Module 10

Learning Communities, Constructing Knowledge Together

As we approach Term 4, my Year 3 class have a unit that continues from Term 3. In it they have used various Scootle Learning Paths. Over the year they have used Kidspiration, Bubbl.us, PowerPoint, Publisher, Flip Video, sound recording using Audacity, video, internet, myclasses, .... For their final presentation they are allowed to present it in any format they choose. Interestingly, they are using a wide variety of the tools available to them, some working co-operatively together, others not.

The work that they will be doing really does aim towards the "creating" in Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. Given the skills and the opportunity, students will use the tools of Web 2.0 to construct knowledge (maybe not always together just yet). It allows for students to become more responsible for their own learning and to individualise the learning for each student.

I think that there are still some privacy and security issues for younger students using some Web 2.0 tools, especially creating accounts that may be public. One of these days 'myinternet' (or its successor) might include some of these tools.

It is interesting that nearly every student in the class now has a 'flash drive' to take their information and work with them. Maybe, we are fast approaching the time when 'cloud computing' will become the norm.

Module 9

Networks on the Web

There was not very much new in this unit.

Scootle: I am the school administrator for Scootle, and my class use Scootle for HSIE, Science and English activities. I have set up a number of Learning Paths, and have shared these publicly. Year 3 seem to love "Catch the Thief"!

Facebook: Through Facebook I have been able to keep in contact with many former colleagues and past students. I do think that we need to be careful as to what we put on Facebook and if we let current parents and students become friends. I think it would be extremely unwise to allow current students to add you as a friend, and would certainly not recommend it.

Twitter: I do like keeping up with what the mighty Parramatta Eels are up to in Sydney and the Carlton Blues in Melbourne (and even the Sydney Swans). Kevin Rudd (PM) and Barry O'Farrell (State Opposition Leader) are also prolific users. At the recent NSWCEG Conference I heard how St. Mark's College, Stanhope Gardens keep in touch with parents and students using Twitter and was impressed. They even used it to advise the Athletics Carnival had to be postponed.

Module 8

RSS

At first I couldn't see any real use for using Google Reader or an RSS aggregator. I set up Reader and all it really did was use the items from my iGoogle homepage - not particularly impressive. However, I did play around with it a bit and found an article from New Zealand on using blogs in English teaching, and I suddenly had that Eureka! moment.

If students in your class had all set up blogs, how would you ever be able to tell when something had changed without checking them all individually? The answer is use Google Reader, so it tells you when something has changed.

I can see that Google Reader (or similar) could be a tool that might be very valuable to teachers using Web 2.0