As I write this from my brother-in-laws home in Milwaukee, I'm keenly aware of the power of the Internet. I can be somewhere completely different and still have access too all of my stuff! On the seven hour drive up here from St. Louis, I finally had time to catch up on all of my podcasts. One statement in particular made by Cheryl Oakes from the Bob Sprankle, "Bit by Bit" podcast really struck me. She was talking about using read/write resources in the classroom she said something to the effect of: It's not so much about the technology, as it is about the collaboration that happens with the technology.
I couldn't have put it better myself. What makes the Internet, blogging, podcasting, wikis, and tons of the other online apps. Effective, is the way they bring students together to work with one another and share ideas. I personally as a teacher tend to have a real top-down approach to content in my classroom, but read/write resources make learning take place on a horizontal plane as opposed to the vertical, hierarchical approach. I often find myself being the "Sage on the Stage" more than the "Guide on the Side." Read/Write web resources empower students to not only learn from me, but also from others. In most cases, the learning done from others is more effective than from me!
I'll presenting at the Missouri District Educators Conference in November on Web 2.0 resources and why we should use them in the classroom. If you have any success stories, you would like me to share, please add them as comments to this blog. I know Dave Black mentioned in his Lutheran Tech blog about using Wikipedia with a class. All comments are welcome.
How have you been using blogs, podcasts, wikis, online forums, or chat in your classroom! We are listening and want to acknowledge the great work that you do!!
We might actually have another podcast coming out soon! I recorded one at my house, but can't get the template which I have on the school server to my house, or vice versa. The files are too big! I could just upload them from home, but I still have a dialup connection at home and that would take forever!! So hopefully, we'll get one recorded and up soon!
If you have something you would like to podcast about, let me know. I'm not the only one who will podcast or blog from this site. Get in contact with me, and I'd love to have you be a contributing author to TECHILC!!
Have a great 4th of July holiday!!
In His Service,
Rob
Online Collaborative Community!
I'm on a mission....No, not a mission from God.....but I'm on a mission to connect my school with other Lutheran schools across the country in an online community. Would you like to be a part?
I've spoken with the folks from Gaggle.net and they would be able to create a group or "district" of Lutheran schools. What does this mean for you?
Gaggle.net provides FILTERED student email, online digital storage, Teacher monitored live chat, student blogs, and multiple teacher, student, and group forums, and more.
Gaggle.net offers a free version of everything I mentioned above but it is riddled with advertisements. The subscription version is $4.25 per student an has NO ads for students to look at it.
If you would be interested, please comment to this blog with contact information.
I've spoken with the folks from Gaggle.net and they would be able to create a group or "district" of Lutheran schools. What does this mean for you?
Gaggle.net provides FILTERED student email, online digital storage, Teacher monitored live chat, student blogs, and multiple teacher, student, and group forums, and more.
Gaggle.net offers a free version of everything I mentioned above but it is riddled with advertisements. The subscription version is $4.25 per student an has NO ads for students to look at it.
If you would be interested, please comment to this blog with contact information.
Social Networking!!
I'm sure you have all heard the news about how children are being victimized by adults using social networking sites like MySpace or how young adults are shamelessly sharing personal information for the whole world to see (Colleges are starting to look at the sites for admissions purposes). I decided to see what the hub-bub was about and get my own MySpace account. What an interesting experience!!
After only have an account for three weeks, I decided to be bold enough to add my high school graduation information. To my surprise, I was automatically added to a group of fellow alumni and was even reunited with several friends I'd lost contact with. I LOVE THE INTERNET!
Are there inherant dangers with these social networking sites? Absolutely yes! But should they be banned?
A new piece of legislation(5/9/06) has been introduced in Congress to block all social networking sites from any school or library who recieves universal support services from the Federal government (E-rate money). Washington Times Article. Actual Legislation from THOMAS at Library of Congress. Now to be fair, the legislation would create an oversite committee to determine what gets blocked and what doesn't.
Believe it or not, this just might affect some Lutheran schools. There are quite a few schools in the St. Louis area that this would apply to.
Should you write your congressman??? Is it your job as a coordiantor in a Lutheran school to determine what gets blocked and what doesn't? Or is that the governments job?
Just a thought
Rob Jacklin
After only have an account for three weeks, I decided to be bold enough to add my high school graduation information. To my surprise, I was automatically added to a group of fellow alumni and was even reunited with several friends I'd lost contact with. I LOVE THE INTERNET!
Are there inherant dangers with these social networking sites? Absolutely yes! But should they be banned?
A new piece of legislation(5/9/06) has been introduced in Congress to block all social networking sites from any school or library who recieves universal support services from the Federal government (E-rate money). Washington Times Article. Actual Legislation from THOMAS at Library of Congress. Now to be fair, the legislation would create an oversite committee to determine what gets blocked and what doesn't.
Believe it or not, this just might affect some Lutheran schools. There are quite a few schools in the St. Louis area that this would apply to.
Should you write your congressman??? Is it your job as a coordiantor in a Lutheran school to determine what gets blocked and what doesn't? Or is that the governments job?
Just a thought
Rob Jacklin
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