Wikis, and Podcasts, and Blogs, Oh M\y!

Wikis and Podcasts and Blogs, Oh My!! SCOPE Conference November 2, 2007 Corinne Carriero and Ellen Robertson

Web 2.0

I didn’t know there was a 1.0!

Web 2.0

Shift from “read only” to “read/write”

No need to know geeky html, FTP, server side language

Anyone can be a publisher on the web with these technologies

You can “drive” without needing to know what is “under the hood”

Web 2.0

Shift from static content to ability to remix and re-publish according to individual needs

Tools are profoundly social

Web evolving into an area of social and idea networking

Web 2.0

Now EVERYONE (geeks included) can be a

Publisher (website, blogs)

DJ (podcast a playlist)

Expert (add to a wiki)

Broadcaster (YouTube, vodcasting)

Editor (podcasts and wikis)

Network (social networking sites)

Critic (travel/hotel sites)

Syndicated broadcaster (RSS feeds)

Web 2.0

Examples of the shift from Web 1 - 2:

Ofoto - Flickr

Mp3.com - Limewire

Britanica Online - Wikipedia

Personal websites - Blogs

Publishing - Participation

Content management systems - Wikis

Directories (taxonomy) - Tagging (folksonomy)

Implications For Education

Tremendous opportunity to discover, publish, and share

Provides authentic arena for student work

Ability to create/modify information and create new content

Provides ability to share content across several services

Copyright issues---whose work is it?

Implications For Education

"It's important that students know how to manage it, interpret it, validate it, and how to act on it,”

Dell executive Karen Bruett

It's interdisciplinary combinations--design and technology, mathematics and art--"that produce YouTube and Google,”

Thomas Friedman, author of The World Is Flat

Web 2.0 is Us One Teacher’s Wanderings on Web 2.0 Language Learners and Web 2.0

Some Web 2.0 Tools

http://www.go2web20.net/

See in community: minti, twitter, grouprecipes, cloud, my church

See in teacher: tteach

In download: whisher, uPlayMe

In discover: bottletalk, slideshare

Some more Web 2.0 tools

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/Web2.htm

http://www.shambles.net/web2/index.htm

http://www. sacredcowdung .com/archives/2006/03/all_things_web.html

Wikis “ Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge”. Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder, 2004

Wiki Defined

Collaboratively edited body of work

Created by Ward Cunningham in 1995 as an easy publishing tool

Short form of “wiki-wiki”, Hawaiian for “quick” bus system

Wiki Defined (continued)

Created in real time

Everyone is “editor in chief”

Considered “open source” – no one owns it

Everyone together is smarter than everyone alone

Everyone can:

add

fix

erase

start

Power of Wikis

2004 tsunami that killed 175, 000 people:

1st post appeared 9 hours later as a wiki

24 hours later-- 400 edits with photos, charts, lists of dead

48 hours later-- 1,200 edits and included video of wave itself

Forget CNN— this was the most comprehensive info of all media!

Types of Wikis

Wikitextbooks

Wikirecipes

Wikitravel

Wiktionary

Wikinews

Wikiquotes

Classroom curriculum wikispaces

A Wiki of wiki authoring sites http://www. usemod . com/cgi-bin/wiki .pl? SiteList

Wiki examples

Laptops For Teachers

TEAM at NECC

Professional Learning Community

Lesson plans/Curriculum

Quick collaboration

Wikipedia: aka “Whackypedia?

Who is an authority?

High profile errors

“Cream” rises to the top or curdles

Collaborative efforts of the group determine veracity

Wiki’s in education

Teaches students collaborative construction of knowledge

Teaches negotiation skills

Teaches publication skills

Teaches students how to create community

Can be used solely to collect and disseminate school information

Wiki’s in Education (continued)

Can be used as an articulation tool

Can be used to amass and publish tailor made resources

Authentic, purposeful work

Edited body of work becomes reference tool for others

Basic Wiki components

Editable pages

Ability to upload documents

Ability to link

Ability to invite editors

History of changes

Revert back tool

Challenges of Wiki Use in Education

Some wikis are questionable resources for research

Anonymous authors

Student-posted information may be modified/spammed

Vandalism

Filtering

Free Wiki sites (special considerations for educators)

wikispaces.com

pbwiki.com

jotspot.com (has wysiwig editor)

seedwiki.com

wikicities.com

webnote (like eBoard) http://www. aypwip . org/webnote

Lots more wiki tools: http://www. usemod . com/cgi-bin/wiki .pl? SiteList

Wikialong.org (firefox plug-in lets you leave notes on ANY website)

How Could YOU Use a Wiki?

Create a classroom website

Create a class newspaper by wiki

Create a book by wiki (group authoring)

Course review

Students use a wiki to plan the details of a field trip

Students manage various project tasks, goals, responsibilities, and so on

How Could YOU Use a Wiki?

Collaborate on an international unit

E-pal exchange using a themed wiki

Project development with peer review

Track a group project

Presentations

Podcasts

What Can You Do With Podcasting?

Speak

Listen

Teach

Learn

Why Do Kids Think Its Cool?

Podcasting enables anyone with a microphone, a computer and an Internet connection publish audio shows that can be listened to by people anywhere in the world.

Podcasts are free and can be automatically downloaded to portable media players, so you can listen to them whenever it's convenient.

There are already many types of podcasts, including audio books, music shows, news, humor and sports. Most podcasts are created by amateurs, but there are also commercial podcasts and independently produced podcasts. There are podcasts in Dutch, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Mohawk, Spanish, and many other languages. From podcastingnews.com

Podcasts and Vodcasts

Pre-recorded radio (and now video) series or episodes that are delivered to your computer [think “Flash Gordon” Saturday matinees!]

Allows educators/students to:

Publish audio and/or video content to web that can then be “subscribed” to by an “aggregator” like iTunes

Can then be synched to an MP3 player

Where are Podcasts?

Podcasts can originate as a website that will enable visitors to:

Find specific episodes

Subscribe to present and future episodes

Listen to/view episodes

Comment /interact with the episode or producer of the episode

See a sample: http: //hhhskills . podomatic .com/

Educational Podcast Samples

LOTE - U. Ferriola

Art - A. Uttendorfer

Social Studies - C. Smalley

School/Community Partnerships - HHH/LIU/Heckscher

Find Education Podcasts

iTunes > iTunes store > Podcasts > Education OR

iTunes > iTunes store > Podcasts > Browse OR

Education Podcast Network http: //epnweb .org OR

Podcast.net

How to “subscribe”

Install a free podcast “aggregator” on your machine (e.g. iTunes or iPodder )

Search through iTunes directory

Click on the subscribe button

If you find a podcast on a website, copy the URL of the podcast, go to iTunes, go to advanced, subscribe to podcast

Some sites have a podcast subscribe button that auto subscribes you to iTunes if clicked

You DON’T Need One of These to Listen to Podcasts

And You Don’t Need This! Almost all podcasts are free!!

Subscribe to Podcasts to:

Use as “do nows” for your classes

Learn a new language

Keep students informed of current events

Quickly hear the news of the day

Stay healthy

Learn about finances

Laugh

See the epnweb directory

What do I need to create a podcast? (simplest form for PC or Mac):

MP3 recorders or a computer with recording capabilites (ALL Macs come equipped to record)

Software for recording MP3s ( Audacity and its LAME framework--free!)

Computer to edit/enhance the audio files

Internet connection

Weblog or Podcast server or access to a free site such as podomatic

Vodcasting needs (simplest form)

MP3 recorders

Digital camera

Software for recording audio (Audacity and its LAME framework)

Computer/software to create slideshow or movie with narration and export as a .mov file

QuickTimePro7 to save the .mov as .mv4

Internet connection

Weblog or Podcast server or access to a free site such as podomatic

Blogs Instant Pubishing of Ideas For “Everyman”

What’s a Blog? Yak Yak Yak and Yadayadayada ?

Originally were “web logs”

Similar to online diary

Different from regular web page

Not static

Short--invite viewers to look at other resources

Updated often

What’s a Blog (continued)

Comprised of info, links, reflections, conversations (comments), photos, graphics, videos, rss feeds, podcast feeds

Engages readers with ideas, questions, links

What Are the Subjects of Blogs? “ there are blogs about dogs and frogs even people who wear clogs there are flying blogs and frying blogs, crying blogs and dying blogs You get the idea….blogs are hot!” ~Will Richardson Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts Most Read Blogs: http://www. bloglines . com/topblogs

Educational Blogs

Geared to teachers

Links to ideas, other educational sites, lesson plans, conferences, pedagogy, philosophies, other ed blogs

Space for responses:

For collaboration

Exchange of ideas

50 million blogs tracked in July 2006 100X 3 years ago

Blogs for Educators to Explore

Blog by a teacher discussing a project wikispaces project

Blog by Web 2.0 guru Will Richardson http: //weblogg-ed .com/

Instructional Use of Blogs

Develop language skills

Promote critical thinking

Promote creative thinking

Increase exposure to quality information

Promote reflection and social interaction

Reflection journals, class portals, online filing cabinets, portfolios, websites

Instructional Use of Blogs

Post prompts for writing

Provide exemplars of class work--celebrate and display student work!

Provide online readings for classes to react to and comment on

Gather and organize internet resources

Post photos and class activities

Literature circles

Online book clubs

To understand the potential of blogging as a teaching and learning tool, become a blogger!

Open a Personal Blog Account

For a free personal blog space, go to Blogger.com

Take the tour!

Use Discretion in Blogging

Information posted today may have a shelf life of many years

A personal tidbit about blog retention-- found this “artifact” when logging onto the new blogger.com

A blog is not a place to lash out at others or post reasons why you are not happy with your job!

Free Blog Tools For Classes

For class blogs in a safe, private space, look at class blogmesiter .com or the new 21 classes http://www.21classes.com/

You’ll need to discuss appropriate blogging policies with your class, so here is a great resource:

http: //budtheteacher . com/wiki

How do I remember where this stuff is?

You’ve seen all these great blogs and are now suffering from “infowhelm”! HOW do you remember WHERE this great info is and how to RETURN to it?

Use RSS feed technology!

What are RSS Feeds?

RSS stands for R eally S imple S yndication

A technology that helps you subscribe to frequently updated web content like blogs, news feeds, podcasts and vodcasts

You then use an aggregator to collect all these subscriptions in one place

Aggregators can be software or web-based

See Will Richardson’s primer on rss: RSSFAQ4. pdf

Search and Subscribe

Get a page at Google Reader or bloglines .com to store all your RSS feeds; once you do this, all you have to do is go to that page once in awhile to read. ALL your news in one place!