RWLD for Consumers

We consume something every day, it just depends on what it is. Consider how you consume things on a daily basis through the web and throughout everyday life.

Learn about Connectivism through this slide show.

Who do you want to be apart of your Personal Learning Network?

Here is a PLN made easy...as easy as 1, 2, 3.14...as easy as Pi...

Think about how you consume, do you also produce?

Due 12/10 - Personal Learning Networks Part 1

"Building a personal learning network [...] requires that you not only seek to learn from others, but also that you also help others in the network learn. Even when you are a novice in a field of learning, you can still make contributions." (Tobin, D. 1998. Building Your Personal Learning Network)

This week we will be examining how to become producers of information not just consumers. We will explore several different methods of publishing information as well as some of the legal considerations when using pictures, videos, etc.

Moving from Consumer to Producer of Information - a blog post from Jeff Utecht and how to make the shift from a consumer to producer of information using social media

Ten Habits of Bloggers that Win - a blog post from Vicki Davis with 10 best practices for blog posts.

The Twitter Song - a YouTube music video with about Twitter and that states, "You're No One If You're Not On Twitter"...

PageFlakes Video - short tutorial video on how Pageflakes can be used to create a Personal Learning Network

Wikis in Plain English- a Common Craft video about wikis

Creative Commons Licenses - a description of the six main licenses covered under the Creative Commons

Also, post your response to the opening quote as a comment to this post.

Photo from iStockphoto.

Due Oct 15 - Virtual World

This will be an opportunity to meet, greet and talk with people through virtual means. Review these materials, enroll in Second Life (SL), and explore Second Life before we meet on Second Life.
After you sign-up for SL. remember to post your Second Life name on our SL wiki page.

Remember that we will have an Out-of-Class meeting "In-World" (that means in the Second Life world) on Sunday, October 11 at 9:00 pm. You will need to be signed up and have spent some time in SL before our meeting. (If you didn't have time to spend some time in SL, just show up anyway.)

7 Things You Should Know about Virtual Worlds
A virtual world is an immersive online environment whose "residents" are avatars representing individuals who participate through the Internet. Many institutions are experimenting with virtual worlds for educational purposes. They may foster constructivist learning by placing students in a context that challenges them to learn without explicit learning objectives and assessment.

Using Second Life for Immersive Learning podcast
(Educause Connect Podcast) 14-minute podcast with Dr. Cynthia Calongne, Professor of Computer Science at Colorado Technical University. Discusses how she uses Second Life to provide rea-life laboratories for her students.

Educational Uses of Second Life
Interesting 7-minute video introduction to the educational possibilities of Second Life.

Dr. Z's Intro to Second Life Wiki
A series of YouTube videos that Dr. Z found to introduce you to Second Life.

Virtual Social Worlds And the Future of Learning
Learning in Three Dimensions: Experiencing the Sensibilties Imagining the Possibilities of virtual worlds in education.

Making Landmark Notecards in Second Life
A tutorial that Dr. Z created using his avatar in Second Life. It explains how to create notecards that can be used to help direct people around SL.

Build fast in Second Life with free stuff
Tutorial on how to build a house in second life.

Second Life Building Tutorial by NSS
Fun to watch video that teaches basic building skills

Second Life Camera Turorial by NSS
Really helpful for looking at things and getting differents views of objects

Due 10/1 - The Flat Classroom

The Flat Classroom is a project that we will begin this week and continue for the rest of the semester. It will involve you mentoring K-12 students and then working as a judge at the end of the experience. Here are a few links that lay the groundwork for your involvement in the Flat Classroom.

Welcome to Flat Classroom Project 2009-3
Introduction to the FCP project.

Flat Classroom Project 2009-3 Timeline
Activity progression for this project

Flat Classroom Project 1009-3 Expert Advisors page
Expert Advisors Group on the Flat Classroom Ning.

Read the opening page and watch the video

Flat Classroom Opening Page Video




The World is Flat Flatteners - Friedman
A blogger explains the 10 flatteners listed by Friedman.

List of 11 Flatteners developed by WFP students
This is actually the judges page but it is the only place where I could find the flatteners. Click on each one to see the products that have already been developed.


Podcasting

PodBean.com - Great place to host your podcasts. It's free, quick and easy.

Listen to some podcasts:

Ed Tech Talks - One of the pioneering podcasts for and by educators.

Women on the Web 2.0 - Listen to some women who are leaders in using Web 2.0 in their classrooms.

Room 208 Vodcast - Watch 3rd graders create their own podcasts.

Willow Web Willowcasts - Listen to podcasts created by elementary students in Omaha.

Due 9/24 - Getting More Connected

Best Online Collaboration Tools by Robin Good
Concept map including a myriad of links to tools.

My Webspiration - Inspiration online. Great Tool!

Social Bookmarking
Social Bookmarking - Good Intro to Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking: Making the Web Work for You - Great intro to using Diigo as our Social Bookmarking tool.

Twitter
Twitter in Plain English - Good intro

Introduction to Twitter (Technical Description)

Twitter Search in Plain English - Searching Tweets

Twitter Satire and Spoofs - Twitter comedy shorts

Flattening the Classroom

Watch the Atomic Learning 7 Steps Workshop in Creating a Flat Classroom"
This links to the first video. Watch all of the videos in Atomic Learning on Creating a Flat Classroom. I have not listed them in a specific order. Use the search engine in Atomic Learning to find the available videos and figure out how you can watch them in order.
CHALLENGE: How will you share your strategy with your classmates when you figure this out?

The World is Flat

Thomas Friedman shares his ideas about what makes the world flat. Watch this video to provide you with background that will be helpful in our upcoming Flat Classroom project.

BackChannel
We will run a backchannel while Mrs. Davis is speaking. This way it will allow you to share your ideas with each other as well as providing guidance for Vicki's discussion.

Due 9/17 - Connected

Image by Hexadecimal Time via Flickr

Personal Learning Network by Will Richardson
Will Richardson shares his ideas about using Personal Learning Networks in schools.

Connectivism and Connected Learning by George Siemens
Dr. Siemens discusses Connectivism and how he and Stephen Downs implemented this into an open class.

The Gen-Y guide to Web2.0@Work
Sacha Chua's presentation on Slideshare about how her network helped her get a job with IBM.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Innovative teacher Vicki Davis leverages wikis, blogs, digital storytelling, podcasts, virtual worlds, and other digital tools to connected students in rural Georgia to the world.

Social Networking in Education - Due 9/10

Image by santacrewsgirl{the original} via Flickr

The Machine is Us/ing Us
A 4:34 video taking us on a tour of what and how the Web is changing who and what and where we are.

Classroom 2.0
This ning website has over 29,000 educators registered. It was created by Steve Hargadon to give educators a place to go. Register in Classroom 2.0. Build your profile. Explore the community for 20 minutes. Look at the groups, forums and ??. Watch some videos. Consider how you would use this in your corporate setting, university or k12 classroom.

Personal Learning Networks are Virtual Lockers for Schoolkids
Vicki Davis explains how she uses PLNs in her classroom

Distributed Learning Environments - Due Sept. 3

i had a dream . . . (Bob Sprankle)
Bob Sprankle poses a question that will guide our course throughout the semester. Watch it a couple of times see what you think

Distributed learning environments emphasize building a community of learners where individuals can be experts and are acknowledged as such.

Prensky, M. (2007) How to teach with technology: Keeping both teachers and student comfortable in an era of exponential change (.pdf)

Dede, C. (2004) Enabling distributed learning communities via emerging technologies - part 1 (.pdf)

Dede, C. (2004) Enabling distributed learning communities via emerging technologies - part 2 (.pdf)

The Horizon Report - 2009
Describes the long-running qualitative research project that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have impact on teaching, learning, research or createive expression within learning-focused organizations.

The Mistaken Identity of Blogging: Why Teachers are Missing Out
A comprehensive posting on blogging by one of my favorite bloggers, Vicki Davis.
This posting discusses what roles blogs play in education as well as the roles that blogs SHOULDN'T play. Look at how she links to other postings in the blogosphere to substantiate or further demonstrate what she is saying.

25 Basic Styles of Blogging
This is the basis for the different types of blogging that you will be doing over the semester and the rest of your life. These are probably NOT the only 25 types of postings that exist. Please share other types of postings that you discover as you read other peoples' blogs. You can share this by adding a comment to this posting or posting about it on your own blog or ???

Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire
Learn which learning styles are your strengths.
Remember to PRINT OUT your results for later use.

Remember to complete the Tech Background Survey at the WebCT site.

Survey of Your Technological Background and Prowess
Please complete this survey to find out more about what you know and what you want to know about technology.

The History and Art of Juggling
Just found this video. It is an interesting metaphor for learning new things and trying to keep many of those new ideas "in the air" at the same time.

I look forward to meeting with you again next Thursday.

Please leave a comment on this RWLD blog about the assignments or other ideas that you might have about our points of discussion.

Z