While I didn't learn any cool new web applications I found the discussion of copyright and fair use to be extremely illuminating and worthwhile. I think like most people I knew the basics of the idea, but the law is so murky and confusing (and often self-contradictory) that I often simply ignored the issue and just tried very hard to not do something to get sued. Unfortunately if you don't know what you're getting sued for... Anyway, Caroline's resources were very helpful and while the Disney video got annoying after a while (I now hear Buzz Lightyear bellow out "Copy!" every time I read or write the word copyright) it was VERY cool and well done. I don't think I've ever used "someone has too much time on their hands" as a compliment, but there you go. Additionally, Creative Commons was something I had heard of but never really knew what was. It is outstanding to actually know what it is AND have a website to refer to. On to the assignment.
Have you noticed the CC logo on any websites you visit? Did you wonder what it meant? No, but I'm not particularly observant (ask my wife!). I had heard of the term but didn't really know what it referred to.
Do you think CC will impact the way students learn and create projects? How?
Yes, it very well could. Assuming teachers know about and encourage use of CC. I think that fact that CC gives teachers confidence that the materials on the site are available for use and won't get them in trouble it could open up a lot of doors for creativity and engagement with the broader culture for students.
Do you use digital images, audio or video clips from the web in your teaching (or professional practice)? Occasionally. I don't teach, but I give a lot of multi-media PowerPoint presentations through the year and I use a lot of (probably copyrighted) pictures/music. My strategy before this was simply not to make eye contact with Caroline if she was in the audience, but now I feel I have the confidence to determine if what I am doing is fair use (not to mention using Creative Commons to find material).
Do you ever share content on the web? Not really. As an introverted curmudgeon I've never created a blog (before this), participated on message boards, facebook, diigo, or any other online communities. Now that I know a little more about them I'm happy to have an understanding of sharing content on the web is in case I choose to use them.
Who owns the materials that you produce for teaching / professional development purposes? Probably other people. I rip most of what I get from personal CD collections, itunes, or (primarily) google image searches. That was in the past of course. Now I'm on the side of angels Unites States Copyright Office! Really!
What are some potential negatives for using CC?
One that occurred to me was that even within CC there appeared (based on the materials I looked through) to be different levels of what the creators had given permission for. Given for the tendency for humanity to always grossly oversimplify anything subtle or complicated I could see people slip into bad habits and assume (well its on CC so it must be available for use?) without reading the fine print, as it were.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thing 8: All the Cool Kids have a Wiki
In accordance with Thing 8 I now have a nook on the 23 things Sandbox Wiki. You can find it here (Scroll to the bottom). Read it and enjoy! Marvel at my ability to summarize my life in a mere 3 sentences! Gasp at my horrible taste in music, movies, and books! Wait in breathless anticipation for the wonders I will soon post in the Web 2.0: Garden of Earthly Delights! The Sandinistas Wiki nook, more exclamation points per capita than any other Wiki!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Thing 7: Death Rides a Pale Otter
It's been a while since I've updated my blog, mostly because I've was laid up on my back for about two weeks with swine flu/Pneumonia. But all of that is in the past. So back to the wonderful, terrifying world of Web 2.0. This week is Wiki's and I have to suggest a bit of skepticism about the enterprise that I had at the outset. I was familiar with some Wiki's, particularly Wikipedia which I use copiously. But in general my experience with Wiki's had been, less than (to me) impressive. Our curriculum department runs numerous Wiki's and to be honest (sorry Caroline) they had seemed to me at best to be a place where you could store a lot of documents, but they really had not made much of an impression on me.
I should probably explain WHY this was as the rest of the post is going to be me explaining why I was surprised how much I liked the Educational Wiki's on the 23 things page. By nature I am an introvert and a non-joiner. I don't typically join groups and I am probably an individualist to the point of unhealthiness at times. I don't join groups or clubs and when words like "collaborate" and "community" are thrown around like they are intrinsic goods my eyes tend to glaze over (for those of you into Myers-Briggs I am a hard INTJ which should explain a lot). This is a long way of saying that dispositionally the ability to share and collaborate isn't intrinsically a high priority for me unless it LEADS to something. That was the ledge that really allowed me to get into the Wiki's I looked at.
What impressed me most was the degree to which these Wiki's allowed the mustering of multiple Web 2.0 operations towards a single goal. Take for example the Educational Origami page that Caroline recommended. The page in many ways features the best elements of a blog, a message board, and a Diigo page into one seamless whole. You could literally spend hours perusing multiple elements of web 2.0 applications. The organization takes some getting used to but once I oriented myself I found it amazing how much was in the Wiki. I am not surprised Caroline finds this page so relevant for her job. I wish their was a wiki like this for assessment.
The next Wiki I checked out was the Civil War "Follow Me" Wiki. I picked this one because my wife (who is a kindergarten teacher) has a similar program she runs with her class where each child gets to take the class stuffed monkey (Walton) home with them and then has to write a short paper on what they did and provide photos. The "follow me" Wiki's are in many ways just a fun extension of this. On this Wiki a sixth grade student from Pennsylvania who is a civil war buff. As she travels around to battlefields she takes her Teddy Bear "Sallie Ann" with her. A helpful map shows all of the sites visited and links to places to learn more about them. A really simple concept applied in a neat way. This really seems like a way to tap into kids unique curiosity and creativity.
The concept behind the Civil War Wiki was very simple. On the more complex end was the Flat Classroom Project, the Wiki of numerous high school students around the globe organized around Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat" book and concept. The Wiki is notable to me in the way it literally instantiates Friedman's hypothesis. Students from as far flung areas as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Montana, Texas, & Australia all collaborate with one another. The idea of linking up individuals from across the globe is interesting, but what actually made it relevant to me was the degree to which the schools/students were working toward a singular goal, that of increasing communication between diverse students through web 2.0 technology. Given how long the site had been in place (at least 3 years by my count) it was impressive how much had been generated by the students involved.
Much as with Diigo, I was surprised at the degree I found myself liking the Wiki's in general. I don't know if I could say I am totally enamored (some of the Wiki's I looked at still seemed to much of a self-contained "how cool is it I made a wiki" rather than something that was actually useful. But the many examples of Wikis that did just that have swayed me that this is a medium that has a valuable role in the 21st century classroom. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to yelling at the kids to get off of my lawn. There that felt better.
I should probably explain WHY this was as the rest of the post is going to be me explaining why I was surprised how much I liked the Educational Wiki's on the 23 things page. By nature I am an introvert and a non-joiner. I don't typically join groups and I am probably an individualist to the point of unhealthiness at times. I don't join groups or clubs and when words like "collaborate" and "community" are thrown around like they are intrinsic goods my eyes tend to glaze over (for those of you into Myers-Briggs I am a hard INTJ which should explain a lot). This is a long way of saying that dispositionally the ability to share and collaborate isn't intrinsically a high priority for me unless it LEADS to something. That was the ledge that really allowed me to get into the Wiki's I looked at.
What impressed me most was the degree to which these Wiki's allowed the mustering of multiple Web 2.0 operations towards a single goal. Take for example the Educational Origami page that Caroline recommended. The page in many ways features the best elements of a blog, a message board, and a Diigo page into one seamless whole. You could literally spend hours perusing multiple elements of web 2.0 applications. The organization takes some getting used to but once I oriented myself I found it amazing how much was in the Wiki. I am not surprised Caroline finds this page so relevant for her job. I wish their was a wiki like this for assessment.
The next Wiki I checked out was the Civil War "Follow Me" Wiki. I picked this one because my wife (who is a kindergarten teacher) has a similar program she runs with her class where each child gets to take the class stuffed monkey (Walton) home with them and then has to write a short paper on what they did and provide photos. The "follow me" Wiki's are in many ways just a fun extension of this. On this Wiki a sixth grade student from Pennsylvania who is a civil war buff. As she travels around to battlefields she takes her Teddy Bear "Sallie Ann" with her. A helpful map shows all of the sites visited and links to places to learn more about them. A really simple concept applied in a neat way. This really seems like a way to tap into kids unique curiosity and creativity.
The concept behind the Civil War Wiki was very simple. On the more complex end was the Flat Classroom Project, the Wiki of numerous high school students around the globe organized around Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat" book and concept. The Wiki is notable to me in the way it literally instantiates Friedman's hypothesis. Students from as far flung areas as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Montana, Texas, & Australia all collaborate with one another. The idea of linking up individuals from across the globe is interesting, but what actually made it relevant to me was the degree to which the schools/students were working toward a singular goal, that of increasing communication between diverse students through web 2.0 technology. Given how long the site had been in place (at least 3 years by my count) it was impressive how much had been generated by the students involved.
Much as with Diigo, I was surprised at the degree I found myself liking the Wiki's in general. I don't know if I could say I am totally enamored (some of the Wiki's I looked at still seemed to much of a self-contained "how cool is it I made a wiki" rather than something that was actually useful. But the many examples of Wikis that did just that have swayed me that this is a medium that has a valuable role in the 21st century classroom. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to yelling at the kids to get off of my lawn. There that felt better.
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