Facebook, a School-Year Later

   So a back at the beginning of the school-year I wrote an entry about our school and district beginning an initiative to post on Facebook as a communication tool. I created attendance area pages (South Carolina schools are organized by county. Attendance areas contain a high-school, one to two middle schools, and several elementary schools) and each school was asked to have a Facebook page. Our school took that a step further: our principal encouraged teachers or grade-levels to set up pages as well for communication purposes. They could even use those pages in place of an end-of-the-week newsletter so long as a post was made by Friday. I can't speak for the individual teacher pages or grade-level pages, but our school page has been quite successful. The image of the graphs  is our weekly reach: basically how many people see our page, share something, how many friends of friends of ours can see the pages, etc. While we have about 777 "likes" we have a total weekly reach of close to 3,000. Basically that means that a lot of our "likers" are sharing our stories or their comments on our stories are showing up on their friends timelines. That also means a lot of good publicity and community building through our Facebook page.
     When this initiative first came up a lot of folks were concerned about community members using it as a sounding board to complain about whatever they had to complain about. We've actually seen the opposite. We've seen more questions resolved by the community itself than our page admins. For example, someone posted a question about an event time. Very soon after two other people posted responses completely clearing up the confusion before we even got to respond.
     What our school pages have done is amplify the support and corroboration that already existed within our community. It gives it a common area to converse, leave comments, and share their support. It also supports our "Green" initiatives as we get to cut down on printed newsletters (newsletters do get sent home to those without internet who opt to receive them). It also creates a clear, quick line of communication between teachers, administration, and parents.
     We have three admins of our school FB page and we all keep pretty close tabs on what goes on with comments. We have pretty tight reins on the pages meaning that only admins can make original posts and upload photos/videos. We also keep our comments "compact" meaning that a viewer has to "expand selection" prior to seeing the comment thread. This keeps any "unruly users'" posts from being seen right away without us moderating first. Our principal has really taken the lead on this: posting; moderating; and updating.  She also reviews the comments and really only keeps ones that pertain to school and not personal issues (which doesn't happen much).
    So overall its been a highly positive experience. The communication between our school and the community has opened wider and it gives us the opportunity to quickly relay what has been going on behind our doors. If you're toying with the idea of a school or classroom pages, I would highly recommend it.
      
   

Podcast - End of the Year Projects

In this podcast edition, we explore four Web 2.0 tools to liven up student projects, boost creativity, support deeper interaction with knowledge, and provide huge opportunities for online community sharing.

End of the Year Project Blues

Image from:
http://www.planetpals.com/images_recycle_crafts/shoebox.jpg

   So its approaching the end of the school year (at least for those of us in South Carolina) which means its time for those "end of the school year project blues". Students scramble to create posters, dioramas, papers, and my personal favorite (yes, that was sarcasm) a PowerPoint. I'm realizing that I've probably not done all that I could to prepare my students for this point in the year. I know I shouldn't have that much of a problem with PowerPoint, because it does have great features and can do a lot more if we think outside of the box with it - but here's my biggest problem:
   I was browsing over a student's work and noticed the language was that of a seasoned biologist talking about animals, not an elementary student's. When I asked if he wrote it or copied it, he said "I copied it". No problems, easy to do, learned and demonstrated absolutely nothing except how to copy and paste. This is unacceptable and its the reason why I said moments ago that I don't think I prepared my students properly. And here's why:
   I think that many web 2.0 tools like podcasts, blogs, digital storybooks, and even silly animated movies on Kerpoof challenge students to interact with their knowledge more than creating a presentation for exactly the reason demonstrated by my student. Its so easy to copy and paste into a presentation, its different when you have to add some creativity into the mix, give a personal opinion about something, or listen back to your own words and thoughts about a topic. Its more challenging, but I think if we direct our students in that direction, they'll come to find out its much more rewarding.
  The podcast associated with this post talks briefly about four potential options for projects; four tools that offer creativity, interaction with learning, and the potential for sharing online with friends, family, and the world. The tools covered are:
1) The website Kerpoof.com whose Make a Story and Make a Movie feature provide unique tools to share knowledge.
2) The program Audacity: a free and powerful audio recorder perfect for recording podcasts. If a student finishes a recording, why not host it on SoundCloud with an account for your classroom, or challenge the student to add appropriate content photos to the audio with Movie Maker and load it up to Facebook or Youtube?
3) The iOS apps Book Creator (cross-device) and Book Creator for iPad (iPad only) for e-book creation. Students can export their books as PDF's or share the e-pub file via email or Dropbox.
4) The online presentation tool Prezi: Yes, its for presentations but its setup makes it a bit more difficult to simply copy and paste text. Students would have to consider sequence, organization, and how to be concise (which gets NO consideration usually with PowerPoint).
  The challenge I'm presenting myself with for next year is to spend much more time on ethical research (yes, even in elementary school this is really important), and practical uses for the tools that we've spent time on in class.
   I think we'll have some fun with that!

Kerpoof! (and outside-of-class communication)

 

  I found this website earlier on this year while browsing for some out-of-the-ordinary web 2.0 activities for my elementary (2nd-5th grade) classes. Its completely based on creativity and computer-art projects like movies, cards, drawings, etc... and has excellent potential for literacy exercise as well. The features are basically free, plus with a (verified) teacher account, classes can be set up and projects shared either with the entire site, or just with one's class/group. 

  After setting up the classes, getting my students logged on, the students began creating their own content, sometimes with specific projects directed by me, other times, their own ideas. Many did this at home as well at school since they either remembered or took their logins with them. This is where the "mail/class/group" features come in. While I the chat or post features can be turned on and off, I wish there was a moderation feature. The classes are certainly private - no one except group members can post to their particular group - but as the technology teacher with over one hundred accounts and over 20 classes, it gets cumbersome to browse through every string of posts.

  Is anyone out there using Kerpoof in a "more than one class" setting? I'm curious as to if you're using the "mail" or chat features with your classes and how you moderate them. The concept of Kerpoof is pretty amazing and my students all love it. Just curious as to if there's a good method of monitoring the posts.

 

Author Cards/Podcast - Tech/LA Project Ideas

Hey all,
   This week in a Technology in Language Arts class I'm taking, we developed an Author Trading Card: a brief bio and reflection using Word or another publisher (I used Pages for mine - does graphics a little more simply). After that was complete we crafted persuasive podcasts on the same author. I chose Mo Willems of "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" fame.
   Anyway, I thought this was an interesting way of using a word publishing program/app for something other than its original intent (which I always like). I feel like breaking out of the confines of "Word is used for typing papers, PowerPoint is used for presentations" mentality is always a good thing. It keeps us creative and it opens up a ton of new options.
   I spoke with a mom recently who's daughter (in a different school) had to create a diorama of a medieval times village. It came out huge and they had to spend about $40 at the craft store for something which didn't really challenge her to learn, she could really share outside of the classroom (but through photographs), and ultimately would get thrown away in a couple of weeks. This is really frustrating to me for obvious reasons. We rely on traditional methods that may not be worth our students' time and effort.
    Why not take 10 minutes and brainstorm what an application with which you're already familiar can do other than the normal. Or better yet, tweet it out as a question. Post it to Edmodo: "What have you done with Word other than papers?". "Have you used PowerPoint for something other than a presentation?" Or, even better, leave your ideas in the comments!

Here's the Mo Willems Writes for Un-Cool People podcast!

A closer community with Facebook?

  I decided I should chronicle a bit of the process we've begun to increase community/school and school/district relationships. This fall we're launching community Facebook pages for our district's attendance areas. In South Carolina, school districts are county-wide. Horry (O-REE) County Schools has nine attendance areas that will each have a community Facebook page. We're in the toddler stages of the process so far as the pages have been created, myself and another in the district tech department are admins of each page, and we're developing a plan for 'dissemination of the information' so-to-speak.
  The way I see this working (and it will most likely change to be a bit easier than my stream-of-consiousness take on things) is that each school administrator in an attendance area needs to have two things set in place:
 1) They need to have a personal Facebook page.
 2) They need to have a Facebook Page set up for their own school.

   If I'm correct (and this post is rather preliminary) if the school admin selects to "View Facebook as Page" and selects their school page, they can not only post to their school page as the school (not as their personal user account), but also "Like" the community page.
   Here's where it begins to get a bit cumbersome. Because of the content settings we're putting in place on the Community Pages, folks who post or share content to those pages must be administrators of those community pages. (Users or "likers" can post comments, but cannot originate a post, share links, or videos, etc...).
   This brings me to the point of the Community Pages. Let's say there's an attendance area with one elementary, one middle, and one high school, each with individual school Facebook pages. A community page will allow those schools to share main events, school awards, or plans which may effect the community.
  Our hope is that the dynamic and social features of Facebook will allow the greater attendance communities as well as county to become more involved in the life of the school district.
  Again, we're only planning right now, so keep checking back.
PS - the Diigo links aren't live pages yet - they will be after August 4, 2011.
Here's another article on The Plan...

Sound off in the comments on what you think!

To Be Heard: A few thoughts on student podcasting.

This blog entry was recorded using iPadio for iPhone.

Everyone has something to say: be it a kindergarden student who is excited about learning how objects balance; a fifth grader reflecting on leaving the comfort of elementary to move onto junior high; or a high school student delving into the gray areas of philosophy and ethics. As educators it is our role to allow those students an outlet. A method to not just journal on a daily/weekly basis, but a method to state what's on their mind when its on their mind.

 Podcasting is a tool which can offer that. But the big question I’m facing is how to achieve seamless integration of podcasting into the classroom. How can it be organic? How can it be authentic?

 One of my goals this year has been do develop a podcast series on iTunes for my students. So far I’ve been fairly successful. I figured out the RSS details and have the feed set to go to iTunes when a new podcast is available. I’ve recorded Kindergarten through fifth graders, used photographs of their work for background images and created the media files. A few of the students have done this on their own, but so far its been directed by me.

  Perhaps I need to stop looking for what I’m after and listen to the students. Offer them the tools, show them what is available, and then let them make decisions about what they would like to do with those tools. I believe the most pure, authentic recordings come not from me directing the students to create, but the students’ desire to create. 

  As a technology instructor, its my job to teach the tools. Show students how to use Garage Band, iMovie, Audacity, Sonic Pics, etc...And its my job to allow their voices as students to be heard: Let them talk about Star Wars. Let them talk about video games. Let them record and make those recordings available to their classmates in a dedicated network folder or load them on iPods. Let them get excited about the ways they can let their voice be heard.

   The iTunes feed is limited to appropriate, educational concepts of which the students have researched and expressed interest. That’s their goal. Record as much as they can. Practice and learn the skills. When they produce genuine content reflecting on their educational experiences in the classroom, their voice will be made available to a much larger audience.