1 / 46

Something Old/Something New

Bringing “Gen C’s” social web technologies and that primitive thing called “ Book ” together!. Something Old/Something New. Sandy Stuart-Bayer Library Media Specialist Lee’s Summit High School Lee’s Summit, MO. Ah! Reading. Thanks to Gutenberg. . .

vivek
Download Presentation

Something Old/Something New

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Bringing “Gen C’s” social web technologies and that primitive thing called “Book” together! Something Old/Something New Sandy Stuart-Bayer Library Media Specialist Lee’s Summit High School Lee’s Summit, MO

  2. Ah! Reading

  3. Thanks to Gutenberg. . . (and possibly the Chinese before him, but anyway. .) • The book has stood the test of time for five+ centuries • Ah, the sweet joys of words on the page and imagination in the mind! • The simplicity of it!

  4. Uh-Oh:

  5. Tech Tools SocialWeb Plugged-in Online Digital life

  6. Tech Tools SocialWeb Plugged-in Online Digital life

  7. Still not convinced? Generation C • C for Content • C for Complex Online, plugged-in multi-taskers Meet Generation C http://www.mediacenter.org/pages/mc/research/meet_generation_c/

  8. Tech Tools SocialWeb Plugged-in Online Digital life

  9. Blogging What is it? How to use it How to create RSS What is it? Book promos and RSS How to create Other Social Web tools for reading: Wikis Social Networks Podcasting Working on improving the educational value Books and Generation C

  10. Blogging • Comes from “weblog” • Its creators changed it to “we-blog”, or just “blog”. • BUT, it’s not just an online journal or diary entry anymore!

  11. Blogging • Can be a • Class portal (Teacher, Students, & Parents) • Online filing cabinet/portfolio • Collaborative space • At its best, reading & writing that: • Promotes critical & analytical thinking • Promotes creative, intuitive thinking • Is a medium for increasing exposure to quality information • Combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction

  12. A Few Examples • Meredith’s Page • (Slide of Meredith’s Page) • The Reading Room (Northfield Mount Herman School) • (Slide of The Reading Room) • I’ve Been Reading • (Slide of I’veBeenReading) • The Secret Life of Bees • (Slide of Secret Life of Bees) • Gateway Readers’ Award Blog 07-08 • (Slide for Gateway)

  13. Blogging the Gateway Nominees

  14. Creating a Blog-with free blog hosting sites • Blogger (slides) • The easiest to create and manage • Nice templates • Dashboard for managing blogs • Best thing about Blogger: One dashboard can manage several blogs. • Excellent, but it might be blocked! • Edublogs(slides) • Great for a blog or two. • Allows dynamic and static pages; also a wikispace. • Wordpress blogging software used. • Some districts block this one, but less likely to be blocked than the others. • Wordpress(slides) • Wordpress software was the first open source software for bloggers - used by many other blogging hosts. • Very similar to Edublogs. • May be blocked by some districts. • 21publish(slides) • Created for communities of blogs • Set up as a blog portal with • individual blogs for class members • Less user-friendly than the others

  15. Creating a Blog-with blog-creation software • Manila or • Movable Type • Somewhat pricey. • Placed on a server • Be sure you have technical approval and support. • May be a good choice if planning a large number of blogs.

  16. Creating a Blog-Setting up your own Web Space or Domain • Usually has a monthly or yearly cost for the space. • More flexibility than with hosted blogs or blogging software on your district’s server. • Takes more time and effort to set up, but not as hard as you might think. • For an excellent tutorial, download Tom March’s “Class Act Portals”

  17. Setting up your own Web Space

  18. Setting up your Own Web Space • Choosing a domain name • Network Solutions lets you try out names and check for availability (for free) • Finding a Host • Network Solutions • A little pricey, but offer great services. • SiteGround • Approximately $70 for a year. • Has all the right technical “stuff”. • Lots of others available.

  19. Setting up your Own Web Space • Download WordPress • An Open Source web development software with blog software included. • Open Source means it’s free and available for all to use (and improve upon if you like) • Open Source is true community sharing. • Download some WordPress blogging templates from Alex King’s Theme browser. • You’ll need FTP software. • Can be downloaded free if you don’t already have it. • Use this to upload the templates to your web space. (All the “how-tos” for the above can be found on Tom March’s page--see previous slide.)

  20. Gateway Readers’ Blog http://lmclive.org

  21. Books and Blogging • Is the quality there? • How do we increase the value? • Not-so-great-blogging • Better blogging • Involving teachers in blogging projects • Surveying students

  22. Gateway Project Student Surveys • What did the students say about blogging? • 73% thought it was fun • 80% liked having a wider audience • 51% thought it increased their understanding of the book • 60% found insights on the blogs that they had not previously considered.

  23. Gateway Project Student Survey • 85% enjoyed hearing others comments about their book. • Only 30% preferred writing for their teacher only. • However, • 89% found the other requirements of the reading notebook to be more meaningful than blogging • 84% believed they thought about their book in greater depth through the other requirements than through blogging.

  24. Students’ Comments • What would improve the book blogging experience? • Almost unanimous comment: Get more people to do it. It’s not fun when no one responds to your posts or questions. • Random comments • Make the log-in easier. • Direct discussion to more meaningful insights • Having posts up more quickly after they are entered (Several mentioned this)

  25. Students’ Comments • Blogging benefits: • Hearing others’ opinions, interpretations, insights, perspectives • A chance to talk casually and comfortably about books • It made the book easier to understand. • You can learn from others, hear their thoughts. • It gave you a chance to think and then verbalize your feelings and thoughts. • You can connect to other readers, even if you’ve never met them. • You can enlighten others about the symbolism and see their reactions. • It’s fun.

  26. Student comments: • Blogging drawbacks: • Having to wait to see your post. It’s not like a personal conversation, when you have to wait. • You think, “Is anyone really seeing this?” • Reading about the ending too soon. Comments about the end of the book should be separated or “spoiler alerts” given. • When people disagree with you, their comment stays there. • People may not give their true opinion because it’s “out there”. • You have to think about if what you write sounds good. • Shy people may not want to post online.

  27. Responding to Student Surveys • We must always be on a digital journey • Changes too fast to ever “arrive”. Gateway Blog changes we made for 07-08: • Allowing real-time posting (Not being forced to wait up to 24 hours for posts to be approved) • Safety/Security vs. More Effective Experience • However, it continues to be MODERATED • Simpler login-all books on one blog site

  28. RSS • What is it? • Rich Site Summary or • RDF Site Summary or • Really Simple Syndication THE New Killer Ap Why? Take a look!

  29. RSS - Why should I care? • RSS helps out with the overwhelming glut of information. • Allows reading more content from more sources in less time. • Usually list-oriented content from news sources, blogs, etc. • Comes to you instead of you going to it • No SPAM • Can let you know when something is published with certain keywords that might interest you.

  30. Local Newspaper LIS News LSR7News NYT 1 2 3 4 5 10 9 8 7 6 Enter-tainment News 2nd Fav Blog Travel Deals Sports Shopping Keeping Current Before Fav Blog

  31. Local Newspaper LIS News LSR7News Fav Blog NYT RSS Aggregator 1 Click Enter-tainment News 2nd Fav Blog Travel Deals Sports Shopping Keeping Current NOW

  32. RSS Aggregator? • Huh? • An Aggregator is software that collects your RSS feeds (subscriptions). • Aggregators can be online or downloaded to sit on your desktop • Desktop Ex: AmphetaDesk • (I haven’t found a good desktop aggregator.) • Online aggregator Ex: • Bloglinesis a simple, easy aggregator with lots of suggestions for feeds to subscribe to. (slides)

  33. RSS Aggregators • Can I bring RSS feeds onto my own website? • Yes, you can! • Go to Feed2JS (Slides) • All Things Reading webpage

  34. Blogs RSS Wikis Podcasting Screencasting Aggregators Social Bookmarking Online Photo Galleries Videoblogging What other tools can we use?The Social Web has lots of possibilities! Vocabulary test on Friday! 8^)

  35. Podcasting about Books & Book Club Wikis • “All Things Reading” • LSHS Book Podcasts • Book and Poetry Club Wikis

  36. Newer still. . . Social Networking • Teacher Librarian Ning Some are suggesting that those of us who are educators need to involve ourselves in exploring the use of Web 2.0 technologies for our own lives and purposes. Viewing ourselves as learners, as we discover the value these tools can have in our own lives, we’re less likely to fear them and more inclined to see effective and powerful uses for them. One comment on Will Richardson’s blogging post entitled, “Why is it so hard for educators to focus on their own learning,” from teacher John Gale states: “As an outsider beginning to work in K-12 for the first time a few years ago, I noticed the same thing. Most teachers did not want to learn using the same methods that “best practice” suggested that they should want their students to learn. They weren’t walking the walk. Teacher/Astronaut Barbara Morgan has an interesting comment on this, answering a question about why she stayed in the shuttle program after the Challenger accident, she said because she wanted to model for her students what grownups do when there are problems and difficulties; that they don’t (some of them, anyway) just quit. So what I try to do now in teaching teachers is to model problem-solving and self-directed active learning, and then explicitly meta-talk about the modeling (”What did we do when we didn’t know how to …”) in the hope that they’ll do the same when they get back to their classrooms.” (Richardson). Perhaps he is right. The first step for us educator-types is to immerse ourselves in the power of blogging and other social technologies in order to better understand their power –the learning, collaboration, and articulation that can come from using these new mediums. Richardson, Will. Weblogg-ed: Learning with the Read-Write Web. July 17, 2007. 18 Jul 2007<http://weblogg-ed.com/2007/why-is-it-so-hard-for-educators-to-focus-on-their-own-learning/

More Related