Our Students =Our Future

An Educators Curriculum

To be effective educators we must keep the AASL Standards for 21st Century Learners somewhere visible so that we can refer to them on a regular basis. In addition to this the ISTE NETS and Performance Indicators should guide our practice because "effective teachers model and apply the National Educational Technology Standards for Students as they design, implement, assess learning experiences to engage students and improve learning; enrich professional practice; and provide positive models for students, colleagues, and the community. All teachers should meet the following standards and performance indicators outlined in the ISTE NETS for teachers" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). 

Learning About the Tools

VOICETHREAD

Over the past few years I have experimented with Voicethread but I have not actually used it in the classroom. I knew what VoiceThread was and what it could do for me and I spent some time dabbling with it in the past but I had never created anything that I wanted to share. When I was a classroom teacher I thought it was too onerous of a task to have students each create a separate account. I knew that VoiceThread had products and options for K-12 educators. I discovered that VoiceThread has three different options for schools to choose from. 1) Single Educator account 2) School Subscription 3) District/State License. After doing some investigating I discovered that the single educators account best fit my needs and budget. A single educators account gives me:

• 100 student accounts and if I exceed this amount I can add a student for $1.00
• I can create student usernames and they don't require an e-mail address to set-up
• A secure and accountable environment
• Admin tools
• The ability to view, edit and delete student work
• Custom Web Address
• The ability to create classes and groups
• Upload audio comments
• Unlimited Video Commenting
• 10 GB storage + 1 GB/student
• UnlimitedVoicethreads

 I had a project and vision in mind so I bit the bullet and purchased a  one year subscription for $60.  The sign-up process was a breeze and I immediately started creating.With an educators account I also discovered that I could create groups and classes which will help me to be a lot more organized.

Creating a VoiceThread

1) Create an account

2) Create and upload an avatar or picture so people know who is commenting

2) Upload picture from computer, media source, URL, or webcam

3) Add Title and link if appropriate

4) Comment by recording audio or typing

 5) Share, get a link, e-mail, and save your VoiceThread

6) Organizing your VoiceThreads is very easy. Once I created a VoiceThread it automatically goes into the folder "owned by me." To move it to a group that I have created I simply drag the VoiceThread into a folder.

7) Continue creating VoiceThreads

8) For more information see VoiceThreads Getting Started For Educators


VoiceThread-Educator's Guide -

JING 
 I have used Jing on numerous occasions to create tutorials for both students and teachers. I always found it a bit messy to share the final product, and I never spent too much exploring how Jing really worked. I typically would create a tutorial and send it in an e-mail to share. I figured that there must be a way to embed a Jing so I decided to do some investigating.  I was very excited to find out that it is possible embed a Jing. I followed these short simple steps to embedding a jing.


1) Open up Jing and select the preference button.

2) Choose to customize buttons

3) Select "Add  New Button

4) Invest $14.95 in JingPro if you think you are going to use this on a regular basis. You can upload to YouTube on Jing Pro. Otherwise, choose the share via screencast button and give your button a descrpition such as "embed." Save and start embedding.

5) You will have to change the size of the Jing in the html code. To fit into blogger I chose the width and height to be 500. The only disadvantage is how small it is. Again, if you wanted to share on a regular basis YouTube would capture the screenshare better.







Even though I had used Jing in the past I discovered many new things. I did not realize that all of my screencasts were saved online. I can access them from any computer as long as I know what my URL is. I was able to create new folders to organize my screencasts.


Using Presentation and Multimedia Tools in my Personal Life

Juxio

 I came across Juxio the other day and I decided to experiment with it.  I was quite fascinated with the Juxio "Newspapers are Sooo 20th Century: Customize your own Electronic Newspaper Using RSS."  
I dabbled around with Juxio but could not come up with a final product that was worth sharing. I discovered that there were a few limitations as you could only share a jux by e-mail, twitter, or facebook.  If I had an iphone this would be a neat way to annotate my pictures and to share events with my friends. There are many examples of how others have used to Juxes to share, annotate, and capture events on the featured juxes page. I will continue to keep my eye on this tool and dabble with it in my spare time.  When I get an iphone I will be sure to add the juxio app to it.

Presentation and Multimedia Tools in the K-12 Classroom

So often as teachers we are concerned about getting through the  required content  in the curriculum. Teaching and learning is about the curriculum, but we can't forget to teach the important skills that our students need to flourish in the 21st century. As educators we must continue to ask ourselves, what knowledge is of most worth? 

The International Society for Technology in Education has created educational technology standards to help teachers transform learning environments with technology. The ISTE  NETS Standards for students outline the foundational technology skills that will allow our students to be prepared to work and contribute successfully in the 21st century. The NETS are not subject matter specific, but rather are a set of skills required for students to be successful in a global and digital world. The NETS address learning and teaching students to be able to:

• Demonstrate creativity and innovation
• Communicate and collaborate
• Conduct research and use information
• Think critically, solve problems, and make decisions
• Use technology effectively and productively

How are the NETS met in classrooms today?  When students use presentation and multimedia tools to create, share, imagine, speculate, design, formulate, and remix (Berger & Trexler 2010). It is not about the technology but what the technology can do for you.  Before using technology we must ask ourselves how we can use web 2.0 tools to teach higher-order thinking skills, and digital citizenship. We must be critical consumers of web 2.0 tools and consider how they can:

• extend our students learning 
• support inquiry learning
• be used most effectively to support teaching and learning
• best support teaching and learning 

Rather than asking, "How can I help my students learn to use technology tools?" the question should be "How do I help my students be more creative and innovative? Communicate and collaborate in a global society? Learning to conduct research and manage information?" These questions addressed by the NETS establish learner outcomes at the center of our efforts, right where they belong ( Niederhauser, 2010). We must keep reminding ourselves of these questions as we plan for instruction and differentiation in our classrooms. I would like to highlight some multimedia and presentation tools that I have used to extend students learning in a way that would not otherwise been possible, support inquiry, and tools that support effective teaching and learning.

Glogster

Creating a Glogster is not a complex task. Nor is signing up for Glogster Edu. With Glogster Edu you can sign up as an educator and receive accounts for each of your students and you have a virtual space for your Glogsters. Interestingly enough, Glogster has also partnered with VoiceThread to allow users to include a VoiceThread in their Glogster. Glogster is a great tools that allows students to create and share information they have found or created. They can demonstrate their new knowledge by adding video, images, text, audio, and they can even link to websites. 

Glogster EDU Education 2.0

View more presentations from glogster.

Why Glogster?

Glogster helps students visualize ideas, encourages self-expression and creativity, allows for differentiated instruction, combines audio and visual elements to enhance learning. Glogster can provide the students with an opportunity to draw conclusions about information, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge. It is so interesting to see how a sense of community is established when students are introduced to new tools. I encourage my students to share their discoveries, ask a peer for help, and even to ask google for help. 

Some ideas/suggestions for using Glogster in the classroom:

• Digital Portfolios
• Create collages of information
• Can be used individually or collaboratively

 Glogster Information

Education Glogster Ning


Glogster Wiki

Google Earth


Kids and adults alike are enamored with Google Earth and maps. There are many reasons to use Google Earth in the classroom:

• Up to date reference
• Real maps and images making learning relevant and authentic
• Measure and calcuate distances and angles
• Teach astronomy and the constellations
• Create your own tours and even record you voice to add narration
• Place and customize markers
• Embed media into Google Earth
• Virtual Field Trips
• Create a virtual autobiography
• Tell the story of a character and their  travels                                                                                       

Google Earth Across the Curriculum -

 Google Earth Tutorials and Resources

Google Earth Wiki

Google Earth Across the Curriculum 

Annotating on Google Earth

Teacher-Librarian, Learning Leader and Multimedia/ Presentation Tools 

 According to the ISTE NETS Performance Indicators for Teachers we must " Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility." Therefore, before multimedia and presentation tools are introduced in the classroom, teacher-librarians play an important role by modeling and educating the staff and students about safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology including respect for copyright. When using presentation tools such as Animoto and VoiceThread students must be taught how to effectively search and locate copyright free images. I have created a website for my students to be able to access these resources from our virtual library page.  Here is a neat video to show students in middle and high school why they can't just take images from Google. 

Some of the multimedia and presentation tools, such as VoiceThread, require students to have an avatar, and allow students to comment.  Other web 2.0 tools require an account and typically involve the student uploading pictures and content.  As teacher-librarians we play an important role in teaching our students to be in control of their digital footprint.  We can "promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information" (ISTE 2008). Websites such as www.befunky.com are great examples of how students can add to and create a digital picture. My personal favorite avatar site is Avatar Creator. 

VoiceThreads in the Library

This year I am going to be using VoiceThreads for students to comment on the nominated books for the Saskatchewan Readers Choice Awards. Students from grades 4-8 will comment on the nominated books for their age. I am introducing this to my students this week and I am hoping to have some of the students record their thinking, perspectives, and opinions of the book. I have created 20 VoiceThreads, 10 books are nominated for each category, and I simply recorded a review or a read a portion of the text. I hope that the VoiceThreads will get kids excited about reading and sharing their thoughts about what their are reading, and lastly to create a culture of readers.




I also hope to share with my staff ways that they can incorporate VoiceThread into their teaching. Here are a few suggestions. 

Animoto
Animoto is another tool that can be used to promote the library. This year I am going to host the first annual Academy Awards at my school. Over the next few months the students in grades 7 and 8 will be learning what makes an effective book teaser, how to create a teaser with a hook, and we will co-create criteria for assessment that includes important elements of a book trailer such as images, music, and concise language. When we finish this we will host the Academy Awards in the library complete with the red carpet and popcorn. The students, staff, and parents of my school will come out and celebrate the book trailers and their creators. I also hope that students will continue to create trailers about books that they would want to recommend and share with others in the school. 





Multimedia Presentations in the Learning Community

Vuvox is a great interactive tool to share with a group at a staff meeting or other professional development opportunities. I would create a vuvox and ask each of the participants to inteact with the various websites, videos, and audio that can be embedded. This tool is not a presentation tool for a whole group but would work well for each person or small groups to work through the content.

Animoto
I have been asked to blog about YA books for the Saskatchewan School Library Association as part of my role as Publications Officer. I would like to include a teaser on almost every post that I write as I think it is an excellent way to promote books. I will continue to use Animoto for this.

Jing
Using Jing is an excellent way to share knowledge and to teach and learn from others in our learning communities. I have created a few Jings for teacher-librarians to learn about some of the features that Destiny can do for us.

Concluding Thoughts
In their book, Choosing Web 2.0 tools for Learning and Teaching in a Digital World,Pam Berger and Sally Trexler created a list of the Top 10 Reasons to Use Web Based Media Tools in Education. After reading this blog you may have discovered that narrowing the "The top 10 Reasons to Use Web Based Media Tools in Schools" down to ten reasons would have been difficult. I encourage you to try and share a variety of tools, but most of all keep your ISTE and AASL Standards close at hand. 

References

Niederhauser, D. (2010). A Shift in Focus The NETS for Students. Learning & Leading with Technology, 38(2), 24-25. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.

Berger,P & Trexler, S (2010). Choosing Web 2.0 tools for Learning and Teaching in a Digital World. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.  

Bellanca, J & Brandt, R (2010). 21st Century Skills:Rethinking How Students Learn. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Wikipedia: The Catalyst of Collaboration

Without Wikipedia we would be wallowing from whence we came. 

The World Wide Web was, and still is, a disorganized mess of vast volumes of information. Thanks to Wikipedia there are currently 16,000,000 organized and linked encyclopedia articles in more than 270 languages.  True to its name, Wikipedia is a tool for creating collaborative encyclopedia articles on the world wide web. Today, there are over 91,000 internet volunteers who collaborate and contribute to Wikipedia. This week I became a statistic and became the 91,001 contributor to Wikipedia.  

  

Where To Go From Here

 After a few years of creating various wikis and nings and evening adding a glogster to my wiki, I wanted to challenge myself to learn more.  After speaking with Jennifer in Chicago she challenged me to create a Wikipedia entry for the TLDL program at the U of A, and what a challenge that was. When I began researching the “how to” of Wikipedia I found out that there are 10 steps to getting started with Wikipedia.

1.  Create an account
2.   Begin by editing pages that already existed on Wikipedia and, to be bold.  After all, Wikipedia is in existence because of its collaborative nature. 
3.  Get lost. Quite literally. I was lost in Wikipedia I didn’t know where to begin creating. I thought I knew, until I tried to retrieve my “draft” the next day. I found that the best way for me to learn was to play around with it and ask google when I had questions.
4.  Create A User Page. People want to know who is editing and changing their information and it is only common courtesy. 
5.  Familiarize yourself with the criteria for posting to Wikipedia
6.   Read Wikipedia’s entry of “Your First Article” and start writing. 
7. Post and wait for others to: edit, give feedback, change, and add.
8. Witness first hand collaborating at its finest. 
9.   Challenge those that would be interested in contributing to add their knowledge and understanding of the subject.  
10.    Be thankful for Wikipedia pioneering a collaborative approach to the world wide web and count your lucky stars for those that created an educational and user friendly version.

My Challenge Is Now YOUR Challenge

I created a Wikipedia entry about the TLDL program at the U of A.  After I posted I realized that I forgot to include the word “program.” My husband commented that my title, Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning, was a bit deceiving as it looked like a new way of being a librarian. I was afraid that someone might delete my entry because of the false information. I knew I had to change the title immediately.  After quite a bit of research I realized that I was not able to make a change to the title until so many edits had been made, or after 10 days of it being posted. I will be sure to make the necessary change when the time comes.

Knowing that you can’t change the title, I am looking for participants to make changes and add information to the TLDL Wikipedia entry.  My challenge is for the students and professors of the TLDL program to harness their collective intelligence (Berger & Trexler, 2010) by collaborating together to create, edit, and share knowledge about the program.  Apply the knowledge that you gleaned by experimenting with other wiki’s and become the 91,002 user of Wikipedia.

Wiki’s At Home

My husband is an avid reader, and contributor to Wikipedia, and has even created a few wiki’s of his own. One of the wikis that he created was to keep track of his telescope making project. Unlike my husband, I have never used a wiki for personal use. Will Richardson (2010) shared some interesting exemplars of how people are collaborating with wiki’s in their everyday life: recipe wiki, travel wiki, and wikiquotes.  I’m not sure how much I would be able to share on the recipe wiki but I could add a comment after trying some delicious recipes such as the sweet potato salad.

Using Wiki’s in a K-12 Setting

I brainstormed a list of 21^st century skills that our students learn and obtain when using wiki’s and Wikipedia in a classroom environment.

 

Similar to using any other web 2.0 tool in the classroom, it must be purposeful. Before choosing the wiki host, decide on what you want your students to be able to do, what goals and outcomes you are going to achieve, how and if they will be evaluated, if you want the site open or closed, and how you will monitor it, ease of access and navigation, and the option for a wide range of media to be embedded or uploaded.  Thinking about the purpose and the other factors listed above will help you to determine what wiki will be the best for your purposes. Use the wiki matrix to compare the various wikis that are available. 

Ways to use wiki’s in your classroom

•  Have students document, reflect, share, write-about, and upload pictures from a class field-trip 
• A place for students to:  reflect, connect, wonder, investigate and gather information, construct new ideas, and express their new understandings during the inquiry process either as a class or individually
• Create resource aggregators, bibiliographies, and pathfinders
• Electronic Portfolios
• Journals or notebooks to house ideas and brainstorms

For examples of how educators are using wikis in the classrooms check out the following exemplars:

·

·         Educational Wikis

·         The Impact of Climate Change: created by a high school science class 

·         The Flat Classroom Project: Two classrooms from Bangladesh and Georgia USA collaborated to analyze the ten societal trends from the book, The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman  This wiki continues today with classrooms from around the world connecting and collaborating. 

·         Wikis for Collaborative Storytelling: Using wikis for collaborating during the writing process. 

·         A Grade One Classroom Wiki 

·         Wiki’s in Education: Jeff Utecht has created a space for educators to add and view how wikis are being used in the classroom.  

  

Wikis in the Library

             As we move forward into the 21^st century, teacher-librarians are shifting their virtual and physical environments to reflect a learning commons, and we are looking for ways to create a collaborative and participatory culture in our school libraries.  The library is a perfect place to begin modelling the social aspect of learning because “students who are learning in schools influenced by the innovations of visualization, democratization of knowledge, and participatory cultures need different skills that prior generations” (Lemke, C, 2010, p. 267).  School libraries and teacher librarians can model and collaborate with other teachers to immerse students in authentic learning.  Fred Newman (Higher Education Academy, 2009) states that there are three key elements to authentic learning: deep inquiry into the subject matter, relevancy beyond the school day, and knowledge construction.  With carefully designed learning tasks through web 2.0 tools such as wikis our students will be ready to thrive in a participatory society. 
 

Many school libraries use wiki’s for students to share what they are reading, review books, add content that they have created, host book clubs, and link to blogs. Here are a few exemplary library wikis:

Bookleads created by Joyce Valenza

SLMS library wiki 

Nancy Keane's Wiki 

Librarians Can Show Students How to Use Wikipedia

Start teaching students how to use Wikipedia rather than not to use it. Wikipedia is one of the top ten websites worldwide (Shapiro 2010). Rather than questioning the reading level and the authorship of Wikipedia we, as teacher-librarians, must begin teaching students how to navigate on the web, to be able to recognize the readability of a web page, provide them with other search engines, and to teach them how to search effectively.  Wikipedia can be a great starting point and can lead students to primary sources. We must teach our students to be critical consumers of information, verify and check the accuracy of information found, and to recognize when an article is incomplete.

 

Wikipedia can also be used as a tool to extend our students learning out of the classroom.  Will Richardson (2010) asks us to consider how Wikipedia can be used for our students to share new knowledge with a larger audience in an authentic way.  Out of curiosity I tried creating an account for Wikipedia at school and I was not allowed to. I have not had an opportunity to see if I could create an account for Simple Wikipedia. If so, I think that I am going to consider ways in which my students can share their new knowledge and understandings with a larger audience.

Wiki’s As An Essential Tool For Learning Leaders

In the book, Web 2.0 new tools, new schools, it is recommended that in order to support professional development we must “develop alternative forms of teacher professional development that embed the social networking tools we want teachers to consider using” (p.109).   As I consider ways to create a learning community within my school I must remember to use web 2.0 tools such as wikis to communicate and connect with staff. Last month, I created a wiki for the Home-Economics teachers of Saskatchewan for them to share information and lessons that they are creating with students. The teacher-librarians in my school division are discussing ways in which we can share lessons, and ideas using a wiki. Before beginning to create anything we must sit down and discuss our focus, purpose, and vision for creating a teacher-librarian wiki.

I know that I have grown professionally by accessing other educators wiki’s such as:

http://schoollibrarywebsites.wikispaces.com/

http://digitallyspeaking.pbworks.com/Voicethread

https://schoollearningcommons.pbworks.com/

Without Wikipedia Would We Be Where We Are Today?

I believe that Wikipedia has served as a catalyst to creating the world of web 2.0 where users can share, collaborate, and edit content. Without Wikipedia, would wikispaces, pbwiki, and other wikis have evolved?  Instead of wallowing about where we would be without Wikipedia we must continue to create and design authentic learning opportunities for our students to become critical and creative consumers of information that can evaluate, make  new meaning, and collaborate with others to make sense of the world in which they live.

References

Berger,P & Trexler, S (2010). Choosing Web 2.0 tools for Learning and Teaching in a Digital World. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.

Richardson, Will (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classroom. Thousand Oaks: CA: Corwin Press.  

 

Bellanca, J & Brandt, R (2010). 21st Century Skills:Rethinking How Students Learn. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

(2010). How Elementary Is Wikipedia?. School Library Monthly, 27(2), 22-23. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

A Simple Podcast Recipe

Are you looking to spice it up in your classroom? If so, you have come to the right place.  I have compiled a recipe for podcasting just for you.  This simple recipe includes mostly staple ingredients that you should have close at hand.  Gather up the ingredients and follow the instructions and you will be on your way to creating your very own podcast.  As always, when you come across a great recipe don’t forget to share with your students and friends.  Happy creating.

Learning About the Tool

I was quite excited to see podcasting on the list of our web 2.0 tools to explore in EDES 501 because I have not had a lot of experience with podcasting, and as a result my students have not created podcasts either. 

Like most people, when I have questions and want to learn more about something I look to research, read publications and books published in the area, and immerse myself in the learning.  If you are looking to extend your learning and understanding about podcasts read the following books: Choosing Web 2.0 Tools for Learning and Teaching in a Digital World by Pam Berger, Web 2.0 new tools, new schools by Gwen Solomon, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other powerful Web Tools for classrooms by Will Richardson, and Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use by Susan Brooks-Young.  Each book offered different perspectives, links, exemplars, ideas, and new understandings.   Using the knowledge I gleaned from the variety of sources I read, I was ready to play and create.

Step 1: Gather Ingredients

 I already had the necessary items to start podcasting, although my microphone was purchased from the dollar store and the quality is not exactly professional. I may look at investing into a better quality microphone. 

Step 2: Put content in Bowl, Add Purpose and Let Stand

I am on the SYRCA Snow Willows committee and I am part of a group that reads and nominates the books for YA readers. As a teacher-librarian in Saskatoon Public Schools I also promote the Willows books to the students in my school. This being my first year being a TL, I am exploring ways in which I can promote the books, and how the students can respond to the books that they have read. I have considered using voicethread, and Animoto but had not considered using podcasts.  It dawned on me that I could use podcasts as a way to promote the books, and this could also be a platform that would enable the students to share what they have read.  I decided to create a book talk and a podcast teaser that would promote one of the Snow Willows books, Libertad. Libertad is a book in verse and it was not difficult to find an excerpt that flowed and left the reader wanting more.

Step 3: Record and Edit Using Audacity

I have used Audacity in the past but I had never really taken the time to play with it. Since I was using a cheap microphone I found that I had a lot of feedback. I used the noise removal option that got rid of a lot of the feedback.  I also experimented with the other effects and was amazed at what they could do.

Step 4: Locate Copyright Free Sounds

This was not an easy task as a lot of websites advertise that they have free sounds/music but then you have to sign up for an account and you only receive 10 free downloads. I found that Joyce Valenza had one of the most comprehensive lists. . As always Richard Byrne has a useful blog post, 7 sources of free Sounds for Multimedia Projects  and he just recently added http://www.jewelbeat.com/ .  

Step 5: Upload to a Server

After recording on Audacity I had to download LAME so that I could export my file as an MP3.  I am not aware of our school having a webserver, and I knew that I wanted to be able to embed my podcast into my blog. I decided to ask google and this is what I found:

How To Embed A Podcast Into A Blogger

View more presentations from Paty.Savage.

After discovering the following information, I decided to go with the Internet Archive because it was simple and free. Being able to quickly embed a file into a blog post is an added feature because I may want to highlight something specifically on my blog and this is not difficult to do. Here is the player that you can embed into your blog straight from Internet Archive.

Step 6: Locate Hosting Service and Publish Podcast

I compared the following podcasting hosting services: Pod-o-matic, PodPress, Podbean, Odeo, and OurMedia.  I found that the best hosting service for my purpose was Podbean because it was free, and it can be easily embedded into a blog, and there is a dashboard/webpage that allows you to view, organize, and share all of your podcasts using this interface. This was a winning factor for me as I can see myself using this in the library.

   
   
Powered by Podbean.com


I am glad that I took some advice from Will Richardson who mentions in his book Wiki's, Blogs, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms the importance of trying out the technology before asking your students to begin creating (Richardson, 2010). I feel more comfortable now and have a better understanding about what this tool can do and what needs to be done before trying it in the classroom or library.

Podcasting in Real Life

 I, like most grad students don’t find a lot of extra time in my day to watch T.V. My husband and I don’t watch T.V often and so we don’t invest in cable T.V.  Instead, we have our computer hooked up to the T.V and stereo and we get our movies from Netflix and itunes.  Often times we will listen to a podcast as we are preparing supper, cleaning, or doing other activities. Our favourite podcast to listen to is, “Stuff You Should Know.”   What I like about podcasts is that they are like the radio but you can listen to it on your own time, on your ipod, through your phone, and in your car. There are podcasts to meet the needs of people both young and old, and there are podcasts about almost any topic you can imagine. 

Podcasting in the K-12 Classroom

The AASL’s Standards for 21st Century learnersoutlines skills, dispositions, responsibilities, and self assessment strategies that are fundamental for our students to thrive in the 21^st century.  As I consider ways to incorporate podcasting in the classroom I must keep the purpose of the tool in mind. Podcasting encourages students to:

1.2.3: Demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats.

2.1.6: Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.

2.2.4: Demonstrate personal and other informational tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess. 

3.1.6: Use information and technology ethically and responsibly

3.3.5: Contribute to the exchange of ideas within and beyond the learning community.

4.1.8: Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning. 

Podcasting for the sake of podcasting, does not extend our students thinking, allow them to think critically, or to become ethical users of technology. Podcasts can be a platform for our students to think critically, or to become ethical users of technology. Podcasts can be a platform for our students to compare, make judgements, showcase creativity, share new understandings, and to record their reflections about their inquiries or the process and what that means.  As I consider ways to incorporate podcasts in the classroom I must consider what added value the technology is giving to students learning.  

There are many podcasts available, in a variety of subject areas, for our students to listen to, think about, make judgements, and respond to.

National Gallery of Art: Video and Audio podcasts

Metropolitan Museum of Art 

Pandora  Podcast Series: sponsored by the radio site Pandora (lets you personalize your own playlists) Some examples of these unique podcasts are: word choice in lyrics and hip hop rhyme scheme.

How Stuff Works:  Learn about a range of subjects.

 The Adventures of Dr.Floyd: An old time radio drama 

Where in the World: Geography quiz

Kathy Schrock has an excellent website and links to resources that includes the how to of podcasting in the classroom, and key questions for students to focus on when evaluating podcasts. The podcasts mentioned above could be used to promote podcasts, and as exemplars to analyze and evaluate what makes a good podcast.  Students should consider the following criteria: authority, accuracy, bias, availability. Producing and comparing their own work to others will allow students to gain valuable perspectives about communicating effectively, their own abilities and creativity, and the accuracy and reliability of information.

Some "big ideas" to center podcasts around, in any subject area, are:

• Describe current events and the impact they are having on the world and what it means to a student in Canada.
• Share opinions about what they have read and either defend or debate the main idea
• Consider the other side of the story
• Express an opinion or stance someone might take on a topic
• How can music and sound effects add to or detract from the message 

Berger and Trexler state that there are many advantages and reasons to use web based media tools such as podcasts because they " create an environment of active participants, encourage self expression and creativity, promote differentiated instruction, and incorporate various media for differentiation" (2010, p. 127). In conclusion, podcasting can support student learning and inquiry based instruction.

Teacher-Librarian and Learning Leader

I know that social media plays an important role in 21st century libraries. I have considered and planned on using a wide variety of web 2.0 tools to promote the library, books, and reading. Interestingly enough,  I had never considered podcasting as an option. Richardson (2010) says that students in elementary schools still seem to love podcasting, but it is the older kids that have moved on to video. Despite this shift, I think that there is still a place for podcasting in the library setting.

As a new teacher-librarian who is looking for ways to promote the library, and have students become more involved, podcasts are a good place to start. I mentioned earlier that  I created an account with podbean.com and with the account comes a web address where podcasts can be stored and viewed.  Both the students and I could contribute book reviews, teasers, and excerpts from our favorite books. We could simply link the podcasting site to the school blog or wiki.

Nancy Keane has one of the most comprehensive list of podcasts called Booktalkers Daily Podcasts.

I could easily see some keen students wanting and willing to create a podcast about their favorite part of a book, or an interesting scene or description of a character.  This year we are looking at ways to get students excited about reading and I am looking forward to trying out podcasting. I am going to spend more time considering ways in which to use podcasting to create a participatory culture in my school and library.

I came across a comprehensive site, All Things Podcasting, that includes links to: podcast creation guides, audio and video tours, mobile podcasting,  text to podcasts, podcasts to text, live podcasting, podcast searches and forums, and podcast creation software. 

Teaching with, creating, and sharing podcasts also allows teacher-librarians yet another opportunity to emphasize the importance of copyright, how to use and access creative commons, and digital citizenship. To assist in the process of locating copyright free music and sound effects it would be useful to create a pathfinder or wiki to be able to share the links with students.

I have found that as a former middle/high school teacher I am not as familiar with children's picture books. I came across the podcast, Chatting About Books: Recommendations for Young Readers K-5. I can listen to Emily's podcasts as I commute to work everyday instead of listening to the radio.

Learning Community

The International Reading Association has podcasts and webinars available called Class Acts: Ideas for Teaching Reading and Writing. I plan on sharing these podcasts, along with the one mentioned earlier, with colleagues and other teacher-librarians. I also came across another useful resource, Podcasting 101 for K-12 Librarians, that I could share with other TL's in my division who may be interested in podcasting and I will be sure to direct them to David Warlick's Education Podcast Network.

My role as publications counsellor for the Saskatchewan School Library Association may soon include blogging about books for our association. I may experiment with podcasts as a way of reviewing and sharing books with other teacher-librarians in the province and beyond.  As I continue to ponder on how this could be used in other ways in the TL community I must remember that one can learn not only from listening to podcasts, but also through creating them.

My podcasting recipe will be added to the web 2.0 cookbook of tried, tested, and true recipes to use in the classroom, library, and even in my personal life.

References

Berger,P & Trexler, S (2010). Choosing Web 2.0 tools for Learning and Teaching in a Digital World. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.

Armstrong, G., Tucker, J., & Massad, V. (2009). Interviewing the Experts: Student Produced Podcast. Journal of Information Technology Education, 8IIP-79-IIP-90. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Richardson, Will (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classroom. Thousand Oaks: CA: Corwin Press. 

Wanted: Help

Dear Cyberpaper Educator,

I need help! I have been a teacher and a teacher-librarian for many years and I have never felt so overwhelmed in my entire career. My staff expects me to be a learning leader and to be able to help the students and staff to stay organized on the web. But, there is just so much Information available on the internet these days and I can’t seem to find a way to keep myself organized. How can I teach them?  At school, I use the bookmarks tab on internet explorer but then I can’t access my bookmarks when I go home. I have been attending a lot of professional development opportunities and I am constantly learning about new web 2.0 tools and other teacher-librarians are sending me links to learn about new tools. I don’t know where to begin and there are so many tools and so much information. People say that some of the tools are delicious. I can’t see a tool being very tasty but maybe I just need to sink my teeth into some of them. But, how do I know what to choose? Where does someone new to all of this begin?

I feel like I am sinking instead of floating in cyberspace. Please help me before it is too late.

Sincerely,

Lost in Cyberspace


Dear Lost in Cyberspace,
You are not alone. The 21st century has brought about tremendous shifts in the information landscape and students, professionals, and adults are all looking for ways to stay organized in this digital world. Some of the best advice that I ever received was to “ stop thinking of technology in terms of nouns (powerpoint, Twitter, YouTube) and instead think in terms of verbs (presenting, sharing, and storing)” (Fisher & Frey, 2010, p.227). When thinking about Social Bookmarking it might be helpful to consider what the functions or verbs are associated with it. I have brainstormed a few:

It is important to realize that every day there are new tools created and it is impossible to stay abreast of every tool. What is important is to become familiar with the functions for which the tools were developed and to choose tools that suit our needs. Therefore to better assist you I will review some of the current social bookmarking tools that you could use in your personal life, and in the role of teacher, teacher-librarian, and as part of a learning community. I hope that by sharing the purpose, value, and noteworthy features of social bookmarking you will be able to move forward in social bookmarking.

Sincerely,
Cyberpaper for an Educator

Where To Begin With Social Bookmarking
I remember when I first experimented with social bookmarking when I was on the executive council of the Saskatchewan Middle Years Association. We all had to post some of our favourite websites that we used in the middle years classroom. I joined delicious and started adding my favourite websites that I had bookmarked in my favourites toolbar. I had no understanding of what I was actually doing, and why I was doing it. I knew that I was bookmarking useful sites for other Middle Years teachers but I didn’t know how it worked. So before you make the same mistake here is a short information video about what social bookmarking is.




Where to Start: Choose a social bookmarking tool that works for you.

There are many social bookmarking tools to choose from but the most popular are: Delicious, Diigo, and Evernote. How do you know where to start? Here is a glimpse into my own personal discoveries and frustrations using Delicious, Diigo, and Evernote.

Delicious

As previously mentioned, Delicious was the first social bookmarking tool that I experimented with. I was so excited to discover that I no longer had to e-mail links to myself or worry about not being able to access my favourites at home or school. In the midst of transferring my favourites over I failed to recognize or understand the value of tagging. Creating an account with delicious is easy, but does require you to have a yahoo ID. Once you create an account you can start saving bookmarks by entering a URL. You can add other important information such as: a title, keyword, notes, tags, and you can also send your bookmark to friends or post to twitter.

What I found to be the important features of Delicious:


• Allows you to tag, save, manage, and share web pages

• Share bookmarks with friends that also use Delicious

• Add –on options for firefox, google chrome, and internet explorer.

• Easy introduction to social bookmarking

• Access delicious bookmarks on your mobile phone

• Use delicious in itunes


Diigo
Diigo has been my staple over the past few years and I have had the most success with it. Creating an account with Diigo is simple, you only need a username and an e-mail. Here is an overview of what Diigo can do for you.



I found that once I created my Diigo account I had to spend some time thinking about what I wanted my lists to be such as: library, literacy, web 2.0, etc. This helps organize your bookmarking and is not as messy as tagging. Diigo has some extra features that Delicious does not have and one of the options is to be able to annotate text by: highlighting, sticky notes, and comments. Below is a Guide To Annotating with Diigo


Diigo V4: Research ~ annotate, archive, organize from diigobuzz on Vimeo.


What I found to be important features of Diigo:

• Easy to use

• Diigo toolbar can be added to any search engine

• Diigolet is a floating toolbar that can be added to your toolbar

• Diigo allows you to clip videos and view from your notepad

• Diigo groups

• Read later option allows you to mark a page for later reading

Evernote

I started using Evernote this summer and I found that it had even more diverse features than Diigo and Delicious. Evernote is a far more visual tool. Evernote has a multitude of tutorials from organizing information to handy extras in Evernote.




What I found to be the important features of Evernote:

• Capture everything from webpages, photos, and even screenshots

• You can add tags and organize notes into different notebooks

• Search for notes by keywords, titles and tags.

• Can be used on your mobile, ipod touch, and ipad

• E- notes

• Ability to access on or offline

How Can Social Bookmarking Help You Stay Organized in Your Personal Life?

Since I am passionate about reading I am always interested in learning about books that others are reading. I would typically record any book suggestions into my blackberry or notebook. Now, I can create booklists with Diigo by: bookmarking the page, clipping the front cover image and ISBN number, creating an appropriate tag, and creating a list.

So often I access the internet to find recipes. I need to start bookmarking and tagging some of the recipes. In the end I could my very own cookbook.

In the past I have used Social Bookmarking to plan for a trip. Some of the advantages are: more than one person can add to the list, you can save all of your necessary information to one place including tickets, and confirmations.

Where to Begin Using Social Bookmarking in Your Professional Life

Audience: Teacher

Value: Using social bookmarking tools to teach students how to manage and organize information meets the following Standards for the 21st Century Learner.

• 2.1.2- Organize knowledge so that it is useful

• 2.1.4- Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information

• 3.1.4- Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess.


Noteworthy Features:

• Allows students to access information at home and at school

• Students no longer have to copy and paste websites into a word document

• Groups of students can network when collaborating for group projects and assignments

• As a teacher, you can view what your students are bookmarking and annotating

• There is a Diigo for Educators that allows you to create student accounts for an entire class

Applications for the K-12 Classroom: 

Social bookmarking tools “support 21st century learning skills as they offer a structure that is intellectually engaging, encouraging students to not only locate but also collaboratively tag, organize, and evaluate resources and thinking more deeply about the process” ( Berger & Trexler, 2010, p.50). Diigo is the only social bookmarking tool with an educators account that enables you to create safe and private accounts for students who are under the age of 13 and can’t sign up for their own account. Social bookmarking tools can play a pivotal role in the “investigate and search phase” of the inquiry process. During this phase of inquiry we want our students to think critically, apply, evaluate, and analyze the information that they discover.

Personal Learning Networks

Having students create a Personal Learning Network allows them to keep organized. Vicki Davis, author of the Cool Cat Teacher Blog mentions that, “personal learning networks are virtual lockers for school kids.” Having students create personal learning networks allows them to be in control of their digital footprint as they can have all of their channels and pages linked to one webpage. Examples of personal learning networks are: igoogle, pageflakes, and netvibes.

Would I recommend using social bookmarking in the classroom?

We all know that students in the 21st century need different skills than prior generations, and that today’s schools are not necessarily preparing them for a future that we can’t yet imagine. Social bookmarking allows students to participate collaboratively, share and collect knowledge, track their thinking, and as a result create new knowledge and understandings.

Audience: Teacher-Librarian and Learning Leader

Value: “By positioning themselves to lead the future of information organization, teacher librarians will be able to select the best emerging Web-based tools and applications, become familiar with their strengths, and leverage their usefulness to guide users in organizing internet content” ( Visser, M, 2010, p. 34).

Noteworthy Features: Teaching students how to, “effectively use technology to organize information is a required 21st century skill (Berger & Trexler, 2010, p. 50). Therefore it is absolutely imperative that teacher-librarians ensure that our students have the necessary skills and tools to do so.

Conventional methods of reaching our patrons are no longer relevant in the 21st century. Teacher-librarians must discover other ways to create an online presence and to consider more innovative approaches to accessing information such as: Live Binders, pageflakes, Jogger, and TrailFire. These tools can be used to create pathfinders, and to share information and links with both students and teachers. Here is an example of a  Jog the Web that I created about the Floods in Pakistan.

Creating groups in Diigo could allow you to share your lists with both students and staff. As a teacher-librarian I am always coming across links that I know another teacher would appreciate. Having the entire staff on Diigo would allow me to share my resources with them via e-mail and by tags.

Recommendations:

• Look at your curriculum to discover where social bookmarking would best support learning

• Open an account and begin to explore by adding and joining groups.

• Dabble with the different tools and become comfortable with them before teaching them


Audience: Learning Community
So often we become infowhelmed with new ideas, resources, and applications for education.




Value: By demonstrating and using social bookmarking for professional learning will allow others to see how powerful social bookmarking is.

Noteworthy Features:

• Larry Ferlazzo has come up with a list of the Best Social Bookmarking applications for English Language Learners. Share these with your Spec.Ed department.

• Common grade alike teachers could share their bookmarks for different subject areas

• As Saskatchewan continues to introduce new curricula with limited support and resources teachers could support each other by creating groups in diigo or delicious.

Applicable:

Another application for social bookmarking that would be useful in a professional learning setting is Live Binders. Live Binders is your “three ring binder to the web” and allows you to web-based resources. This would be a great way to share information with other educators. For example, here is a livebinder that a teacher librarian created about Google.

GOOGLE

Closing Thoughts About Social Bookmarking

It is my hope that you will no longer be “lost in cyberspace” and that you have the necessary skills and understanding to become organized in a digital world. Don’t forget that as humans, we have an innate desire to be organized, and that over time we have tried many different tools to aid us in the organizational process. My advice to you, Lost in Cyberspace, is to dabble, play and explore with each of the tools listed above and remember to consider your purpose when selecting the tool that is just right for you and your instructional needs.



References

Bellanca, J & Brandt, R (2010). 21st Century Skills:Rethinking How Students Learn. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Berger,P & Trexler, S (2010). Choosing Web 2.0 tools for Learning and Teaching in a Digital World. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.

Visser, M. (2010). Tagging: An Organization scheme for the internet. Information Technology and Libraries, 29(1), 34-39. Retrieved October 11, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1967168931).

Peltier-Davis, C.. (2009, November). Web 2.0, Library 2.0, Library User 2.0, Librarian 2.0: Innovative Services for Sustainable Libraries. Computers in Libraries, 29(10), 16,18-21. Retrieved October 11, 2010, from ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source. (Document ID: 1895896931).