Sandra Bennett Electronic Portfolio
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ITEC 7430:  Creative Commons

9/26/2013

1 Comment

 
I have noticed, and frequently look for the CC logo on websites and resources within them.  In the last few years our school has provided training on Digital
Citizenship for the faculty and students, and the use of Creative Commons has
been encouraged.  It currently is used in our classrooms, and therefore, I have known about Creative Commons for a few years and I have understood what the “cc” means.  The webpage http://search.creativecommons.org/   is linked for the students from our school’s website for quick access and use in their projects.  Our students have access to other sources, however, such as Discovery Education, through which images and videos or video segments may be freely used with our current license. 

The use of Creative Commons has not impacted how my students learn and create projects to a great extent, however.  The source of many of their images has changed with its use.  It is good to know that there are many images in Flickr that carry
Creative Commons copyright licenses, and I will encourage my students to use
this source for images and provide credits as well.  

I use digital images in the creation of ActivBoard flip charts, PowerPoints, student handouts and more in my profession.  I look for images and video clips that are Creative Commons or from sources with permission.  Additionally, I add a page or slide providing credits to these presentations. I have created many of my own images as well, which is much easier with today’s phone cameras and iPads.  
                 
I share content on the web for student use and information.  For example I have taken screenshots of my ActivBoard flipcharts and posted them on Edmodo and my webpage for absent students, and have posted PowerPoints as well on Edmodo.  For this is the reason I do take precautions in my content to be sure there are no copyright violations and provide credits.  Our district’s science textbook publisher is Holt McDougal and we paid for the rights to use their materials, virtual labs and videos.  Students have access to their online materials using our school’s password.  Furthermore, we have
permission save handouts to Word files and edit them.

 Finally, there are some potential negatives in using Creative Commons. Using it does not ensure that the user is protected from lawsuits on copyright violation, but since the courts ruled on this and Fair Use, lawsuits are less common.  One must still provide credits, and while there are hundreds of images, I have found that many of the images are not as effective for my purposes as Google images and more difficult to find, so I
find I spend more time looking. 
 
I found this week’s reading on Flickr most interesting and helpful.  Having heard that it is used to store pictures, I have not had much interest in it because there are other sites fulfilling that need, such as Shutterfly and Facebook.  As the author points out, however, Flickr provides a means to publish photos to the web at no cost and it appears to be an easy procedure (Richardson, 2010). There are multiple applications that come to mind, but I especially like the idea of setting up groups with classes of students in which sharing and collaboration can occur.  Tagging those photos of particular interest for my students with key words will allow connections with others.  I now know that the more tags one has the greater the likelihood that others on the same topic or subject can be found.



Flickr Image Below
Created by:
steve
carnagevisors Member since
2006
Taken on March 7, 2012 

Picture
Reference:

Richardson, W. (2010). The social web: Learning together. Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and
other powerful web tools for classrooms (pp. 85-99). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.
1 Comment

ITEC 7430:  Social Bookmarking

9/19/2013

1 Comment

 
In reviewing the information and links provided on social bookmarking, I have decided that bookmarking the webpages I frequent will be personally and professionally beneficial, and I am excited about the potential of it. I have bookmarks on my laptops using the browser and they are difficult to navigate through because of the large numbers of them.  I am therefore unable to find what I  need easily or quickly at times.  Also, a major disadvantage is that I cannot access my links except by using the computer that I’m on.  Diigo will resolve these concerns for me, and I'm looking forward to using it.
 
After going through the information provided in this course, I joined Diigo right away, and believe that will be the best option for my purposes.  There are some features that I believe will be of great help to me and my students. Websites relevant to a topic we are studying can be saved and tagged for quick reference. I especially like the annotation features, such as highlighting and making notes.  These will help me recall why I saved each webpage. The virtual sticky notes will enable me and my students to summarize the important points, much like using note cards the way we’ve done in the past to summarize and organize research projects.  

The prospect of creating and joining groups has wonderful potential for collaborative learning in the classroom. I  envision supplementing the textbook with information from the web to enrich the curriculum or extend the learning, while making it more collaborative.  Students would be able to post notes for others to see. I see much potential in using Diigo to differentiate my instruction. 

Finally, I plan to join educational groups in Diigo as our professor suggested, in particular those that relate to technology and education.  I look forward to experiencing that aspect of it, and again, sharing with others.  

Here is a helpful link I found as I Googled uses for Diigo in the classroom: https://sites.google.com/site/team8project9440/using-diigo-in-the-classroom-2


1 Comment

ITEC 7430:  Wikis

9/10/2013

3 Comments

 
From my experience, I have seen that most all students and teachers have used Wikipedia at some point, and it was interesting to read the historical perspective on the connection between Wikis and Wikipedia.  Our school’s technology leadership and media center personnel have discouraged student use of Wikipedia; therefore we have not included this resource as a part of classroom research projects. Perhaps this accounts partly for Wikis rarely being used in our school.  Our teachers have rather embraced a combination of Edmodo and Weebly webpages, and used the blogging available in those platforms as opposed to Wikis.  

The reading and Wikis I observed did provide a strong case for the use of Wikis in the classroom, however, and I believe I will give it stronger consideration. Of greatest interest to me would be to use a Wiki as a tool to post student work or projects, such as video, audio or writings and
make them available for a larger audience (Richardson, 2010). This would provide a level of authenticity with greater meaning or purpose in their work knowing it will be shared and viewed.   Also of interest is using it as a type of portfolio of student work, to have a place to post work for future reference, as well as to organize and manage the work. Perhaps each student would set up a separate account for that purpose with links for the teacher and classmates. Reflections could then be added to the work or they might provide one another feedback.  
 
Additionally, I see Wikis as a tool that can be used  to collaborate with others outside the classrooms. This might entail working with subject matter experts in the community or elsewhere, or with other students from anywhere else in the world.  Work could be contribute from each, or co-constructed as they share a Wikispace.

Vicki Davis’ “Cool Cat Teaching Blog” was set up nicely with tabs for quick reference.  Especially
beneficial was the link on “Freebies” and her resources on internet safety were ones I may be able to use.  At first glance, “Code Blue” was not extraordinarily appealing as it seemed to be
simply a source for links.  As the tabs were used, however, I was able to identify some excellent uses, such as the “Remedy Medical” tab in which there had been contributions and introductions
from doctors.  This demonstrated collaboration with subject matter experts, which seems like an excellent use of a Wiki.  Additionally I looked at “Schools of the Past” in which the students had created a Wiki to document their findings from their interviews with grandparents and others on how schools had changed.  The appealing aspect of this Wiki was that it was appeared to be student generated.  What might be done differently would be to better organize responses in some fashion that would be easier to follow.

Finally, in searching for additional resources on uses of Wikis in the classroom I came across a few to share:

 This site provides helpful and important tips to consider when incorporating the use of Wikis:

 http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/07/teachers-guide-on-use-of-wikis-in.html


 The TeachersFirst site linked here provides Wiki ideas for the classroom by subject area. For example, in Science students could build on taxonomy of living things with information about each branch as they study Biology over a full year.

 http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful Web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin.
3 Comments

Evaluating Student Blogs

9/6/2013

1 Comment

 
Having researched how other educators evaluate blogs, I have determined what would work best in a middle school setting.  It would be an evaluation based on these criteria:  ideas and content, writing quality, community, and use of enhancements (multimedia). With respect to writing, it is important that the student have original ideas, that they relate their comments to the subject matter, and that their thoughts are expressed clearly.  Writing quality would include not only the degree of well written material, but that the writing demonstrates the student has read and learned from other material, synthesized it well, and constructed new meaning when appropriate.
 The blog should illustrate that the student participated in at least one other blogging community through comments on others and citings.  Finally, the blog should be enhanced with video, audio, images or other add-ons.

 In my instruction, I have been using my webpage and Edmodo, and students have been  posting comments and  projects to Edmodo.   I have, therefore, not been inclined  to use a separate blog site such as what we have seen in this course.  However, having seen the examples and done the research, I believe there may be opportunities in which a blog would be an effective addition, and would provide benefits beyond what I currently have via Edmodo. Most appealing is the opportunity to collaborate and share with others outside our class and school and enhance authenticity by enabling an audience for the student’s work. Additionally, having done this research on the evaluation of blogs,  I believe I am much more prepared to evaluate the blogs of my students, and look forward to not only having my students design blogs, but trying the newly designed  rubric to evaluate them.  The rubric is linked here.

From the ones I reviewed, this rubric showed the most promise.  It seemed simple and
straight forward and I liked the criteria, in particular the “community” idea.  http://timhorgan.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/blogging-rubric.pdf  I used it to create my own with some modification.

 
This rubric, from the University of Wisconsin, has greater specificity in criteria such in content and creativity, and more than I would need for my middle school students.  I did like the criteria on the use of Graphics and multimedia. 
https://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/blogrubric.html


 While I don’t think it would be my choice for my own classes, this rubric includes some good ideas.  In particular I liked the assessment dealing with integrating concepts and principles from class discussions.  I also liked the criteria that focused on critical thinking skills and evidence of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
http://www1.dcsdk12.org/secondary/trhs/staff/wilson/artdept/dcsdart/pdfs/bloggingrubric.pdf

1 Comment

ITEC 7430:  On Blogging

9/5/2013

0 Comments

 
It appears that blogging  has put a “spark” of light into the Read/Write aspect of the internet that was the vision of Berners-Lee from the beginning (Richardson, 2010).  While it was pointed out that not all blogs are updated regularly, 180 million bloggers shows a significant level of participation (p.19). What seems to make blogging appealing to many is its diversity of genre, varying often within the blog itself.  This uniqueness in style of each blog is driven by the unique experiences and area of interests of the many writers (bloggers) as they express their thoughts, information and opinions on topics of current interest.  So, what we have is actually multiplicity of genres and styles reflecting these unique interests, opinions, etc., as  the bloggers provide the reader insights, information and commentary on various topics.  While blogs vary greatly,  generally they seem to more casual in nature than other types of writing, and are often entertaining.

In reviewing a number of blogs, one stands out as being more opinionated: If Common Core Standards become our straight jacket, we'll hate what education becomes by CoolCatTeacher (Vicki Davis). Others stand out as more educational: Cathy Jo Nelson: So You've Decided to Blog!, and one written by the Center for Teaching Quality (Bill Ferriter): Three Classroom Blogging Tips for Teachers.

As pointed out in our text, the writing genre of a blog on the web has a connective aspect to it (p. 28). It connects to an audience that is encouraged to read critically, explore other linked sources, and to respond. The writing seems to not only be to communicate, but to have a dialogue with others we can learn from as well. Commenting contributes to the writing and its meaning by providing additional thoughts, information and perhaps alternative points of view, or links to additional resources.  

Reading a blog also seems different from other types of reading, in that it often has a reflective tone to it, and is often more personal in nature. For example, a blog often expresses one’s own personal opinions, or shares one’s personal experiences.  Readers seem to typically follow the blogs that line up with their own interests, so they receive additional insights on a topic of interest, or are entertained with stories related to topics they enjoy.

Finally, a degree of blogging literacy does seem to exist. Some general, best practices include a reference to current thought or an article, followed by an expository that may provide an opinion, reflection or personal experience. There may be pictures, audio or video along with it, and below that there would be a place for the reader to comment.  The most current blog is on the top of the page and dated.


 Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful Web tools for classrooms (3rd 
 ed.) ThousandOaks, Calif: Corwin.

0 Comments

    Author

    My name is Sandra Bennett and I am a gifted-endorsed, 7th and 8th grade  middle school science teacher.

    This blog was created for the Instructional Technology
    Program to share reflections,  assignments  and experiences throughout the program.

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