Newsgroups

Newsgroups groups were completely foreign to me before embarking on this module. I understand the underlying principle behind them and what they are for but to be honest even after extensively navigating the various platforms (Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, etc.) I still don’t feel very confident with them. My favorite was Google Groups:

http://groups.google.com/?pli=1

I found them very daunting and haphazardly organized. Some were better than others, but it seemed to me that if you didn’t have something specific in mind you to search for, you would find endless options of loosely related topics and thousands of them. I just felt like the navigational interface was not as user friendly as some other online platforms.

The visual appeal and user interface of these newsgroup platforms could be more appealing, and if I feel this way my students will most definitely feel the same way. This lack of appeal can translate to less motivation and interest for the student’s when using platforms like this.

The process of signing up (creating an account), linked to email, has scared me off using them in education as there are many problems with newsgroups that arise from giving out your email. The fact that your email is given out and you might then receive endless amounts of spam seems inappropriate for school use.  It just seems like more of a hassle than it’s worth especially if you were dealing with younger grades.  There was just a lot of irrelevant material that you and your students would have to navigate through and it would also cause unwanted junk mail to deal with, which are both time consuming and irrelevant. Many of the groups out there also contain spam, inappropriate language, and prompts for pornography which can make them dangerous in a classroom setting.

The fact that USNET itself predates the internet tells me that there are probably better, newer, more user friendly online options of accomplishing a particular task. So all in all I would probably not use this technology in my classroom unless I had much more confidence in navigating through the junk and it being pivotal to learning.

Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling in the Classroom:

To be perfectly honest I had never heard the term digital storytelling before now. I was familiar with power points and various movie maker programs like iMovie but I didn’t realize the wealth of options that are available to us for free online.  This opens up a whole new door in education allowing our students to explore and express themselves creatively through digital media, which is something they have become accustomed to and enjoy. It allows a student who may not consider themselves artistic to choose from art already available to them. Or a student who is bored or un-interested in writing essays to showcase their knowledge in a new and exciting way. It is also a great way for students who would not normally participate in class to have a voice and showcase their own creativity. 

Digital storytelling has the advantage of going beyond print on page and adding all sorts of complimentary mediums to the story like movie clips, pictures, animation and more. This helps students who don’t feel confident in their writing abilities alone by giving them a chance to enrich their story in other ways. Here’s a little video clip to help explain digital storytelling and how it can be used in the classroom:

I started my journey through digital storytelling with Storybird, which is a great site for beginner digital storytellers as most of the work is already done for you, you simply fill in the blanks with a story! Very little editing can be done with Story Bird but this simplicity of use allows students to focus on their writing rather than getting to wrapped up in the digital aspect of things. The artwork for Storybird is amazing, there is such a large variety to choose from. Check out a tutorial for Storybird to find out more about what it is capable of: 

Here is a digital story that I created using Storybird.

http://storybird.com/books/digital-storytelling-in-the-classroom/?token=ucar4b

I also checked out StoryJumper, which was another great beginner digital story creator. This one allowed for a bit more freedom to edit and personalize your story. There are also options to pay for a printed version, which I thought was kind of neat.

Digital storytelling has many uses in education; it integrates technology, can inspire and engage students, can cross curriculum, allows students to publish their work globally encouraging students to take pride in their work and strive higher, it can also be used for community involvement, group work and collaboration. This is just a few of the benefits of digital storytelling, however there are some disadvantages.  If digital storytelling is not utilized properly, it can be more of hindrance on learning than an aid. There is potential to focus too much on the technology aspects rather than on the writing skills and content itself, and this should be clearly expressed to the students before embarking on any digital storytelling project. It is great that students can add all sorts of bells and whistles to their stories through technology, but if the story itself takes a back seat then we are hurting our students’ progress and learning.

Check out some of these websites for a deeper look into digital storytelling and its uses in the classroom:

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKKyGLZmJ8k&feature=related

www.xtranormal.com

http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2790

http://21stcenturyreader.wikispaces.com/file/view/digitalstorytellingebook.pdf

Picture obtained from:

City of Surrey. (2010). Surrey Childrens Festival. Digital Storytelling Sign up. Retrieved Sept 19 from: http://www.surrey.ca/childrenfestival/8714.aspx

Is Education 1.0 Ready for Web 2.0 Students?

http://innovateonline.info/pdf/vol3_issue4/Is_Education_1.0_Ready_for_Web_2.0_Students_.pdf

If your not to sure what Web 2.0 is here is a link to its description:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

Is Education 1.0 Ready for Web 2.0 Students?

by John Thompson

This article hits on some very good points. Education and the internet are now becoming intertwined and it is our responsibility as educators to recognize the demand for newer more digital and more globally connected means of delivery. Web 2.0 and education is about servicing the needs of today’s tech savvy generation and what they are familiar with, want, and what they need in order to learn.

It is about convenience for all and making education accessible to anyone worldwide.  It is inspiring to see more and more people become involved in their education through expression and interaction on the web. No longer do we just leave educating to a select few but we step up and add our bit for the world to share in. Learning through Web 2.0 forces us to be active learners rather than passive receptacles of information. Web 2.0 is a new way of learning through doing, exploration and contribution rather than just receiving the information. The internet is such a large part of our lives now and is a huge wealth of information that it would be silly not to utilize it as a learning tool for students. It also provides all sorts of learning mediums (music, text, video, games, blogs, etc) in which to appeal to all learning styles and preferences.

I feel strongly that because the population is becoming more accustom to using the internet and technology for everyday tasks and personal uses that they expect this to be prevalent in their education, if like any good business, schools wish to keep the edge then they will adopt and utilize what is popular. 

Thompson, J. 2007. Is Education 1.0 Ready for Web 2.0 Students?. Innovate 3 (4).http://innovateonline.info/pdf/vol3_issue4/Is_Education_1.0_Ready_for_Web_2.0_Students_.pdf(accessed September 12, 2011)

Image obtained from:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Web_2.0_Map.svg