A Few Final Thoughts

Although I use technology with my students, I was on the outskirts of the new media age and really looking for some direction.  My students and I started using a blog in January and, as Richardson suggested in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, I started small, having my students respond to questions posted by me (p. 45 – 46); it has been an amazing experience.  Their excitement is inspiring, but, this is merely a stepping stone to what I want to accomplish in my classroom; the problem is, I didn’t know where to go, or how to get there. 

With Richardson’s approval to be a learner first and a teacher second (p. 6) I centered my inquiry proposal on four technology goals: editing photographs, creating a multi-modal presentation, becoming a more efficient user of the web, and building a strong foundation of knowledge I could use to learn and teach web 2.0 tools.

I will not say that the process was seamless, but which each tool I explored, my understanding and proficiency in web 2.0 did grow.  My understanding of these tools and how they work has been one of my greatest accomplishments as it has given me a strong foundation for learning. 

I have definitely become a more efficient user of the web.  With each tool I master, I become eager to try a new one.  Now, with these six tools under my belt, I feel confident in my ability to use the web instead of just talk about it.   Small things to many web users; linking, sharing, embedding, tagging have been giant accomplishments for me as it makes me believe that I am not only learning web 2.0 tools, but I am beginning to understand the terminology and the correlation between the tools.  I do believe that this journey has moved me from novice to intermediate in my abilities and more importantly it has ignited my desire and confidence to develop a classroom rich in web 2.0 tools.

Although I feel capable of making my way through most web 2.0 tools, I still have much room for growth, especially in receiving and using information. I recognize that I am only at the tip of the iceberg in terms of using RSS and social bookmarking.  I understand how they work and I am able to use them, however I know that there are many virtues still untapped.  Going forward, this is a focus for me.  With class wrapping up, I feel I have the time to truly explore these tools and develop a solid network of information retrieval, organization and sharing. 

I am committed to being an educator that models new media literacy and teaches my students to become literate in this new media society.  As Prensky (2001) stated, “unless we want to just forget about educating Digital Natives until they grow up and do it themselves, we had better confront this issue. And in so doing we need to reconsider both our methodology and our content”.  I know now that I have the foundation of skills to do this; but I also recognize that in many ways, my learning is just beginning. 

Glogster

The culmination of my inquiry project was to create a multi modal presentation using Glogster and I did it!

I love my glog!

This is a great tool that I will use both personally and in my classroom.  It is easy to use.  I used photoscape to edit my images, then uploaded them to glogster.  I added sound from the web and from my computer and I added a voice recording using my sound recorder (found in accessories).  Adding text and graphics are also easy, with many options to choose from.  Once your pictures are uploaded, they can easily be moved in to the fore or background using the edit function.

I chose to make my glog using family photos from 2011.  Right now my class is creating visual autobiographies on paper, in the future, we will use glogster.

Voicethread in the Classroom

Other than being hilarious, voicethread is useful!  It was a bit tricky to get myself organized but I kept watching the tutorials and it started to come together. It really is three steps: upload the file, comment on it and share.

You can upload both images and videos or a webcast.  In my classroom I would have students annotate work they have done.  Additionally, when posting instructions on our class website...

Hollywood, here I come!

Diigo in the classroom

In addition to 'My Library', there are three other tabs in Diigo which allow you to connect to others in the Diigo world.  You can search bookmarks through the community and search for groups that have similar interests (I have joined two groups, one on cyber-bullying and one on using web 2.0 in the classroom); you can see what has been bookmarked by group members by clicking 'My Groups' or, the preference I set was to have updates emailed to me daily.  You can also follow individuals in 'My Network'.

I feel organized, I feel connected, now, to bring it all together in the classroom... this video shows one use in a classroom setting for research..but, between bookmarking, highlighting and annotating, the options are fairly endless.

A revolution in the way I do things

So long sticky notes, hello Diigo!  It feels like this whole web thing has finally come together for me.  Signing up for an RSS feed reader was the first step.  Instead of taking a backseat approach to new information and ideas, I have a steady stream of them arriving daily on my doorstep - it makes it impossible not to be connected to _________ (insert interests here).  For me, the focus has been on education, partly because of the courses I am taking but mostly because I feel I could use a boost in my teaching.  So, for about a month I was flying down the information highway with lots of great ideas coming my way but, sometimes, it was a bit too much...(drum roll please) like a shining knight, Diigo appeared.  Now I can manage all of the information and find more.

I started by watching a few tutorials on the Diigo website.  I actually watched them a few times while I explored to clear up any confusion I had.


Diigo V4: Research ~ annotate, archive, organize from diigobuzz on Vimeo.

Now, using social bookmarking, I  am actually starting to feel web savvy.  I went through the four courses I am taking and took the time to actually look at the various links that people have posted and bookmarked the ones that interest me.

The process is simple, when I find that interesting article, I click on my diigolet in my favourites and the diigo toolbar pops up and then...

I can add tags, upload the page and save it to a list I have already created.  For example, this is saved in my Web 2.0 list.  Now when I access that list, I have a variety of articles on web 2.0 tools.  Needless to say this is just one of the many lists I have created so far.  Never again will I catch myself wondering "what was that website...", now if I like it, I archive it.

Additional features on the toolbar are sticky note, highlight, and share.  I have used these to highlight important parts of articles and then add notations which can be saved for my reference later (searchable by text, tags or lists) or shared...with people on Diigo or through email.

I chose Diigo over other social bookmarking sites based on Will Richardson's rave reviews; "Diigo...continues to be one of my favourite tools..allows you to begin constructing your own little piece of the Web, it's a way of organizing it for yourself and for those you are collaborating with." (Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, p. 92). 

Google+

On Stephen Abram's blog stephenslighthouse.com, he provides a link to 50 ways school librarians can use google+. The list offers a brief synopsis of each suggestion with a link to further information.