Various Digital Tricks and Tools
This page will contain a collection of digital tricks and tools that presenter Bill Ferriter is just beginning to play with. Needless to say, he hasn't had a chance to create a full page of materials about any of these services yet! Keep checking back, however. Over time, each of these services will have their own fully developed page on Digitally Speaking.
Digital Publishing
Handout_Digital_Publishing.pdf
In today’s digital age, anyone can publish anything to the Web at any time—including you! This ability is nothing short of empowering, ensuring that your voice can be heard without cost. As Clay Shirky wrote in his 2008 title, Here Comes Everybody:
“In a world where publishing is effortless, the decision to publish something isn’t terribly momentous. Just as movable type raised the value of being able to read and write even as it destroyed the scribal tradition, globally free publishing is making public speech and action more valuable even as it…diminishes the specialness of professional publishing.”
All that’s needed is a few good ideas and some basic word processing skills! This document will show you how to get started.
Screencasting
One of the most exciting steps that the Wake County Public Schools has taken is to begin creating a customized collection of screencast tutorials on a wide range of curriculum and technology concepts. The advantage of creating an in-house collection of tutorials is that they can be directly aligned to the instructional resources being created at the district level and to the identified strengths and weaknesses of the district's students.
These tutorials are being housed in a Blackboard website that is accessible to all. That way, teachers, parents and students from across the district can access them at any time. This has allowed teachers to have access to high quality instructional materials that are aligned to the curriculum, allowed students to spend time in remediation or enrichment activities, and allowed parents to "see" what high quality work looks like in many areas.
Here is a small version of one of the tutorials posted in the WCPSS Screencast Warehouse:
To explore this site, visit this link. The section of the site that is the most developed are the Language Arts tutorials found under the "Class Resources" button. Wake County has decided to begin by developing these resources first. The technology tutorials found under the "Tutorials" button are also nicely filled out. Over time, additional resources will be added to the other areas of this site.
(Note: Blackboard does not support direct linking and the location of sites frequently changes as Blackboard upgrades are made. If you attempt to visit this library in the future and cannot find it any longer, you can visit the main Wake County Blackboard page, select the "Course Sites" tab from the top of the screen, select "Browse Course Catalog," and then use the search term "Web 2.0." to find the course again.)
Twitter is a poorly understood but terribly undervalued tool that is being used by some educators to "connect" to a network of likeminded learners all over the world. it is essentially a public instant messaging system that allows users to attract "followers" and to "follow" others. As Sheryl Nussbaum Beach--a digital colleague from the Teacher Leaders Network--so aptly explains, Twitter is a way for people to build a "personal learning network" of colleagues and friends who can provide just-in-time help, resources and advice about almost anything.
The central element in a Twitter conversation is called a Tweet----and it is a short (140 character message) that users send through an online client that looks just like any other instant messaging application that you've ever seen before. That message immediately appears in the Twitter windows of anyone who is "following" you....and they can respond with help/advice/suggestions/ ideas/compassion/random insults/open sarcasm if they feel so inclined.
In my mind, Twitter's not designed to be the primary vehicle for an individual's communication and human connection to others. While I value the people in my Twitter family greatly---in fact, many of them are just plain brilliant and I'm thankful that they're willing to let me "listen" to their Tweets---I don't see Twitter as the best way of getting to know them deeply or to figure out who they are as educators or as people.
To me, Twitter's not about extended conversation and reflective thought. Consider some of the things I've done with Twitter in recent weeks:
- Learned about a free discussion board service.
- Shared blog entries that I'd written.
- Read about 10 blog entries written by other people.
- Seen several great articles shared by those in my Twitter family.
- Asked and answered a few provocative questions.
- Had my thinking challenged once or twice.
- Helped out with a Skypecast being conducted in another user's class.
- Sent out two or three resources to help others with questions about topics I know.
Twitter is a really quick and really easy (which are two reasons Twitter's so successful) way to share resources and get ready access to a collection of people who share a common interest. It's a way to join together and offer just-in-time support to one another.
Here's a tutorial that can help you to understand Twitter better:
And here's a great blog entry by Kevin Jarrett---a technology teacher in New Jersey---about the value that he gets from frequent Twitter exchanges:
http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=1191
If you decide to jump in the Twitterverse, come and find me. I'm @plugusin.
Many Voices Darfur
Easily the most exciting project that my students have been engaged in lately has been a global collaborative project designed to raise awareness about the genocide occurring in Darfur. As a part of this project, we've written an open letter to the President of Sudan and created our own pledge to fight against Genocide. We created a papercraft tutorial and a music video about the issue. We've written to the Janjaweed and wondered whether or not the US is selfish. We're also working on a Voicethread presentation where we're studying political cartoons on Sudan.
The project culminated with a "Blog for Darfur" day on March 6th and 7th of 2008 where almost 700 comments were left by students from around the world. Here are some of the most provocative comments that were left by The Blurb Nation.
What is most remarkable about the work done for this project is that the students of my class wrestled with powerful ideas in an authentic project that allowed them to work with students beyond the walls of our building. We Skyped with classes in Washington DC and Florida, brainstorming thoughts on how to best push this project forward. We created entries for our own classroom blog that we thought would be engaging to readers of all ages and grade levels. We challenged the thinking of peers and polished our own thinking.
And perhaps most interesting is that all of this work was ungraded and done out of class time! Because Darfur doesn't directly connect to my social studies curriculum, work on this project was optional and completed either at home or during recess.
What lessons does this hold for middle grades educators? Why was this project so successful and so motivating to the students of my classroom? Clearly, grades weren't the driving force behind their decisions to get involved. If it wasn't grades, what was the hook that generated so much meaningful participation in a school-related project that took place beyond the classroom and required a serious investment of time and energy?
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