Monday, February 7, 2011

Trial Run for Global Project

As the speech class approaches the start of the global collaborative NetGenEd Project, they will be prepared.  The class has discussed the digital age, how today's students learn, communicate, etc.  The class watched and discussed PBS Frontline's Digital Nation.  Students blogged about digital communication and learned how to use Diigo to share research bookmarks.  Students then worked on a project that simulates a portion of the NetGenEd Project - working on a wiki.


Students each researched a digital communication tool and contributed to the class's 21st Century Communication Wiki.  The assignment required students to post collaboratively to the Digital Communication page; use class time wisely; post criticisms on the discussion tabs of their peers' wiki pages; and on their individual wiki pages, post definitions and examples about the digital tool researched, show how that digital tool can be used for social/personal use, show how that digital tool can be used for business, and show how the digital tool can be used for education.  Some of the digital tools that students picked to research seemed a stretch, but even those surprisingly had business and education uses.

Students are currently working on the Video Assignment of the wiki.  Just as the NetGenEd Project will ask of them, they are required to request that someone else does one of their video scenes for them.  After they have all scenes of their videos edited together, the videos will be embedded on their respective digital tool page of the wiki.

While my objective was both to enhance the students' understanding of digital communication and its uses for business and education and to expose the students to the tools that they will be using in the NetGenEd Project, it was also a lesson for me.  I found that the fear to post is not isolated to working with someone across the globe - it can also happen when working with someone sitting right in the next seat.  The class has two weeks to tie up the loose ends before we start moving full force into communication on a Global Level.  I am looking forward to helping students overcome those personal barriers and prepare for global communication.

2010 Plainsman Wins Awards

Congratulations to the 2010 Pleasant Plains High School Plainsman yearbook staff for winning the following awards in the Illinois Journalism Education Association Yearbook Contest:

Third Place in the Best Overall Yearbook
Third Place in the Copy Writing category
Second Place in the Photography category
Second Place in the Graphics category
Third Place in the Coverage of the Year category

Congratulations to last year's yearbook staff on their accomplishments!