Toto, we're not in Web 1.0 anymore!
My morning started out with the first of two pre-conference sessions here at MAME 34. Judy Hauser, a consultant from the Oakland Schools ISD presented a great session entitled, "Blogs and Wikis Go to School!" After a brief intro to Web 2.0, Judy jumped right into blogs showing us a few of her favorites. Then, like any good teacher, she made it hands-on by putting us to work on Word Press to begin creating our own blog! Here are the fruits of my labor. (Be sure to leave me a comment or I'll feel it was all for naught...) ;-) One of my favorite things was choosing the "skin" or look for my blog. Word Press not only has lots of great skins, but plenty of other cool features to make you look like a professional from the very first blog. Definitely check it out!
Then it was on to wikis where, once again, Judy put us in the driver's seat to take some idea we had and start our own wiki. The school district in which I work is currently having all the schools come up with a new initiative that will help market our individual schools to increase student enrollment. Often my staff gripes about not having enough time to talk to each other about their feelings or ideas regarding the project...so guess what I created?! You bet -- their own little wiki where they can post their thoughts, articles they find, or links to sites that might be helpful.
The best thing about these tools was the simplicity in being able to set up an account and BEGIN. I'm excited about showing these tools to my staff and getting them to work with me and their students to create some incredible learning experiences.
My second pre-conference got me all caught up on the seemingly-never-black-and-white world of copyright. Evelyn Freeman, an Information Media Consultant also from Oakland Schools, gave us the ins and outs of of trying to stay legal in the increasingly complex world of digitized media. She gave us great guidelines to use when determining "fair use" and spoke to the changes in copyright laws since the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act went into effect in 2002. This legislation has many implications for us as we continue to delve into the world of distance-learning. To see how much you know about copyright, take this little quiz. Maybe you'll be taking Evelyn's next workshop!
Well, that keynote is going to be coming awfully early tomorrow. Time to get some zzzzzzzzzz...I'll fill you in on another big day tomorrow.
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3 comments:
Shelley-
I'm wondering about how Judy discussed blogs vs. wikis in the "Which tool when?" sense.
For the uses you describe, I'd think blog where you suggest wiki. I always think of wikis for project where multiple people need to be constructing something (like a conference Web site) where blogs are for reflective thought and sharing ideas.
Any thoughts?
But our "initiative" includes the sharing of books, articles, presenters we've seen, or info from other teachers they know all wrapped up in the lavash of the discussion. I feel a blog would seem more like my thoughts with people commenting on them. Each staff member needs to feel a part of the creation of this -- so I went wiki. Does that make more sense?
I wish I could have gone to that session. Question: how do I get our tech guy to realize that Web 2.0 and all of it's tools are the wave of the future and he should unblock them?
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