Who is Smik?

Friday 18 July 2008

Using web 2.0 tools to stimulate professional learning

This was a handout prepared for the 2008 CEGSA confereence

Online Communities

Connecting with Others

Monitoring RSS & Blogs
http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=1862

See also RSS Still a Mystery?

Write a blog

Online Professional Development

Easy to access online resources

Online Projects
http://ozprojects.edu.au

RSS Still a Mystery?

This is a handout created for a session at the 2008 CEGSA conference.

For further information see http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/help/rss_help

Also see my earlier blog postings beginning with
http://kerrie-smik.blogspot.com/2007/05/what-is-rss.html

RSS in Plain English: http://www.blip.tv/file/205570/

Aggregators are web places where you can identify the RSS feeds that you want to monitor
You access them via the web from wherever you are
• iGoogle: http://www.google.com/ig
• Pageflakes: http://www.pageflakes.com/
• Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com/
• Blogbridge: http://www.blogbridge.com/
• Google Reader: http://reader.google.com/
• Netvibes: http://www.netvibes.com/
• Newsgator: http://www.newsgator.com/

RSS Readers are generally software that you download and then install on your computerA list of RSS Readers that you can downloadhttp://blogspace.com/rss/readersRssReader - free RSS reader is able to display any RSS and Atom news feed (XML)http://www.rssreader.com/
Feed Reader3 – free RSS readerhttp://www.feedreader.com/
FeedGhost – Requires Windows XP or Windows Vistahttp://www.feedghost.com/

Creating an RSS feed is not nearly as difficult as it once was.

  • The easiest way to go about it is to create a blog and they usually generate an RSS feed.
    http://www.blogger.com/

  • Tumblr is a tool that allows you to generate a blog from a "web journey" and the resultant blog is available as an RSS feed.
    http://www.tumblr.com/

Other sources of RSS feeds

Feed 2 JS tool
http://feed2js.edna.edu.au/
This is a tool that enables you to feed the content of an RSS feed into a web page through Java Script.

Thursday 17 July 2008

What’s in a blog?

What’s in a blog? – Kerrie Smith :
this was created as a handout for the 2008 CEGSA conference

  • Why blog? – what would I get out of blogging?
  • What makes a good blog?
  • How do I get started? Where can I blog?
  • What is a blog roll?
  • How do I watch blogs of others?
  • Support groups
  • Tools to use in your blog
  • Using blogs with students

Why blog?

  • Learn
  • Share
  • Create
  • Collaborate
  • Professional development
  • Reflect
  • Showcase
  • Be part of a learning community
  • Chart your professional journey

What makes good blog?

http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2008/04/27/heres-my-first-five-tips-for-writing-better-blog-posts-what-are-yours/

  • Short paragraphs
  • Headings
  • Hyperlinks
  • Comment on the comments
  • Subscribe to your own feed

What to do with a visually noisy blog - by Christine Martell

The F reading pattern – reading for web content

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

  • Readers first read in a horizontal movement across the top of the page
  • Then a little further down the page, horizontally again
  • Then in a vertical movement down the left side
  • Users won’t read your post word for word
  • The first 2 paragraphs are the most important
  • Start headings, paragraphs, and bullet points with information-carrying words

Getting Started: Places where you can set up your blog

Layout, difficulty of use, and basic tools vary from blog to blog

Sue Waters: http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/getting-started-with-edublogs/

Tools

Monitoring blogs

Using blogs with students

  • Authentic audience
  • Connections between home and school
  • Literacy
  • Reflection
  • Celebrating achievements
  • Engagement with web 2.0 tools
  • Free up the writing process
  • Encourage communication
  • Feedback from others through comments

http://alupton.edublogs.org/class-blogs-management-moderation-and-protection/

Support Groups

http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=1862

Blogging Corner is a place for bloggers, would-be bloggers, and blogging mentors.

http://edubloggerworld.ning.com/

an international network for educational bloggers and friends. A meeting place, as well as a coordinating location for live face-to-face and virtual events