ePals

When going through the course materials about using the net to communicate with others, I looked further into two different tools. The two tools which I looked into were uStream and ePals. Both of these tools take two means of communicating via the internet and look to improve or enhance how information can be exchanged. I believe that both could fill a niche within classroom interactions. I will focus on my findings in ePals (my assignment was focused on uStream).

                              Picture take by Halcyon Styn: link

I found that ePals features a specific tool which I think could be exciting. When I was a young student, I tried participating in a project called Flat Stanley. The idea of Flat Stanley was that her was a paper thin boy who could travel via mail. You would send Flat Stanley to someone in a far off place, to someone across the world, where he would "travel"and bring back souvenirs from his travels. This was very exciting to me, it was a pen-pal-esque experience, in which I would communicate with someone from across the continent. Unfortunately for me It was a long and tedious project in which you had to wait for the mail system to exchange information. Children would receive their packages and different times; others, like me would not receive a letter back at all. Nonetheless the idea was exciting for me. Using ePals, a teacher can post an add (of sorts) explaining a collaborative project that his/her class wants to participate in. Other teachers from across the world can see these ads and contact you via the service of ePals. Using ePals, which also is an email service provider that is geared for educators and their students, you can communicate back and forth with classrooms from all over the world. ePals even features a translator for email (which is pretty spiffy). Teachers could even moderate/monitor their students' email activity if they chose to. It overall seemed like a decent service.

When first thinking about communicating with peers, I thought of only communication through classmates. I think that students could be more interested in educational topics if they were also communicating with international peers on educational subjects. Through tools like ePals, the education community can become a global community.

ePals website: http://www.epals.com/

RSS Feeds in the Classroom

Prior to taking this class whenever heard the term RSS feed I just regarded it as jargon that I didn't need to know about, or as something that I would not be able to comprehend. I am proud to say that I have somewhat of an understanding of what RSS is and how it can be used.

For me personally I would probably use RSS to follow blogs of my students. It would be my goal to have students blog reflective papers or have written responses to class as assignments. This would be especially effective for language arts, art, or social studies. Using an RSS feed reader it would be easy to track when students participated in their blogs. This would be much more efficient than having to patrol and contantly monitor student blogs for activity. This kind of use for RSS feeds to me, is the biggest practical use for using RSS in the classroom.

Using RSS readers would also be very useful in following other teachers's blogs. This would be great, especially if you were following teachers or people who blog in/about areas that you teach. It is a great way to keep connected, with minimal effort on your part!

Learn more about choosing an RSS reader here.

Social Networking in the Classroom

     Of all of the ideas I have come across in the course thus far, I think that social networking is among the most powerful resource which teachers may be able to draw upon in the classroom. One of the greatest aspects of using social media in the classroom is the familiarity which the students have in using social media. I doubt that there are very many students in the middle school/high school range who have not at least heard of Facebook. I bet that even most these students have a Facebook account. Social media can be used to help students become more engaged in school work.

     Previously in ED 4764 we have discussed the use of forums, digital story telling (video and audio editing), cloud computing. A tool like Facebook can compile all of these tools for the classroom into one tool (even aspects of blogging can be incorporated into social networking). Privacy settings can also prevent access of these materials from any other every day user. This is a very promising attribute.

     Increasingly over the last few weeks I have been thinking about the idea of classroom community. I believe that social networks have the power to build a sense of community, which is what they were intended for. A social network like Facebook provides students the opportunities to interact with each other. Even a tool like Twitter can provide ways for students in your classroom to interact outside of the classroom.

     For myself, I would like to try implementing Facebook into the classroom. As such, I would create a group for each of my classes. Students would be invited to join groups associated to the class which they are attending. This page would be a place for students to interact with each other about the class. I would be able to give feedback and positive comments on students work through the group page (along with positive feedback in the classroom). Videos and pictures created in class could be shared on this group page. Parents could also be added to see what is going on. Reminders of classroom events would be given to those who belong to the group. Students would occasionally be asked to give feedback, comments, or answers to questions posed in class, on the group page.

     I believe that social media has potential in the classroom. Of course there are drawbacks, there is the possibility that for personal reasons a student may not participate in social networking. This may inhibit these type of activities, or require you to give alternatives for the student. However in most cases this would not be a problem. If possible to use, I would like to try using social networking in the classroom.

Here are 4 tips for introducing social media into the classroom.

Internet Safety in the Classroom

      I remember sitting through the PS1 orientation and realizing that there were some aspects of teaching which I had not considered. In the orientation there was brief talk about how we need to be wary of what kind of information and what types of pictures we choose to share through social media, that others can see. While in context this idea applies to us as teachers, but I also started thinking of the information which our students have access to and what holds them back from this type of information. It is scary to think of how much information can be freely shared on the internet.

     There are two aspects of internet safety which I have to remind myself to be aware of. Through the internet our students have access to information that others post and others can have access to information posted about our students. 

    In schools I think it is important that we be aware of the content that the students are accessing. Through the click of a mouse it easy for students to access information that is not appropriate for school. This can be content which contains pornography, violent media, or any other offensive material. Web filters can be used to help protect students, but web filters are not enough. It is important that teachers are always monitoring the content which students are accessing on the internet, whenever they are on the internet.

    It is sad to think that we live in society in which we have a need to protect personal information of students from people who would misuse such information, but that is a harsh reality which we must accept. Until last year I had also never hear the term FOIP Act (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act). It is important  for teachers to realize that they not only have a moral obligation to protect students, but (in Alberta) there are specific legal rights associated with sharing certain personal information of students without obtaining permission from their parents. This implies that videos and photos of students cannot be shared on the internet without permission. This can be tricky if a teacher wants to share videos or feeds of what is going on in the classroom. At any rate, it is important that teachers meet both legal and moral obligations in protecting their students from those who would misuse such information. Teachers should go through the extra effort to make such content only available to those who are trusted viewers. If teachers share such information through the means of social media, protection can be offered through stringent privacy settings.

     All-in-all, I feel that it is of great importance to protect students from information that can be accessed and from those who would misuse the students' information found on the internet. Teachers have a responsibility in maintaining this in a classroom setting.

Learn more about FOIP here.

On-line Presentations and Audio Editing

     Recently in class we were asked to make an on-line presentation on a pre-approved topic of our choice. This  presentation was to use audio which was edited using a sound editing program.  At first I was not sure about how I was to use the audio files, whether they were to be used for the whole presentation, or just parts of the presentation. I also was not sure if the files needed to be of me speaking or whether they could be other types of sound clips. I decided that I was supposed to present using my own voice speaking and explaining the slides.

     I decided to use the web presenting tool, called Prezi. Prezi is a a free flowing type of presenting tool, which starts out as a blank page. You can post text and other files all over the page and create frames around the information and/or files. Prezi is vector based, so you are able to zoom in and create very small text or zoom out and create very big text. Your frames will fill the screen, but you may set your frames to be very small or very big. It is a bit hard to explain, it is best for those interested to investigate the presenting tool itself. Prezi is an exciting alternative to a typical slide show.

     I had never used Prezi before, but had seen presentations which included audio files within Prezi. I assumed that I could use Prezi and add audio files. It turns out this was a bad assumption. In order to include audio into Prezi, audio files need to be formatted into a video type file, which takes formatting software which I do not have. I decided it was not worth my effort in this case to go through the trouble of finding software and learning to use it in order to convert my edited sound clip into a different type of file. I decided to add in a sound cue into my audio which would indicate that the viewer needed to change slides. The viewer of the presentation would need to open the presentation in an on-line browser, and the sound file in a separate program.

     Personally I found it challenging to create audio for the presentation. I wanted to make the presentation interesting, because during a normal presentation I rely heavily on interacting with my audience. I also Found it difficult due to decide how much information to include in each slide. Normally I put very minimal information into my slides in a presentation. I explain the bullet points as the slide show progresses. I am aware that I could do the same in this presentation, however I opted to put almost all of my information spoken into my slides. I felt that the viewer may retain more if all of the information was included (and being at a computer allows for less distraction than a classroom, which may focus the viewer more on the words on the screen compared to a class presentation). In hindsight I do not know if this was the best choice. I am still not sure.

     My presentation was fairly long and I found creating audio was tedious. It is tough to get the right dynamics when using audio editing software. When cutting out clips and and clips I found that it hard to get your dynamics right all of the time, in order to make the audio sounding smooth.

     All in all I found this project fairly labor intensive. Because of the recording and editing of the audio it could get frustrating. I am sure that my presentation was not all that exciting. In the future I would probably try to make informative on-line presentations short, or cut into segments, in order to keep the viewers attention. It was a good exercise for me.

Cloud Computing in the Classroom

                                                Image labeled for reuse, click here for source

     In a video entitled, Howard Gardner on Digital Media in education, my favourite definition of the cloud described cloud as what it is not. Cloud computing is not hardware and it is not software. The idea is that if you have to install or connect something to your computer for a program (other than your connection to the internet and your internet browser), then it is not part of a cloud. Of course somewhere, in some location there needs to be powerful hardware and software (most likely on a supercomputer), to make this cloud possible. The idea is that the average user will not have to worry about the hardware, software or networking.


     I think the first use of such a service that arrives to many educators minds is that of the access of data like textbooks for our students. The idea that a student could access a textbook from anywhere without having an actual hard copy or digital copy has many visible benefits. One could see a future in which all education materials, textbooks, novels, etc. could be accessed by any of ones students from anywhere in the world. This is exciting to think about. Instead of purchasing all the materials separately schools could be charged for use of the cloud service where such information could be accessed. This leaves me to wonder if there really will be any saving in cost. I am sure the publishers of the individual texts or resources will still charge cloud services for their resources. This would cause cloud services to offer service fees to maintain profit, not to mention the cost that goes into maintaining wherever all the information is stored (the information has to be stored somewhere). Nonetheless, I feel that the true value in cloud services is not necessarily the cost-effectiveness. The true value, to me, is in the accessibility. 


     It is exciting to think of the different research resources and programs that could potentially be offered to any student anywhere. Aviary is a great example of a powerful program that can be accessed by anyone from their computer. One has the benefits of services like Garage Band or Audacity without having to download and install the service. Eventually, if not already, I am sure that a movie editor will be provided on a cloud service. Any student with a computer and internet connection would be able to access such programs. That is a fantastic thought, students will not be restricted to locations to use a vast compilation of resources.


     I definitely see the use for cloud services in the classroom. I am excited to see what the capabilities of the cloud will be released in the future.

A Use for Audio Files in the Classroom

     I find that one of the most challenging aspects of using technology in the classroom, is using technology effectively. There are many different tools which we have, which are wonderful, that can be wasted if used without a purpose. With the use of audio files I could think of many different ways in which you could implement such technology in the classroom. By using sound editing programs like audacity, aviary, or even a simple microphone based application provided on many computers, students have the ability to create and exercise principles of design. This can be rewarding, but also time consuming. A simple and practical use for such programs would be student reflections.

     Students could use audio files in order to respond to projects, reading, concepts, experiences, etc. within the classroom. For example a high school student could record and edit his/her comments on the themes found within a chapter of a novel being studied in class. Students who normally would not be verbal in class,could express themselves through such means. Such reflections would have to be planned and thought out with structure, following the teacher's given criteria. Students could edit out and add comments. This would be a simple, but yet effective ways to use audio files within the classroom.