Maggie Tsai just posted a link to The Becta Report on the Benefits Web 2.0 in the Classroom, “a major new research into the use of Web 2.0 technologies, such as wikis, blogs and social networking by children between the ages of 11-16, both in and out of the school environment.” In a nutshell, the report found a disconnect between the increasing amount of Web 2.0 use students reported using outside of school and the limited use of Web 2.0 during the school day. But in observing schools and teachers who are innovating with Web 2.0 tools, they found the following benefits:

Web 2.0 helps to encourage student engagement and increase participation – particularly among quieter pupils, who can use it to work collaboratively online, without the anxiety of having to raise questions in front of peers in class – or by enabling expression through less traditional media such as video.

Teachers have reported that the use of social networking technology can encourage online discussion amongst students outside school.

Web 2.0 can be available anytime, anywhere, which encourages some individuals to extend their learning through further investigation into topics that interest them.

Pupils feel a sense of ownership and engagement when they publish their work online and this can encourage attention to detail and an overall improved quality of work. Some teachers reported using publication of work to encourage peer assessment.”

I think the research being compiled by the U.K.’s Becta Group complements the 2008 findings shared by the Pew Internet/American Life Project in collaboration with the National Commission on the Teaching of Writing. Two sections of this report jumped out at me because both can easily be addressed by integrating Web 2.0 into the classroom:

Teens are motivated to write by relevant topics, high expectations, an
interested audience and opportunities to write creatively.

Teens write for a variety of reasons—as part of a school assignment, to get a good grade, to stay in touch with friends, to share their artistic creations with others or simply to put their thoughts to paper (whether virtual or otherwise). In our focus groups, teens said they are motivated to write when they can select topics that are relevant to their lives and interests, and report greater enjoyment of school writing when they have the opportunity to write creatively. Having teachers or other adults who challenge them, present them with interesting curricula and give them detailed feedback also serves as a motivator for teens. Teens also report writing for an audience motivates them to write and write well.”

Teens believe that the writing instruction they receive in school could be
improved.

Most teens feel that additional instruction and focus on writing in school would help improve their writing even further. Our survey asked teens whether their writing skills would be improved by two potential changes to their school curricula: teachers having them spend more time writing in class, and teachers using more computer-based tools(such as games, writing help programs or websites, or multimedia) to teach writing. Overall, 82% of teens feel that additional in-class writing time would improve their writing abilities and 78% feel the same way about their teachers using computer-based writing tools.”

In conversations with teachers in and around California and across the nation (via the National Writing Project and the National Council for Teachers of English), my colleagues have shared that lack of access to computers can present a huge obstacle to integrating Web 2.0 into their curriculum. Particularly at elementary sites, many school computer labs are designated for automated assessment (e.g., Accelerated Reader, All the Right Type, Exam View Pro generated quizzes), a bit of MS Office, and “learning” games. At many middle and high schools, computer labs are reserved for particular technology courses, generally not connected to the core curriculum (e.g., MS Office, Web Design, AutoCad). Therefore an English or Social Studies teacher, for instance, seeking to connect students via the Internet with students in other locations for the purpose of collaborating, creating, and sharing authentic research projects often faces a constant scheduling battle.

In my own district, school sites are attempting to solve access issues in a variety of ways. One elementary site, for instance, furnished a second computer lab, leaving the original lab for drill/test/play and the second for classroom teachers to schedule time for curriculum-related projects. Thanks to funding through the federally-funded EETT grant, three elementary sites will be getting grade-level (4th and 5th grade) laptop carts. At one of our high school sites, an English teacher is asking permission for his students to be allowed to use their cell phones during his class, as the blogging project his students are joining that will connect them to students in Utah, New Mexico, New York, and Maine, can be accessed by cell phone.

What other successful models are out there for providing students with Web 2.0 access within the core curriculum of the school day? I welcome your ideas, questions, and examples – and non-examples too.

Being pretty much visually challenged myself, I’m hoping this workshop moves me beyond “making ugly stuff.” The presenter is opening with a quote on visualization: “The abilty to undestand and use image including the ability the think, learn, and express onself in terms of images.” – Robert Braden.

• Looking at petroglyphs – and checking for meaning. Hard for us to interpet because we don’t get visual language.
• Knowledge representaion can be described through verbal (spoken/written words) or visual (symbols/icons). What if we began teaching students the power of that combination?
• Visual literacy theory – it’s another language. How do you know when to go to visual communication? You probably know instinctively when a clipart or image would work better than text.

Type – Everything should match your message (size, shape, white space, added shapes). Get rid of default text – and no more centering of titles.

Color – Hue (color). Colors changed based on influence of surrounding colors. When using complementary colors, make one th dominate color and the other the accent color. Analogous colors create a calming effect. Psychology of colors – they evoke passion and emotional response.

General guideline: choose four harmonic colors: primary, type, secondary, accent. Hint: consider using dark gray type instead of black; it creates a more calming effect and is easier to read.

Actions (how you manipulate the tools

• contrast – check out Robin Williams Non-designers Design Book.
• repetition – Be careful that you actually use same shade of red, for instance.
• alignment – Nothing should be placed on page arbitrarily. Remember that white space can be good; so think about “chunking.”
• proximity – Items relating to each other should be grouped together

Resource: dafont.com- tons of fun fonts. Clipart.com – fee-based service, but offers visual representations for hundreds of words. Gifworks.com – free and offers many imag

Gail is opening the session with the Issac’s Storm video (great storm in 1900 in Galveston) to accompany book read by elementary students. The movie was created in PhotoStory3. She’s comparing the Issac visual representation to Ike’s storm effects via Animoto.com (love this program, but it’s blocked in my district). Same music even, but much more “modern” looking.

Primary resources to go with Around the Great Hornspoon:

• Art of the Gold Rush from the Oakland Museum
• Library of Congress Gold rush images
• Podcasts with professional readers sharing from actual journals: http://californialegacy.org/podcast/podcast.xml
• Simulations from CBS
• Revision sheet from author of Great Hornspoon – http://www.sidfleischman.com/biography.html
• Motivations: Google Lit Trips via Google Earth (but remember to download a KMZ file)

Moving on to The Quiltmaker’s Journey:

• http://enchantedlearning.com/paint/artisits/amishquilt/ – math end of quilts
• drawing a grid with math tie-in – www.billbear4kids.com/
• other lessons in book:
  • kindness, generosity (make posters, make PSAs
• Moments in Time – Wisconsin Public Television
• Jan Brett’s website – Town Mouse Country Mask – checkout website for masks, finger puppets, videos on how to draw characters
• Lemony Snickett’s website: Checkout the videos. Great samples for filmmaking.
• The Arrival – Showcasing my friend Monica Edinger’s classroom project and author visit.
• StoryNory – audio versions of books with historical tie-ins (e.g., Cinderella stories)
• Moments in Time – Wisconsin Public Television
• Digital Media Overdrive - Audio files of hundreds of books!
• LibriVox – Audio books to download (public domain)
• State of Florida – huge repository of books by reading level/grade level
• Bookhive – storytelling as an entry point – great way to engage students and to model inflection and fluency.
• Book Pals Storyline – Check out Lou Diamond-Phillips reading Polar Express and their Readers Theater
• Read Write Think - Simply the best for literature-based activities and book list
• Google Book search – In some cases you can embed the stories into a blog or wiki
• www.mywebspiration.com – Free and you can invite collaborators – Similar to Bubbl.us for mindmaps. Being a long-term fan of Inspiration, I’m loving having the free version, which allows you to upload any mindmaps you’ve created in the full-blown program.

Great session. I’ll try to get to her afternoon session.

Using CoverItLive to blog Cheryl Lemke’s afternoon session.

Alice Mercer, my friend and next-door-neighbor from Sac City USD, is starting her session on tech for EL students – and special ed too, starting with her third Grade on Friendship.

Alice’s tips on where to infuse technology:

• record pair shares and oral responses
• Use online visual tools (Inspiration)
• Scan and post student drawings
• Photograph realia and post
• Post student writing with voice over and images to support
• Record Readers Theater
• Do reports on topics

On to  Alice’s take on VoiceThread – like PowerPoint online – Uses VT for front end loading. Concept & Question board. Flickr – sign up for Safe Search parameters + Creative Commons licensing. Teach older students how to do favoring. Select images, right click and save image location. Into menu of VT. Flickr = your own. So use URL, right click and paste to import pictures. be sure to add URL links for credit. Using comment tool, have kids record.

Other tools and suggestions:

• Anita Archer technique: What would be an example of friendship – or non-friendship.

• Advanced unit: lexipedia.com – Online thesaurus. Has speaker option too.

• Motivator – makes posters.

• Start PowerPoint and move into MovieMaker- upgrades PPt because kids write script. Amy Bissonett – Intellectual Properties attorney – helped get permission to transform a Hampton-Brown story. Transformation intellectually by extending the character’s actions via radio show. Transformation = Fair Use.

• BrainPop – use at beginning or end? Gary Stager upset about BrainPop’s simplicity – but serves as great into our summation.

Lots of well-deserved applause for Alice’s preso:-)

I’m heading into ILC Session 2 with Rushton Hurley, one of my favorite presenters from NECC 2008. He starts in a few minutes, but already has Simon’s Cat playing for our waiting entertainment.

Rushton’s starting with statement that kids learn more when they’re having a good time – and I’ll add – teachers too – which is pretty much guaranteed with Rushton’s style.

Address for Rushton’s preos resources: snurl.com

Why Google stuff?

• powerful
• collaborative
• well-prices
• time-efficient

Google Doc, Spreadsheets, and Presentations – Allow us to create Office application stuff online. Google Docs online eliminates “living hell” of sending versions back and forth. Shared spreadsheet of collaborative blogging projects. Google Presentations – allows kids to get to presentation at anytime as long as you identify kids as viewers and collaborators.

Google Notebook – Another collaborative piece. Download a plugin for browser (piclens or CoolIris- calls up photo wall – great way to get kids’ attention. Great for vocabulary. You have option to right-click and note cooliris in Google Notebook. You can put things in sets (like photosynthesis). Just identify someone as a collaborator. But you do have to download plugin. How to use with kids – teaching them to cite their sources.

Google Sites – compared to wiki

Google Earth – Requires plugin

Google Maps – Rather than filtering – is it a good thing that you can see someone’s house? Message to kids: don’t put your address out there. Checkout Google Map on California MIssions.

Sketch Up – 3D modeling program – essentially FREE audocad program. Great tools for designing area, for instance. 3D warehouse – bring in trees for example. Shadow tool, for instance, as you scroll through year, great for initiating discussions.  “We need to use tools in such a way as to really get kids asking questions.” Could be great science tool to because you can do inside too.

Google Book Search – full view – find Danger and Other Stories (Arthur Connan Doyle) – let kids read it on the computer

iGoogle – add widgets (online stopwatch, Nat’l Geo pic of day) It’s a front page

Advanced Search – storyboard template. By file type very useful.

Educators Group – use online resources to find other teachers – classroom posters, organizations, and more!

PowerPoint – Being a Project Amigo Video. (ProjectAmigo.org) No video – all pictures. Big question: is kid listening or not?

Why we do this:

• another way to show learning
• confidence
• improve quality of student work
• good for ELL, LD kids
• personal impact
• expanding the audience

I’m only two sessions into the conference, but I’m sure Rushton’s session will remain at the top of my favorites list.

I first heard Cheryl Lemke, from the Metiri Group, three years ago at a CUE conference. Every conference since, I’ve looked for her name in the program. So here I am at the ILC conference in San Jose, waiting for Cheryl to start her session – already knowing I’ll be leaving the kinds of research gems I can use for future grant writing ventures, such as her recently released paper on multimodal writing.

Her opening question: what are the 2st Century tools that serve 21st century learning? The research shows that it’s not enough to just focus on the cognitive – we have to focus on the social/emotional perspective of learning. Fact: adolescents are now learning 24/7 via mass collaborations. But are we preparing our students to come into venues: peers, home, distributed resources – to work effectively and ethically. It’s all about “learning with understanding.” We now know that it’s not just having the information, but how students take the information and tie it into a schema – which requires out being on board with them.

• Sustained Discussion (Fred Newman) – Like the ball of yarn. Blog example = Meyer’s AP Government - Our Daily Show. How do we jump from just posting to sustained conversations. Having one’s name referenced (via a find) reveals threads = sustained conversation. But how do you get kids to go back and add substantive comments?
  • IES Practice Guide – Sustained discussion increases adolescent literacy, but not much in way of sustained discussions happening in typical classrooms.
• Authenticity
  • Deep Learning (higher order thinking) – Example 1 – ASCEND, Oakland CA, in collaboration with George Lucas Foundation. Uses “expeditionary” learning. Students identify area of inquiry. Teachers tapping into student interests.
    Example 2 – Actionable Algebra (Oklahoma high school teacher)- Teacher poses question that students investigate: for example, what kind of cell phone plan would be best for your family? Students investigate and then turn findings into algebraic formulas. She has podcasts available for students, such as quadratic equations.
    Example 3 – WISE – out of Berkeley. Inquiry science – free! Check out TELS Project or Deformed Frogs (allows teams of students to sign in and saves their work).
  • Student construction of knowledge
  • Relevance beyond the classroom
• Setting up for authentic learning units:
  • Determine what’s the topic (ie Ancient Greece)
  • Who cares about the topic? (travel agents)
  • Potential projects – Kids create historic tours of Greece
• Make preconceptions visible – ie, What keeps a COKE cold? tinfoil or sweater? if you don’t deal with those, they’ll always serve as barriers. Software: Read 180 software: scaffolds prior knowledge, uses video to lay a foundation, and then builds reading, writing, and spelling off that.

Engagement matters! Even the US Dept of Ed realizes this fact.

Measuring levels of engagement – 5 levels:

1. instrinsically motivated – kids tend to have learning goals
2. tactical kids – also learn, but have extrinsic goals ($, get into Harvard)
3. compliant
4. withdrawn
5. defient

Ways to engage kids:

• link content to their interests
• give them choice
• enable collaborationBlogWalker › Edit — WordPress
• ensure intellectual safety
• differentiate
• clearly outline expectations
• assign relevant work
• focus on effort, not intelligence
• facilitate presentations

Visual learning:

• TED Talks – power of visualization with data. GapMinder video.

Democratization of digital content – David Bolinsky via TED – cell biology and animation at Harvard.

Research behind visual learning: Mayer (UCSB) – Great graph on working memory. Shows that we need to worry about motivation in order to get information into students’ working memories. “Just to use text and sound is not to fully tap into learning.”

Great session! I’ll be back for Cheryl’s afternoon session.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the Edublogger community. As as veteran Edublogger (my first EB post was in March 2006), I’ve have been through a few upgrades and therefore know that when EB returns, it’s even better than before. I’m thinking back to June of 2007, when there was a two-weekwindow of down time during upgrades. I was attending a NECC Conference in Atlanta where a number of “big names,” such as Will Richardson, were attempting to introduce EB as part of the their blogging workshops. Because they’re used to working through technology issues, not having access to EB was not that big a deal.

But here’s what’s changed for me … Over the past two weeks, I’ve received many emails from teachers who’ve been in my EB workshops wondering what was going on. OK, this is a huge shift. Since most of my district, county, and A3WP workshops are free, I’m never really sure if my attendees truly want to learn about blogging, or if they are just looking for free units to apply to their salary schedule.

So about those emails….bring ‘um on !What the flood of questions means to me is that I now have a growing bank of teachers who are incorporating Web 2.0 technologies into their teachers’ toolkit. What felt like just a ripple a year ago is starting for feel a tsunami. Welcome back EB!