The Evolution of Man...

Trends?

Today I learned something really cool. It was one of the most amazing fuctions of the internet I have every seen before. Combining the power of Google with the vastness of information availible on the internet.


The application is called Google trends. All you have to do is select two different words or concepts and type them in to Google seprated by a comma. The trends look at google search word history over a specified time period. When there is a significant spike or decline in hits there is always a new story to go along with the current event.


I decided to try this comparing Charile Sheen and Oprah since in the past year both have been significant public figures in the media. Here is what I have found...

I can see this becoming a very powerful research tool in the classroom. Teachers can not only ask students to look at statistics and make comparissions they can also ask for demographical studies.  Ideas can be focused under different perspectives, and we can see concepts in ways that we may never have considered before.


Underneath the actual trends graph there is a breakdown by location that the search initated and even the language used to search.

Media and Body Image

A video I made telling a story about how the media can play a critical role in the development of self in children as they reach impressionable stages in development.

Tales from the Facebook... and other horror Stories

When I started working on this particular literacy assignment back in February I spent countless hours fighting with facebook. My idea was to create a profile fully devoted to literacy skills. I wanted to explore social media under a new lense. My idea was to find application and thus justification to bring facebook culture into the classroom.

The first of my frustration came very early on in the process. I found I was constantly frusterated becuase I could never accomplish what I set out to do. I found that I would have some very grand ideas in my head about what I would want to do, and it would just never look right. The worst part was when I would waste time looking for a fuction that was not even there. I spent more time upset and trying to tweek my account then I actually did learning or adding to my profile or understanding.

In order to help understand why I changed my direction I have created a list of both positive and negative aspects of my facebook experience.

NEGATIVE

•  Limited functions and difficult to bring a wider variety of media types and ideas into the interface
• Slow to load, page constantly kept refreshing
• Subject to the patriot act and so involuntary lack of privacy was a concern
• I could not delet or change my profile page to get rid of what was not relevant. I constantly had huge gaps in my profile and was promted to fill them.
• Annoying advertisments. I found that I was constantly being overwhelmed with different adds and people who fewed my profile could be tricked into believing I endorsed these products.
• Too much fluff when attempting to find true digital literacy content I was constantly being greeted by useless or wasteful information or advertising. With my blog I had more control over the content and was able to limit the flow of information.

POSITIVE

• Pre-created template was easy to upload specific file types to
• Many people already have accounts so I could easily network and build my PLN
• Brand reputation when I refer people to facebook or make a specific reference many people will already know exactly what I am talking about.
• Facebook groups. The UOIT M.Ed had a group I joined, I was able to connect with peers easily ask questions and get answers in a way that was easy and relatively low stress.

I am glad I made the attempt to use facebook; however I am more pleased with my decision to cut ties when I did and move on to the blogspot method of collecting and sharing information. I think going through the facebook process and learning all about how things could be done was an important learning opportunity and that social media really does have it's place in the 2.0 generation classroom.

I Googled Literacy

I was surprised to find out recently that the powerful web search mogul Google was also a huge supporter of bringing literacy digital literacy into the classroom.  

The website offers a large extent of free tools (including this blogspot website) that can be used to transform literacy instruction into a powerful instrument for exploring understanding. In this particular blog entry I will explore the various tools offered and highlight the best aspects of each. Essential the goal is to create a how to guide about how to access the best digital literacy tools offered on the World Wide Web

I first became aware of Google’s extensive collection of classroom tools when I was exploring my own discussion I would be leading on “Copyright in the Classroom”. I was directed from a generic website to the Google teacher academy portal where I was able to access all sorts of different tools and resources for staying safe and in the ethical white zone while online. While previewing the information available I found it to be high quality and accurate. In addition many of the suggestions given and activities shared were effective and easy to use methods of bringing digital resources ethically into the classroom.

GOOGLE DOCS – This tool is an all new way of effectively communicating with peers, and tackling group projects. Instead of everyone sitting around someone’s kitchen table and making notes on a piece of paper Google docs allows for multiple users to virtually use the same word document at the same time. I recall going through school and emailing my completed work to one person so that they could bring it all together, now each person in the group can take responsibility for their aspect of understanding right up until the final product.

GOOGLE EARTH – Image having the whole world at the click of a button. Google earth is not only effective for mapping modern geography and events, teachers can use it to bring history to life. Google earth in combination with a basic internet search will be able to help students identify the exact location of past historical events. One particular suggestion of lessons created by the Google team was to use the power of Google earth to outline historic trading routes of early explorers and the division of land territories monitoring how they changed over time.

PICASA – This is a powerful picture organizing and editing software. Using a photo editing tool like picasa is a strong form of literacy. Students would be taking either an original or acquired image and transforming it or creating it to fulfill a specific purpose. Picasa can also be used for creating mash-ups, the software can be utilized to combine image files from different sources and bring them together to create a whole new source.

BLOGGER – This entire website is an example of a blogger. Teachers can use this format to post information for their students to access, or have students create and maintain their own blogs. Having a blog is an excellent literacy tool. It is proven that one of the most effective tools for ensuring knowledge has been acquired is the convention of teaching the information to others. Having students keep a blog and compile a list of ideas from the lessons or questions for future study is a an excellent multi-modal skill for ensuring the acquisition of knowledge.

NEWS – Up to date information about all sort of current events. Locations can be changed to receive new feeds from different locations and perspectives. This tool is excellent for teachers working on media literacy units or just asking students to consider current affairs. Teachers can ask students to search any variety of topics and then compare and contrast the information as it appears from different new outlets. Google news is an excellent tool for teaching voice in writing, bias, and general language arts skills.

IGOOGLE - Google was made just for me. Now when I log onto my home page I am greeted by my own specific preferences and ideas. I have all my up to date news from local agencies, the weather for the Markham area as well as my favourite comics and virtual hamster great me each morning. I am also able to make changes as my interest change. Using this tool in the classroom is a significant literacy tool. Students can learn how to interact with knowledge and streamline the process in order to achieve the desired results. The more I learn about literacy, the more I understand that literacy is this idea of learning to communicate and process ideas and concepts that make up our world and be able to respond to them in order to achieve a goal.



Playing and Staying Safe online

Loose Tweets Sink Fleets

So today in my eternal quest for knowledge I came across this poster put out by the United States Navy. The idea built on the concept of “loose lips sink ships” from the post WW2 era. This whole idea of “Loose tweets sink fleets” got me thinking…

Social media is a concept that has been around only about a decade now. Prior to that we had ways of communicating however we were in no way as connected as we are now. A friend of mine in one of my other classes is a drama teacher who is bringing digital literacy into the classroom. In real time her class tweeted Hamlet. Each student took on a role and in real time would respond to the comments or ideas of the line of text prior. This idea of real time communication is revolutionary and completely changes the way that we communicate and interact with one another.

So let us now switch our attention back to the difference between sinking ships and going for the entire fleet. As a result of real time wide spread communication we are now able to reach a lot more people much much much quicker. We also now have a larger audience of both personal contacts and complete strangers.

As I have mentioned before I come from a marketing and commerce background. For 4 years I studied the factors and ideas of how to influence people, essentially what caused us to make decisions and form opinions. I learned, and I would love to give a reference; however, it is said that even the most successful and expensive well planned marketing campaign is only on average 14% successful. However, word of mouth and personal suggestions result in a 72% adoption rate. This means, if you truly want a product or concept to be successful don`t just try and sell it, get people talking. Personal recommendations or what is referred to as word of mouth (WOM) marketing is the penultimate goal of those in the sales profession not only is WOM extremely effective, if done properly it can cost next to nothing. In fact a company called www.houseparty.com has taken this idea and just gone with it. The company gives away amazing pre-packaged all inclusive parties for absolutely free, all you have to do is open your house up and invite a few friends.

A long time friend of mine is currently working at a major retail chain. She will tell me stories about peers who have gotten in trouble with management and even been fired for posting a comment on their facebook wall as harmless as ``ugh work again today``. The power of word of mouth advertising is so significant and the power recognized by the companies so much that an employee posting a comment about not wanting to go to work is powerful enough to damage corporate reputation. In the past telling a friend or just venting to a single person was powerful enough to bring down the ship; now because of social networking and the power of the media we are going for the whole fleet.

So what does this mean for literacy? No one can argue the power and vastness of social media. The concepts have penetrated society and the education system has finally stopped to take notice. We as a society communicate in a whole new way. A gradual paradigm has taken us from traditional pen and paper to a real time, instant, everything happens now way of life. This is what literacy is now. Literacy is no longer just being able to read and write, it is our way of communicating. Social media is powerful; it brings together aspects of visual pictures, audio and video sharing with current and ever evolving ideas.

The message we can get out of all this is be careful because you never know when a lose tweet has the power to sink the fleet.

Vacation Literacy...

I have a confession...when I want to be distracted from working on assignments and allow my mind to wander I go on virtual vacations. Today I was working on a final paper and as usually after a few hours of working I found my fingers twitching for Expedia.

Today while browsing through my dear friend Travelosity I felt as if my mind had been taken over by literacy. Perhaps it was just my guilty conscious for having a wandering mind during crunch time; however, everywhere I looked, I saw literacy.

   Today on travelocity I saw my escape as a Literacy Tool. This interactive vacation portal was the perfect opportunity to encourage literacy in our students. Users are encouraged to make choices, consider alternatives and make selections based on outlined criteria. Students struggling with literacy can use a model similar to a vacation website as a tool for learning.

I never before realized the extent of literacy required to navigate such a site. For example you need to know your city, your dates and all your travel factors. However, in addition, you must be able to make an informed decision. You must have both the digital skills to work the portal, and in addition the prior knowledge to be able to evaluate vacation offers and select the best deal.

For fun, I played a game with myself I selected a non-latin based language for which I have no point of reference and attempted to navigate the website. I wanted to see if my digital literacy and my knowledge of travel websites layouts/designs would be enough of a factor to see if I could figure out how to "get home" without having physical literacy or language skills.

Here is a Screen Capture from Expedia.kr or the Korean Version of Expedia. The first thing you will notice is that the prices are all different they use Korean Currency as opposed to the American or Canadian Dollar. I also found that i struggled with trying to select just flight and my particular travel options. I will tell you having general knowledge and the ability to navigate a travel website was an important skill however it was hard! I take advantage of how easily I can use both my language and digital skills to just find what I want to find with relative ease.

Chaning the language and format was a huge change for me. The first element I looked for was elements of similarity that I had seen before. I immediately recognized the universality of numbers and date formats. From there I was able to type in my travel dates and number of passangers. Something I was not counting on was changes in website format for cultural differences. Not all countries read left to right and not everyone places their fillable fields in the same order. I found I was trying to discover everything as I went by using former knowledge and critical thinking skills. Digital literacy meant a lot to me in this situation becuase without that knowledge I would have been completely lost.

I learned as I went and what I gained most from the experience was empathy and a new appreciation of what a new literacy learner is facing.

Where Does Curriculum Come From?

How do you assess what is beyond it’s time. Let me explain. One of the issues that classroom teachers, especially those determine to make new digital literacy part of their classroom culture are struggling with is how do you assess new literacy skills. The Ontario curriculum (as I assume any standardized curriculum would be) is very specific. The learning goals of each grade are outline very clearly, by the end of a specific level students are expected to be within a specific skill range for each of the evaluated items.


Teachers who are incorporating new literacy are having a hard time determining how students should receive credit for their work. We are the trail blazers, going where no one is gone before, and setting a precedent for how work should be evaluated in the future.


In my mind the issue of assessment has far less to do with actual evaluation of skills, and much more to do with what needs to be evaluated. We as a teaching and learning culture seem to have this all backwards. We are assuming that we need to create an evaluation tool (which is true); however, we are forgetting that true meaningful evaluation needs to be based on the “must sees” within the curriculum. As a result of my curiosity I have made an attempt to find out how an idea becomes part of the curriculum in our Canadian/Ontario education system.


Answers for the Ontario Ministry of Education
For More Information Please Visit:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/#display


What are curriculum documents?
Curriculum documents define what students are taught in Ontario public schools. They detail the knowledge and skills that students are expected to develop in each subject at each grade level. By developing and publishing curriculum documents for use by all Ontario teachers, the Ministry of Education sets standards for the entire province.

What is the role of the Ministry of Education in curriculum development?
The Ministry of Education administers the system of publicly funded elementary and secondary school education in Ontario, in accordance with and under the authority of the Education Act.

The Minister of Education, through the ministry, issues curricula, sets diploma requirements and sets policy for student assessment.


How often are curriculum documents revised? What is the review process?
In 2003, the Ministry of Education established a schedule for ongoing curriculum review. Each year, a number of subject areas enter the review process, to ensure they are kept current, relevant and age-appropriate. In September 2007, this process will be in its fifth year of a 7-year cycle.
Reviews are conducted with great care. Comprehensive information-gathering


includes:
o Studying research in the subject area
o Comparison with other jurisdictions
o Focus groups comprised of educators from all Ontario school boards
o Technical content analysis conducted by subject experts


Consultations with:
o Minister's Advisory Council on Special Education
o Faculties of Education
o Employers
o Parents
o Students
o Universities, colleges
o Other branches of the Ministry of Education
o Other ministries
o NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations)
These sources of information form the basis of recommended revisions to the curriculum. Writing teams drawn from school boards across the province then develop revised English and French documents.


What is the Curriculum Council?

Parents, employers, educators and professors have valuable insights on how to improve Ontario's curriculum. In March 2007, a group of knowledgeable and committed community leaders was brought together to advise the minister of education. They will provide high level strategic advice on issues related to elementary and secondary school curriculum.

My First Voice Over

Turn up the Volume it is really quiet

Literacy in Motion?

Gmail has created this new interface that would allow users to use body language in combination with their webcam to respond to messages.

This form of Literacy would enhance the learning experience because it would capture different types of learning types and allow them to commuicate in a way that is comfortable. In terms of literacy we learn more by doing, as a result by motioning to our computer the action we would like it to complete we are in essence more likely to commit this knowledge to memory and in future events be able to recall and transform this knowledge to meet the needs of the situation.



APRIL FOOLS

Jing

TechSmith | Jing, instant screenshots and screencasts, home

So in my constant Pusuit of all things digital I have found the website Jing. This digital websites allows you to caputre various aspects of video and image from your computer and incorporate them into your presentations.

My next project I am hoping with use some of the Jing technology.

Digital Advocacy

As part of my ongoing quest to learn new digital skills I have created my first ever YouTube video that I posted myself.

I feel that the skills I have learned as part of this process are essential literacy abilities that are often over looked. I had to go through an intense learning process in order to be able to learn the skills needed to create this video. I found that just like traditional literacy I started to be able to make connections to past knowledge that guided my learning process.

Students who grow up in this technological generation thrive with the use of technology. One of the reasons that I continue to push myself to learn more and be able to create this sort of production is for the benifit of my learners. You never know when you may have an opportunity to utilize these skills and what impact that this form of literacy may have on our students understanding. This is why I continue to strive to learn more.



This video was created based on the Centre for Dreams in Markham Ontario. My brother David is a member at the centre for Dreams. In my Adult Education class we had to create an organization and some form of digital artifact to represent this fictious place. I changed Dreams into Hope and tried to capture how important having a place like the Centre for Dreams is to a community.

Comic Life

My first attempt at using the program Comic Life.

Digital Ethics?

So today I have been thinking a lot about the topic of Digital Ethics. Now we live in a technological world the way that we communicate has also change significantly.

As an undergraduate I attended UOIT. I completed my B.Com (Hons) degree in E-Marketing and Information Technology. During that time period I had the opportunity to work for an amazing professor. This professor specialized in "mobile network securities" essentially privacy technology. He had received a significant grant from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to re-write the PIPEDA (Privacy Information Personal Electronic Document Act) Legislation that would eventually pass before congress. As a research assistant I was exposed to so many amazing opportunities to learn about Digital Ethics and the critical role that privacy plays in protecting our rights and wellbeing as Canadian Citizens.

I bring up this experience because, even in the 2.5 years since I have graduated from my Undergraduate, so much has changed. The issue surrounding digital ethics continues to become more complex. Every time a new technology is created to make our life easier 10 new unanswered questions are created as a result. Also, every time a new technology is not created and an industry fails to keep up with the pace of society new problems also emerge.

I have been thinking about Shuttering the Internet, and what this means for technology and digital freedoms.

This issue is explored in more detail in this podcast (http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2011/02/spark-137-february-6-9-2011/) from CBC's Spark, a show dedicated to the intersection between technology and culture.

THE INTERNET KILL SWITCH

No, this is not a big red button or a giant hand crank lever. The idea is that the American Government has proposed a bill that would (If the situation called for it) Immobilize the internet.

This article: Does Obama Really Have an Internet Kill Switch? Explains the Issue better http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/032811-does-obama-really-have-an.html

You may recall the uproar just this past January when the Government of Egypt utilized a similar mechanism and effectively shut down every internet provider in the country. This essential disrupted all incoming and outgoing messages. Now Libya has followed the trend and is facing complete internet blackout. http://www.itp.net/584069-libya-in-full-internet-blackout

This Article explains more about what rights and under what circumstances the Government could utilize this technology. http://www.technologyreview.com/web/32451/?p1=A1&a=f

China is a massive country however, when it comes to internet they only thing in China bigger than the Great Wall, is the Great Firewall. On a regular basis China audits and limits the type of information (Incoming and outgoing) that there citizens can be exposed to. http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/China+plugging+holes+Great+Firewall/4482807/story.html

So I have done some research and looked into why would the Government even want this sort of Technology?



WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OUR CLASSROOM?

First, this indicates just how much social media is embedded into our culture. Teachers need to be aware of just the sort of percieed influence that this sort of technology has over the current generation. If the Government feels so "threatened" by the power of digital technology then perhaps in the classroom we should be paying more attention?

LITERACY

http://blogs.hbr.org/now-new-next/2008/10/the-importance-of-social-media.html In this Article Howard Reigngold an Award Winning Knowledge Networker writes at lengths in 2008 about how teachers can start to use online Social Media in the Classroom as a way of reaching our students.

Personally I feel as if Social Media is a critical component of overall literacy for our generation. All of the reasons that the government wants control of the internet, are the reasons we need to stop and take this digital technology seriously.

Lets Sing About Math...

Last night in class we had a special guest Dr. George Gadanidis from the University of Western Ontario who spoke to us about teaching mathematics through multimodal instruction. One of Dr. Gadanidis current projects is taking concepts and math and teaching them through music.

This has inspired me... No I refuse to sing to you however I will share with you different attempts that other people have made. http://www.songsforteaching.com/mathsongs.htm --this particular website brakes down the content by strand and concepts and offers a wide variety of different skill and grade level selections.

http://www.kidsknowit.com/educational-songs/index.php?topic=Math -- Not as many selections however this FREE website offers some really fun and exciting tunes!

From www.kidsknowit.com -- Can I download this song? Many of the songs featured on The KidsKnowIt Network are available to download. To do so, please visit the website of the artist whose song you would like to download. If the artist has a website, there will be a link to it in the center of the yellow educational music player.

My personal favourite is Fraction Rock
http://www.kidsknowit.com/educational-songs/play-educational-song.php?song=Fraction Rock

http://www.joecrone.com/samples.htm -- at Joe Crone's website you can listen to samples of songs and even book class visits.

Here are some Photos of integrated art projects from practicum last year

Week 9 - Digital Games in Education

So this week in Class our topic was the idea of digital games in Education. I found that when considering my own views I am much more "anti" gaming. Therefore, the idea of incorporating the ideas and concepts of gaming into a learning environment was not a desirable topic. However, I perservered... I forced myself to reconsider my thinking, in particular the origins of my thinking and determine 1) what my issues were with gaming 2) how I could overcome my bias to incorporate positive changes.

So... the million dollar question, why don't I like games. The most obvious answer that comes to mind is the fact that I have never been good at game; and therefore I am avoiding them becuase they are not enjoyable. However, I feel my dislike of games goes slightly deeper. Through reflective thought I have come to realize that I do not dislike the concept of games I just have not found the proper combination of fun and educational factors availible to meet the middle ground. Based on that thinking I sought out the Youtube Video (above). Most of the games that are fun appear to waste time and the educational games are boreing.

How can we fix the problem. Personally I can't... However i am sure someone with more technical skills and know how then me can start to see the middle ground and build games that have a purpose. In terms of using games in the classroom currently we are limited to one that have obvious educational value. I recall as a child playing "all the right type" in school working on my typing ability and accuracy with the keyboard. I also use to love the Carmen Sandiego geography game where you would search the world based on clues to discover where the character was hidding. However, a new generation of kids has split the chasm wide open. Games that use to be fun and cutting edge are now pixilated and old fashion.

Ironically with week in my Adult Technology class we also dealt with the topic of educational video games this past week. I have been able to combine my learning and understanding from both classes to help formulate my new views. My Adult Education professor Dr. Shawn Bullock suggested some really interesting learning games to explore. I now pass those links on to you...

NotPron (http://www.deathball.net/notpron/) is a single player puzzle game, which describes itself as the “hardest riddle available on the Internet.” The puzzles are of increasing complexity and require more technical knowledge of computing and the Internet as the game progresses. It is an example of a game that uses simple technology to create engaging game play.

The Bonte Room (http://home.scarlet.be/%7Ebbonte/bonteroom.html) is a point-and-click game in which the player has to escape from a locked room.

Sleuth (http://www.playsleuth.com/) is an online detective game where the player has to solve mysteries by searching locations for clues, gathering evidence, and talking to suspects in order to solve a number of cases that gradually increase in difficulty. It is an example of a game that uses a detailed environment and objects that the player can interact with in order to make logical deductions about the case.

These particular games I explored in order to better understand the teaching and learning aspects of digital gaming and its potential function within the classroom.

So where does this leave my personal debate... I am a slowly moving paradigm I am starting slowly to come around. I feel as if there are some really important benifits that we as teachers can tap into as a result of our students perpensity towards gaming. It is important as modern day educators to teach our students in a way that they will learn and prepare them for the future. I still have my hold outs however, my brain is on the right track and my defenses have lowered. I am excited about the future and looking forward to seeing the potential that digital gaming will have on progressive education and how all these factors will impact the way we teach literacy.

A Digital Community

Here are some cute kid friendly ideas for safety when using the internet. The internet is becoming part of our world. 10 years ago having a fast internet connection was the acception to the rule. Now in our classroom it is rare to find a student who is not connect in at least 1-2 different ways to the www. at all times.

Teaching smart and sensible ways to use the technology is really important. We cannot control the content that is placed on the internet however, we can teach our kids how to be safe and only access information that will benifit their needs.

Here are the suggestions for the Video for Staying Safe online:

1) Ask Permission before going online.
2) Only talk to people you know (Like Grandma)
3) Only go to places of interest

In addition here are some more suggestions for older users

1) Teach kids how to be critcal consumers
2) Talk to our students about what they enjoy and build conversation
3) Encourage transparency by keeping the computer in a public room

Why The Delay...

Okay so I have been in this class since January however in terms of preparing for my final presentation I have experienced some unfortunent delays... and failures.

I started with a facebook profile page however I found my efforts fell flat. There just was not enough functions and I felt so limited in terms of what I was hoping to do. I also was constantly frusterated by how user "un"friendly facebook became the more advanced I became and the more I attempted to push the limits and go beyond basic functionality.

I also have experimented with prezi and slide rocket, both these programs are amazing however again I felt limited to just what those programs had to offer. I started to do some research and found what I wanted/needed was an interface that would allow me to embed and bring in all sorts of multimodal aspects from a wide range of places and arange and use the technology the way that I wanted to.

So here we are. Blogger I have experience using prior. When I was teaching ESL in S.Korea I kept a blog for my friends and family as a way to stay connected and tell them what was happening in my life. I would post pictures and share my experiences and they would comment and send words of encouragment. In Blogger I can share my ideas and use other programs all over the internet and either post a URL or bring the ideas right into my blog.

I may be a bit behind however the work has already been done. Just in the next few days I will be bringing the ideas and presentations i have already created and start uploading them to my blog. It is too bad it took me so long to find an interface that I liked; however, I am here now and I have a lot I want to share.

Welcome

Welcome to Amanda Paul's Digital Literacy Blog.

In this blog I will be examining various aspects of technology and how we can utilize new literacy to influence our teaching and bring these modern concepts into the classroom. My personal goal through this blog is to stretch my own understanding and try some of the new multimodal concepts we are learning in class.

Every few days or so I will be bringing new ideas and sharing them on this blog. I hope you enjoy sharing this journey with me and maybe we will both learn something new?