Embedding Pictures with the WordPress iPad App

One of the best ways to add visual interest to your blog and give credit to the creators of the content is to use Getty Images. If you download the Getty Images App on your iPad, you can search through hundreds of thousands of high quality images that you can embed for free.

I'll assume that you can navigate the search function of the Getty Images app. Once you find the picture that you would like to use, tap on it, and it will fill the screen (see the image below). At the bottom of the screen tap the "send" button.

Once you have tapped the "send" button, a pop-up window will appear with a variety of options (see below). Select the html button (</>).

When you tap the html button, the pop-up window will change, and you will receive a message that the embed code has been copied to your clipboard.

Next you need to go to the WordPress app and start a new post or edit a draft. On the post interface there is an html button (see below).

Tapping the html button will change the look of the screen only slightly. You can tell that you are in html mode because the html button will be blue. Paste the html code that you copied from Gettys into this screen.

When you tap the html button again and return to the visual edit screen, the html code will disappear, and a placeholder will appear instead of the actual photo. To see the photo, which includes appropriate credit but no longer has a watermark, view your post or draft in browser mode or with a browser.

Gradual Release

Lasting learning in school often involves the gradual release of responsibility which flows from:
Explicit instruction ---> teacher and student using new learning together ---> students using new learning together ---> student using new learning independently.

View image | gettyimages.com

In the process of reflecting on my own classroom use of this process, I started thinking about social media. All kinds of people use social media and there is a wide range of fluency among users of each medium. How many users of social media have had the opportunity to be instructed with a gradual release of responsibility? What kind mistakes and miscommunications could be avoided with more gradual release?

I'm not suggesting that the "teacher" has to be a school teacher, but certainly school is a logical place for some basic citizenship and literacy training, and social media are undeniably part of both of those categories. Such instruction would need to include knowledge, skills/strategies, and attitudes/habits. Perhaps activities like a school hashtag or student/staff/volunteer/teacher shared use of a school social media account would be part of the learning and practice. What do you think?

Tomorrow's Texts

Digital books are still in there infancy. I know they hardly seem like news, but the marketplace is still trying to figure out how digital books fit, and publishers, authors, and readers alike are still very much in conversation about how eBooks differ from traditional paper books.

View image | gettyimages.com

I have been investigating the future of digital books at Calvin, and I've learned that the transition to eBooks is just starting and that it isn't going smoothly or easily. Textbook publishers, curriculum creators, and mass market publishers are all in different places and using different models to distribute their books. Some books are very interactive, while others are simply PDFs.

If a school would like to own thirty copies of a hardcover textbook that they can lend students, there isn't a problem. Try buying thirty digital copies of an interactive textbook, and you'll spend plenty of time just trying to explain to befuddled publishers what you want. Is it a conceptual problem? A technical issue? A money matter? Well, it seems all three are pretty significant factors, each shaping the future of books, libraries, and schools.

Giving Credit

Over the last few years I've been thinking about copyright and intellectual property. I haven't been thinking about it a stop-students-from-cheating kind of way (although that is an important element). Mainly I've been wondering about how to act with integrity and honour creators and their work. The internet has really complicated issues of copyright. This video gives one weird but not so uncommon example:
Like John Green, I want to honour the work of other people, but I'm not always convinced that not sharing the work of other artists is the best way to do this. My own example involves a dance recital for my kids. I recorded some of their performance in order to share it with some family members who live in other countries and who miss the small pleasures of family growing up. I uploaded the videos to YouTube with a semi-private setting, but within two days, YouTube removed one of the videos because someone complained that the music excerpt the kids were dancing to was copyright protected. I'm not upset with YouTube, but I wonder how the artist would feel about the situation. Is the artist being honoured or his/her livelihood being protected by preventing dancers from using their music or me from sharing it?

Technically I haven't shared anything that I've learned, and this is a learning log, so here is a video by John's brother Hank (you can check them out on YouTube at vlogbrothers) explaining some of what I've learned about copyright and how the internet is forcing us to change the way we think about intellectual property.

Unplugged

CC license shared by Ross Mayfield

There are a few things I've learned this week, but I haven't had time to properly reflect on them. Instead, I've been chasing down ideas on Twitter, previewing videos on YouTube, filling up my Pocket and Feeddler readers, and downloading apps for work and play on my iPad.

Computers and the internet have always been part of my teaching and learning, but in the last year I've really tried to explore the potential of technology as a central element of school instead of an add-on. The experience has led me to a whole new level of literacy, but I think there are some weaknesses in my skills. Digital literacy is a much debated concept these days. People, including me, are trying to develop a working definition of what skills are needed to successfully navigate the fluid digital world.

One challenge of the digital age is managing and filtering all the information and access of the internet. This week revealed to me that I need to further develop my ability to limit and focus. I often felt rushed and a touch frantic as I flitted from device to device like a hummingbird in a bird-feeder factory. I skimmed articles and sampled ideas like I was binging at Costco which made me slightly motion sick and didn't satisfy my hunger.

Now, I did get a lot of work done, but only after I stopped churning and decided to focus on one thing at a time. I cleared away all unnecessary devices and windows in order to focus on one task until it was complete. My eyes didn't sneak a peek at my inbox counter, and my mind didn't wander to the score of the Jets game because I intentionally limited my exposure by cleaning up my desktop and tabletop. I controlled the flow of digital information and distraction, taking only what I needed to complete my current project.

So, I learned that I have plenty to learn about digital literacy, and it made me wonder about ICE. Last year I had no trouble unplugging for a week, but this year I'm much more heavily and regularly connected than I was last year. Will I feel different about the experience? We'll see, but after a hectic weekend on the world wide web, I'm looking forward to a week of being me, unplugged.