Second life is an unprecedented three-dimensional virtual world that has countless possibilities for educators and it is clear that many are beginning to adopt its use to enhance their teaching and engage learners. Whether it’s for distance learning, to illustrate a concept, or to visit a historically significant location, the implementation of this software into curricula is exciting.
It appears as though the primary adopters of Second Life are colleges and universities. Linden Research reports that “The Open University, Harvard, Texas State, and Stanford are just a few of the many universities that have set up virtual campuses where students can meet, attend classes, and create content together.”
In fact, in an article published by the USA Today Claudia L'Amoreaux of Linden Labs is quoted saying that over 300 universities are using Second Life as an educational tool.
On the SLED blog (Second Life in Education) there are countless examples of how higher education and a few K-12 institutions are using Second Life. One noticeable use comes from the University of Arizona’s astronomy department. Students in this department created a “timeline of planet Earth” environment that visitors can “walk” through and view various exhibits from our planet’s different eras. This use is perhaps one of the best advantages of second life. It allows for interactive visualizations of class content.
Ohio State University is expanding on this capability by creating compelling, life-like visuals accompanied with soundtracks for the enhancement of class content. Theater students have constructed an automated production of Edgar Allan Poe’s Masque of the Red Death. Dr. Beth Kattelman claims “Visitors can now hear Poe’s story while being automatically transported through Prince Prospero’s castle to encounter the various rooms and scenes.”
Another interesting example is from the University of Central Florida. Steven Hornik, a finance and accounting professor says he uses Second Life to “engage students in what is normally a very non-engaging course.” Things such as assets, liabilities, and stockholders equity are illustrated in his virtual environment.
Besides colleges and universities, a growing number of K-12 institutions are now also beginning to implement Second Life in their curricula.
Take for example, a group known as “The Virtual Pioneers”. What started as a small group of teachers from western New York is now a global network of international teachers who belong to a ning networking site. This group uses their ning to share ideas and collaborate with others on using Second Life to enhance social studies curricula. There are currently 87 members, many of whom have posted their implementation strategies. One post discussed a virtual class whereby a guest speaker who survived the holocaust offered a presentation and told her stories.
At the June 2009 NECC (National Educational Computing Conference) the group offered a session to share their experiences in hopes of spreading the word about the educational significance of Second Life. They stated that they have used Second Life to virtually visit historically and culturally significant landmarks with their students. Some locations include the U.S. Holocaust museum, a replica of the Jamestown settlement, and the south building of Capital Hill in Washington, D.C.
Their handout can be downloaded by clicking here.
Distance learning and online education in K-12 and higher education institutions alike are also being enhanced through the use of virtual classes in Second Life. Since the software emulates face-to-face interaction, students in these virtual classes get a sense of actually being somewhere and interacting with people. Theodore Wright maintains a site dedicated to Second Life in Education. On it, he is quoted saying “avatar-based virtual world education is highly interactive, providing the same convenience of not having to travel while providing a richer, more effective and more enjoyable experience.”
Besides the above-mentioned uses and benefits, there are also a number of groups forming within Second Life that share common interests and goals who seek to share their ideas with each other and collaborate in what is known as a “community of practice”. Many of these communities posses their own virtual real estate for which to hold meetings, teach classes, or interact socially. In an article published on The Journal Jonathon Richter from the University of Oregon suggests that the true possibilities of Second Life emerge when one joins a community of practice.
Having the opportunity to explore one such community created by Boise State University, I can offer my own insight.
The group is called EdTech and the island is known as EdTech Island. It was created as a resource for teachers and includes a center for virtual educators, an amphitheater and holodeck classroom, a workshop area, and a lodge and tree house to accommodate group meetings.
The center for virtual educators is most impressive. Inside, there are many exhibits featuring information and resources for educators who want to pursue working with virtual environments in their classes. One area, known as the construction junction, offers workshops on building within Second Life.
The amphitheater is well constructed and very visually appealing. This is a fantastic area to either hold a large group class or presentation. Sizeable groups of teachers also meet here for open discussion and the sharing of ideas and trends in education.
There are several bulletin boards around the island that advertise joining the EdTech community. I did this and now can view a schedule of events such as classes and meetings that are taking place. Unfortunately, it appears as though there aren’t any significant events until August 2009. The only ones currently listed are meetings for advisory council members.
In a presentation given in March of 2009, Boise State’s Dr. Lisa Dawley reported the growth of EdTech Island since it’s creation in 2007. In just two years, the island now has:
• 8 graduate courses
• 7 instructors, multiple GAs
• Avg. 450 unique visitors per week
• Numerous guest speaker events
• “Home” to over 50 international educators
• EDTECH Community group over 1,200 members
• Sandbox, classrooms, amphitheater, and learning centers open to the public
• Professional organizational partnerships
It is definitely apparent that the main purpose of the community is to promote awareness about the uses of Second Life and technology in education. Several presentations, workshops, group discussions, and classes offered by field experts take place and anyone can show up and sit in on them. This video depicts a few of them actually happening.
In closing, it is worth mentioning an important Second Life resource for educators. The Second Life in Education Wiki includes many more examples of creative uses of the software in education. So many in fact, that the list spans four long web pages.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Podcasting in Education
Podcasts are very similar to RSS Feeds. In fact, they use the same type of delivery method. A podcast is actually transmitted using an RSS feed. The main difference is that podcasts do not contain text; they are made up of audio content, video content, or both.
Like RSS feeds, a person must be a subscriber to a podcast to be able to hear or view it. Also, as new episodes of the podcasts are made available, the subscribers will be notified and will have the option of downloading the latest media. And just as RSS feeds empower anyone, anywhere to become content publishers, podcasts provide the means for becoming the host of your own radio show or an independent television broadcaster. The most intriguing thing about using podcasts is that their content is global. They are accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, and contrary to popular belief, do not require an iPod to receive. Therefore, creating and posting a podcast essentially means you are broadcasting your audio and video content to the world.
One of the most talked about benefits of using podcasts in education is improved student motivation for learning. On Tony Vincent’s Podcasting in Education website, he states that “Knowing that there is a real-world audience gives students purpose and motivation to create a spectacular product”. Contrary to the popular research paper or literature essay that never leaves the classroom, a podcast isn’t just for the teacher to consume; it is available for the world to listen or watch. This helps students want to create the content and continue updating it.
Jeanne Halderson, a middle school teacher, is quoted in a New York Times article about podcasting saying “Their audience has moved to the entire world…The students find that exciting. It's a lot more motivating to write something that the whole world can hear, rather than just something for a teacher to put a grade on."
Also quoted in that same article is Daniel J. Schmit , an instructional technology specialist. He claims that podcasting “teaches them [students] to do research, to communicate in print, to speak effectively and grab attention with sound."
Podcasting helps build strong communication skills. This is another important benefit to using podcasts as a classroom tool. Since a script is necessary, students must first engage with the writing process. Then they verbally or visually deliver their script. Next comes the editing stage involving their technical skills, and finally, they post it. Completing a podcast assignment involves the application of higher order thinking skills.
An excellent example of student work can be found here. This student created podcast is devoted to high school honors chemistry topics.
One popular use for podcasting is making class content available outside the classroom and confines of printed texts. The author of the Free Podcast Course website maintains that podcasts are an excellent way for information to be shared amongst teachers and students. If teachers author podcasts of important lessons or course subjects, they can be made available to students on demand. This helps when students desire further clarification on a topic. They can subscribe to podcasts and at their leisure, review class material to ensure their understanding.
As this article in teaching technology suggests, podcasts of classroom content can also be used for distance learning. When students are absent they can view podcasts and catch up on what they have missed. The author also goes on to suggest that podcasts can help bring information from an expert in a particular field to the classroom to complement the curriculum.
Podcasting can even have benefits for the youngest of students. Pre-K teachers at Carrolton Elementary School have a webpage devoted to podcasting. The page contains general information, the how to’s, and benefits. The most interesting post however, is about Pre-K teachers using podcasts to enhance a pre-reading program. Teacher’s record books to podcasts and students check out iPods to take home and listen to them. The stories are then discussed in class.
Evidence that podcasting is being used in education is not hard to come by. There are numerous websites that provide training and information about them and their uses and potentials.
One excellent source is an article on Wesley A. Fryer’s educational technology website entitled Classroom Audio Podcasting. Fryer provides a list of 10 benefits for podcasts and suggests that their use will aid in bringing pedagogy into the 21st century.
Shawn Wheeler from the Peoria Unified School District maintains what is probably the best introduction to improving student learning through podcasting. His material is presented as an automatically advancing slide show with an attached audio podcast.
The Department of Education and Training in Australia even includes a web page dedicated to podcasting in education. Contained on this page are various resources to assist teachers with the implementation of podcasts. The site re-enforces the above-mentioned points and provides other educational values for using podcasts.
For a fairly comprehensive list of educational podcasts already available for use, you can visit http://epnweb.org/ . The podcasts are subdivided into categories based on their discipline.
Like RSS feeds, a person must be a subscriber to a podcast to be able to hear or view it. Also, as new episodes of the podcasts are made available, the subscribers will be notified and will have the option of downloading the latest media. And just as RSS feeds empower anyone, anywhere to become content publishers, podcasts provide the means for becoming the host of your own radio show or an independent television broadcaster. The most intriguing thing about using podcasts is that their content is global. They are accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, and contrary to popular belief, do not require an iPod to receive. Therefore, creating and posting a podcast essentially means you are broadcasting your audio and video content to the world.
One of the most talked about benefits of using podcasts in education is improved student motivation for learning. On Tony Vincent’s Podcasting in Education website, he states that “Knowing that there is a real-world audience gives students purpose and motivation to create a spectacular product”. Contrary to the popular research paper or literature essay that never leaves the classroom, a podcast isn’t just for the teacher to consume; it is available for the world to listen or watch. This helps students want to create the content and continue updating it.
Jeanne Halderson, a middle school teacher, is quoted in a New York Times article about podcasting saying “Their audience has moved to the entire world…The students find that exciting. It's a lot more motivating to write something that the whole world can hear, rather than just something for a teacher to put a grade on."
Also quoted in that same article is Daniel J. Schmit , an instructional technology specialist. He claims that podcasting “teaches them [students] to do research, to communicate in print, to speak effectively and grab attention with sound."
Podcasting helps build strong communication skills. This is another important benefit to using podcasts as a classroom tool. Since a script is necessary, students must first engage with the writing process. Then they verbally or visually deliver their script. Next comes the editing stage involving their technical skills, and finally, they post it. Completing a podcast assignment involves the application of higher order thinking skills.
An excellent example of student work can be found here. This student created podcast is devoted to high school honors chemistry topics.
One popular use for podcasting is making class content available outside the classroom and confines of printed texts. The author of the Free Podcast Course website maintains that podcasts are an excellent way for information to be shared amongst teachers and students. If teachers author podcasts of important lessons or course subjects, they can be made available to students on demand. This helps when students desire further clarification on a topic. They can subscribe to podcasts and at their leisure, review class material to ensure their understanding.
As this article in teaching technology suggests, podcasts of classroom content can also be used for distance learning. When students are absent they can view podcasts and catch up on what they have missed. The author also goes on to suggest that podcasts can help bring information from an expert in a particular field to the classroom to complement the curriculum.
Podcasting can even have benefits for the youngest of students. Pre-K teachers at Carrolton Elementary School have a webpage devoted to podcasting. The page contains general information, the how to’s, and benefits. The most interesting post however, is about Pre-K teachers using podcasts to enhance a pre-reading program. Teacher’s record books to podcasts and students check out iPods to take home and listen to them. The stories are then discussed in class.
Evidence that podcasting is being used in education is not hard to come by. There are numerous websites that provide training and information about them and their uses and potentials.
One excellent source is an article on Wesley A. Fryer’s educational technology website entitled Classroom Audio Podcasting. Fryer provides a list of 10 benefits for podcasts and suggests that their use will aid in bringing pedagogy into the 21st century.
Shawn Wheeler from the Peoria Unified School District maintains what is probably the best introduction to improving student learning through podcasting. His material is presented as an automatically advancing slide show with an attached audio podcast.
The Department of Education and Training in Australia even includes a web page dedicated to podcasting in education. Contained on this page are various resources to assist teachers with the implementation of podcasts. The site re-enforces the above-mentioned points and provides other educational values for using podcasts.
For a fairly comprehensive list of educational podcasts already available for use, you can visit http://epnweb.org/ . The podcasts are subdivided into categories based on their discipline.
Search for it?... Why ? Make it come to you and your students: RSS Feeds in Education
Overall, the plethora of emerging web 2.0 technologies promise to promote collaboration. RSS feeds, or Really Simple Syndication, not only play an important role in this respect, but also improve the overall experience of using the Internet itself.
Ever find yourself often navigating back to a website that you deem useful for any changes or new postings? Are you constantly seeking out news and other current information updates by navigating to several of your favorite pages and sifting through them to see what has changed or been added? If you said yes, then you probably are spending too much time at your computer looking for this information.
RSS feeds can help.
Most popular news websites and almost all blogs have the option to subscribe to an RSS feed of their content. The primary use of these RSS feeds is to make changes, updates, and new posts come to you instead of you having to search for them.
They are viewable in RSS readers such as Google’s reader, which allow you to view all of your trusted sites in one location. As updates occur, your reader will acquire them for you.
The other benefit to RSS is on the flip side if you author your own feed. This now enables you to broadcast or as the name implies, syndicate your own material and share it with the world as people subscribe and receive your posts. And did I mention that it doesn’t cost anything to be either the receiver or syndicator?
Excited about these RSS functions and capabilities, numerous educators and administrators around the country are recognizing the potential for improving their classrooms and school districts alike.
One example is using the feeds to help with professional development material. As Robert Kennedy writes in his article entitled RSS Feeds for Teachers, the feeds can be used to help teachers keep up with the “virtual avalanche” of information located on news websites, blogs etc… A teacher’s time is usually severely limited and therefore it is extremely difficult for them to keep current with new educational trends and technology, and most simply can’t. This often hinders progress.
As Byrne suggests, RSS feeds are a “great way to keep yourself current on developments in your content area” and can help save time.
Byrne goes on to provide another example of a popular use of RSS feeds in the classroom. He maintains that the research efforts of students can be improved by enabling them to track topics over a certain period of time using various subject feeds.
RSS feeds can also facilitate the sharing of student projects. As Blake mentions, his students have “used Bubbleshare.com and its RSS syndication to share their individual digital storytelling projects with their classmates and parents”. Opening up the possibility of students sharing their work with the world ultimately makes them more motivated to actually do the work. This same sharing of projects can also manifest itself in the form of a student homework page that teachers and parents can subscribe to. Richardson suggests that teachers who issue blogging assignments keep track of them by “subscribing to their students' feeds and simply checking their aggregators regularly”. This allows student work to appear in one easy to locate place for teachers to review. Of equal importance is students sharing their work with each other by subscribing to their classmates’ feeds.
Another way of using RSS feeds in education is to communicate school news and current events to parents. Instead of fielding phone calls about various topics or having to tell parents when to check in on the school’s webpage, parents can be pointed to a feed that they can subscribe to and hence always be “plugged in” to their schools’ content.
Another example for this type of use of RSS for communication is mentioned on a blog featuring the uses of RSS in the classroom. The author goes on to suggest using feeds to communicate things to students after the school day is over. Teachers can create an assignments feed as well as make mention of items that may have inadvertently been left out or not mentioned. Since the entire class would be subscribed, they would receive the assignments and missed content. This same blog also re-emphasizes many of the educational benefits aforementioned.
Want to know more and get some excellent integration ideas? Notepage Inc. provides an extensive list of ways that RSS can be used in an educational setting. Some topics mentioned are the sharing of resources, monitoring of research, study guides, search feeds, and collaboration.
Another invaluable resource to help get started with RSS is the Educational Feeds website that lists numerous educational RSS feeds separated into content categories.
Ever find yourself often navigating back to a website that you deem useful for any changes or new postings? Are you constantly seeking out news and other current information updates by navigating to several of your favorite pages and sifting through them to see what has changed or been added? If you said yes, then you probably are spending too much time at your computer looking for this information.
RSS feeds can help.
Most popular news websites and almost all blogs have the option to subscribe to an RSS feed of their content. The primary use of these RSS feeds is to make changes, updates, and new posts come to you instead of you having to search for them.
They are viewable in RSS readers such as Google’s reader, which allow you to view all of your trusted sites in one location. As updates occur, your reader will acquire them for you.
The other benefit to RSS is on the flip side if you author your own feed. This now enables you to broadcast or as the name implies, syndicate your own material and share it with the world as people subscribe and receive your posts. And did I mention that it doesn’t cost anything to be either the receiver or syndicator?
Excited about these RSS functions and capabilities, numerous educators and administrators around the country are recognizing the potential for improving their classrooms and school districts alike.
One example is using the feeds to help with professional development material. As Robert Kennedy writes in his article entitled RSS Feeds for Teachers, the feeds can be used to help teachers keep up with the “virtual avalanche” of information located on news websites, blogs etc… A teacher’s time is usually severely limited and therefore it is extremely difficult for them to keep current with new educational trends and technology, and most simply can’t. This often hinders progress.
As Byrne suggests, RSS feeds are a “great way to keep yourself current on developments in your content area” and can help save time.
Byrne goes on to provide another example of a popular use of RSS feeds in the classroom. He maintains that the research efforts of students can be improved by enabling them to track topics over a certain period of time using various subject feeds.
RSS feeds can also facilitate the sharing of student projects. As Blake mentions, his students have “used Bubbleshare.com and its RSS syndication to share their individual digital storytelling projects with their classmates and parents”. Opening up the possibility of students sharing their work with the world ultimately makes them more motivated to actually do the work. This same sharing of projects can also manifest itself in the form of a student homework page that teachers and parents can subscribe to. Richardson suggests that teachers who issue blogging assignments keep track of them by “subscribing to their students' feeds and simply checking their aggregators regularly”. This allows student work to appear in one easy to locate place for teachers to review. Of equal importance is students sharing their work with each other by subscribing to their classmates’ feeds.
Another way of using RSS feeds in education is to communicate school news and current events to parents. Instead of fielding phone calls about various topics or having to tell parents when to check in on the school’s webpage, parents can be pointed to a feed that they can subscribe to and hence always be “plugged in” to their schools’ content.
Another example for this type of use of RSS for communication is mentioned on a blog featuring the uses of RSS in the classroom. The author goes on to suggest using feeds to communicate things to students after the school day is over. Teachers can create an assignments feed as well as make mention of items that may have inadvertently been left out or not mentioned. Since the entire class would be subscribed, they would receive the assignments and missed content. This same blog also re-emphasizes many of the educational benefits aforementioned.
Want to know more and get some excellent integration ideas? Notepage Inc. provides an extensive list of ways that RSS can be used in an educational setting. Some topics mentioned are the sharing of resources, monitoring of research, study guides, search feeds, and collaboration.
Another invaluable resource to help get started with RSS is the Educational Feeds website that lists numerous educational RSS feeds separated into content categories.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Social Bookmarking in the Classroom
Social bookmarking is yet another Web 2.0 technology to add to the 21st century educators’ toolbox. Like all Web 2.0 applications, social bookmarking sites promote collaboration, which is something that is in need of being focused on in K-12 education today.
The primary objective of these sites is for the collecting and sharing of valuable web resources and links. Users of this new tool can share their own web bookmarks with anyone else on the web. The real power of this functionality lies with the collectivism of sifting through the overwhelming amount of information located on the Internet and narrowing it down to useful sites. Social bookmarking also allows for descriptive keywords known as tags to be associated with each saved bookmark. Bookmarks can then be sorted and searched by these tags to create lists of niche sites useful for specific areas of study. Also, since these tagged bookmarks are stored on the web, any site that is saved to a social bookmarking site is accessible from any computer with an Internet connection.
The implications of this new tool for educators are plentiful.
First, teachers who teach the same subject can use social bookmarking sites to aid in curriculum planning. A geography teacher for example, can look up sites related to his or her course then bookmark and tag the best ones on sites like delicious.com. These bookmarks are now shared online with other teachers who are also looking for good material for their courses. And since these other teachers are also finding good sites and sharing them, a library of valuable web resources emerges. This library is also now searchable based on the tags provided. As more good resources get bookmarked and tagged, a social bookmarking site becomes a much better alternative for looking for information than simply running a Google search. It allows teachers to see the valuable resources that others are using and be able to take advantage of them as well as offer some bookmarks of their own. Overall, this process saves precious planning time for educators and ensures that students are being presented with the best of what’s on the web.
For students, the benefits are similar. Social bookmarking greatly enhances any type of educational research. It allows for collaboration amongst different schools across the country or even the world. Students can use the tool to work with their peers and other schools to create a collective intelligence. What results is a growing library of useful information for class projects or course discussions. Students currently rely on search engines such as Google to find information but this practice can result in millions of results, of which only a marginal amount are useful. Sorting out what is useful and what is not can take a great deal of time for one student. If many students are doing this and sharing their findings on social bookmarking sites, a new time saving search engine gets created. Students around the world can search the bookmarks that others have found to be useful to save time. Essentially, a collective group of student researchers are working together to sort through the abundance of information on the web.
Below are the sources for this information along with some helpful suggestions for implementation.
http://www.edutopia.org/so-del-icio-us
This is an edutopia article that explains the procedure for using social bookmarking tools. It also provides information on the significance these tools have in education.
The author shares a success story of a social bookmarking workshop given to school administrators that resulted in all of them using the tool at their schools.
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/social-bookmarking
This is an article from McGraw Hill’s Teaching Today. It provides an overview of the educational benefits that social bookmarking offers. Also discussed are the reasons for using the tool as a substitute for Google searches. The author goes on to provide three main ways to incorporate the use of the tool in the classroom.
http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml
This is another article that both explains social bookmarking and offers suggestions for implementing it. It was published by Education World. Of special significance are the outside links provided that are useful for educators who wish to delve further into the tool and begin using it.
http://wiki.classroom20.com/Social+Bookmarks+Lesson+Plans
This is a wiki that provides suggested lesson plans for using social bookmarking. Specific objectives are provided, along with the materials needed, necessary steps for preparation, and guided activities.
http://wiki.classroom20.com/Social+Bookmarking
This is the main page for this wiki. It is also beneficial in that it provides another explanation of the benefits for using the tool.
http://www.alltipsandtricks.com/top-10-social-bookmarking-tools-for-educators/
This is a resource that, as the title of the link suggests, provides ten valuable social bookmarking sites for use in the classroom.
http://www.slideshare.net/zvezdan/social-bookmarking-in-education
This is the link to a slide show presentation about implementing social bookmarking in education given by Dr. Daniel Churchill from the University of Hong Kong.
The primary objective of these sites is for the collecting and sharing of valuable web resources and links. Users of this new tool can share their own web bookmarks with anyone else on the web. The real power of this functionality lies with the collectivism of sifting through the overwhelming amount of information located on the Internet and narrowing it down to useful sites. Social bookmarking also allows for descriptive keywords known as tags to be associated with each saved bookmark. Bookmarks can then be sorted and searched by these tags to create lists of niche sites useful for specific areas of study. Also, since these tagged bookmarks are stored on the web, any site that is saved to a social bookmarking site is accessible from any computer with an Internet connection.
The implications of this new tool for educators are plentiful.
First, teachers who teach the same subject can use social bookmarking sites to aid in curriculum planning. A geography teacher for example, can look up sites related to his or her course then bookmark and tag the best ones on sites like delicious.com. These bookmarks are now shared online with other teachers who are also looking for good material for their courses. And since these other teachers are also finding good sites and sharing them, a library of valuable web resources emerges. This library is also now searchable based on the tags provided. As more good resources get bookmarked and tagged, a social bookmarking site becomes a much better alternative for looking for information than simply running a Google search. It allows teachers to see the valuable resources that others are using and be able to take advantage of them as well as offer some bookmarks of their own. Overall, this process saves precious planning time for educators and ensures that students are being presented with the best of what’s on the web.
For students, the benefits are similar. Social bookmarking greatly enhances any type of educational research. It allows for collaboration amongst different schools across the country or even the world. Students can use the tool to work with their peers and other schools to create a collective intelligence. What results is a growing library of useful information for class projects or course discussions. Students currently rely on search engines such as Google to find information but this practice can result in millions of results, of which only a marginal amount are useful. Sorting out what is useful and what is not can take a great deal of time for one student. If many students are doing this and sharing their findings on social bookmarking sites, a new time saving search engine gets created. Students around the world can search the bookmarks that others have found to be useful to save time. Essentially, a collective group of student researchers are working together to sort through the abundance of information on the web.
Below are the sources for this information along with some helpful suggestions for implementation.
http://www.edutopia.org/so-del-icio-us
This is an edutopia article that explains the procedure for using social bookmarking tools. It also provides information on the significance these tools have in education.
The author shares a success story of a social bookmarking workshop given to school administrators that resulted in all of them using the tool at their schools.
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/social-bookmarking
This is an article from McGraw Hill’s Teaching Today. It provides an overview of the educational benefits that social bookmarking offers. Also discussed are the reasons for using the tool as a substitute for Google searches. The author goes on to provide three main ways to incorporate the use of the tool in the classroom.
http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml
This is another article that both explains social bookmarking and offers suggestions for implementing it. It was published by Education World. Of special significance are the outside links provided that are useful for educators who wish to delve further into the tool and begin using it.
http://wiki.classroom20.com/Social+Bookmarks+Lesson+Plans
This is a wiki that provides suggested lesson plans for using social bookmarking. Specific objectives are provided, along with the materials needed, necessary steps for preparation, and guided activities.
http://wiki.classroom20.com/Social+Bookmarking
This is the main page for this wiki. It is also beneficial in that it provides another explanation of the benefits for using the tool.
http://www.alltipsandtricks.com/top-10-social-bookmarking-tools-for-educators/
This is a resource that, as the title of the link suggests, provides ten valuable social bookmarking sites for use in the classroom.
http://www.slideshare.net/zvezdan/social-bookmarking-in-education
This is the link to a slide show presentation about implementing social bookmarking in education given by Dr. Daniel Churchill from the University of Hong Kong.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Twitter for Educators.. Really?
Using Twitter for educational purposes is currently a hot topic of discussion on various websites, blogs, wiki’s, etc. It is also being covered in news media and professional educational journals. And why not? The buzz is warranted as this fairly new and popular micro-blogging tool is proving to be instrumental in bringing pedagogy into the 21st century.
Some critics argue that it’s a waste of time; some say that twitter’s 140-character limit renders it useless. However, the ever-growing community of teachers and professors across the world that are using it say the tool is enhancing their teaching.
Twitter is helping promote student collaboration outside the confines of the school day. It is serving as a useful tool for reminding students about upcoming class activities or major school trips and events. Since many students have cell phones and can access twitter at any time wherever they are, it is also serving as a priceless anytime, anywhere, learning tool. Perhaps one of the best benefits of the tool is increased student motivation for learning.
Students whose teachers use twitter are more excited about and engaged in the content of their coursework.
It is not just the students however, that are reaping all of the benefits of this tool. Twitter is also helping facilitate professional development for teachers and improving the overall experience of being an educator.
Listed below are the sources of this information along with other great resources discussing the uses and benefits of twitter in education.
http://www.nea.org/home/32641.htm
This is an article published by the National Education Association. It provides an overview of twitter and the benefits it offers educators along with examples of specific applications from various teachers. Some of the topics presented are collaboration, keeping students thinking outside of class, facilitating discussion, collective storytelling, and global sharing of ideas and information.
http://teachingtechnology.suite101.com/article.cfm/using_twitter_to_break_down_classroom_isolation
This article discusses five advantages for teachers using twitter in education. As the title suggests, the overall theme is that twitter helps break down teacher isolation. The author states “Teachers often need suggestions for curriculum and management issues, which working in the isolation of their classrooms becomes difficult at best. Twitter removes this isolation, as teachers are able to send short messages to mentors or other teachers asking for suggestions.”
http://cooper-taylor.com/blog/2008/08/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-education/
This is a blog outlining fifty ideas for using twitter to improve teaching.
http://mrslwalker.com/index.php/2009/03/29/nine-great-reasons-why-teachers-should-use-twitter/
Laura Walker is an e-learning coordinator in England who published this website to outline nine excellent reasons for using twitter in education. Once again, the overall theme is about increased collaboration for students and teachers alike. She emphasizes twitters ability to help create global networks of professional educators. Walker claims that by following teachers in different types of schools and in other countries, one can receive a greater awareness of the teaching practices being implemented around the world.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/2009/06/15/tweeting-your-way-to-better-grades.html
This is a US news article about students using twitter to improve their study habits and ultimately, their grades. The viewpoints of four separate instructors are quoted along with explanations on their use of the tool. Opposing arguments against the tool are also presented, with Internet safety being the primary concern.
http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/twitter-for-academia/
In this blog, the author describes the teaching experiences encountered when twitter was incorporated into his class. A comprehensive list of the benefits he noted while his students were using the tool is provided.
http://itcboisestate.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/twitter-for-educators/
This site provides instructions for setting up a class twitter group and includes ten ways to use the tool effectively. The author writes that twitter can “engage students, improve communication, collaboration, and community in the classroom, and promote writing.”
http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dhn2vcv5_118cfb8msf8&skipauth=true
Finally, here is a Google slideshow presentation that outlines 25 ways to use twitter in the classroom.
Some critics argue that it’s a waste of time; some say that twitter’s 140-character limit renders it useless. However, the ever-growing community of teachers and professors across the world that are using it say the tool is enhancing their teaching.
Twitter is helping promote student collaboration outside the confines of the school day. It is serving as a useful tool for reminding students about upcoming class activities or major school trips and events. Since many students have cell phones and can access twitter at any time wherever they are, it is also serving as a priceless anytime, anywhere, learning tool. Perhaps one of the best benefits of the tool is increased student motivation for learning.
Students whose teachers use twitter are more excited about and engaged in the content of their coursework.
It is not just the students however, that are reaping all of the benefits of this tool. Twitter is also helping facilitate professional development for teachers and improving the overall experience of being an educator.
Listed below are the sources of this information along with other great resources discussing the uses and benefits of twitter in education.
http://www.nea.org/home/32641.htm
This is an article published by the National Education Association. It provides an overview of twitter and the benefits it offers educators along with examples of specific applications from various teachers. Some of the topics presented are collaboration, keeping students thinking outside of class, facilitating discussion, collective storytelling, and global sharing of ideas and information.
http://teachingtechnology.suite101.com/article.cfm/using_twitter_to_break_down_classroom_isolation
This article discusses five advantages for teachers using twitter in education. As the title suggests, the overall theme is that twitter helps break down teacher isolation. The author states “Teachers often need suggestions for curriculum and management issues, which working in the isolation of their classrooms becomes difficult at best. Twitter removes this isolation, as teachers are able to send short messages to mentors or other teachers asking for suggestions.”
http://cooper-taylor.com/blog/2008/08/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-education/
This is a blog outlining fifty ideas for using twitter to improve teaching.
http://mrslwalker.com/index.php/2009/03/29/nine-great-reasons-why-teachers-should-use-twitter/
Laura Walker is an e-learning coordinator in England who published this website to outline nine excellent reasons for using twitter in education. Once again, the overall theme is about increased collaboration for students and teachers alike. She emphasizes twitters ability to help create global networks of professional educators. Walker claims that by following teachers in different types of schools and in other countries, one can receive a greater awareness of the teaching practices being implemented around the world.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/2009/06/15/tweeting-your-way-to-better-grades.html
This is a US news article about students using twitter to improve their study habits and ultimately, their grades. The viewpoints of four separate instructors are quoted along with explanations on their use of the tool. Opposing arguments against the tool are also presented, with Internet safety being the primary concern.
http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/twitter-for-academia/
In this blog, the author describes the teaching experiences encountered when twitter was incorporated into his class. A comprehensive list of the benefits he noted while his students were using the tool is provided.
http://itcboisestate.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/twitter-for-educators/
This site provides instructions for setting up a class twitter group and includes ten ways to use the tool effectively. The author writes that twitter can “engage students, improve communication, collaboration, and community in the classroom, and promote writing.”
http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dhn2vcv5_118cfb8msf8&skipauth=true
Finally, here is a Google slideshow presentation that outlines 25 ways to use twitter in the classroom.
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