Google Docs and the Big Project

Here are the two podcasts for this week )both  relatively short). The first is my discussion of Google Docs and other similar free tools that you can use to edit student papers (or to provide them with one option for free word processing tools:




The second is a discussion of the Big Project, which I have formalized as a 14-15 page paper about a research question related to our course.



And, yes, I misspelled "Big Project" on the Internet Archive page. So that may be up there for all of eternity.

Looking Ahead

Most of you should be working on digging through the archives to find resources that you might find valuable in your teaching and writing careers. But I wanted to alert you to what will be happening in the next few days.

First, I will be posting the Big Project assignment sheet this weekend. The basic version is that you will produce a document of some kind discussing the implications of using digital technologies in your workplace (whether that is your current job or an imagined future career). The document will be the equivalent to a 12-15 page paper and must have a thorough bibliography.

Second, I'd like to provide a brief frame for next week's readings. As you'll notice, there are no specific tools attached to next week. Most of these readings have to do with the implications of widely used (and promoted) technologies ranging from Course Management Systems like Blackboard to heavily marketed tools from Google and Apple. One of the articles also discusses the extent to which students (and others) have access to broadband Internet and how individuals use it (or not) on a daily basis.

What I'd like you to do with your blog post is to respond to some of these theoretical questions and to consider how extensively a technology-heavy curriculum or classroom should be used. You might also review the list of (mostly free) technology tools and discuss whether any of those might be of use in the classroom.

Corrected Link

Here is the correct link to the Carrie Fried article on laptop use.

Podcast on Research and Archives

Here is the podcast for the unit on Google Search and on media archives. Looking forward to learning about what you found while browsing some of these archives.


By the way, here is the link to The Living Room Candidate, an archive of every television advertisement ever made for a presidential candidate. This is another great resource, especially for those who teach recent American history.

Addendum: Big Data

Just a quick pointer to an article on Big Data that I referenced in both the written lecture and podcast. The article discusses how consumer tastes aligned with political voting habits. You could see, for example, how people's beer, fast food, and clothing store preferences match up with their likelihood to vote and for which party. Both parties have spent millions compiling this information and used it in crafting their appeals (or in deciding who to appeal to). Hope you enjoy playing with that.

Archives, Research, Resources

This week we will be discussing two major topics. The first is the issue of online research. Obviously, many students use resources and search tools that are not always terribly effective. But it's worth thinking specifically about (1) how they search and (2) how Google works. Having a better understanding of student research practices may help you to craft more effective assignments. Meanwhile understanding Google's research algorithm may help you in conducting some of your own research.

Second, I'd like you to explore a few valuable, but often underused, resources that offer free access to a wide range of movies, TV shows, pictures, audio recordings, and other public domain artifacts. For your blog post, you should explore one of these resources and discuss some of the videos, images, or other tools that might be of value to you in either your teaching or your writing/research.

First, the Internet Archive may be familiar from my podcasts, but you might also find it valuable for its massive collection of public domain movies. These range from news shows, local TV broadcasting, and sports television to propaganda movies and other government films. These might include artifacts like films teaching farmers how to prepare for nuclear war (!) or educational films: this one is about the sun and starred Lionel Barrymore and Eddie Albert and was directed by Frank Capra.

Flickr is a free-to-use photography site where you can post photographs, or in some cases, borrow them for educational or other uses. Be sure to check the license to make sure they are free to use. Most images are licensed for limited use through Creative Commons, an online resource that allows the creator of a work to stipulate how he or she would like their work to be used.

The Getty Museum has a number of resources about art that might be of use, including lesson plans for K-12 classrooms.

Finally, the Library of Congress has a wide range of historical materials, including recordings of oral histories narrated by ex-slaves, as well as a wide range of early films, including many of the earliest films produced by Thomas Edison. But I also enjoy their collection of Coca-Cola ads.

For the blog post, you should discuss in detail what you find in one or more of these archives and how you might use it in your work. If possible, you should try to embed at least two images or videos. You should also link to an appropriate page on the archive you choose to discuss.

Blog roundup

Here is a quick roundup of some of the blog posts from your classmates. As I mentioned earlier, I'd like to see you begin linking to blog posts written by your classmates.

First, Elizabeth has a thoughtful blog post on Twitter use and the distinctions between Facebook and Twitter within the social media ecosystem. At this point, it's still fair to say that teens are tweeting, but many of them have moved on to more visually stimulating (or less visible) social media services such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Vine (which I discussed in an interview with Raleigh News and Observer writer Craig Lindsey). Some are also creating animated GIFs, and others make what are called image macros (these circulate on Facebook and are incredibly easy to make).

Second, Dena has a discussion of a great project idea for using wikis in her criminal justice class, which reminded me of a similar project I used to profile: The I-35 Bridge Project. This wiki collected resources on the bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007 and ended up being a tool used by a number of local organizations during that rebuilding project. Dama D also discusses her plans for incorporating a wiki project into one of her classes.

Finally, G. Grooms addresses the debate about cyberbullying and points out that it's a far more complex issue than we might hear in some media outlets.

Blog Updates

At this point in the semester, I'd like to see you commenting on and linking to the blog posts of others in the class. if we're going to take seriously the idea of building readership, that's the best place to start.

Some of you appear to be confused by how to insert links seamlessly. So here is a quick tutorial. At the top of this very blog post, there is a link button in the middle of the toolbar.

You would first highlight the text where you want the link to go,
like this. Then click this link button (most of you have gotten this far), and a dialogue box opens up that looks like the image below. As you will see, the words "image below" have already appeared in the first dialogue box. Then, all you would need to do is to type in the URL (or copy and paste it) and post the link. This way, you can create seamless links to other people's blog posts. As you create links, make sure that you are linking to the specific post or article, not the entire website.

It takes a while to get used to linking, but hopefully you have begun to master that task in the wiki and can begin translating those skills to the blog.

As you can see, I have also begun making a deliberate effort to incorporate images into the blog. For an upcoming project, I will be expecting you to take that next step and grab images that you can use on your website. There are, of course, potential copyright issues that I'll talk about in more detail, but because these blogs are for educational use, for the most part, I don't think there will be any issues.

In case, you were curious how to take a screenshot of a part of a screen (or the entire thing), there are some instructions here, at least for Mac users. This may prove useful when teaching your students how to use some of these tools (it's also the technique I've used for the written lectures.

So, long story short: link and comment starting now. Include images starting next week.

Social Bookmarking Podcast

Here is the podcast on social bookmarking and RSS.



Please visit one of the RSS feed readers at least briefly to get some idea of how the operate:

·      Inoreader: http://www.inoreader.com/

·      Google Chrome Reader: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rss-feed-reader/pnjaodmkngahhkoihejjehlcdlnohgmp

·      Lire (Apple app—costs $4.99): https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lire-full-text-rss/id550441545?mt=8

·      RSSOwl: http://www.rssowl.org/

Otherwise, follow the instructions in the lecture and the previous blog post.

Social Bookmarking, expertise, and other Issues

This week we will be focusing on a variety of issues, including social bookmarking, expertise, and as a potential side issue, the use of laptops in the classroom. Your school districts may have strict policies about when students can use laptops in the classroom, but these issues have been resurfacing recently in two other (frequently linked on Facebook) articles that I would like you to read in conjunction with your regular readings.

The first, from The New Yorker, calls for bans on laptop use because of a number of studies that have suggested they serve as a distraction. The other, from Slate, suggests that the choice of using a laptop should be up to the students (although, to be fair, the author admits that laptops are typically a distraction for students). One consideration for this week's blog post might be to address the issue.

A second alternative would be to try to experiment with a social bookmarking service such as Diigo or Delicious. These tools function as bookmarking services, much like the one on your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc.), but with the added bonus that you can access them from any computer you wish once you've logged in. You can also link to friends or others with similar interests and share resources (this is something that, as we will see, you can also do with Pinterest). The lecture will go out on email shortly, and I will also post a podcast by Sunday night or Monday.

Update: Check out this conversation on Twitter inspired by a question I had about our course readings this week.

Wiki Lecture

I've finally had the opportunity to post the wiki lecture to the Internet Archive. It has detailed directions for how to use the wiki and a discussion of my Wikipedia project.



I've also added some additional advice in the wiki on the Playground page. If you have questions about editing a wiki page or difficulty logging in, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Wiki Links

Instead of copying the reading assignments for the Wiki discussion from the assignments page, I'll just send you over there. I'll post a podcast Sunday night reinforcing some of the following instructions verbally.

In addition to the readings, you will be expected to start working on our wiki project. This will be a two-week project that may require some experimentation and play on your part. I would suggest that you start by just playing around on the Playground page to make sure that you understand the logic of editing wiki pages (which takes a while to master, so don't procrastinate).

After you have some confidence about editing a wiki page, go to the Activity page and follow the instructions. In terms of choosing a resource, I'm very flexible. Just pick something you think others might find valuable and that you can write about for approximately 300 words.

In addition to the wiki activity, you should write your usual blog post (either about the readings or the process of creating a wiki page) and you should also comment on at least 1-2 other people's blog posts. Your blog post should also include a link to the blog post of at least one of your classmates.