Add Voice to your Wiki: YackPack & PBWiki

To use this video on your site, just visit http://blip.tv/file/196824.

It's true! YackPack and PBWiki have partnered up and made adding audio to your wiki even easier than making a PB&J!

It's easy! Your students will love it! And oh yeah, it's free!

Related Resources

• YackPack + Education
• PBWiki + Education
• YackPack + debaird.net
• YackPack Blog > Tribute to Teachers of Gen Y
• PBWiki > The Daily Peanut Blog

In the 'sphere: YackPack + PBWiki

• EduBlog Insights
• Startup Meme
• Remote Access
• CNET > Webware > YackPack
  

Wikis - A Collaborative Idea

Helping students learn to work collaboratively is a real-life task. In the real world of work people work together to problem solve, find solutions and communicate with each other. Real-life authentic tasks are key to student learning, but sometimes educators forget to look outside the textbook for ways to engage students in authentic tasks in the classroom.

Using a Wiki provides one method for creating an authentic, real life task.

An easy idea to get your students started using this collaborative tool is to let them self sort into project work groups and set up independent group meeting times using a wiki tool. A wiki page allows students to create, add and edit information themselves, making them responsible for the collaborative learning activities from the very beginning. And since a wiki page is online students can access it to edit the wiki activity from any computer.

We have used wikis very successfully this year with our School of Education students to let them decide what small groups they will work in, when they will meet to collaborate, and what topics they choose to work on.

We have also used a wiki page for Criminal Justice students to create a glossary of important vocabulary words and terms that they will need to know for the final exam. Each week students contributed new words to the page complete with definition. Now in the culminating week of the semester students can actually print out the completed wiki glossary as a study guide for the final exam.

And wikis make a great collaborative tool for faculty and staff planning too. I frequently use a wiki with faculty members to find time to meet, when everyone keeps saying their calendars are full.

Some web-based, free Wiki tools to check out:

• TWiki
• pbwiki
• Wikispaces for Educators
  

Moodle has its own wiki tool.

And once you’re sold on wiki's collaborative power, dive in :

• TiddlyWiki
• MoinMoin Wiki Engine

Mash-up Toolbox: PBwiki + Yahoo! Groups

Since the get-go, we've been big fans of PBwiki. Why?

Well, it's (still) free! And PBwiki really is as easy to use as making a peanut butter sandwich. So what could possibly make PBwiki even better?

How about a Yahoo! Groups and PBwiki mash-up? Yep, it's true!

Yahoo Groups and PBwiki are working together to bring your classroom an interactive way to share ideas, collaborate, and learn!

Web Resources

• PBwiki
• Yahoo! Groups
• What's a wiki?
• PBwiki Video Tutorials
• BlendedEdu + PBwiki
• BlendedEdu + Yahoo!

Preserving Family Stories

Somewhere between the turkey, decking the halls, lighting the menorah, and the ushering in of a new year, countless family stories will be told and retold.

Some of the stories you've heard a thousand times. And perhaps this year, some of the stories will be shared for the first time.

Telling the "WE story"

Storytelling is a collaborative, social learning practice that strengthens family and cultural ties while also providing a context for information to be carried forward to future generations. These family stories (folklore, food traditions, and oral histories) are a mirror of where we have been and shape where we are going as families, society, and individuals.

Even things you wouldn't suspect, like cherished family recipes, may exist only in a verbal format. If you don't ask grandma how she makes that incredible pumpkin pie, chances are it could be lost forever.

In his book, The Art of Possibility, Benjamin Zander calls the invisible threads that hold us together "the WE story."

As Zander explains:

"The WE story defines a human being in a specific way: It says we are central selves seeking to contribute, naturally engaged, forever in a dance with each other. It points to relationship rather than to individuals, to communication patterns, gestures, and movement...Like the particle-and-wave nature of light, the WE is both a living entity and a long line of development unfolding.

By telling the WE story, an individual becomes a conduit for this new inclusive entity, wearing its eyes and ears, feeling its heart, thinking its thoughts..."

An Orange for Christmas

A few years ago I asked my grandma why she always put oranges in our Christmas stockings. I mean, we lived in Southern California, so we always had oranges. We had an orange tree in our yard and even if they were out of season, we could always just go to the store and get one.

So it always seemed strange to have that orange stuffed in the top of the stocking. Even stranger, nobody in the family--including her own children--had ever asked her why we always had oranges in our stockings.

My grandma explained to me that as a child growning up in Nebraska, during the Great Depression no less, an orange was an exotic, welcome, and indulgent treat. In the depths of a Great Plains winter, an orange from California or Florida was a reminder that the snow and frigid winds would soon give way to days filled with playing in the sun, tall prairie grass, and climbing her favorite tree.

At that moment, the family ritual was set in stone and the orange in the stocking became a necessary part of our shared Christmas experience. And this year, our first without her, we will put an orange in the Christmas stockings and share the story with my niece and nephew.

Families, History, & Digital Storytelling

GreatSchools.net, in conjunction with Yahoo! Education, have put together an oral history resource guide to help you collect, record, and preserve your family stories. GreatSchools has even compiled a list of interviewing tips and questions to help you get the memories flowing.

There are lots of digital technologies out there to help you save these stories--iPod, YackPack, wiki, or even the good old tape recorder.

So this holiday, take some time to sit down and preserve some of your family stories. Engage in the dance of the "WE story." It doesn't matter how you preserve these stories, it just matters that you do!


Links

• GreatSchools.net
• Center for Digital Storytelling
• Technology Kills Storytelling (...but wait!)
• YackPack
• Yahoo! Education

Technorati Tags: education education+technology digital+storytelling oral+history yackpack yahoo storytelling zander

ISTE: International Education Technology Community

"The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is a nonprofit professional organization with a worldwide membership of leaders and potential leaders in educational technology.

A nonprofit membership organization, ISTE provides leadership and service to improve teaching and learning in K-12 and teacher education through the effective use of technology.

We provide our members with information, networking opportunities, and guidance as they face the challenge of incorporating computers, the Internet, and other new technologies into their schools."

ISTE also sponsors the annual National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), which features education technology exhibits, lectures, workshops, and other events geared for the education technology community. NECC 2006 will be held in San Diego, California in July.

The NECC Conference is also a great opportunity to meet with other teachers, technology administrators, and vendors to learn about the latest products and services available for your classroom. Last year, for example, conference goers were buzzing about Flickr, podcasting, and blogging.

Who knows what the buzz will be about at NECC 2006? Will it be YackPack? Flock? Social Search? PBWiki? Video iPod? Or will podcasting and blogging still hold the top spot on the ed tech buzz index?

Why not join us and find out for yourself!

Links

• ISTE
• 2006 NECC
• 2005 NECC Webcasts

Technorati Tags: ISTE NECC+2006 education+technology Flickr social+search education+podcast educational+weblogs student+blogs YackPack pbwiki ipod+education

Australian Educational Weblog Community

Australian education bloggers Jo McLeay and Leigh Blackall have started a wiki-based directory of Australian edubloggers. The directory uses the PBwiki platform.

Jo notes that they started this project with the idea that it could help the Australian education technology community "support each other and learn from each other. I hope that this can be the start of an edublogging community that will have benefits to all on the list."

What a great idea!

If you're a edublogger living Down Under, be sure to join up with the Australian Edublogger community in their new online gathering place! And be sure to read Jo's interesting and insightful blog on learning, teaching and technology. Good stuff!


Tags: Australia+education pbwiki education educational+weblogs wiki online+community

PBWiki Update!

Today I received an e-mail from Ramit Sethi of PBWiki fame, who wanted to let BlendedEDU readers know about some exciting new developments over at PBWiki.

In honor of their re-launch, I've compiled a list of the top four reasons to try the "new and improved" PBWiki:

1. It's simpler and faster to use!
2. It's still free! Yes, f-r-e-e! Woot!
3. A nicely done overhaul of the interface!
4. Password protected pages (perfect for students)!

The PBWiki team has made the process of creating a wiki even easier than making a peanut butter sandwich-- which makes it perfect for the classroom!

So don't wait another second--grab a glass of milk and make yourself a PB & W (that's PB & wiki)!!!

Thanks for the update Ramit!


Links

• PBWiki
• PBWiki+BlendedEDU
• PBWiki FAQ

Tags: pbwiki wiki education

PeanutButter Wiki

via Peanut Butter Wiki: It's profoundly simple to make a new wiki with PeanutButter Wiki. It's totally free of charge and spam-free. With nothing to download, you'll be sharing information in a jiffy!

Why might you want a pbwiki?

• Sharing notes on Mayan culture for History class
• Brainstorming the new product design for Tuesday's class presentation
• Taking notes to figure out which digital camera to buy
• Keeping track of the projects you're involved with and your TODO list

Check out some of the publicly-accessible pbwikis:

• LegendsOfGreyHawk
• Nagoya Law
• South Asian Health Research Institute

Technorati Tags: wiki education wiki+education social+software peanut+butter+wiki pbwiki