Blogging that collaborative continuum!

Posted on August 28, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

Thanks to a post by Janet over at Fusion Finds I was reminded that the third annual Blog Day is August 31, 2007. (I missed this last year!).

BlogDay is an event to foster more connections between bloggers. A way to get to know other bloggers with other interests from other countries. On Friday the 31st, write a post describing 5 blogs you recommend. Preferrably blogs that are different from yours in culture, point of view, and attitude. Notify these bloggers and tag your post with BlogDay2007. This is a great way to connect with other bloggers and pass along some link love.

Go on, join the power of the crowd!

Better still, visit Fusion Finds: Educators Integrating Technology. I discovered Janet’s blog as a result of a comment on Heyjude – see the power of comments? I love the workshops, the ideas, and the models that I can adapt to my own needs here in Australia. I think I will use these ideas to build further on Judy’s Web 2.0 notes for my new learners. What will you find to excite or enjoy?

Tagging – for the fun of it?

Posted on August 24, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

Folksonomy has become an important part of information sharing structures via the web – formal and informal. Folksonomy is the “vocabulary” or collection of tags that results from personal free tagging of web resources for one’s own use and the aggregate collection of tags that results from a group tagging project. Tagging systems are possible only if people are motivated to do more of the work themselves, for individual and/or social reasons. They are necessarily sloppy systems, but for an inexpensive, easy way of using the wisdom of the crowd to make resources visible and sortable, there’s nothing like tags 🙂

[Photo Credit: From Rashmi Sinha: A cognitive analysis of tagging]

Tagging for Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing explores these issues and shows the power of tagging to encourage conversations.

Coming up with the perfect tag is the problem- or is it? Subject analysis does not come naturally to the folksonomy crowd. Tags and the Power of Suggestion is a light-hearted consideration of some of the underlying influences of ‘natural’ approaches to organisation.

If you just want to delve further into tagging, then The Tagging Toolbox: 30+ Tagging Tools might be just what your are after:

Tags – for some, one of the best ideas on the web, for others, merely a visual distraction. Yes, we’re talking about those loosely defined categories which are usually organized into cute little clouds. Looking for tag-related resources can be tough, so we’ve dug up 30 tools and resources that every seasoned tagger should check out.

Inspirational Teenager

Posted on August 3, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

Listening to Daniel Brusilovsky , just 14, is for sure a reality check for any teachers hesitating to adopt Web 2.0. Daniel works in IT, and has his own blog and podcast show. I love that Daniel talks so favouribly about Twitter – because I picked up the information about this podcast right from a post by Scobleizer on Twitter! Good one Daniel!

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/08/PID_012094/Podtech_DanielB.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/3757/inspirational-teenager &totalTime=1019000&breadcrumb=ae6a213b3d354fe6b199ef8616abb90c]

You smoke! You die!….for literacy.

Posted on August 2, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

Literacy is still the focus for our project work at Good Shepherd this week – today it was Year 6 using Photostory to consolidate their learning about ‘smoking’.

After doing their research from the Cancer Council about the dangers of smoking, Megan asked the students to create a poster representing a key aspect of these dangers for an anti-smoking advertisment campaign. Students created a storyboard for their work, and were then able to record a supporting statement for each poster. Put these together – and bingo! a podcast of their own about the dangers of smoking. This was all ‘first time’ for these students – and the integration of visual, text and audio literacy skills were the bonus learning experience. Love your work Megan 🙂

That literacy beat really rocks!

Posted on August 1, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

We knew it was easy – but our students proved it to us today! It was Matt’s turn to share his class with me as we explored another learning experience with the kids. Year 4 is working on poetry ….. enjoying poetry now after inspiration from “Matt the Muso”!

Just a couple of weeks ago Matt was introduced to MacBooks, and the musician turned teacher discovered that there really is great scope for (garageband inspired) musical influences in his classroom.

Today his students “met” MacBooks and GarageBand for the first time, and armed with a poem they were ready to take up this muso’s challenge. The students very quickly chose a drum beat for their backing track, recorded their audio track (matching the poem to the beat), and then chose sound effects.

This was just the beginning of their creative experience, and will lead to podcasting and sharing of media files with parents. Great learning …. and what a buzz! Thanks very much Matt 🙂

Here is just one sample to enjoy –

Dolphins

I think bloggers don’t read….Cult of the Amateur

Posted on July 24, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

From the Guardian Unlimited comes a write-up by Tim Dowling about Andrew Keen, the man who says the internet is populated by second-rate amateurs – and that it is swiftly destroying our culture.

Denizens of the cyberswamp? A million monkeys at a million typewriters? Misplaced faith in the integrity of the amateur – the citizen journalist, the self-published author, the mash-up musician?

To my mind Wikipedia is not wise,” says Keen. “It’s dumb. Not necessarily because all its contributors are dumb, but because if you don’t have an editor in charge, and you don’t have singular voices, then the intellectual quality of what the crowd produces is very low.

Dowling says that Keen’s argument strikes a chord with certain professions, particularly librarians, editors and educators (oh, that’s my group!). Keen’s critics, on the other hand, see him as defending a largely abandoned redoubt: old media, with its outmoded “gatekeepers” and structural hierarchies.

Read the article and catch up with the criticism.

The Book: The Cult of the Amateur, with the no-messing-about subtitle “How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy”.

A blogging journey

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

With the tremendous growth in blogging and social networking in 2007 it is always great to acknowledge the quiet achievers – bloggers who have followed the “clarion call” to 21st century-style knowledge sharing long before newbies like myself started blogging.

So I was happy to see A Blogging Journey, written by Marita, as part of her presentation to her new network of Teacher Librarians. Marita has left my system of schools, to join another group in the northern part of Sydney. Our loss, their gain!

Maybe it’s time for more people to share their journey – not the famous ones, but the ones who always make a different where it counts – right there in their own school! Thanks very much Marita. 🙂

Who says….

Posted on July 18, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

………..that Twitter isn’t catching on?

Reading Emerging Technology Trends and Diamonds are fuel cells’ best friends. Did you know that researchers have “invented a method to make oxides such as cubic zirconia (zirconium oxide) with extremely small grain sizes, on the order of 15 nanometers. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, or the size of a few atoms. At that scale, the crystals conduct electricity very well, through the movement of protons. The material could be used in fuel cells that are based on chemical oxides.”

This is what caught my eye…

There are 180 followers since April 08.

This puts a whole new spin on RSS. I can see the value of joining a twitter feed for ‘breaking news’.

It’s interesting to speculate how twitter might be used in schools? But my speculation drew a pretty big blank – can’t imagine what value it might add right now! Everything I thought of was answered in my mind with another application. You might like to prove me wrong?

What else my schools are doing…besides blogging!

Posted on July 18, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

Websites are a powerful information and promotional tool for encouraging enrolments and creating community awareness ……… and Catholic Education (Parramatta, Sydney) (where I hang out!) is working on the development of a content managed template-based websites for all schools in the Parramatta Diocese that can be customised to suit each school’s personality and needs.

All our schools will have a website that is professionally designed, dynamic and current, easy to manage, but most of all – effective. I have seen some of the work in the pilot schools, and it is ‘right on the button’ web design and effective

The easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS) will allow schools to modify and maintain the content of their website with no fuss and will make updating content, pictures and menus on websites very quick and easy for all staff.

The aim is to reduce/remove duplication of information and processes, and to fully integrate with our central database and intranet which feeds all sites with information allowing for restricted access to “staff only” information. Of course, the first stage will feature all the usual CMS features that makes life easy for school staff – managing text, images, pages and galleries etc. It will also provide RSS feeds to syndicate website content. Cool!

Even cooler will be the additional developments planned further in the rollout – cool stuff like easy upload of audio and video files, Web 2.0 tools (like wikis and podcasting), easy creation of newsletters and automatic delivery of E-News, multi-lingual support, and (not to forget marketing) search engine optimisation and access to website statistics to gauge site effectiveness.

Good one!

Sydney twitter meetup – be there!

Posted on July 17, 2007 by Judy O'Connell

For all you twitter fans or “would-be” twitterati! based in Sydney – you need to know that we have a
Sydney Twitter Meetup on Wednesday 25 July at 6.00 pm.
Pier 26 Bar
Pier 26, Aquarium Wharf, Wheat Rd, Darling Harbour
Sydney, New South Wales

More details at Upcoming.

Twitter has created quite a buzz for itself in the first quarter of this year- managing to combine the ease of Instant Messaging and SMS with the reach and scope of social networking services. So what’s all the buzz about?

Twitter: A beginners guide will give you all the information you need, and fill you in on this social networking phenomenon. I don’t think everyone is ready for Twitter – but I have found it a real boon for keeping in touch.

I don’t have a public profile – as I only really want to twitter with people involved with education. All up I have 65 friends – leading educators from around the world as well as in Australia – more than I could hope to keep in touch with using ‘traditional’ methods of communication like email!

“heyjudeonline” (me) is not online all the time – but when I link in I can quickly catch up. I also have the option of sending messages directly to my ‘friends’. I like the zany personal touch that twittering allows. It might be a passing fad – but twittering is part of the evolving shape of online communication – so for now I tweet! I do this online at twitter, or within FaceBook. There is a Sydney Twitter Meetup in Facebook! I’ll have to get myself invited 🙂

I don’t use my mobile to tweet – but I will certainly turn it on for the Sydney twitter meetup!

Why don’t you come and join me?