Wassell's Educational Tech Blog

Shelfari December 5, 2011

• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• Drive by Daniel H. Pink

Book Review of Will Richardson’s Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts! June 28, 2011

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/928324.Blogs_Wikis_Podcasts_and_Other_Powerful_Web_Tools_for_Classrooms" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179527756m/928324.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/928324.Blogs_Wikis_Podcasts_and_Other_Powerful_Web_Tools_for_Classrooms">Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/246502.Will_Richardson">Will Richardson</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/179781052">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
What stood out most for you in the book? Use a quoted passage if possible.<br/>During the last chapter Richardson makes note of ten Big Shifts. These are the shifts occurring in regards to how we teach our students and how content and curriculum in constantly changing. One of the shifts that I felt most essential was #9-Mastery is the Product, Not the Test. We have been conditioned to think of education and learning as collecting and memorizing facts, passing tests and earning acceptable grades. The Read/Write Web allows students to exhibit mastery through project-based assignments which allow them to delve deeper into their coursework and get away from focusing on facts that can be later referenced on the Internet.<br/><br/>Why did this passage stand out for you? <br/>This passage stood out because the concepts presented are still changing day to day in our society. It is such an exciting time to be a technology teacher and to introduce these tools and new way of learning to our students. Richardson presents shifts that go against tradition ways of learning and thinking. I guess as technology teacher you often feel as if you are step ahead and perpetually pulling everyone along with you to see the light these new tools. I was interesting to speak of these shifts so matter-of- factly.  <br/><br/>What implications do you think this will have on students and learning? <br/>This will greatly influence the way that students and teachers view education. Some students are only motivated by grades; some students are held in high regard because they can memorize facts; however these skills are not going to be valued as much in the future. Each student will be connected and be able to reference any factual information in seconds. We must prepare our students to find the information, and show them how to apply this information to solving problems and using it work collaboratively. The 10 Big Shifts are revolutionizing not only education but the world as we see it today. I have linked to the Big Shifts here.<br/><br/>Discuss the theme of the book. Give us some background on what the book addresses. Try to highlight the main idea and the supporting details of the book. <br/>The book addresses essentially 5 current Web 2.0 technologies in blogs, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking and online digital photography. Richardson takes a chapter per tool to explain the tool in detail and how to implement these technologies in the classroom. The book provides numerous links to tutorials and his suggested sites within each tool domain. In addition to explaining the tools Richardson provides tips on how to maintain a safe classroom. Also, he addresses the social changes that are, and will occur when these tools are used in the classroom. For example, Richardson examines the classroom as a 24/7 location where student can learn, interact with each other and those located around the globe.<br/><br/>Write your response to the book and be specific about why and how you agree or disagree with the author's point of view. <br/>I firmly agree with Richardson’s view of education and the changes that are going to take place. Some predictions that he made in 2006 are now commonplace in the classroom, so Richardson is a futurist in some regards.  The book is essential for anyone foreign to the somewhat new tools; for a teacher who has embraced technology this may provide a nice review to them and offer some new ways to utilize these technologies in the classroom.<br/><br/> Make connections between the book and current educational issues. <br/>Education as we know has been changing for the last 5-10 years as we become more dependent on the Internet and the latest Web 2.0 technologies that exist. Richardson goes into detail explaining these web tools and how they will transform your classroom. It is commonly recognized that public schools and their teachers have fallen behind in regards to utilizing current technologies to assist learners. If every teacher read this book and implemented one or two of these tools in their classroom they would witness personal as well as student growth in their classroom. I feel most teachers are too scared and often too lazy to embrace these new tools; we will most likely make a leap forward when the baby boomer generation retires and new teachers enter the school; some of the teachers will be Digital Natives. <br/><br/>Conclude – Give the book a rating and recommendation for what audience(s) might benefit from reading this book. <br/>Out of 5 stars I give this book a 3. This book was published in 2006 and it definitely feels like it was written 5 years ago. While the information is still pertinent there is mention of certain tools that failed to make it to the forefront of Web 2.0 tools. Furthermore, some of the tools mentioned in the book and Richardson’s detailed instructions no longer apply. For example, he mentions on numerous occasions downloading these tools to your school server. All these technologies are now web-based with little to no fees.  This the only minor setback of the book as all of the tools mentioned are still very pertinent. I feel anyone in education could benefit by reading this book.<br/>
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5433427-jay-wassell">View all my reviews</a>

Wiki Article June 21, 2010

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2006/07/07/what-is-a-wiki.html?page=2

25 Tech Tools January 8, 2010

My first attempt at screencasting January 7, 2010

I am a teacher of technology in the Medford Lakes School District. One of the most difficult and exciting aspects of my job is wearing the many hats that the job requires of me.  I must prepare my lesson plans, (all students grades 1-8), ensure that our network is running smoothly, we have excellent IT consultants that aren’t in house. Next, making sure that my coworkers are able implement new technologies in the classroom. Oh…and making sure that they can maintain their online gradebooks, online class pages….well you get the point!

We recently upgraded to Windows 2007, which is drastically different than Window 2003. An number of teachers were sending me daily emails asking how to use Word, why did we upgrade and could I stop by sometime and show them a thing or two, or…. five!

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before but I wanted to archive my screencast for teachers to use at their convenience. I did a simple search for FREE screencasting programs, I find it funny how many sites make big buck offering service so many others offer for nothing. I came across a few and decided to try screencast-o-matic.com!

I copied a picture of the interface:

There were only a few steps to getting started. Create an account, so that you can save your screencasts, or post them to YouTube. To be continued….