50 Web 2.0 Ways To Tell a Story

I was reading a review of a concert with Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Café troupe the other day, and was struck by how storytelling appeals to a vast audience. We all have stories to tell and we all seem to value the stories of characters we know and love. Maybe that’s what brings us closer to each other – that shared time of experiences we can understand and appreciate.

A website a colleague brought to my attention, CogDogRoo, has instructions on how to:
Design a basic story concept that can be created in a web 2.0 tool using images, audio, and/or video.
And then create it quickly using one of 50 different web tools that are free to use.

This kind of approach can be very motivating for all writers. Audio and video and image files can be embedded in these stories, and the range of possibilities is endless.

His steps:

• Step 1 - Outline a Story
• pick an idea (he has a number of ideas on how to do this)
• write out the elements of the story in point form
• for each bullet, list possible ideas for visual or media metaphors you will need
• Step 2 - Find Media for your Story
  
  • he has links to a number of websites that contain images, audio and video files
• Step 3 - Select a Tool to Build your Story
  
  • Slideshow Tools
  • Timeline Tools
  • Mixer Tools
  • Comic Tools
  • Scrapbook Tools
  • Map Tools
  • Flickr Tools / Ideas
  • Audio Tools
  • Video Tools
  • Presentation Tools
  • New Tools

21st Century Skills or 15th Century Skills?

(Adapted from the Wandering Ink blog)

Book shelves are filled with personal help and development books. All lead to common goals of happiness, success and fulfillment.
Using Leonardo da Vinci as an example, Michael J. Gelb presents 7 habits, world views and critical principles that helped lead a renaissance man to success.
I wonder if these can be transferable to our classrooms and schools? What do we do to help promote these ideals?

How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael J. Gelb
http://www.amazon.com/How-Think-Like-Leonardo-Vinci/dp/0440508274


1. Curiosita
What is it? Intense and insatiable curiosity; constantly learning due to a desire to ask and answer questions.
Does this ever happen? In schools, for the most part, students learn only what the teacher decides they will learn. Student questions will often go unanswered if they lead away from the material (go off-topic), or if there are time constraints on what must be learned that leave no time for these questions in class.

2. Dimostrazione
What is it? Constant testing of knowledge through experience and persistence; accepting of and learning from mistakes
Does this ever happen? Except in the sciences (and sometimes even then), knowledge is simply given and expected to be absorbed rather than questioned and tested. On tests and labs, wrong answers cost the students their grades, therefore it becomes unacceptable to make mistakes. Mistakes are less about learning experiences and more about losing marks. Questioning societal norms is a very negative thing, even if they don’t make sense.

3. Sensazione
What is it? Fully noticing and observing things with all senses, but especially sight (seeing things that others miss, seeing the details).
Does this ever happen? Except in the sciences and a handful of other subjects, students are usually taught passively through the use of only one sense, listening, or maybe sight (diagrams, photos, etc.). Classrooms and assignments may be un-stimulating to most (or all) senses.

4. Sfumato
What is it? An acceptance of ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty out of a realization that life is not black and white (also an art technique using shadow famous for its use in da Vinci’s paintings)
Does this ever happen? A student’s answer is either right or wrong, usually with no middle ground tolerated. Standardized tests are mostly multiple choice, and in the case of an ambiguous result, students must choose the best possible answer, not a possible answer, even though more than one is really correct. Life and its problems have more than one right answer; multiple choice questions have only one best answer.

5. Arte/Scienza
What is it? Interest in both the arts and sciences and interdisciplinary work that combines them
Does this ever happen? High school courses are most often strictly defined as an “Art” or a “Science”, and they rarely mingle; interdisciplinary courses at this level are rare. In college, an undergraduate usually receives either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science, though there is more flexibility here than in high school. Scientists and artists have their own professional domains which almost never overlap.

6. Corporalita
What is it? Keeping one’s body in good shape; attending to nutrition, fitness, and general physical well-being
Does this ever happen? Physical Education programs are being severely cut, and obesity has been described as an epidemic. Junk food is readily available and sometimes may be the only option in a high school cafeteria. Fast food is cheaper and more convenient than healthier food.

7. Connessione
What is it? Acceptance and appreciation for the interconnectedness of everything in life; interdisciplinary approaches and thinking
Does this ever happen? Facts and concepts are taught in specific classes that are independent of each other, and students are moved from individual class to individual class without knowledge of how the two might be connected. Boundaries like that between art and science are rarely crossed or their connectedness even explained. Facts and ideas might be taught with no explanation of the links between them (i.e., learning individual details and facts but not the big picture).

8. Drive, energy, intense focus (from various studies on creativity)
What is it? Energy and desire to focus intensely on one’s work and interests (often the same thing); merging of work and play
Does this ever happen? Each class is allotted a certain period of time that is inflexible. Despite the student’s interest in a particular class, they must conform to this schedule. Many schools have required curriculum that force a student to give up desirable or necessary electives for core classes they may not need. Students must go to school and all perform well academically, despite their individual talents and aspirations. Musicians and artists especially must break focus on their real interests to attend required academic classes, and may be too drained to work on their own by the end of the school day.

9. Confidence, willingness to take risks, and tolerance of failure (from various studies on creativity)
What is it? Willing to continue on with creative work despite rejection; ability to sell oneself and one’s talents
Does this ever happen? Many creative people must face multiple rejections until their idea is sold, and they must accept that if their idea or creative contribution is too radical, society may not yet be ready for it (many artists and writers have only been recognized after their deaths). However, as mentioned above, mistakes and failure are not tolerated in schools and this learned attitude may carry on throughout life. Instead of learning the value of taking risks, students are taught to fear any mistakes that might result. Students are often “babied” - all team mates get a ribbon or a trophy for “participation” - and do not gain the real-world skills they need to sell themselves.

10. Independence, introversion (from various studies on creative creativity)
What is it? Willingness to spend lots of time alone working and honing skills; acceptance of possible isolation
Does this ever happen? The social climate of high school severely discourages spending time alone, especially when spent “working”, and loners are isolated and considered antisocial and friendless. Refusing to conform and “sticking out from the crowd” is highly discouraged by peers and teachers. Creative individuals may have to accept that if the world is not ready for their ideas, they may find few people who understand and support them.

Cyberbullying

I recently read an article from eSchool talking about how cyberbullying is on the rise. The report states that :

As many as one in three U.S. children have been ridiculed or threatened through computer messages, according to one estimate of the emerging problem of cyber bullying.

Another new study found the problem is less common, with one in 10 kids reporting online harassment.

Regardless of which numbers you cite, at least 10% of the respondents had been victims of bullying online.

The article concludes with:

“Bullying might be common, but it’s not normal. Teachers, school leaders, parents, and students need to recognize bullying as the antisocial behavior it is and do more to stop it before more children are irreparably harmed”.

This article reminded me of a Rant from Rick Mercer's TV show, The Mercer Report. He offers words of hope to victims of bullying.

Go to his site, http://www.cbc.ca/mercerreport/backissues.php?season=5 and select the November 27 Episode. His Rant is 2 minutes long.

Sync OpenOffice Docs with Google Docs

If you use OpenOffice, this may be useful for your.

The OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs extension imports documents from Google Docs and Spreadsheets to OpenOffice.org and exports from OO.org to GDocs so you can work with your docs both online and off as you see fit. Whether you're primarily a Google Docs or OO.org fan, this desktop-to-web integration seems like an excellent way to take your docs with you whether you're online or off, and if nothing else is a quick and simple way to backup your local documents to the internet.

The OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs extension is free, works anywhere you've installed OpenOffice.org (Windows, Mac, or Linux). Web site DocSyncer is looking to do similar things for your Microsoft Office docs, but right now it's in an invite-only beta. OO.org2GDocs is here right now.

http://lifehacker.com/software/featured-download/sync-openofficeorg-docs-with-google-docs-332055.php

Online Text to Speech Tools

Once in a while, all of us face a need to get some text synthesized into speech. Maybe we want to know how someone would pronounce a complicated word, or sometimes we just want an entire passage to be read out to us.
These online tools are a great help when you face such a requirement. Some of them will allow you only to synthesize a small passage; others would read out entire PDF or DOC files to you!

1. Vozme: vozMe an online text to speech tool with an ultra-simple interface; a baby could use it! You have a large text box where you type or copy-paste whatever you want to convert to speech, and click the 'Create MP3' button. That's it. A new window would open, and in a few seconds, your MP3 file would start playing. Large chunks of text were translated - the text field seems to accept a pile of text easily.
2. Expressivo: This text to speech conversion tool from Expressivo has a maximum limit of 200 characters. So large chunks or text at one go are out. But it is easy enough to use. Type or copy-paste your text, choose one of the four voice options (You have female US-English, female Romanian, male Polish and female Polish accents as options), and hit Read Me.
3. Cepstral: At Cepstral, the text to speech conversion converts the text into a .WAV file. Type in the text, hit Say It, and you will be asked to download s small WAV file. The ability to save the file is a great convenience here.
4. Ivona Speech Synthesizer: The Ivona Speech Synthesizer text to speech conversion tool online has a charcter limit of 200, and the same voice options as Expressivo. Ivona, however, allows you to save the converted speech file as an MP3 for private, non-commercial use.
5. SpokenText: SpokenText is packed with features - but it wants you to register, a small hassle. The registration is a bit too comprehensive - but I think it's worth filling it out. Once you click on the link in the activation email, your registration is ready to go. Log in, and click on the button 'Create a New recording'. Choose from one of the 5 voice options, choose a words-per-minute speed for spoken text and - there is no text box! You have to upload a PDF, .txt, .DOC or .PPT file.
6. Talkr: Talkr is not so straightforward - but that's only if you land up on the site looking for a text to speech synthesizer. Talkr is not for that exactly - have an RSS feed you want read out? Yes, this one is for instant podcasts - it converts RSS feeds into MP3 files for podcast! Once you sign up, all you need to do is to point it towards a feed of your own or someone else's and it converts it into an MP3 file.

Resources and ideas for teachers

Good afternoon folks.
The countdown to Christmas is rapidly progressing there are very few days remaining in 2007.
Temperatures have dropped, snow has fallen and we’ve all dug out our boots and parkas.

Resources and ideas for teachers

Edublogs: (http://edublogs.org/)
Sometimes you just want a simple way to distribute information to your students, or even other teachers. Edublogs is an education community built on WordPress-powered blogs. It's free, and like most blogging platforms, you can embed video, podcasts, etc.

Edublogs offers 10 ways to use an edublog for teaching, which includes class publications and newsletters, online discussions, allowing student blogs, and adding multimedia. If you have a webcam, you can upload video files to YouTube or TeacherTube and embed those into your blog.


10 ways to use your edublog to teach: (http://edublogs.org/10-ways-to-use-your-edublog-to-teach/)

There are many ways you can use an edublog in your teaching, here are ten to get you started:


There are a vast number of active, educational bloggers who write about a wide variety of topics and issues. Check out http://edublogs.org/2007/11/26/edubloggers-and-the-edublog-awards-2007/ to learn about the best of this community.

Camtasia and SnagIt: These tools from Techsmith have recently been made free to teachers. Check out John Goldsmith’s description of Camtasia on the Virtual School’s Online Community site. Links to download these applications can be found there as well.

You can even embed files from Techsmith's Snagit screen still capture and Camtasia Studio screen video capture applications in your blog.


Some Science Links:

FreeScienceLectures – links to videos demonstrating a number of concepts. (http://www.freesciencelectures.com/)

SciVee – a site dedicated to the free and widespread dissemination and comprehension of science. This is a partnership between the US Public Library of Science (PLoS), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC).
http://www.scivee.tv/


Mindomo: (http://www.mindomo.com/) One of the most effective ways to brainstorm ideas is with mindmapping. This is because a mindmap allows a lot of freedom in terms of how you add new bits of information. Mindmaps are great for organizing information hierarchically, producing project plans, managing projects, critical thinking, and hundreds more uses. Because most good mindmapping software allows you to expand or collapse nodes, you can switch between high-level and low-level views.

Web-based mindmaps have not been around as long as the desktop versions, but a few of them have advanced features. Mindomo is amongst the most sophisticated, with more features than some low-end desktop mindmapping applications such as Freemind (free). Mindomo, amongst others, allows document sharing. Comapping allows real-time collaboration. Other alternatives include MindMeister and Bubbl.us. Most of these web-based apps have both free and paid options.


Online Professional Learning Series: Advanced Placement Online
Mon, Dec 10, 2007
3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Brent Sawatzky from SD 23 will discuss online Advance Placement courses.
This is an Elluminate Live session. Log from http://www.learnnowbc.gov.bc.ca/educators/Rural_Ed%20ucation/Prof_Learning_Login.aspx



Online discussion: Dec. 10 -21:
Teaching in the 21st Century: New skills for teachers?

Do teachers need to acquire new skills to prepare students for a productive and meaningful life in 21st Century? What are these new skills and what kinds of professional development do we require in order to change our practices? Do we really need new skills or do we need to shift our priorities? If Michael Fullan is correct when he writes, “Educational change depends on what teachers do and think, then we need to hear from you.

Join the Virtual School Online Community moderators, Greg Kochanuk Dave Gregg, John Goldsmith, and David LeBlanc, in an asynchronous panel discussion and help us begin to critically consider what we need to do as teachers.


Please forward this to your colleagues who may be interested.

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