In the Clouds

Wordle about the content on http://blog.findingvegan.com/

So what interests you?  For me, one of my interests is vegan food, as you can see above by a little Wordle that shows some of the content on the websites I like to visit.  Everything is on the web, in this "cloud" that so many people fail to actually understand.  In the cloud exists, well - pretty much everything, websites, personal documents, photographs, videos, and data.  There is information on vegan food, videos on fitness, silly cat pictures, and also a pretty powerful educational tool. 

So what actually is the cloud?  This website offers a clear description of the cloud, in simple terms.  The cloud stores websites that we access.  It backs up our personal documents and data.  We share photographs, videos, and messages on it.  It's faster for customers, cheaper for companies, and allows us to securely backup personal data that normally would have been at risk because it was only stored locally on a computer, disc, or drive. 

So you can store your files, but aside from that, what is the educational potential of the could?  This website, cloudtrip.com, talks ways you can use the cloud in education.  The main way is by allowing technology to be integrated into the classroom - making learning fun and interactive.  What is more fun than learning to type by defending a cat from dinosaurs?  The student wants to win at the game, so they are going to work on their typing without it being a boring chore.  They will be motivated to type quickly and correctly or the ninja cat will not survive.

We can get organized on the cloud.  Lesson planning is something that is essential to any educator, from early childhood to university level.  One site that offers help is common curriculum which allows for easy lesson planning, time management, and collaboration.  Collaboration can even include material sharing.  Why reinvent the wheel?  You can share homework on the class website for students/parents to easily access.

Teachers can evaluate student progress by creating fun and interactive quizzes on Quiz Quipper.  This allows for the integration of devices too, such as tablets or smartphones.  You can see outputs to understand who isn't understanding what, to easily assign homework, and to engage students through interactive learning.

While CloudTrip talks about numerous potential uses of cloud computing in the classroom, the three listed here are just some of the examples of what is out there.  There are sites that offer a variety of educational tools, including games, planning, evaluation, and any other tool that is common for educators - plus a few you might not have thought you even needed, but will come to find you can't live without! 

So what does the cloud really mean for education?  It means potential.  It is an open world that allows for numerous possibilities.  Those possibilities are expanding daily.  We can plan, collaborate, educate, inform, entertain, and help students retain information.  As this grows, through collaboration, we can have far more resources to give our students, far more lessons, far more ideas, far more games, and far more educational opportunities in new and interesting ways.

Blogging & Twittering

Blogs and twitter are interesting tools for disseminating information quickly and sharing thoughts, ideas, and topics.  One of the reasons that I love twitter is because there is information about everything, quickly organized with hashtags, where anyone can follow and participate in a conversation.  This makes it a valuable tool for education.  A specific hashtag or a tweet at the instructor allows students to ask questions and participate in a discussion in a large classroom or distance learning setting.  Twitter can shrink the size of the classroom essentially, by allowing many participants voice, where in a normal setting there would not be time for each student to be heard.  Schools are starting to see twitter and instant message text programs as a way for students to communicate with other students, faculty, and others discussing the same ideas as they are.  This is discussed in the 2009 Horizon Report: The K12 Edition about how this is potentially something that can enhance learning for students and how educators are starting to view these technologies differently. 

Blogging is valuable because it allows an individual to freely and publicly share information, ideas, or values on any topic.  Blogs range from food and recipes to video games to book or movie reviews to information about breast health and cancer screenings.  Blogs can be used in an educational setting to share information, allow for a group discussion, to allow students to practice writing and sharing their ideas publicly, and in a variety of other ways.

When it comes to sharing, like in any other format, we still need to be careful about what we say.  The internet gives a feeling of anonymity, but consequences can follow into the digital world.  There are several potential legal issues that come from blogging of which any future blogger needs to be aware.  This brings up complicated legal issues that would mirror that of any print or spoken format.  In this case a student quoted a professor, but this goes both ways.  An educator, who quotes a student opens themselves up to potential legal, ethical, or professional issues. 

On Twitter, blogs, and any other digital medium - it is important to remember to be a professional, that what you say should be grounded in fact, and that you only say what you would say in person.  A professor of mine at Kent State recently posted about the cold spell that Kent experienced.  He wrote this on his Facebook, and the local Akron Beacon Journal picked it up and included it in their story.  Had he exaggerated or spoken in a way that was less than he would have in person, his reputation could have been tarnished.  The newspaper story made no mention that this was a Facebook comment and it was written to appear more like an interview quote. 

Follow what interests you, but be aware of associations that you would not want being public.  On Facebook, Twitter, and many other sites - it is possible to see who or what a person likes/follows.  On Twitter, I follow a variety of individuals/organizations/news sites.  I follow the BBC, the local news stations, NOAA, a variety of national and state parks, the USGS, AAG, a local gardening club, recipe sites, crafting companies/blogs, my university, and many others.  However if I have a public profile (and many people do not know how to edit all of the settings to ensure they are private) and I follow a pornographic, racist, or otherwise offensive website - that is linked to my name and my reputation.  Because of that we have to behave online as we would in person and professionally.