Blogging

I was glad to have had the opportunity to participate in this blogging exercise. I had previously been curious about blogging, and didn’t really understand what a blog was. I’d never read a blog.
I didn’t even know how to find a blog.

This was a great setting in which to explore blogging. Many of the students appeared to start out at the same level in which I existed- the newbie level. My inexperience with this communication form initially created a feeling of vulnerability for me. It was only a short time, however, until I felt pretty comfortable.

I liked having a group of four students to bounce ideas around with. I can see why people become cyberbuddies. Personalities start to show over time, and I looked forward to the contact that we had. I learned a lot about some interesting technologies, and had some laughs. Frequently, when I learn about a new twist in 2.0 technology, I don’t understand why we would want this new twist. The blog discussions really helped with that kind of question. It was particularly fun because the group member that was introducing the technology was also new to it, so as she discovered characteristics and uses for it, she shared them with us. We were discovering it together. When one of us asked another group member a question about their technology, the question gave the researcher/ instructor (another title for the group member) a different direction in which to go. I do love the discovery process, how one thought or discovery takes you to other thoughts and discoveries, which then might take you to a place you could never originally have imagined.

I enjoyed sharing information and thoughts about my technologies with the rest of the group. Researching the topic, knowing that there were three other women waiting (with baited breath!) for the next installment gave the search a bit of a personality. I asked myself what might be interesting to all of the group members (including me). I found the Elgg topic to be more of a challenge than iTunes U. I was fortunate to have found EduSpaces, since it utilized Elgg in a broad topic that was of interest to my entire blogging group.

During this exercise I discovered that I had actually run across blogs before, but just didn’t know it. When I have Googled a topic in the past, I’ve thought some of the results were “weird”, because instead of being a website or article, it was like this person babbling (in text) about the topic. It seemed as though I had cut into a personal conversation, and that the information was certainly useless for my purposes (I wanted facts, or scholarly papers!). I didn’t make the connection between these results and blogs until I took this class.

I have found some interesting blogs in which I would consider participating in the future. In our field, blogging could help ease the aloneness that a librarian might feel in her solitary library position, especially if she didn’t feel a lot of support from the administration. The support that blogging buddies could provide might prove vital to a librarian’s job happiness, and the information exchanged could be the difference between an effective program and an inspired (and effective) program.

I noticed that only once during the whole semester did a person from outside the class join in on one of our blogs. I still find myself asking, “Why would somebody be interested in reading a blog entry from me (if it wasn’t a class requirement)? This could be answered by realizing that the more I participate within ongoing topic threads, the deeper my thought or topic exploration becomes. I will then perhaps hit on an idea that others would like to hear about and explore further with me.

Brooke

IT-enabled Cheating

Hello, all. Second to the last post for this class...

This week we discussed IT-enabled cheating. IT could make it easier to cheat, but the same IT can also make it easy to detect cheating. Best not to cheat…

One article we read for this topic was written by a person that discussed some universities that were allowing the use of IT during exams. This person considered it legalized cheating. Basically, the permissible use of IT during an exam is an electronic version of the open-book test. This is not cheating.

Brooke

E-Rate

It's been interesting to learn about a technology funding source called E-Rate. Although the money has a history of disappearing into people's pockets, this funding has the potential of bringing much needed funding to needy schools. The program provides services to schools at a reduced rate. The percentage of discount awarded to a school, after a lengthy and complicated application process, is determined by the percentage of the student population that is participating in the free or reduced breakfast/lunch program.

Here is a link to the program's website. Make sure your school looks into this funding source. http://www.usac.org/sl/

Brooke

EduSpaces Explored

Eduspaces has been very interesting. When you go to the website, the opening page contains thumbnails or some graphic and names or usernames of about 20 members that have been brought up randomly. You can click on any of them to go to their page. You can then see their interests. If you click upon one of their interest tags, you are taken to another subset of members with the same tag listed under their interests. Theses are mostly education-related interests.

One can also browse the members by user or communities. When you join you can join EduSpace communities that are focused upon your particular interests. I've provided the EduSpaces link to enable you to explore a bit. I think you'll find some interesting discussions.

http://eduspaces.net/

Brooke

Webinars and Cybersecurity

This week we talked about Webinars in our class. Access to Webinars is very exciting to me, because I am an info-maniac (careful how you say that!)! I do love to learn things, and these are generally free for the taking! When I have time (in the year 2038!), I will have a lot of fun with them. Actually, when I become a librarian, I envision having time to utilize information more than ever, since that's supposed to be the main focus of the job.

So, Cybersecurity...

This week I received a phishing email from people that were pretending to be with FedEx. It said that I needed to contact them about a package delivery. The thing that almost sucked me in was that I was expecting a package handled by them. The things that were phishy, however, were: It was from a Mrs. somebody, it had a contact phone number that included a country code, and the email address had Nigeria in the address. Why are these scams so aften from Nigeria, when there are so many other countries in the world? Anyhow, it got forwarded to the company, and the two reporting addresses that we were provided in our class last week. End of story.

Brooke

Eduspaces

This week I joined Eduspaces, powered by Elgg. It was simple, unlike the horror stories I've heard. Now I'v e got to figure out what I rfeally want to do with it!

I happened upon this video in Eduspaces of an instructor that wants to start a discussion about "Blended Learning". Besides the exploration of the format of this Elgg, that question interested me. I'd never heard of blended learning, and he wants to define it, or assign parameters to it in order to identify it as such.

http://app.sightspeed.com/vm/5shegifpfqpgq2iv1u4wkknenq8yy9eg/240w/en_US/1/

Brooke

Teaching Children Cyber Security and Ethics

The above titled article, written by White, and published by the Cyber Security Industry Alliance (July, 2005) points out that there are a number of organizations that are working on educating the public in Cyber Awareness. The term "Cyber Awareness" includes Cyber Security, Ethics and Safety. A number of problems need to be dealt with, however, for these efforts to be useful. There is no centralized organization providing standardized information, or standards for teaching this information, most notably to K-12 school children. The funding that these organizations receive is spent in parallel projects, working toward the same goals. The funding needs to be centralized, and the efforts of these groups brought together to more effectively and efficiently achieve the common goal. It is suggested that a national Cyber Awareness Program (CAP) be developed, that a few branded websites be used to provide the CAP information, that high grade multimedia be made to teach Cyber Awareness, that both private and public funding be combined to achieve the CAP goals, and that the National Cyber Security Alliance be the organization to perform these tasks.

I was relieved to read this article, as I can see the need for simplifying access to important Cyber Security/Safety/Ethics information. The schools that I have been recently associated with have no Cyber Awareness education going on at all. The development of CAP standards and curriculum is desperately needed, and will, I beliece, be greatfully received by K-12 schools.

University using Elgg

Hello all,

I have come across another helpful description of Elgg, in the form of a checklist, which adds to and clarifies the information that we already have about it.

Features:

Blogging Social networking
File repositories for individuals and communities Podcast support
Full access controls Supports tagging
User profiles Full RSS support
RSS aggregator Create communities
Collaborative community blogs Create 'friends' networks
Import content Publish to blog
Multilingual Branding/customisation
OpenID support

Along with this checklist, this link contains a statement written by a university that is using Elgg in a big way. Within two weeks of the university's implementation of Elgg they had a very active and interesting blogging community. There are currently 36,000 students and staff registered for Elgg. The format of Elgg has made it simple to intigrate with the colleg's existing programs for registration and courses. As well as its informal use as a social networking tool, it is being used more formally within courses at the university.

http://elgg.org/features.php

I'm thinking more and more about how to use it in a k-12 setting. It has a reputation of being very difficult to get set up and register, so that appears to be a significant hurtle to get over. Once set up, however, it is a highly thought-of program. This week I'm going to try to get through the registration hurtle, and see if I can get something going.

Brooke

First book on Elgg is published

The first book about Elgg is now on the market. It is called Elgg Social Networking, by Mayank Sharma. The description of Elgg that is given in the description of this book has provided me with the first real understanding of what is different about Elgg. He describes how to
"Create and manage your own social network site using this free open-source tool.
Create your own customized community site; Manage users, invite friends, start groups and blogs; Host content: photos, videos, MP3s, podcasts ; Manage your Elgg site, protect it from spam )."http://www.packtpub.com/elgg-social-networking/book

"If you are looking to create your social networking site by tomorrow, then this book is for you. Elgg is an open-source social web application. It offers a networking platform combining elements of blogging, e-portfolios, news feed aggregation, file sharing, and social networking. Elgg has its own plug-in architecture, and can use plug-ins to provide a calendar and a wiki” It can be integrated with most third-party blogging clients. It can be integrated with our own WebCT".

"While anybody can use Elgg to create their social network, it is especially useful in education as it has many features making it suitable for e-learning, including groups, communities, and blogs that can be used for online classes where students can communicate in a new way with each other and with students around the world—in a managed, protected environment, creating what its authors term a "personal learning landscape". This book also covers using Elgg in teaching/learning.” © Packt Publishing Ltd 2008(http://www.packtpub.com/elgg-social-networking/book

Hope that helps you guys as much as it did me!

International Children's Digital Library

I find the idea wonderful. I remember when I visited France for 3 weeks in 11th grade. I was all alone with a family that didn't speak English, and I spoke very little French. It was lonely, and when , half way through my stay, my host family arranged to have my sister's host family meet us halfway between our places, I was estatic to be able to express myself in my own language again. She and I talked and talked. It must be so much harder for a child to have to move permanently away from their country. The ICDL fills a void for these children, offering books for them to read in their own language. There may be no other place in the whole country that offers books in their particular language. Computers can bring these books right into their new homes, or into their local library. Happiness IS!

WebQuests are cool

WebQuests are such neat little packages containing a study topic. The ones that I looked at were very stimulating. The kids that get to use those are so LUCKY. The opportunities for fun exploration of a topic are huge when they use a well designed WebQuest. I'll bet they really like them. I think of the schools up here, and NOTHING like this is being used (from what I can tell, anyway). I just want to turn them on to so many cool Technological tools! Maybe I will. I'll get good at using these things, and go on tour... :-) Brooke

A little more Elgg info

I'm back...

Elgg is described as a learning environment in which others with like interests gather together to exchange ideas. It is a student’s personal space in which to explore a topic, post comments, publish materials, and create links to information that they choose. "Elgg is all about a learner-centred, learner-controlled space in which you choose the connections, the resources and the communities you want to participate in," says David Tosh, one of its creators (http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,,1724614,00.html retrieved March 23, 2008).

Elggs can be contrasted to Virtual Learning Environments (VLE’s), which are very structured, patterned after regular college classes, with timetables and assessments. Follow this link to read a very helpful article entitled “A space on the web that we control” http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,,1724614,00.html.

Brooke

New topic: Elgg

Hey, guys!

Wanted to give you my first impressions on my new topic: Elgg. I will be doing more research soon, but from what I can tell, Elgg is a wiki.. Since it's been singled out for study, however, I'm guessing that it's more than that, or perhaps not even that. It is a social networking tool. I'll get back to you soon!

Brooke

Interesting facts about ebooks (topic somewhat related to iTunes U?)

I was looking around a database that my school purchased (leased? got? I'm not sure of the terminology), called SIRS Researcher, and decided to see what I could find about iTunes U in that database. I found an article from the Associated Press that had some interesting information that I didn't know:

• Contrary to some parents' concerns, listening to books encourages reading. This expands on reading out loud to kids, which studies show boosts literacy (Belinda Jacks, Grand Prairie, TX).
• VangoNotes have been developed through a partnership between Audible, Inc. and Pearson Publishing. These are textbook chapter summaries and reviews in MP3 form.
• A Playaway is a audio player, consisting of a two-ounce flashplayer, pre-loaded with an audio book (made by Follett Corp. and Findaway World).
• Cost comparisons: "A new paperback copy of Charlotte's Web costs $8 on Amazon, whereas the Playaway version costs $30, and an iTunes download of it costs $17 (many other iTunes book downloads cost more--for example, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice costs $26, and the more recent Harry Potter books cost $50)" (see URL below, retrieved March 8, 2008, 11:10 AM).
• The audiobook industry is one of the fastest-growing parts of publishing.
• Harrison Group conducted a study on teen technology trends, and when considering the new technologies that will merge phones and Internet browsers with MP3 players, Jim Taylor, the company's Vice Chairman states, "It's interestingly changing the way in which people are educated. You just need to ask intelligent questions, and you can get answers anytime, anywhere, in real time. Education becomes no longer a fact-based learning process, it's search-based, cognitive. It's kind of like what happened to math skills with the calculator" (see URL below, Retrieved March 8, 2008, 11:10 AM)
• Even with these technological changes, more people are buying books than ever before.

http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SNY3471H-0-4410&artno=0000256993&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=iTunes%20U&title=Publishers%20Cater%20to%20Growing%20Use%20of%20MP3s%20for%20Schoolwork&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N (Retrieved March 8, 11:10 AM)

Brooke

Assistive Technology

Oblinger and Ruby (retrieved March 3, 2008) they discuss the budgeting problems associated with providing Assistive Technologies in an academic setting. They described a University that didn't have enough money in their equipmement budget to purchase a screen reader application for the computer, so they hired a human reader for two years to accommodate a student's needs. With that experience behind them, perhaps they have figured out a way to losen up the rigidity of their budgeting system. Perhaps they have a line in the budget now for disability services, which can be used however it is decided best fits the needs of the student. If school budgets are done every year, I'm wondering why the University didn't hire a human reader for the first year, and budget in for the electronic screen reader for the second year.

They discussed the fact that people without disabilities often end up benefitting from accommodatoions made for the disabled. Use of the cut away sections of street curbs at crossings is an example of this. People with strollers or on bicycles benefit from being able to use them. Within the technological realm, even if we don't end up finding specific uses for people without disabilities, just being able to have closer affiliations with disabled persons in our schools can enrich our lives, both through an experience in diversity, and for what that student brings to the university regardless of her disability.

Bookshare.org for the visually impaired

Bookshare.org fills a need for the visually impared. I didn't know about this service when I was taking care of my visually impaired father, but it probably is a service that he would have used. I did have "Reading Radio" for him, which is a special radio broadcast (using a special radio) that originates at our local PBS station. He got broascasts of people reading such material as the local newspaper, magazine articles, and the New York Times. Some time slots were assigned a certain topic, which came from a number of different resources. They had a schedule that he could refer to, so that he would know when to tune in. They didn't offer the reading of books, however, and I think Bookshare.org would be a great companion to Reading Radio. Having access to full books, and on your own time, is great.

Revisiting iTunes U

Today we are having a "snow (actually an "ice") day". Good. "Bonus time" that I can partially spend having fun... I went back into iTunes U to explore. My experience was very different than my first couple visits. It was MUCH better. When this happens (and it seems to have happened a number of times lately) I ask myself "Did they reformat this site; Did they add a lot of information?, or did my mental state (probably stressed out) the last time I visited affect my perceptions of the website's content and usability?" Who knows...

Today I went into iTunes U and found A LOT of classes that I was interested in. It was organized in a way that I had no doubt of where I was, and what I was viewing. Christy mentioned before that she would like nothinbg better than to be a student all her life. I feel the same way. I get excited by lists of class offerings. She was right when she said she saw a lot of content about the colleges themselves, but the course sections for every school were distinctly seperate. Although some schools did not have copious offerings, some offered many courses. A number of schools have courses in Information Science posted, by the way. A number of colleges have rfecently been added to the site, and the format of each college's section was very pleasing. Try revisiting iTunes U when you are somewhat relaxed. It might make a difference for you, too!

Brooke

Podcasting

First I want to say that Brian Cooley is an excellent speaker and instructor. He is pleasant to listen to, and he made it sound simple to make a podcast.

I could use podcasting as a method to connect with students, parents or teachers at the school in which I am a librarian. All kinds of things could be covered in a podcast I would record. Some could be instructional, some could be informational. They could have to do with library/reading related topics, or be for more general school topics, such as upcoming events.

It would be really fun to host student podcasts. I could do a class or workshop on making them, or just be available to help a student during their study hall, or after school. It would be a great way of getting students into the library.

Brooke

Thoughts on Education Change

Jennifer and Stacey,

You said:
“As Dr. Ruth said in 663 if you can connect with one teacher others may soon follow”.

Connecting with one teacher will also help you relax some, because you're not totally alone in the school. If you're more relaxed, then you'll be more effective, and will better demonstrate the strengths of the tool you are trying to incorporate.

You also said:
“…when we get past the limited mind set of standardized testing & NCLB…”

You used "when"! That's good. You have a lot of faith...we need that attitude to make good changes. It can be discouraging, wanting change, and dealing with a machine as big as the NYS Education Department.

Students uploading to iTunes U

Baker College in Michigan has developed a method of using iTunes U more interactively. At Baker College the Speech classes are taught digitally, and they have developed a module which combines the Blackboard Learning System and iTunes U to upload video recordings of students' presentations. The students can edit their presentations until they feel they have gotten it right, before the final upload. This access to iTunes U is limited to students in certain classes, and for a set period of time. The instructor can access the student's work, but other students cannot access it unless the professor requires and requests this set-up. This module that combines Blackboard and iTunes U is available free from the college. Following is a link to this interesting article:


http://blog.mlive.com/wmbr/2007/11/baker_uses_itunes_service.html

Brooke