EDMS 200
Educational Media Studies 200
Nunavut Arctic College, Iqaluit, Nunavut
http://willrichardson.com/
Our first EDMS class, we were to become familiar with online environments. Our first task as a class was to sign up on www.ning.com. Once we had an account, we were to add information to our profile, add a few pictures, and comment on our classmates’ profiles. We were provided a textbook called Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms written by Will Richardson. As a class, we used the textbook as a guide. The textbook contains resourceful information for Internet use in educational settings. There are seven Read-Write Web Tools described in the text:
1. Weblogs
2. Wikis
3. Real Simple Syndication (RSS)
4. Aggregators
5. Social Bookmarking
6. Online Photo Galleries
7. Audio/Video Casting
According to Berners Lee, the original Read/Write Web “was to make it a collaborative medium, a place where we [could] all meet and read and write”. Writing to the Web required knowledge of the HTML codes. Today, there is a huge use of Internet publishing tools. Many people can publish their thoughts, communicate with one other, post photos, and share files.
The educators who choose to take advantage of the Read/Write Web in the classroom will benefit their students in many ways. Students can easily collaborate with other students and people around the world, all at the tip of their fingers!
I enjoyed the EDMS 200 course, because I learned a lot of the Read/Write Web. I definitely would make use of the Read/Write Web in a classroom because it would allow students to be able to express themselves freely. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s all about learning. I take advantage of the Web for personal and social reasons. I enjoyed learning how the Web can be beneficial in an educational setting, and made an effort to put to use my skills.
The first widely used publishing tool of the Read/Write Web is Blogs.
Weblogs: are Web sites that consist of a series of entries arranged in reverse chronological order, often updated with new information on different subjects. The information can be updated by the site owner, gleaned from other Web sites or resources, or contributed by users. According to Will Richardson, Weblogs are “logs of our times”. Weblogs are devoted to one or several subjects and themes, usually our topic of interest. Most Weblogs are moderated discussions. There are Weblogs created as a social network. The most popular sites are Facebook and MySpace; however, users are not using the sites as a learning tool.
Weblogs are being used as a teaching tool in many schools. Weblogs are a great way for instructors to provide information, and record students’ progress and work. Blogging has a positive impact on students. Blogs can:
- Promote critical and analytical thinking
- Be a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive, and associational thinking
- Promote analogical thinking
- Be a power medium for increasing access and exposure to quality information
- Combine the best of solitary reflection and social interaction
In class, we signed up for an account on the blogger site, and wrote 6 entries. I checked different blog sites, before I decided to write my first blog. I enjoyed blogging because it gave me the chance to express myself in different ways with: personal reflections, photos, videos, information, and links. I also decided to challenge myself with my topic of interest. My topic of interest was Child Growth and Development. I chose this topic because it would be great to know how children grow and develop, especially if I am studying my way to become a teacher. It would be good to know where I can find all the information, as my daughter is growing.
The word wiki is the short form of the Hawaiian “wiki-wiki”, meaning “quick”. Wikis are simple pages that groups, friends, families can edit together. Wikis are powered by wiki software and are used collaboratively by multiple users. Wikis sites are easy because you can edit anything anytime. The Wikipedia site is an encyclopedia of the sum of human knowledge. Wikipedia allows the collaborative construction of updated knowledge and truth; in which, anyone can freely edit, modify or reuse the information provided. The Wikipedia site allows users to discuss the content they would like to provide on the site. Wikipedia has three links:
- Edit Page – you can edit information
- Page History – you can see when changes were made, by whom, and what was changed. Also, you can easily use the history list to revert back to a previous page.
- Discussion – allows editors or contributors to negotiate what will be displayed
One of the challenges for Wikipedia is that educators don’t often allow their students to use Wikipedia as a reference, due to the anonymity of the authors who created the source.
I often use Wikipedia to gather information regarding my topic of interest. Once I have gathered necessary information from the site, I often look to see if references are provided. The references give me an idea of what other sources are available for my topic of interest. I like how Wikipedia provides interesting facts and information from different authors worldwide!
RSS: stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. RSS is a type of language called XML. The code is referred to as a feed, news feed; which makes it possible for anyone to subscribe to content that is created on a Weblog. The use of RSS is very beneficial because RSS allows you to subscribe to any content from a Weblog or search engine, in just a few clicks. With RSS, it also allows you to subscribe to feeds without the hassle of viruses or spam. Here is how simple it is! Setting up an RSS Feed Reader:
1. You need an aggregator to collect your RSS feeds. Google Reader is free, easy and includes different ways you can begin publishing and connecting the news and information.
3. When you sign up for a Google account for Blogger, your Reader account is ready. Check out www.Google.com/reader
4. Check out a few sites that interest you, subscribe and voila! The information you subscribed to is provided on your Weblog.
Aggregators refer to a Web site or computer software that aggregates a specific type of information from multiple online sources. Here are the different types of Aggregators:
- News Aggregator – computer software or website that aggregates news from other sources
- Poll Aggregator – a website that aggregates polling data for upcoming elections
- Review Aggregator – a website that aggregates reviews of movies or other products and services
- Search Aggregator – software that runs on a user`s computer and fetches, filters, and organizes a specific search from various search engines
- Social Network Aggregator – the collection of content from multiple social network services
- Video Aggregator – a website that collects and organizes online video sources
- Insurance Aggregator – a website that aggregates insurance policies and premiums to offer comparison service
I find the RSS tool to be very beneficial. Whenever I log onto one of my sites, the RSS provides me updated information on feeds that I have subscribed to. My favorite feed is Nunatsiaq News because it always provides updated information about news in Nunavut.
Social Bookmarking refers to saving links by annotating them with unique keywords or tags to organize them. Social Bookmarking is a great way of gathering all of your content together on a Web page and sharing with the world. A lot of popular Web sites bookmark keywords, which is beneficial for others because it is a great way of connecting with others who have the same interests as you. According to Will Richardson, “social bookmarking sites complete the circle: RSS lets us read and connect with what others write; now we can read and connect with what others read as well”.
I have a piczo photo site (not completed) and there are so many tools I can choose from. I can publish photos in many artistic ways. I remember searching the site for backgrounds and coming upon a page loaded with tags. There were so many backgrounds that I can choose from and save.
Online Photo Galleries: the online photo gallery we were introduced to was Flickr. Flickr is a Web-based digital photography site. Flickr also hosts videos. The site also provides different ways of presenting your photos.
Many educators use the Flickr site to gather photos of celebrations, events, and fieldtrips. Students can be added to the photo stream to share their photos and thoughts. Flickr also allows educators to restrict viewers when you upload photos. There is an RSS feed that is beneficial for educators, Flickr allows the “Recent Comments” link to track what students are writing.
I had a bit difficulty uploading photos to my Flickr page; however, I did manage to get 5 photos uploaded. I realized that I should start taking class photos from now on, because it would be great to share photos. I think it’s great when someone is constantly taking photos of what they do because it allows the person to revert back to a certain period of time. Photos can also be used to provide evidence or proof of a subject. In an educational setting, I would definitely use this tool for: projects, celebrations, and portfolios.
In this short video, I attempted to record myself speaking about what I liked about the EDMS 200 course; however, my daughter was curious and eventually wouldn't have allowed me to record all that I wanted to.
Audio/Video Casting is often referred to as podcasts. Podcasts are digital media files (audio or video) that are released and downloaded through web syndication. Popular sites that provide audio/video casting are YouTube and Google Video.
Educators can make use of audio/video casting by allowing students to provide information through audio or video. For ex: if a student is doing a project on "How plants react to certain elements", the student provide results with recording. There are many uses for audio and video.
Personally, I do not like to record myself for personal purposes; however, I do enjoy recording my daughter because I like to reflect on her growth. As a student, studying to become an educator, I would make use of audio and video by allowing students to become familiar with the tool, and allowing them to record educational content.
Educators can make use of audio/video casting by allowing students to provide information through audio or video. For ex: if a student is doing a project on "How plants react to certain elements", the student provide results with recording. There are many uses for audio and video.
Personally, I do not like to record myself for personal purposes; however, I do enjoy recording my daughter because I like to reflect on her growth. As a student, studying to become an educator, I would make use of audio and video by allowing students to become familiar with the tool, and allowing them to record educational content.
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