instructional technology network
tri-county educational service center

The Pew Internet & American Life Project released a report last week which documents their findings on teens’ writing and technology habits.

The report explores writing skills, frequency, and attitude as they relate to student’s access to technology, including cell phones, the internet, and computer availability.

There were many findings that will not surprise most readers, particularly when considering the impact of gender and socio-economic factors, but some helpful factors to include when developing instructional activities for these age groups.

“Teens said they are motivated to write when the can select topics that are relevant to their lives and interests, and report greater enjoyment of school writing when they have the opportunity to write creatively. Having teachers or other adults who challenge them, present then with interesting curricula, and give them detailed feedback also serves as a motivator for teens. Teens also report writing for an audience motivates them to write and write well.” (emphasis mine)

Also from the report, “Summary of Findings at a Glance”

“Even though teens are heavily embedded in a tech-rich world, they do not believe that
communication over the internet or text messaging is writing. [The report later suggests that students hold writing in higher regard than typical communication.]

“The impact of technology on writing is hardly a frivolous issue because most believe that good writing is important to teens’ future success.

“Teens are motivated to write by relevant topics, high expectations, an interested audience and opportunities to write creatively.

“Writing for school is a nearly every-day activity for teens, but most assignments are short.

“Teens believe that the writing instruction they receive in school could be improved.

“Non-school writing, while less common than school writing, is still widespread among teens.

“Multi-channel teens and gadget owners do not write any more — or less — than their counterparts, but bloggers are more prolific.

“Teens more often write by hand for both out-of-school writing and school work.

“As tech-savvy as they are, teens do not believe that writing with computers makes a big difference in the quality of their writing.

“Parents are generally more positive than their teen children about the effect of computers and text-based communication tools on their child’s writing.

“Teens enjoy non-school writing, and to a lesser extent, the writing they do for school.”
Source: Lenhart, Amanda; Arafeh, Sousan; Smith, Aaron and Rankin Macgill, Alexandra. Writing, Technology and Teens, Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project, April 24, 2008.

Although the report weighs in at about 83 pages, the Summary of Findings captures the essence of their findings in about 7 quick pages.

And speaking of writing, I want to point you to this innovative use of volunteers in teaching student writing skills. The video is part of a series known as the TED Talks (Technology, Education, and Design), which have featured some of the most remarkable contemporary speakers around. [Thanks, Chris, for passing on the link.]

[Video missing? Visit the link above to go to a more filter-friendly option.]

Still one of the best sources for simple, to-the-point explanations of emerging tech concepts, Common Craft has now produced “Podcasting in Plain English.”

Podcasting in Plain English explains, in about 3 minutes, the essential hows and whys of podcasting. The process is pretty easy and really requires only a microphone and some free software in addition to the equipment you probably already have in your room.

(Reading this post via email? Click here or visit TeacherTube to view the video.)

From an educational perspective, what I like best about podcasting is not the actual recording and editing of the final product - that’s just a bonus. The real value of podcasting in the classroom is the research, writing, and revision process that goes into preparing for the production process.

Contrast this with a typical “report” assignment:

• Writing for an authentic, unlimited audience vs. writing for the teacher’s red pen
• Revision for my personal best before my audience vs. a better letter grade on my paper
  
• Working toward choosing key ideas to keep it to a reasonable length vs. meeting a minimum length
• Focus on a clear, well-paced delivery vs. ?

The production part of the podcasting process is relatively easy and represents the smallest portion of the time invested. The majority of the time commitment goes to solid writing processes. I’ve seen some unexpected students really shine in this type of activity.

Are you or your students podcasting? Post a link to your podcasts in the comments!

If you’ve ever considered authoring a blog, take a look at these two free blogging tools. If you’ve never considered authoring a blog, look at yesterday’s post on the topic for some good reasons to consider it.

I’ve been revisiting blogging tools lately with some of the afterschool classes we’ve held. My go-to blog for classrooms has always been Landmark Project’s BlogMeister (classblogmeister.com). I like it well for it’s ability to tightly regulate student publishing and comments and limit the audience, particularly for elementary users. The interface is a little clunky, but it works very well. It’s easy to set up students in your class with their own blog and I feel generally comfortable using it with even young students because of the moderation options.

Lately, I’m also becoming more impressed with Edublogs (edublogs.org), particularly based on the improvements they’ve made. Sporting a clean interface using powerful blogging software, WordPress - the same software I use to author this blog - they’ve created a professional blogging environment that’s education-oriented and still plays well with our filters. Furthermore, you can directly upload photos, audio, and video to your Edublogs space which is a really helpful option not present in BlogMeister.

Choosing:

I like BlogMeister for it’s management of student blogs as part of the teacher blog interface. That would be my first choice if I decided to allow students to have their own blogs for school-related publishing. Edublogs supports student blogs, but they have to be individually managed.

Still I like Edublogs for its numerous feature options and polished look - these feature make EduBlogs my preference for the other three publishing scenarios I mentioned yesterday.

Both of these tools have been filter-friendly in most cases, an important aspect for schools.

Remember:

Don’t forget, before you do any public publishing, it’s always a great idea to keep your administration in the loop.

There are two questions that are helpful when considering authoring a blog:

1. What would I write about?
2. Am I able to keep up with it?

There are a handful of models that could work well for you professionally, depending on your personality, classroom, and writing style. Think about how any of these might fit you. They range from individual professional, to classroom professional/student, to individual student.

Professional Discourse

An aspect of being a master learner is the reflection and revision process. The use of a professional blog can be a good outlet for discussing professional experiences and learning. Beyond simply writing for the journaling and refinement of your own thoughts, this process can open up the door for opportunities to connect with others who have similar interests, concerns, challenges, and victories. Allowing for comments of others can invite outside insights into what might have otherwise been a one-way conversation. Reading the professional comments of others can be a good way to connect with the real professional experiences of other educators in shoes a lot like yours. This is especially beneficial if you’re only specialist in your field in your building or district.

Remember, of course, that what you write online should never be considered private or anonymous. Instead think of this as an informal addendum to your resume. Be professional. (See also: Professional Safety Online)

Related reading: “Reluctant Bloggers”

Community/Student Communication (Newsletter)

As an educator, you have two audiences with a vested interest in what’s happening in your classroom: students and community/parents.

A blog for students might include homework and class notes, study guides, and extended reflection and dialogue on subject materials. Comments can be used to offer students a chance to respond to any of the above topics. Keep in mind that most blogging tools have the ability to moderate comments to various degrees, so you can retain control of what appears on your blog.

Community and parents are your second potential audience. Your blog can be a means to better communicate with those outside your school on a regular basis through updates on projects, information on what’s being taught, and highlights on school successes. Since the expectations for substance are different for a blog post versus a newsletter, it is easy to quickly post information as it comes available, while still retaining the option to include longer, more detailed articles about your classroom when the occasion arises.

Student blogging

In just the same manner that you can become the author/owner of a blog, your students can also become authors. I’m a big fan of mediums that allow students to produce work for a real audience instead of a red pen. Blogging allows the student to write for a potentially unlimited audience as well as receiving feedback from readers. Just like any writing activity, students will produce their best work when writing about topics of personal interest.

This is, admittedly, one of the more difficult blogging undertakings in that there’s a fair amount of work in moderating and supervising student blogging projects. I would suggest that any school-sanctioned blogging activity be structured such that there are requirements and guidelines for publishing. Again, more in the next post.

Be sure that you have clearance (i.e., student release forms) and that reasonable safety precautions are taken before getting started with such a project.

Student-contributed newsletter (shared blog)

A hybrid model of authorship may work best in many classrooms. This model would feature a single class blog where the teacher invites individual students to submit postings for publication. Possible topics could include:

• a daily report of classroom activities;
• commentary on current content matter;
• links to current events that tie-in to classwork; and
• share student work sample, etc.

The downside is that there is slightly less student ownership than the “Student Blogger” approach mentioned above, while the upside is that the management needs are significantly reduced.

The process here could simply involve the student typing their post in Notepad where the teacher will later review the post and copy it to the classroom blog (I recommend Notepad here because programs like Word tend to bring a lot of extra back-end garbage with it when copied and pasted).

I think this is what I would be most likely to use if I were still in the classroom.

Which fit is best for you? EduBlogs, which I’ll discuss in my next post, has a nice list of “10 Ways to Use Your EduBlog to Teach” that might give you a few more ideas related to this and the other models.

Tomorrow: Two blogging tools worth a look

Image citation: Orbitgal, “bulletin board” Orbitgal’s Photostream. 5 Oct 2007. 9 Apr 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/orbitgal/1492216791/>.

National Public Radio aired a pair of very balanced stories on middle and high school students’ expectations of online privacy and attitudes toward safety this week. It’s helpful as educators to understand the changing expectations of privacy of our students. These clips provide some insight.

Digital Culture: Teens Take Advantage of Online Privacy Tools (6:37)

Digital Culture: Teens’ Online “Friends” Often Number in the Hundreds (6:13)

Referenced parent resources from the “Online Friends” piece (some of which have educator information as well):

• GetNetWise (getnetwise.org)
• NetSmart (netsmartz.org)
• ConnectSafely.org (connectsafely.org)

Image citation: ::: Billie / PartsNPieces :::, “Privacy Fence Smashed” ::: Billie / PartsNPieces :::’s Photostream. 29 Dec 2005. 4 Apr 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/partsnpieces/79097894/>.

With Google Docs’ presentation tool (docs.google.com) you now have the ability to publish presentation slides online within your webpage. This means that your students could view slide sets without the need to download them and launch them in PowerPoint, a tool which they may or may not have. This could be great for sharing student work, archiving lecture notes, or even publishing daliy announcements.

If you’re not familiar with Google Docs, an online suite of tools similar to Office, check out this quick video from CommonCraft. Basically it’s free, go-anywhere word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.

In the following embedded presentation, I’ve outlined the steps to uploading existing PowerPoint slides to your site, including examples for SchoolPointe CMS, WebEdit, POW-PAK, and Moodle (sorry, but it doesn’t appear to work with Progress Book at this point). Email readers may need to visit this post online to see the slides.

While these examples discuss how to load your existing files, you can also use Google Docs to build original presentations from scratch.

I was impressed by an NPR story featuring Secretary Mike Leavitt of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In the very hostile climate of government agencies where it seems that even the smallest offensive statement can spark an uprising and firing overnight, Leavitt is seeking a communication venue outside the norm for Washington. Leavitt authors a blog, found online at secretary.hhs.gov.

“I hope people have more access to me and what I’m thinking,” says Leavitt in his interview with NPR, “I can point to two or three occasions now where ideas I’ve picked up reading in a blog have led to, at least, conversations in my office and in one case a change in direction.”

When so much of what we read and hear from our leaders is delivered through carefully tailored press releases and public relations personnel, it is a notable change to read directly from the Secretary’s own writing. Leavitt notes that he writes the postings himself. “I want to maintain my postings as a personal writing”

“I don’t know that there’s ever been a cabinet secretary that’s blogged before. Maybe I can be the pioneer.”

What audiences would enjoy hearing more directly from your own writing?

Hear the rest of the interview online at NRP.org.

In case I haven’t mentioned before, I am a big fan of the folks at Common Craft. I think that somewhere deep down inside, these folks missed their calling into teaching. They’re very good at simple explanations of otherwise complex topics.

Common Craft has produced “Blogs in Plain English,” the latest installment in their “Plain English” series. You may recall the “RSS in Plain English” video I referenced back in September.

This is the clearest explanation of blogging, what it is, who does it, how, and why that I’ve heard or read - and all in under 3 minutes. Take three minutes and watch the clip below (email readers of this blog, click here). You’ll be glad you did.

(video source: TeacherTube)

The video can also be viewed on TeacherTube and YouTube .

Doug Johnson at Blue Skunk Blog highlights a good example of the importance of teaching students responsible use of the internet, rather than steering clear of it. A case that arose in his district out of the use of school-sponsored email provided a meaningful teaching opportunity.

“It is because of incidents like this that I am glad we have always given our students school sponsored e-mail addresses. It allows kids to make “safe mistakes.” The girl and probably her classmates got a real-life lesson in protecting one’s password and about identity theft without anyone getting hurt.”

Read the full article on his blog.

Student communication tools are a frightening topic to cover in school, but where will our students learn responsible use otherwise?

In case you’re interested, email is first introduced in the Ohio Tech Content Standards at 2nd grade.

PBS Kids Go! “Don’t Buy It: Get Media Smart” helps students understand the ways in which people and products are often portrayed by the entertainment and advertising media.

“Children spend the majority of their days consuming mass media. On average, children spend four-and-a-half hours a day using television, video games and computers. Yet children are not provided with the tools needed to evaluate and analyze the media messages they see.”

The site is interactive and visually interesting. Teacher and parent guides are included, as well as bios of a few “Teen Heroes” who are noted for their roles in combating media issues they perceive as harmful. This a great resource for addressing the evaluation of communications as outlined in the tech standards.

Find the site online at http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/.

Target audience: Grades 3-5

This post brought to you by:

[via TechLearning]