Week4-Blog Post#8- Reflection on Blogging

The Web 2.0 tool that I have found appealing and particle to me are collaborative writing tools like Buzzword and Google docs. I like Google sketch as well. Second life will take a little more getting use to familiarizing myself with how to function in the virtual world.

Now for blogging and twittering, I still don’t get it. I must be so old school that it hinders me from accepting these means as communication. I need feedback to communicate and not just writing out my ideas into space is difficult for me to handle.  I remember phrases I grew up like “Loose Lips Sink Ships” and “Keep your opinions to yourself less ye be a subject of ridicule or scrutiny”. The other day T sent a message to my niece on private twitter message and she replied, “What’s up?” and it came over my phone. So I thought she was text messaging me. Later it I found out that I shared personal things for all to read on twitter. I found this out from my mother.  So now I am more timid and reserve than I have ever been.

I am looking forward to tools that will help me develop interactive lesson plans, and I can see many tools as a good source for educational purposes.  WebQuest,  can be used by teachers regularly, and I hope to spread the word around our school District. I am looking forward to exploring the Quest Atlantis, program especially it’s use here in Alaska.

My over all opinion of this course was that it was filled with a lot of useful information, but skipping around the EMDT program I had established many new friendship until I joined this class. Joining a group in the fourth month is difficult because they all have established their tight knit collaborative groups. Or maybe I’m not as sociable as I thought I was.

Week 4- Blog Post#7-Second Life

What an adventure, with every visit to a number of locations in Second Life, I rarely saw anyone. Now, I must log in at varying times and days of the week, but I find myself visiting empty buildings. I continue to struggle maneuvering my Avatar around, and I can’t seem to open up any boxes. My Avatar is either wearing a box on her head or around her waist. If that’s not bad enough, I found in my inventory something called angel blades and thinking they were wings I pressed the apply button. (Lol) I discovered it to be a huge arrow with the point mounted on my Avatar’s head and the shaft through the body protruding out my backside. Tragic!

            Managing to drum up enough courage and return to an area called Multiple Intelligence, http://slurl.com/secondlife/koru/58/212/0   I wanted to create something with the blocks, but I had no idea how to move them.  Somehow, to play the drums in the music area made me so proud of my Avatar. But then I realized, that if she were asked to repeat her musical ability, she would find it difficult.

            I visited the headquarters for ISTI, http://www.iste.org/content/navigationmenu/membershi_member_networking/iste_second_life.html the Teacher’s Blogging Hut, several art galleries, Blackwater Art Gallery (one of my favorite places), a SL Film school, and a Gaming building, which had several board games available to play. But sadly nobody was present. I did sign up for several groups, but I haven’t seen anyone. Once I was so excited when I transported myself to (who knows where) and saw an Avatar. She looked at me and said, “Can you talk?” Well, I fumbled around looking for the talk button to greet her, but she gave up a started to walk away saying, “You obviously you don’t know what the… you are doing”. Oh, and after she walked away I found the text box and wrote, “Hi!” (To nobody) and concluded writing “Well, I blew that!” Texting to myself I guess, is like, virtually talking to ones’ self. Boy, do I feel foolish.

            Accessing where my biggest hurtles are in the SL world, I would have to admit not being able to effectively maneuvering my Avatar hinders me from freely exploring all that SL has to offer. Therefore, I purchased a book, ”Scripting your world: the official guide to second life scripting” by Dana Moore, Michael Thome, and Dr. Karen Zita Haigh (2008) The book was written for the new generation of software developers…” in mind as well as the common Second Life resident.”(p.iii) Joe Miller, the Vice President of Technology and Platform Development Linden Labs, had this to say about the book. “We at Linden Labs believe this book serves as an educational travel companion for exploration of the innovative, virtual world.” (p.iii) I hope this book helps me overcome many obstacles I face every time I enter the virtual world.  All I can remember about programming is the term binomials, having key cards to enter into a main frame and creating a silhouette of a mouse on paper with xxxx000xxxx0000 patterns. I know, totally the dark ages.

  

Reference

            Moore Dana, Thome Michael, Zia Haigh Karen Dr, “scripting your world: the official guide to second life scripting, 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana

Week3 Blog Posting#6 - Communities of Practice

When I started this program at Full Sail,  I had no idea how far and fast the development of the internet had come through the years.  When my school district began this atomic learning direction, I became intrigued and excited thinking that our district is on the cutting edge of technology. To my dismay, I came to the realization that our school district with all its web 2.0 tools and applications are extremely behind the rest of the country and world. To make things worse, I have discovered that Rural Alaska’s education surpasses our metropolitan community in technology.

Here I had planned to brag that our school district could be a role model for communities of practice, because students, staff, administration (at all levels), support staff, and parents are all tied together through the internet using a program that links us all together. Parents can know instantly if their kids are ditching class, in trouble, has slipping grades, even what the kids are eating at lunch. Newsletters for each school, the district or a single classroom can be accessed from the websites.. As I learn more about communities of practice from the book “Here Comes Everybody” by Clay Shirky (2008,p.101) I desired to search further through the internet and discovered that there were thousands of these communities.  Shockingly my best friend and her husband belonged such a community in the gamming cluster.

This was a big disappointment, I did not expect that educational communities and gamming communities could mingle with each other, which they do indirectly through cluster sharing, an area I’m just learning about.  To make sense of this all, I had to purchase an additional book called,” A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and tools for succeeding in the Social Web” by Deltina Hay.  I figured that I needed all the help I can, so that I could be more useful in supporting my school district through its growth in this technical age.

To clarify where I’m coming from as a former teacher now subbing, I recall how just a few years ago I was a stay at home mom, involved in the many mom and tot programs, and gathering with other mothers in support of each other. The stay at home mothers were known for the practice of community and would now be considered as, ”The old school of Community.” Lost in the Utopia of motherhood, my undergraduate studies seemed to be obsolete.  So I mustarded up enough courage to return to school only to discover that the world has passed me bye. What’s worse is that my 80 year old, mother is more tech savvy than I. What kind of 80 year old waits on Twitters’ doorstep for her kids to register? I still haven’t gotten over that event.

Week3 Blog Posting#5 - Social Media

Reviewing various videos about “Social Media”, I have come to the decision which video made the most sense and is the easiest to accept. That was the video, “Social Media in Plain English.” (2008,May) found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MplOClX1jPE  . The use of new technology allows feedback from others, so improvements can be made. It helps with organization to help customers find what they are looking for. As well as, the new technology helps users generate more contacts (or customers without the high cost of advertising) with little or no effort.

These same principles, described in the “Social Media in Plain English” video can be applied in education, at any grade level.  As the student develops their blog, they begin to learn to organize their site, formulate their ideas into just the right words, she their ideas, and analyze the feedback given which can be anything from corrective criticism to supportive encouragement. I can see where the student will gain self-confidence, courage to share their ideas, trigger creative innovation, a network of supports, and a voice if they never had a voice before that was heard or recognized. This new technology in education most definitely belongs in the classroom. The biggest benefit students will experience with Social Media is the real life applications of technology displaying tangible steps of progression.

The George Lucas Educational Foundation’s web site “edutopia”

http://www.edutopia.org/search/node/Social%20Media%20in%20education , has 45 pages of articles, videos, student testimonies, all pertaining to Social Media usage in education. I highly recommend anyone associated with education at any level review some of the content in this link above. I now believe that as schools begin to embrace the new technology and the changes in our culture, the public may start to warm up to the change.

When Prime Minister Gordon Brown, spoke in Oxford, England this July, (2009)

http://www.ted.com/talks/gordon_brown.html he spoke about writing a web for global good. He showed how images had captured the attention of people around the world. By explaining how prevalent collaborative communications and the sharing of information has become, he feels that it is our moral and ethical duty to use this new technology and develop a global community to address issues that no longer affect a single country. I see his point, but many older folks may see his enthusiasm for his “cause “ as another fore front movement before WWII, The Cuban Missile Crisis, Viet Nam, Salt II, The Cold War. There are still a number of us that remember these events and remember that with each time period and historical event, a sense of panic moved among the people. To this day there are many US citizens that want to remain a Democracy as our Forefathers had established. With speeches and movements moving as fast as technology and pressuring the public to either jump in or miss the boat, a new level of panic will arise and be grounds for folks to fear that a one world order may be developing.

Week2-Blog Posting#4-21stCentury Skills & Lifelong Learning

The 21^st century skills we face are basically technical literacy’s. The does and don’ts. of handling this fast growing community of information. Well, it’s not exactly defined in the manner of does and don’ts. They are skills we should know to guide us through the informational highway. Rules to surf by, to coin a phrase.  It’s basically, knowing what to ask and how to validate the source.  Many other skills are involved as well, such as, being aware of the network, cooperation with others on sharing information, Participating where you share information that is of value to yourself and others or being a part of a collective action. Critical consumption, is basically weeding out the good from the bad information (identifying reliable sources).

My last post I shared a video from a web site where the teenager displays the usage of these skills and found that they were important enough to share with the elementary age kids. If you were unable to view it before, I highly recommend viewing it with the 21^st century skills in mind. http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-profile-virginia-video

Her life evolves around many facets of media and the lessons, self- discovery as well as the skills of inventive thinking, effective communications, with a high level of productivity. Virginia will be able to carry these skills on throughout her life.

Lifelong Learning, a concept that I have known since I was a child in the sixties. Growing up Internationally provided me with many unique experiences. By the time I had reached elementary school, I had already seen things that majority of my peers would never see for themselves. I didn’t realize that at my age my peers couldn’t even imagine what I was describing, let alone for it to be true. Teachers criticized me rather than validating my accounting with my parents. By the time I was in High school I struggled to share what it was like to be in East Germany right after the wall was completed, or visit Auschwitz Camp and recalling the awful smell (which later I learned was of burnt flesh).

My parents were excellent writers and they always told me that I would be able to utilize all my life experiences when I got older. So the personal quest began, to learn as much as possible so that I would have boxes of information to write about.

Still feeling young in my early twenties, I was having tea with Helen Hayes MacArthur when she impressed upon me to never stop learning, no matter how old you are. My mother proved to me that what Helen said was the truth. At 75 years old, my mom graduated from Valencia Community College in Orlando then moved on to Florida Central University. Now at 80 she’s an avid reader, internet user, and a hula dancer at the Polynesian Center at Disney.  She encouraged me to return to school and her I am at Full Sail University.

Almost twice my age my mother can run circles around me surfing the Net. I registered for Twitter and as soon as my registration was complete and arrow icon popped up and stated the I already had a follower on my Twitter doorstep. I clicked the arrow and it was my mother. Then every week she would give me a book review, the latest book was “Hear Comes Everybody” by Clay Shirky. The book before this one was Sir Ken Robinson’s newest book called the “Eement”.

While reviewing Buy Gitomer’s video Life Long Learning (April 2008) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh6yd6wfCgU  his 12.5 steps were real familiar words. My overall struggle with all this networking and learning, I still don’t feel I’m hear or even sharing meaningful information.

Week1_Post#1_Web2.0 in Education

Web 2.0 tools in education has become increasingly effective to the over all transformation of our education systems. Many tools such as the Promethean Boards, found at www.promethean.org ,have been highly successful in my school district. They can be found in nearly every classroom K-12.  Educators as well as Certified Substitute Teachers are trained to use the full spectrum of its Web 2.0   tools. This tool has the ability to present slides, videos, developing lesson plans, provide interactive activities through the net, and global learning, via video conferencing. This tool also offers many more features for the educator to incorporate in their classroom.

On the web site www.edutopia.org they provide many videos, blogs, programs, research for all those involved in education. I enjoy reviewing the various resources and extract videos, or articles I find interesting or that I would like to share. This web site also is linked to the social Networking communities like Delicious, Twitter, Blogger, to name a few. One of my favorite videos to share with educators about utilizing web 2.0 tools in the classroom can be found at the following http://edutopia.org/digital-generation-teachers-vicki-davis  This video features Vicki Davis in her rural Georgia, High school classroom,  I figure the first image that pops into your mind when you read rural Georgia, High School, you either though of a little country town or cow tipping. Inside Vicki Davis’s classroom you could never get the sense that you were in an actual rural environment. Hit the link and see this innovative teacher engage her students with assignments that I would only expect at a post secondary level education.

Following the video of Vicki’s class, click the link to a video interview of a student.

http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-profile-virginia-video  The student Virginia is  a student of Vickie Davis in Georgia. Her profile focuses on how much she has learned by doing (using the web 2.0 tools). Both videos are inspirational and informative.

My final comment to this blog is, to encourage educators to never loose sight of allowing the learner to explore and be creative. In support, I would like to share with you a video featuring one of my favorite speaker and author Sir Ken Robinson.

http://www.edutopia.org/sir-ken-robinson-creativity-part-one-video

Week1_Post#1_Web2.0 in Education

Week1-Post#2_Twitter/Social Networking in Education

Blogging and Social Networking have become in creditably popular in our society. Once thought its usage was primarily a young person’s past time, now is not limited to any one particular group. It’s wide spread usage and increased number of Social Network sites have drawn people from all walks of life, ages, businesses and organizations. Thus creating a global trend that has shaped the 21^st century.

Educating educators, about these new technical trends, has become necessary since the instructional methods of the past no longer engage the learner. Educators not willing to seek out new ways to engage their learners, risk loosing the brightest, most creative honor role students in their classrooms.

I agree whole heartily with Stephan Dowes (2006), who believes that “Web 2.0 is not a technical revolution but a social revolution”. This statement could also hold true for the social networking systems, which provide community, delivery of information, acceptability, validation, challenges and inquiry. As time progresses, the quality and rate of information shared in the social networking communities has increased at alarming rates, compared to the old print media sources. Social networking is directly connected to the rapid increase of shared information. The more numbers of people sharing information, collaborating ideas, sharing interests and cultures, the more this form of information increases in its quality and validation.

Educators have seen this rapid increase of information as a great resource for learners to broaden their education beyond the classrooms four walls. Social networking tools such as www.twitter.com or www.edublogs.org  have become increasingly accepted among educators who have incorporated innovative usages for social networking to be highly effective in their classrooms. There are two videos at one site, which show how Twitter can be applied in the classroom. http://www.fsoblogs.com/emdtms/2009/7/24/tweet-tweet.html  the site for edublog is specifically an educational blogging platform for teachers, students and others in the educational community. This site is an international blogging community written in the English language. I post blogs on this site to share unique educational stories about the extremes in Alaska. All are welcomed to follow me at http://www.alaskateacherusa.edublogs.org/  My blog is entitled Teaching Extremes in Alaska.

Week2-Post#3_Media Literacy

The new literacy of the 21st Century extends beyond reading, writing, and cogent arguments on paper, it has developed or evolved into a "language of screens"( Barish 2002). Now I understand that literacy means community involvement. To us Baby Boomers, community involvement means something entirely different.  Community to us is a physical area people where people live, work, play and learn. When we refer to community involvement, we think of those people in the community involved (gathered for a common purpose) or gathered to work on a common project or purpose.

Since, this new literacy has skills involving technical collaboration, does that place most of the older generation into the illiterate classification? And if there is not a requirement to contribute, then what skills are taught without conflict? Most will agree we humans grow, mature, better understand, when we are forced to work through a crisis or conflict. Even if the conflict is a mere debate or argument. Where is the sense of value you get if nobody contributes to what you write?

Henry (2008), describes the usage of these new skills as play by play, problem solving by experimenting. He refers to using these skills through trial and error play in the virtual world not the real world. I see where it provides a safe environment but where's the accountability? consequences for our actions? Lessons of Hard Knock?

Goals or purpose to playing games in the 21st century to me are not justified. Sure, if you want to accept a social environment of utopia as reality. Now, gaming and simulations can become useful for the purpose of training and practice, but as there becomes more and more ease and access to information, remixing of media, reading others comments without being required to comment, or tapping in on others creativity or ideas. This type of openness without boundaries creates not only copyright violations, but stolen ideas, inconsideration for others, a lack of ethics, plagiarism, and the loss of an individual to find their own creativity from their own work.

I don't agree with nor do I understand how they say that the 21st century multitasking is different from multitasking in earlier years. This is hard for me to accept as a true statement. I feel it may be used as an excuse to explain the youth of today.

If Distributed Cognition theory says that, "other people's environments and situations effect our intelligence." I am not convinced that this theory can be applied 100% to the environments created through web 2.0 tools. However, I feel Collective Intelligence, as Levy (1999), "stared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals", can be  an applicable statement regarding the Web2.0 tools and the learning environment.

I highly agree with the fact that critical thinking skills need to be taught, and if Transmedia information is the way to accomplish the training of these skills for the 21st century I encourage that as well. The Arts hold a special interest to me, because I know that it increases our understanding of the world. I don't foresee the arts totally converting towards the 21 century tools and becoming immersed in the new definition of literacy, but I have seen the virtual world embrace art and attempting to create, display, and promote works of art to it's truest form.

My final area I would like to comment on is in the area and skills of public speaking, presentations, storytelling, all with Web 2.0 tools and how effective these means can become in education. It was appropriate to focus on the literacy term as to become knowledgeable about the usage of digital technologies rather than focusing on the individual who is or is not literate. Each one of the above areas has enabled educators to engage their students effectively with the use if web 2.0 tools. Thus, I can agree with the term Digital Literacy as a whole entity of its own.