Here it is y'all---my week one post.
Blogs let anyone with an internet connection have a website of their very own.
I'm not sure that's such a good idea.
Pithy remarks aside, I have attempted to answer the questions posed for our comprehensive assignment within these tech explorations.
Wikis
Blogs let anyone with an internet connection have a website of their very own.
I'm not sure that's such a good idea.
Pithy remarks aside, I have attempted to answer the questions posed for our comprehensive assignment within these tech explorations.
Wikis
1.
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Describe what you
learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
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For starters, I looked at the history of wikis, which is
explored in more detail here:
And from there, the basic definition of a wiki is as follows:
”…a web application which
allows people to add, modify, or delete content in collaboration with
others. In a typical wiki, text is written using a simplified markup language (known
as "wiki markup") or a rich-text editor. While a wiki is a
type of content management system, it differs from a blog or
most other suc systems in that the content is created without any defined
owner or leader, and wikis have little implicit structure, allowing structure
to emerge according to the needs of the users."
Wiki is a Hawaiian word for quick, and one of the first
wikis was called WikiWikiWeb, and the name also referred to the earliest wiki
software, but since it was developed, there are dozens of programs to create
wikis. We were asked to look at
www.pbworks.com, a company that provides wiki solutions, but has expanded
their focus to include other kinds of online collaborations. The founder of
WikiWikiWeb called wikis "the easiest online database that could
work." (Ward Cunningham)
That basic description includes the word database, which
is the key concept involved in wiki creation.
The largest wiki, Wikipedia, has essentially replaced the print
encyclopedia as the first or most general reference used online.
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2.
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How could you use
this resource in a school setting? It
does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how
the resource might be used in educational settings.
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Wikis have endless uses in a school setting, whether or
not they are created by teachers and students, or simply referenced. I explained my students that Wikipedia is
edited by anyone. Although many editors are reputable and knowledgeable in
their field of study, literally anyone can make changes to the Wikipedia
article, and many sources are not reliable.
I suggest that they use wikis as beginning reference points for information,
or histories and ideas that are generally agreed upon or well-debated. The footnotes included in a Wikipedia
article show quite reputable sources and should always be explored further. The smaller wikis have the advantage of
much tighter control over editing, but also suffer the disadvantage of much
fewer editors.
I could immediately instruct my students in referring to wikis for schoolwork of any kind, but I would find the creation of new, subject-specific wikis a challenge due to learning the software and developing the content. |
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3.
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Would you recommend
this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and
so forth. Why or Why not?
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I could certainly recommend the use of wikis to other
teachers and students. I do believe it is important to caution students that
wikis are very dynamic, and therefore change rapidly and large sites like
Wikipedia are somewhat susceptible to abuse. There are literally hundreds of
thousands of people editing Wikipedia and lending their expertise in an
attempt to keep the knowledge contained therein reliable.
It is certainly possible that just any classroom could
benefit by the creation of a class wiki or a wiki covering a subject area, such
as an AP biology wiki that frames general biology principles in a in a
context specifically aimed at students intending to take the AP biology exam. A wiki could be thought of as a much more
advanced version of a word wall, a common vocabulary-building tool employed
in elementary schools.
As for PBworks.com, I could not specifically recommend use
of this particular wiki site without further exploration of the specific
tasks involved in creating a wiki.
There are many sites offering the service of wiki database software
where people can collaborate to create wikis on any topic. The collaborative
effort is the key element in wiki success.
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E-books
1.
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Describe what you
learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
|
I was asked to view www.tumblebooks.com and discuss e-books
in general. E-books can be a good way
to encourage reading in students because they don't have to carry books
around with them, and practically everyone in high school has a smart phone.
E-books are fairly common, and many students in my schools
have e-readers.
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2.
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How could you use
this resource in a school setting? It
does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how
the resource might be used in educational settings.
|
E-books could be used in any class that is using printed
books for a class reading, or even replace textbooks in some situations.
Ebooks can be advantageous for a number of reasons.
Lotta Larson, a professor of curriculum and instruction at
Kansas State University explains why in an article on the University's
website:
"The availability and affordability of
e-books for children and young adults have increased rapidly, so teachers and
students have endless options for both fiction and nonfiction texts,"
she said. "E-books are generally less expensive than print copies of the
same book, and they don't wear out as quickly as a print copy. Another
advantage is the instant access. Generally, an e-book can be downloaded in a
matter of minutes. The devices allow the reader to customize the
reading experience by adjusting the font size and page layout, or through the
use of tools and features like a built-in dictionary, highlighter, digital
notes or text-to-speech capabilities."
The example we were given to peruse e-books, The Gwinnett
County Public Library, was typical of many public library sites with ample
access to E-books for its patrons. It
included links to www.tumblebooks.com, which I found to be an excellent
resource for e-books for small children.
It did not require logging on (when accessed through the public
library site) and appeared easy to navigate, and was free. Tumblebooks.com provides e-books for children
in primary through about grade 3. The
sites for older students required a login. Grades 3 to 8 can use TumblebookCloud
Jr, and high schoolers can use Tumblebookcloud, but most books are aimed at
younger students. The tumblebooks site
is unique because the books had accompanying audio and some animations, and
were very easy for very small children to learn to use.
E-reader devices that use color and sound, such as the
Kindle Fire series can include photographs and other interactions involving
text.
The major challenge I would predict for e-books in a classroom could be the cost and available of e-reader devices. I am not sure about classroom licensing fees for students using their own devices. This challenge would require further research.
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3.
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Would you recommend
this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and
so forth. Why or Why not?
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I could certainly recommend www.tumblebooks.com for use in
a classroom or library. I would recommend the use of ebooks in general as
well, due to their portability, affordability and ease of use.
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1.
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Describe what you
learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
|
First, a slight digression, but, that is often the purpose
of blogs…..
I have listened to podcasts for years, even before I had a
device that made them portable, such as an Ipod or smartphone. I was listening
using a PC. I traded mp3 files before there were mp3 players, and I remember
thinking how mp3s would completely change the way we listened to music, or
consumed any kind of audio data. Keep
in mind, however, that I was only person I knew who had a modem attached to
their computer and paid for dial-up Internet service while in a college dorm
room. This was the early nineties, and
there were networked computers on campus, with about one per dorm (ancient,
even then) and a good-sized computer lab at the library. The World Wide Web was still in its infancy,
and home computers were still largely unconnected. I can recall my fascination with the NCSA
Mosaic web browser at the way information on every topic imaginable could be
shared. I can remember hoping that
what we were calling "the web" would catch on with the general
public and not just be a function of educational institutions.
I can feel the old setting in with just
that statement.
Reminiscence aside, podcasts have certainly changed the
way in which we can absorb audio because they have taken audio recordings,
some quite lengthy, and made them extremely portable and shareable. Audio recordings revolutionized the 20th
century, first in the form of spools, then records, and all manner of magnetic
media, laser formats, and finally in digital formats. 21st-century audio is
largely dominated by digital audio formats, and the podcast allows a very large and
diverse group of people to have a voice.
Storytelling for the modern age is alive and well with podcasts
from the radio show called The Moth (www.themoth.org). I rarely catch the program when it airs on
public radio, but I often look up the podcasts while driving somewhere with
my husband. Thanks to wireless
internet on smartphones, podcasts do not have to be downloaded to an mp3
player or phone ahead of time, they can be streamed over a cellular data
connection.
This development in audio
distribution fascinates me in much the same way the first web browsers
did. You can beam an audio signal from
any radio station, news source, or individual from anywhere in the world to a
phone or tablet and listen to it in the car, on the beach, while running, or
whatever! I am no longer a captive
audience for what is on the radio in the town where I am. I decide the content at all times, and
it is not often commercial radio, and even when its music, it's not what the
local stations would play.
I found audioboo.fm to be a great collection of podcasts
in a social media format. There were
both news and entertainment podcasts included, from large media sources as
well as private individuals.
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2.
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How could you use
this resource in a school setting? It
does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how
the resource might be used in educational settings.
|
Audiobooks are not a new resource by any means. Books have been transcribed to an audio
format since recorded audio was invented, but the devices were not as
portable as digital podcasts. Podcasts
can certainly perform the same functions as audiobooks in the classroom
setting because they read to a student text that might otherwise be too
difficult for a particular reading level or a student with learning
disabilities. But, aside from whole
text or story applications, podcasts can be much shorter, and cover a wide
variety of topics in a short time.
Teachers can create podcasts to share information with
students when they have to be out of the classroom for a day or when a
student is sick and can't come to school.
Sometimes I have found as a teacher that others can
explain a concept better that I can; I would be happy to let a podcast
achieve the best explanation I could for my students. I
have also found that students sometimes need to hear a voice other than mine
to lend credibility or interest to a topic.
Podcasts can become an integral part of a curriculum as
well. A series of podcasts could be
recorded for every unit of a subject area for an entire course and posted
online for students to refer to as a semester progresses.
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3.
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Would you recommend
this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and
so forth. Why or Why not?
|
I couldn't have spoken at great length about podcasts if
I didn't believe that they could be a useful tool in any classroom. They are the next step in audio, and recordings
have been used since their invention for educational purposes.
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That's all, folks. Hope your eyes didn't fall out reading this long post.
Pithier, shorter next time. I hope. We'll see.
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