A Lens for Looking Forward: How can Web 2.0 enhance my teaching?

After a term of moving at the pace of graduate studies, I am left feeling a little nervous/skeptical/unprepared to navigate the Web 2.0 on my own. My greatest fear is that, left to my own schedule and comfort zone, I won’t continue to move forward with my practice. I have already shared my intimidation factor that I felt (and so did my husband!) while creating and posting my first podcast (October 13). And I made my frustrations with wikis clear in an irreverent post on October 26. There have most certainly low points as I have explored tools that challenged my technological abilities, as well as my ability to see the big, educational picture. As I reflect on the term, read my recent posts and look ahead, I am left with one over-arching question: How can we be sure that learning drives the technology in our classrooms, rather than technology (for the sake of technology) driving the learning? I am aware that this question makes me sound like a stick-in-the-mud practioner, but as a passionate teacher I know that if I continue to see technology as tool that will enhance my teaching and my students’ learning, then I will make time and space to continue to explore and learn.

The question that lies between technology facilitating learning or driving it, can also be asked of our view of teaching and teachers. As we begin to make the Big Shifts which Will Richardson (2009) suggests are essential, we must now take on the role of facilitating, rather than being the sole conduit through which all information and learning must pass. When students are given information, and then told to present/record it in a format such as a PowerPoint presentation, the result is a project with finite creativity and possibilities. Collaboration and interaction between students is minimal, with the exception of learning how to insert a particular object or the steps to a certain outcome.

Web 2.0 tools, however, necessitate a deeper and more meaningful use of technology. The public audience and the Read/Write nature of the tools implies that others are invited and expected to participate and contribute. That is the purpose of Web 2.0 tools, just as the World Wide Web developer Tim Berners-Lee originally intended the Internet to be. But, just as the Internet was initially viewed and used as a source rather than a space for collaboration. Similarly there is potential for Web 2.0 to be used in ways other than they were intended.

For example, when I began my exploration of wikis during this course, I was tempted to post information for my students, and they could provide brief responses. This was an example of the tendency to use new tools in a way that fits with our existing philosophy and pedagogical understandings. And for others that are less comfortable with the technology (some are still not sure about computers, nevermind the Internet, nevermind the Read/Write Web), that tendency is even stronger.

Several Web 2.0 are already engrained in our classroom, thanks to this university term. Students each have their own blogs in which they communicate each week with their families. Our class has a collective Delicious account on which we store all of our favourite websites so that students can access and revisit the learning 24/7. Students use wikis to source ideas and to contribute their thoughts. Each student has their own VoiceThread account. And their teacher is using a reflective, professional blog as a form of professional development.

While my university course has challenged me to fully explore and reflect upon a number of Web 2.0 tools, I am still tempted to adapt the tools to fit my existing understandings and strategies. By pledging to continue blogging and reflecting on my practice, it is my intent to self-monitor and ensure that this doesn’t happen. By collaborating with colleagues I can gather new ideas, and build upon my own. By sharing my goals with others (administrators, colleagues, student teachers, students and parents) I will hold myself accountable and keep my purpose in mind. My students ought to hold me accountable for my goals, just as I do for them. If we are truly a collaborative community of learners then I must surrender my fears and perceived obstacles to seek out better ways to teach my students. This is what drives good teachers. What may help me to become a great teacher is to seek out Web 2.0 tools that will enhance my students learning. I will continue to seek out ways that Web 2.0 tools can bring the Read/Write, collaborative, up-to-the-minute, collective, evolving, connected world to our classroom.

Sustaining Change in Technology Practices in School

Top Six Ways to Model and Sustain Change in How We Use Technology with Students

1. Host a staff Professional Development Day during which staff members share what they are using successfully in their classes.
-at a Professional Development day which I co-chaired this fall, we invited teachers to share their expertise and were able to offer sessions on SmartBoards, Delicious, Senteo student-response systems, SchoolZone classroom website software, digital storytelling and assessment of technology projects. Teachers were excited to see what their colleagues are doing, and hearing what they have to say. The professional conversations were sustainable and collegial because the experts are at the school everyday! This allowed staff members to process what they had heard/seen and implement ideas at their own pace (even two months later people are still following up on inspiration from the day.

2. Give professionals time to learn, play and work! During our professional development day, each presenter agreed to allow at least 20 minutes (of a one hour session) to explore the technology/software. Teachers were able to set-up accounts, create sample projects, and collect ideas and resources. One of the most common pieces of feedback we received from teachers was that they appreciated the time, and that they looked forward to more. By arranging administrative coverage, staff meetings re-designed/shortened in order to allow work time for teachers to work collaboratively on a project that they can directly apply to work with their students.

3. With this applicability in mind, it is imperative that teachers be permitted to choose which technologies are most applicable to the work they do with students. Teachers, like students, must be able to relate new learning to something they already do or a need they have identified in their teaching or their students’ learning.

4. Delicious has been a great way for teachers and students at our school to share great websites. While it is a simple Web 2.0 tool, it allows teachers to collaborate and share resources on their own time. I have also learned of a number of websites that my students already use and enjoy that I am able to incorporate into my teaching. One of the biggest obstacles expressed by teachers is the shortage of time. A social bookmarking tool such as Delicious allows colleagues to follow each other’s favourite sites and to explore the sites to determine how they might be useful in their own teaching.

5. Lead by example – by exploring, playing and challenging myself this semester, as a part of my university course, I have modeled professional growth as well as new ideas for teaching. Others have heard/seen what I am doing and have chosen to add a number of the Web 2.0 tools into their own teaching. Some have become desperate for their own SmartBoards, others have created Delicious accounts, several have created VoiceThread accounts for their students, and others have expressed interest in setting up blogs for their students. I most certainly do not take credit for all of these changes, but by being open about my own professional development I believe I have become more aware of what others are already doing as well as have shared a few new ideas.

6. Share the ownership of learning and change with all stakeholders – support staff, parents and students. By engaging our entire learning community we have helped support staff to understand the efficacy of technology beyond gimmicks. We have inspired parents to raise funds for our wireless laptop labs and our SmartBoards. And finally, we have learned from our students about what they already know and use, and how we might more effectively use the technologies available to us. In the spirit of Web 2.0, we have engaged hundreds of minds to work collaboratively rather than a small group holding the information and handing it to the others.


I have been exploring the question of engaging staff in integrating and showcasing technology during this entire semester. As the co-chair of our Instructional Leadership Team. As such, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on what has worked for us, and what experts would suggest we should keep in mind for the future. The challenge here is to be brief!
Dennis Sparks has written "Leading for Results – Transforming Teaching, Learning and Relationships in Schools" and now facilitates change in a number of school districts across North America, including Edmonton Public Schools (Corwin Press, 2007). Sparks’ book centres around the premise that teachers and leaders posses "the human energy required to actualize potential [but it] often lies dormant until it is aroused through the means described in [his book]." Sparks suggest that these means include
-connections with others in ways that enrich and energize us
-clarity of thought regarding our values and beliefs
-commitment to a compelling purpose
-the magnet-life force of a richly detailed vision of that which we desire to create
-the motivation produced by an expanded set of possibilities.

By keeping these principles in mind, I believe it will be possible to sustain the energy and momentum at our school surrounding new technologies. Our professional development day in which we truly collaborated was rich with connections with others. Our compelling purpose for change is the needs and demands of our students who are living in a technology-rich world and must be engaged and challenged at school. Our motivation is our students, but also the expanded set of possibilities with which we have been provided: SmartBoards, Senteos, portable wireless laptop labs, document cameras, social bookmarking, podcasting, digital storytelling software, wikis, blogs........Inspiring (and expensive) hardware, and endless, free possibilities with Web 2.0.
The means which our staff may need to go next are those involving vision and beliefs. As a staff, we do not yet have clarity of thought regarding our values and beliefs, nor do we have the magnet-like force of a richly detailed vision of that which we desire to create. I imagine that many teachers (not only on our staff, but everywhere where technology is changing the face of teaching) are wondering Why on earth are we doing this, anyways? It is only when we discuss this question and work to create a vision, and shared beliefs that we can move forward. As I discussed in an earlier blog post, it is important to be reflective when introducing new technologies, rather than simply using every technology we hear about.

After much reflection about technology this term, and discussions with my grade six students, I am more convinced than ever that we must select applicable, engaging technologies for our students and use them!!! Pay Attention, a video on YouTube to which I referred to in my initial blog post, alerts us to the fact that students ‘power down’ to come to school (this video was also shared at our fall Professional Development Day). If I want to
engage
inspire
educate
my students, I will need to use meaningful and authentic technologies that relate to their ‘real world.’
Teaching with technology in this way requires all of us to change: to change our thinking, our practice, our understanding, our beliefs, our values, our spending, our planning, our vision.....our teaching. Dennis Sparks states that "human potential and energy become visible as they manifest through our words and actions and the world changes." Keeping his five means to change in mind, I will commit to sharing my potential and energy that I have gathered about technology this term, through my words and actions. My hope is that through these means, and the five strategies I shared at the beginning of this post, I will be a part of the change in my part of the world!

Five Sites to Convince Your Administrator that These Newfangled Blogs are Professional Development

I found these sites particularly interesting in my research this week. Perhaps some of them will make you (or your administrator) think!

1. An article of the efficacy of logging as reflective learning for occupational therapists (other proessions have already figured this out!)

2. Blog: A tool for reflective practice in teacher education?
Research paper from University of Macau, and UK

3. Blogs as Reflective Practice
The process of reflective practice using a variety of Web 2.0 tools.

4. Blogger in Middle-earth: Reflective Practice - blogging and learning
Blogging, reflective practice and action research

5. Blogging as reflective practice for students

Following the Crumbs: Blogging as Professional Development for Teachers

Blogging is a bit like the story of Hansel and Gretel. For three months I have been maintaining a blog about my professional research, exploration and learning. As I pause this week to consider the effectiveness of blogging and blogs as a professional tool for professional development, I can follow the trail of crumbs to see where I have been, just like Hansel and Gretel. I can read my old blog posts and consider old comments. But, unlike the story of the witch, the house of candy, and the journey home, this isn’t a trail to lead me home. These crumbs serve to show me where I have been, but through reflective practice and experimentation, I will use them to chart a course further away from ‘home.’ My blog serves to mark passages in experience and changes in thought. It reflects upon what I once thought and sheds light on where I mean to go. It is a guiding force in my professional growth.

Earlier in my journey this term, I wrote about the importance of reflective practice:
* "By taking this course I remain a reflective practitioner of students with diverse needs, with additional tools in my toolbox for meeting the needs of learners." (October, 2008)
* As a reflective practitioner, I am responsible for looking inward and backward simultaneously, and then tempering my excitement and inspiration. Only then can my students and I use Web 2.0 tools in a meaningful way without becoming overwhelmed or overloaded. (Oct. 08)
* My blog is evidence of "the very core of what sets teaching and teacher-librarianship apart from other occupations. It is the art and artistry of reflective practice." (Oct. 08)

But just how are my blog, and the blogs which I follow, evidence of professional learning and growth? In researching this week’s topic, I resorted to a paper copy of a professional reading. "Professional Learning Communities at Work" (DuFour and Eaker, 1998) is a book I am currently reading as a part of my leadership work at school. The authors suggest that most professionals refer to their work as a "law practice" or "I have been practicing medicine for twenty-one years." But, the authors point out, "when educators refer to ‘practice teaching,’however, they are typically referring to the nine-week period in their senior year of college in which they were expected to learn everything there is to know about teaching." If we are to truly ‘practice’ education in order to create professional learning communities in which colleagues explore the artistry and science of teaching, we must reflect. When teaching is ‘practiced’ and educators are reflective, there are five significant changes that take place. Blogging and blogs meet each of the criteria!

1. Professional teachers emphasize learning rather than teaching.
-Because blogging is a new process and concept to many teachers, it forces us to actively learn something new. The nature of the tool pushes us outside of our comfort zone and pushes us to reflect on our learning. We are reminded of the feeling of trying something new, being frustrated and feeling overwhelmed. We are learners.
-RSS feeds ensure that we are learning regularly as we receive new ideas and research from those all around the world.

2. Professional teachers emphasize active student engagement with significant context. The real question is how to engage students in the exploration of significant content in real and meaningful ways over the sustained period of time that is necessary for students to reach high levels of proficiency.
-Blogging encourages us to reflect on how we are engaging our students. The public nature of a blog allows others to comment on our success and challenges, and to leave suggestions or ideas. Our blog readers further our reflection and push us to consider what will best engage our students. Our contact with educators from around the world adds context and a more rich perspective to our ideas and abilities.
-Reading blogs offers limitless ideas, content, meaningful connections, engagement, authentic inspiration and ‘experiences.’ Whether we are following blogs for our own professional development, or to share directly with our students, we are capable of more effectively engaging our students. And they may see a connection between their learning and the ‘real world!’

3. Professional teachers focus on student performance and production. "In schools that function as professional learning communities, students are asked to do the work of scientists, musicians, business entrepreneurs, politicians, mathematicians, attorneys, novelists, physicians, designers, historians, critics, etc"
-When writing our blogs, we can ask colleagues and others to help us reflect on what we are having our students doing. Our audience can help us to consider how our teaching ideas and strategies are engaging our students.
-By subscribing to a variety of blogs, not just those aimed at educators, we open our classrooms to scientists, musicians, business entrepreneurs, politicians........you get the picture! We gain knowledge about a variety of topics (for example, my RSS feeds on Sky Science) to share either directly or indirectly with our students.

4. Professional teachers routinely collaborate with their colleagues.
-This semester I have certainly collaborated with my colleagues in my school building, but the limitations of report cards, lesson planning, parent meetings, and staff meetings make our time scattered and minimal. But I have also corresponded with educators in Bangkok, Boston, England, Winnipeg and British Columbia thanks to my blog! Comments on my blog from these colleagues have furthered my reflection and practice with their fresh perspective, and have validated my concerns and frustrations with their share experiences – even a world away!
-Similarly, reading blogs of colleagues both locally and internationally, affords me the opportunity to seek out those with similar challenges or questions. I can relate to their experiences and reflect on my own in reading their blog posts.

5. Professional teachers are students of teaching and consumers of research.
-Blogs allow teachers to track, chart and map their personal professional development. They can read their thoughts and can share them with others. If there is one common thread I have noticed about teachers as bloggers this semester is that none claim to have all the answers. They all appear to be on a reflective journey of exploration and learning. It is refreshing, and permits me to do the same. To admit that I am a student of teaching, and to participate in a community of colleagues who believe the same.
-RSS feeds make being a ‘consumer of research’ simple, accessible and painless. By subscribing to some ‘research-ly’ blogs and others that share reflective journeys, teachers participate in daily professional development. It is important to remember, as I have learned this term, that being a consumer of research does not mean reading scholarly journals exclusively. Seeking out new ideas and making discoveries is research. And let’s not forget action research.
Wikipedia defines action research as "Action research is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems." THAT’S BLOGGING AND BLOGS!!!!

Blogs are the "Professional Learning Communities at Work" that DuFour and Eaker discuss. While it is certain that blogs are not what they had in mind while writing the book, participating in the Read/Write web by using blogs is active participation in a professional learning community. I came across the most wonderful term this week during my research. On the website Work Literacy, I discovered an article referring to the E-flective Practioner. I thought the term was fabulous! That’s what I want to be! With the skills I have learned in this course, and the guiding principles of professional learning communities in mind, I just might have a hope!

Until then, I will continue dropping my crumbs and following them at the same time – a mistake I am sure Hansel and Gretel never made. But the more I drop and the more closely I follow, I am discovering something curious. I set out on this journey to use a blog as an account of my professional development. I have written, and read, and reflected, and now I think I am back where I started. The trail of crumbs have led me back to my blog. What I thought was the map, is actually the path. Blogging and blogs, are the professional development, not just the crumbs! My blog has been my driving force and my reflective tool in this professional development. My teaching practice has changed significantly this term, and I can articulate why I have made these changes in my practice. That is powerful professional development! And for a teacher, that’s a greater discovery than a house made of candy in the woods!

This 'Feed Me' Tool Could Become the New 'Little Shop of Horrors' if left unchecked!

Demonstration of new knowledge
Before beginning this course, I will admit that I was not following any blogs, and definitely didn’t need help organizing all my blog reading. Prompted by this course, I dutifully set up a Google Reader account (as recommended by Will Richardson as the most simple RSS feed). After using my Delicious account religiously for two months now, my first inclination was to sign up to follow numerous blogs. I started with five blogs, then found that I wasn’t particularly engaged in reading what I was receiving. I thought that perhaps what I needed to do was to add more blogs. I wandered (truly) around the internet looking for the sacred orange RSS beacon.
I added blogs quite randomly, clicking eagerly and adding to my GoogleReader subscription list.

It was at that point, sometime early this week, that I became totally confused about the benefits of RSS feeds. I had to remind myself to check a new account (GoogleReader, in addition to University e-mail, home e-mail, work e-mail, and Facebook) and then take time to scan these blog topics and read articles that might interest me. It felt like additional reading, with the potential for one or two blog posts that might come in handy at some point in this course.
By Thursday, after continued research, I realized that I needed to take ownership of this new tool and explore a way that it might meet a need for me or my students. This had been a key learning for me this term – when exploring new tools and applications, it is important to consider how they might serve what I am already doing rather than looking for new ways to incorporate a new tool into new classroom routines.

After some reflection about my teaching, I acknowledged that, in moving from teaching grade one for seven years to trying grade six this year, Science is the area in which I lack the most knowledge and teaching resources. I decided to create a Folder in my Google Reader account to follow blogs, news sites, or daily photo updates on our upcoming unit on Sky Science. This would provide timely research for me that I could use with my students on a daily basis (checking GoogleReader to start the day with the ‘Amazing Photos of the Day’ from Space.com) or to supplement my own understanding and lesson ideas. In reading Will Richardson’s book ‘Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms’ this week, I was most struck by his analogy that RSS feeds can act "kind of like doing research 24/7, only the RSS feed does all the work." Someone else doing some of my work for me?! Now, there’s a tool I can use!!

The Discovery Process
As with most of the tools we are exploring on Web 2.0, it seems that the more time one can spend ‘playing,’ the more we can make authentic use of the tool and understand it’s capabilities. In all honesty, it took me a great deal of exploring RSS feeds over the past month in order to realize the potential of RSS as a useful tool. I needed to read many articles and reviews online, spend many hours on my GoogleReader homepage exploring settings, and reviewing sites and blogs that might interest me. Will Richardson offered important reminders that RSS can follow much more than blogs. An online video, What is RSS and how is it useful? RSS IS AWESOME! offers some additional great ideas, and helped me to realize that RSS feeds don’t have to just be academic in nature! Is this where people get insane tidbits of knowledge about Who Was Born on This Day?
Additional Useful Tutorial Videos are found at:
-RSS feed Tutorial at The Thirty Day Challenge site (The site challenges readers to take thirty days to make their first $10 online).
-Google Reader in Plain English from Lee Lefever

By spending time with GoogleReader I have learned a number of things about myself and RSS feeds:
-I really enjoy receiving RSS feeds from site such as CBC, as they offer audio feeds. For example, since the beginning of this course I have been following the blog for the CBC Radio program ‘Spark.’ My feed from the site offers brief articles, and MP3’s of interviews and articles. It’s great to listen to them and to be able to scan my other feeds on GoogleReader at the same time.
-There are some posts that I have only seen because I had my RSS feed running, and I am very glad I have seen these articles. For example, I now follow Kim Cofino’s blog, Always Learning and have read some insightful and affirming blog posts from her thanks to my RSS feed. I am looking forward to sharing one of her articles on Professional Development with my staff
-The Trends tab on the GoogleReader dashboard is a useful tool when organizing and reviewing feed selections. I use the statistics to determine which blogs I am actually reading and which I could keep on my Delicious account and check occasionally rather than getting a feed of every entry.

Implications for Using RSS feeds as a Teacher
-At this time, I don’t think by grade six students will need their own GoogleReader accounts. We can create a class account to follow sites that are interesting to us.
-On my teacher/personal account, I plan to continue to follow sites, gadgets and blogs that will contribute to my lesson planning and overall understanding of teaching issues and pedagogy. I think it will be a great help as I work on adding to my knowledge of new curriculum in a new grade level
-We can modify some morning routines by following daily updates on particular sites. I am searching for great sites on phases of the moon, or word of the day sites that could be up on our SmartBoard when students arrive each morning.
-I look forward to using the ‘Share’ aspect of the GoogleReader site in order to collaborate and share articles of interest with my colleagues. At this time, some of us are using Delicious to collaborate in this way, but I like the idea of being able to share one particular post or article with colleagues. They don’t have any more time to search than I do.

Thoughts for Further Reflection
-Unfortunately, I don’t yet know many people who have GoogleReader accounts. My instinct is to print articles of interest and put them in people’s mailboxes at work, but I hope that I can find some colleagues who are using an RSS feed program to bypass this archaic step. However, as Kim Cofino mentions in her post entitled "Sustaining Change: The Next Level of PD" we need to permit our colleagues to move at their own pace, and to adopt new technology as they see the need. At this time, GoogleReader may provide me with the resources to keep up on professional reading and to source the articles and ideas that I wish to share with colleagues in other ways (even on paper!).

-RSS feeds don’t seem to be catching on as quickly as some other Web 2.0 applications. On his blog, Steve Hudson explores some of the reasons that RSS may not be catching on. One of his suggestions is that it is not as intuitive a tool as other Web 2.0 technologies. A number of other drawbacks of RSS feeds are listed at Hiveminds Magazine for your consideration.

A final consideration is important for me as I continue to explore RSS feeds. I am not sure if RSS feeds will help me to organize my online reading, or if it will make me read more. I am certainly not against more research and knowledge, but I need to me mindful of the balance between time spent seeking out/reading new material and time allocated to incorporating and playing with ideas. I think it will be important to carefully select which sites and blogs I choose to add to my subscriptions.

When Addictions and Academics Add Eachother as 'Friends'

I have been looking forward to this blogpost for a while! As a self-professed Facebook addict (not unlike most of my friends!), I never thought I would have the opportunity to reflect on this social networking tool as a part of my grad studies. Through Facebook I have re-connected with good friends from high school, learned more about my colleagues and their personal interests and reunited with friends from twenty years ago to meet for dinner. I’ve also had a ‘Friend Request’ from a parent of one of my students, and it gave me pause to consider who I invite into my ‘Friends’ group. I declined their request, in the interest of being over-protective of my personal time and revealing status updates (do parents need to know that I’m sick of report cards?!). I am always aware of my role as a teacher and consider it in all aspects of my life, so this was not new for me. But my attempt to delineate personal and professional life online was challenged this week by my consideration for Facebook and education.

Demonstration of New Knowledge
My first challenge this week was to demonstrate new knowledge and understandings about Facebook. I participated in two Facebook projects to accomplish this:
One of my relatives works at the university as a Faculty Development Officer. It is their job to keep in touch with industry, alumni and small-business owners in order to further the success of the Faculty (scholarships, bursaries, public relations, etc). This week I helped him to extend his network of contacts by using Facebook as a networking tool. He will now be able to keep in touch with large groups of alumni or other related groups in an instant and public fashion. In a world where contact information and mailing addresses change frequently or are unlisted, Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with fellow students or to allow access to important information about Faculty events and opportunities. Facebook reaches this audience in a way which they are already familiar with and are choosing to use to expand their networks.
2. My second quest for new knowledge involved my own contacts/Friends list. On my status this week, I posed the question "...."Is there any way you'd use Facebook with your students?" Send me a message!" I received more replies to this Facebook status than any others I have posted.
Here are some of the responses I received:
CDH: Jill some people have told me that they make a special "teacher" address on facebook so you can add your students to that one. I am not sure what I would do.
JPS: No, no, no. Your admin would say absolutely not!
KC: If they were graduated from hgih school, yes, but ummm no.
CF: Can you create a "group" without allowing students to have access to your profile? Otherwise, I'd steer clear of this can o' worms!!!!!
JP: I'm not sure how I would use Facebook with students! You would have to have parental permission first, for sure, right? I'll think about it!
SG: Hi Jill, good question. We have discussed that at the faculty and for now have determined that it crosses professional boundaries. I'm sure it is different in many cases but thought I'd weigh in on the discussion. I know my students gather all the time and I heard a psych prof who said she uses facebook so I'm sure there are lots of opinions out there. Sue
CR: Hey! Just a thought, re. your status. You might be able to use facebook for data collection and survey purposes. Or, at an upper elementary level to talk about freedom of thought/speech and forums.

While it is important to acknowledge the casual and expressive tone of Facebook, I find the level of emotion and conviction in some of these posts very interesting. Several people were almost panicked that I would even consider using Facebook with my students. I also found it interesting that teachers were concerned about their own privacy, much as I was. If they could keep their personal information (photos, posts, etc) private, then they might consider the tool. This is discussed in an article entitled "Schools grapple with teachers’ Facebook use" on E-School News.

Using Facebook as an Instructional Tool
On the website Edumorphology, Inigral Inc. has posted a great video for teachers entitled "An Instructional Guide to Facebook for Teachers." (I have added the video at the bottom of this blog as well). The website offers great food for thought about how educators might use Facebook. While the ideas are likely most applicable for high school, or particularly for university students and professors, they suggest a number of important benefits of using Facebook with students. I have included some of their ideas in my list below.
Top Ten Reasons to Use Facebook with Students

10. To build relationships between peers and with instructors.
9. To create connections between school and students’ real life
8. To build a network of others with the same interest or course selection
7. To sustain conversations from class
6. To see professor as a real person with real interests
5. To make use of a familiar technology for students to exchange files, photos, videos and ideas
4. To help students appreciate what is happening in their professor’s life, and to be aware of what could possibly be more important than marking my paper!). I know I have benefited from that this semester!
3. To link course sections, or classes from different regions or countries who are discussing our exploring the same topics. (would still work best if each member had their own account, not one account for each class. This would stifle the wall posts)
2. To network with teachers with the same or similar teaching assignments, challenges, goals or initiatives. I certainly gained some ideas from other teachers this week in response to my status update asking about Facebook.
1. To gain perspectives or ideas from different groups who may have differing ideas (teachers in different regions, students in other countries, debate of best practices, etc).

The distinction between students in the younger grades and those in university is important. In university, students are generally adults who can be responsible for their decisions and choices online. These students still deserve, and likely require, guidance from instructors about using Facebook and other Internet applications wisely, but they are hold enough to be held accountable for their online posts. As well, at university age, many students are already using Facebook or other social networking sites such as MySpace. Professors would be not be encouraging students to create accounts, nor would I expect/wish them to require students to create a profile for a course. We must be aware of and allow for individual opinions and comfort levels about the technology. However, for a majority of university/college-aged students, use of a social networking site such as Facebook is simply meeting students where they are at, and making use of a valuable tool and networking engine.

Implications when Considering Facebook as an Instructional Tool
Naturally, a number of implications must be considered when using Facebook with students.
Some important factors for both teachers and students are:
-understanding how and why to select different accessibility for different ‘Friends’ on Facebook. You may not want everyone to be able to see all of your photos, posts, updates, etc.

-as mentioned previously, some students or colleagues may not wish to create a profile on Facebook. Our sense of privacy and personal space can be very different and we must make allowances for these differences. We can not demand the same from all.

-others can upload photos of you. Just a note to be aware of, especially with cell phones in classrooms taking pictures of bad hair days!

-it is reasonable to consider how much of our time we make available to students outside of class time. We need to be mindful of what we can offer students, and to follow through as a mediator or focal point online if we encourage students to collaborate there.

-some school Districts have blocked access to Facebook on school computers, as a result of policy and decisions. Other Districts/employers have called for teachers to refrain from maintaining a Facebook profile. It is important to know and understand the policies under which you operate before moving in a new direction. Will Richardson writes about this on his blog under the post "Filter Fun"

So What Now?...
Educate yourself! The most important piece of advice I could give educators is to educate yourself about the technology available to you and your students. Spend time using the technology yourself and reading research and opinions before forming your own opinion, or diving in with your students. Several good resources to consider are:
-Social Networks in Education wiki
-Study Groups Facebook Application
-Sakaw School Newsletter: Information on Facebook for Parents (An Edmonton Elementary School)
-A case of controversy involving Facebook, collaboration and academics.

Ultimately, as with all new Web 2.0 applications, I believe that we owe it to our students to investigate the technology, consider how it might make our teaching better, and, at the very least, consider how we might help students make wise and informed decisions about how they use the technology. As we become more knowledgeable, we are obligated to address the issues and concerns with our students, in order to keep them safe. As Will Richardson reminds us in "Filter Fun," they will, at the end of the day, step off the bus into an unfiltered world. It is our responsibility to prepare them for that world, and to meet them online after class if it will engage them more fully as learners!

A new stitch in my Web 2.0 quilt: VoiceThreads

Process of Learning about VoiceThreads
There was so much excitement online about VoiceThreads, it was easy to research and discover endless possibilities. In particular, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of educators online sharing their ideas and projects from VoiceThreads. Of course, the very nature of this Web 2.0 tool makes it easy to share and collaborate.
I logged on to the Internet one day afterschool, with the intent to spend 15 or 20 minutes finding out about VoiceThreads before zipping home for dinner. An hour and a half later I had searched dozens of sites, explored countless VoiceThread examples, and added my ‘top 14’ discoveries to my Delicious.com account. The variety of sites that are available is amazing, and the creativity that teachers show when using this web application in their teaching is inspiring.
After completing most of my research, I decided to take a risk to see if I could at least begin a VoiceThread project of my own. In thirty minutes I had uploaded photos from Flickr, created audio and text comments and uploaded my VoiceThread project to the Internet. The process was simple!!! And while my first project is plain, and much like a digital storytelling project, it has promise, and has shown me how easy it could be to use this technology with my students.

Implications of the tool for teaching and learning
The nature of VoiceThreads allows teachers to share ideas and build on the plans of their colleagues. If I were to describe the application to another teacher, I would suggest that they first look at the examples available on the VoiceThreads website . It is a great place to see what VoiceThreads is all about, and the ideal place for inspiration. It was here that I realized the power of VoiceThreads to bring people around the world together around a common topic or theme. I believe the power that sets this application apart of other Web 2.0 tools such as wikis or blogs, is the ability to post voice responses, in addition to visuals and written comments. There is something very powerful about the personal nature of the human voice. When viewing Classroom 2.0 and hearing voices from Israel to Florida, the world seems a little smaller, and as a teacher I feel empowered to be a part of world-wide network of colleagues.
So, what will I do with this empowerment? Well, parent-teacher-student conferences are just around the corner in November. When viewing ‘Goal Reflections Term One’ (found via VoiceThread4education), I was inspired to use VocieThreads as a part of my portfolio, conferencing and goal setting cycle with my students. While I believe that this could have been a possibility for my grade one students in my past years of teaching, I am convinced it will be a motivating and thought-provoking process that is well-suited to my grade six students. During my research and reflection this week I posted the following comment on the ideas wiki at VoiceThread4education:
"Creating portfolios and tracking goals on VoiceThreads allows parents, students and teachers to continue the conversation throughout the entire term, rather than limiting the conversation to report card/conference time. Students can upload regular updates, including their most recent work samples. Teachers could leave comments as a form of assessment. Parents can leave their own thoughts, and hear (first-hand) the feedback their child has received from the teacher. VoiceThreads could sustain the dialogue in a simple, accessible and authentic way."

At his blog, Gary Stager shares some of his concerns about VoiceThreads being used as another form of PowerPoint or digital storytelling. There are some important considerations to reflect upon when designing and posting projects on VoiceThreads. Here are a few considerations which may ensure high quality projects that use the capabilities of VoiceThreads:
-Who is your audience? Good writers keep their audience in mind while writing and editing
-Is this your first draft? If you are posting on the Internet, you will want to edit your work to be sure it is a great reflection of you and your ideas.
-Great voice/recording quality will make people enjoy hearing your ideas even more.
-Can you include your own pictures instead of relying on clip art or public photo sites?
-What do you have to say that no one else has to say?
-How will you engage others to participate? Who will you invite? Will you pose a question? Ask for feedback?

Demonstration of new Knowledge
I hope you will join my Delicious network (jkwasnie at www.delicious.com) to see the amazing sites I bookmarked while researching this web application.

My Top Ten List this week was selected to share my favourite new knowledge with you. Enjoy!
10. A VoiceThread example: Using VoiceThreads to discuss political cartoons. Gather ideas from students, and those around the world. Political cartoons can be sourced at www.cagle.com

9. After reflecting on Gary Stager’s blog post, perhaps this isn’t an example of Best Practices, but I think it would be a powerful way to introduce VoiceThreads to primary students and teachers. Colour Poetry on VoiceThreads.

8. AlwaysLearning is a great, inspiring blog by Kim Cofino a 21st Century Literacy Specialist at the International School of Thailand in Bangkok. In her post "KinderKidsDraw!" Kim reflects on using VoiceThreads with Kindergarten and primary students.
7. Bill Ferriter has named his blog "The Tempered Radical" (brilliant!). In this blog post, he reflects on using VoiceThreads as a collaborative tool for educators.

6. A VoiceThread with 100 Ideas for Using VoiceThreads. See what educators from around the world have suggested and shared!

5. Edutopia: The George Lucas Education Foundation – An article by Lara Weir about Bill Ferriter and his experience with VoiceThreads. "Extending the Classroom with Interactive Multimedia Albums"

4. A Wiki on VoiceThreads, with great ideas, how-tos and examples. Grazing for Digital Natives.

3. My inspiration for using VoiceThreads for goal setting and portfolio discussions: Goal Reflections Term One

2. VoiceThread4Education is an excellent wiki for learning, discussing, and exploring VoiceThreads.

1. My first VoiceThreads project! A walk around the walls around Dubrovnik, Croatia.
More links to come... I can’t wait to share some of the VoiceThreads that my students create. I plan to start using them in relation to our first term reflections and goal setting for term two.

Tilapia and other Fishy Wiki Discoveries

I have a number of admissions to make. The first of which is not the least. It is a ridiculously busy week at school. One-on-ones, growth plans, Individualized Program Plans, parent meetings, and a PD Day Monday. I am excited to report that six colleagues and myself planned and presented the Professional Development Day for our whole staff based on technologies we use successfully with our classes. I presented on the use of Delicious.com for teacher collaboration and as a tool for students (I’m a true convert – look at me go!!!). Our wrap-up session for the day included recording our needs and desires for future sessions on Wordle.net. It was an exciting day, well received by staff, and motivating for all. It was a risk to change Professional Development practice, and it did require a great deal of planning. Yet in spite of all the excitement this week, I approached my exploration of wikis this week with enthusiasm. The result was less than satisfying for both my students and myself. Please accept this as my disclaimer: This entry may not be as cheerful and optimistic as those previous! :)

Before this week, I will admit, I could count on one hand the number of times I had visited Wikipedia.org. And the probability of me creating my own wiki, or a wiki for my students was nil. I didn’t even know how to begin researching this week’s topic. I have learned a great deal this week, and have had a variety of experiences with wikis (some positive, and some I will struggle to put into thoughtful and academic words). Where to begin...

Using Wikipedia.com
The other night my husband and I were cooking tilapia. I will tell you honestly, dear colleagues, that EDES 501 was the furthest thing from my mind. As I conducted my usual mealtime frenzy to quickly concoct something before one of us passes out from lack of nourishment, he asked "What exactly is tilapia?"
"I don’t know. A fish. A white fish. Probably saltwater."
[insert unspoken comments here such as ‘Who cares?! Fry faster, and we can eat and talk about something more interesting].
"I’ll be right back!" he replies, excitedly.
Lo and behold, he returns a moment later with my laptop and perches (no fishy pun intended) beside the stove to research tilapia. He finds pictures, explores clickthroughs and links to see related species, habitat, etc. In fact, there was so much information available, he was able to quench his thirst for knowledge (okay, perhaps my word choice is a little ‘fishy’) until the meal was ready. And he was as satisfied as could be (my husband made me edit the ‘happy as a clam’ reference here, in true wiki-style).

Truthfully, although it will shock any teacher-librarian who reads the site, I was satisfied knowing that the Tilapia in Chile Lime Butter we were about to eat was a delicious fish with white flesh. I wasn’t curious and didn’t need to know all about the geneology of tilapia. But, my husband did, and I have to credit him for finding the information he wanted in a quick and easy fashion.
But, given my bitter tone of the week, I’m not planning to give him much credit for his discovery.
Instead, I credit the 500+ people who had contributed to or edited the Wikipedia.org page on ‘Tilapia’ since it was created by OlofE on September 21, 2002. I credit such intellectual writers of our time as Versageek, CanisRufus, Judge Nutmeg, Geronimo20, Staffwaterboy and Zzuuzz. Yes, these academics, and others have all contributed to Wikipedia – the Web 2.0 academic version of the ongoing message on the bathroom stall wall. With one exception: Judge Nutmeg and his techno-saavy gang know a lot about Tilapia! And when MidgleyDJ added something that the others disagreed with, they deleted that entry and reverted to the last version that Judge Nutmeg had edited.

What Web 2.0 is capable of
This is the miracle of Wikipedia, and the magic of 2.0 in action. Anyone with internet access and a login can contribute to the definitions and explanations available on Wikipedia. Will Richardson calls Wikipedia "the poster child for the collaborative construction of knowledge and truth that the new, interactive Web facilitates." He goes on to remind us that "no one person, or even small group of people could produce Wikipedia, as currently edits appear at the rate of 400,000 a day. Every day, thousands of people who have no connection to one another engage in the purposeful work of negotiating and creating truth. They do this with no expectation that their contributions will be in some way acknowledged or compensated, and they do it undertsanding that what they contribute can be freely edited or modified or reused by anyone else for any purpose. The extent to which this happens and to which it is successful is truly inspiring." (Richardson, 2008, pg57).

I wholeheartedly agree with Will Richardson, and am in awe of both the idea and the capabilities of the site. It is the true collaborative Read/Write web that Tim Berners-Lee had hoped to create in 1989. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Wikipedia is that with all the access and editing on the site, it remains largely accurate. I am excited about trying an experiment with my students much like that of University of Buffalo Professor Alex Halavais conducted (Richardson, 2008, pg. 56), planting errors at several places on Wikipedia and monitoring how quickly they are corrected. I think it would be an excellent demonstration of the spirit and function of Wikipedia – that the collective aims to maintain an accurate and reliable source to be used by others.

Using Wikipedia.org with Students
The very nature of Wikipedia necessitates caution. As with Google, many students (and adults) use Wikipedia as a research tool. This came as a surprise to many of our teaching staff this week, but when I discussed it with my students, the majority were already aware, and some even seemed proud. It seemed that they felt some rebellious ownership over such a powerful Internet tool. Still, as a research tool, Wikipedia compels us as educators and teacher-librarians to encourage students to use multiple sources. Through awareness of the nature of Wikipedia students can learn best practices of cross-checking and evaluating sources. On the flip-side, students could also discuss their responsibility and accountability in contributing to the Read/Write Web, knowing that others will read, and perhaps rely on their wiki posts, blog entries, etc.



Creating your Own Wiki
(a.k.a. how to single-handedly crush a group of motivated writers)
In the spirit of exploration and play, I was excited to create a wiki for my students this week. I wanted them to contribute, review and edit definitions and explanations of trees as a summary project for our grade six Trees and Forests unit. If we started the page together, then each added ten facts that we felt had been missed, and then edited each others’ entries, we could negotiate our understanding of the unit of study.

After some brief exploration early in the week, I decided to create an account at two wiki hosts: PBWiki and Wikispaces. PBWiki appealed to me because it seemed to cater mindfully to educators, and Wikispaces is widely used, and I have seen several wikis in action created there.
Imagine my students’ excitement when I announce at the SmartBoard that I have made a wiki for them, but that it is blank. It is their job to decide what is important and what will be included – they are the authors. Eagerly, we work quickly to add about twenty facts to the ‘Tree’ page on our wiki (rm16defines.wikispaces.com). They are impressed at how easy it is. They are even excited about their homework! "Use your notes and activity pages at home tonight to compile a list of the ten facts about trees. Tomorrow you can add it to our wiki."

Most students came with their homework completed on Wednesday (‘most’ – they are still typical students, even when they are motivated). We quickly handed out the laptops, and navigated our way to the wiki. It is important to note here, that amidst a busy week I was as excited as they were. I expected that some valuable thought, evaluation and critical thinking would be happening. However, in my excitement and haste, I was not knowledgeable enough about the technology. (Herein lies a danger of online experimentation and exploration – some technologies are deceptively simple to get up and running, but one still needs to spend time investigating and learning about settings before subjecting students to the technology.) I had the students sign in to the wiki, as I didn’t want guests to be able to edit our page. Within ten minutes we figured out that each time we saved we were overwriting each other’s work. Although the students were disappointed, they were resilient, logged out of the wiki and began typing again. However, we continued to overwrite simultaneous entries even after we were logged out. By the end of the hour, we had just six new lines of writing to show for 26 students’ efforts. After several hours of work from me later, I sheepishly admit that I can’t figure out how to change that problem. If anyone can post some help, I’d be grateful!!

Implications for Teaching
-If a wiki is to function as the tool is meant to, it must be made public. If it is kept private or password-protected, it seems to function just like a blog.
-Students need to be comfortable with typing and editing on the computer in order to make the process smooth.
-Wikis offer a great tool for negotiating truth and evaluating our understanding. They also provide opportunity for discussion and critical thinking
-Wikipedia.org is useful as one source for students and staff seeking information. It is important to inform students of the nature of Wikipedia, and to encourage them to use best practices for research such as using multiple sources.
-I had not previously thought of using wikis in small groups as Lee Lefever of CommonCraft.com suggested. Students could use/create wikis in small groups to plan a writing project (e.g. writing newsletter articles) or planning for a class celebration or field trip. Writing in small groups would also allow students to have more opportunities to contribute and edit.
-I really like Amy Bowllan’s ideas in A Wiki Gives a Worthy Book New Life (School Library Journal, 9/1/2008). Our grade six teaching team is currently developing and teaching a study of non-fiction materials and reading strategies. We are each developing and revising the lessons as we go, and it would be great to track and share these changes as a team.
-Amy Bowllan’s article also prompted me to consider using wikis as a way of stimulating and encouraging discussion of reader responses in Literature Circles. However, in this case, I am still not clear how a wiki would serve this purpose better than a blog. I found myself asking this question a number of times this week.
-We are fortunate at our school to have access to 60 wireless laptop computers to allow students to access the Internet and inclass resources simultaneously. If all work had to be completed through one central teacher computer or SmartBoard the dynamics of wikis in our classroom would be stilted.

Conclusion
Clearly, my exploration of wikis is not complete. I have many questions remaining, and my lack of understanding leaves me wondering about the relevance of wikis in some instances. At the very least, I can continue to invite my students to use wikis as a resource and to evaluate the information available therein. It frustrates me that for the first time in this course, I found myself sharing some of the sentiments and frustrations that many staff feel when the are faced with new technologies. My personal challenge for this course has been to genuinely give everything fair consideration and attempts. I don’t feel yet that I have done so with wikis. My exploration of this Web 2.0 tool will continue for a while to come.

Top Ten Lessons from Playing with Virtual School Libraries

10. Virtual School Libraries meet students where they are at with technology.
9. With Virtual School Libraries, students have access to reliable sources of information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
8. Parents can view and access the same information as their children.
7. All teachers can access the same, valuable online tools. Virtual School Libraries provide another opportunity and vehicle for teacher collaboration.

6. As a classroom teacher, and digital immigrant, I am not sure this tool will be change my practice immediately. This week has provided me with a new vantage point on libraries, and new implications for teaching my students in the classroom.
5. The format of virtual school libraries varies widely, and sites that are visually appealing will be most motivating and inspiring for teachers and learners.
4. Rhonda Wills’ site for McLurg Elementary School is an excellent example of the continued relevance of a physical library space and collection alongside a virtual presence online.
3. I am becoming increasingly aware of the sheer mass of information available on the Internet.
2. If students are to navigate this information (which they are independently), we need to provide them with appropriate databases and search engines to access online information.
1. As one who visits libraries, but does not frequently reflect on their function or evolution, I was excited and inspired by my discoveries this week.

Virtual School Libraries Pave an Exciting Path to the Future

For those of us that are not teacher-librarians, it would appear that libraries have changed a great deal, and we have taken some of these changes for granted. The other day, my grade sixes and I were reading ‘Library Lion’ by Michelle Knudeson and Kevin Hawkes (Candlewick, 2006) and discovered a reference to the card catalogue. I paused, and couldn’t remember the last time I used a card catalogue. And clearly, my students have never heard of such a ridiculous thing! While I tried to explain the beauty and simplicity of the system, I realized how much libraries have changed in the past 20 years. I admit that while I love children’s books, and could spend hours in libraries, I hadn’t given a great deal of conscious thought to the changes in libraries since I was in school. We now take systems like OPAC for granted when we want to locate a book in the library, and we complete online searches on search engines or databases many times each day. The most striking change in recent years appears to be the convergence of these tools in school libraries; outside the quiet walls of the library, no less!

While searching for information about virtual school libraries online I encountered a perfect scenario which brings the efficacy of virtual libraries to life (Goliath: Business Knowledge online) "Brandon realizes that his biology research project on genetics is due tomorrow. It is Sunday evening, 6 p.m. No problem! He logs on to the Internet, opens his Web browser, goes to his school library Web site, and clicks on the pathfinder created collaboratively by his library media specialist and classroom teacher. Using their suggestions, he finds basic information in an encyclopedia through Grolier Online, and journal articles and newsletters from the SIRS Knowledge Source and Infotrac Student Edition. Through the library's online catalog, he reads portions of a few Follett e-books on genetics. To finish off his research, he visits a couple of the Web sites suggested in the pathfinder. Works cited? Referring to the works cited section of the school library Web site, he soon has his references listed in complete MLA format."

Access to quality information 24/7! ‘Goliath’ offers an alternate scenario which highlights an additional benefit of virtual school libraries: If it were not for a well-structured virtual school library, created by a knowledgeable librarian, it is likely that Brandon still would have been able to complete the project. A simple online search would yield at least one source loosely relating to the topic, in adult terms, complete with a chart or graph which could easily be printed. But this is where the work of a librarian is essential. The information available on the world wide web, via search engines such as Google, is measureless. In this culture, students need guidance toward effective search strategies, reliable sources, proper referencing, and quality references. This can be done via virtual school libraries.

The students we encounter in schools today use technology as a way of life. As a general rule, they are familiar with basic computer skills, the Internet, networking, and a variety of other proficiencies of which we are inevitably unaware. Marc Prensky claims to have coined the term ‘digital natives.’ In his article, ‘Listen to the Natives’ (Educational Leadership, December 2005/January 2006, v.63,n4), Prensky asserts that "They are native speakers of technology, fluent in the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet." We do not need to worry about teaching them the skills necessary to navigate a virtual school library. Instead, we need to create the opportunity for students to seek, find and utilize the information they need, when they need it. Another expert in this area and teacher-librarian in Pennsylvania, Joyce Kasman Valenza reminds us that educators and librarians still have a role to play in this technology-rich situation: "Although students are often technologically proficient, they know little about technology as it relates to academic research." (‘The Virtual Library’, Educational Leadership, v63, n4)). Virtual school libraries are an effective way of doing so, using the skills students already posess, and the vehicle the already desire.

During my research, a number of sources advocated the importance of ensuring that libraries remain relevant and useful for today’s students, teachers, and communities. As Prensky bluntly puts it "If our schools in the 21st century are to be anything more than holding pens for students while their parents work, we desperately need to find ways to help teachers integrate kids' technology-rich after-school lives with their lives in school."

By definition, Sarah Houghton’s explanation of Library 2.0 acknowledges collaboration and response to community needs as integral in a virtual library:
"Library 2.0 simply means making your library’s space (virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs. Examples of where to start include blogs, gaming nights for teens, and collaborative photo sites. The basic drive is to get people back into the library by making the library relevant to what they want and need in their daily lives…to make the library a destination and not an afterthought."

While searching online, I was blown away by two Virtual School Libraries in particular. The first is McLurg School Library, from Regina, Saskatchewan. I discovered the site on my own before exploring the WebLinks for our class, and was so impressed, amazed and inspired, that I e-mailed Rhonda Wills, the teacher-librarian and webmaster. I thought she deserved to know the impact that her website is having on others: I immediately understood the capabilities and possibilities for virtual school libraries, and was even inspired to consider a teacher-librarianship in the future. Created for an elementary school, the website provides resources for students, parents and teachers while at the same time encouraging those groups to use the physical library for resources and learning.
The second virtual library for a school that is the epitome of the craft, is from Springfield Township Library in Pennsylvania. The Library Information Specialist at the school is Joyce Kasman Valenza, a well-known and well-respected expert in the field, with countless of published articles and several blogs including ‘NeverEnding Search’ for SchoolLibraryJournal, and a new Britannica blog beginning on October 20 with Mike Wesch among others. The school library website is nothing less than magical and intellectually stimulating. The format of the site encourages visitors to explore and to use the tools available to them for both inspiration and answers.

Valenza’s website for Springfield Township School does exactly what she suggests possible in ‘The Virtual Library:’ "A virtual library can also become an integral part of the instructional culture of the school. Serving as a school's instructional archive, the site shares collaboratively developed lessons, WebQuests, rubrics, handouts, and organizers." It is a site for students, parents, teachers and other members of the Web 2.0 community – a hub, a portal, a bridge, a foundation and a springboard.

After a week of research and exploration, I am convinced of the power of a virtual school library. A few benefits of online sites for school libraries are:
-the ability to keep up with the pace of publishing, both online and print materials
-more cost effective to maintain/subscribe to online collections vs print collections as funding as decreased or, at best, stayed the same.
-we, and students, are becoming used to ‘pod’ methods of gathering information and resources – ‘personal, on-demand.’ The limitations of searching for print material in a single (or worse, multiple!) building(s) during operational hours is becoming more and more out of date.

For my students and myself, the implications of virtual school libraries are numerous. Our school does not currently have a virtual aspect beyond OPAC, but we do have two wireless portable laptop labs. These laptops offer students and teachers opportunities to explore online databases, and WebQuests. Our school also hosts a website with excellent links for students, and an interactive site for students and parents to access up-to-the-minute information, forms, marks, etc. Using the laptops, students would benefit from using basic and reliable research tools, and refining search skills. Inspired by virtual school libraries, teachers may collaborate using delicious.com and a shared server at school. As a classroom teacher, I will not soon be creating a virtual school library. But now that I know what is available, and what students may be working with in the future, I can do my best to prepare them for these tools. I can share these virtual school libraries with them as resources, and can do my best to help students to see the relevance of our current library. I certainly see the benefits of and motivation to create a virtual school library in the future, however. It is the direction information technology is most certainly heading. Until then, we evolve with the information and technology of our time, and try desperately try to keep up with our students. We must be patient, however. Afterall, Birch Lane Virtual Library reminds us:
Libraries are not made; they grow." --Augustine Birrell

Election News!

CBC Newsworld is following Twitter on their election coverage.....and I know what what Twitter is! Thanks, Joanne! Now that's election news!

This Thanksgiving, I'm Especially Grateful - My Podcast Appears to Be Up and Running!

I love it!!! My dad just interrupted dinner with my mom and called to say... "Okay...so what does ‘pod’ stand for in a podcast, anyways?" First of all, I’m so excited that I’ve got my parents thinking about podcasting and blogging! And secondly, (thanks to Lee Lefever at CommonCraft.com) I knew the answer!!!!

Thanks to Lee Lefever, I also understand the benefits of downloading podcasts. ‘Personal on Demand’ casting offers individuals audio/video on particular topics to be downloaded and viewed when and where time permits. (Insert anecdote here of my husband watching National Geographic videos of Bear Attacks on the plane to Cuba. Peculiar, yet, personal and on demand.) What was not immediately clear to me was why I would create podcasts myself, or with my students.

This may be because, as Christine mentioned in her blog (http://crobi-blog.blogspot.com/), the most stressful assignment we have encountered thus far in this course. After reading about the steps in a pdf file that Christine posted, I thought it would be pretty straightforward. However, both the concept and the steps were foreign to me. How to create an mp3 file, how to create a ‘live’ link on a blog, how to record audio, etc. It has been a frustrating week of missteps, faulty links, server errors and awkward links on my blog. Still, it is with fingers crossed that I pick up the old fashioned phone and ask others to try accessing my podcast via my blog ("Does it work?!"). Who knew that this Thanksgiving I would give thanks for a podcast on my blog?!

Throughout the past month of my coursework, I have been most nervous about the podcast content. At first I was terrified to select a topic and create a podcast. I was very uncomfortable about uploading a video of me to the World Wide Web. After my preliminary research I was relieved to realize that I could do an audio-only file (hooray for Stuart McLean who makes this beyond sufficient - an artform! http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/index.html?arts). Then, I was on a roll. I could anonymously pretend to be an expert on a topic (How Do Writers Get Their Ideas?) and post for others to hear. A few panicked web searches and several hand-holding sessions with a patient husband later, and I think I have done it! In the future, I may post a few key lessons or read alouds for my students online. But, I believe the real implications and power of podcasting lies in passing the knowledge and ability on to students (I’m sure they’ll figure it out much faster than I did).

As an elementary teacher, one of the biggest obstacles is seeking out authentic experiences for my students. I know from both research and experience that the most authentic purposes for reading and writing are the most powerful and successful lessons. When students are producing work for a real-world purpose or audience, they are motivated to spend a little extra time to create and revise quality work. In a video posted to YouTube (http://www.podcastingnews.com/2008/02/18/kids-explain-podcasting/) students explain podcasting to a world audience. I was struck by the common thread as the students spoke: many of them referred to sharing their work and ideas with people all over the world, and receiving feedback from their audience. These students had experienced the power of posting their work to the web and hearing back from a wide audience. I can imagine the motivation of my students in such a situation. When asked to edit their writing, for example, most students groan or find an easy and superficial way to improve their work. But if students were aware of a world wide audience that would be viewing/hearing their work, I strongly believe that they would be more motivated to put forth their best work.

On the website ‘Teaching Ideas for Primary Teachers’

the author proposes further benefits:
"How do children benefit from making a podcast?
-It gives them a potential audience of thousands for their work.
-It's great for developing literacy skills (writing scripts, setting up interviews etc), allows children to develop and practise their speaking and listening skills, and they also learn some amazing ICT skills.
-Podcasts can be interactive, and the audience can be invited to send their comments, giving valuable feedback to the children about their work.
-I've found that making a podcast is also great for developing teamwork skills. The children always work together really well, as they're always keen to make a great show."

Beyond writing, the literacy skills which students use in creating a podcast directly support and extend our Alberta Program of Studies (http://education.alberta.ca/media/450519/elak-9.pdf). Students are reading, writing, listening, viewing, speaking and representing in meaningful ways when creating podcasts. Readers’ Theatre, book reviews, book club questions and conversations, poetry, sharing writing, and radio plays are just a few applications that I see working very well with my students.

Audio podcasts seem like an excellent place to start as a teacher, as the degree of anonymity is much greater than with video podcasts. Freedom of Information and Privacy policies have been a common obstacle in my exploration of Web 2.0 as a teacher, but audio podcasts in which students work as a group or use a pseudonym seem like an exciting and manageable way to engage students on Web 2.0.
Podcasting does not seem to be growing as quickly as other Web 2.0 applications, however. In ‘Enjoy Podcasting While You Can, Kids’ Matthew Lasar (http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0044/t.15902.html) asserts that podcasts are not easy enough to download in our busy lives, and therefore are not catching on quickly for those who are working full-time or parenting (he seems to relegate this technology to kids and teens). This is an important implication for teaching as parents would need to be educated on how to access our podcasts created in class. [There are simple tutorials available all over the web; some even simple enough for small children (http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/podcasts/index.html).] As we consider easy ways to reach our audiences with child-created podcasts, RSS feeders may become more integral. I have not been particularly diligent with my GoogleReader account yet, but I see podcasting as a perfect use for this Web 2.0 tool. If specific audience members could subscribe to our class/school podcasts we would have a dedicated audience and they would have easy access to our work. I look forward to further exploring RSS feeds and my favourite podcasts (my commute accompanied by the ‘Vinyl Cafe’...sounds perfect to me!).

If we think that educators have the podcast market covered, don’t be fooled. Ad Age reports
DISNEY READIES CHILDREN'S AD-SUPPORTED PODCASTS.
"In its push to reach 6-to-14-year-olds when they're not listening to the radio, Radio Disney offers content downloadable to MP3 players...Plans to insert advertising come at a good time. The recent iTunes soundtrack explosion triggered by Walt Disney Co.'s 'High School Musical' no doubt is creating a halo effect for Disney properties as it involves the likes of Gabriella and Ryan in other Mouse properties."
As with all Web 2.0 tools, and the Internet as a whole, students will need to educated about podcasts that are available, some of which are inappropriate. As Will Richardson writes "[while] the 'anyone can publish anything' aspect can be unsettling...wouldn't it better to teach students how to deal with less-than-salient contet that they see when they get home?" (2008). And those podcasts which are appropriate may be sprinkled with ads (as mentioned above) or posted by those with a bias or misinformation. This is another important opportunity for teachers to educate students about media literacy and internet awareness.

Podcasting offers an exciting tool for teachers and students, and in true Web 2.0 form, provides opportunities for both consuming and contributing online. I know my students would be excited by the possibility of posting their own podcast, and I think they will be fascinated by some of the podcasts available (I myself, didn’t realize how easy it was to download podcasts without iTunes!). But admittedly, the first thing I will do with my students on our SmartBoard tomorrow morning is to share the podcast I have posted on my blog. I’m proud of what I have learned and discovered this week, and I’m motivated to keep exploring.

How Do Writers Get Their Ideas?

Independent writing can be tricky - especially when you think you have nothing to write about. Good writers write about what they know. What is your inspiration?

Top Ten Delicious Discoveries about Social Bookmarking

10 through 5. Using a social bookmarking site such as Delicious is easy, easy, Easy, Easy, EASY, EASY!

4. I am more inspired to search online when I know others may see my bookmarks.

3. While I search more, I was ruthless about what I actually tagged in del.ici.ous. If I am going to include something that my peers or students will see, I want to watch the entire video or explore the site to see it is useful and of high quality.

2. Tagging forces me to consider all of the connections and applications for a particular site or video.

1. This will be a tool that I will maintain, use daily, and share with my colleagues!

Excuse me, I’m salivating...this is Delicious

Watching a CommonCraft video this week (http://www.commoncraft.com/bookmarking-plain-english) it became clear why I have trouble organizing my Favourites and finding site I enjoy or find useful: There are over 15 billion webpages on the Internet! It is no surprise then, that with the limited capability my computer has for storing Favourites and the three different computers I use daily, I am ruthless about which sites I actually add to my Favourites. It is possible that del.ici.ous has solved this problem for me.

After watching the CommonCraft video ‘Bookmarking in Plain English,’ my instinct was to dive right in and sign up for an account. But this week I resisted the temptations the Internet offers for scattered attention and immediate gratification and first diligently and thoroughly researched the tool in a number of different ways. I was excited about the possibility of sharing my bookmarked sites, but was relieved to read on Wikipedia that I could select the people with whom I would be sharing. I understood the function of tags from my time with Flickr and TeacherTube, and after reading "Teaching Today" (http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/) I appreciate that the tags on delicious will be created by people (even people I know!) and not a computer as is the case when researching on Google. Finally, after my exploration thus far in this course I am beginning to scratch the surface of understanding of the power of networking with Web 2.0 tools. So, when I finally arrived at delicious.com to sign up for an account I was already excited about and appreciative of the number of ways that delicious could be useful and refreshing for me.

There are a number of applications which seem obvious to me at this time:
-Personally, I can avoid the hassle of constantly logging in to my remote work desktop from home, simply for the purpose of retrieving one website adderss from my Favourite list at work. By bookmarking these sites on a website, I can access my favourite websites from any computer with Internet access.
-With my students, I can access my bookmarked sites from any one of their computers, and they can access the sites for which I allow access. I wish I had thought of this when I taught grade one and had to run around to 24 laptops to type the address of a new site for each of my students.
-I used Diigo a little bit after an inservice two years ago, but without the using social aspect of this type of online program, I was unclear of the purpose and benefits. The social networking makes the capabilities of del.ici.ous endless!
-I will most certainly share this with my staff at our upcoming inservice. At the very least, there are a number of teachers at my school using SmartBoard Interactive Whiteboards in our classrooms for a second year, and are hoping to collaborate. I have already fired off e-mails to six colleagues to invite them to delicious. What a perfect way to share our discoveries on the run!
-After using delicious for just one week I am already aware that the searches are more powerful when participating in a network with others. I also agree with the assertion that we are more accountable for our searches when doing so as a part of a community or network of people such as in delicious (http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7001.pdf). While there seems to be near limitless space on the web for me to add to my delicious account, I am very selective about what I add and what tags I use because I know my peers may be using them with their students.
At this time, I anticipate using social bookmarking as a tool for myself as a collaborative educator until I fully understand its capabilities and limitations. But I strongly believe that this new form of collaboration will help me to reach my students in new and interesting ways. I also believe that it will become and excellent tool for me to share with students during research and online search opportunities later in the year. I will at the very least frequently demonstrate my use of my account on our SmartBoard as we navigate the web together in class. At the risk of sounding naive and blindly optimistic, the limitations at this time seem primarily to be my lack of familiarity with and knowledge of the tool. I am motivated and excited by the possibilities of social bookmarking.

Social bookmarking is another example of how the interactive nature of Web 2.0 is invigorating and furthers our practice. This week I spent two days at Camp Warwa with 75 grade six students doing team building and trust activities. At the group challenge activities, students discovered that they were able to accomplish more together than by floundering about on a challenging activity by them selves. In fact, when asked to rate the group’s success and then their own personal success, students consistently rated the group higher than themselves. They had a great discussion about synergy and the concept that the achievements of the group are far greater than the sum of its parts. This is true of collaboration in education as well. When teachers work together and collaborate they become more reflective and stronger teachers than working independently. When students collaborate the same is true, and I dare say that when students and teachers collaborate in meaningful ways with each other they also achieve more than they would working side by side. By extension then, I believe there is an implication here for working with parents as well. By sharing my bookmarked sites with interested parents, they can supplement our inclass activities at home or talk with their child about a video that we viewed together in class. I believe that in elementary education, this completes a full circle of a collaborative learning team. When teachers, colleagues, students and parents work together and use the tools

This week's Top Ten List

Top Ten Things a Teacher Can Learn on YouTube and TeacherTube
10. You can spend (waste?) hours looking at material on YouTube. The list of related items that comes up after you watch one video is deadly.
9. Husbands take an increased interest in one’s graduate homework when it takes the form of online videos.
8. You can not access YouTube from school computers in our District.
7. The groups on TeacherTube for members may be a great tool for discussion and collaboration.
6. There are a lot of TeacherTube applications and tools that seem to be underused. I joined a discussion group on ‘Digital Storytelling’ this week. I am the second official member.
5. Students are more interested in uploading and creating material than watching someone else’s video on TeacherTube.
4. Most teachers at my school were not previously aware of Teacher Tube.
3. Someone else’s well-executed video on Teacher Tube is better than what I would have made, and saved a tonne of time in planning a motivating kick-off for our school-wide professional development day in October (Shift Happens, Pay Attention).
2. Writing a portion of this blog entry at a lake cabin with no internet access sounds like a lovely idea, but it makes one acutely aware of an impending Web 2.0 addiction
1. In my reflection this week I have truly realized that the power of Web 2.0 is the collaboration and social nature of the tools. Collaboration versus Consumption.

You Too-be can be a part of this community!

This week I truly made TeacherTube and YouTube a part of my repertoire. I spent a Saturday morning watching YouTube videos and eating waffles with my husband, created a TeacherTube account, joined a TeacherTube discussion forum, and introduced a group of colleagues to TeacherTube for use as a professional development tool and as an instructional tool. My colleagues were impressed and overwhelmed by the possibilities, and my husband is just plain impressed at what my coursework entails and at his wife’s capabilities. In fact, my husband, who owns every gaming system available and ‘needs’ to update his computer annually to keep up with the technology believes that every teacher should have access to this university course. And he also mentioned something very interesting about his own internet use. He announced that he "hasn’t used the full capabilities of the internet for over eight years." I was struck that my exploration and excitement of Web 2.0 led this techno-saavy individual to realize that the World Wide Web has advanced since the days when one required knowledge of code to create a website, and that he was interested in being a part of the collaborative online communities that now exist.


My epiphanies this week have not been about the function of YouTube or TeacherTube specifically, but about Web 2.0 as a whole. I have a much greater understanding of the collaborative nature of Web 2.0. Until now I have only appreciated the Internet for two purposes: 1)social contact (three e-mail accounts, and a Facebook account), and 2) as a source for information (we taught ourselves to drywall our kitchen reno online). Now I understand, and am beginning to participate in, the more collaborative nature of information exchange on Web 2.0. There is a powerful sense of ownership and belonging as one ventures into online sharing and publishing, and also an overwhelming sense of responsibility to ensure that my little pieces of the world wide web are updated, accurate, interesting and worthy of all those who may read/view/hear them. The personal and engaging nature of video media is what brought this to life for me, so I owe it to the familiar videostreaming sites YouTube and TeacherTube to reflect upon my experiences and thoughts as a teacher.


In all experiences using TeacherTube and YouTube with my students in the past few weeks, I have acted as researcher and presenter. I have searched at home for appropriate and engaging material for my students, and have presented to the whole class as the intermediary. (It is worth noting here that YouTube is blocked from our District server, so we unable to access the material at school and would need to download and save items of interest to students.) My initial thought while searching from home was of the enormous opportunity to collaborate with other educators online. It was fascinating to see how other teachers have used video/media with their students, and to hear about projects they have done with their classes. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of ideas for teaching on TeacherTube, either explicit or implied in their uploads.
As with other videostreaming opportunities, TeacherTube and YouTube bring the outside world into the classroom or home. Access to ideas, representations and experiences of others’ that might not otherwise be possible (due to distance, access to experts or other teachers, cost, etc). My students were intrigued to see several videos, and found one video on math in the real world very interesting (unable to locate name of video). However, some of the amateur videos the students found silly or boring – those which seemed to be posted by an adult and looked and sounded like typical classroom lectures/explanations.
What did intrigue the students was the possibility of uploading their own videos (or a video of their teacher making a fool of herself), and contributing to this online community. I was fascinated by the sense of ownership and power my students felt. It had only occurred to me that I could consume these videos, not create them. As Digital Natives, they got the message (and were ready to respond) well before I did.

This is what is unique about Teacher Tube, You Tube, and Web 2.0 in its entirety. After this week I feel I better understand Tim Berners-Lee intent for the Internet in 1989 (Richardson, 2009). Berners-Lee wanted to create "a collaborative medium, a place where we [could] all meet and read and write." The give and take nature of this media is what sustains it, and draws users to it. It almost creates a living, breathing, changing system. Yet, in being an open and somewhat unstructured environment, there are some negative implications for teachers and students.
At the risk of sounding like a repetitive PC error message, a concern about the technology arises in similar ways as with Flickr and other photosharing sites explored last week. First, is the concern about what students will find on these sites. While TeacherTube is user-monitored for appropriate material, students’ ages, and a multitude of definitions of what is appropriate mean that not all material on this site is appropriate for all students. Although a large part of our work with students must be educating them on suitable searches, in a community such as TeacherTube and, in particular, YouTube, we must be aware of the inappropriate material that does exist. In working with my students at this time, I am comfortable searching for material in advance, and sharing links with my students, or playing the videos as a whole-class viewing activity (perhaps not so different from the old ways of filmstrips selected from the school library). Other videostreaming sources, such as UnitedStreaming, offer material which is pre-screened for quality and topics (including direct links to the curriculum) and may provide equally excellent videos for simply ‘consuming’ video as a medium in the classroom.


In order to distinguish Web 2.0 services such as YouTube from United Streaming, one must take advantage of the social and collective aspects of these sites and contribute to the Web 2.0. I am eager to find authentic ways for my students to share their videos, but at this time, I will need to restrict their projects to Readers’ Theatre or Digital Storytelling-type projects where the students are unidentifiable. The Freedom of Information and Privacy Act and the level of concern from parents is limiting at this time. The other alternative would be for me to post material (who wouldn’t want to emulate ‘Mrs Burk’s Perimeter Rap’ on Teacher Tube?), but I am very hesitant to do so. I don’t have the confidence, material or desire to post a video of myself to Teacher Tube. While I believe whole-heartedly in collaboration in schools, even internationally (I spent a summer working with teachers in Kenya), I’m not sure of the efficacy or need to share with the world on Teacher Tube. A few honest questions:
-Must one believe their idea has been perfected before sharing it with others? Alternatively, what comments must one be prepared to hear if posting on YouTube or TeacherTube?
-Can we really get a complete picture of a class project or activity from a 4-minute post on TeacherTube (TeacherTube - More Than Just A Mvule Tree Book Project)
-How does the value of the material change when a teacher uses a video to springboard or inspire a learning project, versus replacing a real life experience with a video?


The uniqueness of YouTube and Teacher Tube are evident when one joins a group/discussion forum, comments on a video, or uploads their own material. My own journey with this media has not led me far down this path yet. I must challenge myself to continue exploring the possibilities with videosharing, and must continue to seek out authentic and meaningful ways that set these tools apart from the video shelves in our school library. Mike Welsh, in his June 2008 address to the Library of Congress, quotes Stephen Weiswasser of ABC "You aren’t going to turn passive consumers into active trollers on the internet." Well, I have been a consumer, and I’m changing. I’m discovering "new forms of expression, community and identity" in this course, and it is exciting and overwhelming (Michael Wesch, 2008). While Mike Wesch reminds us that we can’t predict where this will go, let it be written here first that I will seek out a project for my students to share a video online. My students deserve to experience the excitement and motivation when others view their work online and comment on their ideas, as I am discovering on this journey.