AL-01-06-Richardson_FINAL 11/29/05 12:46 PM Page 6 Teaching with Technology TechTECH ToolsTOOLS FORfor LEARNINGLearning :: :: Innovative, interactive technologies provide new potential for learning—in and out of classrooms. by Will Richardson ver the last few years, our relationship with the Web has been changing dramatically. Simple new technologies like weblogs and podcasts are allowing us to not only create content like Otext, audio, and video more easily, they are also allowing us to publish and share that content on the Web with very little effort. Instead of a “read only” Web, we’re entering the age of the Read/Write Web, where contributing knowledge is as easy as consuming it. Being able to publish worldwide this easily does raise legal and ethical issues for educators to be aware of, but it also facilitates a whole range of new learning potentials for students and teachers in the classroom. Here is a quick look at some of the technologies that are changing the way educators think about and deliver instruction. Note: All content should be previewed before classroom use. WEBLOGS and lifelong-learning spaces. WHAT THEY ARE/HOW THEY’RE USED Teachers and learners of every discipline are Weblogs (blogs) are the most popular tool of the using blogs—to deliver their curricula, interact new Internet. Simply put, a weblog makes shar- with experts and peers, and much more. There ing ideas online as easy as sending an e-mail, are history teachers whose students have hooked and that’s why today there is a new blog created up with students half a world away to share every second. Bloggers don’t need to know HTML ideas about the Holocaust; literature students or how to get their files online; they only need who, with the author’s participation, have cre- an Internet connection and something to say. ated online reader’s guides for the books they are reading; and math teachers who use blogs TIPS FOR CLASSROOM USE to post pictures of geometric shapes so students Blogs are blooming in classrooms all over the can identify and discuss their structures. In ad- world as more and more teachers discover their dition, some schools are building their websites potential as learning tools with students of every on blogs, encouraging communication and col- age. While many refer to weblogs as simple on- laboration among teachers, students, parents, and JUPITERIMAGES line journals, in practice they are much more. They community. To get started, try Blogger, a free serv- can be tools for peer collaboration, public or pri- ice that will have you up and blogging in a mat- vate conversation, reflective online portfolios, ter of minutes. Blog Resources Blogger unitedstreaming and other digital media in focused on MSNBC and NBC news, www.blogger.com the classroom. Newsweek, and on-air programming. Learn what a blog is and how to create your own in three easy steps. Kathy Schrock’s Kaffeeklatsch Project Greenlight: The Backstory: Blogs kathyschrock.blogspot.com from the Inside C-SPAN: Blogs Page Discovery’s educator expert, Kathy Schrock, www.bravotv.com/Project_Greenlight/Blogs www.c-span.org/resources/blogs.asp shares her thoughts and tips about educa- Blogs by the show’s creators for episodes of Extensive listing of links to political, tional technology and invites teachers to this series about the filmmaking process. public-affairs, news, and court blogs, do the same. Site also offers information including several video blogs. about podcasts and RSS. The Weather Channel Blog www.weather.com/blog/weather Discovery Educator Network: MSNBC: Blogs Etc. Experts and meteorologists report the latest The DEN Blog msnbc.msn.com/id/3032105 U.S. weather news from the studio and the discoveryeducation.typepad.com Roundup of general-interest news blogs field. (Also available in RSS.) Learn and share how educators are using 6 :: ACCESS LEARNING :: JAN O6 :: www.ciconline.org/accesslearning AL-01-06-Richardson_FINAL 11/29/05 12:47 PM Page 7 www.ciconline.org/accesslearning g RSS Resources RSS Bloglines by topic, columnist, or magazine section. WHAT THEY ARE/HOW THEY’RE USED bloglines.com Also available: MSNBC headlines by topic. Without getting too technical, RSS (Real Simple Publish your own blog; subscribe to blogs, Syndication) feeds allow authors of any age or e-mail groups, and websites; and more. VH1RSS ability to syndicate their content by making it www.vh1.com/rss easy for readers to subscribe to receive it, instead CNN RSS Gather the latest music, movie, and pop- www.cnn.com/services/rss of having to actively search for it. So, for instance, culture news, as well as the Best Week Ever Download stories on any topic, from world Blog and Today in Music updates. if you find 10 (or in my case 110) bloggers that news to education. (CNN podcasting feed is you like to read on a regular basis, you can use also available.) weblogg-ed: RSS Quick Start Guide RSS to collect all of that content in one space for Educators rather than having to visit each of those sites Discovery News: Really Simple Syndication www.weblogg-ed.com/rss_for_ed one by one. And the best part is that it’s not just dsc.discovery.com/utilities/rss/rss.html Find and add RSS feeds, see how to use blogs; RSS feeds deliver newspapers, magazines, Automatically receive news content from them in the classroom, and more. and even searches. Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, and TLC. Yahoo! News news.yahoo.com TIPS FOR CLASSROOM USE MSNBC: Newsweek RSS Feeds Receive U.S., world, entertainment, politics, One of the easiest ways to get started with RSS www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6283724/site/newsweek business, science, technology, health, and is to start a teacher blog and have students sub- Gather the latest Newsweek content, sorted sports news via RSS. scribe to the daily updates using Bloglines, a web- based aggregator that collects and displays all of the feeds you’re subscribed to in one place. PODCASTS From there, they can add feeds of current-events WHAT THEY ARE/HOW THEY’RE USED Podcasting Resources searches at Yahoo! News or some of the standard Just over a year old, podcasting offers the abil- C-SPAN: Podcasts feeds offered at sites like MSNBC or CNN. Simi- ity to not only create audio content easily, but www.c-span.org/podcast larly, parents are beginning to access homework distribute it to wide Internet audiences just as Subscriptions available for some of assignments and class updates via RSS feeds. easily. So, if you have interesting things to say, C-SPAN’s most popular programs. For more information, try the RSS Quick Start you now have the chance of reaching the masses Guide for Educators on my weblogg-ed website. with your voice, not just your written words. CNN: Podcasting www.cnn.com/services/podcasting Basically, the power of podcasting comes from the ability of listeners to subscribe to receive the In-depth coverage on a variety of current- events topics, the latest news, and special shows via RSS. The most popular way to do this programs for your MP3 player. is to use iTunes, which, once configured, goes out and checks to see if any new shows have been Discovery Channel Radio: Podcasts published and automatically downloads them to www.discovery.com/radio/podcasts.html your MP3 player. It’s time-shifted amateur radio Weekly podcasts from Discovery’s family at its best. of networks. EPN: The Education Podcast Network TIPS FOR CLASSROOM USE epnweb.org Podcasting works great with students who are nar- Access student and class podcasts, subject- rating field trips, doing interviews with experts, specific podcasts, and education podcasts. and writing and reading audio editorials during iTunes their regular shows, which are then posted to the www.apple.com/itunes school website and delivered via RSS. Other Share and stream downloaded podcasts on schools have used podcasting to create and dis- this digital player. tribute regular news shows, museum tours, and student-written and -read audio books. Teachers Podcasts on MSNBC.com can use the technology to record lessons and then www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8132577 make them available to absent or visually impaired Download news headlines, Meet the Press, Hardball highlights, Nightly News with Brian MEDIA BAKERY students. See the Education Podcast Network for Williams, and more. more ideas on using podcasting in education. A Cable in the Classroom Publication :: JAN O6 :: ACCESS LEARNING :: 7 AL-01-06-Richardson_FINAL 11/29/05 12:47 PM Page 8 Teaching with Technology Webcam Resources Animal Planet: Panda Video Cam Discovery Channel Cams: Volcano Cam animal.discovery.com/cams/pandavidr.html dsc.discovery.com/cams/pvolcano.html Watch giant panda Mei Xiang and her cub Live images of Popocatepetl, one of the at the Smithsonian National Zoo in world’s most active volcanoes. Washington, D.C. National Geographic: WildCam Africa Cable in the Classroom: Project Cam www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/ www.ciconline.com/projectcam wildcamafrica/wildcam.html Site offers tips for getting started and an An up-close look at wildlife gathering at Pete’s Pond in Botswana. MEDIA BAKERY online environment to connect students, educators, and experts via webcams. OnlineCamera.com: The Ultimate Discovery Channel Cams: Sun Cam Webcam Directory WEBCAMS dsc.discovery.com/cams/sun.html www.onlinecamera.com View the sun at any time. Image refreshes Directory of a wide range of webcams by WHAT THEY ARE/HOW THEY’RE USED every 6 to 12 minutes. category or location. Webcams allow teachers and students to get an up-to-the-minute look at various places and events around the world.