Blogs are misunderstood by many educators, parents, and administrators as simply personal diaries. This undervaluation is unfortunate. Blogs permit students and teachers to maintain (with relatively few "clicks" and effort) a running record of student learning. Our family learning blog provides a mechanism for our children to "show what they know" with interactive digital stories (using VoiceThread as well as GarageBand-produced podcasts), text posts about books they are reading and topics they are studying, and hyperlinked references to other online resources of interest to them. In this session we will demonstrate and show how a family learning blog can be created to complement assigned homework and in-class assignments at school, and provide a rich digital portfolio of student learning with extends beyond a single school year. Our family learning blog is active on http://learningsigns.speedofcreativity.org.

Outline

This session will be presented primarily by my two children, 11 year old Alexander (5th grade) and 8 year old Sarah (3rd grade). They will explain how they use our family learning blog to post text, create hyperlinks, and embed interactive media files including VoiceThread digital stories to demonstrate to their teachers, their grandparents, and other interested parties the things they are learning and exploring inside and outside of school.

Supporting Research

Robert J. Marzano and Debra J. Pickering's Classroom Instruction that Works" includes extensive review of academic research for strategies which enhance student learning and improve student achievement. Research-based strategies which can be supported through the use of the web 2.0 tools explored in this session include identifying similarities and differences, summarizing and note taking, providing recognition, nonlinguistic representations, cooperative learning, providing feedback, and advance organizers.

Presenter Background

Wesley Fryer is an educator, author, digital storyteller and change agent. With respect to school change, he describes himself as a "catalyst for creative engagement and collaborative learning." Wesley serves as a co-convener for the annual K-12 Online Conference each October and is the co-director of the statewide Celebrate Oklahoma Voices digital storytelling project. His blog, "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" (www.speedofcreativity.org) was selected as the 2006 "Best Learning Theory Blog" by eSchoolnews and Discovery Education, and is utilized regularly by thousands of educators worldwide. Wesley secured $1.3 million in grant funding for West Texas schools participating in the Texas Technology Immersion Pilot Project in 2004-2008. He was named an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2005. He was an elementary classroom teacher for six years in Texas public schools before serving as a college director of distance learning for five years. He worked for AT&T from 2006 - 2008 as the Director of Education Advocacy. Wesley is completing his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Tech University, studying the impact of podcasting and coursecasting on student learning in higher education. He currently serves as the Director of Technology and Education Outreach for the Oklahoma Heritage Association (a nonprofit) in Oklahoma City.

Alexander Fryer is the 11 year old son of Shelly and Wesley Fryer of Edmond, Oklahoma. Alexander is an avid reader and enjoys playing a variety of web-based games. He is an accomplished digital storyteller and has presented with Wesley at local and regional educational conferences.

Sarah Fryer is the 8 year old daughter of of Shelly and Wesley Fryer. Sarah is an accomplished actress and singer, and has presented podcasting and digital music making workshops with Wesley in both Texas and Oklahoma.