I didn’t expect to be thinking about how we can use Web 2.0 tools, not just to enhance our regular ways of teaching, like what my group did for assignment 3, but as a new way to approach teaching & learning, a way that synthesizes all this information, access to information, ways of managing and amalgamating that information and creating new ideas, products and content. My group incorporated blogging and vlogging into lit circles, and by doing this, we became more aware of multi-literacies and how technology can meet different learning styles.

But I hadn’t made the leap of understanding that I did when I watched the Stephen Heppell video the other day. Listening to him discuss metacognition and how we can work with the twenty first century learner or we can choose to ignore that Google exists and continue to teach as we have for years.

Putting Heppell’s ideas together with Lana saying how she teaches a few kids in each class to be organizers of the wiki (leaders and teachers), and Lisa saying how she wants to do cross curricular collab in secondary, and Lisa also wondering what would happen if she collaboratively planned a unit with her students using a wiki, created a big shift for me. I have know since my career began at a little alternative school in Vancouver, that teachers are not all knowing beings who share their knowledge with students, but that teachers are facilitators of student learning. But for teachers to collaborate with students to create new learnings had not occurred to me until yesterday.

Digital natives do not just access information like we digital refugees or immigrants do, they take information and ways of using and accessing information, and recreate it into something new. They create content and share it. They create, share, and connect.

Digital refugees and immigrants are so concerned with privacy and may make statements like, ” I don’t want my photos on the web.” But digital natives don’t have this concern. Sure, this can be problematic, but could it be today’s equivalent of your fourteen year old leaving the house in a mini skirt and crop top? You can’t control who sees them out of the house, who whistles when they walk by, who may behave inappropriately. You can only teach them how to be more aware, what to do in different scenarios. The internet is the same. 

How can we be effective teachers if we don’t work with or even understand the students’ culture? If you can’t figure out how to use email, how can you effectively teach students to be information literate? How can essentially illiterate teachers help prepare their students for the future? That doesn’t mean that teachers need to photograph themselves every other nanosecond and post on Facebook, but it does mean we need to gain better awareness of our students and how their learning is different.

Last Thursday, one classmate asked, “How can some students in my morning class look at Facebook and their email while the instructor is talking? Can they multitask that easily or are they just rude?” Both, maybe. if the instructor isn’t engaging you, why wouldn’t you do something that is? Especially in university where we are paying hundred of dollars per course, aren’t students entitled to the education they want? And doesn’t this also apply to our elementary and secondary school students?

The past two years I have regularly complained about students who question me, who demand to be entertained, who tell me what they like and what they don’t. But what I am realizing as I write this, is that they aren’t asking to be entertained, they are asking to be engaged in learning about things they care about and in ways that make sense to them. That’s what I ask for as a student, so why wouldn’t my students? And as digital natives, aren’t they wanting, demanding even, to learn as digital natives and not like the obedient, cooperative, and submissive students of yesteryear? I have done some students a disservice in not understanding about their culture and the way they learn. This is probably the biggest thing I will take away from this course, so I am glad it is my last one for the certificate.

Create. Process. Collaborate. Question. Recreate. Reflect. Share.

I am most engaged when examining, creating, and reflecting with peers. I am most engaged when choosing what to learn about and how I will share that learning (I chose this blog for example). I automatically tune out in lectures. I am not an auditory learner and neither are most of my students. 

Create. Process. Collaborate. Question. Recreate. Reflect. Share.

That’s what I need as a learner. That’s what my students need. That’s what my fellow teachers need too.

If web 2.0 is user created/adapted content, sharing and connecting, then schools and libraries in the twenty-first century should also be user created/adapted content, sharing and connecting.

In our text, Ward’s article, “Learning from games and gamers,” it states that Harvard even offers classes in Second Life, a virtual world. Virtual libraries also exist in Second Life, and even the Vancouver Police Department recruits new officers there. These few examples point out that we need to start shifting the way we understand and approach teaching and libraries, in order to serve our clientele effectively.

In class last week I had a very satisfying experience with open source software. Unable to open Sandra’s power point presentation on my Macbook, my classmate Keith said, “Why don’t you try Open Office?” OpenOffice is free to download and enables the use of MS products without the hefty price tag. Without any price tag, in fact, though donations are welcome. 

After downloading OpenOffice, I was easily able to access the Power Point presentation. Yay for open source. I like the whole idea of open source. I find it mildly subversive and evens the playing field a little more. Regular people with a library card can put content online, meet people, find information, join a group interested in pretty much anything you can dream up, and share. Open source chips away at monopolies.

Personally, I find myself very, very reluctant to use web based applications that cost money. I would be willing if I were making money through them, but otherwise, I like the option of free, upgrade and by donation.

This blog is a another great example of open source software. People create widgets and plug ins that they allow others to download and use for free. Many provide support, otherwise support can be found through helpful other users. To me, this is the true spirit of the net, the free sharing of information, and information management systems, networking and building connections. It is the true global community.

TLs in little TL groups can think and plan whatever they want, but unless the enrolling teachers are on board, their access to students is heavily restricted. In fact, it can be restricted to the short half hour before and after school (and in some cases, lunch time). Not exactly ideal for promoting literacy and teaching info lit skills.

Therefore, it is crucial that

• TLs have excellent working and personal relationships with the enrolling teachers
• the library and the TL is seen as an integral part of the school (protect our jobs, budgets, FTEs)
• TLs have an excellent working relationship with the administration
• TLs have a strong leadership role in the school
• TLs are heavily involved in all school policy making, including Pro D, budgets, information policy, etc.

• use to create a group or class novel/story, could have alternative endings or chapters
• staff committees for planning that event or Pro D Day
• staff discussion of topics/themes
• group projects instead of another poster project – Ban Those Bird Units  
• collaborative unit planning with colleagues
• feedback from students on unit planning or your own writing
• tutorials, students post questions and other students or teachers reply
• summer communication with students (summer reading wiki)
• movie critique page
• post handouts on wiki for easy downloading at home
• designate a few students to be organizers – other kids can go to them for help
• eportfolios 
• take a break sites – student posted so they can have a break
• wikispaces will create ids and passwords for many people if you email them, additional students can ask to become members by accessing the wiki

Flickr is web-based and allows you to determine the privacy level of your photos, but you can also make them public. I personally find it hugely time consuming to upload and the monthly limit is low for prolific digital camera addicts like myself. On the other hand, most bloggers I know are all over Flickr, but they pay for improves service. One thing I really like about Flickr is that you can identify your photos as copyright protected or creative commons.

I just created a little slideshow using Picassa thinking it would be fun to post on a blog. WordPress doesn’t allow this from Picasa, though it does allow you from other sites. Blogger, despite being a Google thing, also doesn’t support Picassa slide shows. Frustrating, but not as much as receiving a batch of emailed photos.

I take tons of photos, but I don’t use photo sharing sites often. I usually just post on Facebook in little albums so I can share with my friends. I guess the difference is that I am not trying to network with other photo takers. I do have a Flickr account, but I have only used it once to share photos I took at a new media conference.

In elementary school there are some serious concerns with using Flickr or some other photo sharing applications with your students, mainly to do with privacy. If I taught IT or Fine Arts or Photography in secondary school, then Flickr would be an important component. As for sharing photos of the children, I can see no reason to do this using Flickr, although posting on a private blog or wiki with parent permission would be valuable. I do post photos of student work.

Last year we had caterpillars that turned into butterflies. I photographed the creatures and my students through every stage. I would have been nice for the students and their parents to post these online in a private setting since many parents are unable to come by the school and see our displays. In addition, not printing photos is less costly to school budgets and the environment.

The same considerations are relevant to video clips of children. It is important to respect the privacy of each child and their families.

I highly enjoyed For Sale By Owner which allows you to click on the US map for real estate for sale. Easy to use and I just wish we had it for Canada.

I had another bit of fun with the mashup awards site. Check out the visual headlines. Very cool. I see that many mashups combine Google Maps or Google Earth with something else (Flickr).

In terms of educational applications, mashups would be great for sharing research. For example, you could combine a map of Canada from Google Maps with school library webcats, or literacy levels, or (heaven forbid) standardized tests, or drop out rates, or % of students enrolled in higher level mathematics courses.

Having students access mashups is valuable in that it helps make the information more real (Darfur example above). Having students create mashups would be an incredible process for those learners. They would be creating new understandings for themselves and their audience, building their multi literacy skills and experience. I have worked with several gifted children who wold both love to investigate mashups and create their own.

RSS is a funny little orange button I see all over the place. My basic understanding is that you sign up to receive notification when your favourite blog or site is updated, thereby making your online time more efficient. I have never used one, though I can see the benefits, especially for us busy folk who need to keep tabs on many things. I also understand from Sandra, that you need an aggregator ( I just love these terms) to help with all this.

I think I need to spend a wee bit more time with RSS before attempting to introduce it to students. Then again, maybe some of them could teach me:)

“Text me,” I said, “I’m on my cell walking down Broadway and I don’t have a pen.”

“Gawd, I don’t even know how to do that,” she complained.

Thank goodness I have a teenage daughter, I thought for a change. My daughter taught me how to text message so that we wouldn’t have to ‘waste time’ talking on the phone. Initially I was insulted, I then I began to experience the benefits. You can text in places where phoning is not great (loud bus, meetings, workshops), you can convey important information without having to spend 5 minutes on the phone with social niceties, you can text multiple people at the same time, you can remind people very quickly (get milk), and you can tell your teenage daughter to get home now without embarrassing her in front of her friends.

“No matter if I finish reading my books,” my daughter said, “I can just watch one of several movies on my iPod.”

“You have movies on your iPod???” I asked in disbelief.

She rolled her eyes, “Duh, like its 4 gigs.”

She taught me how to lock and unlock photos on my camera, how to limit profile access on Facebook, how to use Facebook chat, how to drive to Ikea using her cell phone to get directions, and how to set the clock in our car. 

These humbling little episodes beg the essential question: Who is teaching whom?

And how do I teach digital natives using technology? 

I think you just jump aboard, get some good firsthand experience and understanding, and finally, get them to teach you.

Wisdom from Lana: digital natives have short attention spans, so give them lots of different things to do (and choices for assignments)

I did listen to an episode of Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Cafe. Very cool. If i had an iPod I would put in on there.