eteacher

Web 2.0 Workshop

Blogs, wikis, Webcasts, podcasts, RSS feeds, social networks . . . they’re all a part of what has come to be known as Web 2.0. Workshop author Vicki Davis is a classroom teacher who has been recognized for her innovative classroom practices using Web 2.0. The Flat Classroom Project, which she coauthored, won ISTE’s Award for Best Online Learning project for 2007, an Edublog Award for Best Wiki in education for 2006, and inclusion in the best selling book The World is Flat. Her Cool Cat Teacher Blog received an Edublog finalist award for Best Teacher Blog of 2006.

Atomic Learning, who host this tutorial, has given FREE access to this tutorial for the month of November (2007). The great thing about Atomic Learning tutorial is that it is built upon little short movie clips so you may just go into the tutorial and look at a few of the items that will help you.

The other Atomic Learning tutorials are also available for free for eteachers until the end of November. Send me an email if you would like to access these tutorial (there are many hundreds of them).

The Ed Tech Crew chew the fat on all things ICT. They are from Melbourne, Australia. Listen to their podcast to find out how a podcast could be done and if you are planning on becoming a podcaster yourself (Maybe a famous one!).

A weekly podcast about technology in education hosted by Darrel Branson (The ICT Guy) and Tony Richards from itmadesimple.com. They discuss all things digital in education – technologies, issues, great websites, web 2.0 and much, much more!

There are many thousands of newly released Web 2.0 tools that it is almost impossible to try them all. However there are some fabulous tools that you must try. Some of my favorites:

1. Flock – although not really a Web 2.0 tool but a web browser that links to many popular Web 2.0 tools and it is fast. It is in version 1.01, with many new enhancements. It is the browser of my choice for sometime now. It has an excellent RSS feed reader; a People page with links to Twitter, Flickr, Facebook etc., favorites link to delicious (another must have Web 2.0 tool). Many add ins are available to further enhance it.
2. Blogging – Edublog at provide Wordpress based blogs FREE (and ad-free) at edublogs.org. My eteacher edublog site.
3. Netvibes and Pageflakes - These are a must have Web 2.0 Tools. You could create teacher and students pages. Coolcatteacher uses RSS feeds via Netvibes to grade all her students work. All of the wiki edits and comments, RSS feeds from her public student Nings, blogs, etc. are here. The way this RSS reader works, it is ideal for reading and grading them. You can store all your important information here.
   
4. iTunes – Free program from Apple. allows you to listen to podcasts using your computer or an iPod. Some believe that kids should be allowed to use iPods in the classroom when working, as it helps them to concentrate. I think so too.
5. Twitter – Twitter is a community of friends and strangers from around the world sending updates about moments in their lives. I joined twitter quite recently and still trying ti figure out what all the fuss is about. Friends near or far can use Twitter to remain somewhat close while far away. Bloggers can use it as a mini-blogging tool. Possibilities are endless! The People sidbar in Flock allows you to communicate with other twitter mates easily. Snitter (from Adobe) is a free application that simplifies twittering.
6. Del.icio.us – The best bookmarking and sharing tool. Again, you can access Del.icio.us via Flock or by installing the del.icio.us buttons for Flock, which then simplifies adding your favorites to del.icio.us. Tagging within del.icio.us is what makes it so useful. It is a must use program for everyone.
7. Wikispaces – They are easy to use and maintain. You can control editing and even make them private. You can have a wiki for your class. Wikispaces are FREE for educators and are ad-free. Wetpaint has also started offering ad-free wikis for educators.

YouTube draws users into the experience of viewing videos and engaging with the content as commentators and creators, activities that heighten students’ visual literacy—an important skill in today’s electronic culture.Even if most of the content on YouTube lacks an educational goal, the application encourages experimentation with new media. Many educators believe that the act of creating content—in virtually any form—is a valuable learning exercise, helping develop a deeper understanding of the subject matter and the tools used to create that content. To the extent that YouTube facilitates such creation, it has the potential to expose students to new insights and skills, as well as link them to various online communities.

As a social-software application, YouTube is part of a trend among Net Generation students to replace passive learning with active participation, where everyone has a voice, anyone can contribute, and the value lies less in the content itself than in the networks of learners that form around content and support one another in learning goals.

Here are some YouTube videos on Mathematics:

Here are some videos on Sloodle (Second Life in Moodle):

Role in new learning:
A Wiki is a community website which can be edited and added to by any member – it is ideal for problem solving, collaboration and knowledge management. It can be used for constructing and maintaining knowledge bases. They are a dynamic resource which different groups can maintain and add to.

Limitations:
Wikis are unstructured and any content is editable by any member of the community. If there are version control issues or an organisation is geared up to maintain strict controls on practice, a Wiki may be too freeform and the overhead of maintenance may be too much.

Wikispaces:
Back in January, Wikispaces decided to offer their Plus Plan to K-12 teachers for free, in order to help teachers to use wiki technology.

Over 10,000 educational wikis have been created by students and teachers.

If you would like to register for a FREE wiki, please go HERE to register.

Main top tips for pro podcasting

Intros
Record an exciting advert to open your show. Get the voice track laid down first, and then add some music from a podsafe music source. Finally, cut it all together and export the file for use in all your future podcasts.

Vox pops
Ask open-ended questions and then cut, don’t mix, the answers.

Interviews
Students need to learn how to ask as many good open-ended questions as possible. However, when it comes to cutting the final interview together, try to get them to cut together only four questions and answers. This isn’t just learning how to synthesise information in your own words, but learning how to synthesise information in others’ words.

Listen to other podcats
The best way to learn how to make better podcasts is to listen, listen, listen to others’ efforts. There are plenty of ideas of podcasts for teachers and students to listen to, but even a poor podcast can help show what you shouldn’t maybe do in your own.

Planning your attack
Knowing how much time to spend on each element of creating a podcast is not as easy as planning a lesson based around textbook, where the exercises don’t change in timescale from year to year. So, beforehand, have a plan of action for how much time you wan to spend on:

• Deciding subject matter
• Planning a show
• Recording voices
• Finding music
• Editing
• Publishing

Vox pop is short for vox populi, Latin for voice of the people. It sounds simple enough, recording voices of passers-by, but there’s more to vox popping than meets the ear. Years of experience on the street have produced the following pearls of wisdom:

• a vox pop consists of a montage of voices and opinions recorded on location (shopping center)
• a vox pop is normally 20-40 seconds – any longer will sound very laboured
• vox pops are cut together rather than carefully mixed
• a vox pop should include a range of voices: young, old, male, female, multi-ethnic, sensible, outraged, funny
• use as an introduction to an interview or discussion
• normally the reporter’s voice does not appear in a vox, except perhaps to ask an additional question or reiterate the original question

If you don’t, maybe you should try podcasting or at least listen to some.

Podcasts not only provide knowledge but also experience: the experience of the podcasters. Usually podcasters are very experienced people with a lot of valuable examples and tips to speak about.

On the other hand, podcasts are easily consumable because you can load them on a portable device such as an mp3 player or a mobile phone and you can listen them wherever, whenever and however you like.

You could listen to podcasts at times such as when driving to work.

Grazr is a free and easy way to gather and organize information from all over the Web.

Use the drag and drop editor to collect feeds and links to Web pages, and then create widgets with a few clicks and place them on your own pages in websites, pageflakes, netvibes, iGoogle etc.

A reading list is a collection of feeds from multiple sources that have been organized into a convenient package. Grazr.com makes it easy to create, share, and publish reading lists on any number of subjects. It’s all online for easy access and completely free.

• Runs within major Web browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari.
• Works on Windows, Mac, Linux.
• Free hosting of reading lists.
• Free drag and drop editor for creating reading lists.
• Free widget for publishing reading lists on your Web pages.
• Compatible with blogging tools, Facebook, iGoogle, Netvibes, Windows Live, and mobile phones, including the iPhone.

Register today for a free account HERE.

The put a reading list on your site with Grazr is based on two simple steps:

1. Create a Reading List to gather and organize information on a topic.
2. Place a widget for that reading list on your Web page.