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Shanti was interested in hearing how Skype was used in Schools. We connected when our timezones were decent for the both of us via , yes, you guessed it via Skype. She just informed me by email that her article Skype Gives Students Window on the World was published.  Of course, Silvia was interviewed and Wes Fryer, was too.

Enduring Understandings:

• Online behaviors and actions impact the access and safety of personal information.

• Responsible use of online tools can help protect the personal information of others.

Essential Question:

When and where should we be teaching students about their digital footprint?

This weeks readings were from Kim Komondo’s Your Online Reputation Can Hurt Your Job Search and Protect Your Digital Footprint from kutv.com

I was fortunate enough to have our afternoon presenter, Silvia Tolisano, stay with me after her presentation at ISB.  We discussed in depth one night the need to own your domain name and those of your children. Thankfully my name and those of my children are unusual enough to still be available domain names.  What I have realised I need to do is take charge of my blog name so that I can continue to control what happens with it.  I’d not really given any thought to what might happen if someone decided to “kick me off” my name.  All my thoughts and ideas would disappear over time as someone began to use my name legally.  Whilst I would like to believe that no-one would do that deliberately, I realise that not everyone  is as idealistic in web ethics as I am.

Google Alerts, RSS feeds of Google Search Terms, Technorati and Edublogs’ incoming links  have always kept me informed of how my digital footprint is impacting on others.  I believe it is necessary to keep an eye on how and when our names are being used on the internet for a variety of reasons.

Clarence Fisher also believes that tracking your digital footprint is an essential part of working online and these are essential basic skills for us and for our students as well. His Digital Footprint blog post is an informative read as he shares how he tracks his digital footprint and the reasons why he does it.

It is great to see what people are writing about you. It gives you a chance to respond to posts people write and also it keeps your finger on the pulse of any ongoing conversations.”

I listened to Ewan McIntosh, at an unconference session at Learning2.0 in Shanghai, about how he has already begun to protect and nurture his young daughter’s digital footprint before she is even old enough to walk let alone blog!  I remember thinking how that was just a little bit over-the-top but as my learning journey continues down the path of 21st Century Digital Literacy, it has become more obvious that looking after your digital footprint is the same as looking after any of your tools in your toolbox and it’s the same as looking after your own reputation.  YOU need to do it – no one else is going to.

Online safety and digital citizenship in the classroom when working with blogs, wikis and any other tools that leave a footprint of ourselves online is a message that we, as educators, have a responsibility/need to continually push at ANY level.  It’s no different to teaching encouraging students to respect themselves, or respect one another in any space they are in.

Only this time the space is the internet and this space keeps a record of all behaviour – the good, the bad and the ugly.

And anybody can look at it.  Anytime.  Anywhere.

Image Attribution:  TeachingSagittarian

As I reflect on our involvement in this project, I wonder what this has done for my students.  At first I thought that it really didn’t bother my students one way or another that we were connecting with so many different classrooms around the world.  But then, their excitement hardly ever shows – unusual I know, but seriously true.  I worry about that because they’re only 5th graders – what’s happened to their natural “wonderment and awe?”

However, my mother taught me really well – not to judge a book by it’s cover – so I decided if I was truly going to reflect on using this tool in the classroom, I ought to ask those that have the biggest stakehold – my students.

Here’s the questions I asked them and a sample of their replies.  You be judge of the value of using a tool like skype in the classroom with your students.

How do you feel stopping for 5-10 minutes, to skype with a class in other country?

Yes, we should keep on making connection around the world, because it helps us understand about different parts of the world and their cultures, but mainly because it’s fun.

Skyping with another class in another country for 5-10 minutes is great because you learn about their school, their way of life, their beliefs, and their culture. I have learned many different things about the topics in the previous sentence.

I like the idea of taking 5-10 minutes off to skype because it is a fast and easy way to communicate and learn about the other place we are skyping in a short time.

Do you learn anything when we talk to other students from around the world?

Yes!
what the weathers like
what the other kids in that school play in recess
and other unfamilliar subjects we don’t do.

I learn about other people’s lives and it’s fun to compare them to mine.

I have learned about other countrys, culture, about them, and the location that they are in

Do you use Skype at home to connect with family/friends?

I’ve never connected on skype with my friends in America but I connect with my family in America except the skype that we do is we call them with our computer and it calls their real phone not their computer so that means that we can’t use a camera so that’s how it is different.

At home I Skype with my Grandparents in the USA, and my parents have other contacts in their Skype “phonebook.”

I use skype a lot at home because i skype my dad a lot when ever he leaves the country and i really like to skpe my friends.

I don’t use Skype at home.

No

What have you learned about communicating with others using Skype in classroom?

I have learned that on Skype calls you have to speak loudly and clearly, so the person on the other end of the line can hear you and understand you.

I learned that communicating with other people around the world can be very easy and simple.

Should we continue to make connections with other classrooms around the world?  Why? / Why not?

Also i really think that this helps people in our class to because you finally get a chance to say things about yourself and were you live to other people around the world.

I think that we should continue making connections with other schools because you will get to meet more people and learn more about the place that they are at.

I think we should keep skyping with other classrooms around the world because you learn about other people’s experiences and daily lives. Afterwards, you can compare and contrast them with your experiences and life.

I think we should keep doing skype calls but a thing we could do to make it better is if the calls had a bit more purpose because right now we arent getting anything really meaningful about the country we skype with.

I was thinking this was pretty honest and valuable feedback.  My class are relatively well-connected with family and friends that live around the world – being International families means they need to, they like the fast and simple stuff, they enjoy learning about students just like them and comparing themselves and they like meeting new people.

My take-away ……. Keep using skype to make connections and have conversations around the world – keep it short – skyping is fun but it needs a purpose.  Even in Grade 5 students are looking for the purpose in whatever it is they being asked to do.

Image Attribution: 'Skype Phone' www.flickr.com/photos/23456072@N00/41676755

You can only make rain using 1/60 sec.

(Courtesy of Understanding Shutter Speed by Bryan Peterson)

Rules:
* Get the book nearest to you. Right now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th sentence.
* Write this sentence – either here or on your blog.
* Copy these instructions as commentary of your sentence.
* Don’t look for your favorite book or your coolest but really the nearest.

The extremely wonderful Kim Cofino, graciously hosted ISB’s first K-12 Online Conference LAN party last Saturday morning, in downtown Bangkok. She’d already downloaded most of the videos, set up the TV and sound-system AND had breakfast on the table with helpful supplies from us all.  Of course I must mention that Kim has a presentation along with another fabulous educator, Jen Wagner in this years K-12 Online Conference.  “Connecting Classroom Across Continents: Planning and Implementing Globally Collaborative Projects” in the Kicking It Up a Notch strand.

The conversation was flowing, rich and authentic as we shared with our fellow colleagues what we thought might be of interest to them to watch.  The two presentations decided upon were Chris Betcher’s  and Alice Barr, Bob Sprankle and Cheryl Oak’s Keynote in the Getting Started strand.  This was to be the 3rd time I’d seen Chris Betcher‘s presentation “I Like Delicious Things: an introduction to tagging and folksonomies“ and STILL I learnt more tips from it.  The amazing Silvia Tolisano skyped in from Jacksonville, Florida and did a fabulous job of explaining the difference between delicious and tagging to one very keen teacher sitting in the room who really wanted to understandwhat she’d just witnessed in a presentation.

Our LAN party was so successful and so authentic that it was decided we just could leave it at one party.  This format is now set to become a regular occurrence, rotating between venues close to school and venues downtown.  It will always be open for everyone, anytime they feel they can make it. There’s a wealth of talent and knowledge and ideas out there just waiting for us to tap into. And the conversations that arise out of just watching a presentation for 12- 15 minutes is phenomenal! I really can’t think of a better way to receive personal Professional Development.  What’s even better is the  K-12 Online Conference is available anytime convenient to you.  Heck, there’s still K-12 Online Conference 2006 and 2007 presentations on my list to watch that I still have access to!

Here’s to the next LAN party in two weeks time – if you live in Bangkok – hope to  see you there – if not, and you think you might want to skype in and be part of the conversation, we’d love to hear from you!

I wonder which presentations we’ll watch this time?

Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!

The timing was perfect – albeit they were having a wine (early evening) and I was having a coffee (early the next morning), the conversation was very interesting and most enjoyable.

My understanding of how Silvia had set up the LAN party was there were several rooms set up with various conference presentations running in them so that teachers could choose which presentations interested them the most.  Then when those presentations had been viewed, everyone met together in one room and discussed what they watched and what they understood or took from it.

The power of sharing ideas, thoughts and understandings, whether you are having conversations face to face or skyping into them is so strong.  The power of discussing what you’ve seen, what you’ve heard and how that affects you is even stronger.  There were presentations I heard teachers talk about that I hadn’t considered watching but now I will because I’m curious and inspired by their thoughts.  I’m now personally connected to some of those teachers even though the chances of us meeting face to face are relatively small.

If you haven’t considered watching K-12 Online Conference 2008, I really think you ought to.  And then find someone who’s watched it too and have a conversation with them – they don’t even have to be living in the same place as you!  Better still, inspire someone else to start watching K-12 Online Conference presentations too.

I wish I was as creative as Silvia and Dean when it comes to graphics but thank goodness I have myskitch!

1. VoiceThread – Love the simplicity, love the connectivity, love the interactiveness, love it, love it, love it!

2. Skitch.com This webservice works hand in hand with the Mac application Skitch to give you 1-click uploading of images for fast and fun image sharing (embedding codes provided). What really makes this app awesome is the ease at which you can capture an image, add writing, arrows, etc and embed it just as quickly on your blog/wiki etc.

3. Technospud Online Projects 4 Teachers – I am sure that I would not have forged such amazing online friendships, and been involved in fantastic Collaborative projects if it were not for Jen Wagner and the amazing work that she does for educators of all levels. Now there’s a technospudprojects ning too!

4. Wikispaces – Wikispaces rock! ‘Nuff said!

5. Edublogs / Learnerblogs – I love blogging and truely believe that the value of blogging in the classroom is worth the trials and tribulations of getting students blogging in the classroom. I could not have done it without Edublogs!

What’s your list of 5 favourites for 2007?