7 July 2008

Twitter’s Identi.ca Crisis


I’ve been actively involved on Twitter for almost a year now, and I have a lot to thank it for.  I’ve been introduced to some fantastic folks via Twitter, some of whom have even made guest appearances in my classes.  I’ve developed a PLN around Twitter that has heavily informed not only how I use technology in my teaching, but my entire mindset regarding education irrespective of technology.  I talk every day with smart, funny people who care a great deal about kids, learning, and teaching.

So why might I jump ship?

Identi.ca is the new microblogging kid on the block, and at first glance, it not only seems similar to Twitter, Pownce, Plurk, etc., it actually seems like it has less to offer.  No replies buttons or tabs, no search bar, just a steady stream of messages and the ability to ‘subscribe’ to one another.

What entices me about Identi.ca is the fact that it’s open source.  While Twitter has been having trouble staying on its feet lately (it has been better of late, to be fair), I wonder how long it would take for Identi.ca users with some technical knowledge to diagnose and attack the underlying problems.  Seems like a good thing to have “more hands on deck.”  There’s more to be said about it, but Mike Bogle covered it in pretty good detail in his post and follow-up comment here.  With add-ons and other contributions from the Identi.ca community, I’m seeing the potential for Identi.ca to play Firefox to Twitter’s IE – highly customizable and community-based.

I also like Identi.ca’s commitment to the OpenMicroBlogging protocol.  Essentially, conversations could take place across services, so there’d be no need for a Twitter account, Plurk account, etc.  One protocol to rule them all, so to speak.  There is already a plethora of services for cross-posting to multiple services, but nothing to aggregate responses and facilitate discussion.

To me, the discussions and exchanges of ideas that take place on Twitter are by far its most important factor, and why I won’t be deleting my Twitter account anytime soon.  Identi.ca may evolve into something great, and I’ll definitely stick with it, unlike a lot of other microblogging services.  Without the people who make up my network, however, it won’t be of nearly as much value as Twitter, broken down and everything.  Ultimately, it’s the people, not the tools, that give the network its value.

In the meantime, I encourage folks to try out Identi.ca and see if it suits you.  I’m @damian613 on both Identi.ca and Twitter; feel free to subscribe, follow, or just read.

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19 March 2008

Reach Out and Touch Someone


Up until about a month ago, my primary use for Skype was for facilitating video chat between my parents and my 3-year-old son. While that’s a great use, it wasn’t until very recently that I’ve begun using Skype for more educational purposes. Students in my Honors British Lit class just completed one very successful Skype interaction, and are about to embark on another.

While the course is called “Honors British Literature”, in all honesty we skew very English in the literature we read. In addition to wanting to give my students some exposure to non-English British culture for balance’s sake, I also wanted to satisfy their curiosity at seeing some street signs in Welsh. I turned to fellow teacher, Twitterer, and ex-pat Englishman in Wales Dave Stacey for help.

Over the course of a few weeks, Dave and I corresponded via email and arranged for him to Skype into our class on 13 March, when he spent about 45 minutes speaking with my students. In preparation for the chat, they brainstormed questions for Dave, using a page on our class wiki as their “scratchpad”. Dave obligingly researched (and posted answers to!) every question my kids could throw at him prior to our chat. Dave and I had a test run to make sure both of our school networks could handle the Skype-y awesomeness, then linked up for the real deal at 11:15am EDT / 3:15pm GMT. Dave fielded questions from my students on the Welsh language and pronunciations, culture (popular and otherwise), and even his personal experiences moving from the south of England to Wales for university and eventually settling down and starting a family there.

I was impressed on a few levels: first, at Dave’s willingness to make himself available to a bunch of American high school kids long after his work day ended (not always easy for a new dad). Second, my students could very easily have sat there and been passive learners. They chose to engage themselves in the process, more or less interviewing Dave the entire time. They shaped the discussion, the lesson, and, ultimately, their own learning.

In our session debrief, I asked my students what the value of an experience like this was for them – not why it was cool, or new, but what value it held for them. Responses centered around these major concepts:

  • first-hand access to a living primary source
  • interactivity & having the ability to probe and ask for explanations & clarifications
  • hearing a non-American perspective; combating ethnocentrism
  • greater investment in preparation
  • greater overall engagement due to all of the above

It was such a positive experience that when Christian Long contacted me to brainstorm some ways to link up our British Lit classes, Skype was my first thought. For this experience, my students will be leading his sophomores through discussion of issues pertaining to Hamlet and Shakespeare’s tragedies. They’ll be meeting each other in a few weeks; I’ll be sure to post reflections on that shortly thereafter.

How do you use Skype in your classes?

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4 March 2008

When It Rains… An Addendum


I happened upon this Facebook discussion thread this evening and thought it germane to the issue of student-teacher Internet contact as covered in yesterday’s post. Check out the whole thread for yourself, but here are some choice quotes for your contemplation (cut & pasted; only minor editing for clarity and some emphasis added):

It took me a while to get on here because I was worried students would search me out or something. You never know. I’m sure some have. But I stopped being worried about it. I asked my friends to be respectfull of what pictures they post of me. Other than that, I use my privacy settings and hope for the best. I have friends all over the world and this is the only way to keep in touch with everyone.

***

While I don’t seek out my students on facebook (I see enough of them in school) some have found me and sent a friend request. Keeping this in mind I simply make sure that there is nothing incriminating in my profile, and I make sure that any wall posts or pictures are respectful. So I guess I censor myself to make sure that past or future students don’t have leverage on me! PLus, I think we should set examples for appropriate internet behavior, it’s never a good idea to display too much about your personal life or post pics that show you in an unsavoury manner, no matter what your occupation may be.

***

I think the key is: treat your facebook like it’s a postcard. Anyone can read it if it is curiously intersting for anyone.

***

honestly i just didnt add them, not even to my limited profile :s it would be too weird to have them reading my posts…especially the older ones…

***

Maybe when they graduate or leave the school [I'll add them as friends --Ed.], but while they’re a student at my school, I don’t want to risk any semblance of inappropriateness. I’ve also overheard some of the other teachers and admin at my school talking negatively about Facebook, so I’m not sure if they’d look favourably on my even having an account period. I felt better when I found out some of the other teachers had accounts too. We just don’t talk about it at school.

***

I use my email addresses to send my Grade 9 students handouts, assignments, etc. It’s an exchange of information, that’s all. It allows them to send me things but does not give them access to everything that’s been sent to me. Giving students access to my Facebook account gives them access to all of my friends and their photos, my photo albums, a listing of my groups (including this one) and everything written on my wall. To me they are two very different things.

***

I just see facebook as another tool for teachers and students to interact. Which I feel is extremely important.

***

I’ve had a few students (last semester and one I taught two years ago) send out a friend request, which I declined. Students are students. I joined Facebook to network with friends. However, having said that I did go on the alumni website of my present high school where I teach and found out what some students really think of me: I’m a bitch, but a hot bitch. [Yeah, I get that a lot, too. --Ed.]

***

Our union has been very clear about technology. Basically, the phone and face to face is the best thing for you, probably because nothing’s in writing. Email interaction is something that we have been told to avoid. Really, nothing is stopping people from changing you words around…I hear stories about teachers who are suspended because their profile pictures are inappropriate (holding alcohol, wearing bathing suits, etc.).

***

Try to use common sense and good judgment. Set a good example for the students. I think its OK for teachers to have a facebook and accept friend requests, but use discretion. Like an earlier poster said, its public–show that you have nothing to hide.

***

Oh, and a bit of friendly advice -

NEVER, under ANY circumstances, have pupils as friends, and
NEVER, under ANY circumstances, message them, or reply to messages.

Any interactions should be kept face to face, and in the classroom.

The lines MUST NEVER blur.

***

Originally I had made up a hotmail account so students could email their assignments to me without it being late but even that got me in a bit of trouble. Since then I avoid anything to do with connecting through technology. I just got a permanent position and I plan on keeping it.

The thread seems to still be active; if you have an account, why don’t you add your two cents?

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29 January 2008

TTP 5: The Twitteracy Project is Dead, Long Live the Twitteracy Project


The verdict is in: this past semester’s Twitteracy Project was a bust.

To put it succinctly, I think the two main roadblocks were 1) the technology at home and 2) student motivation. Many kids reported problems even being able to log in to Twitter from home, let alone send messages. I suggested they upgrade IE, I suggested they try Firefox if they were using IE (sorry, Bill), but all to no effect. Also, the students had to be motivated enough to log in and send messages, which very few of them were. In a class of 24, I think there were only 4 or 5 “regulars”, and when no one else was joining in, even they lost interest by about Thanksgiving or so.

Not one to learn lessons easily, I’m implementing the project again this semester, this time with my Honors Brit Lit juniors & seniors. While I can’t address their home technical issues, I hope that their intrinsic motivation will be a little higher than my sophomores’. Sure enough, just when I needed a little inspiration, The Chronicle of Higher Ed [via Twitter's blog] runs a story about David Parry, a UT-Dallas professor who used Twitter with his students to great success. The big payoff, according to the prof?

The immediacy of the messages helped the students feel like more of a community, Mr. Parry said in an interview Monday. “It was the single thing that changed the classroom dynamics more than anything I’ve ever done teaching,” he said.

Now where have I heard that before?

Further reading: Twitter article on Dave Parry’s blog, academHack.

Edit: He’s @academicdave on Twitter, if you want to see what he’s doing with his students.

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26 November 2007

Mr. Tech Director, Tear Down This Wall*


I hate being absent.

I don’t hate taking time off from work, I just hate being absent. It’s far more work for me to put together sub plans and develop some sort of meaningful activity for the kids than it is to just come in sick and spread whatever disease I’ve got.

In an effort to make learning about grammar a lot more palatable to me my sophomores, I concocted a little research/creative project. Without boring you with details, we spent an hour or so today going over the assignment, talking about objectives, and critiquing models, with an eye to spending the entire block Tuesday researching and designing these projects. Naturally, my kids will have further questions, but I have to be absent; believe me, it’s not my preference.

As I’m writing my sub plans this afternoon, I get a flash of inspiration, and include the following:

I will be available during class time to answer questions. Students may email me at [redacted], or AOL IM me at MrBariexca. I will be online between 7:30 and 9 am, and will be able to answer student questions in realtime.

Oh, yeah. The filter.

I will be available during class time to answer questions. Students may email me at [redacted], or, if they can figure out how to get AOL IM working on the school computers, they can IM me at MrBariexca. I will be online between 7:30 and 9 am, so I should be able to respond in realtime, even by email.

I contemplated providing the sub with a list of proxies students could try to circumvent the filters, or suggesting that they try Meebo (I don’t know if our filter blocks that or not), but ultimately decided against it. After all, I wouldn’t want to put anything incriminating in writing.

I really shouldn’t complain; our filtering system is extremely progressive compared to what other folks deal with, and I have a great deal of respect for the job our IT team does, especially with regard to Internet access/content. I just feel that allowing kids to use these tools appropriately would a) allow my class to run a lot more smoothly in my absence, and b) be another chance to model non-recreational applications for our kids.

I shoulda just left them Christmas Vacation and been done with it.

*Lest anyone accuse me of sexism in my title, I’m just riffing on The Gipper.

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