My 2.0 web confessions

Finally, it has come to the end of a magnificent journey in the 2.0 web class learning to use 21st century technology.  The tools I learned in web2.0 will 1.) forever change the way I use technology in the classroom.  2.)  make my personal and professional life more enjoyable.  I accept the challenge of trying to get my colleagues to embrace technology and not shy away from it.

Personally, I learned that by creating my own wikis and blog, I can share my thoughts and ideas with others.  Diigo and social bookmarking has allowed me to organize, highlight, and store my information. When I find articles I can share them with others who have similar interests.  It is important to me to communicate what I learned in this course.

Professionally, google docs will be a critical step for me to communiate with administrators and other staff.  I need to challege myself to use these new found tools to greatly enhance my students higher level thinking skills.  More importantly, I can use my wiki and blog to vastly improve the communication between my parents and myself.
  However, it is still important to close the digital divide that remain between the have and the have nots.  Social  media is increaseingly becoming popular for the younger generation and the way we communicate. We as educators must learn to incorporate cell phones in the classroom.  There are some interesting articles on the positive use of cell phones in the classroom.  Lastly, no matter how much technology we use in the classroom, we still need to take extreme measures to protect the privacy of students.

Now that web 2.0 has exposed me to many exciting tools, the challenge for me should I except, is to continue to grow professionally through technology.  I will use my newfound knowlege to go back to school in August to encourage my colleagues to embrace technology and not reject it.

In conclusion, my plan for the year includes but not limited to 1.) eliminate the need to rely on paper. 2.) create greater accessibility for parents. 3.) use web 2.0 tools to create challenging and exciting student projects.

social bookmarking

  My username is mostep.
 I found it difficult getting started using Diigo.  This tool will become extremely valuable to me professionally once I learn how to navigate the site and use the toolbar.  Social Bookmarking will allow me highlight important info to share with other educators.  I can annotate info and check back later to see who else responded. I love the fact that I can share what I read with others who have similar interests.

Diigo will allow me to tag and organize sites.  I can provide sites for students and parents to do extra reading on a particular subject.  I can create groups for parents, send emails, collaborate with colleagues and keep admin informed.  As for my Personal Learning Network ( PLN), I am provided with unlimited information and resources to use at my discretion.  I can see what others are reading and sharing.

RSS Feeder summary

  RSS Feeds are a must.  I spend an enormous amount of time reading different articles everyday.  Setting up my google reader has allowed me to deposit all my information in one location.  RSS Feeds is like having someone constantly feeding you the latest information on what is happening around the world.  Feeds are useful for gathering news on many subjects, and upcoming events.  You can get all the information you need on one page.    The possibilities of their usage is practically endless.

As for students using the technology, I am not so sure.  Most of my students are reading below grade level. It would be wonderful for my students to sign up for google reader.  I can use google reader to bring content to my students, instead of having students search for it.  Hopefully, I want to learn to add discussion questions on google reader for my students to respond to.  I think the students who are shy would definitely benefit from answering discussion questions online.  Given the inequalities that exist in education I think that most students would be left out.

Professionally,  I am somewhat challenged on using technology in the classroom.  Learning to use my blog and keep it current is somewhat of a challenge.  I am really excited about creating my google reader, I look forward to creating some exciting lesson plans using google reader.  I am looking for help in learning to use my blog and google reader together.  I will definitely encourage my colleagues at my school to create a blog and incorporate google reader in the classroom.  It would be nice to use the inservice days during the year to teach teachers to incorporate google technology in the classroom.

ETools for educators

E tools offered me an opportunity to explore websites that will enhance and prolong my educational career.  The information found on the various sites were at times very overwhelming.  Remember this 2.0 web course is my first exposure into the use of technology in the classroom.  Still, two websites I found interesting were alicechristic and timetoast.

Alicechritic's site that provided information on virtual fieldtrips was very interesting.  Educators can use the virtual fieldtrip guide to create wonderful and exciting fieldtrips.  Since budget problems persist in the county today, going on a virtual field is essentially free.  I can't think of a better way to teach social studies, and at the same time increase student knowlege and understanding of a subject.  This site would be extremely helpful for educators to develop and discuss virtual field trips.

The site timetoast is a site used by educators to create timelines.  The only timelines I use, are those at the beginning of a unit or chapter in the textbook.  Now I can use timetoast to create timelines for use in the curriculm.  Not only can educators create timelines for students, but they can share them with others on the web.  I definitely will share this site with my colleagues in the social studies department.  Can't overstate the fact that's it free to join.  All one have to do is sign up!

Wiki versus Google Docs

I am extremely grateful for the web 2.0 class for exposing me to all the technology and educational tools available for the classroom.  I had no idea that google was used for anything other than email.  I now realize that wiki is more than just and online encyclopedia.
 Since viewing the videos and reading the various articles, I noticed that there are some fundamental differences between google Docs and Wiki.  Google document dosen't appear to have much control over content.  Wiki seems to be able to control or censor inapporiate content.  Wiki promotes collaboration, something that most educators, I think would cherish.  On the other hand, google documents seem to build on what other have created. 

If you want students to collaborate and work together both are good choices.  If you want to create projects, have pages for students, add resources then wiki would be a better choice.  On the other hand if you want students to make contributions to the same document at the same time, google Docs seem more appropriate.

Lastly, it seems to me that educators need to think carefully about what want they to accomplish with a project first.  Then they can choose the right tool to get the job completed.

creation of wikis

I have never cteated a wiki or even been on one.  I was scared a first, but it became easier once I messed around with it.  I still find it extremely difficult to navigate my wikis.  Schoos would have to do an inservice in order to get all teachers on the same page.  Teaching your class to use wiki would require extensive use of a computer lab if one is available.  How would you incorporate parents into the fold?  I can definitely see the huge potential for the use of wiki in the classroom.  For instance, wiki would be great for interdisciplinary projects.  What a great way to communicate with the entire class.  I really love the idea where students can build on each other's ideas.  It seems that students can learn and teach by using this technology.  More importantly, wiki can porvide shy students with an opportunity to contribute to projects and class discussions.

This is a very powerful tool in the hands of teachers.  Wiki could be a valuable tool to use to collaborate with colleagues.  Teachers and students can download and post tons of materials.Teachers can post homework and create a separate wikis for each class.  Wiki can have a poweful impact on teaching in the 21st century.

Although wiki can be fun and enlighting, great measures would have to be in place to safeguard students.  Students will need to be reminded that what they create will be on the internet.  They must be extremely careful of violating the privacy of others.  Having the ability to set private settings and restrict access is an invaluable tool.

Wiki in the Classroom

Learning about the use of wiki sites helped spark my interest on this great tool for teachers.  I feel that I can use a wiki website with my history classes in different ways.  The wiki website in my classes can be useful because the students will be able to communicate with one another while doing group projects that I give them.  I teach U.S. History, African American Studies, and Women Studies, and these classes are mainly based around group projects and comprehensive exams.  I could also use a wiki website to allow students to create and update study guides for the exams.  This interactive study guide helps to create interactive learning and fellowship between the students.  This allows for the more “shy” students to become more interactive in class activities.

Blogs and wikis differ in several ways.  Wiki websites are websites where people can edit the information on the webpage.  I think of a virtual whiteboard when thinking of a wiki website.  This comparison draws from the ability to be able to change the information presented on the website easily and effectively.  The wiki websites will allow students to create documents and interactively edit and present new information in one central place.  Wikipedia is a wiki website that I am most familiar with from the Google search engine.  A blog’s main purpose is for people to give their ideas and opinions on things in a forum type setting.  Teachers will mainly use blogs to post information and to give announcements to their students.  The main thing that I learned about a wiki website is that my students can use a wiki website in order to create their group projects and class study guides.  Wiki is a great tool to get students to actively participate within the class.  Learning about the wiki websites in a class setting was very interesting and helpful.  I want to learn more ideas on how to implicate a wiki website in my history classes.  The use of a wiki website is something that can be innovating and exciting in the classroom.

First Time Blog

This is my first experience with creating a blog. Designing this blog was fairly difficult. After learning how to use the controls on the blogger website, creating this post was much easier. Blogs can be useful in the classroom if administered correctly. This may be a difficult tasks for some, because of the technology gap that exists between teachers and students. Overall, I enjoyed creating my blog and hope that everyone enjoys my posts in the future.