Using Wikipedia to Re-envision the Term Paper

What about using Wikis & Wikipedia for student term papers?

A good idea discussed in Scholarship2.0 is a report on "Using Wikipedia to Reenvision the Term Paper" by Andreas Brockhau and Martha Groome from the University of Washington, Bothel - Why not have students add to Wikipedia pages on a specific topic for a term paper or have them make a major revision to a needy page already in Wikipedia?

Blogging's instant publication capability opened up the audience for student writing from just the Instructor to anyone on the Internet. Now having students create pages for their term papers in Wikipedia provides the perfect match for "peer review", publishing student's work, and provides the opportunity for students to add a major contribution on the global scale.

This assignment will turn the ordinary student term paper into an exciting project to be viewed by many others rather than just the instructor and the student's backpack.

Creating a Collaborative Syllabus Using Moodle

Having students guide their own learning by "Creating a Collaborative Syllabus" is an innovative way to get motivated students in your classes rather than having to "wake up the dead" in your classes each day.

Spend time planning with students in advance and get them excited about the learning to come. This also provides an opportunity for students to access prior knowledge about that they know and what they want to know, so you can determine what they need to know.

Collaboration, Social Learning, and Constructivist Pedagogy creates motivated students.

Podcasts and Classroom Use

Task pre-service student teachers to research integrating technology into classroom use and they will produce an overwhelming source of ideas!

To share their ideas for using Podcasts in the Classroom:
Teachers can use podcasting to share lecture information with students. Teachers can have students create podcasts to share information that they gathered. This type of assignment would have students use voice recordings, sound effects, and photos. This will definitely engage students if they are taught how to create one. Students and teachers can also use podcasting and add it to a website or blog. I think I'll do that with mine smile. Teachers and students who use podcasting learn content in a creative way. In addition, they are also learning new communication skills.

I like the idea that students can access information from the web and not have to only read. This could help with auditory learners, students who like to listen to music, and those students who love to use computers.
~Elena

A few examples of how podcasts can be a learning tool for learning are that podcasts make most educational needs accessible, such as lectures and speeches, audio-guides, case studies, audio-notes/feedbacks, music, news and course updates, etc..
~Clare

I looked at Brown University’s website—it was cool how they put up podcast about activities that took place and we can view them with a windows media player, itunes or download it into your iPod.
MY IDEA… This gave me that idea that in your class—you may use this to document special days/presentation in class or in the school and this can be a way to have parents view it at home or when internet access in nearby. It is a new way students may learn how to access information and/or have them create a podcast as a culminating project.

Some other ideas for podcast can be “How-to-do” podcasts- for example, grammar, writing a story or letter, read-aloud, storytelling, step by step completing a science project, making a blog or website, etc…
~Diane

When I was looking through some teacher blogs about podcasting I read about one teacher that uses podcasting for students to record their reading. This way progress can be tracked and teachers or specialists can listen to the podcast to see what areas need to be addressed.

I was thinking that it would be neat to have the students create portfolios that could be accessed by their parents at home. It would work just like engrade.com but lots of other things could be included. Students would also be able to access their recordings at home and work on improving their reading if they wanted to. Just like teacher portfolio or the paper portfolios in the classroom.

I was also thinking that a teacher could use podcasts as part of the weekly or daily routine. At the beginning of the year the teacher and students would/could listen to the same podcast together and learn how to take notes or listen for key words. Since Saipan has so many (mostly) ELL students I would start out with video webcasts so that students could see along with hear but quickly move into the listening only realm. The teacher could easily modify the lesson by providing some with worksheets to fill in as they listen while the higher level students would have a worksheet too but have to take better notes and fill in more information. Students would rather listen to a podcast from a specialist or celebrity than their teacher!

When I was looking through the social studies podcasts I got the idea that it would be fun to have the class do a year-long project about their community. It could be bundled together so that people could listen and learn about Saipan from the students’ perspective. I got the idea from listening to students in a social studies classroom question a guest speaker about his trip to Egypt.

I never realized all of the uses for podcasts in the classroom. Laurence mentioned a lot of great ideas that address multiple intelligence, thinking styles, and learning styles. One of the great things I learned from this assignment is that if done properly podcasts can reach students at their level and where they are at with their background knowledge. Wouldn't it be great to have time on Friday's for students to be able to put podcasts on their ipod to listen to over the weekend! They would not even realize they are learning! State of flow all on their own!

Maybe the new yahoo for teachers website will have podcasts bundled by levels and content so that a teacher could just put it on the computer for the students and not have to look at 50 different places before getting just 3 different leveled podcasts addressing the same content.
~Erin

Podcasts can be created from original material by students and teachers or existing audio files can be downloaded for classroom use. Creating a podcast allows students to share learning experiences. It provides them with a worldwide audience that makes learning meaningful and assessment authentic. Teachers can use the technology to provide extra and modified material to students to download and evaluate at a time that suit them. The flexibility that such time-shifting offers makes podcasting a valuable educational tool.

Podcasts are a great way for using student products to share learning, sharing school news with parents, faculty, community members, and other people, and for teachers to provide professional development with others. By providing students with an authentic audience, teachers increase motivation to write. Students improve fluency and listening skills. Podcasts give students a view of journalism in the making, tutorials, and encourages interactive collaboration with others that is creative, fun and FREE.

Here are some educational techniques we could use podcasts and incorporate them into our classroom and lessons/teachings.

* Talk and music shows
* Interviews with pupils and staff
* Story telling and audio books
* Tutorials and instructions
* Commentaries
* Sharing information with parents and the community
* Providing updates on forthcoming school events
* Sportscasts
~Laurence

Some sites they wanted to share with others looking to incorporate podcasts:

• Digg- Most Popular Podcasts: Education
• Guides and Tutorials.com - Podcasting in Education
• Podcasts & Blogging- Great Idea for a Podcast in an Online Class
• Poducate Me
• A Story for Bedtime Kiddiecast
• ChildrensBookRadio.com
• Podictionary.com
• Storynory
• Interesting Things for ESL Students
• podcastsinenglish.com
• NPR Podcast Directory
• Open Culture- Guide to Smart Media
• Digital Podcast
• Education Podcast Network
• China 232- A Fun Way to Learn English
• About.com:Podcasting
• Apple.com- Podcasting in Education
• Audacity
  

SIGTel Online Learning Award

Have you and your students been involved or are you involved in an original, online learning activity? If so, we encourage you to enter the 2008 SIGTel Online Learning Award competition.

Deadline for submission is March 31, 2008 . Awardees will be announced in April 2008.

All awardees will receive an invitation to present their project during a web poster session at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, Texas in June/July 2008.

Awardees will need to provide project information and photos for online and/or conference publications; deadlines to be provided when awardees are announced. Project contributors or partners are welcome to participate in the NECC poster session but only the author will receive an award.

All expenses relating to registration and travel to NECC are the responsibility of the honoree, contributors, or partners planning to attend. Awardees will be given a one-year standard membership in ISTE and concurrent membership in ISTE's Telelearning Special Interest Group.

SIGTel will publish the winning entries, and the respective authors' reflections in its online publication, SIGTel Bulletin, and archive the work as exemplary projects on the SIGTel Web area. All awardees will be required to supply a reflection about their project when contacted by the SIGTel Bulletin editors.

SIGTel will provide press release information and photo opportunities at NECC 2008 for winners to publicize their award via their local media.

For more information click here.

Why Web 2.0 Isn't Relevant for the (Education) Masses...Yet

Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li spends her time between two worlds: the early adopter Web 2.0 crowd and the broader business users who don't quite get them.

Here, she explains why all that Facebook-MySpace-Twitter-Digg excitement aside, most of the world just doesn't find Web 2.0 relevant and what entrepreneurs need to do to fix that.

10 Sites for Finding Wonderful Things

This article "10 sites for Finding Wonderful Things" should really be named 10 to the 10th Power. Each site founded by a creative bricoler has more power than just 1.

Read it and browse the sites while you have time over Spring Break. It will be a fun experiment with bricolage and be sure to pass along the wonderful things you find to your students.

You just never know what bricolage will spawn..

Learning 2.0

The participatory and collaborative tools of the Web 2.0 have paved the path for Learning 2.0. The Internet provides the means for students to learn informally through online social networks and groups where they 'learn to be'. Students participate in online social networks, meeting with others to share information and learn. Learning 2.0 is the way in which we learn or acquire new information on the Web.

We can learn about anything we desire- at anytime of the day or night. Access to the Internet has provided us with the greatest set of encyclopedias - the Web. What would you like to learn about? Just go online and join a group. Learning is easy. Others will let you join their group, add your ideas, and in turn they will provide a learning opportunity about anything you want.

While reading Jason Seeley Brown and Richard Alder’s Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 I reflected on my own history as an educator using the Internet and computers in my classes since the 90’s.

Surfing the WWW first I used the Internet to search for information, then progressed to providing students with computer access to complete project-based learning activities and WebQuests. As technologies evolved I used the Internet to bring experts to the classroom using communication technologies at first texting in IM, then advanced to audio enhanced iChat that allowed authors and other experts to speak to my students from a distance. Today in my Ed Technology class students use web2.0 tools to complete projects and upload their projects to personal reflective blogs. They are learning to be -by participating and collaborating in an online class designed to open their minds to the new Web 2.0 tools, joining social networks, learning through an alternative course delivery, while exploring the abundance of online resources, and discovering answers to their own problems through online communities. Learning 2.0 is second nature to this group of students already and they probably aren't even aware.

The evolution of the web now provides learning opportunities for anyone to learn anything through informal, social networks making the possibility of lifelong learning a greater 'virtual' reality. A great time to 'learn to be'.

PB Wiki for Educators

PB wiki for Educators. Just for teachers and students.

Check out all the tools PB Wiki has added right at your fingertips. Student won't have to go looking all over the web for tools like jing and Camtasia, find them right in the sidebar.
Share the PB Wiki Etiquette with your students. Educate them on proper way to act in a Wiki and the Web2.0.

Wikis for student collaboration whenever - wherever they desire to do their work. No more excuses either- "The dog ate my homework."

Nothing But Nets

NothingButNets is a excellent example of using various social media for a great cause. The Net A Life: Fight Against Malaria website is a mash-up of various social media tools like Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube. Sites that young people frequent. A great way to attract the energy of young people to solve some of the world's problems.

In Gambia alone malaria accounts for over one million deaths each year. Buying a net and educating families on how to use them could offer a chance for hope and opportunity for all of Africa.

Two tech-savvy Seniors from Mount Saint Mary College browsing the net and social network sites have chosen the Nothing But Nets Campaign as their senior thesis project. They will host a fund raising event March 27th to raise money to purchase bed nets to help the children of Africa and their families facing this disease.

To save the world- start with saving one life. These Seniors are taking baby steps. Starting with educating the Mount community about this problem and hoping others will follow their path and continue educating others around the world to aid this country in need.

These 2 graduating seniors are exhibiting the values they have learned and integrating the college mission to educate others and save lives through the Nothing But Nets Campaign.

Follow their lead. Donate - Buy A Net-Save A Life

More Moodle, Please

Here is a short video showing how Moodle can be used to 'web-enhance' or enrich any course.

Moodle is not just for e-learning from a distance, but a very useful tool for any course curriculum or any delivery method.

Teaching & Learning Celebration

Attend a great event this weekend- The Worlds Fair Of Education. Two full days of professional development in New York City.

A collaborative opportunity for educators provided by Thirteen- New York Public Television.

WBE 2008- Web-Based Education

The International Association of Science and Technology for Development's (IASTED) International Conference on Web-Based Learning in Innsbrooks Austria - March 17-19 will create an International Forum on Online Education. Put it on your conference agenda.

The keynote address by Dr Susan Aldrich - President, University of Maryland University College, "Bringing the World to Higher Education: A Paradigm for Global Learning" is of special significance since the physical structure of higher education is taking on a new shape right before our very eyes and the culture changing.

Of equal importance, and not to be missed, is the Tutorial Session by Annette Baumann, of the Technical University of Munich, Germany "Web-Based Communication and Collaboration Tools to Support Collaborative Learning and Knowledge Exchange Within University Education."

This Tutorial Session reminded me of my work currently with a Sociology Professor and his research students. The students are using Web2.0 tools for collaboration and communication to complete their work. His students are building a "Learning Toolkit" with tools such as Google Docs for sharing and wikis for collaborating on research asynchronously, while at the same time using web-based communication tools like Skype and Sight Speed for VoIP conferencing, and investigating Virtual Learning Environments such as WizIQ, DimDim, and Vyew. Building a "Learning Toolkit" will familiarize students with new, easy-to-use tools to collaborate and communicate with other researchers anytime, anywhere. Tools such as these facilitate knowledge sharing and learning in the information era.

Web2.0 tools bring new methods to research and there is no better way for student learning than through hands-on application.

WBE 2008 should be a great learning experience.

Digital Natives

Over heard on the Metro train last night from New York City:

A group of young mothers talking-

"...I don't take TV away from my kids for punishment when they do something wrong. I take away their nightly computer time, and their IM ing- -oh they live for IMing their friends- and for my oldest- I take away text messaging on her cell phone.... I don't take away TV because my kids dont watch TV at all...."

Kids are changing- just listen to parents talk. But are teachers really listening?