Category: General

I came across a research study that contains a lot of information about blogs, trends in blogging, who blogs, etc. The focus of the study appears to be on age and gender differences (although there is lots of interesting data on other topics). As I understand the conclusion, males tend to attract more attention as bloggers because they are more likely to engage in “filter blogs.” A filter blog attempts to focus readers on a subset of content (perhaps web content, things to read). I suppose this specific entry would be an example – I am attempting to alert you to a specific finding and online resource. Some of the issues of potential causality are interesting? Are the opinions of males more highly regarded (hence they receive more attention for their filter blogs and they persist)? Are women and younger bloggers more interested in posts that are personal experessions? How important is the size of the audience to those focused on personal expression?

An issue any teacher wanting to make use of student multimedia authoring must consider is the visibility such academic work may bring. I would argue this visibility is a big part of the motivation generated by such activities (an audience – real or imagined – brings an increased level of effort out of all of us), but visibility also brings risks. It is difficult to evaluate the actual dangers that are there from anecdotal evidence, but clearly cases in which predators have used the Internet to identify victims exist.

If you are not familiar with what exposure is considered to constitute a risk, consider the legislation described by the New Jersey Department of Education. Read the list of items that are to be considered. Note in this description that student names and photos of students are considered a risk. A parental consent form related to these potential risks is available as a link from this site. I liked the way the consent form differentiated the information sources. I would assume most parents would not want phone numbers, addresses, etc. of their children released to the general public. I would argue there is much less risk involved in the use of a photo.

What I wonder about is how teachers keep track of this information – Sam and Jerry can use their names on a web page, Sally can have her picture included, no mention can be made of Mark. I can imagine a complex grid (students by information sources) that a teacher must carefully consult before approving a project for posting. At what point do teachers throw up their hands and say “this is just not worth it”?

Perhaps the best strategy is to limit student creativity in order to reduce the possibility of errors. I do not know what else to suggest. Simple rules (no names) and project templates (field trip image focused on inanimate objects, e.g., trees, buildings, in this box and a related description in this box) reduce the amount of information the teacher must consider before releasing a student project to the web. We need a range of practical strategies or a great number of teachers will shy away or use the complexity of this situation as an excuse.

I signed up for a Flikr account some time ago, but thought it was now time to explore the service in greater detail. This log entry was created within Flikr – the service integrates easily with WordPress (the blog software I use) and with several other types of blog software and services. To be more precise, you can author a blog entry associated with an image in Flickr and once your Flikr account has been properly configured the post will automatically be sent to be included in your blog. You will also note a “badge” in the right “sidebar” (the column on the right side of this web page). You can click on this badge to view more images from my personal collection. If you have a little HTML experience, it is relatively easy to add Flikr resources to your web pages.

I now have a handle on the technology and must explore what educational utility access to personal (or public) collections of images might offer. If nothing else, I have learned I must do a better job of annotating the images I collect.

Flikr is a free service (a Pro version is available – unlimited uploads and no restrictions on image quality) and guarantees permanent storage of images you upload. The user has the option of specifying public or private access to individual images. Images can be viewed in various formats (e.g., slideshow), tagged for internal and external searches (by you if private and by anyone if public), and annotated. The level of detail is very interesting. I knew that a great deal of information was stored with the image when the image was generated with my Canon Rebel XT. I did not know a similar level of detail existed for images I collected with less expensive equipment. I invite you to explore the public information by selecting the “badge” in the right-hand sidebar and exploring the small collection of images I have uploaded.

Blogs, podcasts! What next? My bet is on video – this would seem a natural progression. Here is my example of what you might consider as a prototype – check out Digital Life TV.

Call For Help, one of my favorites, is back on G4TV and offers online video viewing.

Teachers Improving Learning With Technology (TILT) This is a blog with links to TILT TV – programs are interesting. Be forwarned – the programs download first and then play.

The CDW-G Teachers Talk Technology 2005 survey reaches what seems to be a familiar conclusion. The subhead claims “Survey Reveals Gap Between Technology For Teachers And Technology For Teaching”.

Among the conclusions I found interesting:

The survey showed that teacher technology training has focused on administrative applications, rather than instructional applications.

Closing the gap between administrative use and instructional use appears to be more a question of where computers are located, as opposed to just the number of computers available. (locate more computers in classrooms)

Established, seasoned teachers indicate no innate resistance to classroom technology; in fact, the impact of technology on personal teaching style increases with teacher tenure (the assumption things will change when the future teachers now in college reach K-12 classrooms may be flawed)

Bernie Dodge is allowing access to his newest venture – QuestGarden. The site was developed to promote the webquest model and assist those new to developing webquests. The site is also intended to encourage a community approach. Users are free to modify the webquests developed by others to fit with different classroom requirements. The association of the project with the original author is maintained.

The title? I drew on my agricultural roots. Once the site contains a larger number projects I can write a new post – The garden has been seeded.

Andy Carvin urged bloggers to devote entries of Sept. 2 to the survivors of hurricane Katrina. It is an extremely difficult topic and a situation in which words sent from a distance seem of little consequence, but I thought I would try.

At first I thought I might have something to say to the people suffering in the aftermath of Katrina. I know what it is like to leave your home as water comes up your street in the middle of the night. I know what it is like to worry what condition your home will be in when you are allowed to return. I know what it is like to stay in a shelter. While I was there for only one night, I remember the smell. I remember the sound of helicopters circling overhead. The picture above is from the Grand Forks flood of 1997.

Our experience was regarded as a great disaster because the flood required the evacuation of the entire community and nearly every building was damaged in one way or another. In comparison to your situation, it was nothing. There was little actual threat to human life. Help was close at hand and it was a disaster only in economic terms.

The present circumstances seem more akin to the terror of combat. The devestation is so total and the needs of people so basic. What I see on television is haunting and disturbing. I cannot understand what I see.

When I was first back in Grand Forks after the flood, I posted a web page with some pictures of the damage and some I thought portrayed the goodness in people I observed while living through the experience. I looked for these images for a long time tonight, but without any luck. However, remembering was a good thing for me.

What I hope for all of you presently living in such misery is that a few years from now you are able to look back and have memories that also convince you of the goodness in the people around you. I have no explanation at present for how this will happen, but I urge you to know that you are not alone.

Mark

Words are not likely to be enough – a little more is required from all of us.

If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do,
If you haven’t got a ha’penny then God bless you!

(Not sure why “Christmas is Coming” keeps running through my head, but the sentiment seems appropriate)

Hey, you are just going to spend it on gas anyway. (Ways You Can Help).
(international blogging for disaster relief day)

Addendum:

I found my own flood pictures. This was my favorite because at the time in the midst of the debri it seemed positive and hopeful.