11 Tools - A New Journey: Tool 1

I already had my blog set up, so I didn't have to do that. Since I have created this blog, Blogger has made several changes and additions to their site. There are many more choices for your template and Advanced choices to make your template more customized. I also love that Blogger has added the options for "pages." I hope to add some pages soon!

Making the Voki was great fun! The choices are endless! Students would love to do this! I added my own voice to my Voki and it was fairly easy to do. I will definitely use Voki with my PGP kids this year!

As far as the 11 Tools directions for Tool 1 - the most confusing part is getting logged into your blog. If you are using your Spring Branch email to set up your blog, you have to log in to the Google Apps for Educators first, before you go to your blog. This has added a layer of confusion and several extra steps that are really unnecessary. I hope in the future, this is revised.

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 9 - Slideshare

Slideshare is a very interesting idea. I like the concept of being able to post and share your PowerPoints, but I don't know how necessary this is at the elementary level. In our district students have access to their own folder on our network, so they don't necessarily need a place to store their PowerPoints. We also have a share server in our district, so it would be easy for a teacher to set up a folder for her class and have everyone post their PowerPoints there where they would be available for sharing with others.

I looked at authorSTREAM and uploaded a PowerPoint to it. I was impressed with some of the features that authorSTREAM had to offer. For one thing, you can upload a PowerPoint and set the timings, then save it to a video format that can be saved to in iPod or an iPod Touch. This would be a great use of the iPod Touch, especially if students could share their PowerPoint creations in this manner. Here is the authorSTREAM I uploaded:

Learning About Biographies

See more presentations by BookNookGirl Upload your own PowerPoint presentations

I also briefly looked at 280 Slides. This looks like a great tool to use if PowerPoint is not available, or if you are just trying to introduce your students to some new tools that are available free online and are not subject to software budget cuts!

Thing 8 - Screencast

Loved this! I looked at several of the options, but after reading several different post, I finally settled on Screencast-O-Matic. It was easy to use. I created a brief and not very polished screen cast on how to find a book using our online catalog, Meriwether. Here is the link:

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/watch/c6ji3Pj3l

A few things I learned about Screencast-O-Matic:

• You have to create an account before you are able to fully use this tool and navigate between websites.
• There are a few demo videos available that show you how to get started.
• There is some editing features available, more if you purchase the "Pro" version.
• You have several options for what to do with your finished screencast including posting to YouTube.

I think screencast are a great tool for students and teachers. As teachers, we can create screencast to help supplement instruction. Students can create screencast to teach each other how to do different tasks on the computer. I hope to use these this year in the library.

Thing 7 - Video Resources

I never cease to be amazed at the sheer volume of information on the Internet! This "Thing" was all fairly new to me. Of course I knew there was a tremendous amount of video available online, but I had NO IDEA of the vastness of it!

I had just learned about Hulu this summer, so it was fun to explore this. I was also aware of videos available on PBS, but spent time exploring these more in depth! I am amazed that there are so many full length videos available! I had seen the National Archives Videos on Thing 4, but really delved into them on this entry - amazing! Here is a video clip from the National Archives on the Declaration of Independence -


This would be great to show 5th grade when they are studying the American Revolution and the start of our government.

The second video I looked at was on Hulu and it was of the Hubble Telescopes' pictures of Saturn. This video did not have an embed code but the link is posted below. This would be a great video to share with 3rd grade when they are studying space.
http://news.discovery.com/videos/space-hubble-captures-saturns-aurorae.html

Thing 7 has left me with many more things to explore!!