Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

Okay, yes, I will blog about Skype. Skype is a handy tool that allows you to have f2f conversations with a person using an online connection. All that is needed is a good connection and a webcam. Now I have to confess that I have been using Skype for about 2 years. My entire family uses it for calls–even my 72 year old mother! You see, I have three brothers and three sisters, and we are scattered around: I’m in Rock Hill, SC (soon to be Myrtle Beach), one is in Seattle, WA, two are in Charleston. SC, one in Columbia, SC, the rest right there with dear old Mom in Lancaster, SC. But we travel a good bit too, so Skype has allowed us to really share travels and experiences with each other. I will not go into the technical details of Skype, but it is a downloadable program, and there is a free version of it. You don’t have to be really all that technically savvy to download it, set up your web cam and use it. I promise. My technophobic mother did it for pete’s sake!

But my reason for blogging about it is related to the uses I’ve found for it. I was introduced to Skype I want to say three years ago in October (2004) during the SC EdTech conference sponsored by SCAET. I downloaded it then, but couldn’t really get any frineds to use it. Then last Christmas as we sat around after eating Christmas Dinner, somehow it came up in a conversation, and all of my brothers and sisters agreed to download it and use it. We demonstrated for Mom too, and we’ve all been using it since. I’ve been in conferences too many to name where presenters (like Alan November, David Warlick, and others) have also demonstrated Skype. But I hadn’t really figured out how I might use it for my own educational journey. I even skyped Alan November in March during our SCASL Conference, when he was trying to demonstrate it there! It was a funny moment–read about it here.

I have had a few professional conversations with some of the experts I know (Alan November, Chris Craft) but other than that, I’ve had little use for it. Now that does not mean it wasn’t important to me. It’s just that I didn’t feel the need to use it outside the uses I’ve mentioned just now. But recently, I’ve begun to see it in a different light. I follow several different live podcast type programs on EdTech Talk, and many of them have their guests call in using Skype. They are frequently asking if anyone wants to “skype” in, though honestly I haven’t had the nerve to do that just yet.

But recently, David Jakes sort of sponsored a “Skypecast” of the sessions he would be attending at the November Learning Conference (Building Learning Communities) last week. Now I had attended NECC, and knew that some were doing this “skypecasting” of sessions, but it didn’t make sense to me why i would join a skypecast if I were there in person hearing, seeing, and participating. So I ignored the invitations at NECC to join in skypechats. I read over the blogs that posted the scripts of the skypechats, but really didn’t give it much more thought. Then BLC happened, and I wasn’t going, but Jakes had extended this invitation! So I jumped at the chance. David, along with many other experts who were there (Will Richardson, Ewan McIntosh, Joyce Valenza, and so many more…)used the Skypechat to summarize the presenters points, and do some reflecting and asking questions that racheted up my learning like I couldn’t believe. It was a whole different level of participating. Amazingly enough, some of the presenters even participated in the Skypechats about their own presentations! it was like back channeling going on, and it all centered on the topic at hand. Very few folks got off topic, and we (those in the session and those like me, sitting at home) didn’t miss anything. If anything, we all got a deeper understanding of the content. Read about my experience here.

Here is a pix uploaded by Will Richardson of David Jakes’ screen during BLC. If I’m not mistaken, I’m the third contact on that screen! Hey, isn’t that Bloglines on the presenter’s screen?  Another favorite tool I use!

Now I have another friend (Kitty Forbus) who is learning Skype. She used me today as a guinea pig to test her web cam and microphone. It was a major revelation for her. She then asked for some ideas on how to use it–to really implement it in the classroom. Guess what? I drew a great big fat blank! I was so embarrassed! But she bounced back with some really good ideas, which she posted here in her blog, Stirring up the Dust. I may use some of your ideas Kitty! Just as I’ve been a help to her in some respects, she is being a help to me too. Thanks Kitty.

I’ve seen this posted in several blogs I subscribe to today and in several list serves that I am a member of.  When I first saw it, I read it but didn’t really process it.  Then when I saw it in several different locations, I began to pay attention.  Considering my posting to support Global Lib 2.0 this week, here is an awesome opportunity to invite the teachers at my school to jump in the water.  I’m copying and pasting, though I cannot take credit for it. The first place I recall seeing it was on the Teacher Librarian Ning, posted by Karen Kliegman of Albertson, New York.  But what an awesome way to seriously think of ways to implement 2.0 tools?

MidLink Magazine Call for Participation!

You are cordially invited to explore the July-December issue of MidLink Magazine http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink the award-winning magazine for students ages 8 – 18. If you’re looking for ideas for your upcoming year, you’ve come to the right place! Please email the teacher/editors of the projects below you would like to participate in with your students! You and your students are sure to get inspired by the projects created by MidLink Magazine’s teacher-editors:

1. Periodic Table of Podcasts: Have your students add their own scientific podcast to the growing body of information found in this exciting project!

2. Find a Story… Map a Story… Tell a Story: Use emerging digital mapping tools to explore the connection between story, place and community.

3. Science Through the Camera Lens: Study the science found in pictures and then create a multimedia project

4. Tell Me a Story: Learn how to encourage children to accept and celebrate their differences, using digital storytelling

See detailed descriptions below or visit MidLink Magazine at: http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/

1. Periodic Table of Podcasts

We invite students from any school to participate in the development of the “Periodic Table of Podcasts”. To participate, instructions are provided within this website. There are very easy ways to create audio files in the classroom even if you have only a few computers by using Internet resources such as Podomatic or Odeo. Audio files could be hosted on your school’s server, various Internet resources, or other means. Don’t let the technology get in the way- for help and advise contact the webmaster of this site. All we need is the URL (link) to your students’ audio files, and we can add them to the Periodic Table of Podcasts! If you wish to collaborate regarding your podcast project, e-mail Joselyn Todd, Ph. D.

Project URL: http://tinyurl.com/2ornnn

Contact Teacher Editor, Dr. Joselyn J. Todd, Cary Academy, Cary, NC

2. Find a Story… Map a Story… Tell a Story

This Place-based Stortelling Project invites students to choose a story that matters to them and using an online mapping tool like Community Walk, Wayfaring or Google Maps, create a StoryMap that will place their stories within a geographical context. Using one of these digital mapping tools, students will locate a geographical map from their story location, and add images, audio and text memories to the place markers found on the mapping tool. This project will help students recover lost stories and save and share them so other can enjoy and learn from them. You are invited to browse through the project resources and projects example on this web site and plan to have your classroom participate:

Project URL: http://www.rebooting.ca/place/

Project Coordinator: Brenda Dyck, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Red Deer College (Middle Years’ Program), Red Deer, Alberta

3. Science Through the Camera Lens

Have you ever seen a view of nature or engineering and wondered about the “awesomeness” of it? Did you take a picture of it so you could capture it forever? Florida State University School Science students did just that. They took pictures with a digital camera or a camera phone. Students delivered them to their science teacher via email or on a flash drive. Students studied the science in the pictures then created their multimedia project. Here are their stories…..

Project URL: http://www.fsus.fsu.edu/mcquone/scicam/scicam.html

Teacher Editor, Cathy McQuone, Earth/Space Science Instructor, Florida State University Schools, Tallahassee, Florida

4. Tell Me a Story

Tell Me a Story is a project in which students were asked to contemplate the following essential questions:

How does culture shape the way we see ourselves, others, and the world? How does my culture shape me? Why is it important to understand culture? The purpose of this project is to encourage children to accept and celebrate their differences. We want to help all children develop a positive self-concept and feel proud of whom they are. If this positive sense of self and others is allowed to flourish, today’s children will become adults who accept and affirm differences, identify unfair situations, and strive to eliminate racism of any sort.

Grade levels: K-8

Project URL: http://tinyurl.com/2qnzgr

Teacher Editor: Karen Kliegman, Library Media/Educational Technology Specialist, Searingtown School, Albertson, Adjunct Professor, Long Island University, New York kkliegman@herricks.org

Brenda Dyck, BEd, MET

Senior Editor: MidLink Magazine: http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/

Sessional Instructor, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Red Deer College MiddleYears’ Program, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

E-mail: dyckba@shaw.ca