Google Wave

After reading Kyle's blog post for this week, regarding wiki's and blogs, I was introduced to something I had not heard of before called google wave.
Google wave seems really neat...

It is used for real time collaboration and communication...it can be a conversation or a document via rich text, photos, videos, maps, etc.

A wave is shared, much like the other technologies we have used...anyone can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add members at any point in the process. There is a neat tool called playback that then lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when. This live transmittion allows for faster conversations!
Another cool thing about google wave is that there are no attachments...all you have to do is drag and drop the file you would like to share and then everyone will have access.

A wave, or a threaded conversation, can include one person, or it can include a group or even robots. Google wave has been compared to instant messaging...anything you have ever discussed in a chat is a wave. Robots can talk with users and provide information from outside sources.

I am still very new to this technology myself so I have included an article on the launch of google wave, which will offer a better understanding! It really seems pretty neat.

Blogs, Wiki's and Webpage sites

Blogs, wikis and webpage sites all serve their own purposes...they are unique in their own ways. Having recently become more familiar with all of the above technologies, I find that they are all closely related.

Blogging websites contain posts, written by one individual or a group. The posts can be very short and to the point, or much longer. There are blogs that are dedicated to one thing in particular, such as cooking and there are others that offer an array of varying information. Alot of times included in the posts you might find links that offer further information on the topic being discussed, pictures that offer a visual to compliment the writing and videos. All of these characteristics really strengthen the blog post. A post can be an opinion on a certain topic, it can be a compilation of helpful resources on a particular area of study, it can be a list full of recipes, current news, sports related content, inspirational pieces, they can also explain new or existing procedures and or guidlines, (which might be useful in a work setting). There is a blog for just about anyone to relate to and find interesting and helpful. Blogs are not best for just one thing. I have used them in classes in order to post in response to books, but I have also used them to navigate through what other people are saying. You can really find out alot of information when you stroll through different blogs and you can reply to the posts, but you cannot change what has already been writen...that is left up to the user(s). Blog readers can subscribe to RSS feeds so they can stay updated on new posts or comments.

Wikis are also a very collaborate tool, but they differ from blogs in the sense that they allow the owner to invite others to edit and view the workspace. Once you are invited to collaborate as an editor you can change as much information as you would like. Similar to blogs, you can provide your comments. Many of us are familiar with wikipedia. This is a search engine that many people turn to when looking for information regarding a specific topic. Wikipedia is an example of a wiki (hence the name!). Anyone can edit the page, which makes it less credible (I think) because you don't always know for sure that you are reading accurate information. Similar to blogs, wikis allow images, links, videos, etc. People can quickly add to existing pages and easily create links to new pages once they become editors to a wiki page. I find that a wiki is best if you are really encouraging collaboration. I would use a wiki space before a blog when it comes to working with others only because everyone can participate in the project being done via a wiki.

Webpage sites are more personal, but can still be shared with others. For example, you can create a website or a portfolio using google sites, and share the domain (www.) If you do not want others to be able to search on google and find your creation I would recommend using google sites over Weebly because it is password protected unlike the later. Webpage sites are really best for presenting information to others, specifically a possible employer. All of your information, including a resume and any other vital information, can be neatly displayed and accessed through links, pages, etc. in order to present yourself to someone else. I would use this tool over a blog and wiki because I find it to be more professional, but that's my opinion. I will use a portfolio when applying for a job and it will have a compilation of the different lesson plans I have created, a resume, etc.

Blogs, wikis and webpage sites are all useful. They all offer collaboration, some more than others and definitely provide an array of information. Depending on what it is you are interested in and what you find best suitable for what you are doing, each one could be utilized.

WIKI IN THE CLASSROOM

As long as you think creatively you could modify, or create, any lesson around collaboration with a wiki! There are so many ideas that could incorporate this neat workspace into the classroom and allow everyone to participate and add ideas and insights!
One thought that I had was to use a wiki as a review space for a textbook. Say your class read a chapter in a science book, for example. The teacher could group his/her students and assign each group to a particular area within the chapter that they would be responsible for teaching. Not only will this help other students, but it will help the group writing it to master the content by teaching it via wiki spaces! Going off of this idea, students could create study guides as well! Or vocabulary lists...
Another thought that I had for incorporating a wiki into the classroom would be simply using it as a question and answer board. If you group your students these groups could be their "go to" people in case they miss something, have a question, need information on a project, assignment, etc. Each group could be required to tend to their workspace daily to be sure that they are staying on top of their classmate's questions and concerns, while helping themselves when needed too.
Students could also create a story together using a wiki. The teacher could start a story and the students could build upon, revise and edit it!
Math problems would be neat to post on a wiki as well. Often times math problems involve a lot of steps, which involve critical thinking skills and hard work...students could work together to come to a solution.
However you choose to use the wiki, they will be sure to get everyone involved!

Personal Learning Networks

I have thoroughly enjoyed building, and plan to continue building and utilizing, my PLN. I have become familiar with a number of social media tools which will only help foster my own learning as well as that of others. I have found that the compilation of blogger, rss feeds, social bookmarking, etc. are all great tools to stay connected to others and gain different insights based on what you may need and or want.
One of my favorite spots is blogger! No matter what my objective is for getting on a computer, I always check my blogs before logging off. By reading my classmates posts I have been introduced to some really educational and very informative blog sites that I will continue to navigate. I have also found myself searching for blogs based on my own hobbies, and I have gained a lot of neat information by doing so. I think blogger is great for classroom collaboration and I will encourage my students to incorporate it into their own lives, both personal and educational.

RSS feed has showed me a much easier way to keep up with everything new on the web! Before being introduced to RSS I would navigate several websites and often times have numerous ones open at once, but now everything that I need and want is coming to me using a single website. I can go to google reader and immediately have my favorite sites listed with new posts that I can scroll through...this helps me keep up! I always look for the RSS symbol on all of my most visited sites so that I can set up a connection. I find this option to be much more organized and efficient than the later!

Another tool that helps me to stay organized is social bookmarking. I used delicious to mark websites that I enjoy and I can sort them in delicious! By using tags and organizing sites by keywords I am better able to access them at a later time. One of the benefits is that I do not have to be on my own computer to access, like I would if I had a site under the favorites tab on my screen. I can share my sites with everyone and I have access to other's sites. As long as you know what you are looking for it is easy to find it and there are helpful tools to narrow your search in case too many options are available. One other feature that I enjoy is the popular bookmarks tab...if I am ever looking for something new I always go here and find something that catches my eye. Social bookmarking is yet another way to share ideas and gain knowledge.

Lastly, I will touch on websites! After learning about the many different applications available for creating websites, I have been able to use a couple of them in other courses! I completed a project and presented it in a website...this was an option available to me that I would have avoided before learning about making websites during this course. Everthing is so organized and easily accessible from ANYWHERE! I can refer back to this project without worrying about misplacing it, ruining it or storing it! I was required to have it password protected so I used google sites to accomplish this. Initially I wanted to use weebly, but needed to pay in order to create a password protected website, which I found to be a downfall to that particular creator! Either way, I am so glad I actually created a website to present the required information...it was so easy to navigate and find information when asked to do so...so many benefits to taking this route and I would have NEVER done it before this course...i would have stuck with the traditional binder...yuck!

I am so excited that I can finally say I am up to date with A LOT of the technology that's available...I just hope I can stay on top of it all without this course's guidance! I don't think I could ever abandon my personal learning network! So useful... :)

Students Protest Against Increases in Tuition

Students in the state of California are protesting against the 32% increase in undergraduate tuition

The students argue that this increase will negatively affect those who benefit from state funded education, but officials argue that this increase is necessary due to the budget crisis, which has forced reductions across California's government.

Looking back on the years...our tuition here at MSU has raised significantly too! It's unbelieveable how expensive a single credit hour costs...I wonder if the cost of tuition will ever decrease? Or will it just continue to rise...? Fewer students are going to be able to go to their school of choice due to these increases...and this isn't including living, books, parking, etc.

what do you think?

Yahoo! Kids

This week I decided to explore Yahoo Kids and found that it offers so much that could be so incredibly useful in many different subject areas. There are 3 main tabs (Kids Home, Study and World Factbook) all of which contain other subtags.

World Factbook is really neat and definitely easily capable of being integrated into the classroom. The world factbook contains information on all of the countries incuding flags and maps. When you enter this page all of the countries are shown alphabetically...there is a linked alphabet at the top of the page so if you want to find out more about Haiti, all you have to do is click the H and then find it! There are all sorts of useful tools here...some more include a conversion calculator and currency used around the world.
Under this tab students have access to a reference tab, which contains a dictionary & encyclopedia! This could be extremely useful in writing. Many times students want to use a certain word, but they don't know the meaning so are unable to use it in the appropriate context.

Another really neat tab under World Factbook is ASK EARL! this is a space where students can enter any question they may have and get an answer! They can also view other questions that have been asked and the answers that Earl provided. Students are full of questions and a lot of times are embarrassed to ask it in front of the class in fear of being made fun of, even though others may have the same question, so this tool is useful for answering the many questions that kids may have!

There is also an animal page that includes clips from Planet Earth, for example. When you enter the animal page there are tabs for amphibians, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles...when you click on them there is a short paragraph explaining these animals and a list of all the different animals of that kind including so much information! There is also a similar page for science, including supernovas, NASA, solar system and space station tabs...you can watch videos here too!

Other fun things include, games, music (with music videos & music artists listed alphabetically) movie trailors and clips, jokes, sports info, ecards for different occasions, horoscopes ...some of this oculd be used during free time or when students finish a test or something else early. Something else I thought was pretty neat was the ability for kids to invent the toy of their dreams and enter in a contest for a chance to have their dream toy become a reality...

This site has much, much more and it is so interactive!! I think it is great and kids would definitely think so too!

Shoes for Africa

I found this story to be very moving. It's great to see people taking action to make a difference...just one image(shoes worn by african children made from pop bottles) started this movement and will continue to keep people aware of the situations elsewhere around the globe and hopefully will inspire them to act as well.