Chapter+1+WHS

=Chapter 1 - Winterboro High School=

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts , and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms --Will Richardson

 1    The Read/Write Web Tim Berners-Lee's grand vision for the WWW (World Wide Web) in 1989
 * Build a vast "web" of linked information- a place where all could meet and read and write
 * Make a colloborative medium that would enable people to share data, personal experiences and talents in new ways.

Mosaic Web browser (developed in 1993)
 * Up to this point, the Internet was used by government officials
 * A colorful, graphical world began to develop
 * Although the content was limited, millions of people began to "surf" the Internet for information
 * The Web had taken its place as an essential communication/research tool world wide

Reading and Writing to the Web __**A New World Wide Web**__ Changes in Our Lives
 * Although growth was rapid at this time, writing to the Web required computer knowledge and protocols
 * There were a few exceptions: Amazon.com, where readers could leave reviews and opinions
 * More than 53 million American adults (44% of adult Internet users) have used the Internet as a medium of expression (2003)
 * 57% of teen users have been declared "content creators" (2005)
 * 110 million blogs (2008)
 * 100,000 videos were being uploaded to YouTube.com each day (early 2008)
 * Millions of photos and thousands of audio files are added on a daily basis
 * Journalism
 * Business
 * Politics
 * Education
 * Global Outlook

Businesses: Utilizes Weblogs and wikis for public relations, customer service and internal communications
 * __Extraordinary Changes__**
 * Education: Slow to adapt to new tools and potentials
 * Politics: Use of "YouTube Campaign" and "MySpace" pages
 * IBM running over 20,000 internal wiki sites, 26,000 blogs, over 400,000 employees were participating in "Blue Pages"
 * Corporations (GM, Coca-Cola, Sun Microsystemd, Apple) have blogs and wikis

"Society of Authorship"- everyone with Internet access will have the ability to contribute ideas and experiences to the larger body of knowledge Definition of Privacy is changing: Here are just two examples of websites which define the "always connected" generation
 * [|www.twitter.com]
 * [|www.myspace.com]
 * __The Read/Write Web in Education__**
 * Students are communicating and learning different than previous generations
 * With little or no instruction from adults, they are building vast social networks
 * The web has the potential to radically change what we assume about teaching and learning
 * The delivery of instruction will change and the expectations we have of our students
 * Web tools have considerable relevance to state and local core content curriculum standards and their implementation in schools will better prepare students for their future
 * __Social Learning__**
 * The National Technology Plan sites that, "today's students, of almost any age, are far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy".
 * 60% of adolescents have a MySpace or a Facebook account
 * Young children explore sites such as Club Pequin and Webkinz
 * 81% of students in Grades 7-12 have an e-mail account
 * 75% have at least one Instant Messenger (IM) screen name
 * 97% believe strongly that technology use is important in education
 * Fastest growing age group utilizing the computer is 2-5 year-olds
 * Neurological effects: some believe that years of computer use creates children that "think differently from us. They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. It's as though their cognitive structures were parallel, not sequential" (Presky, 2001a).
 * Looking at all of the statistics, it paints the picture of an educational system that is out of touch with the way its students learn

__**Learners as Teachers**__ " What are your passions?" "Who are your teachers? Are they all in physical space?" "How are you building your own learning networks using these tools?" "In this new environment, how are you modeling your learning for your students?"
 * The author suggest that before you attempt to bring the technologies discussed in this book to your students, first be selfish about their use in your own learning practices.
 * Learning in this environment will alow you to be able to construct, develop, sustain, and participate in global networks that render time and place less and less relevant.
 * The author believes that we must first make the connections in our own practices so that we can thoroughly understand the pedagogical implications for the classroom.
 * As you read this book, the author urges us to ask ourselves the following questions:

__**The Toolbox**__ Example blog sites: [|www.bloggers.com] or [|www.blogspot.com] Example wiki sites: www.wikispaces.com or [|www.wikipedia.com] Example social bookmarking site: [|www.diigo.com] or [|www.del.icio.us.com] Example photo galleries: [|www.shutterfly.com] or [|www.flickr.com]
 * Weblogs: Also know as blogs are "easily created, easily updateable websites that allow an author or (authors) to publish instantly from the Internet from any Internet connection." These blogs are interactive and can used to have conversations between teachers and students.According to Richardson, Weblogs are the most widely adopted Read/Write Web tool so far.
 * Wikis: A wiki is a collaborative Webspace where anyone can add or edit content. Wikis can be used as a communication tool between teachers, students, and parents.
 * Real Simple Syndication (RSS): RSS is a technology that allows educators to suscribe to "feeds" of the content that is created on the Internet. This content can be written on blogs or even in newspapers and magazines. The content comes to the reader instead of the reader retrieving the content. RSS is the new "killer app" for education (which in plain engligh means that it is extremely useful).
 * Aggregators: An aggregator collects and organizes the content generated using the RSS feed.
 * Social Bookmarking: Sites allow users to save the Web addresses of interesting content. They allows users to have and archive entire pages and can be used by teachers and students to build subject specific resource lists.
 * Online Photo Galleries: Online photo galleries allow people to share pictures with friends and family and to become part of a community of photographers.
 * Audio/video-casting: Producing digital voice and video files to publish and share on the Internet is possible through the use of audio/video-casting. A common form of this is known as podcasting.


 * __Keeping Students Safe__**
 * Although the Read/Write web can introduce tremendous learning opportunities to our classrooms and our students, it also poses serious security risks.
 * If we ask our students to publish, even if we know they are pushlishing outside the classroom, it's our obligation to teach them what is acceptable and safe and what isn't.
 * Districts can take security precautions such as blocking inappropriate content to protect students.
 * The other alternative is to teach students the skills that they need to navigate the darker sides of the Web safely and effectively.
 * __Responsible use__ means not only refraining from actively seeking out these inappropriate sites, but also reacting appropriately when they are encountered.