Social Networking

Last year eSchool News said that social networking sites would be in the top six trends for this year. Today a new study was posted that proved that social networking has surpassed porn activity online.
However, teachers are still held back. We, as professionals, can find organizations to exchange lesson plans and to discuss hot topics. We try to keep these sites on the downlow so the techs do not block them. Twitter, Twhirl, For our students use though, the sites are often blocked. YouTube, even embedded in a lesson plan, is blocked from most schools. I understand there are some poor taste YouTube videos out there, but there's also a great bit of relevant videos. It's a shame that embedded videos are also blocked.
Certain other web 2.0 tools are also blocked. Again, I understand, but a teacher should be able to log in and access certain tools. The should be trusted to know which tools are best for students, what videos can help reach the standards, etc.
Our students are no longer looking at porn. They are using social media. Shouldn't we encourage proper usage of social media in the classroom?

Making it Work

I wanted to create a project folder to showcase in Palm Beach, FL for a recent training. I love project based learning, giving students the rubrics up front, and organizing projects in order to keep everyone on task. Since it was time to celebrate Earth Day (which should be celebrated every day), I decided to have students do a project on recycling.
I used netTrekker d.i. to gather my resources. First I created a folder about recycling. Then, I put images in one folder and websites in another (a folder within a folder structure). Then, using the new Template that is offered in My Portfolio by netTrekker d.i., I added the directions. I love the user-defined template! I added the title, gave the intro to the project in the description spot, and in the body I added the task/directions, the evaluation, and the conclusion. That's right, it's somewhat based on a WebQuest.
Now I ran into a problem when it came to posting the rubric. I wanted to use my favorite rubric builder - MyT4L.com. However, it produces either an HTML document you must host somewhere or an Excel File. I cannot upload documents into netTrekker d.i.'s My Portfolio, so what's a teacher to do? I used Zoho. I uploaded the Excel file into my Zoho account, made it a public URL and then added this external link to My Porfolio. I'm not printing out my rubric only for it to be trashed or lost or made into an airplane and my students still have access to it.
The other thing I wanted to do was have my students watch a video from BrainPop. I have an account from BrainPop, so I added the direct link to the videos I wanted them to watch and in the description I reminded them of the username/password. It was nice that everything is right there for them to view and I'm not sending them off into many directions.
The final project itself was a multimedia "commercial" sharing a simple way to help save the Earth and why you should carry out this simple step. Students could use one of the great multimedia tools from Tech4Learning, PhotoStory, or MovieMaker or other multimedia program of their choice. They used netTrekker d.i. to find images, articles, and other sites of interest to help with the background information needed for the project. Students also wrote a blog entry with their own take on the project.
Now I need to share that information with my students. One way is to bookmark the folder and place it into the school or district folder in netTrekker d.i. But I work with a few schools that are huge and they wanted another way of sharing that folder. We (participants in a meeting) brainstormed a few ideas and one SMART man gave the perfect option.
If you use a Learning Management System (LMS) or Course/Content Management System (CMS) such as eChalk, BlackBoard, Learning Village, Moodle or other program, you can right click on the folder and copy the shortcut and paste it into that location. First, I need to click on EDIT, ADVANCED OPTIONS, and make sure my students have the right to view that folder. Then I right click on the folder, copy shortcut, and paste.

So here's my link to that recycling project: http://middle.nettrekker.com/saver/?id=20275516

Let me guess, you tried to click on that link and it won't let you in? That's right. You can only view folders that belong to the account you are registered to. So if your district has an account, even though you are registered to a school, you'll be able to see folders within your district. Your work is protected! If you are IP Authenticated, it takes you straight to the folder. If you have to log in, once you log in it will take you directly to that folder.

With budget crunches and time savers desperately needed, it's nice to see how products work together. It's always been my firm belief that if products play nicely together, then those are the ones I should invest in. Knowing that netTrekker d.i. works with my LMS/CMS, other web tools, and keeps my students safe- well, I'd be more likely to invest.

Copyright and Education

I love the copyright law, but really appreciate the way Fair Use protects education. I did my final project for my masters degree on the copyright law and education, and while I made an enemy of one teacher - I got my A! I'll also be the first to admit that I believe I have violated the copyright law somehow, one way or another, by accident - but never for a class project and never for a competetion.

Basically under Fair Use, you may use 5 images or 10% of a website, which ever is less. So if a student uses 1 image from a website for a project - then it falls under fair use. HOWEVER, if they are going to make that project available online, they lose the Fair Use Coverage. Double checked on the use of Fair Use for educational purposes, and once that project hits the open web, you lose those rights granted to you under Fair Use for educational purposes. Now if it is on a secure site that is unsearchable except by log-in users, then you are okay. Just make sure it is known WHY the presentation or website cannot go public.

What if they are using a template from a site such as BrainyBetty or an open source document/page layout? I would still document the source. The creator is not getting paid for it, but props is always nice.

What if it is from the Smithsonian or an actual Public Domain site? Check thier rules for use, and again- it only takes a few strokes of the keys to actually document it on a works cited page.

What if you paid for the collection? Then say images/media came from a paid subcription from XYZ and then send them back to that site. One site I use to use would even pay for the referral if people actually clicked on your site to get to theirs. It's all part of CYA.

What if it's a free streaming media site, such as You Tube, and you're going to embed a video from their site to your blog or web page? There are rules that apply. For You Tube, you must not download the video and then upload it to your site. (You should not be able to download the video!) You should embed the video and link back to the original source.

What about a video from a site such as Discovery Streaming that says that you have the right to edit it and is used in a digital storytelling piece? Again, just document the source. Teachers Domain also has some great videos that they don't mind you sharing with others. All they want is credit back to their own website.

Teaching students how to use a tool like the Citation Machine from David Warlick or The Citation Maker from Tech4Learning would be a smart thing to do.

So teachers, when you teach your students multimedia, WebPage Design or anything else that might be posted on the web, teach them how to cite their sources and encourage them to list each source, even if they think it's Public Domain. It's part of CYA - Cover Your Assets so you don't get in trouble later. Especially if it is something that will appear on the web, in an unsecured location and is part of a searchable page.

Oh, and let's all practice what we teach.

For those who need a chart to follow: http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain/

Dispersed Teams

I have been working from home since January of 2006. I have to laugh when people think that this means I have all the time in the world and so forth. Let me tell you, it's not easy - especially in the summer with an active child at home. Luckily Scott Kinney gave us all a great book about working on dispersed teams, building trust within the team, getting to know the team, and how to effectively work together. That's probably the toughest, learning how to work with people you don't know and probably will only see face-to-face 4 times a year.
So now I'm working for another company -yes, it's official - I'm with netTrekker as the Georgia and Florida Customer Service Rep. Again, I am lucky to be working with a great team of experienced people who I am sure I will learn something from.
Today I attended the Teaching and Learning Institute with the Florida Digital Educators in Gainesville, FL where my focus was netTrekker and the 21st Century. (Email me for the presentation!) On the side I was talking about collaboration and how we use blogs and wikis to really share our ideas. I even shared how my community is using a Wiki to sign up for events and share news. An interesting thought started running through my head - another plug for really collaborating in and out of the classroom.
More than likely many of our students are going to work on virtual/dispersed teams of some sort. They might be dispersed by time shifts or locations, but there will be a dispersement going on. How will they communicate and stay on track with one another? My dad, when he worked in a plant in South Carolina, depended on email. The workers all checked the data, read the memos and knew what was going based on the emails sent to them at work. With today's teams we can use wikis, but the trick is getting them used.
If our elementary students are using Wikis to collaborate in the classroom on group projects, when they get to middle school the students will be ready to collaborate with another class on a project. Then when they get to high school a teacher can actually take the next step and partner with a class in another school - whether it's in their district or outside of their district. How cool would it be for a teacher to plan a lesson with another teacher in lets say Australia? Oh! I know, they could plan a lesson teaching conservation and endangerment and the central figure could be the Sea Cow. Australia also has these beautiful creatures, so it's perfect project for a Florida teacher and Australia to team up for. The students would all have to plan a project, collaborate via email and or their wiki and then create a project. Using PhotoBucket, SlideShare, any of the Google Apps, this should be easy enough to work out. The rubric could be created (I personally love Tech4Learning's rubric maker) and the teachers could grade the students on collaboration and the outcome. It may not be perfect, especially the first time, but it really will get the students introduced to working on a dispersed team.
And then when they want to work for a company that has a huge presence in their area, but not an office, they can honestly say they know how to work on a "virtual team" and are the perfect candidate for the job.

The Right - and the Responsibility

I'm a military B.R.A.T., which means I grew up in a culturally rich diverse areas. For instance, I was born in the North, but spent most of my years in the South. I lived in Germany and remember some of the "anti-American" and other scary demonstrations, but yet having a German babysitter that was like a nana to me that I greatly loved. I'm also a Libra, and so I often see both sides of any given story or view point.
I'm at that point right now with a few videos I was watching (Yahoo News Videos). The first was about the use of plastic handcuffs in a school setting in order to detain students who are in need of detaining. The board made perfect sense in saying that it is less harmful to put these plastic cuffs on the students than having to wrestle them down as they fight. That one, I am definitely on the board's side. I understand that parents may be concerned that the cuffs might be put on too tight or that the administration might abuse and overuse this approach, but it's for the safety of not only the students involved but the teachers and administration that have to break up such incidents. They don't want their child handcuffed? No problem. Make sure the students understand what earns this technique for detaining undisciplined students and make sure that they know how to avoid falling into that behavior pattern.
It's the second one that I'm struggling with. I watched a video tonight about the Dunblane massacre that took place in Scotland in 1996. It was Great Britain's largest school shooting, and to this date, their only. Why? Because since then, politicians in Great Britain (like Tony Blair) have helped create laws that ban the sale of handguns. The gun used in Dunblane was obtained legally, just as it had in the Virginia Tech Massacre.
Part of me, the part that is terrified of guns, agrees with this. Get the guns off the street. Get them out of the hands of killers. Make them harder to get.
And that's where I get stuck. Make them harder to get. There's an old saying, locks are for honest people. So are laws. If someone wants a gun bad enough, they can get their hands on one no matter if it's legal or not legal. Yes, make it harder. That young man, Cho, purchased his guns easily enough the legal way. The news has reported him as being mentally disturbed and had even been in the hospital for mental treatment. I know he has rights, but so do we. His name should have been put into some sort of database in order to make it harder for him to purchase a gun. At the same time, enforce that any person buying a gun for the first time must take an approved gun safety course. Not just to carry, but to actually PURCHASE AND OWN the gun. Then again, I am naive about the gun law - is this already on the books? I doubt the deal with the mental illness is not. Too many people worried about offending one person instead of protecting the many. The second one, I have heard you have to take a class in order to have a permit to carry. Is it the same to buy?
Why is this part of an education blog, other than the school shootings? Well, the right to bear arms is one of the treasured Bill of Rights we have as Americans. I have no problems with the hunters who use the guns with respect to their sport. I have no problem with those who carry one for protection and have been trained to use it. I have no problem with the homeowner who has one in a lock box or other safe space in their home and has been trained how to use it for that chance of a criminal break-in with harmful intentions. But we as educators need to make sure that when we teach the Bill of Rights we explain that the right to bear arms does not give us the right to threaten or kill someone without due cause. We need to teach the Civic Responsibilities that go along with that right to bear arms. No, I'm not suggesting you have each student go through a gun safety class, but I am saying that it needs to be looked at more closely instead of brushed over so casually.
I applaud Great Britain for their ability to dissolve the right to purchase a gun legally. I don't know if it's totally the right choice for America, but I do know that we have lessons to learn and many lessons to teach.
To help you get started, here's a lesson from (hard swallow) Discovery.