Frances’ blog

Pressures got to me. Had a quick skim through. Will real books become a thing of the past when ebooks take over.

At school where possible we try to link our clas sets to audio books. Better to have aporfessional read the book in an engaging way that for me to kill it by reading it aloud in a monotone! This is certainly important for students who need this additional support.

PS. I am  glad to read in your in your email that the Web 2.0 resources will still be available. That way I can check back and delve deeper into some aspects of this PD that I know I did not do justice to .

A group of colleagues got together at the smartboard to explore Second Life. It prompted some interesting round table discussion. We agreed with many of thr commnets that had been posted at Web 2.0! Especially the idea of managing two lives and the reason why some poeople feel such a strong desire to indulge in a fantasy life. We had a look at the Guide to Virtual Worlds. Where will it end. To be honest I can see some educational application for these worlds but how do kids who already have a problem distinguishing reality from fantasy cope?

I had a quick explore in the ABC site. Podcasting is an amazing resource. Especially if you know waht is going on through an RSS feed. Did not have time to set this up. I also explored other podcasting sites. These were interesting but I know I only scraped the surface.

My students are definitely hooked on You Tube and it is amazing what they have found and shared. Including some tutorials for an animation programme we were using. Mind you it is also another one of those deceptively easy time wasting sites that I have to be very stong to avoid if I am in the mood for procrastinating!

PS I do not think I should show my students the You Tube video about library dominoes

Wikis are certainly something that I can use and build into my teaching. I had a look at a sample school wiki somewhere in America. [Why does everything have to be the great Ameraican invasion? Maybe they are streets ahead of us and I should simply accept that following their lead is a good idea.] The wiki was right up my alley since it was an Englsih classroom. I can ceratinly follow this model in the work I am creating in relation to a set text one of my grades is reading at the moment. It is really applicable since this book uses lots of diffrent text types including msn as the basis for it’s story. Students will at this stage create an interactive story map using googlemaps and we’ll use airset for other tasks. Wikis are grate for this.

Back again! Another account! Have started boasting to others about my Facebook, my Mysppace etc. It is amazing how easily impressed some people are. Back to school means back to insomnia. Stil it has it’s uses. The other morning in the wee small hours of the morning talkback was all about believ it or not social networking. It wa an amazing discussion with some university guru and lots and lots of people ringing in. All ages and all demograpics I suspect. Wow I have come along way in such a short time with this Web 2.0 stuff. It actually made sense. Before I would probabaly have beaten the imsomnoa and gone bakc to sleep.

Well back to del.icio.us. I browsed around as asked. Found my way into a peiece about travelling the world by cargo ship. Obviously still in holiday mood a bit. Then became more adventurous. This porvided another huge leap forward allowing me to find an easy way of solving a current planning probelm I had of expanding the use of technology in relation to a set text I am reading with mys students. Yes I found the answer. Now I will pursue this.

I am still behind with web 2.0 so I had better move on. Until next time. 

The holidays and report writing certainly became a huge blocker to getting on with Web 2.0. A new term and a new burst of enthusiam have changed this.

Today I continude with my exploration of igoogle. It was an interesting process. I persoanlaised my page. It was disappointing to find that while I could add weather and select my nearest big regional centre [only over 100km away]. It was disappointing that igoogle is so American that the weather is still given on degrees Fahrenheit. HuH!!!!! One grump only allowed. The rest of it was reasonably user friendly. I will be able waste even more time when I ma in my procrastintaion mood prettifying my home page. But I do have to admit that so far this has been useful PD which has a direct classroom relevance in discussions with my year eight students about the place of ICT in their lives. Only one brave sould voiced my opinion  regrading social networking via Facebook/Myspace by saying “So what is wrong with having a face to face conversation with someone?”. Well bells gone and a parent teachre interview awaits!!!

This week was soooo easy. Finally something that I did not need to become a member of… or challenge my sense of privacy.

Google maps is a wonderful tool. I have students using this at the moment for a Virtual Tour of Australasia which they are completing. I also used it to get directions.

A great tool.

So now I have  Facebook partial profile. This prompted some interesting discussions in the staffroom. With lots of comments like “This is homework!” “We are working!” “Yes, I am doing homework!” just to reassure the boss that it was all above board. A colleague then avoided writing VELS reports by showing me her Facebook page. We discussed the ins and outs and some of the educational issues like how secure it is with students and the coverage on 60 Minutes. I still have my reservations!!! Is it the potential time wasting aspect that concerns me … add that to a long existing list of time wasters that are potentailly healthier? Is it the public nature of the whole thing? Well now I’d better priorities and get back to report writing!

No I’m still procrastinating on the reports front. I also ahd a look at some of the MySpace pages. A shame most of them were American sites being used to advertise/promote libary activities. Obviously a powerful way to achive this. Because I am not a member I could not log on to any Australain sites. I did discover through an Advanced Google search that my libraries [public spread from Camperdown to Geelong to Maroondah [my first library membership] to South-East Regional libraries that soem of these libraraes are running information sessions about MySpace and Facebook for parents to helkpmthem address the issues of their children using these social networks.

There is obvious power and attraction in both MS and FB. One teacher at our school has allowed students in their Business Managemant class to use their Myspace page to do their class work, thus removing a huge barrier for the student. Luckily he is able to access computers for all of his classes. Grade 6 students each have their own Airset page and they use this for homework as well class work. I am keen to go down this same path with my year eights, especially because the next text we read in is Remote Man – a novel with a strong web focussed narrative.

This still does not mean that I am willing to leap into the world of My Space or Facebook. A bit too public for me and really not my idea of being social.

Well it felt for a moment there like I was being left behind due to a hiking committement at Wilson’s Prom. But now I feel like I have caught up a little bit. It has been interesting and challenging. Yes, I added a photo to Flickr [look for geese]. It was hard to find a photo that I still felt miantained my anonimity. Yes I had a go at some of the Image generator stuff. I can see why some of my students would find this attractive. To be honest I got a little bored. I look at LibraryThing, but a colleague tells me that I did not persit with it long enough to get to the hidden gems. Yes, I think I have  added an RSS feed but I have not gone back to check yet. Today we looked at MySpace. I agree with one of the commentts that I read which was disappointed  that it was only American libraries. I looked for my local libaray, they were running parent information sessions for parents about MySpace. So far so good. Now we have run out of time. The last rays of a perfect Autumn afternoon beckon.

I was away on a Wilson’s Prom. Outdoor Ed Hike for four days – now I feel like WEb2.0 is out of control. Things I have done are play with Flickr [hint look for geese]. I ahve also had a try at image generators but found myself getting bored with this. Now I have started an RSS feed. Gradually that feeling of losing contact is diminishing. Next step MySpace!