Here is my first offering to the blog-o-sphere from my uLearn09 presentation

An eWindow into my Classroom

The Google Empire

“Just Google it!”
Gone are the days when Google was just the provider of interesting facts and decider of living room quiz nights. Google is now a vast array of Web Applications designed to pull today’s web consumers into its clever and enticing ‘Googleverse’. And believe me, this Web Nut is banging on Google’s doors screaming “Let Me In”. In fact, while I am typing these very words I am wondering, why I don’t ‘can’ this wiki, and transfer it all over to Google Sites! Maybe I will; we will see …

Now back on track!
A quick run down on a few of the major players in the Google Empire (and don’t forget, one username will take you everywhere!) -

This little beauty is gold! It’s free, easy to use and one account will service your entire class, or school as the case maybe. Check out the Gmail Page for information on the funky username+studentname@gmail.com format (thanks Sue Waters!).

The ultimate in collaborative documentation. Create documents, spreadsheets and forms then share with collaborators or embed them into your site. Students can use Google Docs to draft their writing, then share that writing with you to provide instant editing and feedback.  I thought this collaboration gem deserved a page of its own as well! (thanks Nick Rate!)

A wonderfully useful application that allows you to set up an editable calendar. Keep parents up-to-date with events and deadlines. Add the class birthdays, or maybe a famous date or two your kids and parents may find interesting (thanks Sue Waters!).  Link to my classblog.

I can only describe Google Maps as super cool. Find your school’s neighbourhood, add your markers and embed it on your site! What can be better than an interactive map that uses real satellite pictures? The only draw back is that it is a little tricky to embed and edit. This however, this can be over come with a little practise. Link to my classblog.

Search hundreds if not thousands of local and international news organisations. Newspapers, Radio Stations, Television and Web-Based News Sites. Google News allows you to search a relatively narrow field of sourced information.

A simple Web Site creator. Embed other Google content like calendars, maps and Youtube or add other third party content. Google Sites is a new alternative to Wikis.

Have you heard of RSS? Are you unfamiliar with the term “Read my Feeds? Do you have lots of sites that you like to read but you can never get around to checking them all? If this sounds like you need to check out my Google Reader Page.  I can’t get by without my Google Reader! (thanks Common Craft)

YouTube has had some bad press in the ‘Edu-verse’ lately. Many schools choose to use alternative sites like TeacherTube to avoid the perceived evils of YouTube. However, YouTube wins hands down when it comes to ease of use, quality of playback and upload speed. Why bother with an inferior product when the Rolls Royce of video playback is at your door step. Just follow a few simple rules and all will be well. Link to my classblog.

Google Apps is a free web-based IT infrastructure. With Google Apps you are able to create and manage email, messaging and shared calendars for all of your school community. Up-load videos and documents, which only your school community can view. No advertising, and a safe place for your students to learn about creating their own online identity. Check out this video for a short explanation or this video for a more thorough Webinar.

elearn09 is approaching rapidly and I am feeling a mixture of excitement and anxiety.  Excitement because this is my first ulearn experience and I get to have some face to face time with the many awesome NZ Educators.  Anxiety because for some strange reason, must of had one too many coffees that day, I applied to be a presenter and was accepted! Eek!

My presentation is called An eWindow into my Classroom (Breakout Five for any of you who are interested in attending).

Join me as we create a classroom blog that allows parents and whanau to be an active part of classroom learning. We will be using a variety of Web2.0 tools that are free and easy to use. There will be tips and tricks on how to make your blog appealing to students and informative to parents. I will also talk about ways you can engage an audience in the global community. Your classroom blog can be so much more than another publishing platform, it can be an interactive environment that enhances student learning.

I shouldn’t be writing this post, I should be marking books, reflecting on my Teacher Inquiry, or preparing for my presentation at uLearn09 (hehehe, yep they accepted me! Wooo Hooo) but as my Grandmother would delight in exclaiming … “that man has really put a bee in your bonnet hasn’t he!” and by ‘that man’ I mean Marc Prensky. I am not sure if I am breaking any copy right laws, sorry if I am, but here is the article he wrote that really got my knickers in a twist (another of my Grandmother’s favourites).

The article is entitled “Engage Me or Enrage Me” What Today’s Learners Demand. Now before I continue with my rant, I must equivocally express my opinion on digital technologies in the classroom (though if you haven’t guessed from my previous posts by now, I must wonder about your inference skills).

I heart eLearning, bring it on! If it enhances learning it’s going into my classroom programme, if not just give me some time and I will find a way in which it will. Is that clear enough?

I am Pro-eAnything2.0.

However, Prensky’s article has really upset me. He has implied that the only way in which we can truly engage students is through games based learning. I believe that this is a dangerous mantra to evangelise. While many gaming platforms are wonderful learning environments, the majority of Prensky’s reasoning and examples weigh heavily on the negative side of the scales. This article starts alarm bells ringing in my head. I want a digitally enhanced 21 Century classroom. I however, do not want games-based, instant gratification, user-centred classroom Prensky seems to be advocating.

Prensky begins well enough, describing his classic classification of the three types of student us educators would of encountered at one point or another, a fair point but over simplified in my opinion. But then he makes this strange statement when reminiscing over his time teaching in a poor area of New York City.

The big difference from today is this: the kids back then didn’t expect to be engaged by everything they did. There were no video games, no CDs, no MP3s—none of today’s special effects. Those kids’ lives were a lot less rich—and not just in money: less rich in media, less rich in communication, much less rich in creative opportunities for students outside of school. Many if not most of them never even knew what real engagement feels like.

What does he mean? Did children sit around staring at blank walls not knowing what to do with themselves? How did a child play back then without a control in their hand? How did one play baseball or tennis before the invention of the Nintendo Wii, or sing a song before Sing Star on the Play Station 2? Hmmm how indeed?

I will not insult your intelligence by describing the childhood past times of the “Digital Immigrant”. But I will question this. What exactly do you consider to be engagement? Is engagement the same as being interested? Is it having fun? How about just paying attention? Or is engagement more than this surface interest? I believe that true educational engagement is a process where by the learner is actively inter-acting with their learning environment, evoking cognitive stimulation from which the learner is able to create their own content with which they share (still thinking and refining this definition).

Prensky’s now goes on to list examples of the ways “All students we teach …” are engaged by various digital wonders. Think very carefully and see if you can count how many of these examples include the student creating their own content through cognitive stimulation. I will add learning intentions to help you.

Here we go:
Downloading Songs – We are learning to create playlists.
Rapping, Lip syncing and Singing Karaoke – We are learning to move our lips in time to music like Brittany Spears.
Mixing our own music or making movies – We are learning to tell a story through music or pictures (well he gets my approval for that one but the rubbish is still winning 2 to 1)
Playing Video Games - We are learning to repeat and repeat and repeat a stage (not unlike rote learning) until we can pass it.
Checking email, IM and talking to my friends – We are learning how to talk to our friends in other ways than just the telephone.
Buying things - We are learning how to spend our parents money.
Playing on a portable console or GameBoy – I am learning how to squint and sit in the shade so the sun doesn’t glare on my small screen.

And finally, this one gets special quotation marks

“…some may do the extreme sports that are possible with twenty-first-century equipment and materials.”(WTF?) – We are learning to bungy jump and parachute after school everyday because my parents are so rich, NOT!

It would seem to me the final score is Rubbish 6; Strange and Unlikely Example 1; and True Engagement 1! Hmmmm

As would seem logical, Prensky goes on to explain that school is not engaging because it does not include gaming (did you know that Prensky is the CEO of a games-based learning company?). School doesn’t have the fast paced action of today’s top selling games. School doesn’t have thrilling battle graphics or the flashing lights or awesome sound effects. Where are the graphics constantly moving on screen? You can’t build your heroes, kill the bad guys, save your friends. You can practise your awesome skills over and over and over again until you clock it, and don’t worry the cheats can help you at the tricky bits, just google them! Shut the curtains, dim the lights (atmosphere …), don’t worry about the time there’s no clock on the console (if you can read the time in the first place), watch that little character running around the screen, it’s almost hypnotising.

Have I ever mentioned that I used to work in a pub? The Whakatane Hotel to be exact, as well as serving on the bar, I also managed the little casino with its eighteen Pokey Machines (Slot Machines for you Americans out there). I once ask one of my very regular customers why he enjoyed playing them (even though he lost more money than he won) his answer surprised me. He said that is was the cool flashing lights, the fun sound effects and “I guess I like watching the way the graphics move on the screen”. Weird?? Those games sure knew how to hook their punters. I didn’t really like being in the Pokey room. It had very small windows, so it was always very dim, the same tunes played over and over again, strangely hypnotic, and it was very frustrating that there was never a clock in there.

I agree that schools need to move forward into the 21st century. I also agree that there are real educational benefits to some gaming platforms. But are all of these games really beneficial? Do they really endow these amazing skills upon the user? Will a child really “master systems ten times more complex than algebra, understand systems ten times more complex than the simple economics we require of them, and read far above their grade level” just because they can clock (to clock a game means to finish it) …

“the three most popular (i.e., best-selling) computer and video games in the marketplace. They were, as of June 2004: City of Heroes, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban, an action game for the PlayStation 2; and Rise of Nations, a real-time strategy game for the PC.”

Just because a child can Command and Conquer vast nations, vanquish a pack of Dementors and an evil wizard or command a squad of Navy Seals online, doesn’t mean he can do it in real life (and do we really want him to?)

The final ‘Bee’ in my aforementioned bonnet is that Prensky seems to celebrate, and advocate the engagement of a 4 year old with a complex and graphically violent video game named Halo 2. (Double WTF???).

Prensky explains that

“On a recent BBC show Child of Our Time, a four-year-old who was a master of the complex video game Halo 2 was being offered so-called “learning games” that were light-years below his level, to his total frustration and rage.”

I suggest that the possible frustration and rage this child is displaying has a direct correlation with the amount of heads he has blown off in his tender years (and maybe a lack of sunlight and exercise has contributed?)

While, Prensky does conclude with the statement that “creating engagement is not about those fancy, expensive graphics but rather about ideas” one must still ask the question – Who’s ideas Mr Prensky? The game writers who will create games that provide students with instant gratification?  The person who creates a game that students just use and not have to contribute to.

Not once has Prensky explicitly mention Web2.0 and students creating their own content to share and interact with a global learning community. I am sorry Mr Prensky but I do not agree with your view of the digital world! Being a “Digital Native” is about realising that you are an intelligent CONTRIBUTOR, not a ‘give it to me’ USER. (By the way, what’s up with your website Mr Prensky, it’s not very engaging?)

A new climate change campaign has just been launched here in New Zealand. This campaign is called:

The aim of this campaign is to support our government to make a bold and positive choice to significantly reduce carbon emissions.

Climate change is happening faster than anyone expected. In December this year world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to Sign On to a global agreement for action. For NZ to do our bit to help avoid catastrophic climate change, John Key needs to go to Copenhagen and and Sign On to reduce New Zealand’s emissions by 40 per cent before 2020.

So, I hope all of you educators out there will indulge me and Sign Up to Sign On! After all of the children we are learning with are our future and we need to let them have fair go of it.

With only one week left in Term Two my classroom blog, The Wocket Spot, is in full swing.  As I mentioned in an early post the goal of this class blog is to provide parents with link into the goings on in our classroom – an eWindow The hook I decided to use, to entice parents to comment, was a  “My Mum is Smarter than Your Dad” post.  While the kids were over the moon at being able to prove they were quicker than me, it has taken 6 weeks for a parent to post comment.  While I find this disappointing, I am more puzzled about the fact that the parent are on the blog, they have told me while picking up their kids, and they are quite chuffed about beating my score but they still will not add a comment!  Why????

It is really frustrating. Students are constantly telling me how much they and their families enjoy our blog.  One student even brought in their father’s printed out certificate from the Basic Facts Challenge, yet still no comment.  I know it is being used and valued by our class families, they tell me every day, but why won’t they comment!!!!  It’s sad but I chase comments like the paparazzi chase Brittany.

Anyway, it is time to get over myself and talk about the good bits!

Motivation to write and interact with an audience outside of the classroom has been at an all time high since we went live.  Comment boxes are just the right size for Year 3 and 4 (Grade 2 and 3) students. Five super juicy, interesting sentences are always better than two pages of waffle.  We have published two comments this term – one was about their favourite part of The Witches, By Roald Dahl and the second was a descriptive paragraph about a piece of art.

Time to show off a clever idea!  I was playing around with Flickr and embedding slideshows.  I had originally just intended to use the slideshow to display the students art. However, when I had embedded it realised that I had forgotten to label them, DOH.  Now wait for it … here comes the clever idea! I decided to turn it into a guessing game.  The students had to describe their art, a loopy lizard, in a juicy and interesting way so that their parents could guess which one was theirs.  Eureka!  The kids loved it, and their writing was fantastic (some of it was a bit over ripe, but who am I to fence in an artist!). Why not hot have a go yourself, some of them are quite funny in an other written kind of way “It’s eyes are like a crazy cat’s claws closing in the dark stormy night.”

Apart from the comment deprivation from the parents, comments from teachers and other classes are growing in momentum.  Early on in the life of The Wocket Spot, I decided to add a Visitor’s Book.  While perusing through other class blogs, I noticed that there was never a place where I could add a general “Hello” comment to the blog.  The Visitor’s Book was my solution to this little problem. Now our visitors have a place to say hello, and add a face to those anonymous spots on the Clustr Map.  This page is now the most popular page, with the students often checking who was the latest to visit our little blog.  It is here that I must say thank you to my Tweeps (friends) on Twitter! I have tweeted requests for other teachers to visit our site and now have several very interesting people in exotic places around the world visiting the kids.  Thank you all! They really do love it!

As well as adults we now have lots of other classes link to our Friends Blogroll.  I think that this is the most powerful part of blogging – making connections with other kids and their learning.  Here is a list of our friends in case you would like to visit them too (go on … you will make their day, especially if you live in an interesting place!)

• http://glenview9.wordpress.com/
• http://room2kaiparaflats.blogspot.com/
• http://room10sfx.blogspot.com/
• http://room5ncs2009.blogspot.com/
• http://supersuccessfulsix.blogspot.com/
• http://whatsthebuzz.edublogs.org/

While I am still pondering the parent conundrom, I believe that I have finally hit the nail on the head when it comes to a Class Blog that appeals to parents, students and teachers alike.  It provides parents with an eWindow into our classroom and allows the kids to continue interacting with their learning.  I will keep working on those parents (maybe I need to hire a PR guy) to add comments to our blog, however I won’t be too fussy.  Verbal comments are just as good (I can’t share them and show off that’s all) and after all I am doing it for the kids …