Week 5-Response to readings: My thoughts on Web 2.0 The Sleep of Reason Part I

It was very interesting to read Michael Gorman's perspective on the evils of the digital age and his rationale for claiming that the "anarchic world of the Internet" threatens the very foundation of human learning. I wonder what entertainment would come from having Mr. Gorman and Mr. Prensky in the same room together? I guess what made me think of Prensky when I was reading the Gorman post is that, in my view, both gentleman are similarly narrow in their perspectives. I feel that Gorman, like Prensky, makes some valid points in favour of his position. As Will Richardson says, "We've entered an age in which there are no longer many free passes when it comes to assessing the reliability of a source". I can understand on one level why Gorman pines for a time of "authoritative printed sources..." "created by scholars and published by reputable publishers". It did kind of make life simpler didn't it? With the advent of digital resources, the responsibility to authenticate now sits firmly on the shoulders of the "consumer". Will Richardson (pg. 36-37 Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms) shares the perspective of Stephen Downes on this topic: "there is no way to tell for sure if something you read on the Web in general is true" "we can no longer trust even traditional sources to always be accurate and tell the truth". Downes summarizes by saying that "determining what to believe-or to not believe-is a matter of trust. You need to determine for yourself who to trust about what" (Downes, 2005)." The point that Downes makes leads me back to Gorman's article:
"Human beings learn, essentially, in only two ways. They learn from experience—the oldest and earliest type of learning—and they learn from people who know more than they do. The second kind of learning comes from either personal contact with living people—teachers, gurus, etc.—or through interaction with the human record, that vast assemblage of texts, images, and symbolic representations that have come to us from the past and is being added to in the present. It is this latter way of learning that is under threat in the realm of digital resources."
Here is where I find Gorman's position misses one of the essential strengths of the Internet. Although the Internet may make our interactions with "human record" more difficult to evaluate, it gives us a huge advantage in our access to "teachers" and "gurus", which, even by Gorman's own evaluation, can further learning. No longer do we need to be face-to-face with the people who know more than we do. We can now access our mentors by following them on Twitter, subscribing to their blogs, and by many other technological means. Although not face-to-face, my brief experience with this type of access to "living people" is that it is surprisingly personal. Of course, Gorman would only have us trust those in the "world of scholarly and educational publishing". In his subsequent post, The Sleep of Reason Part II, Gorman rails at the "cult of the amateur". In this Gorman is fighting a losing battle I believe. For better or for worse, the Internet has empowered us to chose our own teachers and gurus. The onus is now on us to choose well.

Week 4-Demonstration of new knowledge: Patrice's blogroll up and running

I continue to be amazed at the new vocabulary that has come to life for me these last several weeks! Animotos, Voicethreads, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking, blogs..I could not have defined any of these terms at the beginning of September. Now, not only can I define them but I have even created a few of my own. The newest addition to the list is a "blogroll". You can now find mine on the sidebar of my blog. Check it out!

Week 4-Response to readings: Why Does Audience Matter?

Many thanks to Joanne for her "trailfire" on blogs and blogging. I found the article by Dean Shareski, "Why Audience Matters", particularly thought provoking. He begins by quoting a Hugh McLeod cartoon: "the good news is they're hyper-connected, the bad news is, that's all they are." This cartoon reflects to a tee how I often feel when observing my children on Facebook. Is it all about the number of friends? What is the actual quality of these relationships? If you wouldn't call someone up and chat with them on the phone, why, in heaven's name, would you want them as a Facebook buddy? I myself feel vaguely uncomfortable at the number of people I've responded favorably to on Facebook. Shouldn't we actually call it "acquaintancing", rather than "friending"?

Because of my internal struggle with "the shallowness and fluff" of many tech relationships, I was very interested in what Shareski had to say about the value of audience when it comes to classroom blogging.

I have never seen blogs in action in a classroom environment. I wish I had some solid experience to back up many of the online examples I've reviewed today. This said, I can certainly imagine that getting beyond the "Audience as Eyeballs" stage would be very important in order for classroom blogging to reach its full potential as a rich learning opportunity. I'm not sure, however, that I agree with his statement that it is "unlikely" that an "authentic exchange between interested learners" can happen uniquely in the classroom and that it requires "an audience from the outside". I think this position does not consider the importance of relationships. Would we not be more motivated to be thoughtful and creative in our learning when we have a relationship with those in our audience? This is not say that someone unknown can't provide interesting insights and perspectives but would this feedback be given more or less weight than were it to come from a fellow student with whom I have a physical/emotional connection? I'm not sure. I soon hope to have the opportunity to address these questions by "doing". I do, however, entierly agree with the statement made by Chris Lehmann at the onset of the Shareski post:"When having an audience is no longer novel, simply having one is no longer motivating. We must still help kids have something powerful to say."

Week 3-Demonstration of new knowledge: Regarding my Voicethread

In my previous post, you can see that I've been experimenting with Voicethread. It was a very interesting process. I can now begin to imagine what huge potential Voicethread has for the classroom! Wow! Off the top of my head, I can picture my Grade One students doing a "Book Sharing" of their favourite French picture books. It would be such and advantage to have them record their commentaries.

There are a number of key aspects of Voicethread I have not mastered. I haven't been able to edit my scribblings yet. Also, I'm not sure if I should have embedded this version as it does not look like a finished product in its presentation. I do not have a microphone set up but would love to try making comments verbally. Not bad for a first try I suppose. This evening I'm going to spend some quality time with the Advanced Tutorial. Onward and upward!

For those who wish to see and comment on this Voicethread. Please visit http://voicethread.com/share/863380/

Week 3-Demonstration of new knowledge: Fishing with John on the FV Sundog

Week 3-Demonstration of new knowledge:Fishing with John Voicethread

http://voicethread.com/share/863380/

Week 3-Demonstration of new knowledge: Animoto continued....too easy!

Thanks Joanne for your help with the embedding. I was, once again, looking for something complicated and it was just too easy!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Week 3-Demonstration of new knowledge: My first Animoto Video

Animoto is such a blast to work with! So is it a tool or a toy...hmmm? I had no problem uploading my photos and there was a nice variety of background music to choose from. Next time I'd like to try picking my own music from i-tunes. My Animoto video was also very easy to share on Facebook and Twitter. Where I'm running into challenges is embedding the video into my blog. Apparently this is possible but I've spent almost an hour and haven't been successful yet. I'll continue to work on this "technical difficulty" but, in the meantime, if you'd like to see my first Animoto video, feel free to check it out on my Facebook page.

Week 3-Demonstration of new knowledge: My iGoogle page

I've had some fun this evening setting up my igoogle page as you can see above.

The process to establish my personalized homepage with iGoogle really couldn't have been simpler. There were all kinds of crazy gadgets but I particularly enjoyed having my e-mail messages displayed and the option to read news headlines and weather. I was feeling quite on top of my techno-game, particularly when my 15 year old son didn't know what iGoogle was. Can I become a cutting edge leader in Web 2.0 after all?

Week 3-Response to readings: Prensky, backup or best method?

I just read the Prensky article, "Backup Education" for the second time today. As this was the first article I read this morning, I wanted to give myself an opportunity to reevaluate and "re-respond" in light of subsequent readings about Library 2.0 and its role in 21st century learning. For the second time today, I felt quite disturbed. I believe that Prensky does make some very interesting arguments for his "Backup Education" position. His sundial/watch analogy certainly helped me wrap my head around his basics versus best method idea. Some of Prensky's statements make a lot of sense. I have been party to discussions with certain "old school" teachers about calculators for example. I myself have made the argument that calculators are a desirable tool and will in fact not undermine a student's ability to do math. My rationale was one that Prensky argues as well. You can't properly use a calculator if you don't understand the underlying concept. Why then did I find Prensky's article so disturbing? Am I now one of those "old school" teachers who can't see that the best method has simply changed? Am I the only one who is shocked by the idea that we should teach reading and writing only until something better comes along? Perhaps what bothers me most is that Prensky makes certain assumptions that I find surprisingly elitist. Apparently, ALL our kids are going to have laptops, cell phones and automated cell phone wallets. He doesn't seem to take into account that technology and the ever constant need to upgrade such technology is extremely expensive. Does he consider that not all children will have equal access to these devices? At least writing doesn't require much more than a pencil. Can the same be said about his new "best method"? We already have such a division between the "haves" and the "have nots" in our schools. I am very concerned that Prensky's best methods would further widen this divide. Before we decide to make reading and writing obsolete, we'd better make very certain that not one child is left behind as a result.

Week 2- Demonstration of new knowledge: I can do a screen capture!

I finally determined how to do a screen capture and incorporate it into my blog. There is truly sweetness in little victories! This image shows a Touchgraph Google page that I was fiddling with.

Week 2- A reflection: Social networks and Haitian relief

This weeks terrible earthquake in Haiti has led me to reflect on the role of Web 2.0 tools in mobilizing community. A couple of examples come to mind. Driving home from work yesterday, I learned on Radio Canada about a large group of youth in Montreal who, communicating through Facebook and Twitter, agreed to present themselves at a Haitian community centre (La Perle Retrouvee) to offer condolences and support. Last night on T.V. I heard that a Californian actress (sorry, I've forgotten her name) posted on Twitter that she would send a free video to all who contributed more than $200.00 to Haitian relief. I'm guessing there are countless similar ways in which Web 2.0 has expedited and heightened our response to this horrible tragedy. Haiti being primarily a county of youth ( the median age being 18.4 years according to Wikipedia), it seems fitting that the young people of supporting countries, linked through social networks, would implicate themselves so directly in this massive relief effort.

Week 2-Demonstration of new knowledge: Playing around with Touchgraph

This evening I've been doing a little playing around with TouchGraph Google. The keywords I entered were "Grade One French Immersion Teacher Resources". I was amazed at what appeared on my screen in a matter of seconds! My plan was to follow Joanne's directive to use a screen capture to document my experimentation with this Web 2.0 tool. I must admit I was having some difficulties making this happen. That's when I realized I had the option to use a Delicious "tag". What an epiphany! If you would like to see the result of my little foray into the world of TouchGraph Google, visit My Delicious Bookmarks.

The more I use Delicious the more I love it! I've found it a very efficient way to keep record of the 477 articles I've read. Not only is access made effortless, but I can easily share my results with fellow bloggers. If you haven't yet had the chance, I would highly suggest you give Delicious a go!

Week 2-Demonstration of new knowledge: Visit my Delicious page!

To document my learning today on social bookmarking and more particularly Delicious, I would like to direct you to my Delicious site at http://delicious.com/patricemauriks

More to come!

Week 2-Response to readings: I think it might actually be Delicious

I have spent much of today trying to get a grasp of "social bookmarking".

I decided to sign up and "play" with a /Delicious bookmarking account. I was inspired to do so by our Lesson 2 article entitled "Weaving Web 2.0 into classroom practice". /Delicious is apparently owned by Yahoo so I needed to first sign up for a Yahoo account. O.K., I did that. I then spent many, many minutes reading tutorials and trying to determine what and how to bookmark.

I need to read much more to fully understand the benefits and implications of this particular Web 2.0 tool. This said, the Naslund article, " An Overview of Social Software Tools for Teacher-Librarians", has gotten me off to a great start.

I'm finding all the articles so helpful and informative that I thought it might be fun to bookmark all our readings for 477B. After much fiddling, I think I've got a start on it!

I wasn't sure at the outset, but I think that social bookmarking might, in fact, be quite /Delicious!

Week 1-Demonstration of new knowledge: I'm Official!

O.K. I'm officially a Blogger and a Twitterer (or is there a more official term?)! My learning curve has been so huge this week that I feel like I've hiked Mount Kilimanjaro! It has been a really fascinating process though. My biggest accomplishment I think was finally figuring out where and how to establish links from my blog to my personal sites. I was so excited the whole house had to know about it!

More adventures to come I'm sure!

Week 1-Reponse to readings: A reflection on my dinosaur ways

Just read the fabulous article by Asselin, M. & Doiron R. Toward a Transformative Pedagogy for School Libraries. I think I'm starting to "get it" a little.

In Asselin's article, I was introduced for the first time to such terms as the "Net Generation" and "digital native". My interaction with many of the 2.0 technologies has been quite minimal to date. Other than e-mail, internet surfing and the odd Facebook entry, I have been somewhat purposefully oblivious to what is going on in the techno-world. As someone who likes to sit in a comfy chair and read a nice linearly presented book, I find the tools very busy and overwhelming. What I'm starting to realize though is that it isn't about me. While personally I may seldom choose to interact with these technologies, as a teacher or teacher-librarian it is my responsibility to help my students develop "competancy in the new literacies of the Internet" (Asselin) so that they can fully participate in our rapidly changing society.

The views in Asselin's article were also reflected in one of the YouTube videos that Joanne posted on Twitter. Although I wasn't loving its country music presentation (sorry country music lovers!), the message was one to consider: "Prepare us (students) for the future and not YOUR past"

I will keep these thoughts in mind as I try to bring my dinosaur brain into the 21st century.