Blogging Reflection

Admittedly I began this experience with some trepidation. I do not consider myself technologically savvy, nor have I had much experience reading blogs, let alone creating and maintaining my own. I was also concerned that I would not find enough information on my assigned topics to make my discussions each week interesting and useful to my audience. Fortunately I found my first topic (digital storytelling) quite interesting and was able to find a wealth of information to share that was relevant to the K-12 environment. My second topic (vlogging/vodcasting) was much more difficult to cover. I had a more difficult time finding resources that I thought were pertinent and interesting to discuss. It was a challenge to make the blog posts over the last half of the semester but I felt that this challenge made me dig deeper and look more critically at a subject that I otherwise would not have explored.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading my classmates’ blogs over the course of the semester. They covered topics that were familiar to me and some that were completely new. The resources they provided were interesting each week and many I found useful enough to bookmark for future use. Through this interaction I learned how truly useful blogging can be. It is a wonderful way to share ideas and resources with people who have your same interests and issues in mind. Once I begin work as a TL I will seek out other blogs within the school media community which will provide me a means to discuss professional issues, teaching techniques, changing technology, etc., with others in my field. I can imagine that it is easy to become sheltered within one’s own school community. Blogging can provide me the avenue through which to reach out to others beyond my own little library world.

Though I had my initial concerns, I found this to be a very enjoyable assignment and one that I learned a lot from. I not only learned about creating and maintaining a blog, I also learned a wealth of information and gained valuable resources covering eight technology issues/capabilities that are currently impacting the K-12 environment. Most importantly I learned that interaction and the sharing of ideas is critical to success in the school media community and that blogging is one tool which I can utilize to help achieve it.

Podcasting and Vodcasting in the University Community

Since universities (as is often the case with new technologies) seem to be on the leading edge of integrating podcasting and vodcasting capabilities into their courses, I wanted to spend this final week looking at some of the ways in which universities are using vodcasting and at some of the corresponding issues that are being debated about its implementation.
Peter Meng, a Technical Business Analyst at the University of Missouri, has written a white paper which addresses the many benefits of podcasting and vodcasting and how these capabilities are being used by the school. This is a long paper and there are many details we do not need to cover for this discussion, so I would only like for you to read from the “Pedagogical Implications” section on page 9 through the conclusion on page 11. I found some of the questions raised about podcasting/vodcasting issues to be quite interesting. “How does podcasting or VODcasting challenge the current “talking head” model of classroom lectures? If all lectures are available via video and audio, do students need to go to class? How often? How do we keep them in class?” Also, “Who owns the content, the school, the instructor, the user? Can this be used outside of the university community? How is it protected or secured to the owner or subscriber?”

How do you feel about these questions and others listed in this white paper?

Meng, P. (2005). Podcasting and vodcasting: A white paper. Retrieved April 23, 2008, from University of Missouri, IAT Services: http://edmarketing.apple.com/adcinstitute/wp-content/Missouri_Podcasting_White_Paper.pdf

Controversy Over Filtering

The Children’s Internet Protection Act went into effect in the 2002 school year, mandating web filters for public schools that receive E-Rate funding for internet access. Heather did a great job facilitating this discussion for the week and asked a lot of interesting questions. I find the debate over filtering quite interesting, especially the question over allowing full access while teaching students to use their own judgment online versus attempting to filter everything that might be viewed as harmful. Many argue that students have full access to the internet outside of school/at home and therefore should be taught how to navigate it without falling victim to scams or should be taught how to avoid inappropriate material altogether. Can any TL or classroom teacher, or any parent for that matter, ensure that their children are not accessing such potentially dangerous material online? On the other side, many argue that filtering should be mandated as through CIPA, but are these filters effective? Are we simply shielding our children from reality; a reality they will have to face later as young adults?

This article addresses some of these same questions as well as others and I found it to be an interesting read. What are some of your thoughts on this issue? As a future TL, will you support filtering or will you advocate greater access?

7 Things You Should Know

I wish I had found this article when I started blogging on this subject because the information is very useful for explaining what vlogging is and what purposes it can serve. You can skip section 1 because this covers what a vlog is, something we discussed in week 9. However, please read the Scenario and the other sections of the article. I found the “Why is it significant?” section to be of particular interest as well as section 7, “What are the implications for teaching and learning?” These sections discuss the impact that vlogging has by allowing greater personal expression than one is capable of achieving through text-based blogging. As they become more and more media literate, our students can take advantage of such benefits of vlogging in their classroom projects and as a means of expressing their own personal interests and connecting with others who share those interests. As this technology grows in popularity and becomes easier and faster to use, both teachers and students will find new and interesting ways to use this technology for wider communication of ideas and as an outlet for personal expression.

The Scenario section discusses Evan, a distance learning student who begins vlogging as a means of communicating with his fellow students about his educational experience. Since distance education is often criticized for being impersonal, do you think Evan has hit on a possible solution? Do you think vlogging is something that can help people create more personal connections and do you think vlogging with your professors and fellow distance-learning students would enhance your distance-learning experience?

Reference:
Educause Learning Initiative. (2005, August). Seven things you should know about…Videoblogging. Retrieved April 17, 2008 from the ELI Web site: http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7005.pdf

Public Library Vodcasting

Here’s another example of how libraries are using vodcasts. The Orange County Library System is using vodcasts to show clips from library programs and events such as author visits, booktalks, etc. This is a great way to show what is going on at the library and to entice area residents to attend upcoming events. Each event is posted as a podcast and as a vodcast. Since the vodcasts take some time to open I have attached an example of one here. This is a clip from a visit by author Rosalie Turner who spoke about Freedom Bound, her historical novel about Anna Kingsley, a slave who later became a slave owner herself.

Are any of the public libraries in your area doing anything like this? If so, please share some examples. If not, what kinds of vodcasts would you like to see from your local public library?

Library Vodcast Tutorials

As vodcasting grows in popularity, libraries of every type are incorporating this technology into their repertoire of services. One great way in which libraries are incorporating vodcasting is by providing tutorials/training on how users can better access library collections. Users may have questions on anything from how to plan a search for a research paper to how to find a specific journal or newspaper article. Now, instead of either having to ask the librarian at the front desk or navigating blindly wasting precious time, users can access a vodcast which can provide them the answers they need in relative minimal time. One example of such tutorial vodcasts can be found at the University of Aberdeen Library & Historic Collections website. This site offers vodcasts on a variety of topics from accessing resources from off-campus, to navigating the library catalogue, to finding information on a research topic. Check this page out and tell me what you think of it. Scroll down the page and click on the m4v or .htm link to view the vodcast of your choice.

Though this is an example of an academic library’s use of vodcasts, do you think a similar application would be useful in the K-12 environment? If so, would you use vodcasting in the same way/for the same purpose or would you apply the technology differently? How so?

Also, can you envision such vodcasting tutorials replacing the face-to-face reference interview? If so, would you see this as a positive or negative change? Please explain your answer.

Cyber Security Education

This week we were asked to read an article entitled Teaching Children Cyber Security and Ethics produced by the Cyber Security Industry Alliance (2005). This article addresses many of the potential dangers our children face in the online world today such as phishing, spam, identity theft, etc., and poses the question “Who does the teaching?” Should parents take on this responsibility? Should teachers be responsible for designing a cyber security curriculum? The CSIA contends that these attempts would only lead to spotty results. Instead, national effort should be made to educate children about cyber security and safety, with parents and teachers playing critical roles in achieving the overall goal. Simply having this responsibility placed on teachers within the K-12 environment would not be the most effective measure to addressing this problem. Students, and the public in general, would be made much more aware of the problems of cyber security and the potential solutions if there were a nationally sponsored cyber awareness program.

I very much agree that cyber awareness among children is a critical need. Children now grow up in a multimedia world and have access to people and information in ways that children didn’t have twenty years ago. The implications of this are that people and information which may be inappropriate and even dangerous for our children may also reach them unless precautions are taken and children are taught how to protect themselves. “Just as we teach our children ‘right from wrong’ in the physical world, we must ensure that the same lessons are taught in the cyber world as well” (CSIA, 2005).

Do you see a need for a national cyber security awareness program? If so, what aspects of this program would you like to see put in place (i.e. legislation, advertising campaigns, training, national curriculum standards, etc.)?

References:
Cyber Security Industry Alliance. (2005, July). Teaching Children Cyber Security and Ethics. www.csialliance.org.