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.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
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.
(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.
Friday, July 24, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, July 20, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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
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
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Photo Sharing
Well....after having somehow missing all of the required information for my Web 2.0 class introductory blog, I'll attempt to redeem myself with this posting.... Just FYI, I chose blogger.com/blogspot.com for my blog because once I've signed into my Google accounts, I'm already signed into my blog, too. Plus it's easy to use and I like the look of the actual blog postings.
But....on to Photo Sharing....
For many years I have been posting my photos to Kodakgallery. A colleague at the time had suggested it, so I had a look. It was easy to use and provided the opportunity to create photo books, calendars, mugs etc. and to send prints directly to family members and friends. Since my parents didn't own a computer it was easy to send them actual photos of my adventures abroad, and for the past several years, family and close friends have received a calendar of my photo highlights of the year. Generally, it is easy to use, easy to share and provides a lovely slideshow with gentle transitions.
Recently I looked at Google's Picasa Web Albums and have been experimenting with it as my image host. I use Gmail and am working on several Googledocs with colleagues so Picasa makes sense to use in that once I sign in to my Google accounts, I have access to several services at once. YouTube provides an informative overview of the Picasa photo editing software. It looks like I need to download the latests Picasa 3 in order to modify the transitions in the slide show and I'll do that on my own computer when I get back to my own home! Picasa Web Albums allows users to link or embed album slideshows in blogs, Facebook, MySpace and email messages. So here I am attempting both...an embedded slideshow and a direct link to my Malacca (Malaysia) album on Picasa.
Slideshow:
Direct link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/keziahcat/MalaysiaMalacca?authkey=Gv1sRgCJTZuuSQnZbIGg&feat=directlink
For this posting, I explored Snapfish, Webshots, photobucket, myphotoalbum and Flickr.
myphotoalbum and Flickr impressed me the most. Their sites were clean and uncluttered by advertisements or promotions. Each site had a 'tour' of the application with Flickr's presentation being more comprehensive than myphotoalbum. Photos uploaded quickly and both had easy to find and easy to use slideshows. Organising and rearranging photos was simple in Flickr. (Still not sure how to get back into an album and reorganise in myphotoalbum!) myphotoalbum allows for embedding and linking and Flickr access is by link.
Here's the link to my Malacca album in Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38229704@N06/sets/72157621004597757/
photobucket and Webshots had the busiest, advertisement-loaded sites that actually made it difficult to focus on my photos. Each of these two sites offered linking and embedding options to other sites. Snapfish didn't get a full test as I needed to install their Quick Upload application, and I didn't have administrator access to do this on my sister's computer.
So what's my verdict?
I'd have to say that for ease of use and sharing with straightforward slideshows, I recommend Flickr, Picasa, or myphotoalbum. Since all of my pictures are already with Kodakgallery, I'm still going to use it....along with Picasa.
But....on to Photo Sharing....
For many years I have been posting my photos to Kodakgallery. A colleague at the time had suggested it, so I had a look. It was easy to use and provided the opportunity to create photo books, calendars, mugs etc. and to send prints directly to family members and friends. Since my parents didn't own a computer it was easy to send them actual photos of my adventures abroad, and for the past several years, family and close friends have received a calendar of my photo highlights of the year. Generally, it is easy to use, easy to share and provides a lovely slideshow with gentle transitions.
Recently I looked at Google's Picasa Web Albums and have been experimenting with it as my image host. I use Gmail and am working on several Googledocs with colleagues so Picasa makes sense to use in that once I sign in to my Google accounts, I have access to several services at once. YouTube provides an informative overview of the Picasa photo editing software. It looks like I need to download the latests Picasa 3 in order to modify the transitions in the slide show and I'll do that on my own computer when I get back to my own home! Picasa Web Albums allows users to link or embed album slideshows in blogs, Facebook, MySpace and email messages. So here I am attempting both...an embedded slideshow and a direct link to my Malacca (Malaysia) album on Picasa.
Slideshow:
Direct link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/keziahcat/MalaysiaMalacca?authkey=Gv1sRgCJTZuuSQnZbIGg&feat=directlink
For this posting, I explored Snapfish, Webshots, photobucket, myphotoalbum and Flickr.
myphotoalbum and Flickr impressed me the most. Their sites were clean and uncluttered by advertisements or promotions. Each site had a 'tour' of the application with Flickr's presentation being more comprehensive than myphotoalbum. Photos uploaded quickly and both had easy to find and easy to use slideshows. Organising and rearranging photos was simple in Flickr. (Still not sure how to get back into an album and reorganise in myphotoalbum!) myphotoalbum allows for embedding and linking and Flickr access is by link.
Here's the link to my Malacca album in Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38229704@N06/sets/72157621004597757/
photobucket and Webshots had the busiest, advertisement-loaded sites that actually made it difficult to focus on my photos. Each of these two sites offered linking and embedding options to other sites. Snapfish didn't get a full test as I needed to install their Quick Upload application, and I didn't have administrator access to do this on my sister's computer.
So what's my verdict?
I'd have to say that for ease of use and sharing with straightforward slideshows, I recommend Flickr, Picasa, or myphotoalbum. Since all of my pictures are already with Kodakgallery, I'm still going to use it....along with Picasa.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Introduction
Hello Everyone!
This blog begins as a documentation to my journey in and through Web 2.0 tools and resources for a Master's class. Perhaps it will evolve into something more later....
I am currently living in Kuala Lumpur (aka KL), Malaysia and working in an international school. This is my first year in Malaysia. KL is....well....it's a big crazy fast-paced city. Bonuses are the theatre, concert, and restaurant opportunities, and it's only a few hours drive to white sand beaches and clear blue warm water! It's growing on me!
Prior to moving here, I was the IT Coordinator and Librarian in an international school in Laos for 7 years. I absolutely loved Laos! The people are very friendly, gentle and easy-going. It was a fabulous place to live.
More and more international schools prefer Masters degrees, so it makes sense for me to improve my marketability by working on mine.
This blog begins as a documentation to my journey in and through Web 2.0 tools and resources for a Master's class. Perhaps it will evolve into something more later....
I am currently living in Kuala Lumpur (aka KL), Malaysia and working in an international school. This is my first year in Malaysia. KL is....well....it's a big crazy fast-paced city. Bonuses are the theatre, concert, and restaurant opportunities, and it's only a few hours drive to white sand beaches and clear blue warm water! It's growing on me!
Prior to moving here, I was the IT Coordinator and Librarian in an international school in Laos for 7 years. I absolutely loved Laos! The people are very friendly, gentle and easy-going. It was a fabulous place to live.
More and more international schools prefer Masters degrees, so it makes sense for me to improve my marketability by working on mine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
