voicethread

Here is a quick attempt, finally the images went in. Must have been an incidental thing. I don't have a mic on this computer but I would want it to be "voice"! Also had trouble embedding it, it kept failing...not my best day on the computer!

http://voicethread.com/share/1233195

Voicethread

Well, I have an idea, but am having problems uploading the images I want into voicethread. Hopefully I will figure it out and post it, but I'm a little (a lot!) frustrated so I'll state my plan and take a break. I want to do a voicethread on the flu, H1N1, H5N1, 1918 pandemic, as part of a unit on viruses. I already have students go to some sites regarding the 1918 flu pandemic (pbs has some great resources). I'd like to have them interpret some graphs and data asking them specific questions. I always ask them, after discussion and investigation of resources and info, whether they think a global flu pandemic will occur in the near future and how it might be similar or different than the 1918 pandemic. I think voicethread could be an interesting way to have them comment and perhaps add to the visual thread. So, I'll keep trying, and I've posted to the wiki so hopefully I'll hear some tips from everyone!

Copyright conundrums

I finally got through the copyright reading, http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr280a.shtml,
somehow my eyes would always start to glaze over... It think that most of us are good with print materials, fair with videos (it's ok to bring that Discovery video on sharks from home to show...but not Toy Story). However, in my experience we are terrible when it comes to web based material. I have gotten better, but I have never displayed "the copyright notice, and provide copyright ownership information." Nor given a disclaimer.

I now try to use information and images that are through creative commons, wikimedia, or some other open resource. http://images.wellcome.ac.uk/ is another good source that allows usage for educators. There is a huge push in higher ed to create OERs, Open Educational Resources. Our college is trying to create a collection that would eventually be shared. However, it takes time and effort (as we are all now experiencing) to create original, effective media. Yes, it is a grand great thing to create content to share, but it is nice to get paid for the development and I'm not sure our institutions have money to spend on this.

So, it is a daunting task to do the legal/right thing, and the guidelines for web resources are not very clear or simple to sift through. I also think that a lot of resources don't provide an easy way to see if they are open resources, or how to easily ask for permission. I don't think we can even use youtube videos. Does anybody know?

We do have a responsibility to do the right thing in front of our students and to instruct them to do the same. A reason to continue to play and experiment with the tools, but start small in the classroom so that we and students aren't overwhelmed? Or at least not completely put off by the effort it takes?

First Glog

Here is my first glog, much easier than scrapbooking (which I'm terrible at, and don't really enjoy). I think this could be fun for student projects. I looked at some of the glogs "up for vote" and some are very sophisticated. I'm sure our students would figure this out in no time.

http://kcburke.glogster.com/glog-7565/

The Educational Technology Guy blog

Not sure how I found this blog....this is where diigo would have helped! But, two interesting links on The Educational Technology Guy's blog:

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/web-20-conquering-technophobia.html

http://jdorman.wikispaces.com/DigiStory20

Sect. 508 ADA compliance

I'm wondering about how everyone's institutions deal with 508 compliance. It's part of the ADA and requires that media be accessible for all. Our college is very proactive about this.

http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=11

For example, if I were to produce a video to use in my class, it must be captioned. Or, I would have to provide a transcript. Any text has to be readable by a screen reader, so I have to Alt tag any images with a short text description. California higher ed schools are not allowed to adopt textbooks whose online resources are not 508 compliant. So, while I can explore tools and figure out lessons, etc. I have to also ensure that they are compliant. What experiences have the rest of you had with this?

While driving (well, riding along with my husband) down highway 12 from MT to ID, we saw this sign and both started laughing. My husband turned around and we took pictures. I was thinking about the sign and life in general, an obvious metaphor. But I was also thinking about this class. So many twists and turns, not to mention tweets. Never quite knowing what is around the bend, but every now and then seeing a glimpse of something really amazing.

It's incredible to find so many resources and people willing to help. I've wanted to connect with other science teachers and to learn new tools and tech. There is a lot to sort through and figure out, but it is right there literally at your fingertips if you know where to look--and now I'm beginning to. This is literacy--or at least the beginning. As I posted before regarding science literacy, content is fundamental, but applying that is literacy. Knowing where to find answers is part of that literacy.

So, favorites so far are google reader; I'm slowly learning how to manage it. But it has been a godsend while traveling and trying to keep up via an iPhone and occasional wifi. I'm beginning to like twitter as a resource mainly; it reminds me of the old days and the old fashioned AP news feeds. It was a machine that spewed forth news updates on a ticker tape (at summer camp this is how I learned that Elvis had died). I'm trying to use it to skim for resources and news items. For my students I like google docs and I know they are already using this. I have to incorporate it into group projects that we do--this is a no brainer for them. This spring I did a couple of small research projects with students and we were emailing stuff back and forth, ugh! I also like Glogster for the students to use. It seems really well suited for social issues--environmental, and I'm thinking I could use it in micro for public health related projects, short reports on a bacterium--I'm thinking of assigning a bacterium a week--one to a student, or a current event each week to be presented at the beginning of class and commented on during the week. Finally, I think diigo has the potential to transform the way I keep track of sites and resources because of the annotation capabilities. Enough for now, still navigating the winding road.

Literacy and Science

I think scientific literacy is our primary purpose as science teachers. I have always felt that more than content alone we have to help our students be able to be somewhat literate in science in order to, paraphrasing Freire, shape the course of their lives—to read a paper, magazine, climate change debate, and be able to make some sense out of it. To be able to ask and hopefully answer—does it make sense? Do the numbers add up? Is this plausible? How can I apply this to my life?
The article by Thier, Literacy Tools for Life, is geared to middle schoolers and the Common Content Standards are K12. However, I think they apply just as well to my Community College students. For example, I try to have my students begin to read peer reviewed journal articles. The Common Content Standards give me some great ideas about constructing a guide for students to use as they read basic research articles. The guide might include at least the following:
• What is the central idea and conclusion
• Outline the major steps in the experiment
• Compare and contrast other findings
• What is the evidence to support their conclusions
There were several points in Thier’s article that stood out for me. First of all relevancy is so important. If students find the information relevant to their lives they will be much more interested in reading, writing, and talking about it. In my microbiology class I’ve had students do short presentations about how they can relate microbiology to their jobs. I’ve had students volunteer to do this—they’ve talked about working at the pool over the summer, the food safety training at El Pollo Loco, etc. No arm twisting needed! (I’m definitely thinking of how I might use some of the new web tools to help them in presenting.)
I also agree with Thier’s idea of “writing while you read”. I do a short demo I call “How DO I read this textbook?” It is based on few reading strategies I have learned over time and is basically how to take notes to help understand the text. However, though Thier’s guidelines are good, if students followed them they would have the entire text highlighted, circled, or underlined (and K12 students can’t normally write in them!). So I think some streamlining is in order.
Finally, I think that teaching/using reflective, metacognitive thought, is very poorly done in the science classroom. Most other disciplines seem to have their students reflect often about what they are learning. This is another area I would like to develop specific strategies for. I think the What and How questions Thier gives are a good starting point. I think that this could also be a great motivating tool. Students want to realize that they have learned something! We know the sense of accomplishment they feel—how can we help them see this incrementally during the course, not just at the end?

Google reader breakthrough!

I finally had a breakthrough with Google Reader, quite by accident initially. I've clicked on "Follow" on almost everyone's blogs I think and lo and behold, they are now coming up in Google Reader (which just in case, is a link at the top of your gmail)! I then figured out how to create folders: click on something you have subscribed to on the left and then click on feed settings (top of the feed view box). Choose new folder, name it, click ok and your item is in the folder. New folders appear on the left. OR, if you are subscribing to something new, for example I wanted to subscribe to the TED videos, click on subscribe>enter the URL or search for item>when item appears in feed view>subscribe--it will then ask you what folder you want it in! Kind of pathetic how great I feel about this! One small step...

Guiding Principles

I think that my guiding principles for the use of web 2.0 will evolve over time, but here is what I'm thinking about now:

• Work with it first on my own
• Consult with others
• Must find ways to measure learning
• Interactive/Collaborative in a way that supports learning
• Helps students with discernment of sources and information
• Potential development of Open Educational Resources (OER)

Setting the Stage

It's a little hard to articulate my full reaction to the readings and videos in this section of our class. Because I'm kind of all over the place. I have a friend who would urge me not to equivocate so much!

I can be unequivocal in my dislike of the dire warnings that the US will end if we don't get on board with technology. I think that we do have to improve education and that science education is particularly important in helping students (future workers competing with India and China--though there are so many marginalized children in those countries--vast numbers without access to clean water, let alone iPads and blogs--another conversation, but part of this one too) develop 21st century skills. I think we are trying to teach analysis and problem solving. I don't know that we do so well with communication and collaboration though honestly. I hear from industry folks all the time that these (skills mentioned in the 21st Century Skills paper) are the skills they need--can they write, communicate, anticipate, problem solve? Science ed can prepare students for this if it is well done and interdisciplinary. The incorporation of technology must first teach students the technology (being able to twitter or fb does not mean they have a clue--though some are amazingly knowledgeable and are great developers and practitioners), then we should use the technology to increase their science literacy and critical thinking skills.

As instructors we have a responsibility to do this I think, regardless of whether we love to tweet or blog. We need to have our students use these tools in ways that are pedagogically sound (do we know what these ways are yet? We need to measure this.) and that will actually enhance their life skills and employment skills. Can we give them a graph with one type of data trending one way, and another graph trending another, and ask them the relationship between them. How can technology help us do this? Certainly we don't need much tech to show them two graphs. But, could we have them collect data from a variety of sources--including individuals in far far away? Then can they manipulate the data, look for trends, project what ifs? Finally, could they collaborate on background and supporting information to help inform what they are finding and share it all?

How does this help in their non-science life? When I look at my state retirement portfolio, I don't always "get" the graphs! I need more information, I wish I could change numbers and see what happens. Could I do this and gather and compile the information from other investments and properties.....and share it with a financial advisor, etc.? This would be useful. It's not mitosis/meiosis, but these are life skills that we can help teach through our science classes.

We do need to encourage kids to consider science fields, because we need more scientists. It's a complex problem like everything else. Part of this has to be a change in how we present science and the options out there. We need to let them know that there is a huge variety of disciplines and jobs. We have to encourage development of jobs in this country to support more scientists. Being literate with technology is essential for these students.

Lastly, a few comments on Steve Hargadon's blog Web 2.0 Is The Future of Education. I feel like it's already here. Now we have to test, try, measure, develop and share. I enjoyed the comments especially, even the snooty ones (the ones that called some of us technophobes, etc.). How do we more teachers to use novel web tools? Especially in the sciences. I actually think that other disciplines may be more proactive in this (no data though). We are all really busy! We really do have information coming from us from so many directions, I'm trying to learn about technology in education, I'm fbing with friends, and now I'm tweeting. I can read several newsources hourly, and listen to podcasts of archived stories and reports. I'm looking for recipes on epicurious on my iPhone, and playing Words With Friends, with, friends--so much information, so many tools and cool things, so little time, so much distraction. Some teachers will develop the new curriculum, others will adopt that which is well vetted and has proven results, and then will tweak it to fit their needs. We need to support and encourage all types.

Blog Designs

I've been lurking and looking at everyone's Blogs and am inspired by designs and content. It's a very good thing this is a work in progress!

Science Education onground and online

I teach Microbiology onground, non-majors General Biology as a hybrid, and Online Teaching and Learning, online of course! Best practices for online teaching stress ways to increase student-student interaction and student-instructor interaction. But, what about student-content interaction? In the sciences, we know how much content there is and how students get bogged down. How can we increase student interaction with the content of the course, especially in novel interactive ways that help them learn?

Another challenge in teaching science online or onground, is how to guide students away from the computer and investigate the world around them, the real one, not a virtual one. How does showing them videos, animations, online exercises, blogs, wikis, etc. translate into helping them investigate the natural world?

If we increase content interaction, get them to investigate their surroundings, can we help them develop the inquiry skills and science literacy that is really the point of science education? How can we use web tools to increase student learning in the sciences?

I'll be looking for and trying out web tools, and ideas from great teachers in a quest for better ways to teach Biology, Science Education, and Similar Stuff.