Final Reflections

In The Beginning

In September, I had no idea what I was in for with this class. I know this for sure from the random nature of my ten original inquiry questions.

1.) What are the impacts of digital social networks on personal (physical) relationships, if any? Can youth today interpret body language as well as previous generations? Are they comfortable in situations where they have to interact person-to-person? Are cultural norms about eye contact, personal space, spoken conversation, etc. being transferred or is this something we’ll be adding to the curriculum in a few years?

I didn't get very far with this question, but I still feel it's an important one that I'll keep my eyes and ears open for the answer to. These past few weeks have seen a number of media outlets (here, here, here) begin to address the issue of sexting, including the November issue of Canadian Teacher Magazine and a study done for MTV. While this wasn't the focus of my original question, it makes me realize that we haven't really begun to understand how Web 2.0 can impact cultural norms and personal lives.



2.) Do people/students today feel more isolated or more connected to their peer groups and communities than in the past? Are online social networks re-defining how we perceive community? Are they blurring the distinction between the roles of “teacher” and “student” and is this as bad of a thing as the media and some educators believe?

Again, our whirlwind course didn't leave me much time to ponder this question but I was able to experience first-hand how social networks, blogs, and online communities can reduce feelings of isolation. My community has been re-defined to include people that I have never met in person, and probably never will. Thanks to Web 2.0, community is no longer defined by geographic location and the resulting shared interests, but community based on interests. 

Social networks do have the potential to blur the distinction between the roles of teacher and student, but I don't feel that, with some common sense professional precautions, this is inherently a negative thing. Web 2.0 creates communities of learners, where everyone is able to create, re-mix, link, comment on, and evaluate. Students today know that information and knowledge comes from a variety of sources, not just from the body at the front of the classroom. Exemplary educators today know that they have almost as much to learn from their students as their students do from them. As long as educators maintain professional boundaries and insist on respectful relationships with and between their students, the roles of teacher and student may be blurred, but not bad. 



3.) I use a lot of Google “products” because, not only are they free, they are easy to use and work well with each other. If Goggle suddenly decided to charge for its services, what would happen? Would I pay? Could schools afford to pay? What are the implications of becoming overly-reliant on one technology or platform?

I wrote this question before I realized just how many Google platforms I would end up using this semester: Gmail, Blogger, YouTube, Reader, Earth, Docs, Translator, and maps. Knowing how intuitive, well-designed, and inter-functional these products are, I can feel my dependency deepening every day. While these services are currently free, I know that I personally would pay an annual fee to continue using them if Google decided to move in that direction. Of course, I would probably seek out alternatives, but competition would be thin. 

The question of whether or not schools would be able to pay would depend on many factors. Given the current doom-and-gloom financial state of our school district, the short answer is no. The long answer involves resource evaluation, creative number crunching, and the costing scheme Google would extend to public schools and libraries. 

Being overly reliant on one technology, platform, or model of research creates not only dependency, but vulnerability. I learned the hard way how one login for all platforms leaves a user exposed to attacks and co-opting. My blog was attacked by bible-waving pirates one day, and I suddenly came to the realization that if the pirates could hack into my blog account, they could also access every other tool I used through Google. Yikes! I sought assistance on the Google help forum, and the problem seemed to resolve itself by the end of the day as my content reappeared and the references to Babylon disappeared as mysteriously as they had arrived. 

This experience made me more aware of how trusting I was to allow free, online services to be responsible for storing my personal data and created content. With a jarring sensation I read the article on Adbusters about one photosharing group's experience: "someone at Flickr pushed a button and within seconds, thousands of photographs, conversations and connections were obliterated." I had gotten a little too comfortable that my writing, photos, and bookmarks were saved 'out there' and I no longer had to worry about something happening to my hard drive. What I had forgotten was that all of these free Web 2.0 sites are in charge, not me. As I user I am prone to their terms and conditions. And so are students, and so are schools.



4.) Why do people like Twitter and will I ever?

Some people like Twitter because it keeps them connected to a constant stream of information and updates. I have found that the people who tweet the most also have cell phones. As a teacher, Twitter can connect like-minded educators and serve as a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Sharing, collaborating, asking and answering questions are all facilitated by the immediacy of Twitter. 

Whether or not I actually like Twitter, I can understand why people use it and how useful it can be. In November, a local lithium battery recycling plant caught fire. As a pregnant lady not wanting to breathe in dangerous emissions, I was frustrated by how slowly information was getting out to the public. By the time the public was informed of anything, we could have been breathing toxic fumes for hours. The first source of information I had was from citizen journalists on facebook. Twitter, with its short updates and portability, would have been a better tool for the company, media, and local residents to share up-to-the-minute news and information.  

5.) As a future Teacher-Librarian, what do I think about Google Books and what does it mean for school libraries?

Beyond the general concerns raised in question three above, I did not pursue this question at all this semester. However, I'm sure this is a topic which will engage me in the future. One for the vault!



6.) Blogs extend learning by involving the larger community and making learning more ‘real-world.’ How does my district as a general, overall whole feel about classroom/student/teacher blogs, who is using them in our district, and how are they using them?

The general consensus on blogs in the district seems to be that they are all right. They are being used by English teachers for student assignments and teacher librarians to promote school community and library services. The whole issue of blogs in the classroom seems to be a non-issue in the district. 



7.) How can I be an educational and social leader for promoting Web 2.0 both inside and outside the classroom?

Attitude is everything on this one. Answering this questions could take another semester, but for now I think my answer is to keep an open and approachable attitude, and to just try. Providing leadership in Web 2.0 means not only keeping up on the thousands of tools, applications, and sites that are available, but also having a solid understanding of how these tools can be put to work to facilitate learning. In addition, it helps to be backed up by a pile of quantitative and qualitative research to build an evidence-based practice. 

Keeping up with Web 2.0 is where social networking and PLNs are invaluable. A PLN of educators interested in Web 2.0 is like a current, personal army of tireless research assistants. Some tools I know I will be using to further my ProD and PLN are Delicious, Twitter, Nings, and Google Reader. All have the ability to connect me with other teachers and teacher librarians who are vested in keeping their students engaged and prepared for the world beyond their classroom doors. 

Over the past three months I have pushed myself to start developing these leadership skills by learning and playing with Web 2.0 tools, reading the research on learning and Web 2.0, teaching a night class at the community college on social networking, helping to lead a ProD session for teachers on technology, and making myself available to colleagues for questions, support, and brainstorming sessions. This experience has taught me that many adults are wary of technology and developing a positive relationship in a comfortable learning environment is key to putting worries or trepidation to rest. This building of relationship and environment is necessary for youth learners as well.



8.) What is Web 3.0?

Jeez, I hadn't even gotten a handle on the whole 2.0 thing and I already want to talk about 3.0. While I think it's a good idea to keep an eye on the future, my attention has been focused on Web 2.0 - and that was enough! As far as I understand it, Web 3.0 will be more intuitive for users. But I'll think more about that in a few years when 2.0 evolves into 3.0.



9.) Is my searchable, online persona appropriate for an educator? 

With all the workshops I led this semester on searching and social networking, I had the chance to view my online persona through a number of different people's eyes: from co-workers and employers, to students and colleagues, friends, and family. There's nothing quite like seeing all the different sides of yourself returned in a Google search and projected onto a whitescreen in front of a room full of people to make you realize the size and shape of your digital footprint.

The above search return is probably the least professional of the results (of the ones that are actually related to me) and I considered changing it to something more posh. However, I really like my Twitter profile and feel that it represents my spirit and diverse interests in a way that some stuffy bio never could.

I did keep this question in mind when writing my blog entries, tweets, and building online profiles this semester, so I am comfortable answering yes to this question: my online persona is appropriate for an educator.

10.) What about the digital divide? How does it affect rural/northern students? The have-not school districts? The students and teachers who do not have a computer at home or access outside of school hours? As a teacher, how can I minimize the effects of the digital divide?

Of all my original inquiry questions, these are the ones that I am least satisfied that I don't have enough answers to. But then, I'm not sure that anyone does. Not enough of the articles I read this semester addressed these issues; they seemed to assume a high level of hardware and internet access in schools. The digital divide may not be as much of a concern as it was a few years ago, but it still exists. And until it no longer exists, until there is no question of a digital divide, I feel the questions around it should still be on the table. 

Highlights of Learning

Although there were some low times this semester, they all resulted in some valuable lessons that transformed them into highlights. I know learning is messy, but when you're in the middle of a mess and it's after midnight and you're six months pregnant and maybe a little emotional, those learning lows can feel like unconquerable obstacles. But success! It makes you feel like a champion.

The week of learning about podcasting threw me some loops. I was originally so bewildered by the sound editing program Audacity that I kept opening up the program, taking a brief look, and shutting it down again. Finally, I forced myself to just sit down and play with the tool. Having overcome this hurdle and getting familiar with the program, next I wanted everything to be perfect: my voice, the sound effects, the timing, the pacing, the length, the lack of background noise. Enough. I realized I would never be this fussy with a student's recording and just did the best I could with what I had. In the end I was really happy with the result because I figured out how to edit and layer tracks.

I set out learning this semester with a certain idea of myself. "I am NOT an html person," I declared. I watched my classmates edit the html in their blog templates, but had no desire to attempt such heroics. The widgets and automatic add-ons were quite enough, thank you very much. And besides, I'm not an html person. Then came the late night that I went to post my blog on Multimedia and Mashups. Everything looked fine in the blog draft, but when I went to publish the post the videos were larger than the template frame and overlapped onto some of the widgets. Nooooooo! Whyyyyyyy? I checked to make sure that I had selected the smallest embedding size in You Tube. I had. What, then, could I do? I refused to just leave the posting all sloppy like that. With great fear and a sense of wonder that this was something I would attempt for the first time at midnight on a Sunday, I clicked on the "Edit HTML" tab in my blog editor and took a good look at the code for the videos.

Apparently, I could be an html person if I wanted to be. This was a valuable lesson for my teaching practice because not only is the learner humbled by their challenges, they may also have to undergo a re-invention of their concept of self to move forward. And let me tell you, students going through this affective process can be very scared and cranky indeed.

Another change I underwent this semester was moving from being a compulsive reader to picking up the skill of skimming and scanning. With the amount of information being delivered daily to my Google Reader inbox, my Twitter account, and various email accounts, not to mention keeping up with class discussions, there was not enough time in the day to read every single word of what was coming at me. I learned to prioritize readings, and skim and scan for information I wanted to read in more detail.

Future Plans

Envisioning where I will go from here in terms of learning about technologies and integrating them into classroom, library, and school practice is tricky because there are not many teaching positions available in my district and with declining enrollment and provincial funding cutbacks, the district is considering closing another three elementary schools. So while I don't know when there will be an open position, I do know that I will continue learning about and playing with technologies. 

The employment agency I currently work for has been very supportive in welcoming my technology suggestions and experiments. Our website now has RSS feeds, we've created a facebook page to reach out to younger clients, a Flickr profile to share our photos from community initiatives, and regularly use our Twitter account. This has made me realize that no matter where I am or what I'm doing, it will seem natural for me to want to incorporate Web 2.0 and use the tools to enhance services, reduce costs, and improve function. So when I do finally land that teaching job, Web 2.0 will be a fluid part of my practice.

I will be relying on Web 2.0 tools such as Delicious, Reader, and Twitter to keep me hooked into what is happening in the teaching and library worlds. As someone waiting eagerly on the sidelines of the teaching profession, it is vital that I continue to engage with pedagogy. Online social networking is unlikely to help me acquire seniority, but when I do manage to get a foot in the door, my social networks will have helped to prepare me for current best practices and learning strategies. 

Keeping myself active in the teaching world and in online social networks has spurred one positive relationship towards collaboration. A local Teacher-Librarian has proposed a get-together session where we can share ideas and information on how she can incorporate Web 2.0 into her library program. Hopefully this will occur during the semester turn around at the end of January. We have already briefly discussed a facebook page and how it could be used to reach out to students in her school, but I also want to introduce her to Google Reader and Delicious. She is already a heavy Google platform user, and having RSS feeds delivered to her inbox would save time in her busy life. Also, being able to teach students how to use RSS feeds for research would be a handy skill for her to have. Delicious would be a great way for her to stay organized and transport her bookmarks between home, library, and various computer labs. In addition, if she created Delicious tags for various teachers in the school, the whole school would benefit from these accessible bookmarks. Eventually, these tools could be incorporated into a library website, blog, or ning.

Key things I learned from others in the class

The most valuable big picture lessons I learned from my classmates in the whole class discussion forum were that:

• there is a kind, caring community of educators who are reflecting on their teaching practice and looking for ways to engage their students
• the roller coaster affective domain of learning happens to everyone
• asking for help usually gets you an answer. At the very least, it gets you sympathy.
• life continues to happen no matter what is going on in the classroom (surgeries, funerals, illnesses, nasty falls). Teachers must always be aware of this when dealing with their students.
• I am lucky to have access to such a great collection of smart people

Some of the blogs that stood out for me over the semester were:

Joseph's - When I was looking to improve my academic writing and make blog posts more meaty, I turned to Joseph's blog to get a feel for how to incorporate research into my posts. Joseph did a great job of detailing his learning, and supporting this learning with in-depth research. When in doubt, check with the guy who already has a few Masters under his belt. 

Cindy's - Cindy was another person whose blog I turned to for an idea of how to write in more detail. While I was gleaning this skill from her, I also appreciated how she incorporated multi-media into her posts. Cindy's friendly face in her pictures and profile picture also made me reconsider using a cartoon for my profile picture. For a classroom or library blog in the future, I will choose a real picture of myself that helps the school community connect with me on a more personal basis. 

Crystal's - More than anyone else, Crystal's blog made me realize how personalized a blog space could be. Although I am not much of a pink person, Crystal's choices in her template and widgets encouraged me to play with the accessories and give my blog more of a vibe.

Donna's - Donna was in my discussion group, so I read her blog more closely. Donna's blog made me consider how Web 2.0 could be used for teaching in non-English environments, or teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). I also appreciated how Donna started writing for an audience, allowing her blog to become a resource for other teachers in her school interested in trying out some of these Web 2.0 technologies. This made the idea of writing a blog carry much more weight than just fulfilling the requirements of this course (although also important!)

Mark's - Last but not least, I was jealous of Mark's blog as soon as he had the Dilbert widget. How did he do that? Mark continued to incorporate humor into his posts for the remainder of the semester and wrote with a frank style that kept his Web 2.0 discussions grounded in reality. 

Reflections on the whole enchilada

I have never worked so hard in a class for such an extended period of time, and I've worked hard in plenty of classes! While this has a lot to do with the structure of the class assignments, I think it also reveals the power of Web 2.0 for teaching and learning environments. When I got tired of reading, I could watch a video; when I got tired of videos, I could write more on my blog; when I got tired of writing on my blog, I could create a media mashup to incorporate into my post; when I got tired of mashing, I could look for Creative Commons free-use licensed pictures; when I got tired of mashing, I could send a few tweets or emails. No matter what my learning style was, there was a way for Web 2.0 to accommodate it. For students, the Web 2.0 flexibility in modalities allows them to engage in learning no matter what their preference is (VARK).    

Repeatedly throughout the semester, I was struck by how Web 2.0 supports the higher level of Bloom's taxonomy and higher order thinking skills. This has been conveniently graphed for me on the visualblooms wiki:

There are a bunch of icons here that I'm not familiar with yet, but I definitely agree that at the pinnacle of the pyramid, in the section for Creating, are Voicethreads, Blogs, and Wikis. 

Web 2.0 not only affects engagement levels of students, it also changes how learning is structured and assessed. How will I know when my students have mastered the learning objectives? What format will their learning be demonstrated in? How do I assess their diverse products? And how do I know that this particular student contributed, collaborated, and created original work? Teachers require a different skill set to structure and assess learning in the 2.0 environment. 

To gain this skill set, teachers will need to engage with 2.0 for their own personal learning. Will Richardson wrote very passionately about this on his blog in March 2008. If teachers don't pick up Web 2.0 skills, how can they possible teach students Web 2.0 skills or prepare them for the world they will be graduating into? Today's learners need to know how to learn how to learn, and they need to know how to be responsible netizens. "And that, is what we have to be preparing our kids for, that learning that is going to happen, using these technologies in these mediated spaces or 'networked publics' throughout their lives. It's about self-study, self-direction, independent learning. Right now . . . our biggest challenge is we're not teaching kids to be that type of learner" (Richardson, March 2009).

Web 2.0 is new enough that we don't quite realize the long term implications of our digital footprints. Students have the right to know about data mining, filtering, and copyright laws. As educators we are charged with looking out for the overall well-being of our students, and these 2.0 issues distinctly fall within those parameters. I keep going back to Doug Johnson's words on his 2008 blog: "Schools DO need to teach safety and privacy with all social networking tools. If we don't, who will?"