Web 2.0: Blogs , RSS, Podcasts & Wikis

Joan’s Response to - Web 2.0: Blogs, RSS, Podcasts & Wikis




“Because learning is seen as a social activity, learning becomes contextualized. Constructivism – sociocultural constructivism to be exact – reflects the complexity of the domain of the learning environment and everyone in the learning environment. The teacher guides students by using inquiry-based projects that require sustained motivation and critical thinking; she or he promotes thoughtfulness and reflection within the context of learning the content knowledge…..Authentic, real-world problem-based projects lend themselves to the multifaceted constructivist perspective. The mind is active and creative within the scientific inquiry and the artistic presentation of a project.”
Teacher Librarian 34:2 – Gail Bush, “Learning About Learning” P. 16.


Blog Pros – Web 2.0

1. Inspired to give it a go and test myself on how I do on ‘following instructions’.
2. Applicable to school settings from; in-school activities in curriculum and as extra-curricular activities
3. Useful in formats from surveys, votes, political voice to festivals and concerts as news bulletin to the school community and/or beyond to the world.
4. May be initiated &/or contributed by an individual, class, whole school.
5. All forms from mobile devices, RSS, Podcast, Film/Video Clips, Pictures can be included in a blog.
6. Economics – more ways to produce and publish @your school, media lab or library and not have to worry if you are from a lower economic class with provisions of equipment booked at the school
7. Equity: Being different & technology is giving voice and giving new access technologies to many types of learners and doers from all around the world.
8. Access 24/7
9. Most blogs for creating and viewing is free and ‘human legible’ (easy to create-don’t need to know html or other computer languages)


Blog Cons Web 2.0

1. In the Beginning: Time factor could limit complexity of the blog.
2. Keeping Current – the blog may bog down in time if there is a change or lack of interest to contribute or keep up-to-date.
3. Copyright laws may infringe on some tagged information on a blog
4. Teacher overview must be persistent, guided and equitable
5. Threads while researching may be time-consuming – one has to keep to a timeline and thematic focus.
6. Boards of Education or regional communities may not authorize this type of activity.





How would I use a blog in school or classroom?

1. Helpful in our dance department to have a ‘student-lead’ blog with student writings (poetry, rants, interviews, reviews), film clips, audio-interview clips and links that relate to their studies and focus as students in the dance program at our school that could link with other schools via the WWW.
2. A class – presenting via blog, a research/dance history unit.
3. An individual assignment: creation of a blog on a specific dance theme.



‘Really Simple Syndication’

RSS Pros:

1. I like the way Esther Rosenfeld’s powerpoint slide showed the aggregate of how one’s news resources would look if put together into an RSS feed. So I tried it with my Google Reader, and voilà – I have a myriad of resources at a click of a button.
2. In teaching- students choose the most pertinent resources for a research project unit.
3. May be useful way to counteract plagiarism, for example, it is a way of authenticating the author.
4. Aligns itself in similar ways with audio and image podcasting.


RSS Cons:

1. Must know how to choose most effective choices.
2. Time management & Teacher overview with checklists so that student does not get bogged down in the research process for resources.
3. May come across inappropriate content in the sources.

How would I use it at school or in a classroom?
1. Students may view a film clip or listen to an interview news source in class.
2. In the library: helpful for individual use or class use on one main screen if a film or via individual earplugs for student research at a computer in the library.
3. Information catalogued electronically can be as useful as a book and can be accessed from a current program to past programs for specific students or for a whole class project.
4. Access 24/7, if students have computer at home or have a mobile device.

How would I use RSS feeds in class or at school?

1. I think these were useful for my own awareness and information as I now have a number of feeds to assess on my Google Reader.
2. I think it would be a really good research project like a webquest for a class in relation to a specific topic for compare and contrast.

Podcasting

Podcast Pros:

1. Download music, or audio interviews onto one’s ipod.
2. Size: ipods or mobile devices are often pocket size and therefore easy for installing information and for storage which results in multiple uses as an individual or group.
3. Wide Variety: Content ranges from books that are downloadable to music radio shows, interviews that are downloadable from around the world.
4. Because of earbuds – can have large groups work together in library.
5. Economics: Information is free & equipment is getting cheaper.
6. Exchange: Podcasts can be created by you or you may be the receiver of a podcast.
7. Can access sources 24/7, similar to TiVo

Podcast Cons:

1. Overload of information, must learn how to be selective – critical thinking.
2. Economics: Technology: the individual would need to afford the software and hardware to be current.
3. Attention must be paid to reviving the battery frequently.
4. Greenomics: Quick turnover of equipment – no fast answers for waste management of ‘old technology’.

How would I use Podcasting in class or at school?

1. I have an ipod and the past couple of years, I use it as my accompanist for dance technique class or for dance rehearsals where I have it linked to an amplifier.
2. I think it is useful for the individual or class economically as a lot of information text, visual, audio is available for free.
3. The Library or Classroom is the Common Ground: Because of availability – I think it puts public on a common ground in learning about learning, for example there are no censors (government) preventing the public to be informed and I see that teaching via podcasting becomes a democratic issue that is useful to the educational process.
4. Creating a podcast would be a possible project for a class or school from our school radio station to a screen arts project or a collaborative effort for cross-currriculum in the school.



Wikis

Wiki Pros

1. Critical thinking and research – a good exercise for students to check for authenticity of websites.
2. Wiki Site: Groupthink & Group Collaboration – a positive approach to enhance higher thinking and design skills as a class or club if extracurricular.
3. Development of expertise in a variety of tasks: student(s) can take on different roles to the research process and therefore strengthen or learn new skill in the collaboration of the making and maintaining of a wiki.
4. Involves the 4 stages of research and inquiry because it is built-in in its structure and then can be adaptable to a wide range of curriculum.
5. From the school centre can foster and involve parents and the community at large.
6. The peanut butter wiki described in Esther Rosenfeld’s blog and that Suzanne Taylor has initiated on her Whitepine Reading Series is inspiring for a project that could involve all the arts disciplines at Earl Haig Secondary School that could radiate school wide, board wide and to the Toronto community.
7. Encourages independent learning along with group learning.



Wiki Cons

1. Teacher and/or School have to overview for authenticity and keep maintained on a constant basis.
2. Boards of Education or regional communities may not authorize this type of activity.
3. Close attention must be paid to the individual school’s privacy and security
4. Ergonomics: Working from a computer screen is hard on body/mind and eyes for any of the above programs – one has to be disciplined with care of the self in these projects.

How would I use a wiki in class or school?

Similar to a blog site – I think relating to the dance department that a wiki might be useful when working on a project that involves a festival for example our Student Choreography Performance Night, could serve as a positive ‘marketing tool’ for the show and as a way for student initiative to contribute the process before the performance, information on the actual performance and then reflection on the aftermath of the show with a blend of audio, video and text.



In conclusion, I appreciate the practice and theory to this exercise/assignment. Kindly forgive my ‘beginner awkwardness’ in the first stage in a ‘hands-on’ research activity that has been fun, time consuming, humbling and enlightening.

As a final note I found this opening quote inspiring from;Teacher Librarian 34:2 – Learning About Learning: Gail Bush quotes education guru Neil Postman:the new education….“is new because it consists of having students use the concepts most appropriate to the work in which we must all live” and that “the meaning-making process that can be called ‘learning how to learn’….compromises a posture of stability from which to deal fruitfully with change” Neil Postman (written with Charles Weingartner) Teaching as a Subversive Activity, 1969.