Unit 5: Refine the web, evaluating search results & tagging.

Task 1

I decided to search for information about the Eureka rebellion, but thinking like a student who wants the easiest way to do it, I gave the search engines very little information.

Search term: Eureka

Google: If the student is watching the screen as they type, they will see options to go straight to the Eureka stockade or rebellion. If they type looking at the keyboard and hit enter before looking up, they’re on their own. In this case they will get this information:

Only one out of first six items are about Eureka rebellion, and that is Wikipedia. Then you finally get a link to a government site on history of Eureka.

Search term would seem good enough for people who don’t realise that there is a whole suburb of Ballarat called Eureka, and many businesses have Eureka in their names. Also an American television series called Eureka, which comes up as top search item.

Strangely enough, there was no mention of Archimedes and his “Eureka moment” until middle of page 2.

Duck Duck Go: Much better for younger/struggling students, it asks specific questions about what meaning you want for the search term. Then you can go to it, for example Historical. You then have the option of choosing which Historical meaning you want, and you can then navigate to the particular subject you are looking for. This gives a much better structure for guiding students in their searches. The privacy policy is nice, but I have no real problem with keeping my search history. In fact I think it makes life a little easier in the long run

Bing: I found this very similar to Google, in fact I’m surprised that there hasn’t been a challenge from either of them on copyright. It must be someone else’s idea. Bing has the same (similar) features to google, but you have to know how to use them. The same problem occurred when I typed in Eureka, it’s more likely to get you info on skydeck or a business than anything else you’re looking for.

InstaGrok: Hmmm, this one was totally useless for my search. It gave no options for any information outside the USA. I now know that Eureka is a town outside Sutters mill and the US television series.

Unit 4: Assessing an online tool

History Pin

Ok, after much procrastination I tried a couple of online tools. The first one that took my eye was MyHistro, an online tool for creating timelines, which I assume would have been great… if it let me sign up. Very annoying, and if I don’t have the patience, I think my students wouldn’t have any more. So I tried History Pin. I would describe it as a cross between Pinterest, Google maps and any of the timeline tools. It allows you to pin media (Photos, Films etc) to points on a map and give them a date on a timeline. In this way, if you move the timeline, the image of whatever you have pinned to the map will appear when you move past the time you have given to the pin. It will also disappear if you move the timeline backwards to a date previous to the one you have used.

header for History Pin

I was able to sign up for this service using my google plus account, which when I think about it means I didn’t get asked all those terms questions. That could come back to bite me one day. I only foresee a problem if personal information is placed on the map. For example, the address of a student.

I could use this to help students connect with their local community and it’s history. As you can see from my History Pin I have marked the

My Local Pub

location of my local, so I always know where it is, and when it was opened. But students could use it to locate historical or significant buildings or locations in their community, and then encourage them to further research these items, so they can update the information for each pin. I think it could fit into the Redefinition level of the SAMR model, as you could use this to link into social media. The students could add links to blogs about their school/community and use it to compare with students from other communities.

As far as age restrictions go, I copied this straight from their terms and conditions:
Registered Users must be 16 or over, or if they are under 16, have their parent’s or guardian’s consent to use the Services.
Schools and other organisations responsible for children under the age of 16 using the Services, must either:
do so through an account registered by a teacher or other responsible adult who accepts responsibility for all actions or inactions undertaken by users in their name. In this instance, it is the school’s or organisation’s responsibility to obtain parental or guardian consent for such children at its discretion and where the school or organisation deems it appropriate; or
if children under the age of 16 are opening accounts in their own names, the school or organisation must ensure that the individuals comply with the obligations to obtain parent’s or guardian’s permission as set out in this clause.
So as long as the teacher keeps control of the blog and you have parental permission you should be able to use this site.
As far as privacy goes, the students and teacher should be careful about details put on the site as they will be open to all users of the site and probably the wider internet community too.

PLN 2013 face to face

We are playing around at SLV with the |PLN, so there might be some funny stuff here.

Here is a video that I am embedding.

Ok another one.

This wasn’t the only thing I learnt during the day, but it will probably be the one thing I will have to reign in after a week or so.

Ok thats enough Petey, big smacks if you don’t get back to work!

Unit 2 tasks

Here are my reflections on unit 2 “Bringing it all together”. I have left the questions in to give the reader (and myself) some idea as to where my ramblings have come from.

• What are your current techniques for keeping your work organised, keeping track of resources and sharing these resources with others? How do you imagine the tools covered in this unit will change your workflow?

Currently I manage my work through my e-mail accounts, a massive bookmarks toolbar, Word documents and a large assortment of windows files and folders. If I need to share my work with others, it is usually done by e-mailing/printing the relevant document and sending it to my colleagues. Even when I am compiling our work Blog I usually draft my ideas in a Word document first and then share it with colleagues via e-mail. I find they usually print it out to proofread and send it back, although some of us use “markup” to correct each others work. My greatest limitation has been my lack of mobility. If I want to take work home, or move to another desk for a short time, I need to backup my work to a memory stick. Even then I don’t have the same flexibility of my work computer, as I don’t have the same bookmarks on my home computer. This is despite having already signed up to Diigo and Delicious (another bookmarking site).

It never occurred to me to use these sites for organising my work, I had just used them to share sites with different groups. Evernote will be a great benefit to me, as long as I don’t let it take away my leisure time. The ability to access work from anywhere must be managed, so that the workaholic in us doesn’t overindulge. The Web Clipper is a great idea, I usually use the snipping tool and then paste to a Word doc, this will make researching much simpler.

• Is teaching workflow and organisation techniques to students an important task? What have you noticed about the workflow and organisational strategies of students?

It is extremely important. I believe adults put far too much faith in so-called “common sense”, and believe that students will be learn organisational skills through some form of osmosis during their school life. If the student has parents who are organised and willing to help their children learn the necessary skills, then school life is just one long frustrating ordeal that must be endured. Organisational skills can make life easier and more pleasurable, and we all know that doing something we enjoy will increase our motivation to keep going.

• How have digital technologies and internet access changed the way we organise ourselves?

Yes, of course. I still read books, sometimes even for research. But I find looking up the same sources in a digital format much easier. Especially if I wish to use a quote, or remember where a piece of information has come from. Now that I have portability of my information, I can use my time more efficiently when researching or communicating. On this point, the ability to communicate with like minded individuals from anywhere in the world, at any time I chose, gives me access to a great deal of expertise and knowledge when I need it.

My link to Evernote

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s312/sh/48be8afa-116d-4904-a920-c1dbedaa3184/f4438667a23366b8ab70f52afb498190