Mind Maps on Web Evaluation

Create your own mind maps at MindMeister

What a busy week.  From website evaluation to creating mindmaps, Intro to Publications has been busy.

Initially, IRIS: (Information and Research Instruction Suite for two year colleges) provided the information that I used for my students to discuss website evaluation.  My students really enjoyed looking at fake websites and trying to identify if the sites were real or not.  We discussed that knowing whether or not the information was true is extremely important academically and professionally.

My favorite website to use for evaluation is GenPets. It is a great site that can be confusing if students don't look for the information that states the website it the product of an artist.

Our Web 2.0 tool this week is MindMeister.  For some people, creating concept maps is a helpful tool.  A lot of templates showed Mind Meister to be a great tool for organizing websites, projects, and to-do lists.  Unfortunately, I am not a fan of concept maps; I have never been able to really utilize them personally.  Hopefully, someone will find this tool useful for many other aspects.

Students are continuing to use Michael Clay Thompson's Magic Lens as a basic structure for grammar instruction.  I am wanting to develop a consistent level of knowledge among our freshmen so that English 9 will be less about catching-up and more about implementation.  Here's a snapshot of our student work.

I am optimistic that creating a baseline of information will benefit our students when discussing writing.

Additionally, this week we integrated the fabulous Digital Driver's License website.  I am using this as an extension tool for our digital literacy curriculum.  DDL is an interactive website that uses multimedia to discuss many digital citizenship topics, and I recommend it to anyone concerned about digital literacy.

DDL; Available DDL. 

Finally, I have decided to really incorporate more editing procedures with our blog writing.  Although many students have great ideas and want to discuss them, it is difficult for readers to understand with the errors that go unnoticed.

As a rule, students have to have a partner read their work and point out any inconsistencies.  Students then have to read their work out loud to themselves so that they can hear any problems before publishing.  I'm hoping this focus on revision will encourage students to read their work and think about what they write rather than considering the first draft a publishable version.

I also created three basic outlines to help students reorganize their blog posts this week.  Many had difficulties transitioning from a journal style to a more formal format.  

• Option #1
• Option #2
• Option #3

Beyond the academics, classes are going extremely well.  Students appear engaged and excited to learn new technology.  I only wish that my own college classes were as different.  

Animating Digital Citizenship

Currently, Intro to Publications has discussed a lot of new perspectives on what it means to be a good digital citizen.  Many students feel that a lot of the ideas we discussed are common sense.  Unfortunately, not a lot of people practice common sense.

We agreed that a good digital citizen:

1. Respects others' privacy online
2. Respects others' creative work by citing or asking permission 
3. Respects the diversity of others' online 
4. Is honest in his/her expression of identity
5. Acts in a safe and mature manner

7 Principals Online Learning. Available at: FlickrCC.  March 18, 2011.

Being a good digital citizen is just like being a good citizen in our communities.  We follow ethics in day-to-day physical interactions that should reflect in our digital relationships.  In order to show our beliefs in the defining characteristics of a digital citizen, we created music videos using Animoto.

Animoto is a free Web 2.0 resource that creates music videos using photos; either from the website or from outside sources.  This nifty tool is a great resource to creatively showcase concepts visually.  Students were required to create a video at least 1 minute long answering the question: What makes a good digital citizen? 

Here is my example I used to model for my students.

Knowing how to be safe and respectful online is an extremely important tool for students to use in all aspects of life.  The ethical rules for online interactions are the same when applied to face-to-face communication.  I am hopeful that these guidelines will permeate various aspects of students' lives.

Furthermore, students practiced at finding a current event that relates to technology.  There were many interesting posts this week; I definitely learned some new things.  As a good practitioner, I also posted a current event article as a model for my students.  I believe that models of good writing are important for our students.  Without good examples, how can anyone learn what to emulate?

I am encouraged by the writing skills I see every week from my students.  Although these students are freshmen, their writing has far exceeded many previous classes at this point in the school year.  I am jubilant at where I see these students' skills are heading.  It's going to be a good year.

Face Time Wars

Topic: Face Time use is being eased with Verizon Wireless plans while AT&T continues to force Wi-Fi only.

Virtual Phone. Available at FlickrCC. October 25, 2011.

Article Title: "Verizon will enable iPhone's FaceTime on all data plans, unlike AT&T"

Article Source: Ars Technica

Summary: Face Time has always been a major advantage of the iPhone for AT&T; unfortunately, Face Time is limited to a Wi-Fi access only. Until now. Verizon Wireless is allowing Face Time to use data plans without restriction; although, it will still use data from your plan once the iOS6 update is pushed out September 19.

Reaction: As an iPhone user, I really enjoy the bonus of using Face Time.  The only issue I've had with Face Time is the limitations.  My husband and I can't video chat when he's at work because he doesn't have Wi-Fi access.  Why would I have paid the extra money for that feature when it is unusable?  It is frustrating.  What is even worse is the issue with Verizon's forced shared data plans, but I won't go into that.

World Impact: Although the iPhone is Apple's baby, other companies who have been granted access to sell the technology are going to take as much advantage as possible of marketing in order to compete with Apple. Competition is good for these companies because consumers need to benefit from their specials. Internet and cell phone data isn't expensive to allow users access, yet companies are consistently monopolizing services and charging outrageous amounts.