Thing 11.5 - Evaluation

Thankfully I am finishing up before midnight! This has been fabulous! I enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed participating in "23 Things" with Library2Play! Some of my favorite new things

1. Glogster - this is my number one favorite thing! I was familiar with it, had seen a few examples at workshops, but had never really played with it myself! I love this! I am anxious to use this with students!


2. Skype - loved the articles about Skype. So many good links and ideas for locating possible "Skypers"! I am definitely going to try to Skype with an author this year!


3. Video resources - this was all fairly new to me. Of course I knew about YouTube, didn't know so much about all the other video sources online. There are so many video resources!! In addition to the video resources, I found out how easy it is to post to YouTube! Who knew!!


4. Screencast - loved this! Definitely see myself using this and even teaching kids how to use it!


5. Slideshare - specifically authorSTREAM. Am anxious to try uploading an authorSTREAM to an iPod Touch.

A special big thank you to our Lifeguards! Thanks for putting together a wonderful learning experience that will help me to expand my teaching in technology!! You all are the best!!

Thing 11 - Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship is something our district has really focused on this past year. This is something I already teach, but definitely have room to improve! This is such a huge issue. I loved what Cool Cat Teacher had to say:

"Too many teachers talk about how students are coming to them vastly uneducated about researching, validating sources, and using multiple sources of information. Students are believing everything they read. Where is the skepticism? The investigation? The desire to double check things?"

Of course it goes beyond not knowing how to validate sources, believing everything they read, and accepting the first source they come across. It also involves personal safety, netiquette, and legal issues associated with copyright and plagiarism.

Digiteen Digital Citizenship had a good overview of what digital citizenship involves including access, communication, safety and security, but also responsibilities and health and wellness.

Here are the five things I might use in regards to digital citizenship during library orientation:

1. Digital Literacy - rules and responsibilities for using the technology in the library. How to care for it and use it in such a way that respects other students' rights to use the equipment as well. I find that while most students have technology, few have learned how to properly care for it.
   
2. Digital Literacy - how to use technology in the library. Another article suggested that many times we leave students to figure out digital strategies on their own. Something that doesn't always work out so well! I am a big believer in direct instruction. Sometimes what is needed is for someone to simply give kids direct instruction on how to use certain pieces of technology or specific software. I find that once kids have been shown the basics, they are more confident then to explore on their own and then there explorations don't end with me trying to figure out how to "un-do" something they shouldn't have done!
   
3. Safety - Teaching them the importance of keeping their personal information safe.
   
4. Learning Strategies - Teaching students how to evaluate and critique websites and information obtained online. This is a BIGGIE and one that is not done just once, but something that is done all year long! I like the comment David Warlick made on Cool Cat Teacher's blog:
   
   David Warlick says, "Instead of starting with a web page, displayed on the whiteboard, they [teachers] should start with Google, demonstrate how they found the page, the considerations and decisions they applied to select that page, and include in the presentation, the evidence that what's being presented is valuable...When we model authority, we shouldn't be surprised when students look for authority in every piece of information."
   
5. Fair Use Guidelines - Going over the legal issues of copyrighted material and giving proper credit for media obtained on the Internet.

Thing 10 - Virtual Worlds, Second Life

I am not a big “gamer”, nor do I spend hours on my computer “surfing” the net. Therefore, I have trouble with this “Thing.” I have no desire to be a part of Second Life or any other virtual world. I did read a lot of the articles and ideas and still – I think to myself, “Why would I want to do that?” After reading through several other Beachcombers on Library2Play2, I found that the verdict on virtual worlds is about half and half. Some people were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the idea of creating avatars and getting started. Others were baffled by the idea and still others were downright appalled! I think I am a little with the latter group! I do not think this is appropriate for elementary students at all!

I know there were many articles on the benefits of Second Life and do like the ideas of Colleges and Universities using virtual worlds for prospective students. There were links to several Universities, Museums, and science related resources that looked interesting too. Click here. The other interesting article was the one from Cool Cat Teacher. I liked the idea of using it with high school students to create a virtual world on digital citizenship. I know that there are students who would be all over Virtual Worlds and if I worked at a high school, I would explore deeper.

I do have some concerns with Virtual Worlds. The first being the disconnect from reality. One thing we taught our students in regards to netiquette is that it is easy to be or appear to be anonymous online. When people think they are anonymous, they tend to do things they shouldn’t be doing or behaving in a way that is inappropriate. Second Life opens this up in a huge way and I don’t necessarily think it is emotionally healthy. Another concern is that students could become a little too caught up in their “second life” and forget to live their real life. I think most people have someone they know, who has become obsessed with their “second life” and it caused serious problems in their real life - again, not emotionally healthy. Finally I was a little taken aback when I read the Online Safety section of Second Life. There was a lot of information in there about scams and cons that seem to be a part of Second Life (I know, I know, not unlike real life!) as well as a lot of information in there about reporting abuse and harassment. I was particularly unimpressed with their advice on how to handle verbal abuse – just mute the person. While that may solve the problem for the moment, I wonder why a person would want to spend time on an activity where verbal abuse is such a problem! (This goes back to the whole “anonymity” issue.)

I realize my opinions on virtual worlds are just that – my opinions – and are not the popular opinions, I just can’t see using this with elementary students. There are so many other tools and ideas that let students interact in the real world!

Thing 6 - iTouch Apps

Our library was fortunate to receive several iTouches this past year. We have found many educational apps and the students love using them. We have some for art, music, language arts, social studies, math, and science. It is fun to watch students who aren't really interested in learning their math fact become totally absorbed in a math app that teaches math facts on the iTouch. Other great apps we have used are those that deal with logic and puzzle solving. These are great for students who need a little extra enrichment.

Other things that students can do with the iTouches:
Send them on a scavenger hunt/obstacle course with the iTouch. Have them make their way through a set of assigned apps in order to obtain a goal.
Using the RockStar adapter, you can have 5 students using one iTouch as a listening center. We have used our iTouches with some of our special ed. students for audio books.

Perusing the articles listed on this post, I continue to be blown away by the number of apps available! There are some really cool ones out there! I will be downloading some for myself and some for school!

Thing 3 - Skype

Skype - love it!! We have been using video conferencing at my school for the last 2 years. We are fortunate to have a Video Conferencing unit that allows us to do some more formal video conferencing with places like National Parks, NASA, and zoos. We are also able to connect with multiple locations at the same time and have done activities like the Texas History Mystery.

This past year we started using Skype as well. One of our more fun and unique uses of Skype came during our morning book club time that we call Books and Breakfast. One of the teachers that was leading a group was scheduled to be out of town one week and instead of trying to find another teacher to come in at 7:00 am to cover her group, we decided to try Skyping her in to lead her group! It was a huge success. She took her laptop with her on her trip and then we set up Skype in library. The students loved it!! They were thrilled to discuss their book with their leader in another state! She even took her laptop and camera out on the balcony of her hotel to show the students the view!

The uses of Skype in the library and classroom is tremendous. You can Skype with an author, a specialist in an area, or other classrooms from around the country. Every classroom that has used Skype has loved it!! This is a great tool and one everyone should try!!

Thing 2 - Image Generators

So many cool tools! I love Wordle! Above is a Wordle I created for my library. This is a great tool and one many of my teachers have used. There are so many possibilities for Wordle...students can create one to describe themselves, a character in a book, or even a science experiment. I have seen students create them to describe a biographical subject too. I love how these are so easy to create and you can choose layout, font, and color.

In regards to the other tools in Thing 2:

WordSift: Didn't like it as well as Wordle. It has a different focus, but similar. I do think this would be a great tool to help students identify main idea of an article or text students were reading. I like the feature of showing the word web and pictures from websites, however, this can produce some images you may not find appropriate for younger students.

Glogster: Love this!!! This is one of my new favorite tools! I played with this quite a bit and am excited to introduce this to teachers for projects!!

Voki: Very neat tool! I attempted to make a Voki, but had some technical difficulties. I do like the option of being able to put in your own voice! Students would love to hear your voice and create their own!

Bookr:

I created the book below on Bookr. This is a really cool tool, but I did not find it easy to use. You have to get pictures through Flickr Creative Commons and I found it difficult to get the right picture on the right page. It could be more difficult using a touch pad vs. a mouse. I think students would like this as an option.

11.5 Things - One More Time: Thing 1

Time to jump into 11.5 Things again!! I watched the video of the The Networked Student again and was once more struck by the creators' idea of 21st Century Learning. The video is stressing the idea of "Connectivism" - that learning occurs as part of a social network of many different connections and ties - interesting. I agree that learning can occur in this setting, but it is not the only setting where learning occurs.

One of the key elements of success in this model is for the student to take control of his/her learning. I like the idea! I love it when I have a student that is on fire to learn something new. The challenge for the teacher/librarian is to keep students motivated. The student compiles all of his/her learning materials through web sites, online articles, blogs, podcasts, and video conferencing. The student then creates his/her own representation of the knowledge acquired - blog, wiki, podcast.

The teacher's role is tremendous! The video refers to the teacher as a "learning architect" - great description! The teacher has to guide the students in building their learning network. This will include modeling how to find good information as well as how to check on the reliability of the information found. In addition to the the teacher also needs to show students how to organize information and present ideas for them to share their knowledge.

One comment made in the video that I feel is key is - Information management is and will continue to be our biggest challenge in the 21st century. I couldn't agree more! Students are bombarded with information - much of which is incorrect. Learning to evaluate and organize information is a skill that our students will desperately need for success in the 21st Century.

The librarian will definitely play the role of the teacher. Librarians are already "learning architects" and have been for many years!