The below Web 2.0 Learning tools guide will help to transition you from being a consumer of web content to being a creator. That's what Web 2.0 is all about, it is the collaborative Internet where everyone contributes their ideas and thinking within a community. Ten years ago, web page designers would hang information that the rest of us would go out and read. With the advent of blogs and wikis, you can literally create your own web content in minutes.
The Big-9 represent a list of tools and instructions for their use that will walk users step-by-step into this Web 2.0 world. This is based loosely on the 23 Learning 2.0 Things concept, but with an emphasis on how these fit into K12 schools. Your first task will be to set up a blog here in Blogger, then you'll email that blog address to your facilitator who will follow your progress and help you out any way they can. The complete list of tools is here:
1. Blog Platform-Blogspot
2. Niche Network-Ning
3. MediaCasting-VoiceThread
4. Wiki-WikiSpaces
5. Documents-Goog Docs
6. Social Bookmarks-Delicious
7. Video Sharing-School Tube
8. Location-Google Maps
9. Pictures-Shutterfly
Structurally, the instructions are given in the ten blog posts below this one that represent the Big-9. We also have a list of Anchor activities in the posts beyond #9. The Anchor activities can be used to expand your horizons once you finish the first nine. Read the No.1 Blogging post below and you'll be on your way looking at examples, creating your own blog, and sharing what you have learned. Enjoy!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
No. 1 of 9, Blogging Using Blogspot
The first task in our Web 2.0 Learning is to create a blog. The blog you create will be your own personal journal of your journey through the Big-9 and if someone is facilitating this for you they can follow your posts. In other words, when you create your first blog post 'Blogging in Blogspot', you'll have completed the first task in the Big-9 and this post will be the culmination of that work. As you progress through the other tasks, you'll post 8 more times with each post representing another step closer to completion.
A blog is short for Web-Log, or a log on the Internet. It journals the writing of a given author around the topic of their choice. Take a look at the different examples here to get an idea of how students, staff, and even entire schools use blogs to share their thinking with the world.
Click here for a how-to document for creating your blog in Blogspot. As the content of your first post, discuss where in your school or professional life you might blog to share your thinking with others. A second idea would be to blog about a lesson where students would blog around a topic and then read each other's blogs and comment. Then once you post your first entry, email your blog address (ie. myblogname.blogspot.com) to your facilitator.
A blog is short for Web-Log, or a log on the Internet. It journals the writing of a given author around the topic of their choice. Take a look at the different examples here to get an idea of how students, staff, and even entire schools use blogs to share their thinking with the world.
Click here for a how-to document for creating your blog in Blogspot. As the content of your first post, discuss where in your school or professional life you might blog to share your thinking with others. A second idea would be to blog about a lesson where students would blog around a topic and then read each other's blogs and comment. Then once you post your first entry, email your blog address (ie. myblogname.blogspot.com) to your facilitator.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
No. 2 of 9, Niche Networks with Ning
Web 2.0 is all about collaboration and no place is better for this than Ning. Here you can create a Niche network around any topic (School Improvement, Algebra, Cooking) and invite others to join in and contribute. In this second step of the Big-9, we'll learn about some different Niche Networks and create one too. When you are done, simply post a blog entry in your (myblogname.blogspot.com) and your facilitator will get the link and check it out.
Niche networks such as Ning are closed social networks built around a common topic or goal. They are similar to social networks in that they have friends or members who contribute the content. They are different from social networks in that they are closed to invited members only and members usually can't invite others in. Some are actually public, click here for examples and to get an idea of how they work.
Here's the handout now. Create a Ning around your classroom, department, grade team, or professional group. To wrap this one up, head back to Blogger and post the address of your Ning and how you might use this to collaborate with students or colleagues.
Niche networks such as Ning are closed social networks built around a common topic or goal. They are similar to social networks in that they have friends or members who contribute the content. They are different from social networks in that they are closed to invited members only and members usually can't invite others in. Some are actually public, click here for examples and to get an idea of how they work.
Here's the handout now. Create a Ning around your classroom, department, grade team, or professional group. To wrap this one up, head back to Blogger and post the address of your Ning and how you might use this to collaborate with students or colleagues.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
No. 3 of 9, Media Casting with Voicethread
Media Casting is the act of publishing a presentation online for others to view and comment on. Like casting a fish line, content creators attempt to catch the interest of others with their ideas expressed through a variety of media formats. As with many online tools, early media casts (aka podcasts) were one directional where we'd 'listen' to instead of read online content. Now media casting allows all of us to put our pictures, movies, and voices online and also allows other people to comment back.
One tool that does this particularly well is VoiceThread.com . Here students and teachers alike can publish a variety of media to the web for free. Individuals can create up to three VoiceThreads using a free account. They can then download or delete these to create more. Pictures, movies, and audio can all be mashed together into a presentation using their simple interface. Take a look at the below examples to get a better idea of what is possible:
Elementary kids responding to a literature prompt
http://voicethread.com/share/310153/
Middle School Student Book Reports
http://voicethread.com/share/213442/
Students discuss the book the Awakening
http://voicethread.com/share/341274/
Variable stars with voice and text comments
http://voicethread.com/share/322140/
Math movie/voice example
http://voicethread.com/share/8154/
Now it's time to try your hand at making a VoiceThread. Your first one does not need to be complicated, use pictures you already have or download a few from the Internet. Find a simple how-to handout here. Post the link to your completed voicethread in your Blog and answer the following two q's to complete this task:
-If this was your first VoiceThread, how easy or difficult was it to create?
-Give an example or two of lessons where a VoiceThread could work within your classroom?
One tool that does this particularly well is VoiceThread.com . Here students and teachers alike can publish a variety of media to the web for free. Individuals can create up to three VoiceThreads using a free account. They can then download or delete these to create more. Pictures, movies, and audio can all be mashed together into a presentation using their simple interface. Take a look at the below examples to get a better idea of what is possible:
Elementary kids responding to a literature prompt
http://voicethread.com/share/310153/
Middle School Student Book Reports
http://voicethread.com/share/213442/
Students discuss the book the Awakening
http://voicethread.com/share/341274/
Variable stars with voice and text comments
http://voicethread.com/share/322140/
Math movie/voice example
http://voicethread.com/share/8154/
Now it's time to try your hand at making a VoiceThread. Your first one does not need to be complicated, use pictures you already have or download a few from the Internet. Find a simple how-to handout here. Post the link to your completed voicethread in your Blog and answer the following two q's to complete this task:
-If this was your first VoiceThread, how easy or difficult was it to create?
-Give an example or two of lessons where a VoiceThread could work within your classroom?
Friday, August 7, 2009
No. 4 of 9, Creating Wikis in Wikispaces
Wiki means quick in Hawaiian, it takes almost no time at all to create a simple wiki page. Even more exciting is that individuals can all work together on a single wiki. In one example, a teacher could put out a prompt and students respond with their own text, links, and images. In another, students might gather data and use the wiki as a home base for organizing this data as a whole class.
WikiSpaces is a straightforward tool that lives up to the promise of quick and easy collaboration. Multiple users can work simultaneously to add ideas and content. Take a look at these classroom wikis:
Second Grade Wiki from Patti Harju:
http://harju.wikispaces.com/
A Middle School Example, be sure to click the links on the left:
clollar.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us
A High School Social Studies resource wiki:
clollar.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us
Ok, lets create a wiki ourselves. The simple how-to document for this is here. After you make a wiki post it up to your blog and answer the following too:
- A wiki can facilitate resource pages, signup pages, data collection, project learning, and many other classroom formats. Which of these make the most sense in your classroom setting.
-Did it live up to its name, was it quick to make?
WikiSpaces is a straightforward tool that lives up to the promise of quick and easy collaboration. Multiple users can work simultaneously to add ideas and content. Take a look at these classroom wikis:
Second Grade Wiki from Patti Harju:
http://harju.wikispaces.com/
A Middle School Example, be sure to click the links on the left:
clollar.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us
A High School Social Studies resource wiki:
clollar.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us
Ok, lets create a wiki ourselves. The simple how-to document for this is here. After you make a wiki post it up to your blog and answer the following too:
- A wiki can facilitate resource pages, signup pages, data collection, project learning, and many other classroom formats. Which of these make the most sense in your classroom setting.
-Did it live up to its name, was it quick to make?
Thursday, August 6, 2009
No. 5 of 9, Google Documents
While Google Documents lacks the rich features available in a traditional Office software, they more than make up for it in facilitating collaboration on document creation. Users share their text docs, spreadsheets, and presentations online in an effort to gain broader input on the content. Does this sound familiar, all of the tools so far are all about online sharing an feedback and Google Docs is no different.
Four formats within Google Docs. Three you are probably familiar with; Text, Presentations, and Spreadsheets. The last one is Google Forms, this is a great survey tool that makes a quick parent or class survey a breeze.
1. Text Document how-to is here and doc used in how-to published here:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddcbwk9w_1fxqnb7gn
2. The Presentation document how-to he here and the doc used in the how-t0 is published here:
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=ddcbwk9w_3c7rwfgg8
3. The Spreadsheet document how-to is here and the docs used in the how-to are published here:
Elementary:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tnJwWB-Cxhto700VX9k--mA&output=html
Secondary Science:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t4gsLO217IiPTItGNgaqCjg&output=html
4. Lastly, the Goog forms survey is here.
The survey it produces is here
Yes, No.5 here is a little longer as you'll have to create one of each of the above 4 to get your head around Google Docs. Post the links to these in your blog and answer the questions below here:
-Which of the formats (Text, Presentation, or Spreadsheets) seems the most natural fit in your class?
-Can you think of any surveys that you give that might be easy to facilitate in Google Forms?
Four formats within Google Docs. Three you are probably familiar with; Text, Presentations, and Spreadsheets. The last one is Google Forms, this is a great survey tool that makes a quick parent or class survey a breeze.
1. Text Document how-to is here and doc used in how-to published here:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddcbwk9w_1fxqnb7gn
2. The Presentation document how-to he here and the doc used in the how-t0 is published here:
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=ddcbwk9w_3c7rwfgg8
3. The Spreadsheet document how-to is here and the docs used in the how-to are published here:
Elementary:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tnJwWB-Cxhto700VX9k--mA&output=html
Secondary Science:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t4gsLO217IiPTItGNgaqCjg&output=html
4. Lastly, the Goog forms survey is here.
The survey it produces is here
Yes, No.5 here is a little longer as you'll have to create one of each of the above 4 to get your head around Google Docs. Post the links to these in your blog and answer the questions below here:
-Which of the formats (Text, Presentation, or Spreadsheets) seems the most natural fit in your class?
-Can you think of any surveys that you give that might be easy to facilitate in Google Forms?
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
No. 6 of 9, Social Bookmarking in Delicious
To start with, online Bookmarking can be a huge help personally to anyone who works on multiple computers. Most people have a work machine, a home machine, and maybe use a public computer at times. The problem with this is that the bookmarks you have stored on one machine are not available on the other machines and totally not available on that public access machine or a machine at a friend's house. Online Bookmarking sets out to change all of that. By logging into your bookmark site, all of your links are organized for you no matter where you are or what machine you are using.
In addition to the convenience factor of knowing where your links are, online bookmarking can also be Social. In this instance, Social means shared among people with common interests. Using an online bookmarking tool can help us weed out the wheat from the chaff on a particular topic online. By searching for links that have many bookmark instances within a community, you can have some confidence in the reliability of the information contained within.
Delicious.com was first site to facilitate social bookmarking and remains the most popular. Click here for a how-to on setting up a site and searching bookmarks. Post your site on your blog (form is delicious.com/username ) and answer the following on your blog post also:
-What social bookmarking searches obtained good results for you?
-Would social bookmarking searching make sense as a part of your lesson planning?
In addition to the convenience factor of knowing where your links are, online bookmarking can also be Social. In this instance, Social means shared among people with common interests. Using an online bookmarking tool can help us weed out the wheat from the chaff on a particular topic online. By searching for links that have many bookmark instances within a community, you can have some confidence in the reliability of the information contained within.
Delicious.com was first site to facilitate social bookmarking and remains the most popular. Click here for a how-to on setting up a site and searching bookmarks. Post your site on your blog (form is delicious.com/username ) and answer the following on your blog post also:
-What social bookmarking searches obtained good results for you?
-Would social bookmarking searching make sense as a part of your lesson planning?
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