Podcasting and its Classroom Benefits

I do not know a lot about podcasting, but have begun to investigate. The website,
http://www.wtvi.com/teks/05_06_articles/classroom-audio-podcasting.html
explains, "a podcast is a web feed of audio files (although increasingly people are applying the term to video and other media) that is placed on the Internet for anyone to download. It's usually possible to download the files directly from the website, just as one would normally do; however, special programs called podcatchers exist that let users subscribe to podcasts in order to automatically download and store the media files for later playback.” It also discusses some benefits:

1. Podcasting is cheap
2. Podcasting invites a global audience
3. Audio podcasting encourages no-frills communication
4. Podcasting is digital storytelling
5. Podcasting provides a window into the classroom
6. Podcasting involves few privacy concerns
7. Podcasting can educate about copyright
8. Podcasting can be interactive
9. Podcasting can be creative
10. Podcasting can be fun

I think we would all agree with Wesley A. Fryer's article from this website, that the "educational model of the past is insufficient for the needs of today’s learners and employers. Classroom podcasts can provide engaging opportunities for students to develop desirable skills as digital storytellers and cutting-edge communicators."

Course Reflection-Week 3

After only three weeks in this course I am amazed at how much I have already learned. There have been some challenges for me that others, who are more computer savvy, may not have encountered. I am finding that, not only am I learning so much information through the content of the course, but I am learning a lot about computer use in general. At times it has been frustrating and at times it has been extremely rewarding.
I must say, before I continue, that the people in this course are fantastic. I really feel that this is a group effort with everyone supporting each other in oder to succeed. It is wonderful to know that that support is there.
I began in week one not even knowing what a blog was, let alone how to create one. My blog was originally created and didn't contain the 'add new page element', so my investigating began. With the help of Candace and others I was determined to solve the mystery. My frustration grew, but after finally updating my system I solved the problem and was back to blogging. What a great feeling of accomplishment. A little glich, but it was "driving me crazy". One hurdle overcome, but another was to follow. This week I finished my assignment 2 early and knew that all I had to do was send it. I would hold off in case I decided to change it, or new information from the class discussions would effect what I sent. Then when I actually went to send it as an attachment, I could not get it to attach as office 2.2 (which I had created it in). I tried all sorts of avenues, but it wouldn't open correctly as an attachment. I did send it in as a html document, but was disappointed how it changed it. So now I have another challenge so that hopefully I can send my next assignment as I have created it.
In regards to the course content, I am finding it fascinating. The topic of internet safety has become a huge issue and people, regardless of their computer skills, are aware of it. However, through reading articles and through discussions I have learned so much and understand now how really dangerous the internet can be if one is not careful. This course has given me a chance to examine computer use through the eyes of my students. It is amazing how knowledgable they are on computer uses and abuses. It has forced me to think more in depth about their concerns, such as cyber-bullying. I love how everyone shares their opinions, knowledge, and websites, and there is opportunity for feedback and honest discussion.
For the last two weeks I have been exploring websites and software that I had not exposed myself to before. It is great. I am discovering some great finds that I will definitely use with my students. Before this course I had a standard "set" (for lack of a better word) of software that we used in the classroom. Now it has expanded ten fold thanks to everyone's input.
I am so glad that I have taken this course. I am finding it very rewarding. I may not be a computer 'wiz', but with a class and instructors this supportive, I think I may just make it through.

Statistics on Internet Safety Issues

I have to include this is my blog because I am the type of person who likes to see numbers and statistics. It adds clarity and puts things into a better perspective. Although this is an older study done in 2001 I find the percentages mentioned fascinating and frightening. The information comes from an article written by Dr. John Barnett who 'taught high school science for 20 years before completing his PhD at OISE. He is now an assistant professor at the University of Western Ontario'. The article is titled, Internet Safety in School: Some Thoughts for Science Teachers (June 2004)

"In 2001, the Government of Canada along with the Canadian non-profit group, Media Awareness Network, commissioned a comprehensive study of nine to seventeen year-old children.1 They found that the Internet was used by 99% of Canadian children, 79% at home. The study found that 56% of children use Internet-based chat rooms (with more than two thirds of that group using unmonitored chat rooms) and 41% used instant messaging. They found that more than 10% of children had disabled the Internet filters at school or at home. More disturbingly, they found that almost 20% of children had been e-mailed a message that bothered or frightened them and that such children more often told a friend than an adult about it. More than 10% of those who use instant messaging said that they had been threatened while using it. The study also found that more than 40% of their sample had been approached by someone asking for their personal information, with nearly half of that group giving away the information. Less than 10% told their parents about the encounter. As for risky behaviour, about 25% of children reported that someone they met on the Internet had asked to meet them face to face and more than 10% had actually met that person. Of that group, 12% said they had a bad experience. In seven percent of the cases, children said that the stranger initiated sexual contact and six percent said the stranger was violent. Ten percent said the stranger was not attractive or not the age or appearance they claimed to be."

Some websites for teachers with younger students...

Some 'safe' websites for teachers and kids...

http://pbskids.org/lions/This site is based on the popular children's show Beween the Lions.
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/index.htmlThis site provides a list of leveled books by grade
http://www.harcourtschool.com/menus/auto/18/50.htmlThis site is great for learning how to read, write, and spell
http://www.starfall.com/An excellent site for helping your child learn to read. Use the menu that appears directly in front of you on the first page to navigate, or the smaller menu at the right.
http://www.sundhagen.com/babbooks/adlib.cgiComplete the boxes as instructed to create your own silly story! In grade 3we learn about using interesting adjectives, so this should be a big hit
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/kids/recipes.htmlRecipes from the San Diego Zoo...great inspiration for writing! (Math:Blackline Masters for everything math!!)
http://lrt.ednet.ns.ca/PD/BLM/table_of_contents.htmA great tool for teachers or parents to reinforce math skills using Canadian tools.
http://www.funbrain.com/cashreg/Click on a level of difficulty and then on the Canadian flag to play this on-line money game! You may want to bring some money with you to helpfigure out the change, or you could use a calculator. Have fun!Other:
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/What a fantastic site! There are plenty of science articles in kid-friendly text and complete with pictures. This site is sure to feed those hungryminds - your child's and your own! http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/trythis/try1.htmlNobody ever said science was neat and tidy!! Only try this site out if youare in the mood for something slimy and goopy and blue....This mixture will be both a liquid and a solid and it is NOT to be eaten and NOT to be poured down your sink! Have fun getting gooey!
http://www.wackykids.org/welcome.htmThis site has fun ideas for making simple art projects with paper and it hasbook lists for kids interested in reading more about art!
http://www.scribbleskidsart.com/generic218.htmlHere is some great information about Pablo Picasso.
http://www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htmWow! This is a fantastic site! Take time to explore the site with your child.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/artists/coloring/This site has links to art and artists around the world as well as art activities, and colouring pages to print out or 'paint' on line.
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2223/2223_exploring_elements.pdfA one page chart outlining the elements of art and design.
http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/myplace/gallery/gallery.htmThis is a site dedicated to the artworks of children throughout Asia.

Kids Search Engines

Kids Search Engines
By Danny Sullivan, Editor-In-Chief April 4, 2005
The services below are designed primarily to serve the needs of children, either in focus, or by filtering out sites that some parents and teachers might find inappropriate for kids. These usually include sites that deal with explicit sexual matters, porn sites, violence, hate speech, gambling and drug use.

Major Children's Guides & Directories
The kid-safe directories below use human beings to filter out sites that might be considered objectionable for viewing by children.

Ask Jeeves For Kids http://www.ajkids.com/
Ask Jeeves is a unique service where you enter a question, and Ask Jeeves tries to point you to the right web page that provides an answer. At Ask Jeeves For Kids, answers have been vetted for appropriateness. Also, if Ask Jeeves cannot answer a question, it pulls results from various search engines in its metacrawler mode. At Ask Jeeves For Kids, no site that is on the CyberPatrol block list is supposed to be listed.

KidsClick!http://www.kidsclick.org/
Backed by librarians, KidsClick lists about 5,000 web sites in various categories.

Looksmart's Kids Directoryhttp://search.netnanny.com/?pi=nnh3&ch=kids
The Kids Directory is a listing of over 20,000 kid friendly websites that were hand picked by employees of Looksmart subsidiary Net Nanny and vetted for quality. Looksmart also offers a safe search of the entire web, using Net Nanny software to filter Wisenut search results, as well as a free toolbar that uses the same service.

Yahooliganshttp://www.yahooligans.com/
Yahoo for kids, designed for ages 7 to 12. Sites are hand-picked to be appropriate for children. Also, unlike normal Yahoo, searches will not bring back matched found by crawling the web, if there is no match from within the Yahooligan listings. This prevents possibly objectionable sites from slipping onto the screen. Additionally, adult-oriented banner advertising will not appear within the service. Yahooligans is the oldest major directory for children, launched in March 1996.

Filtering Options
Most major search engines get their listings by crawling the web, rather than through human review and categorization, as with the sites listed above. This means its easy for possibly objectionable material to appear in search results.
As a solution, most major search engines offer some type of filtering ability. It's meant to keep out porn content and other material that most might not want children to encounter.
These filters are not perfect. Some material does get past them, and some safe material may get filtered out. To understand more about this, see the Harvard Criticizes Google's Adult Content Filter article that ran in our SearchDay newsletter in April 2003.

Below are tips on enabling porn filters for major search engines:

AllTheWeb: Use the Basic Settings page to enable the Offensive Content Filter option. The only works for searches in English.
AltaVista: Use the Family Filter Setup page.
AOL Search: Doesn't appear to offer a filter, but enabling Parental Controls might have an impact on web search matches.
Ask Jeeves: Use options for Content Filtering on the Your Settings page or try Ask Jeeves For Kids, listed above.
Google: See the SafeSearch help page for instructions on setting up filtering on a permanent or as-needed basis.
HotBot: Use the Block Offensive Content section of the Filter Preferences page. Note that you may need to set this again if you change from using the default "HotBot" search engine that's offered.
LookSmart: LookSmart has never accepted adult content for listing within its directory results. However, obscure queries might bring these up in the crawler-based results that are sometimes provided.
Lycos: Use the Adult Filter section of the Advanced Search Filters page.
MSN Search: Use the Safe Search Filter on the Settings page.
Teoma: Teoma doesn't appear to offer a filter.
Yahoo: Set the SafeSearch Filter option via the Search Preferences page.
Filtering and Blocking Software
Filtering software works across the entire web, not just for search results. Most filtering software provides a fair amount of control for parents to determine what it and is not allowable content. Cyber Patrol and Net Nanny are two of the most popular of these programs.
Cyber Patrolhttp://www.cyberpatrol.com/
Cyber Patrol relies on an extensive categorized list of web sites to allow parents to determine which sites are allowable or not. Content is sourced by a team of 40+ professional researchers, automated tools and customer submissions to gather the most widely accessed content on the Internet. These lists are updated frequently. Parents can also control whether individual web sites are allowed or not.
The program can filter web pages, newsgroups, chat rooms and other internet resources, and can be used to limit online time, create user logs and so on.
Net Nannyhttp://www.netnanny.com/
Looksmart acquired Net Nanny in April 2004 and added porn-free web search to the product shortly thereafter. The product provides a wide variety of parental controls, including blocking content based on content, URL, or ratings.
In addition to blocking web pages, the program allows selective blocking of access to chat, instant messaging, internet games and newsgroups. The program can also be configured to prevent illegal downloading of copyrighted or obscene material.
For more filtering software programs, see Yahoo's list of blocking and filtering software.
Other Children's Search Engines ALA Great Web Site for Kidshttp://www.ala.org/greatsites
An organized directory of sites selected by members of the American Library Association using rigorous evaluation guidelines to assure high quality content, authority and "strength of character."
Awesome Libraryhttp://www.awesomelibrary.org/
Over 14,000 sites have been classified into a directory, specifically organized for teachers, students and parents. Information can be found by browsing or searching.
Diddabdoohttp://www.dibdabdoo.com/
Billed as an ad free, non-commercial directory of web sites designed for child-safe searching.
Education Worldhttp://www.education-world.com/
Over 500,000 sites of interest to educators. Browsable or searchable, with the ability to narrow in by appropriate grade level. Launched in spring 1996.
Fact Monsterhttp://www.factmonster.com/
Reference provider Information Please produces this site which provides facts and information oriented around the needs of children.
Family Sourcehttp://www.family-source.com/
This focused crawler-based service has indexed nearly 1 million kid-friendly URLs.
FirstGov for Kidshttp://www.kids.gov/
From the U.S. Federal Citizen Information Center, this directory provides links to government-related kids' sites along with some of the best kids' sites from other organizations, grouped by subject.
Kids Search Toolshttp://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm
Search a variety of kid-safe search engines from a single page.
SearchEdu.comhttp://www.searchedu.com/
Index of pages built by crawling education web sites.
Teach-nology.comhttp://www.teach-nology.com/
Directory of web sites for teachers and educators.
TekMom's Search Tools for Studentshttp://www.tekmom.com/search/
All-in-one search page for kid search sites and research resources.
ThinkQuest Libraryhttp://www.thinkquest.org/library/
A free educational resource featuring 5,500+ websites created by students around the world as part of a competition.

Where's the Financing?

Perhaps this article, No More Chalk, written by Helen Gao, needs to be sent to the Ministry or the school boards. It is an interesting article that explains how research shows that with advanced technology in the classrooms students "do substantially better on standardized tests", and that technology "improves performance". As a grade three teacher, (approaching June), I am constantly hearing about increasing EQAO scores and test results. Perhaps the ministry should be assisting in this endeavour more by supplying money for classroom technology so that our students can rise to their fullest potentials. The article makes a valid point in saying, "With today's students born into a world saturatedwith cell phones, iPods and instant messaging, a growing chorus of technology experts say teachers must engage young people on their terms or risk boring them"--so provide us the resources to do this successfully.

Getting Internet Permission

In September the teachers with the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board send home a consent form that ensures parents are aware of their child's internet use at school. It clearly states the Guidelines for internet use and therefore helps parents to share in some of the responsibility for their child's internet use. Here is a sample of our form...

Acceptable Use Agreement for the Internet
CONSENT FORM
______________________________________________________________________________________________

The HamiltonWentworth District School Board has an Acceptable Use Agreement for the Internet that has been explained to your son/daughter. Please sign this form and return it to your son/daughter’s school.
The signatures of the students and parent/guardian (where the student has not reached the age of 18 years) are mandatory before access is granted for use of the Internet provided by The HamiltonWentworth District School Board
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As a user of The HamiltonWentworth District School Board’s Internet facilities, I agree to comply with The HamiltonWentworth District School Board’s AcceptableUse Agreement for the Internet.


Student Signature:____________________________________Date:______________
Student Name (please print):______________________________________________
Student’s School:_________________________________________________________
Grade:__________ Date of Birth: Year__________Month_______Day____

As parent/legal guardian of the above student, I have read the reverse side of this form, and I grant permission for my son/daughter to use Internet services provided by The HamiltonWentworth District School Board.

Parent/Guardian Signature:________________________________ Date:____________
Parent/Guardian Name (please print):________________________________________

Street Address/Postal Code:_________________________________________________
Home Telephone:___________________Work Telephone:_________________________



THE REVERSE SIDE READS:

Guidelines for Internet Use:
-Use equipment for educational purposes only
-Keep passwords Confidential
-Show Respect for people and organizations
-Use only authorized software
-Be polite and well mannered when using E-mail
-Do not break copyright laws
-Do not accessorpost offensive material
-Do not harm or destry data of a person, computer, or network
-Respect other people’s time--keep messages brief
-Logoff as soon as you have completed your task

Failure to observe rules will result in loss of Internet privileges and/or other punishment consistent with the school code of behaviour.