Implementing Personal Professional Development in Web 2.0 and Learning

This course has truly immersed and enlightened me on the many uses and benefits of Web 2.0 tools in the professional setting and classroom.  I have also been made more aware of how essential it is to have a specific focus and objective when using Web 2.0 tools with students and not to attempt to implement several tools simultaneously.  Often times, district or campus administrators will push to have several different technology tools implemented at the same time without properly training the teachers responsible for instructing students on using the tool.  I have been fortunate to work in a district that is technology driven and believes in developing and supporting teachers in technology skills.  My personal professional development and learning in Web 2.0 is 2-fold:

1.  Proficiency in at least 2 web 2.0 tools each year.  In order to integrate the use of technology, one must be familiar with the technology.  There must be adequate time to obtain the following:

• Ongoing professional development to learn how to use Web 2.0 personally and professionally in the classroom.
• Knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of the web 2.0 tool.
• Frequent practice and experimentation with the new Web 2.0 tool
• Create examples/models to use for sharing/training purposes

2.  Become a technology specialist for my campus/district.  My ultimate desire is to be able to implement a district wide initiative to place technology specialists/coordinator at each campus.  This would allow technology implementation and integration to be more fluid.  As a technology campus specialist/coordinator I would like to provide:

• Updates on practical and simple Web 2.0 tools to use in the classroom
• Technology professional development
• Classroom demonstrations to assist in initial implementation
• Ensure that Web 2.0 tools are directly tied to curriculum and student learning
• Possible technology "learning center/stations"- students would rotate through to practice skills identified as needing improvement, using web-based instructional programs such as: Study Island, Reflex Math, I-Station, etc.
• Enrichment/Creativity/Discovery learning- allow students to create various products using Web 2.0 tools to share with their class as an extension of their learning.

This implementation plan is one that will not occur immediately, however, in time would allow everyone, not only myself, to benefit from Web 2.0 tools.  As technology continues to evolve and permeate every aspect of our existence, we will need to be equipped to grow with those changes.

     

Adventures in Social Bookmarking- Diigo

This week's adventure was in social bookmarking.  Social Bookmarking is a way to save and organize web pages using tags.  Prior to this week's adventure, I had not heard of social bookmarking.  Diigo is a cloud-based system that allows you to collect, "bookmark", web pages.  All of the items collected go into the Diigo library that can be accessed anywhere.  The pages can be organized by tags for easy access later.  Using the Diigo browser add-on you can use annotations such as digital highlights and interactive sticky notes.  Web pages can be read later, uploaded or captured with annotations.  These pages can also be shared with others for collaborative research.  Another useful aspect of Diigo is "groups", which allows you to form groups that will help to generate shared knowledge over a specific topic or subject.

As an elementary teacher for 2nd grade students, I am wondering how I can incorporate the use of social bookmarking feasible for the classroom.  I recently received my confirmation for my educators account, so I'm still exploring the options I have for my classroom.  One of the helpful aspects of Diigo is that tabs can be created to separate links into various categories.  This will allow students to find information they saved by topic.  Taking notes can become easier with the annotation features of Diigo, which can be recorded directly on the web page then saved into the Diigo library.  Groups can be created for students who are working in together on a project to allow them to send messages to each other and collaborate on the project.

Of course, this tool, as with any Web 2.0 tool, will require training for the students and several opportunities for practice.  One simple activity may be to have students use the highlight feature to identify information in the form of a scavenger hunt or web quest. Once the information is located, they could highlight it, or use the sticky note to type the question that the information answers-similar to Jeopardy format. 

If anyone has any other suggestions for the use of Diigo in an elementary classroom, I'd love to hear them.

Adventures in Aggregating Pages

This week's adventure proved to be a journey of excitement, frustration, enlightenment, and discovery.  I had not explored aggregating pages prior to this week.  I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful having all of your social media, links, feeds, and more in one place.  My exploration began with Netvibes, which proved to be a little more difficult to navigate than I expected.  I was able to set up my page, however, I continue to experience errors stating that the page cannot load at this time.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed the versatile customization features it has.  My next exploration was of Protopages, which has become my number 1 pick for aggregating pages.  I can easily upload feeds, web pages, and more with basically one click (copy & paste) of the url.  I am finding myself almost addicted to adding content to my pages, and rearranging content.  The last tool I explored was iGoogle.  It too, was very easy to add content to, however I feel comfortable with Protopages. 

Once I watched several YouTube videos and read a few reviews on which tool to use, I was able to place content on my page with ease.  If you are new to the concept, it does take some getting use to.

All of the tools allow you to add a variety of different content such as: web pages, RSS feeds of all kinds, and videos.  Which is what makes using aggregated pages a must for those who have several social media or portals to juggle between.  It is also very useful in organizing information for a given topic in one place for easy access to resources.

I plan on continuing my exploration of the uses for aggregated pages, so that I can create a page that will be both a professional and educational resource.

YouTube Adventure

Wow! What an engaging and challenging week this has been to set up a YouTube channel and begin creating playlists.  YouTube is a very expansive tool.  I found several videos on each of the topics: Twitter, Wikispaces, and Web 2.0 tools.  I like that the videos can be organized into playlists and shared.  YouTube allows you to create your own video using a webcam.  Once videos are uploaded you can add various tags to allow for others to search keywords to find the video content.  I am still exploring how to use all of the functionality of YouTube.  I like that the search feature is very easy to use.  The desired content word is typed into the search box and several videos are displayed.  It takes a little time to review each video, but there are a number of resources available, right at your fingertips. 

What I'm finding out, especially after this week of Web 2.0 tool explorations, it that it can become very time-consuming to engage with all that is available.  I do enjoy the variety of tools and their functionality that inspires and motivates the students to want to learn and demonstrate their knowledge of content through these various tools.