Widgets, Gadgets, Addons... and ... Mxyzptlk: 501 Widgets, Gadgets, Addons Blog Post

Gadgets, widgets, addons.... I suppose I am already old school in my thinking, but when I hear the terms gadgets, widgets, and addons, I can’t help but connote those terms with small, or at least compact-ish items, not necessarily of the highest manufacturing quality, that are seemingly disposable because of their low cost.

Growing up back in Oakville, Ontario, we didn’t have dollar stores, but, rather Bi-Way stores, where a kid could get a whole lot of everything for VERY low cost. A quick Google search earlier this week netted a blog that shows there are still three BiWay stores in operation back home. As a kid, my mom would take my four brothers and myself to the BiWay, once a week, where we could find knock-offs of popular items that were out-of-reach for our $2/week allowances. Well, actually, it wasn’t really an allowance that I was collecting, because I had to do chores to earn it, so it was more like a wage. But, I don’t think the training I got from my chores really enamored me too much. Somehow, as a kid I already had a strong sense that if I was being paid to sweep the floor, pick up the trash, cut the grass, wash the car, trim the hedges, clean my room, and pick the fruit off the trees, amongst other duties, I was basically doing the job of hired help/janitor. And, I really didn’t aspire to janitorial work, because I saw what those folks had to do in my school, and while it is a respectful position to hold, the kids still made fun of the people who cleaned the washrooms. And, I didn’t want kids to make fun of me, so I resisted in performing many of my chores until I was humbled enough to do my work so I could afford to buy a week’s supply of Lik-M-Aid Fun-Dip Lik-A-Stix, Bottle Caps, Neapolitan Taffey, O-Pee-Chee hockey cards, and, of course, whatever imported gadgets, widgets, or on-the-shelf- addons were being discounted for sale each week. I suppose that I have romanticized my memory of the BiWay store that made a small fortune off our allowances. I can still recall the amazing things I bought at BiWay, things that were referred to as gadgets, such as a key chain that beeped if you whistled a correct pitch, which was to help people find lost keys. Oh, and then there was the brown ‘leather’ (naugahyde) wallet that had a rain jacket built in to it, and there were days that I wore my brown, tent-fly-material, k-way-knock-off jacket with a wallet shell attached to the bottom hem on the back that I could tuck into my back pocket. Ah, what found memories of childhood gadgets I have. A quick Google search earlier this week connected me with some pictures of what the image of ‘gadget’ conjures up in my mind:




Butter in a tube -- gadget!

A suit for baby to wear so they can mop the floor -- gadget!

A tissue paper dispenser designed for persons with chronic post nasal drip -- gadget!

A toaster that can add brand logos to bread -- gadget!

Also this week, I found out what the terms gadget, widget, and addon mean to the new generation of learners who embrace and immerse themselves in Web 2.0-based technologies. And, for those of you who visited my blog last week and found things pretty much in order, you will notice that my blog is no longer as neat since my experiences with trying to integrate gadget, widget, and addon technologies into my space here in blogpost (see sidebars of this blog)!

I began this week by doing my readings first, before styling my way into a Google search to find information about gadgets, widgets, and addons. I wish there had been a trail fire video link to a widgets video created In Plain English by Lee LeFever, about how to incorporate these new technologies, because I still had a number of questions about the use and inclusion of gadgets, widgets, and addons into the various social networking sites we have been working with during this term. But, don’t get the idea that I was completely helpless!

The first article I read was Wisniewski’s (2008) Fast and Easy Website Tuneups, which are recommendations that definitely helped to show me why I need to make changes to the way I use technology so my voice is more attuned to how readers, listeners and viewers interact with what I share through my postings. I can’t pinpoint exactly one article that has lead me to understand that considerable research is being done to understand the networking habits of online technology users, but Nicola remarked in her discussion posting this week, “As a reader of blogs on a regular basis I tend to focus on the post and find that blogs that are too busy are distracting; therefore, I tend to ignore the information in the sidebar. The ones with a cleaner, simpler feel come across as organized and I then examine the sidebars. There is a fine line between too much and not enough. One of the most useful widgets is a blog roll that informs me of other blogs that may fit my interests. For example, I am a big fan of http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/ and find that I really look at the widgets as they include recent comments, a twitter feed highlighting what others say about the blog and a blog roll.” I totally agree with Nicola, and it seems that her experience with using these technologies has really helped her to find her own voice as a follower/subscriber of various blogs that helps her to know what and how she wants to interact with others’ blogs.
I’d like to re-work Wisniewski’s sixth point into a way that I can remind myself to stay on top of my own blogging. Wisniewski reminds us to ask of others:

• What is the purpose of your visit to our website today?
• Were you able to complete your task today?
• If you were not able to complete your task today, why not?

And, I’d like to ask of myself,

• What is the purpose of adding to my website today?
• Was I able to complete my task today?
• If I was not able to complete my task today, why not?
• If I was able to complete my task today, how will users respond to what I added?

The next important article that got me moving this week was Kroski’s (2008) article Widgets. Kroski encourages users to get to know widgets by creating their own through a free service offered by Widgetbox.com I created my own widget, not knowing how it would turn out. In fact, I am quite pleased with how easy the process was, and how great that compact-ish little, low cost (*sic FREE*) works. However, this little addition to my blog also made me see that my blog is not quite as colorful, or interactive as it could be if I had a few more months of experience as a blogger.

Kroski (2008) also mentions that,
“Still more widgets can be used in Web sites and social networking profiles and do not require installation or download. These gadgets may be found in a variety of places online, including social software sites.
YouTube, for instance, provides a piece of HTML code that can be copied and pasted into a site or blog. This embed code, which appears to the right of any YouTube video, is the means by which millions of clips are now being shared on the Web. The hosted storage Web site Box.net allows its users to share folders of stored files for others to download including PDF files, spreadsheets, presentations, and other documents through a widget. As with YouTube, a Box widget can be placed on any Web page, blog, or social networking profile simply by pasting in the related code. Want to chat live with Web site visitors? With the Meebo Me instant-messaging widget, you'll get a personalized IM window to do just that.” Admittedly, I did not know that embedding codes were considered with widgets or gadgets, and began using embed code to prevent me from having to download, then upload files to allow users to interact with my resources. I am very pleased with how much learning has taken place so far in this course, and I am impressed with how completely malleable the internet is for users who need to connect files across various platforms, and through various utilities and tools.

Marcoux and Loertscher (2009) write that, “now educators face the second decade of the 21st Century with seemingly unlimited ways technology can influence what we do. Simlutaneously, children and teens of this generation have enthusiastically embraced technology for social networking and content creation purposes but have failed or not been allowed to extend their technology expertise over into their academic pursuits.” (p.14) I’m sure I have been guilty of proving Marcoux and Loertscher’s point as true, because of the limited understanding I had of Web 2.0 tools for educational purposes. And, despite my blogposts indicating familiarity with these tools, I think it is only through daily contact with others via Web 2.0 tools, that I can develop confidence similar to Nicola’s, that will eventually allow me to teach others about these tools in ways that are meaningful for the learners.

Reflections on the process of learning about the tool

As I mentioned earlier, I am at a loss to explain what happened during the process of adding gadgets to my blog. I found, and integrated a Twitter gadget, which is working, but doesn’t have the same appearance as the gadget image on the site from where the gadget was taken. I added a Diggit widget, and it was a little more disastrous than the Twitter widget, because it isn’t formatted to fit the sidebar of my blogspot account. I would very much like to keep the Diggit widget, just because I enjoyed experimenting with Digg, but I think the widget makes the side bar too cluttered, and the poor aesthetics created by a widget that is cut-off on one side doesn’t really reflect my personality as much as I would like from tools/addons on my blogspot.

Other gadgets I added are: It’s a Library Thing, because of my love of books. However, this gadget doesn’t format to my blospot either. Lastly, there were two other gadgets I added that work with my blogspot, and that are ‘good’ for me. The first is a Google Maps/ Google Video gadget, which allows me to host Google videos and location finder to BMW 335i Twin Turbo videos, which is a beautifully created, awesome functioning marvel of German engineering. And, the last is a Google Video search bar, to allow users to rip through Google videos right in my blog

Discussion of the tool in terms of my own personal learning

I learned a lot about widgets, gadgets, and addons this week, and despite my own shortcomings in being able to make them work correctly, I know that with repeated use, I will find greater success, more satisfaction, and increased understanding of how to incorporate these tools into my ‘online voice’ in the future. I am somewhat perplexed by the limited number of articles available through the university libraries online databases regarding widgets, gadgets, and addons. I thought there would be more information, and better yet, more research-based evidence of the success of using these tools to attract readers. Yet, individual exploration and investigation seems to be the order of the day for newbies hoping to get familiar with using these, uh, not so new technologies.

Discussion of the tool in terms of teaching and learning

Widgets gadgets, and addons, while providing more visual appeal for a website, blog, or networking link, definitely increase the functionality of a page, to offer more to users than a simple interface. I think of the pilgrims who stepped off the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, and lived according to the light given by the sun, and maybe with a little fire at night from a candle they had to manufacture themselves. I’m sure those folks spent a lot of time together, sharing stories, and living by a traditional system of word-of-mouth information transferrance. Heck, probably that’s when a handshake was still a handshake, and people lived by the auditory-kinesthetic interactions they had with one another. And, while books were worth their weight in gold, they weren’t as readily accessible as they are today. Then, along came radio, which still held listeners captivated by oral tradition, and left imaging up to the imaginations of the hearers. Well, then along cam television, nuclear energy that made processing of resources cheaper and easier, and the media was born as society became more bombarded with images on every side. Sometimes when I watch documentaries about the 1920’s and 1930’s I think there was more advertising through signage than we have today! Evidently there has been a shift in our society that leads us from auditory traditions, to visual traditions, and the internet, video hosting, image hosting, flash animation gadgets, embedded widgets, avatars, and background customizing lure our visual senses into a Web (*2.0*) of information, excitement, and interaction that satisfy the deeper needs of human learning systems.

In my classroom, I will encourage students to add these features to their sites, and their online journals/blogs. I know that all of my students use cellphones, and in my searching for gadgets, widgets, and addons, I found many useful tools, like the Twitter bar, that didn’t exactly work as planned, but seems to be up and flying now! 

I had a great week finding new forms of expression for my ‘spaces, and now I will take the time to find synchronicity between my own learning and the new tools to achieve the desired results that the tools can produce.

-rob

References

Kroski, E. (2008). Widgets! School Library Journal, 54(2), 41.

Kuhn, N. (2010, February 27) Creating personalized spaces [Msg 1] Message posted to private WebCT Blackboard class posting for EDES 501 - CONFERENCE SEMINAR (SEM 95 Wi10).

Marcoux, E., & Loertscher, D. (2009). Achieving teaching and learning excellence with technology. Teacher Librarian, 37(2), 14-22.

Wisniewski, M. (2008). Fast and easy website tuneups. Computers in Libraries, June, 24-26.

Wiki Week: Collective Knowledge for a Collaborative Cohort: 501 Wiki Blog Post

Sunday

Last Thursday morning our class was beginning the day with circle time, and I mentioned to the students that I’d had pancakes with applesauce after school the day before. In response to my brief remark about applesauce, a first grade boy in our class noted, “I know how to make applesauce, because my sister knows how.” That boy’s comment stayed with me all day long, and I was impressed with how much the visage and the machinations of our society are really beginning to reflect the intuitive nature of natural human psyche as we develop collective consciousness and knowledge based on the contributions of everyone within our six degrees of separation. Teaching in a small, rural K-12 school pretty much necessitates that teachers remain flexible in their teaching assignments, and I typically teach math, language arts, and science in the configuration of K/1 in the mornings, and high school in the afternoons. My high school students enjoy our classes together, and I get a lot of positive feedback because I am really a kindergarten teacher in my approach to education, and the social constructivist nature of my high school classes involves the students to develop their auditory, visual, and kinesthetic representational systems in each lesson we have together. Essentially, our high school classes are organized and structured like kindergarten classes with enhanced high school knowledge content. I wish that all classes in our school were taught like kindergarten classes, and students would always reflect the positive comment of the grade one boy who claims a certain liberty of restricted evidential knowledge based on his reliance on a social network as being representative of his own consciousness. Today, as a I followed Joanne’s Trailfire links, I saw undeniable evidence that my hopes that students can learn within and from their social systems is becoming more of a reality each day. Wikis represent a collection of everyone’s will, and knowledge, by tying participation and abilities together to develop a new type of logic that is representative of Olson’s (1965) hypothesis arranged in The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. The camping trip gear list allegory for wiki presented an otherwise unknown technology as a tool that I would enjoy using, since so many of my friends and family live in various countries around the globe, and organizing our knowledge and efforts can be made so much more holistic through the use of this tool.

There are certain trends that blogs seem to follow, and one of the habits I’ve developed is to promote and praise the works of Lee LeFever, and his In Plain English video series. This week’s In Plain English: Wikis video is probably the simplest explanation of any technological tool that I have ever encountered. The analogy of organizing a camping trip was well thought out, and there weren’t any gaps in the video that left me wondering, “where do I go from here?” I am grateful for the amazing video that Lee posted, and I feel charged to get involved in a wiki this week. Today, I spent a few hours reading wiki-related articles in the university databases to add to the wiki-consciousness I began to develop as a result of reading the links provided by Joanne’s Trailfire link.

From the get-go, I began to winder if it is necessary for each student in our course to find a site that hosts wikis, and for each of us to create our own wiki, or if it would be better for all of us to contribute to a central wiki so we can get practice editing and adding to others’ postings. There was one Trailfire link in particular, Guidelines for Effective Wiki-Editing that clearly explained some of the issues that arise for wiki-users. I appreciate that a list of quasi-problematic scenarios was posted, because it is difficult for me to think of possible situations that might arise with a technology I have never encountered before.

Monday

Much of the evening on Monday was spent reading articles I located about wikis, wiki-building, and how to effectively use wikis for teaching and learning.

As I was reading the articles I thought back to last week when one of my grade one students brought me a map of how to get to her house. Well, as a grade one teacher I get all kinds of maps, invitations, notes, and random creations on paper from students. However, the map given by this girl in particular, sparked a connection in my grey matter that almost made me want to drive to school in the middle of the night to get the map while I was reading about wikis. The funny thing about the map is that the girl told me I couldn't keep it because she didn't have any more paper at home, and she needed it back so she could make another picture on the backside of the map. I traded her three sheets of blank paper from my daytimer for the one sheet of paper that had her map on it. It seemed like a fair trade for her, but I think I got the better deal when the bargaining was over. Below you can see the map, and see how she understands, and how she sees her place in the world in relation to her family and friends.



Usually kindergarten/grade one students include landmarks in their maps, and have at least one identifiable intersection between school and home. This map is unique in its approach to identifying pathways that all appear to be terminal. And, while it is hardly genius in its logic, this map really represents the fundamental origins of any network-based system. I think I would be safe in saying that I could show where I think a Wiki could be placed on the map, just because no Wiki is dependent on one single person (terminal end); a wiki can exist because each person has their own entry point on the wiki; and, each person comes to a wiki with their own ideas, knowledge, and needs that have to be met in order for that person to return to the wiki to add their intelligence and participation to the network in order for the network to continue to exist. The greatest shame is that I cannot identify the student who created the work, but anyone who knows the girl, would agree that her daily problem-solving orientation is DIRECTLY analagous to this map, and when she has conversations, she talks in terms of the terminal ends that contribute to the dialogs and activities that make up her life.

I really hope that everyone has as much fun reading into this map as I did, and I look forward to hearing from others about their thoughts on the map. I think that if my student could attach phonetic symbols to each of the contributors in the social network, she would agree with

Tuesday

About creating a wiki... I decided to get straight the to core of Wikidom, and I opened a PBWorks account. I haven't created a wiki yet, as it is another time-consuming endeavor to add color to the background, upload a picture or two, invite others to paraticipate in the wiki, and to get a topic in place that will form the basis of my first wiki.

I've noticed that since beginning this course, I am finding it easier to speak my ideas and my intentions through the various tools we experiment with. And, my blog posts are getting easier to organize because I understand the tools better, and how I relate stories about my learning feel less contrived because of my confidence and the knowledge I am gaining in the use of social media utilities makes my ability to manuever between tools more fluid.


“A wiki, considered to be a “Web 2.0” technology, is fundamentally grounded in social and cultural aspects to support learning because it facilitates learning through social interaction: creating, editing, collaborating, and synthesizing multiple ideas.” (Twu, 2009, 16) Rather than joining a public wiki to edit their site, I set up my PBWorks account which proved to be uncomplicated, and I am hoping that by creating my own wiki, I can simulate Harris's research (2009, p.112) concluding that, "teams that wish to collaborate on the entire project from start to finish are more likely to make changes to the template. But they also have a clear idea of the minimum expectations for the project."

I am persuaded to use a PBWorks wiki, more than a WikiSpaces wiki, because of the recommendation of Mears (2009), Podcasts and Wiki's: Delivering Content Information to Students Using Technology, that "PBWorks has developed a platform specifically designed for educators. A Wiki site allows the educator to not only deliver Podcasts to students, but links students to websites containing information, deliver documents and assignments, and if desired, allow students to change or develop content for the site." (p.32)

Getting this information together was quite time consuming, and I am pleased with the progress and success of my efforts to develop a wiki so far.

Drop by again tomorrow, and hopefully my wiki will be more fully developed according to my themes, with attractive backgrounds, gadgets, and interactive tools for users.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

My pbworks account is still up and running, however, I ran into a glitch a few days ago, and it seems that I spent countless hours on Wednesday evening, Thursday evening, and Friday for a few hours, trying to get the problem solved. I have had a pbworks customer care representative working with me to solve the problem, but no solution has been found to allow me to integrate images into my wiki, or to change the background, or the font, or anything else about my wiki. (*wait*) I know you’re going to direct me to the AMAZING tutorials wiki offers in both html and video format, and then you will advise to me to read the AWESOME users manual pbworks includes with each account, but I’ve done that. …and so have the people at pbworks, but we are still trying other avenues to get the wiki editable beyond just adding text to the wiki.

During this ordeal the voice of reason DID speak to me through a comment posted by Nicola of Seven Summits Librarian blog, who reminded me, “It is true that an initial frustrating or negative experience with technology can turn people off using it, especially in their classrooms. I applaud your ceaseless efforts at creating a podcast (cf. wiki) despite everything working against you.” Thanks Nicola! Despite the frustration and reluctance I felt to pressing forward and persisting to get the problem resolved, I found enough tenacity to see this wiki through the good and bad, ‘til death do us part!

Reflections on the process of learning about the tool

Working with a pbworks wiki has been a very great learning experience this week. Although my wiki doesn’t have the exterior comforts of colors, images, icons, and full editing features, I am positive that I know each and every feature offered by pbworks. I have ‘played’ with my wiki more than any other of the tools we’ve explored, mostly out of sheer necessity to try to make this happen.

Never in the past have I had to contact a customer care representative before, and that in itself has been a learning experience. The first few times I responded to their emails, I did my best to explain the issue I was having with my wiki, but there was a communication breakdown between us, and we were stalled in trying to figure out if we were talking about the same things. Eventually, I made screenshots of each screen I navigated through to get to the page where the problem ended my navigability through wikidom. I wonder if Joanne knew this type of problem could confront a student when she wrote that we should

Harris (2009, p.111), presents wikis in a simple light, with simple user instructions, “One solution that can make the most of a group’s time and energy in a collaborative writing assignment is Wiki software. Wikis were invented to foster rapid collaboration with a minimum learn­ing curve. Using two buttons—Save and Edit—they allow members of a group to take turns editing a web page and saving it for the next team mem­ber’s contribution. A short film by Lee Lefever that demonstrates a group of friends planning a camping trip using Wiki software…” Harris was right on the mark about how easy it is to add to a wiki. And, as I found through troubleshooting and trial and error this week, adding users is as simple as entering the user’s email address, and using a drop-down menu to determine what level of access each user can have to the wiki account.

Despite the turbulence I’ve had with completing and customizing my wiki, I will keep on the wiki until it is done, so I feel a greater sense of accomplishment and confidence in dealing with this tech-tool. At first, I wasn’t exactly sure if I would find it particularly useful for my lifestyle, and the types of interactions I have with friends and family, but working closely with my wiki for more than a week, I have imagined a hundred and one uses I have for this tool, and how to use it to get my friends and family involved in my life despite the large geographic distances that separate us.

Discussion of the tool in terms of my own personal learning

My own personal learning about wikis seems to be a rollover from my process of learning about the tool. Here I go old school again…. When I travel, my favorite method of communication with friends and family is still postcard. In my wallet, I carry a piece of paper with two lists: one list is Summer, the other list is Winter. And, from September through March, the ‘winter’ people get postcards from me, and April through August is for the ‘summer’ people. It can be quite difficult to fill-in 45 postcards if I am only in Calgary for a weekend, but I try my best to keep in contact with everyone I know, by sending them each a memento of my life. Also, I don’t own a cellphone, a laptop computer, or a GPS. I am still working my way into the 21^st century, and only 3 years ago I got a phone, opting instead for the past 15 years to use Ham radio to receive calls from friends, either at home or on the road. Fortunately, I could afford the $6000 cost for radio equipment, but not everyone could, and it made life difficult for new friends to reach me if they were not Hams. But, when I was in other countries, I was still able to call home, and to have ‘conference calls’ because my closest friends would be on the air at the same time each week to hear from me. Then came Email: the impersonal monologue that took the fun out of postcarding. And, I found myself trying to link up with friends by constantly checking my email and sending directions back and forth with them. As one small example of ineffective communications tools, can you imagine how  much trouble it was when I was in Sankt-Petersburg, my brother was in Alesund, Norway, and I was trying to meet up with him, as well as a friend in Geneva, and another friend in Berlin… MADNESS! So, there we were, emailing, trying to call one another, sending telegrams, and trying to decide on where we could all meet because of time, ca$h, travel visa, and accommodations limits! It wasn’t easy. But…if there had been a wiki, it would have helped considerably to get us all together in the right place at the right time. Funny, as I am writing this, I remember the ride-board back in Oakville, where anyone could post a ride: wanted or needed, for others to see. I remember getting low-cost transportation to B.C. several times during highschool, never knowing who I’d be traveling with until I met up with the driver and put my backpack in the truck! I remember using a ride-board service in Hamburg a couple of years ago, and got a ride to Bodensee on my way to Zurich. The driver was a louse named Carston, who, with the help of his friends tried to get me out of the car and take-off without me. Funny… I can definitely find parallels in my own life to having tried to create or use a pre-wiki wiki, but it never quite worked as comfortable as a wiki really can. It seems that Byrne’s (2009) article titled, Wiki tools are not all the same rings true in more than one sense. And, pbworks comes out on top of its competitors with a full range of functions Byrne lists as ‘key differentiators’ between wiki providers:

>rich-text editing environment,

>organizing and refactoring services,

>change monitoring and alerting,

>access control and approvals,

>spam prevention, and

>target use cases. (Byrne, 2009, p.8)

And, having played extensively with the features listed above, wikis receive Rob’s stamp of approval!

Discussion of the tool in terms of teaching and learning

Learning about the tool in terms of teaching and learning was supported by the ‘play’ time I had using my wiki, but the learning was substantiated by the professional readings I did about wikis. There are innumerable applications for bringing wiki teaching and learning into the classroom, as I will share from my readings.

Typically, in thinking about advanced technology integration, like wikis in the classroom, I would have assumed only a place in high school teaching as an arena for encouraging wikis, but Hudson (2009, pp.66-67) in her article How to Teach With Wikis outlines several ideas for bringing wikis into elementary teaching as well. “find ways to use wikis, collaborative websites that any user can edit, to help kids push further and think deeper. Create your own math book; Rewrite a classic tale; Go back in time (in history); Learn Spanish (or any language); For that science center (parallel wiki learning to the development of science).” This brief excerpt does not justice to the article, which I am including with links below because it offers practical, inspiring ideas that can be integrated with great success to increase student engagement and learning.

Another important application I envision for wikis, is what DiPietro, Drexler, Kennedy, Buraphadeja, Liu and Dawson (2010, p.25) talk about as offering “best practice strategies, suggest(ing) possible technology tips regarding wiki implementation, and seek(ing) to better scaffold future scholars and/or mentors seeking to effectively participate in or plan for collaborative qualifying examination preparation.” With great pleasure I recall the endless hours I spent with friends studying for exams, and found that a lot of exam prep in a group setting was allocated to getting organized, and working collaboratively to identify what each person thought was of most importance to learn about for exams. Lengthy discussions, wasted hours, and feelings of frustration and confusion sometimes arose is trying to reconcile what I felt was of importance with what another group member wanted to focus on. A wiki would eliminate the set-up time involved in group study periods if each member posted their ‘agenda’ before the group would meet, and each person’s contribution would be prioritized and identified by everyone else before actually getting together, which would save time, and increase effective group networking skills.

Our school is a trilingual school, and it is oftentimes difficult to begin dialog with teachers of other languages because of the direct involvement a teacher has with students, materials, responsibilities, and teachers of their common language of instruction. However, I still have teachers of English and French approaching me with questions about how I am achieving such positive gains and forward successes in my classroom, when so many students don’t understand the language of instruction. I see that a wiki will be valuable for creating and maintaining dialog between teacher s who would like to collaborate when time permits, and to share ideas, beyond materials and resources, about how to integrate new activities into their classroom activities. I am excited at the thought of using a wiki to post ideas and to have other challenge those ideas, with different perspectives for making student learning a greater priority. Wiki technology and the return to rigor (Roe, 2010, p. 21), suggests five uses for wikis in a professional development paradigm

“1. Support the development of our professional learning community;

2. Make our processes and work open and transparent to the community and one another;

3. Equip teachers with technology that could add more time and rigor within and without the classroom;

4. Allow students to create online portfolios and evidence of their learning;…”

A few years ago I asked a member of our school division’s central office if it would be possible for teachers to have access to a threaded message board on which we could discuss ideas in a professional milieu. Unfortunately, the idea was never acted upon, but now seeing the greater value of a wiki, I am much more likely to pursue, with success the implementation of collaborative learning via an intranet for staff members.

As a side note, I remember an undergraduate professor remarked to me, “Rob, when I wrote my 200-something page dissertation, I had to use a type writer, and if I made just one error, I had to remove the page from the machine, and start that entire page over. So, if you think I will let you get away with making a spelling error in your essays in this age of spell-checking, copy and pasting, white-out, and computers printers, you are in for a big shock. And, in retrospect, I’m sure that many of my hang-ups related to proper language use would find their genesis in my close relationship to that person, I value the sentiment, and now find myself thinking, that with so many tools like wikis available, surely students must be able to get their work completed on-time, and with sufficient depth so as to evidence signs of originality and creativity considering they literally have the entire world, and the entire collective knowledge of human civilization at their fingertips!

References

Byrne, T. (2009). Wiki tools are not all the same. KMWorld, Nov/Dec, 8-9.

De Groot, J. (2010, February 14). Trailfire: Wiki information Message posted to http://trailfire.com/joannedegroot/trailview/61579

DiPietro, J.,  Drexler, W.,  Kennedy, K.,  Buraphadeja, V.,  Liu, F., & Dawson, K. (2010). Using wikis to collaboratively prepare for qualifying examinations: An example of implementation in an advanced graduate program. TechTrends 54(1), 25-32.

Harris, M. (2009). Technology review: Teaching writing for the workplace? Try a wiki. The community college enterprise, Fall, 111-113.

Hudson, H. (2009). How to teach with wikis. Instructor, Sep/Oct, 66-67.

Kuhn, N. (2010, March 3) Random videos, articles, & podcasts I've found to help me understand podcasting this week: 501 podcasting blog post [Msg 1] COMMENT POSTED TO CNRGRADIO.BLOGSPOT.COM  retrieved from link http://cnrgradio.blogspot.com/2010/02/d-podrandom-videos-articles-podcasts.html#comments

LeFever, L. (Producer). (2007, August 6). Wikis in Plain English. Common Craft. Podcast retrieved from http://trailfire.com/joannedegroot/trailview/61579

Mears, D. (2009). Podcasts and Wiki's: Delivering Content Information to Students Using Technology. Strategies, 23(1), 29-34.

Roe, M. (2010). Wiki technology and the return to rigor. Leadership, 39(3), 20-22.

Twu, H. (2009). Effective Wiki Strategies to Support High-Context Culture Learners. TechTrends, 53(5), 16-21.

-rob

n.b. Monday after assignment was due

As a complete side note, I'd like my readers to see a smile on my face right now because my wikiblues were cured this evening when a new pbwroks CSrep emailed me with some suggestions about how to solve this problem that had even the wiliest of wikiworkers stumped... Well, the wiki is now editable, and I will continue to upgrade, update, uplift, and upsomething else my wiki because I am very pleased with this experience, and the great feeling of satisfaction I'm having now.

Shouts out to J-Rock for the extra special help I received this week!

~rob

Random videos, articles, & podcasts I've found to help me understand podcasting this week: 501 podcasting blog post

From an endeared professor I met during undergraduate studies, I learned to write the prologue of a story after teh story is written, so i can make sure that any necessary caveats or admonitions about my writing can be highlighted to readers of my books. I was reticent about including a prologue within this posting, but I thought a short anecdote might calm any anxieties my readers have after encountering the title of this week's blog.

I teach my core subjects in a foreign langauge. Many of my students come to school not speaking a single language well. It must be difficult for my students not to fully understand the English 'world' we live in called Canada, and not to have a developed understanding of the target language in which we do our studies.

After working toward developing a podcast about one aspect of employability and marketability of employable skills, I thought of how great it could be if I were to offer this podcast in a second langauge to help others who would benefit from what I shared, but who might not have sufficient prior knowledge of English to glean the meaning of my words, and the intention with which I created the podcast. I will DEFINITELY revisit this podcast in the future and offer the same talk in other languages. But, that will happen after my courses are completed, and time permits me to pursue my love of teaching through a new media I have fallen in love with: Podcasting!

Sunday

As we see in the social media video linked below, the future success of our relationships will be correlated to how well we can access social networks, and what we do with the social networks once we figure out how they are established, and what makes them grow.



Next is a video directly related to my search: How to Create a Podcast. I checked the user comments, and this video received a lot of positive reviews, which is why I trusted that the video would be beneficial right off the mark. After watching the video, I completely agree with the comments about this tutorial: It Works! I can't wait to find out if the instructions are still clear when I get down to business and try making my own podcast.



Found an eZine list of the best podcast hosting sites, http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Best-Podcast-Hosting-Providers&id=271185 but blogspot help indicates that Seeqpod/Bloson is a reliable, easy-to-use, FREE service for hosting podcasts. I will check them out, and update this blog with news about my success!

Monday

Today I spent what seemed like hours trying to figure out which podcast service to use. I located Loftons’s (2010) article ‘Using VoiceThread for Online Communication’ this morning, and her recommendation is to use Voice Thread for creating podcasts. After reading the article, I signed up for a Voice Thread account, and found their service quite simple to use, but Voice Thread requires users to access more features than simple audio podcasting. I will follow Fernando’s (2009) suggestion that,

“a good rule of thumb is to represent yourself, rather than try to be some stilted spokesperons for your organization. A podcast is not a press release, even though it tells a story. Like a blog, a podcast is a great way to bring out a level of humanity that is absent in so many other forms of communication.”

Basically, I am going to try to make a recording of my voice, get rid of ambient noise from the recording, try to add some music if I get permission from my favorite music artist, and make my podcast as professional as possible. I will also try my best to follow Sullivan’s (2009) list of do’s and don’ts for podcasting before I begin my first attempt at a podcast:

1. Know your audience
2. Create engaging content
3. Keep it short and snappy
4. Practice for perfection
5. Set a schedule
6. Promote your work
7. Let your podcast program take root

This afternoon, I found more information about podcasting, and I checked out the book Podcasting for Dummies. The book lays out a clear step by step process for ensuring success in making and distributing podcasts. And, although I am feeling an information overload about podcasting right now, I know there isn’t much more do at this point, than to get my hands (*and mouth*) dirty by trying to create a podcast.

Podcasting for Dummies discusses the issue of podcasting to include video podcasts. Since I haven’t got a video recording device I will stick with making an audio podcast, but will keep in mind that, as Lee LeFever says in Podcasting in Plain English, podcast means, “Personal On Demand Cast”, and it is important for me to keep the cast relevant to the readers of my blog, so they can download an mp3 of my cast so they enjoy it when they would like to. In choosing a topic for my cast I will hash out an idea that adheres to what Tsagkias, Larson, and de Rijke (2009) highlight as critical to the development of podcasts, “(t)wo central genres of spoken word podcasts are particularly salient: talk show podcasts, which can also be redistributions of shows that have run on the radio, and how-to podcasts, which give commentary or advice on particular subjects.”

Wish me luck as I venture forth into a new sphere. Check my blog tomorrow for an update of my progress!

-Rob

Tuesday

Well, my attempt at making a podcast wasn’t very successful. Returning home from work today, I was TOTALLY looking forward to sitting down at my computer, with my notes organized, and headset mic at the right tilt, and… For some reason the volume settings for my mic and headphones were working, and despite three hours of adjusting and readjusting control settings, nothing could set the volumes high enough for my voice to be heard in the podcast. Only about five minutes ago I was successful with restoring the settings of my audio card to get the volume set for recording.

My first attempt at podcasting will hopefully take-off tomorrow evening.

Wednesday

Okay, I tried my best to use the Andrea Voice Center app that came installed on my computer, but foudnt hat my podcast was lackluster, and, well, really quite boring without the bells and whistles that many online podcasts offer. I continued my internet searching to locate information about creating podcasts, and happen-chanced upon the ehow instructions for using Audacity to create podcasts:
How to Use Audacity to

Create a Podcast

How to Record a Podcast Using Audacity


How to Add Music to Your Podcast Using Audacity


or, check it out via this YouTube video:


Well, after hours of gruelling labor to develop my podcast topic fully, record and re-record the podcast more than 30 times, I found that Audacity is not recognizing the LAME encoder I downloaded, and my podcast could not be saved as an mp3. I found another program by Creative Media buried deep in my hard drive that saved the day for me and converted my WAV-cast to an mp3-cast. My podcast was successfully published, and is available to followers of my blog (*hoorah*) as my Robcast:



Also, today, I received permission from a Pop band based in Moscow, Russia with express written permission to use their music to open my podcast. Unfortunately, I am not able to get Audacity/LAME to work properly, so at this time I cannot include music to open and close the show. I'll keep working on this, and hopefully before next Sunday's deadline I can rework my cast to entertain listeners with some really groovy Russian pop music.

Today I'm feeling a great sense of satisfaction with having completed a podcast, but the innumerable hours of work that went into this effort might be discouraging from attempting to podcast even on a weekly basis. For now, though, I will bask in the feeling of accomplishment I'm feeling. :)

Thursday and Friday


I debated about whether or not to paraphrase the article poasted below, and I felt that paraphrasing such a well-written, comprehensive article would undo the effect the article had on forming my attitude toward this week's module, and toward creating my own podcast, so I am including the article in it's entirety for others to view. Double-clicking on the article will enlarge it to a more readable size. I hope you find it as valuable as I did for helping me to understanding and appreciate podcasting for the advantages it offers both learners and educators.

Reflections on the process of learning about the tool

Never having made a podcast before, my podcast is not simply a tutorial, but a story told through instruction and intention to inspire others through the experiences I’ve gained through my academic education and international travels. Complimenting the idea of podcasting as storytelling Buffington’s (2010) Podcasting Possibilities for Art Education, shares, that “Digital stories often present first person narratives. Both podcasts and digital stories may involve a similar planning and editing process. Though podcasts can involve first-person narratives, they can also take different formats. Some podcasts take the form of a discussion between a few people about a topic, whereas others present a lecture, radio show, or tour of a physical place. Additionally, podcasts may be serialized tutorials (see http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/) to which a user can subscribe.”

As per the length of my podcast, Fernando’s (2009) article Speak Now, accesses the knowledge of the world’s most well-known podcasters, Krishna De and Terra to guide newbies and experienced podcasters to keep their casts tailored to their audiences. So, “what’s a good length for a podcast? “Do not ask how long your episodes should be,” says Terra. “Ask yourself how short you can make them.”… Best bet: At the outset keep it short—under 15 minutes. It will prevent you or your guests from rambling. Once you get the hang of it and understand your audience, you can adjust the length.”

I had difficulties understanding which program to use to create my podcast, and how to bring the cast together. I had never recorded my voice onto my PC before, and it is quite simple to make the recording. The greater difficulties I encountered during this module were getting my PC to make the recording, and deciding which program to employ for best results. Even as I post this blog, I still have not mastered Audacity, Creative, or Andrea applications for making podcasts. I wanted very much to include music at the beginning and ends of my podcast, like the podcasts I listened to online, but I have not been able to get LAME to work so I can import my podcast and add other audio tracks before, after, or on top of my voice recording.

I have always used audio books for my own learning, and I like the process of acquiring a second language through digital ‘casts’. I have not been exposed to learning, lectures, or tutorials via audio files harvested from the internet, but I definitely appreciate the value of acquiring others’ expertise via simple auditory lessons available for me to use when convenient for myself.

Discussion of the tool in terms of my own personal learning

I tried my best to follow the recommendations outlined in Sullivan’s (2009) Radio Free Internet: Podcasts are a Democratic Way to Spread the Word article, suggesting that podcasters adhere to the following guidelines for creating effective casts so listeners will return to hear more form the broadcaster.

1. Know your audience.
2. Create engaging content.
3. Keep it short and snappy.
4. Practice for perfection.
5. Set a schedule.
6. Promote your work.
7. Let your podcast take root.

In retrospect, I should have included information in my podcast for finding my website, and alternate methods by which listeners can contact me to hear future casts, and make requests for topics or themes for me to discuss. I would like to find an infographic outlining general numbers of internet users who access the plethora of social networking tools, and which tools are most commonly employed. Much of the literature available about podcasting alludes to podcasts having been popular at the turn of the millennium, but that podcasts have taken a backseat to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Podcasting really has a developed use for online marketing agencies. I think it is beneficial that business is able to incorporate audio marketing programs in ways that were reserved for late night radio, paid-programming events, not typically accessible by all segments of the consumer market. I think that in the future I might continue to try podcasting about topics I enjoy, in the hopes that I can start an online business.

Discussion of the tool in terms of teaching and learning

From a teaching perspective, two considerations could keep me from using podcasting in my present role as teacher: difficulty educating kindergarten students to use complex podcast-recording software; and, difficulty employing podcasting with my high school students until I develop better fluency with podcasting software before I can teach proper, ethical use of this social networking tool. Since classroom application is limited with my kindergarten students, I know I could create second language podcasts for the students to access via our SMARTtechnology, as that would encourage the integration of audiotory learning lessons. For the past five years I have been using a cassette recorder for my students to record their voices and playback as part and parcel of language arts class, but I have never taken the next step to make the recordings openly available for unrestricted student access to the recordings, let alone for the public to access.

In the past I have used student recordings, transferred from cassette, into mp3 format as background for PowerPoint and SMARTpresentations, but making direct recordings to the PC is simple procedure than changing from analog to digital format.

As a learner, residing in a rural location, and not having my graduate classmates present, I feel podcasting to be and effective tool for accessing social networking utilities to communicate not only ideas, but aspects of personality that others can enjoy at their leisure. Since all of my classmates work full-time, it is beneficial that I can post an idea or interest without interrupting my friends’ schedules by making a post,a nd alerting their accounts that my posting is available, and either of us can, in return, post to one another to garner further responses. My response toward distance learning stands in agreement with Ragusa, Chan and Crampton’s (2009, p.680) research indicating that:

“the isolation distance learners’ experience (Delahoussaye & Zemke 2001) contributes towards this social group being most at-risk for discontinuing their educational pursuits (Peters 1992). The unpopularity of distance learning (Bowles 2004) is due to a combination of factors. Distance learners often fail to identify as belonging to a scholarly community (Galusha 1997), perceive internal students to have an unfair advantage (Ragusa 2006), feel inadequate (Wood 1995), and lack the cultural knowledge necessary for acculturation (Lake 1999; Sheets 1992). In addition to these issues, there is also a lack of standardization of the DE mode compared with the internal teaching mode in Australia (Bowles 2004), resulting in a considerable amount of variation among Australian (Distance Education) DE providers.”

The added benefit to my students that I am a distance education student myself, is that I understand the value of integrating and incorporating technology into my lessons, my learning, my teaching, and my personal life. “Understanding the production and transference of knowledge are key tenants in the sociology of knowledge, along with larger questions about what counts as knowledge (Gibbons et al. 1994). When included as a learning tool, podcasts not only change the delivery of ‘knowledge’, but also stimulate reflection on the process, and potentially purpose, of learning. The elimination of status symbols apparent in traditional classrooms alters the socialization process of learning as does the transportation of learning into non-traditional educational environments (i.e. home, work, car).” (Ragusa, Chan & Crampton, 2009, p.681) I think that, if my own teachers had been technology-based learners, there would have been greater emphasis placed on me as a student to bring an awareness of technology into my high school and undergraduate studies. And to connect my in-class learning with out-of class experiences.

Creating connections between school and out-of-school experiences is a challenge for teachers. Students who spend their free time texting, playing Xbox, surfing the internet, accessing YouTube, networking with friends via Faceook, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter, and other utilities are limited in their intuitive expression when required to use almost ‘altmodishe’ technologies like paper and books for the duration of the school day. Similarly, as an educator, parents who own and operate businesses, spending hours communicating via cellular phone technology, responding to emails on an hourly basis, finding information via the internet, and marketing their businesses in new, technologically-based markets, visit our school for ‘meet the teacher night’, and cannot understand that our classrooms still operate using paper, pencils, and videos cassettes.

That there is an implementation gap between learning and earning is evident, but it is not the classroom teacher who can provide the impetus to change, without themselves first changing. And, as I mentioned above, working toward a master’s degree online has provided the perfect environment for me to connect classroom learning with expectations for real-life work experiences.

References

Buffington, M. (2010). Podcasting possibilities for art education. Art Education, 63(1), 11-16.

Fernando, A. (2009). Speak now! Communication world, 26(6), 8-9.

Lofton, J. (2010). Using voice thread for online communication. The School Librarian’s Workshop, 30(3), 9-10.

Morris, T. & Terra, E. (2006) Podcasting for Dummies. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing.

Sullivan, E. (2009). Radio free internet: Podcasts are a democratic way to spread the word. Marketing News, July, 6.

Ragusa, A., Chan, A., & Crampton, A. (2009) Ipods aren’t just for tunes: Exploring podcasting as a socio-cultural technology facilitating student experiences of higher education in rural Australia. Information, Communication & Society, 12(5), 678-690.

-rob

Polyglot and Social Bookmarker!

You have to be quite a polyglot to know all the languages associated with social bookmarking: 501 Social bookmarking blog post

I have to begin with a tip of my hat to Joanne for the amazing work she did in putting together cream of the crop resources in her Trailfire for the students in our 501 class – thanks Joanne! I found that all the links helped to flesh out the image of social bookmarking that was developing in my mind as I watched ‘In Plain English, social bookmarking’ video.

If it weren’t for the Common Craft video about social bookmarking, I think I would still be trying to figure out the whats, hows and whys of social bookmarking. After watching the video it is quite clear that social bookmarks allow me to tag pages that mean something to me, and I can share my bookmarks with peers in my social network. The Common Craft social bookmarking video was as a good starting point for learning about social bookmarking, since I really had no idea about the use of such a tool. Since then my knowledge of this utility has since increased a thousand percent to help me figure out how to manage the pages I follow/watch. One piece of the knowledge puzzle I am building about social bookmarking is expressed by Darby and Gilmour (2009), “Since anything with a URL can become a bookmark, such lists can combine diverse resource types such as webpages, scholarly articles, and library catalog records.” So far, it seems to me that as long as information appears on a website, it can be bookmarked using Delicious. As a novice social bookmark user, I’d like to think that the following illustration could be applied to some of us 501 not for pie, but for social bookmarking:

Reflections on the process of learning about the tool

Sunday

Initially, I had difficulties setting up a Delicious account. First I had to create a yahoo account, and then I used the yahoo login info to create a Delicious account.

Unfortunately, delicious did not recognize my yahoo profile. I struggled with this on Sunday and Monday, and then finally on Tuesday I was able to access my Delicious account, and how tasty it is! I can appreciate that Delicious, as a brand, is distinct and separate from Google products, and I respect that a company other than Google offers services to the public. However, my readings about login problems for Delicious informed me that Yahoo! purchased Delicious, thus leaving Delicious with two different types of login, one for original del.icio.us users, and another for members who join(ed) Delicious since the Yahoo takeover to login via their @yahoo.com accounts. It really wasn’t clear to me why my login wasn’t working, but I tried all the links on the Delicious homepage, only to find my login was being rejected because of an issue on the Yahoo!-side of the partnership, not the Delicious-side of the union. I found a few articles about socialbookmarking in the ejournals available through the university library databases, that are helping me to see how social bookmarking utilities are different than other social media tools, and sites like Delicious add to, and compliment, the other networking tools we’ve learned about so far in this course. Jim Spellos’ article, Blogs, tagging and social bookmarking (2009) clearly identifies that the nature of social utilities is about interacting and learning from one another:

“Using Delicious, for example, you can bookmark a page on the Internet-let's say, an article—and Delicious recommends tags. For instance, for an article about this speech, 1 may tag it, "social networking, Twitter, Web 2.0. When I go to my Delicious account, the article is there with the tags. Not only is this my bookmark, but it's the world's bookmark. I can also use Delicious to see who else has bookmarked that specific article, and then I can see what else they've bookmarked that I might be interested in. Nothing about today's Web is about keeping it to yourself. It's about sharing it and letting other people learn from it, and learning from others. There's no reason today that you can't find a boatload of infor¬mation on anything—because the world's sharing it.”

Monday

On Monday, I paid heed to Joanne’s Trailfire, Wikipedia - social bookmarking, and followed the link to a Delicious competitor Diigo. Diigo offers a very simple account set up process, and diigo.com gives users the option as to whether or not they want to install their Diigo toolbar…or not! I have enough icons crowding my tool bar, and while www.diigo.com is accessible without a new browser addon, Delicious requires users to download and install their app, which offers further challenges for me, a newbie to social bookmarking. I found a few more social bookmarking articles that offer greater insight into how to share bookmarks to create new tags.

Just as my video and photosharing blog posts included commentary about the folksonomies associated with tagging, it seems that I got somewhat derailed on Monday in trying to figure out how people chose, or created tags for the bookmarked sites I checked out. For me it isn’t so much an anxiety about finding the correct word to use for a tag, but that the language we use definitely connotes our connections to specific users, groups and communities within our social networks. It seems like the personal meaning we derive from a video, photo, link, or blog post is shared in a few short words or phrases we call tags. I found several interesting Delicious bookmarks with no comments or commentary added beyond what the author wrote as tags. It is interesting that I should stumble upon those links and enjoy them, and further take the folksonomy created by another individual and make it my own. As a newbie to social bookmarking, I find myself taking on the taxonomical tendencies and linguistic tagging habits of those whose posts I enjoy. It is interesting to think that words I would not have used to tag an item are quickly becoming a regular part of my vocabulary. I found an interesting site that helps brand advertisers harness the power of the Web by accessing short descriptions of how consumers interact with advertisements. It is a great site, and it only takes a few seconds to contribute one’s ideas. You begin with ‘do a test’…and then you can click OK and engage in rating another advertisement until you can click no more. You’ll find Five Second Test here: http://fivesecondtest.com/

Today I read an amazing article by a local, Alberta researcher, Ali Shiri (2007) who explains how tags, folksonomies, and taxonomies work together to create our social tagging phenomenon:

“Social tagging, sometimes referred to as social bookmarking, is defined variously as the classification of resources “by the use of informally assigned, user-defined keywords or tags” (Barsky and Purdon, 2006, p. 66) and the classification of resources “using free-text tags, unconstrained and arbitrary values” (Tonkin, 2006). It emerged in popular practice around 2003, at the same time as social networking websites, and it constitutes an important part of the interactive, democratic nature of Web 2.0 in that it places the responsibility for the classification of web resources squarely in the hands of the users. Tonkin (2006, online) proposes a two-part taxonomy of social tagging systems: “‘broad,’ meaning that many different users can tag a single resource, or ‘narrow,’ meaning that a resource is tagged by only one or a few users”. In addition to social bookmarking, quasi-synonyms for social tagging include: collaborative tagging, folksonomy, folk categorisation, communal categorisation, ethnoclassification, mob indexing and free-text tagging.”

I am grateful for the research available to explain how our current ideas came into being, and the direction that our speech patterns are developing. As a second language teacher, I am always interested in learning about the development of language and linguistic constructs, and I am somewhat embarrassed to think that so much has been happening on the Web that I was completely unaware of. 

Tuesday and Wednesday

On Tuesday I tried to customize my Delicious profile with a custom background, but found that I am not able to change the stock template Delicious offers. However, my virtual meanderings through our cyberworld led me to some awesome webpages that I bookmarked to share with others. By Wednesday evening I began to wonder how connected my interests for this delicious account should be aligned with the blogs I follow. I’m not sure how people choose which bookmarks to share, and if it would seem too elementary to notify readers of my blog about bookmarks to other blogs I recommend. I think such an overlap would be unnecessary, and I chose to find other webpages to bookmark.

On Wednesday I joined Magnolia as per the links found in Joanne’s Trailfire.

However, the verification email I was supposed to receive from Magnolia’s administrators did not arrive in my inbox.

After only a few days of working with Delicious, I am 100% convinced that this is a social networking tool that suits my personality, and is a match to my busy schedule.

Thursday

As of Thursday I still had no account verification sent to my email for Magnolia, so I forged ahead with more Delicious browsing. During my ‘playtime’ in Delicious, I encountered the term ‘infographic’. To be quite honest, I never really knew what to call these types of images, because they are neither picture, photo, illustration nor animation. Nonetheless, here are a few infographics that I found, and really connected with:

 

  

 Thursday, I was able to get my delicious bookmarks sent to my Twitter account (http://twitter.com/cnrgradio), yet, I am still not sure how to send my Delicious bookmarks to my friends, colleagues, peers, and classmates…. I have already watched the ‘In Plain English, social bookmarking’ video about 6 times, but I still find that the Plain English video doesn’t exactly tell me how to share my bookmarks with my friends. I’m not sure how to send my bookmarks to others. Can others just enter my username to find me, and to see what I’ve marked as an interest?

If you advance the video to minutes 2:21 – 2:28, we’re told by Lee LeFever (2007), “Delicious bookmarks are public. This means your friends and peers can see your bookmarks and use your tags just like you.” How can I know if my friends are seeing my bookmarks?

I found a funny item that helps to explain why bookmarks offer an advantage to users who want to share their own items with others:

Friday

There was no school today, and I spent the better part of the day exploring Delicious, digg-ing around www.digg.com, and reading articles I collected during the past week.

I feel confident with maneuvering through Delicious, but I am still not sure how to share my bookmarks. Even on the Delicious website there is not instruction for sharing my interests.

Magnolia.com still did not send account verification to my email, so I am not sure whether I will be able to review this tool before this blog post deadline arrives on Monday morning.

Today I read a totally amazing article covering the topic of social bookmarking, written by a researcher known for his work investigating trends and functions of social tagging via sites like Delicious.

Discussion of the tool in terms of teaching and learning

I am definitely a kindergarten teacher at heart, and my students, typically four or five years of age, enjoy the social constructivist approach I encourage in our class community. My kindergarten students enjoy lessons that infuse technology into the classroom, and not simply in the form of user interface games. Yet, alternating years find me teaching high school classes in the afternoon, after teaching kindergarten in the mornings. I have always encouraged my high school students to integrate as much technology into their studies and their private lives as possible (within the limits of moral, school and school division policies). My high school students always like how I provide portions of each lesson directed toward kinesthetic, auditory, and visual learning systems. As our global society builds knowledge through technology, lessons presented via modern technologies are more intuitive to the way students live and learn in their private lives and in school.

I think one of the best secondary effects of technology is that the teacher is no longer viewed as the sole distributor of knowledge in the classroom, but, rather, as a facilitator of knowledge. As facilitator, the teacher is responsible for ensuring that students are provided with significant direction toward the ideas and concepts the teacher wants the students to ‘stumble upon’ via a guided environment in which the students are scaffolded into positions where they intuitively acquire knowledge through experiential learning.

Imagine a kindergarten teacher who believes that students learn by doing, and that the classroom community is successful when built as a collective of knowledge and experience in which students learn from one another, and help one another to find solutions and answers. When that teacher is placed in a high school classroom where the high school students get involved in projects that reflect their in realia experiences, the result is students who love class, students who want to participate, and lessons that build upon themselves from week to week, culminating in practical understanding of sometimes difficult theoretical concepts.

I appreciate Jakes’ (2009) view on technology in the classroom, “Many have not yet considered that information flow is in two directions. You can find it, and it can find you. In my classroom, this process would be taught, encouraged, expected, and evaluated as part of a student’s ability to ask a question of importance to them, and to develop a response.” I find that too often technology is discouraged in my school, and the only technology being referenced by teachers talking tech is the use of cellphones in the school. Trust me, as a kindergarten teacher who is placed as a high school teacher because of too few teachers seeking employment in the north, dividing one’s energies between two very disparate groups of needs, high school and kindergarten, technology works to engage students in ways that a teacher cannot such as absolute, extended one-on-one time with each student. Daly (2009) discusses the use of time related to technology in schools, “Time is knowledge. The limited time available to the learner as well as how the time is spent- and by implication the quality of content - can accelerate and enrich the learning experience. Web 2.0 can boost the creativity of the digital native as well as open doors to learning for the technophobe.” Daly (2009) also suggests ways that time management can be maximized by utilizing social bookmarking sites, like Delicious, “Social bookmarking is another Web 2.0 innovation. Del.icio.us provides the ability to build, rate and exchange bookmarks. Educators can build courses with topic-focused reading lists, continuously expanding the range of content interaction types and linking them to bookmarks of subject matter experts.” When I get my next placement in a high school classroom next year, I think our present 501 course will have provided enough of a jump-off point for me to carry my knowledge of Web 2.0 into the classroom for students to approach their studies from more interactive perspectives.


Discussion of the tool in terms of my own personal learning (what now?)

After only one week of using a social bookmarking site, I am sure that my delicious account will become a more important tool I use to organize my life, my interests, and how I navigate around cyberspace. Daly’s (2009) article I located during my database searches this week accurately compartmentalizes how I personally engaged in using social bookmarking this week,

“Content interactions fall into three categories.

The first where the student interacts directly with the content and is the main area where Web 2.0 functionality, technology and ideas will add value.

The second is student teacher interaction. This could be channelled through instant messaging or chat, teleconferencing or videoconferencing. Web 2 0 improves these features and extends the power of the content itself. Web 2.0 companies such as Akamai provide network infrastructure and architecture with reliable bandwidth and offering global reach. Organisations can now confidently provide content across disparate locations without relying on their ISP s network, which may otter sporadic coverage outside the US or national boundaries.

The final type is peer-to-peer interaction, which can now use instant messaging and forums, as well as reviewing, rating and recommending content There may be constraints an such interaction imposed by organisations mat wish to avoid ongoing communication between learners in certain situations, although in areas such as groupwork the improved communication offered by Web 2.0 brings additional possibilities. These possibilities may include extending the scope and proportion of groupwork within a curriculum, which in turn will help drive the market for more innovative group-oriented tools.”

Our instructor, Joanne De Groot, is providing the students in our 501 course with top-notch Trailfire links to quintessential resources that equip us adult learners sufficient fundamental knowledge to explore and experiment with technology without fear. This week I was able to explore a whole new universe, and have it make sense in a very short time because of the simple explanations provided by resources that Joanne accurately deemed appropriate for the many newbies in our course. Moreover, even when the ‘Social Bookmarking Module’ is completed, and we try our skills with another technology, I feel confident that Joanne has prepared me to continue using social bookmarking sites on my own.

This week I found a solution to one of my problems in Stolley’s (2009) article

“After users have added bookmarks to their account, the bookmarks are immediately publicly available via a set of Web pages, based on their account username and tags, displaying the bookmarks in reverse chronological order (listing newest bookmarks first). These Web pages can display all of the bookmarks in the account or sort them on a per-tag or multiple-tag basis. Unlike bookmarks stored locally in a user’s browser, Delicious bookmarks are available on any computer connected to the Web and are therefore accessible to the account holder on multiple computers, and to anyone who knows or discovers, perhaps through a Google search, the account holder’s URL.” It seems like other users can simply access my bookmarks if they follow my username, no strings attached.

I also located two amazing videos hosted on YouTube created by Leigh Blackall, about how to use del.icio.us a.k.a. Delicious. The first video deals with how users create and categorize bookmarks, tags, and comments about interesting sites.

Leigh's second video deals with how to change a tag once it has been created. This video was especially helpful, as the more I learn about tagging, the more mishaps I realized I've made since first starting to tag a couple of weeks ago.

I mentioned once before that I am quite a shy person, and it is very helpful for me to work with the new tools arranged by themes for our course. So far each weekly theme has complimented the next theme, and I actually feel pretty cool because I now better understand conversations, forums, news casts, etc., that reference these utilities. It is nice to have a central location on WebCT to find out if others are experiencing similar issues to myself, and I also feel quite normal in my progression to integrate our new technologies after reading postings added by classmates.

Thanks, everyone, for your encouragement and inspiration!

Kindest regards,

Rob


References

Blackall, L. (Producer) (2010, January 31). Renaming Del.icio.us tags. Podcast retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7amUaTv-S_U

Blackall, L. (Producer) (2010, January 31). Del.icio.us. Podcast retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeXRKf7bwmU

Darby, A. and Gilmour, R. (2009) Adding delicious data to your library website. Information Technologies and Libraries, June, 100-103.

Daly, C. (2009) All together now. Elearning Now, September, 14.

De Groot, J. (2010, January 7). Trailfire: Social bookmarking information Message posted to http://trailfire.com/joannedegroot/trailview/57365

Jakes, D. (2009) Cheater or collaborator, Tech & Learning, 12, 50.

LeFever, L. (Producer). (2007, August 6). Social Bookmarking in Plain English. Common Craft. Podcast retrieved from http://trailfire.com/joannedegroot/trailview/57365

Shiri, A. (2009) An examination of social tagging interface features and functionalities: An analytical comparison. Online Information Review, 33(5), 901-919.

Spellos, J. (2009) Blogs, tagging and social bookmarking. Administrative Assistant’s Update, August, 4.

Stolley, K. (2009) Integrating social media into existing work environments. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 23(3), 350-371.