Web 2.0 to Go!

Photo by Malingering
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I visited the home page of wikipedia and started out with a controversial political article, the discussion page was so ANGRY that I went back and selected another topic that is pretty timely, Homelessness. I bumped from homeless laws, homeless cities to a full page on homeless people. There are actual categories of individuals who are homeless. People who to most of us seem invisible are in wikipedia. The discussion and comments throughout the history of some was interesting.
I know wikipedia has taken a bad rap in education but what a rainbow of information that might otherwise go unnoticed. This spoken by a child of the sixties and seventies who’s only research material was a set of ChildCraft encyclopedias. (we couldn’t afford Britannica!)

After reading Vicki’s blog posting on wikis, I had to reflect on my daughters struggle right now in her college Biology class. Having had no experience with wikis for organization and collaboration, she uses traditional methods. Notes on paper, flash cards, skimming the book, sitting through boring lectures. I just wonder if she had a group from class that she collaborated with on the same material, what more might be learned. Discussion as opposed to being on a notecard island. …. Ahhhh in a perfect world.  

I loved the wiki examples that were given. I was especially impressed with Code Blue!! The depth of information that the students gathered is astounding. I loved their profiles as physicians, especially the 150 year old Dr. Bea!  
Proving that even First grade can be a place for wikis, School in the Past, allowed grandparents and parents to offer ideas on how school has changed. I loved the contrast of them using a wiki to enter things like “no library we had to walk to town to borrow books”.
Welkers WIkinomics is a wiki that I show as an example of how a wiki can almost REPLACE a text book. The discussions that the students are having on economic transitions give me hope for the world future!! What an incredible example of students thinking deeply and expressing their ideas and thoughts on such relevant topics.
We use wikis in our web 2.0 class, to share new and unusual web 2.0 applications and ideas. Each class posts, shares and then becomes part of our web 2.0 history. Some have an “Aha! That is how I can use a wiki” moment at that point!!

Okay, so I think I combined my last post as part of 7 A, so I will catch myself up!! RSS feeds are to me the equivelant of publishing my very own newspaper. Filled with articles that are customized just for me.

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I have seperate folders for my types of feeds to keep myself organized. One for creative and artistic feeds and one for technology and professional blogs.
I am currently following several blogs on creativity and developing creativity but one that I stumbled on is purely voyeuristic!! IT is called My First Year of College, and it seems to be filling in the blanks that my daughter is not!!

I think RSS should stand for Revolutionizing Sandi’s Studies!  Seriously, it has completely changed the way I gather and absorb information. I find myself able to quickly skim, sort and save information that is important to me and my particular interests. Not just for professional technology use but for personal topics like creativity sites.
Because everything I do comes back to my ultimate customer, the STUDENT, I love to read Student 2.0. I particularly related to the post “Think Different” by Sean, The Bass Player.  His revealing observations on some educational systems is right on the money. I use this old Apple commercial video as the introduction for my Web 2.0 class.

I tell my teachers, that they are the crazy ones. The round pegs in the square holes and that this journey into Web 2.0, if they allow it, will change the way they view teaching.

Photo by Mike Licht
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One of the things that I LOVE about blog reading is the reflection of the author in posts. The words and method of writing has not been “sanitized.” I very often get a FEEL for the person who is contributing. It is almost like you FEEL the expectation of the conversation that will ensue. The material is not FLAT, to only be read and not reflected on. Rather it is an invitation to join in and share your thoughts and ideas. To be part of the action!
I love the Student 2.O blog on “Brevity” and the wonderful thoughtful commenting that followed. These students know they have an authentic audience interested in what they have to say. I think this makes them better and certainly more willing writers.
I am completely and utterly sold on the act of blogging as a tool to facilitate learning. In our district we have seen students as young as first grade begin to “blog” themselves and second grade begin to comment on blogs. One of my teachers commented that she would NEVER have believed that students would get excited about blogging about MATH!! Now that is engagement!
Sidenote: Blogs can be addicting. I can find myself spending an enormous amount of time linking from one blog to another, reading comments and commenting. Great example is, we only needed to read five and one thing led to another and………… (Oh by the way read Cool Cat Teachers Spies Like Us) and she will be speaking at GAetc!!

My first sneak peak into the word of Web 2.0 was several years ago when my husband, (who is not particulary tech savvy) asked me if I had ever heard of podcasts. He said that Georgia Tech had a “podcast” and you could listen to it anywhere anytime.
I started investigating and was hooked. Podcasting led to blogging, blogging led to wikis and suddenly the web 2.0 world EXPLODED! My children, in middle school at the time were using technology like instant messaging and zanga to communicate. So I knew that there was something to all of this connectivity!
There is such great significance to be found in all of the collaboration and people actually joining their gifts, talents and knowledge TOGETHER to create even more gifts, talent and knowledge!!
I felt as excited as I was about these technologies, we could use them to engage our students. Web 2.0 is so empowering to all of us. It gives EVERYONE a “voice” and an audience. Add to that the pricetag, which in most cases is FREE, the ability to collaborate and become multiple voices and you have what I believe to be the most significant addition to our education backpack in the last 100 years!

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Being a lifetime learner is a natural for those involved in education. One of the things that draws us to the very nature of technology is that it is always in a state of change. Around every bend is a new challenge and adventure.
I think the most challenging part of being a lifelong learner is keeping my toolbox ORGANIZED! There is a daily barrage of tools and determining what is relevant and useful and what is not is often difficult. I have found some web 2.0 tools such as social bookmarking to be a great resource in keeping myself organized. (However, even that becomes large and out of control after a bit!)
I think the easiest habit for me it 7 1/2. HAVE FUN! I think learning is great fun and have found that the act of “play” as a teaching tool to be very effective. We tend to spend more time learning when we are ENGAGED! (Hey, there is a concept for our students!!)

I definitely feel the most import habit is to mentor and share. What good is having all of these fabulous tools, tips and tricks if we don’t share them. Our Teach 21 program is all about mentoring and passing on what we are doing to better the greater good. It is exciting to watch the ripple effect as teachers AND students share what they are doing with these terrific new tools. It is also thrilling to have the students come back and share what they themselves have discovered.