As I was looking at my list of exotics, I was thinking about new tools. I compiled the original lists in 2006 and things have certainly changed in the online landscape since then.
Twitter
Twitter is one of those tools that is difficult to explain. In a nutshell, people on twitter make posts into a common space. The posts are called “tweets” and anybody can see them — unless the person tweeting has “protected” updates, which means only those people who are designated can see them. These tweets are not longer than 140 characters.
I have about 550 people whom I follow and who follow me. About half of the people are educators and the other half are podcast related people. The upshot is that any given tweet I make is probably irrelevant to half the audience. I monitor my “friends” so I can see what’s happening around my twitterverse as it happens. The tweets range from “nomming prawns for lunch!” from a fellow writer in New Zealand to “i just got home and found my wife dead!” (I am not making this up. Those are actual tweets I’ve gotten in the last year.)
Ning
Ning is an example of “social network space” and is kind of a union of blog, message board, and Facebook without all the annoying zombies. Like other spaces, it’s a platform where one establishes an account, sets up a profile page, and joins one or more special interest groups. The implementation becomes a community space with a certain level of moderator control.
I belong to several Ning communities – Classroom 2.0, Fireside Learning, and the Podiobooks Community. The value of these places is that they serve a purpose for the members. In Classroom 2.0 (just over 11,500 members as of a few minutes ago) the members are all teachers who are interested in using technology in the classroom. Fireside Learning, by comparison, has a scant few hundred members who are mostly involved in philosophy of learning. It’s a wider demographic, including college prof, K-12, and business/industry/government trainers. The Podiobooks Community is a place where creators and subscribers can get together to talk about the works, the site, and other things of interest.
Cloud Apps
One of the tools that has gotten a lot of attention in the last few weeks are the “cloud applications” that exist on the web. These are tools that provide functions that are more commonly associated with desktop applications – word processing, spreadsheets, etc – but exist in places like Zulu and GoogleDocs. In many instances these can be shared and used collaboratively. The advantage is that the user doesn’t need storage – or the application – on their local machine, but the disadvantage is that s/he does need access to the web — and high speed access at that.
Web Capable Remote Devices
From iPhone to Kindle, more and more devices that are not – strictly speaking – computers are coming to the fore. The iPhone idea is very important from the standpoint of putting ubiquitous web access in the hands of people for whom a computer is not a viable alternative. The Kindle e-book reader may well be a ground breaking technology, allowing the user to purchase and download e-books without first having to plug in a computer. While the cost of the devices is somewhat high right now – and the cost of the books even more out of line – as this technology matures, this could be an important tool
September 17th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I am at least familiar with most of these tools, with the exception of Twitter and they can be very useful in distance education. I have found that even Facebook can be extremely useful for transferring information from me to my students and back (because we are far away from one another). I tried snail mail, phone calls, and email but I get a much better response (& in less time) if I use Facebook. I also have my iPod touch syncronized with my computer so now I rely a little too much on it to tell me where I am going, what I need to be doing, and catch up on some books along the way. It is a great resource for teachers to keep up on the news, educational advances via internet, email, podcasts, and more.
I would like some more information on the Twitter resource.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Twitter, Ning, and Cloud Apps are like technology foreign words to me. These are yet more tools that I am not familiar with. Technology blows my mind! It seems like when I just start thinking that I am becoming familiar with new or newer technology, there is more technology. Technology is a never ending circle of learning.
Ning is something that has my interest. I like how it is a community space and I can join things that meet the needs/interests that I have. It sounds like a really good place to talk to others and share ideas. I will be looking into Ning more.
In my school district we are currently not allowed to use iPhones or mp3 players. The students can not have them at school even for educational purposes. While I understand the board wants to make sure the students are not making phone calls, texting, or listening to music in class, I feel that completely outlawing them is taking away from optimal learning opportunities. Students love these tools and use these tools. If teachers can get them using them in class for learning, why not? Teachers need to be able to spark the interests of their students and I think that using these devices is one way to do it.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I am not really familiar with any of these tools–sad to say. It seems that there is just so much technology that I can’t keep up with it all. I think the ning sounds interesting. Since the members are all teachers interested in using technology in the classroom, I think I could learn a lot being part of particular interest groups.
I really find these posts very helpful. It teaches me about things I may research and use in the classroom.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I like the web-capable mobile devices. I have discovered that my special needs kids have some software that I can use in their room that I could probably tweak to put lectures on their iPods or other devices. Trying to follow along with fellow classmates or the teacher at a pace that is unfamiliar is next to impossible for them. I could also design rudimentary webpages for them to navigate by one or two touch buttons.
Twitter sounds like a whole lot of noise to me. Trying to wade through a million haystacks to find one or two relevant needles. Tech for tech’s sake. Yuck.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
While looking at your newer potential tools that could possibly be used in an advanced toolbox, I have found one common thread, they are all collaborating ideas about education. These types of tools are great for communication to share ideas and thoughts about the educational world. These are all new things that I am unfamiliar with, but do feel they would be good to allow for learning how to enhance our methods.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Wow. It sounds like you are talking a foreign language to me. I had never heard of any of those tools. As I was reading over your list, I found myself interested in them. They seem to be really useful tools for distance learning. I would be interested in looking at them more closely. These tools seem to be a good way to communicate with others.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I have not heard of these tools either. The tweeter sounds really interesting and useful. More importantly, I really like the idea of the ning. I do not have face book because so many of my students also have accounts and would have access to my information. Although the ning sounds like a great way to share professional information in the same type of environment.
September 19th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Until now, I had never heard of any of these tools. From reading about them, I’m not exactly how these tools could be used for educational purposes. They seem to be more for personal use to keep in touch with people or keep track of things.