tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385335178476669722024-03-06T13:02:08.294+13:00Webb-ed feetWalking the path of e-learning integrationCraig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-39438617965390176232014-06-10T05:57:00.003+12:002014-06-10T06:06:50.115+12:00Using Evernote for Anecdotal Assessment<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are spoiled for choice when it comes to the range of digital tools at our disposal these days - both tools for helping children learn better and for us as teachers in helping us assess their learning better. What I have been thinking about in particular recently is how I might go about collecting anecdotal evidence during the course of the day to build up a picture of my learners.</span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have tried a variety of ways of doing this over the years, with varying degrees of success, and to be fair it is still very much a trial and error process - tweaking and adjusting and often finding that a particular method is just too cumbersome. Pre-digital I used an exercise book, with a page or two allocated to each student. The drawback of this was that I was constantly flicking back and forth alphabetically to find the child I wanted to comment on. I also had to remember to date each entry, and had no easy way to categorise according to curriculum areas or Key Competencies, and had to re-handle the information come report time...</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also tried setting up a spreadsheet, with children’s names down the first column, and areas of assessment along the top. This was on a laptop, which was not always handy, and as I added over time the cells grew to be quite large! So useful in some ways, not in others.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj20JDVybLQ0fgi5yg1mG5fm0Ebp0e1sa8pkUX48luYLuWW2z0TSbEAN8WnkRJuArz1cp_iZWgeAPgTDg_brqVwq5QoyRLiYEEUBuix_ICoh5cHtQkQ6-j33zVfOtr_tNKCyO_qNrPDdhdO/s1600/evernote_assessment.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj20JDVybLQ0fgi5yg1mG5fm0Ebp0e1sa8pkUX48luYLuWW2z0TSbEAN8WnkRJuArz1cp_iZWgeAPgTDg_brqVwq5QoyRLiYEEUBuix_ICoh5cHtQkQ6-j33zVfOtr_tNKCyO_qNrPDdhdO/s1600/evernote_assessment.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most recently I have been using </span><a href="https://evernote.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Evernote</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Evernote essentially allows you to collect almost anything, in a variety of formats. This is the most successful app I have tried so far, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is on my iPad and iPhone, which I am quite likely to have on me most of the time - and it will sync between devices, so I can have the information on my laptop when I need it too.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secondly, it enables me to record data in a variety of formats, from typed notes, photos, video, voice memos and even a particular document photo setting. The great thing about this is that I can write meaningful feedback on a learner’s work, photograph the page and my comment and have it as a searchable record. Does it get any better than that! So I have set up a folder for each child, and when occasion arises I simply open the app, select the folder and add a new note, be it text, photo, video or voice.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still feel I am only scratching the surface with Evernote, and that there are ways of using it that I haven’t yet explored. How do you keep anecdotal evidence of children’s progress? Do you use Evernote (or something else??) in ways that we could all learn from? Let us know in the comments!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Further articles about using Evernote for assessment:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://missspinkontech.global2.vic.edu.au/2013/05/10/collecting-assessment-data-with-evernote/" target="_blank">Miss Spink on Tech</a></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://richlambert.edublogs.org/2012/02/07/evernote-the-definitive-post/" target="_blank">Evernote - An attempt at the definitive summary of teacher uses</a></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.edflection.net/using-evernote-for-records-and-assessment/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Using Evernote for Records and Assessment</span></a></span></div>
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<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-67267885211153252242012-03-27T06:47:00.001+13:002012-03-27T06:47:57.823+13:00Handwriting - a dying art or a waste of time?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As schools move more and more into the use of digital tools in education, the question often comes up, "Why are we even bothering to teach handwriting?"</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think it's a good question, but also one that is also answered a little too hastily at times. Those who argue for less of an emphasis on handwriting skills do have a case. After all, why spend so much of precious class time on a mechanical task that doesn't involve much creativity or generation of meaning? Isn't the content of what the children write more important than the legibility of their script? After all, how often are the children really going to need to write at length in tidy legible handwriting? Won't most of it be done on computers anyway?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are good questions. How often do you write with a pen or pencil? Is it for more than quickly scrawled notes and shopping lists? I'm sure more people write emails rather than letters these days. There's also an argument that typing levels the playing field - everyone can be as tidy as the next person, and can have the reader focus on their meaning, rather than make assumptions about their intelligence based on how tidy their hand is.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In spite of all this, I still believe that handwriting skills, cursive handwriting, is still a skill worth teaching. In fact, I would argue it's an artform, a cultural treasure handed down to us over centuries, that we are surprisingly so keen to throw away.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In many cultures, the artful formation of letters is highly valued. The Japanese and Chinese approach to calligraphy, with its meditative attention to the beauty of the brush strokes is one such example. The incredible use of Arabic calligraphy to decorate mosques in the Middle East is another.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fact is, our Roman alphabet has become a little taken for granted. It's everywhere, used by so many different languages and so we have ceased to think of it as something special. We are beginning to lose sight of the fact that cursive script is a cultural artform to be treasured, and instead see it as a functional and defunct stumbling block on the road to a good education.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, there are also good educational arguments for teaching handwriting skills, including the effect it has on brain development. Far from being a waste of classroom time, research has shown that children who spent more time practising the shape of letters showed higher neural activity than those who didn't, as <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518.html?mod=rss_Lifestyle" target="_blank">this article</a> points out. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i> "(The) research highlights the hand's unique relationship with the brain when it comes to composing thoughts and ideas. Virginia Berninger, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says handwriting differs from typing because it requires executing sequential strokes to form a letter, whereas keyboarding involves selecting a whole letter by touching a key. </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>She says pictures of the brain have illustrated that sequential finger movements activated massive regions involved in thinking, language and working memory—the system for temporarily storing and managing information.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>"</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">I love technology. I love the potential it has as a tool to expand our educational horizons. That said, I do believe it can be an invasive species in our cultural ecosystem, killing off a thing of beauty handed down from the ages, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">one learner at a time.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">What do you think? Is this something we should fight to save, or should we start typing our eulogies for cursive script?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i><br /></i></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-79914805371104041772012-03-20T12:53:00.000+13:002012-03-20T12:53:16.077+13:00NZ Kids Online - How much do we know?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">This year I am out of the classroom as I received a <a href="http://www.teachnz.govt.nz/existing-teachers/teachnz-study-awards/directory/primary-teachers-study-leave-award/#Primary%20Teachers'%20Study%20Leave%20Award" target="_blank">Study Award from TeachNZ</a>, so I am working on postgraduate research instead, through the University of Auckland.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">The topic I am exploring is <a href="http://webb-edfeet.blogspot.co.nz/2011/05/tmi-childrens-disclosure-of-personal.html" target="_blank">how New Zealand children are using the internet</a> - how they approach risks of various kinds, what skills they have in facing these risks, and how this might relate to the <a href="http://keycompetencies.tki.org.nz/" target="_blank">Key Competencies</a> in the NZ Curriculum that we try to impart in our classroom programmes. I intend to analyse the findings to identify the conditions for increased confidence and skill levels online in order to minimise the risk of harm and maximise the opportunities that the internet offers.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">My research will seek to answer the question, “How are 9-12 year old children in New Zealand using the internet, what factors lead to increased self-confidence and competency in dealing with online challenges, and what are the implications of this for schools?”</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Last year I had the opportunity to present at the <a href="http://ulearn.core-ed.org/" target="_blank">ULearn Conference</a>, looking at the importance of researching children's use of the internet in a New Zealand context. While I was there I recorded this <a href="http://edtalks.org/" target="_blank">EDtalk</a>, which has recently been put online.</span> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">To be honest, recording this was even more nerve-wracking then giving the talk itself! Nevertheless, it was a good opportunity to articulate some of what I have been discovering.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">When I was reading around this issue I was struck by how little research there was based on the New Zealand experience. There are some studies looking at teenage internet use, but as for children I had to go back as far as 2002 to find a decent size study. As we all know, the online world was quite a different place back then. In 2002, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Twitter, youtube and even Gmail <strong>did not exist</strong>. And that’s without discussing the changes to web access via mobile devices such as the iPod Touch and games consoles since that time. Clearly the landscape has changed. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Take Facebook for example. <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/june/electronics-computers/state-of-the-net/facebook-concerns/index.htm" target="_blank">Consumer Reports ‘State of the Net’ survey</a> last year found that, quote, “Of the 20 million minors who actively used Facebook in the past year, 7.5 million of them were younger than 13”, and that most of these accounts were unsupervised by parents. In fact, in the USA the number of parents who would allow their 10-12 year olds to have a Facebook account has doubled in the space of a year, according to<a href="http://responsibility-project.libertymutual.com/#fbid=CDc4KElvuEw" target="_blank"> Liberty Mutual's Responsibility Project</a>. The same survey showed that most parents also expect teachers and schools to do more to deal with the fall out.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Clearly, whether we like it or not, this is something we as educators are going to have to invest time in, and we need to do this from a position of knowledge of our own context here in New Zealand. Research around online privacy and risk is of vital importance. The disproportionate media attention given to unusual but high profile examples of online danger can have too much influence on policy formation. New Zealand-based research will help to separate actual online practice from media-hype based on sensationalist (albeit serious) examples. It will, therefore, provide a robust and reliable benchmark that other researchers and policymakers might use to inform policy in regards to appropriate responses, both in schools and more broadly in society.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-65356310773450203912012-03-18T14:38:00.000+13:002012-03-18T16:01:55.211+13:00Narcissists on Facebook?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My good friend, <a href="http://pacificlondoner.blogspot.co.nz/" target="_blank">Pacific Londoner</a>, sent me a link this morning to this <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/mar/17/facebook-dark-side-study-aggressive-narcissism" target="_blank">Guardian article</a>, reporting research that relates Facebook use and narcissism. It makes for pretty interesting reading:</span></span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Researchers have established a direct link between the number of friends you have on Facebook and the degree to which you are a "socially disruptive" narcissist, confirming the conclusions of many social media sceptics.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People who score highly on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory questionnaire had more friends on Facebook, tagged themselves more often and updated their newsfeeds more regularly.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The research comes amid increasing evidence that young people are becoming increasingly narcissistic, and obsessed with self-image and shallow friendships.</span></i></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;">I suppose in someways it's not overly surprising that narcissists will use Facebook in this kind of way, although as they say in the article, what comes first, the chicken or egg? Is the narcissism leading to the Facebook behaviour patterns, or is there something about Facebook itself that's leading to the narcissistic behaviour? Obviously the more research that looks into these issues the better. However, there is a tendency for the media to latch onto this kind of research to generate fear and overstate the 'dark side' of social media, without acknowledging the numerous benefits social media has to offer.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;">It is often said that the emerging young adults of today have barely known a world without the internet. They have grown up, generally, with access to the internet and a kind of connectedness that wasn't experienced to the same degree by previous generations (and sub-generations). What would be really interesting would be to find out how much of this purported narcissism is due to these young adults having already done a lot of their identity formation online. And a key question for educators, is what can be done for children and adolescents who are forming their identities online right now - what skills and competencies do they need to be able to cope online, and see through online narcissists and be responsible digital citizens?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;">I think one of the differences with Facebook and similar sites, compared with one's offline life, is that your profile spells out clearly how many 'friends' you have. Imagine if we all had that written on our t-shirts or foreheads! It's an online status symbol, and an indicator of 'social gravity' - that is, if they can gain enough social mass, that in turn will attract yet more 'matter' into their orbit, and on and on. Until the inevitable supernova! </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;">The very design of Facebook places each user at the centre of their online social universe. But then again, my eyeballs tend to do that too in my 'offline' life - it's unavoidable! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;">The key is learning to see from other people's point of view, sharing experiences, developing empathy, engaging with a range of ideas. Facebook can be a great tool for giving insight into the lives of those in our network - it can counteract narcissism if used well.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my experience, Facebook does not lead to shallow friendships. It strengthens existing ones and sparks old friendships into life in a way that probably wouldn't happen without it. The 'social' has always had a dark side, because it involves people. We should no sooner reject online social interaction than we should isolate ourselves from face-to-face contacts and become hermits in the desert. We just need to learn to do it well, and that is best learnt sooner rather than later.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-13858728817253123882011-05-11T16:16:00.000+12:002011-05-11T16:16:41.431+12:00iReflect - Photo Booth as a Learning Mirror<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIi3IXGRlEls19zlp6D1ktDSWsiCEJB1tYXVpM1Eu6L97_rDY1RUkpB_Bar6an4dp9ctDNH9sIZA_2urACI3W669bdJBIN5b-ydyj9PT9YaM6ZX3o6272XjOaSNmfAffAIN2LCcg1ZqYGt/s1600/video+reflection.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIi3IXGRlEls19zlp6D1ktDSWsiCEJB1tYXVpM1Eu6L97_rDY1RUkpB_Bar6an4dp9ctDNH9sIZA_2urACI3W669bdJBIN5b-ydyj9PT9YaM6ZX3o6272XjOaSNmfAffAIN2LCcg1ZqYGt/s320/video+reflection.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This term I have made a point of providing space in the timetable for the children to reflect on their learning. I doubt that many people would deny the importance, for anyone, of taking a step back and thinking about what you have learned, how you have learned, what goals you have achieved (or not) and why. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The typical day in the classroom can pass by with such speed that it is easy as a learner, and as a teacher, to get to the final bell and wonder how you got there. And then the next day it all starts again. It’s no wonder so many parents complain that finding out about their child’s day is like getting blood out of a stone!</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">All of us value physical reflection. Could you live without a mirror? Or the odd shop window reflection here and there? Clearly some value it more than others (!!). A mirror gives us feedback about ourselves, and we act to make adjustments in order to improve our appearance. So important is this to us that we will often seek out our reflection throughout the day, even just for a glance - it’s a kind of plumb-line I suppose, to stop us veering too far off track (hat hair!!).</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yet reflection on learning is not something that necessarily comes as naturally, especially for children. Writing reflective statements in a journal, or below their maths work before going to lunch can be quite burdensome - more burdensome than the maths itself for some! </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Because of this I have started using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_Booth">Photo Booth</a> as a tool to capture the students’ reflections. The nature of recording oneself with a webcam seems to integrate the physical concept of reflection with the inner processes that are occurring. I allow about 10 minutes towards the end of the day to look back over what we have learned and discussed, (including the social learning that occurs the playground). They can jot down a few ideas if they like, before finding a quiet place in the room to record their thoughts.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When we started this some students didn’t really know how they should speak or what they should say. To help with this I have given them some reflection tools, to prompt their thinking. The <a href="http://www.thelearningproject.co.nz/steppingstones/index.html">Stepping Stones cards</a> from The Learning Project are ideal for this kind of thing. I love the quote on their website: </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>Trying to learn without reflecting and reviewing is like trying to fill a bath without putting the plug in!</i></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We also have a Reflection Circle on the mat at the end of the day, where five or six children can share something they’ve learned, something they didn’t know when they woke up, or something they can do better now, or perhaps a goal for the next day. This doesn’t take up much time, and I believe is worth the investment. It models and normalises the reflective process and is a nice way to end the day.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What tools for reflection do you use in your classroom? Does your timetable prioritise reflection in some way? Please leave your comments below!</span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-21904344390438724682011-05-08T13:18:00.001+12:002011-05-08T13:25:30.211+12:00No, we won't be needing a graphic organiser...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read a blog post today by </span><a href="http://ideasandthoughts.org/2011/05/07/its-not-just-a-tool/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dean Shareski</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, in which he quoted </span><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/dkuropatwa/what-can-i-do-now-web-20-pedagogy-v4-7858206"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darren Kuropatwa's question</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, 'What is it I can do now that I couldn't do before?'. What a great question, and a constant challenge to those lucky enough to have digital tools in their classrooms that would have been undreamt of in the not too distant past.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This past week my class has started a new term, and a new inquiry </span><a href="http://thelivingroom.wikispaces.com/A+Bug%27s+Life"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'A Bug's Life'</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, looking at arthropods (insects, spiders etc) in our neighbourhood, and the effect they have on us, as mammals sharing this environment. There is so much scope for <a href="http://webb-edfeet.blogspot.com/2009/03/wonderment-and-awe.html">wonderment and awe</a> when we look at the world of bugs - beyond what Hollywood sci-fi movie makers could think of in the originality, complexity and freakishness of some of these alien-like creatures.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My students are already excited about it, and I have had jars of collected bugs coming out my ears this week, as they have gone about their house and garden looking for strange creatures and bringing them in (one parent told me, "She's gone bug-mad this week!"). Usually at the start of an inquiry I will spend some time finding out what the students know already, and what they want to learn. I might have done this using a graphic organiser in the past, but I love the fact that now we can really bring this curiosity to life, in relatively simple ways, using video and web 2.0 tools.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is a very short and simple video we made, stitching their questions together as soundbites, choosing an iMovie theme, and getting some backing music from Garageband. So easy, and so much more interesting (and shareable) than writing this down on a graphic organiser. What's more, it was our first time posting a video on Youtube, so they were very excited about that.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Wt3BoIjwCmA" width="480"></iframe></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you will see on the class wiki link above (A Bug's Life), we used </span><a href="http://www.wallwisher.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wallwisher</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to post some of the things we already knew. Another new experience for the children, and fun at the same time.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm really looking forward to getting into the inquiry more, and exploring what it is we can do now that we couldn't do before. I'd really like them to become junior entomologists, and create mini nature documentaries in the style of the late </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4_mWRnmWEs"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve Irwin</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (The Crocodile Hunter) and New Zealand's own Bugman, </span><a href="http://www.videosurf.com/videos/Ruud+kleinpaste"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ruud Kleinpaste</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. We could then enter these in the </span><a href="http://www.madeawards.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MADE Awards</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What an exciting time to be a teacher!</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-90583053642202653142011-05-01T13:09:00.000+12:002011-05-01T13:09:52.484+12:00TMI? Children's disclosure of personal information online<div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The world in which children live is inherently full of risk. Some might argue that a risk-free childhood is no childhood at all. However, the ubiquity of the internet and social media in the lives of children today presents a range of risks which differ not so much in kind with those of the past, but in potential. The ease with which information, text and images can be stored, copied, manipulated, replicated and misused, (Livingstone and Brake, 2010) has created a need for vigilance and action on the part of parents and educators. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Children's disclosure of personal information on social networking sites in New Zealand is an issue of high public interest, as revealed by the current media attention given to it, such as <a href="http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/eight-year-old-seduced-facebook-3700342/video">this report on Close Up</a> about adolescent use of Facebook. In addition, t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">he 2010 report by the Privacy Commissioner, <a href="http://www.privacy.org.nz/assets/Files/Surveys/Privacy-survey-2010.pdf">'Individual Privacy and Personal Information'</a>, identified the information children put on the internet about themselves as the issue that caused most concern among respondents, as it also did in 2008. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">However, it remains a desperately under-researched field, making it difficult for parents, educators and policy-makers to make informed decisions about how best to impart the skills needed for children to become good digital citizens, with a high level of awareness of their rights and responsibilities towards themselves and others.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Last year as part of my post-grad study I reviewed a lot of the literature around this issue and drew up a research proposal. Perhaps one of the most significant findings of a number of the articles I surveyed was that generally young people are using social networking websites responsibly and consistently with how they conduct their offline behaviour, and </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">that the actual risk from online predators is very, very low. Y</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">et the small percentage of those who do take privacy risks are of sufficient numerical size (considering the millions of users of social networking websites) to justify considerable concern from researchers, educators and parents </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">(De Souza & Dick, 2008; Williams & Merton, 2008; Hinduja & Patchin, 2008)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">Below is a summary of the research proposal I put together that highlights many of the key issues and how I would go about researching them.</span></div><div class="prezi-player"><style media="screen" type="text/css">
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</style><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="400" id="prezi_zes6shcpxxel" name="prezi_zes6shcpxxel" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf"/><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"/><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"/><param name="flashvars" value="prezi_id=zes6shcpxxel&lock_to_path=0&color=ffffff&autoplay=no&autohide_ctrls=0"/><embed id="preziEmbed_zes6shcpxxel" name="preziEmbed_zes6shcpxxel" src="http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="500" height="400" bgcolor="#ffffff" flashvars="prezi_id=zes6shcpxxel&lock_to_path=0&color=ffffff&autoplay=no&autohide_ctrls=0"></embed></object><br />
<div class="prezi-player-links"><a href="http://prezi.com/zes6shcpxxel/tmi-childrens-disclosure-of-personal-information-online/" title="">TMI? Children's disclosure of personal information online</a> on <a href="http://prezi.com/">Prezi</a></div></div><div class="prezi-player"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A further implication of the literature that came through again and again is that any effort to increase privacy awareness and protection skills <i>must</i> include parents. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Because many schools approach social networking websites with caution, or block them outright, young people tend to spend most of their online social networking time at home, or on mobile devices. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">Many studies show that parental supervision of online behaviours reduces the amount of risk-taking behaviour<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, but that the awareness and skill levels of those parents was often not sufficient to provide the support that young people needed </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">(Ofcom, 2008; </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Berson et al., 2008; </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Sharples et al., 2009; De Souza & Dick, 2008; Berson & Berson, 2006; </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Steeves and Webster, 2008;</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Youn 2005; Hinduja & Patchin, 2009; Wirth et al., 2009)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Part of this is no doubt due to the rapid pace at which the technology and habits of use of young people change. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It may well be that if a school wishes to be most effective in protecting its young people from the risks of personal information disclosure, then the school has a role to play in educating parents through seminars and workshops, and must see this work as a partnership. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">Hope (2002) and Ofsted (2010) both affirm the importance of schools and families working together in partnership, with schools needing to be proactive in initiating this partnership. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">The research mentioned above by the Privacy Commissioner, as well as the fact that increasing numbers of older adults are using social networking sites like Facebook, suggests that there could be considerable demand for such a programme.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">How aware are you of how your students are using social networking sites? How does your school involve parents in digital citizenship education? All thoughts and comments welcome!</span></span></div></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-65920401300524526062011-04-29T15:50:00.000+12:002011-04-29T15:50:56.109+12:00Crop Rotation and Classroom Practice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These last couple of weeks on holiday, I've probably spent more time planning and preparing than I have for a long time, and as a result, I'm really excited about getting back into the classroom. It's not that I haven't spent time planning in past holidays - rather that in 2011 I have had more time available to think about my classroom practice and where to take it.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOSBp1Pho5XP4bnsEJDDil4_gE4YT4u4q3X7LY17hRhyFdKMKstqf8JjvWfXXYH2AiuMKvAXGKgL7-AG7MZRcN26E85PIbegkfa_lu3w6epf7tFKyNT14aroTYbWktDAi_znA3bI8R-_EW/s1600/IMG_0504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOSBp1Pho5XP4bnsEJDDil4_gE4YT4u4q3X7LY17hRhyFdKMKstqf8JjvWfXXYH2AiuMKvAXGKgL7-AG7MZRcN26E85PIbegkfa_lu3w6epf7tFKyNT14aroTYbWktDAi_znA3bI8R-_EW/s400/IMG_0504.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since 2003, after returning from Japan, I have been (almost non-stop) studying part-time while teaching full-time, and I have say, it has taken its toll. Mostly in lost sleep, but also in lack of mental space and available time. Last year I finished a Postgrad Diploma in Education in e-learning, and was preparing this year to begin my thesis research for my masters, looking at children and adolescents' attitudes to privacy and risk when using social networking websites. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For one reason or another, this year I decided to break from the study for a year and to be honest, it's been liberating! Now that I'm not studying I wonder how I found the time to do it. I really do enjoy studying, but when the only time in the day available for it is after the kids have gone to bed and the dishes are done, it can take more than it offers to life. Already one term into the year and the study break has breathed new life into my teaching - ironic really, as that was what I was hoping the study would achieve!</span><br />
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I think I was feeding the theory and starving the practice. More ambitious for qualifications than tried and true experience on the ground. No amount of journal articles read and annotated, no amount of APA referencing, will improve classroom practice - unless one is very deliberate about, and has time to reflect on classroom implications of theory and let these change your practice, and all this requires time.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think there are some parallels in agriculture, especially around the notion of crop-rotation. I don't know a huge amount about gardening and that kind of thing, but as I understand it, different crops draw different nutrients out of the soil, and if you keep planting the same crop in the same soil, season after season, the soil becomes depleted and the crops weaken or fail. To avoid this, farmers/gardeners will plant different kinds of crop, or leave the soil to rest altogether, to give it a chance to recover.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is where I am at right now in my teaching. I've been growing academic crops for a long time, and it's time to give it a rest. Time to have the space to experiment with some of the great ideas that I often hear and read about from others, and see how they work for my learners. Time to reflect on practice, and feed this into future planning; time to provide meaningful feedback and create authentic learning experiences; time to redesign my classroom space and try new things.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm excited to be a part of the </span><a href="http://elearningclassroom.wikispaces.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">E-Learning Classroom</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> wiki, a project in transforming classroom practice towards genuine e-learning integration, and reflecting as a community of practice, under the guidance of </span><a href="http://elearningclassroom.wikispaces.com/About+Me"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jacqui Sharp</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. This wiki, and </span><a href="http://ictprofessionaldevelopment.wikispaces.com/home"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">others</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that Jacqui has developed, are so rich in resources and ideas, that it will be the hub of my professional development for the foreseeable future. I strongly encourage anyone to spend some time on these wikis and refer them to other teachers you know who are looking to transform their own practice.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will I return to study and finish my masters? I'm sure I will, but I want it to be from a firm foundation of practice, and that's what I'm thoroughly enjoying building at the moment!</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-76081830339041827502011-04-27T21:34:00.001+12:002011-04-27T21:41:09.669+12:00When is the best time to tweet your blog post?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got thinking today about the fact that many people read blog posts because they pick them up in their Twitter feed, and there seems to have been a shift away from RSS readers.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if you write a blog post, what is the best way to let people know about it? If you tweet it, there's a good chance that many of your followers are not online at that point in time. If you keep tweeting it, do you run the risk of over-doing it?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I figured there must be some sort of netiquette for this sort of thing, so I googled it. I came across </span><a href="http://bestbloggingtipsonline.com/tweet-blog/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this post </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">which asks exactly that: "How many times should you tweet your blog post?" They quote </span><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/GuyKawasaki"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">@GuyKawasaki</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> who suggests tweeting four times, eight hours apart. Among the reasons are the fact that your followers live in different timezones, and, as mentioned above, they are not always online anyway.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I wondered, are there any particular times of the day when tweets are most read? Surely someone has asked this question before. Sure enough, googling this question got me 164,000,000 hits! I came across </span><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/danzarrella"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">@danzarrella</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> the 'Social Media Scientist' who suggests </span><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/the-science-of-timing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tweeting late in the day and late in the week</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for the highest click-through rates.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/best-time-tweet/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Malcolm Cole</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> did some research concluding that 4:01pm is the best time to tweet if you want to be noticed. </span><a href="http://thesocialmediaguide.com/social_media/when-is-the-best-time-to-tweet/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Social Media Guide</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, on the other hand, recommends 9am Pacific Standard Time, because it works well in three other timezones in the USA and UK. Unfortunately that corresponds to 4am here in New Zealand, and at that time I usually have better things to do than tweet.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what is the upshot of all this? </span><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's ok to tweet about your blog post more than once, to give people a chance to see it. Maybe four times over two days?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Afternoons and evenings might be best, especially nearer the end of the week - but you can't please every timezone.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obsessing over this kind of thing means one's life is a little out of balance!</span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tweet freely for others and blog freely for yourself - can't go wrong.</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-61681940395010770782011-04-23T07:47:00.000+12:002011-04-23T07:47:02.805+12:00Google Instant - Help or Hindrance?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the features of Google search that I have mixed opinions about is <a href="http://www.google.com/instant/">Google Instant</a>. This means that when you are typing a search query, predictions and results will appear as you are typing.</span><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a user I find it very useful and efficient, and it can offer the phrasing or search terms I was looking for and save a lot of time. But as a teacher, I wonder whether or not the pros outweigh the cons. The pros, of course, are that students are given the same efficiencies I am while searching. They can begin a query, and then if their question is listed below in the predictions, they can click on it, avoiding the need sometimes for having to spell tricky words.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is the unpredictability of the content of the predictions that worries me. Even with strict filtering on, Google Instant can give pretty dodgy predictions, especially if a student's search query begins with the same spelling as something less savoury. Try "How to make ..." and you will see what I mean, depending on what the next words starts with.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fortunately, from Settings at the top right of a Google page, it is a short step to switch Google Instant off.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJuRRYy5eNekcP5qnf2rKDJKljLplqgGl1SVrdR8m0zA7C79zaaXgVy1kZ8qs-zH3NCmjlcRpa96zc1C9u4jYzMUufhVxZ8x0dcQx-FzS6v7k9Q_Vxdm3GQwlzpgV8uvm-QPtc0591ou2n/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-04-23+at+7.06.41+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJuRRYy5eNekcP5qnf2rKDJKljLplqgGl1SVrdR8m0zA7C79zaaXgVy1kZ8qs-zH3NCmjlcRpa96zc1C9u4jYzMUufhVxZ8x0dcQx-FzS6v7k9Q_Vxdm3GQwlzpgV8uvm-QPtc0591ou2n/s400/Screen+shot+2011-04-23+at+7.06.41+AM.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have put this setting on all of my students' computers for now, erring on the side of caution. In the <a href="http://www.google.co.nz/advanced_search">Advanced Search</a> menu there is also the option of selecting the reading level of results. This would be great if it were a setting that could be applied to all search results, not just individual searches.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_IufkBuMfXUXq3KzgASpW8XsfVW14TQk8hgaterdZ_bmYiHyf7ejKP2W_fzPX9_jz_JDWznwXGjrCVeiUDN-Nw6HSZJ9-15tRBFqz721wLum2A9P7nM0b43bFiRjU4TtcoAnVp1kLxId/s1600/kidrex.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_IufkBuMfXUXq3KzgASpW8XsfVW14TQk8hgaterdZ_bmYiHyf7ejKP2W_fzPX9_jz_JDWznwXGjrCVeiUDN-Nw6HSZJ9-15tRBFqz721wLum2A9P7nM0b43bFiRjU4TtcoAnVp1kLxId/s400/kidrex.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other option, of course, is not to use Google at all, but one of the many search engines that are designed especially for children. A favourite of mine is </span><a href="http://www.kidrex.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kidrex</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which I have linked to our </span><a href="http://thelivingroom.wikispaces.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">class wiki</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, but there are others such as </span><a href="http://www.kidsclick.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KidsClick</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (which seems to be under construction at the moment) and </span><a href="http://cybersleuth-kids.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CyberSleuth</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. A great option for teaching children effective search strategies, using AND, NOT, OR and other boolean techniques is </span><a href="http://www.boolify.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boolify</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which uses these phrases to jigsaw the search terms and narrow down the results.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mKfLdSAHED7HU3MIUOGWL3Q3hifHTbu30Oj8UvmfPI1JEw3SnNgCB3xvD0NF7TU-x-utlWwbYoi48cR_da3PkrP2wMPLhNyQ8dj5Vd87n_-9CIfrEKiZlfuXK0yeK9T9_MqasofxZ9su/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-04-23+at+7.41.28+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mKfLdSAHED7HU3MIUOGWL3Q3hifHTbu30Oj8UvmfPI1JEw3SnNgCB3xvD0NF7TU-x-utlWwbYoi48cR_da3PkrP2wMPLhNyQ8dj5Vd87n_-9CIfrEKiZlfuXK0yeK9T9_MqasofxZ9su/s400/Screen+shot+2011-04-23+at+7.41.28+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is your search engine of choice for children? Do you think I am right to switch off Google Instant for my 8-9 year olds? How do you teach your students to search safely? Please leave your comments below!</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-67941374272777865972011-04-22T17:01:00.001+12:002011-04-22T18:05:44.012+12:00Putting a daily timetable on my class wiki using Google Calendar<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've recently been giving </span><a href="http://thelivingroom.wikispaces.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my class wiki</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> a bit of a re-vamp (always a work in progress!) and one of the latest additions is a Google Calendar. I already had one of these, showing important dates for the class, trips, deadlines etc. on a page of its own. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The difference is that the new one is on the Navigation bar of the wiki, and shows the 'Agenda' format, listing just that day's events and when they are happening. This makes the daily timetable accessible, no matter which page of the wiki they are using.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is how I did it:</span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="395" src="http://notaland.com/craigm/69315.screen?scroll=on&toolbar=on" width="530"></iframe><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The great thing about a Google Calendar is that you can have one off events, or have them repeat weekly or daily, which means that once it is set up, it just needs a little tweaking here and there.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Try adding one to your wiki sidebar, it's a good way to keep everyone informed. And now I don't have my students saying, "What are we doing after lunch, Mr Mac?!"</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-83830896111732526322011-04-09T08:31:00.000+12:002011-04-09T08:31:50.630+12:00From 'Class' Room to 'Living' Room<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have stumbled across a wonderful e-Learning wiki in the past few days called the </span><a href="http://elearningclassroom.wikispaces.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">e-Learning Classroom</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and as a result I am now really having a close look at my use of </span><a href="http://elearningclassroom.wikispaces.com/Classroom+Space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">classroom space</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and what this says about my pedagogy. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtXpjc9T6qtPuwjVwV151TQdyPBtFMu1FhMYgMjOEgVif9UYoPg2ZRKQ1MYpc67wssvVAj8W-ExT3ObE1ksUOiPzZ-_Fv1eODtpuXPcpO4uYuAYlQhv_9Msxes-0DEQzxzMpZpkkOCwzp/s1600/room+18a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtXpjc9T6qtPuwjVwV151TQdyPBtFMu1FhMYgMjOEgVif9UYoPg2ZRKQ1MYpc67wssvVAj8W-ExT3ObE1ksUOiPzZ-_Fv1eODtpuXPcpO4uYuAYlQhv_9Msxes-0DEQzxzMpZpkkOCwzp/s320/room+18a.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first thoughts were that my desk was too large and my chair too comfortable! And of course one of the things about having a large desk is that it soon gets covered in 'stuff', the detritus of procrastination. I think it also sends a message to the class that MY desk is HQ, the hub, the sun around which the planets rotate. Which of course, is not how it ought to be. How much time should a teacher spend sitting at their desk, during class time? I think, on reflection, that there are not many times at all when this is necessary. Perhaps when a child is reading to us? But then we could easily sit next to them where they are, or sit on the sofa. Hmmm...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So after school yesterday I got rid of it! My desk that is. I've replaced it with a smaller desk, the same as the students have, just so I have somewhere to keep my laptop off the floor, and to stash a few stationery items. As a result, I have instantly created space which I can now consider how to use. I still have the office style swivel chair, but am thinking that it might be more effective to get rid of that - at least during class time, so that I can be mobile in the classroom, actively moving around, supervising, assisting and, well, teaching. Maybe this is 'm-teaching', where the 'm' refers to the teacher, not the device. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I'd love to do next is try to open up the classroom by doing away with as many of the students' desks and chairs as possible - perhaps replacing them with low coffee tables. It seems to me that a lot of children enjoy working on the floor anyway, and it would create a level of flexibility that I don't have at the moment. I have put out an email to my parent community, as well as other stuff members, to see what surplus furniture might be lying around. Come to think of it, this could be a class project - they could, in groups, raise a small amount of money, which could be used to source a cheap table on </span><a href="http://www.trademe.co.nz/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TradeMe</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, something on $1 reserve. It probably would not take too long at all, or cost too much. And imagine how much more space I would have without 27 desks and chairs!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The use of coffee tables, sofas, armchairs, perhaps the odd round dining room table for those who prefer chairs - what does this remind me of? It seems almost like a recreation of the dining/living area of a home. I think this is good. The living room is a space that most students will associate with relaxation, family, informality - which incidentally are ideal conditions for learning. If learning is about living, and living is about learning, then why not try to transform our 'class' room (what does that tell us, anyway???) into a 'living' room.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, a work in progress. Watch this space!</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-66458856412184457022011-04-06T22:42:00.001+12:002011-04-06T22:46:54.234+12:00Conscience-based Teaching<div style="background-color: transparent;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9221182144246995" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have been reflecting on the Apple Bus Tour I went on a couple of weeks ago. I have to say that beyond the innovative use of digital technology that we saw being implemented creatively in so many schools, what has impressed me and stayed with me the most has been the level of commitment shown to the learners in the schools we visited.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpfxejJxACJieI8OCqvsr4kLz83uvsnaE8a2PHUf1KWbrR83O-ocFQIPcD8dGKF2oXwdWr0JVeBHbOtd8YIUcTQsYeqp6HE8e1xsCtZHm7QMlgmMCJMLPGQiTBCOJMM-xDfg-l8N6kDCvA/s1600/IMG_0751.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpfxejJxACJieI8OCqvsr4kLz83uvsnaE8a2PHUf1KWbrR83O-ocFQIPcD8dGKF2oXwdWr0JVeBHbOtd8YIUcTQsYeqp6HE8e1xsCtZHm7QMlgmMCJMLPGQiTBCOJMM-xDfg-l8N6kDCvA/s320/IMG_0751.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: transparent;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9221182144246995" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember in my first year of teaching in Christchurch having a conversation with a colleague about planning and the amount of time we put in to it. He said that he didn’t mind the time consuming nature of teaching because “teaching really is a job that is worth doing well.” It’s something we need reminding of from time to time, when we are feeling it is just a job, or feeling resentful of the long hours, or feeling the beginnings of a cynicism that will be tempted to uncritically download unit plans from the internet and take other shortcuts. But teaching really is a job that is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">worth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> doing well. The time we put in bears fruit, in ways that we do not always see, but sometimes are often privileged to see in amazing ways.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The uses of technology we saw in the schools we visited were far from being shortcuts. It was clear that hours and hours, often years, of deep thought, experimentation, trial and error, reflection and genuine concern for learning were behind the innovations. Not shortcuts, but a vision of the powerful potential of technology to leverage the learning possible and improve the lives and futures of students.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the most powerful demonstrations of this that we saw on the Apple Bus Tour was the incredible things happening at </span><a href="http://www.ptengland.school.nz/index.php?family=1,449"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Point England School </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in Auckland. Anyone who has visited the school or followed Dorothy Burt on the </span><a href="http://manaiakalani.blogspot.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Manaiakalani</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> blog will know exactly what I’m talking about. There seems to be such a high level of integration, on so many different levels: Integration of the school culture into the atmosphere of each class; integration of pedagogy and technology; integration of hard data into living learning goals; integration of multimodal forms of expression, embracing non-print literacy without letting go of the fundamental importance of being able to read and write. The </span><a href="http://manaiakalani.blogspot.com/2009/02/literacy-cycle.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Literacy Cycle </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">they have developed is certainly something I want to explore further in my own teaching. </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wonder how many other people experience what I have come to call the ‘teacher’s conscience’. In other words, I know when I’m taking shortcuts, winging it a bit, trying something new for novelty’s sake - and it doesn’t feel quite right. I know when there is more icing than cake. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the other hand, I also know how good it can feel when all the pieces are in place (in as much as they can be in teaching), when the pedagogy is there, the learning goals and processes are well thought through, attention is giving to individual learning needs, and I can see the progress being made. My ‘teacher’s conscience’ says “Yes!” Perhaps there's a new pedagogy there: Conscience-based Teaching...</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I can’t get there without an investment of my time. Seeing what I have seen on the tour has reminded me that it is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">worth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the investment we make in our learners. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, there are new things to try, tools to use, but actually the Apple Bus Tour has sent me back to basics - pedagogy. planning for learning, assessing effectively. Yes time consuming, but it is a job worth doing well.</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-614766298073328012011-03-27T16:01:00.000+13:002011-03-27T16:01:02.274+13:00Apple Bus Tour<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have just spent the last week traveling around schools in the North Island (Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga) on the Apple Bus Tour, getting a glimpse of some of the incredible ways schools are innovating with their integration of technology. The Tour has been as described in the<a href="http://www.edgazette.govt.nz/Notices/ProfessionalDevelopmentNotice.aspx?NoticeId=2219"> Education Gazette</a> as "the most popular tour and longest running tour of schools looking at eLearning. In the last 15 years over 1500 teachers have taken part."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can see why it has been so popular. Each day presented an avalanche of possibilities and reflection points, and a great deal of reassurance as to where New Zealand schools are at with e-learning. I took copious notes, and I won't reproduce everything here, but over the next few posts I'll reflect on some of the things that made a particular impression on me.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqLNfb-9SLftsiDVY6T8D7lya3zaU682m_utt1ZtQmyzopuv879WVk4SdRUFJoQ7_CyuudPoQquxSarGXttLujPbN954C4QEJfpdsoPm1fp2y1SZd95mhTCwqWyWOOpvr8cMANDfcLnoSa/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-03-27+at+3.50.13+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="37" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqLNfb-9SLftsiDVY6T8D7lya3zaU682m_utt1ZtQmyzopuv879WVk4SdRUFJoQ7_CyuudPoQquxSarGXttLujPbN954C4QEJfpdsoPm1fp2y1SZd95mhTCwqWyWOOpvr8cMANDfcLnoSa/s400/Screen+shot+2011-03-27+at+3.50.13+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from http://theclasswithoutwalls.wikispaces.com/</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the best integrations of wikis, blogs and social networking in a class was <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/dbeehre">Dave Beehre's</a> set up. Clearly the result of hours and hours of thought and tweaking, Dave has blended his class's physical space with a number of virtual learning spaces, centered on the class wiki, "<a href="http://theclasswithoutwalls.wikispaces.com/">the class without walls</a>". If anyone is looking for an exemplar of educational wiki use, make this your first stop. In fact, it's not a wiki, but a collection of interlinked wikis, that provide the space for information, timetables, links, protected planning and assessment spaces and tutorials as well as links to other learning spaces like <a href="http://www.twiducate.com/">Twiducate</a> and <a href="http://kidblog.org/home.php">Kidblog</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What impressed me in particular, was that this was not just e-bling for the sake of it, but the result of some serious thinking about the role of technology in pedagogy. If you haven't yet checked out Dave's blog, <a href="http://digitoolsforschools.blogspot.com/">Web Tools for Schools</a>, go and put it in your Reader now - well worth it!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-8108197667578285302010-03-29T20:31:00.006+13:002010-03-29T20:49:03.356+13:00Where would you put this on a keyboard?Just when you thought the punctuation canon was closed, it appears we have a new symbol!<div><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglI_nWequlTNGyvuG-Tc-7-cZO3PxO6n_xAQJ_G16zV1-tclzpwHU-r9J1e5XmLkfisGdQNF8wwOiePGVBZvBT2lL7NhhjNZGGR7wIK_LXrYcNU86TgDyL5p4Dqb3TpZ9MUrXvUxszTt3r/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-03-29+at+8.30.42+PM.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 81px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglI_nWequlTNGyvuG-Tc-7-cZO3PxO6n_xAQJ_G16zV1-tclzpwHU-r9J1e5XmLkfisGdQNF8wwOiePGVBZvBT2lL7NhhjNZGGR7wIK_LXrYcNU86TgDyL5p4Dqb3TpZ9MUrXvUxszTt3r/s400/Screen+shot+2010-03-29+at+8.30.42+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453955898286323618" /></a><br /><div>Called the '<a href="http://02d9656.netsoljsp.com/SarcMark/modules/user/commonfiles/loadhome.do">SarcMark</a>', it has been designed by an American firm to indicate <i>sarcasm</i>. Check out the ad below:</div><div><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WlwCCWGYOGg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WlwCCWGYOGg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>As this <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6995354/Sarcasm-punctuation-mark-aims-to-put-an-end-to-email-confusion.html">article in the Telegraph</a> points out, without the benefit of tone of voice, expression sarcasm in print can be fraught with risk. But alas, we now have something which will make explicit that which may have been intended to be subtle!</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm just itching with ideas about how I can teach this new one to my students! Free download <a href="http://02bd05c.netsolhost.com/SarcMark/GiveAway/giveawayStart.asp">here</a>.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Hat tip: Kathryn EDEM629 for this!)</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-21844613736570382122010-03-28T20:16:00.008+13:002010-03-28T20:47:37.526+13:00Loving Mindmeister<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">When it comes to Web 2.0 tools, it seems so many come my way through Google Reader and other sources that it's almost inevitable that most of these remain unexplored. For me to really go and have a sniff I might need to hear about 4 or 5 times from different sources to be convinced that it is worth exploring.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Various concept-mapping tools are very similar. Where do you start? With </span></span><a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/craigm/mindmapping"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">so many options out there</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, all of which look worthy of investigation, which to choose? Until now I have used </span></span><a href="http://bubbl.us/edit.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Bubbl.us</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> with my classes, largely because it is so easy to use. It is a simple concept mapping tool, it allows collaboration, is fun, but on the whole has fairly limited functionality.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">But now I have been introduced to </span></span><a href="http://www.mindmeister.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Mindmeister</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> and I think there is no going back! Visually it is impressive, functionally it is easy to use, and it has a lot of extras that leave me wishing I had started using it a long time ago. One of my favourite features is the ability to playback the creation of the mindmap at a speed of your choosing, and as it does so it tells you who added what, and when:</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEsNchd4Rmib_bSY3Tr4C-YSHB-dEa5VgVsX_VJK674pKBQYHx-IL5N5EX1UbT2pReVKiWkjOlFlStGylEXMEslIlgwxZkZFv8f5sH9qmBnOLxOmFErGpbmeMrNNddmA5FUyskZvdqutg/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-03-28+at+8.29.27+PM.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 140px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEsNchd4Rmib_bSY3Tr4C-YSHB-dEa5VgVsX_VJK674pKBQYHx-IL5N5EX1UbT2pReVKiWkjOlFlStGylEXMEslIlgwxZkZFv8f5sH9qmBnOLxOmFErGpbmeMrNNddmA5FUyskZvdqutg/s400/Screen+shot+2010-03-28+at+8.29.27+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453584416195386258" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">You are also able to add notes to your ideas, plenty of space for this. In addition, there is the Wundernote button which will automatically add a note about that topic (for example, a definition of a word).</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The downside? Well, it comes down to money... I have been using the Basic plan, which I am sad to learn only offers three mindmaps, and does not offer the ability to upload images or attachments as is possible on the other plans. Isn't it interesting that these days we (unfairly) expect everything to be free? Outrageous really.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The good-ish news is that Mindmeister have an </span></span><a href="http://www.mindmeister.com/home/academic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Academic plan</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, which although not free, can get your class brainstorming for a year for $US18. I haven't signed up for this yet, and am still weighing up whether I should. Afterall, my students have got Inspiration software on their computers. This is very good, but I'll always prefer a Web 2.0 tool as it allows more continuity between home and school. And for my age level (8-9 year olds) maybe Bubbl.us is sufficient. Hmmm. And I have to pay in $NZ, which makes it a bit more pricey!</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Anyway, it is definitely worth having a look at their 4 minute intro video below:</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><object width="400" height="250"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7326217&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7326217&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="250"></embed></object></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><a href="http://vimeo.com/7326217"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">A Tour of MindMeister</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> from </span></span><a href="http://vimeo.com/mindmeister"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">MindMeister</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> on </span></span><a href="http://vimeo.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Vimeo</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">.</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">If you have found any other concept mapping tool in the classroom, please tell leave a comment and tell us what you thought of it.</span></span></div></span></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-52977837632889812382010-03-27T14:04:00.007+13:002010-03-28T09:38:55.272+13:00Back to the Future?This is great. When thinking about the challenges of introducing technology into developing countries (such as access to internet/electricity), we tend to think the answer will lie in the technology of the future rather than the past.<div><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJPdLn1sap2XpgYM5WXHF_HfzEYLlhaQWLrhpHR68FHmfMNrmB6x_E0BYCGiOzwS06doBZplDvmwZlTSyJXxP6J8mzN_K0hbvs7iG63Ea9JTj0MVOws-CQBNKcMW0vu-o0gcKaY_wZx0d/s1600/1354467019_b62124f252.jpg"><img style="float:center; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJPdLn1sap2XpgYM5WXHF_HfzEYLlhaQWLrhpHR68FHmfMNrmB6x_E0BYCGiOzwS06doBZplDvmwZlTSyJXxP6J8mzN_K0hbvs7iG63Ea9JTj0MVOws-CQBNKcMW0vu-o0gcKaY_wZx0d/s400/1354467019_b62124f252.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453122246649421890" /></a><br /><div><div>A group of undergraduates, calling themselves <a href="http://www.engineering.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/news/template/news_item.jsp?cid=240513">Team One Beep</a> at the University of Auckland have developed a new kind of software which can get data to laptops <i>without</i> using the internet. Instead, they are using the am/fm radio network that already exists widely in many parts of Africa and South America, to transfer data on to <a href="http://webb-edfeet.blogspot.com/2009/07/digital-divide-web-20-just-for-rich.html">OLPC</a> laptops.</div><div><br /></div><div>It does this by converting text and images into <i>sound</i>, broadcasting over am or fm, and the signal is then picked up by any old am/fm radio, and by means of a headphone cord into the laptop microphone, the data is reconverted back into text/image.</div><div><br /></div><div>Many of the places where OLPC laptops are deployed have no internet access, often no electricity or even running water, which makes this seemingly simple solution all the more impressive. We are not yet talking about the data quantities that would allow the likes of Youtube and so forth, but this is a step in the right direction.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next question is whether it is possible to work the system backwards, creating text/images and sending them out using this technology, the very thing which distinguishes Web 1.0 from Web 2.0. Jeet admits they are not quite at that stage yet, but they are working on this capability. Here is a link to an <a href="http://static.radionz.net.nz/assets/audio_item/0005/2250293/twu-20100327-1340-Wireless_access-m048.asx">audio interview with Vinny Jeet</a> (13 minutes) from Radio New Zealand's 'This Way Up' programme with Simon Morton.</div><div><br /></div><div>So here's to using 'old' technology to solve the problems of the new!</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">(Image from </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwaifung/1354467019/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">'My Friends Call Me Jack'</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> on Flickr)</span></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-41636113766410793312009-09-30T15:20:00.009+13:002009-09-30T16:03:33.105+13:00Barriers to Change in ICT<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Do ICTs in and of themselves lead to more constructivist styles of teaching, and if so, how does this affect the diffusion of innovation in a traditional context, such as in a developing country? The change in pedagogy could be the biggest change of all, rather than getting to grips with the nuts and bolts of the hardware/software.</span><p></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">While researching for a Masters assignment about ICT diffusion in Africa (</span></span><a href="http://www.eafricacommission.org/projects/127/nepad-e-schools-initiative"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">the NEPAD E-schools Initiative</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"> in particular), I came across </span></span><a href="http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=620&layout=html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">this article by Bude Su</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">, which looks at exactly this issue, comparing traditional and constructivist approaches. <br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; "><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-4Ajk7kYU1WAb6n5vVbnvHX02yiK-cJE7k6jpRoG-oC4Z6pqyreO2piFc8T5lmHaSv5uPWdrmNGJfq9s2QpgWhwI9mYyK8zUP8hy7XA823RNWQbsywjpGZizNQqwj34g27EgUbzh1Hhe/s1600-h/2845017277_eba06901aa.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-4Ajk7kYU1WAb6n5vVbnvHX02yiK-cJE7k6jpRoG-oC4Z6pqyreO2piFc8T5lmHaSv5uPWdrmNGJfq9s2QpgWhwI9mYyK8zUP8hy7XA823RNWQbsywjpGZizNQqwj34g27EgUbzh1Hhe/s400/2845017277_eba06901aa.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387088168598270402" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">Barriers to adoption involving the technology itself (and the training and support they entail) are called first-order barriers, which are solved by the introduction of the technology and support systems. In other words, if there is no access to the internet, this first order barrier can be solved by introducing wireless capability, for example.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">Second-order barriers, on the other hand, are those which are </span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">"</span></span></span><span style=""><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">deeply rooted in teachers’ pedagogical and psychological beliefs about teaching and learning" </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span style=""></span></span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">and these barriers are more fundamental. One of the most tragic responses to the introduction of the amazing technology we find ourselves surrounded by is to apply their use based on the old assumptions about how learning happens. Su argues that only a systemic approach is likely to overcome these barriers and this takes time and commitment.</span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">"Making such fundamental changes is surely a challenge for many teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders. However, we know such a systemic change is doable as there are successful cases in the literature. Fullan (1993, p.26) remind us over a decade ago that “successful schools do not have fewer problems than other schools – they just cope with them better”. If educators use a systemic approach to deal with both first- and second-order barriers, success will ultimately come."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">Any implementation of e-learning initiatives, whether in developing or developed countries must focus as much, if not more, on the pedagogy (how to fish) than the tools (the fish). </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Su, B. (2009). Effective Technology Integration: Old Topic, New Thoughts. </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">International Journal of Education and Development using ICT</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> [Online], 5(2). Available:</span></span><a href="http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=620" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=620</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.</span></span></span><span style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Image credit: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Computer Lab, Vukani Primary School, by teachandlearn, </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/2845017277/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/2845017277/</span></span></a></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-74230494620909410902009-07-25T19:44:00.006+12:002009-07-26T13:40:34.404+12:00The Digital Divide: Web 2.0 just for rich kids?I've <a href="http://webb-edfeet.blogspot.com/2009/03/death-destruction-and-internet.html">blogged here before</a> about my doubts about just how relevant digital technology really is when compared with some of the immense problems in the world, such as hunger, child labour and extreme poverty. My thoughts have been heading in this direction once more recently, especially as I have been planning a Social Studies unit on child labour. <div><br /></div><div>I've found huge amounts of material and ideas that I could use with my class, with this World Vision site <a href="http://borntobefree.worldvision.org.nz/default.aspx">'Born to be Free'</a>, and this <a href="http://www.webquestdirect.com.au/webquest.asp?id=751">child labour webquest</a> being most helpful. Yet the content of these and other sites has been almost overwhelming. Seeing such hopelessness and despair forces me to consider what my response needs to be. And there <span style="font-style:italic;">needs</span> to be a response.<br /><br />To be honest, it really made me wonder if I was doing my masters degree in the right area. I had to ask myself, "Is this just a degree in cool gadgets for rich kids?"<br /><br />So I had a hunt around over the last week on the internet to see what was out there in terms of the role of ICTs in development contexts, where perhaps these equity issues are at their most extreme and I was surprised to find a whole field that I didn't know existed. It is known as ICT4D, or ICT for development, and is focused exactly on bridging the digital divide that exists between the haves and the have-nots.<br /><br />The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communication_technologies_for_development">wikipedia entry</a> gives a good overview of the field and provides some links for those who want to explore further. This <a href="http://ictlogy.net/wiki/index.php?title=ICT4D_Wiki_home">ICT4D wiki </a>has a huge number of links to resources, journals, blogs, people, and institutions, all devoted to ICT4D.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.laptop.org/en/">One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)</a> is a good example of an organisation, which, with corporate sponsorship from the likes of Google, Apple and others, is trying "To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning."<div><br /></div><div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3X3d0g_nSywgr_VyLqV_VS9xrFJ7YWwAyvHHBAgs2A57FqOCQ_yyhTLF5WHtmAa81N74YcPmV-zKgoHTIkV3SoVoBepPLSb_jP_dsM0irpQaTZPWOfzr12pDsgQu-Be2bfORUYCKVDv52/s1600-h/3694298855_9ea5902a01.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3X3d0g_nSywgr_VyLqV_VS9xrFJ7YWwAyvHHBAgs2A57FqOCQ_yyhTLF5WHtmAa81N74YcPmV-zKgoHTIkV3SoVoBepPLSb_jP_dsM0irpQaTZPWOfzr12pDsgQu-Be2bfORUYCKVDv52/s400/3694298855_9ea5902a01.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362307914703209234" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> (Image credit: </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/olpc/3694298855/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Kicukiro2 by OLPC</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">, under </span><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">)</span><br /><br />At first I was a little cynical about this. After all, these people need food, not web 2.0, right? Well, yes, obviously in the most dire cases. Yet access to education and information is fundamental to escaping poverty. I highly recommend this short video, <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/related/x7ft2t/video/x7f7jj_one-laptop-per-child-zimis-story-fu_school?hmz=74616272656c61746564">Zimi's Story</a>, about the effect having one of these laptops has had.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course the digital divide exists not only on an international scale, but locally as well. One only has to look at the amazing work done by <a href="http://manaiakalani.blogspot.com/">Dorothy Burt and the crew at Pt England School</a> to see the impact that effective use of digital technology can have on motivation and learning in a low socioeconomic context.<br /><div><br /></div><div>My current paper is called 'Change with Digital Technologies in Education', and I think there will be scope to really explore some of these issues in much greater depth. In fact, I'd like to gear the remainder of my course in this direction, if at all possible (and I think it will be).</div><div><br /></div><div>Digital technologies are not just for 'rich kids'. They are a tool with the potential to really change lives around and provide a way out of poverty.</div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-35081900533739872972009-07-04T14:11:00.007+12:002009-07-04T15:56:52.151+12:00Classblogmeister: Motivating with ClustrMapsI've blogged here <a href="http://webb-edfeet.blogspot.com/2009/03/am-i-statcounter-holic.html">before</a>, on a personal level, about how motivating it can be to have a real sense of audience. If you know that what you are writing is going to be read, there is much more chance that what you write will be written with that audience in mind. Hopefully this results in a more interesting, coherent and well-structured post.<div><br /></div><div>It is easy to feel, when blogging, that you're speaking to an empty room, and unless there is some way of knowing who is 'out there', it is easy to lose that drive. The statement below can be easy to believe, and can sap motivation:</div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYRizCl4yWlPW_B-xE2Rz_skdB6J9A4E09XsCtGJxN5SXpRWHSVCP88FY_Ay36iGb3eysxTdu14fPWUtg0GdTa6zAkWKsGPDTn8PDYy1J44ewtIk5B_KCxTcL3HnPO5DNQZ6i_p5Pm-W2A/s1600-h/blogging.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 335px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYRizCl4yWlPW_B-xE2Rz_skdB6J9A4E09XsCtGJxN5SXpRWHSVCP88FY_Ay36iGb3eysxTdu14fPWUtg0GdTa6zAkWKsGPDTn8PDYy1J44ewtIk5B_KCxTcL3HnPO5DNQZ6i_p5Pm-W2A/s400/blogging.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354430885810896274" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><a href="http://despair.com/blogging.html">(Image credit: http://despair.com/blogging.html)</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div>However, I have really seen evidence with my class of how proof of audience can increase motivation. Classblogmeister has a built-in feature which allows student to see how many times their post has been read.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjwTDY9LFwvJU6DBpq1AQ8Dc0sG_BRYFQ39JkrCgOm5_XtyN2HehqyfuLzr6knk4hiGHj-ek8pcxp251CWk2KW1j1Os5xxc7PAqqXfuYIyGb8kVynb3qAikHHjhVtg3CWRaHN0GnFYFWP_/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjwTDY9LFwvJU6DBpq1AQ8Dc0sG_BRYFQ39JkrCgOm5_XtyN2HehqyfuLzr6knk4hiGHj-ek8pcxp251CWk2KW1j1Os5xxc7PAqqXfuYIyGb8kVynb3qAikHHjhVtg3CWRaHN0GnFYFWP_/s400/Picture+2.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354424764997321122" /></a><div><br /></div><div>You can see that<a href="http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?user_id=258925&blogger_id=259253"> this post</a> has been read 111 times. I didn't point this feature out to my students, but it didn't take them long to find it (rather excitedly, I might add!).</div><div><br /></div><div>Early on I wanted to capitalise on this motivation by having them add <a href="http://www.clustrmaps.com/">ClustrMaps</a> to their blogs. To guide them through the process I made a page explaining <a href="http://webb-edfeet.wikispaces.com/Adding+a+ClustrMap+to+ClassBlogmeister">how to add a ClustrMap to a classblogmeister blog</a>, which went through the steps and included screenshots of what they needed to do.</div><br />I followed this with an example, using one of my learners' blogs. This helped most of them understand what was required. I was surprised by how easy they learnt how to do this, and this skill will be useful for them later when they wish to add other kinds of widgets as well. My learners were enthusiastic about this, and when I suggested that they tell any family or friends living overseas about their blog, they seemed very keen to do so, so they could start seeing little red dots appear on their map.<br /><br />These ClustrMaps also came to me for moderation, and were incredibly easy to approve using the New Approval Tool on the teacher account. I was able to approve as they came in and had them all done in about 15 minutes.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_522JEo-LlsXHXy7WO5AGtK9rFxRb4btA69CDWU3eiy4jXFltWEZlhxiVeLlx2vsEHfaDBffG0Z0MmdN95f8gHohxEPmXx8QDDSOhoCQQ6LPmK7P3u4UhPElZYOxMC0NXE1SUdahEvg7Y/s1600-h/Picture+3.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 370px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_522JEo-LlsXHXy7WO5AGtK9rFxRb4btA69CDWU3eiy4jXFltWEZlhxiVeLlx2vsEHfaDBffG0Z0MmdN95f8gHohxEPmXx8QDDSOhoCQQ6LPmK7P3u4UhPElZYOxMC0NXE1SUdahEvg7Y/s400/Picture+3.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354428147037392898" /></a>One morning I called over <a href="http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?user_id=258925&blogger_id=259265">one of my students </a>after noticing her Clustrmap was indicating some international attention (still not sure why this one in particular received so much attention!). She was blown away by the thought that she was being read on a number of continents. I asked her if she felt more motivated to blog again having seen that: "Definitely!" came the response, giving another reason why blogging is such an effective writing tool.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-25132258710286443682009-06-26T20:28:00.002+12:002009-06-26T20:31:42.334+12:00And now for a little perspective...In the midst of all the hoohaa about swine flu, it's worth keeping in mind some of the world's other problems...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTQqgcUgUC7D1mHoNz-fqcf6B9tUo8U0gFXUiyBuSpPrBzYvX8AMf-5ojgQqHs6BPu3fe4S1jD75rH-eA5K4K2vsG62OvFfL7wOIvGB2D7rrDCeubnoALO-vvHrkADMLwcNMOL7o6YVAxQ/s1600-h/song-chart-memes-people-killed.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTQqgcUgUC7D1mHoNz-fqcf6B9tUo8U0gFXUiyBuSpPrBzYvX8AMf-5ojgQqHs6BPu3fe4S1jD75rH-eA5K4K2vsG62OvFfL7wOIvGB2D7rrDCeubnoALO-vvHrkADMLwcNMOL7o6YVAxQ/s400/song-chart-memes-people-killed.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351550704559155442" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Image credit: http://graphjam.com/2009/05/06/song-chart-memes-people-killed/)</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-5333853869989345162009-06-24T22:31:00.003+12:002009-06-24T22:39:11.977+12:00Building Planes in the Air<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_rS3Ncgus3M&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_rS3Ncgus3M&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I love this. I believe this is such a great metaphor for what we are trying to achieve as teachers. As tempting as it may be to try to keep the plane on the ground until it's perfect, we need to get our kids flying, and do the rest while we're up there.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hat tip: </span><a href="http://www.waikato.ac.nz/php/research.php?mode=show&author=28271"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Peggy Lee</span></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-65356798349437240792009-06-19T19:53:00.003+12:002009-06-19T20:02:24.532+12:00Priceless<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3PavMFr0crVspNGgi_TKgCzN0Sn2d2h3_ijOZJmtqCNfBMcyCgJAmYFTap0ClpY-YZOVotLyzBSAb8P8gNRe1t8tRQL4ymf-3INSRmRUyo7lWtHoODjnXcWi1Se933TO7RXk4VaoLlJwb/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3PavMFr0crVspNGgi_TKgCzN0Sn2d2h3_ijOZJmtqCNfBMcyCgJAmYFTap0ClpY-YZOVotLyzBSAb8P8gNRe1t8tRQL4ymf-3INSRmRUyo7lWtHoODjnXcWi1Se933TO7RXk4VaoLlJwb/s400/Picture+2.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348945323206338242" /></a><br />Says it all really...<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(</span><a href="http://despair.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Image from http://despair.com/</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">)</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-65374018815294313872009-06-13T07:45:00.011+12:002009-06-13T08:37:51.444+12:00Getting started with ClassblogmeisterBefore we went ahead with the set up of the students' own blogs, we had a good discussion about what blogs were and how they were used, as well as addressing some issues of <a href="http://webb-edfeet.blogspot.com/2009/06/classblogmeister-parental-consent-and.html">internet safety</a>. <div><br /></div><div>To see how much they already knew I elicited from them the features of a blog that might distinguish it from other kinds of websites: </div><br /><br /> <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0" width="450" height="340" id="bblviewer"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://bubbl.us/sys/view.swf?sid=302974&pw=yaxKUE440vYXYMTVTdEIwZ0tSNGJqTQ"><br /><param name="quality" value="high"><br /><param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="false"><br /><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always"><br /><param name="FlashVars" value="_sid=302974&_title=features%20of%20a%20blog&_z=75&_pw=yaxKUE440vYXYMTVTdEIwZ0tSNGJqTQ"><br /><embed src="http://bubbl.us/sys/view.swf?sid=302974&pw=yaxKUE440vYXYMTVTdEIwZ0tSNGJqTQ" flashvars="_sid=302974&_title=features%20of%20a%20blog&_z=75&_pw=yaxKUE440vYXYMTVTdEIwZ0tSNGJqTQ" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="340" allowscriptaccess="always" seamlesstabbing="false" name="bblviewer"></embed><br /></object><br /><br />The ideas in green are those they came up with at first. Those in purple are what they added after watching the following short video from <a href="http://www.commoncraft.com/">CommonCraft</a>, 'Blogs in Plain English'.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NN2I1pWXjXI&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NN2I1pWXjXI&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />To introduce the class to the set-up process I demonstrated this using a data projector. Firstly I showed them the <a href="http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blog_id=906458&mode=comment&blogger_id=258925">main class blog </a>and where they could find posts, comments, links, and importantly, the link to their own blog (as yet unactivated). I set up a dummy student blog that I could use as an example, called <a href="http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?user_id=258925&blogger_id=260679">C3B4Me</a>, and used this to show them what to do.<br /><br />In order to make the steps really clear, I gave them a hard copy of a <a href="http://viewer.zoho.com/docs/yo0aj">document</a> that I adapted from the <a href="https://commlab.wikispaces.com/Blogging">Commlab wiki</a>, which takes students through the process step by step with screen shots along the way.<br /><br />Students also had to choose a name for their blog. I showed them my blogroll on this blog, to give them an idea of the kinds of names they could choose (eg play on words, focus on particular interest etc.). We also discussed the kind of things they could and could not write in the 'About Me' section. All of them seemed to have got the message in our Internet Safety discussion, as they talked about not giving any identifying information, but including some interests. Some even put fake locations (eg <a href="http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?user_id=258925&blogger_id=259252">Brunei</a>) here, although when we put on a <a href="http://www.clustrmaps.com/">ClustrMap</a> that may blow their cover!<br /><br />One concern I had here was being unsure whether the 'About Me' section also came to me for approval, along with blog posts and comments. Blogmeister have set up a <a href="http://classblogmeister.ning.com/">Ning</a> for educators who are blogging with Blogmeister, and this has a forum (along with some other very useful things like video tutorials). I posted this question on the forum and received a reply within ten minutes, which informed me that this information does indeed come to the teacher for approval and is very easy to approve using the New Approval Tool on the main blog.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAH70eGMp9-TQrOGDUUSgRsSx7s2CB7WzKbsAMIEyaQ6Fii8SkkT6hT6H7kdUtx_WhZWRgXnMTZq-SIaE8Mk8OMxyCR8QZJNZwXsKEo5U5vBHVLvZwBtMG4Oe6CuVqEqgVz_s305mJk4O5/s1600-h/Picture+1.png"><img style="float:center; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAH70eGMp9-TQrOGDUUSgRsSx7s2CB7WzKbsAMIEyaQ6Fii8SkkT6hT6H7kdUtx_WhZWRgXnMTZq-SIaE8Mk8OMxyCR8QZJNZwXsKEo5U5vBHVLvZwBtMG4Oe6CuVqEqgVz_s305mJk4O5/s400/Picture+1.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346536209422664178" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div>This is a key advantage of Classblogmeister for learner bloggers - EVERYTHING comes past the teacher first, yet it is possible to relax this later on when students demonstrate their competence. Perhaps student bloggers could work towards a solo 'blogging license'!</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038533517847666972.post-86478603316920167702009-06-07T20:13:00.004+12:002009-06-07T20:48:55.152+12:00Classblogmeister, Parental Consent and Internet SafetyWhen setting up our Classblogmeister project, one of my initial considerations was the importance of getting parents onboard with this project. Parents often have reservations about their children having an online presence, due to fears about <a href="http://webb-edfeet.blogspot.com/2009/04/digital-thugs.html">cyber-bullying </a>and predators.<br /><br />Here are some of the websites I found that had good resources and example letters for informing parents of the intention of the project and how internet safety concerns could be addressed:<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.budtheteacher.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bud%27s_Blogging_Parent_Letter">Bud's Blogging Parent Letter</a> - a useful starting point, easily adapted. He also has <a href="http://www.budtheteacher.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blogging_letter">this letter</a>, which I largely based my letter on.<br />2. <a href="http://beyond-school.org/2007/11/09/blogging-parent-letter-choose-your-privacy-levels/">Beyond School</a> has a great letter and rationale, giving parents options for privacy settings.<br />3. This one from <a href="http://ewarkentin.edublogs.org/2006/07/18/parent-note-introducing-blogging/">Ed Warkentin</a> specifically addresses Classblogmeister.<br />4. Andrew Churches published this excellent <a href="http://edorigami.edublogs.org/2009/05/27/digital-citizen-aua-version-2/">Acceptable Use Agreement </a>on his blog that he developed for his school, which is based on the concept of digital citizenship: protect and respect yourself and others, and do not steal (E.g. plagiarise). Unfortunately, I had already gained parental consent when this was published, so I was unable to use it this time.<br /><br />I found that there are many resources, blog posts, wikis, articles about internet safety in regard to blogging as well as more generally.<br /><br />When discussing these issues with the class I found the following two short videos very effective.<br /><br /> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rvp-kZeoWW0&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rvp-kZeoWW0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hOwpGF1SOQM&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hOwpGF1SOQM&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />We followed this viewing with a discussion about '<a href="http://www.digitalnative.org/MediaProjects/DigitalDossier/">digital footprints</a>', and how once you put something online you lose control over it. Many of the students had conceived of the Internet as a private space, rather than a public space in which the notions they hold of privacy may not apply. Prior to watching, several had expressed regret at the fact that we were to have rules about what we could and could not post online. Afterwards, they all understood the necessity of this.<br /><br />These videos made a strong impression on the class. Several of those who have social networking sites said they wanted to get home as quickly as possible to change their security settings, delete information and photographs, or in one case, delete their account altogether! My basic advice was this: do not put anything on the internet that you would not want your parents, teacher or future employer (etc.) to see.<br /><br />Once the point had been made, a lot of the students wanted to share their stories about people they knew who had had bad experiences as a result of inappropriate things being posted online. As a teacher I needed to acknowledge the real dangers that exist, without scaremongering. The key point is that learners need to have awareness in order to make safe decisions.<br /><br />As a result of this conversation we developed some rules for blogging. I had previously found a number of good websites with suggested blogging rules, and had harvested the relevant ones, so I was able to guide the conversation in this direction.<br /><br />Websites I found particularly useful were:<br />1. This page by <a href="http://elemblogpolicy.pbworks.com/FrontPage">Ann Davis</a> outlining their elementary safe-blogging policy.<br />2. <a href="http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/forStudents/AHSBloggingPolicy/tabid/1486/Default.aspx">Arapahoe High School Safe Blogging Policy</a><br /><br /><br />One observation I had when I introduced the way Classblogmeister worked was that I met with some resistance from several students to the idea of me moderating their blog posts/comments. Examples of such comments are:<br />"But I don't want to you to see my post."<br />"Why do we have to send it to you first?"<br />"I can do whatever I like on my page!"<br /><br />To each of these comments I explained the nature of the blogs we were using. That is, that the blogs are a classroom space and should be treated as such. They are not private Bebo or Facebook pages, which they might also use. In the same way as I collect their exercise books and give feedback, I will look at their blogs and show them how to improve them.<br /><br />It may be the case that these learners consider their online experience to be something completely within their control, out-of-school, and without relation to what is done at school, and therefore have difficulty conceiving of an online experience like blogging that is an integral part of a classroom programme. I have never seen a student as defensive over an exercise book as some were over their blog!<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="craigm";</script>
<a onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img width="125" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-bookmark-en.gif" height="16"/></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div></div>Craig McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07200740581710723863noreply@blogger.com0