library 2.0: What Librarians Need to Know. In N. Courtney (Ed.) Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow's user (pp.1-14). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Casey, M. (2007). Looking Toward Library 2.0. In N. Courtney (Ed.) Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow's user (pp.15-23). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Fiehn, B. (2008). Social Networking and Your Library OPAC. MultiMedia & Internet@Schools 15(5), pp.27-29.

Lackie, R.J. & Terrio, R.D. (2007). Mashups and Other New and Improved Collaborative Social Software Tools. MultiMedia & Internet@Schools 14(4), pp.12-16.

Richardson, W. (2009) Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

Wheatley, M. (2002). Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future. Retrieved August 17, 2009 from http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache%3AXlTxWTbvMKYJ%3Awww.ode.state.or.us%2Fopportunities%2Fgrants%2Fsaelp%2Fwilling-to-be-disturbed.pdf+Willing+to+be+disturbed&hl=en&gl=us

What's next??

"Every once in a while someone presses the reset button and a new normal arrives" (Abram, 2009, p.32).


After a confused, slow and rocky start to my Web 2.0 course, I have to admit that I've come a long way and although not an expert on these new tools by any means, I DO have a bit of a handle on a lot of them. And I now have arrived at my own 'new normal' world. Web tools and applications that I'd never heard of before, I am now considering their use in my library and my classes. The ones that I've found the easiest or most intuitive are the ones I'm most excited about, such as Animoto, VoiceThread, blogs, wikis and photosharing sites, are the ones I intend to work with right away.

True, I need more time to explore some of these tools in more depth, and as I start to use them and share them, I will be forced to learn more about them. More learning for me will definitely be part of the 'What's next?'. But so will the teaching.

Already I am starting to incorporate the new technologies into my teaching. Today, I was working with grade 11 students on the first of three general and basic research workshops in preparation for their Extended Essay. I started by finding out about their information seeking habits and their knowledge and use of Web 2.0 tools. I was surprised to learn that the students didn't know some of the tools that I named, and thought for sure that a few of them would have been working on or following at least one blog. Not at all. Some even admitted that they didn't know how to use blogs. I was not surprised to discover that all of them had a Facebook account and that most of them posted their photos there. Some used MyPhotoBucket or DeviantArt for photos, and only a couple of the students had a Twitter account, but neither had really used it.

I was kind of excited to think that I may be somewhat of a Web 2.0 'expert' with this group. I had expected that they would have 'been there, done that'. Especially since they are the generation "born with the chip" (Courtney, 2007, p.5) and are our digital natives in this New World Normal.

As part of their Theory of Knowledge course, I asked students to answer the question of whether or not we can find examples of beauty in mathematics, then find at least six images/photographs to support their answer and create an Animoto presentation with them. None of them had heard of Animoto so it was fun to share it with them. (Animoto is a great site for creating slick professional looking 30 second slideshow presentations.) I directed students to my blog and the link to my library tour from my Multimedia posting as an example of what Animoto does. I explained briefly how it worked, including the good points and the limitations. They set up accounts and proceeded to find images to support their answers. They were very focused and involved in the process. Most completed their work in class and emailed me the link to their Animoto video as well as the written answer to the question. The students also had to justify their image choices and record information about the sites that they used. We'll use those URLs in the next lesson on proper acknowledgment and citing of sources with Noodletools.

So despite not having a firm grasp on the new technologies, I DO feel like I have jumped into the start of my what's next? and am embracing my new normal. It was fun and exciting to share something new like that with the students; they were interested in the format and its use. We'll discuss reactions to and thoughts about today's lesson next time we meet.

I also shared my Animoto library tour and my VoiceThread tour with the elementary librarian today. She thought they were 'very cool', and we talked a bit about how we could use them. She wants to learn, too. And I'm inspired to teach these tools. The momentum is there for me and I will definitely keep it going with my students and my colleague. That's the easy part.

But our teachers might be more challenging to convince. Ferriter (2009) cautions that teachers may have a jaded view of professional development since they rarely get to choose their learning opportunities, and have likely been to many sessions run by experts who are pitching the latest trend or craze. It's difficult to get excited or involved in something you can't see the point of or something you perceive as too difficult.

I plan to run mini-workshops after school once a month where I can share a new Web 2.0 tool each time. I don't want to overwhelm staff with too much information. I'm still reeling from my Web 2.0 course, so I know how they might feel! I also know that teachers are busy (perhaps that's an understatement) and I know time is precious, so 'teaser' sorts of sessions, with real life examples, might be the best way to get teachers hooked and involved. Informal. Short and fun. No pressure. No stress. And I'll be honest with them--I'm no expert. I'm still learning how to use these tools, too. That might add to the comfort level if there's not a great gap between our levels of expertise.

The two most fun Web 2.0 technologies to start with that I see great possibilities for using are Animoto and VoiceThread. They are both easy to learn and can be used with elementary to high school students/adults. Animoto is perfect for short visual statements and VoiceThread is an excellent venue for collaborative book discussions, audio-visual journals, interviews and storytelling. I will show some wonderful examples that I've gathered from this course to help them see the possibilities, too. My lesson with the grade 11's would work with the teachers, too. Perhaps if our teachers can get a good taste of some of these tools, they might want to bite off a bit more and try some things in their own classrooms. Maybe hit the reset button for a new normal? Wouldn't that be fabulous? I would also offer a free-time session the following week where teachers can come to practice, ask me questions, and/or get a little tutoring if they missed the 'official' session. Maybe I'll start a blog where teachers can discuss the tool and ask questions. Of course, like always, I will be available in person any day after school to help!

We'll also look at photosharing, blogs and wikis (THE most useful tools according to Ferriter (2009) and Imperatore (2009)), podcasting and RSS feeds and readers. But step by little step. New technology can be frightening and intimidating, and the unknown behind hitting the reset button can be too much to handle.

We are bombarded by so much information every day in the real world and in the digital world, that it is more important than ever to work with all of it in small, manageable bits. A challenge, certainly. We are living in a world that is literally exploding with information. Courtney (2007) points out that the power and capacities for digital information are doubling about every 18 months and Technorati's State of the Blog Report for 2008 indicates that last year there were more than 180 million blogs worldwide! Richardson (2009) says that Google intends to digitize more than 50 million books from libraries around the world, "one of the most transformative events in the history of information distribution since Gutenberg" (p.129). Archive.org plans to do the same with over 500 million volumes in the U.S. Library of Congress. The numbers are staggering. Mind boggling. We can never keep up.

A classmate shared this humourous video with me about information overload:


We need to learn how to manage all the information that we can potentially consume (Richardson, 2009). We need to teach our students and teachers how to navigate in and through the vast sea of information in which we are finding ourselves.

Richardson (2009) outlines 10 "Big Shifts" in how we teach students, and I would add, teachers, in the new normal. In the shifting, we have to acknowledge that the reset button has been hit in many areas. For example, access to information has gone from finite shelves of books to an almost infinite world at our fingertips at any time; access to experts has gone from another teacher in a school to numerous experts in their field anywhere in the world; student work has gone from being independently produced for a limited audience, graded and filed, to collaborative projects that can be constantly updated and improved that reach a world-wide audience who can interact with the students; knowing how to find information that is meaningful is more important than getting the 'right' answer; and writing has gone from strictly textual to a multimedia format. Normal ain't what it used to be.

Teacher librarians have a huge role to play in the new normal. We have a "considerable positive influence in promoting the ideals of lifelong learning...information literacy...and integrate information technologies into [our] work" (Naslund, 2008, p.55). Our libraries need to be social, user-centred environments "rich with technology that is focused on interactivity and collaboration" (Naslund, 2008, p.56). We have to be the change agents in our schools by modeling and teaching Web 2.0 tools and their applications. The best ways for me to do this is to offer the professional development sessions, start and maintain a library blog to post information about the library and the collections, create multimedia booktalks and to work with selected classes to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into the learning. I also want to work with middle school and high school students to create storytelling presentations for younger grades. If teacher librarians can change our schools one teacher at a time, or one student at a time, then that's a great restart.

I think that as I work through using Web 2.0 with my students, we can share those projects, results, and successes with other classes so that they might see what can be accomplished. This will be the year of The Great Experiment for me as I continue to learn and begin to teach about Web 2.0 resources. I hope I can adapt to this new normal before someone hits the reset button again!

References
Abram, S. (2009). Welcome to the New Normal. Information Outlook 13(3), pp.32-33. Retrieved July 20, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Courtney, N. (2007). Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow's user. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Ferriter, B. (2009). Learning with Blogs and Wikis. Educational Leadership 66(5), pp.34-38. Retrieved July 13, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Imperatore, C. (2009). Wikis and Blogs: Your Keys to Student Collaboration & Engagement. Techniques 84(3), pp.30-31. Retrieved July 27, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Naslund, J. & Guistini, D. (2008). Towards School Library 2.0: An Introduction to Social Software Tools for Teacher Librarians. School Libraries Worldwide 14(2), pp.55-67. Retrieved July 13, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

State of the Blogosphere. (2008). Retrieved August 12, 2009 from
http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere

KISS your Blogs with RSS

Before I get into the KISSing booth, I'd like to refresh the definition of a blog.
A blog, or web log, is like a journal where one writes about experiences, feelings and perspectives on a topic or a series of topics. The blog is updated regularly. Gooding (2008) defines a blog as "as personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be" (p.46). And you're reading one right now.

The number of blogs grows daily. It may be that we have found many that we like to read on a variety of topics that we are interested in. It takes a lot of time to go to each blog every day to read the latest posting. That's where RSS comes in to help!

When I first was introduced to RSS and feed aggregators (probably about the same time that I learned about Twitter and Delicious), I have to admit that I didn't understand it all. For those in the know, it all seemed straightforward. If you're haven't seen RSS and feed readers before, or haven't had any experience with them, it can be confusing. I actually avoided trying to use them because I just didn't have a clue.

I'm happy to say that I have gone from being clue-less to at least having half of one.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. Or maybe you'd prefer Really Super (time)Saver. It's an easy way 'subscribe' to your favourite web sites or blogs, much like you would to your favourite magazines or newspapers. And just like having your latest issue of Time or the Australian Women's Weekly delivered to your home, the latest 'issues', or feeds, of your online interests can be delivered to your computer! This Keeps It Simple, Students (or Sweetie, or Stupid, or...you get the idea), KISS.

The 'home' delivery requires that you use a subscription service, or feed reader/aggregator to gather the most recent editions of your online New York Times or BBC news or Laura's Blog. This tool makes it easy for you to check for updates on your favourite sites without having to go to each individual web site to look for new postings. What the feed reader or aggregator does, is check all of your favourite sites for you, and brings the information to you in one easy-to-skim-through place!

There are several readers out there, including Bloglines, Google Reader or Pageflakes, just to name a few. I chose Google Reader, simply because I like the one-stop shopping that I have with Google--gmail, docs, blogspot, Picasa and reader. Once I'm signed into my email account, I am pretty much signed into all of the other applications and tools, ready to go.

Google Reader (http://reader.google.com)is easy to use, once you've signed up for it. Other aggregators are similarly easy. When you are on one of your favourite sites, if you can 'subscribe' to it, there will usually be an orange RSS symbol (like the one at the top of this blog) or an XML button in the web address/URL box or on the site page itself. Click on the button and you will be provided with options for delivery. If it is a favourite blog that you are following, there will be a link to "Follow this Blog". I then click on the Google Reader option, rather than the Homepage option so that all of my feeds appear in one separate place. If there isn't an RSS or XML button, you can copy the URL or web site address and paste it into the box that comes up when you click on the "Add a Subscription" button. Not all sites have the subscription option and Google Reader will let you know if the address you just pasted in will work or not.
I just tried it with one of my favourite aromatherapy sites and they don't have any kind of RSS feed. That's okay. 95% of the sites that are my favourites to visit DO have RSS subscriptions.

When you open Google Reader, web site updates appear on the right and this is where the skills of skimming and scanning come very handy. You can breeze through the new information to see if there's anything 'good' that day, much, much more quickly than visiting each site! If you click on the screenshot below, it will open in a slightly larger size for you.




I took Will Richardson (2009) up on his invitation to try Pageflakes (www.pageflakes.com). I first looked at his Darfur example at http://tinyurl.com/6lbup7 to see how it was done. Then I set up my own Pageflakes site for the H1N1 virus. We've had 12 deaths in Malaysia from the swine flu and the situation seems to be getting worse. We've taken some precautions at our school. Everyone who enters the school has their temperature taken every day and stations are set up all day to monitor all who come on campus. We've stepped up the disinfecting of computer keyboards and desks several times a day. I know that students and teachers are following the news on the virus, so I thought I'd try Pageflakes to help them out and will offer it to them on Monday. It took me a while to set it up as I ended up adding the feed boxes in a bit of a backward way. Some of the feeds are more general than specific and I found that too many tags didn't yield any results, so what I am getting for feeds may or may not be completely relevant to H1N1. I imagine it will take some tweaking....
http://tinyurl.com/ljct75
I can see Pageflakes being very useful for research topics, where students can collaboratively find and add feeds on a subject so that everyone has access to a number of great resources.

If you're trying Pageflakes, definitely use the big yellow snowflake button on the right for a quick and easy way to add the boxes!

It's great that we can check all of our personal favourite news and special interest sites and blogs in one place. But how does all of this apply to schools?
- In classroom situations, teachers can subscribe to student blogs so that we can follow their topic research, book journal, or what-have-you updates and assignments.
- Students (and teachers) can subscribe to RSS feeds by keywords for research topics so that any blog, news site or web site that updates information on that topic will be sent to the student.
- Teachers can set up a blog or web page with an RSS feed and students can subscribe to it. Assignments, new resources, relevant feeds can all be part of the page.
- Libraries can use RSS feed to deliver information on new materials to patrons in their particular area of interest.

What about for teachers and their professional development?
- There are literally thousands of blogs written by educators that are "reflecting on instruction, challenging assumptions, questioning policies, offering advice, designing solutions" (Ferriter, 2009, p.35). We can nudge our own thinking and ideas simply by following educational blogs. We can further push ourselves on by participating in discussions on those blogs.
- Reading, writing and responding to blogs helps us to become part of an online community where we can learn from and share with each other (Hill, 2005). Abram (2007) encourages teacher librarians in particular to get out there and write, even 15 minutes a week about something they learned or accomplished that week. We tend to be more isolated in our profession and online communities may be the best way for us to share, and we do have lots to share, with teachers and other teacher librarians.
- For some educators, professional development is a matter of sifting through blogs that they subscribe to. RSS allows us to have all the new ideas come to us in our feed reader on anything from teaching reading to first graders to art therapy for troubled teens.
- Ferriter (2009) suggests that writing our own blogs about teaching can help us to challenge our own thinking about classroom practices or have it challenged by others, and recommends using Edublogs (www.edublogs.org) as a starting point. Edublogs is dedicated to educators and you will be connected to an online community immediately.


How do teachers get started on their own online professional development?
There are excellent sites to search for blogs on any given topic:
- Technorati (http://www.technorati.com) is a search engine for blogs and can locate sites by keyword or topic.
- LibWorm (http://www.libworm.com) is the library version of Technorati and can locate blogs on anything to do with all kinds of libraries.
- Google's Blogsearch (http://blogsearch.google.com)is a good general blog search engine
- Support Blogging (http://supportblogging.com)is a wiki about the benefits of educational blogging and they have an extensive list of bloggers that one might find interesting to follow
- Check the list of blogs that other bloggers are following. Maybe there's something in their lists that you can't resist.

I've gotten started by following some blogs suggested in my Web 2.0 course through our Trailfire links or through the articles I've read. I'm also following my classmates' blogs and a couple other personal interest sites that I found using the Google Reader search.

The main thing is to try a few first. Find some blogs that you would like to follow or subscribe to. Set up your Google Reader, or similar aggregator. Use the RSS feed button to subscribe and start following! Before you know it your horizons will be expanding and you'll be discussing education, or another favourite topic, with people from all over the world.
But remember, in the beginning, for RSS, just KISS.


References
Abram, S. (2007). Teacher Librarians: Sharing and Taking Care of Themselves. Multimedia & Internet@Schools 14(5), pp.22-24. Retrieved August 4, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Ferriter, B. (2009). Learning with Blogs and Wikis. Educational Leadership 66(5), pp.34-38. Retrieved July 13, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Gooding, J. (2008). Web 2.0: A Vehicle for Transforming Education. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education 4(2), pp.44-53. Retrieved July 20, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Hill, C.R. (2005). Everything I Need to Know I Learned Online. Library Journal 130(3), pp.34-35. Retrieved August 4, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journal database.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Twits, tweets and tweedle dum

I learned about Twitter from a Web 2.0 guru at a conference. She was so excited about it and how great it was! I'd never heard of it.

So, from her and from my recent readings on the topic, here's what I've learned:

Twitter allows you to send brief messages called 'tweets' of 140 characters. The essence of Twitter is conversation but it "combines the reach of social networking with the speed of text messaging" (Riedel, 2009, p.36). The messages are like SMS on your cell phone, but shorter and they go out for anyone to see, not just one selected person. Although it IS possible to send to a specific tweet by using the @ symbol in front of their user name. Messages and responses can be sent through the Twitter website, SMS on your cell phone, RSS feeds and email.

Twitter is equally phenomenal in its growth to Facebook and MySpace, and according to Tynan (2008) grew more than 600% in 2008 alone. Results from WolframAlpha.com show that there are between 4 and 5 million Twitter users as of November 2008. That number has been increasing and while great for Twitter, it does cause some problems if there are too many users on at one time! (I've just 'discovered' WolframAlpha and if you want statistics and figures, this site does everything! Here's an overview video. http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html ) I just sent a tweet with the site too.

Honestly, I just couldn't see the point of Twitter but being a good disciple, I followed the guru's lead and signed up for a Twitter account and tried it out. Not for long though. I really didn't need to know that my friend's baby was overtired and cranky, or that someone else just came back from a great bike ride, or that a former student just bought some new trainers. Really, I didn't and still don't care about that kind of mundane communication.

Yes,it's great to keep in touch with others and know what they're up to or share what I'm doing, and that's essentially how Twitter started (and I admit it, I make my short little mundane posts on Facebook and now on Twitter from time to time). But if I really want to know how a friend is doing and what's new in his or her life, I'll send an email.

What helped me to start to understand Twitter a bit better was an anonymous article "To Tweet or Not to Tweet?" that painted a very clear picture for me. "E-mail is like person-to-person phone calls while blogs are like lectures with follow-up questions and discussions. But social media, such as Twitter, are like a cocktail party" (Anonymous, 2009, p.35).

I love the analogy.
I can relate to it.
I LOVE cocktail parties and all of the interactions going on. I learn things at cocktail parties ranging from new insights about someone, to a great new restaurant to try, to new information on a topic, to the latest greatest web site. Seems I've been tweeting and twittering and I didn't even know it. Now just to do it beyond the living room and into the 'twitterverse'.

So, I revisited my Twitter account this week.
And I'm trying to expand my horizons and networks. I am now following some of my friends and colleagues. I found several personal interest groups and I am now following tweets on aromatherapy, reiki and belly dance. I seriously need non-coursework input into my brain right now as I am on overload with Web 2.0 in education! Now I need to keep abreast of the tweets and see where it all takes me as I find new people to follow and learn from.

Galagan (2009) suggests that one way to really explore Twitter is to follow as many people as you can for a while. Start sending direct messages to some to introduce yourself and join in some of the conversations. Before you know it, you'll soon belong to a number of new networks! But Ben-Ari (2009) cautions that the quality of information you receive on Twitter depends on who you follow, so choose well. Of course, if you don't like who you're following, you can also remove them from your list, no questions asked, no feelings hurt.

What can we learn from those we follow and how can we use Twitter for meaningful communication?
Ben-Ari (2009) provides a couple of examples from life in general. When the H1N1 outbreak started, there was a lot of misinformation about the virus, but scientists were sharing links with Twitter to more accurate and useful information. The Center for Disease Control even used Twitter to post updates (p.632). Another example is a project where recreational fisherman were asked to tweet information about their catches in the hopes that the data can be used to assist fisheries management.

Of Tynan's (2008) 8 Ways, one of them is to keep track of weather, particularly in the event of a hurricane or forest fires. Tweets from twitterers on the spot will have the most up to date and possibly accurate information. Another Way could be to save your own life, as in the example of a man arrested for photographing an anti-government demonstration in Egypt. He managed to tweet "arrested" before he was taken away and his followers contacted the US Embassy and the man was released the next day.

Twitter has certainly evolved from sharing our daily activities to sharing information and ideas that expand our knowledge.

Now how can we use this aspect of Twitter in our classrooms?
- Twitter can be used to contact people who are off-site or in the field. Students who are absent or at home ill and are missing a special presentation or guest speaker can be informed about what's going on by tweets from classmates.
- In conjunction with my idea to use podcasting for interviewing elders in Sarawak (Borneo), I will ask students to tweet their thoughts, observations and feelings about their experiences during the entire study trip.
- We can create communities around a class or activity (Galagan, 2009). During a research project, students can tweet good sites to each other, or share their 'coolest' discovery about their topic.
- Twittering is an easy way to communicate with that community, and if students are encouraged to tweet about their classes, it may help them make connections across subject areas for greater understanding (Riedel, 2009).
- Teachers can use Twitter to post tips of the day, questions, writing assignments, deadline reminders, and other prompts to help keep the learning going (Galagan, 2009).
- "Twitness" (Anonymous, 2009) is where many people are, for example, watching a television program and tweeting about the show to each other. Students might need to watch a Discovery Channel program, or History Channel program as an addition to a class project. They could tweet classmates and the teacher about ideas or observations during the show.

And what about in our libraries?
- Libraries that use Twitter post short messages about events, new books, lectures, tips on finding resources, or point out specific information to explore on their websites (Milstein, 2009). I can see using Twitter for these same things in my own library. I could also use it to announce an "Overdue Ammesty" day where students can turn in their overdue materials in exchange for a coupon to the canteen, or a treat, or something that will inspire them to return missing library books! Maybe Twitter could be used to draw in some volunteers when we really need help shelving some of those books.
- Milstein (2009) also suggests that libraries follow information sources such as the BBC or newspapers. This is good for librarians to stay on top of news, and it is also good for students to follow the tweets.
- Twitter is easy to use, requiring just a few sentences in a day. That's not much output for potentially increased impact (Milstein, 2009). I agree. Twitter is quick and easy. There's not a big time investment, either in posting or following.

Some Twitter Etiquette or Twittiquette from Milstein (2009)
- Remember, tweets are generally conversational. Twitter can be used to broadcast information, but followers/patrons should be encouraged to ask questions and share links that, of course, get a response.
- Search for tweets about your library or institution to see what others are saying, then use that information to make improvements in services or patron relations
- Follow people who follow you. It's a mutual interest situation. If I follow you, then you are more likely to follow me and vice versa. If I follow you and you don't follow me...chances are I will drop you from my list eventually because there's no 'conversation'.
- Post at least once a day and not more than 5 or 6. Don't overwhelm followers with too many posts.


When I learned that we would be exploring Twitter, I thought that this would be the least interesting topic in my Web 2.0 course. I have learned a lot about how Twitter can be used to promote learning and improve our lives. I've been pleasantly surprised and inspired by the new insights into tweets and Twitter.

If I didn't feel like a twit before, I sure do now!


References
Anonymous. (2009). To Tweet or Not to Tweet? Library Administrator's Digest 44(5), p.35. Retrieved August 3, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Ben-Ari, E. (2009). Twitter: What's All the Chirping About? BioScience 59(7), p.632. Retrieved August 4, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Galagan, P. (2009). Twitter as a Learning Tool.Really. T & D 63(3), pp.28-31. Retrieved August 3, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Milstein, S. (2009). Twitter for Libraries (and Librarians). Computers in Libraries 29(5), pp.17-18. Retrieved August 3, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Tynan, D. (2008). Eight Ways Twitter Will Change Your Life. PC World 26(11), pp.20-22. Retrieved August 4, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Riedel, C. (2009). What's All This Twitter About?. Scholastic Administr@tor 8(7), p.36. Retrieved August 4, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Will you be my friend?

I'm not sure quite when someone shared with me the YouTube video "Facebook in Reality". It's a humourous look at how what occurs online in Facebook would look like in our physical reality. It's become one of my favourite videos to share with people. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. "Facebook in Reality"

I've been a Facebook user for a couple of years now. I thought it was sooo much fun when I first signed up. It was in October so all my friends were playing at vampires and zombies and 'biting' each other. I jumped right in. And then we could 'poke' each other (or hug or high-five) or send sheep (or other animals and goofy things) to each other. Imagine that in reality! Someone started an aquarium and needed fish. Someone sent me flowers for my garden. And the list went on.... It got a little addictive and a little out of hand. Too many nights I'd look at the clock and realise just how much time I'd spent on Facebook alone! Time for bed!

I still get requests to play games, or join such-and-such a group, or take a quiz on you-name-the-topic. I pass. Like anyone admitting to an addiction, I know my limits!

Don't get me wrong. I still like Facebook. It's great for keeping up with my friends around the world in short snippets, and we can email each other if we want to share more information. Recently, one of my high school friends 'found' me on Facebook and we started to reconnect. On a recent visit to Canada our whole small high school group got together in person. We hadn't seen each other in about 30 years (!), and after summaries of our lives, it was like we were just picking up where we left off all those years ago. So I am grateful to social networking for that reconnection, both online and off.

When I signed up for Facebook, I also signed up for MySpace. Yes, I really jumped on the social networking bandwagon. But I never used MySpace and after revisiting it this past week, I can see why. Personally, I find it too busy and cluttered, but maybe that's what our multi-tasking adolescents like about it. There's a lot going on there that they can keep tabs on. I prefer a bit more simplicity.

In Facebook, I have a network of friends that I have met in international teaching, a network of friends from my home city, a network of my dance friends, and now a network of my high school friends.

Of course sometimes someone we don't know, or don't want to know, wants to be our friend and become part of our network, like the fellow in the "Facebook in Reality" video. I tend to ignore such requests. Do I really want to be friends with the guy who sat across from me in maths that I can barely remember? Probably not. Next thing I know, he'll be writing rude things on my wall!

Social networking sites can also be great for finding like-minded individuals that share the same interests and passions as us, and before we know it, we have become part of another online community with something important in common. I belong to several personal interest groups and I get updates on their events from time to time. Like wicked witch wikis, there is an interest group for just about everything!

Yes, the Facebook and MySpace phenomenon is quite fascinating. More and more people keep in touch with friends on social networking sites. And despite my personal hesitation at expanding my friend networks and posting my pictures there, we are all generally much more open to meeting people and 'socialising' with them online than we ever would be in person.

It used to be that friends got together in each other's living rooms to share their vacation photos, listen to the latest music album, and discuss their lives and the problems of the world. Teenagers got together in the family room, or their bedrooms for the same sharing. We still DO get together like this, but the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies have added a new dimension to our visits.

Today, our 'living rooms' encompass the world.
We don't need to be in physical proximity or with each other to share our vacation photos or videos from that big Caribbean cruise, or to let a friend know that the latest album from a favourite musician is fabulous, or that we found some great information on a topic and give the link to the site, play games, or simply find out what we're up to. We can do it all on social networking sites.

Recent information showed that adolescents tend to use MySpace, while adults tend to use Facebook (Abram, 2006). There are estimates that over 80% of U.S. college students have Facebook accounts (Educause, 2007) and more than 60% of adolescents have Facebook or MySpace accounts (Richardson, 2009). Younger children and tweens tend to use the safer forums of Webkinz, Whyville or ClubPenguin to connect with others through games, activities or community issues. I managed to take the video tours of these last three sites to get a feel for them. Webkinz and ClubPenguin were certainly more fun and games. Whyville was more advanced in that users needed to think about topics or issues, and needed to complete the Chat Licence Test before they could chat in Whyville. A bit of 'netiquette' early on goes a long way.

Social networking sites allow adolescents to have a space and place to express themselves and to learn more about interacting with different groups (Mitchell, 2008). Mitchell (2008) feels that the online (and offline) interaction with friends is important for kids' well-being and self-expression. For these reasons, the computer should not be in the living room with parents hovering nearby. True, adolescents need to know about online safety, but they need their privacy too, and don't have to be monitored constantly. "Overprotective parents...can sabotage teens' opportunities to receive the educational and psycho-social benefits of social networking sites" (Mitchell, 2008).

In bedrooms all over the world, teenagers are connecting to the world through social networking. They are likely chatting to real and virtual friends on a variety of topics from celebrities to the latest action movie...... but it's possible that they could also be discussing Hamlet, or geometry (O'Hanlon, 2007).

O'Hanlon (2007) points out that U.S. school districts are setting up their own social networking sites to better reach today's students who are living so much in the digital world. Many schools have secure sites that are password protected that look very much like public social networking sites, but without the dangers of online predators. Libraries, too, are setting up MySpace accounts where students can be 'friends' of the library.

Couros (2008) suggests Ning.com as a viable 'private' social networking option since users can create their own network and thus create a safer atmosphere in which to pariticipate. Hayes (2007) believes that Ning.com is well suited for middle school classrooms, with site creators being able to monitor and remove content and allow only invited members to participate. The somewhat more structured Whyville communities are also good for starting out in the social networking world.

So what are the benefits of social networking?
- Students can improve their critical thinking and communication skills. If someone wants to respond to a posted message, they're going to have to think about how and what they want to say (Mitchell, 2008)
- Students become more comfortable and proficient at writing because they are writing more and writing better. "Kids are taking their time because they know their work is going to be published" (O'Hanlon, 2007, p.40)
- Students learn responsibility as they create, monitor and peer review entries as they take on the roles of authors and editors (O'Hanlon, 2007).
- Teachers who incorporate social networking into their classrooms feel that they have improved relationships with their students because they are more of a community, where instructors are not just teachers, they are also friends (O'Hanlon, 2007).
- Students love to interact with each other online, whatever the topic (O'Hanlon, 2007). I know I see this a lot at my school where students use every opportunity to chat, email or catch up on Facebook with their friends. Our students truly do live in the digital world.

That's all fine and dandy, but how do we incorporate social networking into our schools?
- We consider following the example of the Flat Classroom Project where middle school and high school students from Australia, Austria, China, Qatar and the U.S. work on projects together (Couros, 2008). We establish intra-school AND inter-school communities with classes and students from around the world.
- Use the site for everything from discussions in science or literature, to daily newscasts, to oral reports on the latest research topic, to writing persuasive essays from a teacher's prompt (O'Hanlon, 2007).
- using a site such as TiGed.org, students can become involved in environmental issues or other contemporary topics (O'Hanlon, 2007)
- at Think.com students can publish their own web sites, collaborate with students worldwide, and compete to create an innovative web site on any topic (O'Hanlon, 2007)

Concerns
As always, safety is an issue, but as long as teachers and parents guide students in staying safe online by not giving out personal or identifying information, learn an "exit strategy to avoid unwanted attention" and "knowing how to block people who may be harassing them" (Mitchell, 2008), we can give them the tools to maintaining their privacy and protecting themselves.

In his article about his concerns for his daughter's safe internet use, Abram (2006) was surprised to learn that she had convinced her friends to switch from MySpace to Facebook. Her reasons were that "you can avoid the nuts more easily. It's cooler...and MySpace is just...not private enough for us" (p.22). Perhaps students are more safety savvy than we think.

My recent readings on this topic have certainly opened my eyes to some of the ways in which social networking can be a great tool for teaching and learning. I can't say that I have a handle on it all quite yet, but it's coming. I think once I start to work with a teacher and class that want to try something new, we'll figure it out as we go along.

In the meantime....
Poke!
Want to be my friend??

References
Abram, S. (2006). What Can MySpace Teach Us in School Libraries? MultiMedia & Internet@Schools 13(4), pp.22-24. Retrieved July 30, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Couros, A. (2008). Safety and Social Networking. Technology & Learning 28(7), p.20. Retrieved July 31, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Educause Learning Initiative. (2007). 7 things you should know about..facebook II. Retrieved July 29, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Hayes, S. (2007). The MySpace Culture. Voices from the Middle 15(2), pp.59-60. Retrieved July 31, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Mitchell, P. (2008). A Space of Their Own. Children's Voice 17(3), p.25. Retrieved July 30, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

O'Hanlon, C. (2007). If you can't beat 'em, Join 'em. T.H.E. Journal 34(8), pp.39-40, 42,44. Retrieved July 31, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web 2.0 tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Please pass the mashed (up) multimedia!

Well, I have to say that I did have some fun exploring Animoto and VoiceThread, creating some 'mashups' of my own. Yikes, I'm starting to incorporate the new vocabulary in to my speech! I may become social media savvy yet!

Animoto
I liked the simplicity of Animoto for the fact that there was not much thinking and no complex technical skills required. It was very easy for me to develop a short tour of our library, just in time to use at the new teacher in-service today!

McPherson (2008, p.74) presents several advantages to using Animoto:
- "enables visual, aural, and textual learners to quickly create and communicate complex new and powerful stories and messages of a multimodal nature",
- can "attract and engage learners over long periods of time",
- "develop students' online social skills" through uploading or embedding to other sites,
- "reduces the user's need to be an accomplished photographer or musician by providing access to Creative Commons resources"
Animoto's simplicity is it's greatest advantage.

There were some things that I didn't like about Animoto. Yes, the product is slick and professional looking and sounding, but really, I didn't create it. I threw some pictures and music at the proverbial fan and voila....a little visual presentation. I had no control over the way the pictures were transitioned or depicted, and even though I liked the first presentation, subsequent edit attempts and saves ended up creating something quite different. McPherson (2008) agrees that a disadvantage to Animoto is the lack of tools to refine the presentation. His particular example was in not having enough photos to match the length of the audio and in that case, the sound fades out prematurely. Not necessarily a problem if it is music, but if it is a voice with important information or final thoughts, then the conclusion is lost.

Licensing fees for Animoto could be problematic for schools. The short 30 second presentations are free to create, but if you want to do anything longer, you have to pay for it per computer. If budgets are tight, then licensing a lab may be impossible. It may be necessary to start with a few computers and see how it goes.

Editing the presentation was quite simple to do, but what I found frustrating was that I had to go through the entire process of saving the music and finalising the video each time I made a change. I tried adding some text so that my audience would know exactly which part of the library they were looking at (save,continue,finalise), but the text ended up being on screen longer than the picture, so I removed the text (save,continue,finalise). Perhaps I missed something in the editing process along the way this time around.

McPherson (2008) suggests that Animoto is great for developing critical thinking skills and cites discussions on the topics of copyright and plagiarism as good starting points, with one question to kick things off: "If I mash other people's copyright images and sound together, does the final product belong to me?" (p.75).
Better yet, should we be using those copyright items at all if we can't acknowledge or credit the source? Do we potentially lose our copyright if we post to the Web, where anyone can access, use and mashup our information or ideas?

Issues surrounding the safety of posting presentations to the Internet also need to be discussed, not just for multimedia sharing but for all sharing to the Web. It's great that students can take their works out to the world, but we don't necessarily want the world coming to our students. Richardson's (2009, p.15) sample blogging letter lists some blogging safety rules that apply generally to any Web posting such as not divulging family name, passwords, school name, city, country, email address or any other information that could assist someone in locating them (students). For teachers, this may be common sense, but for students, it is all too easy to let vital information slip and they need to be aware that they need to protect their identities at all times.

What's great about Animoto, and Web 2.0 tools in general, are the possibilities. I already have Animoto ideas for an improved library tour; highlighting activities such as our book fairs or class art displays; new books; and special events or displays in the library. McPherson (2008) also suggests that students use Animoto for creating a portfolio of their art, presenting a topic they've researched, recapping a field trip, or illustrating a life cycle, to name a few. Yes, there are lots of great ideas for this tool!

At any rate, here's the Animoto quickie tour of my library:
http://animoto.com/play/6Pm9DvG90Wo6W7OCUgarZg

VoiceThread
VoiceThread was much more to my liking in that I had more control over the outcome.
It's similar to Animoto in that you upload pictures, but different in that there are no flashy transitions or arrangements. Paricipants can add oral or written comments to the picture. My course links lead to several examples of VoiceThread being used for book discussions. A picture of the book cover is shown and the teacher or the group leader provides a synopsis of the book, then poses some questions or makes some comments about the book. Others in the group can add their thoughts and opinions about the book as well. I belong to a book club at my school and we read "Loving Frank" over the break. I'm going to try VoiceThread as a starting point for our discussion before we meet in mid-August. I also want to use it with novel studies in the grade 6 and 7 classes. It will be an experiment, but I hope to learn how to improve on this tool because I once again see the possibilities, and I like the participatory possibilities in VoiceThread. Students/particants can even "draw on the images to illustrate their points, and respond to one another's comments" (Anonymous, 2009). I want to try using VoiceThread for creating booktalks, book discussions with students, creative writing, and promoting events or initiatives in the library. An audio-visual presentation will be so much more interesting than yet another intra-school email!

One of my favourite examples of VoiceThread use from my Web 2.0 course links was a 4th grade poetry project http://voicethread.com/library/20/ where students read their poems and other students recorded comments on the poems. The other favourite was comments and reflections on the day in the life of a teacher http://voicethread.com/library/6/ Both are inspiring for ideas at my own school!

Of course, all of these wonderful new products and presentations that my colleague and I will create will be linked or embedded in the library's new wiki site, as we try to engage our patrons and be a library that is more "social media 'newsworthy'" Fichter (2007, p.59).

In keeping with my in-service day, I have created a VoiceThread library tour for our new teachers: http://voicethread.com/share/569371




References
Anonymous. (2009). Bulletin Board: VoiceThread. Principal Leadership 9(7), p.8. Retrieved July 29, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Fichter, D. (2007). How Social is Your Web Site? Top Five Tips for Social Media Optimization. Online 31(3), pp.57-60. Retrieved July 29, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

McPherson, K. (2008). Mashing Literacy. Teacher Librarian 35(5), pp.73-75. Retrieved July 28, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Watch out for the Wiki'd Witch of the West!

Yes, there's a wiki out there for just about everything! Places where we can add information, comment on postings, ask questions, discuss hot topics....you name it.
(Just for fun you might want to check out the wicked witch wiki:
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Wicked_Witch_of_the_West)

There are an overwhelming number of places in which to participate. In fact, so many just for the library links in my Web 2.0 course, that I was close to tears wondering how one could ever keep up with all of it AND be a full time teacher librarian with all of its demands. I'm starting to feel like if I can't know and do it ALL, then I am failing my students. Yes, the stress of trying to do it all and be it all could turn me into a Wiki'd witch.

It's all about collaboration, for the most part. The idea of a wiki is for a group of people to work together on a project. Schweder & Wissick (2009) present the definition that "a wiki is a collaborative Web site whose content can be edited by anyone who has access to it" (p.57). With such collaboration in information building and sharing, "everyone together is smarter than anyone alone" (Richardson, 2009, p.57). Wikis certainly take the 'two heads are better than one' saying further and Wikipedia is the greatest example of this. We are learning to "operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is more and more becoming a group effort" (Richardson, 2009, p.69).

This interactive group effort is exactly what Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, envisioned it to be. He "wanted the web to be what I call an interactive space where everybody can edit" (Lamb, 2004) and to be more than interactive by simply being able to 'click' on a button or link. The use of Web2.0 tools and services make the interactive reality possible.

Sometimes wikis are used as repositories for links to great resources on a topic as some virtual library sites have done (including my own!). These wikis can still be collaborative in that students and teachers can add their own fabulous links and ideas to the site.

One of the best sites from the Web2.0 course links is WebTools4u2use http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/Webtools4U2Use It is a veritable storehouse of links, ideas, tutorials and examples of new technologies to use in education and life in general. It's incredibly well laid out in a clutter free and easy to follow format. It will take me another lifetime to explore it all but I love what I've seen there already.

Another great link from the course was to a YouTube video on Learning to Change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tahTKdEUAPk
This was a good one for me to see because I feel like an old dog trying to learn new tricks with Web2.0 tools, and fumbling my way around understanding how they work. I guess you could say that I am 'old school' taught and tend to follow that method in my teaching. I know that I have to change my dated ways and I'm slowly learning more about just how I can do that. The video made a point that really hit home for me in that students are experiencing more stimulating learning outside of the classroom than they are in the classroom, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that schools ban or restrict the new technologies that students are using such as YouTube, email, or Facebook. As I am discovering, these are critical components to student learning and we truly do need to incorporate them into our curricula. One of the first things I want to do when school starts up again is to make sure that students can access whatever Web2.0 tools they use so that they can bring that learning into the school.

I would also like to have a discussion with each of my classes to find out just how and when they use these technologies (old school method, I know. I like the personal interaction.) Maybe I need to set up a wiki for them to contribute to...that would make more sense to them...

Why use wikis in education?
Schweder & Wissick (2009) have determined that educators use wikis in four categories: collaboration - for when people can't meet face to face, or to allow more reserved individuals to have a say; sharing - information and resources to support teaching; organisation - a means to organise and share resources; and instruction - posting homework assignments, helpful links or presentations to assist students.

Wikis have many advantages. According to Imperatore (2009) wikis encourage participation by students who may be too shy to speak up in class; wikis are accessible any time; students pay more attention to detail if they know their work will be published online; students feel a sense of ownership in their learning; and wikis strengthen reading and writing skills. Lamb (2004) adds that wikis can teach students "network literacy: writing in a distributed, collaborative environment".

Wiki users don't need to know html or css in order to create or edit pages.
Wikis don't require special hosting by a server.

Wiki Ideas in School
So how can we create and use wikis (and everything else) in the classroom to enhance and promote learning?

First of all, find a wiki service to use. Wikispaces.com, PBworks.com and Wetpaint.com are probably the most popular.

When my colleague and I were first thinking about a wiki space to keep track of all the great sites that we come across for our students, we looked at wikispaces.com and PBwiki.com (now PBworks.com). At the time, we both really like wikispaces for its simplicity and felt that it was a bit more intuitive and easy to use than PBwiki and that's where we've started. In the meantime, our IT department has been redeveloping the school website and various subject areas and specialties, including the library, will have their own linked wiki spaces through PBwiki. We are now in the process of transferring our links and thankfully, it is an easy task! Until we complete the job, our current links are listed at http://librarianz.wikispaces.com

Once a service has been chosen, Lamb (2004) recommends that newcomers start simply, as my colleague and I did. Use a wiki for students to brainstorm ideas on a topic, compile lists of information, or create a collection of useful links. Imperatore (2009) suggests using a wiki as a repository for class documents as a starting point, but also suggests more advanced uses such as keeping track of student projects wherein each project has its own page, or to develop a whole-class project to create a study guide, manual or glossary. Wikis can be used for novel studies, poetry collections, science units, research logs, and more; the possibilities truly are unlimited.

Kahn (2009) outlines his use of a 4th grade class wiki, "Inventa-pedia", about inventors and inventions. Kahn started with the basic wiki setup and taught students wiki text editing. Students posted one or two sentences about their inventor/invention and later were able to add photos or links. Students were so excited about the project that they added more than their required three postings, and were working on it in the evenings, mornings and even during their 'free choice' time. The result was a very comprehensive A-Z Inventa-pedia!

I worked with grade 6 classes last year on inventors and inventions. I found some useful links for them to use, but as the students started to explore, they found many more sites that were good. For similar and future research projects like this, I want to continue to add to our links collections, but also to experiment with using a wiki to create our own type of "-pedia" for the topic and to use separate pages for pair or group work in a specific area.

As both student and teacher users become more familiar and comfortable with wikis, they can extend their contributions by adding photos, drawings, charts, slide shows or videos to enhance the information.

Wiki Concerns
With wikis being a wide-open, accessible-to-all format, there are concerns about unwanted users creating or editing information. Users can be invited by the teacher to participate in the wiki so that only invitees have access. Depending on the wiki service, students can establish accounts with usernames and passwords to log in to a class wiki.

Intellectual property rights are also an issue with blogs and wikis, where "content 'cloning' across wikis--sometimes referred to in non-wiki circles as 'plagiarism'--is often acceptable" (Lamb, 2004). Lamb outlines three common ways to approach this. One option is to apply a policy where all contributors to a wiki space surrender copyright. Another is to maintain copyright, but allow modifications to the work, only if the original author accepts modifications. And the third option is to allow anyone to use a work and create subsequent works, provided that the original contributor is acknowledged and maintains copyright. There is no one 'right' answer for this as the territory is still so new.

More and more I can see the great ways in which wikis can be used in the classroom, and beyond. Yes, we certainly aren't in Kansas anymore Toto!

References
Imperatore, C. (2009). Wikis and Blogs: Your Keys to Student Collaboration & Engagement. Techniques 84(3), pp.30-31. Retrieved July 26, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Kahn, S. (2009). Wonderful Wikis and Internet Forums. Science and Children 46(9), pp.27-31. Retrieved July 26, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Lamb, B. (2004). Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not. EDUCAUSE Review 39(5), pp.36-48. Retrieved July 26, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Schweder, W. & Wissick, C.A. (2009). Content Area Applications: The Power of Wikis.
Journal of Special Education Technology 24(1), pp.57-60. Retrieved July 26, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Virtual Libraries: virtual reading rooms

When I first saw the term 'virtual libraries', I thought it was something like a virtual museum, in which you can 'tour' the exhibits online. I wondered how a library would work online....How could you check out a virtual book? What about returns? Would there be virtual fines?

Then I read Holly Gunn's article http://www.accesswave.ca/~hgunn/special/papers/virlib/index.html and she clarified what virtual libraries are and how they function right from the first sentence. "Virtual libraries are organized collections of digital information" (Gunn, 2002).
This made perfect sense as the books, periodicals, journals, encyclopedia and other online resources are not available for physical perusal. The more I looked at established virtual libraries, the more I understood that they were links or portals to a wide variety of information sites.

It seems that my colleague and I have been heading in this direction without realising it or using the terminology! In addition to online databases, we have been working on a wiki to post links to great online resources that we, our teachers or our students have found that relate to what they're doing in class. http://librarianz.wikispaces.com We have a long way to go on developing a more comprehensive listing of resources and looing at other virtual libraries to get ideas for organisation and interactivity. After looking at quite a number of school and public library sites, I can see that there a many possible ways to approach this, incorporating various components from each.

The first thing I noticed on established virtual library sites was the degree of neatness or clutter. It was much easier to read and use the links on sites that didn't try to pack everything in to a small space. I liked the use of colour to catch the eye and to help organise resource categories. Tables were effectively used to separate topics, subjects and/or user groups.

Springfield Township High School Virtual Library (one of the links provided for my Web 2.0 class) has the most fun and visually interesting home page and certainly is a goal to strive for. Have a look and see if you can't resist clicking on all the links! http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/

Some of my other favourites (so far) are:
McClurg Elementary School http://mclurg.rbe.sk.ca/wills The virtual library link is in the side bar on the left. It's clean and neat so it's easy to read and follow. Annotated links lead to attractive wiki pages.

Penn Wood Elementary School has a tidy colour coded layout that includes a section for reading resources and parents. I think it's important in our schools to have parent resources, real or virtual. This site made me consider the font size, as I think that it could be larger. http://schools.wcasd.net/PennWood/Staff/library/index.html

Birch Lane Elementary School has a very simple, but attractive home page.
http://birchlane.davis.ca.us/library/Default.htm

Bessie Chin Library at Redwood High School is packed with all kinds of resource links. To me the site is too busy but it does include some great links to booklists, presentations, and new materials and periodicals in the library.
They have a good tutorial on using the library that made me consider the use of podcasts and video and how to make presentations and a virtual library site generally more interactive and appealing. http://rhsweb.org/library/ Alabama Virtual Library (another site provided for my class) has a fun and visually stimulating video that introduces their library. It's just another example of the many possibilities out there! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2zhiLxCg7w

Talbott Elementary School Library has an unattractive home page, mainly due to the bright red background which I found less inviting and welcoming than paler or more neutral colours. But what I really liked about their site was the number of great specialised encyclopedia and dictionary links that they had. Once I clicked on the 'door' to one of the 'rooms', the links were organised in a tidy table format, with less demanding colours. http://jc-schools.net/tes/library/

Virtual libraries range from simple link listings to complex interactive sites but the most important consideration is our patrons. How can we make our own virtual libraries attractive, interesting and easy to use, providing enough information without becoming daunting or overwhelming? I think that if we start small and simple, and grow from there, we can do it. I know I'll be heading back to Malaysia with new ideas for my school's virtual library. There a plenty of great models out there to help us!

Podcasting or “Good Morning, Vietnam!”…er….“World!”

For those of you who remember Robin Williams in the movie Good Morning, Vietnam, you may recall that he was a radical who did his own thing with the army radio program he was hosting. Podcasting gives all of us the opportunity to do our own thing with our own radio-like programs. I don’t recommend going quite so far overboard as Robin Williams’ character, but I do recommend speaking out, sharing knowledge and experiences, promoting activities and events, and generally helping us learn about ourselves, others and our world by speaking about it.

Richardson (2009) points out that videocasts, screencasts and live streaming are related topic areas, but I will focus on the oral/aural creations of podcasts for this post, mainly because I need to start where I am with this. Inclusion of visuals will come later, when I have developed some confidence and ability in the foundational aspects. Maybe some of my students will help me.

I used to work with a fellow who was into all the latest technologies and learned them inside and out, quickly and easily. He was light years ahead of my ability to understand their implications and use and I’m sure he was first in line to subscribe to the earliest podcasts and to use them in his professional development and in his classroom. I envied his ability to dive right into the tools, absorb them, and then use them with his students. I always had a quick look at whatever new technology he was excited about, but never got into any of them in any depth. It took me somewhat longer to find an interest and the time to investigate podcasts and other Web 2.0 tools for personal and professional growth.

Finding Podcasts
I started subscribing to several podcasts a few years ago, mostly to try them out and learn more about them. I searched and subscribed to some through iTunes and although I don’t always have time to listen to the podcasts right away, at some point, usually on a long plane ride, I manage to hear them. That kind of defeats the point of receiving the latest issue of a series, but it does illustrate the point that podcasts are convenient and portable.

When we are looking for podcasts or helping students to locate podcasts, Schmit (2007) reminds us that since podcasts are different from traditional broadcasts and are not regulated by any particular rules, language and content can be a concern. Searching for podcasts with educational terms will reduce the chance of finding inappropriate material but students still need to learn to search with a critical eye (and ear); teachers still need to preview materials before sharing. iTunes does label recordings that are ‘explicit’ in nature, which is something I had never really noticed before until I did more reading about podcasts.

Creating and Using Podcasts
It wasn’t until a few months ago that I learned how to actually make a podcast in one of our professional development days at school and I had so much fun with it! We used Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) to create the ‘text’ portion of the podcast and imported music clips from Freeplay Music (http://freeplaymusic.com). We uploaded our finished products to MyPodcast.com (http://www.mypodcast.com) Because there were about 10 of us in the lab, sound quality was not exactly the best. This is an important consideration when creating a podcast as Schmit (2007, p.15) points out that “listeners will not tolerate poor audio quality”, and respondents in Jowitt’s (2008) article stressed importance on the clarity, tone and emphasis of the readers’ voices. I was just thrilled that I had successfully recorded a couple of ‘tester’ podcasts and started then to think about ways in which future podcasts could be used at our school. At last....a short podcast.. http://danceclassad.mypodcast.com/index.html

My initial ideas were to create booktalks or book reviews for students and staff to listen to. This is also one idea suggested by Eash (2006) and Jowitt (2008). Just One More Book (http://justonemorebook.com) is a great site dedicated to elementary book reviews with audio but is well beyond the simple podcasts I had in mind. As it turned out, when I was thinking about how to use podcasts, the school year was winding down and with a constant lack of time, I never started creating any.

Now, my Web 2.0 class has inspired and pushed me to consider other options and to get the ball rolling on creating recordings. After all, a new year is about to begin and what better place to start? Kajewski (2006) states that librarians need to be the driving force to implement the new technologies into student (and staff) learning, especially to “meet the needs of today’s young adults, who are far more tech-fluent than most librarians” (p.420). It’s tough to be that driving force, but we must in order to survive and grow. In an international school with high and frequent turnover of staff, it’s always a big job to simply promote the library resources and collaborative skills of the teacher librarian every year to the new (and returning) staff. Perhaps with new Web 2.0 initiatives we can hook a few more people.

Numerous articles and websites provide many different ways in which to incorporate podcasts into the library, the classroom and the school but promoting the library and the teacher librarians is my first concern. Jowitt (2008) presents the process that a New Zealand university followed in order to improve communication with and services to patrons. They focused on instructional podcasts to explain how to access the library catalogue, search the catalogue, use the My Account section, and place a hold. The library also created a walking tour of each of the two campus libraries. Patrons were asked for feedback; respondents were positive and offered suggestions for future podcasts as well as frustrations they encountered that stimulated ideas for improving existing podcasts.

Other examples for promoting the library and reading are book review, storytelling, library newsletter, and creative writing podcasts (Eash, 2006). All of which I feel would be good places for my librarian colleague and I to start.

Ideas for Students
The digital native students that we have in our schools today are very familiar with using podcasts and other Web 2.0 resources, but are not always familiar with ways in which those tools can be used to create academic projects. Students learn to “research, write, develop vocabulary, speak effectively, manage time, solve problems, and grab attention” when they create podcasts (Eash, 2006, p.17). Creating podcasts for authentic audiences gives more meaning to the work and students are often motivated to do their best knowing that listeners could be from anywhere in the world (Eash, 2006).

One fabulous idea offered by Schmit (2007) is for students to create a podcast that continues throughout a semester or a year. Having to work and think in episodes allows students to have an extended view of a topic and the podcasts can also serve as a portfolio of their learning and research. I like this as a supplement to documenting their research process in a blog as this would show more of the emotional aspect to their learning through their speech.

I love Eash’s (2006) idea for having students take MP3 recorders on field or study trips to record their observations and information as the starting point for a podcast to share their learning afterwards. What a marvelous idea! I will need to lobby for a class set of MP3 recorders for these events. We have quite a few for circulation right now, but certainly not enough for a class of 22 to take at once, and I know I will want students to use them on our study trip to Sarawak, an eastern state of Malaysia. Eash (2006) and Fontichiaro (2007) suggest interviews as podcasts and I can see using the set of MP3 recorders for interviewing elders and locals on the study trip.

Podcasts can be used to enhance instruction for struggling learners or those who need additional or extended support (Eash, 2006; Fontichiaro, 2007). Lessons can be accessed any time and can be played, paused, replayed as many or as few times as the student needs. Schmit (2007) provides examples for using podcasts as discussion starters in social studies, vocabulary and pronunciation practice in world languages, and descriptions of mathematical concepts. Fontichiaro (2007) suggests using podcasts for oral exams in world languages or in cases where students with special needs may not be able to succeed on a written exam. Students could open the podcast in Audacity, play the questions on one track and record their answers on a second track. This is a terrific way to differentiate assessment. Fontichiaro also suggests using podcasts to create newscasts for present or past events, or radio plays of moments in literature or historical fiction, complete with sound effects.

Summary
At first I thought podcasts were just fun things to create, but having read about them and listened to them, I now see that they can be an exciting tool in education, both from a user’s and from a creator’s point of view. Now….just to get started……

Caveats
As with anything that is published to the Web beyond our schools, we must ensure the safety of our students and must all be aware of ethical and copyright issues. Students need to use first names, nicknames or pseudonyms only, with no other identifying information in order to protect their identities. Any music or audio clips used must be original or come from a royalty-free site. Just as content coming into our schools must be appropriate, so too does content going out.

References
Eash, E.K. (2006). Podcasting 101 for K-12 librarians. Computers in Libraries (26)4, pp.16-20. Retrieved July 18, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Fontichiaro, K. (2007). Podcasting 101. School Library Media Activities Monthly (23)7, pp.22-23. Retrieved July 18, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Jowitt, A.L. (2008). Creating communities with podcasting. Computers in Libraries (28)4, pp.14-15,54-56. Retrieved July 17, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Kajewski, M.A. (2006). Emerging technologies changing our service delivery models. The Electronic Library (25)4, pp.420-429. Retrieved July 10, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Schmit, D. (2007). Creating a broadcasting empire…from the corner of your classroom! MultiMedia & Internet@Schools (14)1, pp.13-16. Retrieved July 17, 2009 from ProQuest Education Journals database.

What a del.icio.us treat!

I used to bookmark my favourite or useful websites on my computer at school OR on my computer at home. Inevitably, I would be working on one computer and need a bookmark from the other! It was incredibly frustrating.

Then, a few years ago, I attended an EARCOS conference where I learned about bookmarking sites del.icio.us and diigo. I was thrilled! At last, I could have all of my bookmarked sites in one place! I tried both of them and found that del.icio.us/delicious was somewhat easier and more intuitive to use so I decided to work with that site. It took a bit of work to transfer my myriad of existing bookmarks from two computers to delicious, but once done, it has been so fantastic to access my bookmarked sites from anywhere! I am so happy that this tool makes my personal life easier. I avidly share this site with others who have experienced the same problem.

I never really considered the implications of how a social bookmarking site could be used in schools until recently. During the past year, several grades have been working on different topics such as Ancient Egypt, Inventors and the Middle Ages. Part of my role as teacher librarian in the research process was to find some acceptable and age appropriate web sites for students to explore. These were posted on a wiki to which all students had read access. Of course, teachers and teacher librarians cannot locate ALL the great sites and students often find some to add to the list in their own searches. I made note of the sites and added them to the wiki, since the students didn't have write access. I now see that they could add their sites to a common delicious account on their own that would make it much easier to share with their classmates. I intend to set up specific class accounts where students and teachers can add their bookmarks and tags.

Another school application would be to use diigo instead of delicious. Although I have not thoroughly explored this tool, I see great value in being able to highlight and create notes for particular points on a site. This adds informational value to the site for anyone investigating. diigo would also be very useful for online journals, book discussions and research projects. Naslund & Giustini (2008) suggest that students "bookmark sites and highlight specific passages so that the teacher librarians can monitor their attempts at knowledge-making". I agree!

So many of the books and articles that I have been reading discuss the value of connecting with others who have similar interests, based on their tags and bookmarks. This is something that I haven't been interested in personally, but can see the value of it. When I bookmark and tag a site, I have sometimes looked at others' sites, but I don't want to invest the time investigating sites that might not be quite what I'm looking for. True, there may be some great sites that I might be missing out on, but I have to draw the line somewhere. I do, however, think it would be interesting to set aside some time for some of my classes to explore tags and others' bookmarks that might relate to their research topics and questions to see what gems we can add to our treasure house of sites.

One problem is that since we are all such individuals, we will have different meaningful tags for our sites and though many will overlap, many will not.
I primarily use delicious for my personal benefit, not necessarily for public use, so I use tags that are personally relevant and that make it easier for me to relocate my sites.

Golder & Huberman (2006) have discovered that people use seven different tag categories for web sites: who or what it is about, what it is (blog, wiki), who created it, terms to refine the description, qualities or characteristics (inspirational, funny), self reference using "my" (mystuff, myclass), and what specific task it relates to (toread, jobhunt). They conclude that there are differences amongst individuals in tagging, but that the first four categories are "extrinsic to the tagger, so one can expect significant overlap among individuals". The last three categories are more specific and relevant to the tagger and there will be less overlap.

Courtney (2007, p.98-99) also agrees that there are problems with people tagging their sites differently so that it is not necessarily clear or easy to find similar interest sites or specific information. Courtney uses the terms 'cats', 'kittens' and 'felines' as examples of similar yet different tags. Sometimes the tags are very broad or very specific, such as 'programming' or 'Javascript'.

The other side of the tagging problem is that we can each see how others have tagged sites and we might then decide to adopt each others' tags. This exchange of terms might lead to more consistency and cohesion of tags. Users would "continue to influence the ongoing evolution of folksonomies and common tags for resources" (Educause, 2005). So it may be that as we find each other through our common interests, we can close some of the tagging gaps.

If you want to see my myriad of bookmarks, here's the link....

http://delicious.com/keziahcat

References (apologies for lost formatting)

Courtney, N. (2007). Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow's user. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Educause Learning Initiative. (May, 2005). 7 things you should know about social bookmarking. Retrieved July 14, 2009 from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7001.pdf

Golder, S. & Huberman, B.A. (2006). The Structure of collaborative tagging systems. Journal of Information Science 32(2), pp.198-208. Retrieved July 13, 2009 from ProQuest Educational Journals Database.

Naslund, J. & Guistini D. (July, 2008). Towards school library 2.0: An introduction to social software tools for teacher librarians. School Libraries Worldwide 14(2),pp.55-67(online). Retrieved July 13, 2009 from
http://asselindoiron.pbworks.com/f/14_2naslund_giustini.pdf