Fear keeps schools from social media

I have added the following presentation and the news report above to our wikidlinks page.
”The world has changed and the constant bad Facebook press and its role in cyber bullying have meant that schools are being asked for leadership on the issue and in reality they spend their time trying to catch up to the evolving technology,” said Denis Masseni, a multimedia lecturer at Monash University and director of digital business Sponsor-ed. See the slideshow here

My colleague Andrew and myself decided to go through the library information wiki and tidy it up.  One thing that we decided was that we did not need to emphasise the Web 2.0 sections anymore as we felt that the  staff were now very aware. 

Last year we were experimenting and now by term 3 we have draft protocols in place regarding Facebook (for communication and engagement only – not to be used for assessment ) and recommended hosts for blogging and wikis.

The new wikidlinks reflects these changes and we are using a much tighter format and menu.  Unfortunately this means extending another ‘click’ but what can you do!

Over the holidays I decided to create a school Web 2.0 directory which I placed on the WikidLinks Wiki as well as sending out to all staff.  As reported earlier all Domain Face Book fan pages were deleted and new Face Book Groups with closed memberships were introduced under the Red Brick tag/ brand.

As well Domains are starting to use Wikis, I have created a wiki for the English department to showcase the students work.  A wiki for the year nine programme and am about to create a wiki for careers.  We are also have a cyber safety wiki  as we are working in partnership with the Alannah and Madeline Foundation to creat an eSmart school.

As well the Library is now using  /www.onetruemedia.com for book trailers and the Media Department uses YouTube to showcase students work.

It seemed an appropriate time to create a directory of the sites and showcase the work we are doing to the broader school community

OLMC Library

Red Brick Library Twitter
Red Brick Library Face Book Page
WikidLinks
Wikidreading
library@onetruemedia

Collaborative Work

cybersafety@olmc Wiki
Heidelberg Project Wiki
Red Brick English Wikiolmc staff twitter

Domain Face Book Pages

Red Brick Media
Red Brick Drama
Red Brick Careers Face book Page

OLMC MEDIA

thejaydog

read my tweets on using web 2.0 for learning and assessment (to lazy to blog over 140 characters LOL)

English Dept. going to use a wiki to showcase student work

Did a wiki for the Heidelberg Project – teachers are finally biting the bullet on web 2.0

developed a blog for the year 12 grls to discuss their ideas for the end of year theme

great assignment with VCAL grls developing a business website with googlesites. last year they mocked them up on MSPublisher

This week following the lead of the Media Teacher I pulled down olmclibrary face-book page as he had pulled down his media page.

This was because of safety concerns.  A speaker on cyber-safety had spoken at the school and demonstrated that identifying a school is a danger to students who ‘fan’ the site.

Both of us have re-established our pages as a group which is invite only and private.  The groups name is anonymous in terms of identifying the school.  Both of us will need to build up the audience base we had to promote our services and useful links and information.  We have used the same branding as the media department.

As a school we have looked at using Face-book for assessment and concluded that wikis and blogs and googlesites were better Web 2.0 tools for providing collaborative and private assessment within and educational context.

It seems clear that with recent Face-book controversies about safety and privacy that if as educators  we wish use Face-book to communicate with our students it should only be done as a closed group with strict membership control.

what i am trying to promote at school this is for the weekly staff newsletter…

now to see if I get published in the print world LOL

Creating a website for assessment

Recently I Worked with Sue  in her VCAL class to create a website for a business.  Previously the students had mocked up a website using Microsoft Publisher.  I went into Sue’s classroom and introduced the girls to Google Sites which is a very easy site to use to create a website for educational purposes, one of its features being that the user can choose with whom the website is shared.

Google Sites also enable a simple structure and format which the students can easily follow particularly if they already have social networking skills.  By the time I had gone through the features of the site one student was already downloading photos to go on the pages she had created.  I have spoken to several of the girls and feel confident that once they got underway it has been an easy process for them.

I am very happy to go into the classroom and help you if you would like to create a website, a blog or a wiki for the girls to use as part of their assessment and presentation. I am very happy to discuss your assignments and consider which of these options would suit your needs best.  I can establish a wiki, blog or website for you; I can introduce the students to the site and stay with you in the classroom to support the students as they get underway.

It is appropriate to note that the eSmart committee has agreed that we recommend Google Sites for establishing a website, Global Teacher for blogging, and WikiSites for collaborative work.

hat is What is iView?

iView is a video player offering full-length programs as seen on ABC TV, and iView originals ranging from arts to anime.

Programs are added every day; most programs are available for 14 days.

iView is an alternative to using Clickview for viewing programmes which have recently been on the ABC.  Once you have found the programme you are looking for just click the iView button and the programme begins.  Click here to see Voyage to the Planets – Mars to see how easy it is.

from Bright Ideas

 

OLMC Facebook Fan Page May 10, 2010 by slav

Our Lady of Mercy College, Heidelberg teacher librarian Michael Jongen has recently developed a Facebook Fan page for the students. Michael explains: After a meeting of CLANS (Catholic Network) librarians where we had discussed social networking, I decided to create a facebook fan page for the library. This is an attempt to engage with the students but we will maintain the page so that is current, informative and fun. Several of the creative faculties already use facebook fan pages to communicate with students. We also set up a twitter account which was linked to the facebook page. This was an attempt to tackle the facebook conundrum directly and to see if, as educators we can communicate through our students’ choice of social media. After a year of working to inform teachers of the potential of Web 2.0 in learning and assessment, I also wanted to look at my own area and how we could utilise these tools. Head of Library Tricia Sweeney and I feel that we will use this as our main medium of communication with the girls and as a tool to showcase our web 2.0 projects such as book trailers and book blogs.

 Some newspaper reports in April 2010 suggested that teachers should not ‘friend’ students on Facebook. OLMC has addressed these issues in the following way: Our Facebook page was devised as a fan page. Several other subject areas use the same approach, this enables students to fan the page rather than have to become a friend of the teacher. olmclibrary facebook page has three administrators, including Tricia Sweeney as Head of Library. We have an eSmart committee at the School which Tricia and I both sit on alongside the IT manager and the Vice Principal. We have draft protocols. Facebook is a good way to engage and communicate with students. Fan pages can be created in Subject areas and domains e.g. olmclibrary, media, drama and dance pages. It is not recommended that Facebook be used for assessment or assignments. It is recommended that teachers do not ‘friend’ with students. At OLMC the message is very strong that teachers should think very wisely about ‘friending’ current students. Any current Facebook controversy or issue is raised at the weekly staff briefing by the Principal.

http://slav.globalteacher.org.au/2010/05/10/olmc-facebook-fan-page/

An excellent idea by Michael and Tricia to meet the students’ interests by joining Facebook, but also by setting up a number of procedures that ensure that students stay safe online.

The 2010 Horizon Report for schools K-12 has recently been released. Predicting the technologies that will be influential in teaching and learning over the next 5 years, the K-12 Horizon Report is a must read for all educators.

Teaching to the Test The debate about what standardised testing and school accountability actually do to education has been reignited in the United States by the publication of Diane Ravitch’s book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. Ravitch, a research professor of education at New York University, is a respected historian of education

The last few weeks of term I have been working on the thinking curriculum as a defacto fourth on the school’s Thinking Group.  The group will be running a PD for all teaching staff on the first Monday back after the term break.  I will be working specifically with the Science Domain who will be working away from the main staff body.

I created a Thinking Curriculum page on the wiki.

With the Science Domain I attended a half day session with Melita Jones from the ACU on E5 (the five e’s). We will continue on with this on the PD day.