Project web 2.0

I think all learning theories or perspectives teach us something about learning, and all of them can be a valid approach. I prefer to approach learning in the context of the social constructivist approach, but that is because I mostly teach adults and I think it works well with that population. However, I often think about learning in terms of information processing as well, especially when I think about how a specific concept may be acquired best.

I use several different theories when I plan my writing class. When I think about how students will acquire skills regarding the writing process, I think about social interaction and constructivism. My assignments reflect that approach. However, when I think about how I teach certain grammar concepts to the students, then I’m often primarily guided by ideas I learned from the information-processing model, which I think is very useful when we plan for cognitive tasks and concept formation. For example, when I teach comma rules, I often need to go back and do a serious grammar review of dependent and independent clauses, subjects and predicates, etc. I carefully consider what it takes to acquire these concepts and build them up one by one. I think about what needs to be memorized and why. What has to be learned first, in order for other concepts to make sense.

Kevin’s model of guiding the learners through modeling and practice is very effective and I think most learning takes place within that framework.

What I’d like to emphasize is that all learning models are useful and teach us something important about the process of learning; even though educators have sometimes strong preferences or beliefs, we need to consider the following criteria when we choose a learning approach (or choose a blend of perspectives)

1. Age of the learners
2. Content or material
3. How soon will the learners use the content/skill and how precise their recollection should be

I think we often use a blend of approaches and that is the most effective approach.

here is a link to the podcast.

Sorry, my baby can be heard occasionally in the background. We are all sick.

Here are the wiki sites  I mentioned

PB wiki

Google Sites

Wiki Spaces

with that said, I’m actually Using RSS because it us a very useful application. I recently signed up for Google Reader and I like it.  It is simple to create a Google account. One can sign up for a gmail account (which is a great email program by the way) and the Reader is available with a gmail  account.

the Reader is available at www.google.com/reader.

RSS refers to Really Simple Syndication, and it is a web-based tool that allows one to have various content (news, etc) delivered to one’s reader. Another word for this is aggregator. A tool that collects relevant information for the individual reader and is customized according to individual needs and interests. The advantage is that the user gets the content of the desired site automatically delivered (multiple sites could be added) without individually visiting each site.  It is a convenient tool, and supposedly the individuals using the service remain anonymous, but who believes that? I’m sure that companies delivering these free services collect more data than they claim. It is probably used for marketing purposes, not political ones. Joseph McCarthy would have loved to put his hand on a tool like this.

Oh, well. Back to the application. The Reader can be customized and it offers the potential to be a very collaborative tool. if one creates a Google profile, than one can share news, articles, whatever content is important to the person with friends and “followers”.  This could be a fun thing for people who are engaged in politics or other community activity and wish to be more collaborative with other people. Information could be shard with anyone or only a select group of people. In that sense, the site allows for customization and it is relatively easy to use. There is a side menu which is well-laid and easy to use. descriptions are clear and easy to follow.

Searching  for and adding subscriptions is relatively easy. The menu options on the left side are clearly labeled and they are straightforward. one does not need to know any specialized language to use the site.

I was disappointed to see that there was no easy way to share  some of that content on my blog, but I could provide the website if I really had to. I could share my recommended materials with other people who have a Google profile, but i found no easy way to link it to my blog.

for example, I subscribe to the European Journal of Open, Distance and E-learning. There was an interesting article about pedagogy in the digital age that I would have liked to share on my blog, but there was no easy way to send it there. To the site’s credit, it is easy to email articles to friends and acquaintances, so that is an option. Of course, I could always post a link to the article, since I have access to all that via the reader feed.

to sum it up, RSS is a great tool for people who want to follow the content of certain sites without constantly going to the site to get the information. Then there is the data part. One can track what was read and what trends emerge in the Reader.

The Note to Reader feature allows for very easy content sharing and one can add notes to it to make it easy to understand or remember why that particular content is interesting.   The sharing and interactive features of this reader make it a web 2.0 tool. this is more than just getting content delivered and  read. This is all`about reading and sharing with others at the same time. Handy tool for people who like to share their reading materials.

Handy tool for teachers as well: sharing content with customized comments and remarks can be a great way to share additional readings (that pertain to the topics discussed in class) with the students.

Then there are the bundles that we read about on the course website. I personally do not use it yet, but I can see its usefulness. One can create bundles or follow other people’s bundles. All in all, Google reader is a great tool, and it is becoming a necessary tool for most readers nowadays;  either this tool or something like this.

It is good to know that not only we have a flood of information available on the web, but tools as well to help us organize and manage the massive information available to us.

article

I particularly liked the information on the strengths and weaknesses of the audio recordings as teaching and learning medium on p. 89.  (or p. 5 in the pdf file). Note that this was originally done in connection with producing audio tapes, but podcasts can be similarly used in education. They are even better than audiotapes because some of the weaknesses of the audio tapes would actually vanish with podcasts because the technology is so much easier to use.

I use audacity to record my podcasts. It is open-source software available for anyone.

Here are my thoughts on podcasting.

oops! I could not add my audio file without a space upgrade, which requires me to pay.

I’ll try to add my file to google docs and post it here.

Unfortunately I could not find a way to set it up for streaming, so you will actually have to download the file in order to listen to it. sorry about that!

on a different note; I’m impressed with Google docs. I often use it to share files with n large groups of people when other arrangements fail.

After I spent my time playing with Prezi, it felt good to return to an application that I know and can easily do. Please click on the link to view the presentation.

Proposal for OLIT 593 project

I found the tutorial helpful and after watching the online video, I started composing my presentation. It was appealing that the tool allows for brainstorming of ideas. Once the ideas are all recorded, we can decide what path to use to view it. It’s all on one page, which is a bit different and something to get used to first. The positive thing is that the tool allows for the numbering or prioritizing of the ideas.

It was relatively easy to generate the main ideas for the proposal and prepare a brief outline of what the project will be about. I ran into problems however, when I tried to share the presentation and link  it to my blog. I tried saving it to my computer, but it was a huge file, and I could not specify where to save it on my computer. Then I tried embedding it on my blog, but the link would not work.

None of the options offered by the site seemed to work for me. I needed to share the presentation on my site; I did not want to send people to the Prezi site. By the end I would have done anything just to be able to share it somehow. It seems like Prezi works well for a live presentation, especially when the presenter has internet access. Then the person who created the presentation can pull it up on the screen and share it with the audience.

I was not able to share the presentation in a way that would allow me to specify exactly in what order will the viewers see the presentation and I was uncomfortable about sharing as is without being able to preview it.  If there is a solution to the limitations i found, it is not easy to figure it out. There is a quick help menu available on the site, but I did not find the answers to my problems there.

To sum it up, Prezi seems fun to play with, but at the end, it did not provide what it promised. I can create a better presentation in PowerPoint.

I’m not sure I needed it, though. I usually have my laptop with me; thus, I have easy access to my existing bookmarks.

I do  not enjoy working on other computers.

Besides, I feel a little uneasy about sharing all my links with the world.  I know I can adjust which bookmarks to make public and which ones do not, but still. I grew up behind the Iron Curtain and I still feel uneasy about exposing myself (and my links) to the whole world. I still remember when big brother was watching.

Do the Chinese people use social bookmarking? (I’m sure the Party is watching it.)

The one great merit I see in social bookmarking is the opportunity for professional development and collegial sharing and conversation. It is handy to be able to share one’s favorite sites or sites that contain valuable educational materials.

here is a link to my delicious page

http://delicious.com/judithtomasson