Personalizing the Web

Article by Ellen R. Delisio, Copyright © 2007 Education World http://www.educationworld.com/a_lifestyle/lifestyle/lifestyle007c.shtml

The current ideas of Web 2.0 -- creating Internet content, using the Web for social interactions, and giving each student access to a personal technology device, are ones that could transform education. Yet, because of cost, lack of professional development, and sometimes concerns about safety and cheating, schools still are not moving rapidly in that direction.

Young people, meanwhile, have plunged ahead. "Teachers are excited about e-mailing and searching -- kids are excited about text-messaging and social networking," said Krueger. "Kids have moved on to online collaborations."

"Kids already are doing this," added Susan McLester, editor-in-chief of Technology & Learning. "They are not asking permission -- they are just doing this -- and seeing how it can be put to good use."
"When they publish personal blogs, they are thinking longer and more deeply on certain topics."
Many educators still are wary of the devices that have become standard issue for teens and pre-teens and the access these devices give students. "Most of the technology kids own -- like cell phones, iPods -- schools don’t have enough of or ban use of them," said Krueger. "Schools still are not re-looking at education."

iPods, for example, can be used to transfer large digital files. But many schools are forbidding students to bring iPods to class because they can download formulas and test answers onto them. Cell phones also are banned from many classrooms in part because administrators fear students will send text messages to each other with test answers.

Still, changes are coming. Technology is being used more for administrative tasks and certain evaluations. "Some schools are using handheld computers for formative assessments," noted Hendrie.

"Classroom uses of social bookmarking sites, wikis, and blogs allow easy collaboration on projects as well as a means of publishing one’s work to a wider audience of parents and community -- if not the world," noted Johnson. "Teachers are using more Web resources, including streaming video, increasing the demand for LCD projectors."

And while there still is wide-spread concern about social networking sites, technology observers are seeing more examples of teachers assigning blogs for homework and of educators realizing how motivating online work is for students. "Everyone in the class can see what they’re doing and ask people to comment online," said McLester.

"When they publish personal blogs, they are thinking longer and more deeply on certain topics," McLester continued. "They get very involved with each other, get motivated, and work after hours. They see that it [writing] is not just for school -- it has a real-life feel to it. And parents can see what kids are doing in school."

Today’s students tend to find online, collaborative work more engaging than the typical classroom lesson. "Kids say they can work on more in-depth projects; you can give them the task of investigating a problem," McLester noted. "You get more out of some kids than you normally would. Kids are becoming empowered by this technology. But it is not coming as naturally to educators."

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Web 2.0

Here is a recap of my Web 2.0 presentation on Friday, February 13th.

A Very Brief History of the World Wide Web
• With html pages, form and content was inseparable.
• With web 2.0 pages, form and content are separate.
• Digital text is no longer just linking information, it’s linking people.
• People are sharing, trading, collaborating...




Types of Web 2.0 Sites
• social bookmarking: delicious.com
• wikis: wikipedia, google groups
• blogs: blogger
• photo sharing: flickr, picasa
• videos: teacher tube
• apps: google docs, cogdogroo (story tools)

Burning Discs

I now have blank CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs available for teachers to use for school-related purposes. CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs can both be used for data, photos, audio files and/or video files. All of the computers have disc burning capabilities.

CD-ROMs (CD-Rs) can hold 700 MB of data or 80 minutes of full quality audio (burned as an "Audio CD"). They can hold between 500 and 1000 minutes of lower quality audio (burned as an "MP3 CD"). See previous post for audio CD burning instructions (the post below this one).

DVD-ROMs (DVD-Rs) can hold 4.7 GB (4700 MB) of data or 120 minutes of video.

As a point of reference, Word documents are about 0.03 - 1 MB, photos are about 0.4 - 3 MB, and audio is about 0.5 - 1.5 MB per minute.

TO BURN FILES:

1) Insert the disc into the computer. The slot is on the right side on the desktops and laptops.

2) After a few seconds, the following message will come up. Just hit OK.

3) Drag any files, folders, or photos from your Finder window to the disc image. The disc image appears both in the Finder window's sidebar and on the desktop. You can drag as many items as you want onto the disc image (as long as they are within the capacity of the disc).

OR


4) Burn the disc by EITHER clicking the small burn button next to the disc image in the Finder window sidebar OR dragging the disc image from the Desktop to the trash. Either way it will ask you if you want to name the disc and burn it. Naming is optional. You can click the Burn button, and it will burn your disc and then "mount it" (read it like it was just inserted).

5) You can eject it by dragging it to the trash, hitting the eject button on your keyboard, or clicking the small eject icon in the Finder window sidebar. You can then label the disc with a permanent marker.

If you would like to burn full quality videos onto a DVD, it can be done, but you should come see me for help. As always, let me know if you have any questions.