"One way of rebuilding trust is to use blogs to reopen, reconnect and be transparent again. Community building is built through commenting feature. Parents can start dialoguing with you. They don't have to leave their job to come to the school building, they can come and communicate meaningfully without leaving their house." (via MGuhlin.net)
--Dr. Scott McLeod, Dangerously Irrelevant
PodCamp Ireland is the very first stand-alone event to promote the use and provide guidance and tips on the subject of social media in Ireland and will be taking place on September 27th 2008 in Kilkenny, Ireland.
You can learn more and get information on registration by clicking here.
Related Resources
After shaking up old media with their podcasts, YouTube videos and blogs, Gen Y is out to shake up one of the most entrenched industries around---Hollywood.
In his report,Talent Agents for the YouTube Generation, Marketplace reporter Kai Rysdall visits United Talent Agency's online division in Hollywood to learn about digital representation. Here's one of my favorite quotes from the interview:
"The guys at United Talent Agency think it's because they are so young that they've been able to pick as many winners as they have, never mind what the old guys think.
Nadler: If all of those 54-year-olds sat down with their 17-year-old kids for a week and said "Show me what you do."
Ryssdal: Is part of your job getting them to do that? To sit down and say, "I need to understand this?"
Nadler: Either way, they're going to have to learn if they want to keep their jobs."
Not only is this a great interview (high five Kai), but it's a great barometer on how rapidly social media, user generated content and Gen Y are changing both the way media is digested and what it means to be famous in the digital age.
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Steve Hargadon has a fascinating interview with Anastasia Goodstein, author of Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online. In the podcast, Anastasia talks about what teens/tweens are doing online and how the and the always-on digital lifestyles of today's Gen Y teen.
Anastasia talks about how teens are using technology and social media in their "real life" versus the way they are using (or not) using technology in the classroom.
She also stresses the need for educators (and parents) to provide students with the skills they need to assess the onslaught of information and ability to evaluate the credibility of resources on the web.
Anastasia has a wealth of information on the wired lives of teens. Anyone who works with youth should listen to this podcast. And thanks to Steve for conducting such a great interview!
Related Resources
Thanks to edublogger Ken Pruitt, I discovered the PopCast series from the PopTech Conference. This is a fantastic resource for high school and college civics/economics/ classes.
Here's the scoop on PopCast:
"Pop!Casts are available free of charge. And they’re published under a Creative Commons license—meaning you can distribute, translate and edit them as you wish for noncommercial use.
Sharing Pop!Casts with peers is one of the ways you can inspire collective thinking and action around the topics you’re most interested in.
New segments will be posted every few weeks courtesy of Yahoo!, so check back often or subscribe to our RSS feed. Download. Discover. Do your part to create positive change in the world!"
And be sure to listen to the vodcast featuring Tom "The Flat World" Friedman. His message? Think Green.
Thanks Ken!
It looks like the team over at Yackpack has been busy working up another batch of their yack magic. A few months ago they launched Yackpack Live, a feature which allows you to talk in real time to anyone in your pack.
Now they've added another exciting Yackpack product to their already impressive and innovative arsenal of Web 2.0 audio tools: Walkie-Talkie Widget.
The nifty Walkie-Talkie Widget tool allows you to easily (we like that!) put voice on any web page! Best of all there's no configuration, no software, and only
one button -- easy peasy! Check out the CNET Webware article about the Walkie-Talkie Widget!
So go check out the new audio toys over at Yackpack! There are a ton of ways to use Yackpack and the new Walkie-Talkie Widget as a way to engage those Gen Y learners in your classroom.
How about putting a Walkie-Talkie Widget on your course blog? Or wiki? Or online syllabus? These are all great ways to get the conversation going.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Keep your eyes peeled for the YackPlayer!
Related Resources
The following list illustrates how online learning styles (in this case Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences), and social software technologies can work together to support Gen Y learning styles, and foster community in the online and blended classroom.
Over the next couple weeks, I'll be showing what types of social media support each of the different Multiple Intelligences outlined by Howard Gardner. I'll also list specific social media tools that support each MI type.
MI ATTRIBUTE
SOCIAL MEDIA + VERBAL-LINGUISTIC
SOCIAL MEDIA + VERBAL-LINGUISTIC
Weblog/Self Publishing Tools
Wiki Tools
Podcasting/Audio Tools
Virtual Learning Environments (VLE)
RSS/ATOM Tools
NASA is running its first podcast competition from Sept. 1 through October 10 for students ages 11-18. Students are challenged to create either an audio or video podcast reflecting their answer to the question "How will space exploration benefit your life in the future?"
More details and the entry form for this competition can be found at the 21st Century Explorer Podcast Competition website.
Web Resources
"Nativetext is a free web service that translates RSS feeds from blogs and podcasts into foreign languages.
Using a new kind of distributed supercomputing, foreign language translation is performed by a network of humans around the world, not machines. Translated content is served to a global readership through native language syndication."
What the heck is RSS?
Rich Site Summary (RSS) technology is an XML based format that provides the backbone for the distribution of weblog, podcasting, and other content.
RSS allows users to easily syndicate or publish their content for use by others. And conversely, it provides a way for users to easily subscribe and read content (blogs, podcasts, news, photos) published by other people or organizations.
And these days, most social media applications provide users with an RSS feed to publish their content on the web. This includes most blogging, podcasting, social bookmarking, and photo sharing social networks and communities.
After a user subscribes to a RSS feed, the content (blogs, websites, online community groups) automatically updates and is displayed in a RSS feed reader. There are several free news readers (also called aggregator) available, including Bloglines, My Yahoo!, and Rojo. The new Yahoo! Mail allows you to read RSS feeds right in your Yahoo! mailbox.
How do I use RSS to support instruction?
A key benefit is the users ability to pick and choose (subscribe) to a particular RSS feed and then have the content updated in real time. In this manner, RSS is an important educational media tool to facilitate and support the “always on” learning styles of millennials.
RSS readers allow students to self-publish and share their content feed with members of their learning community. The use of RSS further supports millennial learning styles by allowing the user to select which content is relevant and then have it delivered directly to them for "on demand" viewing at their convenience.
As an assessment tool, RSS feeds provide teachers with several benefits. For example, instructors can subscribe to each students RSS feed and have their homework delivered directly into their aggregator, saving them the time consuming task of entering each student’s URL in order to view their e-portfolio or blog.
A Modest Proposal: RSS @ University of Oklahoma
In her recent blog post, RSS and a Modest Proposal for OU, Laura Gibbs threw out a challenge to the academic community at the University of Oklahoma to fully embrace the use of blogs and RSS technology in the classroom.
While some OU departments are already using RSS technology to distribute and share information, for the most part the academic ecosystem at OU hasn't readily embraced RSS, blogs or other types of social media.
At the core of her her modest proposal, Laura feels that "every college on campus should have a blog with an RSS feed. That way we could all subscribe to news and actually know what is going on here at OU, something more than just football. Personally, I think every tenured faculty member should be required to keep a blog..."
Amen Laura. I couldn't agree more!
So as a new school year begins to unfold, why not follow Laura's example and issue a modest RSS and blogging proposal to your community of practice?
If you haven't already, go ahead and set up a class blog and RSS feed. Then help others in your department or school do the same. It may not seem like much, but it's a start...
RSS Resources
Creative Commons has put together a Podcasting Legal Guide (PLG) that outlines the "legal and practical issues" of using music and video in your podcasts.
The Podcasting Legal Guide is available in either pdf or html format.
via KidCast: "Where in the World? is a global podcasting geography quiz that is being collectively produced by students all over the world.
Students and classes from all over are recording podcast episodes that describe their communities without giving away its name or exact location.
Listeners can use geography and deduction skills to use the clues and discover the exact location. An email is given at the end of every posting, so you can email them with your guess. If you guess correctly, you'll get a postcard back from the producers!"
This activity is a great way to integrate podcasting and geography into your classroom. The Where in the World project is being sponsored by KidCast.
We are big, big fans of KidCast and Dan Schmit. If you haven't already, pick up a copy of Dan's book KidCast: Podcasting in the Classroom, or even better yet, listen to his podcast. KidCast is a "must listen" for any educator interesting in using podcasting in the classroom.
Web Resources
Did you know you can easily add YackPack to your MySpace or hi5 social networking page? What makes YackPack so great is that it allows you to hear your friends voices! It's like audio email.
You can even create private YackPacks or create and then invite all your friends to join a public YackCasting group!
YackPack even has a whole bunch of new video tutorials to help you learn the ropes! So go check it out!
Web Resources
via Humanaught: "Learn English with free daily podcasts and a personal learning center.
There is no need for inconveniently scheduled classroom lessons. Use EnglishPod to learn English when, or wherever it's most convenient."
This EFL/ESL English language course is taught by the same team that produces the highly popular ChinesePod series.
Web Resources
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
