Technology Tribulations

Technology at my school seems to be hit or miss at best.  We have a couple of teachers who are very tech savvy.  These few are the ones who are called on when things go wrong or someone needs an idea of a way to approach something.  Often these teachers are contacted about technology issues before the media specialist is contacted.  Most teachers are able to complete regular day to day task, however, when an issue arises, these same teachers are the first to send in a tech request for help.  Many of our older teachers have now retired.  These oldies, but goodies were the last of the teachers lacking the desire to venture into the technology age. 

Based on information I’ve gathered from other media centers, our school is lacking in technology.  Each classroom has four desktops, one full size iPad, and two iPad minis.  Each teacher has also been issued a laptop.  We no longer have classroom color printers; we instead have grade level printers (black ink only).  This year we did get a copier that is linked to our network allowing us to send items to be printed from our computers to the copier.  However, this too is black ink only.  When we want to print in color, we must ask to use the secretary’s or bookkeeper’s computers and printers.  Our media center has eight desktops and we also have a computer lab with 30 desktops.  Our media specialist has stated she would like to add more technology to our media center, however, funding has been an issue.  In talking with our media specialist, I’ve heard her say countless times that she really doesn’t even have enough money in the budget to cover print materials.  Funding is an issue everyone is facing, but it seems to be especially hard on small schools with low socioeconomic levels.

Sadly, technology training has been almost non-existent at our school – at the school level and the district level.  This is the first year in many I’ve seen the opportunity for technology training.  The technology department has offered a few technology classes covering the span of several weeks at the beginning of the school year.  These classes were geared more towards the lower grades.  We requested more classes be offered later as things are so hectic at the beginning of the school year.  Another offering will be presented after the first of the year – again geared toward elementary grades.  In the e-mail offering the classes, the technology department asked if there were any requests for training from the middle/high school level.  Since I teach at the elementary level I have been pleased with the training opportunities offered thus far. I plan to go to as many of the trainings as will allow with my teaching and SLM certification classes.  Once I attend the trainings I’ll know more about the quality of the material presented and the method of presenting.  Several years ago we had many more opportunities for staff development and training.  It seems that budget cuts took a toll all the way around.  This November, I am going to have the opportunity to attend the three day Georgia Educational Technology Conference which I am extremely excited about.

In the past when we have had training I found it to be very unproductive.  Training was usually presented as staff development where all teachers were required to attend.  The problem with this is that different teachers have different levels of ability.  Because of this, the training provided was either above or below the level needed.  In addition, since it was presented as required training the teachers who were not interested in the training didn’t focus and caused a distraction with their idle chatter.

Training is necessary, but I feel it could be done better.  Several years ago, teachers were asked to submit suggestions for ideas for staff development.  While it was nice to have the opportunity to offer suggestions, the training sessions were still required and the same issues arose – people not interested would cause a distraction and those interested in learning would have difficulty hearing because of the talking.  I personally prefer the way the technology department has done this year in offering the training and allowing teachers to sign up for training that interest them.  If a variety of training options are available and teachers have the opportunity to sign up for training that interests them then their focus would be greater.  To improve on this thought process I would suggest trying to offer different levels of training so that what is being taught is relevant to the attendees.  Perhaps have several days of training and begin with the basics and build.  People who are unfamiliar can begin with the basic training and progress on as far as they want and the more advanced users can begin the training later as the sessions become more detailed and specialized.  While I could be wrong, in my mind this process seems to have potential.  In addition, as difficult as it would be, I feel expectations should be set at the beginning of the training and those who cause a distraction would be discretely asked to leave.

Our current media specialist has some technological knowledge, but she admits she too has much to learn.  However, she doesn’t have an extensive amount of training.  When I talked with her before beginning the SLM program she didn’t recommend that I add the IT certification giving the explanation that technology changes quickly and that the district would send me to any training they thought I would need in order to do the job.  However, she is the only one I’ve spoken to who has discouraged me from adding the IT certification as well.  She doesn’t conduct in-service training.  Her main focus is on teaching a short lesson to students who come in for scheduled stories and then giving them the opportunity to check out books.  She will gladly assist teachers who come in to teach research segments to their students, but she doesn’t initiate any type of activity other than reading a story to the students.  As I have been adding my certification, she has been amazed and in awe of the many changes that have taken place in the program since she completed the program.  In my opinion, she is severely criticized by the faculty and staff at my school.  Not to make excuses for her, but I feel sometimes she is running into a brick wall.  The lack of training combined with the lack of respect from co-workers combined with the lack of funding creates a difficult work environment.  I know I will make mistakes of my own and I still have tremendous amount to learn, but I’m hoping I can bring about positive changes and let our school see some of the many opportunities that are available.

We have a very knowledgeable teacher in our computer lab.  As a media specialist, I feel it would be beneficial to form an alliance with the computer lab teacher.  I’m sure many teachers are like me and totally unaware of all the wonderful programs that are available.  I feel it would be beneficial to give teachers a brief overview of some of the programs that training will be made available for.  Next, I would like to survey teachers to see what their needs and interest are with technology training.  This would be a time it would be helpful to meet with teachers in their grade level meetings to get an idea and feeling of their needs and levels of knowledge.  Since we have a computer lab, training could be conducted for a fairly large group, if needed.  I feel multiple levels of training should be made available in order to maintain focus and interest.  It would also be beneficial to coordinate with the district office IT department to see if they have time to come to our school and provide some classes.  For example, it’s always an issue at the beginning of the year when teachers need to set classroom computers up.  This year we had new technology, but no training on how to connect everything.  It would have been very helpful if during our pre-planning meetings someone from the IT department had given a few minutes during one of our meetings to explain the new technology and the basics for connections.  This could help alleviate some of the confusion at the beginning of the school year.

While there will always be technology issues, I feel it is imperative to have proper training – and to pass the training on to faculty and staff members.  If teachers can be shown how technology can benefit their students while making teaching easier and more engaging, teachers will be more interested in training.  I’ve found in my teaching career I don’t mind going to a training if it is well planned and relevant to me.  Our media specialist is right in saying that technology changes quickly, but teaching the basics can go a long way.

 

Blog 6: Technology Training

The technology skills at my school have significantly increased in the last year in part because of a cohort of teachers who completed their specialist degrees in IT and have taken a leadership role in offering “Tech Tip Tuesday” emails and several PD sessions throughout the year. They try to tailor their tips to be relevant to the month; October was a PSAT preparation app, for example, since we gave the PSAT to more than half of our student population in mid-October. They also make themselves available any time via email and will gladly come down to a teacher’s room on their planning periods or before or after school to help. These efforts fit in with the assertion in the “Coaching Whitepaper” that coaching works best when it incorporates context, relevance, and ongoing as three essential components. With the renewed flow of money and consequential expansion of the central office staff, we now have technology integration specialists who work with clusters of schools. Their sessions follow this model as well, but they are less accessible as an in-house teacher. The media specialists could bridge this gap, but at our school there is little of this occurring, in part because they have been appropriated for other jobs such as manning the textbook room (an atrocity and waste of talent, in my opinion). Another way the media specialist could fulfill the duties is by joining, modeling, and encouraging social networks for professional development. Richard Dufour is quoted in the “Coaching Whitepaper” as follows: “To create a professional learning community, focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively, and hold yourself accountable for results.” Instead of trying to be the expert, delivering a how-to on the latest gadget or software, the media specialist can be a collaborative learner, working with teachers to produce technology-rich lessons and opportunities for creation of technology-rich products. The media specialist has the resources and the research expertise to bring to the table, and the teacher has the content knowledge and pedagogical expertise to develop a plan. Both should be learning something from the process of collaborating.

As I transition from teacher to media specialist, I do not want to lose the opportunity to teach, and the instructional coaching model would allow me to continue to do so. As teachers we often complain about PD where some “expert” tries to tell us how to do something magical in the classroom, but he or she hasn’t been in a classroom in a long time, and with no follow-up, we simply don’t bother to try to implement the new idea. Instructional coaching solves this problem by having the coach and teacher collaborate to plan, the coach model in the classroom, the coach then observe the teacher, and finally the two regroup and assess the efficacy of the new idea. It takes a visionary leader to make this happen, and a media specialist needs to take this leadership role. Likewise as Chris Lehman is quoted in the “Coaching Whitepaper,” “Technology should be like oxygen: Ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible.” Creating a Blackboard shell with a bunch of links for teachers to use when they have the time is like creating a filing cabinet in the media center for teachers to use when they have the time. It’s going to collect dust and be useful to no one. Integrating the social networks with a focus on collaborative learning makes the technology more like oxygen, and it becomes as effortless as breathing. It’s simply a part of life to consult the network for gathering and sharing ideas. Our media specialists complain that when they do schedule sessions, only a few come. If the PD is delivered with the technology that is already an extension of ourselves and so often that it becomes ubiquitous, then it better meets the needs and the lifestyles of today’s teachers than signing up for an arbitrary session does. I would create these structures through the media center website, wikis, Twitter, and any other technology I heard of so that it is not just once a month but every day that teacher’s see the integration of technology. I would also be out there observing classes, taking my media lessons to the classroom when possible, and establishing relationships with teachers as peer learners. I would troll their blogs and offer resources to enhance their current units of study or offer to teach a lesson when integration of research or technology was relevant. It’s an exciting role because I love learning and feared giving that up to be a custodian of books.

BLOG 6; Are the Technology Dinosaurs Really Extinct?

Are the Technology Dinosaurs Really Extinct??

Input? Output? Huh? Help!

By Sarita R. McGhee

The school location where I previously worked is where I decided to return to in order to complete my volunteer hours because I am very familiar with the media center and also the Media Specialist. However, I have a completely different approach and perspective as a SLM grad student and this has especially deepened my observations of the technological lacks at this particular high school. I have consideration for the reasons behind the lacks (budget, time and need for training to implement) because of the insights that I’ve learned from this program.

As an English teacher on this staff, technology development was always offered to us during in-services and seminars, but they were always far too brief. To be honest, I think that staff members usually would tune out because who were technologically savvy felt bored because they weren’t learning about anything that they were not already using and those who were not good with new technological advances felt overwhelmed with how brief and speedy the presentations would be. And this often left those particular faculty members hesitant about asking too many questions because they didn’t want to slow down the meeting.

I observed as a teacher that the audience of the entire teaching staff was too large for learning something new, and perhaps we should have been broken into smaller groups, by grade level, or even by grade level as well as subject content to keep our short attention spans engaged. Also, these meetings and seminars usually took place at the end of a long day and after school or on Clayton County’s famous early-release days when everyone is only pretty much repeatedly checking their watches and sitting anxiously with their fingers, legs and eyes crossed that nobody asks any questions at the end to hold up the process of being released to go home! So, I think that the way that technological staff development events were held were not fully effective simply because of how they were conducted.

The truth of the matter is that we must face is—yes—there is a great divide between those who love technology and those who avoid the technology dragon at all cost. People who are intimidated by technology, (and yes, there are still some of us dinosaurs out there!) never want to let others openly know, and usually don’t address that issue until it becomes an actual issue where we have to hook up or use something new and feel clueless and have to frantically seek help—and trust me, I am probably the Queen of this mad frenzy. But the bottom line is technology is somewhat like math—some of us are just not good with it and entirely gifted in that area. And even then sometimes us dinosaurs still don’t learn anything and come on out of the cave when we receive help, we just simply learn exactly who to ask whenever we need to use that technique or device. (I am definitely guilty of that!)

But all and all, there’s good news—I must say us technological dinosaurs do honestly aim to become extinct.  

So, what the solution? I think a good way to solve that problem, especially coming from someone who fits into the group of those technological dinosaurs, is to have optional in-services and professional development events that teachers can voluntarily sign up for and then have smaller groups so that everybody can feel comfortable to ask questions in the time allotted without feeling like they are holding up the entire group. This will help with increasing the confidence to learn.

This strategy of smaller learning groups for specific technology techniques that we are interesting in learning more about by choice definitely will make some of us become more open to learning as oppose to continuing to feel around in the dark when it comes to hooking up a new piece of equipment or trying to new device that students may already know how to use in their daily lives. And really, in the long-run, it benefits the entire school team to make sure that everyone is caught up on the most recent and innovative technological advances that our school communities can offer. It makes the whole team stronger in the academic messages that we deliver to our 21^st century technological-savvy students.

I’m sure we will all agree that the School Library Media Specialist is not the person who should be solely responsible for monitoring who knows what when it comes to teachers and technology, because that would be an unfairly, impossible feat, however, the Media Specialist definitely be a willing, patient, primary resource that teachers should be able to reach out to for assistance and guidance. I think it is our responsibility as Media Specialist to lend ourselves as someone confident that the teachers and staff feel comfortable coming to for help, and with this, we should remember that the more skills we equipped others with, the better we are as team to our investment—the students. It is a give-and-take process because learners (in this case, the teachers) have to be willing to learn and those who can do have to be willing to teach what they know to others, but in the outcome, everybody wins!

I would survey to find out what the teaching staff desires to know more about and what technological skills they seek to fulfill, then create informational and interactive in-services that serve those needs. I also would have more seminars that give teachers a chance to “do” after they are shown something new, because sometimes as a teacher I used to tune out and forget about what I was shown unless I had to actually show that I had learned something about the new application in a hands-on demo way. I would absorb the information more and also retain it in a more lasting manner that would actually translate to my classroom. As a Media Specialist, I want to be able to provide that kind of experience to the teaching staff that I service. I want the staff development experience to always feel like a two-way street that requires engaging, effective exchange between speaker and learner.

So, with all of these things combined, it is a definite that as a Media Specialist I will first make sure that I am patient and open with my teammates so that they feel comfortable coming to me with something technological that they make need help with. I also will collaborate with the technology staff member in my school to put together seminars for the varying groups of the teaching staff that we have based on their needs and technological levels. I think in order to remain engaged what a person is being introduced to must meet their level.

As Media Specialist we can fulfill our duties as technology coaches in our school environments by making certain what we have shared and solid vision and mission about what we are advocating for when it comes to technology. Ultimately, I believe meaningful implementation of technology should drive our goals because everybody knows that kids these days can really pick up on the method of using what I called “empty technology”, which in essence can be seen when a teacher has a bunch of upscale technology devices and fancy gadgets hooked up and handy, but it doesn’t actually add any more clarity to the assignments or instruction. We’ve all seen this at least once in our careers, and we all know the results—students still tune out.

So, as far as the ISTE standards go, I think the Media Specialist modeling and guiding teachers to use technology in a meaningful manner so that the message does not get lost in the sauce of the tech-geek sophistication is a great and simple notion. We don’t want our students to experience technology overload just for the sake of technology! Basically, don’t let technology substitute for good old-fashion teaching; instead allow it to enhance, accent and compliment the instructional message.   

Copyright Fair Use: Who Has the Last Word?

Myth: School system rules are the last word of fair use by educators.

The copyright law has been so broadly misinterpreted that not only are many educators afraid of using materials but many students are suffering from the inappropriate censorship others are imposing. As law professor Peter Jaszi from American University explains, the copyright law is no "charter for private censorship" and these "rigid, conservative, outmoded interpretations of the law [are] not the law itself"; in fact, they are "strangling educational practices rather than enabling it" (Intro Video). Media specialists with good intentions post guidelines over the copiers with rules of thumb like no more than 400 words of a print document or ten seconds of a video may be used even in an educational setting, but this practice is another myth. The fact remains that the law itself does not have definitive rules such as these, and fair use is purposefully broad. The intentions of the law acknowledge that creators rely on what has come before as they contribute to culture, so there must be a balance between protection for creators and their works to stimulate additional creation, and the opportunity for other creators to use established materials to create new cultural works. Essentially, we have to be able to use others' works to create new ones. Even Shakespeare drew from others' accounts as he wove his tales. While educational guidelines are made with good intentions "[they] have often hurt more than they have helped" (Code, 2008). With the widespread availability of creation software students have the incredible opportunity to make original works that draw from and transform published works, and teachers have incredible resources at their fingertips to help students develop these higher level thinking skills. Why would we let anyone stop us from the fair use to which we are entitled?

Well, most of us need our jobs, so let's say one of those handy rule sheets is actually a part of the school system's rules. While this might prove a dilemma for one's employment, it would also be a violation of the federal law, which school districts (last I checked) do not have the authority to supersede. So what's an educator to do? Stay informed. Arm oneself with an understanding of the law and what it allows, and be a leader. Try to change a district's misguided attempts to define that which is very intentionally undefined. (This could also apply to their efforts to quantify and define good teaching with arbitrary numbers, but I digress . . . ) Fair use is flexible for the benefit of the user, so be able to justify your use of materials. Guidelines such as the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education can help. This document reminds us of the "Four Factors" by which one judges fair use: nature of the use, nature of the work used, extent of the use, and economic effect. Educators have a lot of latitude here, and generally speaking, we are not significantly inhibiting a creator's economic gain by using their work in an educational setting. When I use Wayne's World to teach absurdity, I'm probably boosting their profits by introducing another generation to that slice of ridiculousness. However, it's easy to be intimidated by district policies, but the "concerns of commercial copyright holders" as well as the "risk-aversion of school system administrators and lawyers" have spread stifling restrictions on educators that have significant consequences for students. Educators are not facing copyright law-suits; there are not precedent cases piling up. In all likelihood, the worst that could happen to an educator acting in good faith would be to receive a "cease and desist" letter from a copyright owner, but even that might be violating the educator's right to fair use.

Fortunately, my district maintains a broad stance on copyright in their administrative rules:

Copyright Laws: a. Adherence to fair use guidelines and other relevant copyright stipulations shall be assured. In no instance shall library media materials and/or equipment be used in such a manner as to violate Board Policy, District Administrative Rules or state and federal law. b. The library media specialist shall be responsible for ensuring the availability of copyright information, dealing with copyright and clearance questions (Administrative Rule GBT-R [Professional Publishing] and Administrative Rule IFBG-R [Internet Acceptable Use]). Provisions for copyright clearance are outlined on Form IFBG-2 (Permission to Use a Third Party Work Copyright Permission Request).

Nevertheless, searching the district's website brings up a number of local school media centers who have published strict guidelines that reflect the conservative and misguided attempt to define the law.

The commercial world is grappling with increased difficulty in the copyright arena, but the educational world has even more need to fairly use materials to teach media literacy, "and like literacy in general, media literacy can be taught and learned" (Code, 2008). Teachers need to be able to model creating material, providing attribution and citations, and they need to allow students to create, using others' works with appropriate attribution and citations. Students need to learn to be more responsible consumers and producers of media within the safety of the protection afforded under fair use and the educational setting and without unnecessary restrictions.

School TV news

Blog 4—Dedicated. Determined. Dependable??? Reporting Live from the Campus

By Team 5 Contributing Writer Sarita R. McGhee

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have live action school news on every school campus and students available to actually report on it 24/7 with a live feed? Just picture it—it could range from being awe-inspiring showing typically unnoticed acts of kindness to being a disaster in the making catching someone red-handed doing something sneaky. And in the most ideal cases, we would have a student live on the scene with the bud in their ear, a microphone and a camera to report straight to us about the goings-on. I think it would inspire budding career aspirations for a great deal of future television reporters and news journalists. But for now, we do have the benefit of having a school community team that tackles the massive and steadfast task of reporting the school news—just the facts and nothing but the facts, please!  

Usually this team consists of a leading teacher, paraprofessional or Media Specialist designated to supervise and oversee the production, and then the student team members who make up the squad who report the information, ranging from morning and afternoon announcements to acknowledgement of award recipients, leading the daily Pledge of Allegiance, Moment of Silence, the Word of the Day with its definition and even the lunch specials to look forward to for the day—yum! At Lovejoy High School, in Hampton Georgia, our student team reports on these specific things as well as including an inspirational quote for the day. There is a pep team for the morning announcements of about three students who are usually lead by select members of the chorus coming on the PA system in order to start the day off with a few lines from a song that they are current practicing on with an occasional solo spotlighting a good healthy voice. A good way to start the morning off.

Our SGA president, Lauren Cush, leads our announcements and she was chosen clearly because of her talent with the diction and tone of her voice, which is as smooth as butter. She can read the phone book and make it sound interesting! I always rave to her about how talented she is. That voice is a gift. She leads a team of announcers who are certainly dedicated, determined and very dependable because they are consistent in their delivery and it sets a very reliable tone. One of our male ROTC leading cadets conducts the morning pledge, then we have another SGA female student who will report on our Word of the Day, its definition, antonym and synonym, and also use it in a sentence. The Word of the Day is set as a reminder during the afternoon announcements and the definition and such are reiterated. The team in the afternoon consists of about four or five students and there are typical more announcements from teachers, coaches and other staff members in the afternoon. Any special announcements about upcoming important testing sessions or assembly events are often including to remind students of what to expect the following day in the building. Also, scores from games that happened the previous afternoon and special congratulations for certain MVPs is a huge deal in the Lovejoy High School. Students readily shush each other anticipating that part.  

Our school news, which is overseen by the English Department Head, is only delivered in the form of announcements, there is no visual presentation. Teachers and Coaches must turn in their announcement wishes into a drop box before the end of each day in order to ensure that there is enough time to have it included in the upcoming announcements. Students who wish to participate in the announcements only get one chance per school year to audition and being selected is serious business.

I have worked at schools in Alabama in the past that had the benefit of Channel One in the morning at the same exact time every day, and the televisions were programmed to turn on automatically when it started up. This was an excellent way to start the day, beneficial and kept the students well-informed as well as captured and held their attention. Channel One was an effortless way to call students to attention without having to say anything and the interesting news reports expanded beyond just our school. They were interested topics that were of relevance to the students and to teenagers everywhere. In those schools, our normal morning announcements with the pledge would follow. I miss Channel One! Very innovative and impressive!

To me, it would be ideal to have a situation where a daily morning news broadcast could be created that reported the events of the school and announcements that would offer a live video feed to each and every classroom. As a Media Specialist that is something that I would love to be able to organize and offer if technology capabilities at my future school location will allow. It would make me nervous though because as students become accustom to it and learn to look forward to it, I have to hope that our connection to technology is always reliable, daily, and we all know how sometimes technology can be very…temperamental. While audio-visual technology can allow for the creation of some wonderful and inventive things, it is fragile and sometimes can make you feel as though it requires big, neon Professional-Use Only sign. One missing cord or one button go unattended and things go awry very quickly. Yikes!

Showing something that is prerecorded is always a fool-proof way to reduce those kind of fears, and some schools do offer this method, however, news that is live is always better because it is happening “in the now” and the most up-to-date and that’s what adds the intrigue. I can imagine that the students who are reporting would be very excited about reporting to their school community live as well, and the live feature is a part of the fascination of watching! Anything can happen—from an interesting on-camera blooper, a foot-fumbling trip that nears a goofy fall, or even a good tongue-twisting blurb.

There is almost nothing more interesting and relatable on the news than kids reporting the news to other kids who are watching. While it may seem like a very small and brief part of the day, it is imperative, humorous, quite memorable and highly-anticipated, if delivered the right way. I think students find it to be very captivating and there is a competitive group of future Mass Communications majors, future Journalists, future radio/TV hosts and future Action News reporters who all want that swift chance to shine in the spotlight.  

Blog 2: MC Web Pages - Started by Amanda Hollomon

When designing any web page, it feels like it should be common sense to have parameters and guidelines to follow in order to make your web page be successful, effective, and informative.  However, the problem is that, as most, of us know, people are lacking common sense.  When reading the AASL article “Building Websites That Work For Your Media Center”, it lists some basic things that we should all keep in mind.  Choose your target audience wisely.  Patrons utilizing the media center website should be able to flow through the site easily without having to have a college degree as toddlers.  Create different sections of your media center that reflect the target audience, for example, a children’s section in colorful backgrounds and images relevant to their age.  Also, displaying your information in an outline format, indenting information under headings, and keeping paragraphs short in length.  Fonts are a huge pet peeve of mine.  Granted I have had glasses since I was three years old, but I cannot stand to look at a website and struggling to make out what the words are saying.  I am not so old and blind that I need basic block fonts but I do want to see a font on the screen that I can easily read at a glance and not have to spend time looking at.  Chances are, if I have to spend time trying to read the words, I am changing websites immediately.

                Web 2.0 tools are a huge benefit to schools today whether in the classroom, home, or in the media center.  I wish my school incorporated more and allowed teachers to actually use them, but until then all I can do is dream about them.  Are plain old webpages outdated?  Of course they are, and it is does not take a lot of effort to spruce them up to this decade to make them more appealing.  The more appealing the page, the more people will visit the page.  This is crucial for the media center.  Some people have a negative opinion of media centers thinking that they are for nerds only.  With the proper appeal that stigma can be changed to create an atmosphere of modern form and functionality.  I do not believe that we should do away with the media center web page and turn it into a wiki or a blog.  I think that these features could be included but not replace the old system.  For one reason, all library patrons are not in their teens and twenties.  This goes back to determining your target audience.  Keep things modern and current while also keeping a link to a previous simpler form for everyone to be able to use.

Technology Terror

Technology Terror

Does the thought of unknown technology make you nervous?  It does me.  As embarrassing as it is for me to admit, technology isn’t one of my strong points.  I realize the importance of technology and I’m willing to learn, but there is SO much I don’t know.  The mere word “technology” can make me reach for paper bag before the hyperventilation begins!  My tech savvy friend, has assured me countless times that I “can’t tear it up,” but my mind plays over a scene of complete demolition much like that of a roadrunner trap “skillfully” set by a coyote. 

Beginning the SLM certification, has pushed me beyond my comfort zone and further into the technology realm.  I must admit, I’m loving learning more technology and I’m finding ways to incorporate it into the classroom.  Wikis have become, without a doubt, one of my favorites. 

Educause Learning Initiative (www.educause.edu/eli) outlines seven things a user needs to know about wikis.  To begin, “a wiki is a Web page that can be viewed and modified by anybody with a Web browser and access to the Internet.”  Through the creation of a wiki, visitors can make changes to the content of the site.  While this has the potential for problem in that users can accidently (or purposefully) delete content entered by other users or insert incorrect content to the site.  Despite the potential for problem, wikis still promote a sense of collaboration and teamwork.  Through wikis, users can add sounds, movies, pictures, and links as well as text.  Users can also use wikis to create presentations and digital stories.

It is really simple to create a Wiki.  As a UWG student, we have access to a wiki account, but users can also go to www.wikispaces.com to create an account.  It’s simple to create an account by following the steps on the website.

In an article by the Center for Teaching by Vanderbilt University, wikis are explained as “a collaborative tool that allows students to contribute to and modify one or more pages of course related materials.”  That is exactly how I first encountered Wikis.  When taking the Information Resources class we had a group assignment to create a Wiki.  After I overcame my apprehension, I found myself hooked.  For the purposes of the class, groups created wikis to be used as a resource for teaching the standards.  It was an amazing experience.  After our team settled on the standard and divided the workload, I found myself totally engrossed.  One group member volunteered to create the wiki and invited the remaining members of our group to join.  Once we joined we were able to go in and add pages to let the creativity begin.  We each had our own page to create, in addition to a title page and a bibliography/resource page in which we collaborated.  In creating the wiki, we were able to go in a make modifications and additions to the various pages making collaboration easy.  The further into the project I got -- collecting and compiling printed, online, and video sources -- made my head spin with the possibilities for future wikis. 

The experience with wiki in Information Resources led me to create another Wiki in my Instructional Design class.  For this class I had the assignment of creating a professional development training for teachers.  I turned to wiki for its simplicity and user friendliness to create a training module on how to use Kidblog.  This time, I was much more comfortable and created the module in its entirety independently.  Because of my familiarity from the previous assignment I was much more proficient – and because I was then the facilitator of the page I had more freedom to make changes to the pages design and layout which made me even more excited.  Without a doubt, these assignments let me catch a glimpse of the potential wikis have in the field of education. 

Now my teaching partner and I are collaborating on creating wikis for our second graders.  We want to teach our students how to gather research, but are apprehensive about what they may encounter if allowed to search independently.  We have filtering to keep out the inappropriate content, but we all know that occasionally things do find their way through.  Plus, our students are so young it’s hard for them to determine if they are looking at a reliable source.  That’s where we are putting wikis to use.  We are in the process of creating wikis for our science and social studies standards that will allow our students to explore appropriate resources that will be beneficial in helping them in learning about the standard and the research process.  Our current wiki is for the solar system and features a page for the sun and each of the planets.  The students will be able to go in and explore the sites we have chosen for them and they will feel like accomplished researchers.  Students could continue their research at home by accessing the wikis at home – giving parents insight to what is being studied at school.

This is a thought I want to keep in mind for when I become a media specialist.  I feel teachers would greatly appreciate being able to have wikis on different standards to use as a resource.  It would be great to have the teachers collaborate with the media specialist and add materials that are appropriate for the standards for everyone to use.

I’ve played with the idea of having my students create and collaborate on a wiki.  I believe it can be done, but with training and practice, and would be enjoyed by the students. The biggest obstacle for us to face – once the process has been taught – is the possibility of students accidently erasing the work of another student.  I don’t think my students would purposely delete another’s work, but accidents do happen – especially at this age.

In addition to having students and teachers involved with wikis for student instruction, wikis also have great potential for teacher training.  Just as I created the wiki for instructional design on how to use Kidblog, training sessions could be created for teachers on different topics of interest.  The potential for wikis in education seem to be limitless.

In my research on Wikis, I found lots of ideas and suggestions for using wikis in the classroom.  For those looking for ways to incorporate wikis in the classroom, www.TeachersFirst.com has lots of great ideas.  It’s a great resource I’d recommend for educators.

·         An annotated virtual library: listings and commentary on independent reading students have done throughout the year

·         Collaborative book reviews or author studies

·         An elementary class “encyclopedia” on a special topic, such as explorers or state history – to be continued and added to each year!

·         A virtual tour of your school as you study “our community” in elementary grades

·         A travelogue from a field trip or NON- field trip that the class would have liked to take as a culmination of a unit of study: Our (non) trip to the Capital and what we (wish) we saw.

·         Detailed and illustrated descriptions of scientific or governmental processes: how a bill becomes a law, how mountains form, etc.
A wiki “fan club” for you favorite author(s).

·         Family Twaditionwiki- elementary students share their family’s ways of preparing Thanksgiving dinner or celebrating birthdays (anonymously, of course) and compare them to practices in other cultures they read and learn about.

·         A Where is Wanda wiki: a wiki version of the ever-favorite Flat Stanley project. Have each Wanda host post on the wiki, including the picture they take with Wanda during her visit. Even better: keep an ongoing Google Earth placemarker file to add geographic visuals to Wanda’s wonderful wanderings as a link in the wiki. WOW! Where in the world IS Wiki Wanda?

·         A mock-debate between candidates, in wiki form (composed entirely based on research students have done on the candidate positions).

·         A collaborative project with students in another location or all over the world: A day in the life of an American/Japanese/French/Brazilian/Mexican family. (This one would require finding contacts in other locations, of course).

·         A collection of propaganda examples during a propaganda unit.

·         Detailed and illustrated descriptions of governmental processes: how a bill becomes a law, etc.

·         A “fan club” for your favorite president(s) or famous female(s).

·         A virtual tour of your school as you study “our community” in elementary grades.

·         A local history wiki, documenting historical buildings, events, and people within your community. Include interviews with those who can tell about events from the World War II era or the day the mill burned down, etc. Allow adult community members to add their input by signing up for “membership” in the wiki. This project could continue on for years and actually be a service to the community. Perhaps the area historical society would provide some assistance, if you can get them to think beyond the closed stacks of their protected collections!

·         A document-the-veterans wiki for those in your community who served in the military. Interview them and photograph them, including both their accounts and your students’ documentation and personal reflections on the interviews.

·         A travel brochure wiki: use wikis to “advertise” for different literary, historical, or cultural locations and time periods: Dickens’ London, fourteenth century in Italy in Verona and Mantua (Romeo and Juliet), The Oklahoma Territory, The Yukon during the Gold Rush, Ex-patriot Paris in the Twenties, etc.

·         A continuing story in which your class adds sentence using new vocabulary words and writes and adventure story in collaboration with the entire class. They will NEVER forget the meaning of the words as they read and re-read their story each time they visit to add. The story can be a single version or branch off into multiple versions and endings.

·         A collection of mythological allusions found in “real life” while studying Greek/Roman mythology: Ex. Mercury cars- why are they so named?

·         An online writer’s workshop or poetry workshop with suggested revisions from classmates. Start with drafts and collaborate. Make sure students use the notes tab to explain why they make changes.

·         Summary and discussion of a scene of a play, a poem, or even chapter by chapter of a novel, with groups taking responsibility for different portions

·         Literary analysis of actual text on the wiki- with links to explanations of literary devices, a glossary to explain vocabulary, etc. Try it with a scene from Shakespeare or a sonnet! Each student or group could be responsible for a portion, then ALL can edit and revise to improve the collaborative project. You will be amazed how much they will find and argue.

·         Collaborative book reviews or author studies

·         Creative projects, such as a script for a Shakespeare scene reset in the 21st century

·         A travel brochure wiki- use wikis to “advertise” for different literary, historical, or cultural locations and time periods: Dickens’ London, fourteenth century in Italy in Verona and Mantua (Romeo and Juliet), The Oklahoma Territory, The Yukon during the Gold Rush, Expatriate Paris in the Twenties, etc.

·         Character resume wiki: have literature classes create a resume wikis for characters in a novel or play you are reading. Both creativity and documented evidence from the literature are required (use notes to indicate the evidence from the text).

Resources

Seven things you should know about wikis. (2005). Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7004.pdf.

Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers. (2015). Retrieved from www.teachersfirst.com by The Source for Learning, Inc.

Wikis. (2015). Retrieved from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/wikis/ by the Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University.

Wikispaces (2015) retrieved from www.wikispaces.com by Tangient LLC.