Benzinger, Brian, Retrieved December 2, 2008 from:

http://www.solutionwatch.com/512/back-to-school-with-the-class-of-web-20-part-1/

I first want to say that I was amazed by the amount of articles that came up when I googled the statement: How to Use Web 2.0 in Schools.  There is a tone of information.  The above website really had some great suggestion for incorporating technology into the classroom.  The article was broken down into three parts.  The first part discussed the many different tools there are for students and teachers to use.  The second part discussed office applications.  The third part detailed educational blogging.  The best part about this website is that it provides links into to each internet tool that it discusses. 

As I was exploring the part one of the article I thought it would be interesting to click on all of the links and see which sites were blocked in my school district.    I was unable to access mynoteIT, YouTube and Google Video.  All of the rest though were at my fingertips. 

I truly believe that teachers would use technology in a more in depth manner than just power points and word documents if they were trained on Web 2.0.  There are so many free sites that can be extremely useful in to the both the teacher and the student.  If we can train teachers how to use all of these online tools then the teachers could show the students how to be more productively use technology.

After reading the article The END to Copyright Confusion~and a new beginning the article that was presented in class I feel a lot clear on what we are and are not allowed to use as both learners and educators. I particularly found the link to the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use useful.  I saved this link to my wikispace because then I will be able to reference back to the page as needed.  Again, like I have said many times before, this information would be useful for an administrator to provide to their staff.  The five principle portion of this document breaks everything down for the teacher and is very simple to understand.  However, there is a tone of information, so it would be best to keep a copy of this document on hand in the classroom.  Also, a teacher may want to share some information from this with her students especially if they are high school students.

The END to Copyright Confusion~and a new beginning- Kristin Hokanson-Wednesday, November 12, 2008

http://khokanson.blogspot.com/2008/11/end-to-copyright-confusionand-new.html

Newspaper Interview

This is my video podcast.  I actually did a regular video with my digital camera and downloaded it on to the computer.  This is something that I am going to incorporate into my final project. We are starting activity periods once a month in my district, and then after PSSAs it will be more often.  I’m in charge of the newspaper for the middle school.  I thought it would be a good idea for the students to video tape the teachers they are interviewing for the “Teacher Spotlight” section of the newspaper.  I also thought that they could make the newspaper available online, and they could link podcasts to the website.

I also joined podOmatic.com, and I downloaded this podcast.   When you click on the link below you have to upload and save the video to view the podcast.   There may be an easier way, but I have not figured it out yet.  I have been working at this for a while, and once I save the file I am able to open it with QuickTime Player. 

There are some really great things on podOmatic.  I saw that you were able to upload onto a blog, my space, facebook, etc.  I could not find edubloggers.  I think this site will get easier to navigate with more experience.

Let me know if you are not able to view the podcast, and I will try again!

http://haileydifore.podomatic.com/

authors-chair

I have been working at this all day.  I hope it is successful this time! This is an example of what I would put on the announcements to generate interest in an 8th grade Author’s Chair.  I read a part of one of my student’s papers during this audiocast.  Next time, I would instead have the student read part of her essay.

There are some really great educational podcasts that can be accessed through iTunes.   I  joined the Podcast for Teachers (Techpod).   The first podcast that I listened to was about 50 minutes in length.  When I was listening to this podcast I though it would be something great for administrators to have teachers listen to during in-service days.  I know it wouldn’t be the most engaging, but teachers could listen to podcasts like this one as they get work done in the classroom.  It is a way to use technology while learning about technology.

Also, as I was searching iTunes I saw a podcast that would be wonderful for history teachers.  It was titled Great Speeches in History.  How awesome would it be just to turn on the computer and have the speech ready to play for the students?

It is really simple to download podcasts on iTunes.  I use my iPod often, and I did not have any difficulty navigating on the iTunes store.  I must say though, the absolute best part about these podcasts are that they are free!

audiocast

Please let me know if you are able to view my audiocast for my 8th grade Language Arts Author’s Chair.  I saved audio onto my computer in a zip file.  I am very new at all of this, and I am not sure if I have done it right!

I found an interesting video on the apple website.  I put the link on my wiki, but it is a great video to take a look at.  The link is http://www.apple.com/education/resources/podcastingvideos/.

It not only discusses podcasts, but it discusses RSS and how to subscribe to feeds on ITunes.  It is interesting to me because I have had an IPod now for three years, and I have never used it to listen to educational audiocasts.

I read an article called Critical Issue: Promoting Technology Use in Schools on the following website: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te200.htm. This article brought up a lot of points that are often made in schools and were discussed in our last online chat.  I think it was interesting to read because we really are promoting the use of technology with our students however it seems like we sometimes have to jump through hoops to have computer usage for our students.  I know in my district it is a race to sign up for the computer labs each week.  We have a lot of computers, but we have many more students and classes than labs and PCs.  This article did provide some interesting strategies to help alleviate the demands of trying to get all students access to computers. One strategy the article suggested was setting up stations in the classroom.  For instance, if there are only two computers in the classroom then have students in cooperative groups and set up station. Give the students different jobs/assignments at each station to complete.  Set time for each station so that each group will eventually have access to the computers. I think that we just sometimes have to think outside the box and ultimately be very prepared for the times we want to use technology. 

This article was a really great one.  My paragraph above was just is a small portion of a plethora of information that the article provides. If anyone has time try to take a look at the website.

The other night I joined my first photo sharing site.  I went on Flickr because of the information provided in the course, and I found it very easy to navigate.  I only put pictures of my family on Flickr because I have not taken very many pictures this year in my classes.  However, my sister was just asking me to give her some recent pictures of her daughter, and I was able to share them with her through my flickr account.  I did not make my photos public for anyone to see (I think I have watched too many online predator shows!) , but I can share them with friends and family.  I am not exactly sure how that works, but I think if you go to http://www.flickr.com/ and type in haileydifiore@yahoo.com you may be able to request to see the page.  Let me know if I am wrong!

I watched the video Kicking It Up a Notch Film School for Video Podcasters  on http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=329 produced by Mathew Needleman.  He gave many great tips on how to incorporate media into the classroom, specifically storyboarding and classroom video-making.  At one point during the video he talked about how teachers teach reading and comprehension 90% of the day, but  are not  teaching about media which is something students  are exposed to every day.  He suggests teaching about media literacy.  In other words, students are watching television, searching the internet, using, ipods, digital cameras, video cameras, etc., so teachers need to make sure they are teaching students how to better use these media sources. 

This video was very engaging and made me want to teach students how to make videos in the classroom. Students can use critical thinking skills while being creative and ultimately learning skills that are relevant to our technologically driven world. I think that students would really enjoy taking part in classroom activities in which they are able to use technology of all different forms.