7.1 Emerging Technologies and You
After reading the 2013 Horizon Report for K12 and “Emerging Technologies in E-learning,” think about your own practice and some of the tools and trends discussed. Create a post discussing a way you see the Web used in your class to “bring something new to the table.” By this, I mean: “What can the Web do for you and your students that would otherwise not be possible?”.
Review the posts of your classmates, and comment.
Do either Activity 7.2 or 7.3 (do both if you want)
7.2 Build an RSS Widget to Bring Dynamic Content to your Blog
If you have the time try out one or more of the sample widgets below. You can see if your favorite providers of syndicated content offer a widget as well. Remember that to embed a widget you have to use the ‘HTML’ tab on the editing box for your post.
Build a widget to bring RSS feeds to your blog or course website
Find an RSS feed that will supply information useful for your students generally, or for a specific project.
On the relevant site, select the rss icon to reveal the available feeds and click on the feed you want. Copy the url of this feed and paste it into Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac).
On your website, create the context for student use of the RSS widget. This could be the instructions for a specific project or just a description of the material to be found in the widget and how students should use it.
Use RSSinclude to bring one feed to your course website
Go to RSSinclude and paste in your RSS url (saved earlier) to create your widget (use the ‘iframe’ option).
On your website (be sure to use the ‘text’ view) and paste the widget embed code in a spot that is effective for student use. Test your embedded widget and tweak any placement issues you may have. Here’s an example below.
Use the RSS Widget on your Blog
One easy way to include an RSS feed on a WordPress blog is to use the RSS widget found in the widgets area on your blog dashboard. Find an RSS feed you want to embed and use the widget area of your dashboard to set up a block. Note that this widget can’t be embedded within other content on a page or post, it has to be a block on the side.
Use a Flickr widget to bring images to your course website
Do a search on Flickr, find a set, or navigate to any other page that presents a collection of images and allows you to create a slideshow. Within the slideshow select ‘Share’ and from the dropdown menu select and copy the embed code offered. Paste this code into a post or page on your blog. An example of a Flickr widget is below. Note that you can’t control size for this embed.
7.3 Make a Mind-Map of Your Learning Network
After reading the two pieces on networked learning, take the piece you created for Week 2, on your help resources, and expand it to create a map of your personal learning network. This could be an account of how it exists today, or how you hope to grow it in the future. Consider that, while you are engaged in a formal course now, over time you will learn much more as you apply the skills and knowledge developed here and elsewhere in your teaching practice. Who will help you extend your knowledge and who will impact the course of your informal learning? What resources will support your learning and how will you connect to them?
Draw this as a mind-map and create a blog post that features an image of this map.
There are several free mind-mapping or concept-mapping tools that you can use for this task. One is Mindmup at https://www.mindmup.com/, a newer online and collaboratie tool. Another is MindMeister at http://www.mindmeister.com/.
You can find others at C4LPT (Centre For Learning & Performance Technologies) under Jane Hart’s Directory of Learning and Performance Tools, at http://c4lpt.co.uk/directory-of-learning-performance-tools/mindmapping-tools/.
In a final few sentences on your blog post, describe an idea for using a mind-mapping or concept-mapping tool in your teaching.
This post will stay on your blog, so please don’t use the “eddl5101” category, but do give it the tag “pln” (personal learning network) and any other tags you think are appropriate.
