Thing #11.5 - Evaluation

I LOVE Second Life. I really like SKYPE. I had wanted to use Skype but had not tried it. So now I have!!!!!!!!

Skype is a HUGE take away for me.

I appreciate doing this. Many of these things I had some familiarity with before doing this but it really pulls things together and gives me time to think about it and how I want to use it next year. However, a HUGE plus, when teachers are asking me how to do things that are one of the 21 or ll.5 things, the directions are there and they are easy to follow. I might walk them through something but I can point them to this and they have a place for more help and review when I am not around. That is a major plus.

Finally, I think the face - to - face days was a great bonus. Sometimes you just hit a wall with something and do not know why it is NOT working. The suggestion that I would make - have a blog or wiki where people can go and post a question. Then everyone can help each other out if they get stuck. This would be especially helpful if there was some notification of the group when a question was posted. Then someone who might be online could help.

Thing # 11 - Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship encompasses several different areas of information that many adults are not aware of not using appropriately. Point one: Digital literacy and safey - I can not tell you how many times I get emails from other adults - may of them teachers - frantic about something that got sent to them in their email. Because they got an email, it must be true. I have sent so many back with links to the urban legend sites that my fingers are tired. I even got one from the principal. Point two: There are so many times that adults do not understand the etiquette needed when posting or emailing. Language is certainly one of them - but simple things like not using ALL CAPS is also one. And finally - point three: How to use the internet available material for learning and the strategies for processing. First - this can not be done at once. It is an ongoing process. I start with my Kinder and 1st grade students telling them that everything they read, hear or see is not necessarily true. (Heck, I am doing this lesson with my 5th graders and my TEACHERS) and that is really what I am going to talk about here. You have to get this point through before you can move on.

I pull my books on Pluto. I show my kids the books. I ask them if the information in it is true and right. Oh, yes, she took them off the shelf, they are in the library, it is good stuff. Then I open one and read about Pluto being the 9th planet. I then open another one that says Pluto is not a planet. PROBLEM. Different info in different books. What is right and what is true. How do we solve this problem. So, I pull up my computer. Again, I find articles that say yes and others that say no. How to solve. I then talk to the students about where the information is coming from. We begin to look at the issue of Authority. Is this a competent scientific site, how old is it, etc. That is my first lesson. Each time we start to research something I remind them about the need to check the authority of the posting or website. We post the list of things to check by Kathy Schrock on a poster board for the students to use as a guide.

One of the other things that I do, I talk about what I am thinking outloud with my kids. I will mention that something sounds goofy. I then will take them to websites like the Pacific Tree Octopus. I will go through the list of things to check. I will act all excited like this is something new I just found. When I catch the kids - I stop. I say wait a minute. Does this really sound like it is even possible. Hmmmmmm. Then I go and try to search for other websites and find the hoax pages. This really makes an impact. I can not tell you how many kids start looking around for hoaxes. When they realize how many they are - it makes a impact. I finally show them some of the Urban Legend sites to use for checking things.

This is my intro to Digital Citizenship. It must be an ongoing, continuous propsition.

Thing #10 - Virtual Worlds

I love Second Life. This has wonderful applications for education. I am now part leader of a group called K - 12 in SL Now! We are working together to attempt to find a way to bring students into 2nd life as avatars. We realize that this needs to be done carefully and we are trying to talk to lots of people so that we can present our ideas to the Lindens. I now am a landowner in 2nd life thanks to some wonderful people at the Nebraska Technology office. I have a castle for my classes with my kids. I am very excited about this year.

Finally today, I got to share SL with my principal. She was very excited about it and immediately saw the educational aspects of it. However, she also realized that if I put that on her computer she would never get things ready for school because she would be PLAYING!!!!

SL really allows you to play and learn. It is extremely addictive. One morning at 8:00 am I got up and decided just to go and look in at SL for a moment. At 7:00pm I realized that I had only moved from the chair one time to go to the bathroom. I had not eaten, or had anything to drink that day. However, I had done 3 interviews, held 2 meetings about sharing at conferences by linking in through SL, and I had worked at building in my castle. I had had a very full day, and never moved from the chair. Hey, that is doing something. The only problem - exercise. How will I get it? Oh, I know, make a stand for my computer of my exercise bike. Now I can exercise and do SL at the same time. Now, if you want me to spin like a hampster in a cage, just make my computer run from the electricity that my exercise bike generates. That wheel will be spinning.

Thing #9 - Slideshare

I thought Slideshare was very intersting. It is wonderful that people are beginning to share their PPTs. I can see that it truly is a new way to collaborate between teachers, librarians, and people in general. But, for students I see this as a bonaza. Here is another wonderful resource that they can go to for information and ideas. One note: I think that it is extremely important that librarians begin to teach students and teachers to put a credit page in their ppts espeically if they are going to be sharing them on a site like Slideshare.

Also, not only can you learn information by looking at slideshare but, it can also give you new ideas for creating ppts.

Thing #8 - Screen Capture - Jing

I used Jing. It was very easy to use. It is very intuitive to use the actual screen capture. I can see making several Jings and posting them on the library computers to remind students how to search. What would also be nice, to have a teacher do them in Spanish for my Bilingual students.

http://www.screencast.com/t/IIjAA75Q2QA