Thing #20: Explore You Tube and Teacher Tube

Trying to figure this out. Will come back.



I'm not sure what happened. The disadvantage about taking this class on your own is---you feel like you're on your own. I don't have colleagues to run to, so I rely on comments to help me through this training. Some of the comments mentioned that they were successful in embedding the video, but it covered part of the blog. It looks like that happened to me.

I wanted to embed videos from both You Tube and Teacher Tube, but this "thing" was too taxing. This is a video from You Tube. Although it was created for a particular school, I thought the message was universal. During out discussion of Web 2.0, we have primarily focused on teachers and students. This video brings parents into the picture by informing parents how the child's learning experience, in and outside of the classroom will change/has changed.

Once I become more familiar with utilizing (searching, accessing, embedding, discussing)You Tube and Teacher Tube, I will make both a part of my curriculum.

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards List

This was really interesting. Because I am not techno savvy, I saw so many familiar terms grouped under headings, and I was able to compare their popularity within their group. Now the terms are starting to make sence! For collaborative writing, I love Goggle Docs. When I looked under education, I clicked on DOCSTOC and read an interesting article on dental plans. I wish that I had read this before last Tuesday when we made our annual trip to the dentist$$$. Under fun stuff, I click on One Sentence and there were some pretty creative sentences. Hosed wikis had WetPaint which lead me to the Ghost Wisperer wiki. Yea, GW fans! Delicious (Social News) had an interesting article about textbooks being history in a digital classroom. Once I play with it more, I can select certain groups, then sites that will help facilitate learning in the classroom.

Thing #18: Online Productivity Tools

As with most of these "things." this was new to me. After checking out both tools, I think that I prefer the Google Docs. I reviewed some of the templates and actually saw three that could help me in my personal organization: monthly calendar, monthly budget, and "to do" list. Professionally, I could use this to collaborate with colleagues regarding curriculum, tests, etc. We could be in different locations and still communicate with each other.

I think that it is an advantage to be able to access it anywhere from any computer without worrying about a flash or having it as an attachment to an email. Because it is online, I think it is a disadvantage that there is always the possibility of unauthorized users accessing confidential information.

Thing #17: Rollyo

I like the fact that you can create your own personal search engine. This allow quick access to my favorite websites. I don't have to think and type; now, I just click. This is a great way to target websites for students' research projects. I attempted to view Bruce's video, but I kept getting the "buffering" messages. It was so distracting to have it pop up every 10 seconds, so I will attempt to watch it later. Once I view it, then I will begin setting up websites for student access.

Personal sites that I selected: msn.com, healthfinder.gov, hgtv.com, allrecipes.com, consumer law.org and encyclopedia.com

Thing #16 - Wikis

Now I see where Wikipedia gets its name--duh. I really didn't understand the concept of wikis until now. It is a great collaborative tool. I liked how I was given several resources to explore and I always enjoy the CommonCraft videos. When I saw the camping trip scenerio, it gave me a better way to coordinate our upcoming family reunion. As for the classroom, I liked the suggestion about writing essays from entries and creating top 10 lists. Wat a great way to get kids to "play" ---work. It's like giving a kid his veggies, but not letting him know they're healthy.

Thing 15: Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the Future of Libraries

The various blogs from librarians was very interesting. The students' video, although simple, was very powerful and thought-provoking. My children fall within this century of students while I am with the last century. The library was a quiet place with very little activity or interaction. You checked out a book, received a card stamped with the due date, and you either sat quietly and read it, or you took it home to read. If I needed to do research, I looked in an encyclopedia and paraphrased what I read on a piece of notebook paper. Computers were only used to locate books.

Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 reminds me of a word like The Jetsons---very high tech and fast-paced. Information is readily available at your fingertips, and you have so many sources to explore. The library will be "guided on how users access, consume and create content." Our librarian has embraced this concept and is moving towards this goal. I didn't understand why she was giving away so many books to make space for additional computers. Now, I see why she continues to update her technology skills while encouraging teachers to do the same. My wonderful librarian is why this dinosaur is taking the Library2Play training. I don't want to become extinct!

Thing #14: Technorati and How Tags Work

I watched the two videos regarding Technorati and learned about its capacity to search blogs according to various criteria. When I conducted a blogoshere search for School Library Learning, I received 2476 results. Using the tag method narrowed my choices to 176. I clicked on the popular tags link and I received the top 100 tags. When I clicked on the tag, "blogging", I received 150,267 posts! Depending on whether I want a narrow or broad search, I could change my method. Since I really don't have time to read through numerous blogs, I prefer to narrow the search (negative-sometimes I may not get a great blog because it was tagged a different way).