21st Century Digital Boy

http://www.jimcarroll.com/weblog/archives/pictures/baby.jpg


“I’m a 21st Century Digital Boy
I don’t know how to live, but I’ve got a lot of toys” – Brett Gurewitz

The above song lyrics were written circa 1988, but some might say they seem even more phrophetic now. You would be forgiven for thinking that the words were written by a Luddite, but in actuality they were written by a punk rock guitarist/record label head and sung by a vocalist who has Ph.D. in evolutionary biology and teaches life sciences at UCLA.

Many learners today are digital boys and girls, and they have a lot of “toys” – cell phones/Blackberrys, laptops, desktops, Wiis/Playstations/X-Boxes, iPhones, iPods, televisions, and dvd players, not to mention accounts on MySpace, Facebook, Hotmail, gmail, instant messaging and chat sites, and so on. Prensky calls those students who have grown up with digital technology Digital Natives. Prensky goes on to relate a number of issues arising from Digital Natives’ perspectives:

“Digital Natives are used to receiving information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task. They prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite. They prefer random access (like hypertext). They function best when networked. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. They prefer games to “serious” work. (Does any of this sound familiar?)”

Yes, it does sound familiar, and the first points he mentions are important to consider. The last two are problematic for me, though. It’s good to recognize that digital natives “thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards”, but it’s also unrealistic to hope that as educators we can offer those things on a daily basis. I’m not sure anyone gets instant gratification all the time, I know I don’t. Do you? And the point about liking games more than serious work – is this something new? Doesn’t everyone?

Prensky continues to inform that his “own preference for teaching Digital Natives is to invent computer games to do the job, even for the most serious content.” That is an interesting idea, and one which he seems very confident about – he explains that he can create a game to learn just about anything. But, like instant gratification, I cannot offer that option to my students. I can certainly work towards engaging them in ways that games do, but I can’t develop games in order for my students to hit all of the outcomes in my curriculum. In fact, I don’t want to, either; I don’t think playing games is the only way to develop lifelong learners, and I’m not sure that learning through games will help most students learn about “how to live”, to go back to the quote from Gurewitz. It's not that I don't appreciate positive elements found in gaming (please see my last post about that), I just don't see educators making everything into a game.

At any rate, Prensky has certainly given educators a lot to consider as far as pondering the needs of digital natives. The risk of not properly utilizing technology in schools is that we may widen the chasm between tech use in private time and educational non-tech time. If students are developing skills and interests that educators ignore, it’s possible that some learners won’t “know how to live” – or won’t know how to use some of those skills for purposes other than entertainment or personal/social reasons. Dr. Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan argue here that their brain research shows that "new technology can have both positive and negative effects on our brains. Digital natives tend to have greater multi-tasking skills, improved peripheral vision and higher efficiency using technology. However, Digital Immigrants appear to have more advanced people skills - better face to face contact, more ability to solve problems, work in groups, and express empathy". Maybe we need to recognize and remember the positive elements that digital immigrants are bringing to the equation.

Small and Vorgan also have suggested that multitasking may not be such a positive development either.
In their article entitled Is Multitasking Really More Efficient?, the authors suggest that “though multitasking often makes us feel like we are getting more done when we divide our attention, we are not necessarily being more efficient. Studies show that when our brains switch back and forth from one task to another, our neural circuits take a small break in between – a time-consuming process that reduces efficiency. It’s not unlike closing down one computer program and booting up another – it takes a few moments.”

The authors also cite neuroscientists and psychologists while stating that "the bottom line is that the brain seems to work better when implementing a single sustained task than when multitasking, despite most people’s perception that they are doing more and at a faster pace when they multitask." The authors do go on to say that listening to music (if it is music you enjoy) can be helpful to thought processes.

Educators should recognize that digital learners are used to multitasking without expecting that all students will perform better doing more than one thing at a time. Perhaps there are times when listening to music unobtrusively works in the classroom or the library, but there are still times when teacher need to help students to focus on one task. If we all help drive students further towards always doing two or three things at once, I think we would be a doing a number of them a grave disservice. I would say the same about students’ preference for playing games, not to mention all of the other “toys” learners access today: what can educators do to appeal to those who are used to fast-paced environments, quick decision-making and problem-solving opportunities, collaborating with others, learning at individual rates, and so on? First, recognize that we may not be able to change students’ proclivities in these areas (as Prensky suggests). Second, I would hope that educators are already planning with these developments in mind, as well as looking toward what technology can assist these learners.For those of us who can’t create games to teach everything, one good checklist for engaging digital learners can be found at The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers.

Furthermore, on an individual and personal level, what games, applications and tools can we easily become a little more familiar with? For example, how many of us have watched or played the most popular games? Don’t many of us make time to read novels that popular with our students? If we really value games as important to our learners and recognize that there may be positive elements in many of these games, shouldn’t we learn a little bit about them? Who’s up for some research?

A Manifesto and What Comes Next

http://graham.thewebtailor.co.uk/archives/welsh%20communist%20manifesto.jpg

Pictured above: a different kind of manifesto altogether (NEITHER one is Joyce Valenza!)


Well, ladies and gents, the first post for the new year sees us diving into some deep waters. It’s time to look at - wait for it – a MANIFESTO! No, not the Communist Manifesto or Mein Kampf, but Joyce Valenza’s Manifesto for the 21st Century Librarian. I haven’t even read Marx and Engel’s manifesto, and that was made more than a century and a half ago! Well comrades, Marx was certainly a leading thinker, and Valenza appears to be one as well. My first response was Holy Cats! What a comprehensive and overwhelming piece of writing! My second response was that the level of educational leadership presumed/proposed by Valenza was a great motivator, akin to Robin Williams as Prof. Keating in Dead Poets Society telling his students to make their lives “extraordinary” and “seize the day!” Like Marx inspiring a revolution, Valenza’s manifesto sounds like/reads like a rallying point. Even her introduction to one version of the manifesto sounds like a call to arms:

“Teacher-librarians cannot expect to assume a leadership role in information technology and instruction, and we cannot claim any credibility with
students, faculty, or administrators, if we do not recognize and
thoughtfully exploit the paradigm shift of the past two years.” (Valenza, preamble to Manifesto 2006 - http://pdfs.voya.com/VO/YA2/VOYA200610TagTeamTech.pdf)

I confess that the assumption of leadership in schools was not a given in my mind. However, if teacher-librarians can embody all of the elements listed in the manifesto, it’s clear that is exactly what they should be doing. Another version of the manifesto is available online in wiki form, and you can find it here. This manifesto is one that I think should be made widely available and promoted, because I’m not sure that most people realize where teacher-librarians are now, are going to be and where they want to be. At the same time, we’ve got to be prepared for a critical backlash; check out this vitriolic rant against another librarian manifesto.


My third response to the manifesto is, “My gosh, I’ve got a lot to learn!” At this juncture I am a classroom teacher and not a librarian, so there are a number of ideas that don’t currently apply to my position. But overall, the “paradigm shift” Valenza mentions is one that all educators need to know. In the end, it is as simple (or complicated) as recognizing that what Thomas Frey identifies as “rapidly changing technologies and equally fast-changing mindset of library patrons” (http://www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=120) are equally important to all learners and educators. In Darren Wershler-Henry and Mark Surman’s Commonspace: Beyond Virtual Community, the authors suggest that these changes demand new ways of thinking:

“The Internet is a much more complex beast than it was even a couple of years ago. Its increasing intricacy demands more sophisticated models than the received ideas about virtual community. Without some new theories, we’re like the proverbial blind men disagreeing about what each is experiencing” (Wershler-Henry and Surman, 2001). They go on to “attempt to take a step backwards and get a look at the larger picture (without stepping in a big heap of elephant [doodie]”. I believe that in some ways that getting a new perspective to look at the bigger panoramic view is what can be accomplished from our reflection on Valenza’s manifesto. And who wants to step in elephant excrement, anyway?

Aside from the manifestos, other readings for this post were taken from School Libraries Worldwide Volume 14, Number 2. One that caught my attention right away because of its relevance to a definite paradigm shift was Videogames in the Library? What is the World Coming To?

As opposed to a quiet game of chess, library users may soon find themselves immersed in online games. Author Kathy Sandford has identified a number of positive aspects of online gaming, and here are a few that hit home from my personal experience:

“Players are required to constantly make decisions, problem-solve, and respond to the computer; what they do makes a difference to he outcome of the game. They are motivated to practice, develop skills, and seek out alternative ways to complete a game. In order to successfully complete a game, players must have a broad, overall understanding of the goals as well as a grasp of specific knowledge and skills”.

I’ve been watching my kids at home and I am somewhat amazed to admit that Sandford is right. A big challenge is ahead if we are to embrace widely diverse games as part of learning experiences, as well as ensuring our physical spaces are conducive to learning through gaming.

On the other hand, in Keith McPherson’s article Shaping Global Criticality with School Libraries the author references a Canadian study done by the Media Awareness Network which tells us that 75% of the 9-17 year-old respondents were not aware of advertising incorporated into the online product-centred games they were playing. This is one example which McPherson points towards while arguing that “school librarians must heighten their leadership role in teaching students the multiliteracy and critically literacy skills necessary to participate effectively in today's multilinguistic, multicultural and multimodal communication environments, and to avoid falling victim to the risks associated with unvetted information.” We’ve almost come full circle back to the idea of librarians or teacher-librarians taking leadership roles, which is, for me, perhaps my most recent revelation. McPherson’s entire article is entirely thought-provoking and logical, and he even includes lesson plans (which I have not had time to digest yet). Yet I kept finding my thoughts return to the leadership issue – it is clear that many have come to the conclusion that it is not enough to make resources, technology, experience, and so on available – teacher-librarians need to do much more to keep moving forward.

Where do we go from here?

“Where do we go from here, now that all of the children have grown up…” - The Alan Parsons Project, 1981

The lyric snippet above is not from one of my favourite songs or musical artists, but it kept running (and romping) through my head anyway as I pondered the end of this course and the beginning of my future as an educational technology learner/teacher/enthusiast. Well, I’m not necessarily a fully mature digital adult yet, but I’d say I’ve grown up a bit during this course.


Where do I go from here? Well, I’ve contacted a couple of colleagues in my school, including the tech guru, to try to spark more excitement about Web 2.0, see what’s workable, find out what I’ve missed in my back yard. Mr. School technology has informed me that a Moodle was created to stoke edu-tech fires, so I should be able to login to that in the upcoming week. I would be extremely dissatisfied if I was unable to set some wheels in motion on a school level, so I’ll work with those who are already online to help spread the Web 2.0 love.

What about my own development – how have I done so far and how do how do keep it up and take it to the next level? One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that you don’t know how ignorant you are until you know how much you don’t know (doesn’t that sound like Yogi Berra?); in that respect, my edu-blogging journey has been an absolute success. I never guessed that such a fantastic array of ideas and tools would be available, only a few keystrokes away.

I started off hoping to go from “technological infancy to a techno-toddler (and then teenager!) in a relatively short period” (from my first post), which I may have accomplished – I’ll have to check my teacher-librarian candidate stages of growth timeline. When I look at my first blogs, I see a writer who is struggling with new technology as well as expressing his own ideas about Web 2.0 tools that were being explored. Complaints about another person’s technical difficulties do not make for interesting reading, so I’m glad to see that I have mostly curtailed that annoying habit. I have also become much better at learning how to use new applications as well as finding information about possible educational uses for those apps. My first few blogs were lame – no useful links, superficial commentary or analysis, no evidence of serious thinking, void of personality or character. I feel like I’ve started to move forward as far as all of those problems are concerned.

Perhaps the best aspect of this course was the opportunity to read/write/dialogue with classmates – it was inspiring to see those who are much farther along in teacher-librarianship and educational technology as well as those who seem to have been a little closer to my level of learning. But as useful as Delicious and RSS feeds can be, it takes other people with similar interests to forward some amazing links and put forward some fantastic ideas, and that’s why I hope some of us can still find the time to keep it up. I was at a Special Area Group session (provincial professional development day) recently, and saw one of our peer’s work being referenced - way to go jatacadia (Jo-Anne)! I wish I could point out more specific references to things I’ve learned from my classmates, but they would range from adding a cool app like Shelfari to pointing out cool links that I’d missed. The fast pace of this course meant that I was just able to check out the sites shared on Delicious, but not to keep track of who aimed me there in the first place.

My school’s tech guy has been forwarding some interesting articles that are inspiring me to continue exploring many of the concepts we have explored for this course. “Kids gain valuable skills from time online” (found at
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/19/BUKE147TA1.DTL) is a nice short article focusing on pros and cons of youngsters and their use of computer time. The article stems from Living and Learning With New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project (http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/report/digitalyouth-WhitePaper.pdf), a 58-page paper which looks like fodder for anyone interested in edu-tech. Of particular note may be the section entitled Genres of Participation with New Media, with key phrases being Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out. The next questions seem obvious; where do our students fit into concerning those three terms? Where are we as educators and Web 2.0 participants?

Another thought-provoking article, “Is Technology Rewiring our Brains?” by Gary Small, M.D. and Gigi Vorgan spotlights Digital Natives and how new online tools may be changing things more than we think (http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977496300). Small and Vorgan have written a book entitled ibrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind that looks intriguing.



Although my school technology expert has stated that he is simply pointing out articles of interest and not trying to start dialogue, I’m hoping that conversations start anyway so I can continue the kind of healthy discussions we’ve been enjoying in this course.

I’m sharing “Is Technology Rewiring our Brains” with my students in a media literacy unit this week as I begin to use the things we’ve learned in this course in earnest. I can’t wait.

What's Next? Let's Make Introductions...Think Fast!

Think fast! Remember that silly command, followed by someone throwing a Frisbee (or something else) at you, with only milliseconds for you to decide to catch or duck? Here’s a new instant decision scenario for you: chocolate or vanilla? Habs or Leafs? Wikis or social networking sites?

Clearly, that split second decision may not always turn out to be the most beneficial; opting to catch the Frisbee with a burger in one hand and a beverage in the other inevitably leads to problems, but getting out of the way may mean that your dog introduces some new bite marks in that disc (or worse, some poor bystander doesn’t take kindly to childish games). I usually try to put myself in a position to make my own decisions, so I’ll take door number three; maple walnut, Bruins, and blogs.

The reasoning behind my decision-making analogy lies in the fact that I have been instructed to chose one web 2.0 tool to introduce to my school colleagues. If I am only allowed to introduce one Web 2.0 tool to staff at my school, I will wholeheartedly push for blogs. Why? The short answer is that I believe that blogs could/would/should have the most positive impact on both teachers and students. Also, as Richardson explains in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom,

Thousands of teacher and students have already incorporated Weblogs into their classrooms and into their practice. Blogs…are easily created, easily updateable Websites that allow an author (or authors) to publish instantly to the Internet from any Internet connection. They can also be interactive, allowing teachers and students to begin conversations or add to the information published there. Weblogs are the most widely adopted tool of the Read/Write Web so far.

Teachers who are hesitant to jump into the unknown can solace in the fact that there are numerous educators who are already making the leap into Web 2.0 via blogs, ready and waiting to assist in starting blogging, sharing blog uses in the classroom, and becoming instant guides through this strange and wonderful world of edutech.

Simply put, I believe that educators and students who have not fully explored blogging do not see the opportunities offered for learning and collaboration. I will freely admit that not too long ago I thought that most blogs were personal journals, which didn’t interest me at all. We all see websites as means to find information, but many blogs can be means to find information and take it a step further – post a comment, ask a question, subscribe to further blogs or comments…in other words, to interact more and hopefully learn more. Therefore, the first thing I’d like to do is introduce blogs, add RSS feeds, then move onto creating blogs.

I would direct those unfamiliar with blogs and blogging to:

Weblogg-ed - What better place to start than Will Richardson’s site? Aside from the plethora of information found on the site, I think Richardson has created a shining example of good writing in the edublogosphere. But more specifically, the Edu-blogs link from supportblogging.com (http://supportblogging.com/Links+to+School+Bloggers) is amazingly comprehensive, and the Weblogs in Schools wiki link is superb ( http://weblogged.wikispaces.com/Weblogs+in+Schools). Richardson’s short and sweet list of benefits to blogging in the classroom is great:

Benefits:
-Motivation
-Writing Skills
-Reading Skills
-Collaboration
-Network Building
-Community Building

For a more comprehensive explanation of why blogging can be a great thing, check out Anne Davis’s rationale at http://anne.teachesme.com/2007/01/17/rationale-for-educational-blogging/ .

Commoncraft’s Blogs in Plain English is another good introductory tool:



Here’s one site for those who know little about blogs. Not only do you get answers to basic questions, you can learn how to start a blog, add images, links, and so on.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/what-are-blogs-anyway.html


A scan of other bloggers’ reasons for blogging in education reveals a wealth of information, but Martin Weller’s lists of reasons why he blogs at http://www.microbiologybytes.com/AJC/whyblog.html is succinct and relevant:

My blog:
· is a place where I think, plan and reflect
· forces me to read in order to gather the input I need for my output
· is a place where I play with technology and ideas
· often surprises me
· is a place where I collaborate
· is currently the most satisfying part of my job
· is slightly dangerous
· is compulsive

Wouldn’t most teachers be curious about Weller’s reasons for blogging? I know they’ve made me think.

At the same time as I think many teachers would see benefits to student blogging, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those same educators were hesitant to create their own blogs. I think that one way to help teachers think a little further about teacher blogging is to introduce it as an alternative form of professional development. I think many teachers would welcome some deviation from the norm in this area. Luckily, some keener-type bloggers have been doing some fine blogging on just this topic! See my previous post, then go to:

http://jacquiesgreatdigitaladventure.blogspot.com/

http://alangelaar.blogspot.com/

http://jansjourneysinweb20.blogspot.com/



Now, let’s look at the challenge of making blog use by teachers and students a reality in my school. First, all teachers in the division have been given a directive to have their own website up this school year. Although the work from the teacher’s end is miniscule, it will be difficult to get many educators to do not only that but create their own blog as well as keep it updated. The only option I see at the moment is to start really small. Before introducing blogs to the entire staff, I would try to get 2 or 3 influential teachers involved, get them hooked on reading some blogs, then get them to create their own. If I want to introduce teachers to the benefits of getting their students involved in blogging, I have to get them familiar with the process first. I also want to see what ideas those educators have for using blogs in their classes.

I am starting today on my Mission: Blogging At the School Level. I am forwarding my own blog URL to a few select teachers, as well as the technology guru in my school (if I really intend to get blogging integrated into my school, I need to get him onside/online). I’m going to ask them to look at my blog on professional deveopment with blogging, then discuss it with them when time permits. Who knows where the conversation will take us?

Refreshing Professional Development: Blogging in/as/for PD

Dear Valued Educator,

Do you try to make all of your students learn the same way? Do you expect that an isolated learning experience (say, one to three hours every month) is sufficient to inspire deep knowledge? Do you think that individual learning is important, or do you think that large-group work is good enough? Can you show evidence of your learning based on those experiences?

Yours Sincerely,
A Questioning Fellow Teacher

If you answered yes to all of the above questions and you’re happy with the results, please skip the rest of this blog – it’s not for you. If, like me, you see the absurdity of my admittedly-exaggerated questions, read on, Macduff!

Many of us have come to see that we need to be a little more thoughtful and flexible in creating learning experiences for our students. So why the heck do we continue to disregard our own knowledge about how people learn when we are involved in our own professional development?

I’ve heard teachers grumble about PD sessions that were not useful, not well-planned, or not held at timely enough intervals. I’ve also been to PD sessions that were inspiring in many different ways. What I’ve also found is that a day or two after PD, I had some ideas, questions, and stimulating discussions with my peers on the previously-raised professional learning topics. Unfortunately, for some, that may have been where the learning surrounding that concept or issue ends.

How can professional development become more exciting, memorable, stimulating, inspirational, creative, and interactive? The magic answer is, “You’re looking at it.” Weblogs such as this one could be the key to unlocking much more fruitful and efficient PD for many. Let’s revisit the questions I posed above.

Do you try to make all of your students learn the same way?

If educators getting involved in reading and writing blogs on professional development, the situation of sitting in a room with the rest of the staff members listening to one speaker is no longer the same. Teachers can read a blog when they are ready to do so wherever they can connect to the Web, post comments or questions, perhaps do some quick research or follow some handy links, share some of that research or new links with colleagues, even revisit the blog if they want/need to do so. If a teacher has their own blog, they can post their own thoughts on the issue being studied. The time and space limitations that are imposed upon whole-school PD don’t have to be so restricting when a person can be brief or thorough according to what their learning need are at that point – PD based on blogs can offer that sort of flexibility.

Do you expect that an isolated learning experience (say, one to three hours every month) is sufficient to inspire deep knowledge?

Hopefully that scenario is not happening in many of ours schools or divisions. Unfortunately, I have heard about some instances where a variation on that theme is being played. Will Richardson posted about his own experience as a the hired gun public speaker:

“Either way, the experience usually serves to overwhelm, and at the end of the day (or hour) the participants head back to the craziness of their teaching lives where I’m guessing much of what they have “learned” fails to take root.” (http://weblogg-ed.com/category/professional-development/)

Again, through blogs and ensuing comments, dialogue about what is important to individuals, groups, and the whole school does not have to end or wait until the next PD opportunity. Some learners need time to process what they have learned, while some clarify their thoughts by writing – why not take advantage of those skills? Also, teachers at one school can develop their learning within a much larger context, be it division-wide, province-wide, or even globally – the Read/Write Web is not concerned with staying inside boundary-lines.

Do you think that individual learning is important, or do you think that large-group work is good enough?

Not everyone does their best learning in group settings, and some learn better individually depending on what is being learned. If a PD topic requires personal study, it’s sometimes hard to accommodate for that in staff meetings. PD through blogs could help encourage more than one style of learner – a person could read, listen, view, write, follow some links for areas of interest, receive comments or feedback from others (perhaps even from those not on staff), and so on. In this way, learners can benefit from self-directed learning as well as group collaboration, with dialogue and sharing staying as priorities. I found a diagram created by Kim Cofino at http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/11/16/second-k-12-online-conference-lan-party/ that got me thinking:



I believe that if we can use blogs (as well as wikis, RSS feeds, and other Web 2.0 tools) in our professional development, we might be able to use aspects from all 3 of the models shown in the diagram. Doug Johnson is one expert who has written about the need for “ongoing, individualized, onsite instruction and support” in professional learning, specifically as regards learning about technology (http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/why-what-how-and-who-of-staff-development.html). What do you think?

Can you show evidence of your learning based on those experiences?

If an educator can comment, recommend further links, open new lines of dialogue, bring in new contributors, and share opinions on PD issues on blogs, at the very least some level of learning will be shown. Surely some of us wonder how much professional development occurred on an individual basis after a particular session – PD blogs could at some level provide a gauge for learning and level of engagement.

I don’t think I’ve said anything revolutionary here concerning using Web 2.0 tools to revamp PD. Are these ideas feasible? Like anything in bureaucratic systems, changing how we create and utilize PD takes some thought. Will Richardson suggests a fairly simple start:
“What about giving teachers new to these technologies just enough to get them started and then take the school year (or more) to immerse them in the tools and networked learning environments where they can learn at their own pace (with some appropriate nudging and guidance from time to time)?” (http://weblogg-ed.com/category/professional-development/)

I feel confident now about the different tools and ideas we’ve been exploring in this course that I am looking forward to talking to the technology guru in my school about some of the possibilities for future PD. I have little experience with working with PD committees (none in my current school), and I can’t say how hard it will be to redesign professional opportunities, but I listened to a colleague discuss limited opportunities just a few days ago. If I can just start small and introduce some blogs that would interest others, help colleagues find some useful, appealing blogs, encourage them to comment on them and start a dialogue, a tiny step towards more rewarding PD may be taken. It seems clear to me that we should explore ways to make PD more effective and enjoyable. Here’s a few blogs and websites I’ve been following that may spark some ideas:

Doug Johnson

Langwitches

Weblogg-ed

Web 2 Tools for the Read/Write/ Web

Classroom 2.0

RSS Feeds - All You Can Eat (and More)

“(RSS feeds are) a way to leverage the talent of millions of individuals to identify truly useful information in the tidal wave of data the Internet has become.”

http://technologysource.org/article/rss/

The above quote, supplied by Mary Harrsch, epitomizes many of the positive aspects of using RSS, which some people say stands for Real Simple Syndication (Richardson), others say stands for Rich Site Summary (Harrsch), and others say means RDF Site Summary. Technically, the three different RSS explanations refer to different formats, but whatever you believe RSS stands for, hopefully you agree that most of us need a way to organize the morass of information we accumulate. RSS, simply put, lets a user subscribe to weblog entries, websites, video, audio, news and more in order to get information sent to a person who wants it. A person doesn’t have to go back and check a site or blog to see if updates have been posted, because updates are automatically sent to your blog aggregator (such as BlogLines, Google Reader, etc.). All you have to do is remember to check your feed aggregator (also known as a feed reader) and your online info will come to you. Furthermore, you can share that information in a number of ways – you can pass it on easily, a person can check what feeds you are subscribing to, you can tag the info for others, and so on. RSS is becoming one of those Web 2.0 tools that help users see things in different ways, with so many different kinds of related applications and organizational tools available that a basic description does not do it justice. For anyone looking to get started with RSS, the Common Craft video below will give you quick, simple steps.



In a wonderful piece of writing entitled Web 2.0 Ideas for Educators: A Guide to RSS and More, Quentin D’Souza has underlined the fact that where RSS feeds were formerly associated with simple blogs, the last five years have seen an amazing growth in their utilization:

“All types of web applications are using feeds to share data within social networks, through enhancing accessibility to productivity tools, research tools, watch lists, and sharing peer created content. The numbers of applications that are using feeds are growing daily.
New tools have come into existence because of RSS feeds and the trend seems to be continuing to grow. These tools allow you to remix and reformat the content of a feed in a countless different ways.”

D’Souza is not kidding when he says that there are “countless” ways to utilize feeds. There are many aggregators and other fine sites which allow a user to decide how to use search terms, organize, share, label or tag, and so on. I have been using BlogLines and Google Reader for a short while now, and I still don’t feel like I have started using them to their full potential yet. Subscribing is simple, making groups is easy, and creating useful search terms is painless, but I get the feeling that I’ll still make some useful discoveries in the future. For example, I haven’t figured out yet why video from YouTube or TeacherTube will show up on my Google Reader pane but a Voicethread will not.

Now, will RSS feeds help make the next great technological leap in education? Harrsch calls RSS the next killer app for education, specifying that she “would define a killer application as a program that provides the capability for an average person to use technology to solve every day problems and enrich their lives.” Richardson seems to be of the same mind, entitling a chapter of his book (Blog, Wikis, and Podcasts) “RSS: The New Killer App for Educators”. Why are these experts so high on RSS? Well, the benefits of simplifying research and getting updates sent to a learner/educator are obvious. But when further educational opportunities are explored, that’s when things get interesting. Harrsch gives an example of a teacher that finds a useful website and e-mails colleagues to share ideas for classroom use. What could the same teacher do with a blog and RSS feeds?

"If, instead, you post your finds with your ideas for implementation to a Web log equipped with RSS generation capability, you provide a unique information source that can be accessed by thousands of teachers like you that are looking for ways to improve their learning environments. In essence, you have helped to establish an online community of practice specific to teachers of social studies."

The advantage in the second example is that the teacher is accessing and enriching the Read/Write Web; others can learn from that teacher’s work, can comment on his/her blog extending a dialogue, and so on. Not only that, but it’s truly a worldwide opportunity – did I mention that Google Reader has a translator that can make feeds readable in a number of languages?

Will Richardson has pointed out some big pluses to RSS feeds as pertains to teachers and student work in the aforementioned book (as well as on weblogg-ed.com). If a teacher is trying to follow classrooms full of students who are each blogging, it would make sense to use feeds to only view when a blog is updated. Also, Richardson says he has been able to go completely paperless through the use of Weblogs and RSS feeds – I still could not do this in my school yet, but the possibility is intriguing. Furthermore, in what almost seems like an aside in his book, Richardson suggests that RSS could be a fortunate thing for the “lack of media and information literacy skills students have” – which to me would suggest that using RSS feeds may drastically change the way we look at student research, online literacy and student-directed learning.

Personally, I was more than a little perplexed with the information literacy skills displayed by the majority of students in some of my courses. Using RSS feeds should allow me to give them an easy outlet for new avenues of information. When I start one of my next courses, I will give students a choice of topics relating to a novel we will be reading later in the course. Students will be directed to choose three of them, sign up for a feed reader account, and use search terms to start collecting data. When we get to the assignment a month or so later, hopefully they will have some great choices of information to pick from. I think this will be a grand learning experience for both my students and myself, and we’ll see if it works the way Richardson suggests.

What other uses could be found for RSS and student learners? Here are a few general ideas:

· RSS in combination with class Wikis = timely information shared by peers in an engaging, learner-ownership community of learners
· Direct students to RSS feeds when information needs to be really timely – if used properly, feeds can provide learners with extra updated data that may not be found as easily if they’re simply using mainstays Google and Wikipedia.
· Get creative! If you’re using Google Reader, for example (not a bad ideas to use a web-based feed reader so students can access it anywhere), can students find useful info originally written in a different language? Once students (and teacher) are fairly comfortable with RSS, what can be done with merging RSS feeds, remixing, what-have-you?

Finally, there are clearly some positive aspects to using RSS feeds in different educational ways. What about any negative aspects or problems? Armelle O’Neal listed a few potential minuses at http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/manageinfo/rss.mspx :

1. RSS feeds provide no history, which means that although you always get the newest information, you can easily miss an article of interest to you if you don’t check the feeds for a few days (when you’re on vacation, for example).
2. RSS feeds are a bandwidth waster because they automatically download RSS files (usually hourly) to check for updates and changes.
3. RSS feeds are complicated to set up. As people hear about RSS and understand its value, they also become disappointed by the fact that it is not as easy as surfing the Web.
4. RSS content doesn’t lend itself to search. Many search engines include RSS feeds but they struggle to identify which information is new and, hence, greatly limit the value of search operations on this type of content.
5. RSS feeds usually only show an abridged version of the content, which can be cryptic and may require you to open your Web browser to see the full article.

Number one could be a problem, but as long as we’re using it during the school year, it shouldn’t be a biggie. The second point may be a problem, but I don’t know yet if it will hinder student use. Problem three I disagree with, because it seems pretty simple to set up an RSS feed.. Number 4 doesn’t appear to be a big problem from what I’ve seen so far. Problem number 5 is not a problem to me at all; the purpose of using RSS fees is so a user doesn’t have to look at everything, and that would include seeing an abridged version, at least at first. RSS users can always create a clipping for later viewing or open up a web browser if they need to do so. We should keep in mind that O’Neal’s article was published in 2006, and it possible that the severity of some of these problems have decreased in the interim.

Overall, none of the potential problems above outweighs the great opportunities for educators and learners in using RSS feeds. I haven’t even begun to discuss some of the possibilities of using RSS feeds when using Technorati or FeedBurner, but this blog is becoming a little long-winded. How about I just leave you with a promotional quote from Technorati’s site:

“If Google is the world’s reference library, Technorati is becoming its coffeehouse” – Time magazine
Please excuse me, I need to go get some coffee.

Social Networking: Do You Know What Your Kids are Doing Right Now?

The term “social networking” for me conjures up images of upwardly mobile men and women working parties and social gatherings, handing out and collecting business cards, planning future meetings, making contacts, schmoozing amid cocktails in order to widen a valuable (often invisible) web of people who may at some point have some of the same interests and be mutually beneficial to each other.

While that “web” may still be unseen in some ways, social networking in Web 2.0 makes many of those connections much more visible than before. I’ve been on Facebook for about a year and a half now. I’ve watched and been involved in renewing connections with friends, former business associates and colleagues, and grown new friendships with former acquaintances. People don’t have to ask for my friend’s e-mail address if they can simply send them a message after finding them in my list of friend’s on Facebook. The last two concerts I attended were almost exclusively planned through Facebook contacts. In fact, the last band I saw only got back together in response to a “Reunite…” Facebook group devoted to getting the musicians back together (Reunite the Watchmen is now my favourite group on Facebook, because it has positively impacted on my life).

In my former life when I wrote about music on a regular basis, MySpace was the main social networking site for maintaining and gaining contact with artists and other music industry people. If I got a query about interviewing an artist or reviewing an album, often it would be through MySpace, where instantly I could listen to the relevant musical selection and decide whether it would be a suitable assignment for myself. In fact, Myspace can accept a lot of the responsibility for the idea that today anyone purporting to be a musical artist can now be heard everywhere at any time.

So although I had in fact been using social networking sites for my own purposes for some time, I had until recently not considered possible educational uses for the same electronic spaces. How could we use sites that seemed centred on entertainment or social purposes to help learners further their education?

It seems that many have already come up with a number of ideas in this area, including rationales for doing so. First, it’s clear that social networking sites of one sort or the other are here to stay, and students will utilize them for their own reasons. In an article entitled Scaffolding the New Social Literacies, Stephen Abram points out that not only have MytSpace and FaceBook become prominent in learners’ lives, younger kids have flocked to sites like webkinz.com and clubpenguin.com. Abrams goes on to ask an important question:

“By creating safe places where you need letters from your teacher to get online, or protecting kids by narrowing the rules, can kids ever develop the critical thinking about their identity and privacy that will be essential for success in their future?”
(http://www.sirsidynix.com/Resources/Pdfs/Company/Abram/MMIS_23.pdf)

Let’s think about this for a minute. Will learners build their own skills in maintaining privacy and security if educators disallow social networking sites in schools? Will the majority of students somehow extend their own knowledge in these areas without any guidance from teachers? I have seen no evidence that the hoped-for result will magically appear. Abrams suggests that, just like we scaffold personal knowledge of our community and our world starting in elementary school, we should scaffold tools for students to use in social networking situations right from the beginning. Makes sense to me.

If we are to be honest, social networking sites are a great example of a Web 2.0 tool that young people have already embraced; more mature lifelong learners could probably learn a lot from our students in this area. One of my students last year did an amazing presentation about her blog, which was hosted on Livejournal. If we were to look at Facebook sites as speaking directly about our students’ interests, hopes and desires, wouldn’t we be gaining a much stronger rapport with our customers/clients?

As Jason Johnson stated in his article The Case for Social Networks, “At its core, the issue is not about technology at all, but about helping students understand where the public sphere ends and the private sphere begins, how to converse in those domains, and how to be part of a community”. (http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2006/1/25/the-case-for-social-networks.html) Social networking is one of those places where students are now finding their own identity, their own voice, and their own communities. As educators, it is up to us to help them on their journey, which is often about learning in its own way, instead of sticking our heads deeper into the sand (or snow, if you are in Winnipeg like me).

At the same time, there are a number of issues which many educators have to face before we can delve into social networking with our students. First of all, how many of us can access them from school? Nings seem to be one way to go in our classes. One of the best things I’ve learned in the past two weeks (courtesy of Traci Gardner) is that Ning networks can be made private and available only to invited members (http://ncteinbox.blogspot.com/2008/09/social-networking-ning-thing.html). I haven’t had enough experience with Nings to give examples, but I recently joined one and will see what could be done. At any rate, a comment posted in response to Gardner’s article has got me a little worried that nings too may be blocked in schools. Mrs. Stanford wrote:

“I am in love with my ning site for my class. However, my school district which had previously approved the site has now deemed the site inappropriate due to the site bypassing the proxy that blocks sites such as youtube.”

Ouch. Social networking may be one Web 2.0 tool that requires some strong lobbying before sites are made easily available for school use. Clearly teachers and librarians are making use of nings to make valuable connections, share resources, and extend learning communities. Just check out some of the groups connected through http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/ and you should get the idea that there is already something out there for almost everyone.

I’ll leave the last word to Stephen Abram, who wrote an appealingly eloquent introduction to his article on Scaffolding the New Social Literacies:

“OMG – reading literacy and numeracy, civic literacy and all the rest. Now we’re hearing that schools must expand the teaching of information literacy, computer literacy, media literacy, critical literacy, health literacy, technacy and transliteracy. And, do it all across the curricula. Dozens of types of literacy are discussed on websites and Wikipedia. How can we possibly keep up with another one?”

Abram goes on to explain that what he calls “online social literacy” is essential because young people have already embraced social networking, many at an amazingly early age. How can we keep up with another type of literacy? Perhaps the questions should really be, How can we afford not to do so?