Assignment 2 - Social Networks / Microblogging

Assignment 2 - Social Networks / Microblogging

1.  Learning / communication goals :  I want to become proficient with using a social network so that I can relate to what my students & kids are doing.  I think with time, I may even figure out a creative way to weave some curriculum content in!

2.  I joined Facebook.

3.   My initial experience / impressions was how easy and fun it was.  I was also shocked to find a rather large list of people who popped up as people that I might want to "friend".  How did they know to select these people???  That is kind of creepy to me, as they were right on for lots of the names.  They were in fact people that I'd want to communicate with.  Really...how do they do that?

VoiceThread

Wow...this is very cool.  The list of things that I have no clue on just keeps getting longer.  However, I am so glad that Hilton has offered this class so that I can begin to check off a few things...like voicethread.  I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone comments on it and what they have to say. 

Knowing what it is and using it's full potential are miles apart but I'm glad to begin the journey.

I think I successfully put the link above but if not here it is... http://voicethread.com/share/1039796/

Lesson 8 - A time for Reflection 2

I think that I will find it extremely helpful to use the delicious account to keep track of websites that I have been to for research purposes.  It will also be very helpful to see additional websites/resources that other people are visiting who have also been to sites of interest to me.   As a FACS teacher we are really a "one man band" within our school and even departments as we focus on our specific courses.  Therefore it will be wonderful to widen our circle of contacts and resources through the use of this "social networking" account.

In the past I have attempted to keep track of websites of interest to me...but frankly my system has been archiac at best.  This will be much more efficient, timely and accessible.  I also think that through the use of the delicious account my research efforts will allow me a wider sweep of material and give me greater confidence that I have been thorough enough in my search. 

At some point I can see sharing this with students and having the discussion about sources, credibility and quality of information gathered.  I want to use this myself first and gain proficiency before I incorporate use of it in the classroom.

The first project I plan to use the delicious account with is for my Food & Fitness classes.  We do a public service announcement for the Hilton High School Community during the semester.  We begin by doing research on a topic affecting fitness or nutrition.  I will use my delicious account to select this semesters topic. Following the research, we communicate our findings through several media's (posters in the hall, looping powerpoint slides for the wave, creating a PSA to be aired on the wave).

Wiki's in the Classroom

I have reviewed the materials about wiki's in the classroom.  I enjoyed the short video segments the most.  I feel like a "kid in a candy store" with a feeling of awe over all of these very cool ways to get students engaged and learning without even having that "feeling of school work".  I would like to chat with an experience wiki user to see if some of my flegling ideas for use of a wiki in one of my classes would be successful and what pitfalls to avoid.  But...if all else fails, I'll probably just dive in and learn via the school of hard knocks!

#5 Free Online Video Resources for Students & Teachers

I listened to the Wesley Fryer interview Rustin Hurley and was very impressed with what I heard.  I excitedly checked out all 3 sections of New Vista.  The concepts behind the site are the answer to many a teachers prayers.  (Oh...btw...I tried to put my response in a easily readable chart copied over from word...big failure.  The formating did not transfer...so now I'm resorting to cumbersome text.)  As far as educational content and relevance: I found that it didn't provide much for my content area.  Even the global review was too limited for my course content.  It was easy for teachers & students to use and holds lots of possibilities for the future when it has a wider, deeper database of materials.

Teacher Tube:  This has possibilities but will require significant time investment to find material that will be useful for topics being covered in my classes.  I found the ads to be annonying and interfered with my enjoyment and satisfaction of using the site.  I was grateful for the search feature to help winnow out material.  I think students would probably like using this site.  I myself got sidetracked with a video titled, "Pull your pants up".  Much to the annoyance of my own teens, especially when I became inspired to rap and dance along!

School Tube:  This also has possibilities but I felt that the time investment to find that "gem" that was a good match was considerable.  While easy to use for both students and teachers, perhaps it would be a good student assignment to have them locate material based on some carefully structured guidelines.  It certainly could provide students with good ideas for a project of their own.

U Tube:  While this medium is universally used, I prefer to go to news sources for video that I can use in my class.  Then I'm confident of the accuracy and quality.  I find it easier to use the search tool and get direct hits for content that I am seeking. However, since students love to use u-tube, teachers have the benefit of a "built in hook".  Structuring assignments carefully could yield some great creativity for student generated videos.