Web 2.0 - Think outside the Classroom

http://www.davidwarlick.com/2cents/

Last nights presentation by David Warlick was interesting but I found it very chaotic at our site what with some technical difficulties and such.

I took the time today to go to Mr. Warlick's home page, which included RSS feeds to some interesting articles and all kinds of interesting information ( I have bookmarked this page). I learned a great deal more by digging around. I found out that Jeff's real name is Jeff "The Wiki Man" Whipple, hehehe.

Listened to the podcast - Connect Learning with David Warlick, from that I listened to people trying to define web 2.0; some said web 2.0 is:

- engaging in converstion with the world

- teaching kids to learn how to learn

-kids are not just recipients of knowledge, they are active participants

I also looked at the article - Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century, which was the topic of his presentation. There were some thought provoking questions there that I still have rolling around in my brain.

- What do you need to know, when most of recorded knowledge is a mouse click away?

- How do you distinguish between good knowledge and bad knowledge?

- What does it do to the value of information, when everyone is a producer?

- How do we address ethics, when we are empowering our students with such prevailing skills?

Get back to you on that Mr. Warlick. I'm still trying to figure out how to hyperlink.

All in all, great fun.

http://www.davidwarlick.com/2cents/
http://www.landmark - project.com
http://www.davidwarlick.com/wiki/pmwiki-php?=Main.RedefiningLiteracyFor the21stCentury

A Great Loss

http://tribalfires.com/ritajoe/

We have lost a person who was the voice and educator for the Mi'kmaq people. It is a great loss and I send my sincere condolences to her family. I will always remember her. Here is one of my favourite poems that she wrote:

I Lost My Talk

I lost my talk
The talk you took away
when I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school

You snatched it away:
I speak like you
I think like you
I create like you
The scrambled ballad, about my word.

Two ways I talk
Both ways I say
Your way is more powerful

So gently I offer my hand and ask,
Let me find my talk
So I can teach you about me.

http://www.pl,org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A156
http://geocities.com/Athens/Atlantis/6225/joe1.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2007/03/21/rita-joe.html

Coming of Age & Keeping in Touch with Technology

I have finished my assigned reading and I am learning a great deal about weblogs and how teachers are applying them in their classrooms. There are certainly plenty of creative and innovative teachers out there. Once this course is done, I am going to take the time to go through all the materials and the websites that they suggest you go and see because I want to learn as much as I can about it.
I want to make a quick comment on connective writing in blogs - where posting ends and blogging as an academic exercise begins. I was looking at what was considered a post and what was considered a complex blog. I was comparing that to my writing and realized that my writing is just a simple form of blogging. But, I do want to include pictures and hyper-links (something that I have never attempted yet) so that my blogging would be considered real-blogging. This is according to the book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Will Richardson).
The other book that we are reading Coming of Age, which is a compilation of articles by educators who are all for weblogs, wikis, etc...is very informative and filled with great suggestions. I just printed it off and had it bound because I plan on using that as a guide for my personal use and for teachers who would want to learn more about it.
It is funny that it is the educator who is coming of age and trying to catch up with our youth who are creating and coming up with ways to utilize technology (by leaps and bounds). What is key about this is that the our youth need to be taught about the ethics and proper etiquette about using technology. They know so much but, at times, do not know that some things are unacceptable.

Back to Blogging

Back from March Break and back to blogging mode. I hope that everyone had a nice and relaxing week. I stayed home and did absolutely nothing and it was wonderful.

The presentation Tuesday night on "Did You Know" was very interesting, by the way, the background music to that was from the soundtrack "Last of the Mohicans", I love that soundtrack. Anyway, technology is growing at such a rapid rate that it can get overwhelming if you dwell on it too much. I find myself constantly holding my breath and I am a bit scared of exhaling, my brain might explode.

I looked up virtual worlds online and I could not understand how people would find that appealing. I have trouble dealing with my own reality let alone a virtual one. On the negative aspect of virtual worlds, it opens the door for risky behaviour in otherwise "normal folk". I was watching Larry King Live last night and he had guests from Dateline to Catch a Predator, hosted by Chris Hansen, America's Most Wanted, hosted by John Walsh and the creator of the website pervertedjustice.com. They talked about just how many people that they had caught in chat rooms who were trying to lure kids. These people were seemingly normal folks that allowed themselves to practise such risky behaviour. They seem to think that they are anonymous online.

I was somewhat surprised to find my neices' little clip on youtube.com, it was filmed at night by her friends using a cell phone equipped with a video camera. She danced to a pop song that they had playing in the background. I never thought that she would put a video of herself on line.

Just finished the chapter on Read/Write Web (Web 2.0) and the impact it is going to have in today's society and the future as well. I wanted to make a quick comment on weblogs, RSS feeds, online photo galleries and audio/video casting. I can see how they can be used as a tool for educators. But, because teachers are so concerned about safety, especially with students from K-5, I do not think that they will be allowing their students to write in weblogs just yet. Teachers would probably let their students do weblogs if they knew they could control the students environment (somewhat) with filters, wiki-spaces and RSS feeds. But, correct me if I am wrong. Like it or not, this is something that is inevitable, kids are already on line.