Friday, 9 November 2007

Learning 2.0 Presentation for SPC Technology Reference Group Monday 19 November 2007

Everything 2.0 - what does it actually mean for education?

In the 90s came the internet and www...

We had the letter "e" invading our comfortable world of chalk and talk. What use to education was all this email and elearning?

This was rapidly followed by an explosion of interest in the letter "i". Has the busy iworld of tunes and phones disturbed our thinking?

In and around these developments, we have had the letter "m" creeping in none to quietly.

Few of us don't have mobiles. But have we looked closely at the potential of mlearning to change our teaching and learning practice?

The latest move has seen us append 2.0 onto almost any term we like. It has the sense of something new, interactive and about you and me. There is a whole new vocabulary to learn.

Web 2.0 social networking and learning applications.

What applications do we mean?

What use are they to teacher and student learning?

What potential might they have to improve achievement?

Web 2.0 definition at wikipedia of course.

MY web 2.0 social learning journey. It's all about joining, using, connecting, networking,sharing and collaborating

Step 1

google is increasingly far more than a search engine. google applications are being born it seems, on a weekly basis. We all know now about google earth or do we?

But have we embraced the personalisation of our learning offered by igoogle ?

google docs for word processing, presentations and spreadsheets all with thepotential to share and collaborate. Here is a great link to show how google docs can be used by teachers

http://www.infinitethinking.org/2007/10/over-past-few-weeks-some-powerful-new.html

This new google tool appeared about 2 months ago. I saved my major links and collections to this site. Much more could be made of this tool.
Have a look at google for educators also and sign up to their regular update emails to highlight new developments and resources..
I have also set up feeds using google reader to receive daily email alerts of new developments related to the search terms I use for all my social software spaces.
Step 2

I set up my del.icio.us account, one of the best known social bookmarking sites. I began posting those URLs that linked to the latest research, articles, blogs, wikis on my search terms.

I am searching these terms with minor variations: web 2.0 learning, social software and social networking

http://del.icio.us/etalbert

I have explored the unique features of other social booking sites including digg, diigoand others. One is enough.

Step 3

I set up my blog with blogspot. It is now a google blog. I have also subscribed to several educator blogs. These

http://talbertstechtalk.blogspot.com/

Step 4

I set up my wiki though wikispaces and was able to get the K12 educator's version to remove the advertisments. I have also subscribed to several educator wikis that keep me right up to date with current practice and events. There are many wiki creation sites and the scene is becoming rapidly more competitive. I use my wiki as a clearing house for ideas, resource links and much more. Wikis epitomise the beta world of web 2.0!

http://talbertstechtalk.wikispaces.com/

How can wikis be used in the classroom?

Group projects: students work together in one place to research, outline, draft and edit projects within the wiki.

Assignments: Post homework, course materials, study guides, and more.

Resource Collections: Organize articles, websites, videos, and other resources for students
Peer Review: Post questions for student brainstorming, or have students post papers for peer feedback
Group FAQ: Students and/or teachers post and respond to questions on a given topic
Parent Involvement: Give parents a chance to be a part of the classroom and stay up to date on classroom news and events
Online Newspaper: Create a student-published online newspaper
Extract from wetpaint wikis

Step 5

I set up my slideshare account. A brilliant tool that allows the formation of groups, favouriting, contact lists, and access to slideshow uplaods from global sources. I have set up three groups to collect the lastest from experts and amateurs (U&I) one for web 2.0 presentations, one for shows related to mlearning and one to capture lesson ides from across the world as exemplars. I also favourite shows I like on nature and personal development.

http://www.slideshare.net/etalbert

Step 6

I created a ning network. I have also subscribed to several educator ning networks. The collaboration, sharing and learning opportunities are unbelievable! I have subscribed to those of educators across the world that are very active, with increasingly active communities.

http://www.ning.com/

http://etools.ning.com/

Educators have achieved benefits for education use - special offers advertisement free for K12 student use

http://www.stevehargadon.com/2007/11/big-news-from-ning-ad-free-student.html

Step 7

I have also dipped into about 15 other applications. I have listed them for reference and occasional access in my wiki. The best of the rest:vodpod, voicethreads,teacher tube.

Step 8 - Check these out at your leisure.

I have just by maintaining the the sites to Step 5, also joined a number of blogs and wikis that are managed by well-known educational technology opinion leaders. I have also created a "blogroll" of these people on my wiki.

http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/

Learing 2.0 blog - 23 Things challenge

http://aquaculturepda.wikispaces.com/

http://aquaculturepda.wikispaces.com/mlearn

Conference update

A message on one of my google groups "teach and learn online" alerted me to some work by local wiki workers.

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/learnweb2/Welcome;jsessionid=514823B554D03E9E2CC303AC5C2F2FF0

7 Steps to a flat classroom

http://coolcatteacher.wikispaces.com/Seven+Steps+to+a+Flat+Classroom

So what is networked learning?

http://melanie1987.wordpress.com/2007/10/31/essay-word-count-1501/

Follow my journey using my wiki links.

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