Not MIA, just busy on other web 2.0 projects.

It has been over one month since I wrote a post. What have I been up to?

Firstly, I have been refining my wiki and slideshare spaces. Both are now as well ordered and accessible as any beta tool can be. I have four groups now on slideshare to accommodate my finds.

Explore my Slideshare groups at: My Slidespace

My most popular group is where I am saving useful slideshows on how to use web2.0 or social media tools in teaching and learning.

I have another where Iam collecting shows that may be useful in teaching various subjects.

This one has less shows,but may become more and more useful as mlearning becomes more possible.

My delicious collection is becoming more and more a resource for my search terms. Have a look see at: http://delicious.com/etalbert

Many of my finds come from free email newsletters and elerts, google reader, RSSMicro search engine, Slideshare and associated groups.

In the next mail, I'll write an update on talbertstechtalk wiki I am very happy with the way it is developing.

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.

http://www.google.com/s2/sharing/stuff?user=108575401135876476927

Have a look at google for educators also and sign up to their regular update emails to highlight new developments and resources..

http://www.google.com/educators/index.html

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.

blog - talbertstechtalk

blog edtalk

Bloglines feeds

bubbl.us brainstorm tool

buzka - social bookmarking

Clusty tag search engine

Digg bookmarks

diigo-social annotation

dotsub - favourite educational videos saved

Education - LMS

elgg - social network

Flashmeeting - online meeting tool

Google for educators

google shared stuff

google-shared stuff

Jotcloud - sticky notes for the web

letterpop - create newsletters

mixbook - make a book or album

Myfeedz - a social newspaper. Select your topics.

ning - classroom 2.0

ning - talbertstechtalk

ning - vocational ementoring

ning in education

ning school 2.0

ning- edubloggerworld

ning-nextgen

Pageflakes - personalise internet services

pikiwiki

Pipes from Yahoo - interactive data aggregator

quibblo - create and share a quiz, poll or survey

reddit - great to save topics of interest

scribd - document upload

Squidoo Dashboard

stikkit - sticky notes reborn

stumbleupon-bookmarking

Tagcrowd - create a custom tagcloud

Thumbnail graphics of webpages

twiigs - polls and surveys

twitter

vodpod- collecting G videos for learning

voicethread - picture & audio

wiki - classroom 2.0

wiki - talbertstechtalk

wiki by Alex Savage

wikispace - North Coast Institute

wridea - online notes for ideas and brainstorm

Writeboard - talbertstechtalk

zamzar-free online file conversion

Reflections on Practice. Where to now? Why?

I have just reread the 7 entries I have posted since I set up this blog on 12 September 2007. I am proud of what I have learnt and pleased that I have had the opportunity to dedicate time to this in depth exploration of web 2.0 social networking and learning tools and their application to student and teacher learning.

On 24 September, I listed some questions posed by Mark Pesce about literacy and learning 2.0. It is urgent that educators begin serious conversations around these questions. It is vital that teachers engage with the transformations already in progress that will effect learning and teaching in schools over the nest year(s).

I continue to be absolutely entranced by the ever-growing avalanche of information available to teachers, everyone really. The creation of google personalised learning environments are a must to enable easy understanding of the potential administratiave and professional applications for education.

The outline of "The story so far ..." on 20 September 2007, gives me a timely reminder of how far I have come, what I have learnt, what I still need to learn and many other still to be discovered and answered questions. I have achieved what I set out to do in parts 2 to 6 and more. I have reflected on the value of each tool to learning, how sustainable these and many others are to use and keep using and made some decisions about which tools are potentially the most useful.

I have come across the work of Steve Hargadon and many other web 2.0 education gurus again and again through online conferences, in blogs, wikis on slideshare and many other web 2.0 locales. It is amazing how small cyberspace really is for educators learning through action. Steve's ten questions are the basis of an ideal set to start any conversation about web 2.0 applications to education.

Every day, I use slideshare, del.icio.us, my wiki and igoogle docs and reader. I have learnt how to integrate these quite well and they have become integral to my learning. Less frequently now, I use this blog, vodpod, ning and as for the others I will probably have to abandon them. There is so much overlap with the tools even with some unique features, there is just not enough time!

I plan to focus more on integrating my blog use with the other four tools to ensure that this fits into my daily learning routine.

I also need to insert more hyperlinks to show what I am doing with these most functional tools.

I am keen to further explore the use of widgets and the voicethread application.

Next time ...!

Reflections and New Directions

I have continued to use the links and readings Google Reader sends me daily on my key search words. The energy being generated by web 2.0 social networking applications continues its upward trend.

Over the coming weeks, I'll focus more on classroom teaching tools and strategies for each of the applications I have explored.

I am looking forward to reading Alan Levine's material from his coming Australian tour.

Social learning tools - help, hype or time guzzler?

To end this week, I have spent some time reflecting on this question. I'll start with the oft repeated comment: "Teachers are busy people!"

Sure, learning new skills takes time, social networking and learning takes time. Setting up the tools takes time. If seen as a professional learning opportunity, then perhaps the time taken can be justified by most. The only thoughts, I honestly have about time, are "It's about time!"

In fact, time may be running out for educators who are not at least a little informed about the classroom teaching and learning potential of social learning software. You can rest assured, students will soon start to wonder why so little is being done to capitalise on their knowledge and skills with these technologies and applications. Teachers could be facilitating this learning to motivate and engage all students in their learning.

After this reflection, I put this problem aside, remembered the power of positive thinking and I got straight back to my cyberhaunts to follow up the social learning links provided my google reader and RSSMicro alert informtion. I happily receive these updates each day in my mail box. I still enjoy email. No plans yet to abandon that tool.

I have also looked at the Voicethread application and saved the most useful threads. This is a fascinating tool with potential for high impact. Why not explore this tool and brainstorm its potential with friends. Happy web 2.0 learning!

Mark Pesce at web directions conference

Read his article "Welcome to the 24/7 online world, dudes" on my wiki or online at the SMH newspaper site. He has a lot to say that is relevant to teaching and learning NOW.

Literacy and learning 2.0 need our full attention.
What do we know about web 2.0 learning?
What should we know?
How can we play "catch up" if we need to?
Who can contribute to our web 2.0 learning curve?

Follow some of my del.icio.us and slideshare links to get some insights into the many opportunities!

google again - new shared stuff application

Just a short note about google shared stuff. It's a new tool that enables social bookmarking, email and sharing. Looks pretty useful. I might start with using it as a bookmark for my most successful learning 2.0 sites. Follow my my shared stuff trail and let's see where it leads!