Week 9: Fun with Wikis and Technology in the Classroom OR the Evils of Powerpoint

This week we read about the many educational benefits of internet technologies such as wikis and (once again) blogs in the class room. I wanted to begin this post talking about how important I believe that being well versed in computers is, especially for younger students. Growing up I went through the different stages of advances and development in school, such as moving from old Apple computers to Microsoft Windows 95 OS PCs. We were taught in our library class how to do all of the basics with a computer; turn it on, turn it off, type, print, etc. That was pretty much the extent of it. Eventually in middle school 'Computer Skills' became part of our exploratory studies in the curriculum. I wish that I could recite anything that we did, but as far as I can remember my class sat at computers learning how to type correctly (DON'T YOU DARE FORGET THE HOME ROW). Around this time Microsoft Powerpoint revolutionized our class lectures and lesson plans. I believe that the class also dabbled into Microsoft Office Suite products. It was not until Sophomore year of high school that the curriculum stressed a need for computer literacy skills, well more or less a proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, PPT, and such. If you wanted to know any more about anything then you would have to venture into that world yourself (kind of like how I did). I did not take any other course regarding computers and technology until my Senior year, using the school's highly coveted, chaste Mac desktops to learn Adobe Photoshop. Needless to say, all the while I felt that I knew how to use a computer more proficiently than all of the staff (including the SLMS).

Should this have happened, perhaps? Answer, maybe 'YES' back then, because there was less stress on computers for educational guidance and groundwork. But now, should this be the case? Answer, an almost positive yet shaky 'NO.'

If we listen to all that Richardson has to say, and he really love love LOVES technology in the classroom, we can learn a thing or two hidden amongst his ultimate profession. This week in reading chapter 5 about RSS feeds and readers, he challenges reading literacy and quality, and of course, how it is beefed up if one were to employ RSS skills. He states, "Reading literacy can no longer be how well students can decipher text on a page or screen. We have to begin to prepare them for this much more complex world." (Richardson, 77) This is only one aspect of information literacy, if we dare to call it that. If RSS feeds are in the mix than I suggest we can.

So on one end we have this educator who loves tech in the classroom and then we have Mr. Marc Isseks who abhors Microsoft Powerpoint. I wonder if he also hates bike riding, writing in cursive, and personal hygiene? I mean, all of the above seemed to be important to me growing up, and to students nowadays PPT is utilized on so many levels. There are countless derivatives of the software as well. Knowing one's way around PPT seemed like a logical strength. Isseks offered the following opinion (regarding the general concept of teachers and educators utilizing PPT in class presentations):

“Faced with that visual cue, only the bravest or brightest students will challenge the rigidity of the presentation. Thus, facts travel from the teacher, to the PowerPoint slide, to the students’ notes with little or no opportunity for discussion, analysis, or evaluation.” (Isseks, 2)

Now, being objective we cannot dismiss his opinions. Of course there are a plethora of teachers, college professors, and the like that use Powerpoint as a crutch, uploading a superb bulk of information to 50+ slides, ciphering through them like a madman in a time crunch. (I.e. American History 1 in my undergrad) But then there are educators that do invoke questioning, such as Dr. Nesset's PPT presentations, offering discussion cliffhangers every 5 slides or so. And the notes are so much more important than the slides. They serve as a framework to work within, almost to stay on track to ensure that the lesson falls within these visible lines. I suppose it really just depends on the person teaching, right?

http://www.durandus.com/phaedrus/2006/09/why-powerpoint-is-evil/

^ The above website (which I also uploaded to Diigo this week) contains an article that details the positive and negatives of utilizing Powerpoint in the class room. It is fairly interesting to see just how similar the arguments are between the Isseks article and this one; contrasting though is that the latter article provides five rules if one were to actually utilize PPT for a presentation. Here they are in an abridged form.

First Rule: No more than five ideas in the talk. Arrange them from least to most important.

Second Rule: No more than five lines per slide. No more than seven words per line...You want the slide to be a visual placeholder — a kind of visible re-inforcement/organizer for your message. If it becomes your message, then you don’t need to be there.

Third Rule: Avoid background images. Putting graphics behind text makes the text hard to read by changing the contrast values for words displayed across the variated color scheme.

Fourth Rule: Only use graphics that contribute to the message.

Fifth Rule: Short. Make your points then spend the rest of the time talking with the audience about it.
___________________________________________________________________

Going in a completely separate direction now, the argument for utilizing wikis in school spaces is now forever burned in my brain. Prior to this class I did not really understand the benefits of wikis, regardless of the fact that I use Wikipedia on what seems like a daily basis. In fact, just saying it makes me feel like an idiot. Common Craft's Wikis in Plain English was a fabulous explanation of how wikis work and why they are so important. I was almost kicking myself for never realizing that me, myself, and I could have put together a similar presentation if I would have been less ignorant.

The edutopia article was also very interesting to me. I actually referenced edutopia in a Diigo submission last week. In the article the author suggests the following:

• Start small, and then build. Expand your use of the wiki a little bit at a time. Doing so helps teachers relinquish the kind of control they have in a more traditional classroom. Students may feel more comfortable with a gradual change, too.
• Play. Explore other educational wikis. (Vicki Davis's CoolCatTeacher wiki is a favorite of Maine's.) Decide which ideas and practices you like, and use them. Maine, who says she's no computer geek, has found her way over technical hurdles through experimentation, trial and error, and her students' expertise.
• Encourage collaboration. Do group projects that take thinking and learning to a new level. Rather than give assignments in which each group member is responsible for a different task, assign real-life, multiple-solution problems in which "all of the group members working together adds up to something much bigger than what any individual could have done alone." That's the whole point of the wiki. Expect to do more planning, but less grading.
• Set ground rules. Be clear about goals and expectations. Maine had parents sign a "wiki warranty" early in the year. Her students know she can see any changes they make on the wiki pages -- be they constructive or devious. Last year, only one student was barred from the wiki due to repeated misbehavior.
• Support students. This may be new territory for them, too. They need help with group-work skills, and they need reminders to look at the wiki after hours to find information and participate in discussions.

It seems like one of this courses many, common themes to "start small." It almost as novel as key words such as integrate and collaborate. This week was a test for me in a way because it always seemed like such common sense to develop internet and computer skills in order to help myself and others, especially in regards to making a presentation. Also, the readings have encouraged me to integrate wikis into my realm. I really REALLY liked the 'pathfinder wiki' idea as an example. Needless to say I think that we are at a pivotal point in our training as future information professionals and teachers; we need to decide what we believe in and how we are going to use these skills, and most certainly why they are so important to the future of our students.

Instead of offering some visual or image this week instead I will provide a link to an interesting blog about school libraries and implementing technology. Perhaps we can add this to our RSS feeds?

http://schoolof.info/infomancy/?p=129

Week 8 : TPACK (not Tupac)

Okay, so the first thing the typical person might think of when they see the acronym 'TPACK' is deceased, popular rapper "Tupac." But just because they might sound or look similar does not mean that they have anything in common.



TPACK:
vs. Tupac
















TPACK, or TPAK is defined as "technological pedagogical content knowledge," which refers to "the intersection of teachers' knowledge of curriculum content, general pedagogies, and technologies." (Harris and Hofer, 1) To the naked eye it might seem extremely technical, but in layman's terms it refers to the integration of technology into curriculum activities. Harris and Hofer, who wrote practically everything we were assigned to read this week, are huge proponents of the TPACK approach to teaching. Within the article snippets we read it was apparent that both authors are practically gurus when it comes to initiating activities that would incorporate certain pieces of technology, furthering a heightened understanding of the curriculum as well as an aspect of information literacy.

The aspect of their approach that really struck me was that they kept harping on a few common points throughout each article. They stated,

"We suggest matching technology-integration strategies to existing lesson planning methods, rather than asking teachers to plan instruction that exploits the opportunities offered by particular education technologies." (Grounded Integration: Languages; Harris & Hofer, p 26)

Where Richardson consistently harps about implementing Wikis and Blogs into the teaching stratosphere these two authors take a step back and essentially say match up the proper technology with the right and corresponding lesson plan. This would avoid the "square peg in a round hole" analogy. In the LIS field I have come to an understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all model with anything. This is most certainly prominent when it comes to patrons, students, and education styles.

Another point that the author's bring up is that technology is sometimes an afterthought, an "add-on or enhancement to a lesson rather than something that is truly integrated into teaching and learning." (Tech Integration in Social Studies' Harris & Hofer, p 26) In this regard it seems that people may take technology for granted. It is always there to save us, for example, Microsoft Word Office products like Excel can help us make a spreadsheet for creating graphs for a math class or we can utilize Powerpoint to make a presentation about Owl Pellets for a science course. Whatever the case may be technology seems to have become second nature for us, and perhaps implementing certain technologically based techniques into education may not necessarily be a new thing, rather something that is constantly being developed right under our noses and has been for quite some time.

So what will TPACK rely on for successful development in education? Answer, collaboration of teachers and parents, feedback from students, and open mindedness all around.

Week 7: C3

Cyberethics, Cybersafety, and Cybersecurity...how scary. C3 is a dreaded topic. As I detailed in my first discussion post for this week on the class wiki, my family purchased our first computer when I was about 13. My brother and I needed a computer desperately to complete school work. I believe we started using it in the beginning of my 8th grade school year. By that Summer not only was the computer slowed down (partly because of the dreaded Microsoft Millennium Edition operating system and the rest by spyware) but we had a virus that I inadvertently downloaded from a friend's instant message. I could have cried. I had heard all the bad stuff that happens when you have an infected computer. Files can automatically delete themselves, your credit card information can be stolen if someone is monitoring your transactions, and basically your once chaste little PC is now defiled and dirty...but this could have all been prevented, right?

That was over 11 years ago. Since then I have had my fair share of run ins with C3 issues. I have always been a proponent of downloading some sort of anti virus for all of my family member's computers. Even if it is some freeware kind of software, it has always had a home on our PCs. Also, every computer that I have set up (and there have been close to 10) have all had Lavasoft Ad Aware and Spybot: Search and Destroy downloaded too. I almost think of it as a 1-2-punch. You're basically golden! Well, that's until your 17 year old sister thinks that it is a great idea to download games off of unreliable websites. And this is where the problems begin.

Kids, as I affectionately refer to them, are reckless when it comes to almost everything. Its all about getting the newest thing, be it a car, cell phone, video game, and in this case, a computer. No matter how much of a safety net you provide for a person in regards to a computer it can always be broken, and mostly not purposefully. My little sister, Emily, got into a slue of trouble on the internet. She downloaded software that was tainted with spyware and viruses that slowed down our systems. She had Facebook fights with girls she went to school with and AOL Instant Messenger conversations where someone called her a swear word and told her that they were going to inflict bodily harm to her. Quite often this prompted her to print out the conversations and bring them into school where the administration replied with a, "I don't really know how to react to this, as there is no precedent." Getting off of this tangent, I just wanted to demonstrate that C3 education has not been present for most teens and adolescents who have been raised in this technologically crazed and dependent age. Oh, and let's not forget about their parents and educators too.

I believe that teachers take for granted that their students are learning computer safety at home and that parents are under the impression that their children know all there is about how to safely operate computer processes because of what they learn at school. Each party thinks that the other is responsible for providing the necessary education. In a study conducted by Pruitt-Mentle and Pusey, they discovered the following:

"Teachers (72%) and technology coordinators (58%) are most likely to think parents are primarily responsible for teaching children to use computers safely and securely, while school administrators (51%) are most likely to think teachers/schools are primarily responsible for teaching children the content." (pg 3)

I honestly believe that this conundrum stems from parent-teacher ignorance. Teachers and librarians are already pressed enough to meet quotas for their schools. School staff has been cut all over and those who remain need not do anything that may question their job security. Education standards are steep, thus creating little room for altering class plans to incorporate C3 standard education. That being said, maybe they should spend some time and planning creating an education plan on this topic.

In perusing this topic online, I found the following website, http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/education/k-12/teaching_resources/lessons_presentations/. I did not have to search very hard to find it either. What you have is Kindergarten through 12th grade teaching resources and presentations on common C3 issues such as computer viruses, website evaluation and site credibility, email security, safe searching, and many others. They are also organized by grade level, a novel thing for those who may be in a crunch for time. Not only do these presentations aide in providing C3 education, but they also deal with many different Information Literacy topics that are also beneficial for our students. It is practically a twofer.

I copied this chart from the aforementioned Pruitt-Mentle and Pusey article (pg 11):

In 2 out of 3 sections, Cybersafety and Cybersecurity, the selection of None dominates. This is a terrifying thing that I think through overexposure will subside. The information and the literature is out there to be discovered.

The following links seem to be very useful, especially in making a claim that C3 should be taken a bit more seriously.

http://www.cybercrime.gov/cyberethics.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/cyberethics-practice.aspx

http://www.socratesinstitute.org/curriculum/cyberethics.html

Week 6 - School Library Websites

I spent almost a decade playing in an eight - twelve piece ska/rock band. Starting out in my freshman year of high school, my closest friends and I did all that we could to get our name and music out there. Sure, the recording qualities were terrible (I think we used a tape recorder and converted the audio to MP3 format via a computer program) and the images we had taken of us were from disposable Kodak camera (that we purchased digital discs of). Regardless, we took all of this information and did the following:

- Submitted our MP3s to http://www.mp3.com
- Started a blog
- Created some sort of online photo catalog for our pictures
- and last but not least, we created a website...

I should begin by saying we started small; using Yahoo's Geocities site builder. One of our friends that was also in a local band started to excel at HTML writing. Of course, his site looked better, more professional, and more put together. This prompted me to do some HTML learning of my own.

As time went on, I probably authored and co-authored close to 12 web pages for our band, dabbling with different styles, first all text and linked images, eventually using I-maps (Image maps) and internally linked and displayed blogs, pop up images, and flash. Needless to say, at the beginning the last thing on my mind was the accessibility of the website. All I wanted was something to showcase our name, photos, sound, and show information. I bit off more than I could chew more often than not, which led to some negative criticisms. It was hard to take but they were, more or less, constructive in nature. I learned from my mistakes and eventually tinkered until I fixed whatever bugs were plaguing the site. However, every time there was something wrong with the site it personally affected me, bringing me down and making me feel inadequate. Perhaps this is just my personal take on my own products; anything that stems from authoring or ownership is an extension of me.
This is an attitude that most characterizes what it necessary for school library websites.

In the Johnson article, he states, "What few people understand is that building a good usable, accessible, attractive school website that meets the needs of students and teachers is every bit as difficult and as complicated as building a good, usable, accessible, attractive school building that meets the needs of students and teachers." (Johnson, 46)

That being said, it is safe to say that website building, be it for a school library or for a personal menagerie of facts and pictures is a very delicate process. There are many different aspects that need to be addressed, at the forefront accessibility. Within the Kaner & Fielder article they state, "Different people have different needs, constraints and preferences, but user sub populations are often insufficiently considered. Users with special needs are of particular interest to both school and public libraries..." (Kaner and Fielder, 2)

As a school librarian you will eventually become acquainted with and discover what your user population is dominated by. You will presumably tailor your collection of materials to what is considered popular. Your reference section will be dominated by the books or database subscriptions that seem to be of most use. Your media will be probably be the most latest and greatest pieces of technology that your school board can legitimize a need for and provide the funding towards. This is great, really great in fact, knowing your students and your library usage. One thing that we cannot forget though is the the physical place of a school library is only half of the picture; the other half is the website. The website will inevitably be used by students, parents, teachers, and other faculty. It is safe to say that you cannot tailor a website (or anything for that matter) entirely for a certain population, but what you can do is follow a guide of points to hit, especially in regards to general and special accessibility.

http://www.w3.org/WAI/gettingstarted/

W3.org was one of the websites that was always there for me when I was starting out in my HTML endeavors. I will never claim to be an expert nor a guru. If it was not for these people I would have been lost. This specific page deals with web accessible for students with disabilities. There are many other pages linked up throughout the site.

I was always a proponent of people working together on the internet. This could be websites, blogs, etc. Metatagging is something that I think could be embraced wholeheartedly on a functioning school library website. In the Berger chapter that dealt with Social Bookmarking she details how this phenomenon is not necessarily a phenomenon at all, but an integral piece of the puzzle that is the internet.

(Berger, 51)

I believe that this model can be applied to website building as well. All of the popular tagging and bookmarking sites, such as Diigo, del.icio.us, and Magnolia can be employed in a school library website efficiently, providing a step up to accessibility all around as well as user simplicity. Information is out there, and in a school setting it can be difficult to find. Navigating to find it should not always be a trek, and this is where librarians come in.