Archive: Technology
Hosting a Webcast/Podcast Show #
WMWP Technology Liaison Kevin Hodgson recently guest-hosted an online education show around the use of technology to tell stories. The program — called Teachers Teaching Teachers — is run by New York City Writing Project Technology Liaison Paul Allison and on weekly basis, teachers from across the country come to discuss emerging trends in writing, technology and education.
Kevin was invited to co-host the show because of a blog that he has started with Bonnie Kaplan, of the Hudson Valley Writing Project, to explore the terrain of using technology to tell stories. (You can find the blog here: http://techstories.edublogs.org/) He and Bonnie have launched a video project called The Collaborative ABC Movie Project in which more than a dozen teachers around the country are producing small videos based on a letter of the alphabet that will later be “glued” together through interactive video editing sites.
Among the topics discussed were:
- What IS digital storytelling and is that even the correct term?
- Are our notions of Digital Stories constricted by the genre of personal narrative?
- How does the interactive Web 2.0 play into what we envision for future storytelling?
- What is the ABC project all about?
- What role does privacy of the storyteller (young person) play in the publishing aspect of the work?
- And more.
Listen to the podcast (about 60 minutes long)
At a recent workshop, some WMWP fellows learned all about Weblogs and Podcasting and experimented with these tools by creating their own blog spaces and posting an audio piece called a Technology Autobiography that centered on their experiences with computers.
Listen to what they have to say:
You can view the Weblog Workshop site.
The next workshops in this series are being offered in March and May. You can gain more information with this flier.
Our WMWP Tech Liaison Kevin Hodgson 
went to Tech Matters ‘06 — the NWP advanced technology week held this year in Chico, California — and all we got was … this?
Here are some valuable resources for folks who are thinking of moving in the direction of integrating emerging technologies into their classrooms:
7 Things You Should Know About PODCASTING
7 Things You Should Know About WIKIS
7 Things You Should Know About Collaborative Editing
7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking
7 Things You Should Know About Screencasting
7 Things You Should Know About Videoblogging
And if you want to view Kevin’s new personal Weblog — developed free through Edublogs and you can get one, too, as a teacher — you can jump to Kevin’s Meandering Mind.
Conference on Writing, Technology and Teaching #
More from the Conference on Writing, Technology and Teaching..
WMWP Technology Liaison Kevin Hodgson gave an introduction for conference keynote speaker Charlie Moran that reflected much of what Prof. Moran has done and continutes to do for his students, UMass-Amherst, and the WMWP.
Read Kevin’s introduction.
And then you can read Charlie’s address to the conference.
View photos from from the conference’s opening reception and closing dinner.
Or you can go to the Conference Wiki site to view some of the virtual conversations that took place after the conference.
Cyberpal Project: Western Mass meets Washington DC #
The promise of technology is that it will become integrated into our classrooms in new and powerful ways. The question is, what are some templates we can use to design our curriculum?
Here is one idea for your to consider that uses the old model of pen pals.
My class of sixth graders in Southampton have been communicating with students in Washington DC through a blog site. They have posted writing (including some amazing poetry), audio files so they can hear their friends’ voices, and digital pictures so they can see each other, and then they have commented on each other’s work.
To see what we’ve been doing, check out our site:
Cyberpals.
– Kevin Hodgson
Blogs in the Classroom on WFCR #
On February 15, WFCR featured a story on the WMWP “Making Connections, ” a program linking student from rural and urban areas in Western Massachusetts through weblogs.
To listen to today’s story, and hear the voices of local teachers participating in the project, including WMWP Technology Liason, Kevin Hodgson, CLICK HERE.
Anne Louise White, wmwp teacher and Summer Institute alum, incorporates digital storytelling and computer literacy into her 5th and 6th grade classroom with PowerPoint. Click here to read more and see examples from student work.
Online Publishing Possibilities #
Have you ever wondered how you can harness the Internet as a source for publishing student writing? The teachers involved in the Get Published program got an overview during a recent technology session (which included tutorials on Microsoft Publisher and other software as tools for publishing).
This link will take you to a guide for Internet-based publishing opportunities.
(or click on the funny computer above)
Virtual Workshop: Using a Weblog #
Hello fellow teachers
If anyone has ever wondered what a Weblog is and how to use one, I have created a virtual Weblog Workshop. Although it is ideally used as a resource for a workshop where the presenter is physically present (and thus, they can answer questions directly), you can all feel free to try some of the experiments on this workshop site.
One task teaches you how to hyperlink to other webpages; another task is about adding photos to writing; and the last is how to create a News Item that posts to the Homepage.
I am hoping to at least provide you with some background knowledge about what a Weblog is and how it can be used for educational purposes.
The site can be found through this hyperlink: A Weblog Workshop.
Good luck
Kevin Hodgson
WMWP Technology Liaison
It’s a blog, my friend. A blog.
Making Connections Technology Program #
The Western Massachusetts Writing Project launched a pilot program called Making Connections this summer. The program, funded by a grant from the National Writing Project, is designed to provide professional development for teachers seeking to incorporate weblog technology into the classroom.
This summer, teachers and students from Athol and Holyoke launched the program to great success and a full program is to be implemented this fall.
