Curation Exploration

     Recently I starting exploring Pearltress and I have to say that I am hooked.  When I first signed on and starting exploring how to use it the end result was not being able to walk away.   In the past I have used Paper.li and Tweeted Times and I was not as big of a fan with those sites.  I did prefer to use Paper.li over Tweeted Times when I compared the two due to the visual organization of it all.   I do not like the concept of selecting to scroll through the information as Tweeted Times requires. I do think however that the information is clear to read when using that tool. The text is a good size and it is nice that each topic is given its own space. The Paper.li tool however looks a lot like an old school newspaper. I can scroll over and down through the postings to see all that is available. The topics are clearly labeled (education, politics, art and entertainment, etc.) I appreciate the clear topic headings, the layout, and design of the whole site.

         When working with Pearltrees it is easy to see your "trees" easily in addition to the "pearls" that make up the trees.  Each pearl is a site of your choosing which can open into an additional window.  Similar to delicious or other curation sites like it, you are able to search for a topic and find the Pearltrees of others to look at and eventually pick for your own.  You can organize the pearls or whole Pearltrees in your drop box at the bottom of the screen.  This option is nice because you are able to control which ones you put up onto the desktop area within your Pearltrees and which to keep down below.

       Using this new tool after having used Paper.li and Tweeted Times in the past has expanded my view on curation.  I really enjoy the fact that the information is once again being presented in a different way.  The websites and resources are shown with picture icons that represent them.  They are also organized in a web format which for me makes a lot of sense.  Since this is more the way my brain works, this type of site makes a lot of sense to me.  

      I could use this tool with my students by having it up on my desktop while teaching.  I could picture myself using the site to easily be able to switch back and forth between resources online.  The students could then be exposed to the site and realize how easy it truly is to use.  I do see Pearltrees being use more within my own planning time and home use of the internet.  So often in class if I am switching between websites and exploring through tools online I really need to be sure I upload and open all the windows prior to the instruction.  Leaving the option for the sites to take a while to open or potentially not work is a big risk within a 4th grade room.  The more planning and preparation I can do before the children are in the room, the smoother the lessons tend to go. 

         This tool is much easier to manage than RSS feed tools in my opinion.  I still struggle with the sheer amount of information that is coming through on my feed and the way that information is organized.  I truly enjoy the visual representation of the Pearltrees site and can follow its organization much better than the RSS feed that I use. 

After working with Pearltrees I also worked with Scoop it.  Once again I am being exposed to new tools that help me to organize information.  All I can say about this resource is that I am still overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information that is out there. 

As I was discovering the scoop it accounts of others and searching by topic I realized just how long I could spend working on such an activity.  I went on for an hour rescooping one awesome resource after another, watching videos and reading articles about specific topics of interest to me.  This video is a good representation of what I have been thinking through using these tools.  The amount of information that is coming in and the speed at which it is being created is something to be in awe of.  The progression of technology over the years is an unbelievable topic to think about and these curation tools just keep reminding me of that. 

Wordle and Word Cloud Tools

            The Web 2.0 resource I used is considered to be in the ‘word cloud’ category of tools.  Below is the latest media resource I created for my classroom of 4^th graders.   In order to use this tool, you need to decide on a set of text that will be sifted through.  Eventually a ‘cloud’ of text is put out after being sifted that essentially represents key words and a quick picture of the original text.  Below in bold is the specific key words I typed in to the original text box to give my students a quick look at our new electricity unit.  Also included below then is the actual word cloud results picture. 

Materials such as copper metal that conduct electricity (allow it to flow freely) are called conductors. Materials that don't allow electricity to pass through them so readily, such as rubber and plastic, are called insulators. What makes copper a conductor and rubber an insulator?
A current of electricity is a steady flow of electrons. When electrons move from one place to another, round a circuit, they carry electrical energy from place to place like marching ants carrying leaves. Instead of carrying leaves, electrons carry a tiny amount of electric charge.

Electricity can travel through something when its structure allows electrons to move through it easily. Metals like copper have "free" electrons that are not bound tightly to their parent atoms. These electrons flow freely throughout the structure of copper and this is what enables an electric current to flow. In rubber, the electrons are more tightly bound. There are no "free" electrons and, as a result, electricity does not really flow through rubber at all. Conductors that let electricity flow freely are said to have a high conductance and a low resistance; insulators that do not allow electricity to flow are the opposite: they have a low conductance and a high resistance.

For electricity to flow, there has to be something to push the electrons along. This is called an electromotive force (EMF). A battery or power outlet creates the electromotive force that makes a current of electrons flow. An electromotive force is better known as a voltage.

            I have become so attached to using this tool that I try to do a world cloud for almost every unit I am doing.  I also used it for American Government this year because I could type in part of actual documents such as the Constitution and The Declaration of Independence.  Putting in parts of these real life documents excites the students once you reveal the way you got to the end result of the word cloud.  I do not always go back and show the students the text, but in the case of the real documents it really was awesome. With 4^th graders it is important to activate prior knowledge before beginning a unit such as this and this particular resource is perfect for it.  Studies have shown that students genuinely benefit from the activation of prior knowledge when being introduced to a topic.  The combination of getting them thinking about a topic and getting excited about being exposed to key words is an obvious positive to me!

            Accessing these sites is very easy because for the most part they are free.  If you search for any type of word cloud resource there are many that come up in the search.  I have found that there are several of these sites that I like, but the benefit of Wordle is the arrangement options once the sift has been done.  You can control the color, font, and placement of words once it is finished.   I feel this is a very great feature because you can alter it based on the unit and age of students. 

            Overall these recources are easy to use and helpful within my classroom.  Each time I wish to set up a word cloud I simply go onto the website, type in the text that goes with my unit, and hit “send.”  Once finished it is optional to adjust the way the cloud looks, but sometimes it looks so great that its done right then.  I will continue to use this web 2.0 resource within my classroom as much as possible.

www.wordle.com

What to keep and what to change?

           In my current teaching environment my 27 fourth grade students are in my classroom set up in desks that are in groups in order to aide in collaboration.  There is a Smart Board at the front of the room where all lessons are taught in one way or another.  Usually my lessons have specific slides that correspond with the information we are learning about.  I always post scanned pictures of the pages they are looking at in their workbooks and can point to exact numbers or problems when giving directions.  Although my school, students, and I are embracing the Smart Board Technology as a central focus we are still using workbooks, textbooks, teacher made packets, supplemental worksheets for practice, and traditional assessments. 

            In 2025 I hope that teaching spaces will look even more technologically driven and centered.  Students should be guiding their own discoveries and use inquiry based differentiated instruction with the support of a teacher as a facilitator.  I think the learning spaces will look less like rows of desks and more like tables designed to be collaborative work spaces instead of individual desks with folders holding all of their loose papers and school supplies.  Students would each have a laptop or iPad to work on and use to do simulations, research, writing, and reading during school time.  Thinking is encouraged, has endless amounts of freedom, and is not confined to the walls of the classroom.

            The main aspect of my current environment that I would keep is the sense of community within the classroom.  I plan to never lose the quality teaching that exists when telling the students of the importance that respect, kindness, empathy, and other character building traits can have on their lives.  With the technology driven collaborative classrooms, students being able to work together and respect each other in group work will be more important than ever. 

            One aspect of my classroom I would change is the use of paper/worksheets.  I use so many different worksheets in order to give the students additional practice.  I know that I can use my Smart Board or computers in order to get this practice in, but my struggle is in the assessment of that practice.  It is necessary for me to be constantly assessing the practice that we do in Math for example and all of my “checkpoint” assessments cannot be graded as easily at this point in my classroom through technology.  Right now I am able to collect the work, grade it, and then use it in order to guide further instruction.  If I had the Smart Board remotes I could see how easily I could do checkpoints throughout the units to check understanding.  It is my hope to get rid of all of the paper that I am constantly filing through and having to store and then recycle throughout the school year. 

            The changes I see happening could affect teachers, administrators, and learners in the sense that there will be a period of time when the changes need to be adapted to.  Everyone will need to get used to the changes and figure out what works for them and what will not.  Each individual will have to be constantly assessing their performance and learning throughout the whole process.  I think this change will be positive for everyone involved, but the process of getting used to it will be what some will struggle with.  In my experience teachers do not even like to find out their math or spelling curriculum is changing, so how will they react to a much larger change?  

WordSift

      I have recently started exploring a new resource for my classroom that has both interested and inspired my lessons.  Specifically for reading this online resource has given me a new outlook and experience with how to activate prior knowledge before reading.  As I have learned in so many texts throughout my undergrad education program and in continuing education, activating the students' prior knowledge can have a profound affect on the learning.  For example, from How Learning Works, we learn that students enter into our classrooms with a wide range of prior knowledge on a variety of subjects. (2010)  If students enter our rooms with a range of experiences then how can we, as teachers planning lessons, know how to plan accordingly.  

       This new resource is one I discovered through an exploration of delicious.  Through exploring the resources of those in my network.  It is www.WordSift.com.  I am able to take a large piece of text and enter it into a box.  The site then 'sifts' through it and turns out a selection of words from the text.  The example given on the site is the 'I Have a Dream' Speech.  If entered into the text box, the following words come back to you: able, freedom, great, hope, injustice, join, negro, satisfied, stand, together, and white.  This is just a selection of the total number of words that come through after the 'sift' but it gives a good picture of how the site works.  

Here is an example of a "not so great" way to introduce a topic.  Although something I have definitely done in the past.  This is the type of introduction I would like to get away from, and wordswift will help me do so. 

     

       The concept of activating prior knowledge is so very important and I truly feel so happy that I have encountered this site and am able to use it in my classroom.  I am excited about the potential experiences I may have and the types of conversations that will happen in reaction to these word sifts in the classroom. 

Resources:

Ambrose, Susan A., Bridges Michael W.,  DiPietro, Michelle, Lovett, Marsha C., Norman, Marie K.    (May 2010) How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. California:  Josey-Boss

inairah. (January 15, 2011) Retrieved September 7, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKVFoljm3As&feature=related

talawless. (July 30, 2011) Retrieved September 8, 2011 from  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=397edFYDocc

Wiki Reflection

My personal experience with the Wiki process started out a lot like this....

In the beginning I did not have a clue what the word Wiki meant.  I thought it was an abbreviation for Wikipedia.  It is interesting how I began the journey to understand this concept because it began through searching Google for a definition of a Wiki.  Of course the first place it brought me to was Wikipedia.  Imagine the confusion at that point.  I realized quickly that in order to really understand I would have to research through many different sources to really understand what I was dealing with.  

Through exploring and creating the collaborate wiki on instructional design I learned about the ease of using a wiki and the benefits of collaboration.  Before collaborating on a wiki I had been involved in conversations about citing Wikipedia and the concept of never knowing if the information comes from a valid source.  I had heard of the concept of Wikipedia being an open source for anyone to add information on a topic, but did not quite understand that this idea is used in many other sites.  (Or should I say wiki's)  The collaborating between colleagues was rough at first because I could not quite tell who had worked on what.  Through the discovery of the 'history' tab, I found I could track at least the names of users that have edited a page.  The concept of editing and adding to others' work without speaking to them directly was difficult for me.  I will definitely be better at this the next time I participate in a collaboration of this type.  


If I used a wiki again I would try to give comments and feedback through another source such as email while collaborating.  I would be specific about which parts I had added to a site and other thoughts as to what could be added in order to make the wiki better.  For classroom use I believe this would be extremely difficult for the students in the elementary setting.  If I were able to work with an older group I would be sure to have specific directions regarding siting of sources and exact requirements to meet.  I could see it working more as a topic that I begin as a teacher and then ask certain students to be responsible for adding specific details.  An example could be a wiki on the American Revolution and giving one student the topic of the Battle of Bunker Hill and another the Declaration of Independence.  I would require that each student gives a short 3-5 sentence description, date, important people, and location of the event or topic which was assigned to them.  


I look forward to more wiki exploration and collaboration in the future!


Resource:
jibyollee. (April 30, 2009). YouTube.com.  Retrieved August 31, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ

Digital Natives and Residents VS. Digital Immigrants and Visitors

 

 

       In the recent readings for class the topic of discussion is over technology terms that describe the use of technology in one's life.  As David White explains there are terms that represent those who spend a large percentage of their life online, "residents", and those who do not, "visitors."  White states that residents live a life in which the web supports.  That their relationships are driven by the web and socializing, living and self expression are are done through some sort of online source or program. (2008) The other term he uses is to represent those who go online for a specific task such as researching a phone number or to get directions.  These "visitors" use online tools when needed but they do not constantly express themselves online or socialize mainly through online resources.  

       Comparably, Marc Prensky describes these terms to be Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants.  (2001)  The Digital Natives represent those people who are "native speakers" of the language of technology of today.  Those people who have become interested in the digital world at a later point in their lives and participate in some of the aspects of technology are referred to as Digital Immigrants.  When the Digital Immigrant goes onto the internet they are doing it as a secondary thought as apposed to their first option.  (Prensky, 2001)  They are easily distinguished from natives through what Prensky calls the "immigrant accent."  The example he uses is the person who makes a phone call to ask, "Did you receive my email?"  

       In my past two years of teaching I have most often encountered the Digital Immigrant because of the teams I have been on.  I have worked with a teacher with 43 years experience and another with 45 years.  Both of these teachers did not except a new Promethean Board in their classrooms because it was their last year or couple of years before retirement.  Prensky says that Digital Immigrants are not impressed by the new skills of the Digital Natives, nor do they wish to understand the skills. (2001)  The video below is a representation of the other side of the story.  It is so easy to judge and be upset with the older generation as they sit and refuse to adapt to new technologies.  Through my two years of working with these individuals however, I began to try to see it from their point of view.  After teaching for 43 years in the same type of style, how could they possible adapt all of this new technology in their one final year?  I am not saying I completely side with them, but sometimes it is important to at least consider what they may be feeling.  Could this change in their world really be that difficult to handle?

 

             Pensky's Digital Native concept is what I personally experience as the learners of today.  As an elementary teacher, I do find that my students have been born in the era of advanced and constantly improving technology.  The students have multiple devices available to them at one time and typically are operating them all at once.  Pensky believes that as teachers we have to adapt to the new language of our learners. (2001)  I agree with this idea in the sense that we "do not have to change the meaning of what is important, but we do have to go faster."  I believe that the content can stay mostly the same and the way in which we instruct and present information must change.  For example, adapting all of the lessons in the classroom to be used on the SMART board.  The same basal reader can still be used, but graphic organizers can be interactive and stories can be read aloud through the speakers.  
           I find these terms to be valuable in determining the competency of my learners regarding technology.  The only aspect of the terms that I question is how specific we can be about fitting into one category or another.  I truly feel as though people around my age (27) tend to be stuck somewhere in the middle.  I could never claim to be a person who immerses myself in technology and lives a life in the online environment.  However, I do use the computer and online resources for more than banking and searching for information on a topic.  I think I could probably classify myself as being somewhere in the middle, if that is possible.
         The terms of White of the visitor and resident are a more accurate description of people than the Digital Natives and Immigrants because I feel as though some students really do "live" their lives online.  Pensky's points are valid and are extremely important, but in terms of my own personal use of the vocabulary, I will stick to residents and visitors. 


Resources:

miscoehill. (October 27, 2009) YouTube.com.  Retrieved August 26, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jMy3kSNRAQ

Prensky, M. (October 2011) Digital natives, digital immigrants. NCB Univeristy Press (Vol 9 No 5).

White, D. (July 23, 2008) Not “natives and immigrants” but visitors and residents. Retrieved from http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2008/07/23/not-natives-immigrants-but-visitors-residents/ 

wolffwrtf09. (November 3, 2009) YouTube.com. Retrieved August 24, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umVcWiRzTNI

Screen Capture Exploration

          After working this week with a new tool that I had never encountered, I had to talk about it.  It was so interesting to prepare what was an assignment and presentation, but realize in the end how much I was enjoying myself.  As with most assignments I have encountered this semester of my graduate program, I come away with learning something.  This concept is quite amazing because I consider myself to be lucky.  I am fortunate to be exposed to great tools and programs that I have never seen.  While being required to produce presentations and assignments I am learning about products I can continue to use throughout my teaching career. 
         That being said, this week I explored Screencast-O-Matic. [www.screencastomatic.com]  I used this program to create a very simple "how to" instructional clip.  The website is free, incredibly easy to use, and has endless possibilities.  Once you sign in a large box will appear and the program will be running in the background of your computer.  I liked that I was able to continue going through my email and clicking back and forth to different windows while still having the program open.  When I was finally ready to record my video I simply pressed Option + P to start and to pause.  At that point if I decided to pause and look through a different resource I could continue to do so without disrupting my video in progress.  I have attached my video here for viewing to show the end product.  I cannot say enough about the easiness of using this program and how wonderful the end product came out to be.  The video is a simple and quick instruction of how to upload photos to the iMovie program.  Hope you enjoy. 

          In regards to this program's usefulness in relation to what I am learning in my class, this tool would be very appropriate!  In Clark, Nguyen, and Sweller's "Efficiency In Learning" the importance of developing programs that are not loaded with an excessive amount of complex material.  The learners need to have directions presented to them in a clear, concise manner in order to balance their mental load.  I believe this program offers a way to reduce extraneous cognitive load through the use of visual and auditory presentation.  (Clark, Nguyen, & Sweller, 2006)  According to their research, the use of audio to explain is more efficient than when text is used.  Additionally, visuals benefit from an audio explanation because the cognitive load is reduced.  The learner does not have to look at the diagram or animation while at the same time reading text.  The learner is able to listen while the description is being given.  This screen capture tool has endless possibilities as I said, but a few examples of its use that come to mind are, explanation of using a website, describing an animation of a topic specific to a course, or detailed description of how to use a computer program required for a class project. 
          I believe this program is worth exploring and has benefits true to what I am learning in my coursework this semester.  This program can be used with any computer document, online website or tool that comes on the computer.  I would even say that students are able to use this program with little guidance.  I am already planning when I can use it in my classroom this school year.