Project Abstract

Coordinating Lab times and technology lesson plan for various age levels at any school has always been a challenge for many educators. It’s not easy implementing new Ideas when it comes to technology. For example, each time Microsoft comes out with a new version of software or operating systems many are hesitant to change. This applies to technology and instructional technology as well. Coordinating lessons, keeping the staff informed and maintaining a well run pc lab has always been a challenged.

One important task in implementing a well design lab is the coordination and communication between teachers, administrators and of course the lab technician. Which in this case will be yours truly, I run various labs from small three pc peer to peer, to multi configuration lab/classrooms. In most cases, application are located on the server, routed down, configured to various ip address and of course having the stability of each pc/macs on the same startup page. This does not always happen. Maintain the back end equipment is what I do best. One gap in the communication process which I have found is a universal tool which will implement time, ideas, and lessons is a new end user tool which I think lets everyone contribute is in the form of a Wikki.

I have constructed the wikki page so teachers, administrators lab technicians will be able to access information pertaining to lab times lessons plans, links and other information which might be shared between the technician (me), teachers, and of course the administrators who over see such projects. I believe in an open communication forum which is why I constructed the wikki page. What started out to be a location to post stories from students soon began to take on a new venue. I have found that wikki can add a central communication tool which can be edit by anyone who has access to the wikki page.

This particular wikki is divided into three main sections, Lab times, teacher resources, and lessons plans. As the information grows, so will the wikki. I have set up a page devoted only to lab times and to coordinate open lab sessions and constructive lessons in the lab. These constructive lessons are on various technological skills by the California Standards. Teacher resources are a page where teachers have access to links and other lesson plans valuable to technological instruction. In this page teachers can coordinate a specific lesson. The open forum page is devoted to open end questions, ideas, problems or sometimes which I have found is that teachers may have pc issues in the class. Here is where information can be address and posted. Such issues are printing problems, overhead projector issues, sound issues and other technological problems in the classroom.

Updated Annoted reference

These are the new Reference which I plan to use for my semiar

A Little Help from My Friends: Classroom 2.0 Educators Share Their ExperiencesPreview. By: Hargardon, Steve. School Library Journal, v53 n10 p44-48 Oct 2007. (EJ786410)
Based on personal experience of a 4th, 5th and 6th grade teacher, in which she has developed by the help of one the parents, she has created a wikki page for her classes. This social network has become implemented into her class assignments, in which she uses web tools to construct and to inspire her students to write and express themselves with web tools and posting the student’s blogs onto wikki’s. It also adopts the blog concepts for each of their students in the class. By using the bloging experience, she stresses proper grammar in posting and creating blogs.
Specially Made for Science: Researchers Develop Online Tools For CollaborationsPreview . By: Guterman, Lila. Chronicle of Higher Education, v54 n24 pA9 Feb 2008. (EJ788953)

Facebook, blogs and other social-networking sites have gotten much attention and have created a stir. Online tools are now being used by professionals such as Doctors Engineers and other professionals. It looks at past software applications geared for and specifically made for a particular field. Online tools, such wikkis are now becoming part of the norm in specialized fields. In the presentation of Scholarly and professional division of Academia this was the main theme which has now been changed on the wikki platform

Using Focus Groups to Learn about My WikiPreview . By: Davidson, Merrie. Computers in Libraries, v28 n1 p16-19, 47-48 Jan 2008. (EJ782270)

This particular article focuses on how to recruiter people to participate in a wikki forum based on library issues. This librarian wanted more from a blog or a web page, so she constructed a wikki in which she was able to adopt the new changing material into the new wiki page. Although I focused more on upper grade, such grad and undergrad students some of the main focal points of this article can be used in terms of spreading the word on the wikki a teacher might create. The main point is how to attract other people to participate in the wikki based on a central location such as a university library.


Technologies Such as Wikis in the Classroom Preview . By: Steele, Poppy. Online Submission, Paper presented at the Annual Instructional Technology Conference at Middle Tennessee State University (13th, Gallatin, TN, Apr 7, 2008). 2008 21 pp. (ED500701)

This article discusses how new technology has been adopted into the classroom. As is this particular article and with other web tools which have been adopted into classroom activities, the wikki has become a center point for conferencing and has been used as a discussion board not only between teachers but also administrators. Although not all administrators have adapted to the Wikki’s format it still used mostly used by teachers. The article discusses how wikki’s have been used for classroom assignments.


The Executive Wiki: Wikis Can Be a Multitasking Administrators' Best FriendPreview . By: Warlick, David. Technology & Learning, v27 n11 p36 Jun 2007. (EJ773290)
A)http://www.techlearning.com/publications.php

This article describes the importance on how wikki can be used as a collaborative tool not only for teachers but also for administrators which have not yet been adopted. By
Defining what a wikki is and how contributors can add and delete information. The unique part of the wikki is the ability to and the usefulness of the content which comes forms the users itself. The main point of this article is teachers using wikki in the class for their students on project. This article mostly describes what a wikki is and does go into much detail as far creation or how to edit a particular wikki.


Nussbaum-Beach, S. No Limits. Technology & Learning v. 28 no. 7 (February 2008) p. 14-16, 18

This Article is based on how teachers are using digital environments to open up various new tools for online learning in the classroom. What is like this article it does go a small amount of details to create simple online projects which teachers can use for implementing digital technologies. It gathers various tools created by other teachers and how they are using web tools to enhance the learning experience in the classroom. Not only for reading, but also for math classes with both face to face and online components.
Web tools which are mention are Flickr, blogs and wikis. A very important article which I plan to use in my seminar


Buffington, M. L. What is Web 2.0 and How Can It Further Art Education?. Art Education v. 61 no. 3 (May 2008) p. 36-41

This article explores several technologies associated with Web 2.0 and how applications can be incorporated into an art educational format. It does at times go into specific ideas for classroom use at a variety of levels, the author hopes to continue an ongoing dialog with the art education about how new technologies can be implemented into the classroom learning experience. This article does describe various aspects of Web 2.0 such as, bloging, wikkis, my space and other tools which can be used in the classroom.

Story Time

I have been thinking on just what kind of project will be useful not only for class but also for kids without the traffic on the networks. I can use my talents with pictures in photography and create a project based on story telling, or story reading. The idea is to have students read books, and have pictures go along with the story. These pictures can come straight from the book, or they can create pictures which will go along with thier read story.

The main goal of this project, is to have students read short stories, from all grade levels, and when they record them, they can also view the story line on the web or pc at home.

At this point I'm not sure on the format in terms of applications to use. One item of interest is I want teachers to access and not having to learn a new application or web format.

As of now, I'm leaning towards a webpage, not sure.. any ideas?

Platform for Participation

Platform For Participation
All the World is a Stage

Book Review

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
by Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams writes in the chapter Platforms for Participation in which he states “Using and open platform such as mashups, application programs are not any more self propelled and standalone but rather they are more of a service application. This chapter is very interesting because of the concepts of an open platform and how new web tools can be applied in the classrooms to enlighten the students teaching. Although upon reading the materiel in the book, it is geared more for private enterprise, the written material is applicable to classroom instruction.
A brief chapter description is that all innovations are motivated by pre-existing ideas. Such examples as the chapter explains is “Web Services” applications in which they interact with other pre existing applications and other web base tools for the purpose of exchanging data. One example is during the Katrina disaster when many people where displaced by love ones survivors where leaving notes on local meeting locations. A small group of people starting to incorporate searchable data base, linking up names with locations and numbers to call and central point and so on. No new software was created but rather using already preexisting web tools.
The Goggle’s and E-bays as well as Amazons use these various web tools in a very open platform. By already manipulating existing programs and tailoring to their particular needs, in this case a penny a click they are able to provide an economic service of revenue. The top layer is anther site tailored to their own particular customers needs with e-commerce running in the background and still a hiring to the protocol of the Amazons and E-bay guidelines for online shopping.
What does this mean to an educator and how can this technology and philosophy of open end platform be integrated in the classroom? The chapter does not specifically show one how, but given the content of the chapter, a teacher can piece together already existing tools which are already available and just link them via a small web page for example. Or as many have done, go to various web sites where integrated programs already exist, place these small interactive programs and tools in a central location where students have access to these web tools, combine them, and taylor the sites (in this case) to ones particular classroom instructional needs.


Reference

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams, Platform for Participation All the World is a Stage.