My final post for LIBE 477

Wow! The middle of April is quickly approaching and that means the end of LIBE 477. Mixed feelings welcomed me to this course, and now that it is ending the same feeling are reappearing, but for different reasons: Fear, nervousness and excitement are all intertwined.

My fear can be explained in all the unanswered questions that I have. Will I remember how to use all the new tools that I have learned? Who will answer my endless questions now that Joanne will not be an email address away? Will I really be able to teach others how to do this? What do you mean the course is already over? I haven’t learned everything yet! At the beginning of the course I was worried that I would not be able to keep up with all the readings, discussions and new information in the lessons. Now, I am worried that I may not be able to remember how to use all the tools that I have been working with, or maybe I won’t be able to explain them clearly to others.

Fear is accompanied by nervousness. What happens if during one of my lessons or workshops, someone asks a question that I cannot answer? Who will help me? Joanne won’t be at the other end of my email account patiently answering all of my inquiries. There is also the fear of how I will keep up with all the new tools that are doming into our lives. As is, I haven’t had the chance to try out all of the tools mentioned in this course. Will I ever be able to get to all of then?

When starting the course, I was excited about all the new tools that I would be learning about. Now, although I am afraid, I am excited to implement my new found knowledge and modernize some of my old, boring lessons. I am excited to share the knowledge with my students while implementing the new lessons. Won’t I be the “cool” teacher?!

Pride is a new emotion added to the mixture that was not present when I wrote my first post. However, I must admit that pride is what I am feeling as I write this last post. Considering the fact that I do not own my own cell phone, not even to mention that I have never sent a text message, I have travelled a long distance to be able to tweet, blog , create animotos, wikis and other tools. Last week, the district techie commented on how much I have learned throughout the course. Boy it felt good to hear those words come form his mouth. That was when I had to take a step back and look at what I have accomplished throughout the last four months. Way more than I ever thought I would.

The journey was not always easy and frustration was definitely an emotion that was dealt with often. For example, when working on my Vision of the Future wiki the other day, my patience was running thin and anger was boiling because I could not link my screen cast address to my wiki page. This continued for over an hour. However, when explaining to my husband what I was trying to do, I recalled that I had a similar problem when working on my screen cast blog post. The problem was solved when I hit the preview button, Why not try that? I did and all was fun. “What a dummy I am!” were the next words out of my mouth. A simple concept for most, took me what seemed like forever to complete. However, once the wiki was completed the angry and frustration were replaced by pride.



I must admit that the journey has not always been pleasant, and defiantly was not always easy for me, but it was absolutely rewarding and I would defiantly do it again without questions or hesitation. What will the future bring for the library catalog? The point is that the library catalog has a long way to go...must integrate Web 2.0 toolsTherefore, as this course ends my sentiments are “I am woman, hear me roar” and “Nothing can stop me now”.

Lesson 13 Reading Response

The Future… Web 3.0


“People joke about an Internet-enabled toaster, or an Internet-enabled chair,” Lai says. “But it's evolving to the point where the sorts of things we used to joke about are actually more practical.”

Wow! I have just started to grasp Web 2.0 and people are talking about Web 3.0 I think that when it arrives it will have an impact on education, but it will be a slow impact. After all, many of my colleagues are oblivious to Web 2.0 applications in their classrooms now. Surprise, is their reaction when I inform them that I am taking a course and learning new ways to teach. They think it is great, but admit that they are not ready to try it yet. If they are not ready for Web 2.0, they definitely are not ready for Web 3.0

What will the future bring for the library catalog? The point is that the library catalog has a long way to go...must integrate Web 2.0 tools. These are great questions, however, when it comes to my school and the library, we need to update the entire library, not just the catalog. My school doesn’t even have its own webpage. Oh, they are working on one, but they have been creating it for over a year now.

If I can create a library blog or wiki, and then have our collection available on line to students, I would be happy. Once I tackle the “little” things, then I will think about the catalog

Lesson 12: Evidence of Learning

This week I learned how to use two new tools: Slideshare and screencast. I used these tools to share my power point presentations on my Vision for the Future wiki. I actually ended up using only my slideshare account because I had problems embedding my screencast into my wiki. Since I could not embed the presentation onto the wiki, I decided to provide a link to the power point. However, I ran into problems with that as well. When I linked the presentation to the screencast, people were able to make changes to the power point. I am not sure what I did wrong, but I did not want to chance someone changing the presentation and therefore attached the Web 2.0 workshop using slideshare.

The following are the slideshare links:

http://www.slideshare.net/KathyChmelyk/web-2-0-3693425

http://www.slideshare.net/KathyChmelyk/vision-of-the-future-3692792

Lesson 12 Evidence of Learning

While doing some research for my Vision assignment, I found a website called Blabberize. It is a fun way to send a message. Check out this test message. You will need to copy and paste the address. http://blabberize.com/view/id/202900
I tried to embedd the video, but ran into problems. The blabberize code given is incorrect,and the video would not embed.

I hope you enjoy this!!!

Week 12 Reading Response

Open Access and the Open Journal Systems: Making Sense All Over. Rick Kopak


Like the University of British Columbia professor in this article, I to like to check for evidence on how well students are understanding my lessons. Now it is true, that his students are older and have perhaps chosen to take the course he is offering, and my students do not always have the chose of taking the class that I am teaching. For example, English 10 is a mandatory class for high school graduation. However, it might still be an interesting experiment to see if experiment to see what website students would search during a lesson on Romeo and Juliet.

This could be possible with Open Access. With Open Access, resources are “free of charge” and “ easily obtainable, usually in digital form and transmitted by electronic means”. I agree with the author that this would allow libraries to increase the number of journal and make up-to date information more accessible. However, the concept of Open Access is new to me and I am not 100% sure I fully understand the concept. Does it simply mean that students are provided with free wireless in the classrooms? If this is so, at this time of huge budget cuts within School Boards, we must keep in mind that not all schools are fortunate enough to have class sets of lap tops computers. My school being one of the unfortunate ones. The Romeo and Juliet experiment, would also show me what “searching” skills my students possess. Do they know how to search successfully, evaluate the information provided, use quality information found? My first guess is no. When I observe students in my school working with the internet, they generally tend to go to Wikipedia first and then choose what ever source first comes up in Google. Before Open Access is used in my classes, I think that some of the above mentioned skills will need to be taught.

Kopak also writes about Open Journal Systems. “The purpose of OJS is to facilitate greater access to scholarly research by providing an open platform for the production and distribution of the main currency of the academic research process, the scholarly journal article”. OJS is free and locally installed and controlled. The system hopes to provide critical engagement as well. This engagement would include a basis for judgment as well. Students can de-code reading, but have problems with some of the higher thinking skills that are associated with reading. If OJS, can truly help them improve their judgment skills, teachers at my school would be easily convinced to implement it into their lesson plans. It is claimed that this is achieved because the reader can keep focus on the article while searching for related materials. This sounds easy, but once again, the skill will need to not only be taught to students, but will need to be practiced often.

OJS comes with its own set of Reading Tools. The Reading Tools are situated on the right hand side of the document. Some of the Tools that are available are “Abstract” and “Review Policy”, “ How to cite then”, “Indexing metadata” and others. All the terms and definitions were confusing. After two readings, they still seemed to be written in a foreign language. Perhaps, working through an actual OJS document, may solve this problem. This would have to be done before introducing the system to students, staff or parents.

The idea of being able to access free Journal Articles, is extremely appealing. However, like any new technology, one will not be able to simply open up a program and automatically now how to use it. Time will play a large factor in being able to introduce and use OJS in a school setting.

Lesson 11 Reading Reaction

One-Stop Shopping With Learning Management Systems
The idea of teachers sharing resources across the district is fabulous. If this can be done without having to travel from one town to another to meet is even better. School District 91 encompasses the towns of Vanderhoof, Fort St. James, Fort Fraser, Burns Lake, Topley and Grassy Plaines. It takes approximately 2 hours to drive from one end of the district to the other. That is off course if the weather is good. Therefore the idea of creating online pro.d. videos as well as opportunties to exchange resourses would be a blessing to many of the teachers in this northern B.C. school district.

Being able to purchase software that allows students and staff to collaborate using blogs, podcasts and wikis brings this application into the Web 2.0 realm.

Mike Smith explains that his students are more motivated during his algebra lessons. He states that in the traditional classroom setting only one or two student would answer his questions, but now using the new system he gets 100 hits within 15 minutes. The students are helping each other learn. I currently have an English class in which there is very little discussion that happens. Would this learning management system solve this problem? I do need to wonder if all student are on task and how the teacher can control this. Is it possible to see all the conversations taking place?

According to Ross, student attendance and the overall feeling of being engaged is improved in the classroom. This is yet another advantage to the Learning Management system.


Is the learning management system the end to all of our motivational problems? I doubt it. I am not against on line courses, after all that is what this blog is about. However, they are not for all students, especially the unmotivated ones. Like any educational program, it works for some, but not all. I think that including this type of system as part of your curriculum is wonderful. After all, variety is the spice of life and this holds very true in the classroom. Adding this type of lessons may encourage some of your unmotivated students to take part in lessons. It is worth a try.

The climate of the classrooms is better," he says, "the attendance of the students and teachers is better, and the overall feeling of being engaged is better."

Lesson 11: Evidence of Learning. Blogging guidelines and rules

Guidelines
When you write anything in the blog, please use the following guidelines. The following guidelines have been established to ensure the safety of our students when blogging.
• Students will only be identified by their first name.
• Never post any personal information
• If possible, use a Google Account as the e-mail contact.
• Posts written by students are checked by Mrs. Chmelyk before they are published on the blog.
• Only post things that you would want everyone (in school, at home, in other countries) to know. Ask yourself: Is this something I want everyone to see?
• Consider your audience and that you’re representing FLESS.

• . All students must have parental permission to post on the blog and to have their photo published on the blog.
• All students must abide by the blogging rules that we have established as a class.
If you have any other questions or comments about the security of the blog, please contact Mrs. Chmelyk.

When posting comments observe the following protocol:
• Use proper English
• Refrain from using text language and shortcuts
• All comments submitted have to be approved by Mrs. Chmelyk before they are included on the blog.
• Parents who leave comments are asked to use their first name only so as not to identify their child
• Respect other opinions and use sentence starters such as, I respectfully disagree, you make a good point, I support………….
Any profane language or postings that are inappropriate will result in disciplinary action. These blogs are for academic purposes so please respect our intentions.

http://cmiraglia.edublogs.org/posting-comments/
Guidelines

When you write anything in the blog, please use the following guidelines. There are some questions so you may want to reflect on your posts.
1. Only post things that you would want everyone (in school, at home, in other countries) to know.
Ask yourself: Is this something I want everyone to see?
2. Do not share personal information.
Ask yourself: Could someone find me (in real life) based on this information?
3. Think before you post.
Ask yourself: What could be the consequences of this post?
4. Know who you’re communicating with.
Ask yourself: Who is going to look at this, and how are they going to interpret my words?
5. Consider your audience and that you’re representing Cervantes School.
Ask yourself: Do I have a good reason/purpose to do this?
6. Know how to give constructive feedback.
Ask yourself: What will I cause by writing this post?
7. Treat other people the way you want to be treated.
Ask yourself: Would I want someone to say this to me?
8. Use appropriate language and proper grammar and spelling.
Ask yourself: Would I want this post to be graded for proper grammar and spelling?
9. Only post information that you can verify is true (no gossiping).
Ask yourself: Is this inappropriate, immature or bullying?
10. Anytime you use media from another source, be sure to properly cite the creator of the original work.
Ask yourself: Who is the original creator of this work?
Commenting Guidelines
As a blogger, you will be commenting on other people’s work regularly. Good comments:
• are constructive, but not hurtful;
• consider the author and the purpose of the post;
• are always related to the content of the post;
• include personal connections to what the author wrote;
• answer a question, or add meaningful information to the content topic;
• follow the writing process. Comments are a published piece of writing.
Taken and adapted from: Blog Rules
http://mrjorgensen.edublogs.org/blog-guidelines/
Blog Guidelines
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1. Treat the “learnerblog/edublog spaces” as “classroom spaces” — use appropriate language and be sure that anything you write you are proud of and are prepared to take responsibility for !! Your blog exists as a public space on the Internet. When you put something on the Internet, odds are really good that it will ALWAYS stay on the Internet. If you are not careful about what you write, what you write now could come back to haunt you in the future.
2. Never EVER EVER give out or record personal information on your blog.
Please – no last names, phone numbers, home addresses, IM screen names etc. (It is probably not wise to give out your personal email address either).
Again, your blog is a public space on the Internet and anyone, anywhere, could be reading it. So….don’t share anything that you don’t want the world to know. (Check out Blogsafety)
3. Never disrespect anyone or anything in your blog posts. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a person, an organization, or just a general idea. When you write your opinion on a topic, you don’t want someone making a stab at what you are passionate about. So, don’t do it to someone else. Try your best to make sure you’re not going to offend anyone in your posts.
4. Don’t write about other people without permission; if you can’t get their permission, use first names or initials only. Never share someone elses last name.
5. Always check over your post for spelling errors, grammar errors, and your use of words. (HINT: Try pasting your post in a word processor first and using the spell checker or use an internet spellchecker before posting on your blog.)
6. Make sure things you write about are factual. Link to your sources. But never link to something you haven’t read and understood completely. When you link to something, make sure it is something that you really want to be associated with. If a link contains material that might be in poor taste or make some people uncomfortable, you should probably warn readers by using a parenthetical note or some other word of caution.
7. If you have a personal blog, please do not link to it from our class blog. Doing so may inadvertently reveal information that you don’t want to reveal.
8. Be aware of copyright — especially with sounds and images. Make sure what you use is copyright free !! (Just because you find it on the internet does not mean you are free to use it without permission !!) Please review Copyright Issues on the Web and be sure to see Copyright 1” and “Copyright 2” for more information.
9. Keep it education-oriented. Stick to tasks set in class. Unless it pertains to the assignment, stay away from discussing plans for the weekend, general rambling, or diary entries about nothing. Chances are your responses to class tasks will usually be far more interesting!!
http://sfsbiology.edublogs.org/how-to-post/
How to Post & Comment
To learn how to use our class blog and website effectively, visit this page. Read through each of the following links on that page (don’t worry, they’re quick reads!):
1b) Logging into your blog
2a) Writing your first post
2b) Inserting links into your post
2h) Adding categories and tags to your post
2k) Why you shouldn’t write your post in Microsoft Word (optional)
Go back and read others as necessary (like if you want to add a picture to your post). This information is especially important so that you know how to complete Science in the News when your turn comes around.
For a quick demo of how to write a new post, please click here. To prevent the loss of any of your writing, please always write and save your posts on your computer (use Notepad, found through Start –> All Programs –> Accessories –> Notepad; don’t use Open Office or Word) and then copy and paste them into the website.
In addition, by posting or commenting, you are agreeing to follow these guidelines:
Posts
• Should meet the criteria given in the Science in the News assignment (or any other assignment that includes a post)
• Model good grammar and spelling. Proofread!
• Write with your audience in mind (be clear and concise, include not only facts, but your own reflections and opinions – be clear about which is which)
• Ask questions and be open-ended – inspire the discussion!
• Hyperlink your source (if it was online) as well as anything else that adds to your post
• Post on time
Comments
• Should be 2-5 sentences in length (potentially more, but not less!)
• Write meaningful comments that add to the conversation.
• Show the author that you hear them. “I hear you saying….”
• Respond to others thoughtfully and respectfully.
• Use your comment to show why you think the topic is important/interesting/controversial.
• Read the comments posted after yours.
• Be respectful of other people and their opinions.
• Constructive criticism only, no derogatory or inflammatory remarks, critique the idea, not the person.
• Model good spelling and grammar.
• Support your comments with evidence.
• Only comment on posts after you have read the whole post.
• Suggested response prompts:
o This made me think about…
o I wonder why…
o Your writing made me form an opinion about…
o This post is relevant because…
o Your writing made me think that we should…
o I wish I understood why…
o This is important because…
o Another thing to consider is…
o I can relate to this…
o I don’t understand…
o I was reminded that…
o I found myself wondering…
http://biologyblog.edublogs.org/about/

The members of class will be participating in a class blog for the purposes of:
• Responding to and commenting on curriculum topics as we study them
• Creating written projects/ media projects and commenting on each other’s work
• Reviewing and sharing study strategies before tests and quizzes
• Practicing taking varied points of view on a topic
• Discussing current events
• Making classroom suggestions
• Creating FAQ pages on curriculum topics
To use the blog, you must agree to the following statements.
• I will not use any curse words or inappropriate language.
• I will not use fighting words or provoke anyone.
• I will avoid the use of chat language.
• I will try to spell everything correctly.
• I will only give constructive criticism.
• I will not use my full name, or the name of my classmates.
• I will not plagiarize.
I recognize that breaking any of these rules could lead to any of the following consequences depending on severity and repetition:
• warning
• deletion of some or all of the post
• temporary loss of blogging privileges
• permanent loss of blogging privileges
• referral to the school administration
Please note that all posts and comments are moderated for content before posting to the class blog.
Consequences of violating the Warranty
Any violation of the above terms and conditions shall make the violator subject to both immediate termination from the blog, with all related points toward grades and to discipline through the school code of conduct, where applicable. At the teacher’s discretion, a warning may be given in the case of minor infractions.