Still room for improvement?

Looks like our focus on literacy still needs some work....



This photo was taken at the OTF Technology Conference this weekend and shared on twitpics
you just gotta love the irony!

Jane Clarey - Comments on Millenials

Reading Jane Clarey's blog about the use of Web 2.0 Technologies by Millenials, ie students born in the 80's & 90's.

The big idea behind her thinking is that we have to lose the idea of digital native/digital immigrant. Prensky started the conversation but now it's time to move on. Really what we have to realize is that these students although conversant in the use of technologies such as IM, youtube and facebook they do not necessarily look to using these tools for learning or training in the workplace.

Clarey states: "the “younger” generation does not have a high level of use of collaborative knowledge creation tools (“2.0”) and don’t adopt radically different patterns of knowledge creation and sharing." As a librarian and learner....this speaks to me.

Educators really need to focus on appropriate instruction in the use of web 2.0 tools and focused critical thinking strategies to engage these learners. Helping our students to locate communities of learners focused on their interests and linking this like mindedness to specific learning skills, just might be the key to greater student engagement and student success.

Will Rich Twitter, Diigo, Delicious.....

A full day sitting in a room full of folk with similar views on IT, learning and social networking tools. Lots of fun, lots of information and lots of learning.

I now have a Twitter ID: kitchenerd.

I have established a Pageflakes presence and I am working on my blogging skills. Interesting ideas about disruptive practices to effect change. Neat article about how a principal is texting students instead of banning the phone.

Hows this for Media Literacy??

The Librarian Song Rocks!

The Internet as Humanity?

I'm watching a lecture on TVO's Big Ideas, that is so interesting! The lecturer, David Weinburger is very excitedly discussing the nature of knowledge, technology and the internet. He is really making some great connections to how we accept the www because it is openly human. How knowledge must be linked to mutual understanding and the www is the tool that is enabling this. He draws connections to wikipedia, traditional journalism, blogging and society and invites us to think about how we as humans interact with web 2.0.

He argues that the metadata of the internet is what makes us understand, connect and link cultural and linguistic boundaries and is in fact what drives what we interpret as knowing.

This isn't technology, this is sociology!

Wikieducator

I am going to begin exloring wikieducator to see how best I can use this tool as a teacher. Listened to a podcast on Brian Lamb's Abject Learning blog about this tool and the impact of open access education. I would love to hear what others have to say about this enticing resource.

Superconference 2009

Well it was exhausting, invigorating and challenging. It is always wonderful to share the energy created by 4000 like minded individuals with a shared passion!

This year was interesting as we explored the impact of Disruptive economies, disruptive technologies and creativity. How will this affect us as learners and leaders but most importantly, how will this affect our students? Are we really preparing them for a future we cannot understand? What changes must we make to our teaching practice to ensure that we maximize the impact of read/write web 2.0 technologies in our work? How can we effect systemic change?

I have just spent the day re-reading and organizing notes and reflecting on where do I go from here? Any ideas, comments? I would love to hear some.

Playing with Voice Thread

I have played with voicethread before but today am exploring it from a curricular context. At the Learning Connections champions conference today we are exploring audio file creation through podcasting and the use of the web based tool Voice Threads. The educational package looks interesting and if Bessie can be convinced to not block it, has excellent potential. How cool would this be if we borrowed the ideas from Wordia and created our own video dictionaries in VoiceThread? A safe educational environment using Web 2.0 technology? Go figure!!!

Here is my latest kick at the can.

Dangerously Irrelevant

Scott McLeod has identified a TL in Bombay as being awesome....she blogs and here are some of her cool links.
For Photo manipulation

PhotoFunia

Picnik

LII Canadian Resources:

Canadian History

400th Anniversary of Champlain's Arrival

History of the Internet

Here is a neat video about the History of the Internet...thanks to the Common Craft website


History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

Great Quote from Michael Wesch

Just for the record, I love this quote by Michael Wesch:

We use social media in the classroom not because our students use it, but because we are afraid that social media might be using them - that they are using social media blindly, without recognition of the new challenges and opportunities they might create.

Scooped from Will Richardson's Blog....but loving this quotation!

Wordia Online Visual Dictionary

Think of the fun your students can have creating definitions in this online enviroment! Wordia

Here is Quentin Blake's definition of Illustration

How great is this!!!

Bliphoto

Bliphoto looks like a fun tool for digital storytelling and from what I can read in the small print is open to fair use of content. Based in Edinborough, Scotland...it encourages us to post one interesting photo per day and will only accept photos on the day they were taken. Looks like fun.

The Reason for F2F?

I scooped this from my aggregator and quickly added Jeff Utecht to my De.lici.ous network. He asks some pretty powerful questions about why we need f2f learning and what changes we should maybe make to our teaching to engage students. Check it out...The Thinking Stick

Interesting Video about Fair Use

This video is just out from the states about fair use that pertains to American Copyright law. I would like to see how different this is in Canada. To download the full report visit the website for Centre for Social Media

Copyright video

Interesting little movie about copyright using copyrighted images????

Google Reader How To

Common Craft is a great way to learn about stuff. Here is a video they produced for Google explaining how Google works.

Copyright and Media

Will Richardson has an interesting comment about copyright and how Web 2.0 has changed how we must approach new media. Are our children criminals or are they only doing what they think is normal? Interesting ideas with references to Lawrence Lessig and Creative commons. Check it out. http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/our-kids-as-criminals/

Neat way to create Posters

Want to create READ posters using your own image???

Try this url and tell me how it works.

http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2008/08/07/star-in-your-own-read-mini-poster.html

Assessment is for Learning

Here is another treasure from Scotland....Assessment is for Learning. An online toolkit that is promoted in their school district. It looks pretty user friendly and chock a block with great ideas that promote learning through assessment and linking technology.