Photo Sharing

I wanted to start this blog off by saying how much I love photography, but these days, who doesn't? Everyone has a digital camera, or a phone that takes better photos than we could have ever dreamed was possible 10 years ago. It sometimes seems like people are more interested in documenting their lives via photos, than actually living (instagram anyone?). Actually, while on that tangent, here is a video that I think is HILARIOUS, (though it has no relation what so ever to what I will be talking about from here on out).

Really though, on a day-to-day basis I rarely take pictures. I'm a fair-weather photo taker who only uses her fancy camera when on vacation.  That being said, I did travel a lot during my two years in China, so I guess I took a lot of photos. When I was sharing them with people at home, I used to simply make a photo album on Facebook and then post a link to that album on my blog.  But, as I said in my autobiography, I started to get uncomfortable with Facebook technically owning all of my photos once I posted them to their site, so I stopped.

I've pondered joining an online photo sharing site for quite some time, but this class gave me the final kick in the pants I needed. My biggest problem this week was simply deciding which program to use. Thankfully after googling "what photo sharing website is best" I came across this page on Wikipedia. Yes I know *gasp*, using Wikipedia to get information when we spend so much time telling are students that it isn't a reliable source. Well, what can I say? It is a great place to gain information quickly and on this particular topic, had a handy dandy table breaking down exactly what each site entails.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_photo_sharing_websites

I went back and forth between Flickr and Photobucket (they seem to be the most popular), but eventually Photobucket won. I did briefly contemplate using Picasa, as I use it for simple photo editing, but it only offers 1GB of free storage. It would have been the easiest for me to use, given that many of my photos are already stored in that program on my desktop, but I wanted a bit of a challenge. The table on Wikipedia claims that Photobucket offers free unlimited storage and can be used to post videos, so it seemed like killing two birds with one stone. It also had fewer restrictions than the other two.

Signing up for Photobucket was simple, and I like the fact that you can make your albums public, private or visible with a password. I also like that your photos can be downloadable by others, if you so choose, as I often send my parents images by email which is extremely time consuming. This way I can simply upload photos to Photobucket and direct friends/family to the site and then they can take the photos they so choose.

Having used both Iphoto and Picasa relatively extensively, Photobucket seemed quite easy for me to manage and extremely intuitive. I liked the fact that each album can have its own privacy settings and that you have the ability to add captions to photos you choose.

I decided to upload an album of photos from my recent trip to Las Vegas with my family. I mainly chose these photos because they are the newest images I have taken, and I also wanted to send the link to my parents to see if they are able/ can figure out how to download the pictures from the site. Here's hoping it is as user friendly as I think it is.

Here is the link to my Vegas photo album for you all to peruse
http://s1322.beta.photobucket.com/user/normanthenomad/library/Las%20Vegas%202012

I look forward to playing around more with Photobucket and can't wait to try the photo editing tools.

*** one thing I did notice was that Photobucket worked infinitely better with Firefox than it did with Safari***

School use:

I am not sure when I would use this tool in my classroom as I'd rather just add images directly to my blog than onto Photobucket. I don't use images enough in my classroom to merit an entire album.

I could see this being a very useful tool for a photography class, not only because it provides a forum for portfolio display, but Photobucket also runs photo competitions relatively frequently which students could enter.

I could also see this tool being useful for group projects with a visual component, so that students could share the photos they had found with fellow group members.

Perhaps this would also be a good place to store historical images for a history class, though I am not sure what the rules are about positing photos which are not your own on the site.

It could also be used as a place to display pictures of projects/work for parents to view, should they be interested in knowing what their child has been up to in class. These images could be password protected and parents could be provided with the password so that student work couldn't be viewed by just anyone on the internet.

Autobiography of a Technology User

When I was young, technology was not something I really thought about. My family always had a computer, but it was used primarily for typing up school assignments and playing Solitaire. The computer was kept in my parents’ room and was largely off limits. I often snuck into the room, not to use the computer, but rather to steal the computer paper for art projects.

For a long time I was more interested in hanging out outside than using any form of technology. Things changed a little in 1990 my brother got a Nintendo Entertainment System. That thing was addictive and turned me into a duck-hunting master. This was the first time that I felt some semblance of addiction to anything technologically related. Luckily my parents were relatively strict and kept my brother and I from turning our brains into pure mush with strict weekly time limits on gaming.

Then, in elementary school, technology was reserved for once a week computer time when typing skills were practiced or math games were played. The occasional school assignment was handed in on a floppy disk, and some research assignments were done on the Richmond School District Intranet. Largely the technological “skills” I was taught in school were monotonous and simply acted as a way for both teachers and students alike to escape from the regular classroom for a while.

By the time I started high school the Internet was really taking off. Circa grade 9 I got my first e-mail address, something embarrassing @hotmail.com. I rarely used it, but felt important about being involved in something that felt so grownup. I remember being told that it would be good to include on job applications/resumes, but it wasn’t until many years later that an employer ever actually communicated with me via the Internet.

High school was also the era of ICQ, the “oh-oh” sound that signaled the arrival of a new message is still etched in my brain. I used ICQ to talk with my friends about cute boys and even to talk to said cute boys who I would never have had the courage to converse with in person. Instant messaging was the first time I discovered the semi-anonymity of the Internet, feeling more courageous hiding behind my computer screen. That being said, I never dreamed of using this anonymity to harass my classmates as some students do today. I am not sure if this was due to my wholesome nature, or the naivety of everyone at the time regarding the Internet in general.

The other technological milestone that stands out in my brain from high school is when my father bought a new desktop computer complete with a C.D burner. As the first person in my group of friends with said luxury, I was frequently passed lists of songs at school, which I then had to download via Napster and burn onto disks for my friends. Although this sometimes annoyed me, I felt special having access to something that others did not. This also taught me things about computers that others wouldn’t learn for years. I definitely have my father to thank for making every effort to stay technologically current and for teaching me how to use all of the appropriate programs correctly. During this time, it also never occurred to me that I was technically stealing the songs. In my eyes, things on the internet were ownerless and there for the taking.

As far as school went, technology was still used infrequently. Computers were mostly used for typing and books were used for researching. My school did offer a few online classes, and my Chemistry 11 class had us using a computer program to teach us one of the class’ final units. I definitely found this unit hard to complete, needing the teacher centered typical class structure to make me successful in school. Teaching myself via a computer program definitely didn’t work for me, an issue I have struggled with since. I would definitely not have been a candidate for an online high school education.

In 2002 I got my first cell phone for Christmas. It was a Nokia brick and I used it extremely rarely. It was one of those phones that was actually used for emergencies only. As time went on and I moved from new phone to new phone (usually because I dropped them), yet I still hardly used them. I kept my texting to a minimum and often left my phone on silent during class and then forget to ever turn the ringer back on. I was that girl that no one could get in touch with when she was out, and I was okay with that. I am a bit better about it today, but that is mostly because I no longer have a landline and actually need my cell for actually phoning. I would like to pretend that my lack of  Smart phone today is a result of my integrity, but really it is just a product of my cheapness, but back to my journey.

In university, Facebook appeared. Nothing I have ever encountered before, or since has been so immediately addictive for me. I was completing my undergrad during the glory days, when Facebook was only available to university students. There was something incredible about being able to discover things about your fellow classmates from a distance, without them ever knowing. It was also nice to know that your parents weren’t on Facebook, nor were 10 year olds. The early days of Facebook were a time of naivety, when everything was posted, every night out was documented with pictures and you friended everyone you had ever met and no one cared about privacy settings. Over time as Facebook usage became more widespread, I became stricter in my usage, posting less and keeping my number of friends extremely small. Some of this is due to being a teacher, but more than anything it is about growing up and realizing that the Internet isn’t always the safest or most secure place.

Facebook aside, my real foray into technological literacy came when I moved around the world for a job. Living in China allowed me to create a blog that I felt had a purpose and was therefore not entirely self-indulgent. I used my blog as a way to keep in touch with those at home, mostly out of sheer laziness. I figured, why email all my friends the exact same stories, typing until my fingers fell off, when I could write about my life in one place and make my family and friends come to me? I went with the Wordpress format, having used it momentarily during my B.Ed and thus feeling comfortable with its tools.

Another reason I started using my blog was because as I grew older I realized that everything I posted on Facebook became the company’s property. Suddenly I became unwilling to post my pictures on Facebook, feeling icky about my images no longer belonging to me. My blog allowed me to share pictures while keeping ownership over them… or so I think… I’ve never really been good at reading the small print.

Living abroad also shot me into the world of Skype. My phone in China didn’t have the capability to phone long distance, so Skype was necessary to stay in touch with my parents who insisted I phone once a week. Skype also became the messaging system I used to type chat with friends and kept me in the loop on what was happening in Canada. It is amazing to me that Skype has remained a free service, as it is so incredible to be able to talk to people a million miles away and to actually be able to see their faces as you chat. It definitely makes living far away more personable.

The school I was at in China also forced me to use more technology in the classroom as each

room had an LCD projector, a luxury I did not want to waste. I didn’t really do anything very innovative with the projector, but the ability to use PowerPoint on a moments notice, or to play relevant You Tube videos was novel. During my practicum, my school was still in the dark ages of overheads and televisions on rolling carts so I enjoyed the opportunity to enter the educational 21^st century.

My school also had an ftp, a network where teachers could upload resources to be used by others in their department. Sometimes the ftp was used as a way for students to digitally submit their work, but mostly it was a way for teachers to share worksheets and tests etc. so that all of us new teachers didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. It was an amazing resource and really fostered collaboration amongst teachers. I wish more schools would use something similar.

Aside from some of my advances whilst in China, I have become relatively technologically stagnant in the last few years. I do not have a smart phone, nor do I tweet (aside from for this class) and I don’t Instragram or use Pinterest. I am a master at wasting time, and though I see the value of these tools, both in the classroom and for personal use, I am weary of addicting myself to anything new. My obsessive email and Facebook checking are enough to frighten me away from new technologies, though I like to be knowledgeable about what is out there, even if I don’t use it, so that I can at least understand what people are talking about. 

Response to Kist's A Socially Networked Classroom

In order for a 21st century classroom, or 21st century school library to exist, we must re frame the way in which society views education. As Kist says in the foreword to his book The Socially Networked Classroom, most principals (and likely people in general) can easily generate a list of what will make a person successful in a typical classroom setting, but this list is archaic and does not take into account today’s modern age. The world and technology have changed rapidly, yet schools are only really beginning to dabble in integrating technology into schools. Because this integration is still weak overall, it is easy to see why Kist and many other educators wonder if high schools really prepare out students for the real world where being tech. savvy is key to success.


The big question that runs throughout Kist’s book and was also a big topic of conversation within our discussion was the doozy “How do we create a classroom as big as the world?” (x). I wonder if it is even possible! While introducing technology into schools is a noble goal, it is also important to remember that just throwing in some fancy technology isn’t enough to engage students, or to make lessons pertinent. In order to be true global citizens, students must not only become technologically literate, but also critical of the world and the modern resources which surround them. Classroom activities also need to have a purpose, aside from simply being modern in their delivery. I always think (and perhaps this is a terrible analogy, but) why make a Prezi, when Power Point is just as good, albeit not as modern.


But back to the issue at hand, school needs to be useful and relatable, but as I argued in my discussion post, isn’t there something nice about keeping students sheltered from the big bad real world until it is the time for them to spread their wings and leave the protective doors of their schools? Is it possible to make a classroom “as big as the world” while keeping students safe and parents happy? Given that the Internet is a relatively new invention, how can we prove to administrators and parents alike that our library wish lists for Ipads, new computers and the newest computer programs are justifiable? How can we explain to parents that twittering can be educational, or that playing games is better than simply filling out a worksheet? I am not sure that I can even begin to answer this...


Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely one hundred percent stand behind technology being used in the classroom and the list of characteristics which Kist describes as creating a “new literacies classroom” are drool-worthy. I have always aspired to use tech in my classroom and this was made significantly easier during my time in China because every single classroom was equipped with a LCD projector. Granted, not all schools are so lucky, and my school had its faults as books were few and far between, as were computer labs. They were however working towards a laptop program wherein every single student would have a laptop to bring to his or her classes. Unfortunately, in their first year, these laptops were underused by teachers just struggling to stay afloat in the day to day grind, and also frequently caused our server to crash as students spent every waking minute playing League of Legends or World of Warcraft instead of using the computers for educational purposes.


I still remain optimistic that there will come a day where gaming in the classroom will be more than just students using their school purchased computers for fooling around. I know that I have lots of ideas for games which are lower-budget (ie. jeopardy) but I would like to discover more ways to use computer based games in my classroom. Again, it is largely a matter of finding the time to discover new resources, and/or to create them ourselves (like Kist did with his book). We also really need to convince parents that even when “fun things” happen during class time, that students are still learning, and in many cases are probably learning more. We also need the money and resources to make our big ideas possible.


All in all, I am excited to read more of Kist’s book and I am also excited to hear from more of my classmates on resources they have used/games they have played/technologies they have found useful, because even after one discussion, I have a list of ideas for the future. Above all else, students must still learn the basics of reading and writing, but there is no reason why these cannot be done using computers and other more modern methods. Hopefully one day Kist’s description of a new literacies classroom will be the norm as teachers and parents alike stop trapping education inside of its 1,000 year old box.

Hello!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my first school focused blog. I have been using wordpress for my personal/travel blog for a few years now, but I wanted to try out my skills in a new forum for this class. I hope I can figure it out...