Advancing Technology 2009

TechMatters 2010

2010-02-23T14:01:00.000-08:00

Visit our series blog at http://rwptechmatters2010.blogspot.com/.

Please also use visit our GoogleDoc (http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfxwmv49_40g9gxrcc2) to share any comments, tips, musings, and the like.

We're a Full-Service ATI Blog

2009-06-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

Participant Contract

2009-06-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

In addition to extrinsic rewards like the welcome gifts (jump drive, RWP keychain) and intrinsic rewards (knowledge, fun, support, resources, camaraderie), ATI2009 participation also comes with a $500 stipend: $200 at the end of the summer, $200 at the end of the 2009-2010 school year, and $100 at the end of your workshop (or approved project). (Please note that the payment plan may change—resulting, most probably, in faster payouts—depending upon RWP budget needs.)

In order to reap these extrinsic and intrinsic benefits, you really must:

Bring morning munchies one day during the summer session.
Attend both days of all three summer sessions.
Commit to making up the activities, time, and contributions of anything you miss.
Attempt everything on the agenda. You don’t have to fall in love with everything we do, and after you’ve tried everything, you can vow never to use/do it again, but we do ask that you try on everything. Otherwise, how will you know how well it fits?
Undertake a modest technology project of your choosing to launch with your students during the 2009-2010 school year—and please do pick something in which you are interested, not just something pressed on you from above, below, or next to you. This is your time.
Maintain an in-house blog to chronicle and support your tech project that includes some WRs, related reading, vocabulary, troubleshooting / FAQ / TechTip information, and other tech-project materials.
Develop and deliver a workshop based on your tech project. If you don’t want to or can’t give a workshop, you must negotiate an alternative project with the RWP Tech Team.
Arrange and attend a coaching session if you give a workshop; participate in someone else’s coaching session if you do not give a workshop.
Participate in monthly school-year eSessions by posting responses to WRs—and do so on time.
Contribute by lending moral support to your colleagues, sharing resources, and offering suggestions for improving the directions/descriptions available on the blog.
Notify Tracy if you want to cloak any WR or deny access to your material once we go public in May 2010. (We will keep our work—WRs, blogs, and the like—private during the 2009-2010 school year, but we would like to “publish” our work and activities at the end of that period. We will respect your privacy, of course; we just need to know what you want kept out of the limelight.)

We acknowledge that the money isn’t great, but we can promise that ATI2009 will deliver that for which the Writing Project is rightfully famous: sanctioned time and support to do the things in our classrooms that we already want to do.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

2009-06-13T14:46:00.006-07:00

Morning Munchies and Computer Startings (9:00-9:15)
A Luxurious Morning of Self-Directed Tech Work That Begins with the I'm-Gonna Shout out (9:15-12:15)

Anne: Working with Armeda on their idea-exchange wiki--using WikiSpaces
Armeda: Working with Anne on their idea-exchange wiki--using WetPaint
Catherine: Working with Tracy on follow-up protocols
Nicolette: Working on Moodle stuff: groups, wikis
Rachel: Working with Glogster poster, working into wiki
Sue: Developing her wiki assignment and planning Virtual Friday schedule
Tracy: Moving GeekGoodies to RWPTechCache
Vicki: Playing with WikiSpaces, working to create something that MAY work at school

One Cool Thing (somewhere in the middle of the Luxurious Morning of Self-Directed Tech Work session)
WR#10 (some time during the Luxurious Morning of Self-Directed Tech Work session)
Recording Our "I'm a TC: Six Words and RWP's 35 Minutes of Writing" Segments (some time during the Luxurious Morning of Self-Directed Tech Work session)
Lunch (12:15-1:15)
Digital Citizenship: Slaying the Dragons through Education (1:15-3:15)
Talking (out) of the Day (3:15-4:00)

Friday, August 14, 2009

2009-06-13T14:46:00.005-07:00

Morning Munchies and Computer Startings (9:00-9:15)
Show Me the Money: Completing Payment Forms and Reviewing Payment Schedule (9:15-9:30)
Faith and Freedom: The Wonders of Wikis Workshop (9:30-11:30)
WR#10 Postponed to Saturday Morning's Work Session
Lunch (11:30-12:15)
The Making of a Good Modest Tech Project (MTP) (12:15-2:15)--which Includes WR#11: Focusing Your MTP
Working the Workshop Circuit (2:15-2:30)
I'm a TC: Six Words and RWP's 35 Minutes of Writing--Introduction (2:30-3:00)
(Visit CBS's "Your Three Words" archive for a peek at this project's genesis and then get ready to record yours tomorrow.)
Talking (out) of the Day (3:30-4:00)

Saturday, July 11, 2009

2009-06-13T14:46:00.003-07:00

Booting up: Munchies and Machines
(Please try to make room for yesterday's neglected WR#7 some time before 9:15 or in the afternoon. Thank you.)
VoiceThread Workshop
Lunch
WR#8
A Luxurious Afternoon of Self-Directed Tech Work That Begins with the I'm-Gonna Shout out
Talking out (of) the Day
And Then There Was Homework (WR#9). . . .

Friday, July 10, 2009

2009-06-13T14:46:00.001-07:00

Booting up: Munchies and Machines
Ring around the Blogs: Sharing Our Blog Progressions and Realizations
Visions of Visual Aids: When a Picture from a Computer Screen Really Is Worth a Thousand Words
Publishing Google Docs to Blogger: A Demonstration
Screenshots, Screencasts, and Suns: The Magic of Jing and the Wonder of Word
Lunch
Moodle Workshop
Talking out (of) the Day

Saturday, June 20, 2009

2009-06-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

Morning Munchies and Computer Startings
Blogging Workshop and the Elements of Digital Design (follow this link to our Blogs on Parade musings and design considerations)
Lunch
Building the ATI Blog
A Luxurious Afternoon of (Mostly) Self-Directed, (Mostly) Self-Selected Tech Work
(Follow this link to blogging resources.)
Publishing from GooDocs to Blogger
WR#4 ??
Talking out (of) the Day
Homework

Friday, June 19, 2009

2009-06-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

(Re)Introductions, Preview, ATI2009 Blog, Contract, and Goodies
Stoplight Vocabulary: Taking Stock (Blog, Wiki, Webpage, RSS, Podcast, Digital Storytelling, VoiceThread, Email, MP3, Social Bookmarking, Listserv, HTML, Webcast, Flickr, Microblogging, Google, YouTube / TeacherTube, Screen Capture, Facebook, Moodle, Creative Commons, Wikipedia)
To the Computers!

Firefox and Tabbed Browsing
Your Google Account

Google Docs
Writing Response #1
Break
Preparing to Read Richardson: Group Definitions
Reading Richardson: "The Educator's Guide to the Read/Write Web"
Writing Response #2: Responding to Richardson
Organizing GooDocs
Lunch
MTP Talk: Preview, Show and Tell, Brainstorm
During the ATI, we will experience/practice Blogger, Delicious, Seedwiki, moodles,VoiceThread, digiStories, and Jing)
Social Bookmarking with Delicious
Talking out (of) the Day

2009-06-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

Observations| Possibilities| The Elements of Digital Design

Blog Hunt Observations

Sometimes we have to get past our initial preferences (for color, for instance, or for aesthetic appeal) to scroll down--to give the blog a chance beyond the first screen.
Initial visual impact is important.
Titles can help our readers to get into our sites.
We use different monitor sizes, so we MUST pay attention to what visitors see per screenload.
Architecture is important: what role does text play, for instance?
Short, sweet, and layered = good!
We like links.
Take advantage of multiple layers: video, text, links, graphics, catchy titles ("Lose 30 Pounds in 30 Days")
Update cycle matters. If the blogger has lost interest, then why should visitors stay? Find ways to reveal our attention, our interaction/engagement with the site we've launched.
Maybe if we have launched and then abandoned a site we've outgrown, find a way to explain / contextualize the site for readers.
Comments grant life.
Elementary sites offer lots of pictures of the students; high school sites offer a picture of the teacher and lots of announcements/work. Why? Maybe elementary school is focused on students but high school is more focused on subjects/curriculum?
We really do like images. And color. It's true.
People who blog read other people's blogs.
We are intrigued by the idea of blogs as community builders and/or representatives.
We appreciate when blogs link / open to related blogs.
The writing is critical.
Write like ourselves, and make sure we write only when we have something to say, when we have something worth saying, worth reading.
If we are going to be bloggers, we should probably also read other blogs.
It's true: we do like to interact: commenting, following links.
We need to embrace the need/drive/interest in personalization--in the pretty play.
Blogs are multi-modal.

ATI2009 Blog Possibilities--We Can Start as Many as We Want

Modest Tech Project Blog
Modest Tech Project Workshop Blog
ATI2009 Blog
Personal Blog (maybe we should start with this one before we try one)
Classroom Blog
Cooking Blog
Hobby Blog
Gardening Blog
Reality TV Blog ;)
More

The Elements of Digital Design

Have a concept: communicate a message
Communicate--don't decorate
Speak with one visual voice
Use two typefaces maximum--or maybe three
Show one thing first
Negative space is magical
Treat type as an image
Be universal--it's not about you
Squish and separate: create rhythms
Distribute light and dark
Be decisive
Make what you need; don't scavenge
Ignore fashion
Move it: static = dull
Symmetry is the ultimate evil--or be conscious of symmetry and asymmetry
Appreciate code and what it can do
Be clear about the purpose of the site
Speed is something that means good
Remember basic design concepts
Create page layouts that have clear and strong concepts
Use restraint in color schemes
Make text readable
Proofread and test site
Do not clutter with annoying or moving stuff
Threes are better than twos; odds are generally better than evens
Remember the rule of thirds
More stuff I was too slow to capture

Group Definitions from Richardson

2009-06-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

Blogs can look like websites.
Blogs are a bit more clunky than GooDocs in responding to threads and communicating with each other.

Wiki platforms are:

PB Wiki = educators
Seedwiki
Wikispaces

RSS Feeds can be good for research (RSS = "really simple syndication")
Feeds can be focused (got purple from Anne)
Feeds can help us keep track of friends' blogs
RSS Feeds can help us keep track of all of our online communities

Social Bookmarking: Delicious can be cumbersome
SB can be helpful for saving research results

Podcasts are audio clips that can be accessed online
Podcasting allows us to share in-class products with those outside the classroom
NPR has lots of very great stuff

BlogLog

2009-06-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Some Personal Blogs

Some Professional Blogs

Faith and Freedom: The Wonders of Wikis Workshop

2009-06-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Agenda:

Wikis in Plain English (Video)
Tracy's Sad Seedwiki Story
New Game Plan: Search and Conquer (or Making the Best of an Bad Situation)
Choices (Follow this link to wiki resources: readings, samples, platforms):

Compare Wiki Platforms: Armeda will check out wiki options
Create a Wiki on Any Platform: Sue will WikiMoodle | Nicolette will WikiMoodle | Rachel will WikiSpaces | Catherine will create a graphic repository
Collect and Annotate Classroom Wiki Projects:
Research / Read about Wikis and/or Educational Wiki Projects: Armeda will do this, too | Catherine will do this, too | Anne will read first
Create Wiki Assignments: Nicolette will do this, too |

Status of the ATI: Who Is Doing What with Her Time
WR#10: Please take thirty minutes to record / catalogue / present / teach based on your Search and Conquer activities. Did you compare wiki platforms? List pros and cons. Did you collect classroom wiki projects? Create an annotated link list. Did you--well, you get the picture. (Postponed to Saturday morning's work session.)
Show and Tell

WR#5

2009-06-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

Read at least one tech-related article and:

Identify and summarize the article,
Respond to it, and
Develop a Writing Response prompt that grows from your reading.

Please post WR#5 to GooDocs by Monday, July 6 (follow this link if you would appreciate a reminder about how to do so). Please response on GooDocs to your colleagues' WRs before Friday, July 10. Thank you.

Some things to consider:

Topic Selection: Do you want to read an article relating to something you encountered this weekend? to your MTP? or to something about which you want to learn more? The choice is yours.
Article Selection: Do you want to make your selection from the "For Your Reading Pleasure" list, or do you want to locate an article on your own? (If you locate an interesting article that does not already appear on our list, please email the link to Tracy at tdd2@humboldt.edu so it can be added to our blog's eLibrary. Thank you.)
Prompt Selection: As you craft this portion of WR#5, please think about prompts to which you would like to respond. The prompt does not need to rely upon the article you read--but it can. We will collect these WR prompts and use the most promising to generate school-year follow-though reflections. So make it good. No pressure.

WR#4

2009-06-01T20:15:00.001-07:00

What have you named your blog, and what URL have you chosen (or been forced to chose)? Why?

What function do you want your blog to serve? What do you want to include in your blog? What audience do you envision? Please feel free to share your rationale.

Please take post your response to Google Docs on or before Monday, July 6. Follow this link for directions. Once you've posted your response, please read and respond to your colleagues' entries before Friday, July 10. Thank you.

WR#3

2009-06-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

Please describe your experiences with blogging. What do you already know about blogging? How might a blog enhance your ATI2009 experience and/or support your Modest Tech Project (MTP)?

This will be a private WR: you will have ten full minutes to write your response, and you will not share or read/respond to others' WRs.

On Wikis

2009-06-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

on this page: readings | sample projects | free wikis

Readings about Wikis:

"When Starting a Wiki, Don't Forget about Design"
"Wikis started out as the simplest thing that could possibly work. With that goal, making wikis visually pleasing wasn’t an afterthought – it was deliberately ignored. Now that wikis have entered the mainstream and are being used for a broad range of purposes, its time to step back and remember why design is important. If you want people to stay (and come back) after finding your wiki for the first time, you need to consider your site’s design beyond the generic one provided by the wiki software you’re using." read more
"Does Your Wiki Need a Spring Cleaning?"
"City planners will tell you that an abandoned building can sit untouched for years, but as soon as a single window is broken, vandalism of the building escalates quickly. In programming, this happens with bad or unused code that programmers come across but leave, hesitant to touch someone else’s work. In your wiki, it happens with “dead” pages that are long past their useful life and need to be deleted." read more
"Revision Isn't Cleaning up after the Party; It Is the Party"
"I agree with Kimberly that email is not the right tool, but the phone, teleconference, and meetings aren’t necessarily ideal either. It’s hard to get people together at the same time, something that physical and phone meetings require. What you need is a tool that puts the content online in a shared space, gives everyone access when it’s convenient for their schedules and time zones, and encourages revision." read more
"Enterprise Wiki Software Guide: Tools and Capabilities"
"Looking for a wiki for your team or organization? Do you need to host it on-site, or would you like one that’s hosted for you and ready to go? Do you need to integrate it with other enterprise tools, like email, SharePoint, or your intranet? These are just a couple of the important questions you’ll likely be asking, and one of the following wiki tools may be the right one for you." read more
"Wikis in Education: Teaching Students to Share Knowledge"
"Wikis are gaining popularity in an educational setting as a way to give students a hands-on learning tool. Providers see the demand and are creating wiki tools to help teachers make wider user of wikis in the classroom." read more
"Interview: The State of Wikis in Education"
"Last week, Arielle Pandolph, a graduate student in the College of Information Studies at Florida State University, contacted me to discuss wikis for a course project. She’s currently a student in Dr. Lisa Tripp’s Design and Production of Media Resources course. Arielle says. . . ." read more
"Top 10 Organizational Wiki Tips (and How to Use Them)"
"Grassroots is best. Start from the bottom-up so people build a sense of ownership of their wiki contributions." read more
"How a Wiki Affected This Class: Romantic Audience Project"
"Caveat: the following are thoughts from just one >" border="0">teacher, after a fairly successful use of this Wiki in the classroom. I'm sure my >" border="0">students would have several items to add here. But they've escaped...." read more
"Wikis in School Projects"
"Wikis should be great tools for building student-project documentation, right? They should also be great tools within businesses. But they aren't getting used as much as the proponents think they should. " read more
eLearning: Learning in the 21st Century (National Writing Project TL)
Wikis: "Best Practice" Tools for Collaboration (National Writing Project TL)
Terry Warren on PBWiki
Karen Montgomery on PBWiki
St. Francis Xavier Community School on PBWiki
Four-Letter Words: How Wiki and Edit Are Making the Internet a Better Learning Tool
The LTC Wiki: Experiences Integrating a Wiki in Instruction
Wiki-Based Collaboration and Academic Publishing
The New Learning Landscape
Ways to Use Wiki in Education
Brian Lamb's "Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not"--touted as "a must-read for anyone thinking about how to use a wiki in education"
"Four Free Wikis Worth Trying out"
"As Wikipedia grew in popularity, becoming the eighth most visited site on the Web, many companies decided to purchase and build wikis internally to help enable better communication, knowledge sharing, collaboration and project management between employees. " read more

Tracy's Wiki Projects (for as long as they exist)

Free Wikis (with Apologies to Orcas Everywhere and in No Particular Order)

On Web 2.0 and Technology in General

2009-06-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

Shari Dinkins' "Learning to Teach Tech-Savvy Students" (Inside Higher Ed)
The Machine is Us/ing Us (YouTube)
Digital Divide? What Digital Divide? (T.H.E. Journal) An article about social networking by students, complete with statistics, to support why teachers need to teach digital citizenship.
International Education Technology Standards for Students (International Society for Technology in Education 2007)
"Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK): Confronting the Wicked Problems of Teaching with Technology" (Michigan State University)

Blogging Workshop

2009-06-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Private Writing: WR#3
Private Reading: Read one of the four following "locations." (You are welcome but certainly not required to add notes to WR#3 as you read/reflect.)
- SupportBlogging.com
- "1-Question Interview"
- "Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers"
- Creative Commons' "Blogs in Plain English" (if you have headphones)
Pair Share
Blog Hunt
For several of the blogs listed in the BlogLog (follow link), please consider the following questions. We suggest you examine blogs from each of the categories--pedagogical, professional, personal, and educators on--and we urge you select titles after you've reviewed the list so that we do not all look at the same three or four blogs. Thank you. Please also think about posting to Delicious the URLs of the blogs you really like.
- What is the blog's purpose? How does the blogger communicate her purpose? How well does the blog communicate its purpose?
- Does the blog address or target a particular audience? If so, how? How might you describe a representative audience member?
- In what ways does the blog engage the reader visually?
- What elements are present? For example, are there links, video clips, photographic images, graphic images, text, etc.? How do these elements help communicate a message?
- Does the blog elicit response? If so, how and/or what kinds of response are evident? To what extent are readers invited to participate: to comment or to post?
- What can you learn from the blog's title and URL?
Whole-Group Debriefing: Blogs on Parade
- What did we notice?
- How many different ways might we use our own ATI blogs?
Break
The Elements of Digital Design
Lunch
Building the ATI Blog
A Luxurious Afternoon of (Mostly) Self-Directed, (Mostly) Self-Selected Tech Work: Everyone needs to launch an ATI blog; after that launch, participants may continue working on the blog or spend time with del.icio.us or do more work with GooDocs. (Follow this link to blogging resources.)

Creative Commons' "Blogs in Plain English"

2009-06-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

Screenshots, Screencasts, and Suns: The Magic of Jing and the Wonder of Word

2009-06-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

What Is This "Screencapture"? (demo)
WR#6
Find a page on our ATI blog or on yours--something you can use for screencapture practice.
Activate Jing: from the Mac platform on your lab computer, double click on the HD icon, select "Applications," and find Jing. You'll be prompted to create an account now. Please do so. (Later, from home, if you do not see a happy half-sun at the top center or top right of your screen, look in your programs menu via the start menu. It might be in the TechSmith subfolder.)
Capture the blog page you selected (above) by hovering over on the happy half-sun at the top center of your screen, clicking on the far-right tentacle that emerges (look for the plus sign), waiting for the yellow axis lines to appear (it takes a while the first time--be patient), anchoring the intersection of those lines at one edge of the view you want to capture and dragging the intersection to outline the image view, and letting go of the mouse. Select the "capture image" option (look for square graphic on far left of the bottom option bar), name the graphic when prompted, and select the "save" option, making sure you're saving to the desktop or to your jumpdrive. For now, please ignore Jing's mark-up options.

a screencaptured image of screencapture images
Open Word. Paste your new image into a new document. Give your image a title somewhere on the page, and save your document to your jumpdrive.
Play with your image: add a border, change the border's weight/size, experiment with shadows, whatever.
Now play with your image some more:
- From the "Insert" menu, draw a shape--circle, square, fat arrow, starburst, whatever--around some part of your image. Play with the shape's color and weight.
- Use the "Colors and Lines" tab of the "Format Object" window/menu to set the color transparency to 100%. Otherwise, you won't be able to see the stuff you circled/squared/whatevered through the shape.
- Again, from the "Insert" menu, draw an arrow to the thing you circled/squared/whatevered; play with the shape's outline color and weight.
- Insert a text box to explain the thing you first circled/squared/whatevered.
- Use the "Grouping" function to turn those three separate shapes into one graphic and to tie the additions to the original graphic.
Now that you have practiced, please begin working on a set of illustrated directions for the process you identified in WR#6. Feel free to take a break during this work session.
Break
If you haven't already done so, create a Jing account. You've probably already been prompted to do this . . . it's just been so long for me.
What Is This "Screencast"? (demo)
Please take the time remaining before our noon lunch break to create a quick, silent screencast for the procedure identified in WR#6--but please also be sure to save time for WR#7. . . .
WR#7

How to Use Blogger

2009-06-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

Follow this link to download a printer-friendly version of these directions--with pictures!

Go to Google: www.google.com. Click on “Sign in.”
If you already have a Google account, sign in. If you don’t, create one now. Please note that if you create an account, you will also need access to your email to retrieve the confirmation information.
Once you have signed in, select the "even more" option from the "more" drop-down menu.
Follow the “Blogger” link, and sign in to Blogger using your Google password.
Click on the blue “Create a Blog” button.
Follow the steps to create your blog: decide what to call your blog, how to find it, and what it will look like. You can always change your blog’s design later, but you cannot change the URL, so please select carefully: select a blog title that describes your blog's content and that is, preferably, easy to remember).
To post a message or to publish your work, click on the “New Post” link. To change the look of your blog, click on the “Customize” link.
Once you are on the “Customize” page, find the "Layout" tab. From the “Layout” tab, you can add page elements (like a video bar, links to your favorite websites, pictures, inspirational quotations, lists of favorite authors, etc.), you can rearrange these elements on your page (even after you’ve added content), you can change your font colors and sizes, and you can select a new template. Explore the options available from the other tabs--especially "Posting."

The “Settings” tab in the “Customize” screen grants access to several important options. From the “Settings” menu, you can select “Comments” to decide who can leave comments on your blog and whether you want to protect against spamming by selecting the “Word Verification” option. The “Permissions” screen allows you to determine who can read your blog, to invite readers/contributors, and to grant administrative status.

Every new post you create shows up in the center of your blog space. That might be okay with you, especially if you've set your blog to accept a large number of posts, but if you want to simplify your layout--and the navigation--consider setting your blog to show zero posts (go to "Customize," then "Settings," then "Formatting"--then set the "Show" number to zero posts), and then create and link to separate pages in your blog (as I've done with our "Agendas," "Writing Response Prompts," "ATI2009 Documents and Resources," other portions of our blog).

Click on the "New Post" option located in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Title your post. Put something--anything--in the post body.
Once you have completed your post, click on the orange "PUBLISH POST" button at the bottom left of the screen. (You can always go back to revise your post--even after you publish it.)
Select "Edit Posts" tab, and click on the “View” link next to the post you just created.
Once you arrive at the view of page you just posted, right click once in the browser's address line, and from the resultant pop-up menu, select "Copy."
To place the link, go to "Customize," and edit one of the links page elements you have already created, or create a new links section by clicking on the "Adding a Gadget" links and adding "Links List" or "Text."
Title your Links List (Assignments, Essays, Problem Sets--whatever you need), paste the URL you copied in step five, and title the "New Site Name" (Assignment #425, Persuasive Essay, Calculating Sine Problem Set, etc.).
Click on the orange "Save Changes" button, and then view your blog to see what you've created. Note: you can also link to another website (blog, image, video feed, etc.) by starting again at step six and pasting that link into the URL space.

Play. Have fun. You can always change your mind later. Just do not hit the big, blue “Delete This Blog” button on the “Basic” page!

To make sure your ATI2009 colleagues can access your blog, please:

Follow the "Customize" link, and open the "Settings" tab.
Select "Permissions" and in the "Blog Readers" box, select "Only People I Chose," and then click on the blue "ADD READERS" button.
Paste our email addresses (from the ATI2009: Our Email Addresses Google Doc) into the appropriate box. Once you've finished, click on the orange "INVITE" button.

Follow this BlogLog link for a long list of sample blogs. Please also check out the Blogging Resources page. For a look at Tracy's first video capture attempting to show how to create a Blogger post, please follow this link.

Please consider adding your blog to the RWP Blogs on Parade by emailing Tracy with your URL. I will link your blog to the RWP website.

On 'Casting

2009-06-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

Our Blogs

2009-06-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

Sue's Battered Suitcase
Ms. D's Page
Mr. Vack's Room 12
Vicki's Northern CA Trailrider
The Grand World of Doc
Anne's Experimental Blog
Nicolette's Dirty Deeds Garden Blog

visit our delicious sites

2009-06-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

Anne: honors_teacher

Armeda: docreitzela

Catherine: catharnold

Harriet:

Marsha: mkmielke

Nicolette:

Rachel: rdavis1369

Sue: skm27

Tracy

Tyler: tvack

Vicki: 1VK

Redwood Writing Project

ID: RedwoodWritingProject | PW: rwp234nhw

.

WR#1

2009-06-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

What (kind of) technology do you currently use?
What (kind of) technology do you need in your life? in your classroom?
What (kind of) technology do you want in your life? in your classroom?

Please take a full 15-20 minutes to post your response to Google Docs. Follow this link for directions. Once you've posted your response, please take the remaining 10 minutes to read and respond to others' responses. Thank you.

Tips, Tricks, and Insider Cool

2009-06-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

Know a shortcut? Have a neat trick to share? Let Tracy know.

On Blogging

2009-06-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

Kevin Hodgson's "Bringing the World to My Doorstep: A Teacher's Blog-Reading Habits" (National Writing Project)
Katie Ash's "Educators Test the Limits of Twitter Microblogging Tool" (Digital Directions: Trends and Advice for K-12 Technology Leaders)
Anne Davis' "Rationale for Educational Blogging" (University of Georgia)
Jack Vinson's "Blogging in a KM Class--Summary"

Follow this BlogLog link for a long list of sample blogs. Please also check out the Blogging Resources page.

Tracy Duckart

2009-06-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

Redwood Writing Project
Technology Programs Director

Humboldt State University
Acting Composition Director
Composition Instructor

National Writing Project
Tech Liaison Network Leadership Team Member

tdd2@humboldt.edu | 707.826.5958 | www.humboldt.edu/~tdd2
.

WR#2

2009-06-01T16:38:00.000-07:00

After reading Will Richardson's "The Educator's Guide to the Read/Write Web," please think--and write--about some element of your pedagogy that could benefit from a technology infusion. If you’ve already selected a tech project (blogging, for example), please feel free to focus on how you want to infuse that thing into your curriculum, what you want it to support.

Please take a full 20 minutes to post your response to Google Docs. Follow this link for directions. Once you've posted your response, please take the next 15 minutes to read and respond to someone else's. Thank you.

How to Use Google Docs

2009-06-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

Please follow this link to download a printer-friendly version of these guidelines.

Go to Google, and click on the “Sign in” link in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
If you do not yet have a Google account, please take this opportunity to create one now by clicking on the “Create an account now” link in the middle of the right-hand side of the screen.
If you do have a Google account, please sign in now.
Once you’re back at the familiar Google search screen, select “Documents” from the “more‚” drop-down menu.
To post your response to a writing prompt, please create a new document by selecting the “Document” link from the "New" drop-down menu in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
Please save your new document immediately by clicking on “Untitled” in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Please include in your title the following information: ATI2009, your name, and the number of the writing prompt to which you are responding (ATI2009: Tracy's WR#1). Thank you.
Type your response to the writing prompt.
When you are ready to publish your response—to make it visible to our group only—please save your document and then click on the “Docs Home” link in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Once there, open the "ATI2009: Our Email Addresses for Copy and Paste."
Copy the email addresses, click on the “Docs Home” link in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, and from there, open your WR document again.
Now use the blue "Share" button in the upper right-hand portion of your screen, and select the first option: "Share with others." Invite us as "collaborators," please, and leave the bottom two boxes checked. Once you've hit the "Invite collaborators" button, you can skip sending the invitation. You will know you are successful when you see our email addresses appear as collaborators in the right-hand portion of the screen.
To edit any entry--yours or one to which another has invited you--simply click on the title to open that document and edit.

On RSS

2009-06-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Chris Heuer's "Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic and RSS--The 4 Rs" (Social Media Club)
Kevin Hodgson's "Bringing the World to My Doorstep: A Teacher's Blog-Reading Habits" (National Writing Project)

WR#15

2009-06-01T15:12:00.002-07:00

WR#14

2009-06-01T15:12:00.001-07:00

How to Use Delicious

2009-06-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

Follow this link to download a printer-friendly version--with pictures!

Go to www.delicious.com. Click on the green "Join Now" button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Of course, if you already have a Delicious account, sign in, and skip to step four.
Provide the requested information.
Because we are in a computer lab and not at our own computers, please skip steps two and three of this sign-in process. The next time you are on your own computer(s), however, definitely add the buttons, and import your existing bookmarks. Both of these initial steps will save lots of time later--and encourage you to embrace Delicious.
To save/enter a bookmark, click on the blue "Save a new bookmark" link in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. (Of course, at your own computer(s), you can add browser buttons from the options available here. You will need to perform said button task only once.)
Provide the requested information--any remaining blanks you want filled in, anyway (Delicious fills in as much as it can for you). Taking a few minutes now to fill in (or correct Delicious' guesses about) these blanks carefully become especially important later, as you build your BookMark Empire; you can also, however, reconfigure them later. No pressure. Once you are finished, click the green "Save" button. Please note that Delicious assumes you want to share your bookmarks with anyone who wants to see what you've been saving, but it also respects your privacy. If you want to delegate a bookmark For Your Eyes Only, click the "Do Not Share" box. (Heck, I don't need the world to know which online pharmacy I use or that I'm looking into moonlighting as a notary.)
Play Time: Please take the next half hour or so to add a gaggle of bookmarks. Not sure what to bookmark? How about your email server? online communities? news sources? school information? merchants?
Once you have collected a few bookmarks, look at the information Delicious provides about your selections. Not only can you see the number of bookmarks filed under each tag (check out the right-hand column of your screen), you can view those bookmarks only by clicking on the tag name. Not only does the blue box to the right of each entry reveal the number of Delicious users who have also bookmarked that particular site, it also allows you to go find out just who these people are--well, what they've bookmarked, anyway. If these folks share similar interests, you can visit and claim some of their other bookmarks as well.
Delicious allows you to peek at what select others are bookmarking through its network options. Click on the "My Network" option under the gray "People" drop-down menu at the top of your screen; then use the blue-box commands in the upper right-hand corner of your screen to add Delicious users to your network, to group those users into "bundles" (ATI2009, for instance, or Knitting Buddies), and to manage those bundles.
Read about the four exciting options available under the "Blogging" section of your "Settings" page about how to share some of your Delicious via your blog or website.

Bookmark this on Delicious

CommonCraft's "Social Bookmarking in Plain English"

WR#13

2009-06-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

How to Use iGoogle

2009-06-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

iGoogle is a personalized start-up, or homepage. It allows one to customize a web browser by adding web feeds and gadgets. A mini product tour is available here:

In order to personalize a page, first create a Google Account beginning at the Google Accounts Page.

Google Apps contains free web applications and allows one to customize a domain name for use with a particular organization or group of people. Applications include Gmail, Google Calendar, Talk, Docs and Sites. The Education Edition is free.

How to Use Jing

2009-06-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

Jing is a free screen-capture service that allows you to make graphic images from your computer screen and modify those images to include text boxes, arrows, and the like. Jing also allows you to record screen casts: a "movie" of your keyboard and mouse movements across your screen. Think of the how-to directions and video possibilities!

You can save your images to your computer for printing or for upload to the web, or you can park your images/videos on the Jing website--which means you do not need to monopolize your own online "space" with your saved graphics/movies. Did I mention that this is a free service?

Jing's directions are fairly friendly and easy to follow. If you're interested, please go to www.jingproject.com to download the free software. If you do take advantage of this exciting opportunity, please include your endeavors on your ATI2008 blog so that we may oooh and ahhh appropriately. Thank you.

For samples of Tracy's endeavors, please visit the following sites:

ATI2008 Blogger Directions
RWP Site Council Directions for Posting to Blogger (click on the "Follow this link" link here or there)

How to Use Google Page Creator

2009-06-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

Page Creator connects to your blog through a link. The advantage of using Page Creator is that it can be printed or read by your audience without the distractions of other posts or comments. Follow this link to print the instructions and see an example.

To return to this page, use your browser's back button.

Towards Digital Citizenship

2009-06-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

.

To "Slaying the Dragons through Education" PowerPoint

On VoiceThread

2009-06-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

Tom Barrett's "Seventeen Interesting Ways to Use VoiceThread in the Classroom"

On Social Bookmarking

2009-06-01T14:15:00.003-07:00

On Moodles

2009-06-01T14:15:00.002-07:00

On Digital Storytelling

2009-06-01T14:15:00.001-07:00

How to Use Seedwiki

2009-06-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

Creating a Seedwiki Account
Go to www.seedwiki.com and look under the green “atomic data” box in the upper, right-hand corner of the screen.

If you already have an account, please sign in now.
If you do not yet have an account, please create one by clicking on the blue “start your own account” link and provide the requested information.
When you finish either step, click on the blue “start a new wiki” link.
Please carefully select your wiki title for relevance of topic, ease of recall, and appearance in title. You might consider a “wiki construction” by judiciously using capital letters to avoid spaces (which will show up in your URL as _ ) like “wikiDic” or “sproutWiki” or “TechWeenieWiki.” Seedwiki will keep prompting you for a wiki name if the one you entered is already taken.

Creating Your Wiki's Homepage
When you first create it, your wiki homepage looks, well, like crap. So here's what to do:

Click on the “Edit” button in the gray menu bar on the top of the page. You will soon find yourself on a wordprocessory-looking page. Just as you would in Word, highlight everything in the text area and delete it.
Find an appropriate location for a list of your wiki’s sections (a table of contents, if you will, or link list), type each topic or descriptor, and then place [square brackets] around that description.
Now click on the “Save Your Changes” button. Doing so will get you back to our homepage where you will see the description you typed followed by a blue (hyperlinked) question mark.
Clicking on the question mark will direct you to your new page.

Keeping Abreast of Contributions
If you want to be notified of changes and contributions to your wiki, you can create a subscription that will automatically send you an email whenever you or others make changes. You will need to subscribe only once, and you can always cancel your subscription later. To subscribe, once you’re on your home page, please click on the “subscribe to wiki” link located above the “log out” button on the left-hand side of the screen.

Embracing the Medium (or: Don't Fear the Wiki)
The wonder of wikis is that anyone can add or change or delete content from any page. That means that we can support each other by adding content or clarity to material others of us have posted. And please do not worry about ruining yours or anyone else's page: Seedwiki keeps track of all the changes made—follow the “versions” tab at the top of the screen--allowing contributors to revert to a previous version of that page. So if you or another contributor (or a vandal) mess something up, you can erase that mess by reverting to a previous version. See? It's goof proof. So relax. And have fun.

Seedwiki Tips
Accepting Seedwiki:

The first thing you need to know is that Seedwiki works best with Firefox and that Seedwiki hates Safari; it's ambivelent about Explorer.
The second thing you need to know is that Seedwiki usually does not support the right-click option. Oh, right clicking will bring up a menu, but you can't use it. It's an unkind tease. Use your browser's edit menu instead.

Creating a Link on Seedwiki:

Highlight the word(s) you want to link, and then click on the “Insert/Edit Link” icon: the blue globe with a chain link in front of it located just above the font-selection box. Type in the URL as prompted; hit “okay.” This is one of the few instances in which the right-click paste function will work. Go figure.
If you want to get fancy, once you've created your link, highlight that link, right click to find the "Edit Link" option, select the "Target" tab from the resultant dialogue box, and then specify "New Window" so that you link will open in a new window.

Copying an Image to Seedwiki:

First Method: Right click on the image you want to copy; from the right-click menu, select “Copy Image Location.” Return to the page edit section of your wiki page, and click on the “Insert/Edit Image” icon, the one that looks like a little, yellow envelope near the right-hand corner of the page. Once the “Image Properties” dialogue box appears, paste the URL you copied with the right click into the URL box. DO NOT click “okay”; instead, in the same dialogue box, click on the “Upload” tab. NOW you may click “okay.”
Second Method: Right click on the image you want to copy; from the right-click menu, select “Save Image As” and remember where you parked the image (desktop, etc.). Return to the page edit section of your wiki page, and click on the “Insert/Edit Image” icon, the one that looks like a little, yellow envelope near the right-hand corner of the page. Once the “Images Properties” dialogue box appears, select the “Upload or Download Image” button, which will open the “Coldfusion File Manager” dialogue box. Once there, click on the “Browse” button, and find the image you just saved to your desktop (or wherever you saved it). Once the filename appears in the “Upload File” box, click on the “Upload” button. That will return you to the “Image Properties” dialogue box. Click “Okay.”

Positioning an Image in Seedwiki:
I frequently use tables when I add graphics to my wiki sites. If you want to add tables to your wiki page, follow these steps:

While in edit mode, place your cursor in the spot where you want to place your table. Click on the “Insert/Edit Table” icon: the white box with the blue top located between the smiley and the “Insert/Edit Picture” icon.
Determine the number of rows and columns you wish. If you want a border around your table, select its thickness by increasing the border size. I usually set mine to zero, however, because I like an invisible table. Click “Okay.”
Type directly into the cells, cut and paste text into the cells, insert pictures into the cells—whatever you want to do.

The seedwiki site offers a good deal of help, so I’ll not duplicate that information here—except to mention that both the “directory” and “changes” buttons on the left side of the screen lead to a screen with a tabbed menu. The “control panel & how to” tab leads to a pretty helpful menu, and I’ve found all kinds of neat things there. Check ‘em out. And play! Please.

Two of my own wiki pages of which I am moderately proud:

On Digital Design

2009-06-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

On Digital Citizenship

2009-06-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

Vicki Kurtz's "Slaying the Dragons through Education" PowerPoint

How to Publish to Blogger from Google Docs

2009-06-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

From an open (and saved!) Google Docs document, select "Publish as web page . . ." from the blue "Share" drop-down menu.
Select the "Post to blog" option.
From the "Blog Site Settings" dialogue box, select "Hosted provider" and Blogger.com.
Provide the requested information, and click on the "OK" button. Please note that GooDocs asks for your blog's URL/ID--for the title you have given it--not the URL. You will know you're successful when the "Republish post" and "Remove from blog" buttons appear.

On Twitter

2009-06-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

The Elements of Digital Design

2009-06-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

To understand the meaning of design is...to understand the part form and content play...and to realize that design is also commentary, opinion, a point of view, and social responsibility. To design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit; it is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse.

Design is both a verb and a noun. It is the beginning as well as the end, the process and the product of imagination.

Paul Rand Graphic Designer
From his book, Design, Form and Chaos,
Yale University Press, New Haven, 1993

WR#3A: Private Writing: Based on your experience with Blogs on Parade, please make a list of 5-10 design principles that you value.
Choose a font style from a magazine, book, or web site and identify it using Identifont
Choose the Register tab to create a new account on Adobe's Kuler
- Choose a link from the bottom left menu and read about color theory.
- Indulge in some color play, create a new color theme, name it, tag it, and share it please.
Whole group discussion related to elements of design prompted by: "Twenty Reminders for Working Designers" from Timothy Samara's book, Design Elements_A Graphic Style Manual, Rockport Publishers, Inc., 2007.
Return to your Private Writing please. How might you modify your list? What do you want to keep in mind as you begin to design your blog? (Follow this link to review our findings.)

For fun, watch Helvetica, a PBS Independent Lens film which explores the history of Helvetica type.

"The Educator's Guide to the Read/Write Web" by Will Richardson

2009-06-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

Did you post to your blog today?" "Have you tried using a wiki for that?" "Furl anything this week?"

No, these aren't survey questions from the Tech Geek Dating Service. They're questions centered around the new content creation and publication tools available for the Internet — tools that many teachers and students are using to enhance learning.

The Internet is no longer simply a place where digital learners consume information. It is now also a forum through which users can publish and broadcast their own writing. Weblogs, wikis, podcasts, and similar tools introduced over the last few years have ushered in the "Read/Write Web," a phenomenon that is changing the face of journalism, politics, business, and other areas of society Classrooms are beginning to feel these effects as well, as thousands of teachers and students use the Web to publish their work, collaborate on projects, and engage in online conversations.

Cool Tools of the Read/Write Web

Let's look at the new technologies that support the Read/Write Web.

As Easy as Posting on a Blog

One key tool is Weblogs, or blogs, which enable anyone to create a personal or group Web site without needing to learn hypertext markup language. All it takes to share content with a worldwide audience is to log in, enter text into a box on the screen, and click on publish. Like traditional Web sites, blogs can incorporate graphics and multimedia. But unlike traditional sites, blogs allow online conversations among users; most blogs allow any visitor to post public comments about the site's contents.

Tens of millions of bloggers around the world, many of them high school students, regularly add their ideas and perspectives to the massive body of information that is the Web. Although many youth treat blogs as simple online diaries, some students and teachers use them as vehicles to draw out critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Teachers are using blogs to build classroom resource portals and to foster online learning communities. Students create online, reflective, interactive portfolios of their work to share with worldwide audiences.

For example, at Hunterdon High School in Flemington, New Jersey, where I teach, students have used blogs to collaborate with authors of the books they are reading in literature classes; to contact professional mentors in journalism classes; and to communicate with high schoolers from Krakow, Poland, as part of a unit on the Holocaust.

Wikis: The Beauty of Collaboration

Wikis are an even more open and collaborative content creation tool. Wiki is the Hawaiian word for quick. A wiki is a Web site that anyone can edit at any time. The most visible example of the potential of wikis is Wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia with more than 500,000 entries. Each entry is continually shaped by anonymous contributors who log on to the encyclopedia and add new or clarifying information as the need arises.

Wikipedia is not only an amazing information source but also an example of the power of the Read/Write Web. Every day, thousands of people with no physical connection to one another engage in the purposeful work of negotiating and creating this accurate online resource by editing, deleting, or restoring its content. They do this with no expectation that their contributions will be acknowledged or compensated, understanding that the writing they contribute can be freely edited, modified, or copied by anyone else. There are no technological safeguards against a user putting bogus information into the site or vandalizing an entry; the community of people using the wiki keeps the information accurate by policing itself. If anyone enters erroneous information or vandalizes the site, another user usually repairs the damage. Hard as it is to believe, in the majority of cases the community maintains a high degree of accuracy and appropriateness. The extent and quality of contributions to Wikipedia are truly inspiring. Students and teachers in classes ranging from media studies to physics are collaboratively building their own wikis that feature lists of annotated resources and links relevant to the course curriculum that can be shared with future classes.

Feeds, Social Bookmarking, and Podcasting

Another new digital tool is Really Simple Syndication (RSS). Really Simple Syndication enables people to subscribe to various feeds of information-data that are continually streamed and collected into a file with the help of a tool called an aggregator. RSS aggregators check this information stream as regularly as every hour to see if there is anything new for RSS subscribers to read when they are ready; if there is, the aggregator copies and stores it. Just about all Weblog software automatically generates an RSS feed. When various feeds are collected by an aggregator, keeping up with 50 or even 100 different blogs becomes relatively easy. Any new content that appears on any of the targeted blogs is automatically collected and stored.

Hundreds of traditional media outlets like The New York Times, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal now offer RSS feeds for their content. Users can create feeds connected to specific search terms at sites like Yahoo! News, so that any new information about a topic is automatically collected in the aggregator. Teachers and students can use this new way of collecting information to broaden the scope of their reading and research. A student doing a project on global warming, for example, can create RSS feeds that will bring him or her the latest research on the topic almost as soon as it is published.

But collecting information is only half of the process. Certain new tools also enable users to archive and share relevant information. With social book-marking sites like Furl.net and del.icio.us, users can not only save a site address, as traditional bookmarking does, but also save a copy of the Web site itself in a searchable folder. What makes this tool social is the ability to subscribe, without special permission, to RSS feeds of what another user is saving. Social bookmarking enables teachers to leverage the collaborative efforts of like-minded professionals to mine information on the Internet.

Another way to share information on the Web is podcasting, which can best be described as creating amateur home radio programs and widely distributing them on the Web. Thousands of podcasters are creating and broadcasting content that people can listen to whenever their schedule allows, not just at the hour it is broadcast. Students across the United States are podcasting audio tours of local museums and points of interest, weekly news programs about their classrooms, oral histories and interviews, and more. New and easier ways to publish multimedia screen captures and digital video on the Web create even more opportunities for sending multimedia creations to a potentially large audience. Although a student's audience may be limited to teachers and peers at the outset, that audience can quickly grow as the student shares links and ideas with other bloggers and podcasters. The awareness of even a small audience can significantly change the way a student approaches writing and other school assignments. It's the difference between handing a piece in to a teacher and publishing it.

What the New Tools Demand of Us

These new digital tools enable everyday Internet users to digitally disseminate their ideas and experiences, a reality that has implications for leaching. Teachers must consider whether our curriculums should change now that students have the ability to reach audiences far beyond our classroom walls and to acquire their own primary sources. How should we rethink the concept of literacy now that students can instantly become not only readers and writers, but also editors and collaborators? How do we best put to use the reams of writing that this new writable Web provides?

Educators around the world are attempting to answer these tough questions. Adjusting to the Read/Write Web is not as simple as moving students from writing essays on paper to writing essays on a blog. Teachers and students must learn to navigate the complexities that accompany a publishing environment that is more transparent, interactive, and collaborative than ever before.

This explosion of online content demands a more complex definition of what it means to be literate. For more than 100 years, we have defined literacy as being able to read and write. Although those core abilities are still central to learning, however, they are no longer enough to ensure understanding and meaningful participation in the exchange of ideas online. Now that anyone with an Internet connection can publish and disseminate content with no editorial review process, consumers of Web content need to be editors as well as readers. They need to know how to identify the source of a piece of information, gauge that sources reputation, compare the information with what's already known, and make a judgment about its authenticity and relevance. We must teach students how to actively question and evaluate published information instead of passively accepting it as legitimate.

In addition, to take part in this rich digital conversation, teachers and students must become competent in Web publishing. It's no longer enough to simply consume information; we must engage with that information and share what we have learned in appropriate ways. Every person with Internet access now has a multimedia printing press at his or her disposal, an outlet with potential to do as much harm as good. Students need to understand the many ways in which they can appropriately share ideas and creations online. Teachers can facilitate this understanding by taking part in online collaborations, editing Wikipedia, and setting up blogs about their teaching practice.

To be literate in the age of the Read/Write Web means to skillfully manage the flood of information now available. Google regularly scans in information from more than 50 million books from the worlds biggest research libraries, and a new blog is created every two seconds. Literate Internet users need strategies for sorting out, storing, and using relevant information from this outpouring.

Challenging Traditional Pedagogy

The Read/Write Web poses additional challenges to our thinking and methodology as educators. As more content becomes available online, it becomes less appropriate to rely on traditional curriculum delivery methods like textbooks and handouts. More current -and in many cases, more relevant -information is as close as a Google search. Many teachers and students have already begun writing their own textbooks online, cobbling together links and annotated reading lists that future classes can build on. Much like the open source software movement, this "open content" model begs for a more collaborative assembly of course materials.

The Read/Write Web should prompt teachers to rethink their roles. With millions of knowledgeable people posting blogs, for example, students may find scientists, writers, or researchers willing to guide their study of a topic who have more content-area expertise than a classroom teacher. In such situations, the teachers role shifts from a content expert to a guide who shows students how to find and evaluate online resources, communicate with experts whom they encounter online, and publish their own creations that result from such encounters. Classroom teachers should become content creators in their own right so that they can model appropriate use of these tools.

The tools of the Read/Write Web facilitate students collaborative construction of meaningful knowledge. Schools have traditionally demanded that students work independently and produce content mainly for their teacher. Digital tools allow students to easily work together outside school — for example, collaborating on projects through instant messaging or text messaging on phones — and to share the results of that work with a broader audience. We should encourage such collaboration and outreach. Instead of just collecting student work to be graded and discarded at the end of the year, teachers could urge students to publish their work online so that others can learn from that work and interact with students about the ideas it contains.

The Web can also act as a student notebook or portfolio, a searchable repository capturing evidence of what a student has learned throughout his or her education. This gives students opportunities for important metacognitive reflection on their own learning.

Risks and Benefits

Obviously, the transparency created by the Read/Write Web creates risks as well as opportunities. Schools need to think through the potential privacy and safety implications that go along with widespread publishing of student-created content. How widely students should post their work online and whether they should connect their names with it depend on a range of factors — including the comfort level of adults involved, the capabilities of the software being used, and differing state and national laws.

Because much of the educational value of tools that enable students to publish their work online stems from students' potential to reach a broad audience, such decisions are crucial. Teachers employing these tools must monitor student use and teach students how to use the tools safely to enhance learning. We must also show students how to deal with inappropriate content that they may come across during their Web travels. Some schools attempt to block inappropriate Web sites from students, whereas other schools teach students how to make intelligent decisions about content that they encounter and how to react wisely if they stumble across something unsuitable.

I believe that the potential enhancements to student learning that the new Read/Write Web entails outweigh these manageable risks. The Web has become a vehicle through which students and teachers can share what they have learned in meaningful, purposeful ways. It is a place where students of disparate backgrounds can build connections and learn collaboratively with mentors and experts. And it's a place where every person with Internet access can join an ongoing global conversation.

The old read-only Web was itself a transformative technology that changed the way our students work, learn, and communicate. The new Read/Write Web will change their lives even more.

Tools like blogs, wikis, and podcasts help students find authentic audiences for their work.

~~~~~~~~

By Will Richardson

Will Richardson is Supervisor of Instructional Technology at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, New Jersey; 908-310-6546; weblogged@gmail.com. He is author of the upcoming book The Educator's Guide to Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Dynamic Internet Tools That Are Transforming Classrooms (Corwin Press, March 2006).

Richardson, Will. "The Educator's Guide to the Read/Write Web." Educational Leadership 63.4 (2006): 24-28. Academic Search Elite. EBSCOhost. Humboldt State University. 24 July 2007 . http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.humboldt.edu/ehost.

Blogging Resources

2009-06-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

1-Question Interview--Index Page
ProBlogger Darren Rowse "asked 14 of {his} favorite bloggers what they’d do differently if they were starting their blog again today. Their responses were varied" and are available on the index page linked above.

50 Great Widgets for Your Blog
Helpful, fun, and/or sexy additions for your blog: painter-a-day service, world timeclocks, etc.

Blogs in Plain English
A YouTube video demystifying blogs.

CreativeCommons
Free artwork, music, and tools.

The Cutest Blog on the Block
Free backgrounds, banners, and extras for personalizing blogs as well as secrets and tips from experienced blognuts.

EduBlogs
This free blogging platform bills itself as "the largest education community on the Internet."

Habits of Highly Successful Bloggers
ProBlogger Darren Rowse lists his readers' responses to the one-question interview he posed to "14 of {his} favorite bloggers."

Feed2Podcast.com
The dotcom makes me think that this product probably isn't free, but it enables bloggers to have people listen to their blogs rather than just reading them. It may prove useful.

MediaMaster
MM bills itself as "the best music experience on the web for accessing, listening and sharing your music collection." It allows you to upload your music and/or radio station to your blog so that you or others may listen to selections from your collection anywhere you can get an Internet collection. This one looks like a feebie to me.

MyStudiyo
Online software for creating quizzes to post on /embed in blogs and websites.

PodCast
The site bills itself as "the largest podcast collection on the web." "Find, play, and share audio and video podcasts from all over the world on Podcast.com and access them on any mobile device. "

Support Blogging
As "an opportunity for students, teachers, administrators, parents, and others to help promote an understanding of the benefits of educational blogging," SupportBlogging! is an invaluable resource offering linked lists of blogs, bloggers, and blog builders.

Warlick, David F. Classroom Blogging. 2^nd ed. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, 2007.
This book provides practical, step-by-step advice for teachers about using free web services to establish blogs, wikis and podcasts for classroom use. Warlick’s Blog, Exactly 2 Cents Worth, http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/ has many links to help teachers explore reading / writing / multimedia publishing options available on the web. Among these is http://supportblogging.com/Educational+Blogging

Why Let Our Students Blog?
A YouTube Video by Teachers for Teachers

Wordle
"Wordle is a toy for generating 'word clouds' from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. "

WordPress
Free blogs and blogging help.

Thirteen Ways to Drive Blog Readership

Other Thoughts

Add your del.icio.us badge to your blog?
Add your Facebook badge to your blog?

How to Get Coaching and Schedule a Workshop

2009-06-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

Audience is not just who; it's also when and where.

How do we identify an audience for our workshops?

Find folks already ready for / interested in your topic
Find out level of tech savvy and tech readiness
Consider how much time the workshop gets
Find the hook: how audience members need and can use and will have fun with your topic
Survey participants ahead of time (SurveyMonkey.com = free)

How do we want to schedule / arrange / allow time for pre-workshop coaching sessions?

Workshopper does an eMail Shout Out via GoogleGroups: identify topic and venue and time required and, maybe, level of readiness
Meet-O-Matic (free!)

What questions should coaches ask of presenters?

Is there anything you particularly want me to address?
What do you think is good about your workshop? What do you think needs improvement / may not work / or is AFU?
What is the purpose of the workshop? The goal, the point?
Who is your audience? WHY?
What is the goal / value / applicability of the technology?
How much time do you have?
Is this a show-and-tell or a hands-on workshop?
How much do you expect your audience to know already?
Do you want the audience to have prepared anything in advance?
What technology do you need? Do you have or need a Marsha or a Grace?
What kind of handouts do you need to prepare? How much do you need to have posted ahead of time? Business cards? Post cards?
How will you evaluate your workshop and/or yourself?
Would
you like to debrief after the workshop? On what do you think you'll
focus during your debriefing? Should the debriefing happen online or
in person?

What questions should presenters ask of their coaches? (Turn into statements that form a checklist.)

Can you tell what the purpose is?
How's my timing/pacing?
How's the variety of activities?
Are my handouts clear?
Are my explanations on my handouts clear?
Is my agenda good?
How am I acknowledging the expertise of the participants?
Am I addressing adult learners?
How are participants really participating?
Can you suggest other resources?
Is there too much or is this a manageable chunk?
Do you think I'm integrating technology well?
Is it purposeful?
Is the show-and-tell portion(s) balanced well with the hands-on portion(s)?
How can I communicate my expertise without bragging?
Have I provided sufficient resources for my audience to continue past the workshop itself?
How can I provide further support for my participants? Series? Support groups? Online resources? Now, how can I get compensated ($$$$$) for this after-workshop work?

How can we publicize our workshops?

Word of mouth
Listservs
Venue's publicity
HCOE catalog
RWP Website
NCJ (free) online calendar
Press releases (stuff from RWP)
"Publicizing Your Workshop" checklist from RWP (on the website, too)
Letters to administrators
Flyers to school sites--beware the blind blanket
Disseminating flyers via TCs and key contacts and other advocates
Postcards (mailers)
Target audiences!
Consider credential applicants, pre-service teachers

Workshop Information:

Presenters get $100 for the first workshop--no matter what (I think)
Once
we have sufficient paying customers, presenters get $100/hour. This'll
help us decide what the break-even point is: the point at which we
determine whether we have enough paying customers to do the workshop.
After the break-even point, the remaining income is split between
presenter (70%) and RWP (30%). SO, If I want $1500 for a 15-hour
workshop, I need a minimum of 10 people at $250 each (and RWP gets
$750).

Possible Workshop Venues

Tech Series: 2-hour sessions
Spring Conference: 1.25-2.5 hour sessions,
ISI Visitor's Day: Invitational Summer Institute
HSU Comp Program Meeting: September 12 and October 31 plus other, TBA dates, too
School Inservice--and Go East, Young Women!
Other Writing Project sites
CATE (Anne Sahlberg)
NWP
IRA
CRA
NCTE (all show and tell)
EdTech institutions

Workshop Alternatives (This is different from ATIHomey Support)

Tech mentoring (which can include on-site tech support)--Lauralee is available and eager
Designing an online course
Create a how-to website
Create a techEd repository for RWP
In addition to something else, serving as IT person for conferences
Creating a web video: TeacherTube how-tos and whatnot
EduSpaces.net something

ATI2009 Documents and Resources

2009-06-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

Technology Resources on the Web

2009-06-01T11:59:00.001-07:00

For Your Reading Pleasure

2009-06-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

For Your Edification (and Amusement)

2009-06-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

FreeRice: Educational Charitable and Vocabulary Game
Frog Leap Puzzle: Are You Smarter than a Second Grader?
Judson Laipply's "The Evolution of Dance"
Taylor Mali's "The Impotence of Proofreading"
Taylor Mali's "What Do Teachers Really Make?"
The Merchants of Cool: A Report on the Creators and Marketers of Popular Culture for Teenagers
Type Racer: Practice Typing, Compete, and Read Lit--All at the Same Time
TypeTees at Threadless.com: For funnyt-shirts sporting slogans like "The definition of suspense is . . ." and "Honk if you're about to run me over" and "I supplement my personality with witty t-shirts."
Virtual Bubble Wrap

On Social Networking

2009-06-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

Bibliography of Research on Social Networking Sites
A huge linked list, much of selections peer reviewed. Impressive.

Clay Shirkey on "How Twitter Can Make History

Tracy Duckart's Profile | Create Your Badge

WR#3A

2009-06-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Based on your experience with Blogs on Parade, please make a list of 5-10 design principles that you value. Once you've explored Identifont and Kuler, return to this list. How might you modify your list? What do you want to keep in mind as you begin to design your blog?

This is private writing. Although you are welcome to do so, you are not required to share or comment.

WR#12

2009-06-01T11:50:00.002-07:00

WR#11

2009-06-01T11:50:00.001-07:00

Focusing Your MTP

What are the goals of your MTP?
What technology/technologies will your MTP use? What challenges or limitations will these technologies present in your classroom/district?
What is your MTP time line? Where will you begin?
How does your MTP relate to curricular/technology standards?
What type of support will you likely need as you develop your MTP?
How will you evaluate/share the effectiveness of your MTP?
What possible venues/formats might you use to share your work with other teachers?

Please post your response to Google Docs. Follow this link for directions. Once you've posted your response, please take a few minutes to read and respond to someone else's. Thank you.

WR#10

2009-06-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

Please take thirty minutes to record / catalogue / present / teach based on your Search and Conquer activities. Did you compare wiki platforms? List pros and cons. Did you collect classroom wiki projects? Create an annotated link list. Did you--well, you get the picture.

Please post your response to Google Docs. Follow this link for directions. Once you've posted your response, please take a few minutes to read and respond to someone else's. Thank you.

WR#9

2009-06-01T11:49:00.003-07:00

Please read two different tech-related articles from the National Writing Project. We have picked one for everyone to read; you get to pick the second on a topic of your choice from NWP's tech resources list.

The Article We Will All Read: "Keeping the Promise of the 21st Century: Bringing Classroom Teaching into the Digital Age." This four-page report from Inverness Research summarizes/analyzes the ways in which NWP's technology initiatives support teachers and students. (If the link above fails or gets wonky, try this avenue: http://www.nwp.org /cs/public/print/resource/2865.)
The Listing of Articles from Which We Can Select Our Own:
Technology Liaison Network Resources List
Technology Initiative Resources List
(These lists actually contain many of the same resources but in a different order.)

Now please interact in writing with the articles in some way. Maybe one of these ideas will provide a fruitful platform for that interaction:

What is interesting about the two articles you read? exciting? depressing? inspiring?
Write a review of one or both articles. Please give yourself permission to pick an audience for this review: Atlantic Monthly, Highlights Magazine, California English, TV Guide, National Enquirer, Playboy (I'm told it has good articles), Christian Science Monitor, Cook's Illustrated, Backwoods Home, the NY Post, your own blog. . . .
Write a letter to the author(s) on behalf of your students, their parents, or your school or district.
Sketch the plotline and cast the actors for a movie based on either article. Use VoiceThread or Jing to create a pitch for your sliver-screen venture.
Summarize the article by crafting a string of Tweets.
Draft a writing assignment based on what you read.

Please post WR#9 to GooDocs by Monday, August 10 (follow this link if you would appreciate a reminder about how to do so). Please response on GooDocs to your colleagues' WRs before Friday, August 14. Thank you.

WR#8

2009-06-01T11:49:00.002-07:00

Please consider every application we've encountered so far this summer: Google Docs, Delicious, Blogger, Jing, Moodles, and VoiceThread. Now please give yourself permission to envision every conceivable classroom and/or professional application that you can. Make the world's wildest list. Next, please imagine the things that are working well in your classroom and/or your professional life? What things aren't? Now look back at your wild list. What can, realistically, make the good things good and the bad things better? Pick one and write about that for a bit.

Now what are you going to work on this afternoon? Please be prepared to declare your goals.

WR#7

2009-06-01T11:49:00.001-07:00

Now that you've Jinged, please give yourself some time to consider pros and cons. Please also reconsider potential applications. When might you Jing? When might your students? When should you eschew Jing?

This goes into a GoogleDoc, of course, but in the interest of time, you do not need to read and respond to others. Please do share this WR, however, and feel welcome to respond, if the spirit takes you. . . .

WR#6

2009-06-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

From the list we just generated (or from the light recesses of your mind), please identify two or three processes you would like to explain--preferably to your fall students or colleagues.
From that shorter list, please identify one process you think will benefit most from pictures available on a computer screen.
Finally, quickly list the steps associated with this final process, and indicate which of these steps offer screencapture opportunities.

Please do not stress about making this perfect: it is a draft, one you can revise as often as you would like.

If you're stumped about what process to describe or you just don't want to play with one of your own ideas right now, please consider describing the Jing process. You'll notice that I've not provided the step-by-step-with-pictures guide with this workshop, and I welcome the opportunity to publish yours. Interested?

Summer Access

2009-06-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

account name: hsuc3002

password: r1V#YWHL

Visions of Visual Aids: When a Picture from a Computer Screen Really Is Worth a Thousand Words

2009-06-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

Primary Sources for History
Google Maps of Something(s)
Personal Information about Authors: person, home, country, pets, booze, opium pipe
Making PowerPoints
Pictures of Rabid Animals
Videos of How Rabid Animals Act
Videos/Pictures of Students Working
Diagrams
Sue's Postings: Pictures and Text in Posts
Evacuation Procedures