I’ve been on the road during the last week. We take our entire junior class (130 kids) to the Florida Keys this time every year for some experiential learning about mangrove and coral reef ecosystems. If you are still doubtful as to the power of social media in education, check out the trip blog and/or the trip Twitter hashtag #pdskeys11 and/or our UStream channel.
Trip UStream Channel
We used all these social media tools to keep parents up to date on our adventures. Kids send back their version of the trip, and we send ours!
In my last post, I explained a new project I tried this year using flickr. I was excited that the project continued and culminated despite school being closed for a snowstorm. In general, I was pleased with the results of my experiment. However, I am always curious as to what the students think of such ventures…
Being a science type, of course I like some data to scrutinize:
Student Feedback (click to enlarge)
So, it seems as if the 27 seniors (of my 34) who responded most got something of value from the project. Right? I did encourage students to provide some written feedback also:
1.A complete waste of time.
2.It was fun, but I can’t say I really “learned” much, I just got to see what needs work in our city.
3.None of these choices really fit my thoughts. I did the project and thought it was cool to actually identify locations around Charlotte that we see everyday as either “good” or “bad” urban planning. However, I felt that, for me, the end result wasn’t as worthwhile considering the effort it took for me to find a satisfactory picture/location, upload it, add some descriptions, and comment on other photos. It was also frustrating considering I put a lot of effort into finding the pictures and examples, yet had no comments on my own photos.
4.I enjoyed this project because it applied what we’re learning to our own hometown and it was not difficult. Doing this made me think while I’m going around town as to what is a good design and what is a bad design in my own city! I love when classroom material is applicable in my own life because I am more interested and therefore, I learn more from it.
5.It was cool to see all the poorly designed areas.
6.I definitely liked using flickr as a resource.
7.I learned how to use flickr, but I didn’t necessarily look at everyone’s pictures. The comment aspect was probably the most helpful part of the project in terms of understanding. That being said, I think I would’ve understood urban planning at the same level without doing the project.
8.If we spent more time on the project I think I would have had more time to appreciate what we could learn from it.
9.It was a lot a work for a little project. And it didn’t help me learn anything about urban planning.
10.I thought that it was a really cool project…I found it interesting and clicked through most of the images and left two comments…It was interesting to see areas near my house or areas that I know but hadn’t considered from an urban planning point of view.
11.Not so much frustrating but not the most useful thing.
12.Flickr confused me.
13.I did not feel the assignment was necessary. I could have learned just as much if you showed us a few pictures.
14.I mean it was interesting but I’m not really sure how much I got out of it. Some of the examples were pretty obvious and I probably would have known all that without having the whole flickr.
15.I really liked this project and it wasn’t too difficult but i think it actually helped me a lot.
Feedback is always a bit of a mixed bag. What advice should I use for the next time I try this with a group of students? What should I ignore? Which students “get it?” Which students missed the point (sharing and collaboration)?
So, this year I finally decided to try an experiment in photo sharing with my AP Environmental Science students using flickr. I was first introduced to the concept when I was a part of a Powerful Learning Practice cohort two years ago. We were are a part of a photo sharing project to help build community (31 pictures posted in 31 days) between group members from all over the world. But in this case, my class has already established some sense of community this year and I was looking for something more. We were exploring urban areas and there impact on the environment. We were discussing urban planning, so I issued the following challenge:
“You must take and upload at least 2 photos (or short video clips) by 11pm on Tuesday, January 11th.One photo should illustrate an urban or suburban area that has employed good design, and the other should illustrate an area that is in need of redesign. You must leave a meaningful comment on ONE photo/video you find interesting that has been uploaded to our group by 11pm on Wednesday, January 12th.*Don’t be surprised if you get comments from our guest speaker (an urban planner) who I have invited to join the group.”
I had already posted two pics in our flickr pool as examples. One was a street level view and the other was an aerial view using Google Earth (screen capture using Jing). So, I expected kids to use their cell phones when they were out in our community (Charlotte, North Carolina, USA) to take pictures and then upload and share them. A few students did this, and a few students used Google Earth also. Well, in the mean time this rare massive winter storm system rolled in:
So, this really cut into my student’s ability to take pictures out in the community. But…sometimes kids surprise you. I was sitting at home, checking in our group pool when I noticed a student had used Google Maps to get a street level view of an area from their home! Well, I did not say they could not do it…this started a trend. Other students started using online satellite and mapping programs in lieu of taking pictures in the community in dangerous conditions. I love it! This is part of the beauty of a blended classroom. The snow shut our physical classroom down for a few days, but the learning continued in a virtual space. Check out the project at our group pool. Feel free to contact me if you want a copy of the assignment.
*Update (1/13/11): Now that we are done, check out the slideshow:
So…if you are a newbie to all this social media stuff, you may wonder “where do I start?“ Here are some suggested activities involving social media (some of the creative tools that are free on the web-I have examples of the first 6 that I have done myself but others I know have done the rest):
1. Make a podcast of a field trip using a digital camera to capture text and video. Post on TeacherTube or Vimeo as a way for students not present to experience the lesson.
2. Have students view a free podcast (or video-based lesson from iTunes U) at iTunes or a website for homework. Create a worksheet of viewing questions for students to complete before discussion in class.
3. Create a class blog at Edublogs. Have students use it to recap lessons, post current events, and post resources.
4. Create an online text using a free wiki site from Wikispaces. Students create pages and build a great resource for review.
5. Bring in a guest speaker via Skype, a free video-phone service for your computer.
6. Have students create their group lab report presentations using Google Docs.
7. Analyze any text passage using Wordle. *Check out this presentation on “45 Interesting Ways to Use Wordle in the Classroom:” http://edudemic.com/2010/07/45-interesting-ways-to-use-wordle-in-the-classroom/
8. Have students analyze paintings and comment using VoiceThread. *Note: Many examples here: http://ed.voicethread.com/library/
9. Use Twitter in the classroom to have students react to a video clip while watching it as a group. Students can use a hashtag to group all comments into a single stream of conversation that can be archived. *Check out this presentation on “30 Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom:” http://edudemic.com/2010/07/the-30-newest-ways-to-use-twitter-in-the-classroom/
10. Set up a photo-sharing group on Flickr. Students can take pictures of environmental problems in the area with their mobile phones and post them to the group page. Students can comment on and discuss images also.
11. Use cell phones for polling devices (via text) or for answering a quiz with free software at Poll Everywhere.
12. Use Google Earth for a geography scavenger hunt. See lessons at: http://sitescontent.google.com/google-earth-for-educators/Home/google-earth-lesson-plans
What are you waiting for? Give one of these a try this semester. You provide the structure, the kids will provide the creativity…
If you have tried any of these, what advice do you have for those new to using social media in their classrooms?
So one of my projects this year is a class wiki for my 7th graders. My hope is that I can get them to consolidate what we are learning in each lesson on a wiki page. Each one has to assume the role of “class recorder” at least once a semester.
Our Class Wiki (click to enlarge)
So, here is the charge given to a class recorder:
The class recorder is the “class memory” for a unit. It is the job of the class recorder to try to capture everything we learned during a lesson–usually a week or two of class. As class recorder, you have the freedom to design and decorate the lesson page you have been assigned. So, a class recorder needs to keep really good notes of what happens during a unit. Hopefully, the lesson page will be so good that classmates can use it to catch up if they missed a class or even to study for the semester exam.
I’ve done wiki projects with high school kids as a collaborative exam review activity. I’ve been very pleased with the results and student feedback. I’m not sure how this will work with 7th graders. My hope is they’ll get comfortable with the tool and create a really neat “wikibook” that will be a great resource for our end of semester. This the first year our students take a cumulative exam at the end of each semester. So, if you use wikis or think you might, check back in our this blog or the wiki when you find time…
4. AP Environmental flickr Digital Field Trip Project
Kids come tomorrow, but we won’t kick off these projects for a week or so. Stay tuned if you are interested in how to use these social media tools in your courses…
Time for school to start up again! I was just thinking about my journey into using social media to enhance my “classroom learning experience” and especially the sherpas in my personal learning network (PLN)…the folks I’ve met through Powerful Learning Practice or at conferences. I’ve met some amazing folks and I learn something new from them daily by reading their blogs or tweets. I’ve noticed that many times I stumble onto discussions about revolutionizing education via social media. These are great discussions and serve to challenge folks to rethink our profession. However, sometimes I find such discussions frustrating. Sometimes I feel that if we spend too much time in the stratosphere (thinner air up where the jets fly cross-country), then we lose sight of what is going on in the troposphere (the thicker part of the atmosphere where we live and breathe). As a classroom teacher, my current focus is on how to apply these social media tools with my students. So, if you do follow my blog this coming year, know that I’m going to try to keep my focus in the lower reaches of the educational atmosphere. Consider this space a place where you can find and discuss practical classroom applications. If you click on any of the tags or categories to the right, you should find projects I’ve already tried…
Well, it is June, and I’m feeling the need for a walkabout…
Why take a hiatus from blogging? Well, I feel the pull to get outside more, to disconnect from this computer web and find a spider web. I’m a science teacher and outdoorsman, and I feel a need to exercise more than my eyes and fingers in front of this little glowing screen. Some bloggers I respect see Life 1.0 and Web 2.0 as seemless, but I have a hard time with that. Part of the beauty of the school year is the time to walk away and recharge. While a vacation does not help build a blog following, I gotta get away.
So, I’m leaving this blog post up for the summer as a signpost in hopes you’ll come back in August. Why come back? Well, I started this blog in January of this year as reflection tool and a “how-to” for teachers just beginning the journey into using social media in the classroom. My goal was to share, not to showboat. I say that because I know I have colleagues that might glance at a teacher’s blog and say, “that’s just showing-off!” Not so! The beauty of these relatively new software tools is that they allow us to connect, share, and collaborate. I learned how to do many of these social media projects (linked below) because another teacher shared “how-to” on his/her blog!
So, if you are a teacher that is just beginning the journey and finding my blog for the first time, I invite you to take a moment and explore some of the topics I’ve blogged about this year. I’ve really tried to stick to lessons learned from practical projects, not theoretical musings about the future of education. Here are some topics you might explore:
If you have any questions about any of these projects, feel free to leave me a comment below. Or, if you have learned anything this year you want to share, leave me a comment below. Hope to see you back the first week of August. I usually get a blog post off each Monday.
Good luck on your journey!
*Wanna learn more about how to use social media for teaching and learning? Check out the Powerful Learning Practice web site today! New cohorts forming for the coming year! We are looking for partners in North Carolina. Email matt.scully@providenceday.org if interested.
In previous posts, I discussed how my high school students have used wikis and blogs for exam/test review. This spring, someone took using social media for exam review to a new level. Yes, this spring someone organized a national AP environmental science exam review on facebook.
APES "study group"
If you are on facebook, check it out. I did not participate, so I cannot speak to its success. I’m not sure the organizers tried to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. You can at least see the comments left by kids who did value the forum.
In a previous post, I explained how I use a class wiki to review for the end of semester exam. So, the project is over and I thought I would share student impressions of the project. Only 9 of 15 students in this particular class (non-AP environmental science) left comments about the wiki review project on the end of course survey, but here they are (good and bad)…
Writing Prompt: Please comment on the usefulness of a wiki to prepare for either semester exam. If useful, what makes it so? If not, explain also.
“1. The wiki was really useful to me due to the fact that it not only forced you to review, but it also, through having to ask questions and correct other wiki pages, made me feel more comfortable about the information because if something wasn’t accurate of if something was missing, you, or someone else, would point it out.
2. It seems like something that goes without saying, but the wiki is only as useful as the students make it. if there isn’t a lot of solid work put in, it’s not going to be effective at all.
3. It was useful.
4. Yes. Forces us to become experts on a topic and comment on others.
5. I enjoyed the wiki, it was very useful to read over before the exam. All the important material in on place was nice.
6. I don’t think the wiki is that useful to prepare for the exam. I think it just creates more stress on the students because it is one more thing to do.
7. Very useful – however, I think that the commenting part should be less pushed (no deadlines or anything) just because I’ve seen a lot of people simply posting comments for the credit.
8. Good communal resource where we get a different perspective on the same issues we’ve learned about.
9. I think the first semester wiki was more helpful in preparing us for the exam. Perhaps, the students had more time to write/review/study the wiki pages first semester? It is useful because it highlights key points and important information for the students to know for the exam.”
This same group of students completed a similar project to review 1st semester topics in December of 2009. While I’ve removed that older wiki site, here is their feedback from that project:
Student Feedback on Exam Review Wiki (Click to Enlarge)
And, I just love this comment from the 1st semester project:
“Hearing the ways that other people in the class phrased things on the wiki really helped me a lot. For some reason, when I don’t understand something it usually helps me when another student expresses it to me in their more simplified version as a refresher, rather than hearing it again in the word-for-word explanation…if that makes sense.”
So, if you’ve never done anything like this, would you consider trying it? Why? Why not?
*Want more?Here’s the link to student feedback on the same project when I tried it for the first time with my AP Environmental Science students during the 2008-2009 school year.
