Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Summary

Thing 23


Just recently, I was able to play with ZoHo. I have always been interested in how you could work with documents from home and work alike without having to take copies home (prior to laptops and floppy disks/data sticks). Now that we do have the data sticks, my new thoughts are how these documents can be shared with others and not just yourself from one place to another. The great thing about Wikis is how you can easily create a Wiki and have various groups work through them. What a great way to collaborate with colleagues and the community on different projects. An added feature to sharing would be Del.icio.us. I have had an account with them since the beginning of the school year of which was generated through a brief presentation from tech leaders in our county. I haven't taken full advantage of this account as much as I probably should but this would be a great way to share good sites with colleagues as well.

Going into this course, I had assumed that I was close to being on the cutting edge to work with my own children. How fullish of me to think that. My children find it humorous when watching me take on this venture. Needless to say, how far ahead are the students in our county to where we are? We are only catching up to them. My thing is the application of these great things. Time is limited and precious. A juggling act at times. Putting pertinence on the different "Things" when working on projects or incorporating more technology will be a task for me with most of these things. I am just now on top of Podcasts and finding comfort there. I guess it is time to stretch my comfort zone once again and push forward in the world of technology.

In summary, this has been a great experience. Time was a struggle to find in doing most of these 'things'. I found more than 50% of the tasks if not 75% of them either easy or in my capabilities of figuring out without great assistance. There are those limited few things that I can see not being place in the forefront due to my weakness in them or lack of finding how they would fit into my world at this time.

Thanks to the public library system for affording us this opportunity and opening our eyes to what great 'things' are out there.

AudioBooks


Thing 22

What is so great about having an iTunes account is the access to the multiple media they have available to you. There are multiple things you can download for free but plenty to purchase.

I had mentioned in my blog for Thing 21 that I have an iPod Classic. I have a library of music, games, audiobooks, TV shows and movies saved both on my computer at home and on my iPod.

I first became interested in audiobooks when I began to travel to meetings and wanted to have something to listen to other than music at times. Now that I have 'upgraded' myself with the iPod, I have books by Grisham among others that I have access to when ready to listen to them. I am not able to read while in motion, so this is a great way for me to travel and be able to keep up with the latest books.

Check out iTunes and see what books you like to download for both your computer and iPod. You'll enjoy it.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/audiobooks.html

Podcasting

Thing 21

What is great about this is how much I use iTunes. My sons all had accounts with iTunes and had MP3 Players and now their iPods. Cupid brought me my own iPods Classic recently and what fun I have had with it. I now have my own account with iTunes and have downloaded music, videos, games and books. This has become a great tool for me to use for my trips both for work and with my family.

I had never messed with my children's iPods where I had no interest in it. Now that I have my own, I have really enjoyed it and can understand why my children find interest in the many uses for it.

I recommend for anyone to look into an iPod. We have all the pieces to use in the house and hook ups to hear it through out car stero as well. Long flights and drives are not as bad when you have the music or latest book you are trying to keep up on.

YouTube

Thing 20

I have thoroughly enjoyed this site. I have found laughter and seriousness in all sorts of clips. If you want to have a good laugh, you need to watch this 9 minute clip. I can see how this would benefit you in most cases for enjoyment and connections to what we do with real world application with subject areas in the classroom as long as you take the time to search for the appropriate clip.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Web 2.0 Awards List

Thing 19

I chose Wufoo from the 2.0 awards list. It allows you to make forms. The first 3 forms are free and charges are added from that point. This would be beneficial to share with the Reading Coaches to use for their evaluations from their data meetings and Professional devleopment with teachers while adding technology to their meetings.

I did try to play with some of the game sites to play versus think but our server has those blocked. So much for fun after hours.

We have a site for creating forms already but this would be a good one to share with teachers to use with their students in class to rate books, etc.

Zoho

Thing 18

Zoho Writer
Here is the link. Creating an account is just the beginning.
http://writer.zoho.com/


I can see the benefits of this site. You can have all your documents online and offline too. Having access to what you have created from any computer, at home or at work seems to be a need for me at times. This would be a great tool to save from having to carry files, data sticks, etc. when you can have an account like this at your fingertips. Instant collaboration between members in the departments you are working with on the spot versus having to email attachments back and forth and or pulling people out of their rooms to meet. This seems to be a time saver. Actually using it would be the thing at this point. Habits are hard to break as the quote goes.

Wikis

Thing 16


http://somerset-promethean-resources.wikispaces.com/

It was great to see Somerset on the map with their own Wikispace at SIS. What a great way to work on the various projects in the county. This could be a central location for reading teachers to post projects related to various novels. Math teachers could add problems of the week. Science teachers could had projects for the students to explore and work on in collaborative groups for project grades. How about expeditions for the Social Studies groups. The list could go on and on. At the level we are, we could work on the various strategies being used to motivate and move our faculties and students. How about the Master Plan and the documentation needed for that. I see many uses for Wikis.

Web 2.0 and Libraries

Thing 15

Quote from Michael Stephens (Librarian, Blogger )

"One of the principles I would add to the Library 2.0 meme is that “the Library is human” because it makes the library a social and emotionally engaging center for learning and experience."

I am seeing the Media Specialists in the elementary libraries bring the media center to life more and more. There are literature studies taking place. Technology is in the forefront. The kids are truly engaged and enjoying their experience when they visit the media center. This librarian recognizes how quickly the world and library users change with advancing technology. It starts with the kids. I see how these articles will help/guide/enhance the use of the media center with the specialists being the ones to guide the use of the articles in assisting the teachers with bringing technology to the forefront when completing projects.

What are your thoughts?

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Technorati

"Thing 14"

Bloggies ceremony - Who would have thought that there was an award ceremony established for great blogs. Here it is. Check out this site to see how Lifetime Achievement and Best Group Blog awards went.

www.boingboing.net

Technorati.com rated this the most popular blog in the world.

I wish I didn't have such a slow server at home. You have to have high speed for the majority of what we are doing. DOL is not the best with this activity.

Del.icio.us

"Thing 13"
Not too long ago, SCPSs Tech leaders experienced a wonderful presentations by two users of Del.icio.us. The lightbulb came on as we walked through this together and set up an account. This truly saves you time and anguish when you struggle to find the site needed or did you remember to bring the information where ever you are on your data stick. This saves you time in that aspect as well as gaining access to already previewed and recommended sites by other Del.icio.us users. I highly recommend the use of this site in order for you to access what you found to be useful no matter the workstation you are on.

Rollyo

"Thing 12"


Powered by Rollyo

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

LibraryThing

"Thing 11"
http://www.librarything.com/profile/Soccer-Mom
Sometimes its' nice to see what others have read and the ratings to guide you with what to read next. This is a unique site I didn't know about until now. I did place a book from what I am currently reading but it is also nice to see recommended litearture for the grade level children you are with. I have recommended a book by Spinelli the 5th grades loved when I was in the elementary classroom. This could be a great site for teachers to refer to for this reason as well.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Avitar

"Thing 10"
This is amazing but time consuming. Where does the time go when you are having fun creating things like this. If only the plate wasn't overflowing with other things to do, time would not be of worry to have more fun with the avitar. I did post one to my profile but would love to revisit this and play more with it later. My sons play with online games and the Wii where they get to create these things. Wouldn't it be grand to be in their 'league'. Have fun creating yours.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Bloglines Feeds

"Thing 9"
There are so many to sign up for. You can get a multitude of things sent to you by choice and of relevance to you. There is so many interesting things at your findertips!!!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Flickr Fun

My attempt at the trading card!!
"Things 5, 6 and 7"
Flickr is amazing. Finding photos and much more for anything at all is wonderful. You can do interesting things to your own pictures. But when. There you have it. That habit of mine that seems to get in the way. "Play". Tell me when and I'll try my best. With time, I could spend all the time in the world playing with these tools and do so with my kids and their photos. My middle son loves to play with photos on the computer. This would be great to spend time with him 'playing'. I wish I had more time to explore and take advantage of. My friends would love to use this for their hobby with scrapbooking. Great thing to share.

Friday, February 15, 2008

RSS

"Thing 8"
I can see how this can be a useful tool. You can get the latest sent to you. Best of all, it is what you sign up for that is sent that would be of interest. I am wondering which others have subscribed to that you have found to be of some use or at least interesting. Once I did get in to the site, it did peak my interest in the wealth of information that could be at my fingertips.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Lifelong Learning Habits

(Week One: Things 1, 2 and 3)
Easiest thing for me were the habits of:
Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage
Hardest thing for me was the habit of:
Habit 7 ½: Play
I do more for my children to assure they are involved than I guess I find time for myself.