July 23 – July 29
1. Definition of Tool Of Choice Assignment:
This week is a bit different than previous week’s, because this week it is up to you what you would like to learn. This could be something we have not covered in previous weeks, or we are giving the option to go back to a previous week and learn about that tool in a bit more depth or to start developing it for implementation for the coming school year.
2. Choose Your Assignment:
Option 1: Choose a completely new tool. There are so many social sites out there that help you network and connect with other educators or to help in communicating with parents and students. There is no way we could cover everything in one class. Check out these sites that list web 2.0 tools to choose a tool to evaluate:
- http://www.go2web20.net/ - a list of everything 2.0 – but might be a little overwhelming. Each tool is BRIEFLY described, but they are searchable based on tags – or key words.
- Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators - A list of tools for educators; some are free and some are not. Kathy Schrock has done a nice job identifying resources most applicable to educators.
- http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0 - The 2008 awards for web 2.0 tools – tools are broken into categories and given rankings based on usability, usefulness, social aspects, design and content.
Option 2: Go back to a previous assignment and learn more about it and go in depth. After reading many of your blogs and info on the wiki page here are a few suggestions on what to revisit from previous weeks:
- Creating/Expanding a class blog for parent communication – spice it up with extras on widgets and info. (Note: If you want to post audio files EASILY you might want the new blog to be on edublogs.)
- Explore podcasting further – Many of you were interested in creating video podcasts (vodcasts) or wanted more time to work out the kinks in audio podcasting. Take some time to work through these issues or learn how video casts can work for you.
- Here are some handouts to create official mp4 (video) files that can be downloaded to ipod video players.
- If you are not worried about the ability to download files, stop at the Photostory part and skip Jodix. You can upload a finished Photostory to TeacherTube.
- Screencasting – Several people asked about how to create a screencast of what is happening on the computer screen – like what was used in the wiki assignment. We used Jing – a free download that gives you a choice to save the file as a swf file (this format will not upload to TeacherTube or YouTube) or to upload it to a space on the Jing website.: http://www.jingproject.com/ (Note: Please don’t plan to have this program downloaded at school.)
- Creating/Expanding a class wiki page and add content that your class can use to start the year.
- Media Sharing – Contribute to the world of media sharing by creating and uploading content to TeacherTube.
3. Learn
- Comment on three other classmates’ blogs – see Weekly Comment Rotation
- Respond as a comment to this blog entry your plans for this week.
- In your blog:
- Identify your tool of choice.
- Give a definition of it for others to learn from and an explanation of why it was chosen.
- Provide links to learn more about it
- Explain how you plan to use it in your job this coming year, giving specific examples.
4. Reflections on Course:
This is the last official assignment in this pilot course. We, the organizers, have learned so much from working with everyone and look forward to meeting all of you face to face on September 18th. We walked into this as much as students as teachers and have appreciated your patience and willingness to take this journey with us.
We know that ya’ll have worked very hard and put in way over 2 hours a week to get the assignments completed so we have been talking to the staff development department about increasing the number of credit hours everyone will receive to at least 21 hours.
To help us move forward, please answer the following reflection questions in your blog:
- How would you describe this course to a colleague?
- What was the best part of the course and why?
- What will you take away from this course to use in your classroom?
- What is one thing you would change about this course for the next group?
- Would you recommend this course to anyone else? Why or why not?
We will explore your reflections more at the follow-up session in September as well as asking everyone share how they are using these tools in their classrooms/jobs this school year.
Posted in assignments.
Tagged with Assignment, choice, web 2.0.
By Robin Young
– July 23, 2008
July 16-22
1. Definition of Media Sharing:
Wikipedia Definition of Media Sharing: Media sharing occurs in online social networks and digital communities… It is the interactive process of sending via email, instant message, text message, posting or linking to media on a website or blog and other methods of sharing media to a targeted audience. As media is shared it takes on a variety of different contexts and meanings. The same video posted on YouTube and on Digg will generate different communication outcomes as the same video being sent to a family member and a college buddy. Social commentary usually accompanies shared media. Media sharing sustains social networks, web based communities and other digitally supported relationships. It is a communication process that requires the participation of both the sender and receiver.
For the purposes of this course, we’ll focus on photo sharing (Flickr, Fotki, and/or Photobucket), video sharing (TeacherTube, YouTube and Google Video), and briefly explore music sharing (not the same as the mp3s you put on your iPod or mp3 player). We’ll also investigate CreativeCommons licensing.
To get started, watch the following videos. The first is from “Common Craft:” about Photosharing
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPU4awtuTsk[/youtube]
Creative Commons according to Wikipedia: The Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to legally build upon and share. The organization has released several copyright licenses known as Creative Commons licenses. These licenses, depending on the one chosen, restrict only certain rights (or none) of the work instead of traditional copyright, which is more restrictive.
This video is an advertisement of sorts for CreativeCommons (CC)
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=P3rksT1q4eg[/youtube]
This site does a good job explaining the details of Fair Use and Copyright as it pertains to educators.Fair Use and Copyright for Teachers
2. Reasons to use Media Sharing:
The reasons to use Media Sharing are similar to the reasons for blogs, podcasts, and wikis:
As a means of Communication
- Media sharing can be used to complement your wikis and blogs
- Photo sharing can be used to post pictures from class activities or a field study to share with parents
- Store images throughout the year to use in your end of the year evaluation or ABC
- Multiple teachers contribute to store end of year slideshow online
Teachers use them as part of lesson
- Use as Engage/Excite portion of your 5E model
- Use photo, music, or video as a writing prompt
- Virtual field trips
- Store media that you use in lessons on a collaborative site
- Examples of past students’ work – not taking up space in your cabinets
Students use them
- Multimedia project instead of PowerPoint
- Complement their blog or wiki
- Maintain an online portfolio of their work to use at parent conferences
- Create school news
- Publish final project for classmates to view and comment
Other uses
- Archive bulletin boards
- Teachers collaborate with eachother
- Fundraising activity (create calendars, allow parents to purchase pictures)
What other ideas can you think of?
3. Examples of Media Sharing in Education:
Ideas from other teachers, librarians, and professionals
Media sharing websites
4. Assignment:
- Complete comments on 3 other blogs – see Weekly Comment Rotation.
- Learn about shared media, fair use, and CreativeCommons. First read through the materials and articles included in the post above, looking for definitions of shared media, fair use, and CreativeCommons in these and other resources you may come across. Create a personal “working” definition of shared media that incorporates the aspects of fair use and CreativeCommons. Include your definition as part of your blog for this week.
- Investigate three free photo sharing sites. Use the table below to help you choose the one that best suites your needs.
| Site |
Hosting/Bandwidth space |
Privacy Options |
Photo Printing |
Video |
Maximum File Size |
Other Cool Features |
| Photobucket |
1 GB |
Public, Private, Guest Password |
3rd Party QOOP |
Yes |
Image=1 MB
Video= 5 min
Slideshow= 30 images |
Slideshows
Photo-editing
Create an avatar |
| Flickr |
100 MB per month |
Public, Friends, Family, Private |
Several 3rd party options |
Yes, members only |
Image=10 MB
Video= 90 sec |
Geotagging |
| Fotki |
50 MB |
Private Home vs. Public Home |
$0.09 per print plus shipping |
No |
Resized to 500 x 500 |
Rotate, flip, add borders to pictures |
- Create a photo sharing account (you can choose the provider that best suits your preferences). We are in no way endorsing one site over another, there are MANY photosharing sites available… these were chosen by popularity and ease of use.
- Learn how to embed TeacherTube Videos and YouTube Videos on your blog and wiki pages.
How-to Video: Embed a video on your wiki
Embedding a YouTube Video with Blogger
Embedding a YouTube Video with Edublogs
These directions work for TeacherTube and Google Video as well.
- Choose a video to blog about. It can be from TeacherTube, YouTube, or GoogleVideo. Embed the video in your blog and write a post about it.
- Put together a five song playlist and embed it into your wiki.
How-to Video: Create a playlist
How-to Video: Embed playlist to Wikispaces
- Complete Reflections on your own learning blog.
- What did you learn?
- How will you use what you have learned?
- How did you feel about this tool?
- What do you not want to forget about this tool?
- How can this be used in the classroom or in your educational role?
- Would you use a shared media like playlist.com?
- Should you use this in the classroom or your educational role?
- What questions do you still have about these tools?
5. Software/Hardware Used in this Module :
Photo-sharing sites
Video-sharing sites
Other Media Sharing Sites
6. Supplemental Reading/Viewing:
Articles from Edutopia
Posted in assignments.
By orteganic
– July 16, 2008
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