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=Wikis, Podcasts, and Nings: Making the Most of 21st Century Technology in Your Class=

Why Can 21st Century Technology Help You Better Serve Your Students?
With the amount of technology at the fingertips of students today, it is imperative that parents and teachers provide students with meaningful, educational experiences with the tools that will enable them to be successful and responsible members of a 21st century society.

//"Technology is embedded into the fibers of today’s teenagers; they are “digital natives” (as cited in Thieman, O’Brien, Lee, & Hinde, 2009). They are born in the light, “from the first flash of the camera at the moment of birth, […students] arrive at school full of knowledge, thoughts, ideas, and opinions about their world and their universe,” as quoted by Marc Presnsky in “Turning On the Lights” (2008, p.41). With schools implementing internet filters, banning the use of smart phones, and not providing sufficient teacher training on technology, the modern classroom is “turning off the lights” on 21st century technology."// Referenced on 7/8/2010 at http://thephoenixfalls.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/technology-the-21st-century-classroom-2/

This has a significant effect on the modern classroom experience because students are forced to put the skills that they implement at home through the use of smartphones, Facebook, video games, and there personal home computers on the shelf and "settle for" learning experiences that both bore them and fail to provide them with modern skills.

A significant majority of students use technology daily outside of the school building: //"65% of students classify themselves as a “regular or occasional” player of video games (Jenkins, 2005), 80% of students who use the internet are members of social networking websites, 70% of which use the networking for school related purposes (Richardson, 2008), Students author over 2 billion blogs online (Renard, 2005) 30% of young people say they either talk on the phone, watch TV, listen to music, or surf the Web for fun ‘most of the time’ while they are doing homework’” (as cited in Mustacchi, 2008, p. 67)// Referenced on 7/8/2010 at http://thephoenixfalls.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/technology-the-21st-century-classroom-2/

Because of these numbers, schools need to teach children ways to responsibly integrate the internet and all of its resources into their everyday learning experiences. Catholic schools have a special responsibility to teach students to use internet resources in a way that respects the dignity of the individual and works in accordance with Catholic social teaching. A teacher has to have an arsenal of gadgets and an awareness of what technology works in the classroom in order to serve students of the 21st century.

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=How Can You Implement Technology in Your Classroom?= There are a number of ways for teachers to bring user friendly technology into the classroom in a safe and effective way. Some of the most effective and easiest to use are nings and other social networking sites, blogs, and Podcasts.

Social Networking Sites and Nings
Students brains are wired differently today than they were even a decade earlier, in part, because of their prolific use of technology like nings and social networking sites.

//"A **social network service** focuses on building and reflecting of [|social networks] or [|social relations] among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are [|web based] and provide means for users to interact over the [|internet], such as [|e-mail] and [|instant messaging]. Although [|online community] services are sometimes considered as a social network service in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas [|online community] services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks. The main types of social networking services are those which contain category places (such as former school-year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with [|Facebook], [|Bebo] and [|Twitter] widely used worldwide; [|MySpace] and [|LinkedIn] being the most widely used in North America."// Referenced on 7/9/2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_sites

There are a variety nings and social networking sites that can be useful in your classroom, as well as others you should be aware of so that you know what your students are using.

[|Ning] is a website that allows the user to create his or her own custom social networking sites that can be used by a teacher as a class based social network where students and teachers can communicate about assignments and class materials.

[|Linked In]: is a cite that allows professionals to network with each other and share information pertinent to their craft. This can be a useful site for teachers to share lesson plans and lesson ideas.

www.facebook.com and www.myspace.com: are both popular social networking sites that your students may be using. These sites allow users to journal, message friends, share pictures, videos, and music.

[|Nicenet][|, Google] and [|Yahoo] Groups are discussion group sites that do not have the same bells and whistles as social networking sites like Facebook, Lickedin, and Ning, however, they do allow individuals to communicate quickly and share information in a web based format.

Blogs
//"A blog is a type of [|website] or part of a [|website]. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.// //A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, [|Web pages], and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art ([|Art blog]), photographs ([|photoblog]), videos ([|Video blogging]), music ([|MP3 blog]), and audio ([|podcasting]). [|Microblogging] is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts."//

Referenced on 7/11/2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogs

As was previously noted, there are over 2 billion blogs online that have been created and maintained by students and teachers have a responsibility to respect this method of learning and communication when possible.

There are a wide variety of blogging tools available for students and teachers to share ideas and communicate with peers throughout the world. Blogs can also be used as a way for an individual class to hold discussion groups and share in a fun, creative way, outside of the classroom.


 * [|Blogger]**: is the most widely used blogging site and is powered by Google. Blogger allows user to create and edit their own content and also connects users to a vast network of other popular blogs ranging from information on education, music, movies, books, sports, and news. This site would be useful for a teacher to connect with other teachers, post blogs for class updates, and connect students to a vast amount of information in fractions of seconds.


 * [|Wordpress]**: provides similar usability to Blogger with a little extra flash and room for creativity. This is a great site to use with high school and middle school students if you want them to really explore their creative sides and make your lessons their own.


 * [|Edublogs]**: are the safest and most school centered of the blog formats for the classroom because they filter out unwanted advertising and focus on K-12 educational information.

Twitter: is an excellent "microblog" that allows users only 140 characters to express their thoughts. This is a fun and educational exercise. Additionally, feeds provided by any range of celebrities, politicians, athletes, and news sources include links to media as it happens. With the growing popularity of Smartphones, anyone can become a reporter of major news in the blink of an eye and this was seen during the recent protests in Iran as well as during Hurricane Katrina.

[[image:best-of-2007-podcasts.jpg width="209" height="185" align="left" link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_syndication"]]
//A **pod**// //**cast**...is a series of [|digital media] [|files] (either [|audio] or [|video]) that are released episodically and often [|downloaded] through [|web synd]// //[|ication]////. The listener or viewer can subscribe to a specific podcast, check it for updates, and download any new files in the series. Thi// //s process can be automated so that new files are downloaded automatically. Files are stored locally on the user's [|computer] or other devic// //e ready f////or [|offline] use, giving simple and convenient access to episodic content.// Referrenced on July 12, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasts

I use podcasts on a regular basis in my classroom and the Itunes store has a vast menu of educational and entertaining podcasts that act as an excellent suppliment to lessons. The Itunes store also has a department called ItunesU that allows users to download entire classes and lecture series from many prestigious universities, including Yale, Harvard, and the University of Michigan.

Some excellent podcasts include: [|This American Life] : a podcast that weaves themes and American experiences into a way that can be used in any class [|Fresh Air:] an interview series funded by NPR [|How Stuff Works:] A podcast that breaks down scientific and political happenings that are part of everyday life.

The [|ITunes] store has thousands of podcasts available for free download.

Wikis
[|Wikis in Plain English]

//A **wiki** is a [|website] that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of [|interlinked] [|web pages] via a [|web browser] Wikis are used to create collaborative wiki websites, to power community websites, for personal [|note taking], in corporate [|intranets], and in [|knowledge management] systems. Wikis may exist to serve a specific purpose, and in such cases, users use their editorial rights to remove material that is considered "off topic." Such is the case of the collaborative encyclopedia [|Wikipedia]. In contrast, open purpose wikis accept content without firm rules as to how the content should be organized.// Referenced on 7/11/2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikis

Wikis have a variety of classroom uses including quick and easy fact finding for students to in-depth online reporting for higher level classes.

[|Wikis in Education] is a website that provides numerous ideas for how wikis can be used in a multitude of classes.

Additional Resources
There is a plethora of information on the internet and a variety of tools to help you bring the internet to your students.

[|The following link provides a variety of sites with explanations concerning other interesting ways to use technology in your class.]