Week 2: Register Your Blog-Thing 4

Okay you made it here!  Whoo hoo! It is time to register your blog.  Go to the page link on the right hand side and enter in your blog information (REQUIRED).  You are more than welcome to remain anonymous throughout this course but remember the overall main idea of Web 2.0?  If you said, "collaboration" you are catching on...bravo!  If you are interested in sharing your blog with others so we can learn together please post your URL as a comment under the page link Junkies Unite.

How can we apply blogs in our classrooms? Let me get your juices flowing with a Tech-tivity...

Tech-tivity Thing 4

1. Go to www.kidblog.org

2.  Click on create a class. (Pick a username and password- I suggest your VCS username)  Write this info down on your Log In Cheat Sheet.

3.  To enter in your students click on "user" tab and then "add users to class".  You can do this now or later...your choice on username and passwords for students.  K.I.S.S baby!

Kidblog is a elementary and middle school friendly blog site.  The features of this Web 2.0 tool are great because students are given their own blogs (just like you created your own to record your reflections) in the realms of your classroom and management.  Imagine it- you can replace those paper and pencil journals with a virtual journal and have collaboration (can we say Think-Pair-Share?).  All of their entries are kept safe and organized by date of entry.  For your students it is as simple as clicking sign in, new post and publish. BAM! Three clicks away from tons of learning and collaboration.

4.  Go through the settings and look at the different features of Kidblog. 

-This Web 2.0 tool is great because of the privacy settings.  You can choose to have the student's blog public in the class (so everyone can read journal entries and comment on them) or you can be the only viewer as the teacher (allowing you to respond directly to the student).

-You can select to have the students blog posts pending so you can approve what they wrote before it goes public (if you plan on having a open classroom).

-The teacher can decide who can comment on the blogs as well: teacher only, class members, guests, etc.

5. So anyone's juices flowing?  Take a moment and play.  Think about how you can use Kidblog in your classroom in one subject area and post a classroom application comment here on the Junkie Blog.

6.  Week 2 Thing 4 Reflection- go to your blog you created and post the link to Kidblog and a 2-3 sentence classroom application of blogs from your discoveries or another Junkies discoveries from the comments below.

Extra Credit

We will be visiting so many websites over the next several weeks and you will need a way to keep track of all these links. 

Delicious is a social bookmarking Web 2.0 tool which allows you to connect links with a network of people.  I have created a delicious site for the technology group @ http://www.delicious.com/technologyjunkiegroup . Join my network and you will have access to all of my bookmarks throughout this course.  Or check out http://www.delicious.com/ and sign up for an account.   Create your own bookmarking delicious so you can keep track of all your World Wide travels throughout this course.

Then, you can put the feed into your blog-like mine.  To do this simply go to http://www.delicious.com/help/linkrolls after you create a bookmark group then copy the html code and paste it into a gadget on the design tab of your blog.  This is really easy...watch the tutorial here.

You can even download browser buttons so when you come to a site you like you can click "save to delicious" and it will automatically go to your bookmarking site with no effort!  AWESOME!  This is under TOOLS on delicious.  Remember this gives you instant access to all your bookmarks from any computer anywhere as long as you are on the web....WHOA BABY!

Week 2: Blogging -Thing 3

Thing 3: The blog and avatar

Blog, smog what in the World Wide Net is a blog? A blog is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer”. 

If that doesn’t register, take a look at this- Blogs in Plain English:

Your first step into the Web 2.0 world is to create your very own blog to use during the next nine weeks of discovery.  It will be important to record your thoughts, reactions and findings as you push through the technology.  You may even come up with some classroom applications along the way…

Let’s get busy!  3 Steps to a new bloggin’ you:

1. Create an account.  We will be using www.blogger.com .  There are other free blog host sites, if you choose to use one you are already familiar with that is fine too (I would check to see if you can access it through the school web filter first).  You can sign in to Blogger by using a Gmail account or you can create a Google Account using an email address you already have.  (I strongly suggest creating a Gmail account so you can keep your work/personal emails separate from the course, but you can choose either way).  We will be using some Google applications along the way and the Gmail account may come in handy.
2. Name your blog.  Create a unique blog name for your URL.  Choose something that you will be able to remember though!  Write your URL down as soon as you clear availability on your Log In Cheat Sheet.  The URL will look like http://read-a-blog.blogspot.com.  Blogger’s URL format is HTTP://NAME.BLOGSPOT.COM -Please note there is no "www" in the blog address.  I would also immediately bookmark your site by clicking on the star on the left hand corner labeled "favorites" in your Internet Explorer web browser and then click the plus sign to add your blog URL.
3. Select a template.  This is the fun part!  Being creative.  What Web 2.0 is all about... Template and color schemes are as easy as click and click, but the more tech savvy you get, the more you will be about playing around.  Remember this is a learning and discovery journey.  Depending on how familiar you are with Web 2.0, some of you will get this right away and some will have to go to the tutorials to get help.  THE MORE YOU PUT INTO IT THE MORE YOU WILL LEARN AND IT WILL STICK!

If this is all too much, watch this video tutorial I created to help you set up the blog.  Baby steps people!!! CALL ME, EMAIL ME…I will help you get through the smog, or I mean blog :)

Tech-tivity 3: Get er' done!

1. Set up your blog.

2. Play around with posting.

3.Please format your posts in this way: Week # Thing # or  Thing # Reflection

Title: WEEK 2 Exercise Thing 3 or Thing 3 Reflection and then post your thoughts, discoveries and classroom applications in the comment box.  You can be honest in your posts…were you frustrated, surprised, amazed, confused, overjoyed?…etc.  Remember I will be the only one reading your blog, unless you want to share your URL with the group.

    4.  Create an avatar-a virtual you. Go to: http://www.doppelme.com/?rid=DM240964FBL and create a username and password record your info on your Log in Cheat Sheet. Create an avatar to represent you for your blog profile.

5. Post your avatar to your blog as Week 2  Thing 3 and note any reflections for yourself.  Make another post on the Technology Junkie Blog below talk about Blogger and your avatar discoveries.  Don't forget to collaborate with others.   You can also post questions here as well.  We are all in this together.


Q: How do I put my avatar on my blog??
After you create and save your avatar...go to "Your Home" on dopple.me

Click on Quick Code.

Copy the HTML Code from your avatar.

[Embedding tips:  In order to put your avatar on your post you will have to cut and paste the html code.  Don't be scared, it is not hard!!  It is used often in the Web 2.0 world so learn it now...  Remember I just said cut and paste!  When you complete your avatar you will have a dashboard menu and you need to click on the link "Quick Code".  After you click on the link you will have two options: normal or cropped.  The text in the box under the avatars are html codes (which is just fancy internet talk).  Right click on the text and click "select all".  If the words are highlighted right click again over your highlighted text and select "copy".  Then, go to your blog and click on "New Post" and click on the tab "Edit html".   Right click and paste the code into the blog post and then click "Compose". Publish your post and you are good to go.  Don't forget to title your post Week 2 Thing 3.]

Still need help? Watch this on embedding html code.  I will talk ya through it.

Other avatar creators to play with http://avatars.yahoo.com/ , www.meez.com , www.simpsonsmovie.com, www.myavatareditor.com.   To learn more about avatars click on my Delicious links to the right.

Need help from the Technology Junkie? 

 No worries! 

 email me or meebo me
cassmcginn@gmail.com 

Extra Credit- A Day in the Life of Web 2.0

Read this article by David Warlick originally published in Technology & Learning (2006).  I want you to know up front, this is a picture of an ideal Web 2.0 situation.  It may even read Greek to you right now, but the main idea regardless of background knowledge is clear... 

After reading it, respond to one or more of the following:

Can you think of a way we can apply one or more of the ideal situations in VCS?

What are your reactions when you look at the original publish date of this article (2006) and today's date (2011)?

Any general reactions?

Week 1: Introduction- Thing 1 and Thing 2

Now that you are interested in taking this adventure, stepping outside your comfort zone, let’s discuss Web 2.0.  

So, what is Web 2.0?  When did we upgrade from Web 1.0?  What has Web 2.0 done for the big WWW.   Let’s find out- watch this brief video:

Did you catch on to the theme?  CREATE, COMMUNICATE AND COLLABORATE...the 3 C's of Web 2.0.  We have shifted into this new culture where collaboration and interaction are commonplace.  How do we feel about this as a 21 Century Educator?

“What is good learning? That may be a subjective question. But it’s likely that many educators would give answers that fall in the same ballpark…

…students collaborating and discussing ideas, possible solutions…

…project-based learning, designed around real world contexts…

…connecting with other students around the world, on topics of study…

…immersing students in a learning experience that allows them to grapple with a problem, gaining higher-order thinking skills from pursuing the solution…” 
(Klopfer, Eric, Scot Osterweil, Jennifer Groff, and Jason Haas, 2009)

Tech-tivity 1 and Reflection 1

1. Watch this video called “Did You Know?" created by Karl Fisch.

2.  After watching, reflect on “good learning” discussed above and what that means based on the statistics presented in the video.  Post your reflection below on the Junkie blog by clicking on the reply link.  Feel free to add additional information or comment on other’s Junkie reflections.  Remember you may remain anonymous if you like.  Your name can even be creative!  It will be fun trying to guess "who is who" in Technology Junkie Land…


3. PRINT OUT or Create a Virtual Log In Cheat Sheet so you can keep track of all your usernames and passwords.

Sources:
Klopfer,Eric, Scot Osterweil, Jennifer Groff, and Jason Haas. The Instructional Power of Digital Games Social Networking Simulations and How Teachers Can Leverage Them. Publication. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://education.mit.edu/papers/GamesSimsSocNets_EdArcade.pdf>.