Presenting.....(with) Web 2.0

This week's readings is about using presentation tools. My first exploration was with Voicethread, and I initially thought that voicethread was like a podcast – just voice. Apparently this is not the case. “It’s often described as a media album that is made of a series of different types of media, images, documents, and videos that others can comment on in multiple ways: using voice (with microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a Webcam) – and share them with anyone they wish” (Berger & Trexler, 2010, 133). It sounds to me like this encompasses pretty much everything we have learned so far!

Taking a look at a few voicethreads, this reminds me a bit of twitter. What I am understanding this as... is that someone posts a question, comment, etc…then other people can add their thoughts, questions, etc…related to the topic. These people can add text or sounds of their voices.

Berger and Trexler discuss voicethreads quite extensively, so I decided to look it up. Okay…so I didn’t realize there was a cost, as the text said that registration for the educator pro account is free. Guess this isn't the case anymore...

Costs aside, I did like some of the ideas presented in Ned's Keeper blog:

• make different slides for familiar words and have kids share their own words for that to compare cultures
• create optical illusions - have kids take pictures of something familiar REALLY close up and have others guess what it is. (Okay...this would be lots of fun, especially if tied in as an introduction to a new unit!)
• book discussions (Berger & Trexler, 2010, 137)

Next stop...

Animoto

Oh yay! I have already played with this one, and posted my experiences in a previous blog post. I did like Animoto for it's ease of use, and it is quick to come up with something that is fun. It's too bad that it is only 30 seconds...it would have been nice if it was at least the length of a short song. 

I decided to play a bit with Jing to do a screenshot of my video that I made in Animoto. I like this tool! I haven't figured out if I can embed it into my blog right from Jing. I notice that I could share it to Facebook, Twitter...but I didn't see anything about a blog. To get this, I saved it as a file on my computer, then added it to my blog by "Insert image."

So moving along...

Glogster is a new one for me. I haven't used it yet, but I have heard of people using it and liking it. My first impressions are that there is a lot on one page, and some pages can look a little overwhelming, but it looks like it would be fun for students to put together. 

I went to glogster.com and noticed that there was an educational aspect as well. They have a deal for $20 per year, but I am just looking for the free one right now! I also got a pop up to link to Facebook as well...I don't think I am comfortable with my glogs popping up in Facebook for all to see! 

Oh... maybe I wanna become a GlogStar!!!! I had to laugh at the message that appeared in my mailbox:

Get fans & get famous - Get your Glogs noticed to attract fans. The more fans you have, the closer you'll be to becoming a GlogStar! 

...Really??!!


So I chose a predetermined template, but I think I need to watch some tutorials on how to use this! It doesn't look like a quick and easy thing to learn late at night! 

Every time I sign in to glogster, I get this message:

I don't think I am comfortable with this, nor would I want this to happen to students. 

Using glogster is kind of fun, but I decided to use some of the pre-made templates, which made it much easier to figure it all out. Some of the animated graphics are fun to add. I can see students enjoying putting these "poster-like" pages together. I am thinking there are many more uses, and I have only played with a few of the features. At least if I can get a basic understanding, I am thinking that students would take off with it!!
I have been trying to upload some pictures, but it is certainly taking awhile. Maybe I should have tried to only upload one at a time. 

Now I need to figure out how to post my glog into my blog  (wow...gotta love technical terms!!) I'm not sure if it worked. I tried both ways (in compose mode, and in html mode). I did get permission from my 13 year old daughter if I could poke a little fun at her!

http://www.glogster.com/nsauer/kaylee-13/g-6ku3i3ir16ehj4hh9mu9ca0

http://www.glogster.com/nsauer/kaylee-13/g-6ku3i3ir16ehj4hh9mu9ca0

Oh, I think I may have figured something else out...

I think it may have worked!! I needed to go look at the glog, then there was an embed tool at the bottom. Yay! (sorry Kaylee....it's public now!!)

Personally... I think “nikiswiki” has a nice ring to it!

This week our exploration involves wikis. I have been hearing a lot of debate regarding wikis and blogs, and the benefits of each. The biggest thing I have been hearing about wikis is the benefit of collaboration. One of my other courses we were to join a wiki, but we haven’t done much with it. I have my own wiki for a course, but it has been acting similar to my blogs, so I am not seeing much of a difference right now, other than the layout.

I decided to go looking closer at my wiki, and I noticed that it has the feature of looking at recent changes. This is of benefit if the organizer of the wiki would like to see if any other member has gone into the wiki and made any changes.

As Richardson states about wikis: “…wikis can be pretty amazing and versatile. And if you believe as I do that doing real collaboration is something that every student needs to learn, keep reading” (Richardson, 57). So I guess I will keep reading!

I know the “free” wiki that I have is limited to 5 members, so I am curious how some of these other wikis have so many contributors? It seems as though Richardson is saying that when a wiki starts, people can contribute, and it grows from there – especially in his description of the Indian Ocean earthquake of 2004 (p.57). I am thinking there must be some additional fees if someone wants to create a wiki that can have endless amount of contributors?

I agree how Richardson comments that we need to teach Wikipedia to our students – “because they are already using it in their research, whether we like it or not” (p.58). If students are going to be using Wikipedia, then we should be training them on how to use it properly. Also, it appears that the bad rap that Wikipedia may have had in the past is diminishing, as it is “becoming a trusted and cited source by many major news outlets (the New York Times among them) and scholars” (58).

It was interesting to look at some statistical data for the global warming wiki that Richardson provided the url for (p.59). The “number of watchers” and “contributors” is quite an impressive list!

Wikipedia in schools:

Personally, I like Richardson’s idea of students doing research on a topic, and then contributing to Wikipedia (p.60). Being able to watch what happens to the added information, and if/how it gets modified would be an interesting project, and a great way to learn about collaborating in a “real life” situation. I didn’t realize that there was a “Simple English Wikipedia” for younger students. I had a look at it and decided to compare Wayne Gretzky in both. The Simple English was simpler to read, and had much less information. I had to smile how a Wikipedia tab says “Article” but on the Simple English Wikipedia the same tab says “Page”…yup, simpler.

I spent some time looking at some wikis that Richardson suggested for “K-12”, but I really can’t see younger students performing some of the skills that he mentions (p.63). Some of the suggested uses for older students are quite amazing, and would certainly develop useful skills.

Richardson sums up wikis well: “Regardless of how educators fell about the potential of wikis, and I can understand the hesitancy many teachers feel, one thing remains certain: The collaborative environment that wikis facilitate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, and how to operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is more and more becoming a group effort” (Richardson, 2010, 69). I agree, there are many teachers, such as myself, that are a little hesitant about getting students involved in these online, public tools, as there are risks. We don’t like to put students into risky situations, and have the backlash of being held responsible. But I do agree that the wikis have great potential in what they can teach students about working collaboratively, and sharing knowledge. As I think about wikis, and my personal use of them as a TL, I think more of how I can incorporate the use of them with the other staff in the school. Being able to create a “central location,” like a wiki, that teachers and the TL can share their ideas and continue to add/modify is appealing to me. 

So for an addition to my post, I decided to combine wiki with screenr. I have been wanting to try screenr for awhile and keep forgetting! I decided to make a short "fictional" tutorial on how to create a new page in wiki - something basic for older elementary school students. Sorry about the low volume - my kids were sleeping and I didn't want to wake them! Making the screenr was super duper easy! I just watched the 1 minute tutorial (I am really liking this way of learning things!) and then gave it a try! The hardest part was trying to figure out what to record. Well, hopefully it works!

Journey to the Podcast...

I have to admit, podcasting is not one of my favourite tools, and I cringe when I hear the word. I think it is partly due to the fact that I am not a very auditory person…I need visuals. I would much rather sit and read a book than listen to an audio book, and actually, I tend to not even remember what has been said if it is just auditory. I was commenting to my husband just the other day that I probably would have enjoyed it more when my elementary teacher read novels out loud to us if I could have followed along with the book. It’s just something that I realize about myself, so I deal with it. So podcasts aren’t my favourite tool, but I know that many others enjoy them, so I will learn more about them!

This chapter by Richardson, though explaining podcasts, is helping me to understand RSS feed a little better (p.113). This automatic updates that a person can subscribe to is quite amazing. I am thinking that is similar to what we have set up for our class blogs in google reader (??)

Richardson describes the access of podcasts through itunes (p.114). I decided to take a look through my itunes account. I was quite surprised at the vast amount available! I searched through the “More Education – K-12” and found podcasts of a young girl reading story books. All of these podcasts were free. I could certainly see the educational implications for these – especially if a student had the actual book in their hands. The people who created the podcast even made sure there was a “jingle” to turn the page. Browsing through the many different podcasts made me realize some of the different uses for them. I think it would be a great idea to have some of the older students in the school create podcasts of themselves reading some picture books for the younger students in the school!

Okay, so I downloaded Audacity, had it working, and recorded a quick “hello”. I thought I would try plugging in a mic, and it didn’t work, so I unplugged it. Now I can’t record any sound, so I don’t know what happened. Grrr…I don’t have time to troubleshoot like this when I have no idea how to troubleshoot!! Will come back to this later….

Okay, so I googled how to turn my microphone sound back on, and I think I found it. Nope…didn’t work in Audacity.

So I decided to move on to a Screencast. I haven’t done this yet, but I think this can be a useful tool, especially for teaching things on the internet, or for computer use. Many upper elementary students may not be as technologically savvy as others, and having this interactive way to learn things incorporates visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning!

Just waiting for Jing to install…

Back to Audacity. It took me a bit, but I finally figured out how to get the mic turned back on for my laptop. After twisting my daughter’s arm a bit, she agreed to play one of her short fiddle tunes on her violin for by podcast assignment. It was really cool how I could quickly delete the shuffling sounds at the beginning, and some extra background noise at the end of the recording with a simple highlight and delete. Now to figure out how to get it to my blog. I am hoping the Richardson text will guide me through that part too!

Well, not too much luck so far. I was able to record in Audacity, convert to MP3 using Switch Sound File Converter, but now I don’t know how to embed it into my Blog. Time to enlist the help of Aaron. Going to take a break from this for now.

Heard from Aaron, so created yet ANOTHER account with SoundCloud so that I could upload the MP3 and share onto my Blog. Going to give it a try to see if it works…

https://soundcloud.com/nsauer/violinpodcast1

or... (not sure which one to use)

If it works, you will be able to hear my daughter playing a short fiddle song on her violin!
If not...I will have to wait for Aaron to help troubleshoot! 

Ah...there it is! I had to switch to HTML when editing my post, and then paste the link at the end. 
Hope it works this time. If so, thanks Aaron!

YouTube

Just trying to see if I can figure out how to embed a video that I created in YouTube... 

My family likes to hike and find geocaches, so when my cousin's son came for a visit, we took him out to look for a geocache:

Reflection of using YouTube...

Seeing as I don't have video editing software on my computer, and Animoto was fun and simple, I wanted to rise to another challenge and try posting to YouTube. I look at videos quite often from YouTube, and even videos from friends, so I have always wondered how to do it. How hard could it be??Unfortunately I couldn't get it to work to upload any of my videos - I am thinking there is a conflict between the program on my computer that the videos are uploaded to and YouTube. I tried a few different things, but could not get the video to work, so settled on photos. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were ways to edit photos, and add music to the photos. I have powerpoint on my computer, but have never been able to add music to it, so I was happy to have this option! I would imagine I could add more photos, and time it perfectly to coincide with the end of the song, but my intent was to just play around with some of the features. I am glad that it was mentioned to change the privacy settings to unlisted. At least it will limit who can see find it. 
I think it would be fun to incorporate these kind of short videos into a library website. Of course I am always concerned about privacy issues though. I thought it would be an idea for students to present book reviews for their friends to see, but I would have to look into those privacy settings a little further. I know most students are very familiar with YouTube, and access it often, so being able to post something onto it from school as an educational project would be an exciting and interactive thing to do!

Men's Curling Provincials!!

My attempt to "share" from websites that have the little "share" icon:

2012-2013 British Columbia » Canadian Direct Insurance BC Men's Provincial Championship » Playdowns.com

My husband and his team are curling at the BC Provincials this week!! Go team Yamada!

http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/sports/189741201.html

**Note - this is an older photo. The guy on the left is no longer on the team. My husband is not in this photo - he's holding the broom at the other end of the ice!! I couldn't find a recent photo.

Social Bookmarking... without the tassel

My Diigo Tags

Although these are bookmarks I created in Diigo last semester, my goal was just to see if I could transfer it into my blog as a cloud...I'm not sure if it worked... okay...it looks like it is at the bottom of this blog post. Hmmm...

This weeks reading about Social Bookmarking is one that I am interested in, as I am continually adding bookmarks to my personal bookmarks on my computer, but I have very little organization with it. As you can see, this screenshot of just a few of my bookmarks is quite disorganized, and there are a lot of bookmarks to sift through when I am trying to find a specific one I have bookmarked. There is no way to "search" through my bookmarks.

Delicious or Diigo? Last semester, in one of my courses, we were given the option to pick one or the other, and I chose Diigo (the home page was more eye-catching to me). I started using it, then I found I was constantly signing in to bookmark, and the highlighting feature wasn’t working. So, I just continued to bookmark like I normally do, but I am finding I need some organization to them! It’s getting crazy!! Something Richardson pointed out in our text this week made sense to me: “Obviously, if we are to be expected to participate in the construction of ‘folksonomies’ to save the information that we find, it will require us to redefine the process we currently use in relative isolation. Our personal organizational systems for content may need revision to fit with a more communal model” (Richardson, 2010, p.91). This is so true. I think part of the reason I abandoned Diigo was that it was something different than what I had always been doing. But what I am finding now, is that what I have always been doing is becoming not all that effective, nor efficient. I also wonder if I can access my bookmarks (my personal ones) from a different computer. Something I will have to check!

Trying to figure out how to add a screenshot from my diigo:
Hope it works

Ah…Richardson compares Diigo and Delicious! Perfect!

Diigo: I did like the highlighting and stickynote features in Diigo – I just wish I could get them to work consistently! I also like that I can decide if it is private or public. I do like Richardson’s reasoning for public though – to be able to connect with others who have bookmarked similar sites (p.92).  Being able to create groups is another nice feature – I could see incorporating that with teacher colleagues at the school.

Delicious: Richardson didn’t have too much to say regarding Delicious, so at this point, I may stick with Diigo and try to figure it out some more. Got a little sidetracked with the information regarding LibraryThing.com and Shelfari.com. Found myself looking at books....reading reviews...having a little fun! Okay....I have work to do!!  I think I like Shelfari.com better – I just like the name of it! 

Clouds outside Niki's window

I had heard of Clouds before, but didn't realize what they were. I also didn't realize the significance of the size of text- now it makes sense!

I can certainly see the usefulness of social tagging within the school. In the library, the Librarian can organize useful sites into categories that pertain to subject areas that teachers can access. For students, the social bookmarking skill can help to narrow down searches so that they are not endlessly searching through google -and they develop their evaluation skills as they analyze the findings within the bookmarks (Berger & Trexler, 2010, p.53). I just need to become more proficient in using them myself!