Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms
by Willard (Will) H. Richardson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Willard (Will) H. RichardsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-16
ISBN: 1412959721
Number of pages: 168
Publisher: Corwin Press
Book Reviews of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms
Book Review: A must-read!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm at the end of my teaching career and feeling envy towards young people who have been in for just a short while. You have "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms" and I didn't!! What an amazing agenda Will Richardson lays out, what fantastic uses the internet is capable of, and what yet unimagined ways will be conceived in the future!
I just finished this book--an easy read, an easy-to-follow instruction book, a book of magic, a play book, a cookbook filled with recipes for successful communication, collaboration, connection, and more. You may ask: "Judy, do you like this book?" I would have to answer: "No, I am THRILLED by this book--at the potential for connecting students with immediate and ongoing learning. That's what Richardson shows us, gives examples of. When he cites the old way of individual learning with a test as the measurement and a dead end to that chunk of learning, I nodded. "Oh yes." How many times did I want to show a particular student's special answers. "Look what this student wrote! Isn't it amazing? Isn't she showing Gardner's upper echelon level of synthesizing and evaluating."
So what do blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools do for students and classrooms? They require active learning, collaboration, hooking up with the world at large, expanding consciousness, conscience--all the things that education truly does or should do. We want our children to learn to think for themselves, to think critically (means evaluate both sides), to imagine possibilities for themselves, their families, and their world. The internet and all its component parts do these things. Until I read this book, I did not know how much was "out there" and already being used by thousands and thousands of teachers across the globe.
As a teacher of broadcast journalism for four years (this some four and one-half years ago), with the class producing a weekly 12-minute news and feature cast, I saw then the power of that medium and the use of technology to make it viable. What the internet does is now competing with television and radio for not only informing, but also entertaining its audience. Teachers can use these same principles in teaching. Besides, using the internet is inevitably cheaper than sophisticated cameras and studios and "the talent (the television personality, anchor, or whatever role the lead person has).
Besides innovation, students learn to read critically (must be taught not only critical reading skills but ethics as well), learn how to save, retrieve, and store information, then use it in a multitude of ways. This is the new way of doing things, the new world. Is it better? Yes, infinitely! Teachers and students should not be so isolated in their little boxes, but become part of that HUGE world of information! Do we need all that information? That is a question I will leave for the philosophers. Right now, it is what it is.
Here is an example of a creative use of the internet, yet still retaining basic information. Using the free software program Flickr, a teacher can upload a photograph of a pig's organs, create word boxes connected to various organs, which the student then identifies and explains their functions. Or in music, the student can label parts of a musical score. A literature teacher could assign a photo-image assignment. The student would use his aggregator account to collect a specific poem, then use Flickr to find images that "explain" or interpret the poem. Then put all of this as his completed assigment into his blog account which feeds by RSS into the teacher's account.
It all sounds complicated but I opened up accounts, started subscribing to feeds which are collecting into my aggregator, and soon I will read and synthesize some of the information into my blog. This kind of information gathering and the technology that ushers it is such a high for me, resulting in the creation of such highly creative, energy-driven, imaginative products which truly test a student's knowledge and real-world application.
Then there are wikis. Let's say the fourth grade teacher wants to create a collaborative lesson on modern art. She could assign one artist to a group of two students who then start collecting information about that artist, including images of his work. Typically, they might find something in a reference book which they cannot take from the library. They can photocopy it if they find what they want. On the internet they will find it, especially using subcriptions (free), feeds, and their aggregator. Then they synthesize their material into their blog about the artist and send it to the class wiki. By the time each group has submitted its work, the class has a mini encylopedia about modern art. The thing about a wiki is that it can always be added to or edited. A wiki is unlike a print encyclopedia or even online encyclopedia without an editing add-on.
This technology world is truly a wondrous thing. Except for some negatives such as landing on inappropriate material, limited by filters, and intentional malice, which can be deleted, these new uses just make me want to buy a copy of this book for every teacher in my school, starting with my principal. Look what you can do! Look what your students can do! Look at the potential! Dream the impossible. OK, got carried away...
(Note: Some of the teachers at my school already use some technology, including teacher blogs. I can't wait to show them this book! In fact, I'm ordering a couple for the professional library!))
Summary of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms
With updated research and links, the second edition shows educators at all levels and disciplines how to use digital tools to create relevant, interactive learning experiences.Internet Books
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