Week Nine: Thing 23 Summary

I learned a number of very useful and interesting things from this class. Some things I would use more for personal reasons and others I would want to incorporate into my classroom as well. This class forced me to try new things and realize that unless I continuously seek out new things in the world of technology and involve my students in this new learning, we will be left behind. Although I cannot possibly introduce all these things into my classroom, I know that these things are available and can incorporate them into my current lessons to improve the lesson and capture the attention of more students. Overall, this class was a positive experience and I look forward to using my new skills

Week Nine: Thing 22 ebooks and audio ebooks

The World EBook Fair site is a very interesting place. The free ebooks from Gutenberg Project could open up a new world for some learners. Since we must constantly adjust our teaching to meet the needs of our students, we must be open to including audio (other than lecturing) to capture the attention of certain learners.

Week Nine: Thing 21 Podcasts

Podcasts could be very useful in the classroom to cover topics that are necessary but students find "boring" such as the history of computers but also they could be helpful in teaching new topics or helping students that have been absent understand a topic.

Week Nine: Thing 20 YouTube and a few Sites

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e6EAAY-WfA

I never really thought about using youtube for anything productive. Until I started looking around, I considered it to be the sight that posted videos of usual things such as fights and other things that don't need to be seen by young people. Although there are lots of these videos out there, it is nice to know that some very useful videos can be found. I found an interesting one from the computer museum. It gives me another option for introducing the history of computers to my students.

Week Eight: Thing 19 Library Thing and Catalog Books

I created a Library Thing account and entered books. None of my books had a review but I think this is a cool tool to use if you are thinking about reading a book. You could see if there was a review before starting to read it.

Week Eight: Thing 18 Online Productivity

Zoho writer is a cool tool. It would be useful if students need to work on papers at home and don't want to email the file or use a zip drive to carry it back and forth. Also, if students do not have access to a word processing program they could use a public computer such as those found in the public library to produce the document and then open it up at school to print.

Week Seven: Thing 17 Add an entry to "Sandbox" wiki

I posted my ideas about Rollyo on the Classroom Learning 2.0 Online Learning section and an entry to the "sandbox".Wikis have the potential to be a tremendous resource to get information or to even just get started learning about a topic.

Week Seven: Thing 16 Learn about wikis and how educators use them

Wikis are an excellent way for educators to communicate with their students. The students are very familiar with posting and they are more likely to interact with each other using the computer. Also, using a classroom wiki is a good way to prepare students for education after the high school level. Most students communicate with their college professors using a wiki or similar format. A school wiki would be an easy way for parents to stay informed and even communicate with the staff.

Week Six: Thing 15 Copyright, Creative Commons

I looked at the Piracy link. It was full of imporant information about plagarism and piracy. It is a different way to teach my students this all important topic. Today, many people disregard copyright information. They have the attitude that "I found it for free on the Internet, so it must be okay to use it." It is very difficult to get them to understand and honor the fact that if it is not your work, you have to give the author credit.

Week Six: Thing 14 Technorati and tags

OK, I am overwhelmed by the number of blogs out there in cyberworld. It is a whole different world. I enjoy blogging but for some people I am wondering if it is there only form of communication. I worry about the social skills of people. If the majority of our contact is through email, blogging and text messaging, are we going to forget how to verbally communicate with others?

Week Six: Thing 13 Del.icio.us

Managing bookmarks through Del.icio.us could save time in research because others may have already sorted through the many thousands of hits that show up using a search engine. It is so convenient to be able to access bookmarks from anywhere. It eliminates trying to memorize a web address or keeping up with the scrap of paper you wrote it down on.

Week 5: Thing 12 Rollyo

This is definitely the best thing I have discovered to use in my class. Several of the assignments require Internet research. By using Rollyo, I can limit their access to the websites needed and eliminate unnecessary "searching".

Week 5: Thing 11 2.0 Awards List

This page is a great resource. The sites listed are helpful and offer a lot of opportunities for creating new things. I checked out several sites. Picnik was my favorite. I am always looking for new and easy ways to edit pictures.

Week 5: Thing 10 Online Image Generator

The mosaic maker is a great idea for gifts. What a unique way to display a group of pictures, and it is easy to use. The comic strip generator is quick and easy. It is fun to make and I found myself spending a lot of time playing with this! The Image Chef is my favorite. It offers a bunch of super cute options!!! Fun! Fun! Fun!

Week #4 - Thing 9

The easiest way for me to find feeds was to use the search tools listed such as topix.net and syndic8.com. I am now checking the web pages I have listed under Favorites to locate any RSS feeds. I think that RSS would be especially helpful if you were needing to gather the lastest info on a specific topic quickly. I am continuing to add to my list and find new ways to locate newsfeeds.

Week #4 - Thing 8

I have to be honest and admit that I did not know a thing about RSS before I did the research. After setting up my own reader, I think it is a very neat idea. I enjoy going to my reader and looking at the updates. It is quick and efficient especially when keeping up with the news. I think my students would enjoy setting up a reader and perhaps it would encourage them to keep up with what is going on in the world around them.

Week Three: Thing 7

At this time, I am loving the digital camera and all the possibilities that it opens up for photography. I am also enjoying phot editing programs. The possibilities are endless. The opportunity to share photos with family and friends is so user friendly now. The chance to share photos immediately sure beats waiting a week or more for the film to be developed and snail mail to deliver them.

Week Three: Thing 6 Flickr mashups and 3rd party sites

I made a photo cube! Too cute. From Flickr, click Explore, do more with your photos. It was simple and really a neat idea. I also made some posters. Really easy and fun to make. I also made a trading card. So many cute ideas...so little time!

Week Three: Thing 5 - Explore Flickr

I am in trouble now. I have all my photos sorted and saved in folders but I cannot share them unless I burn them to a cd. I have most of them loaded at Walgreens.com for printing but Flickr will prove to be completely awesome for sharing with family and friends! Love it and I know I will be spending time there getting pictures transfered. Here is a photo that I forgot that I took and found when uploading pics to Flickr.

Week Two: Thing 3 - Add an Avatar

I have now created several avatars and I have added one to my blog. I am not completely satisfied with it but I must move one. I am sure I will change it later. I am glad I finally had time to get things moving. Next I will work to add photos!

Week Two: Thing 3 - Set up your blog

I am working on setting up my blog. Due to serious unplanned time constraints, I am considering getting a quick tutorial from my daughter. I will however only do this as a last resort. The more I play around, the more I realize that I could get into trouble by spending too much time "fixing things up". Of the 7 1/2 habits, I think that "Using technology to my advantage" is the easiest for me. I am always looking for ways to use available technology to save me time and energy. The hardest thing for me to do is to "Begin with the end in mind." I usually have to start things before the ideas start flowing and then make adjustments along the way!