Ruminations
Well the learning this week...
(1) Added more folks to twitter and appreciate the posts with links, the posts inviting folks to eat etcetera make me want to say 'just phone them', or ask them in person! This makes me wonder about using twitter with students. Yes, I can tell them I am in a good mood and there is no quiz to study for...but then a whole bunch of adults would discover that as well. Can one split one's tweeties into groups like I can with phone IM's? If not, then all my students would think they had a cancelled quiz versus just my bio class. Worse, if my students are tweeting , then I will see all their inane tweets about their lives. This can't be a good thing.
(2) Webcast. Tried an Elluminate session at the end of NECC, it wasn't good. Everyone was likely on their way home and not inclined to be involved in a session given in the hallway. I will try something more formal later on. As with in person sessions, much depends on the presenter, and in Elluminate it seems much also depends on the quality of the participation of those in attendance.
(3) Thinking on the PLN....the tweets are providing sites to investigate, but I get overwhelmed with sites and closeting them all away in delicious for the day I will have to look at them. Perhaps if I taught just 1 or 2 subjects I wouldn't be so burdened by this knowledge...but when I teach 9 subjects in rotation..everything is interesting, drat it all.
(4) Thinking on images....Want to incorporate more short clips and photos to promote thinking, but the state of my classroom tech is low, so I will have to work hard to make getting a projector and setting it all up more of a priority. I bought a Flip video camera in the spring and used it once to great success (APBio kids evaluated nests created by Bio kids and filmed the evaluations using puppets and lawn flamingos and rocks...lots of fun).
(5) Question....What is the prevailing trend out there for putting student images on the web? I noticed several public classroom blogs had student photos and seemingly real names. I thought this was discouraged. What info do you all have concerning this?
(6) Sharings....Besides the flip camera, I love Flyp the on-line magazine. It is going exactly where web technology should in a magazine. It is not available in print,; it couldn't be. It embeds video, has interactive maps and graphs. I have used this with my students. It is at-home reading they will do. It has science, culture, politics, music....You do need to sign up -- but I appreciate knowing when a new issue is available.
Also, if you haven't encountered Edutopia, the magazine created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation for technology in the classroom, it has worthy info. It was free for its first few years, but they also do give away subscriptions. (Not that I know how I got one when I wouldn't pay for it)
(1) Added more folks to twitter and appreciate the posts with links, the posts inviting folks to eat etcetera make me want to say 'just phone them', or ask them in person! This makes me wonder about using twitter with students. Yes, I can tell them I am in a good mood and there is no quiz to study for...but then a whole bunch of adults would discover that as well. Can one split one's tweeties into groups like I can with phone IM's? If not, then all my students would think they had a cancelled quiz versus just my bio class. Worse, if my students are tweeting , then I will see all their inane tweets about their lives. This can't be a good thing.
(2) Webcast. Tried an Elluminate session at the end of NECC, it wasn't good. Everyone was likely on their way home and not inclined to be involved in a session given in the hallway. I will try something more formal later on. As with in person sessions, much depends on the presenter, and in Elluminate it seems much also depends on the quality of the participation of those in attendance.
(3) Thinking on the PLN....the tweets are providing sites to investigate, but I get overwhelmed with sites and closeting them all away in delicious for the day I will have to look at them. Perhaps if I taught just 1 or 2 subjects I wouldn't be so burdened by this knowledge...but when I teach 9 subjects in rotation..everything is interesting, drat it all.
(4) Thinking on images....Want to incorporate more short clips and photos to promote thinking, but the state of my classroom tech is low, so I will have to work hard to make getting a projector and setting it all up more of a priority. I bought a Flip video camera in the spring and used it once to great success (APBio kids evaluated nests created by Bio kids and filmed the evaluations using puppets and lawn flamingos and rocks...lots of fun).
(5) Question....What is the prevailing trend out there for putting student images on the web? I noticed several public classroom blogs had student photos and seemingly real names. I thought this was discouraged. What info do you all have concerning this?
(6) Sharings....Besides the flip camera, I love Flyp the on-line magazine. It is going exactly where web technology should in a magazine. It is not available in print,; it couldn't be. It embeds video, has interactive maps and graphs. I have used this with my students. It is at-home reading they will do. It has science, culture, politics, music....You do need to sign up -- but I appreciate knowing when a new issue is available.
Also, if you haven't encountered Edutopia, the magazine created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation for technology in the classroom, it has worthy info. It was free for its first few years, but they also do give away subscriptions. (Not that I know how I got one when I wouldn't pay for it)
could you have multiple twit accounts for multiple purposes?
ReplyDeleteOur school strongly discourages us from using student images on the web, but there are some exceptions. This spring a colleague and I received a $1,500 grant and ran a Flyfishing 101 class for 22 of our students. I was able to use a couple images from the class for my Trout Unlimited website but only after I received written permission from parents and only if I did not use student names.
ReplyDeleteI taught in one independent school that would use student pictures but never names on web postings. With my knew larger public system, I am less sure of the rules because I see county pages that identify students.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about the multiple twit accounts --but it seems that the big tweeers some of us are following are just doing it all-in-one. Maybe they aren't. Anyone know of a two-faced, three-faced tweeter?
ReplyDeleteI never liked having class photos taken when I was a student.
ReplyDeleteBut one can alter them with Picnic! I can show a photo of students doing labs after altering it --hey all could have pixilated faces like criminals!
ReplyDeleteFor safety, when my students posted a comment on the blog it could only be first name and last initial. I was very strict and since I previewed before posting I could reject if I needed to. Thanks for the Edutopia site. It is a 2009 Webby winner for education but it somehow got by me.
ReplyDeleteI have the same concern about student photos. I have found that (normally) my students enjoy seeing pics of themselves particularly in their full lab attire and would love to post pics to a blog. On our school website there are pictures that cycle through and are updated regularly that don't include names. I think it varies greatly from public and private and from school to school that probably just best to check with your individual school and proceed with caution.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your concerns. No photos of kids under age 18 unless you have parent consent - also, absolutely no last names of kids...I would encourage kids to use initials or pseudonyms if you are blogging with them...
ReplyDeleteSusan, good question about the group tweets, I was also wondering along the same lines if it is possible to send a direct tweet to a bunch of people (eg. our classmates) without having to type everyone's username in.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree about the NECC Elluminate sessions, they were pretty haphazard and had too much info squeezed into a 20 minute slot. The regular Classroom 2.0 Live sessions are much more structured and there are usually over 50 participants, check out the Glogster one coming up...
Sorry, one more thing... about the student photos, shouldn't each school have something along the lines of an AUP (acceptable use policy) which would cover that kind of thing? I think if it was up to the individual teacher, I would send out a letter at the beginning of the year to each parent with how I plan to use the internet with their kids, how I expect the kids to use it, what parents could get out of it and a place to sign if they are okay with it all (eg. "If we put class pictures up, they will only include students' first names"). That way, you would be covered through out the year.
ReplyDelete