It's been awhile

A workshop I attended today has inspired me to continue this blog. The workshop was facilitated by Education Network Australia - edna. According to their website

"Education Network Australia (edna) supports and promotes the benefits of
technology for education and training in Australia. edna is a joint initiative
of the state and territory governments and the Australian Government, through
their education departments, to provide free news, resources, networks and
online tools for educators."

If you haven't investigated their website yet, I suggest you do, there are loads of resources, events and news relating to online education. You can find them at http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go

Thanks

Thanks everyone for making this subject so enjoyable. The Thursday night Elluminate/Skype sessions were fun and I have loved reading your blogs, your insights and knowledge sharing have been much appreciated.

I have become so addicted to social software, that I am worried that I won't be able to avoid the temptation of "2nd life" during the semester break - maybe I just need to get a 1st life to keep me away from my computer for a few weeks!



I have used google docs and spreadsheets to publish my report. You can find it at

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfv4zwrc_2ctfmkn

Totally Wired Teacher Awards

Anyone interested in entering the "Totally wired teacher" awards?

My Google alerts account has alerted me to this.

This July at the 2007 Ypulse Mashup in San Francisco, Yahoo! Teachers and the
George Lucas Educational Foundation will honor a teacher who has successfully
used social media (blogs, wikis, social networking, photo/video sharing or audio
groups) in the classroom.
The winner of the Totally Wired Teacher Award will
have successfully navigated their school ecosystem and overcome challenges from
parents and administrators in order to use technology, but because they
understand how students use social media outside of school, they have persevered
and worked collaboratively with students, ultimately sharing their insight and
knowledge with the larger teaching community.
If you, or a teacher you know
is Totally Wired, you can nominate them by sending and email along with why you
feel they are deserving to: Jim Daley at
Edutopia.

Go to http://mashup.ypulse.com/ for more details.

Instructional video

It has taken me some time to make my first "Instructional video". I spent quite some time trying to get "CamStudio" to work effectively on my computer, not sure if it is a problem with Vista but I couldn't find out how to get it to playback without static, so I used "Camtasia" instead. Camtasia is very similiar to CamStudio to operate the main difference is the price.


I also choose to upload my video How to TAFEVC onto Goggle video instead of YouTube because many staff at my workplace have "issues" with YouTube - although it is not yet outright banned (very difficult to do in a Tertiary Institute) it is highly discouraged. The finished product is still a bit rough in places but I am very proud of my first attempt.

Comments from the other side of the moon

I have just received a comment on my "Mash ups" posting from someone outside the course. (I received another one earlier on my "Cyber safety" posting and was thrilled but this time it has made me feel a bit creepy.) There is nothing particularly offensive or suggestive in the comment but because it is very general in nature, includes a photo and states that he will return, it actually makes me feel a tiny bit vulnerable and exposed. I now know first hand how easy it would be to make a "friend" online and how careful we need to be in educating our children/students about net safety.



I am aware that there is a function on Blogger to only accept comments from "real" friends and I am easily able to remove the comment but I will leave it there for you to look at.



Has anyone else received any unwanted comments on your Blogs?

Mashups

Due to a technical hitch I was unable to attend last week’s class on “mashups.”

To catch up on what I missed out on I went to wikipedia for a simple definition and found “A mashup is a website or application that combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience.” It sounded exciting with many potential educational applications.

However, my search hasn’t progressed very far, using del.icio.us I was able to find these two promising sites http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2006/11/25-things-to-do-with-google-maps.html (25 things to do with google maps)

and

http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=187002846 (using google maps mashup in K-12 education).

Most of the other links posted to del.icio.us also involved google maps with some others referring to flickr. There were also numerous links to software to create mash ups. Can anyone enlighten me on more educational applications for mash ups?

MySpace, My Corporation, My Friend?

I found this discussion on NPR (National Public Radio) to be particualary interesting. The comentator talks about how large companies are using social networking sites such as MySpace to market to young people. "But they're not just buying ads; the companies create their own profiles in the hope that they will prove popular." Young people (and possibly old) are befriending these advertising agency's creations online. You can become a friend to "Hashy", McDonalds hash brown, "Helga", the volvo girl or even the blue ipod - leave them a message and they will reply!

So we now really do need to be concerned about who are children are making friends with online.

Here is the link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10215577

Where the wild things are

As part of my Melbourne Uni course we are required to make up a learning task. My 7 year old daughter has attempted "Where the wild things are...." task.

Here are her responses to the questions after she listened to the podcast.


1. Max
2. Because he was mean to his mum.
3.It turned into a big world in front of him.
4.In his own private boat.
5.He felt excited and a bit nervous.
6.Frightened.
7. With a magic trick by looking at them and not blinking.
I don't know.
8.When I am playing sometimes.

(Thanks for your help Harriet!)

Safety on MySpace

Jon Faine from ABC Radio spoke with Rod Nockles, Director of Safety and Security of MySpace on Tuesday 8 May. They began talking about how MySpace is trying to combat identity fraud The conversation then moved to children's access to MySpace and what parents should know about MySpace. Some very interesting points were raised.

It appears that the interview is not available to podcast directly from ABC radio but I have copied it to my podomatic account. You can listen to it at http://joanned.podomatic.com/

Web 2.0 participation rates overstated

There was a very interesting article about participation rates in Web 2.0 in the Australian Newpaper IT section on 18 April, 2007. You can find the full article at http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21578336%5e15306%5e%5enbv%5e15306,00.html?from=public_rss

The article states various participatory figures and concludes that Web2.0 "is far less participatory than commonly assumed".

I can relate to this statement in the article - "The vast majority of visitors(to Web 2.0 sites) are the internet equivalent of the television generation's couch potatoes - voyeurs who like to watch rather than create. "

I was not surprised by the statements, are you?

Australia's most popluar weblogs

On 19 April, the Age Newspaper reported that by using the Technorati index, which monitors links between blogs and the Alexa index, which estimates visitor number, Blogpond.wordpress.com/top-100-australian-blogs-index/ has found Australia's most popular weblogs.

Unfortunately, I don't make the list but do you?

For your interest the most popular is problogger.net a site about professional blogging!

PowerPoint presentations a disaster

Today (4 April, 2007) there is an very interesting article titled “PowerPoint presentations a disaster” on FairfaxDigital at
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/04/03/1175366288359.html

At first I though I was an April fool’s joke but I searched around a bit and recommend you read it.

Professor Sweller from the Education faculty of the University of NSW is quoted as saying “PowerPoint should be ditched”. Professor Sweller developed “cognitive load theory” and believes that when delivering information “it is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented." I have not done any research on cognitive load theory or read any of Professor Swellers work but surely Power point as a tool is not the problem but the way it is being utilised in our schools could affect the way students learn. I would be very interested in your comments.

Another particularly interesting quote from the article is “They have also challenged popular teaching methods, suggesting that teachers should focus more on giving students the answers, instead of asking them to solve problems on their own.” Again, I would need to do further research before making a comment but I would be interested in your opinion.

Cyber cop exists!

Under the heading “Cyber cop starts internet beat as bullies run rampant”, the Age newspaper on April 2, 2007 reported that “Victoria’s first cyber cop reported for duty yesterday as part of a pilot program designed to tackle the soaring problem of cyber bullying”. The cyber cop, Senior Constable Susan McLean was unable to state how prevalent the problem was but she is quoted as saying “cyber bullying accounts for almost 90% of all school abuse”. She further stated that “cyber bullying was targeting younger and younger children with authorities now getting reports from eight to 18 year olds”

The article doesn’t state the process we need to follow to contact the cyber cop if we do become aware of cyber bullying in our classrooms.

I am very curious about why the Victorian Police are taking on the responsibly for policing cyber bullying and what will be the penalties inflicted upon the cyber bully when they are caught. Possibly, a virtual prison term in “Second life”?

Parents under fire for cyber-bullying

Another case for the “cyber-space cop” has been reported by Bridie Smith in the Age Newspaper. This time on 15 March 2007, on page 3 under the heading “Parents under fire for cyber-bullying”.

The Age article claims that an “anonymous blog was set up by parents upset at changes to the Essex Heights Primary School’s arts, sports and after-school programs” Searching for "Save Essex Heighs Primary School" I have come across this site (http://saveehps.com/Error.html?aspxerrorpath=/2007/02/15/before-and-after-school-care.aspx on Quickblog - with an error message, obviously the site was closed down soon after (or before) the article appeared in the newspaper. .

According to the article “A sustained campaign of cyber-bullying by parents at a Mount Waverly primary school has forced the principal to take extended leave because of the relentless harassment”. Jim Watterston, Education Department eastern region Manager is quoted as saying “It’s quite bizarre that it’s been done in such a public way”. I agree with the statements made in the article by the Victorian Principals Association president Fred Ackeman about the blogsite “a landmark of the worst kind. This is making judgements in the public domain ….you can’t go any more public than this…” He obviously believes that many people in the school community will be “blog” readers.

What I find particularly interesting is that no where in the article is anyone – journalist or quoted experts – prepared to offer a “solution” to the problem of cyber-bullying.

The headline states that “Parents are under fire”, the journalist states that “Some parents have described the outcome as a victory for the people” so my question is who is putting the “Parents under fire”? Another case for the “cyber-space cop”??

The bully you can't see

Many of you will have read in the Age Newspaper on Saturday, March 2007 (page 6 of the “Insight” section) an article written by Farrah Yomazin and Bridie Smith with the title “The bully you can't see…..”. In the article they make some very interesting statements about cyber-bullying. They classify cyber bullying as “bullying that has “gone techno” – from abusive text message and emails to degrading digital photographs, mobile phone videos and teasing or humiliation within the virtual walls of an internet chatroom” In the article they quote adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg (I haven’t tried to find out who he is or if he actually exists) as saying that cyber-bullying is “probably the most important, unaddressed public health issue facing young people today” (They don't state what is the most important addressed issue). However, the survey figures quoted are alarming “A 2004 survey of 13,000 girls aged 12 to 15 by the National Coalition Against Bullying and teen magazine Girlfriend found that 42 per cent of those surveyed reported being intimidated or denigrated online or by text messaging. Such is the extent of the problem that Victoria Police has just appointed the state’s first “cyber-space cop” to track down online perpetrators”. (I can’t find any reference to this cop on the Victorian Police Website but they do produce a booklet titled “Who’s chatting to your kids” http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=1250)

So if this “cyber-space cop” can’t fix the “problem” of cyber bullying quickly what can we mere mortals do before we push even more social software into the classroom?

If you work in a private school or a private RTO you could just ban the students from using social software like many schools are attempting to do, but as the Age article points out “When poor MLC decided it was going to ban MySpace, within three days there were 16 websites that you go to which would give you software to usurp the school’s (computer) filter” Although, I haven’t been able to find any specific reference to it on the Victorian Department of Education website http://www.education.vic.gov.au/students/default.htm (but they do have information on bullying in general) the Age article goes on to state that “Last month the Government announced that its 1600 state school would have access to video-sharing websites such as YouTube and MySpace blocked in an attempt to stamp out the growing problems of cyber-bullying. The move relies on a filtering system to pick up key words and sequences” Let’s hope they have more success than MLC.

If you are serious about tackling cyber bullying I suggest you start by looking at the Australian Government Net Alert website: http://www.netalert.net.au/03711-CyberSafe-Schools.asp on it you will find numerous tips and PD ideas. You can even sign up for their newsletter.

Netsafe, is the website of the internet safety group in New Zealand http://www.netsafe.org.nz/home/home_default.aspx and also has many publications that can be downloaded. The 2006 International conference held in Wellington produced some very interesting papers that can be freely downloaded.

This is a particularly interesting blog site http://www.blogsafety.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1100000006 which introduces itself as
“Welcome to the BlogSafety.com forum, where parents, teens, educators, and experts discuss and learn about safe blogging and social networking. You might call this social networking about the social networks!”

This site needs further research – maybe a topic for a future blog.

Web2.0 and the middle aged woman (more about me!)

I am from the generation when kids were sent home from school in the middle of the day so they could watch “The first man on the moon” on our scratchy old black and white TV’s. The school only had one TV, situated in the “TV room” and to where us kids were herded in every so often to sit silently in front of the Channel 2 test pattern before being subjected to a flickering “ABC for schools” program. My daughters who are 7, 5 and 5 just love hearing that story - before they even started school they could “drive” the remote control for the video and DVD player and were proficient with a computer mouse (thanks to the ABC website). Now my 7 year old who is in Grade 2 at our local primary school uses Google to do her homework (I don’t think she has her own blog yet or using any other form of social software but I will quiz her on it tomorrow!)

Apart from the introduction of colour television to Australia and watching the "Jetsons" on TV technology just passed by me for many years. We were still using printed logarithm tables up to year 11 but could use a very expensive and enormous calculator in year 12 for basic calculations.

At Deakin University in the late 1970’s Science students were required to do a subject called “Statistic and Computer Concepts” – at the time I could some value in the statistics section but computers – what a waste of time!! These were the days pre personal computers – surely no ordinary person would find the use for a computer, they were noisy, unpredictable machines that required their own room and you needed to understand binary numbers before you could use them! All I remember of this subject is being told how to program in BASIC by a lecturer writing down lots of unfamiliar notation on a blackboard (with chalk!). Completing the assessment was a nightmare with 100+ students trying to get some time on the 20 or so terminals, I recall lots of plagiarism with the few “computer nerds” happy to supply the answers for extra computer time!

Although I did science and maths methods at Melb Uni during my Dip Ed year in 1982, I can’t recall any reference at all to computers in the classroom.

I can remember living in a share house in the early 80’s and we had a video player but can’t remember us actually watching anything on it – were there video hire outlets then? When I began teaching (at a secondary school) in 1983 we were still handwriting handouts and using the very messy carbon printing or more often just writing a blackboard (with chalk!) full of notes for the students to copy down.

I had a 7 year break from teaching but by 1992 I was back and using a Commodore64 (sharing a house with a journalist) and had learnt to use Word perfect (well sort of) – WOW my teaching handouts looked great, I could make changes to the originals and then photocopy them at work. We got a PC in our staffroom in 1995 to share among 10 staff but there was no problem in getting access to it – I think I was the only one “brave” enough to turn it on, we were given no PD in how to use it – it was basically just sink or swim.

Things moved quickly from there, I had a work email and a home email address by 1996, was a net surfer and confident with using Word to produce and store documents. Returning to my TAFE after maternity leave in 2001 I was thrown into the deep end and began teaching online (using WEBCT).

Which is what brings me here – online teaching and learning has not been well accepted by the staff (that will be a topic for another blog) or students (another blog!). Over the past 6 years online teaching and learning (via WEBCT) has gone through a variety of guises with a variety of departments taking on the cause before there is an administration restructure and it moves on to being someone else’s responsibility. In the past I have been timetabled for an online class only to be told a week before that it is to be delivered face to face, with no real explanation given. I am unaware of any staff currently using any other forms of social software to deliver or assess units. Lots for me to learn and many to convert.

Flexible Learning Environments

My first blog and it was all too easy!