What is a blog? What is Web 2.0? Why is this relevant to me or my students?
Perhaps you can already answer a couple, or even all, of these questions.But can you take that small single step and use some of the Web 2.0 tools to enhance student learning in your classroom?
This blog is all about helping you to take that step by:
Broadening and deepening your knowledge and understanding of Web2.0.
Providing resources to get you started with a blog, a wiki, a del.icio.us account.
Sharing resources through "ceteacher" links
Providing some tips, tricks, ideas and professional resources
Providing you with videos about Web 2.0 learning
Directing you to examples of teachers and schools who have already begun their Web 2.0 journey.
We hope that you find this blog a rewarding experience both professionally and personally.We are all trying to make a difference and the fact that you are reading this says a lot about you as an educator.This is our blog established specifically for the Parramatta Coordinators Conference.
And that's at the heart of Web2.0!
It's about interaction and sharing experiences - both the success stories and the challenges!As you begin your journey, please do comment and share your reflections with your colleagues because that is how we can all learn together.
Our goal is the same - to create exceptional learning experiences for all of our students.
..........To cut a long story short, for a change, the Web2.0 ball started to roll at Good Shepherd at the beginning of this year.
Through a blog (!), we were presented with the opportunity to work with a school in the UK, Priestsic Primary School (http://priestsic6.learnerblogs.org), who were keen to collaborate with a school in Australia.
After skyping with the technology teacher in the UK, Tom Barrett, we agreed to exchange posts on each blog about writing PROCEDURES.
Tom’s blog was already established. We of course were starting from scratch!
There were challenges, the main one being to establish usernames for each student (while taking care of security and privacy) in order for them to individually create posts. With the huge help of Judy (who as you will gather from this blog, and all of her other ones, is the guru of all things Web2.0 in the Diocese) we discovered that this was only possible to do through Edublogs.
If you have a chance, have a look at some of the comments on our blog. These have been from schools in England, Scotland and Wales. (Wow!)
Of course the children were very excited; they were writing for a real, global, audience.
Kate Stennett at Good Shepherd took a different approach and managed to set up a blog very quickly at fivegreenminers for her Year 5 class using Blogger, by establishing one class email address.
When the children post to the site, they use the class email address and add their first names to the bottom of the post. The blog is also only for invited guests; if you send an email to Kate she will be happy to add/invite you to look at her class blog.
On the Wikispaces front, Elizabeth Dowd, the LTC at Good Shepherd, established a Wiki for her Year 6 class at msdowdspace . This will be demonstrated at the workshop but it is also a ‘private’ wiki.
Megan Baird, a teacher at Good Shepherd, has also established a Wiki at redrulz that will also be demonstrated at the workshop.
I am in the process of establishing a Wiki for my Year One class and I am also looking to complete some podcasting with some students too – I will keep you informed!
Focus on Learning Project, 2007
Good Shepherd applied for a FOL 5 grant to enhance the teaching of literacy through the use of Web2.0. We will be working very closely with Judy for the rest of the year to further develop both our own and our students' learning.
We will of course share our Web 2.0 work with you all!!
We hope that the information presented below in this blog helps you with some ideas and inspiration to take your own Web 2.0 journey.
Check out the videos, and take a close look at all the links at CETeacher - we've handpicked these just for you!
Blogs are powerful communication tools. Blogs are powerful publishing tools. But blogging (the verb) is still much more than that to me. Blogging, as in reading and thinking and reflecting and then writing, is connecting and learning.
Will Richardson - On My Mind 14 Dec 2006
Why Should Students Blog?
A way to improve their own writing
A 'just-in-time' learning arena
A place to share
A place for feedback
A motivator
An easy and quick way to publish on the web.
A way to connect with others and make connections to learning
A way to give students ownership of a personal space - a web site that encourages active engagement by the students and teacher
A place to collaborate
A personal way to include parents in the learning journey
Will Richardson on the Power of Blogging as Professional Learning
We have created a collection of links to resources for Catholic Education teachers attending this workshop. You can access these at the social bookmarking site called De.licio.ous, and we have called the list CeTeacher. http://del.icio.us/ceteacher
Jamie and Judy also have their own set of links, that are shared by many people. If you would like to visit these too, you will find them at Jamspurs and Heyjude. I think you will enjoy exploring these too!
WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGY TOOLS
Using the links below, lets explore a sampling of some well-known Web 2.0 Tools which can be used to transform learning and teaching.
Web Searching Resources. The Pandia Reseach Catalogue gives you reviews of the best sites devoted to Web Searching.
Learn to navigate to different tags, different networks, and different collections to support your personal, professional, or promotional needs. Here are a number of social bookmarking sites. However, many of us are using Delicious, and sharing our bookmarks.
Social Bookmarking Tools – Teaching Hacks. Social bookmarking turns the hierarchical model upside down. In the past, an individual might have saved their favourites or bookmarks on their local computer. Their bookmarks might have been organize under a few general headings. Now they are orgnaized with notes and tags and accessible from anywhere! Absolutely Del.icio.us Tools Collection. Delicious is a bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily post sites you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share our bookmarks. Thirteen tips for Effective Tagging. How many times have you dug fruitlessly through the links you’ve saved in your browser’s Favourites folder, struggling to remember how you categorized that site your wanted to remember? Delicious "How to" Handout. Great to use with staff.
In this digital age, everyone has photos they can share. But did you know that image sites can be used for collaboration, professional learning – and online organization? Sites like Flickr and Photobucket also seamlessly integrate with web browsers like Flock – helping to manage your online work with ease.
Newbies Guide to Flickr. Flickr is a popular photo-sharing and hosting service with advanced and powerful features. It supports an active and engaged community where people share and explore each other's photos. You can share and host hundreds of your own pictures on Flickr What can we do with Flickr? On Flickr – PhotoSharing! This is an incredible resource from the K12 Online Conference 2006 that shows how to make a presentation with Flickr. This is a great tool and can create audience-driven presentation/content to share. It is great! Flickr CC Easily find photos on flickr that were released under the creative commons license Creative Commons tool
Flickr Toys Many, many tricks for making promotional material.
COLLABORATION WITH BLOGS, WIKI and SPACES
The Read/Write web is grounded in communication, conversation, connectivity and community. People are starting with one tool, then moving to more – eventually creating a blended mashup to suit their personal and professional needs.
There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don't. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don't know where to start.
Tracking the web with Single Page Aggregators. Great long article highlighting various aggregators – beyond basic RSS. Worth a read, and check out the comments too. From SolutionWatch – a great source of information. RSS Using Bloglines – Instructions. Short pdf. RSS (Rish Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a simple yet amazing tool.
This 'digital handout' has been prepared for the 2007 Primary Co-ordinators Conference, Parramatta Diocese. It showcases our work, as well as providing tips, tricks and links to help you enjoy Web 2.0 e-learning in your school.
Visit our sample of education sites, and then investigate all the CEteacher links at Del.icio.us to find the tools and information you need to ride the Web 2.0 wave!
