Module 3

For Students

It's pretty evident how helpful the online docs application can be, and the testimonials on the youtube video are very convincing. At present we have a system where students drop their work into a box on the common drive which has worked well so far, but generally they don't go in and edit one another's work unless it's to change the title of someone's work to something offensive. To stop that from happening we then create folders where students are unable to open or edit work once it's dropped there, so it breaks down the idea of a true learning community. I would love to encourage students to mark one another's work via google docs to promote that 'community'. It's also a really good application for group tasks, it means that students can work from home on the one document without having to share a computer ( and possibly fewer heated verbal disagreements?).



For Staff


I've created a pretty typical document that I would share with my colleagues and requires their input. It's a presentation of some information about Moses Maimonides which they can access and edit by following the link: https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0Ab4LXP1T1wo9ZGQzZ3ZxN18zZmh6OXIzY3E&hl=en&authkey=CL_ex4YE

In the past we generally create resources our selves and accept verbal suggestions from other staff as they use them, but this is an instantaneous and more efficient way of sharing resources. It also means that fewer staff are going to be re-inventing the wheel each time that they teach a topic.

Module 2

BLOGGING BASICS

One thing that I have had difficulty with is getting my year 9 students to actually complete a post that shows some reflection and hasn't been done at the last minute to appease me. Some tips from Blogging Basics may be what I need to help ease the students into the process:

BLOGGING STEP-BY-STEP

To gradually introduce students to blogging:

1. Teach them the etiquette of online posting.
2. Invite students to use blogs for a few days just for fun -- until they get used to how the system works. Create your own blog too.
3. Assign one blog entry per week on a class-related topic; keep required lengths short and emphasize reflection.
4. Over time, encourage students to provide feedback on one another's blogs; to evaluate blogs outside of class; and to create group blogs.
5. Grade students on their blog entries. Evaluate such factors as time management, content, and grammar and spelling.

In setting up our class website I had assumed that my students would immediately understand what I wanted from them because I was taking the classroom discussion into the internet world. Not true. In many cases students couldn't even figure out how to open a new discussion thread or respond to a post. 

Another thing that I discovered whilst completing this Module is that blogs do not necessarily need to be written (particularly prose). There is such a thing as a video blog and a photo blog. Pages like Indian Music Blog combine videos with written analysis of new and old music and are a great way for students to discover blogs as multi-media experiences.

 

FOR THE FUTURE

It is my intention to have my year 9 students to create a weekly blog about their personal musical journey for that week (or perhaps they can do it fortnightly). For some students it will involve journalling their daily music habits and for others it will mean making a conscious effort to listen to music that is not part of a television show, movie or computer game (although I do recognise all of these as valid sources for musical journeys).  

Why Blog?

There is one aspect of blogging in the teacher-student relationship about which I am curious: why blog when you can have a conversation? I have a deep fear that we are doing our students a disservice by providing them with the tools to become even more anti-social and socially inept than some of them already are. The other day I asked a student to put away his laptop at lunchtime. He asked why, and I replied that it is anti-social to sit at his computer during lunch, and that he should be speaking with other people. He replied that he was playing an interactive computer game.

Module 1

I am excited about the Web 2.0 course because there are so many things that I see on the internet that I would love to be able to create myself. At present I have a Wikispace for my year 9 music class but I probably spend more time fiddling around with it than is necessary because I don't have a guide as such.

When creating my igoogle home page, I added youtube as one of the gadgets, with the most viewed video of the day as the starting point. I love youtube not just because it connects us with people from all walks of life who have access to a camera, but because it is a good point of reference for my students. For example, if they like a song, I'll tell them to go and look up the original version or another work by the same composer. Youtube never lets me down, there is always something interesting there for the students to discover. I also embed youtube videos in our class wiki and ask the students to respond to them, and so far none of them have had trouble with the technology.

It was interesting that in several of the youtube videos about web 2.0, they talk about it in terms of the future and all the new opportunities that are emerging through these tools. I wonder if my students will recognise the value of web 2.0 as emerging technology or if they are oblivious to what life was like pre-internet?