In my living room: social rules

I have been working to establish acceptable behaviors or use policy for several social networks that I am involved with. I came across this post by Shel Israel on the blog Global Neighborhoods. He enforces very similar rules as if those posting comments were in his living room. He states that,

"If you came into my home and were rude to another guest, I would ask you to stop. If you continued to be rude, I would ask you to leave. From this point forward, this is what I will do. If I feel you are being abusive, hogging the conversation or otherwise discouraging the open exchange of legitimate points of view. I will ask you to be more polite. If you ignore the request, I will ban you from further Comments. I call the the Living Room rule and I will enforce it subjectively."

He also sets a hard rule on anonomous comments / postings. He does not allow them.

SharkRunners - Game

The SharkRunners (Discovery Channel) game is an amazing example of how real time sensor data can be integrated into an educational game. You get to create a virtual SharkRunner boat (my boat is the Pelican Pat) and use it to track down real sharks! The boat is virtual, the sharks are real. When you find a shark you earn rewards. You can also compete against other SharkRunners that you know. This is a great game for showing how sharks move around the ocean and what it would be like to be a scientist tracking and studying these wonderful creatures.

Sites Alive: with history for example

Sites Alive, connects students to learning adventures on land and at sea around the world! Live programs include the following: math live, oceans challenge live, US history live, rain forests live. See this interesting site for more live programs.

How to use Google Reader

Here is a five minute video on how to use Google Reader to subscribe to RSS syndicated websites and RSS feed content.

Ning! - Classroom 2.0

Steve Hargadon has created a Ning social networking site (Classroom 2.0) that is exploding! This site now has over 2000 members sharing ideas about the use of web 2.0 technology to improve education. There is much discussion on this site about collaboration and the constructivist model of learning. Join in the group and learn.

To join simply click on this Classroom 2.0 link and then select "Join Classroom 2.0 Now."

A White Paper: Podcasting & Vodcasting

This White paper titled Podcasting & Vodcasting prepared by Peter Meng from the University of Missouri does an outstanding job describing how to become a producer of both podcasts and vodcasts.

The Education Podcast Network

This site brings together a wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content.

clipped from www.epnweb.org

7 Things you should know about podcasts.

The following article published by the Educause Learning Initiative provides seven things that you should know about educational podcasts. Including what it is, who is doing it, and how it works. Check it out at 7 things you should know about podcasting.

Who's using podcasting in education and how?

A useful site maintained by the Fordham University RETC Center for Professional Development

clipped from www.podcastforteachers.org

The Transforming Web

This is an interesting article about how the new collaborative paradigm obliterates the distinction between information providers and consumers.

clipped from www.masternewmedia.org

Powerset - searching beyond Google?

Can Powerset compete with Google in the search race? Take a look at their video (below) and sign up to start using their new search tool. According to the video the tool will be available in September. You can sign up not for a sneak peak @ Powerset.com

Tapped In

Tappped In looks like a promising site for teacher collaboration. This is something that I plan to have my students work with and write about in the future.

clipped from tappedin.org Welcome to Tapped In®

Is that a math lab in your pocket?

How about a math lab in your pocket? Israeli scientists have developed a library of math modules that can be installed on almost any cellphone and used anywhere to solve complex math problems.

clipped from www.primidi.com

Zonbu

Zonbu is a $99 computer that is energy efficient. The computer requires a subscription fee. Could this be an option for one-to-one computing in schools?

clipped from zonbu.com

Squashed Frogs

Another resource site for teachers. This one from the UK.

clipped from www.squashedfrogs.co.uk

If you want to see a time line on a search result of Google simply type "view:timeline" after your search term. For example, if you want to search on George Bush you can Google - "George Bush view:timeline"

clipped from nlcommunities.com view:timeline

Clipmarks

Clipmarks allows you to clip content from any web page and use that in various ways. One way is to send it directly to your blog. This tools is a time saver for those who like to blog on ideas that come from things they see online.

clipped from clipmarks.com

NOAA Comes to SL

NOAA has opened a site in Second Life. You can go on a submarine ride and find interactive educational demonstrations about the ocean and weather.

clipped from www.secondlifeinsider.com

Crackle: a powerful audience

From Crackle: Mr. Deity and the Evil - Episode 1

From Crackle: Mr. Deity and the Really Big Favor - Episode 2

Sony Corp. has launched a user generated and syndicated video site called Crackle. You can upload your productions and enter contests that are held by Sony. Here is a powerful audience for anyone (regardless of age) who has talent. Contests include:

• Win a showcase billing at the improve
• Win a pitch meeting with Columbia pictures
• Win a two-day animation lab and possible theatrical release
  

Play the embedded short above for a sample of what you can find... I added episode two in this series as well...

Vizuwords - Graphical Dictionary

Vizuwords is a online graphic dictionary that associates words using network diagrams. You can look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts.

Creativity is key: breaking the meeting room walls.

Drew Harry from the MIT Sociable Media group is working within SecondLife to create meeting spaces that take advantage of the virtual environment. His ideas are powerful, moving out of the ordinary virtual meeting rooms, where we sit and listen, to spaces where we can visualize participants' thoughts and congruence on ideas. I believe that this is what we need to do in education. We need to break away from the traditional classroom, asking questions like, what type of space would help students learn?

You can read more about Drew Harry and his meeting spaces in the article titled, "Unreal Meetings" in the MIT Technology Review.

Google's golden research

The Technology Review just published an interview with Peter Norvig, director of Google Research. He talks about Google's research and interest in voice data and voice search. Data is the gold of the Google's web miners. See my previous posts on this topic. Data is gold in web 2.0 & Biometric Voice Payments.

Rafi.Ki - collaboration for secondary schools

Rafi.ki is another site focused on educational collaboration. It promotes international connections and is aimed at secondary schools.

Oracle's Think.com

Oracle's Think.com looks like a very interesting collaboration tool for students.

Lurking – how big is the problem?

BusinessWeek published two charts that provide information on what people are doing online. An interesting observation is how many people are actually creating content. What we see is that we have very few producers and many lurkers. This has always been a common problem of group dynamics... we need to think about how to engage those who for some reason are reluctant to share. The ideas of those who are reluctant to talk (lurkers) are the ideas that may bring new insight. Click on the figures below to view them full scale.

FlashMeeting -

FlashMeeting allows you to host online meetings and it creates a recording of that meeting that can be played back by others. This could have some interesting classroom 2.0 applications.

Box.net - online file storage

Are you looking to store and share files online. Take a look at Box.net a free storage site. Great for storing and sharing files like podcasts.

Gaggle - Safe e-mail for students

Take a look at Gaggle.net a e-mail students for teachers and students.

Presto - printing mailbox

Presto allows those without a computer to receive email from friends and family. I can think of how this can be useful for members of my family. How could this be used in the classroom where computer access is limited. Could this technology be used to increase collaboration between students, pen pals, country-to-country collaboration?

VoiceThread

Okay... Here is another very interesting Web2.0 application (VoiceThread). These beta sites just keep coming. It is so much fun to be involved in production. Production of anything creative. Any ideas on how to use this in education?

Twitter and Education

At first Twitter seems to be over-the-top, ridiculous, and a voyeur’s dream. Who wants everything broadcast for anyone to see? But at second glance it provides something unique. It provides something intriguing. While using twitter it is almost like we can see what others are thinking. For example, if we use Twitter while attending a conference, we can see what others in the audience are thinking about the presentation. We may comment how the subject relates to our ideas or suggest that there are other ways to think about the topic. This is a fascinating way to interact and construct our learning in an environment (a stand and deliver presentation) that is not conducive to such learning. How can we use this in the classroom? Could this be used to change the way large lectures at the University are delivered? Could the instructor use this tool to connect with the students?

Christopher D. Sessums wrote a very insightful blog post on this subject... take a look.