I have really enjoyed this online course. What I have learned is relevant to my job and will be useful in my teaching. I really enjoyed the way each lesson was presented. The how-to videos were wonderful, yours and those by the Common Craft. It was so productive to go out and do the work involved in each lesson, rather than just learning about it, but never doing it.
Even lessons that were on topics with which I was already familiar taught me nuances that were new to me. I became more comfortable with some topics and learned many, many new things on additional topics.
My favorite new topics were social bookmarking and wikis. I can really imagine a lot of uses for wikis and am eager to get started with a new project of some kind. My least favorite topic was the RSS feed. I don't want all that stuff I'm "supposed" to read coming at me day after day! However, it is good to know and understand the process.
This course has made me more aware of the possibilities of the digital world in teaching. There are so many ideas I would never have imagined before this class! It has also made me realize that students are learning in such a different world than I did. To meet their needs, educators need to embrace the digital world.
I will continue to learn about web 2.0 tools by continuing to use them. The more I use these tools, the better I will get with them. I also think that by showing colleagues some of these tools, they will become more ingrained in my work. I would definitely be interested in taking another 23 Things class, if a continuation were to be offered.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Thing 22
I added item #33 to the class wiki: A site to further explore a novel being studied in class, with additional information about places in the book, items talked about, etc. This was the idea from my favorite wiki I found in the previous thing, the Hanalee Book Wiki.
My wiki is located here: https://bookswiki.wikispaces.com/. It was pretty easy to create the wiki and add items. I added a couple of books along with website links and videos and cover art. I checked out how to use the other widgets, but none of them seemed useful for my page. Making a wiki page about books is another addictive task for me. I could spend forever adding and searching for all of my favorite books and authors.
I enjoyed making the wiki more than blogging. I don't really like to write about myself, i.e. blogging. Making a wiki doesn't require that. It can be more factual. A blog is one person writing ideas, essays, thoughts, etc. Others can read the blog and write comments (if allowed), but that's it. A wiki can be used as a collaborative tool by many people. Everyone can contribute instead of the final result being the product of one person. A teacher could use a blog to post class notes, but a wiki could be used for students to share their class notes with each other; the teacher would not have to do anything. A person could blog about research they have completed. A group working on a research project together could create a wiki to share their results and finalize their project. The collaboration involved in a wiki makes it much more interesting to me for use in the education world.
My wiki is located here: https://bookswiki.wikispaces.com/. It was pretty easy to create the wiki and add items. I added a couple of books along with website links and videos and cover art. I checked out how to use the other widgets, but none of them seemed useful for my page. Making a wiki page about books is another addictive task for me. I could spend forever adding and searching for all of my favorite books and authors.
I enjoyed making the wiki more than blogging. I don't really like to write about myself, i.e. blogging. Making a wiki doesn't require that. It can be more factual. A blog is one person writing ideas, essays, thoughts, etc. Others can read the blog and write comments (if allowed), but that's it. A wiki can be used as a collaborative tool by many people. Everyone can contribute instead of the final result being the product of one person. A teacher could use a blog to post class notes, but a wiki could be used for students to share their class notes with each other; the teacher would not have to do anything. A person could blog about research they have completed. A group working on a research project together could create a wiki to share their results and finalize their project. The collaboration involved in a wiki makes it much more interesting to me for use in the education world.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Thing 21
For an elementary school, which is the level at which I teach, I like the Hanalee Book Wiki. The information included on the different pages was useful, well-organized, and added more detail to the story.
For personal use, I think wikiHow is a lot of fun. There are all sorts of useful how-tos as well as some funny ones.
Having a wiki as a school website, like Arbor Heights Elementary School Wiki, is an intriguing idea. I am not our school webmaster, so making this switch would not be my decision.
Examples of Educaitonal Wikis is an interesting site for someone who is planning a wiki and needs ideas, but just having an alphabetical list of sites makes perusal difficult. The search function doesn't work to search for wikis on specific topics.
I would be most inspired to create my own wiki by the Hanalee Book Wiki. As a media specialist, I could see this wiki being created by a classroom under the guidance of their classroom teacher and me, the media specialist. I don't see the students for enough time to make it a project they would complete only with me. I have a fixed schedule in the media center, so I cannot schedule more time with a class or meet with them as needed. My schedule is booked with other classes. So, there's one hurdle. Another hurdle would be finding a teacher who is interested in collaborating on a wiki. Since I only meet with each class for 45 mintues a week, much of the work with the students would fall upon her. I could collaborate with her on our own time for planning and for technical know-how. Students could complete some work in the media center, but most of their computer time would have to be with their classroom teacher. I think a wiki on a book would be valuable to students and would be worth the fight.
For personal use, I think wikiHow is a lot of fun. There are all sorts of useful how-tos as well as some funny ones.
Having a wiki as a school website, like Arbor Heights Elementary School Wiki, is an intriguing idea. I am not our school webmaster, so making this switch would not be my decision.
Examples of Educaitonal Wikis is an interesting site for someone who is planning a wiki and needs ideas, but just having an alphabetical list of sites makes perusal difficult. The search function doesn't work to search for wikis on specific topics.
I would be most inspired to create my own wiki by the Hanalee Book Wiki. As a media specialist, I could see this wiki being created by a classroom under the guidance of their classroom teacher and me, the media specialist. I don't see the students for enough time to make it a project they would complete only with me. I have a fixed schedule in the media center, so I cannot schedule more time with a class or meet with them as needed. My schedule is booked with other classes. So, there's one hurdle. Another hurdle would be finding a teacher who is interested in collaborating on a wiki. Since I only meet with each class for 45 mintues a week, much of the work with the students would fall upon her. I could collaborate with her on our own time for planning and for technical know-how. Students could complete some work in the media center, but most of their computer time would have to be with their classroom teacher. I think a wiki on a book would be valuable to students and would be worth the fight.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Thing 20
Immediately upon opening the Education Podcast Network (EPN)(http://www.epnweb.org/), I was put off by the appearance. The font is unappealing, and the amount of text is off-putting.
I listened to a few podcasts made by elementray students first. Some were enhanced podcasts; some were just audio. I was surprised by how many I found from Great Britain and Australia. Than I checked out some English/Language Arts podcasts. Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd was amusing. He plays recordings of jokes children have called in to his show. Book Voyages' description sounded good for my profession, but the podcasts didn't work. I tried many of the literature or book-related podcasts. So many didn't work. Others worked, but weren't interesting to me. My beloved Grammar Girl was here though! In the miscellaneous category, the One Minute How-To podcast was fun. There are a vast variety of categories: how to get rid of my clutter, how to wax cross-country skis, how to select a stock, and more!
EPN is small enough that it doesn't take too long to glance through all of the titles of the podcasts. Unfortunately, with many of the podcasts that I chose, I received various error messages and could not open the podcasts.
In Podcast Alley (http://www.podcastalley.com/), it's nice to be able to narrow the selection down by genre, but it needs more organization. For example, once in Education, there is just a random list of all 1,985 podcasts. This is not helpful for locating material. It is useful that clicking on a podcast title allows a short description of the podcast to pop up. To try to get a smaller group of podcasts, I searched "library" and got 163 results, many of which were specific to an individual library. The search function did not allow me to search for library in the education genre; it only searched the entire site. I listened to part of a few podcasts. Here's the problem: just like with blogs, there are a lot of people out there who think they have something interesting to say, but it's of no interest to me. With blogs, I can skim their posts and quickly ascertain the usefulness, or not. With podcasts, I have to listen to them blather on to see if they'll ever have anything of interest to say. Searching "children's literature" yielded 200 results, some of which seemed more promising, but how much time do I have to listen to all 200 of these? I listened to some of a few, but nothing inspired me.
Podcast Alley also contained podcasts that would not work. Some podcasts that are listed haven't had a new podcast for 3 or more years, so wouldn't be useful for subscriptions. Also, it would be nice if search results here could be limited to a chosen language.
I already had iTunes installed on my computer. The video showing how to search for podcasts on iTunes was not working. So, I poked around iTunes on my own and looked at available podcasts. Of course, I subscribed to Grammar Girl. I used iTunes to subscribe, rather than Bloglines. I visit iTunes regularly and can easily download the podcasts to my iPod.
I listened to a few podcasts made by elementray students first. Some were enhanced podcasts; some were just audio. I was surprised by how many I found from Great Britain and Australia. Than I checked out some English/Language Arts podcasts. Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd was amusing. He plays recordings of jokes children have called in to his show. Book Voyages' description sounded good for my profession, but the podcasts didn't work. I tried many of the literature or book-related podcasts. So many didn't work. Others worked, but weren't interesting to me. My beloved Grammar Girl was here though! In the miscellaneous category, the One Minute How-To podcast was fun. There are a vast variety of categories: how to get rid of my clutter, how to wax cross-country skis, how to select a stock, and more!
EPN is small enough that it doesn't take too long to glance through all of the titles of the podcasts. Unfortunately, with many of the podcasts that I chose, I received various error messages and could not open the podcasts.
In Podcast Alley (http://www.podcastalley.com/), it's nice to be able to narrow the selection down by genre, but it needs more organization. For example, once in Education, there is just a random list of all 1,985 podcasts. This is not helpful for locating material. It is useful that clicking on a podcast title allows a short description of the podcast to pop up. To try to get a smaller group of podcasts, I searched "library" and got 163 results, many of which were specific to an individual library. The search function did not allow me to search for library in the education genre; it only searched the entire site. I listened to part of a few podcasts. Here's the problem: just like with blogs, there are a lot of people out there who think they have something interesting to say, but it's of no interest to me. With blogs, I can skim their posts and quickly ascertain the usefulness, or not. With podcasts, I have to listen to them blather on to see if they'll ever have anything of interest to say. Searching "children's literature" yielded 200 results, some of which seemed more promising, but how much time do I have to listen to all 200 of these? I listened to some of a few, but nothing inspired me.
Podcast Alley also contained podcasts that would not work. Some podcasts that are listed haven't had a new podcast for 3 or more years, so wouldn't be useful for subscriptions. Also, it would be nice if search results here could be limited to a chosen language.
I already had iTunes installed on my computer. The video showing how to search for podcasts on iTunes was not working. So, I poked around iTunes on my own and looked at available podcasts. Of course, I subscribed to Grammar Girl. I used iTunes to subscribe, rather than Bloglines. I visit iTunes regularly and can easily download the podcasts to my iPod.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Thing 19
I've listened and watched some podcasts in the past, but I was excited to learn more about them. One problem I've noticed with v-casts is sometimes they just don't come through smoothly. I have had trouble with the video portion freezing while the audio continues and with the audio and video not being in sync. I had some of these problems with the Wayne RESA podcasts as well. The podcast of part 1 even closed itself on me in the middle.
Exploring podcasts has to be one of the most time-consuming tasks we've had. Some podcasts take what seems like forever to load. Then, they are often quite long, so you have to listen for a long time to see if the podcasts are useful. Some that I tried to access wouldn't load at all by clicking on them. I think I would need to do the right click, "save as" method to open these podcasts.
I like StoryNory (http://storynory.com/) for a free way to listen to stories. However, the commercial that comes before the story is annoying and could be confusing for students who aren't good readers when they are trying to follow along with the words. I would like the format better if the story's words weren't in one long column. Maybe an enhanced podcast would be nicer, but probably more difficult to produce. Students who like pictures will probably complain about this site. I could see using this with my elementary-age students. I could show the site to students and add a link to it to our website and our computers' destops.
I also love Grammar Girl (http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/). I am sometimes referred to as Grammar Queen, so listening to someone talk about grammar makes me smile all over. I also like how I can read the transcript of the podcasts here rather than listen to the audio. Reading is faster than listening, saving me time. Others may be auditory listeners and prefer to listen. It was difficult to tear myself away from this site. I could see Grammar Girl's podcasts being useful for reinforcing grammar rules for older students. Some of Grammar Girl's podcast also have commercials.
Nancy Keane's booktalks (http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/podcast_list.htm) are interesting to me as a librarian. They are nice and short, but I wish she had them organized in some way, maybe by interest age. If they were organized, it would be a useful way for students to listen to booktalks when they need an idea of what to read next.
I like FirstBook also (http://blog.firstbook.org/category/podcast/). The author interviews would be a nice way to supplement an author study. There seem to be only a few author podcasts here though, so you'd have to get lucky to find one on the author you needed.
Exploring podcasts has to be one of the most time-consuming tasks we've had. Some podcasts take what seems like forever to load. Then, they are often quite long, so you have to listen for a long time to see if the podcasts are useful. Some that I tried to access wouldn't load at all by clicking on them. I think I would need to do the right click, "save as" method to open these podcasts.
I like StoryNory (http://storynory.com/) for a free way to listen to stories. However, the commercial that comes before the story is annoying and could be confusing for students who aren't good readers when they are trying to follow along with the words. I would like the format better if the story's words weren't in one long column. Maybe an enhanced podcast would be nicer, but probably more difficult to produce. Students who like pictures will probably complain about this site. I could see using this with my elementary-age students. I could show the site to students and add a link to it to our website and our computers' destops.
I also love Grammar Girl (http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/). I am sometimes referred to as Grammar Queen, so listening to someone talk about grammar makes me smile all over. I also like how I can read the transcript of the podcasts here rather than listen to the audio. Reading is faster than listening, saving me time. Others may be auditory listeners and prefer to listen. It was difficult to tear myself away from this site. I could see Grammar Girl's podcasts being useful for reinforcing grammar rules for older students. Some of Grammar Girl's podcast also have commercials.
Nancy Keane's booktalks (http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/podcast_list.htm) are interesting to me as a librarian. They are nice and short, but I wish she had them organized in some way, maybe by interest age. If they were organized, it would be a useful way for students to listen to booktalks when they need an idea of what to read next.
I like FirstBook also (http://blog.firstbook.org/category/podcast/). The author interviews would be a nice way to supplement an author study. There seem to be only a few author podcasts here though, so you'd have to get lucky to find one on the author you needed.
Thing 18
In Slideshare's (http://www.slideshare.net) most viewed presentations ("views"), many were in other languages, and some were wallpaper rather than slideshows. So, this is an interesting place to look, but not the most effective way to search. The same is true for "favorites" and "featured." There is a wide variety of topics that are covered here!
Choosing the "Education" link narrows things down a bit. I noticed that some presentations aren't really meant for us strangers to view and understand. I think some members of Slideshare have loaded presentations here that they will need at a future date. So, without their speaking while showing the slideshow, we don't really understand it. When I clicked on most viewed education videos of all time, I saw several on Web 2.0!
Searching can be time-consuming, but I noticed that when entering my own search term, I could choose the language for my results. I finally chose a narrow enough search that I found some useful results. I chose this presentation on the Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDCS) that I could use with my students:
I liked this presentation because it was simple and could be used with young students. It covers pretty much exactly what I say when I teach the DDCS, but the added visuals are nice.
Slideshare is definitely useful if I am giving a presentation. I can save my slideshow and then just access it at the time and location of my presentation (assuming they have Internet access). In the classroom, I could use slideshows I find at Slideshare (like the one above) to enhance lessons I teach. I could also creat my own slideshows and save them to Slideshare. Also, when students are doing research, they could create slideshows as their presentation method and share them via Slideshare.
Choosing the "Education" link narrows things down a bit. I noticed that some presentations aren't really meant for us strangers to view and understand. I think some members of Slideshare have loaded presentations here that they will need at a future date. So, without their speaking while showing the slideshow, we don't really understand it. When I clicked on most viewed education videos of all time, I saw several on Web 2.0!
Searching can be time-consuming, but I noticed that when entering my own search term, I could choose the language for my results. I finally chose a narrow enough search that I found some useful results. I chose this presentation on the Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDCS) that I could use with my students:
Dewey Decimal
View more presentations from William Breitsprecher.
I liked this presentation because it was simple and could be used with young students. It covers pretty much exactly what I say when I teach the DDCS, but the added visuals are nice.
Slideshare is definitely useful if I am giving a presentation. I can save my slideshow and then just access it at the time and location of my presentation (assuming they have Internet access). In the classroom, I could use slideshows I find at Slideshare (like the one above) to enhance lessons I teach. I could also creat my own slideshows and save them to Slideshare. Also, when students are doing research, they could create slideshows as their presentation method and share them via Slideshare.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Thing 17
I decided to explore Library Thing (http://www.librarything.com/home/UnderstandingJane), of course. Uh, librarian here. It's like cataloging all my bookmarks in Delicious; I could spend forever here listing all the books I've read! Anyway, I added a bunch of books. It's very easy to do. They come with pictures of the cover art...very nice. I rated them all, from 1 to 5 stars. I mostly stuck to books I've read or reread recently. There are so many more, but it would be an impossible task to make this a complete list. I think it's best just to add things as I read them.
I added children's books and adult books. I can add tags, like in Delicious, but I haven't yet. I guess it would help other people to search my library, but I don't care about that. Users can also write reviews for books (haven't done that either). Library Thing will make "clouds" of your authors and your tags. It's not very accurate for me because I randomly added some books from my favorite authors, but not all of their books. I wish in adding books I could select several at once from the results list, but it's a one-at-a-time deal. So, the back and forth limited how many I added.
Authors have libraries on Library Thing too. I chose a couple to add to my "favorite authors." There are too many favorites to choose from here too! For someone who loves to read, this could be a neverending task.
Library Thing will also show local bookstores and book events for you. However, Library Thing believes I live in Boston. I don't know where it got that idea. I perused my profile over and over and cannot find anything that specifies such a location.
In Library Thing, you can join groups. I joined a couple, but already have places online where I chat with people and don't really have time for more of that. Yet, the groups could be useful in the future if I need to pose a question to a specific group of readers.
Library Thing gives me recommendations of books to read. However, since I didn't take the time to add every single book by authors that I have read, the suggestions are mainly more books by authors that I have listed. I've already read the recommended books, I just didn't take the time to search them all out and add them.
I never have trouble finding new books to read. I actually get kind of annoyed when someone hands me a book to read that they own, so they want it back. So, I have to read it in a timely manner and return it to them and tell them what I think. I prefer to choose my own books. Most people who do this to me have taste that is very different from mine, and I don't enjoy what they hand me.
Library Thing could be a useful tool. I could keep an account with just children's books and my students could look to see what books I read and how I rated the books. I can't even imagine the amount of time it would take to set this up. Then students would need accounts too in order to look at mine. Oy. It would be more useful to me professionally for connecting with other children's librarians. However, I see myself using it more in my personal life.
I added children's books and adult books. I can add tags, like in Delicious, but I haven't yet. I guess it would help other people to search my library, but I don't care about that. Users can also write reviews for books (haven't done that either). Library Thing will make "clouds" of your authors and your tags. It's not very accurate for me because I randomly added some books from my favorite authors, but not all of their books. I wish in adding books I could select several at once from the results list, but it's a one-at-a-time deal. So, the back and forth limited how many I added.
Authors have libraries on Library Thing too. I chose a couple to add to my "favorite authors." There are too many favorites to choose from here too! For someone who loves to read, this could be a neverending task.
Library Thing will also show local bookstores and book events for you. However, Library Thing believes I live in Boston. I don't know where it got that idea. I perused my profile over and over and cannot find anything that specifies such a location.
In Library Thing, you can join groups. I joined a couple, but already have places online where I chat with people and don't really have time for more of that. Yet, the groups could be useful in the future if I need to pose a question to a specific group of readers.
Library Thing gives me recommendations of books to read. However, since I didn't take the time to add every single book by authors that I have read, the suggestions are mainly more books by authors that I have listed. I've already read the recommended books, I just didn't take the time to search them all out and add them.
I never have trouble finding new books to read. I actually get kind of annoyed when someone hands me a book to read that they own, so they want it back. So, I have to read it in a timely manner and return it to them and tell them what I think. I prefer to choose my own books. Most people who do this to me have taste that is very different from mine, and I don't enjoy what they hand me.
Library Thing could be a useful tool. I could keep an account with just children's books and my students could look to see what books I read and how I rated the books. I can't even imagine the amount of time it would take to set this up. Then students would need accounts too in order to look at mine. Oy. It would be more useful to me professionally for connecting with other children's librarians. However, I see myself using it more in my personal life.
Thing 16
I'd heard about Google Docs before, but forgot about it before I ever got around to using it. I can see myself using this tool a lot, even just between my home computer and my work computer. I often had to email myself documents back and forth from work and home so I could work on them in both locations. This is much nicer!
I noticed that I lost formatting when I imported documents though. Depending on the complexity of the formatting, this could be annoying. I also didn't like that with spreadsheet documents in Google Docs, the option for saving is "Save and close." What if I just want to save it so I don't lose my work, but I'm not ready to close it? Weird. Word processing documents in Google Docs allowed me to just "Save."
One of my documents would not import into Google Docs. The site gave me two options to try. The first was to save my documents as a webpage and then import it. I did, but it didn't work. The second option was to copy my entire document and paste it into a new document in Google Docs. This worked.
I uploaded some documents for myself to work on at home and work. I also uploaded a schedule from a previous year that other teachers and I make together. If I can get them on Google Docs, we will be able to work together on this document much more easily in the future years.
In using Google Docs with students, yes, they would all need email addresses. It could be useful for students working on reports. The teacher can monitor the student's progress on Google Docs and make suggestions for editing. The student can edit, and the teacher can easily see the updates. Students can also make use of Google Docs in the same way I would, by working on their documents at home and at school.
I noticed that I lost formatting when I imported documents though. Depending on the complexity of the formatting, this could be annoying. I also didn't like that with spreadsheet documents in Google Docs, the option for saving is "Save and close." What if I just want to save it so I don't lose my work, but I'm not ready to close it? Weird. Word processing documents in Google Docs allowed me to just "Save."
One of my documents would not import into Google Docs. The site gave me two options to try. The first was to save my documents as a webpage and then import it. I did, but it didn't work. The second option was to copy my entire document and paste it into a new document in Google Docs. This worked.
I uploaded some documents for myself to work on at home and work. I also uploaded a schedule from a previous year that other teachers and I make together. If I can get them on Google Docs, we will be able to work together on this document much more easily in the future years.
In using Google Docs with students, yes, they would all need email addresses. It could be useful for students working on reports. The teacher can monitor the student's progress on Google Docs and make suggestions for editing. The student can edit, and the teacher can easily see the updates. Students can also make use of Google Docs in the same way I would, by working on their documents at home and at school.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thing 15
I haven't been regularly checking my bloglines subscriptions. I scanned through the posts since my last visit and read a few that interested me. One post led me to create by own avatar at a site it described (http://www.faceyourmanga.com). I get distracted by fun things easily.
I unsubscribed from two blogs that just didn't fit my interests well. I accidentally hadn't selected a folder for one of my new subscriptions that I added today, so I slid it into its proper folder. I also renamed the Detroit Free Press news feed. I don't think I subscribed properly to their feed. It's not showing up as having any posts in the last week. Obviously, the Free Press has had headline news in the past week! So, I subscribed to the Detroit News feed too. That one appears to be working. I'll wait and see what happens with the Free Press and delete them if it doesn't work.
If there were blogs I visited regularly, having subscriptions to them through Bloglines would save a lot of time. However, I feel like I am constantly overwhelmed by having too many things I am supposed to read for work and having no time to read things I want to for my own enjoyment. So, I don't know if I'll be able to get into the habit of checking Bloglines regularly. The couple of blogs that I already read regularly for fun send me emails when they have updates, so...
I unsubscribed from two blogs that just didn't fit my interests well. I accidentally hadn't selected a folder for one of my new subscriptions that I added today, so I slid it into its proper folder. I also renamed the Detroit Free Press news feed. I don't think I subscribed properly to their feed. It's not showing up as having any posts in the last week. Obviously, the Free Press has had headline news in the past week! So, I subscribed to the Detroit News feed too. That one appears to be working. I'll wait and see what happens with the Free Press and delete them if it doesn't work.
If there were blogs I visited regularly, having subscriptions to them through Bloglines would save a lot of time. However, I feel like I am constantly overwhelmed by having too many things I am supposed to read for work and having no time to read things I want to for my own enjoyment. So, I don't know if I'll be able to get into the habit of checking Bloglines regularly. The couple of blogs that I already read regularly for fun send me emails when they have updates, so...
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thing 14
It was easy to sign up for Delicious and add the buttons. My username is jcottey. I really like the convenience of the buttons on my toolbar. It is also easy to add bookmarks to Delicious by pasting the url into the box on the Delicious site.
Against your instructions, I also imported my computer's bookmarks into Delicious. I have over 300! This is going to take me a while to tag them all. They're still organized on my computer, so I'll be able to find things while I'm still working on this project.
As a media specialist who provides resources to teachers, I can add sites to my Delicious account that may be useful to them. Of course, then I would have to get them to go to Delicious. Have to teach them some new tricks... I often email teachers sites that I think they would find useful, but not too much because I don't want to overwhelm them. This would solve that problem. Also, I could keep track of all the sites I have sent them so I can refer to them later.
I work in an elementary school, so the research projects are at a basic level for the young grades. For older grades especially, I could add sites to Delicious that could be useful for their research on various projects. We could choose a specific tag so everyone could easily find the sites related to any given project. It also could be fun to add author websites that students would enjoy. So many possibilities!
Against your instructions, I also imported my computer's bookmarks into Delicious. I have over 300! This is going to take me a while to tag them all. They're still organized on my computer, so I'll be able to find things while I'm still working on this project.
As a media specialist who provides resources to teachers, I can add sites to my Delicious account that may be useful to them. Of course, then I would have to get them to go to Delicious. Have to teach them some new tricks... I often email teachers sites that I think they would find useful, but not too much because I don't want to overwhelm them. This would solve that problem. Also, I could keep track of all the sites I have sent them so I can refer to them later.
I work in an elementary school, so the research projects are at a basic level for the young grades. For older grades especially, I could add sites to Delicious that could be useful for their research on various projects. We could choose a specific tag so everyone could easily find the sites related to any given project. It also could be fun to add author websites that students would enjoy. So many possibilities!
Thing 13
I have been thinking I should move my bookkmarks to Delicious for a while, so I am happy that I will have to do that in the next thing! I haven't had any problems finding my bookmarks on my computer (I am a librarian; I can organize fairly well), however, issues arise if I buy another computer and don't transfer my bookmarks. I can see that Delicious will also be helpful for sharing sites in an educational environment. My bookmarks are mainly sites for my personal use, but I could make more use of bookmarks in the social-bookmark world and share sites with colleagues.
The tips for tagging article brings up good points. I will refer to them when I start tagging my own social bookmarks.
The tips for tagging article brings up good points. I will refer to them when I start tagging my own social bookmarks.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thing 12
Ooh, I had already added some gadgets from the blog's list of gadgets to be added, such as a list of followers and a page header. I just added a poll to my blog. I always love voting on polls when I find them on other sites!
I found one at Widgetbox from Scholastic that delivers news geared toward students. Widgetbox has an option to install directly to blogger, so I did. I discovered that tool after I couldn't get the first embed code to work. The news box is in my righthand column now. I could also change its frame color.
Let's try to embed again:
Well, Java, Flash and MySpace codes don't work (didn't think the last one would). I think I finally found how to embed the code for the widget in a blog post itself, instead of in a separate box. It requires me to enter my email and password. I'm not comfortable doing that at Widgetbox. Let's try someplace else.
I like PBS Teacher Activity Packs' organization by subject. Embedding attempt number five:
Well, that ^^^^^ didn't work. I clicked on Blogger at the PBS site, and they want my Blogger name and password too. Nope.
Google gadgets:
I give up. I need to go to sleep. Again the embed codes aren't working for me. I am in the "Edit HTML" tab at Blogger, so...
I belong to some online communities. I have formed some good friendships from chatting online and exchanging posts over the course of years. We all meet such a small number of people in our face-to-face lives, being online exposes us to many many more people. Belonging to a community centered around a certain interest allows me to interact with people who like what I like and enjoy talking about it.
It's easy to send quick messages to people at Facebook, MySpace, etc. I may not have time to call people on the phone to chat, but I can keep in touch and share daily bits of my life with friends through quick online interactions. Students may enjoy the same.
I found one at Widgetbox from Scholastic that delivers news geared toward students. Widgetbox has an option to install directly to blogger, so I did. I discovered that tool after I couldn't get the first embed code to work. The news box is in my righthand column now. I could also change its frame color.
Let's try to embed again:
Well, Java, Flash and MySpace codes don't work (didn't think the last one would). I think I finally found how to embed the code for the widget in a blog post itself, instead of in a separate box. It requires me to enter my email and password. I'm not comfortable doing that at Widgetbox. Let's try someplace else.
I like PBS Teacher Activity Packs' organization by subject. Embedding attempt number five:
Well, that ^^^^^ didn't work. I clicked on Blogger at the PBS site, and they want my Blogger name and password too. Nope.
Google gadgets:
I give up. I need to go to sleep. Again the embed codes aren't working for me. I am in the "Edit HTML" tab at Blogger, so...
I belong to some online communities. I have formed some good friendships from chatting online and exchanging posts over the course of years. We all meet such a small number of people in our face-to-face lives, being online exposes us to many many more people. Belonging to a community centered around a certain interest allows me to interact with people who like what I like and enjoy talking about it.
It's easy to send quick messages to people at Facebook, MySpace, etc. I may not have time to call people on the phone to chat, but I can keep in touch and share daily bits of my life with friends through quick online interactions. Students may enjoy the same.
Thing 11
We have so many participants in our class, it was hard to choose which blogs to click on! I found a couple of fellow librarians and read and commented on their blogs. I also found some fun videos people had posted in Thing 10. I generally clicked on the blogs based on their titles. I guess that teaches me that I should name my blog something that is relevant to its content so interested readers can find it. Several blogs I clicked on didn't have any or many posts, so I tried again...and again.
As the how-to-make-good-comments articles mentioned, don't comment unless you have something new/interesting/relevant to say. I often feel like my comments are just in the category of "good job," so I don't want to comment. I'm more of a reader than a commenter by personality.
It was nice to receive a comment from someone who isn't the instructor, although your comments are well-received too! It makes one feel validated.
If I had students blog online, I would want other students in the class to comment. If there are a large number of students, perhaps each can randomly be assigned to follow a certain group of blogs to guarantee that everyone is being read and commented upon. I would also make sure to give feedback to their blogs.
As the how-to-make-good-comments articles mentioned, don't comment unless you have something new/interesting/relevant to say. I often feel like my comments are just in the category of "good job," so I don't want to comment. I'm more of a reader than a commenter by personality.
It was nice to receive a comment from someone who isn't the instructor, although your comments are well-received too! It makes one feel validated.
If I had students blog online, I would want other students in the class to comment. If there are a large number of students, perhaps each can randomly be assigned to follow a certain group of blogs to guarantee that everyone is being read and commented upon. I would also make sure to give feedback to their blogs.
Thing 10
I saw the musical Rock of Ages off-Broadway in the fall and loved it! It has moved to Broadway, and here is a sneak peek from their rehearsals:
I chose this video because I love music and musicals. I am going back to New York in May and plan to see the show on Broadway.
KeepVid and PWNYouTube worked very easily to download videos. Thanks for the fair use instructions. I like the idea of using a flash drive to take the video to school--much easier than burning the video onto a CD. Not all of our school computers are new enough to have USB ports, but some of them do. Zamzar looks like another easy option, although more time-consuming, if KeepVid and PWNYouTube do not work. It had numerous annoying pop-up ads though--some were blocked and some made it through.
I chose this video because I love music and musicals. I am going back to New York in May and plan to see the show on Broadway.
KeepVid and PWNYouTube worked very easily to download videos. Thanks for the fair use instructions. I like the idea of using a flash drive to take the video to school--much easier than burning the video onto a CD. Not all of our school computers are new enough to have USB ports, but some of them do. Zamzar looks like another easy option, although more time-consuming, if KeepVid and PWNYouTube do not work. It had numerous annoying pop-up ads though--some were blocked and some made it through.
Thing 9
I was already a member of YouTube and have used it quite a bit for posting and viewing videos, mainly for entertainment, not work, purposes. I find it easy to search for videos and to rate videos and leave comments. I subscribe to some people's videos so that I am notified when they post new videos. That's a nice service fromYouTube. I commented on Taylor Mali's video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU) and rated some videos by singers I enjoy.
YouTube is blocked at my school, so it is frustrating to search for and find good videos, but not be able to play them. I guess I could do something time consuming like finding a video copying site, downloading the YouTube video to my home computer, copying it to a CD and taking it to school. I don't even know if that would be good to do in the world of copyright...
Anyway, I found an uploader who reads aloud some children's books while the cover picture shows on the video. I guess if I had laryngitis, I could use this reader while I showed the pages of the book. ;) I think I may find more useful items for school at TeacherTube and SchoolTube...
TeacherTube has more relevant videos, but I haven't found a ton for the library arena. The videos I have watched have been nice, but nothing I would use in my teaching. Subject areas seem more popular topics for videos. And, oh my goodness!, it is super slow and has just refused to run some searches. I don't know if it's just today or my computer, but I would get frustrated if it's always like this. I liked that it has "channels" that break the videos down into areas, but there is only an elementary channel--nothing for libraries. I wish the elementary channel had further subject divisions.
SchoolTube had more hits for general library-related searches, such as "library" or "books", but not for specific topics, like "Dewey Decimal". The site ran much faster than TeacherTube. I didn't like how the results for my search only showed the partial title for the video. I had to click on each video to see what it was about, which wasted time. SchoolTube seemed to have more videos made by students or with students in them. An idea from SchoolTube is to have students make videos giving book reviews.
YouTube is my favorite of the video sites in how it is set up and how it runs, but it has the least useful videos for school.
YouTube is blocked at my school, so it is frustrating to search for and find good videos, but not be able to play them. I guess I could do something time consuming like finding a video copying site, downloading the YouTube video to my home computer, copying it to a CD and taking it to school. I don't even know if that would be good to do in the world of copyright...
Anyway, I found an uploader who reads aloud some children's books while the cover picture shows on the video. I guess if I had laryngitis, I could use this reader while I showed the pages of the book. ;) I think I may find more useful items for school at TeacherTube and SchoolTube...
TeacherTube has more relevant videos, but I haven't found a ton for the library arena. The videos I have watched have been nice, but nothing I would use in my teaching. Subject areas seem more popular topics for videos. And, oh my goodness!, it is super slow and has just refused to run some searches. I don't know if it's just today or my computer, but I would get frustrated if it's always like this. I liked that it has "channels" that break the videos down into areas, but there is only an elementary channel--nothing for libraries. I wish the elementary channel had further subject divisions.
SchoolTube had more hits for general library-related searches, such as "library" or "books", but not for specific topics, like "Dewey Decimal". The site ran much faster than TeacherTube. I didn't like how the results for my search only showed the partial title for the video. I had to click on each video to see what it was about, which wasted time. SchoolTube seemed to have more videos made by students or with students in them. An idea from SchoolTube is to have students make videos giving book reviews.
YouTube is my favorite of the video sites in how it is set up and how it runs, but it has the least useful videos for school.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thing 8
I really like spelling with Flickr (http://metaatem.net/words/Jane). I was being picky and trying to find my last three letters as lowercase letters, but then I got the Scrabble "A" and had to keep it. I love to play Scrabble. I couldn't get the embed code to work to post my name picture, so I saved it to my hard drive. However, it would only save each letter individually. So I added each letter to my blog separately and, after a couple of tries, got it to look like this, but I couldn't get it in a nice line like "23 Things" is for their blog. This tool is one of the most fun for me, but I don't quite know how to use it properly. Also, the dark blue font on a black background was not visible to my eyes! I had to highlight the page to read what it said.
Looking at Flickr pictures in specific colors (http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/) makes me feel artsy and as if I want to do something creative. Too bad I'm not terribly creative when left to my own devices. It is really interesting to see the multitude of photos available in every color of the spectrum.
The Flickr Montager (http://www.deviousgelatin.com/montager/image.php) was interesting, but not all that effective in creating one large picture. The individual pictures are too small to appreciate separately, although I did discover that if I rested my mouse on a tiny picture, I could see it a bit larger. The whole picture doesn't clearly represent the design for which it's aiming. I would like to be able to select which picture is used for the overall large one. I searched "cats" and "dogs."
Flickr Sudoko (http://www.beckysweb.co.uk/sudoku/flickrsudoku.asp) could be very addictive to sudoku fans. Thankfully, that doesn't include me because I have enough internet addictions with which to fill my time. Now, Flickr Memry (http://www.pimpampum.net/memry/enter.php) is one I could become addicted to...mindless fun. I am going to forget I ever saw that website.
I made my permit for Ginger at http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/badge.php. I saved it to my computer to be safe and then clicked "share" to see if I could get a code to embed here. Well, that asked me to set up an account. When I tried to go back to the previous page, my badge was gone. So, I still haven't figured out how to embed photos in my blog, darn it. There are a lot of other fun tools at Big Huge Labs (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/).
There are many fun things to try at Image Generator (http://www.imagegenerator.org/). It seems to be a listing of other sites that have image generators. Some require registration or even paid membership. I tried out different hairstyles at http://www.dailymakeover.com/makeover/virtualMakeover. They weren't so great. :)
I can't figure out how to move pictures around in my blog. I'd like to be able to slide them to different locations. I also wanted to put one at the bottom, which isn't an option.
This was the most time-consuming "thing" so far. There are just so many photo tools to explore.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Thing 7
I actually already had a Flickr account, but I haven't done anything with it for awhile because I haven't organized my pictures. I hadn't added tags to my previously-uploaded photos. I also hadn't paid attention to the public-versus-private option.
In the school setting, pictures taken by teachers or students could be uploaded to Flickr to share. It could be photos from a field trip, an event at school, a classroom activity, or anything. If students' are in the photos, the setting will need to be private for the safety of the children. Flickr also has nice products teachers could buy. A teacher could organize the class pictures into a book to be printed and kept as a memento.
In searching Flickr, students could use the public domain photos for their own projects. It would be important to discuss with the students which photos they are allowed to use. The Library of Congress photos aren't nearly as exciting as the vast quantity of amazing photos on Flickr. So, students will need to be well-versed in the copyright guidelines. Art teachers could use Flickr to look at artistic photos with a class and discuss them.
In the school setting, pictures taken by teachers or students could be uploaded to Flickr to share. It could be photos from a field trip, an event at school, a classroom activity, or anything. If students' are in the photos, the setting will need to be private for the safety of the children. Flickr also has nice products teachers could buy. A teacher could organize the class pictures into a book to be printed and kept as a memento.
In searching Flickr, students could use the public domain photos for their own projects. It would be important to discuss with the students which photos they are allowed to use. The Library of Congress photos aren't nearly as exciting as the vast quantity of amazing photos on Flickr. So, students will need to be well-versed in the copyright guidelines. Art teachers could use Flickr to look at artistic photos with a class and discuss them.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Thing 6
I chose this picture from Flickr from the Library of Congress photos. After our very long winter, I am longing for spring and warmth and sunshine, and the flowers made me feel like summer
. I am ready to be done with grey snow and cold dampness. Flowers would be welcome right now.
Most of the Library of Congress photos are in black and white. These flowers were in color, making them even more appealing.
I did not know about Creative Commons licensing. After reading about it on Wikipedia, I find it an interesting concept.
. I am ready to be done with grey snow and cold dampness. Flowers would be welcome right now.Most of the Library of Congress photos are in black and white. These flowers were in color, making them even more appealing.
I did not know about Creative Commons licensing. After reading about it on Wikipedia, I find it an interesting concept.
Thing 5
Every time I title a new blog entry, I think of Dr. Seuss' Thing 1 and Thing 2. :)
I really like the toolbar button to subscribe with Bloglines. It is the simplest way to subscribe to an RSS feed and saves the time of looking around for an RSS button.
Searching for blogs through Google Blog Search and Technorati showed the overwhelming amount of blogs that are out there. Their general search tool often gave a lot of hits that weren't really about the topics for which I was looking. My search term may have been mentioned once in one blog entry, but the subject of the blog was quite different. Searching the tags in Technorati helped get better results, but there are still so many blogs!
Using RSS will help me keep track of blogs that I enjoy without having to remember to visit each individual site.
I really like the toolbar button to subscribe with Bloglines. It is the simplest way to subscribe to an RSS feed and saves the time of looking around for an RSS button.
Searching for blogs through Google Blog Search and Technorati showed the overwhelming amount of blogs that are out there. Their general search tool often gave a lot of hits that weren't really about the topics for which I was looking. My search term may have been mentioned once in one blog entry, but the subject of the blog was quite different. Searching the tags in Technorati helped get better results, but there are still so many blogs!
Using RSS will help me keep track of blogs that I enjoy without having to remember to visit each individual site.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thing 4
Well, I can't get the confirmation email from Bloglines to complete my registration. I was able to set up my folders though. However, it would not allow me to delete the "Blogline News" folder.
I think the RSS feed will definitely make it easier to follow the blogs to which I subscribe. Instead of having to visit every single blog, their new posts will come to me. There are so many blogs out there, that I will have to be particular about what I choose for subscription. I don't want to spend hours reading all of the blog updates! Having separate folders for organizing my blogs will allow me to read in each category as my time allows.
I think the RSS feed will definitely make it easier to follow the blogs to which I subscribe. Instead of having to visit every single blog, their new posts will come to me. There are so many blogs out there, that I will have to be particular about what I choose for subscription. I don't want to spend hours reading all of the blog updates! Having separate folders for organizing my blogs will allow me to read in each category as my time allows.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Thing 3
Aha! I found where I can change colors and the layout of my blog. I added a blog description and changed the font. Getting into color changes would occupy me for hours!
There is such a wide range of blogs on the Internet. There are as many different purposes for blogs too! For my purposes, I might enjoy a blog relating to books (being a librarian). Maybe students could post book reviews on a blog. I would have to allow them all permission to post in the settings of the blog and also would have to read their posts before allowing them to be published. There is also the issue of student privacy on the internet; we definitely could not post their full names. I'll have to keep thinking of more ways to use a blog in my teaching. Interesting stuff...
There is such a wide range of blogs on the Internet. There are as many different purposes for blogs too! For my purposes, I might enjoy a blog relating to books (being a librarian). Maybe students could post book reviews on a blog. I would have to allow them all permission to post in the settings of the blog and also would have to read their posts before allowing them to be published. There is also the issue of student privacy on the internet; we definitely could not post their full names. I'll have to keep thinking of more ways to use a blog in my teaching. Interesting stuff...
Thing 2
It was fun and easy to create a blog! The hardest part was coming up with a unique blog address that wasn't already in use. I also wished I had more color choices and ways to customize the look of my blog page.
I am participating in 23 Things because it sounded like a course that was truly relevant to my life and my job. I also enjoy learning new technology and like to be current on what's happening in the technology world.
As far as being a blogger... well, I'm alright with the instructors and class members reading this blog, but I am not one who enjoys posting my thoughts and feelings out there for the whole world to read. I am not a big writer, more of a reader. So, blogging will pull me out of my shell!
I am participating in 23 Things because it sounded like a course that was truly relevant to my life and my job. I also enjoy learning new technology and like to be current on what's happening in the technology world.
As far as being a blogger... well, I'm alright with the instructors and class members reading this blog, but I am not one who enjoys posting my thoughts and feelings out there for the whole world to read. I am not a big writer, more of a reader. So, blogging will pull me out of my shell!
Thing 1
After reading David Warlick's article and rewatching the "Pay Attention" video, I truly realized how our schools are not teaching in the modern age. Students and staff alike use so much technology in our everyday lives, but this technology is not migrating into our teaching practices at the same speed. While reading Warlick's article, my mind kept wandering, trying to think of ways I could apply technology to my curriculum and teaching. I felt somewhat defeated by the lack of money in our school districts for buying technology and by the blocking of websites, such as YouTube, from our schools. So, I guess I need to learn what I CAN use in my teaching, working around limitations. Maybe there also is a way to change some of the issues that limit our use of technology in teaching. I can't wait to see what 23 Things will teach me!
Monday, February 16, 2009
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