I’ve used Streaming video with my students before and the kids love it! However, I’ve know about podcasting but haven’t taken the plunge quite yet. I’ve found some terrific podcasting websites that I love! I’d like to create some sort of podcast with my students but this can be challenging since I work with a tech challenged staff. I need to find someone that wants to learn, and is willing to hang up the scaredie- cat persona and just try and learn. Who this teacher is…I’m not quite sure but he or she is out there! With this said, I want to learn how to make podcasts and have my students make them because it will bring learning to life for them in a new and different way! I’ll keep you posted on when this all happens, but it will!

Blogs and wikis take learning with technology to a different level. A level where the child has some control to share ideas, reflect on learning, and expand knowledge. In the everyday classroom where curriculum piles high and the teacher has to get through it because of the demand for more testing, where do kids get a voice? Blogs and wikis are one answer where kids can talk to each other about what they are learning and share their ideas. Kids are social creatures, they want to tell you stories constantly but for the sake of time, we need to shelve the discussions for a later time.

The great feature about blogs and wikis today is that there is teacher control to see student posts and accept them before they are seen by the rest of the class. This takes care of inappropriate posts and ideas expressed. This is also the perfect time to introduce netiquette and proper use on the web. Students should also have a clear understanding of behavior online and consequences for improper use.

I don’t think that blogs and wikis are for every teacher. I think that the teacher has to see the value of using technology with students to use this tool effectively and appropriately. Some teachers might wonder when they have time to incorporate this into the daily or weekly routine. I say it takes practice and the willingness to learn because students will highly benefit. For example, my mom team teaches third grade in Victor, NY. She and her co-teacher created a wiki and use it for all sorts of information, homework, news podcasts, pictures and more. She told me that the kids and parents LOVE it and they have become better technology users because of it.

http://harperallenteam.pbwiki.com

I know some about social bookmarking sites but haven’t set one up for myself yet. I have a bookmarking site for my students, www.portaportal.com/allenmr but I can’t wait to use www.diigo.com. This social bookmarking site seems like it offers so much more and I can see huge potential for this in teaching! I love that it lets you highlight and bookmark webpages, write notes within the pages and share them with your friends. You can join groups of people that have the same interests as you and share ideas with them. I previewed the demo and then checked out the groups and I there were a lot of groups discussing web 2.0 and technology education. I thought this would also be another great place to share ideas with teachers from all over.

This could be a terrific tool for students who are working on group projects- sharing ideas and resources- learning about collaboration. This tool would be easier for a high school student than elementary but it really hits home with the concept of Web 2.0. I wish there was some sort of collaborative site that elementary students could use. Any thoughts or suggestions?

RSS feeds are addicting! I just signed up for a bloglines account and opened my eyes to the wide world of information provided by RSS. I have been in the dark for too long. I love the fact that I can get the most up to date posts on technology, cooking, news, weather and whatever else I’m interested in. Once I signed up for an account I could have previewed the different blogs and sites for hours but talk about information overload!

I’m just getting started, but how do teachers or technology educators possibly keep up with all this great tech stuff? I am constantly asking myself this question. I think this is one way for me, to learn about technology. I especially like David Warlick’s blog. He spoke at the PWCS Technology Conference in August 2007 and he did a great presentation on Web 2.0. He shared his knowledge on how this can be used with students and the power of the internet on writing and publishing, thoughts, and sharing knowledge. It was very interesting.