Edvibes Blog

1) Go to Google Sites Overview Page watch the tour and read up2) If you don’t have a Google Account sign up for one

3) Watch some more tutorials :

How to create a new google site

How to edit a google site

How to embed content into a google site

4) Explore and start building

Basically Google Docs is Microsoft Office suite on line. Instead of software that is downloaded and runs on your computer you have webware that is run inside your web browser from any computer. Also gDocs allows you to access your documents from anywhere and to collaborate with others on a live document rather than sending different version attachments back and forth. Oh and it is also free, all you need to do is sign up for a google account.Watch this short Video for great explanation of the power of this tool

Click here to download the Top 100 Tools for Learning eBook

This is the single book that changed the direction of my career and my teaching philosophy. The cheap paperback has been finally released. An absolute must read for any educator or parent in the 21st century.

To order your copy online today from amazon click here.

Okay if you don’t have time to read his giant book that takes weeks to digest, please the least you can do is take 48 minutes and watch Thomas Friedman give this talk at MIT that does a good job summing up his book. Trust me, you owe it to your kids and their future to understand how our world is changing. Caution: Friedman’s concepts will keep you up at night. His book changed my teaching philosophy and inspired the EdVibes Project and this blog.

Watch this video of Thomas Friedman at MIT: The World is Flat 3.0 

Presentation given at the K12online 2007 Conference

Keynote Link: http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=149

Duration: 53 minute

Authors: Brian Lamb, Alan Levine, D’arcy Norman

Review: Nicely done! Just when I was beginning to think I had a good grasp of all the good current free tools online they gave me a list to check out. They also did an elegant job of describing some of the the classics like flickr, digg, and delicious. I especially liked how they used the verbs: embed, connect, socialize, share, collaborate, remix, liberate, filter, and disrupt to define and describe the web2.0 phenomenon. An excellent introduction for educators to the new read write web.

Download the video:
iPod ready
http://k12online.wm.edu/K12Online_MoreThanCoolTools_ipod.mp4
Original
http://k12online.wm.edu/K12Online_MoreThanCoolTools_full.mov
Audio only
http://k12online.wm.edu/K12Online_MoreThanCoolTools_full.mp3

Technorati Tags:

k12online07, k12online07pc

DESCRIPTION:
They did it again with just a marker board. The guys at Common Craft break down and explain the definition of a wiki and how it works faster and more clearly than I have ever seen.

LENGTH:
4 minutes

VIDEO:

EDUCATIONAL RATING:

Pass it on so we can get wikis mainstreamed into education

OVERALL GRADE:
A+

AUTHOR & SOURCE:
by leelefever
http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english

RELATED POSTS:
Video Review: RSS in Plain English

DESCRIPTION:
Goodreads is a social network for book lovers to find, meet, and link up with other readers to share, review, discover, and recommend books on your virtual book shelf. Their mission is “to improve the process of reading and learning throughout the world… Knowledge is power; and power is best shared among friends.”

TAGS & CATEGORIES:
folksonomy, social media, networking, books
It’s like a myspace for readers or Last.fm for books

SCREENSHOTS:

PROS:
*Quickly and easily browse or manually add, rate, and review books you have read, are reading, or want to read.
*Discover link-minded book lovers to find good books to read
*Has a book club group feature where you can meet and discuss with other readers.

CONS:
*None

COST/SET UP:
*free, just need to sign up for an account
*web-based no downloads required

EDUCATIONAL USEFULNESS:

I have started a group in this network called the Educator Book Club specifically for students, teachers, parents, administrators, and professors to link up and share their favorite books. Your invited to join in or add me to your friends network I am edvibesproducer.

“READ/WRITE SOCIAL WEB2.0″-NESS

OVERALL GRADE:
A+

LINK:
http://www.goodreads.com/

DESCRIPTION:
This site is a social bookmarking site like del.icio.us with voting features like digg for educators - K-12 Teachers, Administrators, Professors, Grad Students, and Librarians - sponsored by a Harvard grant and using the open-source project Scuttle,

WEBSITE:
http://edtags.org

TAGS & CATEGORIES:
bookmarking, tagging, folksonomy, social media, education, networking

SCREENSHOTS:

PROS:
*It’s a social bookmarking specifically for educators to network and colloborate
*Has all major del.icio.us features plus digg voting!
*You can import/export bookmarks from your favorites or del.icio.us
*Has RSS subscriptions, so others can subscribe to your links and research.
*Can upload documents and videos

CONS:
*Still very new, not a lot of users yet.

COST/SET UP:
*free, just need to sign up for an account
*web-based no downloads required
*Has a bookmarklet you can drag to your browser toolbar for a button to add links to your account quickly and easily

EDUCATIONAL USEFULNESS:

“READ/WRITE SOCIAL WEB2.0″-NESS

OVERALL GRADE:
B+
Still to early

A Teacher’s Tour Guide into the New Read/Write Web2.0 - 10 Part Series

OBJECTIVE: Define folksonomy and get you started with tagging

Schools need to stop teaching the Dewey Decimal System and start empowering our students with folksonomy. After RSS and subscribing, folksonomy and tagging is the next essential philosophy and skill one must adopt in order to adapt and survive in “New Read/Write Web2.0″. The folksonomy revolution is pushing this current “Social Web2.0″ into the “Semantic Web3.0.” This new classifying phenomenon has reformed the way users organize, share, search, and label their digital pictures ( flickr), bookmarks (delicious), and videos (youtube) collections.

WHAT

Folksonomy, folk + taxonomy, is a new way to organize and label information using tags. Tags are keywords that give meta data, data about the data, which enable classification. Furthermore, folksonomies are social and collaborative because they use “cooperative classification and communication” that builds a collective intelligence for users to contribute and tap into. A better way to define folksonomy is to explain what is not.
*Non-binary: With folksonomy, you can apply multiple tags to data rather than choosing just one category to file under.
*Non-hierarchical: Instead of top down folders and sub folders, tags are organized in tag clouds where the more popular a tag the bigger the size. The following picture is an example tag cloud surrounding the concept of Web2.0.

WHY

Four reasons why you need to start tagging:

1. Tagging is easier than categorizing. Rashmi Sinha’s post “A Cognitive Analysis of Tagging provides two brilliant diagrams that represent the frustration behind the paralysis by analysis effect when we tried to find the “right” or “best” category to file. Then she illustrates the tagging process which shows you how it cuts off the last step making it easier and more enjoyable to label.

2. Tagging makes it easier to remember and find. Since you can apply multiple tags, you can sort, search, and file under multiple contexts.

3. Folksonomy allows you to tap into the wisdom of the crowds and jump on the long tail of the collective intelligence and emerging trends. Exploring and browsing through tag clouds allows you to discover trends and interests that you may otherwise never have been able to think of to type in google or stumble on.

4. Folksonomy is social and leads to sharing. You have the ability to find like-minded individuals and tap their brains, tastes, interests, and favorite sites.

HOW

Although their is no set standard and controlled vocabulary here are some general guidelines to get you tag clouds started on the right foot.

1) Use keywords.

2) Use multiple tags.

3) If you are going to use multiple words with in one tag use an underscore. Example “professional_development”

4) Be conscious of nouns and verbs when tagging. If I find links that are resources about how to blog, I will tag it them under “blogging.” If I find some interesting blogs I tag them with “blogs.”

DISCUSSION:

1) Do you think we as educators should take a role in setting up standards for some sort of common lingo with tags?

2) What tags do you use to organize and label your educational digital links and videos?

RELATED POSTS

- Part 1: Visual Definitions of Web2.0
- Part 2: What is RSS: How and Why to Subscribe
- Part 3: Setting Up Your New Home(page) in the New Web

REFERENCES
1. “Folksonomy.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy Viewed 4/20/07
2. “Wisdom of the crowds” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_of_the_crowds Viewed 4/20/07
3. “Long Tail” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_tail Viewed 4/20/07

IMAGE CREDITS
1. “Web2.0 Tag cloud” Markus Angermeier http://elearning.surf.nl/docs/e-learning/bierens_web20.jpg Viewed 4/20/07
2. “Cognitive Process Behind Caterogization” Rashmi Sinha. http://www.rashmisinha.com/archives/05_09/tagging-cognitive.html Viewed 4/20/07
3. “Cognitive Process Behind Tagging” Rashmi Sinha. http://www.rashmisinha.com/archives/05_09/tagging-cognitive.html Viewed 4/20/07