I, like many others, enjoyed the Fair(y) Use Tale. Very clever. That must have taken a lot of time to find just the right words to use in all those movies. That's why the team of creators (in the final credits).
This has been one of my most challenging and lengthy one credit courses. Balancing time to work on the class undisturbed with personal and professional duties was a little tricky. Each #thing took me hours to play and explore. I'd say there was easily twice as many hours involved as the expectation of 36. Even 72 hours is a conservative estimate. I loved every minute of it and appreciated the self paced online activities. I plan to refer back to this blogspot frequently until I am truly comfortable branching out on my own.
I appreciated the suggested reading material (Ch 4 and 5 were good too) and want to keep this book in my professional collection.
Reading others' blogs was one of the best activities. I appreciated the blog comment opportunities as well. I noticed there were a lot more blogs here in the final days of the class. Tee Hee. Thanks, Ann, for all your comments and e-mails.
I don't know that I would change a thing with the exception of updating some of those links which are dated (Week 9 #21)and unavailable.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Chapter 9 reflection
This chapter reminds us everything tech related is ever changing and changing quickly. Already, several of the links we have looked at over the weeks were unavailable or I was redirected to a new site. With that, we need to design our teaching to be able to adapt to the technology advancements and according to Prensky (2001), educators should learn to communicate in the 'language' of digital natives.
It was interesting and not so far in the future to consider web-based educational software will become a type of electronic personal education assistant. Text books could be on wikis, the tool would track a student's progress or lack there of and make or respond to comments and suggestions quickly. School educators could advise and keep track of student's work through educational blogs. It could be quite powerful to be able to choose the software best suited for each student's learning style. The polls and surveys by techlearning.com suggested people believe a school's physical location would be less important. That is true in other aspects of work. As an example, I think of the many realtors who continue to collaborate using web tools with their employers from great distances. (HGTV-House Hunter fan)Personally, I still need the human to human (3-D) contact with students so there will have to be a good balance between physical and electronic learning.
I agree with Jeff Utecht when he says today's kids are probably wired differently because of what they have grown up with. Just yesterday, a first grade girl told me she was getting a laptop and ipod for her birthday. Just, a few years ago, someone this young wouldn't even know what those were. If we want to reach her and her generation we need to teach using web 2.0 tools. You can bet that is where she will be as she grows and understands her computer.
'Learning from Games' by David Warlick provided 5 components of video game activities which made these games so intriguing. This helped explain clearly to me why games, IM, myspace and other social networking sites are so popular. Our continiuing staff development should include ways to tap into the video game mentality and use this for instruction.
Finally, I appreciated the online links to educational conferences about web 2.0. I like to read what others have said and where they feel we are headed.
It was interesting and not so far in the future to consider web-based educational software will become a type of electronic personal education assistant. Text books could be on wikis, the tool would track a student's progress or lack there of and make or respond to comments and suggestions quickly. School educators could advise and keep track of student's work through educational blogs. It could be quite powerful to be able to choose the software best suited for each student's learning style. The polls and surveys by techlearning.com suggested people believe a school's physical location would be less important. That is true in other aspects of work. As an example, I think of the many realtors who continue to collaborate using web tools with their employers from great distances. (HGTV-House Hunter fan)Personally, I still need the human to human (3-D) contact with students so there will have to be a good balance between physical and electronic learning.
I agree with Jeff Utecht when he says today's kids are probably wired differently because of what they have grown up with. Just yesterday, a first grade girl told me she was getting a laptop and ipod for her birthday. Just, a few years ago, someone this young wouldn't even know what those were. If we want to reach her and her generation we need to teach using web 2.0 tools. You can bet that is where she will be as she grows and understands her computer.
'Learning from Games' by David Warlick provided 5 components of video game activities which made these games so intriguing. This helped explain clearly to me why games, IM, myspace and other social networking sites are so popular. Our continiuing staff development should include ways to tap into the video game mentality and use this for instruction.
Finally, I appreciated the online links to educational conferences about web 2.0. I like to read what others have said and where they feel we are headed.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Chapter 7 reflection
As more and more web 2.0 tools develop, school districts will need to be more diligent about monitoring online usage on and off school campus of district computers. Control is a controversial item within schools. When used appropriately, many sights currently blocked by our district could serve educational purposes. I am thinking of Youtube as this is a concern for some staff. It is such a balance act. Filter/not filter. Block/not block. When in doubt, error on the side of caution. I understand that. I liked some of the alternative suggestions at the end of the chapter for school districts such as putting tools on the intranet.
The copyright guidelines by Davidson (2005)were important to remember. This should be clear to all staff during technology staff development training. I learned about Creative Commons using Flickr. Very good. I like their saying, 'share, reuse, remix'.
I read another's blog where they said the acceptable use policy is read (we hope), signed, and filed at their school. DONE That happens at our building too. During open house or the first of the year technology night, this might be refreshed with parents. I feel most of our teachers are still in the infantile stages of using web tools and we also may need a review of those four steps (Warlick 2006b) to help understand the importance of the acceptable use policy.
Parents should be a key player in what their children do online. We can help enforce this again at a first of the year technology meeting by providing parents with guides and online sites which give ideas of how to help them with their children use the web appropriately. The news continues to share stories about cyber bullying. Such a terrible thing to have so many people wishing to harm others in such a cowardly and somewhat anonymous manner.
The copyright guidelines by Davidson (2005)were important to remember. This should be clear to all staff during technology staff development training. I learned about Creative Commons using Flickr. Very good. I like their saying, 'share, reuse, remix'.
I read another's blog where they said the acceptable use policy is read (we hope), signed, and filed at their school. DONE That happens at our building too. During open house or the first of the year technology night, this might be refreshed with parents. I feel most of our teachers are still in the infantile stages of using web tools and we also may need a review of those four steps (Warlick 2006b) to help understand the importance of the acceptable use policy.
Parents should be a key player in what their children do online. We can help enforce this again at a first of the year technology meeting by providing parents with guides and online sites which give ideas of how to help them with their children use the web appropriately. The news continues to share stories about cyber bullying. Such a terrible thing to have so many people wishing to harm others in such a cowardly and somewhat anonymous manner.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Week 9 #22 E books and audio books
Free ebooks! I am Scotch and quite cheap so like how that sounds. I was in project Gutenberg and most things required a password. Needless to say, I didn't sign up. I'd like to read some of the Women's Writer collection. Also, the user friendly for kids is important to me. The children's books I found were older stories (some might say classics) but not totally appealing to young children. Librivox was quick and easy. Another e book site was 'Well Told Tales'.
Nothing really caught my attention. Our district subscribes to Tumblebooks and the colorful visuals with simple animation make this site a winner. Many students access site from home. I'll continue to explore some of the other sites for e books which may appeal more to young students.
On another note, how do I move the title in my header off the birds and into the middle. I tried to adjust this in the layout and must be missing something.
Nothing really caught my attention. Our district subscribes to Tumblebooks and the colorful visuals with simple animation make this site a winner. Many students access site from home. I'll continue to explore some of the other sites for e books which may appeal more to young students.
On another note, how do I move the title in my header off the birds and into the middle. I tried to adjust this in the layout and must be missing something.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Teacher tube
Today we had SBA testing and after some students were finished, they came to the libray. I let them on the computers for some online activities. One asked if they could look at youtube. I said it is blocked but we could look at teachertube. I had a lot of students watching as I navigated. Though the student decided not to go there, I know there was interest. I also shared the three links I put on our catalog home page with both teachers and staff today. The teachers were more excited than the students but all seemed curious and willing to explore more. Bitty steps.
Week 9 #21 Podcasts
This was a long exploratory evening. I love to podcast and have done this with classes already. I have a teacher who loves to incorporate technology and so I collaborate with her frequently. We've been doing podcasts using garage band making the final product accessible within the district only. The parents come in for a presentation and are quite pleased. With new knowledge, we could make this web based for those parents interested in sharing their child's work with the grandparents down south.
My search was quite long because when going to the yahoo podcast tutorial, I had no success. It didn't show. The same for podcast.net. Podcast alley is sure to be blocked by the district. Highly inappropriate popular podcasts on the home page. Teacher Created materials were selling their products on their podcasts. Educational Podcast Network included some very lengthy material and I couldn't sit for the entire podcast. I couldn't see where to listen to podcasts on Techsavy girls. I listened to some library podcasts explaining how their library works. I looked at podcast.com. I finally settled on some book review podcasts which I enjoyed. Children's book radio included many book reviews for children. Easy to find and listen to. Not too long. Another site I had fun with included 'One Minute Danish' podcast lessons. I speak the language and enjoyed hearing a native speaker.
I would use the children's book review site. I'd find books I was reading to children and share the podcast. This could launch the class into creating their own book review podcast. I like adding pictures to the podcast so I don't have to look at the 'swirly twirlies' for 5 minutes.
I want to go back to the language site because Danish was not the only language taught via podcast.net. This would be nice to share with our ESL/ELL teacher. She and I have been talking about some of great things I have seen to date. She is motivated to learn more about the web 2.0 tools.
My search was quite long because when going to the yahoo podcast tutorial, I had no success. It didn't show. The same for podcast.net. Podcast alley is sure to be blocked by the district. Highly inappropriate popular podcasts on the home page. Teacher Created materials were selling their products on their podcasts. Educational Podcast Network included some very lengthy material and I couldn't sit for the entire podcast. I couldn't see where to listen to podcasts on Techsavy girls. I listened to some library podcasts explaining how their library works. I looked at podcast.com. I finally settled on some book review podcasts which I enjoyed. Children's book radio included many book reviews for children. Easy to find and listen to. Not too long. Another site I had fun with included 'One Minute Danish' podcast lessons. I speak the language and enjoyed hearing a native speaker.
I would use the children's book review site. I'd find books I was reading to children and share the podcast. This could launch the class into creating their own book review podcast. I like adding pictures to the podcast so I don't have to look at the 'swirly twirlies' for 5 minutes.
I want to go back to the language site because Danish was not the only language taught via podcast.net. This would be nice to share with our ESL/ELL teacher. She and I have been talking about some of great things I have seen to date. She is motivated to learn more about the web 2.0 tools.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Week 9 #20
This lesson was a lot of fun. Thank goodness teachertube is not blocked in our district. I enjoyed looking at various videos. It was also fairly easy to embed this video. I chose it because it was quick and fun and related to the library media center. I liked the simplicity of teachertube. I was able to search for topics of interest quickly. Most videos had some sort of educational value. On our older computers at school, it may be too time consuming to download those videos which are about 8 minutes long. It is worth a try. I did create links to several videos which might be helpful for topics being studied currently at our school. I linked these to my library catalog site. Setting up tutorials and uploading them to teachertube might be a nice feature. I might use teachertube as a weekly transitional piece showing different videos which pertain to different grade levels. EX: I might have the states and capital cartoon ready to view when fourth graders come in. It was great to see celebrity videos (Hannah Montana's bones). Kids love to see the stars in an educational setting. Mrs. Burk was really clever with her different raps. I noticed a lot of the same characters in various videos. How did 'Be Kind to your Eraser' get the mouth movement embedded in the rest of the video. Clever
Week 8 #19.1
Found in the Digital Archives. The photographer is my great Grandfather, William H. Case.
Week 8 #19.1 Alaska's Digital Pipeline
Everytime I explore, I find something new and interesting. I've added the SLED toolbar. Love that. The flash movie helped to explain enhancements though I would have liked sound. My new folder is quickly filling of articles for me to read. I have a journal alert set up. I haven't done that before and after reading other blogs, I don't know how long I'll keep it if the e-mails are many.
Looking through the school interfaces, each progressive level included more search opportunities. There was plenty for each grade level to use. I have introduced some of the search sites off the elementary school interface already but kids don't naturally use these for searches yet. I am thinking it still looks a little wordy to many students. I have this site on my catalog homepage for easy access but may need to fine tune and continue to show this.
The Consumer Health Database was new to me. I enjoyed exploring and will use it on a personal level as well as share it with teachers. It could enhance many Science lessons.
I also realized, the more I play the more comfortable I feel exploring SLED. I giggle at the auto repair because that is so not me. My children would have better luck with this site.
I love looking at old Alaskan pictures. Particularly, because my great grandfather was instrumental in documenting Southeast Alaska history. Below is a one of many pictures in the digital image collection. This one is from the fourth of July. I'll play so I can have this viewed right on the blog.
http://vilda.alaska.edu/u?/cdmg21,7124
Looking through the school interfaces, each progressive level included more search opportunities. There was plenty for each grade level to use. I have introduced some of the search sites off the elementary school interface already but kids don't naturally use these for searches yet. I am thinking it still looks a little wordy to many students. I have this site on my catalog homepage for easy access but may need to fine tune and continue to show this.
The Consumer Health Database was new to me. I enjoyed exploring and will use it on a personal level as well as share it with teachers. It could enhance many Science lessons.
I also realized, the more I play the more comfortable I feel exploring SLED. I giggle at the auto repair because that is so not me. My children would have better luck with this site.
I love looking at old Alaskan pictures. Particularly, because my great grandfather was instrumental in documenting Southeast Alaska history. Below is a one of many pictures in the digital image collection. This one is from the fourth of July. I'll play so I can have this viewed right on the blog.
http://vilda.alaska.edu/u?/cdmg21,7124
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Chapter 2 Reflection
There are some astounding statistics regarding technology use in this chapter. More students use internet than watch t.v. Students use and are used to playing video games, text messaging, instant messaging, searching internet sites, downloading music, working on homework and more. Digital natives describe today's young people while we teachers and parents were described as digital immigrants. More American households have internet access than not. Half the young people on Youtube are under the age of twenty. The statistics continue. Because of this easy access to technology, young people think, work, and play differently than we do. I thought it interesting the chapter said 'myspace' had replaced the mall as an afterschool past time for teens. That seems the situation at my house with my teens. The chapter also mentioned there is technology developed for children as young as nine months. Another study showed increased academic progress and attendance in schools offering one on one computing skills.
There were some good suggestions for educators and technology use. We need to accept technology use is growing and incorporate it more into our teaching practices. It should not be an 'extra' learning experience. Students should have access to technology and should be able to use a multitude of tools for presentations. Since the technology world is changing, our lessons should help students adapt to new situations and continue learning. The media center and the media specialist should be good resources for assisting with incorporating technology into lessons. This class is a good step toward increasing my comfort in that role.
As I sit and blog, my daughter is on myspace, one son is playing an online game and another son finished a DVD. My husband gets most of his news online. We are pretty plugged in but I know there is more to learn.
There were some good suggestions for educators and technology use. We need to accept technology use is growing and incorporate it more into our teaching practices. It should not be an 'extra' learning experience. Students should have access to technology and should be able to use a multitude of tools for presentations. Since the technology world is changing, our lessons should help students adapt to new situations and continue learning. The media center and the media specialist should be good resources for assisting with incorporating technology into lessons. This class is a good step toward increasing my comfort in that role.
As I sit and blog, my daughter is on myspace, one son is playing an online game and another son finished a DVD. My husband gets most of his news online. We are pretty plugged in but I know there is more to learn.
Chapter 1 Reflection
Blink and things change. Technology is ever shaping how world leaders and world companies do business. We've gone from working less in isolation or local to global collaboration using technology. With the cost of doing business much cheaper abroad, many U.S. companies are also moving out of the country. Asian countries are now quite competitive in the technology market and in fact have surpassed the United States in areas.
There are many financial benefits to developing the new technology. Online shopping has exploded with companies like Amazon. Online blogs, wikis, e-mail, and instant messaging allow people to collaborate from great distances quickly and in relative private. Many companies use online tutorials for their staff. Some companies track customer purchases, customer satisfaction as well as job candidates.
Techonology in education is similar. It is constantly changing and with technology so 'second nature' to our students, we need to recognize this and adjust the way we teach. The United States sees the need to improve the technology taught and used in education. With Web 2.0, we have a new collection of web-based tools to assist in educating both the young and old. Much of it is free and quite easy to access with the use of a computer and internet. Many of the recent studies say using 21st century tools in the classroom will help close the gap between how students learn in their everyday world (video games, cell phone texts, personal computer use, etc) and how they learn in the classroom. To be literate today, students must not only be able to read, write, and think but also they must be able to process information, navigate existing technology, and collaborate and communicate what they have learned using technology.
I guess Chapter 1 really talks about keeping up with the times. Technology is changing so rapidly, and in order to remain productive in today's job market we need to learn those 21st Century skills. It is pretty scary to think about how much I don't know. I read this chapter early on and didn't even understand some of the tech terms. Thanks to our class, I am taking bitty steps towards being a more productive 21st Century learner myself. My own mother has generally been ahead of me in this area. Kind of embarrassing but true. She has had the time to play around with many tech. tools whereas I couldn't find the time. Thanks for allowing me time to play.
There are many financial benefits to developing the new technology. Online shopping has exploded with companies like Amazon. Online blogs, wikis, e-mail, and instant messaging allow people to collaborate from great distances quickly and in relative private. Many companies use online tutorials for their staff. Some companies track customer purchases, customer satisfaction as well as job candidates.
Techonology in education is similar. It is constantly changing and with technology so 'second nature' to our students, we need to recognize this and adjust the way we teach. The United States sees the need to improve the technology taught and used in education. With Web 2.0, we have a new collection of web-based tools to assist in educating both the young and old. Much of it is free and quite easy to access with the use of a computer and internet. Many of the recent studies say using 21st century tools in the classroom will help close the gap between how students learn in their everyday world (video games, cell phone texts, personal computer use, etc) and how they learn in the classroom. To be literate today, students must not only be able to read, write, and think but also they must be able to process information, navigate existing technology, and collaborate and communicate what they have learned using technology.
I guess Chapter 1 really talks about keeping up with the times. Technology is changing so rapidly, and in order to remain productive in today's job market we need to learn those 21st Century skills. It is pretty scary to think about how much I don't know. I read this chapter early on and didn't even understand some of the tech terms. Thanks to our class, I am taking bitty steps towards being a more productive 21st Century learner myself. My own mother has generally been ahead of me in this area. Kind of embarrassing but true. She has had the time to play around with many tech. tools whereas I couldn't find the time. Thanks for allowing me time to play.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Week 8 #19 Library thing
I enjoyed adding books to my account. Not all are the books are mine but most belong to people in our house. Web 2.0 is on loan and will be deleted soon. This catalog system was very quick and easy. I could not find one book (Moon Music)when searching so added the book manually. That took very little time. Several books are popular with other accounts and several had great reviews. I enjoyed reading some of the conversations and posts from readers. The Red Tent had a lot of positive comments. Most readers had similar reactions to the books I read. I searched by author, ISBN, and title for these books in order to catalog. It was great because it was so easy.
I also liked looking at similar books and took some recommendations from other accounts. My personal wish list increased. ;)
This would be nice for my personal collection. I am frequently asked about some of my favorite titles. With this, I can share my library with my friends. At work, teachers might like to have their classroom collection web-based organized. I am wondering how the public libraries use Library Thing. I looked at some of the sites but didn't quite find the answer.
Monday, March 30, 2009
I am testing this. 
Week 8 #18
I played with this program and enjoy the fact it is web based and I can work on my documents anywhere I am connected to the internet. I like some of the features. It was also fun to upload one of my son's favorite dream rides. I had some trouble formatting pictures. I wanted to decrease the size and move the picture around. I'll play some more. I think I did get the car slightly smaller. I was able to play with the font, style, size.
Personally, this is very fun to play around with. I can see using it between family. With word already on the computer, I may not get back to this as often. Also, I don't have a need to write large documents and share them at this time.
For school, it would be a good collaboration tool. I can see using this to set up sub plans. I can keep them on here and edit them if I am home sick then e-mail them off to our admin. assistant. With students, I think I might try a collaborative writing document. Perhaps, students could write add on stories with each other through this method. The speed impresses me. It updates so quickly. Currently, we share documents via e-mail and our public sites on the server. I don't mind this system but the students would love zoho writer much more.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Week 7 #17 sandbox wiki
Okay, that was fun. I liked adding my two cents on a wiki. I chose to talk about a podcast project I have done with a teacher for the last two years. It started out as a class assignment for me and we have decided to keep it up. The kids love this. Anything on the computer and they are game. I want to try trading cards on flickr and put them on a wiki now. How might that work? Will each student have to create their own flickr account? I'll have to add them all as authors in the wiki I guess. Am I able to make generic logins for both flickr and wikispaces? Will that allow more than one student to work on the account at the same time? I also have to think about permission to post on the web. We didn't post on the web in the past but used intranet. I'll have to see if I can do that again. It may seem like I have more questions than answers but I did answer some while playing. Wikis are not so scary as I once believed. The manager of the wiki has some control over who edits a wiki. Wikis encourage learning, thinking, problem solving and collaboration amongst the authors of each site.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Week 7 #16 wiki
This is one of the few web 2.0 resources I have heard about before this class. I'm glad to finally look at some. I have a couple of colleagues who use these frequently and have set some up for an educational group I am involved in. One teacher uses it to post our minutes from our weekly meetings. Another uses it for discussion between schools in the district about library developments. Unfortunately, I haven't been to either wiki to respond and collaborate. Now, I'll do that. I guess you must bookmark for easy access. I didn't see if the wiki alerts you if someone edits the page. I know once you are in the site it will. I like that all can edit this and be authors. If one realizes the information found on a wiki may be subjective, these may be helpful to use for school. I like the idea of students building a trading card, report, top 10 book list, continuing class discussions, editing work already on the wiki, etc. I like that you do have some control over who edits a wiki. It is also nice to see who edits what. I'd like to try building trading cards based on books and posting them on a wiki. I know youtube is filtered but these should be okay.
Week 6 #15
The articles/discussion sites for Library 2.0 were interesting. I read a few and enjoyed the blogs that followed some of the posts. I would like to focus on one article bu
t realize so many are saying the same thing. One I read was 'Into a New World for Librarianship' . The library must keep up with current technology in order to provide the most current information and assist its patrons/users with their needs. When making decisions about software and other resources, libraries should make decisions responsibly and quickly as the web is moving at a rapid pace and some resources become outdated in brief amounts of time. Libraries shouldn't be designed with what is best for the library and its staff but how it can best serve those who frequent it. So a library's mission statement may need to be changed. Existing libraries should evolve with Web 2.0 and incorporate its resources into everyday library activities. The web can help libraries update information, quickly collaborate with other libraries, and keep in the loop of news that might impact future services. Librarians help users design their own personal content on blogs, wikis, mashups, etc. The library has to have the knowledge and software to help facilitation. Finally, each staff member and user should be able to provide input and allowed to play and learn.
I'd like to think we all know this. Change is difficult but in this instance libraries may become obscure if we don't. Though much of our population is aging, the younger generation is so plugged in, we need to set up library resources to accomodate and assist them as well as continue to provide traditional methods. For our libraries, I don't see any other choice but to keep current with all of the web technology. That is what the library 2.0 is about. Evolving to keep up with the patrons in our libraries and their needs.
For me, this means I have a lot of learning to do. This class is helping me experiment and explore a small amount of what is on the web. I need to know what the kids are using so I can converse with them as well as assist them. There is a lot more exploring to do. It has been fun sharing what I am learning with my own kids as well as collaborating with them on some mashups.
For my school and education in general, we need more professional development on the web. Many educators are interested but have little time and haven't signed up for classes like this to learn more. The students we have now learn differently than those I had 20 years ago. Laptops, internet, communication technology and the video gaming world were not as they are now. This is what so many students today use in their personal lives. They are comfortable with them and so we need to be as well.
t realize so many are saying the same thing. One I read was 'Into a New World for Librarianship' . The library must keep up with current technology in order to provide the most current information and assist its patrons/users with their needs. When making decisions about software and other resources, libraries should make decisions responsibly and quickly as the web is moving at a rapid pace and some resources become outdated in brief amounts of time. Libraries shouldn't be designed with what is best for the library and its staff but how it can best serve those who frequent it. So a library's mission statement may need to be changed. Existing libraries should evolve with Web 2.0 and incorporate its resources into everyday library activities. The web can help libraries update information, quickly collaborate with other libraries, and keep in the loop of news that might impact future services. Librarians help users design their own personal content on blogs, wikis, mashups, etc. The library has to have the knowledge and software to help facilitation. Finally, each staff member and user should be able to provide input and allowed to play and learn.I'd like to think we all know this. Change is difficult but in this instance libraries may become obscure if we don't. Though much of our population is aging, the younger generation is so plugged in, we need to set up library resources to accomodate and assist them as well as continue to provide traditional methods. For our libraries, I don't see any other choice but to keep current with all of the web technology. That is what the library 2.0 is about. Evolving to keep up with the patrons in our libraries and their needs.
For me, this means I have a lot of learning to do. This class is helping me experiment and explore a small amount of what is on the web. I need to know what the kids are using so I can converse with them as well as assist them. There is a lot more exploring to do. It has been fun sharing what I am learning with my own kids as well as collaborating with them on some mashups.
For my school and education in general, we need more professional development on the web. Many educators are interested but have little time and haven't signed up for classes like this to learn more. The students we have now learn differently than those I had 20 years ago. Laptops, internet, communication technology and the video gaming world were not as they are now. This is what so many students today use in their personal lives. They are comfortable with them and so we need to be as well.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Week 6 #14 Technorati
Wow! It is amazing the number of daily blogs. So many blogs to track and filter requires a pretty hefty site and software. I appreciate that someone else has designed the sites with tagging capabilities for us. I wouldn't even bother to spend too much time on the internet otherwise. We have so many sites tagged at our fingertips, we can peruse and determine which will suit our needs much more quickly.
While in Technorati, I typed in the keyword "School Library Learning 2.0", searched for blogs, tags, and the blog directory, and received different results for each. There were 19 blog posts, 27 tags, and 118 in the blog directory. I found this to be a little disappointing and somewhat confusing. It didn't seem as user friendly as flickr and delicious. I did notice many librarians and educators taking this class from CSLA had claimed their blogs.
I took a peek at some of the most popular sites according to Technorati. Boing boing (popular blog) was interesting but not too useful for younger students. I looked at book tags hoping to find some interesting children recommendations. Didn't find anything which I wanted to purchase right away.
Again, thank goodness for someone else designing this free software. As before, the advantages of collaboration with colleagues in developing useful tags of sites for educational purposes is priceless. I must say flickr was/is my favorite. Perhaps, it is because I explored it first. Maybe it is because I like pictures and would like to play with and manage my photos in a much more organized method. I have pictures on four different computers and would love to make some albums web based for family and/or educational viewing. The buttons right on my computer tool bar make del.icio.us so handy and useful. I don't see going to Technorati much at all with the other two options.
I wouldn't mind practicing the optional claiming your blog but don't understand the html and code thing yet.
While in Technorati, I typed in the keyword "School Library Learning 2.0", searched for blogs, tags, and the blog directory, and received different results for each. There were 19 blog posts, 27 tags, and 118 in the blog directory. I found this to be a little disappointing and somewhat confusing. It didn't seem as user friendly as flickr and delicious. I did notice many librarians and educators taking this class from CSLA had claimed their blogs.
I took a peek at some of the most popular sites according to Technorati. Boing boing (popular blog) was interesting but not too useful for younger students. I looked at book tags hoping to find some interesting children recommendations. Didn't find anything which I wanted to purchase right away.
Again, thank goodness for someone else designing this free software. As before, the advantages of collaboration with colleagues in developing useful tags of sites for educational purposes is priceless. I must say flickr was/is my favorite. Perhaps, it is because I explored it first. Maybe it is because I like pictures and would like to play with and manage my photos in a much more organized method. I have pictures on four different computers and would love to make some albums web based for family and/or educational viewing. The buttons right on my computer tool bar make del.icio.us so handy and useful. I don't see going to Technorati much at all with the other two options.
I wouldn't mind practicing the optional claiming your blog but don't understand the html and code thing yet.
Week 6 #13
Tagging seems like a tremendous time saver. Searching can take so much time. Now, I can check this account for popular sites. I work from several different computers using several different browsers. I may not have a bookmark on one computer but setting the tags on my new del.icio.us account, I'll be able to access them from anywhere. I like the idea of sharing the bookmarks with other teachers. It will be nice to have a community list of tagged sites. Since this is so new to many on staff, it will take time to share and bring teachers up to speed. I can see this being nice in the library. Frequently used sites related to research and education will be easily accessible. I can get students to sites much quicker as popular sites will be tagged in the system. I can see using this to tag sites for leveling books. I am always looking for more sites. It is nice tagging works for websites as well as posts, and photos.
Week 5 #12 Voice Thread
I must say I was frustrated with this tool. It may have been my computer's internet speed switching from one site to another. SLOOOOW. I like the idea and did create an account. I picked up a random picture to upload and played around with it. The tutorials were good.
I can see several educational applications. The first would be mini tutorials for any subject. Just like voice thread tutorials, teachers could create these for their math, science, language arts lessons. I enjoyed listening to the art teacher who discussed elements of a picture. I liked her annotations. I didn't change the color as I annotated during my voice thread. I'll try that. I can also see this being a good way for students to do book reviews or to tell a story using their own pictures. Our school is using the Fairbanks art kits as well as designing their own. Either art teacher here or in Fairbanks could create one of these for their kits. Hmm The possibilities are endless. I could see one of our teachers using this for his pig dissection lessons.
I'll need to play around with this more as I can see teachers wanting to use this.
I can see several educational applications. The first would be mini tutorials for any subject. Just like voice thread tutorials, teachers could create these for their math, science, language arts lessons. I enjoyed listening to the art teacher who discussed elements of a picture. I liked her annotations. I didn't change the color as I annotated during my voice thread. I'll try that. I can also see this being a good way for students to do book reviews or to tell a story using their own pictures. Our school is using the Fairbanks art kits as well as designing their own. Either art teacher here or in Fairbanks could create one of these for their kits. Hmm The possibilities are endless. I could see one of our teachers using this for his pig dissection lessons.
I'll need to play around with this more as I can see teachers wanting to use this.
Week 5 #11
Exploring award winners was time consuming because I wanted to visit so many sites and had to limit myself. Several of the sites were more interesting, easier to navigate, and more applicable than others.
The first site I looked at was Youtube. I have not been to this site but it has been a topic of much conversation with our music teachers. The site was blocked last year in our district (perhaps still) and many of our teachers had been using this site in their lessons. I can see why. Given the right video, it can be very educational. I set up an account and now have some favorites in it. One I enjoyed was a video of whales net feeding. This video would be great for a science lesson on whales. Rather than telling a student about it, we can show them how whales feed in living color. Amazing.
Another site was Zango. This was supposed to be a sight with a lot of games. I was looking for sites easy to find parents could use to help their child practice basic math facts. I can't say as I found this site helpful. It took up a lot of downloading time. I don't think I even played a game when I was in the site.
A new favorite I'll use again is My Heritage . This was a nice site to set up the family tree. My uncle is always on sites like this and has printed pages for everyone in the family. With this, we can share the site with all the relatives and save a tree. I have set up an account and started adding family members.
With a good chunk of family in Oregon, we are planning to buy a home down there soon. I used Zillow and found quite a few properties in our area of interest. I didn't but should have set up an alert for any new listings in our price range. I could see this site used in math comparing house prices across the country.
I went to Ning and signed up. I invited family to join me. Now, I wait for their reply. Like the library sites.
Finally, I had a difficult time leaving the Traveler IQ. This was fun. Thanks for this site. I want to start a geography club next year. I am looking for potential sites to help with this. This may have some value for that. I myself could not stop playing the games and made it to several levels before I was booted out.
The first site I looked at was Youtube. I have not been to this site but it has been a topic of much conversation with our music teachers. The site was blocked last year in our district (perhaps still) and many of our teachers had been using this site in their lessons. I can see why. Given the right video, it can be very educational. I set up an account and now have some favorites in it. One I enjoyed was a video of whales net feeding. This video would be great for a science lesson on whales. Rather than telling a student about it, we can show them how whales feed in living color. Amazing.
Another site was Zango. This was supposed to be a sight with a lot of games. I was looking for sites easy to find parents could use to help their child practice basic math facts. I can't say as I found this site helpful. It took up a lot of downloading time. I don't think I even played a game when I was in the site.
A new favorite I'll use again is My Heritage . This was a nice site to set up the family tree. My uncle is always on sites like this and has printed pages for everyone in the family. With this, we can share the site with all the relatives and save a tree. I have set up an account and started adding family members.
With a good chunk of family in Oregon, we are planning to buy a home down there soon. I used Zillow and found quite a few properties in our area of interest. I didn't but should have set up an alert for any new listings in our price range. I could see this site used in math comparing house prices across the country.
I went to Ning and signed up. I invited family to join me. Now, I wait for their reply. Like the library sites.
Finally, I had a difficult time leaving the Traveler IQ. This was fun. Thanks for this site. I want to start a geography club next year. I am looking for potential sites to help with this. This may have some value for that. I myself could not stop playing the games and made it to several levels before I was booted out.
Week 5 #10
I played with image chef. Here is the link.
I can imagine using image chef a lot for creative writing. I have quite a few fun pictures saved on my computer. Too many to load here. I love the idea of adding text to a picture found on flickr or a personal one uploaded. With just a simple sentence to start, students can really jump into writing. I think they will enjoy the personalization. I have used something like this with some apple software to some degree of success. I'd start small with just one class. I am not sure how to manage all the writing. I guess put it in a blog.
I played with jigsaw maker. That is fun. I am a puzzler and would like to do that. It looks like it costs to order the puzzles. Also, using kids pictures would require permission.
Loved word mosaic and think those would make really nice ecards to friends and family. Will try that.
I have played around with photobooth on the mac computers. A small group of fifth grade students and I distorted some pictures and uploaded them into our school yearbook which is designed entirely online. We've made photo collages and changed the shapes of pictures from rectangular to circles, stars, and even hearts to name a few. The kids love this. I think this type of activity would qualify for image generator. After playing around with image chef, I have more tools to tweak some more pictures and upload them.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Week 4 #8 and 9
I like using the RSS feeds. I have set up one through bloglines and added some feeds of my own choice. In school, I haven't thought of the possibilities yet. At home, it will be nice to have my favorite site updates at one quick site. I could probably set up some RSS feeds for my library homepage which would benefit particular classes and their area of study. I'll have to play more. How do you retrieve updates you looked at, then left the site and returned to continue reading but the feed is gone? There must be some way. That was confusing. The easiest thing was to add a feed. I'm still adding. I already want to delete some feeds which aren't as appealing now.
Week 3 #7
Technology blog. I am so pleased our library catalog system is web based. I assist in a second library without this ability and everything takes so much longer. I love the speed of processing, circulation, availability knowledge, as well as easier access to other library collections. Kids love to use the system to look for books and information in both our library and other district libraries. The system is easy to use for most grades and has a lot of bells and whistles which attract the students.
Week 3 #6
This I loved. Quick and easy. Last year, I made trading cards with my older students using Newberry award winners. This would have been fun and a lot less messy (no paint). The students loved the old fashioned method too. I'd like to use this for a new school year as a way to introduce students. I would have to figure out the management of large numbers of pictures or maybe I would start with one grade only. Or I could set up a staff blog and use this as an introduction to staff.
Week 3 #5
Wow! I could be addicted to this. This picture is from a trip in 2004. I'd never seen a kookabura before then.
I think I'll use flickr with a group of students. I imagine I'll have to look into permission to publish. Students can upload a picture and post it on a class blog. Hmm
I think I'll use flickr with a group of students. I imagine I'll have to look into permission to publish. Students can upload a picture and post it on a class blog. Hmm
Week 2 #3
This is fun. Wish I was that skinny. I made another avatar in another location but can't remember the site. This one will work.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
