Week4- blog post #8- Blogging

Blogging is not as exciting for me as it might be for others. I do not mind reading other peoples up to date thoughts and feelings. I actually find it to be annoying when people update their blog on an hourly basis. Especially on social sites like Facebook and MySpace; I think that it is unbelievable that some people can update their stuff literally every ten minutes it seems. Like I said I do not mind reading about other people, but I am not going to be the one to let people know what I am doing every hour.

I think that blogging can be a positive aspect to socializing, but I do not understand how it could be beneficial to teaching. If the teacher has a blog about his/her class that includes assignments; then maybe it would be could be educationally beneficial. I am not the expert on this type of thing so my opinions reflect how I feel about blogging. I did however find two peer reviewed articles stating the positive aspects of blogging.

The web has become an essential medium in the classroom because it supports asynchronous and synchronous communication, which carries multimedia elements (Wang and Hsua 2009), and is easy to use. Experts in the field are developing applications that increase the flexibility of web technology, encouraging users to share their thoughts in an informal way. The origin of blogs (or web logs) rests on personal online journals; however, blogs can be interactive and can facilitate collaboration on the web. There has been a growing interest in blog use within learning environments. K-12 teachers, for example, can help students create personal blogs to record their reflections (Wang and Hsua 2009); establish blogs as a communication channel among themselves, students, and parents; or use blogs to demonstrate students’ learning processes and finished products on a regular basis (Wang and Hsua 2009). Blogs can serve as resource centers (Orate 2002); faculties can use blogs as teaching and learning aids in a higher-education context (Wang and Hsua 2009); and students can showcase their projects on blogs. Dickey (2004) studied the effect of blog use on learner perceptions of isolation and alienation and found that blogs supported the formation of an online community. Moreover, Herring, et al. (2004) analyzed 203 blogs and pointed out that blogs can serve as interactive knowledge-exchange tools. The greatest merit of blogs is that the members of a community can exchange thoughts on a public channel without using HTML language, which allows users to focus on writing content rather than editing HTML language. Blogs enable users to archive articles and comments contributed by the community, and to share these re- sources and findings with people who are out- side the community and who are interested in the given topic. These features provide educators with further opportunities to use blogs in the classroom.

"Kids are getting excited and engaged in literacy through blogging, commenting, and sharing ideas" online, said Wesley Fryer, director of instructional support services for the Texas Tech University College of Education. Fryer's blog, "Moving at the Speed of Creativity," which mixes insights on education theory with sound, practical advice for educators, won in the category "Best Education Theory Blog (Pierce 2009). "There is an excitement that comes from writing for a real, authentic audience instead of a circular file seen only by the teacher, Fryer said, adding that this thrill can be a huge motivator for students. Frank LaBanca, a science teacher at Newtown High School in Connecticut, is using a class blog called "Applied Science Research" to challenge his students with frequent, short writing assignments designed to make them think critically. LaBanca, whose blog won in the category "Best Classroom Instruction Blog for Students," said the blog enables him to have a high-level, asynchronous conversation with his students that extend the boundaries of the traditional classroom (Pierce 2009). "Our students are tech-savvy, and we need to make sure we take advantage of this," he said (Pierce 2009).

References:

Dickey, M. D. (2004). The impact of web-logs (blogs) on student perceptions of isolation and alienation in a web-based distance-learning environment. Open Learning, 19(3), 279-291.

Herring, S. C., Scheidt, L. A., Bonus, S., & Wright, E. (2004). Bridging the gap: A genre analysis of weblogs. Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science HICSS-37.

Oravec, J. A. (2002), Bookmarking the world: Weblog applications in education. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(7), 616-621.

Pierce, Dennis (2009). Panelists: Blogs are Changing Education. Found September 23, 2009 on the website www.eschoolnews.com

Wang, Shiang-Kwei and Hsua, Hui-Yin (2009). Reflections on Using Blogs to Expand In-Class Discussion. Found September 23, 2009 on the website Ebsco.

week4- blog post #7- Second Life

For this blog I will discuss Second Life, an online virtual world for networking and educational purposes. I personal have used Second Life as a source of information. Although, there are many sites that are inappropriate for students and classroom settings. Teachers need to be aware of this, and surf the world to ensure their students will not be going on to sites such as these. On the other hand it can be an unbelievable tool for learning.

Sharnell Jackson, the chief eLearning officer for Chicago Public Schools stated that gaming and simulations are highly interactive, allow for instant feedback, immerse students in collaborative environments, and allow for rapid decision-making. Studies of the brain have pointed to data suggesting that repeated exposure to video games reinforces the ability to create mental maps, inductive discovery such as formulating hypotheses, and the ability to focus on several things at once and respond faster to unexpected stimuli (Devaney 2009).

Many education groups, such as ISTE and the Discovery Educator Network (DEN) have active communities in Second Life, a program that immerses users into a virtual world, said Claudia L'Amoreaux, a community developer and educator for Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life. "I call Second Life an engine for creativity," she said. "Today's teens are creating their own content, uploading photos to Flickr and videos to YouTube, and in Second Life they're making their own games and stepping into them--you could call Second Life a participatory game platform (Devaney 2009)." This virtual world allows users to create their own virtual avatars, thus defining their own characters, she added.

Also, An online virtual world that has become one of the web's most popular activities is also becoming an increasingly popular venue for teaching and socialization among educators and youth organizations. The program, called Second Life, which first opened to the public in 2003, immerses participants in a virtual world of their own making. By setting up an account (either paid or free), users are able to create a virtual persona known as an avatar, which they can personalize to look however they want. The program, from San Francisco-based company Linden Lab, allows users to create everything within their virtual world. Users are able to buy and sell plots of land, objects they have created themselves, and so on. The world itself and its economy closely resemble that of the "first life," as some in the virtual community call everyday society (Appel 2009).

Hundreds of thousands of real dollars change hands in Second Life daily, and it would have an annual gross domestic product of around $150 million if it were to stop growing today. Whatever Second Life is, it's clear that it belongs in a different class than the virtual realities of film and fiction that have gone before it. The closest comparison would be to online video games such as "World of Warcraft" or "The Sims Online." Users download free software that opens a portal to Second Life, and Linden Lab's servers draft models of the ever-changing world and send it back to users as a real-time video. The difference is, Second Life is not a game. It doesn't have a goal, and most resources aren't restricted. Characters can fly or breathe water, and they never age or die. With the popularity of Second Life soaring (more than 1.2 million people have joined throughout the world), it was only natural that educators would take notice of the phenomenon and begin exploring the possibilities of turning it into an educational tool (Appel 2009).

Linden Lab has been encouraging educators to take advantage of the multimedia and social-networking possibilities within its program. A year ago, an eMail list was started for educators interested in using Second Life. Within the year, the list has grown to more than 700 educators around the world. In addition, Linden Lab offers the purchase of private islands at discounted rates to educators and nonprofit organizations. If educators want to test out Second Life for a class, Linden Lab will even offer them a free piece of land for the duration of the class. Small private islands are sold for $980, as well as a monthly land fee of $150. A main draw, according to Appel (2009), for educators in using Second Life is the improvement in interaction and expression when compared with programs such as distance-education courses. "I think that is one of the things that's so attractive to educators using Second Life," says Linden Lab community developer Claudia L'Amoreaux, or Claudia Linden as she is known within Second Life (Appel 2009). "The quality of interaction is hard to even describe. It doesn't replace face to face, but it does enable working with people all over the world (Appel 2009)."

References:

Appel, Justin (2009). ‘Second Life’ Develops Education Following. Found September 22, 2009 at www.eschoolnews.com

Devaney, Laura (2009). Gaming Helps Students Hone 21^st-Century Skills. Found September 21, 2009 at www.eschoolnews.com

Week3- Blog Posting #6- Communities of Practice

As President Bush neared the end of his term, the fate of No Child Left Behind legislation hung in balance. Whether or not that was joyous news for educators, many have already seized opportunities to improve. One process that was implemented throughout North America was the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) at Work™, developed by Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Rebecca DuFour. The Power of Professional Learning Communities at Work™: Bringing the Big Ideas to Life is a new video set designed to benefit PLC veterans and novices alike. Released June 4 by Solution Tree, an educational publishing and services company, The Power of Professional Learning Communities at Work explores how a focus on learning, collaboration, and results can radically improve student learning (eschoolnews 2009).

It takes the audience inside eight PLC schools, where teachers and administrators share successful strategies and personal experiences in unscripted, candid conversations and collaborative team meetings. Throughout the program, the DuFours’ and Eaker spotlight the essentials of the PLC process, with supporting commentary from education experts Larry Lezotte, Tom Many, Mike Schmoker, and Rick Stiggins.

Developed to guide educators new to PLC concepts, as well as those who have already embraced the process, The Power of Professional Learning Communities at Work details the logistics and benefits of this school improvement model. Educators who use this as a staff development tool will learn how PLC strategies can improve student learning, even in schools facing 21st century challenges like mobile populations, increasing numbers of English language learners, and high poverty.

Solution Tree President Jeff Jones commends the DuFours and Eaker on their commitment to improving education. "Rick, Bob, and Becky are the architects of professional learning communities, which have been heralded by every major educational association. Their life work brings forth the most powerful opportunity we have in North America to truly transform education at a systemic level."The video set is divided into four programs: "What Is a Professional Learning Community?" "A Focus on Learning," "A Culture of Collaboration," and "A Focus on Results." Administrators and teacher team leaders can present this resource in four half-day workshops.

Another form of Community Practices is the ConnectYard, Inc. The ConnectYard® Student and Enterprise Edition - powered by Facebook Connect. The ConnectYard solution leverages social networking to support “better teaching and learning” by helping students expand student-to-student and student-to-faculty connections for collaborating beyond the classroom - which has been shown to be a key component of student persistence.

"We are pleased and excited to offer a service that will truly extend the learning environment into where today's students live and socialize – online. We know that a number of Universities have had great success integrating learning into students' physical living environments through the establishment of living learning communities,” said Donald Doane, the Company's CEO. “Similarly, ConnectYard allows institutions to establish virtual learning communities, or Yards, that are integrated with popular social networking sites like Facebook as well as University services, which serves to keep students involved and engaged both in and outside of the classroom.”

ConnectYard is a budget friendly, subscription-based service offering that eliminates the need for additional IT staff and support. In today's challenging economy, as colleges and universities look to trim expenses, many are implementing creative solutions like ConnectYard that can impact multiple domains with minimal overhead (eschoolnews 2009).

References:

ConnectYard Launches a Hosted Social Learning Service on the Face Book Platform. Found September 18, 2009 at the website http://eschoolnews.com

Despite NCLB Controversy, Educators Embrace Opportunity to Improve. Found September 19, 2009 at the website http://eschoolnews.com

Week 3- Blog Post #5- Social Media

I have heard the term Social Media before but was not quite sure what the term actually meant. According to Wikipedia social media is defined as: "media designed to be disseminated through social interactions, created using highly accessible and sociable publishing techniques. Social Media supports the human need for social interactions, using Internet- and Web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues. It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers (Wikipedia 2009)." My favorite part of that quote is the last line about consumers becoming producers; and I guess that’s what social media does.

A form of Social Media that I found on www.eschoolnews.com (2009), is that about the Santa Clara, Calif., County Health Department. They are putting together an educational campaign for area high schools that use social media to teach students how to guard against swine flu, reports the San Jose Mercury News. According to county health officer Marty Fenstersheib, 17 is the median age of swine flu victims. So the health department soon will be sending a "toolkit" to area high schools outlining a campaign that will use social media, such as a YouTube video contest, to develop flu prevention messages. The toolbox also will include materials and information to help students run their own peer-to-peer education campaign. According to Los Gatos-Saratoga High School District assistant superintendent Bob Mistele, "We've communicated to teachers the same commonsense precautions they would take for the regular flu. When a student contracts the flu, the student goes home." Mistele said if the county health department determines there is indeed a swine flu threat, the district is prepared: "We've really tried to prepare should this escalate. We'll utilize eMail to all the parents and our school messenger [phone] system. We won't be sending any notes home with students--that's not effective. For high school students, Facebook and Twitter are the most effective forms of communication." I think this will be the way news is delivered to students and parents. Forget the hundreds of thousands of documents students receive each year. Go wireless and save some trees.

Reference:

http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media. Found September 18, 2009.

Schools Using Media to Educate Students About Swine Flu. Found September 18, 2009 at http://www.eschoolnews.com.

Week 2- Blog Posting #4 - 21st Century Skills and Life Long Learners

21^st century skills and life long learning seem as though they would be simultaneous. I would simply say this because of the technological advances we as a society are making. The question that many would like to know as well as myself is: Are these students thinking differently? Or is it the way we are teaching students that is making for the educational advancements? According to Vintare and Majinovska (2009) there might be another reason: “Since information and communication technologies (ICT) have become an integrated component of work places, schools and homes, they have changed the life style, manner of work, recreation, communication and learning of every individual. Education institutions are influenced by the societal events constantly occurring around them (Vintare and Majinovska 2009). Recently, several developments in the workplace, changes in student demographics, and the economic trends have been forcing education institutions to change. The growth of knowledge in any field is rapidly outstripping any individual's ability to remain up-to- date. Knowing how to access information rather than memorizing information is central to coping with this rapid change (Vintare and Majinovska 2009). Access to the Internet has allowed learners to take courses virtually. Thus, educators should be aware of their role in social change and be able to justify to themselves the role in which we play. Education is facing a specific set of tasks: to alter the school programs, teaching standards, technical aids, and most important the methods in order to ensure that everything that is taking place at school is in compliance with the changes in information and communication technology that are going on in the society (Vintare and Majinovska 2009). Vintare and Majinovska (2009) seem to think that societal influence does not change the students mind but it is though they are adapting to their environment. Teachers need to understand that their roles have changed along with the students. Having the virtual classroom has made this evident. The students are not in a conventional classroom, and teachers are able to post their class instead of actually teach. I have attended both online and conventional educational settings and find that both have their positive and negatives. Studies of effective schools have established a number of cultural elements that have some impact on student achievements. M. Fullan (2001) singled out academic challenges, a sense of community, recognition for achievement and perception of school goal as positives. Y.C. Cheng (1993) related organizational ideology, shared participation, charismatic leadership and intimacy to stronger teacher motivation and satisfaction. P. Senge (1990), M. Fullan (2001) point to the importance of shared vision by a strong leader with a sense of moral purpose. All of these ideas are fundamental yet in an online classroom where is the sense of community; other then group projects? Are teachers really able to motivate a student that is three thousand miles away? I would like to think that teachers are all mighty and able to reach and motivate all, but I find it hard to believe this ca be true of an online class.

References:

Cheng, Y.C. (1993). Profiles of Organizational Culture and Effective Schools. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 85-110.

Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

Senge, P. (1999). The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations. New York, Doubleday.

Vintere, Anne and Majinovska, Larisa (2009). Changing the Education Culture Through Technology. Problems of Education In The 21^st Century, vol 13.

week 2- Blog Posting #3 - Media Literacy

Being able to understand what all of these medias mean and do these days is extremely important. Media Literacy is defined as the process of analyzing, evaluating, and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres, and forms. It uses an inquiry-based instructional model that encourages people to ask questions about what they watch, see, and read (wiki 2009). According to Marilee Sprenger, author of Focusing the Digital Brain, she came across a text message on a students phone: "First, he left me a voice mail, so I sent him a text on his cell, then he contacted me on Facebook, so I e-mailed him on my Blackberry Two days later he sent me an instant message, but I wasn't online. How will I meet him (Sprenger 2009)?" It just goes to show how many different types of media there are and the different types of communication. Students these days are able to understand and communicate as if they were born with a sixth sense. These children have grown up connected. Called both the net generation and digital natives, our students have grown up using digital media. Their brains have been conditioned by using computers to play games, send e-mail, exchange instant messages, videoconference through Skype (Sprenger 2009). What does that say for future education? Sprenger's article was extremely interesting she gave advice such as: "Take away the toys occasionally and encourage students to practice listening to one person at a time. Explain how uncomfortable you — and many people — find it to converse with someone who is reading or sending a text message. Pair students and give each partner three minutes to speak to his or her partner about an assigned topic. Each student must actively listen to the other, make eye contact, and not interrupt. After each partner has both spoken and listened, have students discuss together what each of them said and how the experience felt. Attentive listening usually promotes empathy and connectedness. Discuss the experience as a whole class. Ask how students felt about talking and listening carefully to a peer while disconnected from any digital media. Did they notice facial expressions and body language? Did being focused change the communication (Sprenger 2009)? A question I have as a teacher though is why should we have to work with this type of distraction? I do not think phones should be allowed in schools. They can cause many problems and eliminating them all together from the schools they are in would not deter them from learning. I do agree that teachers must use as much technology as possible to stay up with their students evolving brains and ways of learning.

References:

http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_literacy. Source found September 13, 2009.

Sprenger, Marilee (2009). Focusing the Digital Brain. Educational Leadership. 67,(1). 34-39.

Week 1- Blog Posting #2 - Web 2.0

What is going to be difficult to work with is the fact that almost every social site and many other sites that could be helpful with researching for my students are blocked. The following is the explanation by my school district to why certain sites are block and the safety features that the computers have:

Computing and Internet Acceptable Use Policy

Purpose

1. The School District of Philadelphia is providing its employees and students (“users”) with access to computing equipment, systems and local network functions such as School District e-mail and the Internet.

2. This access has a limited education purpose for students and is to facilitate employees’ work productivity.

Access rights and privileges.

3. The School District has the right to place reasonable restrictions on the use of equipment, resources and material students and employees access or post through the system. Students and employees are also expected to follow the rules set forth in the District’s rules and regulations governing conduct, disciplinary code, and the law in their use of The District’s equipment and network. This access has not been established as a public access service or a public forum. All access and rights are privileges granted by the District, and users should expect no privacy rights.

4. All District employees and students will have access to the Internet through The District’s private network. Parents may specifically request that their children not be provided such access by notifying the District in writing.

5. No student will be given or have access to District-provided Internet e-mail.

6. Students may be permitted to access an external Internet e-mail service or their personal e-mail account for the purpose of legitimate instructional or school-based needs. This is a local decision.

7. Guests/contractors are not automatically eligible for a District e-mail account. E-mail or network access accounts may be granted if directly sponsored by a District administrator.

Unacceptable Uses

8. Users may not use the District’s private network to access material that is profane or obscene (pornography of any kind), that advocates illegal acts, or that advocates violence or discrimination towards other people (hate literature).

9. Users may not post personal information on the Internet about themselves or other people. Personal contact information includes address, telephone, school address, work address, pictures or video bites, clips, etc.

10. Students may not agree to meet with someone they have met on the Internet without their parent's approval and participation.

11. Users may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any other computer system. This includes attempting to log in through another person's account or access another person's files. These actions are illegal, even if only for the purposes of "browsing”, “snooping”, or “electronic discovery”.

12. Users may not deliberately disrupt or harm hardware or systems, interfere with computer or network performance, interfere with another’s ability to use equipment and systems, or destroy data.

13. Users may not use the District’s private network to engage in illegal acts, such as arranging for a drug sale or the purchase of alcohol, engaging in criminal gang activity, threatening the safety of person, accessing or sharing unauthorized copyrighted music, movies, and other intellectual property, etc.

14. Users may not utilize peer-to-peer file-sharing applications or execute programs to facilitate the downloading or exchange of copyrighted or unauthorized music, movies, and other materials.

15. Users may not use the District’s private network to solicit information with the intent of using such information to cause personal harm or bodily injury to another or others.

16. Users may not post information that could endanger an individual, cause personal damage or a danger of service disruption.

17. Users may not knowingly or recklessly post false or defamatory information about a person or organization.

18. Users may not intentionally seek information on, obtain copies of, or modify files, other data, or passwords belonging to other users.

19. Users may not indirectly or directly make connections that create “backdoors” to the District, other organizations, community groups, etc. that allow unauthorized access to the District’s network.

20. Users may not use obscene, profane, lewd, vulgar, rude, inflammatory, hateful, threatening, or disrespectful language.

21. Users may not engage in personal attacks, including prejudicial or discriminatory attacks.

22. Users may not harass another person. Harassment is persistently acting in a manner that distresses or annoys another person.

23.

24. Users may not re-post a message that was sent to them privately without permission of the person who sent them the message.

25. Users may not forward or post chain letters or engage in "spamming". Spamming is sending an annoying or unnecessary message to a large number of people. Users will not install or reproduce unauthorized or unlicensed software on District resources.

26. Users may not plagiarize works that they find on the Internet or other resources.

27. Users may not use technology resources and Internet for private business activities or unreasonable personal use.

28. Users may not use the District’s private network for political lobbying.

29. Students will not download files unless approved by their teacher.

System Security Obligations

30. Users are responsible for the use of their individual access account(s) and should take all reasonable precautions to prevent others from being able to use their account(s), including coworkers, friends, or family. Under no conditions should a user provide his/her password to another person.

31. Attempts to log on to the District’s private network or any other network as a system administrator is prohibited.

32. Any user identified as a security risk or having a history of violating this or any other Acceptable Use Policy may be denied access to the District’s private network.

33. Users will avoid the inadvertent spread of computer viruses by following the School District virus protection procedures if they download software or share common file directory.

34. Users should immediately notify a teacher or system administrator of any possible security problem.

35. Students will promptly disclose to their teacher or other appropriate school employee any message received that is inappropriate.

Filtering

36. As required by law and in recognition of the need to establish a safe and appropriate computing environment, the District will use filtering technology to prohibit access, to the degree possible, to objectionable or unsuitable content that might otherwise be accessible via the Internet.

Due Process

37. The School District will cooperate fully with local, state, or federal officials in any investigation concerning or relating to any illegal activities conducted through The District’s private network.

38. In the event there is an allegation that a student has violated the District Acceptable Use Policy, the student will be provided with a written notice of the alleged violation and will be provided with notice and opportunity to be heard in the manner set forth in the Student Hearing Process Policy. Disciplinary actions may be taken.

39. Employee violations of the District Acceptable Use Policy will be handled in accord with law, School Board Policy or collective bargaining agreement(s), as applicable.

Administration

40. The Chief Information Officer has the responsibility and authority for the development, publication, implementation and ongoing administration and enforcement of the processes and techniques required to protect the Philadelphia School District’s technology systems and services from unauthorized access, loss or misuse.

41. School principals have the responsibility to establish a plan to ensure adequate supervision of students. They are also responsible for interpreting and enforcing this policy at the local level.Local management has the responsibility to interpret and enforce this policy.

Don't get me wrong I completely agree with blocking sites that could be detrimental to any student Or any site that is just inappropriate. The only thing that I disagree with is the fact that we as teachers have our hands tied when it comes to using technology that could be an unbelievable tool to enhance learning. If a teacher wanted to use second life they would not be able to do so unless it was after school time, but then that can cause my unethical issues and possible legal infringements. It will be a number of years I feel until schools completely trust the internet in the classroom. Another aspect of this security was the plan by President Barack Obama to address students nationwide via the internet September 8^th energized opposition, with some districts refusing to allow students to view the speech. Others, however, say they welcome the opportunity to let students hear from the president directly, and they don't see what all the fuss is about this issue. I personal found a way around the blockers to show this clip, because I thought it was important enough to show to my ninth grade class. In an article found on eschoolnews.com an interesting comment was made after explaining "It's hard to understand how a speech by the president of the United States that is expected to encourage students to work hard and stay in school could be so controversial. The anger this has generated among some individuals feels misplaced," said Nora Carr, chief of staff at Guilford County Schools in North Carolina (Prabhu 2009). It’s a shame that not even the President of the United States is safe to address our schools.

References:

Prabhu, Maya (2009). Obama’s Speech to Students Sparks Controversy. Found September 12, 2009 on www.eschoolnews.com

http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/. Found September 9, 2009.