Ok. So I can upload my silly power point to google.docs and then to my blog page. Too easy again. How to do it: Onto my google account. Select more ...more from the top menu. Find 'docs'. Upload from there. When the powerpoint - must be .ppt - is onto the directory, it then has to be published. You are given a URL to send or you can imbed a bit of html into your blog. Copied this and went off to my blog. Once there, choose "Customise" then "add gadget". Had some trouble as it was on the side screen and too big. Tried adjusting html but it cut the powerpoint in half. Dragged it to the centre. Terrible poem, couldn't get it to flow, but I've had enough playing. Photos were accessed from Microsoft Clipart. No copyright infringement as long as it is for personal use. I suppose I should have acknowledged the soource!

Week 10

Working and studying doesn't leave much time for anything else. However, this study has made me work my way through all sorts of internet "things" that I would not normally find the time for. I have created a twitter account - this may be a good place to shout about my world population explosion phobia - but I haven't done anything about that yet. The very concept of "What are you doing now?" seems to require a family and friends link (who else gives a damn what you are doing now) - none of my third world crowd are at that stage yet. Not even my daughters. Also learnt about nibipedia - still in its early stages, but it should take off - tagging video clips with information from wikipedia. It has good educational potential.
On a more humourous note, I came across this utube talk by Sir Ken Robinson http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html - no close relative, but he puts across a strong arguement for changing our education sytem. Have had a very interesting time roaming about an educational technology forum Innovate. I am not confident as a contributor, but I certainly enjoy being a fly on the wall. All part of learning?

Week 5. A bad week

This hasn't been a good week. A good friend of ours, Stewart, committed suicide in Malawi - this is our third close friend to do so within the last 5 years. I put it down to loss of identity with us all having to move on to other countries in our middle years. Feelngs of guilt for being so far away and the desperate watching of my own dear fellow as he struggles to find meaning in his Australian life - have overriden my ability to concentrate on the mundane (like studying). Why worry about technology when our ex-employees are struggling for survival in Zimbabwe. Life goes on ----





Have looked a little closer at the "Followers" link on these blogs. For example, Al has become a follower of mine. If I click on his follower icon, I can see his blog profile and access it from my blog. I can also see who else he is linked to and access those blogs. Good idea for a small classroom network. However, I want access to the blogs that I am now following from here. Came across this "With the Blogger Reading List, you can read all of the latest posts from your favorite blogs right on your Blogger Dashboard! Your Blogger Reading List, conveniently located under your list of blogs on your dashboard, enables you to subscribe to any blog with a feed. It will update instantly each time a new post is published on any blog in your Reading List. " Just can't find the Reading List! OK. Found. Select Customize on the top RHS and the dashboard link appears. This allows viewing of one's profile etc, and latest posting to subscribed blogs. Before finding this, I became a follower of myself! And then I could see all my links to other blogs with one obvious lick. I managed to remove myself as a follower (seemed a little self-centred!), but hav decided to reinstate this as it seemed an easier viewing option. My own little RSS feeder right here on my blog.
All for today.

Week 4: Posting to other blogs

Not much learned this week. I attempted to post to another student's blog - after much typing, I just couldn't see what option to choose to upload my post. Finally selected google and gave my details and was on my way. I gather that blogger.com is associated with google (thanks to fellow student Alun) so I probably had registered with google anyway. I note that even now, it doesn't neccessarily accept my post first time round.

Made some pages on my wiki. I haven't got my class of students (my 2 daughters) to contribute yet so I may have to enlist a few cousins etc. I can somehow see a lot more potential for wikis in a classroom situation. Nice big project in history or geography (even my area of maths - history of various mathematicians) with each student having their area of research etc. I need to check on the restrictions of editing though. Wouldn't want student A to edit the work of student B in an unkind manner. Am I being cynical? Have I taught for too long?

This week I am going to learn how to upload a photo slide show into my blog - with the help of my new teacher. This could be an interesting exercise. I will now google 'picasso web albums'

Next day. Thanks to Alun. As you can see - I have managed it! Now to recall the steps before I forget.

• I got on to picasaweb.google.com and made up an account. Read that I could upload software for the picasa albums which basically collects all photos on one's hard drive. As our computer is very slow and old, I didn't want to do that.
• Instead, one can upload 5 photos at a time directly into picasaweb without any extra software - so I chose that option and uploaded 5 photos with ease
• It then looked like I could create a slide show by selecting my album and creating a link on the righthand side. Had to copy some code to embed in my site. Arriving back at my blog, I couldn't see where to embed the code so began another search (maybe this will be useful on my wiki)
• Answer was to select "layout" in my blog, then "insert a slideshow", then select my picasaweb album by providing my account details.

"Too easy" as Australians would say.

WEEK 3: RSS and wikis

Having created a blog site address using bloggger.com, I then read about RSS - Rich Site Summary- although there appears to be other descriptions of the acronym. The reader can subscribe to certain sites (eg news that interests them) rather than having to visit each of these sites. An aggregator then checks the subscribed sites and collects any new posts. If a website has an XML oe RSS logo, this logo will provide the address of the site's feed. Explanation of RSS that I read was at http://www.webblog-ed.com/ .

I signed on at http://www.bloglines.com/ and now have my own few subscribed sites. My main aim was to see how a teacher could use this to have a class list of blogs and be informed of new posts. I have managed to make my own blog one of the feeds by updating my blog profile and providing the URL of my blog, but I am not sure how I would access "students" blogs. It appears that these need to be made public by the individual. I really need to spend more time on this - is it the best option for creating a classroom network?

I have created a group on Facebook that is Private (the group link is at the bottom of the page on Facebook - I struggled to find it initially). This is my theoretical "class" of students group and I have enrolled family members in it. They (my family) are being a bit slow about responding to my request for them to join in. However, I can see a classroom network in the making. I have also created my own family wiki using www.wetpaint.com . This was really easy (and free provided you allow their adds to appear on your page). My family "class" have been notified of its URL and are expected to edit and add to the site - "school project" on our African ancestry. Now, will my class of students be inspired to contribute. Will there be effective learning in creating this online group? Will they see any purpose in collaborating in this manner? I have all the computer tools - it is up to me to use them effectively.

Blog or wiki

So, I needed to get straight in my mind what the difference between a blog and a wiki was. I have been to wikis before and read the conversations there - but then one can also read and comment on blogs. According to wikipedia :

A wiki invites all users to edit any page or to create new pages within the wiki Web site, using only a plain-vanilla Web browser without any extra add-ons.
Wiki promotes meaningful topic associations between different pages by making page link creation almost intuitively easy and showing whether an intended target page exists or not.
A wiki is not a carefully crafted site for casual visitors. Instead, it seeks to involve the visitor in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration that constantly changes the Web site landscape



A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs



So - a topic put out for discussion in an educational setting would use a wiki. - options are set by the creator - as to access allowed to all that join the Wiki site. A blog could be used but the ownership of the site belongs to the creator of it. Pages can't be edited by others, although comments can be posted.

Starting out

I must say that one thing signing up for a course on Technology in Education makes me do is try out the technology that I haven't bothered to try out before. I don't know anyone, personally, that blogs and haven't felt the need to do so until now. Having finally signed up for my own blog, I have instantly seen how easy it is to do so and suddenly the potential it has in education is starting to sink in to my half atrophied brain. The important thing in incorporating Computer Based Resources into education is to be reasonably competent in the usage thereof . Thereafter one can start working on lesson plans that utilise the resources.

This from Stephen Downes:
http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/EducationalBlogging/40493
It seems clear that although blogging can and does have a significant and worthwhile educational impact, this impact does not come automatically and does not come without risks. As many writers have noted, writing a weblog appears in the first instance to be a form of publishing, but as time goes by, blogging resembles more and more a conversation. And for a conversation to be successful, it must be given a purpose and it must remain, for the most part, unconstrained.
One of the criticisms of blogs, and especially student blogs is that the students write about nothing but trivia. Examples can be seen all over the Internet. And how many students, when facing the blogging screen, feel like "Matt," who writes: "Now each time I warily approach writing a blog entry, or start writing it, or actually write it, I end up thinking ‘what is the point?’—and, after all, what is?" When given their own resources to draw on, bloggers, especially young bloggers, can become frustrated and may eventually report having "committed the ultimate blogging sin of losing interest in myself."
As Richardson says, blogging as a genre of writing may have "great value in terms of developing all sorts of critical thinking skills, writing skills and information literacy among other things. We teach exposition and research and some other types of analytical writing already, I know. Blogging, however, offers students a chance to a) reflect on what they are writing and thinking as they write and think it, b) carry on writing about a topic over a sustained period of time, maybe a lifetime, and c) engage readers and audience in a sustained conversation that then leads to further writing and thinking.

So, it is not all plain sailing. But the practical side of using a small blogging network within a school - to communicate with parents, give homework readings etc has amazing potential. One thought did flash through my mind though - instructions / information given via a third party (the internet) allows the truant scholar to not "receive it" or have an access problem which prevented them doing the work etc

I read a very entertaining article about how one should blog - and now can't find it to re-read. One important rule that I must learn is to tag. I will continue the search.